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Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. II

©1888

 

PREBLE COUNTY

 

 

Page 446

 

 

PREBLE COUNTY was formed from Montgomery and Butler, March 1, 1808, it was named from Capt. Edward PREBLE, who was born at Portland, Maine, August 15, 1761, and distinguished himself as a naval commander in the war of the Revolution, and particularly in the Tripolitan war, and died on the 25th of August 1806. The soil is various; the southern part is a light rich soil, and is interspersed by numerous streams; the remainder of the county is upland, in places wet, but fertile when brought under cultivation. There is an abundance of water power for milling purposes, and large quantities of flour are manufactured.

 

Area about 440 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 186,275; in pasture, 35,426; woodland, 33,294; lying waste, 5,873; produced in wheat, 529,637 bushels; rye, 1,136; buckwheat, 85; oats, 464,627; barley, 13,563; corn, 1,522,636; broom-corn, 17,100 pounds brush meadow hay, 8,814 tons; clover hay, 4,096; flax, 81,500 pounds, fibre; potatoes, 30,830 bushels; tobacco, 1,044,210 pounds; butter, 611,300; cheese, 300; sorghum, 6,668 gallons; maple syrup, 9,169; honey, 11,137 pounds; eggs, 549,135 dozen; grapes, 30,870 pounds; wine, 149 gallons; sweet potatoes, 3,242 bushels; apples, 1,643; peaches, 61; pears, 749; wool, 28,183 pounds; milch cows owned, 5,959. Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888: Limestone, 64,500 tons burned for lime; 3,000 tons burned for fluxing; 23,750 cubic feet of dimension stone; 10,397 cubic yards building stone; 30,000 square feet of flagging; 12,460 square feet of paving; 8,571 lineal feet of curbing; 3,492 cubic yards of ballast or macadam. School census, 1888, 7,139; teachers, 183; miles of railroad track, 75.

 

 

 

 

 

Page 447

 

LIMESTONE QUARRIES.

 

The quarrying of limestone is an important industry in this county. The limestones principally quarried belong to the Niagara group; these in Ohio are very often called cliff limestones, because they stand in the bluffs along the river valleys. The quarries in the vicinity of Eaton turn out a number of grades of stone; suitable for flaggings and copings as well as for fine and rough constructions. It is stated in Orton’s Geological Report, that a stone 10 x 12 feet in superficial dimensions has been taken out and that very much larger stones can be obtained. The Clintonlimestone has not been so extensively quarried, but is very much in demand for chimney backs and has been found especially desirable for those constructions which are exposed to fire or heat.

 

Old Block House.—On what is known as the Wolf farm, Harrison township, stood one of a series of block houses built and manned by citizen-soldiers in the fall of 1813. Dr. J. W. MILLER, of West Baltimore, has given us the following facts concerning it.

 

This block-house was built by a party of drafted men, belonging to a company of riflemen which formed a part of the Old Battalion under the command of Major Alexander C. Lanier. This company occupied the block-house during the winter of 1813-14 to protect the settlements on Miller’s Fork.

 

It was one of a series of block-houses, built and manned by citizen-soldiers, in communication with the settlements and line of forts between Cincinnati and the Lakes. The following is a true copy of a discharge which is in my possession.

 

I do certify that ^{______ _______}, a sargeant of my company of Ohio Riflemen, in the Old Battalion, under the command of Alexander C. Lanier, has served a regular tour of duty, and is hereby honorably discharged.

 

Given under my hand this 5th day of April, 1814,                    SIMON PHILLIPS, Capt.

 

The members of this company have been left out of the roster of Ohio’s soldiers in the war of 1812, as least so far as Ohio’s record is concerned. The LOCKS, HAPNERS, McNULTS and others of Lewisburg, and the TILLMANS, LOYS, RICES, ABBOTS, PHILLIPES,  MYERSES and others on Miller’s Fork, were prominent in the settlements referred to.

 

TRAVELLING NOTES.

