Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers

Front matter

Class Book_

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

WILLIAM M. COCKRUM

Preface

In fhis volume man}- of the earl}- happening's that oc- •curred during the settling- of Indiana are given for the first time and if this opportunit}' were not improved, a larg-e amount of interesting histor)' of our state would be lost.

The writer claims no special credit for securing- this histor}' as it has been a pleasing task, self assigned. If the reader shall gain as much satisfaction from reading this volume as the author has from gathering the data from which to compile it, he will be ampl)- repaid for the few hours he is so engaged.

It is ver}' gratifying to be able to go back to the settling •of Indiana and tell about the brave men and women who first invaded its wildness and from whom sprang the hard}- and superior race of people in all stations of life that now live within its confines.

For fift}' years the data for this volume has been collecting: From personal acquaintance with the pioneers, from a history of incidents transmitted from parents to children and from tradition that is accepted as reliable.

From the above three sources it is believed that the truest history of the people of that early date, their manners and customs, the dangers they encountered from the Indians, the hunting for game and the many terrible encounters with savage beasts, has been secured.

In submitting this work to the public the author wishes here to acknowledge his indebtedness to those who aided him in his researches and made the existence of this volume possible. These favors have come from all parts of thecountr} — from historical societies, public libraries and men in official positions. The names of those giving the most valued assistance is hexeb}' given.

The City Library of Quebec and the librarian of Public Library of Montreal, Canada.

The State Library of Indianapolis and the assistant librarian, Miss Jennie M. Elrod.

The Hon. Henry S. Lane, when U. S. Senator from Indiana, for favors shown me in the office of Public Documents in Washington.

The Hon. Oliver P. Morton for his aid in securing a permit to examine official papers in the War Department.

The Hon. Daniel S. Lamont, Ex-Secretary of War, for favors shown me in the War Department.

Gen. Lew Wallace for valuable suggestions.

Gen. Russel A. Alger, Ex-Secretary of War, for a copy of official documents.

Hon. Benjamin Harrison, Ex-President of the United States, for the use of his notes on the unpublished history of Gen. William Henry Harrison.

Gen. John I. Nealy for manuscript and data.

Joseph P. McClure for incidents of pioneer history.

David Johnston for the data for many hunting and exciting experiences in the early days of Indiana.

Woolsey Pride, Jr., for the history of his father's settling at White Oak Springs, near Petersburg, Indiana.

Captain Graham, of near Corydon, Indiana, for the data for many pioneer incidents.

Hon. Conrad Baker, Ex-Governor of Indiana, for data.

Gen. Joseph Lane, Ex-Governor of Oregon, for interesting letters.

Captain A. Miler for many interesting incidents.

Col. James G. Jones and Hon. A. L. Robinson, of Evansville, Indiana, for letters corroborating underground railroad incidents.

John T. Hanover, of "Freedmans Bureau," for valuable papers in making underground railroad chapter.

Dr. John W. Posey for data on the kidnapping of free negroes.

Rev. D. B. Montgomery for especial favors in data and manuscripts of the pioneer days of Indiana.

Charles C. Waters for manuscript and data.

Jacob W. Hargrove for manuscript.

Delome's unpublished manuscript of his twenty-seven years among various Indian tribes in what is now the State of Indiana.

John B. Dillon's "History of Indiana."

John P. Dunn Jr.'s, "History of Indiana."

President Theodore Roosevelt's "Winning of the West."

Goodrich's "History of Indiana."

Mrs. Ella C. Wheatley for valuable assistance in preparing this work.

William Mc Adams' "Record of Ancient Races.

Dr. J. R. Adams, of Petersburg, Indiana, for valuable data.

Hon. Oliver H. Smith for valuable assistance.

Beard's "Battle of Tippecanoe."

Prof. W. D. Pence, Purdue University.

Dr. George C. Mason for data.

E. C. Farmer for data.

Rev. W. P. Dearing for assistance.

Crawfordsville, Indiana,

April 12, 1902.

