The Legend of Squaw Rock

        Sitting high on a hill overlooking the Mac-A-Cheek Valley is a huge boulder known for generations as “Squaw Rock.” It is hard to see from the road these days because of the vegetation growing around it but for whatever reason, this rock stands as a witness to tales of love and grief, war and survival.

The rock bares a simple plaque that reads: 

Squaw Rock of Indian Legend 

Site of Shawnee Village Mac-A-Cheek 

Home of Chief Moluntha 

Destroyed 1786 by Col. Logan. 

Site of Simon Kenton Gauntlet 1778 

        The rock is said to have been a remnant of the glacial period, left here when the Glaciers receded and formed the Great Lakes. Earliest reports of the rock have it being used as a gathering place for the seven nations of the Indian Confederacy although legend has it that the confederacy was not the only one to meet in secret at the rock.[1]

The Chief’s Daughter

        One such legend states that the Chief of a nearby village disapproved of his daughter’s interest in a young warrior causing the two to sneak off and meet at the rock in private. For years the two met at the rock whenever they could manage to sneak away from the preying eyes of the Chief and as one would expect the two fell deeper and deeper in love with every meeting.

        It was not until the Chief told his now teenage daughter that she was to be given to one of his loyal warriors to take as his bride that the daughter finally professed her undying love for the young man she had been meeting at the rock. Of course her father was not happy in the least that his daughter had been sneaking behind his back and seeing a man that he had already told her he did not approve of. Enraged the father confronted her young lover and gave him the choice of exile or death. Disheartened the young warrior fled the village.

        As luck would have it or rather as the legend would have it, the Chief was not only planning his daughter’s future, he was also planning a raiding party for the following morning. As morning broke the Chief along with his warrior friend and would be son-in- law, set out on their mission to steal supplies from a nearby American trading post. Word must have gotten out about the raid because the trading post was ready and waiting for the Chief and his raiding party. The fight only lasted a few minutes but it was long enough for the Chief and his warrior friend to be mortally wounded.

        Some writers have suggested that it was the daughter’s lover who tipped off the trading post. Maybe he did so out of revenge against a father who would not allow him to marry his daughter or maybe he was simply hoping to eliminate his competition. Either way it worked out in the two young lover’s favor. With no one the wiser and the daughter now free to marry whomever she chooses, the two young lovers were married a few days later.[2]

        It would be so easy to say that they lived happily ever after but that is not where their story ends. Squaw Rock has more stories to tell.

Logan’s Raid on Mac-O-Chee 

        Mac-O-Chee village was the 18th century Shawnee settlement that surrounded Squaw Rock. [3] It was Located on top of a hill overlooking one section of the Mac-O-Chee Creek and it was the head quarters of the Great Sachem of the Shawnee; Chief Moluntha.

        In the fall of 1786, Colonel Benjamin Logan, was commissioned by George Rogers Clark, to attack Mac-O-Chee Village and force the Indians to surrender their land and move to the western lands agreed upon in the terms of the McIntosh Treaty. Col. Logan sent scouts to report the movements of the Shawnee living within the Mac-O-Chee Valley. Upon receiving word that the Indians were organizing a large hunting party to acquire food for the winter months ahead, Col. Logan laid out his plan of attack. His army, lead by Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton; would wait until the majority of the warriors had left the village in pursuit of food. The villages would be virtually defenseless and his army should be able to easily overwhelm any resistance. Lying in wait his army watched as the last warrior disappeared into the wilderness. Boone and Kenton gave the orders to advance but told the men to leave anyone who was not taking up arms against them unharmed.

        As the army approached Chief Moluntha urged his people to remain calm and reminded them that the Americans were allies and the village was not in violation of the Miami Treaty.[4] In what many suggest was an effort to calm the tension before it got out of hand, Moluntha began to walk towards the approaching army. As Colonel Logan approached the city Moluntha walked out to greet him holding a copy of the Miami Treaty in one hand and waving an American flag in the other. The treaty he was holding was signed earlier that year and legally entitled his people to the land in which they stood and the American flag was a symbol that the people of this village pose no threat to the Americans.[5]

        Soldiers at the front began to surround Moluntha as Logan approached from the rear. For the second time Logan reminded the men that Moluntha was not to be injured but that order was not one that all his men were willing to abide by.

