Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/226

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��traders, of whom no records or legends exist in this part of Ohio. At the end of four years he escaped, and made his way to Pennsylvania, where he published a memoir from whic^h the al)ove facts are obtained.

About two years after his escape, '^ Mohican John,'" a noted chief, with a band of Connecti- cut Mohicans, emigrated to Ohio, and settled on the west side of the Jerome Fork, on the site subsequently covered by the farms of Elijah Vocun^ and Judge Edmund Ingmand, in Ash- land County. Soon, after Baptiste Jerome and his Wyandot wife came and located. This was, however, just east of the original boundary of Richland County ; yet the village was so inti- mately connected with the early history of this locality, that it well deserves a place in the county's history.

The next white men to see Richland County were Maj. Rol)ert Rogers and his band of rang- ers. It is noticed in the history- of the North- west in this volume, in the account of his expe- dition to take possession of the post at Detroit, in November, 1760. As the narrative is given there, only that portion relating directly to this county need be noticed here.

After providing for the garrison, he began his return trip by land December 23, for Pitts- burgh, following the Indian trail from San- dusky Baj', where he arrived January 2, 1761. It is not known just how many rangers he had with him on this journey, but good authority' places the number at more than one hundred. Dr. Hill thinks there w^ere 120, or more, men. He accounts for the number l)y the fact that Pontiac's intentions were none of the best, and that, as many of the Indians in Northern Ohio had given onl}' a reluctant consent to the rule of the British after the close of the French and Indian war and the cession of Canada and the Upper Mississippi Valley- to the "Red Coats,' Maj. Rogers, knowing the dangers that beset the route through the country, would not trust himself unless a sufficient force accom-

��panied him to render safety comparatively sure.

Different opinions concerning his exact route have prevailed, only one of which, however, has stood the test of inquir}'. He undoubtedly fol- lowed the old Indian trail from Sandusky Bay to Fort Du Quesne. This trail crossed the northeastern parts of Richland Count}'. It en- tered Richland Count}- on the north, near the division line between Plymovith and Cg,ss Town- ships, probably a little to the east of it ; pro- ceeding thence southeasterly, it passed over the site of Shiloh, on down over the site of the old village of Richland; thence over Blooming Grove Township, over the sites of Rome and Shenandoah, and Olivesburg in Weller Town- ship; through Milton Township, through Mont- gomery, a little south of the site of Ashland, and thence southerly through the northeast corner of Vermillion Township, where it emerged from " old Richland, " continuing in a southeasterl}^ direction to the forks of the Ohio. A public highway follows the old trail over much of the ground above described. Do the people of to-day, as they pass over it in wagon or carriage, know they are traveling a high- way centuries old ?

This little army, the first ever seen on the soil of this county, stopped once or twice by fine springs found here, rested, and secured game for food while on the journey home. They were uxrmolested while on the wa}', and reached the forks of the Ohio in safet}'.

Following Maj. Rogers and his rangers, the next whites to see Richland County were the missionaries of the Moravian Indians, who dwelt at their towns on the Muskingum River, whither they had come to escape their enemies in Western New York and Pennsylvania. In the history of Ohio, in this book, the narrative of their persecutions, their removal and their settlement in Ohio, is given. It will only be necessary to notice that part of their history relating to their removal from their prosperous

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