The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1949-08-18

pftl appear IN Forthcoming
issues.
The First Real Ohioans
Because SO many stories of early
Ohio have an Indian angle and SO
| frequently refer to the red men as
savages and barbarians-the uncivil-
ized-let's take a little one-column
vacation, forsake our broad paved
highways and tall skyscrapers, and
go out and live with them-imagina-
lively, during the late 1700's and
early 1800's when all Ohio was the
backwoods.
The pill would be a bit bitter and
without much sugar-coat but would
cure the prevailing impression that
the Ohio Indians were savage heath
en- and the white pioneers We're
grievously mistreated angels Of
peace. The moccassin apparently
was on the other foot:
The whites were the invaders.
France claimed the lard through dis
covery and exploration and so did
England. The United States, through
cession from both. But really, it
/ belonged to the Indians. There were
about 10000 Of them in America
then, just as when Columbus dis
covered it-and there are about The
same number remaining today. Less
than 1000 Indians lived in the whole
of Ohio during its settlement by the
whites.
1t was the white settler, anxious
for the Indians land and wanting to
occupy it undsturbed, who usually
fred the first shot. Against the
spear and the bow and arrow Of the
Indian, his flint-lock gun was su-
preme. After the Indians procured
guns by trading pelts for them to
white traders, the warfare became
more even. @~-~-~
Moravian Missionary First Settler
In 1761 Christian Frederick Post,
a Moravian missionary, built the first
whiteman's log house in Tuscarawas
| County. The Indians gave him the
land and during the two years he
remained there treated him royalty.
Post liked the Indians and incidental
ly thus got into the dog-house with
his church. Supposed to be 4
celibate, he married too often and
the wrong kind Of women. He first
married an Indian squaw named
Rachel and when she died in 1747,
, married another named Agnes. II
: 1851 he married white woman.
/ When the first boatload of settlers
+; nosed in at Marietta, April T, 1888,
Chief Captain Pipes" and nearly
one hundred of his tribe greeted
them with friendly welcome.
Later after discovering their hostili-
ty, he became one of the whites
most bloodthirsty enemies.
At Gnadenhutten, Tuscarawas
County, nearly 100 doomed Indians
spent the night of March 7, 1882, IN
prayer while their 200 white volun-
teer militia captors got beastly drunk
and reyeled. Next morning they
massacred 90 of the unarmed Indians
in a body.
Logan, later chief of the Mingoes
gangster-tribe composed of the
worst Indians of all nations, was a
devout friend of the whites until
1774 when all his relatives, including
women and children, were killed by
soldiers of Colonel Cresap.
Chief Killed
Old Cornstock, noble and powerful
Shawoeness chief, was shot dowr
from ambush on the street at Point
Pleasant in 17T7, where he had gone
to try to make peace with the whites
There is the substantiated story OF
the two surveyors who, without foot
for four days, came to the cabin OF
9 an Indian family in Northern Ohio
. The Indians father had been killed
u
by the whites and one of the sur,
vevor's relatives had been killed il
I a battle with the Indians. The
v Indian willingly gave them all the
food the family had-two rabbits anc
= a small piece of venison.
Among the Indians, the white
renegades Elliott, the two Girtys ane
Chief Blue Jacket, captured when l.
and later elevated to a chief, were
the most malicious enemies of the
white settlers and were responsible
for the death of many.
Nearly all Ohio Indians were
farmers and hunters, living in log o.
pole cabins equal to those built BY
the whites and surrounded by their
fields of corn and pumpkins, and il
the hundreds of small Indian village!
which dotted the state. They feetiliz
ed their corn by putting a small fisi
or minnow into each hill with tn,
seed grain. From it they made mea
with pestle and morter and baket
iohnnv-cake on stone hearths jus
like the whites.
Indian Villages
Their cabins lined either side O
the village streets and had a dee
skin hung over the opening for ;
door and hole in the top to let th'
smoke out. The fire was exactly II
the center of the house and there