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PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Whicker, John Wesley, 1S63- Historical sketches of the Wabash Valley
J. WESLEY WHICKEE.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
OF THE
WABASH VALLEY
BY J. WESLEY WHICKER
ATTICA. INDIANA
1916
REPRINTED FROM THE ATTICA LEDGER AND PUBLISHED FOR PRIVATE CIR- CULATION BY THE AUTHOR
COPYRIGHTED 1 91 6
f ^ %^-^ %. * ^ FOREWORD
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L
OCAL history is seldom appreciated at its full value by the contemporary generation and the local historian usually has a thankless job. Famil- iarity tends to breed contempt and so it comes that we often fail to appreciate the historical value of what is going on about us all the time. When the years have passed and we finally realize how valuable it v/ould have been had some accurate record been kept of events as they transpired it is usually too late to right the oversight.
Occasionally a man arises who has the historical instinct and takes a per- sonal delight in unearthing and preserving the history, folk lore and legends of preceding generations. Such a man is J. Wesley Whicker, the author of the sketches that are printed in this volume.
The year 1916 being the centennial of Indiana's statehood, brought forth more than usual interest in Indiana state history, and knowing of Mr. Whicker 's interest in and study of the history of the Wabash Valley, it was suggested that he write a series of articles for publication in The Attica Ledger. He readily acquiesced and as soon as they began to appear they attracted wide attention, being very extensively reprinted by other papers in western Indiana and eastern Illinois. The intention had been at first to make them only local in scope, but many of the incidents narrated were interwoven with larger incidents and almost before he was aware they had extended until they covered the greater part of the central Wabash Valley. As appreciation of his work grew there arose a demand that the sketches be put into permanent form and it is to meet that demand that this volume is printed. The issue is limited to two hundred copies, many of which will find a resting place in local libraries thruout the state.
The sketches appear just as they did in the columns of The Ledger, and were often prepared hurriedly amid the press of other business, so that the literary critic may find in them much to criticize. However, since they reflect the intimate life of the people that developed one of the finest sections of the United States the critic will also find in them much of literary value in addition to their worth from the historical standpoint.
The author, Mr. Whicker (sometimes spelled Whickcar), is a well known lawyer of Attica, Indiana. He was born and reared a few miles east of this city, not far from the old town of Maysville, the first town of consequence in Fountain county, but now only a memory. He is a typical Hoosier, born in a log cabin during the great Civil war (1863). After more than the average vicis- situdes of the youth of his day he educated himself for the law, located in At- tica and has built up a wide and successful practice. An omnivorous reader from his youth and possessed of a phenominal memory he accumulated a remarkable store of facts concerning the things in which he was especially interested. He took keen delight in tracing the developement of the Wabash Valley and tlius has been collecting all his life the material which is here preserved to posterity. Mr. Whicker has traveled extensively, having visited every state of the union, and is a keen observer so that his comments and comparisons are of real value. Many of the stories told in these pages are of things in which he or his friends were participants while much of the other material was gathered from the lips of men who themselves had a hand in shaping the course of events. As a youth he spent much time in the company of these graybeards, plying them with ques- tions and delving into veins of rich material of which the present generation is almost wholly ignorant.
The volume is put forth without hope of monetary reward for the labor expended, the author desiring only to preserve for future years the history of some of the more important features in the developement of the rich and beauti- ful Wabash Valley, particularly that portion centering about Attica.
HARRY F. ROSS, Editor of The Attica Ledger.
p
Y. C.
75583
Ouiatenon
The first white settlement in the State of Indiana was made at Ouiate- non on the Wabash in Tippecanoe coun- ty, near Granville, about fourteen miles up the river from Attica. This Indian town was visited by the French as early as 1688. The first detailed notice of this settlement is given in certain memoranda, found in the French ar- chives at Paris, France, written in 1718.
In 1754 it was announced to the Gen- eral Assembly of Pennsylvania that the French were settling among the Miami Indians on the Ouabashe, Ouia- tenon, being mentioned as one of the points.
Colonel Crogham was in charge of the Indian department for the British and visited Ouiatenon in 1765. He found about fourteen French families living there in a fort. This, at that time, was the largest Indiana town in the United States, and is said by good authority to have been the home of 15,000 Indians.
A letter to Thomas Jefferson, dated August, 1785, gives an account of a Council of War held there by many of the Algonquin tribes. The fact is that the representatives of the English government were the cause of this meeting and at the time the English had offered a reward of ten dollars, to the Indians for the scalps of white wo- men and children, along the borders of the United States. This reward was paid by the English government until
1816, and it was the English, and not the Indians, that had called this coun- cil of war.
With this reward before them these Indians begun their depredations upon the white settlers along the Wabash, and continued them until the United States government was forced to take action to exterminate the Indians if they continued the westward march of immigration.
In 1790 General Knox then secretary of war, ordered Brigadier General Scott of Kentucky to send an expedition of mounted men, not exceeding seven hun- dred fifty, against the Indians in the Wabash valley; this order was issued on the 9th day of March, 1791. Im- mediately upon receiving the order Gen. Scott marched toward Ouiatenon from Kentucky. There is a story to the effect that while on this expedition Scott or some of his men encountered the Indians on
Kickapoo creek near the Milligan place, opposite the city of Attica, and there, on Warren county soil, fought the Bat- tle of Kickapoo. There is really but little doubt that some of the Indian graves on the Milligan place con- tain the bones of warriors who went to their death in this first historic struggle. Altho there are few persons in this vicinity that know anything of this battle it was not al- ways so. O. A. Clark hes in his posses- sion a letter written by an aunt of his, telling of having visited the battlefield
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
of Kickapoo, while on her honeymoon in the early '30s of the last century.
In June of 1791 Scott reached the Wea town of Ouiatenon, found about fifteen thousand Indians living there and fought a battle with them, very near the site of Granville. He de- feated them and destroyed their city. The Miamis, Pottawatomies, Ouiate- nons and Kickapoos took part in the de- fense of Ouiatenon.
Scott returned to Kentucky and im- mediately following Brigadier General "Wilkinson started on the first day of August, 1791 with an expedition against the Indians in the Wabash valley. He first captured the Indian town of Ke- ne-pa-com-a-qua on the Eel river, and destroyed the town; then took up his march toward Ouiatenon on the 7th day of August, 1791. He had a few skirmishes with the remaining Kicka- poos and Pottawattomies and reached Ouiatenon on the 11th day of August, 1791, but found that General Scott had destroyed the town in June.
After the destruction of Ouiatenon the remaining warriors, old men, wo- men and children had returned to the site of the city and had put out be- tween 400 and 500 acres of corn on the Wea Plains, and Wilkinson found it in a high state of cultivation, with splen- did gardens, and vegetables growing. The corn was in the roasting-ear, and was being gathered for food the com- ing winter. Gen Wilkinson wantonly destroyed their fields of corn, their gardens, and their tents, and left them without food, without homes and with- out clothing, and returned to Ft. Wash- ington.
The following year, 1792, General Ilamtramck led an expedition of In- diana volunteers and militiamen from
Vincennes to attack the non-aggressive Indians and their villages on the north banks of the Big Vermilion river (on now the Shelby farm) near where the Big Vermilion empties into the Wabash.
After the raid of Scott in the pre- vious June and WilkinKon in the pre- vious August, the Potawatomies and Kickapoos were very much weakened, and on account of the destruction of their food the year previous many of them had died, but the remnants of the Potawattomie and Kickapoo tribes were camping here. This was their favorite hunting ground for the reason that the Big Vermilion emptied into the Wabash there, and about a mile up the Vermilion river from the Wa- bash (about where the covered wagon bridge at Eugene now stands) there were rapids in the river and the fish going up stream could not easily get over these rapids, so there they could easily catch fish. The adjoining ter- race lands were filled with wild straw- berries, blackberries, raspberries, wild plums, blackhaws, redhaws, wild crab- apples and grapevines bearing every kind of grape that grows along the Wa- bash. This place was known by all the Indians far and near as "the Great Plum Patch."
This expedition of brave Hoosiers, when it came near the Indian camp, divided into two columns. One column marched up the Vermilion river, cross- ed it and was to attack the Indians from the north, while the main army should come directly up and across the Vermilion river and attack them from the south.
The warriors and braves were off on ii hunting expedition and there were 1 one to molest or make afraid this army of gallant soldiers, except the
1
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
broken-down old men, women andcliild- len. These were unmercifully slaugh- tered in the coldest of cold blood; there were so many of them killed that this brave army, on the return are said to boasted that they crossed the Vermil- ion river on the bodies of dead women and children, and the water was red with their blood. It was as wanton a massacre as any ever committed by the most uncivilized savages.
When the braves returned and found their tents destroyed, their homes laid waste, their aged men, their women and their children killed, they swore vengance on the white race.
Is it any wonder then that the In- dian tribes of this locality greeted Teeumseh with open arms and gave liim and his tribe of Shawnees a home and a hunting ground among them, and that they joined and became a part of Teeumseh 's Confederacy?
These Indians of this region took part in the Battle of the Fallen Tim- bers in Ohio, and the Battle of Tippe- canoe, Nov. 7th, 1911.
The Shawnee Indians had their head- quarters at The Prophet 's Town only about eight years; they had become a tribe of tramp Indians; their hunting grounds and homes, when the white men first met them, were in Canada and iilong the borders of Lake Huron. From there they migrated southward nnd lived among the southern tribes in Florida, on the banks of the Swanee liver, which was named for them, and then in their wanderings came back to Ohio.
Teeumseh was a triplet; The Prophet was one of the three children. These children were born near Springfield in the State of Ohio, and they were the youngest of the family. Their
l>rothers and sisters were born in the ;-unny southland. In their wanderings they had became acquainted with the Indians of the west, with the Indians of the north and with the Indians of the south, and it was the hope of Te- eumseh to form a confederation of all of the Indians in the North American continent for the welfare of the In- dians, both defensive and offensive.
He stated to General Harrison that he refused to observe the treaties that had been made with the Indians up to that time on the theory that all the land belonged to all the Indians; that no one Indian, by right of place or litle, chief, prophet or close connec- tion with man or Manitou (Great Spir- it) had the right to sign and pass away the title of any other Indian, as every Indian could only pass title by signa- ture for his proportional part, divided per capita among all of them, this, and no more; and that in their treaties the whites had only secured title of the chiefs. This argument was a surprise to Harrison and he was both astonished and offended by it. It broke up the council because it had taken him un- prepared and he was not able to an- swer; in fact, he never made an ef- fort to answer.
The next day he renewed the council, called upon his servant to bring chairs for himself and Chief Teeumseh. This council was held beneath the spreading branches of a magnificent elm at the City of Vincennes. He seated himself in the chair brought for him, and ten- dered to Teeumseh the chair he had ordered for the chief. The chief re- fused the chair and said, 'Thank you for your kindness, and your well mean- ing offer, but the sun is my father, the
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
earth is my mother, and I shall recline upon her bosom."
Eichard Mentor Johnson of Ken- tucky had raised a regiment of Ken- tucky volunteer riflemen for the War of 1812 and was placed in charge of the defense of the Canadian frontier. The defense of this frontier was very im- portant to the United States. He and his riflemen took an active part in the
Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, and in this battle it was at the hand of Eichard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky that Tecumseh is supposed to have been killed. In March, 1837, Mr. Johnson was elected by the United States Senate vice-president of the United States and served in that ca- pacity for four years under Van Bu- ren's administration.
Sheshepah or "Little Duck"
We quite often hear Tecumseh spok- en of as the most influential chief of the Indians who lived in this locality. Tecumseh had his headquarters at The Prophet's Town, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe river only about eight years and was there but very little during that time.
He did not take part in the battle of Tippecanoe and outside his councils with Harrison at Vincennes in the in- terest of all the Indians of N,orth Am- erica he did but very little in his life in which this immediate locality would have been interested. Sheshepah, who was a Potawatami Indian and chief of the Potawatamies and Kickapoos for many long years, took a far more ac- tive hand in Indian affairs in the vicin- ity of Fountain, Warren, Parke, Ver- milion, Tippecanoe and adjoining coun- ties, than any local chief who at any time lived in this locality.
Sheshepah, if the legends be true, was born in Warren county, across the river from Attica, near Kickapoo falls.
His mother was a Kickapoo squaw, his father a Potawatami chief. It has been stated that his father had two squaws, one a Potawatami and one a
Kickapoo, and Sheshepah was the son of the latter. Sheshepa's Kickapoo mother was the daughter of the chief of the Kickapoos, and on account of his royal lineage Sheshepah inherited the chief tainrhip of the Kickapoos from his mother and of the Potawatamies from his father.
Sheshepah was a well built, straight, short, heavy-set Indian, about five feet four inches high, very broad across the shoulders, and as active and athletic
With his warriors, he took part in St. Claire's defeat; and again his war- riors, with himself commanding, took part in the Battle of the Fallen Tim- bers, on the 20th day of August, 1794, at the Eapids on the Maumee river, in the state of Ohio, not far from Defi- ance, and in that battle he was again facing Scott, Wilkinson and Ham- tramck.
He had led his band of Potawat- amies and Kickapoos to the aid of the Miamis when Scott destroyed Quiate- non in June, 1791. He had again answer- ed tothe call of the Wea Indians and faced Wilkinson in August of the same year, and it was the aged warriors, the
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
women and the children of his tribe that Hamtramck had killed at the mouth of the Vermilion river in 1792, and he and his warriors took an active part in the battle of Tippecanoe. But after this battle Sheshepah signed a treaty of peace with the American authorities, after which time he was faithful and trustworthy, and finally became a reliable friend of the white people. He was a splendid commander, brave in battle, wise in council and true to his obligations. He signed this treaty at Ft. Harrison, June 4, 1816.
He had a splendid son, of whom he was extremely fond. At the age of sev- enteen this boy, who was very fond of hunting, fell about fifty feet from a tree while hunting bear, near where the Collett Home for the Aged stands, south of Cayuga, in Vermilion county, and was killed.
Sheshepah lived in peace for many years with the whites; his hair became as white as snow, he was still in com- mand of his Indian tribe and respected and loved by them and the whites. At the age of one hundred ten he was murdered in a foul manner by a lazy, vicious, renegade Indian named Nan- kuah, at the Nebeker Springs on the George Nebeker farm near Covington, in Fountain county.
There is a little story told of She- shepah that it might be well to add: A white man was cultivating a tract of land near the mouth of the Vermilion river, which belonged to the Indians, right near the ford of the Vermilion. The Indians forded the river there and as the corn was in the roasting ear, they took some of the roasting ears and squashes for rental. The settler fol-
lowed them up and on finding some squashes and roasting ears in the folds of Sheshepah 's blanket undertook to castigate the old chief with a cane. Sheshepah did not shrink worth a cent but dropping the blanket and the com turned on the settler and drove him out of the field with a stick.
The settler went to Blair and Cole- man, two of Harrison's men who had been in the Battle of Tippecanoe, and asked them to call out the rangers and the militia to prevent the Indians from destroying his property; they refused to call out the militia and notif ed them to assemble at the house of one of the pioneers the next morning. They did so and commenced shooting at a mark. Sheshepah and his Indians had camped for the night near the Buffalo springs on the farm of the late Worth Porter, and Blair announced to the Indians and their chief the matters to be settled. He and Coleman were chosen as arbi- trators; they repaired to the plum thicket with an old law book, an al- manac and well-worn testament as authority and reference. Under the spreading branches of the plum thick- et they held a sham court, with much chattering and gibbering, like an In- dian council, and finally returned with their verdict that the two litigants set- tle the whole matter by a fist fight. The decision was no sooner announced than Sheshepah, the little old Indian chief, threw off his blanket and his belt and made ready for the fight. The settler "stood not upon the order of going, but went." He ran as fast as he could, mounted his pony and was soon out of sight — and this was She- shepah's last encounter with the white men.
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
Zachariah Cicot
One of the most interesting charac- ters among the men of influence in shaping the early destiny of the Wa- bash valley was Zachariah Cicot, who laid out Independence, and whose name should have been perpetuated in the name of that town.
Cicot was the son of one of the French settlers from Ouiatenon who chose to live with the Indians. His mother was a daughter of a Kickapoo Indian chief and his brother, George Cicot, inherited a chieftainship among the Kickapoos from her. According to the best information available Cicot was born about the time the War of the Eevolution was coming to a close in an Indian village where Independ- ence now stands.
There is a sand-bar in the Wabash riv- er a little above Independence which was known as Cicot 's Ford which led to Cicot 's Landing on the north bank of the river. From this landing the trail led up the ravine just above In- dependence bridge and off to the big spring at the north side of the town. This spring and this ford brot the en- campments of Indians to that place. Near the Cicot Landing was a large niggerhead stone which had a natural depression in its upper side which form- ed an excellent mortar for the Indian squaws to grind their corn in and it was commonly used for that purpose. This stone is still there altho it has been moved from its original location and now lies near the bridge with the mortar side down. Thomas Atkinson, one of the pioneers of southern Benton county, told me that when he was a boy herding cattle on the prairies of Benton
and Warren counties, he saw many wandering bands of Indians come from the north and west to camp at Cicot 's Landing and trade with Cicot and the other Indians there. Mr. Atkinson told me too of his own vists to the place, where he had often seen the young In- dians practicing with their bows and arrows. It was a favorite sport with the settlers who visited the camp to insert a coin in the split end of a stick and hold it up for the youngsters to shoot at, giving them the coin when they knockt it out of the stick. So skilled were they with the bow that he never knew of one of them, either boy or girl, missing a coin.
It was in this environment at Ci- cot's Landing that young Zachariah spent his boyhood and from what is known of his after life it is safe to in- fer that he was a leader among the young Indians among whom he grew up. When he was 16 years of age he fash- ioned him a pirogue and went down the river to Vincennes to see something of the white men of his father's blood. There he pickt up the rudiments of an education and soon began making ex- cursions up the Wabash to barter with the Indians. His natural shrewdness and his thoro acquaintance with the In- dians along the river made him a very successful trader. Many tales have been handed down from early settlers concerning Cicot 's dealing with the In- dians and his narrow escapes but these are not the essential things about him.
In the fall of 1811, while Cicot was at the Landing (Independence) he received a communication from Gen. Harrison at Vincennes, summoning him
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
to come immediately to tliat point to act as a scout for the government of the United States, whose army was about to undertake a punitive expedi- tion against the Indians of the upper Wabash. Cicot had always been friend- ly to the white men and responded at once to the call. Already the In- dians of Warren county were holding war dances and were becoming greatly excited in anticipation of the great con- flict which they knew was coming and Cicot knew that their anger would be vented against him as soon as they knew that he had cast his lot with the whites. So when he left Cicot 's Landing to answer Harrison 's call he left be- hind him much of his live stock and other wealth. He saved only a herd of 40 ponies, which a trusted Indian drove away from the village under cover of darkness and took down the river around thru Warren county, to a place of safety.
