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CHAPTER II.
BY COL. E. H. C. CAVINS.
THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY-THE MIAMIS AND THE PIANKESHAWS-OTHER INDIAN
TRIBES-CESSION TREATIES-EFFORTS OF CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES-THE
MOUND-BUILDERS-THEIR BONES AND OTHER REMAINS-A PRE-HISTORIC
FORTIFICATION-FIRST WHITE MAN IN GREENE COUNTY-ABORIGINAL CUSTOMS-INDIAN
MURDERS-CONSPIRACIES-REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS WEST-THE MOUNDS AT
WORTHINGTON-BURIAL VAULT -SECTION OF THE MOUNDS-A CHARNEL HOUSE-CRANIAL
MEASUREMENTS-THE JAPANESE IDOL-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS-COPPER AXES,ETC., ETC.
PRIOR to the year 1767, the land embraced in Greene County, with a large
portion of the State of Indiana, belonged to a tribe of Indians called the
Piankeshews. This people was one of the Algonquin tribes, and was one of the
Miami , confederacy. The Miami confed- eracy was formed early in the
seventeenth century by the various tribes of Indians occupying Ohio,
Indiana, a part of Illinois and a part of Michigan. The object of the
confederacy was for the purpose of repelling the invasions of the Iroquois
or Five Nations, a very powerful combination of warlike Indians, who being
pressed toward the setting sun by the advance of civilization, in turn
pressed westward the weaker tribes of Indians. Originally, so far as history
or tradition gives any account, the whole of Indiana was owned and occupied
by the Twigtwees or Miamis, the Weas and the Piankeshaws. At a later date,
there were other tribes, called permitted tribes, viz. : Delawares, or Leno
Lenape, as they were originally called, Pottawatomies, Shawnees, Kickapoos,
with a few Wyandots and Senecas. The Wyandots and Senecas seem to have had
so little claim upon the land that they were never required to sign any
treaty. The Pottawatomies seem to have acquired their interest by conquest,
or rather by pushing the Miamis back from the Northwest toward the interior
of the State, but they never claimed any interest in Greene County.
THE DELAWARES.
The Delawares made a treaty with the Piankeshaws in 1767, by which they came
into possession of a large part of Central Indiana, including the White
River country as far south as the Lower Fork of White River, but to make the
title perfect it was conRidered necessary to make a separate treaty with the
Miamis. The Delaware Indians called White River Opeco-me-cah. The Miamis at
that time claimed the northern part of the territory embraced in the treaty,
and the Piankeshaws the southern part. Greene County was in the part
'claimed by the Piankeshaws at that time. In the treaty between the
Piankeshaws and Delawares, it was only a permissive possession that was
given to the Delawares. These two tribes, together with the Weas, were, and
continued to be, on friendly terms with each other, and all of them occupied
the territory embraced in Greene County, from the date of the treaty among
themselves until they were finally removed from the State. From some cause
unknown to the
writer, the Piankeshaws never ceded to the United States any land north of a
line beginning at the mouth of Turtle Creek in Sullivan County, and running
in a direct line to Orleans, now in Orange County. But we trust that the
present owners of the land north of this line will not become alarmed at the
discovery of this breach or broken link in the chain of their title.
THE CESSION TREATIES.
There were three treaties with the Indians, embracing the land in Greene
County. The first two were made on the 30th day of September, 1809, at Fort
Wayne with the Delawares and Miamis, and the last was made on the 26th day
of October, 1809, at Vincennes with the Weas. Gen. William H. Harrison, who
was afterward President of the United States, was the Commissioner who made
these treaties, and it seems that he regarded it as necessary to make it
with these three tribes, but not necessary to make a treaty with the
Piankeshaws.
MISSIONARY WORK AMONG THE INDIANS.
After the settlement at Vincennes by the whites, the Piankeshaws seem to
have drifted toward that point, and near that place were their principal
villages and headquarters. They readily took upon themselves the vices of
their white neighbors, but did not seem to be impressed with their virtues.
