1# A I Ohio,4 Counties 7/4 Bk - •>' BRIEF HISTORY J _----of--— * Uuscarawas Count?, ®Mo. BY jfflB *4 ' W 7* 7 *' ♦ S' S'jpi. J. p. PRi^rj^ cp ^^NAl
Ube Heading Confectioner WHOLESALE & RETAIL. Here is Where You Find......... A First-class---- 1 ■' IRestaurant | Where You Can Always Obtain The BUH At all hours, both DAY and NIGHT j Dan. IRetes, Canal Bovcr, Telephone. 1 62. 44, Factory st.
BRIEF HISTORY Tuscarawas County, ©bio. BY Supt. J. |®. 1896 THE BIXLER PRINTING CO., CANAL DOVER, OHIO.
.. preface . . We have no apology to make for writing this Brief History of Tuscarawas County, other than to state that it resulted from a desire, on our part, to place the history of our county within easy reach of the boys and girls, especially the pupils of the public schools. We do not feel that we are able to add anything to the histories already written, nor to preserve the record of any event from oblivion The story has been well told by able writers, and, to a casual observer, it may seem that this unpretentious volume was not needed. All previous publications on this subject are so voluminous and high-priced as to be within the reach of those only, who are blessed with abundance of means to purchase. Carl Lange, in his Theory of Apperception, would have the German boy begin the study of history by studying the fables and folklore of his locality. Our modern educators would have the child first study local geography. These educational opinions rest upon good psychological reasons. A newly settled country like ours, into which civiliza
tion has been transplanted from older countries, is without the legends and folk-lore of a people who have wrought out a civilization in the land which they, as a primitive race, inhabited. We believe that teaching the legends of Europe fails in its application to American youth. Then, in the absence of local folk-lore with which to begin the study of history, we know of nothing more fitting to supply the deficiency than the story of our early pioneers. The life of the story largely consists in the child’s acquaintance with the locality, or the proximity it bears .to him with respect to time and place. Therefore, it is to the pupils of the public schools, that we respectfully dedicate our Brief History. The Author
A BRIEF HISTORY OF Tuscarawas County. Name. The name Tuscarawas, like a great many geographical names of our country. is one of Indian origin. The Tuscaro- ras of North Carolina migrated northward in the year 1711. and l>ecame a part of the Confederation afterward known as the Six Nations. It is claimed that a portion of this tribe afterward wandered westward, selected this portion of the state as their hunting- ground. and gave their name to the locality. The orthography of the word has been
changed by substituting “aw" for ••or" and thus changed it became the name the white men gave to the river and valley. In one of the Indian dialects the name means "open mouth.” The definition, however, given by * Heckewelder is probably more correct. He says that Tuscarawas means “old town," and that the oldest Indian town in the valley was situated near the present site of Bolivar and was called “Tuscarawa. ” If the Tuscaro- ras ever occupied the valley it must have been for only a short time, for the Delawares inhabited it when the first white men began to enter it. Geographical Position. The meridian of 80 degrees, 30 minutes, W. divides the county into nearly equal eastern and western parts, and the parallel of 40 degrees, 30 minutes, N. nearly bisects it into northern and southern parts. The point of intersection of these lines is about two miles west of New Phila- • delphia. The area of the county is about 550 square miles. The surface is partly level and partly rolling and hilly. The soil is very fertile, especially in the valleys of the Tuscarawas. River and Sugar Creek. The
hills abound in coal, iron ore and fire clay, and quarries in different.parts furnish excellent building stone. The country was former' ly covered with dense forest which the hand of industry has cleared away to give place to finely cultivated farms. First White Men.—Perhaps the first white men in the county were English and French traders. In 1750 the Ohio Land Company sent out Christopher Gist to explore, survey and find the best land embraced in a grant of half a million acres lying on both sides of the Ohio River. Leaving the Potomac River in October. Gist crossed the Ohio near the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela. From there he traveled to the mouth of Beaver River and then crossed the country, reaching the Tuscarawas on the 5th of December, ata point near the site of Bolivar. On the 7th he crossed over to the Indian Town and found the natives to be in the interest of the French. He then followed the course of the river southward to where it unites with the Walhonding. Here he ound a town of about one hundred families, a portion of whom favored the French, and a portion of whom favored the English int< rests. Arriving in
4 sight of the village he saw the English colors floating over the tent of chief and also over the cabin of an English trader. He learned that several depredations instigated by the French had already been committed, and that the property of English traders was being seized and sent to the French forts on the lakes. These were some of the beginnings of ‘ the war between the two nations for supremacy in America. Bouquet's Expedition.—During the progress of the French and Indian War. the Delaware. Shawanese, and other tribes of the Masking' um country had been exceedingly troublesome and did not cease hostilities at the close of the war. In 1764. Col. Boquet with an army of one thousand live hundred regulars and militia was sent from Fort Pitt to chastise the aborigines in this part of the state. On the 13th of October he reached the river a • little below the Indian town of Tuscarawa and went into camp. While here two men that had been despatched with letters were captured by the savages and taken to their town about sixteen miles distant, where they were held as prisoners until the Indians learning of the arrival of Boquet and his