No one knew this section of the Wa- bash valley like Cicot and upon him rests a very large share of the credit for the success of the Harrison expe- dition. He guided the army away from the river after it had reacht the vicin- ity of the mouth of the Vermilion and in order to prevent an ambush in the ravines or woods kept as much as pos- sible on the open prairie about ten miles back from the Wabash on the west side. Cicot participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe and after it was over returned to Vincennes with the army, still acting as Gen. Harrison's chief scout. After the treaty of peace was signed with the Indians Cicot soon resumed his trading trips up the Wa- bash and re-establisht his headquarters at Cicot 's Landing. In 1817 he brought up from Vincennes on rafts hewed and
mortised timbers with which he con- structed a large house that stood for many years; in fact, was torn down only about fifteen years ago and some of its timbers are still in existence. This house was fitted together like Solomon's temple, each piece having been hewed and fitted in Vincennes. Grass was mixt with the clay used in filling the chinks between the logs. The house was fitted for defense if neces- sary, having loopholes thru which rif- les could be fired and the legends say that at one time it was surrounded by a stockade.
Cicot soon regained his prestige among the Indians and traded with them successfully, recouping his for- tune and finally becoming probably the wealthiest man in northern Indiana. The erection of his residence in 1817 clearly entitles him to rank as the first settler of Warren county, for it was not until five years later (1822) that the first land entries were made. When the white men began to come into this section they naturally drifted to Ci- cot's trading post but they found so many Indians hanging around it and so much whiskey being drunk and fighting going on that they went across the river into Fountain and there es- tablisht a settlement known as Mays- ville, which grew into a town of con- si ierably impoi'tance and concerning which I shall have something to say in a later article.
On Oct. 2. 1818 Cicot married the daughter of Perig, a Potawatomi chief. On account of this connection Cicot re- ceived a section of land from the gov- ernment which he took in Tippecano-e county and another section in Carroll county. His son, Jean Baptiste Cicot, and his daughters, Emelia and Sophia
10
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
Cicot, each received a half section of land, which was located in Tippecanoe county. Later Perig, the father of Ci- cot's wife, was given a section of land on the Flint river in Michigan but the old man never took up this grant and at the treaty of Chicago in August 29, 1821, it was transferred to Perig 's grandson, John B. Cicot, who trans- ferred it to his father. Zachariah lo- cated the claim where the town of In- dependence now stands, that section be- ing known to this day in the land rec- ords as Cicot 's Eeserve. In 1832 Ci- cot platted the town of Independence on this reservation. The town grew and thrived and for many years was an important center, there being a number of manufacturing industries located there. Emelia Cicot, the elder daughter of
the old trader, was a very bright girl and at several of the conferences at which treaties were signed, acted as interpreter, this fact being attested in government records in the archives at Washington. In the treaty of Jan. 21, 1832, Zachariah Cicot received from the government $950 and in the treaty made with the Indians at Chicago Sept. 26, 1833, he received $1,800, his last allowance. He was at this time wealthy as riches were accounted in that day. He lived to be an old man, respected alike by the Indians and whites, and spent the remainder of his life at In- dependence. In 1832 he suffered a stroke of paralysis but recovered from that and lived until 1850, when he died and was buried in the old graveyard at Independence.
The Burnett Family
Contemporary with Zachariah Cicot, whose activities and influence had such a large effect upon the early his- tory of the Wabash valley, was the Burnett family. Like Cicot the Bur- netts were half-breeds but while Cicot cast his lot with the whites and was one of General Harrison's trusted scouts, the Burnetts chose to cast their fortunes with the Indians. They left their name upon the early records of this and adjoining counties and it is often encountered in the records of land transfers to this day.
The elder Burnett was a Frenchman from the Vincennes settlement, who had come up the Wabash and lost his heart to an Indian princess. It was Kaukeama, the sister of Topenibe, the
principal chief of the Potawatomies of this locality, whose black eyes cap- tured the adventurous Frenchman, and so strong was their attachment that Burnett was adopted into the tribe and they were married. Sheshepah, whom I have written up in an earlier sketch, was a half brother of Kaukeama and Topenibe. His mother was the daugh- ter of a Kickapoo chief and thru her he inherited a chieftainship' among the Kickapoos, the honor and prestige of which he also shared with his half-sis- ter. So it was thus no ordinary squaw whom the Frenchman Burnett took to wife.
Burnett and Kaukeama were the par- ents of Abraham, Nancy, Eebeeca and James Burnett and the grandparents
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
11
of William Burnett. There is a legend to the effect that the father and his eldest son were killed in the Battle of Kickapoo. Another son, Abraham Burnett, is known to have been in com- mand of the band of Kickapoos and Potawatomies which attempted to am- bush Gen. Hajrison's army in 1811 in the southern part of this county where the bluffs and ravines extend down to the river opposite the vicinity of Per- rysville. Had it not been for the cun- ning of Zachariah Cicot, who may have had an intimation of the ambush from some of his Indian henchmen, the bat- tle which became famous as the Battle of Tippecanoe might have been fought in this county. Cicot led the army back from the river ten miles into the open country on the opposite side and the surprise of Burnett and his Indians failed.
The Burnetts made their home in what is now Wabash township, Foun- tain county, their camp being located near a spring in what is now Capt. Schuyler LaTourette's barnyard. The fine spring there is still known as Bur- nett's spring.
In after years when the United States government made settlements with the Indians the Burnetts were well pro- vided for. They got six sections of land, most of it in Tippecanoe county, but almost one section of it in the northeast corner of Fountain county. The large flint deposits, which have been operated for years, and from which the refractories brick plant of Danville, 111,, secured the material for its fire brick, is on the Burnett reser- vation. North of Lafayette on the north side of the Wabash river was a larger grant of land to these Burnetts known also as the Burnett reservation.
The name also clings to a creek in that locality.
On Oct. 16, 1826, in a treaty made with the Indians at the mouth of the Mississinewa where that river empties into the Wabash, in addition to the lands in Tippecanoe and Fountain county, Abraham Burnett was given three sections of land, to be located at the village of Wyanamac, nowWinamac, the county seat of Pulaski county. Nancy, Eebecca and James and the grandson, William, were each given one section of land, which was located in northern Indiana. Capt. Schuyler LaTourette's parents remembered well when Burnetts left the land they enter- ed. Robert Ray and myself spent a day with Capt. LaTourette and looked over the home grounds of the Bur- netts. I afterwards visited a relative by the name of Burnett, now living at Dana, in Vermilion county, Indiana, and received further information from him regarding these Indiana relatives of his.
From the LaTourette place the Bur- netts were taken north into the state of Michigan, I think Hetfield had charge of this migrating party and Charles McKinney of Richland town- ship has the story from Hetfield 's son, who marched a ways with the Indians as they left here.
In about 1860, Thomas Marks, who lives near Odell in Tippecanoe county, went to Kansas to take up a home- stead and there met William Burnett, the grandson of Kaukeama. He was then an old man but still retained his chieftainship. Mr, Marks purchased of him a horse, saddle, and bridle, and was directed by Chief Burnett where to find the best lands for entry. Mr. Marks told me that under ordinary
12
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
circumstances this horse, saddle and bridle at least calculation was worth $100.00 but Burnett, after learning where he was from, would accept from him only $12.50.
The Burnetts' sympathies were al- ways with the Indians and the British. While they received large grants of land from the United States govern- ment, they took an active part always with the Indians, against the interests of the government, and were different in their views from Cicot. They were never friendly to Cicot for the reason that he was always loyal to the Ameri-
can government and was ready and ac- tually did sacrifice everything he had but 40 ponies to aid Gen. Harrison. He was ready to give everything, even his life, that th.-5 Wabash country might be part of the territory of the United States. No man could do more.
In his old age Cicot always consid- ered that he had not been fairly dealt with in the matter of land grants as the Burnetts, who had fought the gov- ernment, were given more than he who had stood by it and sacrificed greatly for it.
Indian Tribal Characteristics
The Indians who lived in this local- ity, when the French began making settlements along the Wabash, were the Wyandotts, the Delawares, the Shawnees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pot- awatamies, Miamis, Kickapoos and Winnebagos.
The Miamis claimed to have origin- ally possessed the laud along the Wa- bash river in this locality; the Dela- wares occupied the land along White river and south of Coal creek in Foun- tain county; the E'ickapoos and Pota- watamies hunted on the Fountain county side in what is now Wabash, Fulton and Troy townships, and had possession of the territory across the river from the little Vermilion river, at Newport in Vermilion county to the Tippecanoe river. The Miamis com- prising the Eel river and Wea tribes, had their hunting grounds extending from Coal creek north; the Shawnees came in later and hunted in the north- ern part of Fountain county.
The Miami Indians are spoken of as the Miami Confederates, being a con- federation of different tribes of the Mi- amis. They were the original inhabi- tants of the Wabash valley and com- prised the -Weas, the Eel Eiver, the Shockeys, and several other small tribes. The Pottawatomies and Kick- apoos came in from the north; the Delawares and the Wyandottes came into the Wabash country from the east. The Shawnees were a tribe of tramp Indians and gathered a good deal of knowledge from the various tribes of Indians north and south in their wan- derings. The Miamis did not wander; they were satisfied with Wabash val- ley and they did not care to leave it. They were the last tribe to cede their lands to the United States government. They ceded the last of what was known as the "Big Eeserve" on November 28, 1840. The families of John B. Richardville, Francis Godfrey and the principal chief Me-Shing-lo-Me-Sia and
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
13
many other families remained on the Eeserve and some of them still live there.
The Miami Indians were the best specimens, mentally and physically, of any of the Indian tribes that inhabited the Wabash valley. The men were tall and straight; the women were larger than the women of any other tribe and far more attractive. They did not in- ter-marry with the other tribes, but many of the women married white men and many of the men married white women.
The Miamis were the principal In- dians in all the treaties. The Miamis were large men, full six feet high and of almost perfect physique. Their women were beautiful and splendid specimens of womanhood and the men aided their women in taking care of the papooses and doing the work about the tents.
The Kickapoos were short, heavy- set, sulky fellows; their women were small and common in appearance and the squaws were practically slaves to the warriors.
The Shawnees were handsome men, with handsome women, but hardly equal to the Miamis. They were per- haps the most intelligent of the In- dians who ever lived in this locality, while the Kickapoos were at the bot- tom of the scale.
The Delawares were the most peace- ful of any of the tribes of Indians who lived in this locality, and sometimes all of the tribes that I have named here would hunt together.
Ouiatenon was the largest Indian settlement in North America; 15,000 Indians lived in this settlement on both sides of the river, and it extended from Grindstone creek in Fountain
county to Wea creek in Tippecanoe, on the south side of the river.
On this side were the Weas and Mi- amis; on the other side were some very good settlements of Kickapoos and Potawatamles. They were very loth to leave the hunting grounds along the Wabash.
On the prairies of Warren, Fountain and Benton counties were splendid pastures for the scattering herds of buffalo and deer, and many prairie chickens, the streams were filled with fish, the birds were in the forest and the pheasant, wild turkey and quail, there were squirrels galore, and in the Wabash Valley the Indian had but little trouble to secure his meat. He never killed as the white man kills for pleasure of killing; he only killed game for his food and his clothing, and he killed only what he would need; he took from the waters only the fish he actually needed for food; and the birds whose feathers he could utilize or whose flesh he could use for food. His aim was unerring and when an ar- row left the string that bended his bow it seldom failed to hit the spot at which he aimed. And then the fertile soil along the Wabash river was util- ized for the growing of corn, which he plucked in the roasting ear and dried and kept for winter use. Beans and other vegetables were grown in this locality by them, and they spent their winters in comparative comfort before the advent of the white man.
The Potawatamles and Kickapoos came from the north and west; the Delawares and Winnebagoes came from the east, but the Miamis were the original tribes here, and in their na- tive state they did not inter-marry with other tribes, for each tried to
14
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
preserve their racial or tribal features, stitions and their peculiar forms of along with their legends, their super- worship.
The Battle of Kickapoo
I have been informed from different sources that some persons who are read- ing these articles doubt the authentic- ity of some statements I am making. I am glad to know this tho few of them have been brave enough to express their doubts to me. How much more I should think of these critics if they would just come frankly to me and ask where I got this information.
Mr. E.E. Eay of the Attica Daily Tri- bune, in his issue of January 26, in an article entitled "The Battle of Kicka- poo," says, that he doubts whether the whites had any part in it, and yet he admits a battle having been fought at Kickapoo, and sa/s "That there was a battle fought at some time on the hills opposite Attica is shown by the vast number of graves known to exist on what is now the Milligan farm" and gives other evidences of the bat- tle there. I had stated that a letter in the possession of O. S. Clark, writ- ten by his aunt, stated that she had visited the battlefield of Kickapoo on her wedding trip, and this letter was written in the late twenties.
Much of the material that I have been giving is from "Dillion's History of Indiana" and Dillon, in that history gives the battles leading up to the de- struction of Ouiatenon, first in June, 1797, by Brig. Gen. Charles Scott of Kentucky, and in the same year by Gon. John Wilkinson. He gives Scott 's line of march, the date that he started and the different places where he
camped; it tells of his coming to Ouia- tenon and gives a description of the battle there. The river was not out in the bottoms, but it was too high to be forded easily when this battle was fought, and in his official report of this battle, in which he used 750 men. Gen. Scott says that he sent Wilkinson two miles up the river from Ouiatenon to ford the river but he could not ford there. Scott had covered with his 750 men the entire length of the settle- ment. One of the villages which he mentions was located in the north- east comer of Fountain county; there were actual engagements here. They were shooting across the river at the Kickapoo villages on the opposite side. On page 264 Dillon's history quotes Scott as follows: "About this time word was brought me that Col. Hardin was encumbered with prisoners and had discovered a strong village further to my left (down the river) than those I had observed, which he was pro- ceeding to attack. I immediately de- tached Capt. Brown with his company to support Col. Hardin" — (Brown's company was attacking the Indians near the county line; Scott himself was near what is now Granville, and Wilkinson was sent two miles further up the river) "but the distance being six miles (from Brown) before the Captain arrived, the business was done. Col. Hardin joined me a little before sunset, having killed six warriors and taken fifty-two prisoners."
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
15
Now, six miles down the river on this side there were no Indian villages; six miles down the river was what was afterwards known as the Emmons Ford, now on the Gus and Ed Leaf place, which was then a gravel ford and the b'^st ford along the Wabash. Here Hardin's men could cross the river, wage a battle on the other side with the Kickapoo village in the morning and it would take them until about six o'clock in the evening to return. They only reported killing six warriors, they probably killed more; it is sure that they did kill six and they took fifty- two prisoners. Figuring the distances I have concluded this would have reached to the Kickapoo village which was a large and strong village on the Kickapoo creek.
From another source comes interest- ing confirmation of the battle of Kick- apoo. A. S. Peacock, of this city, re- calls that his father (who was one of th3 first settlers of Attica) told him that W. R. Crumpton, grandfather of W. R. Crumpton, jr., was with General Scott in thig expedition and was one of the detachment that fought the bat- tle against the Indians at Kickapoo. Crumpton later returned to the site of Attica and establisht a store in a cabin on the river bank, which became the first business house of Attica. The il- lustration printed herewith is from a drawing which Mr. Peacock had made many years ago and is from descrip- tions as given by his father and other old settlers. The Crumpton family had a prominent part in the affairs of At- tica during the first generation of its existence.
If Hardin captured 52 warriors and killed only six there is great prob- ability that this is not a complete cas-
ualty list. The custom of the Indians was to fight as far as possible under cover and if the engagement lasted several hours, as the report indicates, it is probable that this was the case there. If this were true many more might have been killed and their bodies hidden in the brush by their comrades or the squaws. The fact that at least 58 warriors were engaged indicates that there was at Kickapoo a village of probably three to five hundred Indians counting the old men, the women and the children.
Personally I am of the opinion that thig was not the only fight at Kicka- poo, but evidence is lacking to establish it, except the large number of bones that have been unearthed at Kickapoo. It is recalled by residents of that community that a number of years ago the creek bank caved away uncovering a lot of these bones, which had the appearance of having been buried together in a trench rather than in single graves.
In closing his article Mr. Eay says "The Handbook of the American In- dian, issued by the Ethnological Bu- reau and purporting to give all the tribes of Indians and noted characters, makes no mention of Sheshepah, al- leged leader of the Indians." In the history of Vermilion county, Indiana, it is stated that Sheshepah, or Seseepe, was the principal chief of the Kicka- poos, and the stories that I told of him I got from an authentic history of that county.
In the U. S. Statutes at Large, No. 7, entitled "Indian Treaties," at page 120, six Kickapoo Indian chiefs signed the treaty at Greenville, Ohio, on July 22, 1814, the most important treaty that William Henry Harrison ever made
16
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
with the Indians, and Sheshepah, or Duck, was one of the six Kiekapoo chiefs that signed that treaty. In the same volume at page 146, in a treaty entered into at 'P't. Harrison (now Terre Haute) on the 4th day of June, 1816, Benjamin Parker being the spe- cial agent of the president, Sheshepah, or Little Duck, signs as the principal chief of the Kickapoos. This I am giv- ing from Indian treaties taken from the Statutes of the United States of America, and I believe it to be as au- thentic as the "Handbook of the Amer- ican Indian, issued by the Ethnological Bureau."
No, Mr. Eay, I am not talking thru my hat, neither am I an inspired writ- er. I have the documents to back up the statements that I am making in regard to the Indians, and the early settlers in this locality. I could not give the names, the place and the date without the authority to back me; I was not there, I am not writing from memory; I occasionally add some le- gend but I tell where it came from and give it simply for what it is worth.
After Hardin returned to Scott's main army Scott siys "The next morn- ing I determined to detach my Lieu- tenant Colonel Commandant with five hundred men to destroy the important town of Kethtipcanunk eighteen miles from my camp, and on the west side of the Wabash. Three hundred sixty men only could be found in a capacity to undertake the enterprise, and they prepared to march on foot. Col. Wil- kinson marched with this detachment at half after five in the evening and returned to my camp the next day at one o'clock, having marched thirty-six miles in twelve hours, and destroyed
the most important settlement of the enemy in that quarter of the federal territory." But I wish to call your attention to the fact that he sent none down the river for the reason that Col. Hardin had disposed of all danger the day before in that direction. When Brig. Gen. Scott left he released six weak and infirm prisoners at Ouia- tenon and gave them a written speech in which he said, among other things:
"The sovereign council of the thir- teen United States have long patiently borne your depredations among their settlements on this sidt of the great mountains. Their mighty sons and chief warriors have at length taken up the hatchet, they have penetrated far into your country to meet your war- riors and punish them for their trans- gressions; they have destroyed your old town Ouiatenon and the neighbor- ing villages, and have taken many prisoners; they have proceeded to your town of Kethtipcanunk^ and that great town has been destroyed. They are merciful as they are strong, and they again indulge the hope that you will come to a sense of your true interests and determine to make a lasting peace with them and all their children for- ever. ' '
In speaking of Topenibe, the Pota- watami chief, and brother of Kaukeama Burnett, the United States Statues at Large says: "That the United States extend their indulgence of peace also to the bands of the Potawatamies which adhere to the Grand Sachem Tobinip- we, " and at page 298 it says, speaking of Kaukeama Burnett: "Kaukeama, the sister of Topenibe, the principal chief of the Putawatimie tribe of In- dians." I only add this that there may
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
17
I
be no question about Topenibe, the Potawatami chief, as there was about Sheshepah, the chief of the Klckapoos. Variation in spelling of these Indian
names is due to the fact that when they were affixt to treaties they were written by the interpreter, who was compelled to rely upon the pronounciation alone.
