Great Leader: Micanopy of the Seminole

The life of this Native leader points up how little Whites understood Native ways of leadership.  Derided as a senile old man who needed Osceola and Abraham to do his thinking for him, Micanopy was instead an agile and energetic leader of his people until his death in exile in Oklahoma.

And here we go with naming confusion.  Micanopy (c 1780-1849) was either a title, as the word means high chief, or it was an accession name.  His primary name was Sintchakkee, which means "one who frequents (hangs around) ponds".  He was also called Hulbutta Hajo, or "Crazy Alligator".  This, too, may have been an honorific rather than a name since Hajo/Hadjo/Harjo, now a common surname among Seminoles, was once a war name given to warriors who were considered crazy, i.e., reckless in battle.  Micanopy was born near St. Augustine around 1780.  He was the nephew of Bolek, sometimes known as Billy Bowlegs I (and, again, NOT William Bowles), and became leading chief of the Seminoles in 1819.  In turn, Micanopy's nephews were Coacoochee and Billy Bowlegs II, whom we've already met.  Micanopy became a prosperous landowner.  He owned slaves and welcomed runaways to his employ and to live among his people.  He saw nothing wrong with intermarriage between Natives and Blacks or of giving freed Blacks equal status among his tribe.

In this he ran up against opposition by White slave owners in Georgia and Florida, who were upset that the Seminoles posed an enticement to their slaves to run away.  They accused the Seminoles of stealing slaves and raiding plantations to do so.  However, any raiding was generally done by desperate Seminole men confined to their reservation after the 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek, and who needed food to supplement the meager or non-existent rations.  Per the terms of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, the Seminoles were required to identify and return any escaped slaves.  They had no intention of doing anything of the kind.  As more Settlers moved into Florida, the demand to remove the Seminoles entirely became more incessant.  The Jackson Administration tried to force and enforce the Treaty of Payne's Landing, which required the Seminoles to give up Florida entirely and move to Oklahoma.  Micanopy refused to sign and the government agents blamed Osceola, meanwhile putting pressure on Abraham, who was owned by Micanopy but who had become a Native leader in his own right to urge Micanopy to sign.

Micanopy did agree to go to Oklahoma and inspect the land being offered to the Seminoles, which was in the area controlled by the Creeks.  He later said that his mark was forged on the Treaty of Fort Gibson and adamantly denied ever signing that treaty.  Whites brushed aside his protests as those of a doddering old fool who was afraid of Osceola.  Micanopy proved the opposite when he led the war party that culminated in the Dade Battle in December, 1835.  Without Osceola present, Micanopy fired the first shot of that battle, knocking Major Francis Dade (namesake of Dade County), right off his horse and dead.  Despite their early successes, the Seminoles were running out of men and resources.  Micanopy knew their time in Florida was running out and agreed to surrender in 1837.  As he and his people waited transport to Oklahoma, Osceola raided the American encampment and liberated all of them back into the forest.  But their freedom was short-lived.  In October, 1838, Micanopy was with Osceola when the latter arranged a meeting with Col. Thomas s. Jessup where they were all taken into custody.

Micanopy spent the winter at Fort Moultrie.  He initially refused the many painters who clamored for his portrait, but finally agreed to let George Catlin paint his likeness.  He was also present when his protégé and colleague Osceola died, and was among those standing on the ramparts of the fort as White soldiers carried Osceola to his grave.  Micanopy and his people were transported to Oklahoma and placed among the Creeks, where tensions escalated between the two now distinct tribes.  With little rations, no corn or farming implements, their clan and family structure broken up, the Seminoles had difficulty reconstituting their society.  Micanopy was old and his power was fading, but he did what he could.  In 1845, he was signatory to a Treaty which gave the Seminoles some autonomy from the Creek.  He died at Fort Gibson on January 2, 1849.  While his nephew Billy Bowlegs II continued the fight in Florida, and Coacoochee led a breakout of Seminoles headed for Mexico and hopefully freedom, another nephew, Jim Jumper, succeeded Micanopy as Principal Chief. 

Captivity Narrative: Hannah Dustin

Violence on the frontier went both ways, with both sides committing what would now be termed atrocities, but were at the time justified as self defense.  The case of Hannah Dustin of Haverhill, Massachusetts is one such event.

Hannah Emmerson (1657-c 1737) was the oldest of 15 children.  Her family had already appeared in the local records when one of her sisters was convicted of infanticide and hanged.  At the age of 20, Hannah married Thomas Dustin, a farmer who supplemented their income by making bricks.  Nine children followed and nothing else seemed remarkable about their life together.  However, during King William's War (1688-1697), Abenaki warriors working for the French staged a raid on Haverhill, Massachusetts.  Thomas was able to gather the oldest 8 children and flee with them into the woods.  Hannah, her six-day-old baby girl Martha, and her nursemaid Mary Neff were captured and forced to march into the wilderness.  As was common practice during these marches, the warriors seized little Martha out of Hannah's arms and smashed the infant's head against a tree. 

The two women were assigned to a Native American family which included another captive, a teenager named Samuel Lennardson.  They continued their journey to what is now Penacook, New Hampshire.  There, while their host family lay asleep, Hannah found a small hatchet (not necessarily a tomahawk).  She killed one of the men of the family while Lennardson found a weapon and slew the other.  They and Mary Neff also killed eight other members of the family.  Only an old woman and an older child, both severely wounded, escaped to tell the tale.  Then, the three Settlers took scalps to prove the incident, found a canoe and headed back to Haverhill, traveling by water and only at night so as not to be detected.  The Massachusetts General Court awarded Hannah 25 pounds in scalp bounty.  Lennardson and Neff divided another 25 between themselves.  In those days, this was not an insignificant sum of money.

Hannah and Thomas reunited their family and there the matter rested.  Hannah later told her story to Cotton Mather, who included it in one of his many books about the history of New England.  But it wasn't until the 19th century, when writers like Nathaneal Hawthorne, John Greenleaf Whittier and Henry David Thoreau came along that the story was embellished and dramatized.  Several memorials were erected to Hannah around Massachusetts but her story remains controversial today.  Was her action self-defense, or murder in vengeance for her infant daughter?  By retelling her story, would that be considered glorifying violence toward Native Americans?  By making her a heroine, was that not racism?  I'll leave that for the reader to decide, I'm just reporting the facts.

Native Life: Names and Titles

A confusing issue for anyone who studies this era of history is the correct naming of various Native people, including English translations of names, how the person self-identified, if known, and differentiating titles of chiefs and leaders from their actual name.  Not every Indian was Running Bear or Little White Dove and part of giving these people respect is to correctly identify, if possible, their name.

Naming conventions varied from tribe to tribe and it is not possible to recap them all.  The best source for information about naming within each tribe is the tribe's website or other material published by Natives or with the approval of the tribe.  We can only generalize here.  Some tribes allowed a person to keep their name throughout their life, Tecumseh of the Shawnee is one such example.  Other tribes gave a person a name as a child, and the name was changed when he or she became an adult.  Other life changing events could include seeing a vision or embarking on a career as a prophet (Lalekawitha/Tenskwatawa of the Shawnee) or becoming a warrior (Junaluska of the Cherokee).  Still other Natives used English or French names, either as a result of being baptized (Joseph and Mary Brant of the Mohawk), honoring a White friend or benefactor (Logan of the Mingo), or an acknowledged parent or step-parent (Alexander McGillivray of the Muscogee/Creek).  Some people used variants of English names translated or adapted into their language, Catherine became Kateri in many Iroquois dialects.  Then there were titles such as Half King, Massassoit, Teyoninhokawaran, or Tustenegge Thlocco, and, of course, Osceola.  While some of these titles have been used as the name of the person involved, they in fact reflected their position within the tribe.  Confusion on this point often leads to confusion about which Individual is meant, such as the Iroquoian men who bore the title Half-King. 