They would patiently listen to the Catholic priests who tried to impress
upon them their mode of worship, and would quietly answer them by as earnest
an effort to get the Catholic priests to adopt the Indian worship of the
great spirit. One redeeming trait in their character was developed at the
beginning of the revolutionary war, and that was, they were the first of the
Western tribes of Indians to take sides with the patriot cause against the
English, and were soon followed by the other tribes of the Miami
confederacy.
AN EARLIER RACE.
Prior to the year 1810, no white man resided within the borders of Greene
County. Only straggling or strolling bands of Indians invaded the territory.
They seemed for many years preceding that time to have had no permanent home
here, but passed through on war and hunting excursions. On many of the
hills, and in many of the valleys and on many of the plains they have left
specimens of their rude and clumsy axes, made of stone, and their nicely
formed arrow heads made of flint. These mementos of another age and of
former inhabitants are found to this day. There seems to be no place in the
county specially noted for their rallies or congregation in large numbers.
No field has been made a scene of carnage; no habitation has been made
desolate by their fierce, unrelenting tomahawk; or at least history or
tradition have given us no information of such events. In Section 8,
Township 6 north, Range 5 west, there are clearly defined indications of
lines of fortifications, embracing about one-quarter of a mile. When they
were made, or for what purpose, is lost in the vista of time. Possibly in
the ages past—before the discovery of America—unrelenting war swept over
that part of Greene County, and possibly a regular siege was enacted at that
place in that day. In the northeast
corner of Richland Township, near what is called Sleath's Mill, there is a
large rock, which was used by the Indians as a lookout. The rude steps cut
by them for the purpose of enabling their sentinels to ascend to the point
of the look-out are still visible to any person whose curiosity leads him to
the place. At Fair-play, there has been found several specimens of pottery
of an ancient and rather crude type. Across the river from Fairplay, after
the great flood of 1875, there were found a great many pieces of pottery,
some of which had impressed ornaments on them. These pieces bore evidence in
themselves that they were of another age, and they were washed out of the
ground, over which large timber had been growing a few years before. On the
ridge coming up to the lower Richland bridge, there was an Indian village,
but deserted before any white man set his foot upon Greene County soil. At
Worthington quite a number of Indian relics have been found in
excavating—axes, arrow heads, charms, earthen ware and many other
curiosities, and among them two copper tomahawks.
THE FIRST WHITE VISITORS.
In the year 1813, a party of white men visited the territory now known as
Greene County. They resided at Vincennes, then known as the Old Post. They
came on a hunting expedition, more for novelty, curiosity and enjoyment,
than for any other reason. They started out from Vincennes in a pirogue or
boat, went down the Wabash River to the mouth of White River, and up White
River to the fork, and thence up the West Fork to a point above the mouth of
Richland Creek, and landed on the east side of the river south of
Bloomfield. They spent several days in that locality, hunting. At the time
of this excursion, a part of the old Indian burying ground near their
landing was comparatively now. The Indian burying ground was on the farm
since known as the Warnick farm. In an early day, it was a common thing for
the boys from Bloomfield to dig up the skeletons of these dead Indians.
Perhaps they were induced to dig into these graves from an idea that
generally prevailed in those days that the property of Indians was buried
with them. While it was common to turn up skulls and other no valuable
discovery was ever made, except that a gun human bones, barrel was found in
one of the graves. Nearly all traces of this ancient burying ground have
disappeared through lapse of time. The 'stalwart frame of many an Indian
savage, whose war cry and tomahawk sent terror to the hearts of many an
innocent victim, has doubtless returned to dust, and now forms a part of the
soil of Greene County. Many of the earliest settlers did not get over the
deep and abiding hatred they pustained toward the Indians, and especially
those whose relatives had been cruelly and wantonly murdered by them. After
the treaty of peace had been made between the whites and Indians,
occasionally an Indian would be found dead from a gun shot wound. Several
were killed in Greene County, one of whom was at a place a short distance
below the mouth of Richland Creek, on the east side of the river, in a
ravine running up from the river, on what is known as the Lester farm. It
was near the old Indian village, and was a wicked and unprovoked murder. It
was in the year 1810, while the Government survey of land was being made.
AN UNPROVOKED MURDER.