»
Topenebee
The Potawatami tribe of Indians, with the Kickapoos, inhabited the ter- ritory along the Wabash valley on the western side of the river from the Lit- tle Vermilion which empties into the Wabash near Newport in Vermilion county, north to the Tippecanoe, and all of the state of Michigan, all of the state of Wisconsin, and northern Il- linois. This was the most monarchial tribe of Indians in all North America and the principal chief and sachem of the Potawatamies presided over their counsels, directed their tribal affairs and was the head of their religion. To- penebee held this position among all the Potawatimies in North America for about fifty years. He and his sister, Kaukeama Burnett, were full-blooded Potawatamies. Their father first mar- ried the daughter of a Kickapoo chief and Sheshepah, the Kickapoo chief, was the only child by the first mar- riage. He held his chieftainship among the Kickapoos from his mother, and his high position among the Potawatamies from his father. Topenebee was not a warrior. He was more of a circuit rider and it took all his time to visit and look after the welfare of the many tribes of Potawatomies over which he presided. Topenebee 's headquarters was in the vicinity of Attica. I am of the opinion that he made his local headquarters in the vicinity of the nu- merous springs, from those in Eavine
park, in Attica to what is now the Clark place, this side of Eiverside.
Topenebee took part in the defense of Ouiatenon against General Charles Scott in June of 1791. He also took part in the defense of Ouiatenon against General James Wilkinson in August of the same year and perhaps some of his Potawatami aged men and squaws were killed by Major John F. Hamtramck in 1792 at the mouth of the Vermilion river. He took part in the battle of the Falling Timbers (Wayne's victory in August of 1794) and signed the Treaty of Peace made with General An- thony Wayne at Greenville, Ohio, on August 3, 1795, as the principal chief of the Potawatamies. He signed the Treaty of Peace at Mississinewa on Oc- tober 16, 1826, as the principal chief signing that treaty, and on September 20, 1828, at St. Joseph, on Lake Michi- gan, in the territory of Michigan, he signed as the principal chief in that treaty. In the treaty made on the Tip- pecanoe river October 27, 1832, he sign- ed as the principal chief. And at the treaty made at Chicago on the 26th day of September, 1833 he again signed as the principal chief, so that his signing of treaties extended over a period of thirty-eight years.
From 1805 to about 1808 the Shaw- nees were trying to make treaties wdth the various tribes in this locality. Sometime in the fall of the year 1807
18
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
Topenebee and the Kiekapoos and Pot- awatamies, Miamis and Winnebagos met Teeumseh and his prophet beneath the spreading branches of a splendid oak that stood within the corporate limits of the city of Attica. Many of the older citizens can remember this tree. It stood on the lot where Frank Merrick now lives and according to Jack Hegler was cut down about 1866 for the construction of the house in which Mr. Merrick lives. This oak was known locallv as "The Council Tree" and was pointed out to visitors on account of its beauty and its histor- ical connection. It was cut down by a man named Mitchell, and there was general regret among the citizens of the city when the tree was destroyed. In this council it was agreed that the Shawnee tribe, under Teeumseh and his brother, The Prophet, might have as their hunting ground the territory drained by Shawnee creek and then a line drawn from there to the water- shed of the Tippecanoe river, and up the Tippecanoe river about twenty miles. So Teeumseh and The Prophet and their tribe located at the mouth of the Tippecanoe in the spring of 1808, by permission of the Potawatamies and Kiekapoos, as the result of the council held beneath the oak in what is now the city of Attica.
In the allotment of land to the In- dians Topenebee took his grants here and there over the large territory over which he presided, among them a splen- did piece of land in Benton county, which after his death was sold by his heirs to Edward Sumner. Sumner lived on Shawnee prairie in Fountain county
and owned four hundred acres of land, which he sold at $40.00 an acre. He made a sale of his personal property, bought Topenebee 's grant in Benton county and from this purchase made the foundation of the millions which was afterwards the property of Sum- ner's estate. The famous Caldwell and Hawkins law suits in Warren and Ben- ton counties were over land once own- ed by Topenebee and of the land grant- ed to him.
Topenebee went from this locality in- to the state of Michigan. In the latter part of June in 1840 he passed from among the inhabitants of earth and took his trackless way alone to the hap- py hunting ground. The gentle zephyrs laden with the perfume of blossoms from tree and vine and shrub, blew softly past his wigwam; the song birds came to warble their harmonious notes of love over his funeral bier. The tribe of the Potawatami sincerely mourned the departure of their beloved sachem, their worthy and trusted chief, and bore his remains to an Indian graveyard and laid them in the bosom of the earth, which he deemed as his mother. Thus this loved and loving child of nature went the way of all the earth, and now there remain but a few legends and scattering references by early historians concerning him. And yet, there is sufficient to show that he was a greater man than Teeumseh in his day and exerted a far greater in- fluence among the red men of the cen- tral states. But it was ever thus — th« popular glory is to the warrior and the heroes of peace have but scanty praise.
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY 19
Tecumseh and the Prophet
Early in the year 1806 Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, accom- panied by a small band of Shawnees, moved from the Delaware town on the White river in Indiana to Greenville, in the state of Ohio, and about this time began making treaties with the Potawatamies, Wyandottes, Kickapoos and Miamis for hunting grounds along the Wabash valley. In 1807 these tre- ties were finally finished beneath the spreading branches of "The Council Tree," in the city of Attica, as related in a preceding sketch, and in the spring of 1808 they settled on the banks of the Wabash near the mouth of the Tip- pecanoe river, at a place which after- wards bore the name of The Prophet's Town. There were only about forty Shawnees who came with them that spring but there were about one hun- dred Indians from other tribes in this new settlement. Tecumseh was then aiming to complete his federation and unite all the Indians in all North America into one great confederation, both offensive and defensive, hoping thus to serve the best interests not of any particular trible but of all the tribes and of all the Indians.
Tecumseh maintained and expressed his opposition to the making of treaties for the disposal of Indian lands, and, in speaking to Governor Harrison at Vincennes, in August, 1810, Tecumseh clearly intimated that he would resist any attempt that might be made to survey the lands which had been ceded to the United States. The lands ob- tained by Governor Harrison and ceded by the Indians to the United States, under various treaties, amounted to
about thirty millions of acres. On the 12th of August, 1810 Tecumseh attend- ed by 75 warriors arrived at Vincen- nes. From this time until the 22d of August Governor Harrison was almost daily engaged in the business of hold- ing interviews and counsels with this celebrated Shawnee Indian.
The conduct of Tecumseh was haugh- ty and his speeches were bold and in some degree arrogant. In one of his speeches addressed to Governor Harri- son on the 20th of August, which was taken down by the order of the Gov ernor, the following passages are found:
"Brother, I wish you to listen to me well. As I think you do not clearly understand what I before said to you I will explain it again. Since the peace (of Greenville in 1795) was made the white people have killed some of the Shawnee, Winnebagos, Delawares and Miamis, and you have taken our lands from us and I do not see how we can remain at peace with you if you continue to do so. You try to force the red people to do some injury. It is you that are pushing them on to do mischief. You endeavor to make dis- tinctions. You wish to prevent the In- dians to do as we wish them, to unite and let them consider their lands as the common property of the whole. You take tribes aside and advise them not to come into this measure, and until our design is accomplished, we do not wish to accept of your invitation to go and see the President."
The Prophet may have had his faults but intemperance was not one of them. He bitterly opposed the sale of intox-
20
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
icants to the Indians. In an interview with one of the messengers who visited The Prophet's Town in the month of June, 1810, The Prophet declared that it was not his intention to make war on the white people; and he said that some of the Delawares and other In- dians had been bribed with whiskey, to make false charges against him. When pressed by the messenger, Mr. Dubois, to state the grounds of his complaints against the United States, The Prophet said that the Indians had been cheated out of their lands; that no sale was good unless made by all the tribes; that he had settled at the mouth of the Tippecanoe by order of the Great Spirit and that he was, likewise, ordered to assemble as many Indians as he could collect at that place. In August of 1808, The Prophet in an in- terview with Governor Harrison said: "Father, it is three years since I first began with that system of religion which I now practice. The white people and some of the Indians were against me but I had no other intention but to introduce among the Indians those good principles of religion which the white people profess. The Great Spir- it told me to tell the Indians that he had made them, and made the world; that he had placed them on it, to do good, and not evil. I told the red skins that the way they were in, was not good and that they ought to abandon it; that we ought to consider ourselves as one man; but we ought to live agree- able to our several customs, the red people after their mode, "the white peo- ple after theirs, particularly that they should not drink whiskey; that it was not made for them, and that it is the cause of all the mischiefs which the Indians suffer,"
And Teeumseh himself was as bitter- ly opposed to the use of whiskey and intoxicating drinks as his brother. The Prophet.
The Shawnees came to The Prophet's Town in 1808 and some of them stayed there until the town was destroyed by General Samuel Hopkins, November, 1812, one year after the battle of Tip- pecanoe by Harrison. Some of them went about fifty miles further north in Indiana and lived there about four years longer so, all told, the Indians under Teeumseh and The Prophet did not live in Indiana to exceed eight years. Both Teeumseh and The Pro- phet afterwards joined the British. The Prophet and some of the principal chiefs of the Miamis retired from the borders of the Wabash and moved to Detroit where they were received aa friends and allies of Great Britian. In September, 1815 the Shawnee Prophet attended some of the sessions of the Councils held at the Spring Well near Detroit and retired with a few of his followers across the river Detroit, to British territory. Before the treaty was signed, however, they professed in open council, before they went away, the most pacific intentions and declared that they would adhere to any treaty made by the chiefs who would remain. Sometime afterwards, The Prophet returned to the Shawnee settlement in the state of Ohio, from whence with a band of Shawnees he removed to the Indian country on the western side of the Mississippi river, where he died in 1834. The British government allowed him a pension from the year 1813 until his death. Te- eumseh, the distinguished brother of The Prophet, was killed at the Battle of the Thames on the 5th of October, 1813.
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
21
A Little Family History
The name of my Grandfather Whick- er's mother, before she was married, was Bingaman. The family was Ger- man and came into the state of Vir- ginia about the year 1600 and lived on the frontiers. Many of the incidents of their frontier life have been for years a matter of recorded history, a little of which I shall relate in these artic- les as it may tend to show why I have such a keen personal interest in the history of these first Americans.
While living in what is now Green- brier county, West Virginia, the father was away from home on business. A band of Indians surrounded the cabin in which the family lived. After a desperate struggle they captured them all alive and took the entire family and their belongings with them. When the father returned he immediately gather- ed his neighbors and went in pursuit of the Indians. They overtook the Indians and succeeded in getting all the family but one little girl five years of age. This little girl they could not find and were forced to return to the settlement without her. The family afterwards moved to what is now Guil- ford county, North Carolina. Two of the boys who were a few years older than the girl, when they became young men, started in search of their sister and wandered from one tribe of In- dians to another until at last they found her, a young woman living with the Miami Indians in the state of Ohio, on the Maumee river. She had been adopted by an Indian chief and his wife and was satisfied with her home, but, finally, the chief and his wife con- sented to her return with her brothers with the understanding that a year later they (the Indians) should go to
North Carolina to see her. With this agreement she went back with her brothers to North Carolina. Every- thing was done to make her home hap- py that the family could do but she longed for the life of the Indians and when the year was up and her foster parents came to North Carolina to see her, she of her own free will, returned with them to the life in the forest. She afterwards married a Miami chief and the tribe of which she was a member came to the Wabash valley. She raised a large family of children and my grandfather 's brothers and sisters of- ten visited their aunt and their Indian cousins. These visits and their friend- ship was continued until about 1840 after the last treaty was made at the forks of the Wabash and those Indian relatives went with the rest of the tribe to the state of Kansas. My father told me that he never heard any of the family speak of those Indian cousins, his father's aunt and her husband, on- ly in the kindest of terms, and often the families would visit back and forth and stay for a week or more at a time. Afterwards two of my grandfather's brothers and his father settled in Dela- ware county, Indiana, on what is now one of the finest farms in that county, taking up land selected by their In- dian relatives. Nearly all of the re- serves made to the Miami Indians were made to individuals with French, En- glish and German names. I believe the Miami Indians to have been the most intelligent as well as the most hand- some tribe in North America. I have regretted very much that our family did not keep in touch with those In- dian cousins.
22
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
The Earthquake of 1811
Probably the most noted earthquake that ever occured in the United States was that which happened in 1811 and reached from a little below Louisville, Kentucky, on the Ohio river to a con- siderable distance below New Madrid on the Mississippi. The first shock was felt on the 16th day of December of that year.
The few French settlers along the Wabash from The Prophet's Town to Montezuma knew that there was likely to be trouble between the settlers and the Indians. The Burnetts, in the lower end of Fountain county, had cast their fate with the Indians and Zach- ariah Cicot, of Independence, had de- cided to cast his lot with Harrison and the settlers. A Frenchman constructed a flatboat on the Vermilion river about where Eugene now stands, and Zachariah Cicot and the Burnetts help- ed to load this boat with furs and other produce to be taken to New Orleans by the Frenchman who had constructed the boat. This flatboat was to leave, and did leave, the mouth of the Vermil- ion river before Harrison left Vin- cennes. Cicot had probably invested about everything he had with the ex- ception of the forty ponies which he saved, in furs, and his furs were on this flatboat on the way to New Orleans when he joined Harrison and the army. This flatboat reached the Mississippi and floated down the stream just in time to be caught in the earthquake.
The channel of the Mississippi river was changed in many places; sand bars were sunk in some places and new ones appeared in others. The banks of the
river caved in in many places and large openings appeared in the earth from which issued smoke, cinders, burnt and reddish sand, mud and boiling water. The chimneys of the houses were shaken down and many houses were ruined. Eeel Foot lake, in Tennessee, was formed by this earthquake, while many lakes in Missouri were emptied by it. A large island in the Mississippi ' covered with a forest of large trees, sank into the bed of the river never to appear again. Lightning darted from ! the bosom of the earth towards the sky and this continued along with the roaring and other disturbances, for over six weeks, even the current of the Mississippi river was changed and at one time for more than an hour the waters ran up stream.
Just at this time, while these con- vulsions were causing universal horror, the first steamboat that ever navigat- i| ed the western waters, and named the New Orleans, was making her way out of the Ohio into the Mississippi and down the Mississippi, the intention be ing to run the boat between Natchez and New Orleans. This pioneer steam craft was destined to have as stormy a time as her human contemporaries, but after a thousand narrow escapes from snags and sand bars and eartu- duake shocks she arrived at Natchez January 7, 1812. The flatboat was caught in this backward flow of water. The Frenchman found a good landing for his boat, and knowing that there was trouble along the river, waited until the earthquake was over and then went down the river to New Orleans, landing safely with his cargo. Dispos. ing of it and his boat he returned and
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
23
settled with those whose produce he had taken.
Dr. Hildreth says of this convulsion, or rather series of convulsions: "An eye-witness who was then about forty miles below the town of New Madrid in a flat boat, on his way to New Or- leans with a load of produce and who narrated the scene to me, said: 'The agitation which convulsed the earth and the waters of the mighty Missis- sippi filled every living creature with horror. In the middle of the night there was a terrible shock and jarring of the boats so that the crews were all awakened and they hurried on deck with their weapons of defense in their hands, thinking the Indians were rush- ing on board, the ducks, geese, swans and various other aquatic birds whose numberless flocks were quietly resting in the still waters in the eddies of the river were thrown into the greatest tumult and with loud screams exposed their alarm in accent of terror. The noise and commotion soon became hush- ed and nothing could be found to ex- cite apprehensions. The boatmen con- cluded that the shock was occasioned by the falling of a large mass of the bank of the river near them. As soon as it was light enough to distinguish objects the crew were all up, making ready to depart, when a loud roaring and hiss- ing was heard like the escape of steam from a boiler and the sandbars and the points of an island nearby gave way and we saw them swallowed up inthe tumultous bosom of the river, tearing down with them great cottonwood trees. Cracking and crashing, tossing their great limbs to and fro as if sensi- ble of their danger, the sycamore, cot- tonwood and other large trees disap- peared beneath the flood of water. The
water of the river the day before, was tolerably clear, and the river was rather low. The water changed to a reddish hue and became thick with mud, thrown up from the bottom of the Mississippi, while the surface of the water, lashed violently by the agitation of the earth beneath, was covered with foam which gathered into great masses as large as a barrel, and these masses of foam floated along on the trembling waters. Along the shores the earth opened in wide fissures and, closing again, threw sand, mud and water, in hugh jets higher than the tops of the trees. The atmosphere was filled with a thick vapor or gas to which the sun- light imparted a purple tinge alto- gether different in appearance from the autumnal haze of an Indian summer of that of smoke. From the temporary check of the current, by the heaving up of the bottom of the river and the sink- ing banks and the sand bars into the bed of the stream, the river rose in a few minutes five or six feet and, as if impatient of the restraint, again rushed forward with redoubled impetuosity, hurrying along the boats now set loose by the horrer.stricken boatmen, believ- ing they were in less danger in the water than at the shore where the banks threatened every moment to de- stroy them by the falling earth or car- ry them down in the vortices of the sinking masses.
' Oui boat got thru, but many boats were everwhelmed in this manner and their crews perished with them. Many boats were wrecked on the snags and old trees thrown up from the bottom of +he Mississippi where they had quietly rested for ages while others were sunk or stranded on the new sand bars and new islands. New Madrid, which stood
24
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
on a bluff bank fifteen or twenty feet above the summer floods, sank so low that the next rise covered it to a depth of five feet.' "
In all probability the ye-witness who told this story was the Frenchman en- routs to New Orleans with Cicot's and Burnetts' furs from this section of the Wabash valley.
Mr. Bradbury, an English scientific explorer, speaking of this earthquake says: "It commenced by distant rumb- ling sound, succeeded by discharges as if a thousand pieces of artillery were suddenly exploded. The earth rockt to and fro, vast chasms opened from which issued columns of water, sand and burning coal accompanied by hiss- ing sounds, caused perhaps by the es- cape of pent-up steam, while ever and anon flashes of electricity gleamed thru the troubled clouds of night, rendering the darkness doubly terrible.
"The current of the Mississippi pending this elementary strife, was driven back upon its source with the greatest velocity for several hours, in consequence of an elevation of its bed, and the stream ran in the opposite di-
rection. The day that followed this night of terror brought no solace in its day. Shock followed shock, a dense black cloud of vapor over- shadowed the land thru which no struggling sunbeam found its way to cheer the desponding heart of man. Hills disappeared and lakes were form- ed in their stead. One of the lakes formed on this occasion is sixty or seventy miles in length and from three to twenty miles in breadth. In some places it is very shallow, while in other places it is from fifty to one hundred feet in depth, much deeper than the Mississippi river in that quarter. In sailing over its surface, in a light canoe the voyager is struck with astonishment at beholding the giant trees of the for- est, standing partly exposed amid a waste of waters, branchless and leaf- less, and the wonder is still further in- creased on looking into the dark blue depth to observe cane.brakes covering its bottom over which a mammoth species of testudo is seen dragging his slow length along which countless myri- ads of fish are sporting thru the aquatic thickets."