Osceola is a prime example.  To any Floridian, and to any student or alumnus of FSU, he is "Chief" Osceola, no questions asked or tolerated.  As we've discussed, he wasn't a chief, and his real name is lost to history.  The Seminole Tribe of Florida gives his name as William Powell, not Billy, but no birth records survive, so we can only surmise if Osceola himself used the name.  Whites used the name Powell in referring to him, so he either used it as a convenient identification in dealing with Whites or allowed them to use it.  However, we do know from both his friend, John Graham, as well as Frederick Weedon and George Catlin that Osceola self-identified by referring to himself in third person as Osceola.  Osceola is a title connected with a role in the annual Green Corn Dance performed by many Muskogean and other tribes of the Southeast.  It isn't a personal name.  Did Billy Powell have an "Indian name", that friends or family knew but now is lost to us?  We'll never know.  Likewise, Talisi Tustenegge is a legendary name applied to him afterwards, to indicate that he was a renowned warrior from the town of Talisi, in Alabama.  By the way, there is no evidence for other fanciful names such as Rising Sun, Red Fawn, and the like.  Osceola himself preferred to be called by his title, Osceola, and likely considered his personal name nobody's business but his own.

Another person who maintained her Native name was Eunice Williams, a 17th century preacher's daughter from Deerfield, Massachusetts.  When she was captured and initially adopted by the Mohawk, she was given a name meaning "planted as a person".  This symbolized that to her adopted family, Eunice was given to them in place of a daughter they'd lost in a smallpox epidemic.  Later, as an adult, she was given an adult name as well as a baptismal name, Marguerite, which she preferred. Her husband, likewise, was Francois Xavier Arosen, using his baptismal name and keeping his native name as a surname (something many Natives have done over the centuries).  Eunice preferred the name Marguerite Arosen, showing her chosen identities as a Mohawk, a Catholic as opposed to Puritan, and her status as a wife to Francois and mother of his children.

Ask any school child the name of one of the three Native men who helped the Pilgrims and you may get the answer Massassoit.  As far as anyone knows, this was his real name.  Not so.  Massassoit is a title which means Great Sachem, as he was the Great Sachem of the Wampanoag.  His personal name was Ousamequin.  The name has been recorded, so he was comfortable telling Whites, including his friend Edward Winslow, what his personal name was.  It appears, though, that to his face in and in reference, people called him by his title, Massassoit, and the title has stuck as his name.  He gave Native names to his children, Wamsutta and Metacom, whom he allowed to have the Christian names of Alexander and Phillip.  They were Kings only in the sense that Europeans understood chiefs or sachems to have kingly authority, hence heir more common names King Alexander and King Phillip, classical allusions to Alexander the Great and his father, Phillip of Macedon. 

Other examples in this blog include, Blacksnake of the Seneca, Red Jacket of the Seneca, Spemica Lawba of the Shawnee, etc. 

Settlers versus Natives: the Wessagusset Massacre of March, 1623

The response of Natives to Settlers and Explorers who arrived on their shores was generally one of curiosity and hospitality.  Without the help of men like Squanto, Samoset and Massassoit, the first colonies in New England wouldn't have survived an entire winter.  The Natives would soon discover that no good deed went unpunished and the first of many bitter incidents between Natives and Whites would take place only two years after that first harvest feast in Plimouth (now Plymouth).

Plimouth Colony was a religious experiment.  Its purpose was to bring families to settle in a land where they might worship without persecution.  In contrast, what was then called the Weston Colony was founded for trade.  In those days, colonies were under the control of joint stock companies who funded them and provide settlers, support personnel, money, ships and supplies.  While Plimouth chose to order its life around the precepts of the Bible and a settled English town, the founders of the Weston Colony had one idea in mind, profit.  Thomas Weston was a prosperous London ironmonger (dealer in iron and iron ware), who was associated with a joint stock colony called the Plymouth Association for New England.  Several years before the Pilgrims, they had attempted to plant a trading colony in what is now Phippsburg, Maine.  That colony was short lived due to conflicts among the colonists rather than starvation or other factors and quickly abandoned.

Now, in 1623, Weston was ready to try again.  To avoid family bickering, he chose as colonists all able-bodied men.  However, none of them had any survival or wilderness skills to speak of.  There were fifty or sixty settlers, some military personnel to serve as scouts, a doctor and a lawyer.  They settled in an area known as Wessagusset, now Weymouth, Massachussetts in July, 1622.   At first, relations between Plimouth and Wessagusset were decent enough.  The men of Wessagusset helped Plimouth gather in its harvest, which, as we know from history was a scant one.  Plimouth soon accused Wessagusset of stealing part of the harvest and relations went downhill from there.  Apparently, there was other stealing going on.  Nearby Natives of the Masssachussett tribe accused Wessagusset of stealing their corn.  Plimouth promised to rebuke the neighboring colony and left it at that. 

The Wessagusset settlers were consuming their rations too quickly and asked Plimouth for help.  Plimouth, without Squanto to keep everyone focused on the job at hand, had spent more time on houses and fortifications and not sufficient time planting and harvesting.  Their harvest would not last the winter.  The two colonies pooled resources and negotiated a trade for foodstuffs with neighboring Natives, using trade goods brought from England by Wessagusset.  The colonies divided up the proceeds and called it good, or so everyone thought.  By January, those food stuffs were running out and the colonists were doing manual labor for the Natives in exchange for food.  There were reports of more stealing, and a man was hanged, but sources disagree as to whether he was the guilty party, or a man who was dying anyway.  Either way, the Natives were not appeased.  They only had enough corn and other foodstuffs to trade to see them through the winter, too.  Wessagusset approached Plimouth for a joint attack on the Natives, but Plimouth rejected the plan. 

The Settlers at Wessagusset could see that the Natives around them were becoming more hostile.  Rumors of an impending attack reached Wessagusset and they sent a representative to Plimouth, again demanding help.  Meanwhile, Massassoit had developed a good working relationship with Edward Winslow, the author of Mourt's Relation, who had cured him with English medicine during an illness.  Massassoit put Winslow wise that a gathering of Native tribes not under his control were planning to attack bot Wassagusset and Plimouth.  His message to Plimouth was clear.  They needed to get control of what was going on at Wessagusset.  In response, in late March, Plimouth dispatched a small force under Miles Standish to Wessagusset. 

On March 26, 1623, Standish called all the colonists at Wessagusset into their stockade.  He also invited Pecksuot, a Massachussett sachem from whom Weston's colony had bought their land, and four other Native leaders to the meeting.  What happens next depends on who told the story.  At some point the four Native leaders were in a room alone with Standish.  English sources later said that the Natives asked for the private meeting to have an opportunity or pretext of killing Standish.  More than likely, Standish had arranged the meeting as part of a parley, but things turned in a different direction.  Legend propagated by Longfellow's poem says that Standish became angry and lost his temper.  Standish struck first, killing Pecksuot with his own knife.  The other Native leaders were killed, as well as several Natives also in the stockade.  Five Englishmen were killed and the head of one of the Natives cut off and sent to Plimouth to be displayed as a warning to others inclined to rise against either colony. 

After the killings, the Wessagusset colonists knew they would face a general uprising and could no longer stay in the area.  Most opted to return to England, while others chose to move to Plimouth.  The Wessagusset colony was dissolved less than a year after it had started.  Tensions between Natives and Settlers were on a downward spiral that would lead ultimately to the Pequot War (1636-38) and King Phillip's War (1675-1678). 

Native Paths: the Natchez Trace

As we've seen with many historic roads in what is now the Eastern United States, trails used by Native hunters and warriors formed the basis for thoroughfares leading further West.  An example of this is the Natchez Trace.

The Trace stretches over 400 miles, linking Natchez, Mississippi with Nashville, Tennessee and connecting the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers.  The earliest portions of the trail were the well-worn tracks of animals, particularly bison, seeking access to the salt licks along the Tennessee River.  Native hunters followed these herds, widening the trail.  It was used by Mississippian Natives and later by the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, who often furnished guides to early explorers seeking to map the trail for use by settlers.  Europeans discovered the Trace in 1742, when a Frenchman called it a "miserable trail".  Decades later, in 1803, the Jefferson Administration decided to build a postal road connecting off of Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road.  They signed treaties with the Chickasaw and Choctaw for right of way over the Trace.  Despite efforts by the Army to widen the road, settlers often called it the "Devil's Backbone" because it was rough.  Soon, though, a steady stream of people began moving west, and trading posts developed along the route to outfit them for their journey west. 

As with many other roads that started off as hunting trails and then became roads for settlement, the military also found the Trace useful.  Andrew Jackson marched his men along the Trace to fight the War of 1812 (1812-1814) and the Creek War (1813-1814).  Afterwards, other trails and the advent of steamboat travel shifted traffic away from the Trace.  Portions of the Trace continued to be used as a local road, while other parts of it faded back into the forest from whence it came. 