        As Colonel Logan and Chief Moluntha sat down to begin negotiations a man asked Moluntha if he was at the Battle of Blue Licks? (Blue Licks was a battle that resulted in massive causalities for American soldiers during an Indian uprising) Moluntha was not at the battle but must have misunderstood what the man asked because he shook his head yes. The man grabbed a tomahawk and charged towards Moluntha striking him down with a blow to the back of the head. Simon Kenton quickly subdued the man as others gathered around but it was too late for the great Chief and he bled out on the ground. Logan ordered his troops to arrest the murderer of Moluntha and he ordered that the village be burned to the ground.

        Some researchers speculate that the burning of the village was an act done in an effort to hide the murder of Moluntha from the returning Indian warriors. Others suggest that the intent of the raid was to scare the returning Warriors in hope that they would flee the area. Whatever the reason, the village was burnt to the ground and the remaining villagers were taken prisoner…but...... the murder of Moluntha was not all that took place that fateful day.

The Mother at the Rock

        While the soldiers were burning the village, an Indian squaw with her infant son was spotted lurking behind the large rock. Why she was there we do not know, but one of the American soldiers saw her movement and mistook her for an attacking Indian warrior.

        In his confusion the soldier fired at the figure hiding behind the rock and began to slowly approach. The closer the soldier got to the rock the clearer his view became. The person hiding behind the rock was not a warrior at all but rather an Indian mother slumped over with her infant son in her arms. The soldier, himself having a daughter about the boys age; was overcome with remorse for what he had done. He laid his rifle upon the Rock and kneeled down to retrieve the crying baby boy. The soldier buried the boy’s mother at the foot of the Rock and pledged to look after the boy for the rest of his days.

White Feather the Soldiers Son

        As the soldier’s adoptive son grew into a teenager he did his best to hide the fact that the boy was an Indian. He dressed the boy in white man's clothes and treated him no different than any other father would have treated his son. The boy was educated in the ways of farming and hunting and spent many nights reading and playing with his adoptive sister. However, the boy’s skin was much darker and more reddish than that of his families and the town’s people began to take notice.

        Unaware of how accurate their taints were, several other teenagers around town began to call the young boy White Feather the Indian savage. They would taunt and tease the boy, telling him that they would scalp him and feed him to the dogs.

        Slowly the boy began to question who he really was. He began to act out aggressively and began to distance himself from everyone. Did the boy somehow remember what had happened that day at the rock? Was the boy destined to become a savage Indian? Is the family in danger? All of these questions began to cross the father's mind. Out of fear for his daughter’s safety the father told his daughter to avoid being seen in public with the boy and as a result the boy withdrew from society even more.

        Over the next few months the taunts of White Feather had spread throughout the village and the boy began to lash out at anyone and everyone. The boy became an outcast in the only family he had ever known. He began to get into fights and disappeared for days on end, until finally the boy stopped returning all together. Some say the boy died in the woods but legend has it that the boy found his way back to his Indian clan and began to reclaim his heritage. Some say that the boy even made it back to the very same valley that surrounded the Rock where his mother was buried.

The Soldiers Daughter

        Years past and not a word was heard from the boy once called White Feather but the end of his story has not yet been told because many believe he visited his sister one last time.

        It was the night of his adoptive sister’s wedding and the bride and her husband were enjoying their first night of marital bliss when fate came calling. No-one really knows what took place that fateful night but the aftermath was left for all to see. The morning after their wedding the daughter of the soldier and her new husband were found lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor of their cabin. The only clue left by their killer was a white feather placed in the hair of the soldier’s slain daughter. As the father wept over his murdered daughter the anguish, he could not help but remember the murder he once committed at the Rock. He wandered if the boy he once called his son, had finally realized his past and returned as fates avenger. He wandered if the mistakes of the past had finally come back to haunt him. The father was said to have screamed out in anger “cursed is my heart, for I never felt such pain. Cursed am I for having laid eyes on that Rock.”[6]

Abram Sander Piatt sums up this legend best by describing it as Forever a story of war, love, and betrayal remembered by a huge rock on a hill in the Mac-A-Cheek Valley.[7]






[1] Excerpt from The Historic West Liberty, Ohio Sesquicentennial booklet, "Our Hometown News," The West Liberty Star, July 16, 2018: Issue 15.
[2] Excerpt from Mackachack Valley and it’s Indian Legends by Oswald K. Reames, "Our Hometown News," The West Liberty Star, July 16, 2018: Issue 15.
[3] Keren Jane Gaumer, "Mac - O - Chee Valley," Ohio History Journal 26: 455-469, Retrieved from the Ohio History Connection online archive, http://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/search/display.php?page=5&ipp=20&searchterm=crawford&vol=26&pages=455-469.
[4] Ibid., Keren Jane Gaumer, "Mac - O - Chee Valley.”
[5] Timothy B. Powell, Ruthless Democracy: A Multicultural Interpretation of the American Renaissance, Princeton University Press, 2000, pgs. 2-4.
[6]The biography of Donn Piatt. "Our Hometown News." The West Liberty Star, July 16th 2018: Issue 15.
[7] Quote from a poem about Smiling Valley by Abram Sander Piatt. "Our Hometown News." The West Liberty Star, July 16, 2018: Issue 15.