5 army, set them at liberty, and told them to inform their commander that the head men of the different tribes were coming as soon as possible to make a treaty of peace with him. In a few days an embassy of six Indians called to acquaint the colonel with the fact that the chiefs had assembled about eight miles from the camp, and earnestly desired to make a treaty of peace. He answered that he would meet them next day in a bower at some distance from camp. In the meantime he took precaution to guard against treachery by building a stockade to hold their provisions and supplies, and lighten their convoy till their return, as there were several large bodies of Indians within a few miles of the camp. The Indians now declared they came for peace, but experience had taught the colonel to trust nothing to their honesty. The bower of which we have spoken was erected and the troops stationed so as to appear to good advantage. The Indians, arrived and were conducted to it. They seated themselves and began smoking their pipes according to custom on such occasions. When the ceremony of smoking the pipe of peace was over, they opened their
6 pouches containing string and belts of wampum. The wampum represented the peace offering. The Indians present were Kiastrula. chief of the Senecas, with fifteen warriors, Cus- taloga, chief of the Wolf-Delaw ares, Beaver, chief of the Turkey tribe, with twenty warriors, and Keiffiwantchtha, chief of the • ? Shawanese and six warriors. Kuyafhula. Beaver. Custologa and Turtle Heart were speakers for the tribes. The sum and substance of their addresses consisted of excuses -■ / for their late treachery. They threw the - 4 blame on the rashness of their young men, - and the tribes living west of them. The - 1 savages agreed to given up all their prisoners. ■ Col. Boquet promised to give them his answer next day and returned with his army to camp. Boquet's boldness excited the chiefs, but they remembered the disastrous del eat he had . inflicted on them a year before at Bushy Run western Pennsylvania. The Indians gave in at once and the Delaware chiefs immediately delivered eighteen captives and eighty three small sticks indicating the number of prisoners they still held. The chiefs all submitted to Col. Boquet’s terms. The bower at which
this treaty was made was located on the Dover plains, perhaps on or very near the site of Canal Dover. Let our readers remem her that this meeting resulted in the restora- 1 ion to their friends of all the prisoners held by the tribes in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum valleys. The forks of the Muskin gum (present site of Coshocton) was the place selected as being most convenient for receiving the prisoners; and hen1 over three hundred captives were set free to return to friends and home. It may be interesting to some of our readers to know the route over which Boquet marched on his way from Tuscarawas (Bolivar) to Coshocton, From Tuscarawas he marched to Sugar Creek (which was then called Margaret’s creek) which was crossed near the mouth of Broad Run, about a mile from Strasburg; thence to the vicinity of Winfield; thence up Broad Run valley, entering Sugar Creek township in section four range three; thence along the east side of Sugar Creek, passing near the sites of Ragersville and Baltic crossing the dividing ridge and entering the valley of White Eye Creek, which he followed to a point near the forks of the Muskingum. On
H his return march he passed up the Tuscarawas to his provision stockade, then returning to Ft. Pitt by way of Sandy valley and Yellow Creek. This was the first armed expedition that ever entered the Tuscarawas valley. In the entire campaign but one man was lost, a soldier who was killed at the Muskingum. Moravian Missionaries. Earliest among the Moravian missionaries to visit the Indians of the Tuscarawas, came Christian Frederick Post. He was born at Conitz, Prussia,, in 1710, came to America in 1742, and from 1743 to 1749 labored as a missionary among the Moravian Indians in Connecticut and New York. In 1761 he visited the Delawares at Tuscarawa (Bolivar) to instruct them in the doctrines of Christianity. He erected a cabin on the north bank of the Tuscarawas about- a. mile above Bolivar, in what is now Bethlehem township, Stark Co. This was the first house built by white men in Ohio-, except a few cabins that had been put up by traders and French Jesuits. Having performed the business entrusted to him. he returned to Bethlehem, Pa. Being impressed with the belief that he could convert the red men to
9 Christianity, he returned again to the Tuscarawas in 1762, accompanied by John Heckewelder, then a young man nineteen years of age, who afterwards became famous in the mission fields of our county. Post found his cabin as he had left it, and he and young Heckewelder proceeded to make it a tenable home. Three acres of land were granted him by the Indians, which he at once began to clear. When the savages saw how rapidly the forest trees were felled by his ax. they called a council and summoned him to appear. They told him they feared the results of his cutting away the forest, for soon others would come and settle there and make many and larger clearings, just as the white men had farther east. He explained to them that he only desired a small field that he might plant and raise vegetables for his subsistance. so as not to become a burden upon his friends, the Indians. They replied that if he was sent to them by the Great Father, as he said, that he should also secure his support from the same source. That the French missionaries at Detroit desired only a very small garden spot in which to cultivate Mowers which the white men love so well.