Great Leader: George Colbert (Tootemastubbe) of the Chickasaw

The Five Civilized Tribes were called so by their White neighbors, who saw the efforts of the Natives to assimilate to White culture.  This acknowledgement of civilization did not prevent the members of these tribes from being driven from their land.  Through that turbulent period, each of the tribes was fortunate to have men who could bridge both the White and Native worlds. 

George Colbert (1764-1839) was born in what is now Alabama, the son of a North Carolina settler of Scots dissent and his Chickasaw wife.  As with other mixed-race children, George clung to his mother's heritage.  Her family would insure his status within the tribe and provide his warrior's training, while his Scottish father provided what was then termed an "English education".  George first saw service leading Chickasaw auxiliaries under Arthur St. Clair in (1791) and Anthony Wayne in (1794).  Indeed, through much of the so-called "Indian Wars" Chickasaw fought as allies of the Americans, rather than against them.  When the War of 1812 broke out, George raised a militia troop of 350 Chickasaw warriors to fight with Andrew Jackson against the Red Stick Creeks and throughout the remained of Jackson's New Orleans campaign.

During peacetime, George married three times and fathered six sons and two daughters.  He established a ferry over the Tennessee River near what is now Cherokee, Alabama, a crossing-point on the Natchez Trace.  He became a planter, owning African slaves, and a livestock breeder.  He and his brothers, Levi and James, were signatories to treaties between the Chickasaw and the United States government, ceding land in exchange for peace with the White settlers who continued to encroach on Choctaw land.  None of their attempts to reconcile with Whites was to any avail.  In 1839, months before his death, George would lead his people on their own Trail of Tears.  Prior to leaving, he married his youngest daughter to a White man so that she would not have to make the journey. 

Colbert County, Alabama was named for George and Levi Colbert.  Old pictures exist of George's original home in Alabama, which has since been torn down.

Did it Happen: the First Thanksgiving

The picture is a familiar one to most Americans, prim Pilgrims in black and white outfits serving turkey dinner to Natives (in war bonnets), consisting of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie.

NOT! 

First, a word about terminology.  To the Pilgrims, as indeed to many people up until Thanksgiving became a national holiday during the Civil War (1861-1865), a day of thanksgiving had little to do with feasting and merry-making and everything to do with solemn church services, fasting, cessation of most work or other activity and the like.  What the Pilgrims were celebrating was a harvest feast.  Incidentally, a harvest feast is often celebrated in the UK and other commonwealth countries such as Canada in October.  And, contrary to popular belief, during such feasts the Pilgrims did allow for some merry-making including dressing in colors, games and some limited music.  They held such a feast in autumn of 1621, though the exact date isn't known.

There are two accounts of this first harvest feast in America, William Bradford's official account of the colony Of Plymouth Plantation, and William Brewster's Mourt's Relation, and both are as skimpy on details as tight-lipped Pilgrims can be, meaning that they probably didn't consider the occasion as big a deal as it later became in American iconography.  Bradford says that they had caught a lot of wild turkeys during the season and that the harvest was good, thanks to Squanto's teaching of them to plant local foodstuffs.  While the Native way of hunting depended on stealth, and killing only those animals needed to survive, the English had a proper shooting party, which meant quantity as well as quality.  When scouts of the local Wampanoag tribe brought back word to Massassoit of a lot of men in the woods firing guns he logically assumed this was the start of a war party and sent Squanto to ask what was going on.  Not quite trusting Squanto when he brought back word that the Pilgrims were just hunting, Massassoit took about 90 warriors and came to Plimouth to see for himself.  He was just in time for the feast, and he and his men were invited to sit down and dig in.  The Wampanoag didn't wear war bonnets.  Come as you are attire for them would've been breech clothes, leggings, moccasins, and personal adornment as desired or rank demanded.  The feasting lasted for several days. 

Now, the menu.  Turkeys could've been there, either roasted on spits or prepared in a stew more known to us as a fricassee to flavor and moisten the meat.  Other game meats were on hand, including venison.  So were shell fish such as mussels and clams, as well as eels (eeeww!!).  Wild cranberries in dried form would've been there, but not as a sauce (or more properly a relish).  Pumpkins would've been served in a custard form or baked like other squash.  Potatoes and yams were non-existent, and would be introduced to North American years later.  The Colonists had not begun cultivating wheat, had no dairy animals and no way to make crusts for pies, let alone rolls.  And, of course, squash, beans and corn (maize) would've been available, but green beans, macaroni salad or bacon-wrapped anything, nada. 

The Pilgrims would not have the resources to have such a sumptuous feast again until 1623.  Squanto had died and without him to keep everyone on track the harvest was poor, and food preservation even worse.  From time to time in the ensuing decades and centuries, New England communities kept this tradition of a harvest-feast, as they did many English customs (hence the regional name, New England).  They also kept the more solemn traditions of Thanksgiving being a day of prayer, fasting and reflection.  It wasn't until Abraham Lincoln's Administration that the two streams crossed, Thanksgiving being both a day of solemn prayer as well as feasting.  Today the feasting remains, and some solemn prayer and reflection (depending on if your team is playing and how they're doing this season). 

Samoset and the Pilgrims: A Settler's Account

The following excerpt is from Mourt's Relation, a first-hand account by either Edward Winslow or William Bradford, erroneously attributed to another Pilgrim named John Mourt, of the Settler's first encounter with Samoset, a Sagamore of the Abenaki who would prove vital to their survival.

Friday the 16th a fair warm day towards; this morning we determined to conclude of the military orders, which we had begun to consider of before but were interrupted by the savages, as we mentioned formerly; and whilst we were busied hereabout, we were interrupted again, for there presented himself a savage, which caused an alarm. He very boldly came all alone and along the houses straight to the rendezvous, where we intercepted him, not suffering him to go in, as undoubtedly he would, out of his boldness. He saluted us in English, and bade us welcome, for he had learned some broken English among the Englishmen that came to fish at Monchiggon, and knew by name the most of the captains, commanders, and masters that usually come. He was a man free in speech, so far as he could express his mind, and of a seemly carriage. We questioned him of many things; he was the first savage we could meet withal. He said he was not of these parts, but of Morattiggon, and one of the sagamores or lords thereof, and had been eight months in these parts, it lying hence a day's sail with a great wind, and five days by land. He discoursed of the whole country, and of every province, and of their sagamores, and their number of men, and strength. The wind being to rise a little, we cast a horseman's coat about him, for he was stark naked, only a leather about his waist, with a fringe about a span long, or little more; he had a bow and two arrows, the one headed, and the other unheaded. He was a tall straight man, the hair of his head black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all; he asked some beer, but we gave him strong water and biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mallard, all which he liked well, and had been acquainted with such amongst the English. He told us the place where we now live is called Patuxet, and that about four years ago all the inhabitants died of an extraordinary plague, and there is neither man, woman, nor child remaining, as indeed we have found none, so as there is none to hinder our possession, or to lay claim unto it. All the afternoon we spent in communication with him; we would gladly have been rid of him at night, but he was not willing to go this night. Then we thought to carry him on shipboard, wherewith he was well content, and went into the shallop, but the wind was high and the water scant, that it could not return back. We lodged him that night at Stephen Hopkins' house, and watched him.

The next day he went away back to the Massasoits, from whence he said he came, who are our next bordering neighbors. They are sixty strong, as he saith. The Nausets are as near southeast of them, and are a hundred strong, and those were they of whom our people were encountered, as before related. They are much incensed and provoked against the English, and about eight months ago slew three Englishmen, and two more hardly escaped by flight to Monchiggon; they were Sir Ferdinando Gorges his men, as this savage told us, as he did likewise of the huggery, that is, fight, that our discoverers had with the Nausets, and of our tools that were taken out of the woods, which we willed him should be brought again, otherwise, we would right ourselves. These people are ill affected towards the English, by reason of one Hunt, a master of a ship, who deceived the people, and got them under color of trucking with them, twenty out of this very place where we inhabit, and seven men from Nauset, and carried them away, and sold them for slaves like a wretched man (for twenty pound a man) that cares not what mischief he doth for his profit.

Saturday, in the morning we dismissed the savage, and gave him a knife, a bracelet, and a ring; he promised within a night or two to come again, and to bring with him some of the Massasoits, our neighbors, with such beavers' skins as they had to truck with us.

Taken from Wikipedia. 

