The making of a township, being an account of the early settlement and subsequent development of Fairmount Township, Grant County, Indiana, 1829 to 1917, based upon data secured by personal interviews, from numerous communications and various other reliable sources of information concerning local history

Front matter

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Class Book.

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Chapter I

lil.AZING THE WAY.

IT IS NOT definitely known when the first white man set foot upon the soil of Fairmount Township.

Until about 1823, according to best available authority, Indians were the sole inhabitants of Grant County.

It may be stated, however, for the meditation of thoughtful people, and as a matter simply of speculation, that James Marquette, noted Jesuit missionary, visited the northern part of Indiana about the year 1672 ; that within the same decade Joliet, intrepid French explorer, and LaSalle. with his band of adventurous spirits, passed through the region of the Kankakee swamps.

AMiile it may be true that detachments from various expeditions, as sometimes happened with exploring parties, forayed into this section of the State, there appears to be no recognized authority bold enough to assert, as a fact, that any of these sturdy pathfinders penetrated the unbroken forest which in the first half of the nineteenth century covered this Township.

Flushed with victory over General Harmar in October, 1790, Indians had begun to terrorize the frontier settlements in Northwest Territory. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, a native of Thurso, Caithness-shire, Scotland, educated at the University of Edinburg, distinguished himself in the campaign which ended with the surrender of Cornwallis. (ieneral St. Clair was a delegate to the Continental Congress, serving l)art of the time as President of that body. He was the first Governor of the Northwest Territory.

i8 The Making of a Tomnship.

As Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Army St. Clair, in 1791, headed an expedition sent against Miami Indians on the Wabash. His troops, numbering 1,800 men, met with a disastrous defeat at the hands of more than 2,000 warriors led by Little Turtle. Though exonerated by Congress. General St. Clair resigned his command.

In 1792 St. Clair was superseded by General Wayne. On account of his many daring exploits he had come to be known by the people as Mad Anthony. He was a native of Waynesborough, Pennsylvania, and had served in the War of the Revolution. His dash and audacity as a commanding officer saved General Lafayette from annihilation in 1780 while the gallant Frenchman was operating in Virginia.

Major-General Scott, with about 1,600 mounted Kentucky Volunteers, joined the troops of General Wayne on July 26, 1794, at Ft. Defiance. Two days later the combined forces began their movement on Indian towns situated along the Maumee.

It may be remarked, in passing, that the reenforcements under General Scott might have been the soldiers who. tradition tells us, blazed the trail afterwards known as the Ft. Wayne road, passing in a northeasterly direction beyond and east of East Branch school house, in Fairmount Township.

This trail led across one corner of Willis McCoy's farm, passing through the southeast corner of Thomas Winslow's place, thence along the road by John H. Flanagan's land and through John Selby's tract, crossing the Mississinewa at Wilson's ford.

David Lewis, who came to this Township on November 18. 1834. always contended that General Wayne's troops left a quantity of supplies and equipment near this ford.

Thomas J. Parker, another early pioneer (father of Ex-County Treasurer Joseph H. Parker and Attorney Charles T. Parker), who lived at one time in the vicinity of Lake Galatia, frequently in his reminiscent moods talked to members of his family and to his neighbors of the accuracy of this statement with reference to what was known in the early days as "the Anthony Wayne trail."

Attorney Parker submits an interesting contribution to the literature on this subject, upon which there has been a wide divergence of opinion.

"In the years 1875 and 1876," Mr. Parker's statement reads, "my father. Thomas J. Parker, lived where the nortii side of what would be the east extension of Eighth Street intersects with the west bank of the prairie, east of the town of h^airmount. During the winter months

Blacing the Way.

he conducted a boot and shoe shop, making and mending boots for the' people of that vicinity.

"Of evenings during the winter the neighbors would congregate there and pass the time in relating reminiscences and legends pertaining to that particular country, and especially with reference to the prairie part of it (which at that time was undrained, and during the greater part of the year was covered with water), this running for a considerable distance from a southwest angling on up to what is now known as Lake Galatia.