The Story of "Indian Bill"

        Along the banks of the Scioto River is a monument that does not quite fit within the urban environment that surrounds it. It is about 9 ft tall, in the shape of pyramid and is made completely out of granite boulders. Odd as the monument was, I had to pull over and get a better look. The monument is known locally as the granite teepee and it was erected in honor of a man that few outside the immediate area knew much about. The man’s name is Bill Moose Crowfoot and he was a Wyandot Indian. His life’s story reads more like a highlight reel than a complete history but the emotion that his passing caused tells us that Bill was more than just the average citizen. Bill was to say the least, unique. Bill Moose Crowfoot was the last full blooded Wyandot Indian to live in the Northwest Territory.

Bill’s Herritage

        The settlement of the Northwest Territory played host to some of the most bloody a fiercely contested battles in early American history. None more fiercely contested than those fought against the Native American inhabitants of what is now the states of Ohio and Indiana. For nearly a century members of the Wyandot tribe actively opposed American expansion. Members of their tribe fought with the British during the revolution, the Northwest Indian Wars and the War of 1812 but as was the case for many tribes the effort to stop encroaching settlers was futile.

        Shortly after the battles for the Northwest Territory started Native Americans began to join forces in an effort to try and stop the encroachment of the white man into the Ohio Valley. This loose alliance of tribes was known as the Western Confederacy of Indian Tribes and Bill’s Wyandot tribe was one of the founding members.The Wyandot Indians were known as fierce warriors who were experts with a bow and arrow.It has been said that they were just as accurate shooting an arrow from a charging horse as they were standing on level ground and in the early stages of the war the Wyandot’s were useful allies within the Confederacy. It was not until the Confederacy's devastating defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers that tribes like the Wyandot started questioning their ability to defeat the invading American army.

        After the Battle of Falling Timbers the Wyandot tribe split into two different factions with two opposing ideologies about how to survive the ever expanding American settler. One faction lead by Chief Leather lips saw assimilation and peace as a means to survive, while the other faction chose to follow Chief Roundhead and join Tecumseh in continuing the resistance. History tells us that neither strategy worked for very long.

        Bill Moose’s family followed the advice of Chief Leather lips and chose compromise and peace rather than to continue to fight a seemingly invisible foe. However, the peace and compromise eventually gave way to the needs of the American nation. As treaties and boundaries became more and more restrictive to the needs of American expansion, Native American tribes found themselves forced to renegotiate terms. By the time the 1830 Indian Removal Act had been signed into law the tide had already turned on most of the native inhabitants of the Northwest Territory and by 1843 every tribe living within the territory was forced to give up their land and travel west towards the government established Indian reservations.

The Ohio Wyandot tribe was assigned to the Oklahoma Indian Reservation. For most tribal families this is where the history of their homeland ends and their history on the reservation begins but to my surprise Bill’s family history was different.  Bill’s family was one of twelve families that refused to leave Ohio and took up residency near present day Dublin, Ohio.

What Is Known About Bill Moose ?  
                              

Born on Sept. 9 1837, assimilation and the presence of a European culture was all that Bill Moose had known. By the time of his birth Chief Tecumseh and Roundhead had already failed in their bid to regain the territory given up by his forefathers and Bill’s family was more a novelty to days gone by, than a threat to western expansion.

It is believed that Bill first learned to read and write from the traveling missionaries who would occasionally drop by his family’s settlement. At the age of sixteen Bill was sent to live with a Christian family in Pennsylvania. It was there that he was taught carpentry, plumbing, and wood carving. Bill never stayed away from his Ohio homeland for too long and within a few years Bill returned to Ohio utilizing the skills he had learned in Pennsylvania. Once back in Ohio, Bill found odd jobs working as a handyman for local famers and shop keepers but even though he was said to have been a skilled craftsman who could read and write he showed little desire to fully assimilate into the western culture.  Bill instead chose to live in a small hand built cabin near the Scioto River.  He often worked for free and he either hunted, planted or fished for his food. Bill was known to trade wild game he had killed for blankets and clothing but otherwise he seemed to be content to live a meager lifestyle. 

