Contributions to early history of the North-west

Front matter

CONTRIBUTIONS

TO THE

INCLUDING THE

Preface

On the appearance of a new book before the public every reader has the right to inquire the object of the writer in presenting it. In this instance the author's only plea is the desire of preserving from utter loss a few of the many interesting events connected with the early history of this country, which in a few brief years would have been entirely forgotten. They are at present tolerably fresh in the memories of some of the actors themselves, but are fast fading away before the touch of time. Another object was to compare past things with present, and thus better enable the generation of these days to appreciate the trials and sufferings of those who inhabited this now beautiful land when it was covered witli

6 PREFACE.

vast forests, and tenanted by savages and wild beasts. The achievements of these men ought not soon to be forgotten. And last, not least, was a desire to bring to the light the trials and sufferings of the Moravian missionaries and their Indian converts in Ohio. Very few of the present inhabitants even know that such a mission ever existed, and still fewer are acquainted with the particular events connected therewith. Copious extracts have been taken from Loskiel's history, to whom I am indebted for the facts relating to the mission, and many of them in his own language.

With these brief remarks the following pages are presented to the rising generations of the West, accompanied with the wish that they may afford to them as much satisfaction in the reading as they have to me in the writing.

Chapter I. Summer Ramblings

PAOC.

1. Facts Gathered 15

2. A Vexerable Pioneer 16

3. A Story of Olden Times i 21

Chapter II. Lewis Wetzel

1. Early Training 24

2. A Singular Encounter 26

3. Recognition and Reconciliation 29

4. Telling a Savage by his Tracks 30

5. Theory Tested 30

6. The Pursuit 32

7. The Enemy Overtaken 33

8. Skillful and Successful Attack 34

9. Death op Wetzel 36

Chapter III. Border Settlements

1. Old Fort M'Intosh 37

2. Brady's Hill 40

» CONTENTS.

3. Trapping Excursion *. 43

4. New Connecticut 46

5. Ravenna 48

6. Brady's Pond 49

7. Brady's Leap 50

Chapter IV. Incidents On The Border

1. Falls op the Cuyahoga 56

2. Indian Fisheries 58

3. Joseph Kelly, or the Lost Son 59

4. Treaty ■with the Indians 67

5. Indian Tact 68

6. Cuyahoga Falls 70

7. Tuscarawas 71

8. Fort Laurens 71

9. Siege of Fort Laurens 73

10. Relief of the Garrison 73

Chapter V. The Moravian Missions In Ohio

1. Schoenbrunn and the Moravian Missionaries 76

2. Missionary Enterprise 77

3. John Heckewelder 80

4. Epidemic Disease 81

5. Migrations of the Christian Indians 82

6. Loskiel's Narrative 83

7. Incidents on the Route -. 86

PASS.

8. LlVINQ ASHKS 88

9. Removal to Gnadenhutten 89

10. Proceedings of 1774 91

11. Relief Obtained 9-4

13. A New Town Built by the Delawares 95

14. Transactions op 1776 96

15. New Station Established 96

16. Indian Baptism 98

Chapter VI. The Moravian Missions — Continued

2. Trials OF THE Missionaries 101

3. SCHOENBRUNN ABANDONED 102

5. Alarms of the Christian Indians 103

6. Engagement between the Hurons and Whites 104

7. Progress op the Mission 104

8. Cruelty OF THE Indians 105

9. Removal from Gnadenhutten 106

10. Efforts OP THE British 106

11. Preservation op the Mission 107

13. Plots against THE Missionaries , 108

14. Kindness OF Colonel Gibson 109

15. Salem Built 110

16. Cheering Appearance OF THE Church Ill

17. Additional Missionaries 112

PAGB.

18. Birth OP THE First White Child 114

19. Transactions OP 1781 115

20. Attack ON the Missionaries 115

21. Interference of a Sorcerer 117

22. Further Aggressions 118

23. Conduct op Believing Indians 121

24. Magnanimity OF AN Indian Female 122

25. Exile of the Missionaries 123

2Q. Severities op the Journey 125

27. Sandusky Creek 126

28. The Missionaries Ordered to Detroit 127

29. Sufferings during the Winter 128

CHAPTER Vll.

THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS — CONTINUED.

