The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-08-04
. unite level outside and inside. as

Is QuiJC IcNe1 OuLSHhC anu llsluc, a.
they do ON the remaining sides where
r%avines and'ridges afford appropriate
places. Must we not from their fire.
quency infer that the occupants Of
this fort were continually passing in
and out? By day tending their herd
and cultivuting their fields beyond the
walls; at night, however, congregat-
ing within. 1t is evident that they
must have been a numerous people
who required such strongholds as this
AID the many similar ones in the Val
ley of, the Chic. Fi-hing and the
chase could not have sufficed to sup
port such q nation even in the palmi-
est days of buffalo and deer. The
frequency of these gateways, more
over, bespcak a time of peace they
could easily be closed, if need be,
when danger threatened, but in those
days the nation had spread so far east
and west, north and south, that the
immediate presence of an enemy was
hardly thought of once in a genera
ton. She heavy embankments were
Il sufficient preparation for the proba-
bilities of a war.
IL EVACUATION.
But one will say surely a war must
have preceded the evacuation of this
fort by its possessors, If SO, however,
the fighting must all have been done
atea distance, Nowhere, neither at
Fort Ancient nor; near any other of
the Ohio mounds and forts, do we
find any trace of war! The arrow
heads and war hatchets are exceeding.
ly rare, compared to what we should
expect had two great nations engaged
in fighting. No DETACHMENT of the mounds
are noticed, such as a conquering nation
would be likely to infiict. The palisades
pose the mound builders to have had, would
most likely have been destroyed by fire, in
which case the black Goals and charred
stumps weulds still remain, as they do in the
lakes of Switzerland, to tell the story OF
their destruction. But no such are found.
Neither have we any history of remains OF
the ~conquering ~victOrs, who must them
selves have been. superior, either in num-
bers or in the art of war. Neither have the
present Indians any traditions or knowledge
concerning those who preceded them in the
occupancy of the soil, as they certainly
would had had their own emigration hithcr
been simultaneous with the o%verthrown of
of the mound builders.
Everything that we know points to a
quiet and voluntary emigration as the pro-
cess by which this fortified city came to be
left tip loneliness and decay. Others will
show how that these same people sailed
down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and
built up the great Empires of Mexico; Yu-
catan and Peru. But we will not pursue the
inquiry so far, satisfied at present with the
conviction that SO far as the ruins of Fort
Ancient give any testimony at all, they tell
us of a prosperous and peaceful agriculture
al race, who had enemies, but had overcome
them long before, and feared them no long
er ; and who peacefully migrated, with all
their substance, to some distant region.
FUTURE INQUIRERs
And seekers after relics of the mound
builders would do well not to dig into
the embankments for gold, as some
foolish persons have done very fire.
quently about Fort Ancient, but to
pay special attention to tie bitches
and wells. Wherever the soil has
been excavated to afford material for
the. mound, there, IN general, we find
now stagnant water covering an IN
known depth of rotten vegetable mat
ter and peat. A complete cleaning
out of such n ditch would reveal to us
the bottom as it was in the days OF
the occupancy Of the fort, and could
hardly fail TO bring to light many rel
les. That these bitches served both
for defense and also as reservoirs of
water for animals, and possibly for
men, can scarcely admit ola doubt
They are filled by the drainage from
the whole interior of the fort. But it
is remarkable that nc such bitches are
found within the walls defending the
weakest portion of the ratification
On the contrary at their foot the earth
has been scraped up from the surface
of the ground exterior to the fort. and
in such a way as to leave no ditch or
hole. Indeed, special pains e to
have been taken with the Notifications
the river and ravines. On
these sides the embankments are faced
with stone at their bases, and the out
lets, with great care, faced and paved
with fiat stones. On the west side
will be found, also, the remains of a
welLconstructed stone pathway, or
leading down n raNine, and con
nected with the middle portion of the
at such point as to be
convenient for those inhabiting
the northern or southern half
Within the inclosurebut fewdiscoy-
cries have been made. In addition
to the slight mound described by DR..
we we're able to trace two
mounds of stone revealed by the pillow,
in a portion of the North Fort, recent
ly cleared and cultivated. Two other
mounds are said to be visible in the
woods exterior to and southwest of the
That a faithful exploration
one such fortress as this would give
us much new knowledge concerning
the people who built it, seems hardly
to admit of a doubt. and Psychologists
may congratulate themselves that near
ly the whole of Fort Ancient Is in the
possession of a very wealthy and lib
eral- minded citizen of Warren County
MIR. James Cowden, of Morrowtown.
would be cminently proper if. with
his permission, the Ohio Historical!
Society should undertake to make
some decided addition to our know!-
edge of these ancient inhabitants OF
country. sc. A
How 1t Feels to be Hung.
A writer in the June number of the