An Indian had shot a deer in the ravine and was dressing it. -A hunter by
name of Smothers, who was employed by the surveying party to furnish them
with meat, was in the immediate vicinity, and when he heard the crack of the
Indian's rifle, he at once understood the situation. Stealthily the white
hunter stole upon his unsuspecting victim, and at the crack of his rifle the
Indian fell, and in a few minutes expired. His body was concealed in the
ravine 'and covered with stones, and doubtless his decomposed bones are
there now, unless washed into the river. At that time the Government
surveying party were encamped near the southwest corner of Section 2, in
Township 6 north, of Range 5 west. When they learned of this murder, they
were fearful that the Indians would find their murdered companion, and they
abandoned that camp, and never blazed the line dividing Sections 2 and 11,
so as to throw the Indians off their trail, should they appear in that
locality and seek to avenge themselves. At that time there was an Indian
trail passing up White River from Owl Prairie, and the trail crossed
Richland Creek near the place where the lower bridge is built.
OTHER DEATHS.
Another Indian was killed in that locality in 1818. He was getting honey
from a tree, and while in the tree was shot by a white man. This was on a
narrow neck of land now known as the cut off, a short distance below the
mouth of Richland Creek. In the latter part of the year 1819, a transient
white man by the name of Osborn came to the settlement on Plummer Cieek,
and, while hunting, shot a Shawnee Indian, who was also 'hunting. The Indian
at the time be was shot was sitting on a log, not expecting any danger. This
occurred at a place about one mile southwest of Mineral City. After this man
shot the Indian, he wont to Eli Faucett's cabin. There was snow on the
ground at the time, and it was believed that he went to Mr. Faucett's in
order to make the Indians, if they should find that one of their number had
been killed, believe it to have been done by Mr. Faucett. The only settlers
in that immediate locality at that time was Col. Levi Fellows, Norman W.
Pearce, Eli Faucett and their families, and two or three hired hands. These
settlers, when they found out about the murder, compelled the murderer to
bury the dead Indian, and conceal his gun, and then required him to leave
the settlement, and that was the last that was ever heard of him. There were
no courts at that time nearer than Washington, in Daviess County. About the
same year and probably the summer following, an Indian was killed by a white
man at the mouth of Doan's Creek, only on the opposite side of the river. A
band of Indians were at that time on their way to ayestern reservation, and
encamped for the night on the west side of the river. One of them went to
the river to get a drink or after a pail of water, and was shot from the
east side, and fell into the river.
INDIAN CONSPIRACIES.
Notwithstanding the treaties that were made with the Indians for the
purchase of the territory embraced in Greene County, and other portions ies,
and especially among the tribes' or parts of tribes who were not represented
in the treaties. Prominent among the disaffected and dissatisfied Indians
were the celebrated. Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet. Tecumseh was a
Shawnee, and his tribe did not originally own any part of Indiana, and was
only permitted to occupy a part of the territory. In fact, no considerable
part of that tribe ever occupied Indiana. except while on the war path. He
was a cunning and brave warrior, and an eloquent orator, and was very
popular with the various tribes in the Northwestern Territory. He visited
the various tribes and made speeches to them. In his speeches, he proclaimed
that the treaties for lands northwest of the Ohio River were not made with
fairness, and all of them should be considered void. That no single tribe
was invested with the power or authority to sell lands without the consent
of the other tribes; and that he and his brother, the Prophet, would resist
all further attempts of the whites to extend their settlbments into this
territory. These two famous Indians, by their persistent efforts and
wonderful influence, finally brought about a powerful confederation of
Indians, and the treaties were not made effectual until after the battle of
Tippecanoe, which occurred on the 7th day of November, 1811. The Delawares,
who at that time occupied the White River and White Water Country, which
included the territory embraced in Greene County, refused to join Tecumseh's
confederacy, and remained at peace with the whites. Soon after the battle of
Tippe canoe, the Indians commenced their removal to the West, and the last
band left Greene County in 1819. A few years after that, a band of Indians
on their way to the West camped for a few days just above the mouth of
Latta's Creek, on the west bank of White River. The Piankeshaws were sent to
Missouri and Kansas, and finally all to Kansas. The number has grown smaller
and smaller, as they have continually met the encroachments of the lower
order of whites, with their handmaids of destruction—whisky and disease. In
1854, they were confederated with the Weas, Peorias and Kaskaskias, and they
all numbered 259. In 1868, they numbered only 1'79. There has since been
attached to this confederation the Miamis, iNho went west of Indiana, and at
this. writing (1883), they are in the Indian Territory, and number, all
told, 208. In late years, the dawn of a brighter and better era is upon
them. They now own 52,000 acres of good land, and have 3,000 acres in
cultivation. They live in good homes, and dress like civilized people, and
their children attend schools of their own. Eight of their boys have come
back to the land of their ancestors, and are now attending college in
Indiana. The Delawares, who were the last Indians who occupied Greene
County, have been uniformly more fortunate than the Piankeshaws. Some of
them are still in Kansas. In 1866, 1,000 Delawares and Shawnees were
incorporated with the Cherokees in the Indian Territory, and are doing well.