 

A Caboose Ride.—On Tuesday at noon, April 13, I took the caboose at Hamilton, and rode to Eaton, distant some 25 miles. The caboose was at the end of a very long freight train, perhaps a quarter of a mile in length. In the roof of the caboose was a lookout. I took advantage of it, ascended by a few steps, seated myself in a chair on a little platform, when perhaps half of my body was outside and above everything, there being a scuttle-hole in the roof for this purpose.

 

Our progress was very slow, about 6 or 8 miles an hour, which gave ample opportunity if one passed anything particularly attractive, to fully take it all in; I especially appreciated this as we slowly went by a scattered village, with a quaint-appearing church, with deep red roof, and red roofs here and there upturned to the sky, which showed that the people whose homes I was gazing upon came to Ohio from the Rhineland. The ride was a delight, and also historically interesting, up the gentle valley in which, in the days of the savage and the wilderness, the armies of St. Clair and Wayne had marched—the one to defeat and massacre; the other to victory and peace.

 

I looked down as from the upper deck of a steamer upon our long train, which was twisting and winding under my eyes, with its little black pony ahead (at least seeming little from its distance from me) sending out its black smoke and doing his work so nicely and honestly, as to fill me with a sense of gratitude for his marvellous performance. If I don’t give the black pony credit, I must those who first thought him out, and then made him to go (the little creatures generally known as human beings), and this without a crack of a whip, nor a quart of oats, but simply with fire, wood and plenty of water, and a strong, brave manly fellow to drive him.

 

 

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dulating course of our train which was going up it, the tall windmills by the farm houses, called wind pumps, because used for supply of water; the gentle undulations of the country largely open to the view, together with the clear overarching sky, were all pleasing, peace-filling objects for my contemplation. I had no cares and so drank to my fill from the varied objects of the changing landscape. Ordinary railroad travelling gives one but a faint idea of the beauties of natural objects, and so I felt favored.

 

Aunt Sally and her Pet.—In my original visit to Eaton, the landlady at the village tavern was a comical, good-natured creature, whom, if I rightly remember, the young men of the village (who largely boarded with her) addressed as “Aunt Sally.”

 

In those days the pigs had the liberty of the streets in the small towns; yea, even in Cincinnati they roamed abroad, doing good scavenger work, while sending forth their notes loud and strong.

 

Whether Aunt Sally was unwedded or wedded I know not, but she evidently felt the want of some object to pet. Woman’s heart has many tendrils and sometimes these fasten queerly; hence Aunt Sally’s especial attentions to a pig, which were gratefully returned, all to the daily amusement of her boarders.

 

Piggie was not over cleanly, had only one ear some dog having appropriated the other, and once, to my astonished eyes, during my stay, dashed into and through the house with the freedom of one of the family. I was told he had once even appeared in the dining-room. I doubted this; it was altogether too premature. Odd characters in the olden time diversified village life. There are few such anywhere in our time—a great loss in the line of what Barnum might term “moral entertainment.”

 

At Eaton I was pleased to find my old friend Judge John V. CAMBELL, a large, heavy man of sweet and gentle spirit, who had aided me on my original visit and all through a long life has been doing good. He took me toward evening on a ride in his buggy to the Preble County Children’s Home, about a mile southwest from the town, of which institution he was the principal trustee.

 

The Judge’s Crust.—In a few minutes after starting my attention was arrested by an old mill and tool shop in ruins on the margin of “Seven Mile Creek” and near an old bridge.

 

“What a fine picture,” I said,” that would, make if it only had some big, old trees around it.”

 

“Yes,” replied the Judge, “and I must tell you a story.

 

“When I was a boy about fifteen years old, a missionary, one Sunday morning, preached a charity discourse in our church. His eloquence so moved me that I felt it my duty to contribute. I had a quarter in my pocket. I hated to part with it; it was all the money I had in the world, and money was hard for me to get; but I dropped it in the box all the same. That afternoon I was wandering about that old tool shop, when my eye was attracted by something shiny; stooping down I picked it up; when, rubbing off the dirt, I found it to be half-a-dollar.”

 

Thus the Judge’s crust cast upon the waters went ahead of the Scripture promise, it being doubly returned, and that too before sundown.

