Centennial History of Columbus and Franklin County. William Alexander Taylor
the sale of cattle, and the next morning every cent was forthcoming.
"From 1808 until the war of 1812 Tarhe steadily opposed Tecumseh's treacherous war policy, which greatly endangered Tarhe's life, and it is claimed he came near meeting the same fate that Leather Lips met on June 1, 1810. he even went so far as to offer his services, with fifty other chiefs and warriors, to General Harrison in prosecuting the war against Tecumseh and the English under General Proctor. He was actively engaged in the battle on the Thames. So earnest was he in the success of the American cause, so sincere did he keep all treaty obligations, that General Harrison in after years, in comparing him with other chiefs, was constrained to call him 'The most noble Roman of them all.'
He Abjured Strong Drink.
"Tarhe never drank strong drinks of any kind nor used tobacco in any form. Fighting at the head of his warriors in Harrison's campaign in Canada at the age of seventy-two years is something out of the ordinary. Being tall and slender, he was nicknamed 'The Crane.' On his retiring from the second war for independence, he again took up his abode in his favorite town—the spot is still called 'Crane Town,' about four and one-half miles northeast from Upper Sandusky, on the east bank of the Crane run, which empties into the Sandusky river. Here, surrounded by a dense forest, he spent his old age in a log cabin fourteen by eighteen feet. Just south of the old cabin site are a number of old apple trees—likely of the Johnny Appleseed origin—the fruit being small and hard; a short distance south of the cabin is the old gauntlet ground, oblong and about three hundred yards long; to the westward from the village site is a clearing of about ten acres, still known as the Indian field and still surrounded by a dense forest. Here Tarhe died in his log cabin home in November, 1818. In 1850 John Smith, then owner of the land, had most all of the cabin taken down for firewood. At that time a small black walnut twig, about the thickness of a man's thumb, was growing in the northwest corner of the cabin, and is quite a tree at the present writing—a living and growing monument to the memory of the great and good Wyandot chief."
The Chieftain's Widow.
"Aunt Sally Frost was Tarhe's wife when he died. To them one child was born, an idiotic son, who died at the age of twenty-five years. Sally had been a captive from one of the border settlements and refused to return to her people. After the death and burial of Tarhe, the principal part of Crane Town was moved to Upper Sandusky, the center of the Wyandot reservation, twelve miles square. Here the government at Washington paid them an annuity of ten dollars per capita until the reservation reverted back to the government in March, 1842.
"Cabin sites are plainly discernible in the old historic town, which was usually a half-way place between Fort Pitt and Detroit. Here in the early days Indian parties found a resting place when on their murderous missions to the border settlements. This was one of the 'troublesome' Indian towns on the Sandusky river that the ill-fated Colonel William Crawford was directed against in the spring of 1782. Traces of the old Indian trail may be seen meandering southward through the forest, where the war whoop was frequently given and the bloody scalping knife drawn over many defenseless prisoners. The springs, just westward from the town site, are cattle tramped, but still bubble forth a small quantity of water, but likely not nearly so active as when they furnished the necessary water for the nations of the forest a century and more ago.
"On June 11, 1902, Mr. E. O. Randall, the able and efficient secretary of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, in company with the writer, gave the place a visit. Numerous locusts were chirping away at their familiar songs quite loud enough to drown out the voices of the intruders.
Tarhe's Friend, Jonathan Pointer.
"Jonathan Pointer, who had been a colored captive among the Wyandots and who was a fellow soldier with Tarhe in the Canadian campaign under General Harrison, returned with that celebrated chieftain to his home and stayed with him until the time of Tarhe's death, always claiming that he assisted in the burial of Tarhe on the John Smith farm, about a half mile southeast from his cabin home. Logs were dragged over the grave to keep the wild animals from disinterring the body. Jonathan Pointer was engaged as interpreter for the early missionaries among the Wyandots; he died in 1857.
No memorial marks Tarhe's resting place. Red Jacket, Keokuk, Leather Lips and other chieftains have received monumental consideration from American civilization; but Tarhe, the one whose influence and activity helped to wrest the great northwest from the British and the Indians, has apparently been forgotten. And how long shall it be so?
"Colonel John Johnson, who for nearly half a century acted Indian agent of the various tribes of Ohio and who made the last Indian treaty that removed the Wyandots beyond the Mississippi, was present at the great Indian council summoned at the death and for burial of Tarhe. The exact spot where the council house stood is not known, but a mile and a half north from Crane Town site are a number of springs bubbling forth clear water which form Pointer's run, that empties into the Sandusky river. They are still called the Council Springs and the bark council house was likely in this vicinity. Colonel Johnson, in his 'Recollections,' gives the following account of the proceedings:"
Colonel Johnson's Recollections.
"On the death of the great chief of the Wyandots, I was invited to attend a general council of all the tribes of Ohio, the Delawares of Indiana, the Senecas of New York, at Upper Sandusky. I found on arriving at the place a very large attendance. Among the chieftains was the noted leader and orator Red Jacket from Buffalo. The first business done was the speaker of the nation delivering an oration on the character of the deceased chief. Then followed what might be called a monody, or ceremony, of mourning or lamentation.
Thus seats were arranged from end to end of a large council house, about six feet apart, the head men and the aged took their seats facing each other, stooping down, their heads almost touching. In that position they remained for several hours. Deep and long continued groans would commence at one end of the row of mourners and so pass around until all had responded and these repeated at intervals of a few minutes. The Indians were all washed and had no paint or decorations of any kind upon their persons, their countenances and general deportment denoting the deepest mourning. I had never witnessed anything of the kind before and was told that this ceremony was not performed but on the decease of some great man. After the period of mourning and lamentation was over the Indians proceeded to business. There were present the Wyandots, Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas, Ottawas and Mohawks. Their business was entirely confined to their own affairs, and the main topics related to their lands and the claims of the respective tribes. It was evident, in the course of the discussion, that the presence of myself and people (there were some white men with me) was not acceptable to some of the parties and allusions were made so direct to myself that I was constrained to notice them, by saying that I came there as a guest of the Wyandots, by their special invitation; that as the agent of the United States, I had a right to be there as anywhere else in the Indian country; and that if any insult was offered to myself or my people, it would be resented and punished. Red Jacket was the principal speaker and was intemperate and personal in his remarks. Accusations, pro and con, were made by the different parties, accusing each other of being foremost in selling land to the United States. The Shawnees were particularly marked out as more guilty than any other; that they were the last coming into the Ohio country and although they had no right but by the permission of the other tribes, they were always the foremost in selling lands. This brought the Shawnees out, who retorted through head chief, the Black Hoof, on the Senecas and Wyandots with pointed severity. The discussion was long continued, calling out some of the ablest speakers, and was distinguished for ability, cutting sarcasm and research, going far back into the history of the natives, their wars, alliances, negotiations, migrations, etc. I had attended many councils, treaties and gatherings of the Indians, but never in my life did I witness such an outpouring of native oratory and eloquence, of severe rebuke, taunting national and personal reproaches. The council broke up later in great confusion and in the worst possible feeling. A circumstance occurred toward the close which more than anything else exhibited the bad feeling prevailing. In handing round the wampum belt, the emblem of amity, peace and good will, when presented to one of the chiefs, he would not touch it with his fingers but passed it on a stick to a person next to him. A greater