Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/107

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���Standing Stone forks " of Big Miami to its inter- section with the Little Miami. The erection of the new county, and the appointment of Cincin- nati to be the seat of justice, gave the town a fresh impulse, and aided greatly iu its growth.

Through the summer, but little interruption in the growth of the settlements occurred. The Indians had permitted the erection of defensive works in their midst, and could not now destroy them. They were also engaged in traffic with the whites, and, though they evinced signs of discon- tent at their settlement and occupation of the country, yet did not openly attack them. The truth was, they saw plainly the whites were always prepared, and no opportunity was given them to plunder and destroy. The Indian would not attack unless success was almost sure. An oppor- tunity, unfortunately, came, and with it the hor- rors of an Indian war.

In the autumn of 1790, a company of thirty- six men went from Marietta to a place on the Muskingum known as the Big Bottom. Here they built a block-house, on the east bank of the river, four miles above the mouth of Meigs Creek. They were chiefly young, single men, but little accjuainted with Indian warfare or military rules. The savages had given signs that an attack on the settlement was meditated, and several of the know- ing ones at the strongholds strenuously opposed any new settlements that fall, advising their post- ponement until the next spring, when the question of peace or war would probably be settled. Even Gen. Putnam and the Directors of the Ohio Com- pany advised the postponement of the settlement until the next spring.

The young men were impatient and restless, and declared themselves able to protect their fort against any number of assailants. They might have easily done so, had they taken the necessary precautions ; but, after they had erected a rude block-house of unchinked logs, they began to pass the time iu various pursuits ; setting no guard, and taking no precautionary measures, they left them- selves an easy prey to any hostile savages that might choose to come and attack them.

About twenty rods from the block-house, and a little back from the bank of the river, two men, Francis and Isaac Choate, members of the com- pany, had erected a cabin, and commenced clearing lots. Thomas Shaw, a hired laborer, and James Patten, another of the associates, lived with them. About the same distance below the block-house was an old "Tomahawk Improvement" and a

��small cabin, which two men, Asa and Eleazur Bullard, had fitted up and occupied. The Indian war-path, from Sandusky to the mouth of the jMuskingum, passed along the opposite shore of the river.

" The Indians, who, during the summer," says Dr. Hildreth, " had been hunting and loitering about the Wolf Creek and Plaiufield settlements, holding fre(|uent and friendly intercourse with the settlers, selling them venison and bear's meat in ex- change for green corn and vegetables, had with- drawn and gone up tlie river, early in the au- tumn, to their towns, preparatory to going into winter quarters. They very seldom entered on any warlike expeditions during the cold weather. But they had watched the gradual encroach- ment of the whites and planned an expedition against them. They saw them in fancied security in their cabins, and thought their capture an easy task. It is said they were not aware of the Big Bottom settlement until they came in sight of it, on the opposite shore of the river, in the afternoon. From a high hill opposite the garrison, they had a view of all that part of the bottom, and could see how the men were occupied and what was doing about the block-house. It was not proi ected with palisades or pickets, and none of the men were aware or prepared for an attack. Having laid their plans, about twilight they crossed the river above the garrison, on the ice, and divided their men into two parties — the larger one to attack the block-house, the smaller one to capture the cabins. As the Indians cautiously approached the cabin they found the inmates at supper. Part entered, addressed the whites in a friendly manner, but soon manifesting their designs, made them all pris- oners, tieing them with leather thongs they found in the cabin."

At the block-house the attack was far different. A stout Mohawk suddenly burst open the door, the first intimation the inmates had of the pres- ence of the foe, and while he held it open his comrades shot down those that were within. Rush- ing in, the deadly tomahawk completed the on- slaught. In the assault, one of the savages was struck by the wife of Isaac Woods, with an ax, but only slightly injured. The heroic woman was immediately slain. All the men but two were slain before they had time to secure their arms, thereby paying for their failure to properly secure themselves, with their lives. The two excepted were John Stacy and his brother Philip, a lad six- teen years of age. John escaped to the roof.

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