They are in an advanced state of civilization, and are worth more per capita
than any other tribe of Indians. Their language is one of the best known of
the Algonquin' dialects. Tammany, whose name figures extensively with New
York politics, was a Delaware chief of the mythical period. There was an
early tradition among the Delawares that they were originally Western
Indians, and at a very early day emigrated to the East. At the first
settlement in the United States, they occupied the territory along the
Delaware River, from which they take their present name, and it was with
them that William Penn made his celebrated treaty by which he acquired
Pennsylvania. During the war of the rebellion the Delawares furnished 1'70
soldiers for the federal army, who proved brave and efficient soldiers and
scouts.
THE WORTHINGTON MOUNDS.
The remaining portion of this chapter was prepared by Prof. John Collett,
the eminent State Geologist, and published in his report of 1880. The sketch
is so complete and meritorious that the entire article is quoted, with
slight alterations to suit this volume.
The .mound was slightly elliptical, being 360 feet wide from north to south,
and from 360 to 390 feet long from east to west; the extreme height of
carried material at a point a little northeast of the center, was nine feet
six inches, sloping rapidly to the east, but with gradual incline north,
south and west. The carried material was a fine loam or clayey earth,
brought from a neighboring marsh one-quarter to a half agile north, so that
the distinction between the artificial mound and the natural surface of
clear flnviatile sand was easily apparent. This material amounted to nearly
4,000 cubic yards of earth-1,800 wagon loads; and as these people had none
of the tools of our time, we may say 108,000 basketfuls. Allowing that these
workmen or builders would travel as far as an army under heavy marching
orders, they would carry and deposit about one-half a cubit, yard per day to
each man, or 8,000 days for one man. But considering that each man had to
supply himself with food and that he had to join in the dance and
festivities common to barbarous people on ceremonial occaaions, we may more
safely estimate nine basketfuls, or nine cubic feet as a day's work;
consequently it would require the labor of one man 12,000 days, or 200
persons full sixty days. The outlook due east was up a valley piercing the
eastern bluff of White River, giving the sleepless priest, who guarded the
ever burning fire upon his altar, such opportunity of catching the first
rays of sunrise as was necessary in calling his people by chant and drum to
their morning devotion and worship of the sun—the fountain of life, light
and comfort.
A BURIAL VAULT.
Several years ago, IV. C. Andrews in preparing for the erection of the old
Franklin House, excavated part of the east side and top of the mound. Near
the central apex, he found an elliptical vault eight feet long, five feet
wide and three feet deep, surrounded by a sandstone wall eighteen inches.
thick, with a narrow entrance at the south end, and a minor elliptical
chamber separated by a wall at the north extremity. The bottom was floored
with thin slabs or flag-stones; it contained no bones or other relics, but
the interior contents, a " fat block" earth, indicated the decomposed
remains of a cover of black bituminous shale from the roof of neighboring
outcrops of Coal A. This vault was evidently not connected with but
intrusive upon the original work after abandonment by the originators. It
seems especially adapted for the purpose of a temporary receiving vault for
bodies of those dying between the epochal national funerals. Such temporary
vaults were noticed at Fort Azatlan, in Sullivan County, and other places in
this State. Its location was invited by the circular depression at the
chimney-top near the apex of their predecessors' edifices. In 1878, the town
authorities of Worthington removed a considerable 'part from the north side
of the mound, discovering none of the ancient
sins, but exposing several intrusive Indian graves near the surface, but on
the completion, March, 1880, of the Terre Haute & Southeastern Railroad to
this point, it was necessary in making a junction with the Indianapolis &
Vincennes Railroad to fill up the abandoned bed of the Wabash & Erie Canal
along the tract of the latter road. This was done under the direction of
Calvin S. Taylor, by borrowing earth from the mound. Much credit is due Mr.
