Early Occupation of Northern Ohio - Indian Traditions and Tribal Conflicts

     There hangs over America an impenetrable veil of mystery, tradition, and silence.  Mounds and fortifications bear evidence of habitation by a race whose annals have never been written, whose history will never be known.  The origin of the Indian race, whose warlike nations were found by the European explorers, is involved in the most vague and untrustworthy tradition.  The dawning of Western history may be dated about the middle of the seventeenth century, when the first white adventurers followed shaded streams far into the unbroken forest and carried back to civilization some knowledge of the vast extent of the Western continent.  But even for a century later the narrative of these nations is so intermingled with fable and legend that little can be relied upon as the simple record of truth.
     The Indians of Northwestern North America were embraced in two generic divisions, the Algonquins and the Iroquois.  The Iroquois family, consisting of the Eries, Wyandots, Andastes, and six tribes of Western New York (known as the Six Nations), were confined to the regions about Lakes Erie and Ontario.  All around them was the vast expanse of Algonquin population extending from Hudson's bay on the north to the Carolinas on the south, from the Atlantic on the east to the Mississippi on the West.
     Soon after the first permanent white settlement on the Atlantic coast the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas formed a confederation and were governed by the decrees of a common council.  The Tuscarawas joined the union early in the seventeenth century and the confederacy became known as the Six Nations.  Their government had the rude elements of a republic and was the only Indian power on this part of the continent deserving of the name.
     The Eries dwelt on the southern shore of the lake which bears their name.  Their tribal seat was on the Sandusky plains.  They were known to the early French explorers as Felians or Cat Nation, a name indicating fierceness and stealth.
     The Hurons or Wyandots inhabited the east ern shore of Lake Huron and the peninsula between Lakes Erie and Huron.  Their warriors were strong and brave, but not so numerous as the armies of the other two powers.
     The Six Nations having grown arrogant in consequence of long years of confederation and undisputed supremacy, determined upon a campaign against their Western neighbors.  The Wyandots were their first victims.  The campaign had already commenced when Champlain entered the upper lakes, and that enterprising officer accompanied one of the hostile parties against the enemy.  Crossing the Niagara river they marched westward until the Huron country was reached.  The encounter was desperate; on one side the battle was for victory; on the other for existence.  The invaders triumphed, and

[Page 10] -
then pursued their retreating foes with relentless fury.  Driven from place to place, suffering, in addition to the cruelties inflicted by their enemy, disease and famine, a feeble remnant of the defeated and exiled nation at last found protection in the dominion of the Sioux.  Flushed by victory the confederates returned more eager and confident than ever.  Between their country and the territory of the Eries lay a wide reach of forest inhabited by wandering bands and used as a common hunting-ground by both the great nations.  The valley of the Mahoning lies probably within this neutral district. It was the border country beyond which, on both sides, were villages and council seats, where assemblages feasted and offered sacrifices, and warriors held peace councils and war councils.  There is where we must look for legends and traditions of the heroic race.  The Mahoning valley is exceptionally devoid of associations of that character.
     The confederate braves rested from their expedition against the Hurons, impatiently awaited the permission of their war council to put on the war paint and take up the tomahawk against the most powerful of their western neighbors— the Eries.  The Eries, on the other hand, regarded the situation with the greatest apprehension.  Never doubting the personal superiority of their warriors, they dreaded the power of the allied tribes on account of overwhelming numbers.  The destruction of the Hurons was suggestive of the possibility of their fate, however the character and disposition of the confederate warriors were unknown.  It was resolved to put them to the test.
     To cope with them collectively they saw was impossible. Their only hope, therefore, was in being able by a vigorous and sudden movement to destroy them in detail. With this view a powerful party was immediately organized to attack the Senecas, who resided at the foot of Seneca lake (the present site of Geneva) and along the banks of Seneca river.  It happened that at this period there resided among the Eries a Seneca woman who in early life had been taken a prisoner and had married a husband of the Erie tribe.  He died and left her a widow without children, a stranger among strangers.  Hearing the terrible note of preparation for a bloody on slaught upon her kindred and friends, she formed the resolution of apprising them of their danger.
     As soon as night set in, taking the course of the Niagara river, she traveled all night, and early next morning reached the shore of Lake Ontario.  She jumped into a canoe, which she found fastened to a tree, and boldly pushed into the open lake. Coasting down the lake, she arrived at the mouth of the Oswego river in the night, where a large settlement of the nation resided.  She directed her steps to the house of the head chief, and disclosed the object of her journey.  She was secreted by the chief, and runners were dispatched to all the tribes, summoning them immediately to meet in council, which was held in Onondaga hollow.
     When all were convened, the chief arose, and, in the most solemn manner rehearsed a vision, in which he said that a beautiful bird appeared to him and told him that a great party of the Eries was preparing to make a secret and sudden descent upon them to destroy them, and that nothing could save them but an immediate rally of all the warriors of the Five Nations, to meet the enemy before they should be able to strike the blow.  These solemn announcements were heard in breathless silence.  When the chief had finished and sat down there arose one immense yell of menacing madness.  The earth shook when the mighty mass brandished high in air their war-clubs, and stamped the ground like furious beasts.
     No time was lost. A body of five thousand warriors was organized, and a corps of reserve, consisting of one thousand young men who had never been in battle. The bravest chiefs of all the tribes were put in command, and spies immediately sent out in search of the enemy, the whole body taking up their line of march in the direction whence they expected the attack.
     The advance of the party was continued several days, passing through, successively, the settlements of their friends, the Onondagas, the Cayugas and the Senecas; but they had scarcely passed the last wigwam, now the fort of Can-an-du-gua (Canandaigua) lake, when the scouts brought in intelligence of the advance of the Eries, who had already crossed the Ce-nis-se-u (Genessee) river in great force.  The Eries had not the slightest intimation of the approach of their enemies.  They relied on the secrecy and celerity of their movements to surprise and subdue the Senecas almost without resistance.