 

The Children’s Home has about forty children. This place contains about twenty-five acres. The Home building was originally a hotel, a health resort called St. Clair’s Springs. Here are several flowing mineral springs, said to be good for many diseases. It is on the line of St. Ciair’s Military Trace, and near the site of old Fort St. Clair. There are six springs at the Home and more can be made anywhere there by driving gas pipes down a few feet.

 

These Children’s Homes are one of the most commendable features of the State. They originated in Washington county, under which heading is given a sketch and portrait of Mrs. EWING, the noble woman who originated them.

 

As we drove out to the gate to leave, a little midget in the form of a four-year-old boy stood in waiting. He looked up at the Judge with a reverential air, thumb in mouth, “Well, Tommy,” asked the Judge, “what do you want?”

 

“Some new shoes,” timidly replied he. We looked down at his feet; he seemed well, but coarsely shod, the toes well protected with shining, metallic tips.

 

“You shall have a new pair soon, Tommy,” rejoined the Judge. Then as we drove along he told me this incident:

 

“A group of the children were chatting among themselves about their mothers, saying how much they would like to have visits from their mothers, when one little fellow, who had been silent, added, ‘I don’t care’ ever to see my mother no more, since she has forsaken me and left me alone in this place.’ “

 

About a year after this ride with me, the Judge illustrated in his history the text that points to the finale for each of us in turn, “We have here no continuing city.”

 

 

Page 449

 

with Hamet, bashaw, in the war against Tripoli, in which he evinced great energy of character: he died in 1811. He was brave, patriotic and generous.

 

The turnpike from Dayton west leads through Eaton, and one also connects the place with Hamilton. The village contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist and 1 Public church, 1 book, 2 grocery and 4 dry-goods stores, 1 or 2 newspaper printing offices, 1 woollen factory, 1 saw mill and about 1,000 inhabitants. Near the town is an overflowing well of strong sulphur water, possessing medicinal properties. About two miles south is Halderman’s quarry, from which is obtained a beautiful grey clouded stone: at the village is a limestone quarry, and the county abounds in fine building stone.—Old Edition.

 

Among the earlier settlers of the town were: Samuel HAWKINS, Cornelius VANASUSDAL, David E. HENDRICKS, Alexander Mitchell, Alexander C. LANIER and Paul LARSH. Cornelius VANAUSDAL kept the first store and David E. HENDERICKS the first tavern.

 

EATON, county-seat of Preble, is fifty-three miles north of Cincinnati, on the C. R. & C. R. R. It is the centre of a great tobacco and grain-growing section. Cigar manufacturing is a large industry.

 

County officers, 1888: Auditor, Hiram L. ROBBINS; Clerk, Leander D. LESH; Commissioners, William MILLS, John C. RINER, Werter D. PUGH; Coroner, Philip M. SMALL; Infirmary Directors, Frank RIDENOUR, Nathaniel B. STEPHENS, Joseph W. COFFMAN; Probate Judge, William A. NEAL; Prosecuting Attorney, John RISINGER; Recorder, Peter S. EIKENBERRY; Sheriff, William ATTERS; Surveyor, Robert E. LOWRY; Treasurer, Silas LAIRD. City officers, 1888: W. B. MARSH, Mayor; J. N. SLIVER, Clerk; Geo. W. NELSON, Treasurer; Court Marshal. Newspapers: Democrat, Democratic, L. G. GOULD, editor and publisher; Register, Republican, W. F. ALBRIGHT & Sons, editors and publishers. Churches: 1 Lutheran, 2 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Catholic, 1 Baptist, and 1 Disciples. Banks: Farmers’ and Citizens’, Abner DUNLAP, president, C. F. BROOKE, Jr., cashier; Preble County, H. C. Hiestand & Co.

 

Manufactures and Employees.—F. P. Filbert, cigars, 35 hands; Coovert & Cooper, cigars, 29; G. A. & J. F. Lugar, builders’ wood-work, 11; Frank Rhinehart, builders’ wood-work, 4; H. Sanders, flour, etc., 3; W. F. Jones, cigars, 13; Straw Bros., cigar boxes, 5.—State Report, 1887.