Places: Tallasee, Tulsa and Tallahassee

Great people often come from humble beginnings, small towns full of local history.  Three people we've already met in this blog called a little town by the Tallapoosa River in Alabama home, Opothleyahola, Peter McQueen and, of course, the Unconquered himself.

Tallasee, Alabama, on a bend in the Tallapoosa River, lies in two counties, Tallapoosa and Elmore.  Today, it's a mill town with a population of less than 5,000 according to the 2010 census.  But its impact on history belies its small size.  Its first inhabitants were the mound builders of the Mississippi Culture.  Hernando de Soto visited the town in 1540, when it was then an important city within the Coosa Province.  Over time, it became one of the principal towns of the Creek Nation, the Creeks being one of the tribes who trace descent from the Mississippians.  History happened all around and in this town.  The Creek principal city of Tuckabatchee was nearby.  It was to Tuckabatchie in 1811 that Tecumseh came to appeal to the Creek people to join his movement.  Among the Tallassee residents present on that day were Peter McQueen, a noted warrior turned prophet and later leader of the Red Stick faction during the Creek War (1813-1814).  Also on hand was a bright, lively seven-year-old boy who already excelled at athletics and had a knack for making others notice him, Billy Powell, famed in later life as Osceola.  No doubt Opethleyahola, another Creek leader born in Tallassee, would have also been present on such an important occasion. 

Tallassee was the birthplace of Creek leaders.  It was to Tallassee that Peter McQueen and a party of Creek warriors were returning in 1813, when they were intercepted by militia at the Battle of Burnt Corn, sparking the Creek War.  Fort Mims was not far away, and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend was fought on another bend in the Tallapoosa River.  History happened here, as did Indian Removal.  Most of Tallassee's residents were Creek and ultimately deported to Oklahoma, where they carried the memory of their town with them.  Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the Arkansas River, was in the land allotment for the Creek people and its original name was Talisia, harking back to an older spelling of Talisi for the town they knew back home.  Eventually, the name evolved to Tulsa, and it stuck.

Another town might also bear a similar name.  One of the etymologies for Tallahassee, Florida suggests that this town, too, was named for the mother town in Alabama.  Many Creeks migrated from Alabama to Florida to join the Seminoles as their world fell apart.  Osceola is sometimes referred to as Tustenugge Tallasi, or Warrior of Tallasse.  Tallahassee was associated with him long before the Florida State Seminoles took him over.  Thus, it's possible that Tallahassee is also named for Tallassee, a little town with a lot of history and a fond place in the hearts and minds of people who once called it home. 

Natives versus Settlers: Bird's Invasion of Kentucky, 1780

By 1780, the stakes against the British in North American had upped considerably.  France and Spain were now allies of the future United States, and the British knew that France would take Quebec and New France (from Quebec City all the way to New Orleans) back in a heartbeat.  The Spanish, eager to secure their possessions in Florida, which now included St. Louis, Mobile and New Orleans, would be on hand to help.  The British decided on a bold scheme to stop the French and Spanish in their tracks.

While General John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, attacked New Orleans from Pensacola and proceeded up the Missippi to Natchez, he would rendezvous with another British force striking down the Illinois River and take St. Louis.  Another British force would retake Vincennes and hold down Illinois country.  Meanwhile, Major Henry Bird was given command of a force of 1,000 Native auxiliaries along with units of British Regulars and Canadian militia.  He was to amuse (distract, keep busy), George Rogers Clark, who was known to be convening a force to march on Fort Detroit and was currently at the Falls of the Ohio. 

And it all fell apart from there.  Bernardo de Galvez bottled Argyll up in Pensacola, insuring that he never reached Mobile or New Orleans.  Militia composed of settlers in Illinois dealt with the other two British forces.  The Natives marching with Bird reached the junction of the Ohio and Great Miami Rivers and learned that Clark was nearby with a larger force than they anticipated and that he was NOT amused, not one bit.  The Native force was composed of Shawnee, Delaware, Miami and other tribes whom the British lumped together as Lake Indians, under the command of Blue Jacket along with Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliott, and the man every American settler couldn't hate enough, Simon Girty.  They decided to leave Clark alone and raid some American settlements. 

They traveled down the Licking River and, on June 21, 1780, arrived at Ruddle's station.  Like most of these frontier stations, it was a log palisade with a blockhouse.  This was one of the few occasions where the British had thought to bring along artillery and the cannons quickly reduced the walls to kindling.  Isaac Ruddle, the commander of the station, demanded to be allowed to surrender to the British, and not the Natives.  Bird agreed to this but the Natives were not to be denied and quickly took possession of the prisoners (about 200), dividing them up amongst the various bands in the usual way.  Bird reasserted his authority and let the Natives know that, next time, he was taking charge of the prisoners.  They proceeded on to Martin's Station, which quickly surrendered.  Bird and the Regular units took charge of 150 prisoners. 

At this point, the Natives felt willing to take on Clark, having heard that his force wasn't as powerful as they'd originally though it was.  Bird overruled them again, citing low food supplies, not enough water in the Licking River to transport the cannon and other excuses.  They retraced their steps.  As they crossed the Ohio River on August 4, 1780, most of the Natives left the expedition.  They took some prisoners, but left most behind with Bird's column (around 300).   The British would never again mount such a serious attempt to take the North American backcountry.  If it was any consolation, Clark never got to act on his plan to take Fort Detroit.  All the Natives got for their trouble was more retribution from American settlers, who blame them (and Girty) for all the violence. 

Places: Fort Detroit

No vestige of this fort remains.  It's completely buried by the modern office complexes of Detroit, Michigan.  In its heyday, Fort Detroit covered the area between Larned Street, Griswold Street, and the Civic Center.  Even St. Anne's Church, the original Catholic parish of Detroit, is a building several generations removed from the structure that stood there in the 17th century.  But Fort Detroit played such a vital roll in frontier history that it deserves a post of its own.

The word Detroit is French for "strait" as in a naturally occurring canal connecting bodies of water between opposing land masses  The Detroit River, or Riviere du Detroit literally means the River of the Strait.  The Detroit River flows from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.  It is one of the interconnecting rivers that form the Great Lakes system and, by extension the Missouri and Mississippi systems.  Like Fort William Henry and Fort Carillon/Ticonderoga, this location was prime for a strategic fort designed to guard this waterway, and facilitate trade both by water and overland. 

Enter Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac (yes, the car brand founded in Detroit bears his name), French explorer and future Governor of Louisiana.  He quickly realized the prime location of this area for both trade and defense, keeping the English from using the Great Lakes and Northwest Territories as a backdoor into Quebec, and to monopolize the trade with the Natives.  The full name of the outpost was Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit, in honor of a court official to Louis XIV.  Pontchartrain would later have a lake named for him in Louisiana, but that's another story.  The Fort's cumbersome French designation would be shortened to Fort Detroit and thus it would remain.  The original fort was a wooden stockade with bastions or towers for defense.  Soon after it was completed, Ottawa and Huron Natives moved nearby to take advantage of the ready supply of trade goods offered by French traders stopping off at the Fort.  The Fort became a hub in the lucrative beaver fur trade, and also played a role in the various inter-tribal wars as Natives competed for trading rights. 

Fort Detroit was too far from the main theatres of war in the Northeast during the French and Indian War (1755-1762) and did not see combat.  Nevertheless, it was claimed by the British and turned over to them in 1763.  British military officials (read Lord Jeffrey Amherst) did not believe in winning the Natives' loyalty with trade goods and clamped down on the fur trade, especially with regard to firearms, ammo and alcohol.  These and other repressive measures triggered Pontiac's Rebellion (1764), in which the Fort would see plenty of action as a forward military base.  Pontiac's forces laid siege to the fort, but ultimately failed to capture it. 

Fort Detroit would be far from the main battlefields of the Revolutionary War but would still have an active role to play in the frontier theatre.  British officials supplied arms and ammo to Native auxiliaries operating out of Fort Detroit, and men attached to the British Indian Department such as Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and Thomas Elliott would work closely with the tribes, sometimes leading war parties with the tacit permission, if not outright say-so, of the British garrison.  No wonder backcountry commanders wanted to take the fort for their own and put it out of business, but they would never get the chance.  Natives in the Ohio Valley and Northwest Territories jealously guarded their hunting ranges and thus approaches to the fort, which would have to be taken by a long siege.  The fort would not be taken by siege, but by treaty.  Both Jay's Treaty of 1794 and the Treaty of Greenville of 1795 specifically claim Fort Detroit for the United States. 