Harrison's March to Tippecanoe
One hundred and four years marks but a short space in the world's his- tory. One hundred and four years ago Napoleon was making history in Eur- ope. It had been only nine years since Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase and England viewed the new republic of the United States as hardly worth recognition, and had some designs to- ward its annexation. The war of 1812 was brewing and the threatening clouds
of war, the occasional flashes of battle, never passed from our national horizon. The Indians on our frontiers were rest- less, and with the eloquent and reason- ing Tecumseh they were foes with which we had to consider. They held undisputed sway and control of a vast empire reaching from the Ohio river to Hudson bay and from the Pacific ocean to a line markt by the Wabash river, the Maumee and Lake Huron, an em-
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
25
pire worth the efforts of a race. It was for the retention of this empire for their posterity that the Indians fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe. It was my pleasure in August, 1914, in com- pany with Barce and Walker, of Fowler and Babcock, of Goodland, all limbs of the law, to follow the trail of William Henry Harrison and his gallant army, that fought the Battle of Tippecanoe, from the battle ground to old Fort Har- rison which is inside the city limits of Terre Haute. We went in a Ford and took our time.
The line of march from the battle ground to Pine creek is easily followed but from there on the ruthless hand of civilized man has altered the earth 's surface, cleared the forest and drained the prairie lands; but there is here and there along the route a man or woman nearing the ninety-year mark who has lived thru the days of the rugged pio- neer, the Mexican war, the gold fever of California, seen the exodus to the states west of the Mississippi, the ex- citing times of the Civil war and the years of inventive genius and industrial activity that has followed and still lives. And their words are as a voice from the past; they are the few links left that bind us to those historic days that have past away forever.
The first of those with whom we talkt was John Pugh, the father of Dr. Pugh, of Williamsport, then past 89 years of age, a nimrod, a mighty hunter of old, the last of the type of Daniel Boone. He showed us his faithful old rifle and his hunting knives and told us the line of march as he remembered it before a plow had turned a furrow in the prairie or the woodman had felled the trees of the forest. After consult- ing with him we took up the line of
march at the "Army ford" about a mile and a half up Pine creek from Kramer, just above the dam of the old Brier mill. This was the first mill built on Pine creek, and the land is still own- ed by the Briers. All the early settlers for miles about brought their grain to this mill to be converted into flour or meal. Mr. Pugh gave us a detailed ac- count of the mill and the process used for separating and grinding the grain. From this point Harrison's army skirt- ed the prairie. They detailed sixteen men to stand guard to prevent an am- bush from the river between the camp and the river. These sixteen men were deployed on each side of Pine creek nearly straight north from Williamsport and just about where the Williamsport road starts across the Pine creek bot- toms in going to Kramer. The army skirted the prairie for the reason that in its march to the battle ground it could easily watch and guard the left flank of the army and the view of the prairie would prevent an ambush. There were many Indians along the river so the soldiers left the timber land of the Wabash well to their right as they moved northward.
It was on the 26th day of September, 1811, that Governor William Henry Harrison with an army of about nine hundred men left Vineennes, on his momentous expedition against the Wa- bash valley Indians. Two hundred and fifty of these men composed the Fourth Eegiment of the United States Infant- ry, sixty were Kentuckians and the re- maining six hundred were the militia of the territory of Indiana from Corydon and Vineennes along the Wabash and Ohio rivers.
They started on this expedition from Fort Harrison, marching up the river,
26
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
on the eastern side, to Montezuma. It took the soldiers two hours to cross the Wabash at Montezuma. They then fol- lowed near the banks with the army, taking their provisions in boats on the river, to a point a little below the mouth of Coal creek, which is a little below the south line of Fountain coun- ty. Here on the banks of the river they built a fort as a base of supplies, sent forty men back to guard the women and children at Fort Harrison, and left eight men to guard the fort. With the assistance of W. W. Porter and his wife and sons we were able to locate the site of this fort which was on the Porter land. John C. Colett, at one time the state geologist of Indiana, (a local his- torian of rare worth, a philanthropist, having given to Vermilion county a home for all its orphans with money enough for its maintenance, and a park 1o the city of Terre Haute known as Colett park, and with his brother built the C. & E. I. railroad from Terre Haute to Chicago and who gave me my first in- spiration for the study of geology,) had made his home with Porter 'a parents and had inspired Mr. Porter with a pride in local history. He made Mr. Porter one of the trustees of his or- phans' school. The Porters were thus able to show us the remains of the cor- duroy roads made by the Harrison army thru the swampy lands near his place. They crossed the Little Vermil- ion river just south of Eugene at what is known as the ' ' Army ford ' ' near the Shelby place. This was the principal camping ground of the Kickapoo In- dians. After crossing the Vermilion river they went north to the prairie in- to the State of Illinois, south of Dan- ville, and crossed the state line south of State Line, Two private soldiers of
the army were buried in the Gopher Hill cemetery south of Marshfield, and the trail can be plainly seen thru the yard of a farmer who has carefully preserved it about a mile and a half northwest of the cemetery. They camp- ed one night in the Eound grove, now the property of Frank Goodwine, of West Lebanon. There was a spring in this grove which never went dry and the grove was far out in the prairie. On their return trip two of the soldiers were buried in this grove. It can be plainly seen from Sloan or Hedrick. Cassius M. Clay said the soldiers got blue grass seed here and carried it back to Kentucky, from which came the Kentucky blue grass. From there they mareht to the ' ' Army ford ' ' across Pine creek above Brier 's mill. On their re- turn trip they campt one night there. On the northwest shore of the creek two of the soldiers died and were bur- ied. There was a very large rock in the middle of the road one mile south of the Butler place known as the "Army Kock. " It was a niggerhead and the largest niggerhead in Warren county. The trail led past the rock. A road su- pervisor with about as little regard for local history as a country school teacher had Charley Burgeson break this rock into small particles with dynamite a few years ago.
Zachariah Cicott, who was born of an Indian mother and a French father, near Independence, and lived to be an old man on the grounds where he was born, led the Harrison army from the camp on the Wabash near Cayuga to the battle ground. The men who made the advance guard were under Dubois, and this Dubois was the grandfather of the U. S. senator from Idaho of the same name. Daviess, who had charge
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
27
of the trial of Aaron Burr for treason, was in this march and in the battle. Naylor, who for many years was judge of this judicial district was in the march and in the battle. Tipton, who at one time represented our state in the United State senate, was in the march and the
battle and many other equally as prom- inent made this march and were in the battle.
I hope that we can some time get this line of march plainly marked from Fort Harrison to Tippecanoe.
Battle of Tippecanoe
In 1800 Congress created the Terri- tory of Indiana and Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, who had been governor of the Northwest Territory, was continued as governor of the new territory, with headquarters at Vincennes. For ten years the Indians, inflamed by agents of the British and by ambitious chief- tains, continued to wage guerilla war- fare against the encroaching settlers. White men were shot down in their fields, women and children were awak- ened in the night by savage warwhoops, maybe to find the roof blazing over their heads. Most of these depreda- tions were committed further east and south than this section, the tide of white settlement having not yet pene- trated this far. It was here however that the Indians had their strongholds and it is for that reason that the final battles with them were fought here.
Of the battles the most important in its effects was the Battle of Tippeca- noe. Compared with the battles of the present great war in Europe this battle was but a tiny skirmish — the losses on both sides did not exceed a hundred — yet it had a very important effect up. on the history of the American repub- lic. It not only made possible the oc- cupation and settlement of Indiana but it settled the Indian question ef-
fectively for the whole western coun- try. This resulted in the settlement of the Mississippi valley and ultimately U.d to the extention of the territory of tho United States to the Pacific coast. Thus in the history of the developement of the human race it was more import- ant than any of the bloody battles that have been fought thus far in the pres- ent European war.
In a preceding article I have told you bow Gen. Harrison, out of patience because he had been unable to effect a tioatj with Tecumseh and to con- vince him that it was useless for iho red man to oppose the march of the white, had finally determined to de- etroy his headquarters — The Prophet's Town— at the junction of the Tippeca- noe and Wabash rivers. It was in 1808 that Tecumseh had established his headquarters at this point on invitation of the Potawatomies. This town was sometimes known as Tippecanoe and it grew rapidly in importance as the head- qda'"ters of the confederacy which recuraf,eh and his brother, The Prophet, ■v^ere organizing among the Indian tribes cf the whole country. Tecumaoa esLablifht relations with the British 'u Canada and while holding talks, some- times peaceful and sometimes stormy, with the territorial authorities, he was
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
really crganizing a war against them Tliese practices he continued until 1811 when in futherance of his plans he went south leaving The Prophet in control of affairs in Indiana.
Gen. Harrison had a proper estimate of Tocumseh. In an official report he said of him: "If it were not for the vicinity of the United States he would perhaps be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico and Peru. No difficulties deter him. For four years he has been in constart motion. You see him today on the Wa- bash and in a short time hear of him en the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on the banks of the Mississippi, and wherever he goes he makes an impres- sion favorable to his purpose. He is qow upon the last rounds to put a finish- ing stroke upon his work. I hope, how. ever, before his return that part of that work which he considered complete will be demolished and even its founda- tion rooted up."
Governor Harrison 's judgement was sound and it was time to act. Had he delayed until the return of Tecumseh, possibly within a few weeks, the whole trontiei — from Michigan to Georgia — might have been drencht in blood. Knowing that a war was imminent he boldly struck at the heart of the mat- ter by marching against the head- quarters of the confederacy, and seized another advantage by doing it when the interpid leader was away, Tecumseh being in Mississippi when the battle occurred.
I have told you the story of the march from Vincennes up the Wabash. It was the 26th day of September when the army set out from Vincennes and at 2:00 o'clock Nov. 6th it halted and camped two miles from The Prophets
Town, and it was there that the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought.
Perhaps I can convey to my readers the best description of this battle by giving an account of it written by Isaac Naylor, who was a militiaman in the battle and who afterward settled at Crawfordsville and became judge of this circuit, which at that time includ- ed Fountain county. He was a man of ability and afterward had a very im- portant part in the developement of this section. The manuscript from which I quote was lost for many years but was found some twenty years ago and is now a part of the established history of the battle. Following is his account:
When the army arrived in view of The Prophet's Town, an Indian was seen coming toward General Harrison with a white flag suspended on a pole. Here the army halted, and a parley was had between General Harrison and an Indian delegation, who assured the General that they desired peace, and solemnly promised to meet him the next day in council, to settle the terms of peace and friendship between them and the United States.
General Marston G. Clark, who was then brigade major, and Waller Taylor, one of the judges of the General Court of the Territory of Indiana, and after- wards a Senator of the United States from Indiana (one of the General's aide's), were ordered to select a place for the encampment, which they did. The army then marcht to the ground selected about sunset. A strong guard was placed around the encampment, commanded by Capt. James Bigger and three lieutenants. The troops were ordered to sleep on their arms. The night being cold, large fires were made
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
29
along the lines of the encampment and each soldier retired to rest, sleeping on his arms.
Having seen a number of squaws and children at the town I thought the Indians were not disposed to fight. About ten o 'clock at night Joseph War- nock and myself retired to rest, he tak- ing one side of the fire and I the other, the members of our company being all asleep. My friend Warnock had dream, ed, the night before, a bad dream which forboded something fatal to him or to some of his family, as he told me. Having myself no confidence in dreams, I thot but little about the matter, altho I observed that he never smiled afterwards.
I awoke about four o'clock the next morning after a sound and refreshing sleep, having heard in a dream the fir- ing of guns and the whistling of bul- lets just before I awoke from my slum- ber. A drizzling rain was falling and all things were still and quiet thruout the camp. I was engaged in making a calculation when I should arrive home.
In a few moments I heard the crack of a rifle in the direction of the point where now stands the Battle Ground House. I had just time to think that some sentinel was alarmed and fired his rifle without a real cause, when I heard the crack of another rifle, fol- lowed by an awful Indian yell all around the encampment. In less than a minute I saw the Indians charging our line most furiously and shooting a great many rifle balls into our camp fires, throwing the live coals into the air three or four feet high.
At this moment my friend Warnock was shot by a rifle ball thru his body. He ran a few yards and fell dead on
the ground. Our lines were broken and a few Indians were found on the inside of the encampment. In a few minutes they were all killed. Our lines closed up and our men in their proper places. One Indian was killed in the back part of Captain Geiger's tent, while he waa attempting to tomahawk the Captain.
The sentinels, closely pursued by the Indians, came to the lines of the en- campment in haste and confusion. My brother, William Naylor, was on guard. He was pursued so rapidly and furiously that he ran to the nearest point on the left flank, where he remained with a company of regular soldiers until the battle was near its termination. A young man, whose name was Daniel Pettit, was pursued so closely and fur- iously by an Indian as he was running from the guard line to our lines, that to save his life he cocked his rifle as he ran and turning suddenly around, placed the muzzle of his gun against the body of the Indian and shot an ounce ball thru him. The Indian fired his gun at the same instant, but it be- ing longer than Pettit 's the muzzle passed by him and set rife to a hand- kercheif which he had tied around his head. The Indians made four or five most fierce charges on our lines, yelling and screaming as they advanced, shoot- ing balls and arrows into our ranks. At each charge they were driven back in confusion, carrying off their dead and wounded as they retreated.
Colonel Owen, of Shelby county, Kentucky, one of General Harrison's volunteer aides, fell early in action by the side of the General. He was a mem- ber of the legislature at the time of his death. Colonel Daviess was mortally wounded early in the battle, gallantly charging the Indians on foot with his
30
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
sword and pistols, according to his own request. He made this request three times of General Harrison before he was permitted to make the charge. This charge was made by himself and eight dragoons on foot near the angle formed by the left flank and front line of the encampment. Colonel Daviess lived about thirty-six hours after he was wounded, manifesting his ruling passions in life — ambition, patriotism and an ardent love of military glory. During the last hours of his life he said to his friends around him that he had but one thing to regret — that he had military talents; that he was about to be cut down in the meridian of life without having an opportunity of dis- playing them for his own honor, and the good of his country. He was buried alone with the honors of war near the right flank of the army, inside of the lines of the encampment, between two trees. On one of these trees the letter "D" is now visible. Nothing but the stump of the other remains. His grave was made here, to conceal it from the Indians. It was filled up to the top with earth and then covered with oak leaves. I presume the Indians never found it. This precautionary act was performed as a mark of peculiar respect for a distinguished hero and patriot of Kentucky.
Captain Spencer's company of mount- ed riflemen composed the right flank of the army. Captain Spencer and both of his lieutenants were killed. John Tipton was elected and commissioned as captain of this company in one hour after the battle, as a reward for his cool and deliberate heroism displayed during the action. He died at Logans- port in 1839, having been twice elected Senator of the United States for the State of Indiana.
The clear, calm voice of General Har- rison was heard in words of heroism in every part of the encampment during the action. Colonel Boyd behaved very bravely after repeating these words: "Huzza I My sons of gold, a few more fires and victory will be ours!"
Just after daylight the Indians re- treated across the prairie toward their town, carrying off their wounded. This retreat was from the right flank of the encampment, commanded by Captains Spencer and Eobb, having retreated from the other portions of the encamp- ment a few minutes before. As their retreat became visible, an almost deaf- ening and universal shout was raised by our men. "Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!" This shout was almost equal to that of the savages at the commencement of the battle; ours was the shout of victory, theirs was the shout of feroc- ious but disappointed hope.
The morning light disclosed the fact that the killed and wounded of our army, numbering between eight and nine hundred men, amounted to one hundred and eight. Thirty-six Indians were found near our lines. Many of their dead were carried off during the battle. This fact was proved by the discovery of many Indian graves recently made near their town. Ours was a bloody victory; theirs a bloody defeat.
Soon after breakfast an Indian chief was discovered on the prairie, about eighty yards from our front line, wrap- ped in a white cloth. He was found by a soldier by the name of Miller, a resi- dent of Jeffersonville, Indiana. The Indian was wounded in one of his legs, the ball having penetrated his knee and passed down his leg, breaking the bone as it passed. Miller put his foot against him and he raised up his head
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
31
and said: "Don't kill me, don't kill me." At the same time five or six regular soldiers tried to shoot him, but their muskets snapped and missed fire. Major Davis Floyd came riding toward him with dragoon sword and said he would show them how to kill Indians, when a messenger came from General Harrison commanding that he should be taken prisoner. He was taken into camp, where the surgeons dressed his wounds. Here he refused to speak a word of English or tell a word of truth. Thru the medium of an interperter he said that he was a friend to the white people arid that the Indians shot him while he was coming to the camp to tell General Harrison that they were about to attack the army. He refused to having his leg amputated, tho he was told that amputation was the only means of saving his life. One dogma of Indian superstition is that all good and brave Indians, when they die, go to a region abounding with deer and other game, and to be a successful hun- ter he should have all his limbs, his gun and his dog. He therefore prefer- red death with all his limbs to life with- out them. In accordance with his re- quest he was left to die, in company with an old squaw, who was found in the Indian town the next day after he was taken prisoner. They were left in one of our tents.
At the time this Indian was taken prisoner, another Indian, who was wounded in the body, rose to his feet in the middle of the prairie and began to walk toward the woods on the op. posite side. A number of regular soldiers shot at him but missed him. A man who was a member of the same company with me, Henry Huckleberry, ran a few steps into the prairie and
shot an ounce ball thru his body and he fell dead near the margin of the woods. Some Kentucky volunteers went across the prairie immediately and scalped him, dividing his scalp in- to four pieces, each one cutting a hole in each piece, putting the ramrod thru the hole and plaching his part of the scalp just behind the first thimble of his gun, near its muzzle. Such was the fate of nearly all of the Indians found dead on the battle-ground, and such Was the disposition of their scalps.
The death of Owen, and the fact that Daviess was mortally wounded, with the remembrance also that a large portion of Kentucky's best blood had been shed by the Indians, must be their apology for this barbarous conduct. Such conduct will be excused by all who witnessed the treachery of the Indians, and saw the bloody scenes of this bat- tle.
Tecumseh being absent at the time of the battle, a chief called White Loon was the chief commander of the In- dians. He was seen in the morning af- ter the battle, riding a large white horse in the woods across the prairie, where he was shot at by a volunteer named Montgomery, of this state. At the crack of his rifle his horse jumped as if the ball had hit him. The Indian rode off toward the town and we saw him no more. During the battle the prophet was safely located on a hill, beyond the reach of our balls, praying to the Great Spirit to give victory to the Indians, having previously assured them that the Great Spirit would change our powder into ashes and sand.
We had about forty head of beef cat- tle when we came to the battle. They all ran off the night of the battle, or they were driven off by the Indians,
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
so that they were all lost. We received rations for two days on the morning af- ter the action. We received no more rations until the next Tuesday evening, six days afterwards. The Indians hav- ing retreated to their town, we perform- ed the solemn duty of consigning to their graves our dead soldiers, without shrouds of coffins. They were placed in graves about two feet deep, from five to ten in each grave.