Col. W. M. Cockrum,

Oakland Cit}', Indiana.

My dear Sir and Companion:

Your letter of the 8th inst. is received.

There is no rule in literar)' work that two want to follow in the same way. Writing on any subject, they might differ in their way of expression; but there is one rule, as you suggest, that is safe for all to follow — have your data well prepared and follow closely the subject.

I am pleased to learn that you have been securing data for more than fifty years, and intend writing a Pioneer History of Southern Indiana, in which you will give the old heroes that drove the Indians away and blazed the pathway for our greatness, a deserving tribute for their noble work.

Why not extend your boundary and include the State for 3'our field of labor? Your lament that the opportunity for a finished education in your day was so limited that you doubt your ability to give the smooth and pleasing touch to your writing that is needed in a book to be read by the cultured people of this date, is not well taken. Let me suggest that your amanuensis may have all that is required, but good horse sense is not in the market.

Your friend,

Lew Wallace.

Table Of Contents

General Lew Wallace's Letter Page 10

CHAPTER L

French Colonization of Indiana. Explorations. Settlements. Trading Stations. Forts. Relations with Indians. Post Vincennes. Treatment of English Explorers. Pontiac Pages 16-23

CHAPTER II. Geokge Rogers Clakk and the English

Treatment of Inhabitants of the Northwest b)- the English and Their Indian Allies. Clark's Resolve to Reduce the Forts. His Alliance With the French Inhabitants. Reduction of Fort Kaskaskia. Reduction of Post Vincennes. Vincennes Recaptured b)- Lieutenant Governor Hamilton. Attempt of Hamilton to Dislodge Clark and Drive Him From the Territory. Capture of Francis Vigo. Clark's March from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. Capture of Vincennes. Regaining the Confidence of the Indians, Later Achievements and Failures of Clark. Pages 24-()8

CHAPTER III. The Territory Captured by General Clark from 1779

TO THE Organization of the Northwest Territory.

Qeneral Todd's Proclamation. The Court of Vincennes. Virginia Cedes Northwest Possessions to the United States. Town of Clarksville Laid Off. Deed of Cession. Ordinance of 1787 Pages ()')-75

Chapter IV

The Northwest Territory Organized. Laws Governing It.

Governor St. Clair and the Indians. Militia Established and Civil and Militar}' Officers Appointed. Laws Adopted at Vincennes. Defeat of St. Clair's Army by the Indians. General Wayne's Victory Near the Maumee.

First Territorial Legislature Pages 76-104

Land Claims and Territorial Affairs. Indian Depredations. Letters of Instruction and Orders to Captain William Hargrove. Burning of an Indian Town Near Owensville. Division of Indiana Territory. Elections. Land Offices Pages 197-236

Chapter X

The Battle of Tippecanoe. Importance of the Victory^ Cause of Battle. The Principal Contestants. Negotiations for Peace. Collecting Army at Vincennes. Movement of Army From Vincennes. Fort Harrison Established. Advance on Prophet's Town. Encampment. The Battle. Gk)vernor Harrison's Report of the Battle^

Incidents of the Battle. Resolutions Adopted by Territorial Legislature. Roll of the Army that Fought at Tippecanoe Pages 237-308

Amusements and Sports of the Early Pioneers. .Pages 343-344

CHAPTER XV. Indiana During the War of 1812

Pigeon Roost Massacre. Attack on Fort Harrison. General Disturbance Among the Indians. General Hopkins Report to the Governor. Expeditions Against the Indians. Delaware Indians Removed to Ohio. General Gibson's Message to House of Representatives in 1813. Territorial Government Moved From Vincennes to Corydon. Miss McMurtne's Statement. Treaty of Friendship and Alliance With the Indians. General John Gibson. Governor Thomas Posey. Logan, the Indian Chief. Territory Laid Off Into Five Districts. Judicial System Improved. Charters Granted to Banks. Rappites at Harmony. New Harmony Sold to Robert Owens