In 1878 Bill was hired by the Sells Brothers Circus as an Indian rider in their Wild West show.To Bill the idea of riding around on horses all day was an easy way to make a living and something that came naturally to him.[4] It was at this time that Bill received his stereotypical headdress and Indian garb. Bill was told that the outfit was how the audience expected an Indian to look. Not one to fuss over trivial things, even those that were ignorant of his culture; Bill dawned the outfit and played the part for the cheering crowds. Always the showman Bill even dressed in full ceremonial clothing complete with headdress for local tourists and passer-bys who stopped by for a picture with the real life Wyandot Indian.[5]

         For 9 years and in nearly every state in the country, the man known as “Indian Bill” amazed audiences with his acts of equestrian marksmanship. After returning from the circus Bill became somewhat of  local attraction and the non-official ambassador for his people. The shining example of old world customs mixed with new world experiences.

        At the age of 78 Bill found himself once again standing on the banks of the Scioto River but as an old man who had outlived his family, his tribe and his bloodline. After seeing the places that Bill saw and living the life of an entertainer, one could understand if Bill returned home a changed man but that was not the case. Upon his return to Ohio Bill moved back to his one room shack that had become a playhouse of sorts for the local children and began to live his life in the same manner he did prior to his stint in the Circus. The only real change in his life style was the town folk and tourists who would occasionally stop by to get a glimpse of him. Bill was said to have been soft spoken, respectful, and always willing to discuss his native heritage with anyone who stopped by for a visit. Bill would spend his free time making trinkets to share with his visitors or taking pictures with passer-bys. In his life Bill had seen his tribe dwindle and move away. Those who did not move, he saw buried in a hilltop cemetery alongside his own mother and father.I found no one who had anything harsh to say about Bill. He truly seemed to be a man who became a respected part of a foreign community while remaining true to his own heritage.

        Bill Moose Crowfoot died two months short of a century at his home on the banks of the Scioto River.He was a good man, a friend to many and the last full blooded Wyandot Indian to live in the Northwest Territory.

        Bill is buried near his mother and father on what is now called “Wyandot Hill” outside of present day Columbus Ohio.

        In his long life Bill had made many friends and few enemies. His funeral was reportedly attended by no less than twenty thousand people. A monument known as the “Granite Tepee” was erected on the banks of the Scioto River in his honor. Those who knew Bill well remember him as a simple man who would often be found walking along the Scioto, blanket and gun in hand. Bill once said that he preferred the serenity of sleeping outdoors to the four walls of a bedroom. This post is written out of respect for a man who faced immense personal hardship in a time of incredible change, all the while finding peace and balance while living in a culture foreign to his own.

[1] Ohio History Central. Wyandot Indians. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Wyandot_Indians.
[2] Wilhelm, Carol. "‘Indian Bill’ fascinated many." This Week News. Mar. 28, 2014. http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/olentangy/news/2014/03/25/history-today-indian-bill-fascinated-many.html.
[3] Bill Moose, c. 1920. Nov 19, 2013, Retrieved from the Upper Arlington Archives. http://www.uaarchives.org/cdm/ref/collection/p4036coll10/id/343.
[4] Tebben, Gerald. "City mourns Bill Moose, the last of the Wyandots." The Columbus Dispatch, July 12, 2012
[5] Thompson, Jim, and Roger Perry. "document-8280_OBJ.tif." Worthington Memory. 2012. http://www.worthingtonmemory.org/sites/default/files/documents/document-122209.pdf.

Fort Recovery and the Battle of the Wabash

Fort Recovery, Ohio is a small town located near the head waters of the Wabash River. The center of town boasts a towering obelisk as well as a partial reconstructed fort. The town itself has only a few stop lights and a population of less than 1500 but it is a place of much historical significance. Unfortunately most people have never heard of the town or its history.

If you ask people to name the worst defeats ever handed down to an American fighting force, you will most likely hear them mention Custer’s last stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn or the 1812 invasion of Canada. You may even hear them suggest that the Texan defeat at the Alamo is the worst. What you are probably not going to hear mentioned is St Clair’s defeat at the Battle of the Wabash....but.... Why would you? Most history books and nearly all history classes skip right over this significant battle in United States history.

