Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/113

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��HISTOEY OF OHIO.

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��evidently found the results of the white men's labor, and expected they would return fur it, and pre- pared to waylay them. Asahel Edgiugton fell dead. John was more fortunate. The sharp crack of the rifles, and the horrible yells of the savages as they leaped from their place of ambush, frightened the horses, who took the track for home at full speed. John was very active on foot, and now an opportunity offered which required his utmost speed. The moment the Indians leaped from their hiding-place, they threw down their guns and took after him, yelling with all their power. Edgington did not run a booty race. For about a mile, the savages stepped in his tracks al- most before the bending grass could rise. The uplifted tomahawk was frequently so near his head that he thought he felt its edge. He exerted himself to his utmost, while the Indians strove with all their might to catch him. Finally, he be- gan to gain on his pursuers, and, after a long race, distanced them and made his escape, safely reach- ing home. This, truly, was a most fearful and well-contested race. The big Shawanee chief, Capt. John, who headed the Indians on this occasion, after peace was made, in narrating the particulars, said, " The white man who ran away was a smart fellow. The white man run ; and I run. He run and run ; at last, the white man run clear off from me. "

The settlement, despite its dangers, prospered, and after the close of the war continued to grow rapidly. In two years after peace was declared, Adams County was erected by proclamation of Grov. St. Clair, the next year court was held, and in 1804, West Union was made the county seat.

During the war, a settlement was commenced near the present town of Bridgeport, in Belmont County, by Capt. Joseph Belmont, a noted Dela- ware Revolutionary ofiicer, who, because his State could furnish only one company, could rise no higher than Captain of that company, and hence always maintained that grade. He settled on a beautiful knoll near the present county seat, but erelong suffered from a night attack by the In- dians, who, though unable to drive him and his companions from the cabin or conquer them, wounded some of them badly, one or two mortally, and caused the Captain to leave the frontier and return to Newark, Del. The attack was made in the spring of 1791, and a short time after, the Captain, having provided for the safety of his family, accepted a commission in St. Clair's army, and lost his life at the defeat of the General in

��November. Shortly after the Captain settled, a fort, called Dillie's Fort, was built on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Grave Creek. About two hundred and fifty yards below this fort, an old man, named Tato, was shot down at his cabin door by the Indians, just as he was in the act of entering the house. His body was pulled in by his daugh- ter-in-law and grandson, who made an heroic de- fense. They were overpowered, the woman slain, and the boy badly wounded. He, however, man- aged to secrete himself and afterward escaped to the fort. The Indians, twelve or thirteen in num- ber, went off unmolested, though the men in the fort saw the whole transaction and could have punished them. Why they did not was never known.

On Captina Creek in this same county, occurred, in May, 1794, the "battle of Captina," a fa- mous local skirmish between some Virginians from Fort Baker, and a party of Indians. Though the Indians largely outnumbered the whites, they were severely punished, and compelled to abandon the contest, losing several of their bravest warriors.

These were the only settlements made until 1795, the close of the war. Even these, as it will be observed from the foregoing pages, were tem- porary in all cases save one, and were maintained at a great risk, and the loss of many valuable lives. They were made in the beginning of the war,and such were their experiences that further attempts were abandoned until the treaty of Greenville was made, or until the prospects for peace and safety were assured.

No sooner, however, had the prospect of quiet been established, than a revival of emigration be- gan. Before the war it had been large, now it was largely increased.

Wayne's treaty of peace with the Indians was made at Greenville, in what is now Darke County, the 3d of August, 1795. The number of Indians present was estimated at 1,300, divided among the principal nations as follows: 180 Wyandots, 381 Delawares, 143 Shawanees, 45 Ottawas, 46 Chip- pewas, 240 Pottawatomies, 73 Miamis and Eel River, 12 Weas and Piankeshaws, and 10 Kicka- poos and Kaskaskias. The principal chiefs were Tarhe, Buckongahelas, Black Hoof, Blue Jacket and Little Turtle. Most of them had been tam- pered with by the British agents and traders, but all had been so thoroughly chastised by Wayne, and found that the British only used them as tools, that they were quite anxious to make peace with the " Thirteen Fires." By the treaty, former ones

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