 

Population in 1880, 2,143. School census, 1888, 730; J. P. SHARKEY, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $51,000. Value of annual product, $100,000.—0hio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 2,996.

 

“At Eaton are mineral springs and flowing wells,” writes Dr. F. M. Michael. “Artesian Wells are obtained in the north part of the town by boring thirty or thirty-five feet in the earth. The waters are strongly impregnated with iron, bicarbonate of sodium, potassium, with traces of lithium; very little lime salts enter into the composition; in fact, the water is much softer than the surface wells.

 

“One of these wells has been flowing for many years. Several new wells have been flowing for eight years; the water rises several feet above the ground.

 

“A well at the court-house, over one hundred feet in depth, affords white sulphur waters. Has been in use many years for its medicinal qualities.”

 

Eaton is a healthy town, but in 1849 few places in the State suffered so severely from Asiatic Cholera; about one hundred and twenty deaths in the course of the summer out of a population of about six hundred who remained behind, while of the other half of the population who fled, not one died.

 

 

Page 450

 

Top Picture

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

THE COURT-HOUSE, ETC., EASTON.

 

Bottom Picture

C. C. Harlan, Photo., Eaton, 18890.

 

THE ONE-EYED OX.

 

This was an animal that roamed through the woods when he was a boy. This historic ox was a noble animal, with large and stately horns of a dark brindle color, and a grand type of the bovine race, whom the first settlers found hereon their arrival. It was supposed he had strayed from Wayne’s army on his march into the Indian country. They caught him and reduced him to their service. When a boy Hendricks rode “One-Eyed” to mill on several occasions, and his father harnessed him and employed him to haul logs in the clearing. He was quite celebrated among the early settlers and lived for several years among them as common property, and when he died they largely turned out to his funeral and buried him in honor on Garrison Branch.

 

NETTLE SHIRTS.

 

Another of Mr. Hendrick’s experiences was the wearing a nettle shirt. Nettles were found wild in the woods, and before they could break up the country and grow flag for linen, the settlers resorted to it as a material for underclothing. This shirt so irritated his back, he was frequently compelled to lean against the trees and rub it to allay the irritation. Scott, in his History of Fairfield County, says :

 

“The pioneers in some parts manufactured fine linen from the fibre of wild nettles, but it was not known to all even of them. It grew in great abundance in some sections and always on the low and richest soil. It resembled boneset or ague weed, and grew about four feet in height. Its fibre was fine as the finest flag and was treated in the same way, by rotting, breaking, scutching and spinning; but unlike flag, it was mowed down and not pulled up by the root. The nettle has entirely disappeared from the country and is never seen except in remote and wild spots. It has on its stem a prickly beard that, upon touching with the hands, inserts itself into the skin, producing a most intolerable itching, almost unendurable; hence, everybody soon learned to go round ‘the nettle patch.’ ”

 

GIRLS STOLEN BY INDIANS.

 

A year or two before the war of 1812, two little girls were stolen from Harrison township by Indians. One was named THARP and the other HARPER. The incidents connected with this affair were related by Mr. G. D. HENDRICKS, January 18, 1885, at which time he was a resident of Hiawatha, Kansas.

 

Mr. Harper Finds His Child.—When the children were first missed, they were supposed to. be lost; but their captivity was assured by the discovery of Indian tracks. All efforts to find their whereabouts were of no avail, until many years after the close of the war, when Mr. HARPER learned from an Indian that a white woman was at Kaskaskia, Illinois, whence the father sought and found his long-lost child, but so changed by time and association that she was past recognition. But through the kind offices of a French interpreter, it became self-evident as to her identity. Notwithstanding this, she seemed unable to realize that she was other than one of the tribe, and refused to converse with her father, or return with him to civilization.