Chapter XVI

Indiana Becomes a State Constitution Adopted. Officers Selected. Governor Jennings' First Message. Boundary and Area of State. Survey. Taxes. Internal Improvements. Purchase of Indian

14 PIONKER HISTORY OF INDIANA.

Claims. Counties Organized. Ague and other Illness. Failure of State Banks. William Hendrick elected Gov-

—- ernor. Site of Indianapolis chosen for Capital. Land Sharks. Indianians called "Hoosiers". Counties Organized. White men executed for Murder of Indians. Letter from Oliver H. Smith. Improvements recommended

b}^ Governors Hendricks and Ray Pages 388-426.

CHAPTER XVII. i

Animals of Early Indiana.

Game Animals. Game Birds. Ferocious Animals. Fur-

Beaiing Animals. Birds of Pre}' Pages 427-457.

CHAPTER XVIII. Schools of Early Indiana

Houses. Books. Danger from Wild Animals. Opposition

to Free Schools Pages 458-468.

Chapter XIX

The Noble Act of returning soldiers of the Battle of Tippecanoe. Aaron Burr's Conspiracy and the misfortunes attending it. Difficulty of procuring salt and desperate battle with two Bears. Incidents of Burr's Conspiracy. Governor Jennings' Temperance Lecture. Battle between two bears and two panthers. Panthers killing Indians. A Hermit. Panthers kill a man and bo}'. Early days near Petersburg, Indiana. Panthers killing one and desperately wounding another man of a surveying parly. Wild Hogs. Shooting matches. Earl}^ Days in Dubois Count}', Indiana. ' Killing of eight Indians. Hunting. Early days near Sprinklesburg, now Newburg, Warrick County. I.idiana. A young woman killed by panthers. Hunting Wolves. Hunting Deer. An amusing incident of an Irishman and the hornet's nest Pages 469-507.

Penal, Benevolent and Educational Institutions. State Prison. Asylum for Deaf and Dumb. Asylum for Blind. Hospital for the Insane. State Universities. State Library Pages 543-548

CHAPTER XXV. The Mexican War

Indiana in the Mexican War Pages 549-554

• CHAPTER XXVI.

Indian Barbarity and the Prodigal's Return. This chapter is given to show one of many spies that the Anti-Slavery

people had on all strangers during the fifties

Chapter XXVII

The Pvxperience of Two Young Boys With Two Bear Cubs. The Amusing Story of How Hogs Were Induced to Return to Their Own Range Pages 559-561

Chapter XXVIII

Kidnapping Free Negroes. Kidnapping of Reube at Princeton. Liberating two negroes near Princeton, Indiana. Kidnapping two free negroes three miles west of Princeton. Attempt to kidnap a Barber at Petersburg, In-

16 PIONEER HISTOSY OF INDIANA.

diana. Several attempts to kidnap negroes. Dr. John W. Posey and Rev. Eldridge Hopkins liberating: two kidnaped negroes. A slave hunt at Kirk's Mills Bridge in Gibson County. An attempt to catch runaway negroes ending in a desperate battle with wild hogs. Jerry Sullivan Raid at Dongola Bridge. Kidnapping the Gothard Boys. Rev. Hiram Hunter relieving kidnaped negroes Pages 562-597.

The Mound Builders.

Age of Mounds. Workmanship of Builders. The Tradition of the Piassa. Remains. Difference between Mound Builders and Indians Pages 623-632.

Chapter I French Colonization In Indiana

Explorations — Settlements — Trading Stations — Forts — Relations With Indians — Post Vincennes — Treatment of'sEnglish Explorers — Pontiac.

The French, who first settled Canada and founded Quebec in 1608, were a ver}- restless, energetic people. The}' were rovers and soon making- friends with the Indians, made long journeys with them to the south and west. How far the}' went on these excursions is not known, but they continually advanced their settlement in these directions.