In 1805 the original Fort Detroit burned to the ground.  Rather than rebuild it, the Americans named another nearby fort after it.  The British briefly reoccupied this new fort during the War of 1812 but were forced to give it up soon enough.  The new Fort Detroit was abandoned after the War of 1812 and crumbled into ruin as the city built up, around and over it, blotting out all trace. 

Did It Happen: Henry Hamilton the Hair Buyer

Scalping remains one of the most controversial topics in Early Frontier history.  Who was the first to do it?  Who did more of it?  Why?  Those questions aren't part of the purpose of this blog.  Scalping is an ancient practice with evidence seen in many civilizations around the world, from the Scythians in the ancient world, to the Visigoths in the twilight of the Roman Empire, to the Dahomey in Africa.  Evidence of scalping injuries on skulls date from pre-contact North America.  At its most basic, scalping was a convenient, if bloody and painful way of counting enemy dead and proving which soldier or warrior had killed enemy and how many.  Enough said.

One practice that was routine on the frontier was the issuing of scalp bounties to anyone who had killed a Native man, woman or child, whether in battle or other circumstance.  Some examples will suffice.  Massachusetts and Connecticut authorities offered bounties during the Pequot War in the 1630's.  Authorities in New France also offered scalp bounties in their ongoing conflicts with the Iroquois in the Beaver Wars.  Massachusetts offered scalp bounties in most of the wars we have discussed, Queen Anne's War, Father Rale's War, King George's War, and the list goes on.  English authorities in Nova Scotia also offered scalp bounties during their conflicts with the Mikmaq and other tribes.  The last war in which Colonial governments offered scalp bounties was the French and Indian War (1755-1762), in which both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania offered bounties for Native scalps of men, women and children. 

Did it happen during the Revolution?  And, if so, by whom?

The most obvious candidate in this scenario is Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton.  Hamilton was born in Ireland and entered the British Army in the French and Indian War.  Connections and luck sponsored his rise through the ranks until, in 1775, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, based out of Fort Detroit.  His orders called for him to encourage and support Native auxiliaries in their attacks on frontier outposts and settlements.  In his own correspondence, he worried about excesses by Natives and tried to make sure, as much as it was in his power, that Native war parties were accompanied by or under the control of British Regular or Loyalist commanders.  As we've seen, this didn't stop the cruelty by both Whites and Natives on either side.  If anything, it exacerbated the problem. Not only that, but Native leaders and Loyalists for whom military discipline held no appeal often operated on their own.  Many people were killed and scalped, by both Loyalists and Natives, as well as Patriots and Natives.  As a disproportionate amount of the behavior seemed to be with British controlled units it was easy to see how a rumor got started and became "fact".  The reason the Natives were so eager to take scalps had to be that the British were subsidizing them to do so. 

While Americans such as George Rogers Clark were certain that the impetus for American attacks on the frontier came from Fort Detroit, there is no written or other evidence that Hamilton ever offered a scalp bounty.  Unlike many British commanders, Henry Hamilton seemed to have developed a respect for Natives, learning much about the various tribes, making detailed drawings and leaving notes about the things he had learned.  The Americans could have cared less about his views on the Natives, though, and branded him a war criminal.  In February, 1779, Clark recapture Fort Vincennes and sent Hamilton to Williamsburg, Virginia, where Governor Thomas Jefferson ordered him clapped in irons until Washington decided what to do with him.  He was eventually sent to New York, exchanged and left for England and other service.  That he wasn't tried might be an indicator that, for all the rumors, nobody at that time could find any evidence that he was paying for scalps, either. 

Natives versus Settlers: Lochry's Defeat, Augut 24, 1781

As the Revolutionary War ground to a weary halt with the siege and surrender of Yorktown in October, 1781, things were far from quiet on the frontier.  The British at Fort Detroit continued to encourage attacks by their Native auxiliaries against American outposts and settlements.  As was discussed in an earlier post, George Rogers Clark, the leading American commander in the backcountry, nourished a dream of taking Fort Detroit, but could never get his pet project off the ground.  One reason was lack of men. 

With the British bottled up on the Virginia coast, Washington believed he could spare a few men to assist Clark.  He sent 100 men under Archibald Lochry marching toward Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) and a rendezvous with Clark.  They hadn't counted on Joseph Brant and his volunteer force, made up mostly of Native but even of some Whites were who willing to fight under his command.  Brant teamed up with Simon and George Girty and Alexander McKee to meet Clark in August, 1781.  At the last minute, they realized that Clark had a far larger force then they expected.  Simon and Alexander missed an opportunity to ambush part of Clark's men in their camp on the banks of Ohio River due to lack of reinforcements coming up in time.  Through captured prisoners, Brant learned of Lochry's force on its way to join Clark.  He and George Girty put their heads together and came up with a plan. 

Lochry's party landed on the banks of the Ohio River near the Great Miami River, expecting to meet up with Clark.  They had seen injured Americans left on the bank by Brant and believed they were picking up survivors of a routine brush between Natives and Settlers.  As Lochry's men came ashore, started breakfast and began making camp, Brant and George sprung their trap.  As Brant's men descended on them, Lochry's men tried to go for their guns, but some had left their weapons behind in the canoes.  The Americans headed that way, before realizing that Brant had dispatched men to take possession of the canoes.  There was no escape and Lochry called for his men to surrender.  The totals were 37 Americans dead and 64 captured.  Some of the dead were executed after they had surrendered, including Lochry.  A Shawnee encounter him sitting on a log unawares and killed him with a tomahawk blow.  Brant intervened before more prisoners could be killed. 

Brant hurried his prisoners toward Fort Detroit, intending to rendezvous with McKee, Simon and units of Butler's Ranger to go after Clark.  They received word that Clark had turned back and, once again, given up on Fort Detroit.  He was fortunate.  Had Simon and McKee been able to spring their part of the trap, or had Clark continued further upriver, he and his men would have suffered ambush after ambush by prepared Native war parties, resulting in disaster.  Meanwhile, the men of Lochry's command who survived were divided up amongst the various tribes.  Some were adopted into the tribes, others ritually executed, others turned in to the British at Fort Detroit where they spent several months in a prison in Montreal.  About half the survivors eventually made it back to their families. 

Lochry's Defeat spread alarm and panic on the frontier.  Clark would try a few more times to float his scheme to capture Fort Detroit, which ultimately make sense in hindsight, but few if any state authorities, let alone Washington, were prepared to release more men.  Though Clark may not have realized it yet, his spectacular career as the Washington of the West was in decline.  Two other commanders were also locked in drama of their own.  Simon Girty and Joseph Brant had never liked each other.  Simon dismissed Brant as a drinker and bragger.  Brant just wished Simon would go away.  After the battle, they met up in Detroit and began drinking.  Simon heard Brant bragging about the victory over Lochry and felt incensed that Brant was shading George Girty by not giving him any of the credit.  The two had words and both drew swords.  Brant slashed Simon on the front of his head and down his face.  Simon wounded Brant in the leg so badly that it almost had to be amputated.  Both would take months to recover and neither voluntarily entered each other's presence again.   

Explorer: Henry Timberlake and the Cherokee

Native societies changed drastically in the first two hundred years of contact with Europeans.  Some of this was by chance, as trade goods made their way into Native economy.  Sometimes, it was through force of circumstance, as Natives adapted to better co-exist with Settlers.  The end result was that much of their pre-contact dress, customs and ways of life was lost.  We only get glimpses here and there, usually through the journals and reports of explorers, traders or others who were fortunate enough to have early contact with the tribes.  Such was the case with Henry Timberlake (1730-1765).  BTW: a Tennessee history site for kids posits the theory that he might just be related to Justin, but more on that later.

Henry was born in Hanover County, Virginia.  His family had been in Virginia beginning with his paternal grandfather.  Though he inherited some money, Henry had to support himself and the army was the most honorable profession for a young man of his social standing.  He participated in the French and Indian War (1755-1762) as a member of a Virginia militia regiment, and applied to be part of Washington's own regiment, but was denied due to a lack of vacancies.  He later became an ensign in another Virginia regiment commanded by Col. William Byrd, and spent much of the war on garrison duty in Pittsburgh.  Meanwhile, as we've seen in an earlier post, relations between the British and heir Cherokee allies had soured into open war (1759-1761).  When punitive raids failed to convince the Cherokee to return to their alliance, the British tried diplomacy.