1. Visit op the Hurons 130

2. Further Troubles op the Mission 131

3. Massacre AT Gnadenhutten 132

4. Departure OF the Missionaries 134

5. Dispersion of the Christian Indians 134

6. New Gnadenhutten 135

7. News of Peace 138

8. Transactions op 1784 J38

9. Famine AT New Gnadenhutten 139

10. Progress OF New Gnadenhutten 141

12. Ravages op the Wolves 142

13. Proceedings at New Gnadenhutten 143

14. The Chippewas Order Them Away 144

PAOB.

15. Depabtdre from New Qxadenuutten 145

16. TuE Travelers Leave Detroit 146

17. Troubles op the Journey 147

18. Settlement op Pilqerrah 148

19. Remarks 148

20. Proceedings at Pilgereah 149

21. Depabtube op Mr. Heckewelder 150

22. Sickness op the Missionaries 150

24. Removal from Pilgereah 153

25. Great Storm 154

26. Fine Fish 154

27. More Trials and Disappointments 155

28. Removal TO Pettquotting 156

29. Conversion op A Noted Savage 157

30. Mission History since 1787 158

MISCELLANEOUS SCRAPS.

1. Description of Fort Harmar 215

2. Escape of R. J. Meigs, Esq 220

4. Character OF THE Pioneers 232

CONTRIBUTIONS

EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Chapter I. Summer Ramblinqs

FACTS GATHERED.

For a number of years past it has been my practice, during the vernal months, to make rambling excursions into distant and remote parts of the Western settlements, for the double purpose of amusement and the collection of useful facts in relation to geology, and to the early history of the country. There is a freshness and youthfulness over the face of the earth during this season of the year which is gratify ing to the senses, and highly promotive of cheerfulness and kindly affections. During these periods I have been enabled to gather up many interesting facts connected with the early settlement of the "near West/^ especially that portion of it lying east of the Muskingum River. It is only in this way that some few of "the thousand and one adventures," and sufferings of that brave and hardy race of men, who first settled on the western side of the AUeghanies, can be preserved from the oblivion to which they are rapidly hastening. The period of human life is so short, that most of the actors in and the cotemporaries of those events have already passed away; a few, however, are still living.

A VENERABLE PIONEER.

Only a few days since I saw and conversed with one of these venerable and aged pioneers — Peter Anderson — who had resided on the banks of the Ohio for sixty- six years, or since the year A. D. 1770. He was then a boy of twelve or fourteen years of age, and lived with his

A VENERABLE PIONEER. 17

parents near the Ohio River, a few miles above the present town of Wellsburg, in Virginia. At that time their nearest neighbor was ten miles distant, and the next nearest, thirty miles. The first year the family lived in a hut constructed of the bark of trees, and it was only in the second year that a force sufficient to raise the walls of a log one could be collected. Within the life of this man what chanixes

CD

have passed over the face of the West, and that of the United States generally! We were then feeble colonists, and the vassals of a foreign power — now a great and independent nation. The whole region, from Fort Pitt to the Mississippi, was covered with one continued forest, and the red man not only claimed the right to, but possessed unlimited control over this vast region. The canoe of the savage navigated its numerous and mighty rivers; the wild beasts of the forest tenanted the wild domain — within the brief life of a single individual, how vast

the changes that have taken place ! The steam- 2 boat, like a Leviathan, dashing the waters from her bows, and causing even the earth to tremble on the adjacent shores as she moves, now navigates those streams over which the light barge of the savage once silently glided. The forests, then filled with the buffalo, the deer, the bear, and the wolf, have fallen before the ax of the woodman; and lowing herds and bleating flocks cover the fields opened to cultivation.

Mighty cities and innumerable villages, with their attendant spires and piles of massive buildings, now cover the ground once occupied by the lowly hut of the Indian; and in all this wide space, so lately teeming with wild game, from Fort Pitt to the Mississippi, the hunter with difficulty fii^ds a single victim for his rifle; and where he once lived in plenty on the spoils of the chase, would now starve with no other resource. Even the fishes, apparently so safely protected by the element in which they move from the depredation of man, have partaken of the general destruction of the aboriginal races,

A VENERABLE PIONEER. 19

and the waters, wliich in early days were filled and teeming with the finny tribes, are now nearly deserted and desolate. From a cause as yet unexplained, even the molluscous animals are nearly or quite extinct in the Muskingum River, from above Zanesville to its mouth. In the months of May and June, ,1836, the river was partially covered with the floating bodies of clams, uniones and anadontce, that liad died in their oozy beds, and, as the specific gravity changed by incipient putrefaction, had risen to the surface, leaving the empty shell open on the bottom of the river. Some disease more fatal than the cholera has attacked this secluded race; perhaps induced by the change in their element, from the mixture of salt water and bittern, di-aining from the numerous salt wells on the shores of the river. Even a slight change in the ingredients of our atmosphere induces in man disease and death.