During the fifty years following the founding of Quebec, they had settled a large section of the country bordering on the Great Lakes. Whether any of these rovers, during their many expeditions, up to 1650, paddled their canoes along the rivers of Indiana is unknown. Who was the first man to explore the wildness of our State or when that date was, are unsolved questions that will remain hidden in the archives of the Great Builder of Worlds. They are (juestions of no real merit and only interest those who are sticklers for exactness in regard to the minute things which happened more than two and a half centuries ago in the wilds of North America. The data that is known from accepted tradition and written history, carries us back far enough into the dark ages of this country to enable us to give such credit due to those who did explore the rivers, lakes and wooded hills of Indiana as will be of interest to those who are searching for the early history of our State.

The probabilities are that -at this early date, all the territory of Indiana was owned and controlled by the Miama Confederation of Indians, which comprised four tribes: The Twig-htwees, which was the Miami proper, the Weas or Oniatenons, the Shockeys and Pinkashaws, These Indians were of the Algonquin nation. At the junction of the St. Mary and St. Joseph rivers, where the Maumee river is formed and where the city of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, now stands, these Indians had their ancient capital, known in Indian lang-uagfe as Kekiong-a, and as earlj- as 1676, the white people (French) had a fort near that place. From that station the French fur hunters passed up and down the Wabash, river and into the Louisiana possessions of France, securingloads of furs. Returning up the Wabash they carried their bundles across the portage, thence down the Maumee to Lake Erie and to their trading stations in Canada where they were sold for such articles as the Indians and French hunters needed. In these excursions up and down the Wabash it is reasonable to conclude that there were trading stations at diiferent points along their route where the fur was collected by traders. Vincennes, no doubt, was a trading station several years before the commencement of the eighteenth century.

The traders coming on the Wabash connected with those coming on what was afterward known as the Old Vincennes and Clarksville trace. This crossed White river about fifteen miles southeast of Vincennes and crossed the Wabash river at Vincennes, then to Kaskaskia on the Mississippi river.^ One branch of this old traveled way ran from a point a little west of the place where it crossed the Little Wabash river south to the saline section of southern Illinois. No doubt this old road had been a main traveled way from east to west b)^ the Indians for ages before any white man ever saw- America. Along the route where it passed over Orange and Floyd Counties, ledges of rock that it crossed showed evidence of much wear, when first traveled over by the Whites. This could not have been possible without having been long used by the Indians, as they wore skin coverings on their feet.

That Robert De LaSalle went uj) and down the Wabash and other Indiana rivers with a few white companions and Indian guides several years before the commencement of the eijfhteenth century, is an established fact. He was at Kekionjifa, the capital of the Miamas, about 1680 and no doubt was about the same time at the beautiful site where Vincennes now stands. That there was a rendezvous where these two ciiies stand for the collecting- of furs, as well as at Ouitanon during- La Salle's explorations, is generally conceded bv all who have searched for this early information. During the twenty years that La Salle was engaged in his explorations, from 1667 to 1687, he was very active in exploring all the regions where there were fur bearing animals.

In lf>98 LaiMotte Cadillac, of New France, who was a far-seeing man and worked for his country's interests, returned to France. He went to see Count Pontchartrain and placed before him a map that he had made from notes and drawings made by LaSalle before he was assasinated, explaining to the Count the new route that this map described. This route connecting New France and Louisiana by a reliable waterwa}', extended from the Lakes up the Maumee . to the capital of the Miamis, now Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and thence by an easy portage to the headwaters of the Wabash, thence down that river, through the heart of a most valuable territory. Cadillac recommended to the Count that ii was best to locate a chain of forts along that route for defense if needed against any Indians that were or might become hosa.e and against any expedition that the english might send oul from their North American possessions east of the Alleghany Mountains. He was so convincing in his presentation of the subject, that Count Pontchartrain%fell in with his views, granted his re(|uest and commissioned him to carry out the enterprise. The next year Detroit was selected as the place most suitable for a depot of military stores and a general trading post between the French and Indians on the southern borders of the Great Lakes. The next site selected was at the l;ead of the Maumee river, called Fort Miami; then canne one near th-' Wabash on the Wea i)rairie a few miles below where the cit}" of Lafa3^ette now stands, called Ouiatenon. The next trading- post was at the point where the cit}" of Vincennes now stands, afterwards called Post Vincennes. These forts were all completed b\' the year 1705.