"On the brow of this prairie was a road following along the high bank, just above the prairie and meandering around with numerous crooks and turns, following the contours of the bank of the prairie.

"On many occasions I have heard my father and the old settlers along this road tell about that being the road which Anthony Wayne and his soldiers had cut out in their march from Maumee and Ft. Defiance to the relief of the settlers at the old fort, which is now the site of the city of Ft. Wayne, at that time beseiged by the Indians. This was during the months of October and November, 1794.

"Among the old settlers living along the road at that time were Jacob McCoy, Major B. V. Norton, John Selby and Milton Winslow. This road, at that time —

VICTOR A. SELBY

Who possesses an old-fashioned flintlock gun barrel said to have been left behind by one of General Wayne's soldiers as the troops passed through Fairmount Township.

in 1874 and 1875 — was always called the Wayne, or Ft. .Wayne road. In those days it was a common thing to pick up flint arrows and other stone implements, evidently having been used by the Indians of early times ; also evidences of implements of warfare of various kinds were found. One which I had the opportunity of inspecting recentlv was an old flint-lock mustket barrel which had a hole blown in one side. It was found near this road, and is now in the possession of our fellow-towns-

20 The Making of a Tozwiship.

man, A'ictor A. Selby. The supposition is that it was one of the castoff guns of Anthony Wayne's soldiers.

"A part of this road is still in use, following from the west bank of the Eighth Street road and angling round past the farm home of John H. Flanagan and John Selby, most of the other part of this road having been abandoned in straightening the lines along the different farms located on this thoroughfare."

"It is a reasonable conclusion," writes Dr. Alpheus Henley, "that the first settlers who came to Grant County from the South followed the road that was previously cut out, so far as it ran in the direction they wished to go.

"In talking with some of the first settlers, old Georgie Moore, Aquilla Moore's father, who settled where Abe Music lived, and Solomon Thomas, who settled a little farther north, I got the impression that Alexandria and Summitville were located on the old trail, and that Moore's, Thomas's and Henry Osborn's cabins were erected on the old road.

"When I first became acquainted with the Henry Osborn settlement, about seventy years ago, Henry had a field fenced in north of his cabin, along the east side of the road to his northwest corner. At that point where his north line intersected with the road, there stood a sign post, a board on it pointing to the northeast and southwest, which read :

63 MILES TO FORT WAYNE 63 MILES TO INDIANAPOLIS

"That post and sign were there some years later.

"At that time the land east of the then traveled road, and north to where Davis now lives, was all in woods. Isaac Stanfield then lived on the Ink place and A^ernon Stanfield lived where Kaufman built his big barn.

"The Wayne trail led off from the sign post in a northeast direction, striking the prairie near eighty rods east of the Ink residence, and followed the meanderings in and out of the prairie, keeping on dry ground, to the Timothy Kelley residence. Here it left the prairie and made a more direct angle to the Wilson crossing of the Mississinewa River.

"Ft. W^ayne* was the place of entry of all Grant County land, consequently there was considerable travel over the Wayne road by land

* By an Act of Congress, approved In- the President of the United States May 8, 1822, this office was established at Ft. Wayne. After the survey of the lands, President Monroe issued a proclamation for their sale, the minimum price being fixed at $1.25 per acre. The sale began on October 22, 1823.

Biasing the Way. 21

buyers until the Government land was all taken up, that being the most direct route to the Land Office.

"In October, 1861, I drove a two-horse team from the then Kaufman place, due east through the middle of the farm, some eighty rods to the prairie, where I came on to the old trail, which I followed to the Billy Karwin place, and on by Jacob McCoy's, John Lee's, Otho Selby's and Timothy Kelley's, where the road left the prairie and ran north a little ways, then direct to the river. After crossing the river the road ran a pretty angle northeast to Warren and Huntington. After getting a little way from the river the land was quite level and covered with a dense forest. The farms were small and not always close together.

"My objective point was Huntington. My errand being accomplished, as I now recollect, it was almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and night overtook me near Warren. I drove to my starting place that night, or rather between 2 and 3 a. m., and I came to the conclusion that was about the most dismal drive I ever made.