General Harrison having learned that Tecumseh was expected to return from the south with a number of Indians whom he had enlisted in his cause, called a council of officers, who advised him to remain on the battle-field and fortify his camp by a breastwork of logs about four feet high. This work was completed during the day and all the troops were immediately placed be- hind each line of the work when they were ordered to pass the watchword from right to left every five minutes so that no man was permitted to sleep during the night. The watchword was "Wide awake, wide awake." To me it was a long, cold, cheerless night.
On the next day the dragoons went to The Prophet's Town, which they found deserted by all the Indians, ex- cept an old squaw, whom' they brought into camp and left her with the wound- ed chief before mentioned. The dra- goons set fire to the town and it was all consumed, casting a brilliant light amid the darkness of the ensuing night. I arrived at the town when it was about half on fire. I found large quantities of corn, beans, and peas. I filled my knapsack with these articles and car- ried them to the camp, and divided them with the members of our mess, consisting of six men. Having these articles of food, we declined eating
horse flesh, which was eaten by a large portion of our men.
Thus closes the story of Judge Naylor and it gives yoU a very intimate and ac- curate view of the struggle from the viewpoint of one who was in the con- flict. There is one incident which he omitted, however, which I think should be included here, as it will be of par- ticular interest to the boys who are • reading these sketches.
The company known as the Yellow Jackets and referred to by Judge Nay- lor, was under command of Capt. Spier Spencer, and had been raised among the pioneers of Harrison county, down on the Ohio river. Spencer had been serv- ing as sheriff of that county, and tra- dition has it that he was one of "Mad Anthony" Wayne's seasoned veterans. He had spent all of his life on the frontier and it was but natural that he should organize from the brave and hardy pioneers of southern Indiana a company to serve under General Harri- son in defense of their homes and little ones. His brother George was one of the company. So too, was his son Ed- ward, only fourteen years old, but large for his age and well able to handle a rifle. The taking along of this boy, in a campaign which all knew was to be an arduous one, is evidence of the need for men and proof of the devotion and patriotism of these early Hoosiers.
There were 47 men in the company, exclusive of officers, and in the for- tune of battle it happened that they were placed where the most bloody fighting occured. The Indians were in hand-to-hand conflict with the soldiers at this point and it was this struggle that is commemorated in the [ large mural painting in the office of J the Fowler hotel at Lafayette. !,
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
33
Early in the fight Capt. Spencer was shot down, struck by three bullets. Two of his men, Pfrimmer and Bayard, started to carry him to a protected place, but a fourth bullet struck him in the shoulder and passed lengthwise thru his body, killing him almost in- stantly. The first and second lieuten- ant were also killed soon afterward and the ensign, John Tipton, took command of the company. As the battle raged hardest at this point the attention of Gen. Harrison was attracted to it and he rode to this part of the field. "Where is your captain?" he demand- ed of Ensign Tipton. "Dead, sir," replied the young man. "Where is your lieutenant?" "He is also dead, sir" was the reply. ' ' Who are you ? ' ' then demanded the rough old general. ' ' I am the ensign of the company, sir, and I was put in command. " " Hold your own a little longer my brave boy, and I'll send reenforcements to help you." This story was related by one of Gen. Harrison 's staff officers who was by his commander's side when it occurred. Tipton and the Yellow Jackets held their own until assistance arrived, tho fifty percent of the company was wounded or slain. The battle lasted two hours and twenty minutes and when it was over 8 of the 47 Yellow Jackets were dead and fifteen wound- ed. Among the latter was Capt. Spenc- er's brother who died on the home- ward march. In testimony to his abil- ity and bravery Ensign Tipton was elected captain within an hour after the battle. Tipton was 29 years old at the time. He became a man of promin- ence in Indiana in after years, served in the legislature, also as an Indian agent. He it was who bought the land where the battle was fought in 1829,
and in 1834 gave it to the State of Indiana to be preserved as an historical park. I shall have something more to say in a later sketch of the men who comprised this army of Harrison 's, many of whom occupied positions of prominence later and had an active part in the developement of the state whose centenary we are celebrating this year.
The boy, Edward Hpencer, whom I have mentioned as the fourteen-year old son of Capt. Spencer, went thru the battle unscathed, tho his father and uncle were killed. Gen. Harrison in appreciation of the brave death of the lad's father, took the boy under his personal care for the remainder of the campaign, and later secured his admission to West Point Military Acad- emy, assigning as a reason, bravery shown on the field of battle. Later he secured the admission of a younger brother of Edward to the same insti- tution. From that time on there has been always in the U. S. army a descendant of Speir Spencer, trying to live up to the example set by the brave pioneer captain who gave up his life for his country at Tippecanoe.
On the third day after the battle preparations were hurriedly begun for a return march. The weather was get- ting cold, snow was not improbable, and Vincennes was 150 miles away. The wounded were loaded into wagons with the supplies, made as comfortable as possible, and the march was begun. There were 22 wagons in the train. Be- fore nightfall the army had got out onto the prairie west of where the city of Lafayette now is where they felt safe from attack. Six days of un- eventful marching brot them to Fort Harrison, from which point the wound-
I
34
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
ed were taken to Vincennes by boat. Capt. Snelling and his company of regulars were left there as a garrison and the remainder of the army proceed- ed south to Vincennes, where they ar- rived Nov. 18th, having been away 49 days. By the end of the month the militia were mostly mustered out and sent to their homes, where they were welcomed as returned heroes.
Following the battle the people of Indiana spent a quiet winter. The hope of the confederacy among the Indians having been broken up Tecum- seh spent some time in the South but returned before spring and made his way to the British at Detroit, where he allied himself openly with them and became one of the chief figures in the War of 1812
The Men of Tippecanoe
Anyone who delves into the history of the battle of Tippecanoe cannot es- cape being imprest by the character of the men that composed Gen. Harrison 's army. In my sketch of the battle there was a hint of this in the statement that Isaac Naylor, one of the privates, after- ward became judge of this circuit; but there were many of the others who were with Harrison who became prom- inent afterward and whose names are inseparably linked with the history of Indiana. Every school boy knows that Harrison himself was made president later, but comparatively little is known of the others, so I have thought it worth while to set down here some things of interest relative to a number of the men in his command. I shall be- gin with Harrison and in this I shall quote from Elmore Brace, of Fowler, because I think my friend Barce has written the best short description of Harrison that has ever been printed. If Benton County has not discovered Barce I hope it will soon. A few years ago I told Barce a prairie country could not produce great men, that it required hills and landscape for oratory, elo- quence and greatness; and Barce imme-
diately made a trip down the Wabash from the source to the mouth of the river and wrote the best des- scription of the Wabash valley I have ever seen in print. I have not spoken to Barce since that time, and if he con- tinues to prove my statements false I may never speak to him again. Here is his sketch of "Old Tippecanoe:"
' ' Harrison arrived in Vincennes in 1801. At that time he was twenty- eight years of age, had served as aid- de-camp to Gen. Wayne at the Battle of the Fallen Timbers and had dis- tinguished himself for braver^. In personal appearance Harrison was com- manding and his manner prepossessing; he was about six feet high, rather slend- er form, straight and of a firm elastic gait. Even at the time of his election as president, tho bordering seventy, he had a keen penetrating eye, was quick of apprehension, prompt and energetic. In the severe winter campaign of 1812-13 he alept in a thinner tent than anyone in his command, whether ofiicer or soldier, and his accommodations were known as the worst in the army. On the expedition of the Thames all his baggage was contained in one valise;
SKETCPIES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
35
on the uight after the action of the Thames, thirty-five British officers supped with him on fresh beef roasted before the fire, without salt or bread, and without spirits or drink of any kind except water, and whether in camp or on the march his whole army was up regularily and under arms at daybreak, and upon no occasion did he fail to be out himself, however se- vere the weather, and was generally the first officer on horseback ready to start his whole army. He made it a point on every occasion to set an ex- ample of fortitude and patience to his men and to share with them every hard- ship, difficulty and danger. Judge Law writes that William Henry Harrison was as brave a man as ever lived. At Tippecanoe immediately after the first savage yell, he mounted on horseback and rode from line to line encouraging his men and knew that he was at all times a conspicuous mark for the In- dian bullets. One leaden ball passed thru the rim of his hat, and Col. Abra- ham Owen, Thomas Randolph and others were killed at his side. Upon one occasion, as he was approaching an angle of the line again, Indians were advancing with their horrible yells, Lieut. Emerson of the dragoons seized the bridle of his horse and earnestly entreated him to go no farther, but putting spurs to his horse he pushed on to the point of attack, where, under his command, the enemy was received with firmness and driven back. To these traits, his fearless courage, his willingness to share in the burdens and hardships of the common soldier, may be attributed his great and lasting hold on the affections of the Kentucky and southern Indiana Indian fighters.
To them he was more than a hero, he was a man approaching the divine.
On his arrival at Vincennes in 1801 the population of that town was seven hundred fourteen persons, eighteen hundred nineteen more lived in the sur- rounding country, and fifty-five fur traders were scattered along the Wa- bash. A large part of the inhabitants of Vincennes belonged to that class of French Canadians who produced the LaPlants, the Barrons, and the Brouil- ettes, some of them renowned Indian interperters and river guides, and among the settlers of the state were Benjamin Park, one of the commanders of Tippecanoe and founder of the state law library, and Waller Taylor, Thomas Randolph, two of his aides in the Wa- bash campaign. These men favored the suspension of the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery in the Northwest territory, which is now established history.
"While at Vincennes Harrison con- ducted a' great number of difficult ne- gotiations and treaties with the chiefs and head-warriors of the Miamis, Pot- awatomies, Delawares, Shawnees, Kick- apoos and other tribes. Copies of the Old Western Sun amply testifies to the fact that prior to the important In- dian treaties of 1809 at Ft. Wayne and Vincennes, he issued a public procla- mation prohibiting any traffic in liquor with the Indians, that he constantly inveighed against this illegal com- merce with the Indian tribes.
"Dillon says the total quantity of land ceded to the United States under treaties which were concluded betwen Gov. Harison and various Indian tribes amounted to about 29,719,530 acres.
' ' On the ffrst day of September, 1809 he set out on horseback for the council
36
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
house at Ft. Wayne, accompanied only by Peter Jones, his secretary, Joseph Barron, the interperter, a Frenchman for a guide, and two Indians, probably Delawares of the friendly White Eiver tribe. He travelled eastward in Dear- born and Wayne counties. While in Wayne county, he and his party were entertained by Peter Weaver, who af- terwards became the first settler of Fountain and Tippecanoe counties; and Patrick Henry Weaver, who came here with his father told me that on this journey William Henry Harrison gave him a fifty cent piece, which was the first money he ever owned.
"Judge Law says of Joseph Barron, the interpreter. ' He knew the Indian character well, had lived among them many years, spoke fluently the lan- guage of every tribe which dwelt on the upper Wabash, understood their customs, habits and manners, and char- latanry well. And altho but imperfect- ly educated, was one of the most re- markable men he ever knew. ' The Governor arrived at the post on the fifth of the month, at the same time with the Delewares and their interpre- ter, John Conner. This treaty was fin- ally completed on the thirtieth day of September, 1809 and no resort was had to the evil influence of bribes or intoxi- cants. ' '
The following summary of the life and work of Judge Isaac Naylor, to whom I have already referred, is from an address made by Gen. Lew Wallace at the dedication of the Montgomery courthouse: "Isaac Naylor was a Vir- ginian, born in 1792, brot to Kentucky and, when seven or eight years old; to Clarke county, Indiana; read law with Supreme Judge Scott; served as a soldier with Gen. Harrison in 1811,
when he removed to Crawfordsville; was first a partner of Thomas J. Evans, and then associated hiimself with Hen- ry S. Lane; was elected circuit judge by the legislature in 1838; served sev- en years; was reelected; held second term of six years; was then elected by the people judge of the court of com- mon pleas, and continued such for six years. He died full of honors, in June 1837. He was thoroly imbued with the principles of the system of pleading yet found in Chitty. In the early time his contemporaries called him famil- iarly 'Old S. D.' (Special Demurrer.)" He was the second judge of the cir- cuit that then included Montgomery and Fountain counties.
State Senator, Alva O. Reser, of La- fayette, has perhaps given the most careful study to the personal character of the men who fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe, and the following de- scription of those who participated in that battle is from Mr. Reser;
Gen. John Tipton impressed himself I^erhaps more uj^on the early history of Indiana than any other man, Capt. Spencer 's company was raised fn Har- rison county and Tipton was ensign in it; he afterwards became United States senator, bought the lond on which Tip- pecanoe was fought and gave it to the State of Indiana; he settled and lived in Logansport. Tipton County was named for him. He died in 1839 at the age of 53.
White County was named for Isaac White of Kentucky, a brave fellow who was killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe.
Wells County was named after Capt. William H. Wells, who had been brought up among the Miami Indians and who gave the settlers of Vincennes in southern Indiana, the first infor-
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
37
mation that the Indians intended to attack them. In 1812 Capt. Wells was stationed at Ft. Dearborn, near Chica- go, and was induced by the Indians to have a council with them under a flag of truce and was lured by them into ambush, where Capt. Wells and all his party were massacred.
Parke County was named for Capt. Benjamin Parke, who fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe; he was after- wards a member of Congress from the Territory of Indiana and was the first United States District Judge for the District of Indiana. In the latter part of his life he became financially em- barrassed, and unhesitatingly gave up all his property for the benefit of his creditors. So completely did he deny himself that his family at their meals drank out of tin cups. The wife of Capt. Parke was named Betsy, and she was held in such high esteem that more baby daughters were named for her than after any other lady in southern Indiana.
Bartholomew County was named for Joseph Bartholomew, who commanded the infantry at the Battle of Tippeca- noe; was formerly a citizen of Clarke county; was severely wounded at the Battle of Tippecanoe; he was a member of the legislature in 1821 and 1824. There is a portrait of General Bartholo- mew in the court house at Columbus, Indiana. He died in 1840.
Capt. Spier Spencer commanded the company called ' ' The Yellow Jackets, ' ' which company occupied the ground at the southern point of the battle-field. Upon this company fell the brunt of the battle and more men were killed in that company than any other. During the battle Capt. Spencer was wounded. J. S. Pfrimmer, of Corydon, writes me:
'After Spencer was wounded he was being carried to the rear by two soldiers and while in their arms was struck by a ball in the shoulder, which ran lengthwise of his body and killed him outright.'
Daviess county was named for Joseph Hamilton Daviess, a brilliant orator and distinguished citizen of Kentucky, who was killed at the Battle of Tippe- canoe. He had been United States Dis- trict Attorney and prosecuted Aaron Burr; he once challenged Henry Clay to fight a duel, and he was once grand master of the Masonic fraternity of Kentucky.
Dubois county was named after Capt. Toussant Dubois, who was the guide to Tippecanoe, and who relied very largely on Zackariah Cicot to guide the army from Vincennes to The Prophet's Town. He knew the route almost as well as he had been a trader and often traveled from Vincennes to Detroit, and had great influence with the early pioneers and the Indians. When Gen. Harrison decided to move against the Indians in 1811 Dubois offered his ser- vices, and he was made captian of the spies and scouts in the Tippecanoe cam- paign; Dubois was the last man to vis- it the headstrong Prophet on the even- ing before the battle. Jesse Kilgore Dubois, a son of Capt. Dubois, became a warm personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. United States Senator Fred T. Dubois, of Idaho, was a grandson of Capt. Dubois. On March 11, 1816, Capt. Dubois attempted to swim the Wabash river, not far from Vincennes, on horseback, and was drowned.
Floyd county is by some supposed to have been named after John Floyd, a surveyor. By others, it is claimed the county was named after Davis
38
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
Floyd, who fought in the battle of Tip- pecanoe. Davis Floyd was an ardent friend of Aaron Burr, and was indicted with him for treason, but when Burr was acquitted, the prosecution against Floyd was abandoned. He was an ad- jutant in the Battle of Tippecanoe, and was a member of the general assembly of the Territory. His estate was set- tled in Harrison county. He was ad- mitted to the bar in Clarke county in 1817. In the early days he had been a pilot on the Ohio river.
Warrick county was named after Jacob Warrick, who fell at the Battle of Tippecanoe. General Harrison speaks of him in his report and said that Warrick was his friend, in whom he had placed great confidence, and Harrison in his report says: "Warrick was shot immediately thru the body. On being taken to a surgeon to have his wound dressed, as soon as it was over, being a man of great vigor and able to walk, he insisted on going back to the head of his company, altho it was evident he had but a few hours to live.
Harrison county was named, of course after William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe.
In 1840 great political meetings were held at the Tippecanoe battle-ground. This was called the singing campaign.
In other years political meetings hadj been held on this spot. Here the little i giant, Stephen A. Douglas, has spoken? and in later years, Eoscoe Conkling, James G! Blaine and others. I give herewith a couple of stanzas from two of the old political songs of the sing- ing campaign of 1840.
Old Tippecanoe
Hurrah for the log cabin chief of our
joys;
For the old Indian fighter, hurrah! Hurrah; and from mountain to valley the voice Of the people re-echoes hurrah!
Then come to the ballot box, boys come along. He who never lost a battle for you Let us down with oppression and tyranny 's throng, And up with "Old Tippecanoe."
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too
Let them talk about hard cider, cider, cider.
And log cabins too, 'Twill only help to speed the ball
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too —
Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, And with them we'll beat little Van;
Van, Van, is a used-up man, I
And with them we'll beat little Van.
Indian Battles of 1812
The memorable massacre at Fort Dearborn, where Chicago now stands, is of interest to residents of the Wa- bash valley because it was a part of the same movement against the whites of
which I have told you in preceding sketches and because some of the In- dians from the Wabash were concern- ed in it. Topenbee, the old Potawat- ami chief, was present, but it is re-
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
39
corded of him that he was opposed to the massacre and it was thru his in- strumentality that seven persons — the Kinzie family, Mrs. Heald, Mrs. Helm and Sergeant Griffith, escaped.
On the 9th of August, 1812, Cap- tain Nathaniel Heald, who was in com- mand of Fort Dearborn, the present site of Chicago, received orders from Gene- ral Hull, requiring the garrison at Fort Dearborn to evacuate that post and move to Detroit. Captain Wells, who was with Harrison at Tippecanoe, and for whom Wells county, Indiana, was named, left Fort Wayne with about thirty friendly Miami Indians, and ar- rived at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), on the 13th day of August, 1812, the purpose being to act as an escort to the retiring garrison. On the 15th day of August, the troops under the com- mand of Captain Heald, consisting of fifty-four regulars, and twelve militia, evacuated Fort Dearborn, and after marching about a mile and a half down the lake from the fort, or about where 18th street would intersect the lake, were attackt by a superior force composed principally of Potawata- mies. The Indians killed twenty-six reg- ulars, all the militia, two women and twelve children, and took twenty-eight prisoners. Captain Wells was among the killed. The losses of the Indians amounted to about fifteen killed.
The Indian camp was located near the fort, north of where the Marshall Field store stands. The fort was north of there, near the Eush street bridge, and a tablet is set. into the wall of the W. M. Hoyt building there recording the fact. The fort was burned by the Indians but was rebuilt In 1816.
