CHAPTER XIV.

POPULATION OF VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY INCREASED-INDIAN DEPREDATIONS -TROOPS ORDERED TO PROTECT FRONTIER SETTLEMENTS-SETTLEMENTS AT MIAMI, AND PRESENT SITE OF CINCINNATTI-FORT WASHINGTON BUILTGENERAL HARMAR ARRIVES THERE-INDIANS COMMIT RENEWED DEPREDATIONS-SETTLERS ROUSED TO AVENGE THEMSELVES UPON THE INDIANSHARMAR'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS-DEFEAT OF HIS ARMY-HARMAR RETURNED TO FORT WASHINGTON-REMARKS-EFFECTS OF HARMAR'S DEFEAT-GENERAL CHARLES SCOTT'S EXPEDITION-GENERAL WILKINSON'S EXPEDITION-ADVENTURES OF JOHONNET.

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, a number of circum stances conspired to increase the population of the south-western parts of Virginia and Kentucky, and add to the strength of the first settlers to repel the invasion of the savages. Notwithstanding the increase of population and strength of the people to compel the Indians to sue for peace, they continued committing depredations all along the settled parts of the Ohio river. Indeed they often penetrated into the heart of the settlements. Even after treaties (1) had been made with them, they still committed acts of general hostility. The years 1786 and 1787 were distinguished for attacks upon emigrants who went westward to settle lands on the Ohio. This state of things continuing, the Secretary of War in 1787, ordered detachments of troops to be stationed at different points, to protect the frontiers; and if required, to follow the savages into their own country.

In the fall of 1789, several families from New York, New Jersey. and Redstone, now Brownesville, in Pennsylvania, descended the Ohio river, to the mouth of the Little Miami, and commenced a settle nent there. As the Indians were at this time very troublesome, forty soldiers under Lieutenant Kersey, were ordered to the defence of the settlement. They erected at first a single block-house, and soon after added to it three others; a stockade fort was formed on a position now included within the town of Columbia, about six miles above the city of Cincinnati. In June, 1789, Major Doughty arrived opposite the mouth of Licking river, with one hundred and forty regular troops, to protect the

(1) By the treaties with the Indians, in 1785-'86, Congress acquired the lands watered by the Muskingum, Scioto, Little and Great Miami rivers. In 1788, another treaty was made, by which the country was purchased, from the month of Cuyahoga river to the Wabash, lying south and east of a certain line, mentioned in the treaty.

settlers there. (1) He put up four block-houses, and soon after erected Fort Washington, (2) where Cincinnati now stands.

Towards the close of the year, Gen. Harmar arrived with three hundred other regulars, and occupied the fort, as the importance of the place seemed to demand it. It was here that the Indians crossed the Ohio, and ascended the Licking river, to penetrate the heart of Kentucky, to pursue their marauding excursions. Besides this," The Old War Path" leading from the British garrison at Detroit, to the Maumee, and up that river, and over on the Miamias, passed through this place. Many Indian paths diverged from the War Path to their several towns. In the summer of 1790, General Harmar, leaving Majors Doughty and Wyllys at Fort Washington, encamped on the left bank of the Ohio, the present site of Covington. Early in the spring of this year, the Indians committed numerous depredations. A canoe ascending the. Ohio, about the last of March, was taken by the Indians near the mouth of the Scioto river, and three men killed. Shortly afterwards, a boat coming down was decoyed by a white man, who feigned distress; when fifty savages rose from concealment, ran into the boat, killed John May, and a young woman, being the first persons they came to, and took the rest of the people on board prisoners. Soon after this event, for the Indians still continued to infest the river, other boats were taken, and the people killed or taken captive. In the month of April, they attacked three boats on the Ohio, near the confluence of the Scioto; two being abandoned, fell into the hands of the enemy; the other being manned by all the people, made its escape by hard rowing.

This continued series of depredations roused the inhabitants of the settlements, and General Scott, of Kentucky, with two hundred and thirty volunteers, crossed the Ohio, at Limestone, now the town of

(1) On the 28th of December, 1788, Israel Ludlow, with about twenty other persons, landed on the right bank of the Ohio, opposite Licking-commenced a settlement, and erected three or four log cabins.

(2) Fort Washington was erected on a lot of fifteen acres, reserved by the United States. The fort was in a square form, built of logs hewed and squared, and was on each side one hundred and eighty feet long, and formed on the inside into barracks of two stories high. At the corners were four bastions or block-houses, constructed of hewed logs, so placed that cannon within them, could rake the walls. On the south side, a gate way, twelve feet wide and ten feet high, secured by strong doors, opened through the barracks into the fort. From its north-east and north-west corners, pallisades extended to a blockhouse, enclosing a triangular space containing workshops for the accommodation of artificers. In front was a fine esplanade, eighty feet wide, enclosed by a handsome paling on the brow of the bank, which had a sloping descent of thirty feet to the lower bottom. The exterior of the fort was white washed, and at a little distance presented an imposing appearance. The fort was complete in November, 1789. On the 29th of December, General Harmar arrived

Maysville, and he was soon joined by General Harmar, with one hundred regular troops. They marched for the Scioto country. The Indians, however, too wily for their pursuers, abandoned their camp, and there was consequently no general action. On the route, a small Indian trail was crossed, and an officer and thirteen men were detached to pursue it, who soon came upon four Indians in camp, and killed them at the first fire. (1)