[Page 11] -
     The two parties met at a point about half way between the foot of Canandaigua lake, on the Genesee river, and near the outlet of two small lakes, near the foot of one of which (Honeoye) the battle was fought.  When the two parties came in sight of each other the outlet of the lake only intervened between them.
     The entire force of the five confederate tribes was not in view of the Eries.  The reserve corps of one thousand young men had not been allowed to advance in sight of the enemy.  Nothing could resist the impetuosity of the Eries at the first sight of an opposing force on the other side of the stream.  They rushed through it and fell upon them with tremendous fury.  The undaunted courage and determined bravery of the Iroquois could not avail against such a terrible onslaught, and they were compelled to yield the ground on the bend of the stream.  The whole force of the combined tribes, except the corps of the reserve, now became engaged.  They fought hand to hand and foot to foot.  The battle raged horribly.  No quarter was asked or given on either side.
     As the fight thickened and became more desperate, the Eries, for the first time, became sensible of their true situation.  What they had long anticipated had become a fearful reality.  Their enemies had combined for their destruction, and they now found themselves engaged, suddenly and unexpectedly, in a struggle not only involving the glory, but perhaps the very existence of their nation.  They were proud, and had heretofore been victorious over all their enemies.  Their superiority was felt and acknowledged by all the tribes.  They knew how to conquer, but not to yield.  All these considerations flashed upon the minds of the bold Eries, and nerved every arm with almost super human power.  On the other hand, the united forces of the weaker tribes, now made strong by union, fired with a spirit of emulation, excited to the highest pitch among the warriors of the different tribes, brought for the first time to act in concert, inspired with zeal and confidence by the counsels of the wisest chiefs, and led by the most experienced warriors of all the tribes, the Iroquois were invincible.
     Though staggered by the first desperate rush of their opponents, they rallied at once, and stood their ground.  And now the din of battle rises higher; the war-club, the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, wielded by herculean hands, do terrible deeds of death.  During the hottest of the battle, which was fierce and long, the corps of reserves, consisting of a thousand young men, were by skillful movement under their experienced chief, placed in the rear of the Eries, on the opposite side of the stream, in ambush.
     The Eries had been driven seven times across the stream, and had as often regained their ground; but the eighth time, at a given signal from their chief, the corps of young warriors in ambush rushed upon the almost exhausted Eries with a tremendous yell, and at once decided the fortunes of the day.  Hundreds, disdaining to fly, were struck down by the war-clubs of the vigorous young warriors, whose thirst for the blood of the enemy knew no bounds.  A few of the vanquished Eries escaped to carry the news of the terrible overthrow to their wives and children and old men that remained at home.  But the victors did not allow them a moment's repose, but pursued them in their flight, killing all who fell into their hands.
     The pursuit was continued for many weeks, and it was five months before the victorious party of the Five Nations returned to their friends to join in celebrating the victory over their last and most powerful enemy—the Eries.
     When the victorious warriors had returned to their native hills, and while the bones of the brave but ill-fated Eries lay bleaching on the cold, damp soil of a dark,- unbroken forest, a wierd silence hung over the region now embraced in the State of Ohio.  There were no wigwams, no camp-fires to break the desolation and gloom.  The rugged valley of the Mahoning, now enrobed in smoke and noisy with industry, knew no sound save the melancholy bustle of leaves and monotonous ripple of flowing water.
     But these hills and valleys, abounding in the native animals of the forest, were not long without human habitation.  The Six Nations, gradually growing more numerous, sent offshoots to occupy the country they had conquered.  The Senecas became the chief occupants of the headwaters of the Ohio and pushed as far west as the Sandusky river.  The Wyandots or Hurons having recovered from complete and disastrous defeat, migrated eastward to recover their long lost dominion, and