"The old trail had not been changed much at that date, but ran on a direct angle."

"You no doubt have heard of old Dave Conner,'' who established an Indian trading post on the river, some miles northwest of the present site of Marion," continues Dr. Henley. "Some time prior to the War of 181 2 Conner was doing business there. The military authority over that district enjoined Conner from selling the Indians any more ammunition or guns. This order so incensed the Indians that they gathered up in force around the block house and demanded ammunition. Upon refusal to comply with their terms they threatened to tear down the house, kill Dave and help themselves to what they wanted. Conner was true to his country, and in the face of death refused to accommodate the Indians, who proceeded at once to carry out their threat by felling a small tree on the house that stood near the fort, up which a number of Indians climbed to the roof and commenced to make an opening in the top. When they had an opening sufficiently large to see what Conner was doing, Dave picked up a keg of powder and emptied it out on the counter, and with a piece of wood with fire on the end in one hand, told the Indians if they did not depart at once he would blow all of them beyond the happy hunting grounds. They took Dave at his word, knowing that he had always kept his word with them, and did not molest him again.

""'This is undoubtedly the same man that Lieut.-Col. John B. Campbell refers to in his report on the Battle of the Mississinewa.

Tlic Making of a Township.

ATTORNEY CHARLES T. PARKER

Whose important contribution to "The Making of a Township" helps to

define the route of the Anthony Wayne trail.

BIa:sing the Way. 23

"Jep Sutton, one of Conner's clerks, was in the building with Conner at this particular time. He said when Dave picked up the stick with fire on it he fell down against the wall and closed his eyes, expecting every second to hear the crash that did not come.

"Sutton stayed with Dave until the latter died. I never saw old Dave, as he was called, but I did see Sutton, who was a rough backwoodsman, and I judge felt more at home with the Indians than with white men.

"Robert McClure and James Sweetser clerked for Conner at an early day, and learned the Indian language while selling them goods."

Advancing from Ft. Defiance. General Wayne, on August 20, gained a decisive victory over the Indians and British, losing thirty-three killed and 100 wounded. Nine hundred Americans were actually engaged in this battle as against an estinijated superior force of 2,000 of the enemy.

September 14. 1794, General Wayne, with his troops, proceeded in the direction of deserted Miami villages at the junction of the St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Rivers, reaching that point October 17th. Here the site of Ft. Wayne, named by Col. John F. Hamtramck, was selected. The fort was completed on November 22d.

General Wayne's complete pacification of the Indians was accomplished. The Treaty of Greenville was made on August 3, 1795. The principal chiefs present when the treaty was signed were Tarhe, Buckhongehelas. Black Hoof, Blue Jacket and Little Turtle.

General Wayne continued to serve until 1796 as United States Commissioner in the Northwest Territory. His career ended shortly after his successful campaign against the Indians. He returned to Ft. Presque Isle (now Erie), Pennsylvania, where he died, December 14, 1796.

Little Turtle was a natural leader of men. Skillful and courageous, he was a fearless and persistent enemy of frontiersmen. He won many victories over the whites. It was not until he encountered "the man who never sleeps," as he once described General Wayne in a council of war, that he met his match.

Little Turtle died at Ft. Wayne, July 14, 1812. A vast concourse of people attended his funeral. He was buried with the highest honors. The sword and medal presented to him by Gen. George Washington were placed in the coffin when his body was lowered into the grave.

Chapter II. Battleofthe Mississinevva Bearing Upon The Early Settlement

OF FAIRMOUNT TOWSHIP.

TECUM SEH, a Shawnee, perhaps the foremost man of his race, had in 1812 attained to a position of undisputed leadership. As warrior, statesman and orator, he was without a rival among his people. In all the country drained by the Mississippi his influence and power none questioned. His celebrated interview with Gen. William Henry Harrison, at Vincennes, which ended abruptly, convinced General Harrison that he had met a foe entirely worthy of his constant attention.