At the foot of 18th street, near the , lake shore, a granite monument sur-
mounted by a bronze statuary group that is among the notable monuments of the city, was erected by G'iorge M. Pullman, to mark the site of the mass- acre.
On the 16th day of August, 1812, the town of Detroit, and the territory of Michigan were surrendered by Gen. Hull, without firing a gun, to the British forces under the command of General Brock. These successive, but temporary triumphs, of the British and Indian forces in the northwest combined with other causes, induced the Kickapoos, Potawatamies, Winne- bagoes and other northwestern tribes to take up arms against the United States, and to send war parties to at- tack the white settlements in the Ind- iana territory.
In the early part of the month of September, parties of hostile Indians began to assemble, in considerable num- bers, in the vicinity of Fort Wayne. About the same time, a strong party of warriors made an unsuccessful at- tack on Fort Harrison (now Terre Haute). Other bands of Indians pene- trated the territory southeasterly as far as the frontiers of Clark and Jef- ferson counties, and massacred twenty- four persons, at a place which was called "the Pigeon Eoost settlement," and which was situated within the present limits of Scott county.
On the evening of the 3d of Septem- ber, two men, who were making hay in the vicinity of Fort Harrison, were sur- prised, killed and scalped by a scout- ing party of Indians; and on the 4th of September, about eleven o'clock at night, a considerable body of Indians, composed of Winnebagoes, Kickapoos, Shawnees, Potawtamies and a few Mi- amis, commenced an attack on the fort,
40
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
by setting fire to one of the block- houses attaeht to it. Captain Zachary Taylor (who afterwards Decame presi- dent of the U. S.) and a small number of the men under his command, bravely resisted the attack, which continued without intermission until about six o'clock on the 5th of September, when the Indians abandoned the assault and retired beyond the guns of the fort. In an official account of this action, written on the 10th of September, 1812, and addressed to Governor Harrison, Captain Taylor said — "About eleven o'clock I was awakened by the firing of one of the sentinels. I sprang up, ran out, and ordered the men to their posts — when my orderly sergeant, who had charge of the upper blockhouse, called out that the Indians had fired the lower blockhouse. * * * The guns had begun to fire pretty smartly from both sides. I directed the buckets to be got ready, and water brought from the well, and the fire extinguished im- mediately, as it was perceivable at that time; but from debility, or some other cause, the men were very slow in exe- cuting my orders. The word "Fire!" appeared to throw the whole of them into confusion, and by the time they had got the water and broken open the door, the fire had, unfortunately, com- municated to a quantity of whiskey, and, in spite of every exertion we could make use of, in less than a mo- ment it ascended to the roof, and baffled every effort we could make to extin- guish it. As the blockhouse adjoined the barracks that make part of the fortifications, most of the men immedi- ately gave themselves up for lost, and I had the greatest difficulty in getting my orders executed. And, sir, what from the raging of the fire — the yelling and
howling of several hundred Indians — ■ the cries of nine women and children, (a part soldiers' and part citizens' wives, who had taken shelter in the fort,) and the desponding of so many of the men, which was worse than all — J I can assure you that my feelings were " unpleasant. And, indeed, there were not more than ten or fifteen men able to do a good deal; the others being sick or convalscent; and, to add to our other misfortunes, two of the strongest men of the fort, and that I had every jj confidence in, jumped the pickets and left us. But my presence of mind did not for a moment forsake me. I saw, by throwing off a part of the roof, that joined the blockhouse that was on fire, and keeping the end perfectly wet, the whole row of buildings might be saved, and leave only an entrance of eighteen j or twenty feet for the entrance of the Indians, after the house was consumed; and that a temporary breastwork might be erected to prevent their even enter- ing there. I convincd the men that this might be accomplished, and it appeared to inspire them with new life; and never did men act with more firmness and des- peration. Those who were able (while the others kept up a constant fire from the other blockhouses and the two bas- " tions) mounted the roofs of the houses, with Dr. Clark at their head, (who act. ed with the greatest presence of mind the whole time the attack lasted, which was about seven hours, under a shower of bullets and in less than a moment threw off as much of the roof as was
necessary.
* Altho the barracks
were several times ablaze, and an im- fl mense quantity of fire against them, the " men used such exertions that they kept it under, and, before day, raised a tem- porary breastwork as high as a man's
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
41
head, altho the Indians continued to pour in a heavy fire of ball, and an im- mense quantity of arrows during the whole time the attack lasted. * * * Af- ter keeping up a constant fire until about six o 'clock the next morning, which we began to return with some ef- fect after daylight, they removed out of the reach of our guns.. A party of them drove up the horses that belonged to the citizens here, and, as they could not catch them very readily, shot the whole of them in our sight, as well as a number of their hogs. They drove off the whole of the cattle, which amounted to sixty-five head, as well as the public oxen."
One of the men who jumped over the pickets, when the fort was attacked, was killed by the Indians. The other, having received a severe wound, return- ed to the fort and begged for admission. After lying ' ' close to the pickets, be- hind an empty barrel," until daylight, he was permitted to enter the fort. Of the men who remained in the fort, dur- ing the attack, two were killed, and two were wounded. The loss of the Indians, which was very small, can not be stated with certainty.
When information of the attack of Fort Harrison was received at Vin- cennes, about twelve hundred men, un- der the command of Colonel William Eussell, of the 7th regiment XJ. S. In-
fantry, marched from that place, for the purpose of punishing the Indians, and carrying relief to the besieged fort. The force under the command of Col- onel Eussell was composed of Colonel Wilcox's regiment of Kentucky volun- teers, three companies of rangers, and two regiments of Indiana militia, com- manded, respectfully, by Colonel Jor- dan and Colonel Evans. When the troops, without meeting with any oppo- sition on their march, reacht Fort Har- rison, on the 16th day of September, the Indians had retired from the neigh- borhood of that place. On the 15th day of September, however, a small de. tachment composed of eleven men,u n- der the command of Lieutenant Eich- ardson, and acting as an escort of pro- visions sent from Vincinnes, to be de- livered to Fort Harrison, was attackt by a party of Indians, at a place which was then called "the Narrows," and which lies within the present limits of Sullivan county. It was reported that seven men of the escort were kill- ed, and one wounded. The provisions fell into the hands of the Indians.
The regiment of Kentucky volunteers under the command of Colonel Wilcox, remained at Fort Harrison. The two regiments of Indiana militia, and three companies of rangers, which marcht to the relief of the fort, returned to Vincennes.
The Second Battle of Tippecanoe
So much has been written of the Bat- tle of Tippecanoe and its importance because it disrupted the confederacy which Tecumseh was forming among the Indians for the purpose of retain-
ing their lands, that there are few per- sons, even in this vicinity, who are aware that there was a second battle near Tippecanoe or The Prophet 'a Town in which the Indians were really
42
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
the victors. Like the first battle it marked the climax of an expedition sent up the Wabash which included more men than accompanied General Harrison the year before. The ex- pedition was like the first one too in that it included a man who afterwards became president of the United States.
About the first of November, 1812, General Samuel Hopkins began to or- ganize a military force composed main- ly of infantry for the purpose of pene- trating the Indian country as far as The Prophet 's Town, marching from Vincennes to Fort Harrison (Terre Haute), then up the river to The Prophet's Town, destroying the Indian villages along the river and any vil- lages that they might find at or near The Prophet's Town. The troops which were employed in this exploration by General Hopkins consisted of three reg- iments of Kentucky militia, command- ed by Colonels Barbour, Miller and Wilcox, a small company of regulars commanded by Captain Zachariah Tay- lor, (afterwards president of the United States), and a company of scouts or spies under command of Cap- tain Washburn. Among the spies of Captain Washburn was Peter Weaver, who afterwards became one of the first settlers of Fountain county and the first settler in Tippecanoe county.
This army started at once from Vin- cennes, arrived at Fort Harrison on the 5th day of November, and on the 11th day of November left Fort Harrison following the road made by Governor Harrison 's army the year previous and the boats set out at the same time. On account of the danger it was necessary to guard the army very carefully. There had been a heavy rain and the waters were high in the Wabash but it was
not out of its banks altho the creeks were so high that they could be crosst only with diflficulty, danger and em- barrassment. They reached the mouth of Sugar creek on the 14th day of No- vember. From there the entire army, with the exception of those in the boats, marched on the east side of the Wa- bash river because the Vermillion river and Pine creek and other impediments on the west side led them to believe that they could make the trip easier on the east side of the river. They had their provisions, rations, and mili- tary stores in the boats. Their line of march was near the river so as to cover and protect the boats carrying their provisions. Lieut. Col. Barbour with one batallion of his regiment had command of the seven boats, but campt at nights on the bank of the river with the rest of the army. On account of the boats they moved slowly and reacht The Prophet's Town on the 19th of November 1812. On the morn- ing of the 19th three hundred men were detached to surprise the Winne- bago town on Wild Cat creek, about one mile from the Wabash river and four miles below The Prophet's Town. This party was under the command of General Butler. They surrounded the Winnebago town about daybreak but found it evacuated. They found in the town about forty shacks, many of them being from thirty to fifty feet in length, besides many temporary huts in the surrounding prairie where the Indians had cultivated a good deal of corn. On the 20th, 21st and 22d, this army completely destroyed The Proph- et's Town, which had about forty cabins and huts. Below it was a large Kickapoo village, on the west side of the river, consisting of about 160
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
43
cabins and huts. They also destroyed this town. These Kickapoos had corn stored for the winter and this also was destroyed. Seven miles east of the Prophet's Town on Wild Cat creek, a party of Indians fired on a detachment of this army, on the 21st day of No- vember and killed a man by the name of Dunn. On the 22d of November about sixty men, under the command of Lieutenant Colonels Miller and Wil- cox started on horseback to bury Dunn and get a more complete knowledge of the ground. They marcht to a point near the Indian encampment, fell in- to an ambuscade and 19 of the party were reported killed, wounded and missing.
On the return of the party it \vas learned that a large assemblage of In- diana, encouraged by the strength of tiieir camp and this victory were wait- it g the approach of Hopkins' armj-, and this army at once made every prepara- tion for an early march to engage the enemy in battle at any risk. There arose a violent storm with a heavy fall of snow and the coldest weather that these soldiers from the South had ever seen or felt at that season of the year. This delayed any further action until the 24th of November,
When Hopkins' army reacht the In- dian camp they found it deserted, the Indians having crossed Wild Cat creek.
Mr. Hopkins says in his report, "I have no doubt but that the ground the Indians had taken was the strongest I have ever seen. The deep, rapid creek was in their rear, running in a semi- circle and fronted by a bluff one hund- red feet high, almost perpendicular, and could only be penetrated by three steep ravines. After reconnoitering sufficiently we returned to camp and
found the ice so accumulated as to alarm us for the return of the boats. I had fully intended to have spent one more week in endeavoring to find the Indian camp but the shoeless, shirtless state of the troops now clad in the remnants of their summer dress, a river full of ice, the hills covered with snow, a rigid climate, and no certain point to which we could further direct our operations, under the influence and ad- vice of every staff and field officer, orders were given and measures pur- sued for our return on the 25th."
General Hopkins writes later, "We are now progressing to Fort Harrison (down the Wabash river, thru ice and snow, where we expect to arrive on the last day of this month. Before I close this I cannot forbear expressing the merits of the officers and the soldiers of this command. After leaving Fort Harrison, all unfit for duty, we had, in privates of every count, about one thousand, in the total twelve hundred and fifty men. At The Prophet's Town upwards of one hundred of these were on the sick report. Yet, sire, have we progressed in such order as to menace our enemy free from annoyance, and seven large keel boats have been cover- ed and protected to a point heretofore unknown in Indian expeditions. Three large Indian establishments have been burnt and destroyed with near three miles of fence and all the corn and food that we could find. The enemy have been sought in their strongholds and every opportunity afforded them to at- tack or alarm us. We marcht on the east side of the Wabash, without roads, or cognizance of the country fully one hundred miles and this has been done with a naked army of infantry aided by only aboiit fifty rangers and spies.
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
All this was done in twenty days; no sigh, no murmur, no complaint. ' '
The detachment which fell into the ambuscade on the 25th of November was composed of Capt. Beck's company of rangers, several officers of the army and a small number of mounted militia. Before starting out that morning, each man drew a pint of whiskey. They had not drawn whiskey for some time before this and perhaps this whiskey did not help matters much. Capt. Lit- tle says, in speaking of this battle, ' ' We rode on rapidly about a mile and a quarter when we found ourselves among and surrounded by Indians in hundreds, they fired on us in all directions as thick as hail. We immediately found that we were not able to fight them. I was shot in the body near the hip bone.
We retreated in every kind of disorder the best way we could. I was still able to ride and got out to camp where we found that we had lost sixteen killed and three wounded."
On the 18th day of December, 1812, General Samuel Hopkins announced, in general orders issued at Vincennes, his determination to retire from military life, and, while in his reports he com- mends all the officers, including Zaeh- ariah Taylor, his resignation upon the return of the army to Vincennes is evi- dence that he did not consider it an expedition that had added any great amount of honor to the American arms. And this was the last of the battles that the fading red men of the forest had with the white men in the Wabash Valley,
The Wabash Valley I 00 Years Ago
After General Hopkins, and the twelve hundred and fifty men, who were with him when he made his march up the Wabash river and destroyed The Prophet's Town (Tippecanoe) and the villages about it, had their un- pleasant experiences and discomfort from the cold November storm, the sickness among the men. The loss of life discouraged the Hoosier militia and Kentucky Indian fighters, and no more raids were made against the In- dians of this locality. The Prophet, and most of his Shawnee warriors went to Detroit or northern Indiana. Te- cumseh was killed that year and there remained in this locality the Kicka- poos, Delawares, Wyandottes, Pota- watomies and Miamis. After the Treaty of Peace, which followed the
war of 1812, the British left Detroit and the Northwest Territory and their emissaries left the Wabash Valley, and rewards were no longer paid for the scalps of white women and children. The United States government had previously obtained most of the land by treaty and the hope of a confeder- acy died with Tecumseh. Yet, these tribes of Indians lingered in the lands of their fathers, a land rich in future possibilities, flowing more richly with milk and honey, and more to be desired than the promised land of the Iseral- ites. Occasionally, a venturesome traveler from the settlements south and east wandered into the upper Wa- bash Valley in his restless search for brighter prospects, better and cheaper lands and more promising possibilities
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
45
for himself, his family and his poster- ity.
This interval covers a period of ten years or more from the Hopkins' march in 1812 to the survey and open- ing of this part of the country for set- tlement. During this ten years the re- maining Indians were undisturbed. Theirs was a race in its childhood and they should have been treated as child- ren. They did not know the value of their lands, or what their treaties real- ly meant. Perhaps they knew they would soon have to leave this beautiful valley forever and somewhere beneath the inverted bowl of heaven decorated at night with sparkling diamonds, find a hunting-ground. But there was still game here and they could still enjoy the chase. They burned the underbrush and grass of woodland and prairie ev- ery fall or spring. The blue grass and grass of all kinds flourished everwhere. The prophet Isaiah has said; "The voice said. Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." And Senator John G. Ingalls said ' ' Grass is the forgiveness of nature." And here in the Wabash Valley, grass grew everywhere.
In the springtime the air was filled with the perfume of blossom of shrub and vine and tree. Nature, the master mechanic and landscape gardener, had full sway in prairie, hill and valley. The hawthorn, the dogwood and the sarvis berry bloomed on the crest of the hills and higher grounds, the red- bud trees blazed forth on the sloping hillside and the somber brown of the pawpaws' bloom in the valleys, were all entwined in the loving embrace of the wild grapevine. The brown thrush sang his sweet and varied notes learned
from birds in a distant land, as he perched in a clump of hazel brush; while from the midst of a bower of crab-apple blossoms, alive with insects and bees gathering their wealth of nec- tar from the flowers, the blue-jay sounded his defiance. And from the woods about mingled the song of many birds, rivalled in its charm only by the beauty of their plumage. And the red man could exclaim with Solomon in his song "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers ap- pear on earth; the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the dove is heard in our land; the fruit tree putteth forth her green fruit, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell."
And then the summer came and the green leaves were full in size and growth and the young deer and buffalo went forth in their growing strength thru the forests and grass of the prairie and their strength and speed increast with age, and many a wild beast quencht its thirst in the refreshing cool- ness of the flowing streams of clear water. The young birds flew among the branches of the forest, and the seeds of berries were ripe, the grass- hopper and the cricket called and everywhere insects swarmed, some in deep hued colors, and the butterflies, gorgeous in their dress, lazily floated in air and sought for a place of safety to deposit their larvae.
Autumn came and the huckleberry was ripe on the bush, a few raspberries and blackberries lingered yet on the vine and the wild gooseberry blusht in the thicket; the pawpaws were fall- ing from the trees, and many varieties of wild plums could be gathered. Many a deserted bird's nest yet hung in the
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
leatherwood, water beech and kinnikin- nick, and a large hornet 's nest would swing occasionally from a limb of the sassafras or ironwood. And the hickory nuts would fall; and the hazel nut could be gathered in its brown shell; the walnuts were steadily drooping while the butternut lingered for a more telling frost; the golden-rod and the purple ironweed were profuse in their growth; the black-birds and wild pigeons and waterfowl came in such droves that they would obscure the sun; the clatter of the industrious wood- pecker working on a dead limb of a distant tree; and the call of the hermit thrush in the timber could be heard while the wild goose honkt high at the apex of his living triangle; and the quack of the mallard as he floated to the deeper waters in pristine beauty gave the danger signal to his com- panions. And then Jack Frost came and breathed on the leaf of tree and shrub and vine, spreading his enchant- ment over woods and hill and valley, enriching it all with a variation of col- or and artistic beauty, the envy of a Eaphael or an Corot, yet a secret in the chemistry of art which Jack refuses to reveal, a beauty in richness and col- or that we may yet enjoy as well as did the red man when he was here.
Then soon the leaves fell and the limbs of the trees were bare and the winds piled the fallen leaves in the hollows in the woods. The snows came and the streams and ponds froze over and the migrating birds with their beauty of feathered plumage and sweet- ness of song had taken their trackless flight to a more congenial clime in the sun-kist land of the South. Yet the game birds and the wild game of the forest lingered and had grown fat on
grass and fruits and nuts; the ponds and the streams were full of fish; the corn had been pluckt in the roastiug ear and stored for winter use, and now the braves could go to the chase for flesh for food and skins for cloth- ing and winter tents. The women and children were in the camps and all were happy; the crow would caw by day and the owl would hoot at night; the timber wolf would bark, and the pan- the scream in the woods and all this was a part of life to the red men of the Wabash.
Beneath the spreading branches of a linden tree, a dusky maid of the forest stood and listened to tlie music of the divine orchestra of insects, bees and birds; a squirrel sprang gracefully from a limb and barked with delight at her presence; the earth beneath her feet was carpeted in green «nd decorated with the various colors of the spring flowers; the clear water of a spring from the lips of mother earth in a stream nearby rippled and bubbled as it flowed over boulder, rock and pebble, and joined its voice in harmonious ap- proval in the expression of the sweet- ness of life and the beauty of the earth and the scene that environed the maid- en, the gentle zephyrs of the spring time played among the leaves of the trees and forests, and the sunshine fell between them. The maiden was alarmed by the plaintive cry of a doe, awakened from its restful sleep, and she moved noislessly toward it when a large buck sounded the alarm of danger and it and the mother deer and the little one bounded away and disappeared in the forest. Then a young brave, perfect in form and feature, with cap and feather, bow and arrow, joined the maiden. And love was then abroad in
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
47
the Valley of the Wabash. And they plighted their troth and loved, and wooed, and married.