A Cherokee leader known to Whites as Old Hop (Kanagatucko) arrived at the British camp in what is now Sullivan County, Tennessee to sue for peace.  He asked that a British officer accompany him back to his country as proof that peace had been granted.  Timberlake volunteered.  Timberlake was accompanied by Sergeant Thomas Sumter, who later became a Continental officer and partisan commander during the Revolution, and an interpreter.  The plan was to visit the Overhill towns, which, as we've seen, were the most resistant to White encroachment on Cherokee land.  Along the way, Timberlake, who was an avid writer and also a skilled cartographer, took notes, drew maps and even sketches of who and what he was seeing.  After a harrowing journey, the group arrived at the Overhill town of Tomotley, where they were greeted by the village headman, Ostenaco.  Ostenaco accompanied them to the town of Chota where a large council of chiefs had gathered.  After a speech, he buried a hatchet in the ground as a symbol of peace between the English and Cherokee.  Timberlake disliked smoking pipes as part of the ritual, but was otherwise respectful of what he was seeing and hearing.  He later visited other towns, where the constant pipe smoking made him so sick he was ill and unable to travel for days.

His mission accomplished, Timberlake returned to his based in Sullivan County, bein guided by Ostenaco and utilizing the Great Warpath for part of the journey.  Although peace had been formally declared, he saw signs that the Cherokee were still ready for war.  Timberlake arrived back in Williamsburg, where Ostenaco was treated to dinners and parties as though he'd been an ambassador from a European country.  He expressed a desire to meet the King of England and Timberlake decided to take him to London.  Timberlake and Sumter, along with Ostenaco and several other Cherokee leaders embarked on a ship to London in June, 1762.  There, the Cherokee leaders were treated as foreign ambassadors, sitting for portraits with Joshua Reynolds (which have not survived), meeting King George III and touring London.  They returned home in August, 1762, though Timberlake stayed behind due to financial constraints.  He secured a commission in a British regiment and returned to Virginia in March, 1763. 

Once in Virginia, he was placed on half-pay and semi-retired, which threatened his financial security.  He petitioned the Virginia legislature for reimbursement for his expenses on his Overhill expedition and for taking the Cherokee to London, but was denied.  In 1764, Cherokee leaders contacted Timberlake, asking him to take them to London again to speak to King George personally about violations of the Proclamation of 1763 and encroachment on their land by Settlers.  Timberlake found someone to fund the trip and accompanied the Natives to London.  There, the Cherokee were rebuffed by royal officials, as this wasn't considered an official visit.  Timberlake was accused of profiting off the Cherokee popularity.  Government ministers funded the Cherokee to return home in March, 1765, and Timberlake was imprisoned for debt.  He wrote his memoirs in an effort to raise money, but died before he could get them published.

Meanwhile, back in Virginia, Timberlake's son Richard by Sakinny, one of Ostenaco's daughters, grew up.  Remaining loyal to his mother's family, as so many mixed-race children did, he took his grandfather Ostenaco into his home during the old man's final years.  Timberlake's journals contained such detail that they proved helpful to archaeologists excavating Cherokee town sites and to anthropologists and historians studying Cherokee culture.  His maps have helped scientists pinpoint the location of many otherwise lost Cherokee sites.  His diaries remain one of the most useful 18th century accounts of the Cherokee.  Now, for the possible connection to Justin.  The singer has indicated in interviews that a distant ancestor was Cherokee.  If that is true, there might be a connection, though it hasn't been proven conclusively. 

 

Indian Fighter: Lewis Wetzel

On the American frontier, there was no greater compliment to a Settler than to become known as an Indian Fighter.  While some of these men believed they were protecting their homes, families and neighbors and may have born no personal animosity toward Natives (Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton), other were more sinister.  We've already run across Hugh McGary and his terrible treatment of an elderly Native couple (Moluntha and Nonhelema).  Now, we'll look closely at a man who was reckoned second only to Daniel Boone on the frontier, Lewis Wetzel (1763-1808) from what is now West Virginia.

Being captured by Natives, or barely evading it, was a common hazard of life on the frontier.  Some men looked back at their time with Natives in gratitude or respect (John Stark).  Others didn't appreciate the experience, but bore no ill-will directly to Native people (James Smith).  Lewis didn't relish his brush with captivity one bit.  John (Johann) Wetzel and his wife Mary Bonnet came from the Friedrichstahl, Baden area of Germany.  Thus Lewis (Ludwig) would have been of German and possibly French or Swiss extraction.  Lewis was born near Wheeling Creek in what is now West Virginia.  When he was about 13, his family's farm was attacked in a Native raid.  His father was killed and Lewis and a younger sibling, Jacob, were taken prisoner.  Lewis managed to escape, but was shot in the leg during the attempt.  He carried the wound for the rest of his life.  He also carried an enduring ill-will toward Natives.

Lewis grew into a good-looking and talented man.  Over six feet tall, blue eyed and blond, he excelled at sports.  He was a keen hunter and crack shot.  He played the fiddle and was known for his courteous treatment of women and approachability around children.  In many ways, he would have been just another of the many backwoodsmen on the frontier.  But Lewis had a score to settle.  It began when he, still only thirteen and weeks away from his capture, stood alongside grown men to defend Fort Henry, near present-day Wheeling, West Virginia.  In 1781, during Daniel Broadhead's expedition to the Ohio Valley, which we've already touched on in the post about Gnadenhutten, Broadhead requested a parley with leaders of a Native village near what is now Newcomerstown, Ohio.  As the Natives approached the White encampment, Lewis' anger got the better of him and he shot and killed on of them.  Fearing retribution, Broadhead called off his attack on Coshocton.

Despite his dislike of military discipline and his tendency toward impulsivity, Lewis participated in several campaigns in the Ohio Valley between 1782-86, taking every opportunity to wreak his vengeance.  He was known for his ability to load his rifle while running, and striking his targets quickly, from out of nowhere.  Legend says that the Natives called him Deathwind, but I've not been able to substantiate this.  Fed up, Col. Josiah Harmer ordered his arrest and charges for murder of a Native at Fort Harmer near present-day Marietta, Ohio.  Lewis escaped and never faced trial.  Eventually, he moved to New Orleans, where he quickly ran into trouble of another kind with Spanish authorities.  He became involved in a counterfeiting scheme and spent several year in prison before being released.

Upon his release he drifted to Mississippi and the home of a cousin, Phillip Sykes.  He died in 1808 and was buried on the Sykes farm, with his rifle and other equipment per his request.  He wasn't the only known Indian Fighter in his family.  His older brother Martin Wetzel was famed for his skills with a tomahawk.  A descendant later served as a general during the Korean and Vietnam wars.  Lewis' remains were later returned to West Virginia, to the McCreary Cemetery in Marshall County, where tributes are left in his honor.

Great Woman: Nonhelema of the Shawnee

If behind (or alongside) every great man there stands an even greater woman, then Cornstalk and Moluntha were two very fortunate men.  Nonhelema (c 1720-1786), sister to Cornstalk and wife of Moluntha was a leader and a warrior in her own right. 

No one knows where Nonhelema was born, but she settled with her brother Cornstalk in the Ohio Valley around the time of the French and Indian War (1756-1762).  She was married three times, to two unidentified Shawnee men and last to Moluntha, who was already several years older than her.  In addition, she had relationships with two White men, one was British Indian Agent, Alexander McKee, with whom she had a son named Thomas.  The other was with an American officer, General Richard Butler.  Her son by that union, named Tamantha, later became a noted warrior in his own right.

Like other brother and sister teams in Native history, Cornstalk relied heavily on his sister's assistance and judgment.  She could preside over a village, lead warriors into battle or do whatever else needed done to protect and provide for her people and support the endeavors of her brother and husband.  She was present at the Battle of Bushy Run during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1764, where she led warriors alongside Cornstalk.  Later, she and Cornstalk believed that peace with the Americans was the best path forward.  After his assassination in 1777, Nonhelema continued his policy of assisting the Americans, passing a warning that several Shawnee had traveled to Fort Detroit to join the British.  She lent Native clothing to two American soldiers so they could travel to Fort Donnelly to warn the outpost there of an impending attack by Loyalists with Native auxiliaries.  In retribution, her cattle herds were destroyed and she moved her band to Coshoctan to be near Lenape leader White Eyes and his men.  In 1780, she served as a guide and translator for French ex-patriot officer Augustin de la Balme during his campaign in what is now Illinois.