Tecumseh had for many years devoted his great powers of logic and persuasion to the proposition that all tribes must confederate, work together for mutual advantage and to maintain intact, at all hazards, every foot of their choice hunting grounds. His whole policy centered on this one end.

As a basic principle. Tecumseh held that the Great Spirit had given the tribes all these hunting grounds to keep in common, and that all treaties made with white men were null and void. With such diligence, resourcefulness and success did he propagate his doctrines that practically all Indians yielded to his leadership and rallied enthusiastically to his support.

The War of 181 2 presented the opportunity and British machinations supplied the pretext which Tecumseh and his warriors seized upon in their resistance to further encroachment upon their territory. The Treaty of Greenville was disregarded. Indians once more left their peaceful pursuits, gathered up their guns and tomahawks and renewed their depredations and massacres.

It was during this period that the Battle of the Mississinewa was fought in Pleasant Township, on Grant County soil. The result of this battle was of supreme importance in its bearing upon the subsequent development of Fairmount Township.

The attention of thoughtful people is not attracted to that country for permanent settlement where life is not secure or where the peaceable possession of ])roperty is not assured. Men do not needlessly expose their own lives, much less the lives of their families, to pillage and rapine and nnu'dcr.

It was not until fourteen years had elapsed after this battle had been

Battle of the Mississiiiewa. 25

fought that pioneers ceased to hesitate in forming their purpose and maturing their plans to gain homes in the new country. Gradually, satisfying themselves of ample protection in their property rights and of personal safety for themselves and their families, Fairmount Township became the objective point of those hardy people from the South and from the East.

In view of these facts, and without further explanation, it is not out of place to insert here a well-written account of the epoch-making Battle of the Mississinewa, prepared by Mr. Carl D. Hunt. This description, somewhat condensed, is taken from The India'napoiis Star, dated January 24, 1909. Details given in the article have been authenticated by competent critics who are famihar with ascertained facts relative to this engagement.

"It is the dead of winter," the story runs. "In the face of a blinding snow, and suffering intensely from the bitter cold, a company of soldiers is advancing into a wilderness broken in infrequent spots by a settler's cabin or a deserted camping ground. The men urge their stumbling horses forward, ever ready for the attack of the wary redskins, whom they have come to subject to the white man's rule.

"Imagine such a scene in Indiana but a short ninety-seven years ago, and once you have fixed in your mind the perils and hardships of that terrible march, the stage is set for the thrilling climax — the forgotten Battle of the Mississinewa.

"The valor of Harrison's heroes at Tippecanoe in their great victory over Tecumseh's hosts has been commemorated in song and story. But the heroism of the brave band of pioneer patriots who gave up their lives beside the Mississinewa that civilization might advance is an unknown story. Yet in all the annals of Indian warfare on Hoosier soil there was not a more picturesque struggle or one involving greater bravery and more privations upon the part of the soldiers than this Battle of the Mississinewa. It opened the way to Fort Wayne and Detroit on the north, and thus led to the final victory against the Indians of the Middle West.

"The battle-ground is in the corner of Grant County, not far from the Wabash County line and near the old town of Jalapa, on the Mississinewa River, along" the banks of which is scenery not to be surpassed in Indiana. And it is not far, either, fromi the shaft which may some day remind future generations of the tragic story of Frances Slocum, the 'White Rose of the Miamis.'

"During the boyhood of men now living there were many marks of the battle yet in evidence. Dr. T. R. Brady, of Wabash, lived near the scene of the battle, and as a boy used to go there in the summer time to gather plums from a grove of wild plum trees which marked the battle ground ; and E. P. McClure, of Marion, as a boy, picked bullets from the trees on the battle ground, and remembers well the scene as it was then, before most or all of the original trees went down before the ax of the white man. His father and the Indians of that part of the State were good friends and in this manner Mr. McClure was informed in detail as to the manner of the fighting that marked the battle and of its great importance in opening up what was then the Territory of Indiana.