In after years, in another clime, on a western plain, ended the delightful enchantment of pleasant memories of their youthful romance. Ever they pon- dered on the beauty of the land of their childhood where they had wandered to- gether beneath the trees of the forest and together they often journeyed thru the land of memory back to the Valley of the Wabash where they had joined their fortunes and their hands beneath a sky where the stars sang together, where the grass grew green and the water was clear; where the air was fill- ed with the sweet perfume of flowers and the birds sang a joyous song. K Captain Schuyler LaTourette recent- ly said: "When my mother and father were married in the state of New Jer- sey they arranged to start at once for the Wabash Valley, to take up land and make a permanent home. My mother bade farewell to her mother and father, her sisters and brothers, forever, and never expected to see them again, and, yet, they did not part with tear- stained eyes. She sparkled with young life, and was aglow with youth and joy, and gladly faced the future before her, taking her place as a helpmate to her
husband and life companion. And to- gether they came to the Wabash Valley to take their part and bear their share of the toil, the patience, the love and the hope that comes in rearing a fam- ily. And together my father and mother did their part in winning the West and building an empire. They need no monument to beg memory to them for by their devotion, their friend- ships and the service, happily and glad- ly done by them in their day and gene- ration, they have erected a monument to themselves in the hearts of their neighbors and their children more last- ing than metal, more enduring than stone. And my parents were only one couple among the many who left a dis- tant state or distant country to come to the Wabash Valley and the State of Indiana to take their part and their place as good useful citizens among the common folks in building a state and making a nation. ' '
As the dusky sweethearts left the land of their youth forever, the pale- face and his bride came to clear the forest, cultivate the land, build homes and schools, make townships, counties, cities and states, and lay the foundation for the civilization and culture that have made the state of Indiana and the Wabash Valley known the world over.
The Jesuit Priests and Father Gibault
It was my intention to write some- thing of the French Jesuit priests among the first articles in these sketches but I found it rather hard to get the correct information and I am indebted to my friend, Ameil Weber,
who furnisht me with much of the material that I have been trying to get. Mr. Weber is a resident of Attica and a Wabash operator at Buck Creek; he was born and raised in Attica and is well posted on the history of the Catho-
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
lie church. And, whether one be a Protestant or a Catholic (or a monistic rationalist and unbeliever like myself) if fair-minded, he will hate bigotry, which not only destroys mutual friend- ly relations but undermines the very peace and tranquility of every com- munity. Most bigotry in the world comes from ignorance and misunder- standing. Errors may be corrected, ignorance dispelled, and truth con- vincingly proven, and I know enough of the Protestant and the Catholic to know that if they understood each other better they would be less preju- diced toward each other.
The history of the Wabash Valley cannot be truthfully and accurately written without paying respect to the black-robed Jesuit priest.
Before the Northwest Territory was so designated, or even described or known the Catholic missionary was here and there were log chapels, sur- mounted by the cross, among the Indian villages in the Valley of the Wabash. Fifty years before Indiana was admit- ted into the Union as a state there were Catholic congregations, with priests who both preacht and establisht pioneer schools, and they were first among the pioneers and among the principal actors in the great deeds of early history which gave the Wabash territory to the American republic. Perhaps the black-robed Jesuit priests were among the first white men to come into the Wabash Valley, and in this section they were active participants in the events preceding the Revolution- ary war. To the fact that the Catho- lic missionaries and the pioneer Catho- lic laymen were here General George Eogers Clark was enabled to take the Northwest Territory from the British
and add to the domain of the United States what are now the great free commonwealths of Indiana, Ohio, Mich- igan, Illinois, Minnesota and Wiscon- sin, so the Catholics of the Wabash Valley naturally have intense interest in the celebration of Indiana's Centen- nial. In an early history of Indiana, written by Goodrich and Tuttle, the following paragraph appears: "The first white man who visited the terri- tory, now Indiana, was a Jesuit mission- ary, who came from the old French mission of St. Joseph, on the shores of Lake Michigan, which was the oldest Jesuit Mission in the Lake region; this missionary came to the Miami Indians in 1675." There are those who claim, and I believe correctly, that the Jesuit fathers were visitors at Ouiatenon and Vincennes as early i^fl 1666. The first record of a baptism at Vincennes was on June 25, 1749; and this record Bishop Alerding, in his book, declares is the earliest Catholic record in the state. It was signed by Sebastian Meu- rin, doubtless one of the early Jesuit missionaries. According to Jacob P. Dunn, in his history of Indiana, the countrymen of LaSalle and Joliet had penetrated the wilds of Indiana and the Wabash Valley as early as 1670. Doubtless there were many of the Jesuit missionaries wearing their robes of black, and with nothing but the open hand of friendship ready to clasp the hand of the red man and kindly ad- minister to his needs in the Wabash Valley, whose deeds have been forgot- ten, and whose service is not recorded in its annals. I shall quote only a little from the voyage of Joliet and Mar- quette to show the motive that lead them and the sentiment that inspired them. Marquette wrote:
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
49
"Our joy at being chosen for this expedition aroused our courage and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning to night, as we were going to seek unknown countries. We took all precaution that if our enterprise was hazardous it should not be foolhardy. For this reason we gathered all possible information from the Indians, who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all the new countries, marking down the rivers on which we were to sail, the names of the nations, and the places thru which we were to pass, the course of the river and what direction we should take when we got to it." And again he says, in speaking of M. Joliet and M. Tallon, joining him in the voy- age to make discoveries, "I was more enraptured at this good news as I saw my designs on the point of being ac- complisht and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these nations. * * * * We were not long in preparing our out- fit, altho we were embarking on a voyage, the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meats, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in our two bark canoes, M. Joliet, myself and five men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise. ' ' This is the spirit with which the Jesuit father carried his tidings of great joy to the untutored red men of the Wabash Valley.
A chief of the Fox Indians, speaking of the Franciseian missionaries, (who wore gray coats, while the Jesuit Fathers wore black gowns as the dis- tinctivemark of their sect), said: ' * These graycoats we value very much, they go barefooted as well as we; they
scorn our beaver gowns, and decline all other presents, they do not carry arms to kill, they flatter and make much of our children, and give them knives and other toys, without expecting any re- ward. * * * * The fathers of the gown have given up all to come to see us, therefore you, who are captain over all these men, be pleased to leave with us one of these graycoats, whom we will conduct to our village, when we have killed what we desire of the buf- falo." And this shows conclusively that the red men of the forest ap- preciated the kindness of the early Catholic priests.
The coming of Father Pierre Gibault from Quebec to the Wabash, in 1770, was not only an auspisious event for the extension of the faith of Catholi- cism but a fortunate circumstance for the young requblic of the United States of America which was then not yet con- ceived even in the mind of Thomas Paine.
Pierre Gibault, the honored and be- loved pastor of St. Francis Xavier Catholic church,Vincennes, Indiana, from the year 1785 to 1789, was born in the City of Montreal, Canada, on the 7th day of April, 1737, son of Peter Gibault and Mary St. Jean Gibault. In his early childhood he studied for the priesthood and became a mission- ary among the Indians and Canadians of the Northwest. As soon as he was ordained a priest at Quebec Seminary he started without delay for the Miss- issippi, Ohio and Wabash valleys. He arrived on Lake Michigan in July, 1768, stayed but one week and proceeded at once to Kaskaska, Illinois, arriving there in the fall. There he was wel- comed by all classes and out of what- ever chaos existed before his arrival
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
under his service soon union and har- mony prevailed. In 1769 he reacht Vincennes where the inhabitants re- ceived him with tears of joy.
Eev. Devernai had been kidnapt in the fall of 1763, and, to use Gibault 's own language in his letter to the Bis- hop of Quebec, dated June 15, 1770, "On their knees they said 'Father save us, we are almost in hell.' " He stay- ed there almost two months. There were between 700 and 800 people in Vincennes at that time. He was a man of refinement and culture, very precise and exact in the discharge of the duties devolving upon him.
In the year 1808, a resolution was adopted by the legislature of Virginia whereby the service of Eev. Pierre Gi- bault to General George Eogers Clark was acknowledged. Next to Clark and Vigo the Wabash Valley, the State of Indiana and the United States, are in- debted to Father Gibault, for the acquisition of the states comprised in what was the original Northwest Terri- tory, and Father Gibault should share honors with Clark since the fact that Clark was successful in this enterprise, was largely due to the exertions and in- fluence of this patriotic priest.
Before the coming of Clark, Father Gibault had spoken to large audiences in Vincennes, in the old fort, and set forth the possibilities of the new re- public in such glowing terms that the natives were all ready to swear al- legiance to the American cause. He himself administered the oath of al- legiance for the first time in the Wa- bash Valley, and thru his influence the American flag was hoisted over the old fort in Vincennes in February, 1778, The English soldiers were not present when this happened and when the news
reacht them a force under Gov. Hamil- ton was sent to take possession of the fort, which they did without opposi- tion. On account of this action, having incurred the displeasure of the English, Father Gibault was forced to leave Vin- cennes and returned to Kaskaskia, which ultimately proved a great ad- vantage to the American cause and was the means of wresting from England the entire northwest. It was fortunate indeed that Father Gibault was in charge of Kaskaskia when Clark ap- proacht that place on his expedition of conquest in July, 1778. Surrounding the town Clark met with no opposition and on the morning of July 5, 1778, according to Clark 's memoirs, a few of the principal men were arrested. Soon afterwards however. Father Gi- bault and five or six citizens waited on Clark and askt permission to assemble in the church. Clark told the priest that he had nothing to say against his religion, that it was a matter that Americans left for every man to settle with his God. This pleased Father Gi- bault and nearly the whole population gathered at the church and selected their noble pastor to make all arrange- ments with Clark as to his intentions. The priest askt the favor of allowing the wives and children of the men to remain with one another and he was told by Clark that it was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon women and children that he had taken up arms and penetrated into this remote stronghold of British and Indian barbarity.
Clark was not sufficiently strong to reach Kaskaskia and lead an expedition against Vincennes, and after a long conference with Gibault, it was decid- ed that Father Gibault would visit Vin-
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
51
cennes himself, which was agreeable to all interested. Arriving in Vin- eennes he explained the American cause and all swore allegiance to the United States. Gov. Hamilton then set out from Detroit with a large force and once more occupied the fort at Vincennes. Again Pierre Gibault, the patriotic priest, was ready to sacrifice, and with his love of liberty and un- daunted courage he furnisht Clark with two companies of Illinois troops, all Catholics and members of his church; one under command of McKay and the other under the command of Francis Chareville. Francis Vigo, who was at that time a devout Catholic, was also enlisted by his pastor. Clark himself knew nothing concerning Vincennes, neither did any of his men, but Gi- bault, the patriotic priest, possest the requisite knowledge and influence, and while it was winter and the streams were out of their banks the priest ad- vised Clark to proceed at once. Ac- cordingly, after the soldiers had listen- ed to an address and received the bless- ing of the priest, in February 1779, Clark and his army of about 170 men started for Vincennes. When the ex- pedition arrived there Gibault had pro- vided for their crossing the Wababh Eiver and also planned to have pro- visions furnisht when the expedition arrived exhausted, weary and hungry. So successful was this expedition that George Eogers Clark captured the fort without the loss of a life.
Eegardless of the splendid and valu- able service rendered to the country by Father Gibault, he was never rewarded
in any manner by the government, and in 1790, after a life of toil and struggle, he resided in poverty and destitution at Kahokia, Illinois. In that year he petitioned Gov. St. Claire for the grant of a few acres of land near that place for a home to shelter him in his old age; unfortunately Father Gibault was refused even this slight recognition of his valuable services and the records are at variance as to when and where he died. The place of his burial is un- known. Thus ended the career of one of America's noble-hearted, zealous and patriotic heroes. His achievements may never be fully appreciated, his glory may go unsung, yet it is to be hoped that this patriotic priest of the Wabash Valley will be given this year the glory, the honor and the place in the history and conquest of the north- west, that is so justly his.
If I should leave out of these sketches a tribute to this gentle, untiring Catho- lic priest; if I should fail to recall his sainted memory, and link it with that of George Eogers Clark and the other noble and heroic souls whose labors were united on that victorious march to Vincennes, my story would be lack- ing in the truth, beauty and influence that makes history valuable.
Like a golden chain, linking the past to the present in the rosary of years, is the record of the pioneer mis- sionary, the glory of whose labors rest like a benediction on every hill and stream along the Wabash Valley and whose names, like incense, are redolent with deeds of kindness, chivalry and valor.
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SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
Indiana's Admission to Statehood
The war of 1812 was concluded by the Treaty of Peace signed at Ghent, on the 24th day of December, 1814, and ratified by the President of the United States with the consent of the Senate on the 17th day of December, 1814. And on the first Monday of December in 1815 the General Assem- bly of Indiana Territory met at Cory- don. The sickness of Gov. Posey, who resided at Jeffersonville, prevented his attendance at the seat of govrrnment on the opening of the session and he sent his message to the two houses by his private secretary, Col. Allen D. Thon. In this message, which was very brief, the Governor congratulated the members of the legislature on the ter- mination of the war by an honorable peace. He alluded to the tide of im- migration, which was then flowing into the territory, and advised the levying of taxes as light as might be compat- ible with the public interests. He in- vited the legislature to turn its atten- tion to the promotion of education and the state roads and highways, and he recommended a revision of the territor- ial laws and an amendment of the mili- itia system. The legislature, during the course of its session, which lasted about a month, passed thirty-rne laws and seven joint resolutions. These acts were not, however, designed to make any material change in the existing laws of the territory. The attention of the members of the General Assembly was, indeed, engaged chiefly in the making of public and private efforts to change their territorial institutions for those of a state government.
A memorial, which was adopted by the legislature of Indiana territory on the 14th of December, 1815, and laid before Congress by Jonathan Jennings, the territorial delegate in Congress, on the 28th day of the same month, con- tains the following pasages: "Where-s as, the ordinance of Congress for the government of this territory (Indiana) has provided that whenever there shall be sixty thousand free inhabitants there this territory shall be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states. And whereas, by census, taken by the authority of the legislature of this territory, it appears from the returns that the number of free white inhabitants exceed sixty thousand, we, therefore, pray the hon- orable Senate and House of Eepresenta- tives, in Congress assembled, to order an election to be conducted agreeable to the existing laws of this territory, to be held in the several counties of this territory on the first Monday of May, 1816, for representatives to meet in convention at the seat of government
of this territory the day of
1816, who when assembled shall deter- mine by majority of the votes of all the members elected whether it will b expedient, or inexpedient, to go into a state government, and, if it be deter- mined expedient, the convention thus assembled shall have the power to form a constitution and frame govern- ment, or, if it be deemed inexpedient, to provide for the election of represent- atives to meet in convention at some future period to form a constitution. * * * And whereas, the inhabitants of
f
SKETCHES OF THE WABASH VALLEY
53
this territory are principally composed of emigrants from every part of the Union and as various in their customs and sentiments as in their persons, we think it prudent, at this time, to ex- pres to the general government our at- tachment to the fundamental principles of legislation prescribed by Congress in their ordinance for the government of this territory, particularly as respects personal freedom and involuntary ser- vitude, and hope they may be continued as the basis of the constitution.
The memorial was referred by Con- gress to a committee of which Mr. Jen- nings was chairman, and on the 5th of January, 1816, these gentlemen reported to the House of Eepresentatives of the United States a bill to enable the people of Indiana territory to form a consti- tution and state government and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the orig- inal states. This bill, after having been amended in some of its partic- ulars, was passed by Congress and be- came a law by the approval of the Pres- ident of the United States on the 19th day of April, 1816. In conformity with the provisions of this law an election for members of a convention, to form a constitution, was held in the several counties of the territory on Monday, the 13th day of May, 1816. The members of the convention were elected accord- ing to an apportionment which had been made by the territorial legislature and confirmed by an Act of Congress.
At this time there were thirteen coun- ties in the State of Indiana, and their population was as follows: Knox 8,068, Franklin 7,370, Washington 7,317, Clark 7,150, Harrison 6,795, Wa-yne 6,407, Gibson 5,330, Dearborn 4,424, Jefferson 4,270, Switzerland 1,382, Perry 1,720,
Posey 1,619, Warrick 1,415. Total 63,- 897.
The Act of Congress of the 19th of April, 1816, to enable the people of In- diana Territory to form a constitution and state government contained certain conditions and propositions with respect to boundaries, jurisdiction, school lands, salt springs, and lands for seat of gov- ernment. All of these conditions and propositions were ratified and accepted by an ordinance which was passed by the territorial convention at Corydon on the 28th day of June, 1816.
The convention that formed the first constitution of the state of Indiana was composed mainly of clear-minded, un- pretending men of common sense, whose patriotism was unquestioned and whose morals were fair. Their familiarity with the theories of the Declaration of American Independence, their territor- ial experiences under the provision of Ordinances of 1787, and their know- ledge of the principles of the Constitu- tion of the United States was sufficient when combined to lighten materially their labors in the great work of form- ing a constitution for a new state. With such landmarks in view the labors of similar conventions in other states and territories have been rendered compar- atively light, in the clearness and con- scientiousness of its style, in the com- prehensive and just provisions which it made for the maintainance of civil and religious liberty, in its mandates, which were designed to protect the rights of the people, collectively and individu- ally, and provide for the public wel- fare, the constitution that was formed for Indiana in 1816 was not inferior to any of the state constitutions which were in existence at that time.
The officers of the territorial govern-
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ment of Indiana, including the govern- or, secretary, judges and all other offi- cers, civil and military, were required by the provision of the state constitu« tion to continue in the exercise of the duties of their respective offices until they should be superseded by officers elected under the authority of the state government. The president of the con- vention that formed the constitution was required to issue writs of election, directed to the several sheriffs of the several counties, requiring them to cause an election to be held for gover- nor, lieutenant governor, representative to the congress of the United States, members of the General Assembly, sher- iffs and coroners, at the respective elec- tion districts in each county on the first Monday in August, 1816. At the gener- al election which was held at this time in the several counties of the territory Jonathan Jennings was elected governor of Indiana. He received 5,211 votes, and his competitor, Thomas Posey, who was then governor of the territory, re- ceived 3,934 votes. Christopher Har- rison, of Washington county, was elect- ed lieutenant governor, and William Hendrix was elected to represent In- diana in the Congress of the United States.
The first General Assembly, elected under the authority of the state con-
stitution, commenced its session at Corydon, on Monday, the 4th of Nov- - ember, 1816. John Paul was called to the chair of the senate pro tempore, and Isaac Blackford was elected speaker of the House of Eepresentatives. On Thursday, November 7th, the oath of ofiice was administered to Governor Jennings and to Lieutenant Governor Harrison in the presence of both houses. Immediately after which Governor Jen- nings delivered his first message to the General Assembly.