It has alwa3's been contended that the French Jesuits had mission stations at each of these places years before the}' became military posts. The garrisons which were located at each of these stations consisted of a few men, only suflicient in their strong log forts to insure a safe retreat for the fur traders and their families.

In a few 3'ears a number of young French hunters gathered around these stations and it became common for them to marr_v the 3'oung Indian women, and in a comparativel}' short time there was a large number of half breeds in all the settled sections where the French lived. These hunters adopted the Indian customs and this intermarr3'ing of the two races was the real reason for the ver3- close alliance that existed between the French and the Indians — "Blood is thicker than water." The two races of people became so closel3' akin that their interest became the same. The men put in most of their time during the hunting season in the forests hunting for game, or along the streams trapping for fur. These two occupations comprised all there was to be done. Each famil3' would work together and have a small field of corn. The women would plant and tend it. They cured and dried the meat that was killed b3' the hunters and prepared it for future use. The indolent habits of these Indians and mongrel French, around their homes were indulged in b3' all. When they sold their furs thev would invest the g-reater portion of it in villainous whiskev, that would make those drinking it craz3' drunk. During the orgies engaged in b3' these savage woodsmen, there would be man3' maimed and others dead before the protracted "spree" was over. The traders who sold this injurious stuff, if the3' ever were honest, lost all thought of such an inconvenience when trading with the Indians and cheated them in every way that was possible.

The Catholic missionaries who helped explore the Northwest territory and labored to christianize the Indians, were earnest, devoted men who did all they could to better the condition of the Indians; but the evil effects of the poisonous li(luor sold them by the unscrupulous traders buying- their furs, neutralized all the ^ood done by the missionaries and kept these poor, unfortunate people in a degraded condition.

The post where Vincennes now is was included in the district of Illinois, in the colony of Louisiana. Fort Chartres was the seat of government of the district, and New Orleans was the seat of government of the province. The post where Vincennes is located had different officials at an earl}' date who acted as commanders of the garrison. Among that number was Francis Morgan De Vincennes, for whom the city of Vincennes was named. He remained its commander vmtil sometime in 173f>, when he was killed in battle with the Chickasaw Indians, For a long period before his death he was in command of all the French posts located in the part of Louisiana province that is now Indiana.

In 173b, after the death of Vincennes, St. Ange was placed in command of the district of Illinois with his headquarters at post Vincennes. This command was held by him until two 3'ears after the French had ceded their New France and a part of their Louisiana possession to England in 17()3. During the long period that France held control of the Territory that is now Indiana, the only improvement made by them was the building of a few block-houses and a few crude buildings around these stations. They did not attempt to clear up the country, open any highways or to make any permanent improvements. Their business was hunting and trapping, and so the}- did not want the countr}- cleared as it would injure their occupation.

During the one hundred and forty-three years between the time the English planted their colony at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 until they attempted a plant a colony on the west side of the Alleghany mountains, in 1750, they developed into thirteen colonies and more than one million people living in the country along the Atlantic from the east side of Florida to one hundred miles east of Boston, Massachusetts.

During that long period of nearly one hundred and fifty

3'ears, France and Eng-land were bus}' acquiring- territor}" and planting- colonies in their locations in North America. They each established missionary- stations to christianize the Indians. There was great rivalry between catholic France and protestant England in their home countries. This feelingwas carried to the new world by the missionaries and used to embitter the feelings of the Indians in their respective colonies against the other nations. Rev. Cotton Mather saj^s, in one of his works published the last of the seventeenth centuTy, that a noted Indian chief informed a protestant minister of Boston, that the French, when instructing- the Indians of his nation about the christian religion, told them that Jesus Christ was a Frenchman and that the English murdered him and that he arose from the dead, ascending up to heaven and all who would come into favor with Christ must help them in their war against the English.