Despite her proven loyalty to the Americans, Nonhelema would be repaid in terrible treachery.  In 1786, she and her husband Moluntha, both elderly, were captured during the Northwest Indian War.  Benjamin Logan, the leader of the expedition, commanded that no Natives be mistreated.  Hugh McGary, whom we've already run across in a previous post, had his own score to settle.  As Moluntha stood rolling tobacco leaves in his hand to smoke, McGary demanded to know whether he had been at the Battle of the Blue Licks.  Not understanding the question, Moluntha nodded yes and repeated, "Blue Licks!"  McGary took that for an affirmative and struck Moluntha over the head with a tomahawk.  He also injured Nonhelema, who tried to protect her husband.  Simon Kenton tackled McGary until he could be arrested and restrained from doing further harm.  Nonhelema was detained at Fort Pitt, and occupied herself helping to compile a dictionary of Shawnee words and their meanings.  She was later released and died shortly thereafter.

A monument to her still stand in Pickaway County, Ohio. 

 

Natives versus Settlers: the Battle of Blue Licks, August 9, 1782

The fighting on the eastern theatres of the Revolutionary War may have ended when Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in October, 1781, but nobody on the frontier seems to have gotten the memo.  Working from Fort Detroit, the British and their Indian auxiliaries were determined to maintain control of the Ohio Valley, including Kentucky, against backcountry settlers who were determined to have it for their own.  The conflict would result in a Loyalist-Indian victory in August, 1782 that would wreck the career of an American commander and result in the murder of a Native chief.  And the irony would be that neither man was even there when the battle happened.

As the War wound down and negotiations for a treaty dragged on in Paris, the British were determined to hang on to the Ohio River Valley and the Old Northwest.  The Natives were committed to helping them since they knew that their land rights would be disposed of in the eventual treaty without their say-so.  In July, 1782, a meeting took place at a Shawnee village on the headwaters of the Mad River to discuss what course of action should be taken.  Along with the Shawnee, other tribes represented included the Delaware/Lenape, Mingo, Wyndot, Miami, Ottawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi.  From there, 150 members of Butler's Rangers under William Caldwell and about 300 warriors under Matthew Elliot, Alexander McKee and Simon Girty headed toward Wheeling (now West Virginia), on the Ohio River.  Incidentally, this is one of the few times Girty is known to have led Native warriors in battle against the Americans, though to hear them tell it, he did it almost every day of the War.

Scouts erroneously reported that George Rogers Clark was headed their way with a large force of militia.  Clark was probably the only commander who could strike fear into the heart of any warrior and, indeed, had he been there, the result of this battle might have been different, but it was not to be.  Clark was patrolling the Ohio River, but had no specific plans yet of coming their way.  Most of the Loyalists returned home, but about 50 stayed, along with the 300 warriors, heading from Bryan's Station near Lexington, Kentucky.  Caldwell besieged the fortified frontier outpost, but the Settlers barricaded themselves and held off.  Again, hearing report that Clark was in the area, the Loyalists broke off the siege.  A force of Kentucky militia under John Todd and Stephen Trigg arrived at Bryan's Station, heard what happened and wanted to pursue the Loyalists and Natives.  Daniel Boone counseled them to wait until reinforcements under Benjamin Logan could arrive, but he was outvoted. 

On the morning of August 19, 1782, the militia reached a salt lick on the Licking River near present-day Mount Olivet, Kentucky.  The area was known as the Lower Blue Licks, hence the name of the ensuing battle.  Boone noticed signs that the Natives had been here recently and knew something was up.  Todd and Trigg again asked his assessment and he stated that the Natives were leading them into a trap and they should withdraw and wait for Logan.  The commanders were on the verge of taking his advice this time when a self-proclaimed Indian Fighter named Hugh McGary charged his horse across the small stream shouting, "them that aren't cowards, follow me."  The commanders tried to restrain their men, but it was no use.  Everyone crossed the creek.  Boone threw up his hands with the remark, "we are all slaughtered men," and cross with them. 

They dismounted and formed a line of battle with the commanders front and center, Todd and McGary flanked by Boone and Trigg.  As they advanced, Caldwell's men, who had been concealed in several ravines, opened fire.  Most of the Patriots fell back.  Todd and Trigg, still on horseback, were killed.  Boone was the only commander who kept his men together.  The militia fled, leaving Boone and his men stranded.  Boone found a horse and told his son Israel to get on it and get out of there.  Israel mounted the horse and caught a bullet in his neck, killing him instantly.  This was the second of Daniel Boone's sons to die fighting Natives.  Boone took the horse and made his escape, having to leave Israel's body on the field.  The Patriots lost 72 killed, 11 captured, most of whom would be killed later.  The Loyalists and Natives lost 7 killed, 10 wounded.

Repercussions fell, but not where anyone expected.  Clark, who was on the way with a force of over 1,000 men including Logan's command, was roundly blamed for the disaster, though he had not been there.  He immediately set off on a campaign of retribution, burning unoccupied Shawnee villages as a warning to the Natives to keep their heads down, but it was not enough.  Enemies began a whispering campaign that Clark was a heavy drinker and his career was on the downhill slip.  Four years later, during the Northwest Indian War, Logan would carry out more retributive attacks on the Shawnee and other tribes along the Mad River.  During these engagements, McGary confronted Moluntha, a Shawnee chief who had succeeded Cornstalk.  Without benefit of an interpreter, McGary demanded to know whether Moluntha had been at the Battle of the Blue Licks.  Moluntha misunderstood the question and nodded yes.  McGary struck him with a tomahawk and killed him instantly.  Moluntha hadn't been anywhere near the battle, but he was a Shawnee and that was enough to condemn him.  McGary was court-martialed and stripped of his commission, but otherwise unpunished.

Today, the battlefield site is a Kentucky state park.  The site includes a commemorative obelisk, a burial ground and museum.  Every August, a reenactment commemorates the battle. 

The Opposition: George Rogers Clark

Americans called him the Washington of the West and the Conqueror of the Old Northwest.  To his Native opponents, he was the one American commander they both feared and respected, with good reason.

George Rogers Clark (1752-1818), the older half-brother of William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame, was born in Albemarle County, near Charlottesville.  His family would have been on a social par with the Jeffersons, Randolphs, Lees and others.  George was the oldest son of the family.  When he was about four years old, the family moved to a large plantation in Caroline County, Virginia.  George received some formal schooling and was tutored at home.  His grandfather taught him to be a surveyor.  As such, he became familiar with the backcountry and the Natives who inhabited it, lessons he would put to use in a later career.  He was named a captain in the Virginia militia and served in Lord Dunmore's War, then went back to surveying.

The Revolutionary War gave him the first of several big breaks.  While major battles were being fought in the Northeast, settlers in the Virginia back country found themselves embroiled in a dispute between North Carolina and Virginia as to which colony/state owned the land that would become Kentucky.  The settlers in that region wanted Virginia to claim the land and George Rogers Clark was one of the delegation to petition Governor Patrick Henry to press Virginia's claim to the land.  Henry named Clark a major in the Kentucky County militia and gave him a supply of powder to use in defending the area against Natives and Loyalists alike.  Clark was only twenty-four, but older men such as Daniel Boone already respected his qualities as a leader.

In 1777, British officials turned their attention to the backcountry.  The Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, Henry Hamilton, was based at Fort Detroit and supplied Natives in the Ohio Valley with arms and ammunition in return for their aid in attacking frontier settlements.  The Continental Army was spread thin in the East and could spare no men to protect the Ohio Valley or Kentucky.  Clark developed a plan to capture the British-allied Native villages of Kaskaskia and Cahokia in what is now Illinois, and Vincennes, in present-day Indiana considered Illinois country at the time.  Patrick Henry agreed and allied Clark to recruit men from Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.  From their staging area near what is now Pittsburgh, Clark's force set out, capturing Kaskaskia without firing a shot.  He also captured Vincennes, where many French-speaking and Native inhabitants refused to fight on behalf of the British.  Not to be outdone, Hamilton retook Vincennes and Fort Sackville in December, 1778, but Clark wasn't through with him yet.