 

Wife of an Indian Chief.—Years rolled on without any tidings of the daughter of Mr. THARP, until about the year 1837 or 1838, when he received word from a friend and Indian trader, that the wife of an Indian chief, named CAPTAIN DIXON, was a white woman. DIXON was a younger brother of the Miami chief SHINGLEMACY, whose Indian name was METO-SINA. This tribe were on their Reservation, a few miles below where Marion, Grant county, Indiana, is located. The fond father sped his way to the vicinity of the village, and called on my brother, William E. HENDRICK, who had a traditional knowledge of the abduction of the THARP and HARPER children. As his farm was adjoining the Reservation, and he knew personally CAPTAIN DIXON and the tribe generally, the meeting of father and daughter was at my brother’s house.

 

Refused to Leave.—The result of the conference was disheartening to the father; for this child of misfortune persistently refused to leave her Indian home, arguing that with the whites she would be an object of sport or ridicule, on account of her Indian habits and training, and was too old to learn the habits and customs of civilized life; and in fact, she had but a faint recollection of her childhood home and kindred. The meeting and parting, as described by my nephew, were heartrending to the bereaved father; and the more so, because of the cold indifference of his alienated daughter, who, in a few years after, committed suicide, by drowning, at “Hog-back,” “in the Mississinewa, four miles below the village, because her liege lord returned home from a drunken spree with another wife. CAPTAIN DIXON, though a fair scholar, and speaking good English, was a drunken desperado, as were two of his brothers, who were killed at an Indian pow-wow, by a Pottawatomie brave; his oldest brother, METO-SINA, was temperate.

 

VANASUDAL’S STORE.

 

 

Page 452

 

farm and start the enterprise at Eaton. He and his store soon became known throughout the surrounding country, and his venture proved a profitable one. Started in 1808, he conducted it either alone or in partnership with others until 1863. Among his familiar acquaintances were TECUMSEH, his brother the PROPHET, HONEST JOHN, INDIAN JOHN, and others.

 

It is related of Indian John, that he brought furs to the store to swap for salt. The old-fashioned steelyards with long and short, or light and heavy slides, were used in weighing the articles involved in the trade. John had never seen steelyards before, and watched the weighing closely. The light side was used in weighing the furs. W hen the salt was to be weighed the steelyards were turned over so as to use the heavy side. John watched this operation with suspicion, and when he saw the yard fly up when the pea was not so far from the fulcrum as when his furs were weighed, he was convinced that there was something wrong, and seizing the steelyards with an exclamation pronouncing them a lie, ran to the door and threw them as far as he could into the weeds and brush. Mr. VANAUSDAL, in his dealings with Indians, would never give them credit, although he freely trusted white men. Mr. VANAUSDAL was born in Virginia, October 2, 1783; in 1805 came with his father to what is now Lanier township, Preble county. In 1810 he took the first census of Preble county. During the war of 1812, he was assistant paymaster in the United States army, and engaged in furnishing supplies to the army operating between the Ohio river and Lake Erie. In 1819 he represented Preble county in the Legislature. His death occurred in 1870.

 

About a mile west of Eaton is the site of Fort St. Clair, erected in the severe winter of 1791-2. At this time Fort Jefferson was the farthest-advanced post, being forty-four miles from Fort Hamilton. This spot was chosen. as a place of security, and to guard the communication between them. Gen. Wilkinson sent Major John S. Gano, belonging to the militia of the Territory, with a party to build the work. Gen. Harrison, then an ensign, commanded a guard every other night for about three weeks, during the building of the fort. They had neither fire nor covering of any kind, and suffered much from the intense cold. It was a stockade, and had about twenty acres cleared around it. The outline can yet be distinctly traced.

 

On the 6th of November, 1792, a severe battle was fought almost under cover of the guns of Fort St. Clair, between a corps of riflemen and a body of Indians. Judge Joel COLLINS, of Oxford, who was in the action, gives the following facts respecting it in a letter to James McBRIDE, dated June 20, 1843:

 