The territorial government of Indi- ana was thus superceded by a state gov- ernment on the 7th day of November, 1816, and the State of Indiana was for- mally admitted to the Union by a joint resolution of Congress approved on the 11th of December, in the same year. On the 8th of November, 1816, the gen- eral assembly, by a joint vote of both houses, elected James Noble and Waller Taylor to represent Indiana in the Senate of the United States. Sub- sequent joint balloting resulted in the election of Eobert A. New, Secretary of State; William H. Lilley, Auditor of Public Accounts, and Daniel C. Lane, Treasurer of State. The session of the first General Assembly of the State of Indiana was closed by final adjourn- ment on the 3rd of January, 1817.
The First White Settler of Fountain County
A hundred years ago the star of em- pire was moving westward with great rapidity and the new state of Indiana was being filled with the younger gen- eration of the best families from the eastern states. As word came back
from those who had penetrated into the new country telling of the wonder- fully fertile soil and the magnificent forests, the plentiful game and the rap- idly growing settlements, others were fired with zeal and followed, so that for
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many years the ox-trains of settlers continued to come. As the tide of set- tlement had started with the Ohio river it moved slowly but steadily north and west, and thus it was that the southern half of the state was settled first. At the time Indiana was admitted as a state, in 1S16, there were 63,897 white inhabitants and not one of them lived in Fountain county; in fact, this county had not been laid out and was still vir- gin wilderness awaiting the coming of the settler.
I have determined beyond question that the first white man to take up his permanent residence in Fountain, War- ren and Tippecanoe counties was Peter Weaver, whose descendants still live in the vicinity where he settled. His great-great-grandaughter, Miss Flora Weaver of West Point, furnished me with much of the following which she had used as a graduation thesis:
Peter Weaver came from Germany to Culpepper county, Virginia, before the war of the Eevolution. He mar- ried in Virginia and most of his chil- dren were born there.
The Weavers were well-to-do, of aris- tocratic lineage, and brought consid- erable wealth from the .'Fatherland. Peter had wealth enough for himself and family to live in comparative lux- ury and to associate with the first fam- ilies in that section of old Virginia, He married Martha Walker in Culpep- per county. Martha Walker's mother was a sister of Patrick Henry, the or- ator of Eevolutionary fame. Her fath- er was a full-blooded Miami Indian, had a good education and held posi- tions of trust in the Colony of Virginia, by appointment from the Crown. The union of the houses of Walker and
Weaver was considered promising for both the contracting families.
Peter Weaver was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and stood head and shoulders above the young men with whom he associated. He weighed 240 pounds, but was not fleshy, had blue eyes and was of a light complexion. His wif, Martha Walker Weaver, was of a dark complexion with dark eyes and showed her Indian descent.
In 1806 they sold their property in Virginia and moved to Wayne county, Indiana, in 1807, settling 3 miles south of Eichmond. He was one of the wealthiest men in his community and had a good and well improved farm.
While in Virginia he had formed the acquaintance of William Henry Har- rison and perhaps Harrison had some- thing to do with his coming to Indiana.
In September, 1809, when Gov. Har- rison left Vincennes for the Council House at Ft. Wayne to meet the Indians he traveled eastward to the western border of Dearborn county and from there he went to the home of Peter Weaver in Wayne county, arriving in the afternoon and staying all night. On this trip Gov. Harrison, afterwards president, gave to Patrick Weaver, the son of Peter Weaver, the first money he had ever owned, which was a silver 50c piece. Harrison arrived at Ft. Wayne September 15, 1809. After the battle of Tippejcanoe, in November, 1811, Gov. Harrison again stayed over night with Peter Weaver in Wayne county and gave him an account of the march up the Wabash and the battle. Being naturally of an adventurous dis- position, Peter Weaver became much interested in the Wabash Valley and the Tippecanoe battlefield.
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He was a good shot and liked to hunt and when Gen. Samuel Hopkins began to raise an army of 1250 soldiers to march up the Wabash river to The Prophets Town, (Tippecanoe), Peter Weaver joined the expedition and was first lieutenant in Capt. Washburn's company of spies and sharpshooters. He went immediately to Vincennes and from there he marched with the Hop- kin's army, in November, 1812, to The Prophet 's Town. He was so delighted with the Wea plains that he decided if ever an opportunity presented itself, he would make his home on this beauti- ful prairie.
After he returned home he went on the bond of a friend who had been elected sheriff of Wayne county. This friend was a defaulter for a large sum. Peter Weaver was the only bondsman with property and it fell to him to make good the sheriff's defalcation. It took his farm and all his personal property. He had always been used to comparative wealth and luxury, and now to find himselfapproaching old age in poverty was to him a great embarras- ment. He decided not to wait any longer, but to go at once to the Wabash Valley and the Wea plains which had appealed to him so strongly when he had crossed it in the war of 1812, so he and his son Patrick H., left the rest of the family to raise the crop on the farm he had sacrificed for his friend, the defaulting sheriff, and set forth on their quest for a new home in the Wa- bash Valley. They arrived at Vincen- nes in the spring of 1822 and built a skiff with two pairs of oars. This boat was large enough to carry their clothing and food, so they started up the Wa- bash.
Some of the Indians who were re-
lated to Peter Weaver's wife lived on what is known now as Flint Bar in Fountain county, They reached the Flint Bar with their boat the last of June or the first of July. Patrick H. was the first out of the boat, and with one of his oars killed a blacksnake 6 feet in length. They spent a month in hunting, fishing and visiting with their Indian relatives, and then began to select a place for a home altho the land was not yet open for entry. He built his log cabin across the road north of where Mr. Lewis Clement now lives; he commenced the building in August, 1822, and finished it that winter, but during the time that they were con- structing their cabin they lived on the Flint Bar in Fountain county with their Indian relatives, and stayed there from July, 1822, until April, 1823.
Some time in the early spring Peter Weaver floated down the river to Vin- cennes and went from there to Eich- mond and got his family, leaving Pat- rick H. to look after the claim and the cabin, while he himself would bring his family out to their new home. In 1827 the land he had taken up was granted by the United States government to the Burnetts, the French-Indian fam- ily of which I have already written. He bought two sections of the reserve allotted to the Burnetts, one of them being the section on which the cabin was located. The other was the section in which the Patrick H. Weaver farm was located.
In 1823, when he came to make his permanent home on his claim, a French trader stopped at his home and had with him some oats which he fed to his horse. In consideration of a few bush- els of corn, he traded Peter Weaver a portion of this cereal. The oats thus
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procured were sown and in due time reaped, but in the following season all were surprised to see several different varieties of wheat spring forth from the stubble previously occupied by the oats. It was regarded as very myster- ious, so Peter Weaver raised the first wheat as well as the first oats in the county.
In after years he had a grain eleva- tor constructed on the east bank of the AVabash river at the Flint Bar. This elevator was put up in 1825, and was perhaps the first building for handling grain in Fountain, Warren or Tippeca- noe counties. Afterwards Peter Weav- er turned the elevator over to Wm. Sherry, his son-in-law. At one time there were four families living near this elevator and the place was known as Fulton. It was almost opposite the island of the same name and was prob- ably the oldest village in either Foun- tain, Warren or Tippecanoe counties.
Peter Weaver brought with him from Virginia two negro slaves named Ben and Ean. Mr. Weaver believed in slavery and considered the negroes his personal property. Soon after they came to Tippecanoe county there was an effort to steal the negroes. Mr. Weaver grew very angry and protected his property rights in the negro boys, with his musket if necessary. One of them died in Tippecanoe county and was buried in the Weaver graveyard. The other was taken to Missouri about the time the Civil War commenced.
Peter Weaver was very pronounced in his political views. He cast his first vote in Indiana for Jackson in 1828, and for years was identified with the Democratic party. During the Civil War he was so much in sympathy with the South that his son, Patrick H.
Weaver, considered it unsafe for him to stay in Tippecanoe county any long- er, and had him go to the home of his son, Mose Weaver, in Missouri and stay the entire winter.
At that time he was almost 90 years of age, yet he walked from his home in Missouri to the home of his son in Tip- pecanoe county and from there he walk- ed to Culpepper county, Virginia, where he remained over winter with his twin brother. From Culpepper county, Vir- ginia, he walked back to Tippecanoe county. These long walks, in spite of the fact that he enjoyed them, so weak- ened him that he never entirely recov- ered from the effects, and died at the home of Patrick H. Weaver, in 1863, at the age of 96. He was buried in the Weaver graveyard in Wayne township, near the home of Mr. Lewis Clement.
Peter Weaver was not only the first settler in Fountain and Tippecanoe counties, but was perhaps more widely and favorably known among the early inhabitants than any man of the upper Wabash. He served several years as county commissioner and was at the front in all movements to bring about a betterment of conditions. He killed more deer, more rattlesnakes, more wolves and more bears and caught more fish and found more bee trees, and en- tertained in a hospitable manner more land-hunters, trappers and traders than any private citizen between Vincennes and the mouth of the Salmonie river.
Patrick H. Weaver, the eldest son of Peter Weaver, was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, in 1803, and came with his father to the Wabash Valley in 1822. He was a stout, muscular man, 6 feet, 4 inches, in his boots, and weighed over 200 pounds. January 26, 1829, he married Elsie Dimmitt, whose parents
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came from Tennessee and settled in Wayne county, Indiana, in the early part of the last century. During his early life he took an active part in pol- itics and like his father, was a great hunter. While hunting he traveled over a large part of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, going as far north as Minneapolis and St. Paul. For many years he received as much money from his trapping and the chase as he did from the farm. He raised a com- pany of 100 men to take part in the Black Hawk war, and was made cap- tain of the company. Gen. Walker was in command. Col. Davis and Captain Brown of the artillery, and Captain Weaver with his volunteers, mounted their war steeds and proceeded to join the army. A public meeting was held at the court house in Lafayette and 300 volunteeers, mostly mounted men who had furnished their own horses, left Lafayette and started for the Grand Prairie. Capt. Weaver with his troops marched to Sugar creek, Benton county, and stayed a few days, but finding no Indians they returned by order of Gen. Walker. Some of the men, however, proceeded farther on. Capt. Weaver took his horse and marched on to Chi- cago where he joined Gen. Scott and his troops. Some of these troops died of cholera, but Patrick H. was not af- fected. He took part in the battle of Blue Mound, where Black Hawk was defeated, and also in the battle on the banks of the Mississippi, nearly op- posite Upland, Iowa, where Black Hawk was again defeated.
Capt. Weaver conducted a militia muster and drilled the young men on the south side of the Wea prairie. His uniform was a blue wool shirt with a
red sash, and he wore epaulets. His large sword was fastened by his side, and on his hat a tall plume was waving in the wind. His company consisted of about 70 men who had reluctantly turned out to muster to avoid paying a fine. Some had corn stalks, some sticks, and a few had guns. The captain hav- ing had some experience in the Black Hawk war, understood his business bet- ter than his men supposed. He gave his commands in a clear, ringing voice and showed his men the maneuvers of war. He located on a tract of 162 acres in Burnett 's Eeserve, and eventually owned 500 acres. He died October 16, 1890, after completing his 87th year, his wife having died Jan. 28, 1884.
Virgil and Samuel Weaver, well known farmers of Wayne township, Tip- pecanoe county, are great-grandsons of Peter Weaver, as are also Mark Whick- er, of Attica, J. C. and Chester Whick- er, of Lafayette, Wm. Whicker, of Iowa, and Mrs. Ella Andrews, of West Point, Ind. There are numerous other descendants of this worthy pioneer still living.
Altho I have here given credit to Peter Weaver as the first white set- tler to locate permanently in Warren, Fountain or Tippecanoe counties, it should not be forgotten that Zachar- iah Cicot's father was a white man of pure French blood, and that he lived for many years and died where Inde- pendence, Warren county, is now loca- ted. Abraham Burnett, another French- man, also settled in Wabash township, Fountain county, and lived there for many years, having been killed, accord- ing to tradition, in one of the fights in this vicinity at the time of Gen. Chas. Scott's raid and the destruction of the
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Indian town of Ouiatenon in 1791, long before Peter Weaver came. These men however, cast their lot with the In-
dians, intermarried with them and held their land as Indians, so that their place in history is really with the Red Man.
The Government Land Survey
In the first Congress of the United States, a committee of three was ap- pointed to devise a method of laying off the public lands for settlement. Thom- as Jefferson was the chairman of this committee and for this reason it is known as the Jefferson system of land surveying.
In all the new states and territories the land owned by the general govern- ment is surveyed and sold under this general system. In the state of Indi- ana, several offices, each under the dir- ection of a surveyor general, were estab- lished by acts of Congress and districts assigned them. The general office for the surveys of all public lands in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin was located at Cincinnati. In the surveys meridian lines were first established running north from some prominent place. These are intersected at right angles with lines running east and west called base lines. There are five prin- cipal meridians in the land surveys of the West. The first and second of which are connected with the land sur- veys of Indiana. The first principal meridian is a line due north on the east- ern boundary of the state from the mouth of the Great Miami river. The second principal meridian line is a line due north from a point on the Ohio river nine degrees and twenty-nine sec- onds west from Washington. From these principal meridians with their corresponding base lines the country is
divided into townships of six miles square, which are subdivided into sec- tions of one mile square or 640 acres each; and these are again subdivided into quarter sections of 160 acres each. These divisions are designated by the surveyor by appropriate marks which can easily be distinguished from each other. If near timber, trees are mark- ed and numbered with the section, town- ship and range, near each section corner. If in a prairie, a mound is raised to des- ignate the corner; and a billet of char- red wood buried if no rock is near. Ranges are townships counted as east or west from principal meridians. Town- ships are counted either north or south from their respective base lines, as township 22 north, range 7 west. Sec- tions or square miles are numbered be- ginning in the northeast corner of the township with No. 1, progressively west to the range line, numbered 6, and then below 7 progressively east to the range line is 12 and so on alternately, termin- ating at the southeast corner of the township with 36.
In the state of Indiana there were seven land districts with offices attached to each open for sale and entry of pub- lie lands as follows: The Cincinnati dis- trict embraced all lands east of the old Indian boundaries, viz.: beginning where the old Indian line strikes the Ohio river in range 13 east, thence with it N. N. E. to where it intersects the other Indian line in section 23
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T-ll R-13 east, thence S.W. with anoth- er line in section 33, T-10, E-11, E., thence with the line N. N. NE. to its bend in section 11, T-21, E-13, E., and thence N. E. towards Fort Eeeovery to where it intersects the Ohio state line is section 36, T-23, R-15, E.
The Jeffersonville district, commen- cing on the Ohio river is bounded on the west by the second principal merid- ian as far north as the line between townships 9 and 10 north, thence east with the line between townships 9 and 10 until it makes the Indian boundary line on the south side of section 33, T-10, R-11, E., thence being the Cincin- nati line with the Indian line north- westerly to the junction of the Indian line, thence to a line in range 13 on the Ohio river, thence with the river to the beginning.
Then came the Vincennes district, which embraced all the lands west and south of the following -^ line, beginning on the Ohio where the second meridian first leaves the same thence north with the meridian line until it is inter- sected in section 1, T-9, E-1, W., by the old Indian line, thence with the old In- dian boundary northwesterly until it intersects the Illinois state line and township 16 north.
The Indianapolis district, then the Ft. Wayne district and then the La Porte district, and then the lands in the Crawfordsville district. In the body of the old deeds for land in this locality used to be written, "in that body of land offered for entry at the land olfiee in Crawfordsville," and we are more directly interested in this than any other. It was included in the lines beginning on the Illinois state line where the Indiana line strikes it in township 16, thence southeast with the
Vincennes line on the Indian boundary to intersect with the meridian lines in section 1, township 9, range 1 west, thence north with the meridian line to the corner of townships 9 and 10. Thence east with the line between town- ships 9 and 10 to the southeast corner of township 10, range 1 east, thence north with the line between ranges 1 and 2 east of the northeast angle of township 26, range 1 east, thence west between townships 26 and 27 to the Ill- inois state line and thence with the Illinois line to the beginning.
To get the entry of the lands within this line one had to refer to the books then in Crawfordsville. The entry of the land in this district made Crawfords- ville the center not only of population but of everything pertaining to the early settlement of the country. The counties of Parke and Vermilion were surveyed and open to entry much earli- er than Fountain and Warren counties. For some cause the first lands open for entry in Fountain and Warren counties were in ranges 6 and 7. The first set- tlers came up the river and old Mays- ville was on the range line numbered 6, so was Newtown and Wallace, and Hillsboro was very close to it. Wal- lace, Hillsboro, Newtown and Mays- ville v/ere built on this line because of its being open to settlement first. And strange as it may seem, the land taken up six miles west from the Fountain county line or three miles west and three miles east of range 6 west, clear across Fountain and Warren counties and for quite a little distance up into Benton county was entered by people of Quaker descent who were all related by blood or marriage. Many of their descendants still live along the line of the land their grandparents and great-
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grandparents took up from the gov- ernment.
As the tide of emigrants flowed into Fountain county they came in two ways. Many came up the Wabash as did Peter Weaver and his son, but there were many others that came by wagons across the state, some of them having come the entire distance from their old homes in the eastern states in this man- ner following the old trail thru Straw- town and Thorntown, thence to Craw- fordsville and on to this vicinity. The record of land entries for all this sec- tion was made at Crawfordsville and the records are still preserved there. The entries indicate that the land was opened up by ranges or strips six miles wide and extending at least the length of two connties. The land comprising what is now Fountain and Warren coun- ties was taken uj) rapidly. It began in 1823 and within ten years all the best land was taken, altho occasional entries were made as late as 1840. Peter Weav- er, it will be recalled, bought his land from the Burnetts, who had received it as an Indian grant. It was only by this means that he got in ahead of the survey.
The land survey in Fountain and War- ren counties was a very poor one and has resulted in much trouble and in- convenience to land owners and survev-
ors. The government surveyor who surveyed most of this section thot the land would never be taken up and there is a story that has been handed down for nearly a hundred years to the effect that he and his crew were drunk most of the time while making the survey. Possibly they kept their hides full of whiskey as a protection against the Wabash ague so prevalent in those days, but whether this was true or not the fact remains that their work was very carelessly and inaccurately done.
It was in this first land rush that Maysville sprung into being and reach- its greatest importance. Cicott's trad- ing post at Independence was naturally the headquarters for the first settlers who came to the vicinity but the pres- ence of so many lazy pilfering Indians, who when drunk made life about the place miserable, resulted in the erec- tion of Maysville about a mile up the river and on the opposite side. With- in a short time there were stores, a hotel, and a bank — the first to be open- ed in Fountain county. I shall tell of this in more detail later in a separate article. Maysville was located joat east of where Eiverside now is and all that remains to mark the site is a few stunted cedar and apple trees and some of the niggerheads which were used as foundation stones under the houses.
The Creation of Fountain County
On the 30th day of December, 1825, the Act of the Legislature of the State of Indiana, creating Fountain county was approved. It is in the following language:
"An Act for the formation of a new county out of the counties of Montgom- ery and Wabash.
Sec. I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana that from and af-
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