"The Indians of Indiana had been peaceable for many years — in fact, had been peaceable after their experiences with General Wayne in the neighborhood of what is now Ft. Wayne, and elsewhere. This peace had begun about six years before the Territory of Indiana was organized, in 1800. But when the War of 181 2 beset the people of the United States, British representatives, as a part of the plan of that war, proceeded to stir up the Indians against the whites, and it was as the result of this that Gen. William Henry Harrison, the first Governor of Indiana, as a Territory, found much trouble with the Indians on his hands. General Harrison had been successful in his treaty making with the Indians and was satisfied with the progress the wilderness of Indiana was making until about 1806, when he found that Tecumseh, a Shawnee, and his brother, known in history as "The Prophet," were causing trouble. The Indians organized against the encroachments of the white man. and finally General Harrison was forced to order them to disband. They refused, and it was then that he led an expedition against them, which ended in the Battle of Tippecanoe, on November 7, 1811.

"The Indians were scattered, but the beginning of the War of 1812, about a vear later, gave them new courage and a new opportunity for hostilities. As a result of their activities and the success of the British in the Northwest, an order was issued from Washington that General Harrison take charge of the forces in this part of the country, and this he did about a year after he had so signally distinguished himself at the Battle of Tippecanoe, making his headquarters at Piqua. Ohio.

"Tlie importance of the engagement of the Indians in the IMississinewa region is shown in a letter then written l)y General Harrison to his superiors at Washington. Other expeditions had failed against the Indians in this territorv and General Harrison was determined that

Battle of the Mississinezva. 27

a decisive blow should be struck. This letter, dated November 15, 1812, and addressed to the Secretary of War, was as follows :

" 'I have received no information from General Hopkins, but there is no doubt of the complete failure of the mounted expedition under his command, and that mieasures must be immediately taken to prevent the evils which will otherwise flow from it. As soon as the information reached me I determined to direct an expedition against the Miami towns of the Mississinewa. The situation of this town as it regards my lines of operation, even if the hostility of the inhabitants was less equivocal, would render a measure of this kind highly proper, but from the circumstances of General Hopkins' failure, it has become indispensable. Relieved from the fears excited by the late invasion of their country, the Indians from the upper part of the Illinois River and to the south of Lake Michigan will direct all their efforts against Ft. Wayne and the convoys which are to follow the track of the left wing of the army. Mississinewa will be their rendezvous, where they will receive provisions and every assistance they may require for any hostile enterprise. From that place they can, by their runners, ascertain the period at which every convoy sets out from St. Mary's and with certainty intercept it previously to its arrival at Miamii Rapids ; but that place being broken up and the provisions destroyed there will be nothing to subsist any body of Indians nearer than the Pottawatomie towns upon the waters of the St. Joseph or Lake Michigan. The troops destined for the Mississinewa expedition are the dragoons, belonging to my army, with the addition of perhaps a single company of mounted volunteers. The dragoons will amount to about 600 men, but the greater part of them are to be entirely relied upon. The expedition will be commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, of the Nineteenth Infantry. He has no military experience, but is brave, sensible and judicious, and will be ably seconded by the talents and experience of Major Ball. I am confident that you will not hear of any retrograde movement upon the part of this detachment until the object upon which they are sent is accomplished.'

"Leaving Greenville, Ohio. December 14. 181 2, the men pushed forward through the wilderness into Indiana. It was cold when they left Greenville, but on December i6th it became much colder, and great were the hardships of the trip. On the morning of the 17th, after a long and hard march, they came upon a village of Indians on the Mississinewa River and surprised and routed them. They killed eight Indian warriors and took forty-eight prisoners, eight of whom were men and the rest women and children. Colonel Campbell left men to

28 Tlie Makiiii^ of a Toiviiship.

guard the prisoners, and, with horsemen, proceeded along the river, idestroying Indian towns and dissipating the suppHes the Indians had accumulated at this, their base of operations.