Indians Led by Little Turtle.—The parties engaged were a band of 250 Mingo and Wyandot warriors, under the command of the celebrated chief LITTLE TURTLE, and an escort of 100 mounted riflemen of the Kentucky militia, commanded by Capt. John Adair, subsequently governor of Kentucky. These men had been called out to escort a brigade of pack-horses, under an order from Gen. Wilkinson. They could then make a trip from Fort Washington, past Fort St. Clair, to Fort Jefferson, and return in six days, encamping each night under the walls of one of the military posts for protection. The Indians being elated by the check they had given our army the previous year, in defeating St. Clair, determined to make a descent upon a settlement then forming at Columbia, at the mouth of the Little Miami. Some time in September 250 warriors struck the war pole, and took up their line of march. Fortunately for the infant settlement, in passing Fort Hamilton they discovered a fatigue party, with a small guard, chopping firewood, east of the fort. While the men were gone to dinner the Indians formed an ambuscade, and on their return captured two of the men. The prisoners informed the Indians that on the morning previous-which must have been on Friday—a brigade of some fifty or 100 pack-horses, loaded with supplies for the two military posts in advance, had left Fort Hamilton, escorted by a company of riflemen, mounted on fine horses, and that if they made their trip in the usual time, they would be at Fort Hamilton, on their return, Monday night.

 

Ambuscade.—Upon this information, Little Turtle abandoned his design of breaking~ up the settlement above Cincinnati, and fell back some twelve or fifteen miles, with a view of intercepting the brigade on its return. He formed an ambuscade on the trace, at a well-selected position, which he occupied through the day that he expected the return of the escort. But as Capt. Adair arrived at Fort Jefferson on Saturday night, he permitted his men and horses to rest themselves over Sunday, and thus escaped the ambuscade. On Monday night, when on their return, they encamped within a short distance of Fort St. Clair. The judge says:

 

 

Page 453

 

a simultaneous attack on three aides of the encampment, leaving that open next to the fort. The horses became frightened, and numbers of them broke from their fastenings. The camp, in consequence of this, being thrown into some confusion, Capt. Adair retired with his men and formed them in three divisions, just beyond the shine of the fires, on the aide next the fort; and while the enemy were endeavoring to secure the horses and plunder the camp—which seemed to be their main object—they were in turn attacked by us, on their right, by the captain and his division; on the left by Lieut. George MADISON, and in the centre by Lieut. Job HALE, with their respective divisions. The enemy, however, were sufficiently strong to detail a fighting party, double our numbers, to protect those plundering the camp and driving off the horses, and as we had left the side from the fort open to them they soon began to move off, taking all with them.

 

“Close Fighting.—As soon as the day-dawn afforded light sufficient to distinguish a white man from an Indian, there ensued some pretty sharp fighting, so close in some instances as to bring in use the war-club and tomahawk. Here Lieut. Hale was killed and Lieut. Madison wounded. As soon as the Indians retreated the white men hung on their rear but when we pressed them too close, they would turn and drive us back. In this way a kind of running fight was kept up until after sun-rising, when we lost sight of the enemy and nearly all our horses, somewhere about where the town of Eaton now stands. On returning from the pursuit our, camp presented rather a discouraging appearance. Not more than six or eight horses were saved; some twenty or thirty lay dead on the ground. The loss of the enemy remains unknown; the bodies of two Indians were found among the dead horses. We gathered up our wounded, six in number, took them to the fort, where a room was assigned them as a hospital, and their wounds dressed by Surgeon Boyd of the regular army. The wound of one man John JAMES, consisted of little more than the loss of his scalp. It appeared from his statement that in the heat of the action he received a blow on the side of his head with a war-club, which stunned so as to barely knock him down, when two or three Indians fell to skinning his head, and in a very short time took from him an unusually large scalp, and in the hurry of the operation a piece of one of his ears. He recovered, and I understood some years afterwards that he was then living.

 

Another of the wounded, Luke VORES, was a few years since living in Preble county.