10 The council then decided to give Post even a rger garden spot than the missionaries at Detroit possessed. They agreed that it should be fifty steps each way, and the next day Captain Pipe, one of their chieftains, stepped it off for him, and though small, the white man had secured an inheritance on the banks of the beautiful Tuscaraw’as. An Indian treaty meeting had been appoint-, ed at Lancaster that summer, and Mr. Post attended. He induced several of the Indians to attend with him. Young Heckewelder was left in charge of the mission to instruct - , the children during Post’s absence. In a short time after Post’s departure it became known to Heckewelder that the Indians, at the instigation of the French, wrere taking up arms against the English. He wrote to Post telling him of his critical situation, and received an answer advising him to quit the mission and leave the country lest he should . be murdered. He set out in October with some traders, for Pittsburg, and on the way met Mr. Post and Alexander McKee, an Indian agent, and apprised them of thedanger of attempting to visit the Indian towns. McKee was on his way to receive some cap-
11 fives whom the savages had agreed to liberate. McKee returned without any prisoners and Post saved himself by flight. This first attempt at establishing a mission among the Indians was a failure. Post married an Indian woman named Rachel who died in 1747, and two years later married another Indian woman named Agnes. After her death in 1751, he married a white woman. It is said that on account of his Indian marriages he did not secure the full co-operation of the Moravian authorities. After leaving Ohio in 1762, Post proceeded to establish a mission among the Mosquito Indians on the Bay of Honduras, Central America. He afterward united with the Protestant Episcopal Church and died at Germantown, Pa., April 29, 1785. Schoenbrunn, Salem and Gnadenhutten.— The next attempt at establishing a Christian mission within the limits of our county, was made in 1772 by Daniel Zeisberger and his illustrous co-laborer, John Heckewelder. The names of these men are so closely connected, that in writing the history of one we also give the main portion of that of the other.
12 A short sketch of each will be in place here. David Zeisberger was born in Zauchtenthal, Moravia, April 11, 1721. His parents emigrated to Georgia with the second band of Moravians in 1735. leaving their son in Europe to complete his education. Two years later he joined them in America, and in. 1743 became a student in the Indian school at Bethlehem, Pa., in order to prepare himself for the mission service. He made himself thoroughly conversant with the Indian Ian* guages and dialects of New York, Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and afterward devoted sixty-two years of his life to proclaiming the doctrines of Christianity to the red men in various localities. He was the- chief minister of the Tuscarawas missions. At the age of sixty he married Miss Susan Lecron, but they had no children. Heckewelder says • of him: “He was blessed with a cool, active and intrepid spirit, not appalled by any dan; gers or difficulties, and a sound judgment to discern the best means of meeting and overcoming them. - Having once devoted himself to the service of God among the Indians, he steadily from the most voluntary choice and
13 with purest motives, pursued his object. He would never consent to receive a salary or become a hireling as he termed it, and sometimes suffered from need of food rather than ask the church for the means to obtain it. He died at Goshen, Nov. 17th, 1808. John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder was born at Bedford. Eng., March 12, 1743. At the age of eleven he emigrated with his parents to Bethlehem, Pa. He attended school two years, and after serving some time as a cooper’s apprentice, was called to assist Post in the mission work at Tuscarawa. In 1772 he assisted Zeisberger in establishing the Moravian missions in this county, where he devoted fifteen years of his life to the good of others. After returning from Ohio he was employed for nine years as a teacher at the missions. In 1792 he wTas requested by the Secretary of War to accompany Gen. Rufus Putnam to Vincennes. He was commissioned in 1793 to assist at a treaty with the Indians of the lakes. He held various civil offices in Ohio and upon the organization of Tuscarawas county in 1808, was elected an associate judge, which position he resigned in 1810,
14 and returned to Bethlehem, Pa. Here he engaged in literary pursuits until his death, which occurred Jan. 21, 1823. The best known and most important of his published works are ‘‘Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, ” and “History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations who once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring States. ’’ In summing up his character, HoWe’s History of Ohio says of him : “His life was one of great activity, industry and usefulness. It was a life of vicissitudes, of perils, and of wild romantic adventure. How it abounded in hardships, privations and self-sacrificing- devotion to the interest of the barbarians of the western wilderness! It would, indeed, be difficult to over-estimate the importance or value of the labors of Rev. Heckewelder in ' the various characters of philanthropist, philosopher, pioneer, teacher, embassador, author and Christian missionary. He was a gentlemen of courteous and easy manners, of frankness, affability, veracity; without affectation or dissimulation, meek, cheerful, unassuming, humble, unpretentious unobtru
15 sive, retiring, rather taciturn, albeit, when drawn out. communicative and a good conversationalist. He was in extensive correspondence with many men of letters, by whom he was held in great esteem. He was married in July, 1780, to Miss Sarah Ohne- berg who had been sent as a teacher to the mission. This was the first wedding of a white couple in Ohio. Scboenbrunn.—In the spring of 1771 Zeis- berger visited Gekelemupechunk, capital of the Delawares in the Tuscarawas valley, for the purpose of making arrangements for the establishing of a mission. While among the Indians on this trip he preached a sermon to them. The small-pox was raging among them at this time. Early in 1772, with a number of Christian Indians he again visited the Delawares and asked permission to settle in the valley and to establish a mission. He was received with great favor and was the guest of Nelawotwes the chief of the nation, who granted him land wherein to establish his mission. The reason the Indians were so pleased with his coming was because the scourge of small-pox had disappeared from
16 among them, which disappearance they attributed to the effects of his sermon the year before. The grant he received consisted of the land lying between the mouths of Stillwater and Old Town creeks, nearly opposite New Philadelphia. On this grant the mis sionary and twentyeight persons settled at a place they called Schoenbruun (Beautiful Spring). In the same year a large body of Christian Indians, about three hundred in number, left their settlement on the Susquehana, and marching westward under the leadership of Rev. John Etwin arrived at the mission settlement on the Big Beaver early in August. They carried with them all their agricultural implements and household effects besides a large number of horses and about seventy head of cattle. The entire company left Big Beaver August 5th, accompanied by Etwin, Zeisberger and Heckewelder, and arrived at Schoenbruun on the 23rd of August, 1772. They decided at once to make a permanent settlement, and sent a delegation to Gekelemukpechunk announcing their arrival. The chiefs in council met the delegation with many expressions of friendship, and the event
17 was celebrated by holding a grand feast. The new comers were visited daily by their neighbors who came to see them putting up buildings, plowing the ground, etc.; but what surprised them most was that so many Indians could live peaceably and happily together and devote themselves to laboring in the fields. Encouraged by the manifestations of friendship on the part of the uncivilized Indians, the missionaries decided to build a chapel at Schoenbrunn. It was built of square timber, thirty six oy forty feet, shingle roofed with cupola and bell. How that bell must have rung out glad tidings to the children of the forest! They laid out their town regularly, with wide streets, and kept out the cattle by good fences, and adopted a code of rules of government which are given here verbatim from Heckewelder’s narrative: 1. We will know of no God. nor worship any other but him who has created us, and redeemed us with his most precious blood. 2. We will rest from all labor on Sundays, and attend the usual meetings on that day for divine service. 3. We will honor father and mother, and support them in age and distress.
