Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/224

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��HISTORY or RICHLAND COUNTY.

��after he left for the war, which soon fol- lowed.

Concerning the murders committed by the Indians in Richland Count}', their narration will be deferred to that part giving the histor}- of the pioneer settlements, as they more prop- erly belong there. The Indians did not all disappear from this part of Ohio for many years after the advent of the white^. During the war of 1812 they were rather troublesome, and about that time the murder of the Zimmer family, the militia at the Copus cabin, Mar- tin Ruffner and Levi Jones, occurred. After the war closed, the Indians found their town destroyed, as has been narrated, and from that time until their removal from the country they had no fixed habitation. They often came to Mansfield to trade. Dr. Bushnell says he has often seen them come to town, gather under the forest trees in the public square, and there talk, smoke, trade, or idle away their time as suited their fancy. He says they were sometimes the finest physical specimens of mankind he has ever seen. " Tall, straight as an arrow, unex- ceptional physique, clad only in leggins and

��breech-clout, they exhibited a physical body," says the Doctor, " I could not tire contemplat- ing." Sometimes they would get drunk, when they were a little dangerous. They traded peltry for hatchets, powder and ball, and trinkets of various kinds. By practice they became as sharp in bargains as the white traders and peddlers. Experience taught them to rely on their own judgment in all such matters.

By the treaty of September 29, 1817, the Delawares were deeded a reservation on the south of the Wyandot reservation, both in Marion and Wyandot Counties. When this was done, Capt. Pipe, son of " Old Capt. Pipe," was the principal Delaware- chief The Dela- ware Indians remained on their reservation until about 1829, when they ceded their reser- vation to the United States for $3,000, and moved west of the Mississippi. The Wyandots ceded theirs in March, 1842, and left for the Far West in July of the next year. At that date they numbered about seven hundred souls, and were the last Indian tribe to relinquish their claims to the soil of Ohio.

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