 

“Melancholy Duty.—By sunset on the day of the action we had some kind of rough coffins prepared for the slain. For the satisfaction of surviving friends I will name them, and state that in one grave, some fifty paces west of the site of Fort St. Clair; are the remains of Lieut. Job HALE; next to him, on his left, we laid our orderly sergeant, Matthew ENGLISH; then followed the four privates, Robert BOWLING, Joseph CLINTON, Isaac JETT and John WILLIAMS. Dejection and even sorrow hung on the countenances of every member of the escort as we stood around or assisted in the interment of these our fellow-comrades. Hale was a noble and brave man, fascinating in his appearance and deportment as an officer. It was dusk in the evening before we completed the performance of this melancholy duty. What a change ! The evening before nothing within the encampment was to be seen or heard but life and animation. Of those not on duty, some were measuring their strength and dexterity at athletic exercises; some nursing, rubbing and feeding their horses; others cooking, etc. But look at us now, and behold he ways, chances and uncertainties of war. I saw and felt the contrast then, and feel it still, but am unable further to describe it here!”

 

 

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graveyard, twelve military officers acting as pall-bearers, followed by the orator, chaplain and physicians, under whose direction the removal was made, with a large concourse of citizens and two military companies. The remains of the slain commander and soldiers have been recently removed to the mound, which, with the monument, will “mark their resting-place, and be a memento of their glory for ages to come.”

 

E. D. Mansfield, in his Personal Memoirs, published by Robert Clarke & Co., in 1879, speaks of meeting LITTLE TURTLE at his father’s house, then Ludlow’s Station, now Cumminsville, Cincinnati.

 

One day a dark man, with swarthy countenance, riding a very fine horse, dismounted at our house and went into my father’s office. I wanted to go in and see him, but for some reason or other was not allowed to. After some time—it was in the forenoon, I think—I saw him come out, mount his horse and ride rapidly away. I was struck by the man, and asked, “Who is that, Ma?” She said it was “LITTLE TURTLE,” the great Indian chief.

 

The last Indian Confederacy had been founded by Brandt, but the figure which stands out on the historical canvas in bold relief is that of MECHE CUNNAQUA, the LITTLE TURTLE, chief of the Miamis. This most acute and sagacious of Indian statesmen, was, it is said, even a polished gentleman. He had wit, humor and intelligence.

 

Thirty years after the treaty of Greenville he die at Fort Wayne, of the gout (!), which would seem a marvellous fact, did we not remember that the LITTLE TURTLE was a high liver and a gentleman; equally remarkable was it that his body was borne to the grave with the highest honors by his great enemy, the white man.

 

The muffled drum, the funeral salute, announced that a great soldier had fallen, and even enemies paid their mournful tribute to his memory. The sun of Indian glory set with him; and the clouds and shadows, which for two hundred years had gathered around their destiny, now closed in the starless night of death.

 

We give a letter narrating an account of this action, written by Gen. Wayne to the Secretary of War, and dated “Camp, southwest branch of the Miami, six miles advanced of Fort Jefferson, October 23, 1793.”

 

The greatest difficulty which at present presents, is that of furnishing a sufficient escort to secure our convoy of provisions and other supplies from insult and disaster, and at the same time retain a sufficient force in camp to sustain and repel the attacks of the enemy, who appear desperate and determined. We have recently experienced a little check to our convoys, which may probably be exaggerated into something serious by the tongue of fame, before this reaches you. The following, however, is the fact, viz.: Lieut. LOWRY, of the 2d sub-legion, and Ensign BOYD, of the lst, with a command consisting of ninety non-commissioned officers and privates, having in charge twenty wagons belonging to the Quartermaster-General’s department, loaded with grain, and one of the contractor’s [wagons], loaded with stores, were attacked early on the morning of the 17th inst., about seven miles advanced of-Fort St. Clair, by a party of Indians. Those gallant young gentlemen—who promised at a future day to be ornaments to their profession—together with thirteen non-commissioned officers and privates, bravely fell, after an obstinate resistance against superior numbers, being abandoned by the greater part of the escort upon the first discharge. The savages killed or carried off about seventy horses leaving the wagons and stores stand­ing in the road, which have all been brought to this camp without any other loss or damage, except some trifling articles.

 

LITTLE TURTLE, who name has been mentioned in the preceding pages, was a distinguished chief and counsellor of the Miamis, by whom he was called Meshekenoghqua. He commanded the Indians at St. Clair’s defeat. We annex a sketch of him from Drake’s Indian Biography.

 

 

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