In 1752 M. Duquesne, governor of New France, ordered Georg-e Washington, who, with others, was attempting- to surve}- some lands near where the cit}' of Pittsburg, Penns3'lvania, now stands to desist and leave the countr}-. Duquesne stated that the French government claimed all the territory bordering on the Ohio river and its many tributaries; basingthat claim on the discoveries made b}- LaSalle, in the latter part of the seventeenth centur}-. This was a beginning of the long and blood}- war between England's American coloniies and the French inhabitants of New France. In many battles between the French and English people from 1752 to 1763, for the supremacy in America, the French inhabitants w^ho occupied the different stations in what is now Indiana, knew but little about the war and there were many isolated stations in that territory whose people did not know until several years afterwards that France had ceded her North American possessions to England.

After England came into possession of New France, the posts at Quebec, Montreal, Detroil and other stations in that territory established strong garrisons and adopted conciliatory measures to win the Indians from their allegiance to France. This was hard to do. Pontiac, who would not give up the hope that his {jfreat father, the kinjif of France, would again come into power, foujjfht man}' determined battles ag-ainst the English and would not be consoled. Finally he went to St. Louis to see his old friend, St. Ange, who counseled him to submit and give to England the same loN'ality that he had to France, telling him that France had not sold his land nor would the English take it away from him. This, in a measure, satisfied the great Pontiac and he went back home, coming down the Mississippi, up the Ohio and the Wabash. Telling his people that there would be no more war, he discarded his rank and went into private life as a hunter.

A tradition that has come all the way down from generation to generation was often told by the Indians, as follows: T^he great chief, Pontiac, in destroying bands of Indians opposing his confederation, captured mostly women and children who were sold by his agents to the resident French at the different posts, receiving in exchange guns, powder, lead, flints, tomahawks and blankets. He was killed b}' an assasin in the woods where East St. Louis now stands, because several years before, one of his bands of warriors had captured the women and children of a hunting party of Illinois Indians while they were drying meats and fish on the shores of lake Michigan and Pontiac ordered them all sold into slavery except a beautiful woman who was the wife of the chief of the hunting party, whom he took for his wife. While making a visit to St. Ange, at the village of St. Louis, this injured woman hunted up some of her kindred and assisted them in murdering Pontiac. The hold this great chief had on the people of his confederation was so firm that when jthey learned of his murder they brought on a war of extermination and before it was over the Illinois Indians were nearly all killed. The beautiful woman who caused his death was re-captured and burned at the stake.

Chapter II. George Rogers Clark And The English

Treatment of Inhabitants of Northwest by English — Their Indian AlliEvS — Clark's Resolve to Reduce THE Forts — His Alliance with the French Inhabitants— Reduction of Fort Kaskaskia — Reduction OF Post Vincennes — Captain Leonard Helm in Charge OF Vincennes — Vincennes Recaptured by Lieut. Governor Hamilton — Attempt of Hamilton to Dislodge Clark and Drive Him from the Territory — Capture of Francis Vigo — Clark's March from Kaskaskia to Vincennes — Capture of Vincennes — Regaining the Confidence of the Indians — Later achievements and - Failures of Clark.

After reading Theodore Roosevelt's extensiv-e work on "Winning- the West," William E. English's elaborate histor}" of the conquest of the Northwest territory' and "The Life of George Rogers Clark" and John P. Dunn, Jr.'s "American Commonwealth," in which his Hannibal of the west is one of the man)" subjects treated b)' him in an entertaining and instructive manner, it ma}' seem presumptuous to attempt to write about that subject, but to attempt to write a a pioneer history of Indiana without detJailirig" the heroic work of the hero of the Northwest territor)% would be like presenting the plaj- of "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out.