18 4. No one shall be permitted to dwell with us, without the consent of our teachers. 5. No thieves, murderers, drunkards, adulterers, and whoremongers shall be suffered among us. 6. No one that attendeth dances, sacrifices, or heathenish festivals, can live among ns. 7. No one using Tschappich (or witchcraft) in hunting, shall be suffered among us. 8. We will renounce all juggles, lies-, and deceits of Satan. 9. We will be obedient to our teachers, and to the helpers—national assistants—-who are appointed to see that good order be kept both in and out of the town. 10. We will not be idle and lazy: nor tell lies of one another; nor strike each other; we will live peaceably together. 11. Whosoever does any harm to another’s cattle, goods, or effects, &c., shall pay the damage. 12. A man shall have only one wife-—love her and provide for her, and the children. Likewise a woman shall have but one husband and be obedient unto him; she shall also take care of the children, and be cleanly in all things.
19 13. We will not permit any rum, or spirituous liquors, to be brought into our towns. If strangers or traders happen to bring any. the helpers—national assistants—are to take it into their possession, and take care not to deliver it to them until they set off again. 14. None of the inhabitants shall run in debt with traders, nor receive goods on commission for traders, without, the consent of the national assistants. 15. No one is to go on a journey or long hunt without informing the minister or stewards of it. 16. Young people are not to marry without the consent of their parents, and taking their advice. 17. If the stewards or helpers apply to the inhabitants for assistance, in doing work for the benefit of the place, such as building meeting and school houses, clearing and fencing lands, &c., they are to be obeyed. 18. All necessary contributions for the public ought cheerfully to be attended'to. Tne above rules were made and adopted at a time when there was profound peace; when, however, six years afterward (during the revolutionary war) individuals of the Debt
20 ware Nation took up the hatchet to join in in the conflict, the national assistant proposed and insisted on having the following addition- al rules added, namely: 19. No man inclining to go to war—which is the shedding of blood, can remain among us. 20. Whosoever purchases goods or articles of warriors, knowing at the time that such have been stolen or plundered, must leave us. We look upon this as giving encouragement to murder and theft. Any person desiring to live in the community was requested to promise to conform strictly to the above rules. In case any person violated them, he or she was first admonished and reprimanded and if that proved ineffectual the offender was expelled. Other rules were adopted as the circumstances encumbent on the growth of the community ‘ demanded. Gnadenhutten.—The absence of Zeisberger from Big Beaver soon induced the Indians at that place to abandon their settlement in order to join the settlers on the Tuscarawas. A portion traveled across the country under
21 the leadership of their missionary, Rothe. The remainder with Heckewelder embarked in twenty-two canoes and paddled down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum and thence up that river and the Tuscarawas to Schoen- brunn. where, after much suffering and many hardships, they joined their brethren. Besides this, new converts from the Delawares were constantly coming in. and it became necessary to establish a new settlement. A site was selected ten miles down the river and a town was laid out in regular order, with wide streets. They put up a chapel with cupola and bell, the same as at Schoenbrunn. and gave the place the name of Gnadenhutten. which it retains to this day. The name Gnadenhutten means “Tents of Grace." This home of the Christian Indians is mentioned by Longfellow in his “Evangeline." The heroine of the poem visits the village on her search for Gabriel. Needing a resident minister, they sent some Christian Indians to Bethlehem, Pa., to brim.' Rew Schmick and his wife, who arrived ax the village on the IHth day of August. 1773. and took up their residence in a new house built expressly for them.
Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten grew and prospered, and soon another settlement was established at Salem, the site of which is a- bout three-fourths of a mile from Port Washington. The year 1774 brought trouble to the mis: sionaries and their settlements at Schoen-. brunn and Gnadenhutten. A war broke out between the white settlers of Virginia and the Mingo, Wyandot and Shawanese tribes dwelling on the north side of the Ohio. War parties came and hovered around the missions,, so that the few white people living there were constantly in danger of their lives, and. dare not leave their houses. The peril of the missionaries became so great that their Indian converts guarded their homes day and night. The Christian Indians and the Delawares exerted all their influence to bring the war to a close and establish peace. They were the, objects of suspicion from the Virginians and from the hostile tribes. This border war lasted throughout the year, but a peace was finally concluded, and the year 1775 found the mission station of the Tuscarawas again prosperous and happy. During the troubles of 1774. New Comers-
23 town seems to have been the rendezevous for noted white men as well as for the Indians. There at times met McKee. Anderson and Simon Girty and we notice the fact that while Zeisberger and Heckewelder at Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten were civilizing the Indians, the other Indians at New Comerstown wrere making savages of the white men. McKee. Anderson and Girty were of Irish descent and came to Ohio from the Susquehanna where their parents had settled at an early day. Monsey Conspiracy at Schoenbrunn.—The lives of the missionaries at Schoenbrunn were not of ease and luxury by any means. On the other hand, they were continuous rounds of hardship and self-sacrifice. One cause of trouble at the missions was want of courage, jealousy and envy among the missionaries. There is not a line to be found among the archives of Ihe missions to indicate that Zeisberger’s character was tainted with the spirit of envy or jealousy toward his brethren, or that he lacked courage in emergencies. There is no doubt, however that he was hated by some of the brethren in secret, for he held great influence with the different
24 Indian tribes, and at Bethlehem. Be this as it may, he often found a lukewarmness manifested when he should have received zeaIons[counciland efficient aid. Scarcely had the echoes of the war whoop of the previous border war died away when a new disturbing element arose. British emissaries induced the Monseys at Schoenbrunn to throw off their allegiance as Christian converts; They then entered a plot to forsake the mission, to join the hostile Indians ■ , and to capture and send away the missionaries. Zeisberger, who was then at Lichtenan, hearing of the conspiracy hastened to Schoenbrunn. and on his arrival found the town in possession of the conspirators, the missionaries who had been left in charge having fled. On the 19th of August he called together as many converts as could be rallied, and taking the road to Lichtenan via Gnadenhutten, left Schoenbrunn in the hands of the deserters. To show that moral courage would have been the only thing necessary to have kept the Monseys faithful, we only need to state that when less than a year after they came raiding around Lichtenan, they were brought back to the fold by the earnest- ______ J
25 ’ appeals of Zeisberger. But Schoenbrunn had been demolished and burned by the hostile warriors, and when the faithful missionary led his converts back in 1779. it was necessary to build a new town on the west side of the river. The reader probably has noticed that these events were transpirng during the time of the Revolutionary War. This conspiracy, trifling as it may have been in results, was but part of a more extensive one to subdue the colonies in their struggle for independence. It was computed that ten thousand hostile warriors could be mustered at this time, and to turn them loose upon the defenseless outposts of the colonies it was only necessary to break up the missions, which acted as a kind of breakwater to divide the Indian waves that otherwise would have swept over the states when the colonists would have been least able to repel them. Be it remembered that Zeis- berger's moral courage in that crisis saved the colonies from the deluge of savage warfare and that perhaps he thereby saved the Union. Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten and Salem Captured by the British.—The British at Detrort
26 were still determined to break up the Christian Indian settlements on the Tuscarawas, for they continued to consider them an obstacle in their way; but they did not succeed until the crisis of the Revolution had passed. In August, 1781, a band of one hundred and forty Wyandot warriors, forty Monseys and some Ottawas and Mohicans, under Pike. Half King, Wingmind, two Shawanese, ’Captains John and Thomas Snake. Kuhn, a white man. then a chief, and Capt. Elliot, a British officer, with two other white men, appeared at Salem and remained a week in council. They called the missionaries and converted Indians of Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrunn and Salem to meet at Gnadenhutten. and made known their intention of removing them to Sandusky and Detroit. This they at first urged as a measure of safety. Some of the bolder spirits refused to go, while the more timid expressed a willingness to do so. It soon became evident that force would be used in case of refusal to go. The question of killing the missionaries was considered, but did not meet the approval of a sufficient number to be carried into effect. The Chistian Indians were forced to leave their
crops of corn, potatoes and garden vegetables and remove with their unwelcome visitors to the neighborhood of Sandusky. The missionaries were taken to Detroit where they were accused of being spies. They succeeded in convincing their persecutors of their true characters, but were held for some time as prisoners. The Moravian Ind ians at Sandusky suffered much from cold and hunger during the winter, and in early spring were permitted to return to their settlements on the Tuscarawas for the purpose of gathering the corn left on the stalk the preceding fall. About one hundred and fifty Christian Indians, including women and children arrived on the Tuscarawas in the latter part of February, and divided into three parties so as to work at the three towns, in the cornfields. Satisfied with having escaped the thralldom of their less civilized brethren in the west, they little expected the storm about to burst over their peaceful habitations with such direful consequences.- Williamson’s Expedition and the Massacre. Hostile Indians had committed several depredations on the frontier inhabitants of