The Battle of the Wabash took place on a triangle stretch of land near the head waters of the Wabash River in present day Fort Recovery, Ohio. The battle was the largest confrontation between Native Americans and the United States Army and it was also the largest defeat ever suffered by the United States Army. 900 of the roughly 1200 American soldiers met their fate at this battle. In total 25% of the entire American Army was decimated at the hands of the nearly 1500 native warriors. [1]

Why did the war happen?

After the American Revolutionary War the newly formed American nation was deeply in dept and needed to raise money to survive. Under the authority of the Treaty of Paris the government planned to raise money by selling the newly acquired land within the Northwest Territory. That idea sounds non hostile enough but there was a major problem with that idea. The Northwest Territory was Indian country and the Native American inhabitants who lived there were not part of the Treaty of Paris and they had no desire to give their land to the American invaders. As a result of settler expansion, tribes living northwest of the Ohio River decided to band together in defense of their land and form what was called the Western Indian Confederation. [2]

The Confederation was led by Chief Little Turtle of the Miamis, Chief Blue Jacket of the Shawnees and Chief Buckongahelas of the Delaware Indians. Blackhoof, Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet were all members of the Confederation and all were reported to have fought during the Battle of the Wabash.

    

Cheif Little Turtle

Cheif Blue Jacket

General St. Clair

  

 Under the orders of President George Washington General Arthur St. Clair had undertook a campaign to rid the greater Ohio valley of all its native inhabitants. Roughly 1200 soldiers and 250 civilians had set up camp near the head waters of the Wabash River. On November 4^th 1791 the first attack took place. Led by Chief Little Turtle the first attack came so swiftly that several of the American fighters fled in panic without even so much as grabbing their guns. By the time the others readied themselves for battle Little Turtle’s forces had already surrounding them. St Clair, with his cannons positioned in a clearing on the high ground; ordered them to fire at the attacking natives. However, unbeknown to him, Chief Blue Jacket had positioned his Shawnee marksmen to take them out as soon as they were wheeled into position. Tecumseh and his band of Indian scouts had been tracking and watching the movement of St. Clair’s men for days. The Native attackers were very well prepared and they knew the lay of the land.

The battle raged for three long hours. In total 920 American soldiers and nearly 100 civilians were killed compared to the meager 21 Confederation warriors lost. Severely wounded and in a final charge General St Clair managed to escape with an estimated 200 soldiers and civilians but the battle was a near total annihilation and a massive blow for the United States military.

St Clair Monument

St. Clair statue

                                                                                             The Aftermath

           In the wake of the crushing defeat General St Clair resigned his commission and returned to the less dangerous role of Governor of the Ohio Territory. As a result of the Battle of the Wabash, congress passed two militia acts; one required that all able bodied men sign up for active duty in their state militias and the second granted the President the power to call upon those militias to fight on behalf of the United States.[3]

Under his new found authority President Washington ordered that the army be enlarged and within the year he had nearly doubled the previous size of the units under the command of General “Mad Dog” Anthony Wayne. In 1793 General Wayne sent 8 infantry units along with artillery to the very sight of St. Clair’s defeat. Wayne ordered the construction and fortification of Fort Recovery.

Fort Recovery

In the coming months native skirmishes and raids were attempted but the Confederation was now out manned and out gunned. The surrounding tribes would never again find victory at the site and were forced to withdraw and flee the area.[4]

Greenville Treaty Line Marker

 In 1794 Wayne put an end to the Western Confederacy when his much larger and well trained army won a decisive victory over the Confederacy on the banks of the Maumee River during the Battle of Fallen Timbers. One year later the Treaty of Greenville was signed and the once power Western Indian Confederacy was forced to relinquish all claims to land south and east of the Greenville treaty line. Native inhabitants living within Ohio and Indiana found themselves unwelcome on their own homeland and in grave danger if they stayed.[5]

The irony of The Battle of the Wabash is that it stands as Americas worst defeat at the hands of the Native Americans but because of that defeat the battle also stands as the call to arms that would lead to a national military and near genocidal results for the Native inhabitants of the Northwest Territory.

---

[1] Winkler, John F. Wabash 1791: St Clair’s defeat. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011

[2] See Winkler and Eid, Leroy V. "American Indian military leadership: St. Clair's 1791 defeat." The Journal of Military History 57, no. 1 (1993): 71.

[3] "1792 Militia Act establishes conscription under federal law." 2009. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/militia-act-establishes-conscription-under-federal-law.

[4] Hurt, R. Douglas. The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996 
[5] Pratt, G. Michael. "The Battle of Fallen Timbers: An Eyewitness Perspective." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 67 (1995): 4-34. and Sugden, John. Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.