In February, 1779, marching unexpectedly in a frigid winter, Clark and his men showed up back in Vincennes, this time permanently capturing the village and Fort Sackville.  They also captured Henry Hamilton, who became a prisoner of war.  Washington praised Clark's accomplishment, using it as another argument toward a French alliance.  Virginia claimed all of the Illinois country, naming it Illinois County, Virginia.  Clark had his eyes on Fort Detroit, where the British continued to supply arms and ammo to the Natives, but could never gather enough men or materiel to make the attempt.  He remained closer to Kentucky, defending it against native attacks and strikes by Loyalist forces.  He fended off a British-sponsored and led invasion of Kentucky that included Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot auxiliaries.  We'll get to Byrd's invasion of Kentucky in an upcoming post.  Clark led a retaliatory strike against the Shawnee village of Pekowi, near Springfield, Ohio. 

Thomas Jefferson succeeded Henry as Governor of Virginia and gave Clark the rank of Brigadier General and command of all the militia in Kentucky and Illinois counties.  Washington transferred a force of regulars to assist in a planned invasion of Fort Detroit, but it was ambushed before it could arrive, once again killing Clark's chances at a big prize.  Meanwhile, disaster struck.  In August, 1782, months after the Yorktown surrender, a British Loyalist force with Native auxiliaries defeated a detached unit of Kentucky militia at Blue Licks.  Though Clark wasn't present at the battle, and things might have been different had he been there, the Virginia government began to blame him for the disaster.  Clark promptly led a punitive expedition, destroying several Native villages and gaining a victory in the Battle of Piqua, but his fortunes were beginning to unravel, though he was still only thirty years old and had accomplished so much.

After the War, Clark served as a surveyor, assisting Continental veterans with settling their land grants.  He also helped negotiate two treaties with the Natives, the Treaty of Fort McIntosh and the Treaty of Fort Finney, in 1786.  However, the British were still in the area and Native raids on backcountry settlements continued, resulting in the loss of hundreds of American lives.  In 1786, Clark led 1200 men against Natives along the Wabash River in one of the opening campaigns of the Northwest Indian War.  On that expedition, everything that could go wrong, did.  Supplies were deficient, causing a mutiny among some of the men.  The Natives, preferring to retreat rather than face Clark, burned their own villages and fled, denying him a clear-cut victory.  And Clark had an ambitious and vicious enemy among his own ranks, James Wilkinson, more on him later.  Wilkinson insisted the Clark had a drinking problem, which led to lapses of judgment during the campaign.  Clark demanded a formal court martial to clear his honor but was ignored.  The Virginia Legislature formally condemned him and he resigned his commanded, going to live in Indiana where present-day Clarksville is named in his honor.

Clark had spent much of his own money in outfitting his various campaigns.  He was not successful in petitioning either the Virginia Legislature or the Continental Congress to repay these expenses.  He had to be constantly fearful of creditors, who in that day and age had the authority to have people jailed for debt.  Eventually, Virginia granted him land in Indiana, in what is now Clark County, but he had no resources to develop it.  Desperate, Clark became embroiled in schemes to help either France or Spain reclaim territory in the backcountry, further blackening his reputation.  He also wrote his memoirs, which were never published during his lifetime.  Clark tried to deed his land to relatives and friends to save it until he could develop it, but creditors seized it, leaving him with a small cabin and gristmill to make a daily living.  He was able to trade on his knowledge of the backcountry, becoming an informal behind-the-scenes consultant to his brother William as he and Meriwether Lewis planned their expedition.  Things went further downhill when Indian Territory chartered a company to construct a canal around the Falls of the Ohio.  Clark was named to the board of directors and did most of the surveying work, but the following year, two other board members, including former Vice-President Aaron Burr, were charged with treason and the company was investigated for misappropriating funds. 

And it wouldn't stop.  In 1809, Clark suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.  Still trying to get around and help himself on his own, he fell into a fireplace and suffered a burn so severe his leg had to be amputated.  Unable to live on his own, he moved with his sister Lucy and her family to Locust Grove, near Louisville.  Finally, Virginia awarded him a pension and repaid his services with a ceremonial sword.  He suffered another stroke in 1818 and was buried on the grounds of Locust Grove, but later reinterred in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.  A memorial to Clark was erected in Vincennes, Indiana in 1933.  It includes a bronze statue of Clark in uniform and murals of his campaigns.  Other statues also commemorate him, including Indianapolis, Massac County, Illinois, Louisville, KY, and Springfield, Ohio. 

Village of Chillicothe (Chalagawtha): Which One?

A large Native town named Chillicothe plays a rich part in Early Frontier history, but its location and importance, as well as its inhabitants, are often confused and confusing to sort out.  That's because the Shawnee village of Chalagawtha, anglicized as Chillicothe, was relocated any number of times, mostly due to attacks by Whites.

The Chalagawtha were one of the five divisions of the Shawnee Nation.  We've already come across the Kispoko, the band of Pukeshinwa, Cheeseekau and Tecumseh, and also the Pekowi, a woman of this tribe married frontiersman and trader Pierre Chartier and gave birth to his son, Martin, who was a credit to her in every way.  The other two are Mekoche and Halawekatha.  Prior to European contact, each Shawnee band performed certain services for the tribe.  Besides being known warriors, the Kispoko were also known for their visionaries and medicine men, such as Tenskwatawa.  The Chalagawtha often furnished important leaders, such as Black Fish, who we'll come back to eventually. 

The main town of the Chalagawtha was also named Chalagawtha, or as Whites said it, Chillicothe.  Like many other Woodlands tribes, the Shawnee were semi-sedentary.  While they ranged far and wide in search of game, they also relied on agriculture and built palisaded towns similar to those of other Algonquian-speaking people.  Though Chillicothe was the main town of the Chalagawtha division, Shawnee from other bands were allowed to live there, as were Natives of other tribes.  The first Chalagawtha town of which White historical record speaks was Lower Shawnee Town on the Scioto River, founded about 1738.  Though this town is not specifically given the name Chillicothe, circumstantial evidence indicated that it might have been known by that name.  It became a magnet for traders in the years leading up to the French and Indian War (1755-1762), competing with Logstown further down the River.  At its peak, the town had about 1,200 inhabitants before being abandoned after the fall of Fort Duquesne in 1758.

The next Chillicothe was also located on the Scioto River, near Paint Creek on the site of the present-day city of Chillicothe, Ohio.  It lasted for almost twenty years (1758-1787).  Some sources point to this town as the birthplace of both Cheeseekau and Tecumseh, though it is likely it was a later Chillicothe that had that honor.  With the power of the Iroquois under check by the British, Shawnee who had been driven out of the Ohio Valley began to return, making this town a major Shawnee settlement with again about 1200 people.  In addition to Natives from their own and other tribes, the Shawnee welcomed traders, who often lived among them in the town, as well as Blacks fortunate enough to escape enslavement.  This was the main Shawnee town during Lord Dunmore's War (1774).  During the Revolution, many of its residence relocated elsewhere in Ohio.  The town was attacked by Whites and abandoned in 1787 during the Northwest Indian War. 

Old Chillicothe is often called that to distinguish it from the modern Ohio city of Chillicothe.  Settlement began in 1774 on the Little Miami River near present-day Xenia, Ohio.  Blackfish had his base here.  When Daniel Boone was captured by the Shawnee as a young man, he was brought here.  Both he and Simon Kenton were forced to run the gauntlet here, and it was here that Simon Girty would have pled for Kenton's life.  Both he and his brother James had spent time with the Shawnee and this town would have been well-acquainted with the Girtys and vice-versa.  Thus, when people speak of Chillicothe in the context of the Early Frontier, it is likely this town they're referring to.  Blackfish led a raid on Boonesborough, KY in 1778 and White militia attacked Chillicothe in retaliation, but Blackfish was able to hold the town.  George Rogers Clark led a force up the Little Miami River in 1780 to attack the town.  The Shawnee burned it down themselves and fled to keep it from falling into his hands. 

As Old Chillicothe began to decline, other villages with the name Chillicothe/Chalagawtha, sprang up.  Chillicothe on the Great Miami River (1780-1782).  Clark destroyed this town after the Battle of Blue Lick in 1782, in retaliation for the American defeat there.  Other Chillicothe towns include one on the St. Mary's River (1783-1790), one on the Maumee River, near modern-day Fort Wayne, IN (1788-92), and one in Missouri near present-day Cape Girardeau, begun in 1787.