28 Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, who determined to retaliate. A company of volunteer militia was raised and placed under the command of Col. Williamson. They set out for the Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas and arrived within a mile of Gnadenhutten on the evening of the 5th of March. The next morning, tinding the Indians at work in their cornfields on the west side of the river, sixteen of Williamson's men crossed over, two at a time, in a large sap-trough, or vessel for retaining sugar-water, taking their arms with them. The remainder marched into the town, where they found a man and woman, both of whom they killed. The men who had crossed over found the Indians more numerous than they had anticipated. They had their arms with them as was usual on such occasions, both for purpose of protection and for killing game. ' The whites accosted them kindly, promising them protection and advising them to remove with them to the neighborhood of Fort Pitt. Some of them had been taken there the year before and had been treated kindly by the American commandant at the fort and had been dismissed with tokens of friendship. It
is not surprising that the Indians, under these circumstances, readily gave up their arms. They thought themselves in the keeping of friends. The Indians despatched a messenger to their brethren at Salem to apprise them of the new condition of affairs and both companies then returned to Gnadenhutten. A number of mounted militia had left the last named place and started to Salem and on arriving there found that the Indians had already left their cornfield, and by the advice of the Indian messenger, were on their way to join their friends at Gnadenhutten. Measures had been adopted by the milita to secure the Indians they had first decoyed into their power. They were bound, guarded and confined in two houses. On the arrival of the Indians from Salem (their armshad also been secured without suspicion of any hostile intention) they were fettered and divided between the two prison houses, the males in one, the females in the other. The number thus confined in both, including men, women and children, has been estimated from ninety to ninety-six. Tim soldiers then held a council to de
30 termine what disposal should be made of the Moravian Indians. This military court embraced both officers and privates. Col. Williamson then put the question whether the Indians should be taken as prisoners to Fort Pitt, or be put to death. requesting those who favored saving their lives to step out and form a second rank. Only eighteen stepped out as advocates of mercy. In these the feelings of humanity were not quite extinct, and they took no part in the slaughter that fol lowed. In the majority, which was large, ' ’ there were no manifestations of sympathy. They resolved to murder the Christian Indians who had fallen thus easily into .their ' " custody. Williamson's men pointed to the different utensils which they accused the Indians of having taken from the whites, and also to a bloody dress which they recognized as having belonged to Mrs. Wallace who had * been murdered in one of the hostile raids in Western Pennsylvania. The dress is supposed to have been left at Gnadenhutten by some savages from the northwest. These things, however, served to inflame the minds of Williamson's men and their rage knew no bounds. .The Indians were told to prepare
for death. But the warning had been anticipated. Their faith in their newly adopted religion was shown forth in their sad hour of tribulation, by the religious exercises of the preparation. As their hymns and prayers ascended to the throne of the Most High, the giant oaks of the native forest surrounding seemed to take up the sad refrain and echo it along the valley; but it awakened no responsive feelings in the bosoms of their executioners. They reaffirmed their belief in Jesus Christ, and in the darkest hour of trial they found the sustaining grace of the Comforter. New pledges of faith were made, and friends said •good byes" reassuring one another of meeting in-the beyond, in Christian fellowship, in homes prepared by Him who said ‘ In my Father’s house are many mansions. " With gun. and spear, and tomahawk, and scalping knife the work of death progressed in these slaughter houses until not a sigh or a moan 'was heard to proclaim the existence of life within—all save two—two Indian boys who escaped as if by miracle, to be witness of the savage cruelty of the white man towards their unfortunate race.
One of Williamson's party seized a cooper's mallet, and with it felled fourteen victims, then handed it to another, saying, ‘-My arm fails me; go on in the same way. I think I have done pretty well." Thus upward of ninety human beings were hurried to an untimely grave by those who should have been their legitimate protectors. After committing this atrocious act of barbarity. Williamson's men set fire to the houses containing the dead, and then marched oft. shouting and cursing, in the direction of Schoenbrunn. The news of their awful deed had preceded them to that place. The inhabitants all had fled, and with them for a time the hopes of the missionaries to establish a settlement of Christian Indians on the Tuscarawas. The fruits of ten years of labor in the cause of civilization were apparently lost. This deed of Williamson and his men found very little sympathy with the American people. They looked upon it as an outrage on humanity. The hospitable and friendly character of the Moravians had extended beyond their white brethren on the Ohio. The American Congress felt the influence of public
sympathy for their fate, and did what it could to make amends. In September. 1788. congress passed an ordinance for the encouragement of the Moravian missionaries in the work of civilizing the Indians. A remnant of the flock was brought back, and two friendly chiefs and their followers became recipients * of public favor. The names of these chiefs were Killbuck and White Eyes; two sons of the former assumed the name of Henry, out of respect for Patrick Henry of Virginia, and were taken to Princeton College to be educated. Howe’s History of Ohio says that chief White Eyes was shot by a lad, some years afterward on the waters of Yellow Creek. Columbiana County. Other accounts say he died of small pox at Ft. Laurens in January, 1779, We believe the former to be correct. Three tracts of land of four thousand acres each were granted by Congress to the society for propagating the gospel among the heathen. The tracts embrace the three Indian towns already described and by the provisions of the patent, which was issued in 1798. the society was constituted trustees for the Christian Indians settled thereon. Extraordinary efforts were now made by