[Page 12] -
eventually established themselves upon the Sandusky plains and prairies.  The Delawares, a branch of the great Algonquin family, occupied the valleys of the Muskingum and Tuscarawas, and the Shawnees established themselves upon the Scioto.  Our first accurate and authentic information relating to Ohio Indians dates from about the middle of the eighteenth century, when French and English traders began to ply their canoes upon every stream, seeking out the denizens of the forest.  The first detailed account giving the strength, character, and geography of the several tribes is found in the report of Colonel Boquet, who made a military expedition west of the Ohio in 1764.  Long before this the natives saw with jealousy and apprehension the encroachment of white settlements.  A common enemy and common danger created a bond of sympathy among the tribes.  They had the sagacity to see that their only hope of maintaining dominion over the forest lay in unity of action and purpose. For this reason it is probable that the Six Nations made no objection to the occupation of their vast western hunting ground by former enemies.  They were all of kindred race, of kindred habits and kindred interests. Their ground became in some measure common ground, and to maintain it against white encroachments was their united purpose.  While to each nation was ascribed well defined limitations, they all frequented the country beyond their boundaries, and some of them, several times within the period of our definite knowledge, changed places of residence.
     When Boquet made his observations the Mahoning valley was mainly occupied by Delawares.  The densest population of this Indian nation was upon the upper Muskingum and the Tuscarawas.  They were numerous and held possession of the greater part of eastern Ohio.  The Chippewas dwelt north of them on the lake shore, and the Mingoes, an off-shoot of the Six Nations, had several villages on the Muskingum, below the present site of Steubenville.  With these exceptions the country between the Beaver and Muskingum was inhabited by people of distinct ively Delaware stock.  The Massasaugas, a roving tribe of hunters, were most numerous on the Mahoning.  They were among the last of the Delaware nation to leave the eastern part of the present territory of Ohio.
     The Delaware nation, which claimed to be the elder branch of the Lenni Lenape has, by tradition and in history and fiction been accorded a high rank among the savages of North America.  Schoolcraft, Loskiel, Gallatin, Drake, Heckewelder, and many other writers have borne testimony of the superiority of this tribe; and James Fennimore Cooper, by his attractive romances has added luster to the fame of the tribe.  The Delawares have a tradition that many years before they knew the white man, their home was in the western part of the continent, and separating from the rest of the Lenni Lenape, migrated eastward. Reaching the Alleghany river, they joined the Iroquois in a war against a race of giants, the Allegewi, in which they were successful.  From there the Delawares continued their slow migration eastward and finally settled on the river which bears their name.  When Europeans first became acquainted with them, their population had spread to the Hudson, the Susquehanna, and the Potomac.  There was a tradition that the Iroquois had, long before white explorations, made war upon the Delawares and conquered them by treachery, in the language of the Iroquois had “eaten them up" and “made women of them.”  They were less warlike than their neighbors, probably on account of their defeat.  The Iroquois were a constant menace, and when at last white settlers began to encroach up on their territory the Delawares determined to return to the West.  They concentrated upon the Alleghany, but again being molested by advancing white settlements, a second westward migration became necessary, this time to the valley of the Muskingum and eastern Ohio, where Boquet found them in 1764.
     They had been living in the Ohio country not more than a score of years, but were a more numerous and flourishing tribe than they had ever been before.  Their warriors numbered not less than six hundred, but were considered inferior in strength and courage to the Wyandots, whom they called “uncles” thus acknowledging inferiority.  The Delawares accepted Christianity more readily than any other tribe. Most of their towns were in the vicinity of the forks of the Muskingum and near the mouth of the Tuscarawas.  That region was the place of their tribal councils and great feasts, and is rich in Indian traditions which are called to mind by the

[Page 13] -
old Indian names occurring in the local geography.  The Massasaugas, who inhabited the Mahoning valley, were a band of roving hunters who made no pretensions to the honor of being warriors.  They had no permanent villages, but encamped at several places in the present territory of Mahoning county and south part of this county.  This region as far east as the Beaver was thinly populated, and regarded as a hunting ground.  Twenty years after the expedition of Colonel Boquet, Captain Brady, the celebrated Indian fighter and adventurer, frequently crossed the territory embraced within the sphere of this history, but never met with any opposition.  During the long period of border war between the Indians and the first white settlers.  west of the Alleghanies, and in Kentucky, until Wayne's victory at Greenville in 1794, this region as far south as the Ohio river was a belt of wilderness separating the advance posts of civilization, which were constantly harassed by predatory incursions, and the seats of the native tribes.

< CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO 1882 TABLE OF CONTENTS >