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diff --git a/old/21381-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/21381-h.htm.2021-01-25 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d95f7d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/21381-h.htm.2021-01-25 @@ -0,0 +1,7981 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Stories of Ohio, by William Dean Howells + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories Of Ohio, by William Dean Howells + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories Of Ohio + 1897 + +Author: William Dean Howells + +Release Date: January 23, 2008 [EBook #21381] +Last Updated: August 21, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF OHIO *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + STORIES OF OHIO + </h1> + <h2> + By William Dean Howells + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h5> + Copyright, 1897, by American Book Company. + </h5> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img alt="frontispiece--USGrant (58K)" + src="images/frontispiece--USGrant.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img alt="titlepage (27K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <big><b>STORIES OF OHIO</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> I </a>THE ICE FOLK AND THE EARTH + FOLK. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> II</a>OHIO AS A PART OF + FRANCE. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> III</a>OHIO BECOMES + ENGLISH. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> IV</a>THE FORTY YEARS’ + WAR FOR THE WEST. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> V</a>THE + CAPTIVITY OF JAMES SMITH <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VI</a>THE + CAPTIVITY OF BOONE AND KENTON. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> VII</a>THE + RENEGADES. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> VIII</a>THE WICKEDEST + DEED IN OUR HISTORY. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> IX</a>THE + TORTURE OF COLONEL CRAWFORD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> X</a>THE + ESCAPE OF KNIGHT AND SLOVER. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XI</a>THE + INDIAN WARS AND ST, CLAIR’S DEFEAT. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0014"> XII</a>THE INDIAN WARS AND WAYNE’S VICTORY. + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XIII</a>INDIAN FIGHTERS. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XIV</a>LATER CAPTIVITIES. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0017"> XV</a>INDIAN HEROES AND SAGES. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVI</a>LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS. <br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0019"> XVII</a>THE FIRST GREAT SETTLEMENTS. <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> XVIII</a>THE STATE OF OHIO IN THE WAR OF 1812. + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> XIX</a>A FOOLISH MAN, A + PHILOSOPHER, AND A FANATIC. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> XX</a>WAYS + OUT. <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> XXI</a>THE FIGHT WITH SLAVERY. + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> XXII</a>THE CIVIL WAR IN OHIO <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> XXIII </a>FAMOUS OHIO + SOLDIERS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> XXIV</a>OHIO STATESMEN + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> XXV</a>OTHER NOTABLE OHIOANS <br /><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> XVI</a>INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS. <br /> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0001"> Stone Axes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Serpent Mound </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0003"> Pichawillany, Chief Town of the Miamis </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0004"> Indians Carry off the Women </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0005"> Indians Delivering up Captives </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0006"> Indian War Parties Joining the English </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0007"> Pioneers </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0008"> Indian Baptism of James Smith </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0009"> An Indian Prayer </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0010"> Daniel Boone Shooting With the Indians </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0011"> Kenton and Girty </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0012"> Simon Girty </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0013"> Massacre of the Christian Indians by The + Whites </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0014"> Execution of Crawford </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0015"> Knight Escapes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0016"> The Defeat of St. Clair </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0017"> The Escape of Kennan </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0018"> St. Clair’s Defeat </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0019"> A White Indian </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0020"> Wetzel, Indian Fighter </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0021"> Bearskin Cap on a Ramrod </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0022"> Brickell Leaves his Indian Father </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0023"> Alder Returns to his Family </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0024"> Logan’s Elm </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0025"> Tecumseh </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0026"> Tomahawk </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0027"> Ohio Cabin </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0028"> Lost in the Woods </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0029"> Marrieta, Ohio </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0030"> Admiral Perry on Lake Erie </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0031"> Aarun Burr and Blennerhassett </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0032"> Johnny Appleseed </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0033"> Proclaimed Himself the Lord Jesus Christ </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0034"> Governor Clinton </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0035"> Early Railroad </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0036"> Steamboat Explosion </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0037"> Indian Evacuation by River </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0038"> Slavery Issue </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0039"> John Brown Making Pikes for Slaves </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0040"> John Morgan Invades Ohio in 1863 </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0041"> Hiding With the Pigs </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0042"> A Copperhead Walks With General Morgan </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0043"> Rutherford Hayes </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0044"> William Tecumseh Sherman </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0045"> General George A. Custer </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0046"> James A. Garfield </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0047"> General Phillip H. Sheridan </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0048"> Benjamin Harrison </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0049"> Salmon P. Chase </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0050"> John Sherman </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0051"> William Mckinley </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0052"> Thomas Corwin </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0053"> Thomas A. Edison </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0054"> Whitelaw Reid </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0055"> Harriet Beecher Stowe </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0056"> George Kennan </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE. + </h2> + <p> + In the following stories, drawn from the annals of Ohio, I have tried to + possess the reader with a knowledge, in outline at least, of the history + of the State from the earliest times. I cannot suppose that I have done + this with unfailing accuracy in respect to fact, but with regard to the + truth, I am quite sure of my purpose at all times to impart it. + </p> + <p> + The books which have been of most use to me in writing this are the + histories of Francis Parkman; the various publications of Messrs. Robert + Clarke and Co. in the “Ohio Valley Series”; McClung’s + “Sketches of Western Adventure”; “Ohio” (in the + American Commonwealths Series) by Ruf us King; “History and Civil + Government of Ohio,” by B. A. Hinsdale and Mary Hinsdale; “Beginnings + of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley,” by W. H. Venable; Theodore + Roosevelt’s “Winning of the West”; Whitelaw Reid’s + “Ohio in the War”; and above all others, the delightful and + inexhaustible volumes of Henry Howe’s “Historical Collections + of Ohio.” + </p> + <p> + W. D. H. <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + STORIES OF OHIO. + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. THE ICE FOLK AND THE EARTH FOLK. + </h2> + <p> + The first Ohio stories are part of the common story of the wonderful Ice + Age, when a frozen deluge pushed down from the north, and covered a vast + part of the earth’s surface with slowly moving glaciers. The traces + that this age left in Ohio are much the same as it left elsewhere, and the + signs that there were people here ten thousand years ago, when the + glaciers began to melt and the land became fit to live in again, are such + as have been found in the glacier drift in many other countries. Even + before the ice came creeping southwestwardly from the region of Niagara, + and passed over two thirds of our state, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River + there were people here of a race older than the hills, as the hills now + are; for the glaciers ground away the hills as they once were, and made + new ones, with new valleys between them, and new channels for the streams + to run where there had never been water courses before. These earliest + Ohioans must have been the same as the Ohioans of the Ice Age, and when + they had fled southward before the glaciers, they must have followed the + retreat of the melting ice back into Ohio again. No one knows how long + they dwelt here along its edges in a climate like that of Greenland, where + the glaciers are now to be seen as they once were in the region of + Cincinnati. But it is believed that these Ice Folk, as we may call them, + were of the race which still roams the Arctic snows. They seem to have + lived as the Eskimos of our day live: they were hunters and fishers, and + in the gravelly banks of the new rivers, which the glaciers upheaved, the + Ice Folk dropped the axes of chipped stone which are now found there. They + left nothing else behind them; but similar tools or weapons are found in + the glacier-built river banks of Europe, and so it is thought that the + race of the earliest Ohio men lived pretty much all over the world in the + Ice Age. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/017L.jpg" alt="Stone Axes 017l " /> + </div> + <p> + One of the learned writers[*] who is surest of them and has told us most + about them, holds that they were for their time and place as worthy + ancestors as any people could have; and we could well believe this because + the Ohio man has, in all ages, been one of the foremost men. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Professor G. F. Wright. +</pre> + <p> + Our Ice Folk were sturdy, valiant, and cunning enough to cope with the + fierce brute life and the terrible climate of their day, but all they have + left to prove it is the same kind of stone axes that have been found in + the drift of the glaciers, along the water courses in Northern France and + Southern England. + </p> + <p> + Our Ice Folk must have dressed like their far-descended children, the + Eskimos, in furs and skins, and like them they must have lived upon fish + and the flesh of wild beasts. The least terrible of these beasts would + have been the white bear; the mammoth and mastodon were among the animals + the Ice Folk hunted for game, and slew without bows or arrows, for there + was no wood to make these of. The only weapon the Ice Folk had was the + stone ax which they may have struck into their huge prey when they came + upon it sleeping or followed in the chase till it dropped with fatigue. + Such an ax was dug up out of the glacial terrace, as the bank of this + drift is called, in the valley of the Tuscarawas, in 1889, perhaps ten + thousand years after it was left there. It was wrought from a piece of + black flint, four inches long and two inches wide; at the larger end it + was nearly as thick as it was wide, and it was chipped to a sharp edge all + round. Within the present year another of the Ice Folk’s axes has + been found near New London, twenty-two feet under ground, in the same kind + of glacial drift as the first. But it seems to have been made of a + different kind of stone, and to have been so deeply rotted by the long + ages it had been buried that when its outer substance was scratched away, + hardly anything of the hard green rock was left. + </p> + <p> + After the glaciers were gone, the Ohio climate was still very cold, and + vast lakes stretched over the state, freezing in the long winters, and + thawing in the short summers. One of these spread upward from the + neighborhood of Akron to the east and west of where Cleveland stands; but + by far the largest flooded nearly all that part of Ohio which the glaciers + failed to cover, from beyond where Pittsburg is to where Cincinnati is. At + the last point a mighty ice dam formed every winter till as the climate + grew warmer and the ice thawed more and more, the waters burst the dam, + and poured their tide down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, while those + of the northern lake rushed through the Cuyahoga to Lake Erie, and both + lakes disappeared forever. For the next four or five thousand years the + early Ohio men kept very quiet; but we need not suppose for that reason + that there were none. Our Ice Folk, who dropped their stone axes in the + river banks, may have passed away with the Ice Age, or they may have + remained in Ohio, and begun slowly to take on some faint likeness of + civilization. There is nothing to prove that they went, and there is + nothing to prove that they staid; but Ohio must always have been a + pleasant place to live in after the great thaw, and it seems reasonable to + think that the Ice Folk lingered, in part at least, and changed with the + changing climate, and became at last the people who left the signs of + their presence in almost every part of the state. + </p> + <p> + Those were the Mound Builders, whose works are said to be two or three + thousand years old, though we cannot be very sure of that. There are some + who think that the mounds are only a few hundred years old, and that their + builders were the race of red men whom the white men found here. One may + think very much as one likes, and I like to think that the Mound Builders + were a very ancient people, who vanished many ages before the Indians came + here. They could not have been savages, for the region where they dwelt + could not have fed savages enough to heap up the multitude of their + mounds. Each wild man needs fifty thousand acres to live upon, as the wild + man lives by hunting and fishing; in the whole Ohio country, the earliest + white adventurers found only two or three thousand Indians at the most; + and the people who built those forts and temples and tombs, and shaped + from the earth the mighty images of their strange bird-gods and + reptile-gods, could have lived only by tilling the soil. Their mounds are + found everywhere in the west between the Alleghany Mountains and the + Mississippi River, but they are found mostly in Ohio, where their farms + and gardens once bordered the Muskingum, the Scioto, the two Miamis, and + our other large streams, which they probably used as highways to the + rivers of the southwest. + </p> + <p> + Their forts were earthworks, but they were skillfully planned, with a + knowledge which no savage race has shown. They were real strongholds, and + they are so large that some of them inclose hundreds of acres within walls + of earth which still rise ten and twelve feet from the ground. They are on + a far grander scale than the supposed temples or religious works; and + there are more of them than of all the other ruins, except the small + detached mounds, which are almost numberless. + </p> + <p> + These, from the charred bones found among the ashes in them, are known to + be tombs, and they were probably the sepulchers of the common people, + whose bodies were burned. The large mounds are heaped above walled + chambers, and in these were platforms, supposed to have been altars, and + whole skeletons, supposed to be the skeletons of priests buried there. The + priests are supposed to have been the chiefs of the people, and to have + ruled them through their superstitions; but there is nothing to prove + this, for their laws were never put in written words or any other sign of + speech. In some of the mounds little figures of burnt clay have been + found, which may be idols, and pieces of ancient pottery, which may be + fragments of sacred vessels, and small plates of copper, with marks or + scratches on them, which may be letters. Some antiquarians have tried to + read these letters, if they are letters, and to make sense out of them, + but no seeker after true Ohio stories can trust their interpretations. + </p> + <p> + The Mound Builders used very little stone and showed no knowledge of + masonry. But they built so massively out of the earth, that their works + have lasted to this day in many places, just as they left them, except for + the heavy growth of trees, which the first settlers found covering them, + and which were sometimes seven or eight hundred years old. At Marietta, + these works when the white people came were quite perfect and inclosed + fifty acres on the bank of the Muskingum, overlooking the Ohio. They were + in great variety of design. The largest mound was included in the grounds + of the present cemetery, and so has been saved, but the plow of the New + England emigrant soon passed over the foundations of the Mound Builders’ + temples. At Circleville the shape of their fortifications gave its name to + the town, which has long since hid them from sight. One of them was almost + perfectly round, and the other nearly square. The round fort was about + seventy feet in diameter, and was formed of two walls twenty feet high, + with a deep ditch between; the other fort was fifty-five rods square, and + it had no ditch; seven gateways opened into it at the side and corners, + and it was joined to the round fort by an eighth. It is forever to be + regretted that these precious ancient works should have been destroyed to + make place for the present town; but within a few years one of the most + marvelous of the Mound Builders’ works, the great Serpent Mound near + Loudon, in Adams County, has been preserved to after time by the friends + of science, and put in the keeping of the Peabody Museum at Harvard + University. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/019L.jpg" alt="Serpent Mound 019l " /> + </div> + <p> + The state of Ohio has passed a law protecting the land around it as a + park, and there is now reason to hope that the mound will last as long as + the rocky bluff on which the serpent lies coiled. This huge idol is more + than twelve hundred feet long, and is the most wonderful symbol in the + world of the serpent worship, which was everywhere the earliest religion + of our race. + </p> + <p> + The largest military ruin is the famous Fort Ancient in Warren County, + where, on a terrace above the Little Miami River, five miles of wall, + which can still be easily traced, shut in a hundred acres. In Highland + County, about seventeen miles southeast of Hillsborough, another great + fortress embraces thirty-five acres oh the crest of a hill overlooking + Brush Creek. Itswalls are some twenty-five feet wide at the base, and rise + from &ix to ten feet above the ground. Within their circuit are two + ponds which could supply water in time of siege, and in the valley, which + the hill commands, are the ruins of the Mound Builders’ village, + whose people could take refuge in the fort on the hilltop and hold it + against any approaching force. + </p> + <p> + For the rest, the works of the Mound Builders, except such as were too + large to be destroyed by the farmer, have disappeared almost as wholly as + the Mound Builders themselves. Their mole-like race threw up their ridges + and banks and larger and lesser heaps, and then ceased from the face of + the earth, as utterly as if they had burrowed into its heart. They may + have fled before the ancestors of the savages whom our ancestors found + here; they may have passed down peacefully into Mexico and built the + cities which the Spaniards destroyed there. Or, they may have come up out + of Mexico, and lost the higher arts of their civilization in our northern + woods, warring with the wild tribes who were here before them. In either + case, it is imaginable that the Mound Builders were of the same race as + the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, and it is probable that they were akin + to the Zufiis of our own day. The snake dances of the Zufiis are a relic + of the old serpent worship; and the fear and hate which the Zufiis bear + the red savages of the plains may be another heritage from the kindred + race which once peopled our Ohio valleys. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. OHIO AS A PART OF FRANCE. + </h2> + <p> + If the people of Ohio were Eskimos in the ages before history began, and + then thousands of years after, but still thousands of years ago were + Aztecs, there is no doubt that when history first knew of them they were + Frenchmen. The whole Great West, in fact, was once as much a province of + France as Canada; for the dominions of Louis XV. were supposed to stretch + from Quebec to New Orleans, and from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi. + The land was really held by savages who had never heard of this king; but + that was all the same to the French. They had discovered the Great Lakes, + they had discovered the Mississippi, they had discovered the Ohio; and + they built forts at Detroit, at Kaskaskia, and at Pittsburg, as well as at + Niagara; they planted a colony at the mouth of our mightiest river, and + opened a highway to France through the Gulf of Mexico, as well as through + the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and they proclaimed their king sovereign over + all. + </p> + <p> + In Ohio they had a post on the Maumee, and everywhere they had settlements + at each of the forts, where there was always a chapel and a priest for the + conversion of the Indians. With the French, the sword and the cross went + together, but very few of the savages knew that they were either conquered + or converted. From time to time they knew that companies of picturesque + strangers visited their towns, and promised them the favor of the French + king if they would have nothing to do with the traders from the English + colonies on the Atlantic, and threatened them with his displeasure if they + refused. When these brilliant strangers staid among them, and built a fort + and a chapel, and laid out farms, then the savages willingly partook of + the great king’s bounty, and clustered around the French post in + their wigwams and settled down to the enjoyment of his brandy, his + tobacco, his ammunition, and his religion. When the strangers went away, + almost as soon as they had promised and threatened, then the savages went + back to business with the English traders. + </p> + <p> + The company of Frenchmen who visited our Miami Indians at their town of + Pickawillany, on the head waters of the Miami River in 1749, was of this + last sort. It was commanded by the Chevalier Céloron de Bienville, and it + counted some two hundred Canadians and French troops, officered by French + gentlemen, and attended by one of those brave priests who led or followed + wherever the French flag was carried in the wilderness. Céloron was sent + by the governor of Canada to lay claim to the Ohio valley for his king, + and he did this by very simple means. He nailed plates of tin to certain + trees, and he buried plates of lead at the mouths of the larger streams. + The leaden plates no one ever saw for a hundred years, till some boys + going to bathe found them here and there in the wave-worn banks; but if + the Indians could have read anything, or if the English traders could have + read French, they might have learned at once from the tin plates that the + king of France owned the “Ohio River and all the waters that fell + into it, and all the lands on both sides.” As it was, however, it is + hard to see how anybody was the wiser for them, or could know that the + king had upheld his right to the Ohio country by battle and by treaty and + would always defend it. + </p> + <p> + In fact, neither the battles nor the treaties between the French and + English in Europe had really settled the question of their claim to the + West in America, and both sides began to urge it in a time of peace by + every kind of secret and open violence. As for the Miamis and their allies + among the neighboring tribes, they believed that God had created them on + the very spot where Céloron found them living, and when he asked them to + leave their capital at Pickawillany, and go to live near the French post + on the Maumee, they answered him that they would do so when it was more + convenient. He bade them banish the English traders, but they merely hid + them, while he was with them, and as soon as he was gone, they had them + out of hiding, and began to traffic with them. They never found it more + convenient to leave their town, until a few years later, when a force of + Canadians and Christian Indians came down from the post on the Maumee, and + destroyed Pickawillany. + </p> + <p> + Céloron came into the Ohio country through the western part of New York. + He launched his canoes on the head waters of the Beautiful River, as the + French called the Ohio, and drifted down its current till he reached the + mouth of the Great Miami. He worked up this shallow and uncertain stream + into Shelby County, where he had his friendly but fruitless meeting with + the chief of the Miamis. After that he kept on northward to the Maumee, + and then embarked on Lake Erie, and so got back to Canada. It could not be + honestly said that he had done much to make good his king’s claim to + the country with his plates of tin and lead. He had flattered and + threatened the Indians at several places; and the Indians had promised, + over the cups of brandy and pipes of tobacco which he supplied them, to be + good subjects to Louis XV., who was such a very bad king that he did not + deserve even such subjects as they meant to be. They seem not to have + taken Céloron’s warnings very seriously, though he told them that + the English traders would ruin them, and that they were preparing the way + for the English settlers, who would soon swarm into their country, and + drive them out. + </p> + <p> + The Indians did not believe Céloron, and yet he told them the truth. The + English traders were often men of low character, thoroughly dishonest in + their dealings, and the English settlers were only waiting for the end of + the struggle with the French to come and take the Indians’ lands + from them. If the French soldiers and the French priests had won in that + struggle, Ohio and the whole West might now be something like the Province + of Quebec as it was then. The Indians would have been converted to the + Catholic faith, and they would still be found in almost as great numbers + as ever throughout the vast region where hardly one of their blood + remains. + </p> + <p> + But this was not to be. The French built their forts with a keen eye for + the strongest points in the wilderness, and the priests planted the cross + even beyond the forts. But all around and between the forts and the + missions, the traders from our colonies, which afterwards became our + states, stole into the country claimed for the king of France. At that + time, there was peace between the king of France and the king of England + in Europe, and they pretended that there was peace between their nations + in America. They were very civil to each other through their ministers and + ambassadors, over there, but their governors and captains here never + ceased to fight and trick for the ownership of the West. From their forts, + built to curb the English settlers, the French set the savages on to + harass the frontier of our colonies, which their war parties wasted with + theft and fire and murder. Our colonies made a poor defense, because they + were suspicious of one another. New England was suspicious of New York, + New York of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania of Virginia, and the mother country + was suspicious of them all. She was willing that the French should hold + Canada, and keep the colonies from joining together in a revolt against + her, when she could easily have taken that province and freed them from + the inroads of the Canadian Indians. The colonies would not unite against + the common enemy, for fear one would have more advantage than another from + their union; but their traders went out singly, through the West, and + trading companies began to be formed in Pennsylvania and Virginia. While + Céloron was in Ohio claiming the whole land for the king of France, the + king of England was granting a great part of the same to a company of + Virginians, with the right to settle it and fortify it The Virginia + Company sent its agents to visit the Miamis at Pickawillany a year later, + and bound them to the English by gifts of brandy, tobacco, beads, gay + cloths, and powder. + </p> + <p> + The allied tribes, who had their capital at Pickawillany, numbered some + two thousand in all. The Miamis themselves are said to have been of the + same family as the great Iroquois nation of the East, who had beaten their + rivals of the Algonquin nation, and forced them to bear the name of women. + But many of the Ohio Indians were Delawares, who were of the Algonquin + family; they were by no means patient of the name of women, and they and + their friends now took the side of the French against the English. When at + last the West, together with the whole of Canada, fell to the English and + there presently began to be trouble between the American colonists and the + English king, all the Indians, both Iroquois and Algonquins took part + against the Americans. A little victory for either side, however, with + gifts of brandy and tobacco, would turn their savage hearts toward the + victors; and one must not be too confident in saying that the Indians were + always for the French against the English, or always for the English + against the Americans. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/030.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Pichawillany, Chief Town of the Miamis 030 " /> + </div> + <p> + In fact, one must speak mostly of the Indians in words that have a double + sense. The old explorers, missionaries, soldiers, and traders all talk of + nations, towns, villages, kings, half-kings, queens, and princes, but + these words present false images to our minds. Calling the chief town of + the Miamis at Pickawillany their capital gives the notion of some such + capital as Columbus or Washington; but if we imagine the chief town of the + Miamis as it really was, we see some hundreds of wigwams in straggling + clusters along the banks of the river, in the shadow of the ancient woods, + or in the sunshine of the beautiful meadows, as the earliest white + visitors to Ohio called the small prairies which they came upon in the + heart of the forests. We see a large council house of bark, as nearly in + the midst of the scattered huts as may be, where the Miamis hold their + solemn debates, receive embassies from other tribes, welcome their + warriors home from their forays, and celebrate their feasts and dances. We + see fields bordering the village, where the squaws plant their corn and + beans, and the maple groves where they make their sugar. Among the men and + boys we see the busy idleness of children, all day long, except when the + grown-up children go out upon a hunt, or take the warpath. Sometimes we + see an English trader coming with his merchandise and presents, or a + captive brought in to be tortured and burnt, or adopted into the tribe. + </p> + <p> + The tribes in the Ohio country were far abler than those that the English + first met to the eastward, and they were fiercer than the fiercest which + the Americans have at last brought under control in the plains of the Far + West. Pitiless as Sioux and Apache and Comanche have shown themselves in + their encounters with the whites in our day, they were surpassed in + ferocity by the Shawnees, the Wyandots, and the Miamis whom the + backwoodsmen met in a thousand fights, a century or a century and a half + ago. The Ohio Indians were unspeakably vicious, treacherous, and filthy, + but they were as brave as they were vile, and they were as sagacious as + they were false. They produced men whom we must call orators, statesmen, + and generals, even when tested by the high standards of civilization. They + excelled us in the art of war as it was adapted to the woods, and they + despised the stupid and wasteful courage of the disciplined English + soldier. Till the white men studied war from them they were always beaten + in their fights with the red men, and it was hardly the fault of the + Indians if the pioneers learned from them to be savages: to kill women and + children as well as armed men, to tomahawk and scalp the wounded, to + butcher helpless prisoners. But this befell, and it is this which makes + many of the stories of Ohio so bloody. We must know their hideous facts + fully if we would know them truly, or if we would realize the life that + once passed in the shadows of our woods. + </p> + <p> + The region that we now call Ohio was wonderfully varied and pleasant. The + many rivers that watered it cleared their space to the sky where they ran, + and here and there the meadows or prairies smiled to the sun in grass and + flowers. But everywhere else there was the gloom of forests unbroken since + the Mound Builders left the land. The long levels that bordered the great + lake at the north, the noble hills that followed the course of the + Beautiful River, the gently varied surfaces of the center, and the + southwest, the swamps and morasses of the northwest, were nearly + everywhere densely wooded. Our land was a woodland, and its life, when it + first became known to the white man, was the stealthy and cruel life of + the forest. Where the busy Mound Builders once swarmed, scanty tribes of + savages lurked in the leafy twilight, hunting and fishing, and warring + upon one another. They came and went upon their errands of death and + rapine by trails unseen to other eyes, till the keen traders of + Pennsylvania and Virginia began to find their way over them to their + villages, and to traffic with the savages for the furs which formed their + sole wealth. + </p> + <p> + All is dim and vague in any picture of the time and place that we can + bring before us. There are the fathomless forests, broken by the prairies + and rivers; there are the Indian towns widely scattered along the larger + streams throughout the whole region; there are the French posts on the + northern border, with each a priest and a file of soldiers, and a few + Canadian farmers and traders. Under the cover of peace between the French + king and the English king, there is a constant grapple between the French + soldiers and the English settlers for the possession of the wilds which + shall one day be the most magnificent empire under the sun; there are the + war parties of Indians falling stealthily upon the English borders to the + eastward; there is the steady pressure of the backwoodsman westward, in + spite of every hardship and danger, in spite of treaties, in spite of + rights and promises. These are the main features of the picture whose + details the imagination strives to supply, with a teasing sense of the + obscurity resting upon the whole. It is all much farther off than ancient + Rome, much stranger than Greece; but it is the beginning of a mighty + history, which it rests with the children of this day, and their children + after them, to make the happiest and noblest chapter in the history of the + world. It is a part of that greater history, and I should like my young + readers to remember that the Ohio stories which I hope to tell them are + important chiefly because they are human stories, and record incidents in + the life of the whole race. They cannot be taken from this without losing + their finest meanings. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. OHIO BECOMES ENGLISH. + </h2> + <p> + Neither the French nor the English had any right to the Ohio country which + they both claimed. If it belonged to any people of right, it belonged to + the savages, who held it in their way before the whites came, and who now + had to choose which nation should call itself their master. They chose the + French, and they chose wisely for themselves as savages; for, as I have + said, if the French had prevailed in the war that was coming, the Indians + could have kept their forests and lived their forest life as before. The + French would have been satisfied in the West as they had been in the + North, with their forts and trading stations, and the Indians could have + hunted, and fished, and trapped, as they had always done. In fact, the + French people would often have become like them. They understood the + Indians and liked them; sometimes they mated with them, and their children + grew up as wild as their mothers. The religion that the French priests + taught the Indians, pleased while it awed them, and it scarcely changed + their native customs. + </p> + <p> + Wherever the English came, the Indians’ woods were wasted, and the + Indians were driven out of the land. + </p> + <p> + The English tried neither to save their souls nor to win their hearts; + they both hated and despised the savages, and ruthlessly destroyed them. + Now, when the smoldering strife between the French and English in the West + burst into an open flame of war between the two nations, the Western + tribes took the side of those whom reason and instinct taught them to know + as their best friends. + </p> + <p> + But ten years after Céloron visited Ohio, Wolfe captured Quebec, and + France gave up to England not only the whole of Canada, but the whole of + the vast region between the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, and kept for + herself only the Province of Louisiana. The Indians were left to their + fate, and they made what terms they could with the English. They promised + peace, but they broke their promises, and constantly harassed the outlying + English settlements. At one time they joined together under the great + chief Pontiac, and tried to win back the West for themselves. The French + forts had been ceded to Great Britain and garrisoned with British troops, + and the allied Indians now took all of these but Detroit and Fort Pitt. In + the end they failed, and then they made peace again, but still they kept + up their forays along the English borders. They stole horses and cattle, + they burned houses and barns, they killed men, women, and children, or + carried them off into captivity. In the Ohio country alone their captives + counted hundreds, though the right number could never be known, for they + could easily be kept out of the way when the tribes were summoned to give + them up. + </p> + <p> + It was the same story in the West that it had been in the East, and the + North, and the South, wherever the savages fell upon the lonely farms or + the scattered hamlets of the frontiers, and it was not ended until our own + day, when the Indians were at last shut up in reservations. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:28%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/036R.jpg" + alt="Indians Carry off the Women 036r " /> + </div> + <p> + It was their custom to carry off the women and children. If the children + were hindered the march of their mothers, or if they cried and endangered + or annoyed their captors, they were torn a hawked, or their brains were + dashed out against the trees. But if they were well grown, and strong + enough to keep up with the rest, they were hurried sometimes hundreds of + miles into the wilderness. There the fate of all prisoners was decided in + solemn council of the tribe. If any men had been taken, especially such as + had made a hard fight for their freedom and had given proof of their + courage, they were commonly tortured to death by fire in celebration of + the victory won over them; though it sometimes happened that young men who + had caught the fancy or affection of the Indians were adopted by the + fathers of sons lately lost in battle. The older women became the slaves + and drudges of the squaws and the boys and girls were parted from their + mothers and scattered among the savage families. The boys grew up hunters + and trappers, like the Indian boys, and the girls grew up like the Indian + girls, and did the hard work which the warriors always left to the women. + The captives became as fond of their wild, free life as the savages + themselves, and they found wives and husbands among the youths and maidens + of their tribe. If they were given up to their own people, as might happen + in the brief intervals of peace, they pined for the wilderness, which + called to their homesick hearts, and sometimes they stole back to it. They + seem rarely to have been held for ransom, as the captives of the Indians + of the Western plains were in our time. It was a tie of real love that + bound them and their savage friends together, and it was sometimes + stronger than the tie of blood. But this made their fate all the crueler + to their kindred; for whether they lived or whether they died, they were + lost to the fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters whom they had + been torn from; and it was little consolation to these that they had found + human mercy and tenderness in the breasts of savages who in all else were + like ravening beasts. It was rather an agony added to what they had + already suffered to know that somewhere in the trackless forests to the + westward there was growing up a child who must forget them. The time came + when something must be done to end all this and to put a stop to the + Indian attacks on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The jealous + colonies united with the jealous mother country, and a little army of + British regulars and American recruits was sent into Ohio under the lead + of Colonel Henry Bouquet to force the savages to give up their captives. + </p> + <p> + This officer, who commanded the king’s troops at Philadelphia, was a + young Swiss who had fought in the great wars of Europe, in the service of + the king of Piedmont and of the Dutch republic, before he was given a + commission by the king of Great Britain. He had distinguished himself by + his bravery, his skill, and his good sense. He seems to have been the + first European commander to disuse the rules of European warfare, and to + take a lesson from our pioneers in fighting the Indians, and the year + before he set out for the Ohio country, he had beaten the tribes in a + battle that taught them to respect him. They found that they had no such + wrong-headed leader as Braddock to deal with; and that they could not hope + to ambush Bouquet’s troops, and shoot them down like cattle in a + pen; and the news of his coming spread awe among them. + </p> + <p> + He gathered his forces together at Fort Pitt, after many delays. At one + time a full third of his colonial recruits deserted him, but he waited + till he had made up their number again, and then he started at the head of + fifteen hundred men, on the 3d of October, 1764. A body of Virginians went + first in three scouting parties, one on the right and one on the left, to + beat up the woods for lurking enemies, and one in the middle with a guide, + to lead the way. Then came the pioneers with their axes, and two companies + of light infantry followed, to clear the way for the main body of the + troops. A column of British regulars, two deep, marched in the center with + a file of regulars on their right, and a file of Pennsylvanian recruits on + their left. + </p> + <p> + Two platoons of regulars came after these; then came a battalion of + Pennsylvanians in single file on the right and left, and between them the + convoy, with the ammunition and tools first, then the officers’ + baggage and tents, then the sheep and oxen in separate droves for the + subsistence of the army, then the pack horses with other provisions. A + party of light horsemen followed, and last of all another body of + Virginians brought up the rear. The men marched in silence, six feet from + one another, ready, if any part of the force halted, to face outward, and + prepare to meet an attack. + </p> + <p> + The Indians hung upon Bouquet’s march in large numbers at first, but + when they saw the perfect order and discipline of his army, and the + knowledge of their own tactics which he showed in disposing his men, they + fell away, and he kept his course unmolested, so that in two weeks he + reached a point in the Ohio country which he could now reach in two hours, + if he took rail from Pittsburg direct. But the wonder is for what he did + then, and not for what he could do now. His two weeks’ march through + the wilderness was a victory such as had never been achieved before, and + it moved the imagination of the Indians more than if he had fought them + the whole way. + </p> + <p> + His quiet firmness in establishing his force in the heart of their + country, where they had gathered the strength of their tribes from all the + outlying regions, must have affected them still more. At the first halt he + made on the Muskingum, they sent some of their chiefs to parley with him, + but he gave them short and stern answers, bidding them be ready to bring + in their captives from every tribe and family; and again took up his march + along the river till he reached the point where the Tuscarawas and + Waldhonding meet to form the Muskingum. There his axmen cleared a space in + the forest, and his troops built a town, rather than pitched a camp. They + put up four redoubts, one at each corner of the town, and fortified it + with a strong stockade. Within this they built a council house, where the + Indians could come and make speeches to their hearts’ content, and + deliver up their captives. Three separate buildings, one for the captives + from each of the colonies, with the officers’ quarters, the soldiers’ + cabins, the kitchens, and the ovens, were inclosed within the fort, and + the whole was kept in a neatness and order such as the savages had never + seen, with military severity. + </p> + <p> + The tribes soon began to bring in their prisoners, each chief giving up + the captives of his tribe with long harangues, and many gifts of wampum, + as pledges of good faith, and promises of a peace never to be broken. They + said they had not merely buried the hatchet now, where it might sometime + be dug up, but they had thrown it into the sky to the Great Spirit, who + would never give it back again. They wished Bouquet to notice that they no + longer called the English brothers, as they commonly did when they were + friendly, but they called them fathers, and they meant to be their + children and to do their bidding like children. They made him a great + number of flattering speeches, and he gravely listened to their + compliments, but as to the reasons they gave for breaking their promises + in the past he dealt very frankly with them. He reminded them of their + treacheries, and cruelties of all kinds, and of their failure to restore + their captives after they had pledged themselves to do so, and he said, + “This army shall not leave your country till you have fully complied + with every condition that is to precede my treaty with you.... I give you + twelve days from this date to deliver into my hands all the prisoners in + your possession, without any exception; Englishmen, Frenchmen, women and + children, whether adopted into your tribes, married or living amongst you + under any pretense whatsoever, together with all negroes. And you are to + furnish the said prisoners with clothing, provisions, and horses, to carry + them to Fort Pitt.... You shall then know on what terms you may obtain the + peace you sue for.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/041.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Indians Delivering up Captives 041 " /> + </div> + <p> + These words are said to have quite broken the spirit of the savages, + already overawed by the presence of such an army as they had never seen in + their country before. One of the great chiefs of the Delawares said: + “With this string of wampum we wipe the tears from your eyes, we + deliver you these prisoners... we gather and bury with this belt all the + bones of the people that have been killed during this unhappy war, which + the Evil Spirit occasioned among us. We cover the bones that have been + buried, that they may never more be remembered. We again cover their place + with leaves that it may no more be seen. As we have been long astray, and + the path between you and us stopped, we extend this belt that it may be + again cleared.... While you hold it fast by one end, and we by the other, + we shall always be able to discover anything that may disturb our + friendship.” + </p> + <p> + Bouquet answered that he had heard them with pleasure, and that in + receiving these last prisoners from them he joined with them in burying + the bones of those who had fallen in the war, so that the place might no + more be known. “The peace you ask for, you shall now have,” he + said, but he told them that it was his business to make war, and the + business of others to make peace, and he instructed them how and with whom + they were to treat. He took hostages from them, and he dealt with the + other tribes on the same terms as they brought in their captives. On the + 18th of November, he broke up his camp and marched back to Fort Pitt, with + more than two hundred men, women, and children whom he had delivered from + captivity among the savages. + </p> + <p> + It is believed that six hundred others were never given up. The captives + were not always glad to go back to their old homes, and the Indians had + sometimes to use force in bringing them to the camp where their friends + and kindred who had come with Bouquet’s army were waiting to receive + them. Many had been taken from their homes when they were so young that + they could not remember them, and they had learned to love the Indians, + who had brought them up like their own children, and treated them as + lovingly as the fathers and mothers from whom they had been stolen. In the + charm of the savage life these children of white parents had really become + savages; and certain of the young girls had grown up and married Indian + husbands to whom they were tenderly attached. The scenes of parting + between all these were very touching on both sides, and it is told of one + Indian who had married a Virginian girl that he followed her back to the + frontier at the risk of his life from her people. The Indians gave up the + captives often so dear to them, with tears and lamentations, while on the + other hand their kindred waited to receive them in an anguish of hope and + fear. As the captives came into the camp, parents sought among them for + the little ones they had lost, and husbands for the wives who had been + snatched from their desolated homes. Brothers and sisters met after a + parting so long that one or other had forgotten the language they once + spoke in common. The Indians still hung about the camp, and came every day + to visit their former prisoners and bring them gifts. When the army took + up its march some of them asked leave to follow it back to Fort Pitt, and + on the way they supplied their adopted children and brothers with game, + and sought in every way to show their love for them. + </p> + <p> + Bouquet reached Pittsburg in ten days, without the loss of a single life + at the hands of the savages, and with all his men in excellent health. + Each day of his march he had pitched his camp among scenes of sylvan + loveliness, on the banks of the pleasant streams that watered the fertile + levels and the wild meadows, or wound through the rich valleys between the + low hills. It would have been wonderful if his Pennsylvanian and Virginian + recruits had not looked upon the land with covetous eyes: even the fathers + and husbands and brothers who had come seeking their kindred among the + Indians, had seen it with a longing to plant their homes in it. Its charms + had been revealed to great numbers of the people who had known of it only + from the traders before, and the savage was doomed from that time to lose + it; for it already belonged to the king of England, and it rested with the + English colonists to come and take it; or so, at least, they thought. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. THE FORTY YEARS’ WAR FOR THE WEST. + </h2> + <p> + The French king gave up the West to the English king in 1763, but, as we + have seen, the Indians had no part in the bargain. They only knew that + they were handed over by those who had been their friends to those who had + been their enemies, and they did not consent. They had made war upon the + English colonists before, and now, in spite of the failure of Pontiac, and + in spite of Bouquet’s march into the Ohio country, they kept up + their warfare for forty years, with a truce when it was convenient, and a + treaty of peace when it was convenient, but with a steadfast purpose to + drive the English settlers out, and to hold the wilderness for themselves. + It was not until long after their power was broken by the American arms in + 1794 that their struggle ended in the region which ten years later became + the state of Ohio. + </p> + <p> + There was misunderstanding on both sides. The Indians naturally supposed + that their own country belonged to them, and the colonists supposed that + their eastern and western borders were the two oceans. These were commonly + the boundaries which the English king had given them; and when he had not + been quite clear about it in his grants of territory which he had never + even imagined, they did not allow him to deal less splendidly with them + than such a prince ought. He had, as we know, given the Ohio Company of + Virginia a large tract of the best land beyond the Ohio even while the + French still claimed the West, and he had encouraged the Virginians to + believe they had a right to settle it and to fortify it. But after the + capture of Quebec, when the West, as well as Canada, fell into the power + of Great Britain, the English king, or rather his ministers, began to + change their minds about letting the colonists take up lands in the Back + Country, as they called it. The jealousy between the colonies grew less, + but the jealousy between them and Great Britain grew greater; there were + outbreaks here and there against her rule, and there was discontent nearly + everywhere. The colonists were disappointed and embittered that the West + should be treated as a part of Canada, by the mother country, when it + ought to have been shared among the English provinces. The British + government tried to hinder the settlement of the whites on the Indians’ + lands; and though it could not keep them off altogether, it did enough to + make the savages feel that it was their friend against its own subjects. + In 1774, Parliament passed a law which declared the whole West, between + the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and below the Great Lakes, a part of the + Province of Quebec. This was felt by our colonies to be so great an injury + that it was charged against Great Britain in the Declaration of + Independence, as one of the causes for separation. It was in fact an act + hostile to a people of the British race, language, and religion, and it + was meant not so much to help the savages, as to hurt the colonists, + though it did really help the savages. When the Revolutionary War broke + out a year or two later, the British government did not scruple to make + use of the cruel hatred of the Indians against its rebellious subjects. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/047.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Indian War Parties Joining the English 047 " /> + </div> + <p> + It set on the war parties that harried the American border, and when the + blood-stained braves came back with their plunder, their captives, and the + scalps of the men, women, and children they had murdered, they were + welcomed at the British forts as friends and allies. In certain cases, to + be sure, British officers did what they could to soften the hard fate of + the prisoners, but the British government was guilty, nevertheless, of the + barbarous deeds done by the Indians. Its agents furnished them with arms + and ammunition, and its ministers upheld them in the same atrocities + against the American rebels as the French in their time had urged and + tempted them to commit against the settlers when they were English + subjects. + </p> + <p> + At the end of the Revolutionary War, the Indians were as slow to lay down + their arms as they had been after the French War. In each case they fought + the victors, as far as they could get at them in the persons of the + hapless backwoodsmen and their wives and children. These backwoodsmen did + not change greatly, in their way of life, during that long Indian war of + forty years. They were of the hardy English, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish stock + which a generation or two in the wilderness had toughened and + strengthened. They had not yet ciphered it out that one red hunter and + trapper must waste the fifty thousand acres which would support the + families of a hundred white farmers in comfort and prosperity; but they + knew that to the westward there was a region, vast and rich beyond + anything words could say, and they longed to possess it, with a hunger + that was sometimes a pitiless greed, and always a resistless desire. Yet + it was not until the French gave up this region that they could even + venture lawlessly into it, and it was not until it fell from Great Britain + to the new power of the United States that the borderers began openly to + press into the backwoods, singly as hunters and trappers, in families as + neighborhoods as the founders of villages and towns. The pioneers felt + that they were going to take their own wherever they found it, from the + savages who could not and would not use it, and they were right, for the + land truly belongs to him who will use it. The savages felt that the + pioneers were coming to take their own from them, for in their way they + were using the land; and they were right, too. All that is left for us to + ask at this late day is which could use the land best and most; and there + can hardly be any doubt of the answer. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:34%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/049.jpg" alt="Pioneers 049l " /> + </div> + <p> + To understand the situation clearly, the reader must keep in mind certain + dates. Céloron de Bienville visited the Miamis in 1749, and the French + kept the Ohio Indians on the warpath against the English settlements to + the eastward until 1763, when they gave up the West to Great Britain. + Then, until 1775, the savages alone fought the settlers as the subjects of + the English king. The Revolutionary War broke out, and the Indians became + the allies of the British. Then, in 1783, their country was given up to + the United States, and they still fought their old enemies, who had not + changed their nature by changing their name to Americans. In 1794, the + great battle of Fallen Timbers was fought on the banks of the Maumee, and + the long struggle was ended. + </p> + <p> + It had grown more and more fierce and cruel as time passed, and only three + years before General Wayne won his lasting victory, General St. Clair had + suffered his terrible defeat by the Indians. Through this defeat, the + power of the whites in the West was shaken as it had never been before; + the savages were filled with pride and hope by the greatest triumph they + had achieved over their enemies; and all the settlements in the + Northwestern Territory were endangered. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps I had better say seemed endangered. The Indians were really less + to be feared than at any time before. They were weaker, and the whites + were stronger. They were striving against destiny; and though their fate + was sealed with the blood of their enemies, their fate was sealed. All the + chances that had favored them had favored them in vain, and neither their + wily courage nor their pitiless despair availed them against the people + who outnumbered them, as the stems of the harvest field outnumber the + trees of the forest. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. THE CAPTIVITY OF JAMES SMITH + </h2> + <p> + The stories of captivity among the Ohio Indians during the war that ended + in 1794 would of themselves fill a much larger book than this is meant to + be. Most of them were never set down, but some of them were very + thrillingly told, and others very touchingly, either by the captives + themselves, or by such of their friends as were better able to write them + out. One, at least, is charming, and the narrative of Colonel James Smith + deserves a chapter by itself, not only because it is charming, but because + it shows the Indians in a truer and kindlier light than they were often + able to show themselves. + </p> + <p> + Smith was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, which in 1737 was the + frontier of the white settlement, and he was taken prisoner in 1755, by a + small party of Delawares, near Bedford, while he was helping to cut a road + for the passage of General Braddock’s ill-fated expedition against + the French. The Indians hurried from the English border, and forced him to + run with them nearly the whole way to Fort Duquesne, which afterwards + became Fort Pitt, and is now Pittsburg. A large body of savages was + encamped outside the post, and there Smith expected to be burned to death + with the tortures he afterwards saw inflicted upon many other prisoners; + but he was only made to run the gantlet. Two lines of Indians were drawn + up, with sticks in their hands, and Smith dashed at the top of his speed + between their ranks. He was cruelly beaten, and before he reached the goal + he fell senseless. When he came to himself he was in the hands of a French + surgeon. He was well cared for, and he lived in hopes of rescue by + Braddock’s army, which was marching against Fort Duquesne in greater + force than had ever been sent into the wilderness. But while he was still + so broken and bruised as to be scarcely able to walk, the Indians came in + with plunder and prisoners from the scene of their bloody victory over the + British troops. + </p> + <p> + A little later, Smith’s captors claimed him from the French, and + carried him to an Indian town on the Muskingum. The day after their + arrival a number of the Indians came to him, and one of them began to pull + out his hair, dipping his fingers in ashes to get a better hold, and + plucking it away hair by hair till it was all gone except a lock on the + crown. This they plaited with strings of beadwork and silver brooches, and + then they bored his ears and nose and put rings in them. They painted his + face and body in different colors, hung a band of wampum about his neck, + and fitted his arm with bracelets of silver. An old chief led him into the + street of the village, and gave the alarm halloo, when all the Delawares, + Caughnewagas, and Mohicans of the place came running, and formed round the + chief, who held Smith by the hand, and made them a long speech. He then + gave Smith over to three young squaws, who pulled him into the river + waist-deep, and made signs to him that he should plunge his head into the + water. But Smith’s head was full of the tortures of the prisoners + whom he had seen burnt at Fort Duquesne; he believed all these ceremonies + were the preparations for his death, and he would neither duck. + </p> + <p> + He struggled with them, amidst the shouts and laughter of the Indians on + the shore, until one of them managed to say in English, “No hurt + you,” when he suffered them to plunge him under the water and rub at + him as long as they chose. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/053.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Indian Baptism of James Smith 053 " /> + </div> + <p> + By this means they washed away his white blood, and he was adopted into + the tribe in place of a great chief who had lately died. He seems never to + have known why this honor was done him; but he was then a lusty young + fellow of eighteen who might well have taken the fancy of some of his + captors; and he probably fell into their hands at a moment which their + superstition rendered fortunate for him. + </p> + <p> + When the squaws had done with him, he was taken up into the council house + of the village, where he was dressed in a new ruffled shirt, leggins + trimmed with ribbons and wrought with beads, and moccasins embroidered + with porcupine quills. His face was painted afresh, and his scalp lock + tied up with red feathers; he was given a pipe and tobacco pouch and + seated upon a bear skin, while one of the chiefs addressed him in the + presence of the assembled warriors. “My son,” so the speech + was interpreted to Smith, “you are now flesh of our flesh and bone + of our bone. You are taken into the Caughnewaga nation, and initiated into + a warlike tribe; you are adopted into a great family... in the room and + place of a great man. After what has passed this day, you are now one of + us by an old strong law and custom. My son, you have now nothing to fear; + we are now under the same obligations to love, support, and defend you, + that we are to love and defend one another; therefore you are to consider + yourself as one of our people.” + </p> + <p> + A grand feast of boiled venison and green corn followed, and Smith took + part in it on the same terms as all the rest of his tribe and family. In + due time he found out that no word the chief had addressed him was idly + spoken, and he began to live the life of the savages like one of + themselves, under the affectionate care and constant instruction of his + brethren. He was given a gun, at first, and sent to hunt turkeys, but he + came upon the trace of buffalo, and was lured on by the hope of larger + game, and so lost his way. The Indians found him again easily enough, but + as a punishment for his rashness his gun was taken from him, and for two + years he was allowed to carry only a bow and arrows. Once when the hunters + had killed a bear and he went out with a party to bring in the meat, Smith + complained of the weight of his load; the Indians laughed at him, and to + shame him they gave part of his burden to a young squaw who already had as + much as he to carry. At another time, he went to the fields with some + other young men to watch the squaws hoeing corn; one of these challenged + him to take her hoe, and he did so, and hoed for some time with the women. + They were delighted and praised his skill, but when he came back to the + village, the old chiefs rebuked him, telling him that he was adopted in + the place of a great man, and it was unworthy of him to hoe corn like a + squaw. + </p> + <p> + Smith owns that he never gave them a chance to chide him a second time for + such unseemly behavior. After that he left all the hard work to the squaws + like a true Indian, and guarded his dignity as a hunter. He was never + trusted, or at least he was never asked, to take part in any of the forays + against the white frontier, when from time to time parties were sent to + the Pennsylvania borders to take scalps and steal horses. It was a + sorrowful thing for him when his savage brethren set forth on these + errands of theft and murder among his kindred by race, and it was long + before he could make the least show of returning their affection. + </p> + <p> + It was not until they gave him back some books which they had brought him + from other prisoners, but had then taken from him for some caprice, that + he says he felt his heart warm towards them. They pretended that the books + had been lost, but declared that they were glad they had been found, for + they knew that he was grieved at the loss of them. “Though they had + been exceedingly kind to me,” he says, “I still as before + detested them, on account of the barbarity I beheld after Braddock’s + defeat. Neither had I ever before pretended kindness, or expressed myself + in a friendly manner; but now I began to excuse the Indians on account of + their want of information.” + </p> + <p> + The family which Smith had been taken into did not stay long in the + Muskingum country, but began the wandering life of the hunters and + trappers, working northward mostly, and visiting the shores and waters of + Lake Erie. It was all very pleasant and full of a wild charm while the + fine weather lasted, especially for the men, who had nothing to do but to + bring in the game and fish for the squaws to cook and care for. The squaws + made the sugar in the spring; they felled the trees and fashioned from the + barks the troughs to catch the maple sap, which they boiled down into + sugar; they planted and tended the fields of corn and beans; they did + everything that was like work, indoors and out, and the men did nothing + that was not like play or war. While their plenty lasted, it was for all; + when the dearth came, every one shared it. But in this free, sylvan life + there was the grace of an unstinted hospitality. The stranger was pressed + to make the lodge of his host his home, and he was given the best of his + store. One day when his Indian brother came in from the hunt, Smith told + him that a passing Wyandot had visited their camp, and he had given him + roast venison. “And I suppose you gave him also sugar and bear’s + oil to eat with his venison?” Smith confessed that as the sugar and + bear’s oil were in the canoe, he did not go for them. His brother + told him he had behaved just like a Dutchman, and he asked, “Do you + not know that when strangers come to our camp we are to give them the best + we have?” Smith owned that he had been wrong, and then his brother + excused him because he was so young; but he bade him learn to behave like + a warrior, and do great things, and never be caught in any such mean + actions again. + </p> + <p> + The Indians were as prompt to praise and reward what they thought fine in + him, as to rebuke what they deemed unworthy; and the second winter that + they spent in Northern Ohio, they gave him a gun again for the courage and + endurance he twice showed when he had lost his way from camp. Once when he + was caught in a heavy storm of snow; he passed the night in the hollow of + a tree, which he made snug by blocking it up with brush and pieces of + wood, and by chopping the rotten inside of the trunk with his hatchet + until he had a soft, warm bed. Another time, when he was looking at his + beaver traps he was overtaken by the dark, and kept himself from freezing + by dancing and shouting till daylight. His Indian friends honored him for + his wise behavior, and as they had now beaver skins enough, they carried + them to the French post at Detroit, where they bought a gun for him. They + bought for themselves a keg of brandy, and they paid Smith the compliment, + when he refused to drink, of making him one of the guards set over the + drinkers to keep them from killing one another. He helped bring them + safely through their debauch, but nothing could prevent their spending all + they had got for their beaver skins in more and more brandy. Then they + went back sick and sorry to the woods again. + </p> + <p> + The family Smith was taken into was honored for its uncommon virtue and + wisdom. His two brothers, Tontileaugo and Tecaughretanego were men of + great sense, with good heads and good hearts. They treated Smith with the + greatest love and patience, and took him to task with affectionate + mildness when he transgressed the laws of taste or feeling. The Indians + all despised the white settlers, whom they thought stupid and cowardly, + and they expected to drive them beyond the sea. They despised them for + their impiety, and Tecaughretanego once said to Smith, “As you have + lived with the white people, you have not had the same advantage of + knowing that the Great Being above feeds his people and gives them their + meat in due season, as we Indians have, who are wonderfully supplied, and + that so frequently that it is evidently the hand of the Great Owaneeyo + that doeth this; whereas the white people have commonly large flocks of + tame cattle, that they can kill when they please, and also their barns and + cribs filled with grain, and therefore have not the same opportunity of + seeing and knowing that they are supported by the ruler of Heaven and + Earth.” + </p> + <p> + At this time the Indians were suffering from the famine that their waste + and improvidence had brought upon them; and perhaps Smith might have said + something on the white man’s side. But he had nothing to say when + rebuked for smiling at Tecaughretanego’s sacrifice of the last leaf + of his tobacco to the Great Spirit “Brother, I have something to say + to you, and I hope you will not be offended when I tell you of your + faults. You know that when you were reading your books, I would not let + the boys or any one disturb you; but now when I was praying I saw you + laughing. I do not think you look upon praying as a foolish thing; I + believe you pray yourself. But perhaps you think my mode or manner of + prayer foolish; if so, you ought in a friendly manner to instruct me, and + not make sport of sacred things.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/059.jpg" alt="An Indian Prayer 059l" /> + </div> + <p> + The prayer which Tecaughretanego thought ought to have escaped Smith’s + derision was one which he made after he began to get well from a long + sickness; and it was certainly very quaint; but if the Father of all + listens most kindly to those children of his who come to him simply and + humbly, he could not have been displeased with this old Indian’s + petition. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Great Being, I thank thee that I have obtained the use of my + legs again, that I am now able to walk about and kill turkeys without + feeling exquisite pain and misery: I know that thou art a hearer and a + helper, and therefore I will call upon thee. <i>Oh, ho, ho, ho!</i> grant + that my ankles and knees may be right well, and that I may be able not + only to walk, but to run and to jump as I did last fall. <i>Oh, ho, ho, + ho!</i> grant that on this voyage we may frequently kill bears, as they + may be crossing the Scioto and Sandusky. <i>Oh, ho, ho, ho!</i> grant that + we may kill plenty of turkeys along the banks, to stew with our bear meat. + <i>Oh, ho, ho, ho!</i> grant that rain may come to raise the Olentangy + about two or three feet, that we may cross in safety down to the Scioto, + without danger of our canoe being wrecked on the rocks. And now, oh, Great + Being, thou knowest how matters stand—thou knowest that I am a great + lover of tobacco, and that though I know not when I may get any more, I + now make a present of the last I have unto thee, as a free burnt offering. + Therefore I request that thou wilt hear and grant these requests, and I + thy servant will return thee thanks, and love thee for thy gifts.” + </p> + <p> + Smith tells us that a few days after Tecaughretanego made his prayer and + offered up his tobacco, rain came and raised the Olentangy high enough to + let them pass safely into the Scioto. He does not say whether he thought + this was the effect of the old Indian’s piety, but he always speaks + reverently of Tecaughretanego’s religion. He is careful to impress + the reader again and again with the importance of the Indian family he had + been taken into, and with the wisdom as well as the goodness of + Tecaughretanego, who held some such place among the Ottawas, he says, as + Socrates held among the Athenians. He was against the Indians’ + taking part in the war between the French and English; he believed they + ought to leave these to fight out their own quarrels; and in all the + affairs of his people, he favored justice, truth, and honesty. The + Indians, indeed, never stole from one another, but they thought it quite + right to rob even their French allies; and it will help us to a real + understanding of their principles, if we remember that the good and wise + Tecaughretanego is never shown as rebuking the cruelty and treachery of + the war parties in their attacks on the English settlements. The Indian’s + virtues are always for his own tribe; outside of it, all the crimes are + virtues, and it is right to lie, to cheat, to steal, to kill; as it was + with our own ancestors when they lived as tribes. + </p> + <p> + Smith was always treated like one of themselves by his Indian brothers, + and he had a deep affection for them. Once, in a time of famine, when + Tecaughretanego lay helpless in his cabin, suffering patiently with the + rheumatism which crippled him, Smith hunted two whole days without killing + any game, and then came home faint with hunger and fatigue. + Tecaughretanego bade his little son bring him a broth which the boy had + made with some wildcat bones left by the buzzards near the camp, and when + Smith had eaten he rebuked him for his despair, and charged him never + again to doubt that God would care for him, because God always cared for + those children of his who trusted in him, as the Indians did, while the + white men trusted in themselves. The next day Smith went out again, but + the noise made by the snow crust breaking under his feet frightened the + deer he saw, and he could not get a shot at them. Suddenly, he felt that + he could bear his captivity no longer, and he resolved to try and make his + way back to Pennsylvania. The Indians might kill him, long before he could + reach home; but if he staid, he must die of hunger. He hurried ten or + twelve miles eastward, when he came upon fresh buffalo tracks, and soon + caught sight of the buffalo. He shot one of them, but he could not stop to + cook the meat, and he ate it almost raw. Then the thought of the old man + and little child whom he had left starving in the cabin behind him became + too much for him. He remembered what Tecaughretanego had said of God’s + care for those who trusted in him; and he packed up all the meat he could + carry, and went back to the camp. The boy ate ravenously of the half-raw + meat, as Smith had done, but the old man waited patiently till it was well + boiled. “Let it be done enough,” he said, when Smith wished to + take off the kettle too soon; and when they had all satisfied their + hunger, he made Smith a speech upon the duty of receiving the bounty of + Owaneeyo with thankfulness. After this, Smith seems to have had no farther + thoughts of running away, and he made no attempt to escape until he had + been four years in captivity. He was then at Caughnewaga, the old Indian + village which the traveler may still see from his steamboat on the St. + Lawrence River near Montreal. He had come to this place with + Tecaughretanego and his little son in an elm-bark canoe, all the way from + Detroit; and now, hearing that a French ship was at Montreal with English + prisoners of war, he stole away from the Indians and got on board with the + rest. The prisoners were shortly afterwards exchanged, and Smith got home + to his friends early in 1760. They had never known whether he had been + killed or captured, and they were overjoyed to see him, though they found + him quite like an Indian in his walk and bearing. + </p> + <p> + He married, and settled down on a farm, but he was soon in arms against + the Indians. He served as a lieutenant in Bouquet’s expedition, and + became a colonel of the Revolutionary army. After the war he took his + family to Kentucky, where he lived until he died in 1812. The Indians left + him unmolested in his reading or writing while he was among them, and he + had kept a journal, which he wrote out in the delightful narrative of his + captivity, first published in 1799. He modestly says in his preface that + the chief use he hopes for it is from his observations on Indian warfare; + but these have long ceased to be of practical value, while his pictures of + Indian life and his studies of Indian character have a charm that will + always last. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"></a> + <!-- H2 anchor --> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. THE CAPTIVITY OF BOONE AND KENTON. + </h2> + <p> + Colonel Smith was not the first whose captivity was passed in the Ohio + country, but there is no record of any earlier captivity, though hundreds + of captives were given up to Bouquet by the Indians. In spite of the + treaties and promises on both sides, the fighting went on, and the + wilderness was soon again the prison of the white people whom the savages + had torn from their homes. The Ohio tribes harassed the outlying + settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia, whose borders widened westward + with every year; but they were above all incensed against the pioneers of + Kentucky. Ohio was their home; there they had their camps and towns; there + they held their councils and festivals; there they buried their dead and + guarded their graves. But Kentucky was the pleasance of all the nations, + the hunting ground kept free by common consent, and left to the herds of + deer, elk, and buffalo, which ranged the woods and savannas, and increased + for the common use. When the white men discovered this hunter’s + paradise, and began to come back with their families and waste the game + and fell the trees and plow the wild meadows, no wonder the Indians were + furious, and made Kentucky the Dark and Bloody Ground for the enemies of + their whole race, which they had already made it for one another in the + conflicts between the hunting parties of rival tribes. It maddened them to + find the cabins and the forts of the settlers in the sacred region where + no red man dare pitch his wigwam; and they made a fierce and pitiless + effort to drive out the invaders. + </p> + <p> + Among these was the famous Daniel Boone. He had heard of the glories of + the land from a hunter who wandered into Kentucky by chance and returned + to North Carolina to tell of it among his neighbors. Two years afterwards, + in 1769, when a man of forty, Boone came to see for himself the things + that he knew by hearsay, and he found that the half had not been told. But + among other surprises in store for him was falling into the clutches of an + Indian hunting party which ambushed him and the friend who was with him. + They both escaped, and soon afterwards Boone’s brother and a + neighbor, who had followed him from North Carolina, chanced upon their + camp. Boone’s friend was before long shot and scalped by the + Indians; the brother’s neighbor was lost in the woods and devoured + by the wolves. Then the brother went home for ammunition, and Boone was + left a whole year alone in the wilderness. The charm of its life was so + great for him that after two years more he returned to North Carolina, + sold his farm, and came to Kentucky with his family. Other families joined + them, and the little settlement founded in the woods where he had ranged + solitary with no friend but his rifle and with foes everywhere, was called + Boonesborough. + </p> + <p> + The Revolutionary War broke out, and the Ohio Indians, who had hitherto + fought the pioneers as Englishmen, now fought them as Americans with fresh + fury, under the encouragement of the British commandant at Detroit. In + January, of 1778, Boone took thirty of his men, and went to make salt at + the Blue Licks, where, shortly after, while he was hunting in the woods, + he found himself in the midst of two hundred Indian warriors, who were on + their way to attack Boonesborough. He was then fifty years old, and the + young Indians soon overtook him when he tried to escape by running, and + made him their prisoner. His captors treated him kindly, as their custom + was with prisoners, until they decided what should be done with them, and + at the Licks his whole party gave themselves up on promise of the same + treatment. This was glory enough for the present; the Indians, as they + always did when they had won a victory, went home to celebrate it, and + left Boonesborough unmolested. + </p> + <p> + They took all their prisoners to the town of Old Chillicothe, on the banks + of the Little Miami in Greene County. What became of his men we are not + told; none of them kept a journal, as Smith did, but it is certain that + Boone was adopted into an Indian family as Smith was. The Indians, in + fact, all became fond of him, perhaps because he was so much like + themselves in temperament and behavior, for he was a grave, silent man, + very cold and wary, with a sort of savage calm. He was well versed in + their character, and knew how to play upon their vanity. One of the few + things he seems to have told of his captivity was that when they asked him + to take part in their shooting matches he beat them just often enough to + show them his wonderful skill with the rifle, and then allowed them the + pleasure of beating such a splendid shot as he had proved himself. But + probably he had other engaging qualities, or so it appeared when the + Indians took him with them to Detroit. The British commandant offered them + a ransom of a hundred pounds for him, while several other Englishmen, who + liked and pitied him, pressed him to take money and other favors from + them. Boone stoically refused because he could never hope to make any + return to them, and his red brethren refused because they loved Boone too + well to part with him at any price, and they took him back to Old + Chillicothe with them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/067.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Daniel Boone Shooting With the Indians 067 " /> + </div> + <p> + He never betrayed the anxiety for his wife and children that constantly + tormented him, for fear of rousing the suspicions of the Indians; but when + he reached Old Chillicothe, and found a large party painted and ready to + take the warpath in a new attack upon Boones-borough, he could bear it no + longer. He showed no sign of his misery, however; he joined the Indians in + all their sports as before, but he was always watching for some chance to + escape, and one morning in the middle of June he stole away from his + captors. He made his way a hundred and sixty miles through the woods, and + on the ninth day entered Boonesborough, faint with the fast which he had + broken but once in his long flight, to find that he had been given up for + dead and his family had gone back to North Carolina. + </p> + <p> + Boone spent the rest of his days fighting wild men and hunting wild beasts + in Kentucky, until both were well-nigh gone and the tamer life of + civilization pressed closer about him. Then he set out for Missouri, where + he found himself again in the wilderness, and dwelt there in his beloved + solitude till he died. Nothing ever moved him so much as the memoir which + a young man wrote down for him and had printed. He was fond of having it + read to him (for he could not read any more than he could write), and he + would cry out in delight over it, “All true; not a lie in it!” + But it is recorded that he once allowed himself to be so far excited by + the heroic behavior of a friend who had saved his life in an Indian fight, + at the risk of his own, as to say, “You behaved like a man, that + time.” + </p> + <p> + This friend was Simon Kenton, or rather Simon Butler, one of the greatest + of all the Indian hunters of Kentucky and Ohio. He had changed his name to + escape pursuit from his old home in Virginia, when he fled leaving one of + his neighbors, as he supposed, dead on the ground after a fight, and he + kept the name he had taken through the rest of his life. He wandered about + on the frontier and in the wilderness beyond it for several years, + fighting the savages single handed or with a few comrades, and at times + serving as scout or spy in the expeditions of the English against them. + When the Revolution began, he sided of course with his own people, and he + stood two sieges by the Indians in Boonesborough. It was here that Boone + found him in 1778 when he escaped from Old Chillicothe, and they promptly + made a foray together into the Ohio country, against an Indian town on + Paint Creek. They fell in with a war party on the way, and after some + fighting, Boone went back, but Kenton kept on with another friend, and did + not return till they had stolen some Indian horses. As soon as they + reached Boonesborough the commandant sent them into Ohio again to + reconnoiter a town on the Little Miami which he wished to attack, and here + once more Kenton was tempted by the chance to steal horses. He could not + bear to leave any, and he and his men started homeward through the woods + with the whole herd. When they came to the Ohio, it was so rough that + Kenton was nearly drowned in trying to cross the river. He got back to the + northern shore, where they all waited for the wind to go down, and the + waves to fall, and where the Indians found them the second morning. His + comrades were killed and Kenton was taken prisoner by the Indians whose + horses they had stolen. The Indians were always stealing white men’s + horses, but they seemed to think it was very much more wicked and shameful + for white men to steal Indians’ horses. They fell upon Kenton and + beat him over the head with their ramrods and mocked him with cries of, + “Steal Indians’ hoss, hey!” But this was only the + beginning of his sufferings. They fastened him for the night by stretching + him on the ground with one stick across his breast and another down his + middle, and tying his hands and feet to these with thongs of buffalo skin: + stakes were driven into the earth, and his pinioned arms and legs were + bound to them, while a halter, which was passed round his neck and then + round a sapling near by, kept him from moving his head. All the while they + were making sure in this way that he should not escape, the Indians were + cuffing his ears, and reviling him for a “Tief! A hoss steal! A + rascal!” In the morning they mounted him on an unbroken colt, with + his hands tied behind him and his legs tied under the horse, and drove it + into the briers and underbrush, where his face and hands were torn by the + brambles, until the colt quieted down of itself, and followed in line with + the other horses. The third day, as they drew near the town of Old + Chillicothe, where Boone had been held captive, they were met by the chief + Blackfish, who said sternly to Kenton in English, “You have been + stealing horses.” “Yes, sir.” “Did Captain Boone + tell you to steal our horses?” “No, sir, I did it on my own + accord.” Blackfish then lashed him over the naked back with a + hickory switch till the blood ran, and with blows and taunts from all + sides Kenton was marched forward to the village. + </p> + <p> + The Indians could not wait for his arrival. They came out, men, women, and + children, to meet him, with whoops and yells, and when they had made his + captors fasten him to a stake, they fell upon him, and tore off all that + was left of his clothes, and amused themselves till midnight by dancing + and screaming round him, and beating him with rods and their open hands. + In the morning he was ordered to run the gantlet, through two rows of + Indians of all ages and sexes, armed with knives, clubs, switches, and hoe + handles, and ready to cut, strike, and stab at him as he dashed by them on + his way to the council house, a quarter of a mile from the point of + starting. But Kenton was too wary to take the risks before him. He + suddenly started aside from the lines; he turned and doubled in his + course, and managed to reach the council house unhurt except for the blows + of two Indians who threw themselves between him and its door. Here a + council was held at once, and he was sentenced to be burnt at the stake, + but the sentence was ordered to be carried out at the town of Wapatimika + on Mad River. A white renegade among the Indians told him of his fate with + a curse, and Kenton resolved that rather than meet it he would die in the + attempt to escape. On the way to Wapatimika he gave his guard the slip and + dashed into the woods; and he had left his pursuers far behind, when he + ran into the midst of another party of Indians, who seized him and drove + him forward to the town. A second council was now held, and after Kenton + had run the gantlet a second time and been severely hurt, the warriors + once more gathered in the council house, and sitting on the ground in a + circle voted his death by striking the earth with a war club, or by + passing it to the next if inclined to mercy. He was brought before them, + as he supposed, to be told when he was to die, but a blanket was thrown + upon the ground for him to sit upon in the middle of the circle, and Simon + Girty, the great renegade, who was cruder to the whites than the Indians + themselves, began harshly to question him about the number of men in + Kentucky. A few words passed, and then Girty asked, “What is your + name?” “Simon Butler,” said Kenton, and Girty jumped + from his seat and threw his arms around Kenton’s neck. They had been + scouts together in the English service, before the Revolution began, and + had been very warm friends, and now Girty set himself to save Kenton’s + life. He pleaded so strongly in his favor that the council at last voted + to spare him, at least for the time being. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/072.jpg" width="100%" alt="Kenton and Girty 072 " /> + </div> + <p> + Three weeks of happiness for Kenton followed in the society of his old + friend, who clothed him at his own cost from the stores of an English + trader in the town, and took him to live with him; and it is said that if + the Indians had continued to treat him kindly, Kenton might perhaps have + cast his lot with them, for he could not hope to go back to his own + people, with the crime of murder, as he supposed, hanging over him, and he + had no close ties binding him to the whites elsewhere. But at the end of + these days of respite, a war party came back from the Virginian border, + where they had been defeated, and the life of the first white man who fell + into their power must pay, by the Indian law, for the life of the warrior + they had lost. The leaders of this party found Kenton walking in the woods + with Girty, and met him with scowls of hate, refusing his hand when he + offered it. The rage of the savages against him broke out afresh. One of + them caught an ax from his squaw who was chopping wood, and as Kenton + passed him on his way into the village, dealt him a blow that cut deep + into his shoulder. For a third time a council was held, and for a third + time Kenton was doomed to die by fire. Nothing that Girty could say + availed, and he was left to tell his friend that he must die. + </p> + <p> + Kenton’s sentence was to be now carried out at Sandusky, and with + five Indian guards he set out for that point. On their way they stopped at + a town on the waters of the Scioto, where the captive found himself in the + presence of a chief of noble and kindly face, who said to him, in + excellent English, “Well, young man, these young men seem very mad + at you.” Kenton had to own that they were so, indeed, and then the + Indian said, “Well, don’t be discouraged. I am a great chief. + You are to go to Sandusky; they speak of burning you there, but I will + send two runners tomorrow to speak good for you.” + </p> + <p> + This was the noble chief Logan, whose beautiful speech ought to be known + to every American boy and girl, and who, in spite of all he had suffered + from them, was still the friend of the white men. He kept his word to + Kenton, though he seemed to fail, as Girty had failed, to have his + sentence set aside, and Kenton was taken on to Sandusky. But here, the day + before that set for him to die, a British Indian agent, a merciful man + whose name, Drewyer, we ought to remember, made the Indians give him up, + that the commandant at Detroit might find out from him the state of the + American forces in Kentucky. He had to promise the savages that Kenton + should afterwards be returned to them; but though Kenton could not or + would not tell him what he wished to know, Drewyer assured him that he + would never abandon any white prisoner to their cruelty. + </p> + <p> + At Detroit Kenton was kindly treated by the English, and beyond having to + report himself daily to the officer who had charge of him, there was + nothing to make him feel that he was a prisoner. But he grew restive in + his captivity, and after he had borne seven months of it, and got well of + all his wounds and bruises, he plotted with two young Kentuckians, who had + been taken with Boone at the Blue Licks, to attempt his escape with them. + They bought guns from some drunken Indians, and hid them in the woods. + Then in the month of June, 1778, they started southward through the + wilderness, and after thirty days reached Louisville in safety. Kenton + continued to fight the Indians in all the wars, large and little, till + they were beaten by General Wayne in 1794. Eight years later he came to + live in Ohio, settling near Urbana, but removing later to Zanesfield, on + the site of the Indian town Wapatimika, where he was once to have been + burned, and where he died peaceably in 1836, when he was eighty-one years + old. He is described as a tall, handsome man, of an erect figure and + carriage, a fair complexion, and a most attractive countenance. “He + had,” his biographer tells us, “a soft, tremulous voice, very + pleasing to the hearer, and laughing gray eyes that appeared to fascinate + the beholder,” except in his rare moments of anger, when their fiery + glance would curdle the blood of those who had roused his wrath. He was + above all the heroes of Ohio history, both in his virtues and his vices, + the type of the Indian fighter. He was ready to kill or to take the + chances of being killed, but he had no more hate apparently for the wild + men than for the wild beasts he hunted. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. THE RENEGADES. + </h2> + <p> + Simon Girty, who tried so hard to save Kenton’s life at Wapatimika, + was the most notorious of those white renegades who abounded in the Ohio + country during the Indian wars. The life of the border was often such as + to make men desperate and cruel, and the life of the wilderness had a + fascination which their fierce natures could hardly resist. Kenton + himself, as we have seen, might perhaps have willingly remained with the + Indians if they had wished him to be one of them, though he was at heart + too kindly and loyal ever to have become the enemy of his own people, and + if he had been adopted into an Indian family he would probably have been + such an Indian as Smith was. But in the sort of backwoodsman he had been + there was such stuff as renegades were made of. Like him these desperadoes + had mostly fled from the settlements after some violent deed, and could + not have gone back to their homes there if they would. Yet they were not + much worse than the traders who came and went among the Indians in times + of peace, and supplied them with the weapons and the ammunition they might + use at any moment against the settlers. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, wherever the two races touched they seemed to get all of each + other’s vices, and very few of each other’s virtues; and it is + doubtful if the law breakers who escaped from the borders to the woods + were more ferocious than many whom they left behind. Neither side showed + mercy; their warfare was to the death; the white men tomahawked and + scalped the wounded as the red men did, and if the settlers were not + always so pitiless to their prisoners or to the wives and children of + their warriors, they were guilty of many acts of murderous treachery and + murderous fury. One of the best and truest friends they ever had, the + great Mingo chief Logan, who was at last the means of Kenton’s + escape from the stake, bore witness to these facts in his famous speech; + for in spite of his friendship for the whites, he had suffered the worst + that they could do to the worst of their foes. When such white men as + butchered Logan’s kindred sided with the Indians, they only changed + their cause; their savage natures remained unchanged; but very few of + these, even, seem to have been so far trusted in their fear and hate for + their own people as to be taken by the Indians in their forays against the + whites. + </p> + <p> + The great Miami chief Little Turtle, who outgeneralled the Americans at + the defeat of St. Clair, used to tell with humorous relish how he once + trusted a white man adopted into his tribe. This white man was very eager + to go with him on a raid into Kentucky, and when they were stealing upon + the cabin they were going to attack, nothing could restrain his desire to + be foremost. When they got within a few yards, he suddenly dashed forward + with a yell of “Indians, Indians!” and left his red brethren + to get out of the range of the settlers’ rifles as fast as they + could. + </p> + <p> + But Simon Girty led many of the savage attacks, and showed himself the + relentless enemy of the American cause at every chance, though more than + once he used his power with the Indians to save prisoners from torture and + death. He was born in Pennsylvania, and he was captured with his brothers, + George and James, during Braddock’s campaign. They were all taken to + Ohio, where George was adopted by the Delawares, James by the Shawnees, + and Simon by the Senecas. George died a drunken savage; James became the + terror of the Kentucky border, and infamous throughout the West by his + cruelty to the women among the Indians’ captives; he seems to have + been without one touch of pity for the fate of any of their prisoners, and + his cruelties were often charged upon Simon, who had enough of his own to + answer for. Yet he seems to have been the best as well as the ablest of + the three brothers whose name is the blackest in Ohio history. Many of the + stories about him are evidently mere romance, and they often conflict. As + he was captured when very young, he never learned to read or write; and it + is said that he was persuaded by worse and wiser men to take sides with + the British in the Revolution. But we need not believe that he was so + ignorant or so simple as this in accounting for his preference of his red + brethren and their cause. In fact, several letters attributed to him + exist, though he may have dictated these, and may not have known how to + write after all. + </p> + <p> + It is certain that he was a man of great note and power among the Indians, + and one of their most trusted captains. He led the attack on Wheeling in + 1777, where he demanded the surrender of the fort to the English king, + whose officer he boasted himself. In 1782 he attacked Bryan’s + Station in Kentucky with a strong force of Indians, but met with such a + gallant resistance that he attempted to bring the garrison to terms by + telling them who he was and threatening them with the reënforcements and + the cannon which he said he expected hourly. He promised that all their + lives should be spared if they yielded, but while he waited with the white + flag in his hand on the stump where he stood to harangue them, a young man + answered him from the fort: “You need not be so particular to tell + us your name; we know your name and you, too. I’ve had a villainous + untrustworthy cur dog this long while named Simon Girty, in compliment to + you, he’s so like you, just as ugly and just as wicked. As to the + cannon, let them come on; the country’s aroused, and the scalps of + your red cutthroats, and your own too, will be drying in our cabins in + twenty-four hours; and if, by chance, you or your allies do get into the + fort, we’ve a big store of rods laid in to scourge you out again.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/079.jpg" alt="Simon Girty 079l " /> + </div> + <p> + The Indians retreated, but Girty glutted his revenge for the failure and + the insult in many a fight afterwards with the Americans and in many a + scene of torture and death. The Kentuckians now followed his force to the + Blue Licks, where the Indians ambushed them and beat them back with + fearful slaughter. + </p> + <p> + Girty remained with the savages and took part in the war which they + carried on against our people long after our peace with the British. He + was at the terrible defeat of St. Clair in 1791, and he had been present + at the burning of Colonel Crawford in 1782. By some he is said to have + tried to beg and to buy their prisoner off from the Wyandots, and by + others to have taken part in mocking his agonies, if not in torturing him. + It seems certain that he lived to be a very old man, and it is probable + that he died fighting the Americans in our second war with Great Britain. + </p> + <p> + But the twilight of the forest rests upon most of the details of his + history and the traits of his character. The truth about him seems to be + that he had really become a savage, and it would not be strange if he felt + all the ferocity of a savage, together with the rare and capricious + emotions of pity and generosity which are apt to visit the savage heart. + There have always been good Indians and bad Indians, and Simon Girty was + simply a bad Indian. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII. THE WICKEDEST DEED IN OUR HISTORY. + </h2> + <p> + The Indians despised the white men for what they thought their stupidity + in warfare, when they stood up in the open to be shot at, as the soldiers + who were sent against them mostly did, instead of taking to trees and + hiding in tall grass and hollows of the ground, as the backwoodsmen + learned to do. Smith tells us that when Tecaughretanego heard how Colonel + Grant, in the second campaign against Fort Duquesne, outwitted the French + and Indians by night and stole possession of a hill overlooking the post, + he praised his craft as that of a true warrior; but as to his letting his + pipers play at daybreak, and give the enemy notice of his presence, so + that the Indians could take to trees and shoot his Highlanders down with + no danger to themselves, he could only suppose that Colonel Grant had got + drunk over night. + </p> + <p> + The savages respected the whites when they showed cunning, and they did + not hate them the more for not showing mercy in fight; but we have seen + how fiercely they resented the crime of horse stealing in Kenton’s + case, though they were always stealing horses themselves from the + settlers; and any deed of treachery against themselves they were eager and + prompt to punish, though they were always doing such deeds against their + enemies. Still, it is doubtful whether with all their malignity they were + ever guilty of anything so abominable as the massacre of the Christian + Indians at Gnadenhutten, by the Americans; and if there is record of any + wickeder act in the history not only of Ohio, but of the whole United + States, I do not know of it. The Spaniards may have outdone it in some of + their dealings with the Indians, but I cannot call to mind any act of + theirs that seems so black, so wholly without justice and without reason. + It is no wonder that it embittered the hostilities between the red men and + the white men and made the war, which outlasted our Revolution ten years, + more and more unmerciful to the very end. + </p> + <p> + The missionaries of the Moravian Church were more successful than any + others in converting the Indians, perhaps because they asked the most of + them. They made them give up all the vices which the Indians knew were + vices, and all the vices that the Indians thought were virtues when + practiced outside of their tribe. They forbade them to lie, to steal, to + kill; they taught them to wash themselves, to put on clothes, to work, and + to earn their bread. Upon these hard terms they had congregations and + villages in several parts of Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, + which flourished for a time against the malice of the disorderly and + lawless settlers around them, but which had yielded to the persecutions of + white men and red men alike when, in 1771, the chiefs of the Delawares + sent messages to the Moravians and invited them to come out and live among + them in Ohio. The Lenni-lenape, as the Delawares called themselves, had + left the East, where they were subject to the Iroquois, and they now had + their chief towns on the Muskingum. Near the place where the Tuscarawas + and Walhonding meet to form the Muskingum they offered lands to the + Moravians, and in 1772 the Christian Indians left their last village in + Western Pennsylvania and settled there at three points which they called + Schönbrun, the Beautiful Spring, Lichtenau, Field of Light, and + Gnadenhutten, the Tents of Grace. + </p> + <p> + It was in the very heart of the Western wilderness, but the land was rich + and the savages friendly, and in a few years the teachers and their + followers had founded a fairer and happier home than they had known + before, and had begun to spread their light around them. The Indians came + from far and near to see their fields and orchards and gardens, with the + houses in the midst of them, built of squared logs and set on streets + branching to the four quarters from the chapel, which was the peaceful + citadel of each little town. It must have seemed a stately edifice to + their savage eyes, with its shingled roof, and its belfry, where, ten + years before any white man had settled beyond the Ohio, the bell called + the Christian Indians to prayer. No doubt the creature comforts of the + Christians had their charm, too, for the hungry pagans. They were not used + elsewhere to the hospitality that could set before them such repasts as + one of the missionaries tells us were spread for the guest at + Gnadenhutten. A table furnished with “good bread, meat, butter, + cheese, milk, tea and coffee, and chocolate,” and such fruits and + vegetables as the season afforded could hardly have been less wonderful in + the Indian’s eyes than red men with their hair cut, and without + paint or feathers, at work in the fields like squaws. + </p> + <p> + Their heathen neighbors began to come into the Moravians’ peaceful + fold, and the three villages grew and flourished till the war broke out + between the colonies and Great Britain. Then the troubles and sorrows of + the Moravians, white and red, began again. They were too weak to keep the + savage war parties from passing through their towns, and they dared not + refuse them rest and food. The warriors began to come with the first + leaves of spring, and they came and went till the first snows of autumn + made their trail too plain for them to escape pursuit from the border. The + Moravians did what they could to ransom their captives and to save them + from torture when the warriors returned after their raids, but all their + goodness did not avail them against the suspicion of the settlers. The + backwoodsmen looked on them as the spies and allies of the savages, and + the savages on their side believed them in league with the Americans. + </p> + <p> + The Delawares had promised the Moravian teachers that if they settled + among them, the Delaware nation would take no part in the war, and the + most of ‘them kept their promise. But some of the young men broke + it, and the nation would not forbid the Wyandots from passing through + their country to and from the Virginia frontier. It was true that the + Moravians held thousands of Delaware warriors neutral, and that our + American officers knew their great power for good among the Indians; but + the backwoodsmen hated them as bitterly as they hated the Wyandots. Their + war parties passed through the Christian villages, too, when they went and + came on their forays beyond the Ohio, and at one time their leaders could + hardly keep them from destroying a Moravian town, even while they were + enjoying its hospitality. + </p> + <p> + This situation could not last. In August, 1781, a chief of the Hurons, + called the Half King, came with a large body of Indians flying the English + flag and accompanied by an English officer, to urge the Christians to + remove to Sandusky, where they were told they could be safe from the + Virginians. They refused, and then the Half King shot their cattle, + plundered their fields and houses, and imprisoned their teachers, and at + last forced them away. When the winter came on, the exiles began to suffer + from cold and hunger, and many of their children died. To keep themselves + and their little ones from starving, parties stole back from Sandusky + throughout the winter to gather the corn left standing in the fields + beside the Muskingum. + </p> + <p> + In March a larger party than usual returned to the deserted villages with + a number of women and children, all unarmed, except for the guns that the + men carried to shoot game. But in February the savages had fallen upon a + lonely cabin and butchered all its inmates with more than common cruelty, + and the whole border was ablaze with fury against the redskins, whether + they called themselves Christians or not. A hundred and sixty backwoodsmen + gathered at Mingo Bottom under the lead of Colonel David Williamson, who + had once disgraced himself among them by preventing them from killing some + Moravian prisoners, and who now seems to have been willing to atone for + his humanity. They marched swiftly to the Muskingum, where they stole upon + the Indians in the cornfields, and seized their guns. They told them at + first that they were going to take them to Fort Pitt, and at the vote held + to decide whether they should burn their prisoners alive or simply + tomahawk and scalp them, there was really some question of their transfer + to Pittsburg. This plan was favored by the leaders, and it is believed + that if Colonel Williamson could have had his way, it would have been + carried out. But there is no proof of this, and the rest, who were by no + means the worst men of the border, but some of the best, voted by a large + majority to kill their prisoners. + </p> + <p> + They gave them the night to prepare for death. One poor woman fell on her + knees before Williamson and begged for her life, but the most of them seem + to have submitted without a word. They spent the night in prayer and + singing, and when their butchers sent at daybreak to know if they were + ready, they answered that they had received the assurance of God’s + peace. Then the murderers parted the women and children from the men and + shut them up in another cabin, and the two cabins they fitly called the + slaughterhouses. One of them found a cooper’s mallet in the cooper’s + shop, where the men were left, and saying: “How exactly this will + answer for the business,” he made his way through the kneeling ranks + to one of the most fervent of the converts, and struck him down. + </p> + <p> + While the Indians still prayed and sang, he killed twelve more of them, + and then passed the mallet to another butcher with the words: “My + arm fails me. Go on in the same way. I think I have done pretty well.” + Among the women and children the slaughter began with a very old and pious + widow, and soon the sound of the singing and the praying was silenced in + death. + </p> + <p> + The victims were scalped as they fell, and when the bloody work was done, + the cabins were set on fire and the bodies burned in the burning + buildings. Two boys who had been scalped with the rest feigned death, and + when the murderers had left them they tried to escape. One stuck fast in + the window and was burned, but the other got safely away and lived to tell + the awful tale. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/087.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Massacre of the Christian Indians by The Whites 087 " /> + </div> + <p> + The backwoodsmen themselves seem not to have been ashamed of their work, + though it is said that Williamson could never be got to speak of it. The + event was so horrible that it killed the Moravians’ hopes of + usefulness among the Ohio Indians. The teachers settled with the remnant + of their converts in Canada, but the Christian Indians always longed for + Gnadenhutten, where they had lived so happily, and where ninety-six of + their brethren had suffered so innocently. Before the close of the century + Congress confirmed the Delawares’ grant of the Muskingum lands to + them, and they came back. But they could not survive the crime committed + against them. The white settlers pressed close about them; the War of 1812 + enkindled all the old hate against their race. Their laws were trampled + upon and their own people were seen drunk in the streets. + </p> + <p> + Some of the Christians had fallen back into heathen savagery. One of + these, who was found in a war party, painted and armed like the rest for a + foray against the whites, said to a Christian brother: “I cannot but + have bad thoughts of our teachers. I think it was their fault that so many + of our countrymen were murdered in Gnadenhutten. They betrayed us.... Tell + me now, is this the truth or not?” He had lost his children and all + his kindred in that fearful carnage, and yet he could not believe his own + accusations against the Moravians. He added mournfully: “I have now + a wicked and malicious heart, and therefore my thoughts are evil. As I + look outwardly, so is my heart within. What would it avail, if I were + outwardly to appear as a believer, and my heart were full of evil?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX. THE TORTURE OF COLONEL CRAWFORD + </h2> + <p> + The slaughter of the Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten took place in + March, 1782, and in May ol the same year, four hundred and fifty horsemen + from the American border met at Mingo Bottom, where the murderers had + rendezvoused, and set out from that point to massacre the Moravian + converts who had taken refuge among the Wyandots on the Sandusky. They + expected, of course, to fight the warlike Indians, but they openly avowed + their purpose of killing all Indians, Christian or heathen, and women and + children, as well as warriors. We must therefore call them murderers, but + we must remember that they had been hardened against mercy by the + atrocities of the savages, and we must make allowance for men who had seen + their wives and little ones tomahawked and scalped or carried off into + captivity, their homes burnt, and their fields wasted. The life of the + frontier at a time when all life was so much ruder than now was as fierce, + if not as cruel, among the white men as among the red men. + </p> + <p> + The murderers at Mingo Bottom voted whether Colonel David Williamson or + Colonel William Crawford should lead them, and their choice fell upon + Crawford. He seems to have been a man of kinder heart than his fellows, + and he unwillingly took command of the turbulent and disorderly band, + which promptly set out on its march through the wilderness towards the + Sandusky country. They had hoped to surprise the Indians, but spies had + watched their movements from the first, and when they reached the Moravian + villages on the Sandusky River, they found them deserted. They decided + then to go on toward Upper Sandusky, and if they could not reach that town + in a day’s march, to beat a quick retreat. The next day they + started, but at two o’clock in the afternoon they were attacked by + large numbers of Indians hidden in the tall grass of the prairies, and + they fought a running battle till nightfall. Then both sides kindled large + fires along their lines, and fell back from them to prevent a surprise. + </p> + <p> + In the morning the Americans began their retreat, and the Indians renewed + their attack with great fury in the afternoon, on all sides except the + northeast, where the invaders were hemmed in by swamps. There seems to + have been no cause for their retreat, except the danger of an overwhelming + onset by the savages, which must have been foreseen from the start. But + the army, as it was called, was wholly without discipline; during the + night not even a sentry had been posted; and now their fear became a + panic, their retreat became a rout. They made their way as best they could + through the marshes, where the horses stuck fast, and had to be abandoned, + and the men themselves sometimes sank to their necks in the soft ooze. + Instead of keeping together, as Crawford advised but had no power to + compel, the force broke up into small parties, which the Indians destroyed + or captured. Many perished in the swamps; some were followed as far as the + Ohio River. The only one of the small parties which escaped was that of + forty men under Colonel Williamson, the leader of the Gnadenhiitten + massacre, who enjoyed the happier fortune denied to Colonel Crawford. + </p> + <p> + This ill-fated officer was tormented after the retreat began by his fear + for the safety of his son, his son-in-law, and his nephews, and he left + his place at the head of the main body and let the army file past him + while he called and searched for the missing men. He did not try to + overtake it till it was too late to spur his wearied horse forward. He + fell in with Dr. John Knight, who accompanied the expedition as surgeon, + and who now generously remained with Crawford. They pushed on together + with two others through the woods, guided by the north star, but on the + second day after the army had left them behind, a party of Indians fell + upon them and made them prisoners. + </p> + <p> + Their captors killed their two companions, Captain Biggs and Lieutenant + Ashley, the following day, but Crawford and Knight were taken to an Indian + camp at a little distance, and then to the old Wyandot town of Sandusky, + where preparations were made for burning Crawford. He seems to have had + great hopes that Simon Girty, who was then at Sandusky, would somehow + manage to save him, and it is said that the renegade really offered three + hundred dollars for Crawford’s life, knowing that he would be many + times repaid by Crawford’s friends. But the chief whom Girty tried + to bribe answered, “Do you take me for a squaw?” and + threatened, if Girty said more, to burn him along with Crawford. This is + the story told in Girty’s favor; other stories represent him as + indifferent if not cruel to Crawford throughout. In any case, it ended in + Crawford’s return to the Indian camp, eight miles from the Indian + town, where he suffered death. + </p> + <p> + The chiefs who had been put in charge of him were two Delawares of great + note, Captain Pipe and Captain Wingenund. They were chosen his guards + because the Christian Indians were of their nation, and the Delawares, + more than any other nation, were held to have been injured and insulted by + their massacre. It was Captain Pipe who refused Girty’s offer, if + Girty ever made it, and it was Captain Pipe who urged the death of the + prisoners, while treating them with mock politeness. Nine others were + brought back from the town with Knight and Crawford, and Captain Pipe now + painted all their faces black, the sign of doom. While he was painting + Knight’s face, he told him that he should be taken to see his + friends at the Shawnee village, and he told Crawford that his head should + be shaved, meaning that he should be made an Indian and adopted into the + tribe. But when they came to the place where Crawford was to suffer, + Captain Pipe threw off the mask of kindness; he made a speech to the forty + warriors and seventy squaws and papooses met to torture him, and used all + his eloquence to inflame their hate. + </p> + <p> + The other Delaware chief, Captain Wingenund, had gone into his cabin, that + he might not see Crawford’s death. They knew each other, and more + than once Crawford had been good to Wingenund. The captive now sent for + the chief, and Wingenund came unwillingly to speak with him, for he was + already tied to the stake, and his friend knew that he could not save him. + The chief acknowledged the kindness that they had once felt for each + other, but he said that Crawford had put it out of his power to give him + help. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/093.jpg" width="100%" alt="Execution of Crawford 093 " /> + </div> + <p> + “How so, Captain Wingenund?” asked Crawford. + </p> + <p> + “By joining yourself to that execrable man, Williamson; the man who + but the other day murdered such a number of Moravian Indians, knowing them + to be friends; knowing that he ran no risk in murdering a people who would + not fight, and whose only business was praying.” + </p> + <p> + In vain, Crawford declared that he would never have suffered the massacre + if he had been present. Wingenund was willing to believe this, but he + reminded him that the men whom he had led to Sandusky had declared that + they came to murder the remaining Moravians. No one, he said, would now + dare to speak a word for him; the king of England, if he came with all his + treasure, could not save him from the vengeance which the Indians were + going to take upon him for the slaughter of their innocent brethren. + </p> + <p> + “Then my fate is fixed,” said Crawford. + </p> + <p> + Wingenund turned away weeping, and could never afterwards speak of the + scene without deep feeling. + </p> + <p> + Crawford had already undergone the first of his punishment. The savages + stripped him naked and made him sit down on the ground before the fire + kindled to burn him, and beat him with their fists and with sticks till + they had heated their rage. Then they tied his wrists together and + fastened the rope that bound them to a post strongly planted in the ground + with leash enough to let him walk round it once or twice, five or six + yards away from the fire. Girty was present, and Crawford asked if the + Indians meant to burn him; the renegade briefly answered, “Yes.” + Then Captain Pipe spoke, and Wingenund saw his friend for the last time. + After this chief left Crawford, the Indians broke into a loud yell and + began the work of torture which ended only with his death. + </p> + <p> + At one point he besought Simon Girty to put an end to his sufferings; but + Girty would not, or dared not. + </p> + <p> + Then Crawford began to pray, imploring God to have mercy upon him, and + bore his torment for an hour and a half longer with manly courage. It is + not known how long his torture lasted; Knight was now taken away, and no + friend remained to witness Crawford’s agony to the end. + </p> + <p> + I have thought it well to recount his story, for without it we could not + fully realize what the white people of that day underwent in their long + struggle with the Ohio Indians. Cruelty so fiendish could never have a + cause, but it cannot be denied that the torture of Crawford was the effect + of the butchery of the Christian Indians. That awful deed was an act of + even greater wickedness, for it was the act of men who were not savage by + birth or race or creed. It was against the white man’s law, while + the torture of Crawford was by the red man’s law. It is because of + their laws that the white men have overcome and the red men have gone + under in the order of mercy, for whenever we sin against that order, + contrary to our law, or according to our law, we weaken ourselves, and if + we continue in our sin, we doom ourselves in the end to perish. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X. THE ESCAPE OF KNIGHT AND SLOVER. + </h2> + <p> + When the Indians made a raid on the settlements, they abandoned even + victory if they had once had enough fighting; as when they had a feast + they glutted themselves, and then wasted what they had not eaten. They + seemed now to have had such a surfeit of cruelty in the torture of + Crawford that they took little trouble to secure Knight for a future + holiday. They promised themselves that he should be burnt, too, at the + town of the Shawnees, but in their satiety they left him unbound in the + charge of a young Indian who was to take him there from Sandusky. It is + true that Knight was very weak, and that they may have thought he was + unable to escape, though even in this case they would probably have sent + him under a stronger guard at another time, when they were not gorged with + blood. + </p> + <p> + His Indian guard was armed and was mounted on a pony, while Knight went on + foot; but Knight had made up his mind that he would escape at any risk + rather than be burned like Crawford. His face had again been painted + black; and he had Simon Girty’s word, given him before Crawford was + put to death, that he was to be burned at Old Chillicothe. But he + pretended not to know what the Indians were going to do with him there, + and he easily deceived his guard, who seems to have been a good-natured, + simple fellow. Knight asked him if they were going to live together like + brothers in the same wig-wam, and the Indian answered they were, and they + went in very friendly talk. At night-fall when they camped, Knight let his + guard bind him, but he spent the hours till daybreak trying secretly to + free himself. At dawn the Indian rose and unbound his captive. Then he + rekindled the fire, at the same time fighting the gnats that swarmed upon + his naked body. He willingly consented that Knight should make a smoke to + drive them from his back, and Knight took a heavy stick from the fire as + if to do this; but when he got behind the Indian he struck him on the head + with all his strength. The Indian fell forward into the fire, but quickly + gathered himself up and ran off howling. Knight wanted to shoot him as he + ran; in his eagerness to cock the rifle he broke the lock, and the Indian + escaped. He got safely to the Shawnee town, where he described the fight + in terms that transformed the little doctor into a furious giant, whom no + amount of stabbing had any effect upon. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0015" id="linkimage-0015"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/097L.jpg" alt="Knight Escapes 097l " /> + </div> + <p> + The other Indians, who seem to have understood this cowardly boaster, + received his story with shouts of laughter. But Knight was very glad to + make off with his gun and ammunition, and leave them to settle the affair + among themselves. When he came to the prairies he hid himself in the grass + and waited till dark before venturing to cross them, and by daybreak he + was in the woods again. He could kill nothing with his broken gun, and he + lived for twenty-one days on wild gooseberries, with two young blackbirds + and a tortoise, which he ate raw. He reached the Ohio River on the + twenty-second day, and crossed in safety to Fort Mcintosh. + </p> + <p> + The tragic adventures of the Indian captives must often have been relieved + by comic incidents like those of Knight’s escape from his guard; but + there is very little record of anything except sorrow and suffering, + danger and death. Certainly in the captivity of John Slover, another of + Crawford’s ill-starred and ill-willed crew of marauders, there were + few gleams of happier chance to distinguish it from most histories of the + sort. He had been captured by the Indians when a boy of eight years, and + carried from his home in Virginia to their town of Sandusky, where he was + adopted into their nation, and where he lived quite happily till his + twentieth year, when he was given up to his own people. + </p> + <p> + He fought through two years of the Revolutionary War, and he was + thoroughly fitted to act as a guide for Crawford. + </p> + <p> + After the battle, or rather the disorderly rout, he was one of those who + was mired in the swamps. He left his horse there, and with a few others + tried to make his way to Detroit. Twice the party escaped capture by + hiding in the grass, as the Indians passed near them, but on the third + morning they were ambushed; two were killed, one ran away, and the + remaining three gave themselves up on the promise of good treatment. They + were taken to Wapatimika, where Simon Kenton was to have been burned, and + they soon proved how far the promises of the savages were to be trusted. + </p> + <p> + The Indians knew Slover at once, and they bitterly reproached him with + having come to betray his friends. At the council held to try him, James + Girty urged them to put him to death for his treason. But Slover strongly + defended himself, reminding the Indians that they had freely given him up, + and had no longer any claim upon him. His words had such weight that the + council put off its decision. In the meantime he was left with an old + squaw, who hid him under a bear skin, and scolded off the messengers who + came to bring him before a grand council of Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, + Chippewa, and Mingo warriors. But shortly after, Girty came with forty + braves and seized him. Slover was now stripped, and with his hands tied + and his face painted black, he was taken to a village five miles off, + where he was beaten as usual by the people, and then driven a little + farther to another village, where he found everything made ready to burn + him, as Crawford had been burned. He was tied to the stake, and the fire + was lighted; an orator began to kindle the anger of the savages; but at + the last moment a heavy shower of rain burst over the roofless council + house where they had gathered to torture their captive, put out the fire, + and drove them to a sheltered part of the lodge, where they consoled + themselves as best they could by beating him till midnight, and promising + him that he should be burned the next day. He was then carried to the + blockhouse and left bound with two guards, who entertained themselves, but + did not amuse Slover, by talking over his probable behavior under the + torture that awaited him. They fell asleep, worn out, about daybreak, when + Slover made a desperate effort to free himself, and to his own + astonishment, succeeded. He stepped across his snoring guards out into the + open air. No one was astir in the village, and he ran to hide himself in a + cornfield, where he nearly fell over a sleeping squaw and her papooses. On + the other side of the field he found some horses, and making a halter of + the buffalo thong that had bound him, and that still hung upon his arm, he + leaped upon one of them and dashed through the woods. By ten o’clock + in the forenoon he had reached the Scioto fifty miles away. + </p> + <p> + He allowed his horse to breathe here; then he remounted, crossed the + river, and galloped half as far again. At three o’clock his horse + gave out, and Slover left him and ran forward afoot, spurred on by the + yells of the pursuers close behind him. The moon came up, and knowing that + his trail could be easily followed by her light, he ran till daybreak. The + next night he reached the Muskingum, naked, torn by briers, and covered + with the mosquitoes which swarmed upon his bleeding body. A few wild + raspberries enabled him to break his fast for the first time, but the next + day he feasted upon two crawfish. When he came to the Ohio, just across + from Wheeling, and called to a man whom he saw on the island there, to + bring his canoe and take him over, it is not strange that the man should + have hesitated at the sight of the figure on the Ohio shore. Not till + Slover had given him the names of many men in Crawford’s army, as + well as his own name, did the man come to his rescue and ferry him over to + the fort, where he was safe at last. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI. THE INDIAN WARS AND ST. CLAIR’S DEFEAT. + </h2> + <p> + The Indians and the renegades at Sandusky would not believe their + prisoners when Crawford’s men told them that Cornwallis and his army + had surrendered to Washington; but the Revolutionary War had now really + come to an end. The next year Great Britain acknowledged the independence + of the United States, and gave up the whole West to them, as France had + given it up to her before. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, + Pennsylvania, and Virginia claimed each the country lying westward of + them, but the other states denied this claim. The West was finally + declared the property of the whole Union, and in 1784 the first ordinance + was passed by Congress for its government. It was not until 1787 that the + great ordinance was passed which gave the future empire of the world to + the West on terms of freedom to all men: “There shall be neither + slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory otherwise than in + the punishment of crime.” + </p> + <p> + This made the West free forever, but no law of Congress could make it safe + without the consent of the savage nations which had again changed masters + by the treaty of foreign powers. The war between England and America was + over, but the war between white men and red men raged more fiercely after + our peace with Great Britain than before. The backwoodsmen took this peace + for a sign that they might now cross the river from New York, + Pennsylvania, and Virginia to settle in the Ohio country; and they were + soon there by hundreds. It is true that the United States had made + treaties with the United Tribes for certain tracts beyond the Ohio River, + but the Indians declared that they had been tricked into these treaties. + It is true that Congress meant to deal fairly by them so far as to drive + the hard bargains with them for their lands which the white men had always + driven with the Indians; but the backwoodsmen waited for nothing, and the + old story of surprises and slaughters, of captivities and tortures, went + on, with the difference that the war parties now need not cross the Ohio + to take scalps and prisoners, and the vengeance of the pioneers had not so + far to follow them in their return to the woods. + </p> + <p> + The first white settlers in Ohio were largely the kind of half-savages who + had butchered the Christians at Gnadenhiitten. They built their cabins and + cleared their fields on lands so shamelessly stolen that in 1785 a force + of United States troops was sent to drive them out of their holdings. They + seemed to go, but in reality they staid, and wherever the backwoodsman + planted his foot west of the Ohio, he never turned his face eastward + again. + </p> + <p> + He was unlawfully there, but from the Indian’s point of view he was + no more unrightfully there than the settlers who came a few years later to + take up farms under the land companies authorized by Congress. If any + other proof were wanting that these companies possessed themselves of land + which the Indians believed they had never sold, it would appear in the + fact that the first thing the settlers did was to build a stockade, or + high bullet-proof fence of logs with a strong blockhouse for a kind of + citadel, where they might gather for safety in case of attacks from any of + the wild natives of the woods about them. + </p> + <p> + The invaders were from New England, from New Jersey, from Pennsylvania, + and from Virginia, and with their coming, nearly all in the same year, + there began that mingling of the American strains which has since made + Ohio the most American state in the Union, first in war and first in + peace; which has given the nation such soldiers as Grant, Sherman, + Sheridan, McPherson; such presidents as Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, + McKinley; such statesmen and jurists as Ewing, Cor-win, Wade, Chase, + Giddings, Sherman, Waite. We have to own, in truth and honesty, that the + newcomers might be unlawfully and unrightfully in the great territory + which was destined to be the great state, but it is consoling to realize + that they were not unreasonably there. It was not reasonable that the land + should be left to savages who must each keep fifty thousand acres of it + wild for his needs as a hunter. The earth is for those who will use it, + and not for those who will waste it, and the Indians who would not suffer + themselves to be tamed could not help wasting the land. + </p> + <p> + If the whites made any mistake, it was in allowing any man to own more + land than he could use; but this is a mistake which prevails in our own + day as it prevailed in the days of the pioneers, and they were not to + blame for being no wiser at the end of the eighteenth century than we are + at the end of the nineteenth. The states consenting to the organization of + the Northwest Territory meant that their citizens who had fought for the + independence of the nation in the Revolutionary War should first of all + have their choice of its lands, and so we find Ohio divided up into the + Virginia Military District, the Connecticut Western Reserve, and the + Bounty Lands of Pennsylvania. But large grants were made to land + companies, and the innumerable acres were juggled out of the hands of the + people into the hands of the speculators, as the public lands have been + ever since, until now there are no public lands left worth having. + </p> + <p> + The Ohio Indians knew nothing of all this, or as little as they have ever + known of the fate of their ancient homes on the frontier which we have + pressed further and further westward. They held in their stubborn way that + the line between them and the whites was still the Ohio River, as it had + been for fifty years; and they made war upon the invaders wherever they + found them. At times they gathered force for a great battle, and in the + first two of these battles they were the victors, but in the third they + were beaten and their strength and spirits were broken. In 1790 General + Harmar destroyed the towns of the Miamis on the Wabash; but they ambushed + his retreat and punished his fifteen hundred men so severely that he was + forced back to the Ohio. In 1791 General Arthur St. Clair led an army + against the Indians in the Maumee country, and was attacked and routed + with greater havoc than the savages had ever yet made of the whites, + except perhaps in Braddock’s defeat. In 1792 General Anthony Wayne + set about gathering another army for the Indian campaign. He moved into + the enemy’s country slowly, building forts in Darke County and + Mercer (where St. Clair was routed) as he advanced. In 1794, at the + meeting of the Auglaize and Maumee, twenty miles from the last post, which + he named Fort Defiance, he finally met the tribes in great force, and + defeated them so thoroughly that for sixteen years they never afterwards + made head against the Americans. + </p> + <p> + At this day we can hardly imagine the dismay that the rout of St. Clair + and the slaughter of his men spread through the Ohio country. He was a + gallant officer, the governor of the Northwest Territory, and the trusted + friend of Washington. It is true that his army was largely the refuse of + the Eastern States, picked up in the streets of the larger towns and lured + into the wilderness with the promise of three dollars a month; that these + men were badly fed, badly clothed, and badly drilled; and that they were + led by a general whose strength and spirits were impaired by sickness. But + with them was a large body of Kentuckians and other backwoodsmen, skilled + in Indian warfare, and eager for the red foes with whom they had long + arrears of mutual injury to bring up; and the hopes of the settlers rested + securely upon these. The Indians were led by Little Turtle, one of their + greatest war chiefs, and at the point where General Wayne two years later + built one of his forts, and called it Recovery, they surprised St. Clair’s + troops. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/107.jpg" width="100%" alt="The Defeat of St. Clair 107 " /> + </div> + <p> + It was an easy slaughter. St. Clair was suffering so much with gout that + he could not move from his horse when he was helped to the saddle, and was + wholly unfit to fight. Yet he went undauntedly through the battle; horse + after horse was shot under him, and his clothes were pierced with nine of + the bullets which the Indians rained upon his men from every tree of the + forest. The backwoodsmen had hardly a chance to practice the Indians’ + arts against them before the rout began. The cannon which St. Clair had + brought into the wilderness with immense waste of time and toil, proved + useless under the fire that galled the artillerymen. The weak, + undisciplined, and bewildered army was hemmed in on every side, and the + men were shot down as they huddled together or tried to straggle away, + till half their number was left upon the field. Of course none of the + wounded were spared. The Americans were tomahawked and scalped where they + fell; one of the savages told afterwards that he plied his hatchet until + he could hardly lift his arm. All the Ohio tribes shared in the glory of + this greatest victory of their race,—Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, + Ottawas, Chippeways, and Pottawottomies. There had been plenty of game + that year; they were all in the vigor and force which St. Clair’s + ill-fated army lacked; and they lustily took their fill of slaughter. + </p> + <p> + Many stories of the battle were told by those who escaped. Major Jacob + Fowler, of Kentucky, an old hunter, who went with the army as surveyor, + carried his trusty rifle, but he had run short of bullets, the morning of + the fight, which began at daybreak. He was going for a ladle to melt more + lead, when he met a Kentucky rifleman driven in by the savages, and begged + some balls of him. The man had been shot through the wrist, and he told + Fowler to help himself from his pouch. Fowler was pouring out a double + handful, when the man said, “Stop; you had better count them.” + Fowler could not help laughing, though it was hardly the time for gayety. + “If we get through this scrape, my dear fellow,” said he, + “I will return you twice as many.” But they never met again, + and Fowler could only suppose that his cautious friend was soon tomahawked + and scalped with the other wounded. Fowler took to a tree, and shot + Indians till his gunlock got out of order. Then he picked up a rifle which + had been thrown away, and which he found his bullets would fit, and + renewed the fight. It was a very cold November morning, and his fingers + became so stiff that he could not hold the bullets, which he had to keep + in his mouth, and feed into his rifle from it. At one time he was behind a + very small tree, and two Indians fired on him at such close range that he + felt the smoke of their guns and gave himself up for dead. But both had + missed him, and he got away from the battlefield unhurt. + </p> + <p> + Another Kentuckian, a young ranger named William Kennan, was one of the + first riflemen driven back by the overwhelming force of Indians. He tried + to hide in the tall grass, but found that his only hope was in his heels. + The savages endeavored to cut him off, but he distanced all except one, + who followed him only three yards away. Kennan expected him every moment + his tomahawk at him, and he felt in his belt for his own. It had slipped + from its place, and he found himself wholly unarmed, just as he came to a + tree which the wind had blown down, and which spread before him a mass of + roots and earth eight or nine feet high. He gathered all his strength, + bounded into the air, and cleared it, while a yell of wonder rose from the + baffled Indians behind him. A little later he came upon General Madison of + Kentucky sitting on a log, so spent with the day’s work and loss of + blood from a wound, that he could no longer walk, and waiting for the + Indians to come up and kill him. Kennan ran back and caught a horse which + he had seen grazing, put Madison on it, and walked by his side till they + were out of danger. The friendship thus begun lasted through their lives. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:36%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/109.jpg" alt="The Escape of Kennan 109 " /> + </div> + <p> + This is one of the few softer lights in the picture whose darker features + we must not fail to look upon. One of the grimmest of them was the war + chief of the Missasagos, Little Turtle, who planned the surprise, against + the advice of all the other chiefs, and who merits the fame of the awful + day. To the Americans who saw him then, he was a sullen and gloomy giant, + who fought with his men throughout the battle, arrayed in the conspicuous + splendor of a great war, chief, with silver ornaments dangling from his + nose and ears. Hardly less terrible than the figure of this magnificent + butcher is that of the Chickasaw warrior who accompanied the American + army, to glut the hate of his nation for the Northern tribesmen. When the + fight began, he said he would not stand for the Shawnees to shoot him down + like a wild pigeon, and he left the ranks and took to a fallen log, where + he fired with unfailing aim. But he could not be kept from leaving it to + scalp the other Indians as he shot them, and his own turn to be shot and + scalped came at last. + </p> + <p> + The battle ground was covered with a thick slush from the new-fallen snow, + and this made the retreat more exhausting. A poor mother, perhaps one of + the soldiers’ or pioneers’ wives, staggered along with a baby + in her arms till she fell with it. The ranger McDowell then carried it + awhile for her. When he gave it back, she threw it away in the snow, to + save her own life, and the Indians found it, and took it to Sandusky, + where they brought it up as their own. + </p> + <p> + Two years after, when a detachment of Wayne’s army camped upon the + scene of the carnage, they had to scrape away the heaps of bones and carry + them out of their tents before they could make their beds, and they buried + six hundred skulls on the field. Such is war, and we cannot look too + closely on its hideous face, which is often so alluringly painted that we + forget it is the face of a pitiless demon. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII. THE INDIAN WARS AND WAYNE’S VICTORY. + </h2> + <p> + The Indians who had been so well generaled and had fought so ably, failed + as usual to follow up their victory by moving on the American settlements + in force. They kept on harassing the pioneers in small war parties, but + gave the country time to send an army, thoroughly equipped and thoroughly + disciplined, against them. They made a second attack on the Americans on + the old battle ground where General Wayne had built his Fort Recovery, but + they were beaten off with severe loss, though in their attack they had the + aid of many white Canadians and even of some British officers, or at least + of men wearing the uniform of British officers. + </p> + <p> + By the treaty of 1783 Great Britain agreed to give us the whole West below + a certain line, but when the time came for the surrender, she refused to + yield the forts south of this line. With the bad faith of wanton power she + kept her posts at Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, and Mackinaw, because we were + weak and she was strong; and from these points her agents abetted the + savages in their war upon the American frontiers. Just before the battle + of Fallen Timbers, where Wayne won his victory, the Lieutenant Governor of + Canada marched a force of Canadian militia and British regulars into the + Ohio country, and built a fort on the Maumee, near the battle ground, + which he held until 1796, when Great Britain at last gave up all the + places she had unrightfully kept. The Indians expected this fort to open + its gates to them, when they fled before Wayne’s men, and were + astonished and indignant at the behavior of then-British friends in + denying them refuge. This was not from want of ill will toward the + Americans, who taunted them as they passed, and whom the garrison wished + to fire upon for approaching the post in force. Sharp letters passed + between the American general and the British commandant, but it ended in + nothing worse, and our jealous army, which remained in the neighborhood + laying waste the Indian fields and villages, could not perceive that the + British gave any aid or comfort to the savages. + </p> + <p> + The battle of Fallen Timbers was fought on the 20th of August, 1794, on + the banks of the Maumee, near a rising ground called Presque Isle, about + two miles south of the present Maumee City, and four miles from the + British Fort Miami. The place was called Fallen Timbers because it was + covered with trees blown down long before in a tornado. These formed a + natural stronghold for the savages, but Wayne had every other advantage, + especially in numbers; he had almost twice as many men, well drilled, + armed, and clothed, while the miserable and disorderly army of St. Clair + had fallen a prey to a far greater force of Indians. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the battle, Wayne sent a flag of truce to the united + tribes, offering peace, but he did not wait for its return. He met his + envoy coming back with an evasive answer, and he pushed on to Fallen + Timbers without stopping. As soon as he reached the battlefield, he + ordered his infantry to beat up the covert of the enemy, who were hidden + among the logs, brush, and grass, with the bayonet, and as they rose to + deliver their fire. His order was carried out so thoroughly and promptly + that this charge of nine hundred men began and ended the fight. Two + thousand; Indians, Canadian militia and volunteers fled before them, and + the rout was complete. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/114.jpg" alt="St. Clair’s Defeat 114 " /> + </div> + <p> + The affair was so quickly over that there was no time for the incidents of + heroism and suffering which heightened the tragedy of St. Clair’s + defeat. At the beginning of the action, General William Henry Harrison, + afterwards President of the United States, but then one of Wayne’s + aids, said to him, “General Wayne, I’m afraid you will get + into the battle yourself, and forget to give us the necessary field + orders.” “Perhaps I may,” said Wayne, “and if I + do, recollect the standing order for the day is, Charge the rascals with + the bayonets!” Wayne had got his nickname of Mad Anthony in the + Revolution from his habit of swearing furiously in battle, and now he + called the Indians something more than simply rascals. We have seen how + his men carried out the spirit of his instructions, and it is told of one + of them who got astray from the rest that he met an Indian alone and gave + him the bayonet. At the same time the Indian gave the American the + tomahawk, and they were found dead together, one with the blade in his + breast, the other with the hatchet in his skull. + </p> + <p> + A runaway negro who had followed the Kentucky horsemen to the battle, saw + three Indians swimming the river from the shore where the cavalry were + posted, and shot one of them. The other two tried to swim on with the + body. The negro fired again with deadly aim, and the only Indian left was + now in water so shallow that he was dragging the bodies to land when once + more the negro fired and killed his man. Then he ran up to look at the + dead men and found them so like one another that he knew they must be + brothers. + </p> + <p> + A strange and romantic incident of the campaign, before the battle, + occurred while three American scouts, Wells, McClellan, and Miller, were + ranging the woods to bring in some Indians for Wayne to question. They + came upon a party of three Indians; Wells shot one, and Miller another, + while McClellan, who was very swift of foot, ran down the third. Pursuer + and pursued both stuck in the oozy bottom of a stream, and when Wells and + Miller came up, they were threatening each other with knife and tomahawk. + Miller had been taken captive when a child with one of his brothers; he + had escaped, but this brother had remained with the savages, and somehow + Miller felt that the Indian confronting Mc-Clellan was his brother. They + seized him and washed off his paint; he was white; he was Miller’s + brother. They persuaded him, with much trouble at first, to join Wayne’s + army, and he fought through the rest of the war on the American side. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/116.jpg" alt="A White Indian 116 " /> + </div> + <p> + At another time as Wells and a party of his scouts came to the banks of a + stream, they saw on the opposite shore a family of savages who began to + cross the river towards them in a canoe. The scouts, taking them for + Indians, were about to fire on them when Wells suddenly called out that + the first who fired should have a bullet through his own head. He had + recognized the Indians, and he said that when he was a captive in their + tribe, this family had fed and clothed him, and nursed him in sickness, + and treated him as tenderly as one of themselves. The backwoodsmen joined + Wells in talk with his friends, urging them to do what they could for + peace among their people, and left them to paddle away in their canoe + unharmed. + </p> + <p> + Wells had been the adoptive son of Little Turtle, who led the Indians at + St. Clair’s defeat, and he had fought on the side of the savages in + that battle. But after it was over he foresaw that the war must end in + favor of the white men, and he decided to abandon his wild brethren. He + spoke first with Little Turtle as they were walking in the woods together + and warned him in words that a real Indian might have used. “When + the sun reaches the meridian, I leave you for the whites; and whenever you + meet me in battle you must try to kill me, as I shall try to kill you.” + </p> + <p> + But the real Indians had not Wells’s forecast, and they continued + the war till they were beaten by Wayne, in whose army Little Turtle might + have found his adoptive son. Little Turtle was himself one of the last + chiefs to yield, but he came in with the rest at Greenville, and one year + after the battle of Fallen Timbers signed the treaty by which ninety + chiefs and the deputies of twelve tribes gave up the Ohio River as the + Indian border, and ceded half the Ohio lands to the United States. + </p> + <p> + Little Turtle, or Moshokonoghua, as he was called in the tongue of his + nation, the Miamis, lived for thirty years after signing the treaty, and + then died of gout at Fort Wayne. He traveled through the Eastern States in + the first years of the peace, and gave people there a different impression + from that received by those who knew him before the defeat of St. Clair, + and saw him leading the victors in that battle. He struck all who met him + as a man of intelligence and wit; he got the habit of high living and bore + himself like the gentlemen whose company he loved to frequent. At + Philadelphia the famous Polish exile and patriot Kosciusko gave him his + pistols and bade him shoot dead with them any man who attempted to rob him + of his country. + </p> + <p> + His business in the East was to interest people in the civilization of his + tribe, but he had no purpose of living among the whites. In Philadelphia, + he said, “When I walk through the streets I see every person in his + shop employed about something: one makes shoes, another pots, a third + sells cloth. I say to myself, which of these things can you do? Not one. I + can make a bow or an arrow, catch fish, kill game, and go to war; but none + of these things is of any use here. To learn what is done here would + require a long time. Old age comes on. I should be a useless piece of + furniture, useless to my nation, useless to myself. I must go back to my + own country.” + </p> + <p> + This was what he did, and as long as he lived he was steadfast for peace, + for he remembered that it would be foolish for the Indians to fight the + Americans, and Little Turtle was not a fool. Even before the battle of the + Fallen Timbers, he urged his people to treat with Wayne rather than fight. + “We have beaten the enemy twice under separate commanders,” he + said, referring to Har-mar and St. Clair. “The Americans are now led + by a chief who never stops; the night and the day are alike to him. And + during all the time that he has been marching upon your villages, + notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able + to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something which whispers to me + that it will be prudent to listen to his offers of peace.