Four millions of whites now occupy the ancient domains of the savajres of the eastern

20 EAKLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.

portion of the valley of the Mississippi. How little the present inhabitants know or dream of the privations and sufferings of the pioneers of this fair valley ! For more than thirty years they lived in almost continual contests with the aboriginals. Every tree they felled, every rod they plowed, and every hour they traversed the forest in search of game, was at the hazard of life and limb. If they visited the mill, or attended a neighboring meeting to hear the preaching of an itinerant minister of the Gospel, it was with the trusty rifle in their hands; and he who lay down in peace and apparent safety, was often awakened by the yell of the savage; the morning sun rose on the smoking ruins of his hut and the reeking limbs of his murdered family. But, as the old proverb hath it, " the back is fitted to the burden." These heroes were men of steel, whose courage no dangers could appall, and whose perseverance no difiiculties could obstruct. Even the females were equally hardy

A STORY OF EARLY TIMES. 21

and gifted with fortitude fitted to the emergency. To preserve the remembrance of these days from the oblivion to which they are hastening, I have recorded a few of the feats of individuals, whose names are only known in the vicinity of the spots where the events took place, and to a few of the descendants of the old inhabitants, whom the unceasing tide of emigration has not yet swept away to the regions of the "far West.'

A STORY OF EARLY TIMES.

In the month of May, in the year 1835, as I was ^lidin<]j alonor the smooth waters of the Ohio, between the town of Steubenville and the mouth of Beaver River, the site of old Fort M'Intosh, in one of those beautiful inventions of modern days, a steamboat, the following story of early times was narrated by a passenger, wlio received it from an old settler, intimately acquainted with the hero of the adventure. This region and the settlements at WheeUng were for many years the western frontier, and more individual prowess was displayed, and more blood shed, within a space of forty miles square, than in any other portion of the valley of the Ohio of equal extent. Many powerful tribes of savages lived On the north-west side of the Ohio River within a few days' march, and the Mingoes, a vindictive race, possesse(i the rich alluvion, commencing a short distance below the present town of Steubenville, for many miles along the banks of the river, till within a few years of this time. These lands still retain the name of "the Mingo Bottoms." Within this district the family of Logan, the celebrated Indian chief, were murdered in cold blood by a party under Captain Greathouse, at Baker's Bottom, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, near the upper portion or north-east extremity of the present State of Virginia. The particulars of this odious and much-contested transaction have been recently published, as related by Henry Jolly, Esq., who is so kindly and honor-

A STORY OF EARLY TIMES. 23

ably mentioned in some of the communications of Mark Bancroft to the "Calket," pubhshcd in Philadelphia. But I must retui*n to the promised narrative.

Chapter II. Lewis Wetzel.* Early Training

Among the heroes of border warfare Lewis Wetzel held no inferior station. Inured to hardships while yet in boyhood, and educated in all the various arts of woodcraft — from that of hunting the beaver and the bear to that of the wily Indian — he became in manhood one of the most celebrated marksmen of the day. Ilis form was erect, and of that hight best adapted to activity, being very muscular and possessed of great bodily strength. His frame was warmed by a heart that never palpitated

* This story and two others of Samuel Brady were recently published in the American Journal of Science; but so few readers have access to that work in the West that it was thought best to republish them here.

* EARLY TllAININa. 25

■with fear, and animated by a spirit that quailed not, nor became confused in the midst of danger and death.