Taylor for carefully observing the developments made for sacredly preserving
the few relics found and for measurements here reported.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE MOUND.
The following interior arrangements were observed: The surface soil bad been
stripped away to a depth of seven or eight inches, exposing a subsoil of
compact, fine sand, which constituted the floor of the mound MFG. Near the
center was a bed of ashes about ten inches deep, covering an area of ten or
twelve feet square, in which were roasted bones of animals, spikes of deer
horn, mussel and snail shells, charcoal and fragments of earthen-ware pots,
indicating the kitchen fire of a large household. The disturbed nature of
the earth above the fire-place, with a quantity of flat stones reddened by
fire, seemed to indicate a chimney, or smoke flue, partly supported by rough
masonry, which in the course of time had fallen in; black spots, or columns
of black mold at the circumference of the mound and at the interior points
showed that trunks of trees had been utilized as posts to support the
earthen roof, which had entirely decayed. The floor of the building was
covered with fragments of broken pottery, with a few stone or bone
implements of household use. No warlike weapons were seen—it was a peaceful
agricultural people. The whole mound seemed to indicate the communal home of
a large family or tribe with a common roof, walls, fire, etc., a mode of
life characteristic of many primitive nations and races. Human skeletons
were found irregularly scattered near the circumference of a circle, about
sixty feet in diameter, having the ash pit for its center, but more numerous
near the eastern doorway. The bones were badly decayed, and as a rule went
to dust after exposure. They would represent a possible fifteen or twenty
individuals.
A PRE-HISTORIC MURDER.
At once the question arises, What changed this residence or home of a tribe
to a charnel house? A single circumstance throws a ray of light. On the
northwestern arc of the circular corridor, or area, was found the skeleton
of a man with household implements widely scattered about as if in ordinary
use; the back part of his skull was crushed in by a blow of a large stone
hammer from behind and below,or while reclining on his right side, making an
opening and indentation in the occipital re gion two and one-half by three
inches in area. A murder had been committed; an unholy death had occurred
beside the household altar, and, probably by a law common to some American
and Pacific Island peoples, the house was thenceforward tabooed as unfit for
occupation, and dedicated to the dead. The remains of others were then
brought from temporary graves, and here deposited in the national " dead
house " for their last sleep. The articles found on the floor of the mound
were:
1. Crania and human bones. 2. Ornamental vase. 3. Japanese image—head. 4.
Japanese image—foot. 5. Bone whistle. 0. Copper ax. 7. Flint knives. 8. A
smooth, symmetrical, oblong, spherical stone muller or pestle. 9. Flint
chips, by -abrasion showing use. 10. Bone implement.
CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS.
The skull was of the typical pyramidal form, characteristic of the early
Mound Builders, and gave the following measurements. Circumference from
eyebrow to base of occiput, 18.20 inches; frontal arc, from ear to ear,
10.10 inches; arc over top from ear to ear, 12.75 inches. The well-closed
sutures and worn teeth, as examined by Dr. Brouillette, of Worthington,
indicated his -age to have been fifty-five or sixty years, and by
measurement of the tibia, his height when living was only five feet, four
inches. The high' head showed an unreasoning man of great firmness and
energy, and the projecting lower jaw a strong flesh eater. The cranium was
abnormal or lop-sided, by reason of superior size of the right over the left
side, so that when erect the head would incline that way, and as a rule he
would sleep lying on that side, as was probably the case when he was killed.
POTTERY, JAPANESE IMAGES, VASES, ETC.