"On the following morning the camp was attacked by Indians, but Colonel Campbell, well aware of the likelihood of this, had prepared for it, and the redskins were routed. Then, having accomplished the purposes for which he was sent out, the Indians being driven from the base of operations from which they had done so much to harass General Harrison and thwart his plans, and being short of supplies, the Colonel and his men turned homeward. The march back was one of the most severe in the history of the country. Eight of the soldiers had been killed in the engagements and forty-eight had been wounded, and of the latter seventeen had to be carried, thus making the progress of the trip very slow. Seeing that he would not have provisions, the Colonel sent word ahead for relief, but it did not come until they were within forty miles of Greenville, and many of the brave men of the expedition, footsore and almost frozen, had not had food for three days when the relief party met them.

"That General Harrison was, indeed, well pleased with Colonel Campbell and his command, and was repaid for the confidence he had imposed in the young officer, is indicated in his report to James Monroe, Secretary of War, under date of January 3, 1813, in which he enclosed a detailed report by Colonel Campbell. In this General Harrison spoke in the highest terms of the bravery of the men who composed the expedition.

"General Harrison enclosed the report of the expedition which had been made to him by Colonel Campbell, under date of December 25, 181 2. Colonel Campbell goes into detail regarding the privations suffered and the actual fighting. It is, -perhaps, the best account of Indian fighting in the Hoosier wilds on record. Imagine what the Hoosiers a hundred years from now will think of such an article !

"In the course of his report Colonel Campbell wrote : 'On the march I occasionally formed in the order of battle to accustom the troops to it. They formed with the utmost celerity and in good order. The first two days I marched forty miles. The third day I pushed the troops as much as they could bear, marched the whole night, although excessively cold, stopping twice to refresh and warm. This day and night we marched forty miles. Early in the morning of the 17th I reached, undiscovered, an Indian town on the Mississinewa. inhabited by a mixture of Delawarcs and Miamis. The troops rushed into the town, killed eight warriors and took forty-two prisoners, eight

Battle of the Mississinezi''a. 29

of whom were warriors, tlie residue women and children. I ordered the town immediately to be burnt, a house or two excepted, in which I confined the prisoners ; and I ordered the cattle and other stock to be shot. I then left the infantry to guard the prisoners, and with Simral's and Ball's dragoons advanced to some Miami villages a few miles lower down the Mississinewa, but foimd them evacuated by all but a sick squaw, whom we left in her house. I burnt on this excursion three considerable villages, took several horses and killed a great many cattle, and returned to the town I first burnt, where I had left the prisoners, and encamped. My camp was in the usual form, but covered more ground than common. The infantry and riflemen were on the line. Captain Elliott's company on the right, Butler's in the center and Alexander's on the left. Major Ball's squadron occupied the right and one-half of the rear line. Between Ball's right and Simral's left there was an interval which had not been filled up, owing to the unusual extent of the ground the camp embraced, it having been laid off in my absence to the lower towns. I now began to deliberate on our future movements, whether to go on further, encumbered with prisoners, the men much fatigued, and a great many severely frost-bitten ; horses suffering from want of forage, which was very partially relieved by the scanty supplies of corn obtained in the towns. I determined to convene the field officers and captains of the detachment to consult, and then to take such a course as my own judgment might approve. At 4 in the morning of the i8th I ordered to be beaten the reveille, and the officers convened at mv fire a short time afterward.

" 'While we were in council and about an hour before day, my camp was most furiously attacked by a large party of Indians, preceded by and accompanied with a most hideous yell. This immediately broke up the council and every man ran to his post. The attack commenced upon that angle of the camp formed by the left of Captain Hopkins' troop and the right of Captain Garrard, but in a few seconds became general from the extremes of the right to the left of Ball's squadron. The enemy boldly advanced to within a few yards of the lines and seemed determined to rush in. The guards posted at the different redoubts returned to camp and dispersed among their several companies, this leaving me without a disposable force. Captain Smith, of the Kentucky Light Dragoons, who commanded at one of the redoubts, in a handsome military manner, kept his position until ordered in to fill up the interval in the rear line between the regiment and squadron. The redoubt at which Captain Pierce commanded was first attacked. The captain maintained his position until it was too late to get within the