From constant practice he coukl bear prolonged and violent exercise, especially that of running and ■walking, -without fatigue; and had also acquired the art of loading his rifle Avhen moving at full speed through the forests, and wheehng on the instant could discharge a bullet with unerring aim, the distance of eighty or one hundred yards, into a mark not larger than a shilhng. This art he has been known, more than once, to practice with success on his savage foes. A celebrated marksman in those days was estimated by the other borderers in the same way that a knight templar or a knight of the cross was valued by his cotemporaries who excelled in the tournament or the charge, in the days of chivalry. Challenges of skill often took place, and marksmen frequently met by appointment, who lived at the distance of lifty miles or more from each other, to try the accuracy of their aim, on bets of considerable amount.

A SINGULAR ENCOUNTER.

Wetzel's fame had spread far and wide through the adjacent settlements as the most expert rifleman of the day. In the Spring of the year A. D. 1784, it chanced that a young man, a few years younger than Wetzel, who lived on the waters of Dunkard's Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River, heard of his fame; and as he was also an expert woodsman and a first-rate shot — the best in his settlement — he became very desirous of an opportunity for a trial of skill. So great was his anxiety that he very early one morning shouldered his rifle, and, whistling his faithful dog to his side, s^tarted for the neighborhood of Wetzel, who then lived near the forks of Wheeling Creek, a distance of fifteen or twenty miles, although the two streams rise in the vicinity of each other.

A. SINGULAR ENCOUNTER. 27

When about half-way on his journey a fine buck started up just before him. He leveled his rifle with his usual accuracy, but the deer did not fall dead in his tracks, although mortally wounded. His stout dog soon seized him and brought him to the ground; but while in the act of so doing another dog sprang from the forest upon the same deer, and his master made his appearance at the same time from behind a tree, and with loud voice claimed the deer as his property; having, as he said, been brought down by his shot, and seized by his dog.

It so happened that they had both fired at the same instant and at the same deer — a fact which may very well happen where two active men are hunting on the same ground, although one of them may fire at fifty yards and the other at double that distance. The dogs, feeling a similar spirit to that of their masters, soon quit the deer, which was already dead, and fell to won-ying and tearing each other.

In separating the dogs the stranger hunter happened to strike that of the young man. The old adage, "Strike my dog, strike me," arose in full force; and without further ceremony, except a few hasty oaths, he fell upon the stranger hunter and hurled him to the ground. This was no sooner done than he found himself turned, and under his stronger and more powerful antagonist.

Perceiving that he was no match at this play, he appealed to the trial by rifle, saying it was too much like dogs for men and hunters to fight in this manner. The stranger assented to the trial, but told the young man that before he proceeded to put it to the test he had better witness what he was able to do with that weapon ; saying that he was as much superior in the use of the rifle as he was in bodily strength. In proof, he bid him place a mark the size of a dollar on the side of a huge poplar that stood beside them, from which he would start with his rifle unloaded, and running a hundred yards

RECOGNITION AND RECONCILIATION. 29

at full speed he would load it as he ran, and, wheeling, discharge it instantly to the center of the mark. The feat was no sooner proposed than performed; the ball striking the center of the diminutive target.

RECOGNITION AND RECONCILIATION.

Astonished at his skill, his antagonist now inquired his name. "Lewis Wetzel, at your service," answered the stranger. Forgetting his animosity, the young hunter seized him by the hand with all the ardor of youthful admiration, and at once acknowledged his own inferiority. So charmed was he with Wetzel's frankness, skill, and fine personal appearance, that he insisted on his returning with him to the Dunkard settlement, that he might exhibit his dexterity to his own family, and to the hardy backwoodsmen, his neighbors. Nothing loth to such an exhibition, and pleased with the energy of his new acquaintance, Wetzel agreed to accompany him ; shortening the way with their mutual tales of hunting excursions, and hazardous contests with the common enemies of the country.

TELLING AN INDIAN BY HIS TRACKS.

Among other things, Wetzel stated his manner of distinguishing the footsteps of a white man from those of an Indian, although covered with moccasins and intermixed with the tracks of the savages. He had acquired this tact from closely examining the manner of placing the feet; the Indian stepping in parallel lines, and first bringing the toe to the ground, while the white man almost invariably first touches the heel to the earth, and places the feet at an angle with the line of march.

THEORY TESTED.

An opportunity they little expected soon gave him a chance of putting his skill to the trial. On reaching the young man's home, which they did late in the afternoon, they

THEORY TESTED. 31

found the dwelling a smoking ruin, and all the family murdered and scalped except a young woman, who had been brought up by his parents, and to whom the young man was tenderly attached. She had been taken away alive, as was ascertained by examining the trail of the savages.