The vase is ornamented by a peculiar fillet, with complementary pendant
curves in symmetrical design, and shows more skill than is usual in Mound
Builders' pottery. It is the most artistic design, accompanied by regular
form, seen by the writer, out of over 1,000 specimens, by him examined, and
seems to indicate skill of a higher order than the careless efforts of an
occasional workman. In other words, it exhibits the skill of an habitual
mechanic, trained by teachers as well as practice. The Japanese head and
foot were so peculiar as to awaken doubts as to the genuineness of the find,
hence an exhaustive inquiry was made, not only of those immediately engaged
in the
excavation, but of other citizens, calling in the aid of the well-known and
successful detective, Mr. K. Osborn. The testimony of all united as to its
authenticity. The Superintendent, C. S. Taylor, reports that it was found by
a boy, employed on the excavation about sixty feet north-northwest from the
hearthstone center, on the sand floor, eight feet below the surface. When
first removed from its bed, it was soaked with the dampness of the earth and
so softened that in brushing away the adhering dirt the extremity of the
nose- and ball of the right eye were slightly abraded, as may be seen. The
image was probably entire, but in the bustle of work with a full force of
men and teams, only the head and one foot were preserved. The head is a
striking picture, no artist could conceive the image of an eagle or lion,
and fix it in pictured art without seeing or knowing of such animals. The
physiognomy here given is as distinct from other races as these animals are
from other species. The most inventive genius could not join the almond
eyes, high cheek bones, strong nose, pouting lips and flabby ears to an
image without seeing familiarly an original Japanese. Nor would he have done
so unless the figure awoke either ideas of beauty or respect for a superior
form, worthy qualities, as an ancestor, governor, teacher or necessary
protector. Mound pottery, as a rule, is rude, inartistic and composed of a
mixture of clay and coarsely powdered mussel shells. This image on the other
hand is an exact presentment of a certain type, and does not contain in the
interior fragments of shells; but, in addition to the other points of
superiority, has the exterior surface covered with a well-defined coat of
grayish-white clay, an art not usual in our ancient potteries. All these
facts seem to show that this image was the work of an artist with more than
self-acquired skill, and was the result of generations of men, combining
their experience from teacher to pupil, from master to learner, and was
borrowed from some older life center, and this knowledge of the facial
expression, it is suggested, could only be borrowed from Japan or China. The
recent emigration of a fleet of canoes of Asiatic Esquimaux by Behring's
Strait to Alaska on this continent fully sustains this suggestion.
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF THE IDOL.
The material of the image was submitted. to Chemical Assistant Hurty for
qualitative analysis, and it was found to contain silicates of alumina, soda
and potassium, and sand humus and oxide of iron.If it was of modern make, it
would not have contained part of these ingredients, and if imported from
Asia would have contained the common kaolin of Eastern Asia. But the
analysis shows that the image was made up from common swamp clay, and still
-contained humus or organic matter, and the coating was from the fire-clay
of some adjacent coal bank, clearly indicating that it was made of local
materials, and therefore of local manufacture.
COPPER IMPLEMENTS.
The copper ax is of the usual size and form discovered in the mounds. On
analysis, it was found to be composed of copper, with traces of iron and
carbon, but without alloy of phosphorus or tin. The analysis shows its
origin from the copper mines of Lake Superior, and indicates their line of
immigration by these mines to Indiana. The other articles mentioned were the
household implements, common about the kitchen fires of this race.
This information is the research of many people across the United States and may contain errors. It is presented as the best information to date. Like all of those whose work I have incorporated herein, my research is a work in progress and subject to change without notice. A special thanks to Marlene Ricci of CA, Dwayne Meyer of CA, Jacqueline Bean of TX, Debbie Dick of IN, Milus Miller of IL, Carol Hendricks Miller of IN, Clarence Miller of IN, and Harold Glen Miller of IN. There are numerous others too; many of which are unknown, but their findings and stories are still much appreciated. Much of this would not have been possible with out their information. Also this website includes historical facts gathered from Washington County History, Indiana History, Rowan County and Salisbury North Carolina Historical sources and other US Historical sources.
James A. Miller- Great -Great -Great -Great Grandson of Adam Miller and Hannah Sheets.
©2007 The Millers of Washington County
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Last Updated 12/14/10 03:37:42 AM -0800