b 4 the society to carry on the work of civilization. Large sums of money were expended in the construction of houses, temporary mills and roads. The Indians were collected near the old site of Schoenbrunn which had been burned by Williamson's men. Anew town called Goshen was built for their habitation. Here, while engaged in the work of civilizing the Indians, a work to which they had given so much of their lives, two missionaries. Zeisberger and Edwards, terminated their earthly pilgrimage. In the Goshen burying grounds, three miles south of New Philadelphia, their graves marked by plain tombstones, may yet be seen. The whites began to settle in the valley of the Tuscarawas. The habits and character of the Indians seemed to change for the worse, in proportion as the number of white settlers increased. Although the extension of the white settlements westward improved the country, the effect upon the Indians was disastrous. They were held in contempt by their white neighbors and the war of 1812 revived former prejudices. The Goshen Indians had kept up occasional intercourse with those at Sandusky, a portion of whom
35 were thought to be hostile, and some murders committed on the Mohican by unknown Indians had a tendency to arouse suspicion aganist them. The Indian settlement remained under the care of Rev. Abram Luckenbach until the year 1823. Intercourse with the white population in the neighborhood was gradually .sinking them into deeper degradation, and it was found impossible to keep their morals free from contamination. This may or may not be true. It may have been that the condition of the Indians suffered in comparison with the more vigorous progress and spirit of the Caucasian, while the Indians seeing themselves’ outnumbered. may have become more taciturn and morose. At any rate, close contact with the European was unwholesome for them. Although the Ohio Legislature had passed laws forbidding the sale of intoxicants to the red men, yet they began to fall victims to the vice of Intemperance. Drunken Indians frequently were seen at the county seat, or at their village at Goshen. Their condition became miserable. From the large portions of their lands which they had leased out, the
36 society received little or no benefit. The expenses of the mission, tile support of the sick, destitute, aged and infirm often fell upon their spiritual guardians. Upon presentation of these facts. Congress was induced to adopt measures for the removal of the Indians. - The society was enabled to divest itself of the trusteeship in the land. Last of the Moravians in Ohio.—On the 4th of August, 1823, a treaty was entered into at Gnadenhutten, between Lewis Cass, Governor ' of Michigan, on the part of the United States, and Lewis de Schwenntz, on the part of the society, as a preliminary step to the retrocession of the lands to the government. The members of the society agreed to relinquish all their right and title in the lands on condition that the government would pay $6,654, being but a small portion of the money that * had been expended. In order that the agreements of the treaty might be legal, it was necessary to have the written consent of the Indians for whose benefit the land had been donated. These embraced the remainder of the Christian Indians formerly settled on the land, including Killbuck and his descend
37 ants, and the nephews and descendants of the late Captain White Eyes, Delaware chiefs. The Goshen Indians as they were now called, repaired to Detroit for the purpose of completing the contract. On the 8th of November they signed a treaty with Gov. Cass, in which they agreed to relinquish the twelve thousand acres in Tuscarawas county, for twenty four thousand acres in one of the territories, to be designated by the U. S. government, together with an annuity of §400. A provision went with this latter stipulation, which rendered its payment uncertain. The Indians never returned. Most of them took up their habitation at a Moravian mission station on the River Thames, Canada. By an act of congress passed in May 1824. their former inheritance at Schoenbrunn, Gnaden- hutten and Salem, was surveyed into farm lots and sold. Gnadenhutten Monument Society —On the 7th of October, 1843, eight or ten individuals of the town and vicinity, mostly farmers and mechanics, met and organized themselves into a society for the purpose of enclosing the area around the place where the bod
38 ies of the victims of the massacre are buried, and erecting a suitable monument to their memory. Kev. Sylvester Walle, resident Moravian minister, was made president, and Lewis Peter, treasurer of the society. It was provided that any person paying annually the sum of one dollar, should be consider ed a member of the society, or if any one paid the sum of ten dollars, he should be granted a life membership. The money thus raised from membership fees, constituted fund for the preservation of the grounds and the erection of the monument. Not until 1871 did the society secure sufficient capital to contract tor the erection of a monument. The funds in the hands of the treasurer in that year reached the sum of $1300. A monument to cost $2000 was contracted for and the remaining $700 was raised by subscription. The dedication took place at Gnadenhutten. Wednesday, June 5th, 1872. The stone is Indiana marble; the main shaft which is one solid stone weighing fourteen tons rises 25 feet above the base, and the entire height of the monument is 37 feet. The south side bears this inscription: ■‘HereTriumphed in Death Ninety Christian
39 Indians. Mar. 8. 1782/’ The north side bears the date of dedication. The monument is located in the center of the main street of the original town.. Several thousand people attended the dedicatory ceremonies. The oration was delivered by Rev. Edward de Schwenntz. D. D.. of Bethlehem. Pa.. Bishop of the Moravian church. At its close a funeral dirge was chanted and four Indians, one at each corner, with cord in hand, as the notes of the requiem died away, detached the drapery which fell to the ground, and the marble shaft stood revealed to the gaze of the assembled multitude. The four Indians came from the Moravian mission in Canada. One of them. John Jacobs, was the great-grandson of Jacob Shebosh, the first victim of the massacre ninety years before. Centennial memorial services were held at Gnadenhutten on May 24. 1882. The day was pleasant, and nearly 10.000 people were in attendance. Henry B. Lugwenbaugh. a grandson of Rev.' John Heckewelder. was present with his wife. At eleven o'clock in the morning. Judge J. H. Barnhill called the assembly to order.