Wetzel soon discovered, by a close inspection of the footmarks, that the party consisted of three Indians and a renegade white man — an occurrence not uncommon in those early days, when for crime, or the baser purpose of revenge, the white outlaw fled to the savages, and was adopted on trial into their tribe. As it w^aslate in the day, the nearest help still at some considerable distance, and as there were only four to contend with, they decided on immediate pursuit. And, moreover, as the deed had very recently been done, they hoped to overtake them in their camp that night, or perhaps before they could cross the Ohio River ; to which the Indians always retreated after effecting a successful foray, considering themselves in a manner safe from pursuit when they had crossed to its right bank, at that time wholly occupied by the Indian tribes.

THE PURSUIT.

Ardent and unwearied was the pursuit; the one to recover his lost love, and the other to assist his new friend, and take revenge for the slaughter of his countrymen — slaughter and revenge being at that period the daily business of the borderers. Wetzel followed the trail of the retreating savages with the unerring sagacity of a blood-hound, and just at dusk traced them to the Ohio, some miles below Wheeling, nearly opposite the mouth of Captina Creek. Much to their disappointment, they soon found that the Indians had crossed the river by constructing a raft of logs and brush — their usual manner of passing a stream when at a distance from their villages. By carefully examining "the signs" on the opposite shore, Wetzel

THE ENEMY OVERTAKEN. 33

directly discovered the fire of the Indian camp, in a hollow way, a few rods from the river.

THE ENEMY OVERTAKEN.

Lest the noise of constructing a raft should alarm the Indians, and give notice of the pursuit, the two hardy adventurers determined to swim the stream a few rods below. This they easily accomplished, being both excellent swimmers. Fastening their clothes in a bundle on the tops of their heads, with their rifles and ammunition above, they reached the opposite shore in safety. After carefully inspecting their arms, and putting every article of attack or defense in its proper place, they crawled very cautiously to a position which gave them a full view of their enemies; who, believing themselves safe from pursuit, were carelessly reposing around the fire, thoughtless of the fate that awaited them. They soon discovered the young woman, alive and seated by the fire, but making much moaning and complaint; wliile

?A EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST.

the white man, whose voice they could distinctly hear from their position, was trying to console her with the promise of kind usage, and an adoption into the tribe.

The young man could hardly restrain his rage, but was for firing and rushing instantly upon the foe. Wetzel, more cautious, told him to wait till daylight appeared, when they could make the attack with a better chance of success, and of also killing the whole party; while, if they attacked in the dark, a part of them would certainly escape.

SKILLFUL AND SUCCESSFUL ATTACK.

With the earliest dawn the Indians arose and prepared to depart. The young man selecting the white renegade, and Wetzel one of the stoutest Indians, they both fired at the same instant, each killing his man. His companion rushed forward, knife in hand, to release the young woman, while Wetzel reloaded his piece, and pushed in pursuit of the two Indians

SKILLFUL AND SUCCESSFUL ATTACK. 35

who had taken to the woods till they could discover the number of their enemies. When he found he was seen by the savages, Wetzel discharged his rifle at random, in order to di-aw them from their cover.

Directly they heard the report and found themselves unhurt, they rushed upon him before he could again reload, thinking on an easy conquest. Taking to his heels, he loaded his gun as he ran, unnoticed by his pursuers, and suddenly wheeling about discharged its contents through the body of liis nearest and unsuspecting enemy. The remaining Indian, seeing the fate of his companion, and that his antagonist's gun was now certainly empty, rushed forward with all energy, the prospect of revenge fairly before him. Wetzel led him on, dodging from tree to tree, till his rifle was again ready, when, suddenly facing about, he shot his remaining enemy dead at his feet. After taking their scalps and recovering the lost plunder, Wetzel and his friend returned with their rescued captive unharmed to the settlements.

DEATH OP WETZEL.

Like honest Joshua Fleehart, after the peace of 1795, the country becoming filled with new settlers, Wetzel pushed for the distant frontiers on the Mississippi, where he could trap the beaver, hunt the buffalo and the deer, and occasionally shoot an Indian, whom he mortally hated. He died, as he had always lived, "a free man of the forest."