As the Indians afterward, during this summer, still continued their incursions, it was resolved that their frequent depredations on persons and property, made it necessary to march against their towns. Washington, the President of the United States, used all the means in his power, to increase the force under Harmar. The General was authorised to call on Kentucky to aid him with a portion of her militia, and to carry the war home to the Indians. This call was made, which soon brought to his standard, eleven hundred and thirty-three volunteers, under a competent number of officers, at the head of whom was the gallant Colonel John Hardin. Immediately on his arrival at the General's head quarters, on the 26th of September, he was ordered to advance along what was then familiarly known as 'Clark's Old Trace,' for about twentyfive miles; and then to halt for further orders. (1) The General having completed all his preparations, took up his line of march on the thirtieth. of September, and on the third of October, reached Turkey creek. Here he met Colonel Hardin, where preparations were made to advance. The army now amounted to fourteen hundred and forty-three men, of which only three hundred and twenty were regulars. In his course, the general visited the Indian villages on the head waters of the Little Miami. From those towns he struck across the woods, for the Great Miami, where Piqua now stands, and marching forward came to where Loramie's fort has since been erected. Here three Indians were discovered early in the morning, viewing his encampment. These were followed by some mounted men; one Indian was taken prisoner, but the other two escaped. Next morning the army crossed the St. Mary's River, and Colonel Hardin and Major James Paul, who was at the head of a battallion from Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, beat up for volunteers, to go to the Indian town, which they supposed to be about forty miles distant. Six hundred volunteers marched under these officers, in advance of the main army, and arrived at the Indian village, on the second day afterwards. The Indians, on the approach of Hardin (1) Marshall's Hist. of Ken'y, Vol. 1. pp. 355-360. (2) Appendix, 226. * Fort Loramie was erected in November, 1794, 70 miles S. E. of Fort Wayne.

and Paul, had mostly fled; having "evacuated their towns, with appearances of precipitation, and burnt the principal village, called Omee, together with all the traders' houses."(1) Only a few savages remained, and exchanged several shots with his men.(2) This detachment remained in the Indian town four days before General Harmar came up with the main army and baggage, having had to cut a road for his teams and wagons. After Harmar arrived, he tarried one week in the deserted town. While here he discovered that "many valuables of the traders were destroyed in the confusion caused by the approach of Hardin and Paul, and that vast quantities of corn and other grain and vegetables, were secreted in holes dug in the earth, and other hiding places."(3) As it was apparent that the Indians had but recently left, Colonel Hardin was detached with two hundred and ten men, sixty of whom were regu. lar soldiers, to overtake them. At the distance of six miles, the Indians had laid themselves in ambush on each side of their own trail, by dividing their numbers, and retiring at a distance from it, and then approaching it, so as to give no indication of pursuers, until they had first fallen into the snare, and were quietly waiting the event of their artifice, concealed by the grass and bushes, in a prairie. When Colonel Hardin and his detachment, with what precaution is not stated, had passed well into the defile, the enemy fired on them, as by signal, from both sides, which immediately dispersed the volunteers, to the great mortification of their Colonel, who, not being able to stop them, was compelled to follow, while the regular soldiers in front stood their ground, and made battle. But the enemy being superior to the whole of the detachment in numbers, rushed upon them, and such as did not fly, were instantly overpowered, and put to death. The Indians remained on the field, and the ensuing night held the dance of victory over the dead and dying bodies of their enemies, exulting with frantic gestures and savage yells during the ceremony, to which Captain Armstrong was a constrained and wretched witness. He was among those who were so fortunate as to escape after the shameful flight of the militia. He reached a point of water about two hundred yards from the field of action, and plunging himself in up to the neck, remained there all night, a spectator of this horrid scene.(4)

Twenty-three out of thirty of the regular troops, commanded by Lieutenant Armstrong, fell in that skirmish. "The volunteers lost but (1) Appendix, p. 229.

(2) History of Ohio, p. 134.

(3) General Harmar's Letter in the Appendix, p. 228.

few men; among these few, lamented by his acquaintances, Captain Scott, son of General Scott, of Kentucky."(1)

General Harmar finally concluded to return to Fort Washington, and actually marched eight miles on his return, when he received information that the Indians had again taken possession of the town. The General ordered a halt, and detached Colonel Hardin and Major Wyllys, with three hundred and sixty men, with orders to find out and fight the enemy. They returned to the main site of the town, "expecting, probably, that the enemy were collected, and would give battle, without, it would seem, making any calculation of their force, or stratagem-the two great instruments of war-but expecting the detachment quite sufficient to conquer either, or both. In a short time, a small body of Indians made their appearance. The volunteers being the most alert, and nearest the enemy, were put into motion, and fired on the Indians, who immediately broke into several smaller bodies, and retreated in squads, in different directions. They were pursued by the volunteers, who also broke into parties, in order to overtake and destroy the flying enemy, who merely seemed to avoid them. The grand object of the preconcerted stratagem, was now effected. A large part of the volunteers was decoyed into a vain pursuit the regulars were left alone. This was the moment for the display of Indian generalship, and it was seized with avidity, The Indians had concealed their main force in a convenient position, and waited only for the crisis which had been thus produced, to avail themselves of their superior address. They rose from their hiding place, rushed upon the devoted band, and fought with their tomahawks! Nothing could have exceeded the courage, the ardor, and the fury of the savages, unless it was the cool, determined, and energetic firmness of Major Wyllys" and his chosen band of sixty." The Indian yell was received with unperturbed and inflexible silence: the tomahawk was repelled by the bayonet. In vain was Indian after Indian killed: their numbers still increased; and while one was transfixed on the bayonet, one, two, or more would run up, and sink his tomahawk in the soldier's scull. Never was intrepidity more conspicuous, and never was destruction more complete. Scarcely an individual escaped, but bravely fell with their commander, Major Wyllys, an officer whose long and meritorious services claim the grateful remembrance of his country.(2) And could Indian blood atone for this, their death was honorably expiated by their hands."(3)

(1) Appendix, p. 229.

(2) Appendix, p. 231.