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII. INDIAN FIGHTERS. + </h2> + <p> + In the long war with the Indians, the great battles were nearly all fought + within the region that afterwards became our state, and the smaller + battles went on there pretty constantly. The first force on the scale of + an army sent against the Ohio tribes was that of Colonel Bouquet in 1766; + but, as we have seen, the chief object of this was to treat for the return + of their white captives. In 1774 Lord Dunmore marched with three thousand + Virginians to destroy the Indian towns on the Scioto in Pickaway County. + He cannot be said to have led his men, who believed in neither his courage + nor his good faith, and who thought that he was more anxious to treat with + the savages for the advantage of England in the Revolutionary War, which + he knew was coming, than to attack their capital. This was that Old + Chillicothe, which has been so often mentioned before, and here Dunmore + made peace with the Indians, instead of punishing them, as the + backwoodsmen expected. The feeling among them was so bitter that one of + them fired through Dunmore’s tent where he sat with two chiefs, + hoping to kill all three. He missed, but he easily escaped among his + comrades, who looked upon Dunmore as an enemy of their country and a + traitor to their cause. + </p> + <p> + Their spirit, both lawless and fearless, was the spirit of that race of + Indian Fighters, as they were called, which grew up on the border in the + war ending with Wayne’s victory. It led them into countless acts of + daring and into many acts of cruelty, and the story of their adventures is + too bloody to be fully told. But unless something of it is told we cannot + have a true notion of what the life of our backwoodsmen was. We have seen + what they could do when they were at their worst in the Gnadenhutten + massacre; but we cannot understand them unless we realize that they not + only held all life cheap, but held the life of an Indian no dearer than + that of a wolf. + </p> + <p> + Belmont County was the scene of two exploits of Lewis Wetzel, perhaps the + most famous of these Indian fighters. One day he went home with a young + man whom he met while hunting, and they found the cabin burnt and the + whole family murdered except a girl who had lived with them, and whom the + young man was in love with. They started on the trail of the Indians who + had done the cruel deed, and came up with them after nightfall sleeping + round their camp-fire. The girl was awake, crying and lamenting, and + Wetzel had great ado to keep her lover from firing at once upon the + Indians. But he made him wait for daylight, so that they could be sure of + their aim; and then at the first light of dawn, they each chose his mark + and fired. Each killed his Indian, but two others escaped into the woods, + while the lover rushed, knife in hand, to free the girl. Wetzel made after + the Indians, firing into the air to draw them out of their concealment. + Then he turned, loading as he ran, and wheeled about and shot the Indian + nearest him. He fled again, dodging from tree to tree till his gun was + reloaded, when he shot the last Indian left. He took their scalps, and got + home with the girl and her lover unhurt. + </p> + <p> + In 1782, together with one of Crawford’s men, he fell in with a + party of forty Indians about two miles from St. Clairsville. Both sides + fired; Wetzel killed one of the Indians, but his friend was wounded and + promptly scalped, while four of the Indians followed Wetzel. He turned, + shot the foremost, and ran on, loading his rifle. The next was so close + upon him that when Wetzel turned again, the Indian caught the muzzle of + his gun. After a fearful struggle Wetzel got it against the Indian’s + breast, pulled the trigger, and killed him. The remaining two followed him + a mile farther, and then Wetzel shot one of them as he was crossing a + piece of open ground. The last left of the Indians stopped with a yell, + and Wetzel heard him say as he turned back, “No catch that man; gun + always loaded.” + </p> + <p> + Wetzel had fought Indians nearly all his life. When he was a boy of + fourteen they attacked his father’s cabin in Virginia, and Wetzel + was wounded before he was taken prisoner, with a younger brother, and + carried into the Ohio wilderness. One night the Indians forgot to tie + their captives, and the two boys escaped. Lewis returned to the camp, + after they had stolen away, for a pair of moccasins, and again for his + father’s rifle, which the Indians had carried off. They followed the + boys, but the young Wetzels got safely back to the Ohio, and crossed the + river on a raft which they made of logs. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/122.jpg" alt="Wetzel, Indian Fighter 122 " /> + </div> + <p> + In 1786 the settlers of Wheeling, who had been troubled by Indians, + offered a purse of a hundred dollars to the man who should first bring in + a scalp. A party crossed the Ohio, but after some days turned back, + leaving Wetzel alone in the woods, where he roamed about looking for + Indians. The second morning he came upon one sleeping, and drove his knife + through his heart. Then he went home with his scalp, and got the reward. + </p> + <p> + One of the tricks of the savages was to imitate the cry, or call, of the + wild turkey and then to shoot the hunter who came looking for the bird. + Wetzel was one day in the woods when this call came to his ear from the + mouth of a cave, a place where several whites had been found scalped. He + watched till the feathered tuft of an Indiana head appeared from the cave. + The call of the wild turkey sounded, and at the same time the sharp crack + of Wetzel’s rifle noted the Indian’s death. + </p> + <p> + It was Wetzel’s habit in the autumn to go on a long hunt into the + Ohio country. Once he went as far as the Muskingum, some ninety miles from + Wheeling, when he came on a camp of four Indians. He crept upon them with + no weapon but his knife, which he drove through the skulls of two as they + lay asleep. The two others struggled to their feet stupefied; Wetzel + killed one of them, but the fourth escaped in the shadow of the woods. + When Wetzel returned and was asked what his luck in hunting had been, he + said, “Not much; I treed four Indians, but one got away.” + </p> + <p> + These were acts of war, but they were very like mere murders, and one of + Wetzel’s exploits could hardly be called anything but murder. + General Har-mar in 1779 had invited the Indians to come and make peace + with him in the fort near where Marietta now stands. Wetzel and another + Indian fighter lay in wait for the envoys who passed from the tribes to + the general, and in pure wantonness, shot one. He then took refuge with + his friends at Mingo Bottom, where the officer sent by Harmar to arrest + him, dared not even attempt it. Wetzel was the hero and darling of the + border, where the notion of punishing a man for shooting an Indian was + laughed at. But after a while he was taken, and lodged, heavily ironed, in + the fort. He sent for the general and asked him to give him up, with a + tomahawk, to a large band of armed Indians present, and let him fight for + his life with them. Of course Harmar could not do this, but Wetzel won + upon him so far that the general had his fetters removed, leaving only the + manacles on his wrists, and allowed him to walk about outside the fort. He + made a sudden dash for the woods; the guards fired upon him, but Wetzel + got safely away; and at a distant point he reached the Ohio. He could not + swim, with his hands in irons, but by good luck he saw a friend on the + Virginia shore, who came in answer to his signs and set him over in his + canoe. Later the soldiers found him in a tavern at Marysville, and + arrested him again. He was taken to the fort at Cincinnati, where Harmar + was now in command, but he was released by a judge of the court just in + time to save the fort from an attack by the backwoodsmen, who were furious + that Wetzel should be so persecuted simply for killing an Indian. + </p> + <p> + One of the stories told of Wetzel’s skill in Indian warfare relates + to an adventure he had after his escape from hanging by the soldiers. He + was coming home at the end of a hunt in the Ohio woods when he saw an + Indian lifting up his gun to fire. Each sprang behind a tree, and each + waited patiently for the other to expose himself. At last Wetzel put his + bearskin cap on his ramrod, and pushed it a little beyond the edge of his + shelter. The Indian took it for his enemy’s head and fired. Before + he could load again Wetzel was upon him, and his end had come. + </p> + <p> + It is not easy for us at this day to understand how a man so blood-stained + as this should be by no means the worst man of the border. Wetzel is said + to have been even exemplary in his life apart from his Indian killing, + which, indeed, was accounted no wrong, but rather a virtue by his savage + white friends. In person he might well take their rude fancy. He was tall, + full-chested, and broad-shouldered; his dark face was deeply pitted with + smallpox; his hair, which he was very proud of, fell to his knees when + loose; his black eyes, when he was roused, shone with dangerous fire. He + was silent and shy with strangers, but the life of any party of comrades. + It is not certainly known how or where he died. Some say that he went + South, and ended his stormy life quietly at Natchez; others that he went + West, and remained a woodsman to the last, hunting wild beasts and killing + wild men. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/125.jpg" alt="Bearskin Cap on a Ramrod 125 " /> + </div> + <p> + Lewis Wetzel had two brothers only less famous than himself in the + backwoods warfare, and more than once Indian fighting seems to have run in + families. Adam Poe and Andrew Poe were brothers whose names have come down + in the story of deadly combats with the savages. They are most renowned + for their heroic struggle with a party of seven Wyandots near the mouth of + Little Yellow Creek, in 1782. The Wyandots, led by a great warrior named + Big Foot, had fallen suddenly on a settlement just below Fort Pitt, killed + one old man in his cabin, and begun their retreat with what booty they + could gather. Eight borderers, the two Poes among them, followed in hot + haste across the river into the Ohio country, where the next morning + Andrew Poe came suddenly on Big Foot and a small warrior talking together + by their raft at the water’s edge. They stood with their guns + cocked, and Poe aimed at Big Foot; but his piece missed fire. The Indians + turned at the click of the lock, and Poe, who was too close to them for + any chance of escape, leaped upon them both and threw them to the ground + together. The little warrior freed himself, and got his tomahawk from the + raft to brain Poe, whom he left in deadly clutch with Big Foot. Twice he + struck, but Poe managed each time, by twisting and dodging, to keep his + head away from the hatchet, and as the warrior struck the third time, Poe, + though badly hurt on the arm by one of his blows, wrenched himself free + from Big Foot, caught up one of the Indians’ guns, and shot the + little warrior through the breast. Then Big Foot seized him again, and + they floundered together into the water, where each tried to drown the + other. Poe held Big Foot under the water so long that he thought he must + be dead, but the moment he loosed his hold upon his scalp lock, the + Wyandot renewed the fight. They presently found themselves in water beyond + their depths, and let go to swim for their lives. The Indian reached the + shore first, and got hold of one of the guns to shoot Poe, but luckily for + Poe it was the gun he had fired in killing the little warrior. + </p> + <p> + Adam had heard the shot, and he now came hurrying up. His gun was empty, + too, and it was a question Whether he or Big Foot should load first: he + shot the Indian as he was lifting his gun to fire. But Big Foot was not + killed, and Andrew shouted to Adam not to mind him, but to keep the Indian + from rolling himself into the water. Big Foot was too quick for them: he + got into the current, which whirled him away, and so saved his scalp in + death. About the same time another of the party who came up took Andrew + Poe for an Indian and shot him in the shoulder. Poe got well of his wounds + and lived for many years, proud of his fight with Big Foot, who was a + generous foe, and had often befriended white captives among his tribe. + </p> + <p> + It is told of Adam Poe that five Indians, all rather drunk, once came to + his cabin, and tried to force the door open. He sent his wife with the + children out into the cornfield behind the house, remarking, “There + is a fight and fun ahead,” but when he saw the state the Indians + were in, he did not fire at them. He fell upon them with his fists, + knocked them all down, and then threw them one after another over the + fence, and the fun was ended. + </p> + <p> + One of the hunters detailed from Wayne’s command to supply the + officers with game while the army lay at Greenville in 1793 was the Indian + fighter, Josiah Hunt, who died a peaceful Methodist many years afterwards. + When he passed a winter in the woods he had to build a fire to keep from + freezing, and yet guard against letting the slightest gleam of light be + seen by a prowling foe. So he dug a hole six or seven inches deep with his + tomahawk, filled it with the soft lining of dead oak bark, and with his + flint started a fire. He left two holes at the edges to breathe the flame; + then covered the pit with earth, spread brush over it, and seated himself + on the heap, with his blanket drawn over his head, and dozed through the + night. The Indians had a great honor and admiration for him, and when they + came to make peace at Greenville, after Fallen Timbers, they all wanted to + see Captain Hunt. “Great man, Captain Hunt,” they said. + “Great warrior—good hunting man-Indian no can kill,” and + they told him they had tried to find out the secret of his fire, and catch + him off his guard so that they could get his scalp, which they felt would + have been the highest distinction they could have achieved, next to + getting General Wayne’s scalp. He was indeed both hunted and hunter. + He never fired at a deer without first putting a bullet in his mouth to + reload for an Indian, who might be about to fire on him. When he skinned a + deer, he planted his back against a tree, and stood his rifle by his side; + from time to time he stopped and listened for the slightest noise that + hinted danger. His life had its disappointments as well as its perils. + Once he saw three Indians whom he might easily have killed at one shot if + he could have got them in range, but they persisted in walking Indian + file. If he fired and killed only one, the other two would have killed + him; so he was obliged to let them all go. Captain Hunt was a quiet, + modest man, very frank and sincere, and seems never to have boasted of his + exploits; we have no means of knowing whether he was glad or sorry that + those Indians got away in safety. Probably he was not very glad; for + though the fighters on both sides could admire, they could never spare one + another. + </p> + <p> + The Indian fighters were commoner in the southern and eastern parts of + Ohio than in the north, but there was at least one whose chief exploit had + the north for its scene. Captain Samuel Brady, in 1780, gathered a number + of his neighbors and pursued a retreating war party of Indians from the + Ohio as far as the Cuyahoga, near Ravenna. Here he found that the savages + far outnumbered his force, and he decided that it would be better for him + to retreat in his turn, and he bade each of his men look out for himself. + He discovered that the Indians were pressing him hard with the purpose of + taking him alive and glutting many an old grudge against him by torture. + But he knew his ground, for he had often hunted there with them in + friendlier days, and he saw a chance for his life at a point where another + man would have despaired. This was where the river narrowed to a gorge + twenty feet wide, with walls of precipitous rock. As he neared this chasm + in his flight, Brady gathered himself for the leap and cleared it. He + caught at some low bushes where he alighted and pulled himself up the + steep, while the Indians stood stupefied. They had now no hope of taking + him alive, and they all fired upon him. One bullet wounded him badly in + the hip, but he managed to swim a pond which he came to, and to hide + himself behind a log near the shore. When the Indians came up and saw the + blood on its surface, they decided that he was drowned, and gave up the + chase. Some of them stood on the very log that hid him while they talked + over his probable fate, and then they left him to make his long way home + unmolested. + </p> + <p> + Duncan McArthur, an early governor of Ohio, though not an Indian fighter + like these others, was in many fights with the Indians. In the summer of + 1794 he was hunting deer in the hills near the mouth of the Scioto, when + two Indians fully armed came in sight. McArthur was waiting for the deer + behind a screen or blind near the salt lick which they frequented, and he + took aim at one of the Indians and shot him. The other did not stir till + McArthur broke from his covert and ran. He plunged heedlessly into the top + of a fallen tree, and before he could disentangle himself, he heard the + crack of the Indian’s rifle, and the bullet hissed close to his ear. + He freed himself and ran, followed now by several other Indians, but he + managed to distance them all and reached the Ohio River in safety. + </p> + <p> + It was war to the death between the red and white borderers. Neither + spared the other, except in some rare mood of caprice or pity. A life + granted on either side meant perhaps many lives lost, and the foes vied + with one another in being the first to shed the blood which seems, as you + read their savage annals, to stain every acre of the beautiful Ohio + country. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV. LATER CAPTIVITIES. + </h2> + <p> + The Indians seem to have kept on carrying the whites into captivity, to + the very end of the war, which closed with the Greenville treaty of 1795. + As they had always done, they adopted some of them into their tribes and + devoted others to torture. Nothing more clearly shows how little they + realized that their power was coming to an end, and that they could no + longer live their old life, or follow their immemorial customs. + </p> + <p> + The first captive in Ohio, of whom there is any record, was Mary Harris; + she had been stolen from her home in New England when a child, by the + French Indians, and was found at White Woman Creek in Coshocton County, + about the year 1750. When the last captive was taken is not certainly + known, but two white boys were captured so late as 1791, and one of these + was adopted by the Delawares in Auglaize County. His name was Brickell, + and he was carried off from the neighborhood of Pittsburg when nine years + old. He wrote a narrative of his life among the Indians, and gave an + account of his parting with them which is very touching. After the first + exchange of prisoners Brickell was left because there was no Indian among + the whites to exchange for him, but later his adoptive father went with + him to Fort Defiance, and gave him up. Brickell had hunted with the rest + of the children, and shared in all their sports and pleasures, and they + now clung about him crying, when their father told them he must go with + him to the fort. They asked him if he was going to leave them, and he + could only answer that he did not know. At the fort, his Indian father, + Whingy Pooshies, bade him stand up before the officers, and then spoke to + him. + </p> + <p> + “My son, these are men the same color as yourself, and some of your + kin may be here, or they may be a great way off. You have lived a long + time with us. I call on you to say if I have not been a father to you, if + I have not used you as a father would a son.” + </p> + <p> + “You have used me as well as a father could use a son,” said + Brickell. + </p> + <p> + “I am glad you say so,” Whingy Pooshies returned. “You + have lived long with me; you have hunted for me; but your treaty says you + must be free. If you choose to go with the people of your own color, I + have no right to say a word; if you choose to stay with me, your people + have no right to speak. Now reflect on it, and take your choice, and tell + us as soon as you make up your mind.” + </p> + <p> + Brickell says that he thought of the children he had left crying, and of + all the Indians whom he loved; but he remembered his own people at last, + and he answered, “I will go with my kin.” + </p> + <p> + Then Whingy Pooshies said, “I have reared you; I have taught you to + hunt; you are a good hunter; you are better to me than my own sons. I am + now getting old and I cannot hunt. I thought you would be a support to my + old age. I leaned on you as on a staff. Now it is broken; you are going to + leave me; and I have no right to say a word, but I am ruined.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/133.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Brickell Leaves his Indian Father 133 " /> + </div> + <p> + He sank into his seat, weeping, and Brickell wept too; then they parted + and never saw each other again. + </p> + <p> + One of the later captivities was that of Israel Donolson, who has told the + story himself. The night before he was captured, he says that he dreamed + of Indians, and took it as a sign of coming trouble; but in the morning, + the 22d of April, 1791, he went prospecting for land with another young + surveyor, named Lytte, and a friend named Tittle. They worked together + along the Ohio River in Adams County till they came to one of the ancient + works of the Mound Builders. The surveyors were joking Tittle, and telling + him what a fine place that would be for him to build his house, when they + saw a party of Frenchmen in two canoes. The Frenchmen turned out to be + Indians, who landed and instantly gave chase to the white men. Donolson + tripped and fell, and three warriors were quickly upon him. He offered no + resistance; they helped him up, and had leisure to secure him in full + sight of the blockhouse on the Kentucky shore, where they could all see + men moving about, but Donolson could not call to them for help. His + captors pushed off with him northward. The next morning it rained, and one + of the Indians took Donolson’s hat; he complained to a large + warrior, who gave him a blanket cap, and helped him through the swollen + streams. When they killed a bear, and wanted to make their captive carry + the meat, he flung it down; and then his big friend carried it for him. + </p> + <p> + One day an Indian, while they were resting, built a little fence of + sticks, and planted some grains of corn inside of it, saying, “Squaw!” + as a hint to Donolson that he should be put to work with the women. When + they got to the Shawnee camp, they dressed his hair in Indian fashion, and + put a tin jewel in his nose, and upon the whole they treated him kindly + enough. But almost every day he saw war parties setting off for Kentucky, + or coming back with scalps and horses, and he was always watching for a + chance to escape. One night he encamped with two guards who had bound him + as usual with a rope of bark. He gnawed at it all night long, and just at + daybreak he freed himself. After his first dash he stopped to put on his + moccasins, and knew that he was missed, by the terrific yells that the + Indians were giving. He ran on, and to hide his trail kept as much as he + could on fallen trees. At ten o’clock he hid between two logs and + slept till dark; then he started again, and passed that night in a hollow + tree. The day following he came to the Miami River, and tried to drift + down its current on a raft which he made of logs tied together with bark, + but he was soon forced to the shore again. He broke his long fast on two + eggs he found in a wild turkey’s nest; they proved to have each two + yolks, and he made them last for two days. In the woods he caught a horse + and tried to ride it with a bark halter; but the halter rubbed a sore on + its lip, and the horse threw him, and hurt him so badly that he lay + insensible for a time; then he rose up and pressed on, but very slowly, + for his feet were full of thorns. The twelfth day after his capture he + heard the sound of an ax, and found himself in the neighborhood of Fort + Washington, or Cincinnati. + </p> + <p> + In 1793, the year before Wayne’s victory, Andrew Ellison was taken + by the Indians in a clearing near his cabin in Adams County, and was + hurried off before his family knew that anything had happened. They roused + the neighborhood, and the Indians were hotly pursued, but they got away + with their prisoner, and made swiftly off to Upper Sandusky, where they + forced him to run the gantlet. He was a heavy man, not fleet of foot, and + he was terribly beaten; but he got through alive, and at Detroit a British + officer ransomed him for a hundred dollars. By that time prisoners must + have been getting cheap: it was perhaps more and more difficult to hold + them. + </p> + <p> + Two boys, John Johnson, thirteen years old, and Henry Johnson, eleven, + were captured in 1788 near their home at Beach Bottom in Monroe County. + They were cracking nuts in the woods, and when the Indians came upon them + the boys thought that they were two of their neighbors. They were seized + and hurried away, one Indian going before and one following the boys, who + told them their father treated them badly, and tried to make their captors + believe they were glad to be leaving home. The Indians spent the day in a + vain attempt to steal horses, and stopped to pass the night only four + miles from the place where they had taken the boys. After supper they lay + down with the prisoners between them, and when they supposed the boys were + asleep one of the Indians went and stretched himself on the other side of + the fire. Presently he began snoring, and John rose, cocked one of the + guns, and left it with Henry aimed at this Indian’s head, while he + took his station with a tomahawk held over the head of the other. Henry + fired and John struck at the same time; neither Indian was killed at once, + but both were too badly hurt to prevent the boys’ escape, and the + brothers found their way to the settlement by daybreak. The neighbors who + returned to their camp with them found the body of the Indian who had been + tomahawked, but the other had vanished. Years afterwards a skeleton with a + gun was discovered in the woods, where he must have crept after he was + shot. + </p> + <p> + In the autumn of 1792 Samuel Davis and William Campbell set out from + Massie’s Station, now Manchester, to trap beaver on the Big Sandy. + One night as they lay asleep beside their camp fire they were roused by a + voice saying in broken English, “Come, come; get up, get up!” + and they woke to find themselves in the clutches of a large party of + Indians returning from a raid into Virginia. The Indians bound their + captives and started, driving before them a herd of stolen horses. They + crossed the Ohio country, and pushed on toward Sandusky, for they were + Shawnees. At night they tied each prisoner with buffalo thongs and made + these fast to the waist of two Indians, who lay down one on either side of + him, and quieted him with blows if he became restive. At daylight the + captives were untied, but they were warned that they would be instantly + killed if they attempted to escape. Davis was in dread of being burned at + Sandusky, and as the Indians, encumbered with their booty, made only ten + or twelve miles a day, the terror had full time to grow upon him. At last + one morning just before dawn he woke one of the Indians beside him and + asked to be untied; he was answered with a blow of the savage’s + fist. He waited a moment, and then woke the other guard, who lifted his + head, and seeing some of his people building a fire, released Davis. + </p> + <p> + It was still too dark for any of them to get a good shot at him if he made + a dash from their midst, and Davis decided to try for life and liberty. He + knocked a large warrior before him into the fire, bounded over him, burst + through the group around him, and before they could seize their rifles, + which were all stacked together, he had vanished in the shadows of the + forest. They followed him, whooping and yelling, but none could draw a + bead on him, and not a shot was fired. One Indian was so near that Davis + fancied he felt his grasp at times, but he fell behind, and Davis kept on. + When he had distanced them all, he stopped to tear up his waistcoat, and + wrap his feet, naked and bleeding from the sharp stones which had cut them + in his wild flight, and then hurried on toward the Ohio. Three days + without food or fire, in the cold of the early winter, passed before he + reached the river, eight or ten miles below the mouth of the Scioto. He + then saw a large boat coming down the stream, but his troubles did not end + with this joyful sight. One of the dreadful facts of the dreadful time was + the frequent deception of boatmen by Indians and renegades who pretended + to be escaping prisoners, and who lured them to their destruction by + piteous appeals for help. The boatmen now refused to land for Davis; they + told him they had heard too many stories like his, and they kept on down + the stream, while he followed wearily along the shore. At last he + entreated them to row in a little nearer, so that he could swim out to + them. They consented to this, and he plunged into the icy water, and was + taken on board just as his strength was spent. + </p> + <p> + In 1782, John Alder, then a child of eight years, was captured in Wythe + County, Virginia, by a party of Min-goes, who at the same time wounded and + killed his brother. They already had two prisoners, Mrs. Martin, the wife + of a neighbor, and her little one four or five years old: it proved + troublesome, on their rapid march across the Ohio country to their village + on Mad River, and they tomahawked and scalped it. The next morning little + Alder was somewhat slow in rising from his breakfast when bidden, and on + the ground he saw the shadow of an arm with a lifted tomahawk. He glanced + upward and found an Indian standing over him, who presently began to feel + of Alder’s thick black hair. He afterwards confessed that he had + been about to kill him, but when he met his pleasant smile he could not + strike, and then he thought that a boy with hair of that color would make + a good Indian, and so spared him. + </p> + <p> + At the Mingo village Alder was made to run the gantlet between lines of + children armed with switches, but he was not much hurt, and he was now + taken into the tribe. He was given to a Mingo family, and the mother + washed him and dressed him in the Indian costume. They were kind to him, + but for a month he was very homesick, and used to go every day to a large + walnut tree near the town and cry for the friends and home he had lost. + After he had learned the Mingo language he began in time to be more + contented. He had no complaint to make of any of the family, except one + sister, who despised him as a prisoner, and treated him like a slave. + Another sister and her husband were his special friends, and he relates + that when he used to sit up with the Indians round their camp fire, + listening to their stories, he would sometimes drowse; then this gentle + sister and her husband would take him up in their arms and carry him to + bed, and he would hear them saying, “Poor fellow! We have sat up too + long for him, and he has fallen asleep on the cold ground.” + </p> + <p> + About a year after he was adopted, Alder met that poor mother, whose + little one the Indians had cruelly murdered before her eyes. “When + she saw me, she came smiling, and asked if it was me. I told her it was. + She asked me how I had been. I told her I had been very unwell, for I had + had fever and ague for a long time. So she took me off to a log, and there + we sat down; and she combed my head, and asked a great many questions + about how I lived, and if I didn’t want to see my mother and little + brothers. I told her I should be glad to see them, but never expected to + see them again. We took many a cry together, and when we parted, took our + last and final farewell, for I never saw her again.” + </p> + <p> + Alder always remained delicate, and could not thrive on the Indians’ + fare of meat and hominy, with no bread or salt; of sugar and honey there + was plenty; but he missed the things he was used to at home. When he grew + older he was given a gun, and sent hunting, and whenever he came back with + game the Indians praised his skill and promised him he should be a great + hunter some day. He continued with them until the peace of 1795, which + followed Wayne’s victory, and even then he stayed for a time in the + region where he had dwelt so long. He had married a squaw, and had become + a complete Indian, so that the first settlers in his neighborhood had to + teach him to speak English. But he did not live happily with his Indian + wife; they agreed to part, and then Alder thought of going back to his own + people. He reached the house of one of his brothers in the neighborhood of + his old home, one Sunday afternoon, and found several of his brothers and + sisters there, and his mother with them. They could scarcely be persuaded + that it was their son and brother come back to them, and he had to tell + them of some things that no one else could know before they would believe + him. His old, white-haired mother whom he remembered in her youth with a + “head as black as a crow,” was the first to take him in her + arms, and she said, as she wept over him, “How you have grown! I + dreamed that you had come to see me, but you was a little <i>ornary</i>-looking + fellow, and I would not own you for my son; but now I find I was mistaken, + that it is entirely the reverse, and I am proud to own you for my son.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/141.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Alder Returns to his Family 141 " /> + </div> + <p> + In 1792, Moses Hewit was taken near Neil’s Station, on the Little + Kanawha, by three Indians, who at once pushed off with him towards + Sandusky. They used him very kindly, and shared fully with him the wild + honey which they found in the bee trees, and invited him to take part in + their foot races and other sports. He found that he could outrun two of + them, and he resolved to try for his liberty, though he kept a cheerful + outside with them, and seemed contented with his lot. One day they left + him tied hand and foot and fastened to two small trees while they went on + a hunt, but he contrived to free himself, and made his escape with their + whole stock of provisions, two small pieces of venison. He struck out for + the settlements on the Muskingum, and the first night his captors passed + so near him in pursuit that he might have touched them in the darkness. + Nine days later he came in sight of a station on the Muskingum, so spent + with hunger and fatigue that he could not halloo to the garrison. He had + nothing on his wasted and bleeding body, which was all torn by briers and + brushwood, except a cloth about his loins, and he was afraid of being + mistaken and shot for an Indian. He waited till nightfall and then crept + to the station, where his presence was unknown till a young man of his + acquaintance caught sight of his face in the firelight, and called out, + “Here is ‘Hewit!” + </p> + <p> + Captain Charles Builderback and his wife were surprised by a party of + Indians while they were looking for cattle in the Ohio country, near + Wheeling, in 1789. Mrs. Builderback hid herself, but the Indians had + captured her husband, and now they forced him to call out to her. She + hesitated to answer, thinking of the children they had left at home in the + cabin which she could see across the river, and knowing how useless it + would be to give herself up. But he called again, saying that if she + surrendered, it might save his life. Then she showed herself, and was + seized and hurried away by one band of savages, while her husband remained + with the others. A few days later these came up and showed her his scalp: + he was one of the assassins of the Gnadenhiitten Indians, and he was + doomed as soon as they knew his name. She was taken to their towns on the + Great Miami, where she lived nine months, drudging with the squaws and + suffering from the rude and filthy life of the savages, but not + ill-treated. Then the commandant at Cincinnati ransomed her and sent her + home to her two orphan children. + </p> + <p> + So lately as 1812 two little girls were stolen from their fathers’ + houses in Preble County by the Indians. They could not be traced, but + twenty-five years later, one of them, named Parker, was found living with + her savage husband in Indiana. She refused then to go home with her + father, saying coldly that she should be ridiculed there for her Indian + customs. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV. INDIAN HEROES AND SAGES. + </h2> + <p> + The Ohio Indians were of almost as mixed origin as the white people of + Ohio, and if they had qualities beyond those of any other group of + American savages, it was from much the same causes which have given the + Ohioans of our day distinction as citizens. They made the Ohio country + their home by a series of chances, and they defended it against the + French, the English, and Americans in turn, because it had bounds which + seemed to form the natural frontier between them and the Europeans. + </p> + <p> + It is now believed that before the coming of our race there was a balance + of power between those two great North American nations, the Iroquois and + the Algonquins, and that our wars and intrigues destroyed this balance, + which was never restored, and put an end to all hope of advance in the + native race. Whether this is true or not, it is certain that the + hostilities between the tribes raged down to our day, and that these seem + to have continued if not begun through one family, the Algonquins, siding + with the French, and the other family, the Iroquois, siding with the + English. The Algonquins were most powerful in New England and Canada, and + the Iroquois in New York. Their struggle ended in the overthrow of the + Algonquins in the regions bordering on the English colonies, where, as has + been told, a great branch of that people who called themselves the + Lenni-lenape, and whom we called the Delawares, dwelt in a sort of + vassalage to the Iroquois. + </p> + <p> + In Ohio, however, these families, so long broken elsewhere by their feuds, + united in a common fear and hate of the white men. Many of the Ohio + Indians were Delawares, but the Miamis were Iroquois, while the Wyandots + again were Hurons, one of the finest and ablest of the Iroquois nation. + They ceased to make war upon each other, and in their union the strongest + traits of both were blended. Their character appears at its’ best, I + think, in Tecaughretanego, the adoptive brother of James Smith, and in the + great Mingo chief, Logan. + </p> + <p> + Of Tecaughretanego, his unselfishness, his piety, his common sense, his + wisdom, we already know something from Smith’s narrative, which I + wish every boy and girl might read; and of Logan’s noble spirit we + have had a glimpse in the story of Kenton’s captivity. He was the + son of Shikellimy, a Cayuga chief who lived at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and + who named him after James Logan, the Secretary of the Province. Shikellimy + was a convert of the Moravian preachers, and it is thought that Logan + himself was baptized in the Christian faith. He spent the greater portion + of his early life in Pennsylvania, and he took no part in the war between + the French and English, except to do what he could for peace. When he came + to Ohio, he dwelt for a time at Mingo Bottom in Jefferson County, the + rendezvous of the assassins who marched against Gnadenhiitten under + Williamson, and of the assassins who were beaten back from Sandusky under + Crawford. Here, as before, Logan was the friend of the white man, and it + was not till the murder of his father, brother, and sister, cried to him + for vengeance, that he made war upon them. + </p> + <p> + His kindred were of a small party of Indians whom some Virginians lured + across the Ohio near the mouth of Yellow Creek in 1774. On the Virginia + side the murderers made three of the Indians drunk and tomahawked them, + and when they had tricked the others into discharging their guns at a + mark, and so had them defenseless, they ruthlessly shot them down. Logan’s + sister, who was the only woman in the party, tried to escape, but a bullet + cut short her flight, and she died praying her murderers to have mercy on + the babe she held in her arms. They spared it, and he who tells the cruel + tale saw it the next day in his own mother’s arms smiling up into + her face, while she fed and fondled it. + </p> + <p> + The news came to Logan while he was speaking at a council of the Indians, + and urging them to make peace with the whites. He instantly changed his + plea; he lifted up his hatchet, and yowed never to lay it down till he had + avenged himself tenfold. He kept his word, and that summer thirty scalps + and prisoners bore witness to his fury. + </p> + <p> + But it was a short-lived impulse of a nature essentially so good that it + could not long keep the memory of even such an injury. In this very war, + or this out-Durst of the long Indian war, Logan showed himself as before + the friend of the white men. He had pity on many of the captives he made, + and when he could he tried to move other captors to pity. Major William + Robinson, who was one of Logan’s prisoners, tells how he was + surprised, together with two friends, by a party of Indians who fired on + them. Robinson ran with a savage in hot chase behind him, who called to + him in English, “Stop; I won’t hurt you.” “Yes, + you will,” Robinson retorted. “No, I won’t,” the + Indian insisted; “but if you don’t stop, I’ll shoot you.” + Robinson fell over a log, and the Indian seized him. It was Logan, who + told him not to be frightened for he should be adopted into his own tribe + when they reached his village. There he was made to run the gantlet, but + Logan instructed him how to manage so that he got through without harm. + Robinson was then tied to the stake and the Indians prepared to burn him. + It was the summer after the murder of Logan’s kindred, and they had + already whipped one Virginian to death merely because his brother was + present at the massacre. They could not forgive, but Logan rose before the + council and pleaded with all his eloquence for Robinson’s life. + Three times the captive was untied from the stake, and three times tied to + it again before Logan’s words prevailed. At last the great chief was + allowed to lay the belt of wampum on the prisoner for a sign that he was + adopted. Then he gave him in charge to a young Indian, saying, “This + is your cousin; you are to go home with him, and he will take care of you.” + </p> + <p> + But still the sense of his wrong, and the hunger for revenge, gnawed at + Logan’s heart, and one day he came to Robinson with a piece of paper + and bade him write a letter for him. He said he meant to leave it in the + cabin of a white man which he was going, to attack, and it was afterwards + found there tied to a war club. He made Robinson write it several times + before he thought the words strong enough. It was addressed to the man + whom Logan thought guilty of the death of his kindred, but who was + afterwards known to have been not even present at their murder. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Captain Cresap: What did you kill my people on + Yellow Creek for? The white people killed my kin at + Conestoga, a great while ago, and I thought nothing + of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, + and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must + kill, too. I have been three times to war since then; + but the Indians are not angry; only myself. + + “July 21, 1774. + + “Captain John Logan.” + </pre> + <p> + Both the matter and the language of this letter are so like those of Logan’s + famous speech, that it is clear he must often have thought his wrongs over + in the same terms, brooding upon them with an aching heart, but not with + hate so much as grief. The speech was made at the Chillicothe town where + Lord Dunmore treated with the Ohio tribes for peace in the August after + Logan had written his letter, but it was not spoken in the council. Logan + held aloof from the council, and Dunmore sent to his cabin for him. It is + said by some that his messenger was the great renegade Simon Girty, who + had not yet turned against his own people, and was then, with his friend + Simon Kenton, a scout in Dunmore’s service. Others say that the + messenger was a young man named Gibson, but whoever he was, Logan met him + at the door, and coming out into the woods sat down under a tree which was + long known as Logan’s Elm. Here, with a burst of tears, he told the + story of his wrongs in language which cannot be forgotten as long as men + have hearts to thrill for others’ sorrows. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/149.jpg" width="100%" alt="Logan’s Elm 149 " /> + </div> + <p> + “I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan’s + cabin and I gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked and I gave + him not clothing. During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan + remained in his tent an advocate of peace. Nay, such was my love for the + whites that those of my own country pointed at me as they passed, and + said, ‘Logan is the friend of the white man.’ I had even + thought to live with you but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, + the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, cut off all the relatives + of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of + my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called on me for + revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my + vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. Yet do not + harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He + will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for + Logan? Not one.” + </p> + <p> + This speech, or rather this message, which Logan sent to Lord Dunmore, has + come down to us in two forms, one which Dunmore’s officers wrote out + from the report of the message, and one which Thomas Jefferson framed upon + it. They do not differ greatly, and I have given Jefferson’s version + here, because it best expresses the noble mind of a noble man, a savage, + indeed, but far less savage than many of the white men of that day or any + day. A pioneer of Western Pennsylvania, William Brown, who afterwards + became a judge of the Mifflin County courts, calls him “the best + specimen of humanity he ever met with, <i>white</i> or <i>red</i>,” + He first saw him in the woods, while stooping to drink at a spring. The + figure of a tall Indian showed itself to him in the water, and he sprang + for his rifle, but the Indian knocked the priming out of his own gun, and + offered his hand. It was Logan, and he guided Brown to the hunting camp of + another white man, with whom he afterwards visited Logan’s camp. + There they all shot at a mark for a dollar each round, and Logan lost. A + deerskin was worth a dollar, and Logan offered five skins for his five + failures. Brown’s friend refused them, saying they were his guests + and had shot with him merely for a trial of skill. Logan answered with + dignity, “Me try to make you shoot your best; me gentlemen, and me + take your dollar if me beat,” and he would not allow the victor even + to give him a horn of powder in return. + </p> + <p> + A lovely story was told by the daughter of Judge Brown concerning Logan, + who was one day at her father’s camp when her mother happened to + regret that she had no shoes for her little one then just beginning to + walk. Logan said nothing, but shortly after he came and asked the mother + to let the child spend the day with him at his camp. The mother trembled, + but she knew the delicacy of Logan, and she would not wound him by showing + fear of him. He took the child away, and the long hours passed till + nightfall. Then she saw the great chief coming with his tiny guest through + the woods, and the next moment the child bounded into the mother’s + arms, proud and glad to show her feet in the moccasins which Logan had + made for her. + </p> + <p> + In his old age Logan wandered from place to place, broken by the + misfortunes of his people, and homeless in his own land. He fell a prey to + drink, the enemy of all his race, and he was at last murdered near + Detroit, where, as the story goes, he was sitting by his camp fire, with + his blanket over his head, and lost in gloomy thought, when an Indian whom + he had offended stole upon him and sank his tomahawk in Logan’s + skull. + </p> + <p> + Of all the Indians he seems to me the grandest because he was the kindest. + Tecaughretanego was wise and good. He had a thoughtful mind and a serene + spirit; he could be just and loving to the white man whom he had taken for + his brother, but he had not so noble an ideal of conduct as Logan. This + chief grasped the notion of friendship with all the whites; he was more + than a tribesman; he imagined what it was to be a citizen. Among the Ohio + men of the past there is no nature more beautiful, no memory worthier than + his. He was a savage, and his thirst for vengeance, or rather the + smoldering thought of his wrongs, lowered him for a time to the level of + the white and red men about him. Yet he was framed for gentleness, and he + surpassed another great Ohio Indian as much in breadth of character, as he + surpassed Tecaughretanego in an ideal of conduct. + </p> + <p> + Tecumseh, the famous war chief of the Shawnees, was born at the ancient + town of Piqua on Mad River, not far from the present city of Springfield, + in Clark County. His name means Shooting Star, and he was indeed the + meteoric light of his people while he lived. He was of a high Indian, + family of the Turtle Tribe, and his father had come with his clan to Ohio + from their home in Florida, about the middle of the last century. Tecumseh + was born, as nearly as can be reckoned, in the year 1768, and from his + earliest childhood he showed the passion for war which ruled him through + life. He led his playmates in their mimic fights, and at seventeen he went + on his first war party against the Kentuckians. The Indians attacked some + boats on the Ohio River, and killed all the boatmen but one, whom they + brought back and burned at the stake. Tecumseh was present, and though he + said nothing, the sight of the torture filled him with such horror, that + he used his power with the Indians to put a stop forever to the burning of + prisoners. He was such a hater of our race that, as he once confessed, the + mere presence of a white man made the flesh of his face creep; but he + hated cruelty more, and in the bloody events which he spent all his power + in bringing about, he could always be trusted to keep the captives from + torture, and to save the lives of women and children. + </p> + <p> + In spite of his hatred of white men, it is said that he was once in love + with a white woman, the daughter of a settler in Greene County. He offered + her fifty silver brooches if she would marry him; but she refused, saying + that she did not wish to be a wild woman and drudge like a squaw; and she + would not be tempted even when he promised her that she should not work, + but should be a great squaw. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/154.jpg" alt="Tecumseh 154 " /> + </div> + <p> + He was not always terrible, even with white men, and it is told of him + that once meeting in a settler’s cabin a stranger who showed alarm + at sight of him, Tecumseh went up and amiably shook him, saying, “Big + baby, Big baby.” But he could be fierce and arrogant when he chose, + and he delighted to make the Americans bend to him. At one of their + parleys, General Harrison asked him to sit on his veranda with him. + Tecumseh haughtily refused, and forced the general to come out and meet + him under the trees, on the breast of the earth, who was, he said, the + Indian’s mother. + </p> + <p> + He was in every fight with the Americans before Wayne’s victory, but + he was not made a chief until the year following that battle. Then, though + he seemed resigned to the fate of his people, he became the leader in + their discontent, and in the parts of Ohio and Indiana where he lived he + kept it alive. In this he had the help of his brother Elkskuatawa, the + Prophet, who pretended to have dreams and revelations favorable to + Tecumseh’s designs. In 1806, while they were at Greenville, the + Prophet somehow learned that there was to be an eclipse of the sun; he + foretold the coming miracle, and excited the savages through their + superstitions so dangerously that Governor Harrison urged them to banish + the Prophet. They made evasive answers, and kept the Prophet with them, + while Tecumseh amused the governor with meetings and parleys, and went and + came upon his errands among the Southern tribes stirring them up to join + the Northern nations in a revolt against the Americans. He used all his + eloquence and reason in trying to form this union of the red men, and when + these would not avail, he did not scruple to employ the arts of his + brother. In exhorting one of the Southern tribes he rebuked their + coldness, and told them that when he reached Detroit, he would stamp his + foot, and they should feel the earth tremble as a sign of his divine + authority for his work. About the time it would have taken him to reach + Detroit, the great earthquake of 1810 shook the Seminoles with terror of + the man whose arguments they had rejected. + </p> + <p> + In fact, Tecumseh and the Prophet constantly played into each other’s + hands, but in one of Tecumseh’s absences the Prophet made the + mistake of attacking General Harrison at Tippecanoe, and the savages were + severely beaten. The Prophet had also made the mistake of promising them a + victory, and after the defeat he lost his power over them. + </p> + <p> + This was in 1811, but the next year the war between the United States and + Great Britain broke out, and then Tecumseh seized his chance for renewing + the war against the Americans. He served so faithfully against them that + the king made him brigadier general, and Tecumseh tried to fight according + to the laws of civilized warfare. At the attack on Fort Meigs in Wood + County, he stopped, at the risk of his own life, the massacre of the + American prisoners, and he bade the British commandant, who declared that + the Indians could not be controlled, go and put on petticoats. An American + who saw him at this time says, “This celebrated chief was a noble, + dignified personage. His face was finely proportioned, his nose inclined + to be aquiline, and his eye displayed none of that savage and ferocious + triumph common to the other Indians on that occasion.” + </p> + <p> + Tecumseh with his Indians witnessed the battle of Lake Erie at Put-in-Bay, + where Perry defeated the English fleet, and he was not deceived by the + pretense of General Proctor that the Americans were beaten and the English + ships were merely putting in there for repairs. Proctor was then preparing + to retreat into Canada from Detroit, and Tecumseh demanded to be heard in + the name of the Indians. He had some very bitter words to say: “The + war before this our British father gave the hatchet to his red + children.... In that war our father was thrown upon his back by the + Americans, and our father took them by the hand without our knowledge, and + we are afraid our father will do so again at this time.... Our ships have + gone away, and we are much astonished to see our father tying up + everything and preparing to run away.... We are sorry to see our father + doing so without seeing the enemy. We must compare our father’s + conduct to a fat dog that carries his tail on his back, and when + affrighted drops it between his legs and runs off. + </p> + <p> + “Father, you have got the arms and ammunition which our great father + sent for his children. If you have an idea of going away, give them to us, + and you may go and welcome. Our lives are in the hands of the Great + Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it be his will, we + wish to leave our bones upon them.” + </p> + <p> + But the British retreated, and the Indians had to follow them into Canada. + There in the battle of the Thames the Americans defeated them and their + savage allies with great slaughter, and Tecumseh, whose war-cry had been + heard above the tumult of the onset, was among the slain. He is supposed + to have been killed by a pistol shot fired by Colonel Richard M. Johnson + of Kentucky, and it is said that the body of this generous enemy did not + escape barbarous usage at the hands of Johnson’s men, who literally + flayed it and bore portions of their ghastly trophy home with them in + triumph. + </p> + <p> + Tecumseh played at a later day the part which Pontiac attempted at the end + of the old French War. He tried to unite the Indians in a general uprising + against the Americans as Pontiac had united them against the English. He + used the same arts, and he showed himself shrewd and skillful in paltering + with our leaders till he was ready to strike his blow against them, for he + managed to remain in the Ohio country unmolested while he was getting + ready to drive the Americans out of it. When the war with Great Britain + began, he might very well have believed that his hopes were about to be + fulfilled; but he seems, though a brave warrior, never to have shown such + generalship as that of Little Turtle at St. Clair’s defeat. He was a + great orator, of such a fiery eloquence that the interpreters often + declared it impossible for them to give the full sense of his words; but + none of his many recorded speeches have the pathos of Logan’s. He + was, on the savage lines, a statesman and a patriot, but unlike the wiser + and gentler Logan he never could rise to the wisdom of living in peace + with the whites. He was always an Indian; even at his best he was a + savage, just as the backwoodsman was a savage at his worst. Yet his memory + remains honored in tradition beyond that of any other Ohio Indian, and his + name was given to one of the most heroic Ohio Americans, William Tecumseh + Sherman. Such as he was, and such as Logan was, it must be owned that they + seem now of a far nobler mold than any white men in early Ohio history. + </p> + <p> + The Prophet outlived his brother many years, and died dishonored, and + stripped of all the great power he had once wielded. At one time he + wrought so strongly upon the Indians through their superstition of + witchcraft, that they put many to death at his accusal. One of the victims + was the Wyandot chief Leatherlips, whom six Wyandot warriors came from + Tippecanoe to try where he lived near the site of Columbus. They found him + guilty and sentenced him to death, of course upon no evidence. A white man + who wished to save him asked what he had done, and was answered, “Very + bad Indian; make good Indian sick; make horse sick; make die; very bad + chief.” When he heard his sentence, Leatherlips ate a hearty dinner, + dressed himself in his finest clothes, painted his face, and at the hour + fixed for his death walked from his lodge to his grave, chanting his death + song while he went. Then as he knelt in prayer beside the shallow pit, one + of the six Wyandots tomahawked him. + </p> + <p> + The persecutions for witchcraft under the Prophet continued until at last + a young warrior, whose sister was accused in the council, had the courage + to rise and lead her out of the house. He came back and said to the + council, pointing at the Prophet, “The Devil has come amongst us, + and we are killing each other.” This bold good sense brought the + Indians to a pause in a frenzy which has raged among every people in times + past. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/159.jpg" width="100%" alt="Tomahawk 159 " /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI. LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS. + </h2> + <p> + Amidst all this tomahawking and scalping, this shooting and stabbing, this + shedding of blood and of tears, this heartbreak of captivity, this + torture, this peril by day and by night, the flower of home was springing + up wherever the ax let the sun into the woods. It would be a great pity if + the stories of cruelty and suffering which seem, while we read them, to + form the whole history of the Ohio country, should be left without the + relief of facts quite as true as these sad tales. Life was hard in those + days, but it was sweet too, and it was often gay and glad. In times of + constant danger, and even while the merciless savages were beleaguering + the lonely clusters of cabins, there was frolicking among the young people + in the forts, and the old people looked on at their joys in sympathy as + well as wonder. The savages themselves had their harmless pleasures, and + their wild life was so free that those who once knew it did not willingly + forsake it. They were not bad-hearted so much as wrong-headed, and they + were mostly what they were, because they knew no better. More than once we + read how the lurking hunter heard them joking and laughing when off their + guard in the wood; and in their towns, on the Miamis or the Muskingum or + the Sandusky, they had their own games, and feasts, and merrymakings. Much + that was beautiful and kindly and noble was possible to them, but they + belonged to the past, and the white men belonged to the future; and the + war between the two races had to be. Our race had outgrown the order which + theirs clung to helplessly as well as willfully, and it was fated that we + must found our homes upon their graves. + </p> + <p> + These homes were at first of the rude and simple sort, which a thousand + narratives and legends have made familiar, and which every Ohio boy and + girl has heard of. It would not be easy to say where or when the first log + cabin was built, but it is safe to say that it was somewhere in the + English colonies of North America, and it is certain that it became the + type of the settler’s house throughout the whole middle west. It may + be called the American house, the Western house, the Ohio house. Hardly + any other house was built for a hundred years by the men who were clearing + the land for the stately mansions of our day. As long as the primeval + forests stood, the log cabin remained the woodsman’s home; and not + fifty years ago, I saw log cabins newly built in one of the richest and + most prosperous regions of Ohio. They were, to be sure, log cabins of a + finer pattern than the first settler reared. They were of logs handsomely + shaped with the broadax; the joints between the logs were plastered with + mortar; the chimney at the end was of stone; the roof was shingled, the + windows were of glass, and the door was solid and well hung. They were + such cabins as the Christian Indians dwelt in at Gnadenhutten, and such as + were the homes of the well-to-do settlers in all the older parts of the + West. But throughout that region there were many log cabins, mostly sunk + to the uses of stables and corn cribs, of the kind that the borderers + built in the times of the Indian War, from 1750 to 1800. They were framed + of the round logs, untouched by the ax except for the notches at the ends + where they were fitted into one another; the chimney was of small sticks + stuck together with mud, and was as frail as a barn swallow’s nest; + the walls were stuffed with moss, plastered with clay; the floor was of + rough boards called puncheons, riven from the block with a heavy knife; + the roof was of clapboards split from logs and laid loosely on the + rafters, and held in place with logs fastened athwart them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:33%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/162.jpg" alt="Ohio Cabin 162 " /> + </div> + <p> + There is a delightful account of such a log cabin by John S. Williams, + whose father settled in the woods of Belmont County in 1800. “Our + cabin,” he says, “had been raised, covered, part of the cracks + chinked, and part of the floor laid, when we moved in on Christmas day. + There had not been a stick cut except in building the cabin, which was so + high from the ground that a bear, wolf, panther, or any animal less in + size than a cow could enter without even a squeeze.... The green ash + puncheons had shrunk so as to leave cracks in the floor and doors from one + to two inches wide. At both the doors we had high, unsteady, and sometimes + icy steps, made by piling the logs cut out of the walls, for the doors and + the window, if it could be called a window, when perhaps it was the + largest spot in the top, bottom, or sides of the cabin where the wind + could not enter. It was made by sawing out a log, and placing sticks + across, and then by pasting an old newspaper over the hole, and applying + hog’s lard, we had a kind of glazing which shed a most beautiful and + mellow light across the cabin when the sun shone on it. All other light + entered at the doors, cracks, and chimneys. Our cabin was twenty-four by + eighteen. The west end was occupied by two beds, the center of each side + by a door.... On the opposite side of the window, made of clapboards, + supported on pins driven into the walls, were our shelves. On these + shelves my sister displayed in simple order, a host of pewter plates, and + dishes and spoons, scoured and bright.... Our chimney occupied most of the + east end; with pots and kettles opposite the window, under the shelves, a + gun on hooks over the north door, four split-bottomed chairs, three + three-legged stools, and a small eight by ten looking glass sloped from + the wall over a large towel and comb case.... We got a roof laid over head + as soon as possible, but it was laid of loose clapboards split from a + red-oak, and a cat might have shaken every board in our ceiling.... We + made two kinds of furniture. One kind was of hickory bark, with the + outside shaved off. This we would take off all around the tree, the size + of which would determine the caliber of our box. Into one end we would + place a flat piece of bark or puncheon, cut round to fit in the bark, + which stood on end the same as when on the tree.... A much finer article + was made of slippery-elm bark, shaved smooth, with the inside out, bent + round and sewed together, where the end of the hoop or main bark lapped + over.... This was the finest furniture in a lady’s dressing room,” + and such a cabin and its appointments were splendor and luxury beside + those of the very earliest pioneers, and many of the latest. The + Williamses were Quakers, and the mother was recently from England; they + were of far gentler breeding and finer tastes than most of their + neighbors, who had been backwoodsmen for generations. + </p> + <p> + When the first settlers broke the silence of the woods with the stroke of + their axes, and hewed out a space for their cabins and their fields, they + inclosed their homes with a high stockade of logs, for defense against the + Indians; or if they built their cabins outside the wooden walls of their + stronghold, they always expected to flee to it at the first alarm, and to + stand siege within it. The Indians had no cannon, and the logs of the + stockade were proof against their rifles; if a breach was made, there was + still the blockhouse left, the citadel of every little fort. This was + heavily built, and pierced with loopholes for the riflemen within, whose + wives ran bullets for them at its mighty hearth, and who kept the savage + foe from its sides by firing down upon them through the projecting timbers + of its upper story; but in many a fearful siege the Indians set the roof + ablaze with arrows wrapped in burning tow, and then the fight became + desperate indeed. After the Indian War ended, the stockade was no longer + needed, and the settlers had only the wild beasts to contend with, and + those constant enemies of the poor in all ages and conditions,—hunger + and cold. + </p> + <p> + Winter after winter, the Williamses heard the wolves howling round them in + the woods, and this music was familiar to the ears of all the Ohio + pioneers, who trusted their rifles for both the safety and support of + their families. They deadened the trees around them by girdling them with + the ax, and planted the spaces between the leafless trunks with corn and + beans and pumpkins. These were their necessaries, but they had an + occasional luxury in the wild honey from the hollow of a bee tree when the + bears had not got at it. In its season, there was an abundance of wild + fruit, plums and cherries, haws and grapes, berries, and nuts of every + kind, and the maples yielded all the sugar they chose to make from them. + But it was long before they had, at any time, the profusion which our + modern arts enable us to enjoy the whole year round, and in the hard + beginnings the orchard and the garden were forgotten for the fields. Their + harvests must pay for the acres bought of the government, or from some + speculator who had never seen the land; and the settler must be prompt in + paying, or else see his home pass from him after all his toil into the + hands of strangers. He worked hard and he fared hard, and if he was safer + when peace came, it is doubtful if he were otherwise more fortunate. As + the game grew scarcer, it was no longer so easy to provide food for his + family, the change from venison and wild turkey to the pork, which early + began to prevail in his diet, was hardly a wholesome one. Besides, in + cutting down the trees, he opened spaces to the sun which had been + harmless enough in the shadow of the woods, but which now sent up their + ague-breeding miasms. Ague was the scourge of the whole region, and it was + hard to know whether the pestilence was worse on the rich levels beside + the rivers, or on the stony hills where the settlers sometimes built to + escape it. Fevers of several kinds prevailed, and consumption was common + in the climates that ague spared. There was little knowledge of the rules + of health, and little medical skill for those who lost it; most of the + remedies for disease and accident were such only as home nursing and home + treatment could supply. + </p> + <p> + When once the settler was housed against the weather, he had the + conditions of a certain rude comfort indoors. If his cabin was not proof + against the wind and rain or snow, its vast fireplace formed the means of + heating, while the forest was an inexhaustible store of fuel. At first he + dressed in the skins and pelts of the deer and fox and wolf, and his + costume could have varied little from that of the red savage about him, + for we often read how’ he mistook Indians for white men at first + sight, and how the Indians in their turn mistook white men for their own + people. The whole family went barefoot in the summer, but in winter the + pioneer wore moccasins of buckskin, and buckskin leggins or trousers; his + coat was a hunting shirt belted at the waist and fringed where it fell to + his knees. It was of homespun, a mixture of wool and flax called + linsey-woolsey, and out of this the dresses of his wife and daughters were + made; the wool was shorn from the sheep, which were so scarce that they + were never killed for their flesh, except by the wolves, which were very + fond of mutton, but had no use for wool. For a wedding dress a cotton + check was thought superb, and it really cost a dollar a yard; silks, + satins, laces, were unknown. A man never left his house without his rifle; + the gun was a part of his dress, and in his belt he carried a hunting + knife and a hatchet; on his head he wore a cap of squirrel skin, often + with the plumelike tail dangling from it. + </p> + <p> + The furniture of the cabins was, like the clothing of the pioneers, + homemade. A bedstead was contrived by stretching poles from forked sticks + driven into the ground, and laying clapboards across them; the bedclothes + were bearskins. Stools, benches, and tables were roughed out with auger + and broadax; the puncheon floor was left bare, and if the earth formed the + floor, no rug ever replaced the grass which was its first carpet. The + cabin had but one room where the whole of life went on by day; the father + and mother slept there at night, and the children mounted to their chamber + in the loft by means of a ladder. + </p> + <p> + The food was what has been already named. The meat was venison, bear, + raccoon, wild turkey, wild duck, and pheasant; the drink was water, or rye + coffee, or whisky which the little stills everywhere supplied only too + abundantly. Wheat bread was long unknown, and corn cakes of various + makings and bakings supplied its place. The most delicious morsel of all + was corn grated while still in the milk and fashioned into round cakes + eaten hot from the clapboard before the fire, or from the mysterious + depths of the Dutch oven, buried in coals and ashes on the hearth. There + was soon a great flow of milk from the kine that multiplied in the + pastures in the woods, and there was sweetening enough from the maple tree + and the bee tree, but salt was very scarce and very dear, and long + journeys were made through the perilous woods to and from the licks, or + salt springs, which the deer had discovered before the white man or the + red man knew them. + </p> + <p> + The bees which hived their honey in the hollow trees were tame bees gone + wild, and with the coming of the settlers, some of the wild things + increased so much that they became a pest. Such were the crows which + literally blackened the fields after the settlers plowed, and which the + whole family had to fight from the corn when it was planted. Such were the + rabbits, and such, above all, were the squirrels which overran the farms, + and devoured every green thing till the people combined in great squirrel + hunts and destroyed them by tens of thousands. The larger game had + meanwhile disappeared. The buffalo and the elk went first; the deer + followed, and the bear, and even the useless wolf. But long after these + the poisonous reptiles lingered, the rattlesnake, the moccasin, and the + yet deadlier copperhead; and it was only when the whole country was + cleared that they ceased to be a very common danger. + </p> + <p> + For a long time there were no mills to grind the corn, and it was pounded + into meal for bread with a heavy wooden pestle in a mortar made by + hollowing out some tough-grained log. The first mills were horse power; + then small water-power mills were put up on the streams, and in the larger + rivers boats were anchored, with mill wheels which the rapid current + turned. But the stills were plentier than the mills, and as much corn was + made into whisky as into bread. Men drank hard to soften their hard life, + to lighten its heaviness, to drown its cares, to heighten its few + pleasures. Drink was free and common not only at every shooting match, + where men met alone, but at every log rolling or cabin raising, where the + women met with them, to cook for them, and then to dance away the night + that followed the toilsome day. + </p> + <p> + There were no rich people then, but all were poor together, and there were + no classes. They were so helpless without one another that people were + kindlier and friendlier as well as freer then than now, and they made the + most of the corn huskings and quilting bees that brought old and young + together in harmless frolics. The greatest frolic of all was a wedding; + the guests gathered from twenty miles around, and the frolic did not end + with the dancing at night. Next day came the <i>infair</i> at the house of + the bridegroom, and all set off together. When they were within a mile or + two, they raced for the bottle which was always waiting for them at the + house, and the guest whose horse was fleetest brought it back, and made + all drink from it, beginning with the bride and groom. + </p> + <p> + Religion soon tempered the ruder pleasures of the backwoods, but the + dancing ceased before the drinking. Camp meetings were frolics of a + soberer sort, where whole neighborhoods gathered and dwelt in tents for + days in the beautiful autumn weather, and spent the nights in prayer and + song. Little log churches were built at the crossroads, and these served + the purpose of schoolhouses on week days. But there was more religion than + learning in the backwoods, and the preacher came before the teacher. + </p> + <p> + He was often a very rude, unlearned man himself, and the teacher was + sometimes a rude man, harsh and severe, when he was learned. Often he was + a Scotch-Irishman, whose race gave schoolmasters to the West before New + England began to send her lettered legions to the frontier. + </p> + <p> + Such a teacher was Francis Glass, who was born in Dublin in 1790, and came + to Ohio in 1817, to teach the children of the backwoods. One of these + afterwards remembered a log-cabin schoolhouse where Glass taught, in the + twilight let through the windows of oiled paper. The seats were of hewn + blocks, so heavy that the boys could not upset them; in the midst was a + great stove; and against the wall stood the teacher’s desk, of + un-planed plank. But as Glass used to say to his pupils, “The temple + of the Delphian god was originally a laurel hut, and the muses deign to + dwell accordingly in very rustic abodes.” His labors in the school + were not suffered to keep him from higher aims: he wrote a life of + Washington in Latin, which was used for a time as a text-book in the Ohio + schools. + </p> + <p> + In the early days all books were costly, and they were even fewer than + they were costly; but those who longed for them got them somehow, and many + a boy who studied them by the cabin fire became afterwards a great + statesman, a great lawyer, or a great preacher. In fact, almost every + distinguished Ohioan of the past generations seems to have begun life in a + log cabin, and to have found his way out of the dark of ignorance by the + light of its great hearth fire. Their stories are such as kindle the fancy + and touch the heart; but now they are tales that are told. + </p> + <p> + Among the stories of life in the backwoods, none are more affecting than + those of lost children. In the forests which hemmed in the homes and + fields of the settlers, the little ones often strayed away, or in their + bewilderment failed to find a path back to the cabin they had left among + the stumps of the clearing, or the leafless trunks of the deadening. In + 1804, two children, Lydia and Matilda Osborn, eleven and seven years old, + went to fetch the cows from their pasture a mile from their home in + Williamsburg, Clermont County. Lydia, the elder of the sisters, left the + younger in a certain spot while she tried to head off the wandering cows. + It is supposed that she failed, and came back to get Matilda. Then it is + supposed that, after searching for her, Lydia gave up in despair and + started homeward, but found that she no longer knew the way. In the + meantime the cows had left their pasture, and the younger girl had + followed the sound of their bells and got safely back to the village. + Night came, but no Lydia, and now the neighborhood turned out and helped + the hopeless father to search for the lost child. They carried torches, + and rang bells, and blew horns, and fired guns, so that she might see and + hear and come to them, and before them all, day and night, ran the father + calling, “Lydia, Lydia.” Five hundred men, a thousand men at + last, joined in the quest, and on the fifteenth morning, they found in the + heart of the woods a tiny hut, such as a child might build, of sticks and + moss, with a bed of leaves inside; a path which led from it to a + blackberry patch near by was beaten hard by the little feet of the + wanderer. The rough backwoodsmen broke into tears when the father came up + and at sight of the poor shelter called out, “Oh, Lydia, Lydia, my + dear child, are you yet alive?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/172.jpg" width="100%" alt="Lost in the Woods 172 " /> + </div> + <p> + They never found her. A mile or two from the hut they found her bonnet, + and a few miles further on an Indian camp. They could only guess that the + Indians had carried her away, and go back to their homes without her. The + father never gave up, but as long as he lived he searched for her among + the Indians. It was thought afterwards that the very means, the lights and + the noises, used to attract the child, might have frightened her from her + rescuers; for a strange craze would come upon lost people after a time, + and they would hide from those who were looking for them. Others became + hopelessly bewildered, and it is told of a pioneer, Samuel Davy, who was + lost near Galion, that he wandered about till he reached a log cabin in a + clearing. There he asked of the woman at the door if she knew where Samuel + Davy lived. She laughed and bade him come in and see. Then he knew that it + was his own wife speaking to him from his own threshold. + </p> + <p> + Whenever a lost child could not be found, the Indians were naturally + suspected of stealing it; and this was probably the fate of a little one + whom her mother lifted over the fence into the dooryard of her cabin, near + Galion, and then went back to her work of making sugar in the woods. When + she came home at nightfall, the child was not there, and no search + afterwards availed to find her, though the whole neighborhood searched the + woods for days and nights. It was known only that a party of Indians had + lately camped near, and that they might have taken the child and brought + it up as their own; but the mother never heard of her again. + </p> + <p> + Galion is rather famous for lost people, but at least one of them was + found again. This was a little girl of the name of Bashford, who was sent + to bring home the cows. In trying to return she became confused, and she + wisely decided to keep with the cattle. When they lay down for the night, + she sheltered herself against the warm back of a motherly old cow, and + then followed them about in the morning till the neighbors found her. + </p> + <p> + She was none the worse for the night’s adventure except for her + fright at the howling of the wolves, and from the pain of her slightly + frost-bitten feet. But the fate of a little boy who wandered from home in + Williams County was of a singular pathos. He was found dead after a + three-days search, when the poor little body, which was half clad, was + still warm. It was supposed that he had undressed each night when he lay + down to sleep, as he was used to do at home, and that the third night he + had been so chilled by the October cold that he could not put on all his + clothes again, and so strayed feebly about till he lay down and died just + before rescue came. + </p> + <p> + Encounters with wolves and bears were not so common as these animals were, + by any means; but now and then the settlers came in conflict with them. In + Crawford County so lately as 1826, a young man named Enoch Baker, in + coming home from rather a late call on a young lady, fought a running + fight with wolves, which left him only when he reached the clearing where + his father’s cabin stood; then they fell back into the woods. Daniel + Cloe, a boy of the same neighborhood, was attacked by a pack of eleven + wolves one morning before daybreak, but was saved by his bulldog, which + seized the foremost wolf by the throat, and gave the boy time to climb a + tree. + </p> + <p> + A brother of this boy found his dogs one morning in ferocious clamor about + some animal which they seemed afraid to grapple with. He came up and found + that it was a bear. He had no gun, but he caught up a club, and when he + had contrived to catch the bear by one of his hind legs, and to throw him + over, he beat him about the head with his bludgeon and killed him. + </p> + <p> + This was pretty well for a boy of sixteen, but the reader must not award + the palm to him without first knowing the adventure of John Gillett of + Williams County, who clambered down a hollow tree to get some bear cubs. + While he was securing them, the opening overhead was darkened by the body + of the mother bear. There was only one thing to do, and Gillett drove his + knife into the haunch of the bear, which scrambled out in surprise and + terror, and pulled him and the cubs out with her. She did not stay to look + after her family, and Gillett took the cubs to the next town, and got five + dollars apiece for them. As he told this story himself, I suppose it must + have been true. + </p> + <p> + There are some stories of wolves and bears in Ashtabula County which are + by no means bad. Not the worst of these is told of Elijah Thompson, who + was hunting in the woods near Geneva, when a pack of seven wolves fell + upon his dog. He clubbed his rifle and beat them off; then when the last + had slunk away, he gathered up his wounded dog under his arm, and walked + away with the barrel, which was all that was left of his rifle, on his + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + Bears were very common, and very fond of pork. One night two ladies who + were alone in their cabin, were alarmed by wild appeals from the pigpen, + and found it invaded by a bear. They tried to frighten the intruder away + with firebrands, but failed. Then they loaded the family rifle, which they + had heard the men folks say took two fingers of powder. They therefore + poured in the powder to the depth of six inches, and drove home the + bullet. One held a light while the other pulled the trigger. Both were + knocked down by the recoil of the gun, which flew into the bushes. What + became of the bear was never known; but it was probably blown to atoms. + </p> + <p> + Other pioneer women were effective with firearms, and Mrs. Sarah Thorp of + Ashtabula County was one of these. The family fell short of food in their + first year in the backwoods, and in June, 1799, the husband started to + Pennsylvania, twenty miles away, to get supplies. Before he could return, + his wife and little girls had begun to live upon roots and the few grains + of wheat which she found in the straw of her bed. When these were all + gone, and she was in despair, a wild turkey one day alighted near the + cabin. She found that there was barely powder enough left in the house for + the lightest charge; but she loaded her husband’s rifle and crept on + her hands and knees from bush to bush and log to log, till she was close + upon the bird, wallowing in the loose plowed earth. Then she fired and + killed it, and her children were saved. + </p> + <p> + Starvation was one of the horrors which often threatened the newcomers in + the wilderness, as it had often beset its improvident red children. In the + first year of the settlement at Conneaut, James Kingsbury was forced to + leave his family and go some distance into New York state. He fell sick, + and was unable to return before winter set in. Then he hurried homeward as + fast as he could with a sack of flour on horseback. His horse became + disabled, and then he carried the flour on his shoulders. He reached home + one day at nightfall, and found his older children starving; his wife, + wasted with famine, lay on the floor, and near her the little one born in + his absence, already dead for want of the nourishment which the poor + mother could not give it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII. THE FIRST GREAT SETTLEMENTS. + </h2> + <p> + General Rufus Putnam, a brave officer of the Revolutionary war, was the + first to call the attention of the Eastern States to the rich territory + opened to settlement west of the Ohio by the peace with Great Britain, and + he was one of the earliest band of pioneers which landed on the shores of + the Muskingum. In 1787 Rev. Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, Massachusetts, + published a description of the Ohio country, which left little to the + liveliest imagination. If anything was naturally lacking for the wants of + man in a land abounding in wild fruits, “herds of deer, elk, + buffalo, and bear,” and flocks of “turkeys, geese, ducks, + swans, teal, pheasants, partridges, etc.,... in greater plenty than the + tame poultry are in any part of the old settlements of America,” and + in rivers “stored with fish, especially catfish, the largest, and of + a delicious flavor,” which “weighs from thirty to eighty + pounds,” it could be easily supplied by art. “The advantages + of every climate,” Dr. Cutler told his readers, “are here + blended together,” and the rich soil, everywhere underlain with + valuable minerals, and covered with timber waiting to be built into ships + and floated down the rivers to the sea, would produce not only “wheat, + rye, Indian corn, buckwheat, oats, barley, flax, hemp, tobacco,” but + even “indigo, silk, wine, and cotton.” + </p> + <p> + It is no wonder that the Ohio Company found the New Englanders eager to + come out and possess this goodly heritage, and that the first band should + have started from Dr. Cutler’s own village. At dawn, on the 30th of + December, 1787, they paraded before his church and parsonage, twenty-two + men with their families. After listening to a short speech from him, they + fired a salute, and set off, as the lettering on their leading wagon made + known, “For the Ohio Country.” It was eight weeks before they + reached the headwaters of the Beautiful River, and began to build boats to + float down its current to the mouth of the Muskingum. In the meantime, on + the 1st of January, 1788, another company left Hartford, Connecticut, and + in four weeks joined the first. They could not embark on their voyage + together until April 2d, but in five days they arrived at Fort Harmar, + beside the Muskingum, and were at their journey’s end. They did not + find the shores waving with indigo, silk, and cotton, but they saw that + the soil could produce almost any crop, and the weather was so mild and + lovely that they must have been confirmed in their belief of all that Dr. + Cutler had told them of the climate. Captain Pipe, the Delaware chief who + had brought Crawford to his death of cruel torment a few years before, was + encamped for trade near the military post, and with seventy other Indians + he welcomed the newcomers to the Muskingum, where they wisely built a + stockade as soon as they could for defense against their red friends. They + settled down at once to hew their fields out of the forest, and the very + next year they had a school for their children. Bathsheba Rouse taught + this first Ohio school, and Ohio women may well be proud that she taught + it a whole year before a man taught the next Ohio school. The settlers + called their town Adelphia, but soon changed its name to Marietta, which + they made up from the name of the French queen Marie Antoinette, though + Marietta was a common enough name in Italian before their invention of it. + </p> + <p> + They built mills on the streams, and in the streams, where the current + turned their wheels, and after a first summer of rejoicing they quieted + down to the serious business of clearing farms, having ague, and saving + their scalps from the hospitable Delawares and their allies. The very year + after their arrival the wonderful climate behaved so ungratefully that the + corn crop was cut off by an early frost; and something like a famine + followed; but still the year of the settlement was one of high hopes and + sober jollity. The pioneers celebrated the Fourth of July, 1788, with a + grand banquet of “venison barbecued, buffalo steaks, bear meat, wild + fowl, and a little <i>pork</i>, as the choicest luxury of all;” and + at least “one fish, a great pike, weighing one hundred pounds, and + over six feet long,” which could easily be “the largest ever + taken by white men in the waters of the Muskingum.” Several of the + Indians, who were always ready for eating and drinking, took part in the + celebration, and the settlers saw with pleasure that they did not like the + sound of the cannon. They all “kept it up till after twelve o’clock + at night, and then went home and slept till daylight.” + </p> + <p> + The Marietta people knew how to enjoy themselves, but they had not come to + Ohio for pastime, and they were soon all hard at work improving themselves + as well as their lands. They not only had the first school in Ohio, but + the first Sunday school. They had a public library in 1796, and preaching + in the blockhouse from the beginning. It was ordered that every one should + keep the Sabbath by going to church, and all men between eighteen and + forty should do four days of military duty every year, as well as “entertain + emigrants, visit the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, attend + funerals, cabin raisings, log rollings, huskings; have their latchstrings + always out.” Perhaps the reader has heard before this of having the + latchstring out, but has not known just what the phrase meant. The log + cabin door in those days was fastened with a wooden latch on the inside, + which could be lifted on the outside by a leathern string passed through a + small hole in the door above it. When the string was pulled in, the door + was locked; but the free-hearted man always left his latchstring out, so + that every comer could enter and share his fireside with him. + </p> + <p> + The good people of Marietta had soon occasion for all the kindness + enjoined by their laws in befriending a hapless colony of Frenchmen, whom + certain speculators known as the Scioto Company had lured from their homes + in the Old World, and then abandoned to their fate in the heart of the + Western wilderness, where they had been promised that they were to find + “a climate wholesome and delightful, frost even in winter almost + entirely unknown, a river called, by way of eminence, the <i>beautiful</i> + and abounding in excellent fish of a vast size; noble forests consisting + of trees that spontaneously produce sugar, and a plant that yields + ready-made candles; venison in plenty, the pursuit of which is + uninterrupted by wolves, foxes, lions, or tigers; no taxes to pay, no + military services to be performed.” + </p> + <p> + Some of the adventurers who came to Ohio on these flattering terms were + destitute people who agreed to work three years for the company and were + then, each to receive from it in reward for their labors fifty acres of + land, a house, and a cow. But others were people of means, who joyfully + sold their property in the French cities and came out to found new homes + in the Western woods, with money in their hands, but with no knowledge of + woodcraft, or farming, and able neither to hunt, chop, plow, sow, or reap + for themselves. They were often artisans, masters of trades utterly + useless in that wild country, for what were carvers and gilders, + cloak-makers, wigmakers and hairdressers to do on the banks of the Ohio in + 1790? Some ten or twelve peasants came with the rest, but they were + helpless too in the strange conditions, and if it had not been for the + settlers at Marietta, they would all have fared miserably indeed. + </p> + <p> + The Scioto Company had so far provided for them as to agree with the Ohio + Company for the erection of a little town or village where Gallipolis now + stands; and when the first boats arrived with the strangely assorted + company, they found a space cut out of the forest, and in the clearing + eighty log cabins standing upon four streets fronting the river, with a + square inclosed by a high stockade and fortified with blockhouses, where + they might take shelter from the Indians. The cabins forming this square + were of a better sort than those on the streets, and there was one meant + to serve for a council chamber, where the newcomers promptly began to give + balls. They arrived late in October, and there was nothing for them to do + but to wait for the spring, even if they had known how to farm, and in the + meanwhile they had as good a time as they could. They did not yet know + that the Scioto Company, which failed to pay the Marietta people for + building their village, had no power to give them titles to their land, + and they hopefully spent their money in hiring American hunters to supply + them with game. They seem to have been rather a light-hearted crew, in + spite of their misfortunes and sufferings, and they not only amused + themselves, but they amused their neighbors by their gay unfitness for the + backwoods. If they went to fell a tree, half a dozen of them set to work + on it with their axes at once, and when they had chopped it all round, + they pulled it down with a rope, to the great danger of their lives and + limbs. When they began to make gardens in the spring they followed the + rules laid down in some books on gardening which they had brought with + them from France, and they planted the seeds of such vegetables as they + were used to at home. In a climate where “frost even in winter was + almost unknown,” the Ohio River froze solidly over the year after + they came, and the hunters brought in little or none of the promised + venison, though certainly not molested in the chase “by tigers, + lions, or foxes.” The colonists were in danger of starving, and many + of them were already sick of the fevers bred by the past summer’s + sun on the swamp lands about them. It was one of their few advantages that + the Indians did not trouble them much, but after killing one of them in + mistake for an American, contented themselves with stealing the Frenchmen’s + cattle. + </p> + <p> + When the colonists found that the Scioto Company could not give them + titles to the farms they had bought with their money or their toil, they + began to stray away from the settlement. Some went down the rivers to New + Orleans, others wandered off elsewhere, perhaps to St. Louis, or to the + French towns in Indiana and Illinois; and when Congress at last came to + their relief with a grant of twenty-four thousand acres, there were left + at Gallipolis only ninety-two persons, out of the original five hundred + colonists, to profit by the nation’s generosity. In 1807 few or none + of them remained on the spot where they had fondly hoped to make peaceful + and happy homes for themselves and their children. It was a sad ending to + a romantic story, the most romantic of all the Ohio stories that I know, + but we must not blame those who deceived the colonists (not quite + wittingly, it seems) for all their woes and disasters. These were partly + owing to themselves. The New Englanders who settled at Marietta did not + find eighty comfortable cabins waiting for them, and they did not hire + hunters to provide their food, or begin by giving balls. The able and + educated men among the French colonists seem to have cowered under their + disasters like the rest; and some were incurable dreamers. One of the best + of them used afterwards to tell how he was descending the Ohio with two + philosophers who believed so firmly in the natural innocence and goodness + of men, that they invited some Indians aboard their boat and were at once + tomahawked. Their skeptical companion shot two of the savages and then + jumped into the river, where he swam for his life, diving at the flash of + their guns, till he got safe to the farther shore. + </p> + <p> + The Frenchmen at Gallipolis were not the stuff that the founders of great + states are made of; but the New Englanders at Marietta were, and so were + the New Jerseymen at Cincinnati, who followed next after them in time. + These had even a harder struggle in their beginnings than the people at + Marietta, for there the emigrants made their settlement under the guns of + Fort Harmar, in a region loosely held by the milder Delaware tribe of the + Algonquin nation; but the lands between the Great Miami and Little Miami + were claimed and held by the fierce Miamis and Shawnees, and they had been + so long the battle ground of the Indians and the Kentuckians that the + region was called the Shawnee Slaughter House. The great warpath of the + tribes ran through it from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, and the first + white settlers had to build stations with blockhouses and stockades before + they could begin to till the ancient fields, where from time to time + immemorial the Indians had planted and gathered their harvests of corn. + The first settlers arrived from New Jersey in December, 1788, some eight + months after the settlement at Marietta, and in a little more than a year + a fort was built at Cincinnati and garrisoned with United States troops; + but in 1791 a band of five hundred Indians, led by Simon Girty, attacked + Dunlap’s Station at Colerain. They were beaten off only after a + stubborn fight, though the Americans were armed with the cannon which the + savages so much dreaded; and before they raised the siege they burned a + white prisoner near the station. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/186.jpg" width="100%" alt="Marrieta, Ohio 186 " /> + </div> + <p> + This was a surveyor, and one of those New Jersey men of education and + substance who were the earliest settlers in the Symmes Purchase, as the + tract between the two Miamis was called. John Cleves Symmes, a prominent + citizen of Trenton, had bought the land of the government, and he came + himself with his friends to make the place his home. The events of this + emigration were not so poetic as those of the New Englanders who settled + on the Muskingum, but they resulted in the foundation of our greatest + city; and if the first school in Ohio was at Marietta, the first church + was built at Cincinnati. The hamlet opposite the mouth of the Licking was + first known as Losantiville, a name made up of Greek and Latin words + describing its situation, but this was soon changed to Cincinnati. The + fort was built in 1790, and called Fort Washington; it was the strongest + fort in the Northwest Territory, and to its strength Cincinnati owed her + freedom from attacks by the Indians; it was of hewn timber, and was eighty + feet square. At Cincinnati, Harmar and St. Clair began their march to + defeat; here too the recruits for Wayne’s army gathered and encamped + before they began their march to victory. + </p> + <p> + The past of the place is not so rich in legend as that of much humbler + localities, but there is at least one Indian story which will bear telling + over again. It concerns Jacob Wetzel, the brother of the famous Lewis + Wetzel, who was one day returning from a hunt well within the bounds of + the present city, and had sat down on a log to rest, when a growl from his + dog warned him of danger. He instantly <i>treed</i>, or jumped behind a + tree, and then saw an Indian treed behind a neighboring oak. They both + fired; the Indian missed, but Wetzel’s bullet had broken the savage’s + arm. They rushed at each other with their drawn hunting knives, and fell + in a fearful struggle. Wetzel unhurt was no match for the wounded Indian, + who sat astride of him with his knife lifted when Wetzel’s dog + sprung at his throat. Wetzel now flung him off, and while the dog held him + helpless, easily dispatched him. Another story is of the usual ghastliness + relieved by a touch of the comic. Colonel Robert Elliott was shot by the + Indians near the northern line of Hamilton County. One of them sprang upon + him to scalp him, but at a touch the poor man’s wig came off in his + hand. He lifted it and was heard to say with an oath, “Lie!” + while he stared at his trophy in bewilderment. + </p> + <p> + One of the later captives of the Indians was a boy of eleven named O. M. + Spencer, who was seized near Cincinnati in 1792, and carried to a Shawnee + village on the Maumee, where he was taken into a family. His case is + peculiarly interesting because Washington himself asked his release + through the British governor of Canada; and he was at last returned to his + friends by canoe to Detroit, by sailing vessel to Erie, by land to Albany, + by water to New York, and by land through Pennsylvania to Cincinnati. He + was two years in getting back to his friends. . + </p> + <p> + The next settlement in Ohio, and the first within the Virginia Military + District, was at Massie’s Station, now Manchester, where Colonel + Nathaniel Massie, with thirty families, arrived in 1790. They at once made + themselves safe in an inclosure of strong pickets, fortified with + blockhouses, and as the woods and rivers abounded in game and fish, they + began to lead a life of as much comfort as people could enjoy who were + surrounded by a wilderness, with the lurking danger of captivity and death + on every hand. + </p> + <p> + Six years later, Colonel Massie laid out the town of Chillicothe, which + became the first capital of Ohio, and in the same year, 1796, the earliest + settlers from Connecticut landed at Conneaut in Ashtabula County. They + were led by Moses Cleaveland, a lawyer of Canterbury, Connecticut, a man + of substance and ability, and they had come from Buffalo, some by land and + some by water, but they arrived within a few hours of one another. It was + the Fourth of July, and Cleaveland wrote in his journal: “We gave + three cheers and christened the place Fort Independence; and, after many + difficulties, perplexities, and hardships were surmounted, and we were on + the good and promised land, felt that a just tribute of respect to the day + ought to be paid. There were in all, including women and children, fifty + in number. The men, under Captain Tinker, ranged themselves on the beach + and fired a federal salute of fifteen rounds, and then the sixteenth in + honor of New Connecticut. Drank several toasts.... Closed with three + cheers. Drank several pails of grog. Supped and retired in good order.” + </p> + <p> + This was the order of the four lawful settlements in the Ohio country: + first that of the Massachusetts men at Marietta in July, 1788; next, that + of the New Jersey men at Cincinnati in December, 1788; then that of the + Virginia men at Manchester in 1790; and then that of the Connecticut men + at Conneaut in 1796. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII. THE STATE OF OHIO IN THE WAR OF 1812. + </h2> + <p> + We may now begin to speak of the State of Ohio, for with the opening of + the present century her borders were defined. The rest of the Northwest + Territory was called Indiana Territory, and by 1804, Ohio found herself a + state of the Union. There has never since been any doubt of her being + there, and if it had not been for the great Ohio generals there might now + be no Union for any of the states to be in. But it is nevertheless true + that Ohio was never admitted to the Union by act of Congress, and her life + as a state dates only from the adoption of her final constitution, or from + the meeting of her first legislature at Chillicothe, on the 1st of March, + 1803. + </p> + <p> + The most memorable fact concerning the adoption of this constitution was + the great danger there was that it might allow some form of slavery in the + new state. Slavery had been forbidden from the beginning in the Northwest + Territory, but many of the settlers of the Ohio country were from the + slave states of New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky, and there + was a strong feeling in favor of allowing women to be held as slaves till + they were thirty-five and men till they were twenty-eight years old. But + in the end, thanks to one of the Massachusetts men of Marietta, Judge + Ephraim Cutler, the friends of slavery were beaten, and it was forbidden + in Ohio in the same words which had forbidden it in the Northwest + Territory. + </p> + <p> + It had been a long fight and a narrow chance, and the clause that gave the + future to freedom was carried by one vote only. Edward Tiffin was chosen + governor, and the new state entered upon a career of peace and comfort if + not of great prosperity or rapid progress. The Indians if not crushed were + quelled, and the settlers at last lived without fear of them, until + Tecumseh began his intrigues. In the mean time there was plenty to eat, + and enough to wear for all; there was the shelter of the log cabin, and + the fire of its generous hearth. The towns grew, if they did not grow very + rapidly; new towns were founded, and the country gradually filled up with + settlers, or at least the land was claimed. Immense crops were raised on + the fertile soil, and these were mainly fed to hogs and cattle, which more + rapidly found a way to market than the grain: they could be driven over + the bad roads, and the grain had to be carried. The very richness of the + soil when turned to mud forbade good roads in the new country; and the + most thriving settlements were on the rivers, which, as in the days of the + Mound Builders, formed the natural highways. Many streams were navigable + then, which the clearing of the woods from their banks has since turned to + shallow pools in the time of drouth and to raging torrents in the time of + rain; and one of the most hopeful industries was ship building. The trees + turned to masts where they grew, and many a stately vessel slid into the + waters that had washed its living fibers and glided down the Ohio into the + Mississippi to the sea. + </p> + <p> + The Ohio people toiled and waited for the inventions of the future to open + ways out into the world for them with the great riches to which they were + shut up in their own borders; but it must have been with a growing + uneasiness. Great Britain, as we know, had long held the forts in the West + which she had agreed to give up to the United States, and after she + surrendered them, her agents and subjects in Canada abetted the Indians in + their rising against the Americans under Tecumseh and the Prophet. The + trouble with the Indians would probably have ended at Tippecanoe, if it + had not been for the outbreak of war between the two countries; yet this + outbreak must have been a kind of relief to the Ohio people. The English + insisted upon the right of searching our vessels on the high seas, and + pressing into their navy any sailors whom they decided to be British + subjects, and though the Ohio people could not feel the injury of this, as + it was felt in the seaboard states whose citizens were forced into the + English service by thousands, they could feel the insult. They were used + to fighting, and they welcomed the war which at least unmasked their + enemies. Their ardor was chilled, however, by one of its first events, + which was the surrender of Detroit by General Hull. This threw the state + open to invasion by the British and Indians, and the danger was felt in + every part of it. The militia were called out, troops poured in from + Kentucky, and General Harrison marched into the northwest to recapture + Detroit. A detachment of his army was beaten in the first action, which + took place beyond the Ohio limits, and after yielding to the British was + butchered in cold blood by their Indian allies. The next spring Harrison + built Fort Meigs on the Maumee; from this point he hoped to strike a + severe blow at the enemy in Canada, but he was himself attacked here by + General Proctor, who marched down from Maiden with a large force of + British regulars, Canadian militia, and Indians led by Tecumseh. + </p> + <p> + Proctor planted batteries on the shore of the river, and Tecumseh’s + Indians climbed trees and poured down a galling fire on the besieged. The + British commander then summoned the fort to surrender, but Harrison + answered his messenger, “As General Proctor did not send me a + summons on his first arrival, I had supposed that he believed me + determined to do my duty,” and he dismissed the envoy with the + assurance that if the post fell into Proctor’s hands it would be in + a manner to do him more honor than any surrender could do. The fight then + continued until the British general found his fickle savage friends + deserting him, and on the 12th day raised the siege. + </p> + <p> + It is probable that the Indians were following their old custom of leaving + off fighting to enjoy a sense of victory when they had won it. A large + body of Kentucky horse had by Harrison’s orders attacked one of the + British positions, and carried it. After spiking the enemy’s guns + they pursued the flying British, and suddenly fell into an ambush of + Indians. Out of eight hundred only one hundred escaped, and the work of + murdering the prisoners at once began. It was on this occasion that + Tecumseh tried to save the lives of the helpless Americans, appealing to + the British general to support him, and even tomahawking with his own + hatchet a disobedient chief who would not give up the work of death. + </p> + <p> + The allies made a second attempt on Fort Meigs, but they were foiled in + this too, and then they turned their attention to Fort Sandusky, where the + town of Fremont now stands. General Harrison held a council of war, and it + was decided that Fort Sandusky could not resist an attack and must be + abandoned. But when the order to retire reached the gallant young officer + in command it was too late, for the Indians were already in force around + the post. Major Croghan therefore wrote a reply which he thought might + fall into the enemy’s hands, and which he worded for their eyes + rather than his general’s. “Sir, I have just received yours of + yesterday, 10 o’clock p.m., ordering me to destroy this place and + make good my retreat, which was received too late to be carried into + execution. <i>We have determined to maintain this place, and by heavens we + can!</i>” + </p> + <p> + This answer got safely through to General Harrison, who promptly resented + what he thought its presumption and sent to remove Major Croghan from his + command. Croghan went to explain in person and was allowed to return to + his post. The British and Indians appeared in force the next day, July + 31st, and on the 2d of August made their first and last assault. Colonel + Short of the British regulars led a force of 350 men against the fort, and + set them the example of leaping into the ditch before it. When the ditch + was full, Croghan opened upon them from a masked porthole with a six + pounder, and raked them from the distance of thirty-feet. Colonel Short, + who had ordered his men to give the Americans no quarter, fell mortally + wounded; he tied his handkerchief to his sword and waved it in prayer for + mercy, and not in vain. Croghan did all in his power to relieve his + disabled foes; he passed buckets of water to them over the pickets, he + opened a space under the pickets that those who could might creep through + into the fort out of their comrades’ fire. + </p> + <p> + That night the whole force of the enemy retreated in such haste that they + left many stores and munitions behind them. They were commanded by General + Proctor, who had already failed at Fort Meigs against Harrison, and who + now dreaded an attack from him. None was made, but Harrison had the + pleasure of writing in his report of the victory won by Major Croghan at + Fort Stephenson: “It will not be among the least of General Proctor’s + mortifications that he has been baffled by a youth who had just passed his + twenty-first year.” + </p> + <p> + A little more than a month after this repulse the British were defeated in + the battle of Lake Erie by Commodore Perry, at Put-in-Bay. The action + itself is by no means the most impressive part of the wonderful story of + that great victory. Perry had not only to cope with the British in waters + where they had been undisputed masters, but he had to create the means of + doing so. He brought ship builders, naval stores, guns and ammunition, as + well as sailors for his fleet, four hundred miles through the wilderness + of New York to the wilderness at Erie, Pennsylvania, and there he hewed + out of the forest the stuff which he wrought almost alive into his ships. + On the 1st of August he was ready to sail with two large vessels of twenty + guns each, and seven smaller craft carrying fourteen guns in all. With + these, he met the enemy’s force of six vessels carrying sixty-four + guns, and on the beautiful sunny morning of the 10th of September the + famous fight took place. The Americans at first had the worst of it; the + British guns were of longer range, and Perry’s flag-ship, the <i>Lawrence</i>, + was so badly disabled that he had to abandon it for the <i>Niagara</i>, + The <i>Lawrence</i> was in fact an unmanageable wreck; her decks were + streaming with blood, but nothing broke the awful order of the carnage. + The men fell at their guns; if wounded, they were carried below; if + killed, they were left where they dropped, while others took their places. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/196.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Admiral Perry on Lake Erie 196 " /> + </div> + <p> + Perry hauled down his colors with his own hand, and with his flag under + his arm was rowed to the Niagara through a storm of musketry. Once on + board this vessel, he began to change defeat into victory, and after a + fight lasting more than three hours in all, he could send to General + Harrison his memorable dispatch, “We have met the enemy and they are + ours.” + </p> + <p> + The next day the mournful sequel to this tragedy followed, when the crews + of both fleets, victors and vanquished, joined in burying their dead on + the shore of the bay. The sailors slain in the battle had been already + sunken in the lake, but now to the sound of the minute guns from the + ships, with the sad music of funeral marches, the measured dip of oars, + and the flutter of half-masted flags, the last sad rites were paid to the + fallen officers. Perhaps the Indians under Tecumseh who had seen with + stupid dismay the great battle of the rival squadrons, witnessed this + pathetic spectacle too, before they sullenly withdrew into Canada after + Proctor’s army. There Harrison pursued them, and in his victory on + the banks of the Thames, their mighty chieftain fell, and their cause + perished with him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIX. A FOOLISH MAN, A PHILOSOPHER, AND A FANATIC. + </h2> + <p> + “Who is Blennerhassett?” asked William Wirt, at the trial of + Aaron Burr for treason, and many a schoolboy since has echoed the + question, as many a schoolboy will hereafter, while impassioned oratory is + music to the ear and witchery to the breast. The eloquent lawyer went on + to answer himself, and painted in glowing colors a character which history + sees in a colder light. But though Blennerhassett was not the ideal that + Wirt imagined, he was the generous victim of a cold and selfish man’s + ambition, and the ruin of his happy home and gentle hope is none the less + pathetic because his own folly was partly to blame for it. + </p> + <p> + We must go back of the events which we have been following to an earlier + date, if we wish to find Harman Blennerhassett dwelling with his beautiful + wife on their fairy island in the Ohio. Their earthly paradise lay in the + larger stream at the mouth of the Kanawha, not far from the present town + of Belpre, and there in the first year of the century, Blennerhassett + built a mansion which became the wonder of the West. The West was not then + very well able to judge of the magnificence which it celebrated, but there + seems no reason to doubt that Blennerhassett’s mansion was fine, and + of a grandeur unexampled in that new country where most men lived in log + cabins, and where any framed house was a marvel. He was of English birth, + but of Irish parentage, and to the ardor of his race he added the + refinement of an educated taste. He was a Trinity College man, and one of + his classmates at Dublin was the Irish patriot, Emmet, who afterwards + suffered death for his country. But it does not appear that Blennerhassett + came to America for political reasons, and he seems to have made his home + in the West from the impulse of a poetic nature, with the wealth and the + leisure to realize the fancies of his dream. “A shrubbery that + Shenstone might have envied,” says Wirt, “blooms around him. + Music that might have charmed Calypso and her nymphs, is his. An extensive + library spreads its treasures before him. A philosophical apparatus offers + him all the secrets and mysteries of nature. Peace, tranquillity, and + innocence shed their mingled delights around him. And to crown the + enchantment of the scene, a wife, who is said to be lovely even beyond her + sex, and graced with every accomplishment that can render it irresistible, + had blessed him with her love.” + </p> + <p> + Whatever may be the facts concerning the home of the Blennerhassetts, the + memories of those who knew its mistress bear witness to the truth of these + glowing words. They testify that she was not only brilliant, accomplished, + exquisite in manner, but good to every one, kind to the poor, and devoted + to her husband and children. She was a faultless housewife, as well as a + fearless horsewoman, and she was strong in body as she was active in mind. + “She could leap a five-rail fence, walk ten miles at a stretch, and + ride with the boldest dragoon. Robed in scarlet broadcloth, with a white + beaver hat, on a spirited horse, she might be seen dashing through the + dark woods, reminding one of the flight and gay plumage of a tropical + bird.” + </p> + <p> + To this home and its inmates came Aaron Burr, as bad, brave, and brilliant + a man as ever figured in our public life. He had been a gallant officer in + the Revolution, he had been Vice President of the United States, he had + come within a vote of being President. But he had killed Alexander + Hamilton in the duel which he forced upon him, and all his knowledge of + the world and men had taught him to worship power and despise virtue. It + has not yet been clearly shown what Burr meant or hoped to do, and + possibly he could not have very well said himself; but it is certain that + in a general way he was trying to separate the West from the East, and to + commit the warlike people of the backwoods to a fine scheme for conquering + Mexico from Spain, and setting up an imperial throne there for him to sit + upon. He was always willing to sell out his fine scheme to France, to + England, to any power that would buy, even to Spain herself; and in the + mean time he came and went in the West and Southwest and built up a party + in his favor, which fell to pieces at the first touch of real adversity. + General Wilkinson, of the United States army, who had been plotting and + scheming with Burr, arrested him; he was tried for treason, and those who + had cast their fortunes with him were carried down in his fall. The most + picturesque of the sufferers was Blennerhassett, who was one of the most + innocent. Burr had found other Ohio people too plodding, as he said, but + the Blennerhassetts took him seriously, and when Burr in his repeated + visits tempted the husband, and flattered the wife, who was ambitious only + for her husband, he easily beguiled them into a belief in his glorious + destiny. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/200.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Aarun Burr and Blennerhassett 200 " /> + </div> + <p> + Blennerhassett put all his fortune into the venture. He ordered fifteen + large boats built for transporting five hundred men down the Mississippi, + he contracted for provisioning them, and pledged himself for the payments + of all kinds of debts. His friends tried to reason with his folly in vain. + Governor Tiffin called out a company of militia to prevent his boats from + leaving the Muskingum; Blennerhassett heard that he was to be arrested, + and fled; a troop of Virginians seized his island, pillaged his house and + ruined his grounds; and Mrs. Blennerhassett with her children embarked + amid the ice-floes of the Ohio on a small flatboat and made her way to her + husband in Louisiana. Here he was taken, but discharged after a few weeks’ + imprisonment. They came back to their island, but they never lived there + again, and in 1811 the house was burned. They wandered from place to + place, and grew poorer and poorer; in 1831 he died at the house of his + sister in the island of Guernsey, and seven years later his wife ended her + days in a New York tenement house. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/202.jpg" alt="Johnny Appleseed 202 " /> + </div> + <p> + Another picturesque figure of our early times was one who never meant and + never imagined harm to any living creature, man or beast, but gave his + simple, humble life to doing good, with no thought of his own advantage. + Perhaps as the world grows more truly civilized the name of Johnny + Apple-seed will be honored above that of some heroes of the Ohio country. + Like so many of our distinguished men, he was not born in our state, but + he came here in his young manhood from his birthplace in Massachusetts, + and began at once to plant the apple seeds which gave him his nickname. + </p> + <p> + Few knew that his real name was John Chapman, but it did not matter; and + Johnny Appleseed became his right name if men are rightly named from their + works. Wherever he went he carried a store of apple seeds with him, and + when he came to a good clear spot on the bank of a stream, he planted his + seeds, fenced the place in, and left them to sprout and grow into trees + for the orchards of the neighborhood. He soon had hundreds of these little + nurseries throughout Ohio, which he returned year after year to watch and + tend, and which no one molested. When the trees were large enough he sold + them to the farmers for a trifle, an old coat or an old shirt, and when he + needed nothing he gave them for nothing. He went barefoot in the warm + weather, and in winter he wore cast-off shoes; when he could get none and + the ways were very rough he protected his feet with rude sandals of his + own making. His hats were of his own making too, and were usually of + pasteboard with a broad brim in front to shield his eyes from the sun; but + otherwise he dressed in the second-hand clothing of others, for he thought + it wrong to spend upon the vanities of dress. He dwelt close to the heart + of nature, whose dumb children he would not wound or kill, even poisonous + snakes or noxious insects. The Indians knew him and loved him for the + goodness of his life, and they honored him for the courage with which he + bore the pain he never would inflict. He could drive pins into his flesh + without wincing; if he got hurt he burned the place, and then treated it + as a burn; he bore himself in all things, to their thinking, far above + other white men. + </p> + <p> + It was believed that he had come into the backwoods to forget a + disappointment in love, but there is no proof that he had ever suffered + this. What is certain is that he was a man of beautiful qualities of heart + and mind, who could at times be divinely eloquent about the work he had + chosen to do in this world. He was a believer in the philosophy of Emanuel + Swedenborg; he carried books of that doctrine in his bosom, and constantly + read them, or shared them with those who cared to know it, even to tearing + a volume in two. If his belief was true and we are in this world + surrounded by spirits, evil or good, which our evil or good behavior + invites to be of our company, then this harmless, loving, uncouth, + half-crazy man walked daily with the angels of God. + </p> + <p> + In those early days when the people were poor and ignorant, and had little + hope of bettering themselves in this world, their thoughts turned much to + the other world. The country was often swept by storms of religious + excitement; at the camp-meetings the devout fell in fits and trances or + were convulsed with strange throes called the jerks, and all sorts of + superstitions grew up easily among them. The wildest of these perhaps was + that of the Leatherwood God which flourished in Guernsey County, about the + year 1828. The name of this fanatic or impostor, who was indeed both one + and the other, was Joseph C. Dylks, and his title was given him because of + his claim to be the Supreme Being, and because he first appeared to his + worshipers on Leather-wood Creek at the town of Salesville. The + leatherwood tree which gave this creek its name had a soft and pliable + bark, which could be easily tied into knots, and was used as cordage by + the pioneers; and the dwellers on Leatherwood Creek had a faith of much + the same easy texture. Yet they were of rather more than the average + intelligence, and they were so far from bigoted or intolerant that all + sects among them worshiped in one sanctuary, a large cabin which they had + built in common, and which they called the Temple. Here on a certain + night, while they sat listening to one of their preachers, they were + thrilled by a loud cry of “Salvation!” followed by a fierce + snort, like that of a startled horse, and they discovered in their midst a + stranger of a grave and impressive aspect, who had come no one knew whence + or how. When he rose he stood nearly six feet high, and showed himself of + a perfect figure, with flashing black eyes, a low broad forehead and a + fine arched nose; his hair, black and thick, fell in a mass behind his + ears over his shoulders; he wore a suit of black broadcloth, a white + neckcloth, and a yellow beaver hat. His weird snort and his striking + presence seem to have been his sole equipment for swaying the faith of the + people; though some of the earliest believers saw a heavenly radiance + streaming from his countenance at times, and when he rode, they beheld + above his head a ring of light which hung in the air over the saddle if he + dismounted. But he soon began to make converts, and he had quickly enough, + of the best among those good men and women, to gain the sole use of the + Temple. At first he claimed merely to be the Lord Jesus Christ, but he + presently announced himself God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth; + and his followers readily believed him, though he failed in the simple + miracle of making a seamless garment out of a bolt of linsey-woolsey + cloth, and kept none of his promises to them. He probably found it + sufficient to be the Deity, and his worshipers, among whom were two + ministers, were certainly content; but the unbelievers felt the scandal to + be too great. They had Dylks arrested, and brought before two justices of + the peace, who one after the other decided that there was no law of Ohio + which forbade a man to declare himself the Almighty. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/205.jpg" width="100%" + alt="Proclaimed Himself the Lord Jesus Christ 205 " /> + </div> + <p> + The wretched creature was acquitted, but he was thoroughly frightened. He + made his escape from his guards, and took to the woods, where he was some + time in hiding. When he came back to the believers, he had bated nothing + of his claim to divinity, but he was no longer so bold. He now told them + that the New Jerusalem would not come down at Leatherwood Creek, but in + the city of Philadelphia, and he departed to the scene of his glory. Three + of the believers followed him over the rugged mountains and through the + pathless woods, finding food and shelter by hardly less than a miracle; + but they did not find the New Jerusalem at their journey’s end. + Dylks had told them that where they should see the heavenly light the + brightest, there they should behold the beginning of the New Jerusalem; + but they nowhere saw this light, though they walked the streets of the + earthly city night and day. Two of them were substantial farmers, and when + they had lost all hope, and had lost even Dylks himself (for he soon + vanished), they pledged their tobacco crops and so got money enough to + come home, where they lived and died in the full faith that Joseph C. + Dylks was God Almighty, though he never did anything to prove it but snort + like a startled horse, wear long hair on foot and a halo on horseback, and + fail in everything else he attempted. The third of this company of his + followers, a young minister of the United Brethren, did not return for + some years; then he came, well dressed and looking fat and sleek, and + preached to the people on Leatherwood Creek the faith in which he had not + faltered. He accounted for the disappearance of Dylks from the eyes of his + other worshipers in Philadelphia very simply: he had seen him taken up + into heaven. + </p> + <p> + But the people had merely his word for the fact; Dylks never descended to + earth again as his apostle promised, and the belief in his divinity died + out with those who first accepted him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XX. WAYS OUT. + </h2> + <p> + In 1893 Jacob S. Coxey, a respectable citizen of Massillon, started a + movement in favor of good roads which took the form of a pilgrimage to + Washington to petition Congress for its object. Several armies, as they + were called, from different parts of the country, met in Massillon, and + under Mr. Coxey’s leadership, set out on a long and toilsome march + over the Alleghanies to the capital, living by charity on the way. Many of + the soldiers of these armies might well have been idle and worthless + persons; there were doubtless others who were sincere and sane in their + hope that the representatives of the people might be persuaded to do + something for bettering the highways; but the affair was so managed as to + meet with nothing but ridicule, and in trying to force a hearing from + Congress Mr. Coxey and some of his followers were arrested for trespassing + on the Capitol grounds, and were sentenced to several weeks in jail. This + ended the latest crusade for good roads from Ohio; but there is no Ohio + idea more fixed than that we ought to have good roads, and this was by no + means the first time that Ohio men had asked the nation to lend a hand in + making them. The first time they succeeded as signally as they failed the + last time; but that was very long ago, and it may surprise some of my + readers to know that we have a National Road crossing our whole state, + which is still the best road in it. + </p> + <p> + Almost as soon as the Western people had broken into the backwoods it + became their necessity to break out again, to find and to make roads + between them and the civilization they had left. The ways of the different + emigrations in reaching Ohio were: for the New Engenders, through New York + state to Lake Erie, and westwardly along the shore of that water; for the + Pennsylvanians, through their own state to the headwaters of the Ohio, and + then down the river and inwardly from it; for the Virginians, Marylanders, + and Carolinians, the valley of the Shenandoah and the mountain gaps to + Kentucky, and so into Southwestern Ohio. At first the white men came by + the <i>streets</i>, as the pioneers called the trails that the buffalo and + deer had made; but they soon cut traces through the woods, and later these + traces became wagon roads. Of course they used the rivers wherever they + could and traveled by canoe, by flatboat, by keelboat, and by ark; and + there grew up on the rivers a wild life which had its adventures and + heroes like the Indian warfare. The most famous of the boatmen was Mike + Fink, who drank hard and fought hard, and was a miraculous shot with his + rifle. He was captain of a keelboat, which was the craft mostly used in + ascending the river. The flatboats were broken up and sold as lumber when + they had drifted down to their points of destination on the lower rivers, + but the keelboat could make a return trip by dint of pushing with a long + pole on the shore side and rowing on the other; sometimes even sails were + used, and then the keelboat sped up stream at the rate of fifty miles + instead of twelve miles a day. + </p> + <p> + But these means of traffic and travel soon ceased to suffice. Then the + Ohio people felt the need of getting out with their increasing crops, + their multiplying flocks and herds, and they made their need known to the + nation, to which they were everywhere akin, and the nation answered + through Congress by beginning, in 1806, the National Road, which was + finished by 1838, from Baltimore as far as Indiana. This road first opened + the East to Ohio; then in 1811 a steamboat made its appearance on the + Beautiful River, and after that steam commanded all the Southern and + Southwestern waters for us, as well as those of the inland seas on the + North. Then, that all these waters might be united, the state began in + 1825 to build a system of canals, from Cleveland to Portsmouth and from + Toledo to Cincinnati. When these canals were completed, with their + branches, they gave the people some nine hundred miles of navigable waters + within their own borders. The main lines were built, not by companies for + private profit as the railroads have since been built, but by the people + for the people, and it may be said that the great prosperity of Ohio began + with them. Wherever they ran they drained the swamps and made the land not + only habitable but beautiful. They were dug by Ohio people, and the + sixteen millions of dollars that they cost came back into the hands of the + men who gladly taxed themselves for the outlay. The towns along their + course grew, and new towns rose out of the forests and prairies. + </p> + <p> + The Ohio people had the impulse to this great work from the New York + people, who had built the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, and whose + governor, De Witt Clinton, had urged forward that work. Now, when our + whole state was ablaze with joy at the action of the legislature in + providing for the work, Governor Clinton was invited to come and first + strike the spade into the earth in digging the new canals. He arrived by + steamboat at Cleveland, where the people received him and his train of + distinguished New Yorkers with rejoicings worthy of the great event. He + took stage for Newark, and on the 4th of July, 1825, when our state had + just come of age, in the presence of all the Ohio magnates and + dignitaries, and a mighty throng of citizens, he lifted a spadeful from + the ground on the Licking Summit. Governor Morrow of Ohio lifted the + second spadeful, and then followed a struggle among the distinguished men + as to which should lift the third. New Yorkers and Ohioans vied in filling + a wheelbarrow with successive spadefuls, and a happy citizen of + Chillicothe had the honor of wheeling it away and dumping it over a bank. + He was the captain of a company of militia, and the crowd was so great + that a squadron of cavalry had to keep a space for the speakers in the + midst of their hollow square. Thomas Ewing delivered the oration, and men + all round him wept for joy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:28%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/211.jpg" alt="Governor Clinton 211l " /> + </div> + <p> + There were like scenes when the canals were completed. Multitudes gathered + to see the water let into the channels which to their impatience had been + so long in digging, and they took hopefully the disappointment of having + it sink into the gravelly beds, before it could slowly fill the banks, + instead of rushing like a flood to their brims. At Dayton, 1829, when the + first fleet of three canal boats arrived from Cincinnati, it was greeted + with the firing of cannon and the shouts of an immense crowd lining the + canal banks. This was as it should be, and will be wherever a great work + is done for the common good; and it ought never to be forgotten that the + canals of Ohio were dug by Ohio men that all Ohio men might freely prosper + more and more, and not that a few rich men might get richer. + </p> + <p> + After the National Road, which was our first way out, came the steam + navigation of the lake and the river, and after that came the railroad, + which will be our main reliance for getting back and forth over the state + and to and from it, till some of the many schemes of travel through the + air are realized. We cannot tell how far off the event may be; but in the + mean time it is curious, if not very flattering to our Ohio pride, to + learn that the first railroad enterprise within our borders was fostered + by Michigan. The legislature of that state granted the charter of the Erie + and Kalamazoo Railroad, which opened in 1836. The line ran from Toledo to + Adrian, thirty-three miles, but when it was projected the matter was so + far from serious with the legislature which authorized it, that it was + granted because it was “merely a fanciful scheme that could do no + harm, and would greatly please” certain citizens of Toledo; just as + now a balloon line might be laughingly authorized. It was entirely + successful, however, as far as the running was concerned, though the road + was so hampered by the cost of fighting enemies and the expenses of + building that it was seized for debt seven years later. + </p> + <p> + This has been the history of many railroads since in Ohio, and if we could + read between the lines that now cobweb the map of the state, we should + come to know many tales of broken fortunes and of broken hopes. The + railroads are no different in this from other business enterprises, but + they are different from the canals. These, as we have seen, were the work + of the state for the advantage of the whole people, while the railroads + were from the beginning private schemes for making money. Each kind of + highway came in its time, and each in its way served the purpose of Ohio. + At the time the companies began to build their railroads, the state system + of canals was in its highest usefulness, and it is no wonder that the + people should have regarded the railroads as fanciful schemes. No one + could then have dreamed how rapidly they would increase and multiply, and + that in less than fifty years they should so far surpass the canals in + service to the public that some of these would be abandoned by the state, + and become grass-grown ditches hardly distinguishable in their look of + ancient ruin from the works of the Mound Builders. At the most there were + once nine hundred miles of canals in Ohio, and now there are twelve or + fourteen thousand miles of railroads. Yet the canals were a greater + achievement for Ohio in 1837 than the railroads are in 1897. + </p> + <p> + The children of this day can hardly imagine what rude and simple affairs + the earliest railroads were. Instead of the long smooth steel rails which + now carry the great trains, with their luxurious cars, in their + never-ceasing flight, day in and day out the whole year round, flat bands + of iron, spiked to wooden rails, formed the path of the small carriages + drawn by a locomotive of the size and shape of a threshing-machine engine. + These amazed by a speed of ten or twelve miles an hour the gaping + spectator whose grandchildren do not turn their heads to look at the + express as it makes its sixty miles in sixty minutes. In the very + beginning, indeed, the carriages were drawn by horses, and it was several + years before steam was used. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0035" id="linkimage-0035"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/214.jpg" width="100%" alt="Early Railroad 214 " /> + </div> + <p> + Little by little the railroads began to be built on the easy levels of the + state, and before a great while a line was projected from Cincinnati to + Columbus along the course of the Little Miami River. This was completed + piecemeal, from point to point, and at last carried through. In the mean + time other lines were laid out, and then all at once the railroad era was + at hand. It was a time of great excitement and expectation, if not of that + public rejoicing which had welcomed the canals. + </p> + <p> + In a few years the magnificent fleets of the river began to feel the fatal + rivalry of the trains that swept along its borders. Travel deserted them, + and traffic sought the surer and swifter transportation of the shore. The + great packets that had carried swarms of passengers to and from Pittsburg + and Cincinnati and all the points between, disappeared or were converted + into freight-boats, and then these began to fail for want of traffic, and + the Beautiful River was almost abandoned to the stern-wheeler pushing a + flotilla of coal-barges. A like change took place upon the lake; steamers + which formed the means of communication between the towns and cities from + Cleveland to Buffalo, and from Cleveland to Detroit, ceased to touch at + the smaller ports, and became the pleasure-craft of the summer tourists, + or the carriers of heavy freight, and the ports which did not become the + feeders of the railroads dwindled to insignificance. But the railroads + could not affect the navigation of the lake quite so disastrously as that + of the river; the lake in such a rivalry had some such advantage as that + of the sea from its mere vastness, and from the expanses where the + railroads could not follow the steamer in the mere nature of things. The + iron horse had his way with the canals, though, and these monuments of a + former period of enterprise grow more and more like its sepulcher, where + he drank them dry. or where he left their slow currents to stagnate + unstirred by the keels of the leisurely craft once so jubilantly welcomed + to them. + </p> + <p> + Except for the occasional breaking of an embankment, the history of the + canals could hardly be marked by any incidents of exciting interest. It + was not so with steamboating and railroading, which has each its long tale + of disasters such as give times of peace almost as dark a record as those + of war. The most tragical of these events took place at the opposite + extremities of the state, in Cincinnati and in Ashtabula, and they + occurred at the beginning and the end of an interval of nearly forty + years. + </p> + <p> + The rise of steamboating on the Western rivers was perhaps all the more + rapid because of the daring and reckless spirit of the Western people, who + took almost any risk in order to carry a point in their rivalries or to + gain an end of their ambition. It is certain at any rate that the builders + and the crews of the popular boats joined in contriving and urging them to + a speed that should leave all competitors behind. There was frequent + racing between the packets on the Ohio and Mississippi, and the frightful + calamities from bursting boilers continued for a long time before public + opinion quelled the boyish love of victory which tempted not only the + steamboatmen but their passengers too. These joined with the captain in + forcing the boat to the top of its speed, at the risk of a swift or + agonizing death to all on board; and it was no doubt with their full + approval that the master of the beautiful new steamer <i>Moselle</i> took + the chance that resulted in the loss of more than two hundred lives on the + 26th of April, 1838. She had just left her moorings at Cincinnati for her + trip to Louisville, and had run up to take on a family from a raft a + little way above the city. In order that she might show her speed before + the crowd on the landing, and pass a rival boat in sight of all as she + returned, the captain held to the full head of steam with which he had + started. Her wheels had scarcely turned, after she parted from the raft, + when her boilers burst with a roar like thunder. The air was instantly + filled with the flying fragments of the wreck, and with the bodies and the + heads and limbs of men, women, and children. These fell, strewing the + shore and dropping into the river, where what was left of the Moselle sank + within fifteen minutes. Cries of anguish, groans and shrieks from the + sufferers, followed the awful sound of the explosion. Many of the victims + whom the accident had spared were drowned before boats could reach them. + The mangled body of the captain was hurled into the street; the pilot was + thrown a hundred feet into the air and fell back into the stream. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0036" id="linkimage-0036"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/217.jpg" width="100%" alt="Steamboat Explosion 217 " /> + </div> + <p> + In 1876, on the evening of December 29, an express train of the Lake Shore + Railroad, broke through the bridge at Ashtabula, and plunged seventy-five + feet down into the bed of the creek below. The train was of eleven cars + with a hundred and fifty-six passengers on board, and the bridge was + further strained by the weight of the two massive locomotives which drew + it. The night was extremely cold, and a blinding snow storm was raging, + while the freezing wind blew a gale. The wreck at once took fire, and with + the cries of the wounded were now mingled the agonized prayers of those + who saw themselves doomed to death in the blazing ruins which imprisoned + them. Nearly every one on the train was hurt more or less severely; eighty + persons perished in the fall or the fire, and five died after they were + rescued. + </p> + <p> + There were other paths which the Ohio people had to open before they could + reach a yet wider world than any that lay to the east of them, or the + south of them. Their course to civilization lay not only through the woods + and down the rivers and over the mountains, but it ran also through the + great realm of books, and every log schoolhouse was a station or a + junction on it; or rather, as they had things in these days, a milestone + or a finger-post. + </p> + <p> + The great glory and strength of the Ohio people, as I have hinted before, + came from their varied origin. + </p> + <p> + They have shown themselves among the first of the Americans, not because + they were born in Ohio, but because they were born of the Massachusetts + and Connecticut men, the New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians, the New Jerseymen + and Marylanders, the Virginians and Carolinians and Kentuckians who made + Ohio what it was to be by the mixture of their characteristics and + qualities here. It is of no use to pretend, however, that it was their + virtues alone which got into the Ohio people; their foibles got in too, + and their prejudices and their vices. A traveler in our state, just after + it had become a state, believed that we were destined to be more like the + people of the North and East than the people of the South, whom he then + found, in Kentucky at least, much livelier in mind and manner than the + Pennsylvanians, fond of public life and society, very hospitable and + courteous, but dissipated, restless, and reckless. Our public spirit did + not come from our Southern ancestry, but from our New England ancestry. + The South gave Ohio perhaps her foremost place in war and politics, but + her enlightenment in other things was from the North. It was the + aristocratic indifference of the South to public schools that for + twenty-four years after Ohio became a state kept her from profiting by the + magnificent provision of school lands made for her by the whole nation + through Congress. It was not until almost a generation after Ohio became a + state that she began to have schools partly free, and it was still a + generation later before the men of New England blood framed the present + school law, and got it enacted by the legislature. This was in 1853, but + in 1825 the first great effort for public schools was made. There was then + a party in favor of canals in the legislature, and another party in favor + of schools, and these two parties fought each other a long time. At last + they united, and together gave the people canals and schools, the two ways + out of the wilderness. + </p> + <p> + Our canals are no longer the great avenues of commerce, because the modern + needs and means are different from those of former days, but our schools + are still the royal roads, the people’s roads, to and from the world + of letters and arts. Ohio is now second to no other state in her public + school system: and well-nigh three-quarters of a century ago, when General + Lafayette visited Cincinnati in his tour of the Republic which he had + helped to found, nothing surprised and charmed him more than the greeting + which the children of her public schools gave him. It spoke to him of a + refined and graceful life, such as he could never have imagined in the + young city so lately carven out the forests; and such proofs of the + general culture must have done more than all the signs of material + prosperity, all the objects of industry so proudly shown him, to make him + regard Ohio (to use his own words) as the eighth wonder of the world. Six + hundred boys and girls from the public schools met him at sunrise, on the + morning of his arrival, and scattered flowers under his feet and made the + air ring with their shouts of “Welcome to Lafayette!” + </p> + <p> + As for the Indians, who fought so long and so hard here for the graves of + their fathers and the homes of their children, they had to find their ways + out too. But it would not be easy to say what became of them all, for they + went such various ways out of Ohio and out of the world. Some remained in + the country which they had lost, and in a few cases they tried to take on + the likeness of civilized men. But oftener they only took on the vices of + civilization; they were the drunkards and the vagrants of their + neighborhoods, living by a little work and by the contemptuous charity of + the settlers. In them the proud spirit of their race was broken; they + suffered insult and outrage from their conquerors without resisting; a + small white Titian might knock a stalwart Indian down with his fist, and + the Indian would not attempt to revenge himself. For a while, the settlers + feared the lingering red men, but they soon learned to despise them, and + it was seldom that they troubled the whites by theft or violence. + </p> + <p> + A good many of the tribesmen followed the British into Canada, after the + War of 1812, where it must be owned to our shame as Americans that they + had wiser, kinder, and juster treatment than we gave those who remained + with us, and who followed westward from their old hunting grounds in Ohio + the buffalo, the elk, the beaver, and the deer. Several nations, or parts + of nations, were gathered on reservations in Seneca, Lucas, and Wyandot + counties, where they were given land and taught farming and other trades. + Missionaries came to dwell among them and try to make them Christians, and + many were converted. The Quakers seem to have done the best work in this + way, for the Indians always trusted and loved the men of peace. + </p> + <p> + But although their friends could teach the Indians to plow and sow, to + build houses and barns, to make tools and mend them, to sing and to pray, + and to wear clothes and to lead decent and sober lives, they could not + uproot all their old customs and superstitions. The superstition that + seemed to last longest was the belief in witchcraft, which was indeed very + common among their white neighbors. Nearly all forms of sickness were + treated as the effect of witchcraft by the Indians, and the afflicted were + carried into the woods and left alone with none near them except the + medicine man whose business it was to expel the witch. + </p> + <p> + A suspected witch or wizard might be safely killed by any kinsman of the + sufferer; and it is said that Indians were known to walk all the way from + the Mississippi to the Ohio reservations in order to shoot down persons + accused of witchcraft, and then return unmolested. In 1828, the Mingo + chief Seneca John was put to death by two of his tribesmen as ruthlessly + as Leatherlips in 1812. He was accused of having bewitched the chief + Comstock, and though he protested, “I loved my brother Comstock + better than the green earth. I stand upon; I would shed my blood, drop by + drop, to bring him back to life,” yet he was sentenced to die, and + Comstock’s brothers, Coonstick and Steel, carried out the sentence. + </p> + <p> + In 1831 the Senecas ceded their lands, forty thousand acres on the + Sandusky, to the United States, and were removed to the southwest of the + Missouri. Each of the other reservations was given up in turn for lands in + the Far West, and in the early forties I myself, when a boy living in + Hamilton, saw the last of the Ohio Indians passing through the town on the + three canal boats which carried the small remnant of their nation + southward and westward out of the hind that was to know them no more + forever. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0037" id="linkimage-0037"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:35%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/223.jpg" + alt="Indian Evacuation by River 223l " /> + </div> + <p> + It was quite time. I cannot say how far they had been civilized, and for + all I know they may have been tame farmers and mechanics, but in their + moccasins and blankets, with their bows and arrows, they looked like wild + hunters; and Ohio was no longer a good hunting ground. All the larger game + had long been killed off or driven away, and the smaller game was fast + vanishing before the rifle and the shotgun. As if its destruction by + gunners singly was not rapid enough it was the custom in somewhat earlier + days for whole neighborhoods to meet together for the wholesale slaughter + of the sylvan creatures which still abounded. One of these great hunts + took place in Medina County, in 1818, when the region was as yet very + sparsely settled. The drive, as it was called, was fixed for the 24th of + December, and at sunrise, six hundred men and boys drew up their + far-spreading lines. They were armed with rifles, shotguns, old muskets, + pistols, knives, axes, hatchets, bayonets fastened to long poles, and + whatever other weapons they could lay hands on, to shoot, strike, or stab + with, and they began to draw their vast circle together with a hideous + uproar of horn, conchshells, and voices. The deer fled inward from all + sides; bear and wolf left their coverts in terror; foxes and raccoons + joined the panic rout, and the air was full of the flight of wild turkeys. + Then the slaughter began, and before it ended three hundred deer, + twenty-one bears, and seventeen wolves were killed; of the turkeys and the + smaller game no tale was kept. + </p> + <p> + Later these drives were common in the years whenever game was abundant in + any neighborhood. They were called squirrel-hunts, because the squirrel + was the unit, and larger or smaller game counted so many squirrels, or + went to make up the value of a squirrel. I knew of one of these hunts + during the late fifties in Northern Ohio, when the wild pigeons were still + in such multitude that their flight darkened the sky, where now one of + them is rarely seen. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXI. THE FIGHT WITH SLAVERY. + </h2> + <p> + Almost from the beginning Ohio was called the Yankee state by her Southern + neighbors. Burr had found her people too plodding for him, as he said, and + it would not have been strange if the older slave-holding communities on + her southern and eastern border had seen with distrust and dislike the + advance of the young free state, and had given her that nickname partly + out of envy and partly out of contempt. Their citizens were high-spirited + and generous, but they had not the public spirit which New England had + imparted to Ohio, for public spirit comes from equality and from the + feeling for others’ rights, and the very supremacy which the + slaveholders enjoyed was fatal to this feeling. Virginia and Kentucky were + rich in independent character, but public spirit is better than this, for + it cares for the independence of all through the self-sacrifice of each. + That was the secret which Ohio early learned from New England, and which + kept her safe from slavery when it pressed so hard upon her in the + friendship as well as the enmity of her neighbors. + </p> + <p> + We know that the Northwestern Territory was devoted to freedom by the law + that created it, but we have seen that slavery was kept out of Ohio by one + vote only when her first constitution was adopted; and for a very long + time there was a very large party favorable to slavery in our state. It + will seem strange to many of my readers that Ohio people of color were + once not only not allowed to vote, but were not allowed to give testimony + in the courts of law. They were treated in this like the Southern slaves, + and in fact there was really a sort of slaveholding in Ohio, in spite of + the law. In the river counties many farmers hired slaves from their + masters in Virginia and Kentucky; and when the Southerners traveled + through Ohio, they brought their slaves into the state with them, and took + them out again. But when the conscience of the Northern people began to + stir against slavery, the Ohio abolitionists coaxed away the slaves of + these Southern travelers and sojourners, and this, with the constant + escape of runaway slaves by their help, infuriated the friends of slavery + inside as well as outside of the state. The abolitionists had what they + called the Underground Railroad, with stations at their houses in town and + country, and they sped the fugitives from one to another till they reached + Canada. Their enemies accused them of tempting slaves across the Ohio, in + order to give them their freedom, and in a little while the rage against + them broke out in mobs and riots. + </p> + <p> + It would not be easy to trace here the course of events which led to these + outbreaks. It is no doubt true that the abolitionists were often rash, if + not reckless, and that when they were maddened by the coldness or the + hostility of the people to the cause of human freedom they did not stop at + some acts which, though they were righteous enough, were unlawful. It was + unlawful to harbor runaway slaves, but they did it gladly, and they + appealed to the passions as well as the consciences of men in their hate + of the sum of all villainies, as John Wesley called slavery. They not only + met their foes half way, they carried the war into the hearts and homes of + the enemy. From time to time wicked and sorrowful things happened to fret + their fanaticism and keep it at a white heat. Peaceable negroes were + attacked in their homes by ruffianly whites, their cattle killed, their + fields wasted; and sometimes they made a bloody resistance. They were not + always harmless, and they were not always pleasant neighbors. Slavery was + a bad school, for the slaves as well as the masters; and the negroes, when + not vicious and dishonest, were degraded and ignorant, for the public + schools were shut against them, and they could not read, any more than + they could vote or bear witness. So it is not strange that they should + have been hunted and harried everywhere in Southern Ohio. + </p> + <p> + In Pike County a whole neighborhood was invaded, and several lives were + lost before one of these foolish and wicked persecutions ended. This + incident, which was one of many more or less violent, occurred in 1830, + and two years later something still more tragical happened. A negro + calling himself Thomas Marshall, who had lived several years at Dayton, + was caught up in the streets of that town by some men who, when his cries + brought the citizens to his help, declared that he was a runaway slave. + They took him before a magistrate, and proved their charge; but one of the + slavecatchers held out the hope that his master would sell him. The poor + slave gave fifty dollars himself toward his freedom, and his ransom was + well made up when word came from his owner in Kentucky that he would not + part with him for any sum. His captors then took Marshall to Cincinnati, + where he was lodged for safe keeping over night in the fourth story of a + hotel. When his guards fell asleep, the slave rose and threw himself out + of the window to the ground fifty feet below. He was taken up fatally + hurt, and he died at dawn. + </p> + <p> + The anti-slavery meetings were often broken in upon by mobs and sometimes + broken up. One of these riots took place in 1834 at Granville, in Licking + County, where the Ohio Anti-slavery Convention held its anniversary in a + barn on the outskirts. The members were returning to the village in a + procession when the mob met them, and at sight of the ladies among them + shouted, “Egg the squaws!” and began to pelt them with eggs + and other missiles, while some ran and tried to trip them up. Many of the + men were beaten and egged, and the manes and tails of their horses were + shaved. This was a favorite argument with the friends of slavery, and if + shaving horses’ manes and tails could have availed, their party + would easily have won. + </p> + <p> + Some of the anti-slavery speakers and lecturers came on missions from the + Eastern States, but several of the fiercest and bravest were like the Rev. + John Rankin, of Clermont County, who had emigrated from Tennessee to Ohio, + because he would not live in a slaveholding community. He used to preach + against slavery at frequent peril of his life, and his son tells how a mob + leader once mounted to his pulpit, and threatened him with his club. + “Stop speaking, or I will burst your head,” he shouted, but + Rankin went quietly on as if nothing had been said, and one of his friends + dragged the ruffian from his side. Of course, he was always coming home + with his horse’s mane and tail shaved, and of course his house was a + station on the underground railroad to freedom. + </p> + <p> + One of the boldest of the abolitionists was James G. Birney, who like + Rankin had come to Ohio from the South. He started a newspaper called <i>The + Philanthropist</i> in Cincinnati, and for three months attacked slavery + unsparingly in it. Then, on the 23d of July, 1836, the mob rose, broke + into the printing office, threw the types into the street, tore down the + press, and cast the fragments into the river. Then they assailed the black + people living in one of the alleys, and shots were exchanged but no lives + were lost. A few years later, however, in 1841, a general assault was made + upon the negroes by the mob; several on both sides were killed and many + wounded, and the office of <i>The Philanthropist</i> was again destroyed. + Of course these things did not stop the fight against slavery, and it did + not help slavery at all when the authorities of Lane Theological Seminary + at Cincinnati forbade the students to write or to talk about it. That was + foolish and useless; it only hurt the seminary, and drove many students + from it to the college at Oberlin, then newly founded in the woods of + Lorain County. There they could not only discuss slavery, but they could + learn about it at first hand from the negro students. The founders of + Oberlin were not abolitionists, but it is related that when they took + Christ for their guide, they found that they could not shut out the + friendless people whom the law kept from the schools, the polls, and the + courts. + </p> + <p> + These few scattered facts will give some notion of the bitter feeling that + prevailed during the first ten or twelve years of the fight against + slavery in Ohio. Afterwards it became less intense, as slavery became a + political question between the two great parties of that day, the Whigs + and the Democrats. Neither party expected to abolish slavery, but the + Whigs hoped to keep it out of the territories and all the new states. Both + parties split upon this question at last, and in 1856 the anti-slavery + Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats joined in forming the Republican party, + which in 1860 elected Abraham Lincoln upon its promise to shut slavery up + to the states where it already existed. + </p> + <p> + But it must not be supposed, because the first bitter feeling had passed + away, that the facts were changed or that the tragedies and outrages had + ceased. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, there was a + new hunt for runaways all over the state, and business on the underground + railroad was never so brisk. The hatred of slavery was revived in all its + intensity by such cases as that of Margaret Gorden in 1856. This unhappy + mother had escaped from Kentucky with her four children to the house of a + free colored man below Mill Creek in Hamilton County, where they remained + concealed with thirteen other fugitives. One night the place was suddenly + attacked by the slavehunters under the lead of the United States officers. + A fight followed, and several on both sides were wounded, but at last the + slaves were overpowered. While the officers were dragging the others from + the house, Margaret seized a knife from the table, and killed her little + daughter rather than see it taken back to slavery, and then turned the + bloody weapon against herself, but failed in the attempt on her own life. + She was taken to Cincinnati and tried, not for murder, but for escaping + from slavery, together with the other fugitives, who said they would + “go singing to the gallows,” if only they need not go back to + the South. They were all found guilty of seeking to be free, and were + returned to their owners. On her way down the river it is said that + Margaret jumped from the boat with one of her remaining little ones in her + arms. The child was drowned, but Margaret was saved for the fate which she + dreaded, and which she had twice risked her own and her children’s + life to shun. What became of her at last was never known; it is only known + that she was carried back to her owner. She had two deep scars on her + black face. At her trial she was asked what made them, and she answered + “White man struck me.” + </p> + <p> + In Champaign County, a fugitive slave named Ad White resisted the attempt + of the slavehunters to take him, in 1857, and fired upon one of the United + States marshals, whose life was saved by the negro’s bullet striking + against the marshal’s gunbarrel. The people and their officers took + the slave’s side, and the case was fought in and out of court. The + sheriff of the county was brutally beaten with a slungshot by the marshal + who had so narrowly escaped death himself, and never take a thousand + dollars for him; the money was promptly raised and paid over, and White + lived on unmolested. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0038" id="linkimage-0038"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/232.jpg" width="100%" alt="Slavery Issue 232 " /> + </div> + <p> + As late as the summer of 1860 a fugitive slave was arrested near Iberia, + in Morrow County. A party of young men caught one of the marshals and + shaved his head, while others beat his comrades. Rev. Mr. Gordon, + President of Ohio Central College, stood by trying to prevent the + punishment, but he alone was arrested. He was sentenced to prison, where + he lay till Lincoln pardoned him. The pardon did not recognize his + innocence, and he would not leave his cell until his friends forced him to + do so. By this time the damp jail air had infected him, and he died, + shortly after, of consumption. + </p> + <p> + One would think that such things as these would have cured the Ohio people + of all sentiment for slavery, for they had no real interest in it. But + even in the second year of the Civil War, which the love of slavery had + stirred up against the Union, the famous anti-slavery orator, Wendell + Phillips, was stoned and egged while trying to lecture in Cincinnati. + Before this time, however, events had gone so far that there was no + staying them. One of the earliest and chiefest of these events was the + attempt of John Brown to free the slaves in Virginia. He had already + fought slavery in Kansas, where it was trying to invade free soil, and in + 1859 he thought that the time had come to carry the war into the enemy’s + country. He did this by placing himself with a small force of daring young + men, several of his own sons among the rest, in the mountains near Harper’s + Ferry. He hoped that when he had seized the United States Arsenal at that + point, and given them arms the slaves would join him, and help to fight + their way to the free states under his lead. But when they were attacked + in the Arsenal, Brown and his men were easily overpowered by a detachment + of Marines sent from Washington; several of his followers were killed; a + few escaped; the rest suffered death with their leader on the gallows at + Charlestown. + </p> + <p> + Some think that Brown was mad, some that he was inspired, some that he was + right, some that he was wrong; but whatever men think of him, there are + none who doubt that he was a hero, ready to shed his blood for the cause + he held just. His name can never die, so long as the name of America + lives, and it is part of the fame of Ohio that he dwelt many years in our + state. For many years of his younger manhood Brown had lived at Hudson, in + Summit County; for months before his attempt in Virginia he and his men + were coming and going at different points in the Western Reserve, and in + Ashtabula County where one of his sons then had a farm, he kept hidden the + pikes with which he hoped to arm the slaves. One of the young men who died + with him on the scaffold at Charlestown was the Quaker lad, Edwin Coppock, + of Columbiana County, who wrote, two days before he suffered, a touching + letter of farewell to his friends. “I had fondly hoped to live to + see the principles of the Declaration of Independence fully realized; I + had hoped to see the dark stain of slavery blotted from our land.... But + two more short days remain to me to fulfill my earthly destiny. At the + expiration of those days I shall stand upon the scaffold to take my last + look of earthly scenes. But that scaffold has but little dread for me, for + I honestly believe that I am innocent of any crime justifying such a + punishment. But by the taking of my life and the lives of my comrades, + Virginia is but hastening on the day when the slave will rejoice in his + freedom.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0039" id="linkimage-0039"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img alt="234 (28K)" src="images/234.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXII. THE CIVIL WAR IN OHIO + </h2> + <p> + Though the Ohio people were too plodding for Aaron Burr, and though they + were taunted almost from the first as the Yankee state of the West, they + seem to have had war in their blood, which may have been their heritage + from the long struggle with the Indians. But after the peace with Great + Britain in 1815 there was no war cloud in the Ohio sky until Morgan swept + across our horizon with his hard-riders, except at one time in 1835. There + had then arisen between our state authorities and those of Michigan a + dispute concerning the border line between the two commonwealths, and + matters went so far that the governors of both States called out their + militia. The Michigan troops actually invaded Ohio, and overran the + watermelon patches near Toledo, ate the chickens of the neighborhood, + destroyed an ice house, and carried off one Ohioan prisoner. But the mere + terror of the Ohio name sufficed to send them flying home again when they + heard that our riflemen were waiting for them in Toledo, and many + deserters from their ranks took to the woods on their way back. This + vindicated the glory of our state; we cheerfully submitted when the + arbitrators chosen to settle the dispute decided it mainly in favor of + Michigan, and we have ever since lived at peace with that commonwealth. + </p> + <p> + All this seems now like a huge joke, and so it has ever since been + regarded, but a war was coming which was serious enough. It might be said + that the great Civil War began with “John Brown’s invasion of + Virginia,” in 1859, but it might just as well be said that it began + with the fighting for and against freedom in Kansas in 1856. In fact it + might be said that it began with the mobbing of anti-slavery speakers and + the rescue of runaway slaves all over the North, from 1830 onwards. Yet + this would be fantastic, even if it were true, and we had better accept + the dates which history gives. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected + President by the men opposed to the spread of slavery, and in 1861 the + slave states, feeling that their mastery of the Union was gone, left it + one after another, and the first fighting took place through the effort of + the United States government to hold its forts in the South. + </p> + <p> + In this war, Ohio played so great a part, that it is hard for Ohio people + to keep from claiming that she played the first part. Remembering that + General Grant, General Sherman, General Sheridan, the three greatest + soldiers of the war, were all Ohio men, we might be tempted to claim that + without these the war would not have been won for the Union, but it is + safer to claim nothing more than that Ohio gave the nation the generals + who won the war. Our three greatest soldiers were only chief among many + others under whose lead Ohio sent to the war some three hundred and twenty + thousand men, during the four years of fighting, a force almost as great + as that of whole nations in other times. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0040" id="linkimage-0040"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/237.jpg" width="100%" + alt="John Morgan Invades Ohio in 1863 237 " /> + </div> + <p> + Ohio men shed their blood on all the battlefields of the South, but only + once was the war which consumed her children by tens of thousands brought + home to her own hearths. This was when the state was invaded by John + Morgan and his hard-riders in 1863. Morgan was born at Huntsville in + Alabama, and was of the true Southern type, gallant, reckless, + independent. He was one of the bravest and luckiest chiefs of Confederate + cavalry, and when he was ordered to march northward from Tennessee through + Kentucky, and attempt the capture of Louisville, but not to pass the Ohio, + he trusted to his fortune, and crossed the river into Indiana at the head + of some twenty-three hundred horsemen. On the 13th of July he entered the + state of Ohio, a few miles north of Cincinnati, and passed eastward + unmolested by the Union general Burnside, who preferred not to bring him + to battle in the neighborhood of the city, but to wait some chance of + attacking him elsewhere. The militia had been called out by the governor, + and the whole country was on the alert. But Morgan’s men passed + through Clermont, Brown, Adams, Pike, Jackson, Vinton, Athens, and Gallia + counties into Meigs with comparatively little molestation, though the + militia learned rapidly to embarrass if not to imperil his course. His men + suffered terribly in their long ride. They had to live on the country as + best they could, and they were literally dropping with sleep as they + pushed their jaded horses along the roads, everywhere threatened by the + Ohio sharpshooters. They fell from their saddles and were left behind; + they crawled off in the darkness and threw themselves down in the woods + and fields, glad to awaken prisoners in the hands of their pursuers. At + first the large towns were alarmed by the fear of pillage, but Morgan had + hardly got into Ohio before it became his chief aim to get out again. His + hard-riders were confined in their depredations mainly to the plunder of + the country stores on their route. They stole what they could, but they + stole without method or reason, except in the matter of horses, which they + really needed and could use. They commonly left their worn-out chargers in + exchange, but they took the freshest and strongest horses they could get, + at any rate. In their horse stealing they were not so very unlike the + Kentucky pioneers, who used to cross into the Ohio country for the ponies + of the Indians, and they practiced it at much the same risk; for the Ohio + people were becoming every moment madder and more mischievous. At first + they only cut down trees to check Morgan’s march after he got by, + but they soon began to obstruct the roads in front of him; and though they + burned one bridge over a river that he could easily ford, it was not long + before they learned to destroy bridges where the streams were otherwise + impassable. + </p> + <p> + By the time he reached Portland the militia were closing in around him, + and the next morning two detachments of United States cavalry struck him, + while the gunboats which had been watching for him on the river, opened + fire on him. In a few minutes the fight was over. Morgan left seven + hundred of his men prisoners behind him, and with twelve hundred others + fled north and east to seek a new way out of Ohio. The fight at Buffington + Island took place on the 18th, five days after Morgan crossed the Ohio + line into Hamilton County, and on the 26th he surrendered with the + constantly lessening remnant of his force seven miles from New Lisbon in + Columbiana County. + </p> + <p> + The prisoners were all sent for safe keeping to the penitentiary at + Columbus, but on the night of November 7th, Morgan and six of his comrades + made their escape, by digging into an air-space under the floor of his + cell with their table-knives, passing through this to the prison walls, + and letting themselves down with ropes made of their bed-clothes. At the + station where they were to take the train for Cincinnati, Morgan was + dismayed to realize that he had no money to buy a ticket; but one of his + officers had been supplied by a young lady who sent him some bank notes + concealed in a book. They rode all night in great fear and anxiety, and + just before the train drew into Cincinnati they put on the brakes and + slowed it enough to drop from it with safety. Then they lost no time in + making for the Ohio River, where they hired a boy to set them over to + Kentucky in his boat. Morgan had not found the Ohio people too plodding + for him, as Aaron Burr had, but he was quite as glad to leave their state, + which he never revisited, for he was killed the next year in Tennessee. He + left behind him in Ohio by no means a wholly evil name, and some stories + are told of him that more than hint at a generous nature. A Union soldier + whom his men had taken tried to break his musket across a stone, and one + of the Confederate officers drew his pistol to shoot him. Morgan forbade + it. “Never harm a man who has surrendered,” he said. “He + was only doing what I should have done in his place.” + </p> + <p> + We may be sure that such an enemy inflicted no wanton injury upon the + country, and there was something in Morgan’s presence that + corresponded with this magnanimity of his character. He was a man of + powerful frame, large beyond the common, of great endurance, and able to + outride any of his men, without sleep or rest. He had a fresh complexion, + with fair hair and beard, and his face was rather mild. When he gave + himself up at last, it was with an apparently cheerful unconcern at the + turn of luck which in other raids had enabled him to break bridges, + capture trains, and destroy millions of value in military stores. + </p> + <p> + Ohio is herself built upon so grand a scale that even her enemies seem to + have been cast in a noble mold; and the jokes upon her own people that + form the life of most of the stories of Morgan’s raid are as large + as he. At one point, forty miles from their line of march, a good lady + saved the family horse from the southern troopers by locking him into the + parlor, where his stamping on the hollow floor kept the neighborhood awake + the whole night through. + </p> + <p> + One of Morgan’s men, who plundered wildly, but not very wickedly, + carried for two days a bird cage with three canaries in it; another, at + the looting of a country store, filled his pockets with bone-buttons; they + were only dangerous when they met reluctance in their frequent horse + trades. They called at the house of a gentleman in Hamilton County at one + o’clock in the morning, and asked for breakfast; when he objected + that there was no fire at that time, they suggested that they could kindle + one for him that it might be hard to put out; then he made one himself and + they got their breakfast. + </p> + <p> + In Carroll County Morgan himself called for dinner at the house of a lady + whose maiden name was Morgan, and at table they fell into such kindly chat + about their cousinship, that she ended by giving him a clean shirt, which + he needed badly, and gratefully wore away. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0041" id="linkimage-0041"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:31%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/242.jpg" alt="Hiding With the Pigs 242r " /> + </div> + <p> + A farmer in Morgan County took refuge in his pigpen, where one of the + raiders found him trying to hide behind a fat mother of a family, who was + suckling her farrow. The raider grinned: “Hello! How did you get + here? Did you all come in the same litter?” A stuttering hero who + had been bragging of what he would do to the enemy if he got at them, was + surprised by Morgan’s men with a demand for his surrender. He flung + up his hands instantly. “I s-s-surrendered f-f-f-five minutes ago!” + </p> + <p> + One of the greatest jokes of all was played upon a friend of the South in + Hamilton County. My younger readers may not suppose that there could be + any friends of the South in Ohio, at that time; but in truth there were a + great many, and far more than there were at the outbreak of the war. Then + most of us believed that it would be quickly fought to an end; but after + it had dragged on for two years, when its drain on the blood and the money + of the nation was severest, and the end seemed as far off as at the + beginning, those who had never loved the cause of freedom could easily + blow the smoldering fires of discontent into a wide and far-raging flame. + It must not be imagined that the Northern enemies of the North were all + bad men; they were sometimes men of conscience, and sincerely opposed to + the war against the South as unjust and hopeless. But they were called + copperheads, because for a long time they lurked silently among the + people, like that deadly snake which used to haunt the grass of the + backwoods, and bite without warning. They were still called copperheads + when they lifted their heads and struck boldly at the Union cause, under + the lead of a very able man, Clement L. Vallandigham, whom we shall + presently learn more of; and it was an old copperhead who followed Morgan’s + rear guard with the best horse the hard-riders had left him, and who tried + to get speech with the officer in command. He explained that he was a + follower of Vallandigham and against the war, and he pleaded that on this + ground he ought to have his horses back. The Morgan colonel said they + could not stop to listen, but they would hear him if he would drive along + with them. He added that as some of his soldiers were worn out, the + copperhead had better give them his wagon; and when the copperhead said + that he could not ride, the colonel answered that he should be allowed to + walk. After walking awhile, he complained that his boots hurt him, and the + colonel ordered them taken off. The copperhead was obliged to follow in + his stockings till the raiders camped. Then, to amuse their leisure, they + taught him a Morgan song, and obliged him to dance, fat and fagged as he + was, to his own music, while they applauded him with shouts of “Go + it, old Yank! Louder!” till their commanding officer ordered them to + harness a worn-out crow bait to his wagon, and bring him three wretched + jades for the horses he wanted to recover, and let him go. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0042" id="linkimage-0042"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/243.jpg" + alt="A Copperhead Walks With General Morgan 243l " /> + </div> + <p> + It is not known whether this behavior of his friends turned the + copperheads against them or not But in spite of the Morgan raid, and in + spite of all the reasons and victories of a North, the largest vote that + the Democratic party had ever polled, up to that time, was cast in favor + of a man who had been bitterest against the war, and who was then in exile + from his native country because of his treasonable words and practices. + Even three thousand soldiers in the field voted for him, and this is far + more surprising than that forty thousand voted against him. As we look + back through the perspective of history, our state seems to have been + solid for the Union and for freedom; but this is an appearance only, and + it is better that we should realize the truth. It will do no harm even to + realize that the man who embodied the copperhead feeling was by no means a + malignant man, however mistaken. + </p> + <p> + Clement Laird Vallandigham was born in 1820 at New Lisbon, of mixed + Huguenot and Scotch-Irish ancestry, a stock which has given us some of our + best and greatest men. His father was a Presbyterian minister, who eked + out his poor salary by teaching a classical school in his own house. + Clement was ready for college long before he was old enough to be + received; and when he was graduated from Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg + in Pennsylvania, he came back to New Lisbon and began to practice law. + </p> + <p> + So far all the influences of his life should have been at least as good + for the generous side of politics as for the ungenerous; but from the + first he cast his lot with the oppressor. In 1845 he was sent to the + legislature, where he took a leading part in opposing the repeal of the + Black Laws, which kept the negro from voting at the polls or testifying in + the courts. Two years later he fixed his home in Dayton, where he quickly + came to the front as a States Rights Democrat in the full Southern sense. + He was given by a Democratic house the seat to which Lewis D. Campbell was + elected in 1856, and he remained in Congress till defeated in 1862. Up to + the last moment he never ceased to vote and to speak against the war, + because he believed it impossible to conquer the South; and when he came + back to Ohio he kept on saying what he believed. + </p> + <p> + This brought him under condemnation of General Order No. 38, issued by + General Burnside at Cincinnati, forbidding any person to express sympathy + for the enemy under pain of being sent out of the Union lines into the + lines of the Confederates. Vallandigham defied this order; he was arrested + by a company of the 115th Ohio, and taken to Cincinnati from Dayton, where + a mob of his friends broke out the next day, and burned the office of the + leading Republican newspaper. General Burnside sent a force and quelled + the mob, and promptly had Vallandigham tried by a court-martial, which + sentenced him to imprisonment in Fort Warren at Boston during the war. + President Lincoln changed this sentence to transportation through our + lines into the borders of the Southern Confederacy, and Vallandigham was + hurried by special train from Cincinnati to Murfreesboro, in Tennessee, + where General Rosecrans was in command. In a long interview, General + Rosecrans tried to convince him of his wrongdoing, and asked if he did not + know that but for his protection the soldiers would tear him to pieces in + an instant. Vallandigham answered, “Draw your soldiers up in a + hollow square to-morrow morning, and announce to them that Vallandigham + desires to vindicate himself, and I will guarantee that when they have + heard me through they will be more willing to tear Lincoln and yourself to + pieces than they will Vallandigham.” The general said he had too + much regard for his prisoner’s life to try it; but the charm of the + man had won upon him. “He don’t look a bit like a traitor, + now, does he, Joe?” he remarked to one of his staff, and he warmly + shook hands with Vallandigham when they parted at two o’clock on the + morning of May 25. + </p> + <p> + Vallandigham mounted into the spring wagon provided for the rest of his + journey, and was driven rapidly out of the sleeping town toward the + Confederate lines. It was still in the forenoon when, in response to a + Federal flag of truce, Colonel Webb of the 51st Alabama sent word to say + that he was ready to receive him; two Federal officers crossed the enemy’s + lines with him, where he was met by one private soldier, and after some + hours taken into the presence of the commander. General Bragg received him + very kindly at Shelbyville, and allowed him to report on parole at + Wilmington, North Carolina. There he took a blockade runner for Nassau, + where he found a steamer for Canada. + </p> + <p> + He arrived in the British province early in July, to find that the Ohio + Democrats had nominated him for governor, and that his party throughout + the country had expressed its sympathy with him. President Lincoln met one + of their committees, and agreed with them that Vallandigham’s arrest + was unusual, but he quaintly added: He could not be persuaded that the + government should not take measures in time of war which must not be taken + in time of peace, any more than he could be persuaded that a sick man must + not take medicine which was not good food for a well one. + </p> + <p> + So thought the great majority of the Ohio people, who duly chose John + Brough, a War Democrat, for their governor in October. Vallandigham + remained in Canada until 1864, when he returned to Dayton, where he was + warmly received by his friends, and not molested by the authorities. But + he had never afterwards any political importance, in spite of his great + abilities and the peculiar charm of his manner for all kinds of people. + After the war was over, he accepted its conclusions with earnest good + faith, and three years later he met his death by a curious accident. He + was showing a friend, in behalf of a client in whom he was greatly + interested, how a pistol might go off in a pocket and cause a mortal wound + such as his client was accused of inflicting on another. The pistol in his + hand was really discharged; Vallandigham was fatally wounded and died + shortly afterwards. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXIII. FAMOUS OHIO SOLDIERS + </h2> + <p> + First among these I count the great chief Pontiac, who led the rebellion + of the mid-western tribes against the English after the French had + abandoned them, and who was born in Auglaize County. I count the renowned + chief Tecumseh, too, that later and lesser Pontiac, who attempted to do + against the Americans what Pontiac tried to do against the English. + </p> + <p> + It was some time before the great white men of Ohio began to be born here, + but in the meanwhile there were those born elsewhere who, like General + Harrison, became Ohioans, and so did what they could to repair the defect + of birth. There is no reason to think that such men were shaped by Ohio + influences, but it is the habit of our generous Ohio state patriotism to + claim as Ohioans not only those who were born here, and those who came to + live here, but those who were born here and then went to live elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + Valiant and able generals came from the different parts of Ohio, and from + the different races which settled there. But the Scotch race, descending + through New England, has the highest place in our soldiers’ + ancestry, and the county of Clermont has the deathless glory of being the + birthplace of Ulysses Simpson Grant, one of the greatest captains of all + time, one of the purest patriots, one of the best and gentlest men. I need + not speak of his career as a soldier, for that has become a part of the + nation’s history. The beginnings of his life were rude and hard; it + was afterwards often clouded with failure; it brightened out into such + splendid success as few lives have ever known; it was again darkened by + trouble and disaster, and it closed in a long anguish of suffering. But if + ever a life was worth living it was his, and his memory is safe forever in + the love of his country and the honor of the world. + </p> + <p> + His parents removed soon after he was born to Brown County, where + Georgetown was his home until he was sent to West Point at seventeen. His + whole boyhood, therefore, was spent in Southwestern Ohio, where a boy may + live the happiest life on earth, and where Grant played, worked, planned, + and studied not only without a dream of the place he was to take in + history, but without special thought or liking for the calling in which he + was to stand with Caesar and with Napoleon. + </p> + <p> + When he was eight years old, he began to work in his father’s + tannery, where he drove the horse that turned the bark mill, and broke the + bark into the hopper. He did not like the work, and he escaped from it + when he could, and did jobs of wagoning about the village. He loved his + horses and kept them sleek and fat; and it is told of him that when he + first traded horses he was so eager to get a certain colt that he offered + the man even more than he asked. He was fond of all boyish sports, but he + was never rough, or profane, or foul-mouthed, and he was noted among his + mates for his truth and honesty. The girls liked him for his gentleness, + the younger children for his kindness; he never teased them, and he never + tormented any living creature. There may have been better boys, but I have + never heard of them; and if Grant passed only his first seventeen years in + his native state, they were years of as true a greatness relatively as any + that followed. From the first he was self-reliant, and taught himself to + trust to his own powers and resources. When seven years old, he got an + unbroken colt from the stable in his father’s absence, hitched it to + a sled which he loaded with wood in the forest, and then drove home with a + single line. He once wished to ride his father’s pacer on an errand + he was sent upon; but his father could not spare it and the boy took his + colt. “I will break him to pace,” he said, and he came back + with the colt pacing. At twelve he hauled logs with a heavy draft team. + Once the men who were to load for him did not come, and Grant managed with + the help of a fallen tree to get the logs on the truck alone and drove + home with them. After eleven he had scarcely any schooling except that of + hard work, until he was appointed to West Point. + </p> + <p> + From Georgetown, another Ohioan famous in the great war was sent about the + same time to the Naval Academy at Annapolis. This was the boy Daniel + Am-men, who was destined to become Admiral Ammen. He had saved Grant’s + life when they were bathing together in White Oak Creek, and Grant + remembered him with his high office and title when he became President. + </p> + <p> + But Ammen had won both by his services during the war, for the Ammens were + fighters. The admiral’s brother Jacob had early distinguished + himself by gallantry that won him a generalship. Long before this their + father had begun the good fight by printing John Rankin’s letters + against slavery in his newspaper at Ripley. + </p> + <p> + From Carroll County came that wonderful race of fighters, the McCooks. + Daniel McCook, Presbyterian elder and Sunday-school superintendent, went + into the war at sixty-three with his sons, and two years later was killed + in the engagement with Morgan at Buffington Island. Latimer A. McCook died + in 1869 of wounds received during his service as surgeon in the battles of + the war. General Robert Latimer McCook was murdered by guerrillas as he + lay sick and wounded near Salem, Alabama, in 1862. General A. McDowell + McCook was a West Pointer who won his major generalship by his gallantry + at Shiloh. General Daniel McCook, Jr., led the assault at Kenesaw + Mountain, where he was mortally wounded. Edwin Stanton McCook was + graduated at Annapolis, but preferred the land service, and rose to the + rank of brevet major general, through the courage and ability he had shown + at Fort Henry, at Fort Donelson, at Chickamauga, and in Sherman’s + March to the Sea. Charles Morris McCook was killed at the first Bull Run + in 1861, while in his Freshman year at Gam-bier. His father saw him + overwhelmed by the enemy and called out to him to surrender; but he + answered “Father, I will never surrender to a rebel,” and was + shot down by one of the Black Horse Cavalry. John J. McCook served in the + campaigns of the West and with Grant from the battle of the Wilderness + onward to the end. He was severely wounded at Shady Grove, and left the + army with the rank of colonel. + </p> + <p> + Dr. John McCook, another Sunday-school superintendent, was the father of + Edwin Moody McCook, who rendered brilliant service early in the war and + left the army at its close with the rank of major general. His greatest + exploit was breaking through the enemy’s lines before Sherman began + his march to the sea, and effecting a diversion by the damage he did and + the prisoners he took. His brother Anson George McCook was at the first + Bull Run and in the great battles of the Southwest, and was brevetted + Brigadier General at the end of the war. Rev. Henry C. McCook enlisted + first as a private soldier and became chaplain of a regiment, but did no + actual fighting. He is well known as a naturalist and theologian, and his + youngest brother John James is distinguished as a linguist. His brother + left the army as colonel after seeing some of the first fighting and + became an Episcopal minister. Roderick Sheldon McCook left Annapolis in + 1859 and promptly shared in the capture of a slaver off the African coast. + From 1861 to 1865 he was engaged in all the naval movements at Newbern, + Wilmington, Charleston, Fort Fisher, and on the James, and suffered + lasting injury to his health on the monitors. He left the navy with the + rank of commodore. All these McCooks, except the Rev. J. J. McCook, now + professor in Trinity College, Hartford, remained of the Presbyterian + faith, which seems natural to their Scotch-Irish race. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0043" id="linkimage-0043"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:18%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/253.jpg" alt="Rutherford Hayes 253r " /> + </div> + <p> + Of all the Americans who have lived, none is securer of lasting + remembrance than Rutherford B. Hayes, who was born in Delaware, October 4, + 1822. He was a great lawyer, a great soldier, a great statesman, a great + philanthropist, a man without taint or stain. He had to suffer the doubt + thrown by his enemies upon his right to the high office they had + themselves conceded to him, but he was never wounded in his own conscience + or in the love of the people. He was three times governor of Ohio, and + when he became President of the United States he devoted himself to + healing the hurts left by the war he had helped to fight. He made the + North and South friends in the love he had for both sections, and then he + gladly laid down his charge and went back to private life, after giving + the country peace with honor. His presidency was not only one of the most + distinguished and enlightened statesmanship, but it was consecrated by the + virtues of the woman who made the White House the happiest home in the + land. Lucy Webb Hayes, who had been like a mother to the soldiers of her + husband’s command, gave the social side of his administration the + grace and charm of her surpassingly wise and lovely character. He never + knew in his youth the poverty and hard work which narrowed the early life + of Grant and Garfield. He was born to comfort and lived in greater and + greater affluence; he had only to profit by his opportunities, while they + had to make theirs; but he did profit by them. From school to college, and + from college to the study of law, he passed easily successful in all that + he tried to do, and he always tried to do his duty. Like Grant, he was of + farther Scotch and nearer New England origin, but the next most + distinguished native of Delaware County was of Dutch stock, as his name + witnesses. William Starke Rosecrans was born in 1819, and entered West + Point when only fifteen years old. He was in civil life when the war broke + out in 1861, but of course he at once took part in it, and fought through + a series of most brilliant campaigns, without one defeat, until the battle + of Chickamauga in 1863. Even this he won, but the trust President Lincoln + had felt in him and expressed up to the last moment was shaken by + Rosecrans’s enemies, and he was removed from his command. He left + the army with the rank of major general, and he held afterwards places of + high honor, but he felt that the wrong done him was never atoned for. + Twenty-five years after his removal he told a meeting of his old comrades + the touching story of how the stroke fell and how he bore it. “It + was at night that I received the order, and I sent for General Thomas,” + who was to replace him, “He came to the tent and took his seat. I + handed him the letter. He read it and as he did so his breast began to + swell and he turned pale. He did not want to accept the command, but we + agreed on consideration that he must do so, and I told him that I could + not bear to meet my troops afterwards. ‘I want to leave,’ I + said, ‘before the announcement is made, and I will start early in + the morning.’ I packed up that night, and early in the morning, + about seven o’clock, I rode away through the fog that then hung over + the camp.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0044" id="linkimage-0044"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:60%;"> + <img src="images/255.jpg" width="100%" alt="William Tecumseh Sherman 255 " /> + </div> + <p> + William Tecumseh Sherman, who was born at Lancaster, Fairfield County, in + 1820, was like his comrade and beloved friend Grant in the poverty he was + born to. But his family was of historical distinction, while Grant’s + had always been obscure, and his father died a judge of the Supreme Court + of Ohio. As he died poor, his large family of children were left to their + mother, whose means were not equal to their maintenance and education. + Thomas Ewing, the great man of the place, had been the father’s + friend, and he wished to adopt “the smartest of the children.” + It is not known how his choice fell upon Sherman, who was playing with + some other boys on a sand bank near Ewing’s house when it was made, + and had apparently nothing to do with it. + </p> + <p> + His father had called him Tecumseh because he admired the Indian chief’s + noble character and his merciful treatment of prisoners, and because he + wished the boy to be a soldier. Ewing fulfilled the father’s wish by + appointing the son to a West Point cadetship at sixteen. Sherman had + meantime fallen in love with Miss Ellen Ewing, and he married her in 1850. + Then he left the army and tried banking and the law, but liked neither, + and he was President of the Louisiana state military academy when the + Civil War began. With his frank, bold, impetuous nature, he forewarned the + governor that he should side with the Union, and he asked to be notified + in time before the state seceded. + </p> + <p> + He received the surrender of the last great Confederate army, after a + series of the most splendid strokes of generalship. His March to the Sea + will be forever famous. The highest British military criticism pronounced + his attempt “the most brilliant or the most foolish thing ever + attempted by a military leader,” and we all know how it turned out. + Grant called him “the best field officer the war had produced,” + and there has been nothing in history more sweet and beautiful than the + friendship between these two great men. They were unlike in everything but + their unselfishness and single-hearted patriotism, and they trusted as + wholly as they loved each other. + </p> + <p> + Irvin McDowell, born at Franklinton, Franklin County, in 1818, was the + brave and gifted officer who lost the first battle of Bull Run, where he + failed less ruinously than any other general of that moment of the war + would have done. His name and fame have outlived that disaster, though the + people did not then know enough to forgive him for his army’s + defeat. He was again of that tough Scotch-Irish breed that so many Ohioans + are of; like our other great generals, he was a West Pointer, and he was + of the high and kindly personal character common to them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0045" id="linkimage-0045"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:27%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/258.jpg" alt="General George A. Custer 258r " /> + </div> + <p> + George A. Custer put into his life of vivid action the splendor of + romance. His figure stands foremost in any picture of the war as that of + the most dashing and daring cavalier of his time; but if his bearing was + that of a young hero of fiction, his deeds were those of an accomplished + and disciplined modern soldier. He was born at New Rumley in Harrison + County, of a Hessian ancestor who had come over to fight for King George + against the country which Custer lived and died to serve, and he inherited + from him the blue German eyes, and the yellow German hair which he loved + to wear long, and flying about his neck in his gallant charges. But + otherwise he was of the simple matter-of-fact Ohio character. He got + himself sent to West Point by means of a letter which he wrote to the + congressman of his district. He frankly owned himself “a Democrat + boy,” and though the congressman was a Republican his fancy was + taken with the honesty of the youth, whom he never saw till one day a + young officer “with long yellow hair, hanging like Absalom’s,” + presented himself at his house in Washington as Lieutenant Custer. “Mr. + Bingham, I’ve been in my first battle,” he said, “and I’ve + come to tell you I’ve tried not to show the coward.” After + that, in numberless bold forays and fierce battles, he displayed such + dauntless bravery, such brilliant prowess, that General Sheridan, in + sending Mrs. Custer the table on which Lee signed his surrender, could + write, “I know of no person more instrumental in bringing about this + desirable event than your own most gallant husband.” All the world + knows how this glorious hero fell in the West, long after the war, before + an overwhelming force of Indians. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0046" id="linkimage-0046"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:17%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/259.jpg" alt="James A. Garfield 259l " /> + </div> + <p> + If Custer was the romance of our history, James A. Garfield was its + tragedy, the sort of noble tragedy which exalts while it awes. Again we + have in his life the story, so often told in the Ohio annals, of early + struggles with poverty, and of triumph over unfriendly fate. The child who + was born in the rude farmhouse in Orange, Cuyahoga County, in 1831, was of + Puritan lineage on his father’s side and Huguenot blood on his + mother’s; and throughout his life he showed the qualities of both + strains. He was left the youngest of four children to the care of his + widowed mother, soon after his birth, and at the very beginning his blithe + and dauntless spirit felt the stress of want. But he began to help himself + and school himself, as the children of the poor must and do, and he early + showed a passion for literature and adventure; he wanted to read; he + wanted to go to sea; he actually tried to ship on a schooner at Cleveland, + but, failing this, he got a chance to drive a canal-boat team. He fell + sick and came home, and when he got well he learned carpentering. With his + earnings in that trade he helped himself through the Academy at Chardon in + Geauga County. From there he went to Hiram College, in Portage County, and + then to Williams College, in Massachusetts. He studied law, and was + elected to the Ohio Senate, which he left to enter the army. He was a + brave and able soldier, and rose from lieutenant to be major general, + before he left the service of his country in the field, to serve her in + Congress. After sixteen years in the House, his state sent him to the + Senate, and then his fellow-citizens chose him their President. He had + been only four months in the White House, when the wretched Guiteau, a + fool maddened by his own vanity and the sight of others’ malevolence + toward the man who never hated any one, shot him down; and he lingered + amidst the fervent sympathy of the whole world, till he died nine or ten + weeks later. Of all the great Ohioans he was the gentlest and kindest + nature; he never did harm to any man, and his heart was as high as his + aspiring intellect above anything base or low. His ambition was in all + things for what was fine and noble. + </p> + <p> + Quincy Adams Gilmore, who was born on a farm in Lorain County in 1825, was + graduated at the head of his class from West Point. He achieved lasting + fame in the siege of Fort Pulaski in Georgia, which other engineers had + said could never be taken. Gilmore reduced it in two days by a feat in + gunnery which changed forever the science and practice of that branch of + the military art. In the ooze of a trembling marsh, which scarcely lifted + its uncertain surface above the tides, he planted his heavy rifled cannon + at three times the distance that siege artillery was believed effective, + and battered down the walls of the fort with perfect ease, and with the + loss of only one life in his command. + </p> + <p> + The doubt as to the birthplace of Philip H. Sheridan, with a choice + between Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio, seems not to have been felt by + Sheridan himself. He decided that he was born in Somerset, Perry County, + Ohio, in March, 1831, and there is no good reason to suppose that he did + not know. While so many of our soldiers were of Scotch-Irish origin, he + was simply of Irish origin, and his father and mother were poor Irish + laboring people, Catholics in religion, and careful to rear their son in + their faith. Many stories are told of his boyhood, which seems to have + been like that of most other Ohio boys of his generation. The most + significant of these stories are those relating to his childish love and + knowledge of horses and horsemanship; for they seem the prophecy of the + greatest cavalry commander of modern times, who invented that branch of + the service anew, as Gilmore reinvented gunnery. Sheridan’s first + famous ride was on a barebacked, bridleless horse which he mounted in the + pasture where it was feeding, and clung to with his knees and elbows in + its long flight down the highway. No poet has yet put this legendary feat + into verse, but all my readers know the poem which celebrates Sheridan’s + ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek. This ride not only saved the day, but + it stamped with the fiery little man’s character the history of the + whole campaign in the Valley of the Shenandoah; and in it, as it were, he + met Sherman halfway on his March to the Sea, and completed the deadly + circuit in which the great rebellion died. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0047" id="linkimage-0047"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:24%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/262.jpg" + alt="General Phillip H. Sheridan 262r " /> + </div> + <p> + Of all our commanders he was perhaps the best beloved by his men, for he + fought with his men. He tried to account for their liking him on no other + ground. He once said, “These men all know that where it is the + hottest there I am, and they like it, and that is the reason they like me.” + He was in the hottest place because he thought it was his duty to be + there, and not because he was fearless. “The man who says he isn’t + afraid under fire, is a liar. I am afraid,” he frankly said, with a + touch of that profanity which Grant never used, “and if I followed + my own impulse I should turn and get out. It is all a question of the + power of mind over body.” + </p> + <p> + As a boy he had some schooling at a Catholic school, under an eccentric + Irish master whom he used to play tricks upon, and who used to thrash him + impartially with the rest. When he left school, he became a clerk in a + hardware store in his native village, and then in a dry-goods store. From + the last place, he was appointed in 1848 to West Point and his destiny was + fixed. In his class was another Ohio boy, born not far from Sheridan’s + birthplace, at the little town of Clyde, Sandusky County, in the year + 1828. This was James B. McPherson, Scotch-Irish by race as his name shows, + and, as his history was to show later, one of the worthiest scions of that + soldier-bearing stock. If Sheridan was the well-beloved of his men, + McPherson was singularly dear to those who were closest to him and should + have known him best. He was of a most affectionate nature, tenderly + attached to his home and kindred, as men are apt to be if their homes are + poor and their kindred have shared privation with them; but McPherson kept + through all his prosperity and success the qualities which endear men to + their fellows and comrades. The noble friendship between Grant and Sherman + is one of the most precious of our national memories, but these great + commanders seem to have loved McPherson next after one another. + </p> + <p> + His father was a farmer who worked at the trade of blacksmithing when he + was not following the plow; and the boy helped him in the field and at the + forge. When James was thirteen, his father died, and then he got a place + in a village store, and did what he could to support his widowed mother + and orphan brothers and sisters. It is told that when he left them on the + farm he ran tear-blinded till he got out of sight, and then sat down with + his little bundle in the woods and cried with homesickness. But he went to + work, and he studied and read in his hours of leisure, and when he got the + promise of a nomination to West Point he managed to spend two terms at the + Norwalk Academy in preparing himself. He was then so old that he was + afraid he would not be admitted to West Point; but once in the army he + seemed to regain his youth. When he took command of the Army of the + Tennessee, under Sherman, he was only thirty-two years old. + </p> + <p> + In one of the battles before Atlanta, in July, 1864, he was fired upon by + a Confederate skirmish line, while personally leading a movement of his + troops, and received a mortal wound. He rode a little way into the woods + to avoid capture, and then fell from his horse; and as he lay there dying + alone a private of an Iowa regiment found him, and cared for him till he + expired. + </p> + <p> + Sherman’s grief for his loss was open and passionate. He wept over + his dead face, and in the report of his loss to headquarters he said, + “Those whom he commanded loved him even to idolatry; and I, his + associate and commander, fail in words adequate to express my opinion of + his great worth.” Grant wrote to McPherson’s aged grandmother: + “The nation had more to expect from him than from almost any one + living.” He wished to express the grief of personal love for the + departed, and he testified to “his zeal, his great, almost unequaled + ability, his amiability, and all the manly virtues that can adorn a + commander.” + </p> + <p> + Such were the greatest of the great Ohio soldiers. To say that they were, + each in his different way, the first soldiers of the war, is to keep well + within the modest truth. They believed in one another, they trusted one + another, for they knew one another. The love between them, impassioned in + Sherman, frank and hearty in Sheridan, tender in McPherson, deep and + constant in Grant, is one of the most beautiful facts of our history, or + of any history, a feeling without one ungenerous quality. It was indeed, + </p> + <p> + “A goodly fellowship of noble knights,” + </p> + <p> + such as has not been since that of King Arthur’s Table Round. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXIV. OHIO STATESMEN + </h2> + <p> + The men who have given distinction to our state in politics could hardly + be more than named in a record like this; and I shall not try to speak of + them all or try to keep any order in my mention of them except the + alphabetical order of the counties where they were born, or where they + lived. + </p> + <p> + From Ashtabula County, the names that will come at once to the reader’s + mind are those of Joshua R. Giddings and Benjamin F. Wade, both of a + national fame inseparable from the history of the struggle with slavery. + Giddings was first to cast his lot with the almost hopeless cause of + freedom, but the fiery nature of Wade served to keep it warm in the hearts + of its later adherents and to spread its light. Neither of these great + Ohioans were Ohioans by birth. Giddings was born in Athens, Pennsylvania, + in 1795, and came to Ashtabula County in 1806, where he dwelt until within + a few years of his death, which took place at Montreal in 1864, while he + was Consul General for Canada. He studied law, and succeeded at the bar + before he entered political life. He was then twenty years in Congress as + representative from the Ashtabula district, which promptly returned him + when he was expelled from the House of Representatives for presenting a + petition against slavery. His courage was so unconscious that he seemed + never to assert it in his long career of defiance at Washington, but it + never failed him in the presence of the dangers that often beset him + there. In early life his people were desperately poor; he had scarcely a + thought of school till he was twenty-three, and it was not until he had + conquered from the wilderness a farm for his father and himself that he + found time for study. He always loved the simplicity of the new country, + and when he came home to the village of Jefferson from the sessions of + Congress, he liked to “turn himself out to grass,” as he + called it: to put on old clothes and a straw hat, and walk barefoot + through the streets which he had known when they were forest trails. + </p> + <p> + Wade was born at Hills Parish, Massachusetts, in 1800, and he too was born + in utter poverty. He worked on a farm, and then worked with pick and spade + on the Erie Canal; but by the time he was twenty-one he knew much science + and philosophy through studies he had pursued in a woodchopper’s hut + by the light of pine knots. In Jefferson he read law and became Giddings’s + partner. He was sent to the United States Senate in 1851 as an antislavery + Whig, and he continued to stand four-square for freedom there during + nearly twenty years. He was frank, bluff, even harsh in his speech and + manner, but kind at heart, and it is told of him that once when he + discovered a wretched neighbor robbing his corn crib, he moved out of + sight that the man might not know he had been caught in the misdeed to + which want had driven him. + </p> + <p> + Thomas Ewing, at one time United States senator from Ohio, and at all + times a leading statesman and lawyer, was a citizen of Athens County, + where his father settled in 1798. There the boy led the backwoods life, + and struggled with all its adversities in his love of books, until he was + nineteen. He loved the woods, too, and his boyhood was not unhappy, though + his ambition was for the things of the mind. In his reminiscences, he + tells of his early privations and of his delight in the first books which + came to his hands: the “Vicar of Wakefield,” which he learned + largely by heart, and the “Aeneid” of Virgil, which he used to + read aloud to the farm hands on Sundays, and at such other leisure times + as they all had amidst the work of clearing the land. At nineteen, he went + to earn some money at the Salines on the Kanawha, and then lavished it + upon the luxury of three months’ study at Athens. After several + years’ labor in the salt works, he entered college at Athens, + teaching school between terms, and going to Gallipolis to pick up French + among the survivors of the disastrous settlement there. Then he turned to + the law, and won his way to ease and honor. One of his daughters, as we + know, became the wife of General Sherman, whom he had adopted as his son. + </p> + <p> + Benjamin Lundy, the meek and dauntless Quaker who was called the Father of + Abolitionism, lived a long time in Belmont County, at St. Clairsville, + where he founded his Union Humane Society, in 1815, and inspired the + formation of like societies throughout the country. He was born in New + Jersey, and had settled in Wheeling, Virginia, but life there became un + endurable to him from the sight of slaves chained and driven in gangs + through the streets, on their way to be sold in the Southern markets. In + Belmont County, also, the first native Ohio governor, Wilson Shannon, was + born. + </p> + <p> + One of the Ohioans whom history will not forget was Robert Morris, of + Clermont County, our United States senator from 1813 till 1839. He was one + of the earliest American statesman to own the right of the slave and to + defend it. In his last speech he startled the Senate with the prophetic + words in which he recognized the danger hanging over the Union, and he + said, “That all may be safe, I conclude that the negro will yet be + free.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0048" id="linkimage-0048"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:14%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/268.jpg" alt="Benjamin Harrison 268r " /> + </div> + <p> + Benjamin Harrison, one of the five presidents whom Ohio has given the + country within thirty years, was born at North Bend in Hamilton County, + where his grandfather General William Henry Harrison lived until chosen + President in 1840. He remained in Ohio until he was twenty-one; then he + went to Indianapolis, and it was from Indiana that he went to the war, + where he achieved rank and distinction by his talent and courage. + </p> + <p> + He is a great lawyer, as well as a soldier and politician, and a speaker + of almost unsurpassed gifts. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0049" id="linkimage-0049"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:14%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/269.jpg" alt="Salmon P. Chase 269l " /> + </div> + <p> + Salmon P. Chase, governor of Ohio and United States senator, Lincoln’s + first Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of + the United States, was an Ohioan by grace of New Hampshire, where he was + born, and where he lived till he was a well-grown boy. In 1830, when he + was twenty-two years old, he began the practice of law in Cincinnati, and + prospered in spite of his bold sympathy with the slave and the friends of + the slave. The Kentuckians called him the attorney-general of the negroes, + and the negroes gave him a silver pitcher, in gratitude for his “public + services in behalf of the oppressed.” He was first an abolitionist, + but later became a leader of the anti-slavery party, and was one of the + first and foremost Republicans. As Secretary of the Treasury his mastery + in finance was as essential to our success in the war as the statesmanship + of Lincoln or the generalship of Grant. He was followed in the office of + Chief Justice by another Ohioan of New England birth, who, like Chase, had + passed all the years of his public life in our state. Morrison R. Waite, + of Toledo, was perhaps even more Ohioan in those traits of plainness and + simplicity in greatness which we like to claim for Ohio, only upon sober + second thought to acknowledge that they are the distinctive American + traits. + </p> + <p> + An Ohio Secretary of the Treasury assured to the nation the means of + meeting the expenses of the Civil War, Ohio generals fought it to a + victorious close, and an Ohio Secretary of War knew how to deal best with + both the men and the money, so as to turn the struggle from its doubtful + course. Without Edwin M. Stanton neither Chase nor Grant, with Sherman and + Sheridan, could have availed. He was born at Steubenville in 1814, of a + family of North Carolina Quakers, and as a boy his tastes were as peaceful + as those of his ancestors. He had pets of all kinds, and he made + collections of birds and insects. He was pretty diligent at school, but + his studies there were not of the severer kind. He loved poetry; he + founded a circulating library; and both before and after he went to Kenyon + College, he was clerk in a bookstore. But deep within this quiet outside + was the hot nature which fused the forces of the great war, and shaped + them according to his relentless will. He became a successful lawyer, and + had been President Buchanan’s Attorney-General when Lincoln made him + Secretary of War. He left that office worn out with the duties to which he + gave mind and body, and died soon after Grant had appointed him, in 1869, + to the bench of the Supreme Court No man in office ever deserved more + friends, or made more enemies. He was tender and kindly with the + friendless and hapless, but with the strong and the fortunate, when they + crossed his mood, he was rude to savagery. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0050" id="linkimage-0050"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:15%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/270.jpg" alt="John Sherman 270r " /> + </div> + <p> + The chief citizen of Richland County is John Sherman, who is also one of + the chief citizens of Ohio, and of the United States. He has been in + Congress ever since 1855, and ever since 1861 he has been in the Senate, + except for the four years when he was Secretary of the Treasury under + President Hayes. If any man in our public life during this long period + merits more than he the name of statesman, it would be hard to say who he + may be. But in his boyhood he gave promise of anything but the sort of + career which he has dignified. He had all the impulsiveness of his famous + brother, General Sherman, and something more than his turbulence. He + himself, with that charming frankness which seems peculiarly a Sherman + trait, tells in his autobiography what reckless things he did, even to + coming to blows with his teacher; but all this heat seems later to have + gone to temper a most manly and courageous character for a career of the + greatest public usefulness. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0051" id="linkimage-0051"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:24%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/271.jpg" alt="William Mckinley 271l " /> + </div> + <p> + He was born at Lancaster in 1810, and the second President who has called + him from the Senate to a seat in his cabinet was born at Niles in Trumbull + County, in 1844. William McKinley entered the army as a private in the + famous 23d Ohio, when he was only seventeen, and fought through the war. + When it ended he had won the rank of brevet major, but he had then his + beginning to make in civil life. He studied law, and settled in Canton, + where he married, and began to be felt in politics. He was thrice sent to + Congress, and then defeated; but in 1896 he was elected the fifth + President of the United States from the state of Ohio. + </p> + <p> + It is a long step backward in time, in fact more than a hundred years, + before we reach the birthday, in 1794, of Thomas Corwin, one of the most + gifted Ohioans who has ever lived. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0052" id="linkimage-0052"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:23%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/272.jpg" alt="Thomas Corwin 272r " /> + </div> + <p> + He was born in Kentucky and was brought, a child of four years, by his + parents to Ohio, when they settled at Lebanon in Warren County. He grew up + in the backwoods, but felt the poetry as well as the poverty of the + pioneer days, and it is told that the great orator showed his passion for + eloquence at the first school he attended. He excelled in recitations and + dialogues; but he was not meant for a scholar by his father and he was + soon taken from school, and put to work on the farm. In the War of 1812 he + drove a wagon in the supply train for General Harrison’s army, and + the people liked to call him the Wagoner Boy, when he came forward in + politics. A few years later he read law, and with the training which he + had given himself at school as well as in the old-fashioned debating + societies which flourished everywhere in that day, he quickly gained + standing at the bar as an advocate. He was all-powerful with juries, and + with the people he was always a favorite. Such a man could not long be + kept out of public life. He was called to serve seven years in the state + legislature, and ten in Congress; then he was elected governor. He was so + beloved that when he was nominated a second time for the governorship it + was taken for granted that he would be elected, but so few of his friends + were at the trouble to vote for him that he was, to the profound + astonishment of everybody, defeated. + </p> + <p> + It was a joke which no one could enjoy more than Corwin himself; for he + was not only an impassioned orator, but a delightful humorist. He could + put a principle or a reason in the form of a jest so that it would go + farther than even eloquence could carry it with the whimsical Western + people; and perhaps nothing more effective was said against the infamous + Black Laws which forbade the testimony of negroes in the courts than + Corwin put in the form of self-satire. He was of a very dark complexion, + so that he might have been taken for a light mulatto; and he used to say + that it was only when a man got to be of about his color that he could be + expected to tell the truth. + </p> + <p> + He was sent to the United States Senate soon after his defeat for the + governorship, and it was there that in 1847 he made his great speech + against the war with Mexico, as a war of conquest for the spread of + slavery. It may be that there are more eloquent passages in English than + some of the finest in this speech, where he warned the American people + against the doom of unjust ambition, but I do not know them. It was the + supreme effort of his life, but it was addressed to a time of unwholesome + patriotic frenzy, and Corwin’s popularity suffered fatally from it. + He never disowned it; he defended and justified it before the people; but + he declined from the high stand he had taken as the champion of freedom + and justice, and the later years of his political life were marked by + rather an anxious conservatism. His final efforts were unavailingly made + to stay the course of secession by suggestions of impossible compromise + between the North and South. At the close of the war he was stricken with + paralysis while visiting as a private citizen the Capitol at Washington, + where he had triumphed as representative and senator, and he died almost + before the laughter had left the lips of the delighted groups which hung + about him. Of all our public men he was most distinctively what is called, + for want of some closer term, a man of genius, and he shares with but + three or four other Americans the fame of qualities that made men love + while they honored and revered him. In the presence of this great soul, so + simple, so sweet, so true, so winning, so wise, I think the reader will + scarcely care to be reminded that among the notable Ohio men of our day + are some of the richest, if not the very richest, American millionaires. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XXV. OTHER NOTABLE OHIOANS + </h2> + <p> + Two names well-known in literature belong to Ashtabula County. Albion W. + Tourgee was born there in 1838, and made a wide reputation by his novels, + “A Fool’s Errand” and “Bricks without Straw,”—impassioned + and vivid reports of life in the South during the period of + reconstruction; and Edith Thomas, who was born in Medina County, made + Ashtabula her home till she went to live near New York. While she was + still in Ohio, the poems which are full of the love of nature and the + sense of immortal things began to win her a fame in which she need envy no + others of our time. + </p> + <p> + One of the earlier Ohioans of note was John Cleves Symmes, of Butler + County, who believed that the earth was penetrated at the poles by + openings into a habitable region within it. He petitioned Congress for + means to explore the Arctic seas and verify his theory; of course he + petitioned in vain, but he won world-wide attention and made some + converts. He had been a gallant officer of the United States Army, and had + fought well in the War of 1812, but he died poor and neglected. He was of + New Jersey birth, and of that stanch New Jersey stock which gave character + to the whole southwestern part of Ohio. + </p> + <p> + Another and still more famous theorist, who is not generally known to have + been an Ohioan, was Delia Bacon, who first maintained that the plays and + poems of Shakespeare were written, by Sir Francis Bacon. She was born in + Portage County at Tallmadge, where her father was settled as minister. + </p> + <p> + A sculptor who, if not the greatest American sculptor, has yet achieved in + his art the most American things ever done in it, is J. Q. A. Ward, the + author of the “Indian Hunter,” and many other noble if less + native works. He was born at Urbana, in Champaign County, of the old + pioneer stock; and in a region remote from artistic influences, he felt + the artistic impulse in his boyhood. His earliest attempt was a figure + modeled in the wax which one of his sisters used in making wax flowers, + and which he clandestinely borrowed. Then he made a bas-relief of the + first train of cars he ever saw, but this he did in clay at the village + potter’s; and he also modeled in clay the head of a negro, well + known in the place, which all the neighbors recognized. A few years later + he was sent to school in Brooklyn, where he used every day to pass the + studio of the sculptor H. K. Browne, and long for some accident that would + give him entrance. The chance came at last; he told the sculptor the wish + of his heart, and Browne consented to let him try his hand under his eye. + From that time the boy’s future was assured. The famous sculptor + lives absorbed in his work in New York, where his ripe years find him + crowned with the honor that will survive him as long as his bronzes and + marbles endure. + </p> + <p> + To Clinton County belongs the name of Addison P. Russell, whose charming + books of literary comment have so widely endeared him to book lovers; but + whose public services in his own state are scarcely known outside of it + among the readers of “Library Notes,” or of “A Club of + One.” + </p> + <p> + The inventor of the first successful electric light, Charles Francis + Brush, was born on his father’s farm in Euclid, Cuyahoga County, in + 1840, and still pursues in Cleveland the studies which have literally + illumined the world. One of the earliest pioneers of science in geology + and archaeology, Charles Whittlesey is identified with Cleveland, where + the girlhood of the gifted novelist, Constance Fenimore Woolson, was + passed. There, too, Charles F. Browne began to make his pseudonym of + Artemus Ward known, and helped found the school of American humor. He was + born in Maine; but his fun tastes of the West rather than the East. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0053" id="linkimage-0053"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:26%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/277.jpg" alt="Thomas A. Edison 277l " /> + </div> + <p> + Thomas A. Edison, the electrician whose inventions are almost of the + quality of miracles, and have given him worldwide celebrity, was born in + Milan, Erie County, in 1847, of mixed American and Canadian parentage. His + early boyhood was passed in Ohio, but he went later to Michigan, where he + began his studies in a railroad telegraph office, after serving as a train + boy. + </p> + <p> + Another noted name in science is that of T. G. Wormley, long a citizen of + Columbus, though a native of Pennsylvania. He wrote his work on poisons in + our capital, where he had studied their effects on animal life, in several + thousand cats and dogs, while a professor in Starling Medical College. His + microscopical analysis was illustrated by drawings of the poison crystals, + made by his wife, who learned the art of steel engraving for the purpose, + when it was found that no one else could give the exquisite delicacy and + precision of the original designs. Her achievement in this art was hardly + less than her husband’s in science, and it is a pleasure to record + that she was born in Columbus. + </p> + <p> + To Franklin County also belongs the honor of being the birthplace of the + botanist, William S. Sullivant. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences + recognized him as the most accomplished student of mosses whom this + country has produced. + </p> + <p> + I do not think it at all the least of her honors that Franklin County + should be the birthplace of the horse tamer John S. Rarey, for whose + celebrity the world was once not too large. He imagined a gentle art of + managing horses by study of their nature and character, and in Europe, as + well as America, he showed how he could subdue the fiercest of them to his + will, through his patient kindness. In England the ferocious racing colt + Cruiser yielded to Rarey, and everywhere the most vicious animals felt his + magic. He was the author of a “Treatise on Horse Taming” which + had a great vogue in various languages, and he achieved a reputation which + was by no means mere notoriety. + </p> + <p> + Coates Kinney of Xenia was not born in Greene County, or even in Ohio; but + he came to our state from New York when a boy, he has lived here ever + since, and has been shaped by its life. His poem of “Rain on the + Roof” is a household word, and it is the poem which will first come + into the reader’s mind at the mention of his name. But his greatest + poem is “Optim and Pessim,” which is one of the subtlest and + strongest passages of human thought concerning the mystery of the + universe; and his next greatest is his “Ode for the Ohio Centennial,” + delivered at Columbus in 1888. It merits a place with the best that have + celebrated, like Lowell’s “Commemoration Ode,” the + achievements of the people. + </p> + <p> + In Greene County began the long journalistic life of William D. Gallagher, + who was born in Philadelphia in 1808, but came while a child to Southern + Ohio, and grew up in the impassioned love of that beautiful country. There + was not much besides its beauty to endear it to him, for his life was a + long struggle there with adverse conditions. But he never lost heart or + hope; he failed cheerfully in one literary enterprise after another, and + turned from literature to politics until he found the means and the chance + to fail again in the field where his heart was always. In Xenia, in + Cincinnati, in Columbus, in Louisville, he lived, now here, now there, as + his hopes and enterprises called him, and ended at last on a little farm + in Kentucky. His poetic vein was genuine; it was sometimes overworked, but + at least one poem of entire loveliness was minted from it; and there are + few American poems which impart a truer and tenderer feeling for nature + than Gallaghers “August,” beginning— + </p> + <p> + “Dust on thy summer mantle, dust.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0054" id="linkimage-0054"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:22%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/280.jpg" alt="Whitelaw Reid 280r " /> + </div> + <p> + The life of Whitelaw Reid, who was born near Xenia in 1837, is a romance + of success from the beginning, of the kind that seems peculiarly American. + His people were Scotch Covenanters, with the stern convictions of that + race. It is said that his grandfather first settled in Hamilton County, + but rather than run a ferry boat on Sunday, as the deed of his land bound + him to do, he sold it and removed to Greene County, where his father was a + farmer when the boy White-law was born. He sent his son to school and to + college, and then left him to make his own way in the world, which he did + by first becoming a country editor, and then going to the war as a + newspaper correspondent, and taking part in several battles as an + aid-de-camp. He learned to know the war at first hand, and he was well + fitted to make his history of “Ohio in the War” the most + important of all the state histories. He spent two years in writing this + work of truly Ohioan proportions and of unfailing interest, and then he + became Horace Greeley’s assistant on the New York Tribune. It was in + the course of nature that after Greeley’s death he should become its + owner and director, and should take a leading part in national politics. + He has been our minister to France, and has acquired great wealth as well + as honor; but he has remained affectionately true to the home of his + youth, as his care of the old farmstead at Cedarville evinces. + </p> + <p> + Among the most eminent and useful citizens of the state was Nicholas + Longworth, who came from New Jersey to Cincinnati, when just of age, in + 1803. He was first to introduce the culture of grapes and the making of + wine into Ohio; he planted the Catawba vine on the uplands of Cincinnati, + where it flourished till the destruction of the forests changed the + climate. He became very rich by his investments in lands, but he never + outgrew his sympathy with the poor and struggling, and his hand was open + to every one who could intelligently profit by his help. Many stories are + told of his eccentricity. He was so simple in his dress that he was once + mistaken for one of his own workmen by a stranger whom he had shown + through his grounds, and who gave him a dime; Longworth thanked him and + put it in his pocket For a long time he received the poor every Monday + morning at his house, and gave whoever asked a loaf of bread, or a peck of + meal, or their worth in money. His charity was of the divine order which + does not seek desert in its objects. “I will help the devil’s + poor,” he said, “the miserable drunken dog, whom nobody else + will do anything for but despise and kick,” and he left the + deserving poor to others, knowing that they were sure of friends. + </p> + <p> + Hiram Powers was the first American sculptor to give us rank in Europe. + Longworth, who loved the arts as well as the industries, helped him to go + to Florence from Cincinnati, where he had begun by modeling wax figures + for a local museum. James H. Beard came from Painesville to Cincinnati, + and won there his first success as a portrait painter. He was later to + reveal the peculiar satirical gift for expressing human character in + animals, for which his brother William H. Beard is perhaps even more + famed. Among later artists, either born or bred in Cincinnati, Frank + Dengler in sculpture, and Mr. Frank Duvaneck in painting, have shown + extraordinary qualities. Dengler died at twenty-four, but not too soon to + have given proof of his great talent; Mr. Duvaneck did such things in + painting as to attract wide notice in America and Europe, where he headed + a revolt of the young painters from the Munich School, and may be said + almost to have founded a school of his own. These two young men were of + the German stock which flourishes amid the Rhine-like hills of the Ohio; + but another gifted Ohioan, who began his art life at Cincinnati, though he + was born in Trumbull County, is of that pure American lineage commonest in + the Western Reserve. Kenyon Cox, now president of the Art Student’s + League in New York, is the son of the distinguished statesman and soldier, + General J. D. Cox, who was one of the first to enter the army from civil + life, and with Garfield and Hayes, to show military qualities second only + to those of the West Point men. + </p> + <p> + Of this class of our generals was Ormsby M. Mitchell, the eminent + astronomer in charge of the observatory at Cincinnati, who was among the + first to go from that city to the war. He won rank and honor without + fighting a battle, by virtue of the same qualities which enabled him to do + more than any one else towards founding a public observatory at Cincinnati + before any city in the East had one. + </p> + <p> + He was of Kentucky birth, and came a child to Ohio; but William H. Lytle, + dear to lovers of poetry as the author of the fine lyric, “Antony + and Cleopatra,” was born in Cincinnati, of the old Scotch-Irish + stock, in 1826. He had everything pleasant in life and he enjoyed his + prosperity, but when the war came he met its call halfway. At Chickamauga + he fell, pierced by three bullets, in the thick of the fight. As he + dropped from his horse into the arms of friends, he smiled his gratitude, + and spent his last breath in urging them to save themselves, and leave him + to his fate. The poem which begins with the well-known words, + </p> + <p> + “I am dying, Egypt, dying,” + </p> + <p> + will keep the name of Lytle in remembrance perhaps longer than all the + poems of Phoebe and Alice Cary shall live, such are the caprices of fame; + but the verse of these sisters is a part of American literature, as they + themselves are a part of its history. They were true poets, and in their + work a sense of + </p> + <p> + “The broad horizons of the West” + </p> + <p> + first made itself felt. They left the farm where they were born near + College Hill and came to live in Cincinnati after they began to be known + in literature, and later they went to dwell among the noises of New York, + where they died; but the country, the sweet Miami country, remained a + source of their inspiration, and now and again the reader tastes its charm + in their verse. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0055" id="linkimage-0055"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figleft" style="width:16%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/284a.jpg" alt="Harriet Beecher Stowe 284r " /> + </div> + <p> + They were undeniably Ohioan, while Pennsylvania may dispute our right to + the fame of Thomas Buchanan Read, though his most famous poem, “Sheridan’s + Ride,” was written and first recited in Cincinnati. We must not more + than remind ourselves that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe passed part of her + early life in that city, and is known to have gathered much of the + suggestion for “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” among the Ohio scenes + where some of its most vivid events occur. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0056" id="linkimage-0056"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="figright" style="width:22%;"> + <img width="100%" src="images/284b.jpg" alt="George Kennan 284l " /> + </div> + <p> + In the county of Huron a man of unquestionable claim to remembrance was + born. George Kennan, whose enviable privilege it was to let the light in + upon the misery of Siberian exile and to awaken the abhorrence of the + world for Russian tyranny, was a native of Norwalk, where he grew up a + telegraph operator. He worked at night and went to school by day, and when + only nineteen, while one of the chief operators in Cincinnati, he applied + for leave to join an expedition for laying a cable from Alaska to Siberia + by way of Bering Strait. He was asked if he could get ready to start in + two weeks, and he answered that he could get ready to start in two hours. + He was appointed, and in this way he came to know the horrors which he + afterwards studied more fully in a second visit to Siberia. He traveled + fifteen hundred miles through that wintry prison of Russia, and saw and + heard the sorrowful things which the despotism of the Czar has done to men + who dare to love freedom. + </p> + <p> + His report of these cruelties has at least put their authors to shame + before the civilized world, if it has not wrought so great an open change + as the work of another Ohio man in dealing with even greater atrocities. + It is interesting to note that Januarius A. Mac-Gahan was born in the same + county as Philip H. Sheridan, of the same Irish parentage, to the same + Catholic religion, and the same early poverty. He saw the light in July, + 1844, in a log cabin on his father’s little farm among the woods + near New Lexington in Perry County. He studied hard at school, and read + constantly out of school, when a boy. When a little older, he worked for + the neighboring farmers; he hoped to get a school to teach; but he could + not get it in his own home, where he was thought too young, and he had to + go to Indiana for it. From there he went to St Louis, where he became a + newspaper reporter. In 1868 he sailed for Europe to study French and + German, hoping to come home and practice law in that city. But his duty as + correspondent took him to the scenes of various European wars, and + launched him at last amidst the barbaric outrages of the Turks in + Bulgaria. His exposure of their abominable misdeeds in 1876 roused the + whole world; the English government officially examined his facts and + found them indisputable. The war began between Russia and Turkey, and + MacGahan returned to Bulgaria with the victorious Russian troops. There, + wherever the people knew him, they hailed him as their savior. He had made + their miseries so widely known to mankind as to render it impossible that + they should continue. It is not strange that they thronged upon him, and + kissed his hands, his boots, his saddle, his horse. In the peace that + followed, a whole empire was torn from the bloody hands of the Turks, and + four Christian peoples were saved from their savage rule. Bulgaria, + Roumania, Roumelia, and Servia now belong to themselves, and all this has + come about from the efforts of an unknown young Ohio man, who went abroad + to study the languages, and changed the map of Europe. It reads like wild + romance, but it is sober history. + </p> + <p> + Among all these Ohioans of celebrity we must not forget Johnnie Clem, the + Drummer Boy of Shiloh. He ran away from his home in Newark, his native + city, in 1861, when he was not yet ten years old, and joined the 24th Ohio + as drummer; but he was afraid to be seen and sent home by an uncle who was + in that regiment, and he cast his lot with the 22d Michigan. He was not + only at Shiloh, but the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, + Chickamauga, Nashville, and Kenesaw. He was taken prisoner in Georgia, and + when his captors stripped him of his clothes he grieved for the loss of + nothing except his cap, which had three bullet holes in it. After his + release, he came home to get well, and then returned to the army, where + General Thomas attached him to his staff. Later he was sent to West Point, + where he could not be regularly entered because he was too small; but he + made his studies, and Grant commissioned him as lieutenant, and he rose to + be captain of infantry. He won the love and respect of all his generals, + and while they lived they wrote him letters of affectionate friendship. He + was once wounded by a shell, and once he lost his drum by the fragment of + a bursting bomb. + </p> + <p> + J. J. Platt, who is first among Ohio poets, was born in Indiana; but his + boyhood was passed mostly in Ohio, where he grew up on his father’s + farm, amidst the scenes which he has loved to depict in his verse, until + he became a printer’s apprentice. Since then he has dwelt in cities, + both at home and abroad; but he is always happiest in dealing with the + traits and aspects of country life, especially in the earlier times. He + was for many years consul at different points in Ireland; and he has found + in England even greater recognition for the distinctively mid-western + quality of his poems than he has enjoyed among ourselves. So far as he is + of Ohio, he is of Logan County, which has been the seat of his family from + the settlement of the country; as his name suggests, he is of French + descent. + </p> + <p> + Of Toledo, and therefore of Lucas County, was David R. Locke, who was born + in New York state, but lived in Ohio from his fifth year onward. He was a + printer and an editor, and after the war, he suddenly won national fame as + the author of the Petroleum V. Naseby letters. These were satires of the + old proslavery spirit which retarded the reconstruction of the South and + harried the freedmen by mobs and lynchings. Their humor gave Locke a place + in our literature which no history of it can ignore. + </p> + <p> + Another literary man who must be taken account of in the summing up of + American literature was S. S. Cox, who made himself known early in the + fifties when Ohio was far less heard of than now, by his lively book of + travels, “A Buckeye Abroad.” He was a journalist and a + politician; he was three times elected to Congress from Columbus, and when + he went to live in New York, he was three times sent to the House of + Representatives from that city, where he is commemorated by a statue. He + was a native of Muskingum County, and was born in 1824 at Zanesville. + </p> + <p> + The latest and most brilliant contribution of Ohio to the scholarship of + the East is Professor W. M. Sloane, now of Princeton University, but by + birth of Jefferson County. He must rank by his “Life of Napoleon” + among the American historians of the first class. He is of Scotch + Calvinistic ancestry, and the son of a Presbyterian minister. + </p> + <p> + In this list of Ohioans who have done honor to our state, Mr. James Ford + Rhodes happens to be last, though chance might well have placed him among + the first He is the author of “A History of the United States from + the Compromise of 1850,” which has a peculiar value in the field of + American history, and which has given Mr. Rhodes prominent standing, with + a constantly growing reputation. He is of the New England race of the + Western Reserve; until within a few years his home was in Cleveland, but + he now lives in Boston. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI. INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS. + </h2> + <p> + Nearly all the Ohio stories since 1812 have been stories of business + enterprise and industrial adventure. I dare say that if these could be + fully told, we should have tales as exciting, as romantic and pathetic as + any I have set down concerning the Indian wars. But such stories are + usually forgotten in the material interest of the affairs, and it is only + when some tragedy or comedy arising from them finds chance record that we + realize how full of human interest they are. The decay of steamboating and + the rise of railroading is in itself a romance if it could be rightly + seen, and if the facts could be clearly set before us, the story of + commercial triumph by a great monopoly would not be less fascinating than + that of any war of conquest. + </p> + <p> + The greatest monopoly of ancient or modern times, the Standard Oil + Company, had its rise in Ohio, and there is no more impressive chapter in + the annals of our country than its history forms. In fact, everything + concerning the discovery of the great underground lakes of petroleum, and + subterranean spaces of natural gas, which suddenly enriched certain + sections of the state, and then with their exhaustion left them to lapse + into ruin, is picturesque and dramatic. Many tales are told of poor + farmers who struck oil on their lands, and sold them for sums greater than + they had ever dreamed of, and then went out into the world to waste their + wealth in a few years of wild riot, or sank down and led idle and useless + lives in sight of the fields they had once tilled. Similar stories are + told of the regions where natural gas has been found, and some day, when + the chronicles of Findlay, in Hancock County are fully written we shall + know all these romantic episodes in their grotesqueness and their pathos. + It had been known from the earliest settlement of the country that the + natural gas underlay the town, and fifty years ago two small wells were + sunk. But it was not until after the discovery of the natural gas at + Pittsburg that the people of Findlay began to think of turning their + treasure to account. Then, in the year 1884, the first great well was + bored, and sent into the startled air a shaft of flame sixty feet high. + Other wells were sunk, and the greatest of all, the famous Karg well, + shook its flag of fire against the sky with a roar like that of Niagara, + and made its voice heard fifteen miles away. It was winter when it was + first lighted, but it made summer for two hundred yards around. The snow + melted, the grass and wild flowers sprang up, and the crickets came and + trilled in the grateful warmth. By a sad irony this source of future + wealth became the refuge of homeless men, and within its genial circuit + many tramps slept sweetly, secure from the winter beyond. + </p> + <p> + Findlay grew from five thousand to fifteen thousand inhabitants in a year. + The municipality wisely possessed itself of the most important wells, and + supplied the gas so cheaply and abundantly to the people that no company + could rival it. In June, 1887, it celebrated the anniversary of the first + use of the natural gas in the industrial arts, and for three days the town + was given over to rejoicing in its glory and prosperity. The streets were + arched with flame, the great wells flaunted their banners night and day, + and the gas flared from innumerable pipes and jets through sun and rain in + every part of the town. + </p> + <p> + No such festival has commemorated the introduction of the grape culture in + Ohio, though this is one of the most poetic facts of our history. When the + changes of climate along the Ohio River rendered it unprofitable in the + region of Cincinnati, where the imaginative genius of Longworth had first + invented the Catawba wine which the poetic genius of Longfellow celebrated + in graceful song, the vine found home and welcome along the shores of Lake + Erie. There thousands upon thousands of acres now spread interminable + vineyards, and the grapes of every American variety purple in autumn to an + almost unfailing harvest. + </p> + <p> + It was at first only a dream when Longworth transplanted the wild vine + from the woods, and it might well have been scoffed at as akin to dreams + of the past which never were realized. One of these was the silk culture, + which people believed was to be one of our greatest sources of wealth + sixty or seventy years ago, when they planted millions of mulberry trees + to nourish the silkworms which died rather than become citizens of Ohio. + Another was the culture of the Chinese sorghum cane, which for many years + tantalized our farmers with the hopes of native sugar never fulfilled. + </p> + <p> + Still other kinds of dreams there have been native to our air or + naturalized to it. The Leatherwood God was by no means the only religious + impostor who has flourished among us. In 1831 Joseph Smith, the first of + the Mormon prophets and the founder of Mormon-ism, came to Portage County, + with one of his disciples, and began to preach. They made so many converts + that some shortsighted people of Hiram thought to stop their work by + tarring and feathering them. This only drove them from the place; but the + next year, they settled in Kirtland, Lake County, where, in 1834, their + followers built the first Mormon temple, for the worship of God according + to the Book of Mormon. It was this sacred book, written on gold plates, + which Smith, a native of Vermont, pretended to find, in a hill near + Palmyra, New York, where he was leading an idle and useless life. His + converts at Kirtland increased to three thousand, but they founded a bank + as well as a temple, and so got into debt and trouble. Smith left the + state to escape the sheriff, and went to Missouri, where the great mass of + the believers joined him, seven hundred leaving Kirtland in one day. + Before long the Missourians foolishly began to persecute them, and then + the Mormons settled at Nauvoo, in Illinois, where they built their second + temple, far more magnificent than the first at Kirtland. But here again + their unwise neighbors began to molest them, and Joseph Smith and his + brother Hiram were thrown into jail. A mob attacked the jail, and the + Smiths were murdered. The Mormons then abandoned Nauvoo, and took their + way through the desert to Salt Lake, in Utah, where they laid the + foundations of a great commonwealth. They still own their first temple at + Kirtland, however, and it is said to be the hope of one sect among them + yet to return and dwell there. + </p> + <p> + Among the fanaticisms or enthusiasms which flourished among our people, + none was more striking than that which moved the Woman’s Temperance + Crusade in Hillsborough, Highland County, in 1873. Under the influence of + a fervent speaker, who told how the women of his native village in New + England had joined in beseeching the liquor sellers of the place to give + up their traffic, a hundred and fifty ladies of Hillsborough banded + together and went about to the different saloons, entreating their owners + not to sell strong drink any more. By day and by night, in wet and in + cold, through menace and insult, they kept up their effort the whole + winter long. Where the dealer was very obstinate, they knelt down at his + door, and prayed and sang till he yielded. After the crusade ended, the + liquor selling began again, but though it seemed to have done little good, + yet it is said that there has been far less drunkenness in the region than + before, and public opinion was roused to enforce the laws against liquor + selling. Among the crusaders were some of the first ladies of the + neighborhood, and good women emulated their efforts in several other + places. + </p> + <p> + I am willing to leave the reader with the impression that the people of + Ohio are that sort of idealists who have the courage of their dreams. By + this courage they have made the best of them come true, and it is well for + them in their mainly matter-of-fact and practical character that they show + themselves at times enthusiasts and even fanatics. It is not ill for them + that they should now and then have been mistaken. This has helped to keep + them modest in the midst of their prosperity, and their eminence in saving + and governing the union of these states. Such as they are, they seem to + me, historically, the first of the Americans. The whole country on the + eastward characterized them, and they, more than the people of any other + state, have perpetuated and imparted their character to the whole country + on the westward. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories Of Ohio, by William Dean Howells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF OHIO *** + +***** This file should be named 21381-h.htm or 21381-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/3/8/21381/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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