40 Bishop H. J. Van Vleck delivered an address of welcome. Hon. D. A. Hollingsworth of Cadiz, was orator of the day. In the afternoon the assembled people were addressed by Gov. Charles Foster and other distinguished guests. Should any reader visit the cemetery at Gnadenhutten, the following directions will serve as a guide to points of interest on the grounds: Thirty feet west of the monument is a small mound which indicates the “Site . of the Mission House.” Fifteen feet to the east of the monument is the “Site of the Church.” Seventy feet farther east, the ‘ 'Site of the Cooper Shop, one of the Slaughter • h Houses.” Two hundred feet south of the monument is a mound eighteen feet in width and five feet high. “In a cellar under this mound. Rev. J. Heckewelder and D. Peter in 1789, deposited the bones.” Crawford’s Expedition.—Following the massacre at Gnadenhutten. the warfare raged with redoubled violence all along the border. Though the Christian Indians had had little in common with their savage brethren, yet their slaughter appealed to the race feeling
41 and prejudice which binds the great families of humanity together. It served as an excellent pretext for turning loose the spirit of savage vengeance with all its horrors Simon Girty was interested in the work of inflaming the warlike tribes. The British ii the northwest seconded his diabolical schemes The Indian tomahawk already had sunk into the skulls of many of the defenseless border settlers. The government at once despatched a large force under Col. Crawford, to chastise the western Indians. He reached the Tus carawas on the 26th of May 17*2. and camped at the ruins of Schoenbrunn. without having seen an Indian warrior, so desolate bad the valley become. In the night two warriors were seen by the officers who were, going on their •grand round" duty around the camp, and who tired, but the warriors escaped unhurt. The firing alarmed the camp. Crawford • soldiers became panic stricken, and rushed out pell mell imagining themselves surrounded by all the Indian hosts who had come 1o appease the wrath of the great spirit yelling up ami down the valley. In the panic strict en condition of his troops, ('rawford foresaw his coming death, and as he lay there amid
42 the ruins of Schoenbrunn, his imagination conjured up the skeletons of the victims of Williamson's men filing along the banks of the Tuscarawas, led by one Ann Charity, They were chanting the Indian song of sorj row and calling on-—not our God—but their Manitto or Great Spirit to avenge their death. Williamson, who was second in command, rested in the tent with Crawford, and’ shuddered as the latter told him what he had seen, and peering into the darkness listened in vain for the sound of the gnomes. As soon as daylight appeared the commander ordered his four hundred troopers into their saddles. They galloped westward out of the valley, crossing the Tuscarawas between Stone Creek and Sugar Creek. Thence they went rapidly toward Sandusky. Upon reaching the huts of the Delawares they found them deserted. Pressing on to the Wyandot town, now called Upper Sandusky.’ they found the inhabitants had fled. Another mile, and a council of war was held and it was decided to retreat in case no Indians were found by nightfall. This was on the afternoon of June 4th. The scouts soon came in reporting the savages coming, and in a few
43 minutes they were in sight taking shelter in a grove, from which the soldiers dislodged them, Crawford losing five killed and nineteen wounded. During the night and next day desultory firing was kept up, Crawford intending to attack and disperse them in the night following. The plan was frustrated by the appearance, in the afternoon, of a force of British troops brought from Detroit. On his south line appeared two hundred Shawanese warriors not seen before. The whole body of savages exceeded his own force. He ordered a retreat, which was kept up through the night. In the morning Crawford was missing. In the night he had become separated from his command. The retreat became a rout. The Indians hung upon the rear and flanks of the little army and constantly thinned its ranks. There was terrible fighting for several miles along the line of retreat. Williamson led the remmant back to the ruins on the Tuscarawas, and thence to Fort Pitt. Crawford was captured by a band of warriors on the 8th of June, four days after the battle began, near the site of Leesville. We will not give in detail the story of his suffering, as it does not
44 properly belong to the history of our county. After suffering nearly all the forms of cruelty that savage ingenuity could invent, he was burned at the stake, at an Indian village near Upper Sandusky. Other Missionaries. Having now given a tolerably complete account of the events connected with the history of the early Tuscarawas missions, we here give the names of several other men who were at times connect- ed with the work of Christianizing Indians. John Roth, who has been mentioned in this, narrative, was born in Sarmund, Prussia, Feb. 3, 1726. and was educated a Catholic. He joined the Moravians in 1748, emigrated to America in 1756. and three years later entered the service of the Indian missions. He married Agnes Ptinstag, Aug. 16. 1770. t In 1773, was stationed at the Indian missions in the Tuscarawas valley and remained one year. He died at York. Pa, July 22, 1891. John Jacob Schmick, born at Konigsburg. Prussia. Oct. 9, 1714; graduated at the University of Konigsburg. He was pastor of the Lutheran church at Livonia until 1748, when he • united with the Moravians. He
45 came to America in 1751 and entered the mission service. In August. 1773, with his wife, he came to Gnadenhutten and remained there as pastor until 1777. He died at Litiz, Pa, Jan. 23. 1778. John G. Jungman. born in Hochenheim, Palatinate, April 19, 1720. He emigrated to America in 1731. and settled near Oley, Pa. In 1745, he married the widow of Gottlob Buttner; went to Schoenbrunn in 1772, remaining there as assistant pastor until 1777, when he returned to Pennsylvania. He again came to the Tuscarawas valley in 1780, and labored at New Schoenbrunn. He was taken with the Christian Indians to Sandusky in 1782. Retired from the missionary work in 1784, and died at Bethlehem, Pa., July 17, 1808. William Edwards was born in Wiltshire. England. April 24, 1724. He joined the Moravians and emigrated to America in 1749. In 1777 he took charge of the mission at Gnadenhutten; was taken to Sandusky in 1782. In 1798, he returned with Heckewelder to the Tuscarawas, and died at Goshen, Oct. 8, 1801. Gottlob Senseman was the son of Joachim and Catherine Senseman. The latter was a
digitalcommons.cedarville.eduRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=