George Rogers Clark was born in Albermarle count)', Virginia, November 19, 1752. In early life, he, like Washington, was a surveyor, preparing himself for his work as a pioneer in a new country. In 1774 he served as an officer in

Dunmore's war. In this way he first became acquainted with the western country. In 1775 he first visited Kentucky. At that time he was a Major. That fall he returned to Virg-inia and commenced making- preparations to move to the west the next spring-. Having moved and become a fixture there, he set about to aid the people and that section of the country to which he had attached himself. The advantages were obvious but its distance from the settled colonies and its exposure to hostile Indian tribes, rendered his occupation ver}' perilous. Clark was not an ordinary man — his mind was verv comprehensive. He knew no danger and was in full vigor of young manhood, with energ-y and determination that would surmount all difficulties.

As we before noted, during all the time the French had control of the territory that is now Indiana they made no permanent improvements, having^ intermarried and adopted the habits of the Indians, living- in bark and skin tepees. There were fewer than a hundred white families at post Vincennes* at Ouiatenon, Wea prairie, near Lafa3'ette, not more than fifteen or twenty families and at the Twightee village, now Ft. Wayne, Indiana, about ten families.

From 1763 up to the time that Vincennes was captured by George Rogers Clark, the Eng-lish people established but few posts. They only strengthened those that the French had at Ft. Miami (Fort Waynej and the stations on the Wea prairies, Ouiatenon and post Vincennes. At these stations after the commencement of the Revolutionary war, there were British officers with a small command of British troops that gathered around them a band of Indians who were placed under partisan officers. These officers sent them out in detachments to prey upon the unsuspecting- settlers who were then upon the borders of the Ohio east of what afterward became Louisville, Kentucky, and into Virginia. Those from Vincennes directed their depredations princii)ally against the scattered settlements in northern Kentucky. This condition of thingi> continued until George Rogers Clark captured Lieutenant Governor Hamilton and his band of partisans at Vincennes in 177*i.

After the treat)- between France and England, the British authorities, on coming into possession of that vast empire, did everything in their power to keep improvements from being made. There were several propositions made to the king b}' his British subjects of England and b}- his American colonies, who had means, for permission to make extensive improvements in the rich country bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and to plant colonies in many places. All of these propositions were rejected. The few settlements which were made got along the best they could without anj' protection. This immense territory had Indian towns and villages scattered all over it. There were many desperadoes who left the colonies and made their homes among the Indians. In most these free-booters were fugitives from justice.

When the war for independence came these desperate characters, through the influence of British agents, declared their allegiance to the British crown. They, through their intercourse with the Indians, did much to cause them to take up the hatchet against the Americans. These Indians and their partisan allies were organized into detachments to go to the western borders of the American colonies to murder, scalp and capture the inhabitants. As an inducement for them to do this bloody work, they were offered as a reward, one pound for children and women scalps or for them as prisoners; three pounds for a man's scalp, no reward for him as prisoner, and five pounds or twenty dollars for young and comely women prisoners. The white villians whg were with their Indian allies, were, if possible, more lost to human sympathy than the Indians. They seem to have lost all human feeling and would kill and destroy the helpless people whom they found on the borders. Ignoring all restraint they deliberately went into the settlements where they had formerly lived and where their kith and kin resided. The pleading of the helpless and aged mother or the wail of the infant, seemed to be music to the ears of these brutal butchers. After killing and capturing all they could, they burned and destroyed the homes and such propert)^ as they could not carry away. Going- back with their liendish Indian allies to the British posts, they were received with jjreat military parade as if they were returning- heroes from a great victory. They received the reward for their scalps and then five pounds for the youngwomen prisoners, who were turned over to the British officers and traders to a life of servitude. A thousand deaths would have been preferable to the violated and insulted womanhood that these poor helpless victims, mothers and fair daughters of Virginia and Kentucky had to indure. The continued raids made by the Indians and their more brutal allies, became so damaging to the exposed settlements that there was great danger of their being broken up.