Agent Stickney, Captain Rhea And Antoine Bondy

Note: Antoine, the son of Joseph Duarte Bondy and Marie Josette Gamelin and also my daughter's 6th great grand uncle.

From the Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana (also here):

The agent was thankful for the information, but was doubtful whether to credit or reject it, as a mistake in a matter of so much importance, either way, would prove ruinous to his character and cause his disgraceful ejection from the important office which he held. He had been but three months in office or in the country and was acquainted with but few persons.

The character of Bondie was not known to him, and the nature of his communication was such as to require great secrecy, and if true, immediate preparation for the defense of the fort. [Benjamin Franklin] Stickney sent a note to Capt. [James] Rhea, the commanding officer of the garrison, desiring a meeting with him in the open esplanade of the fort, where there could be no one to overhear what might be said.

In weighing and comparing chances and consequences, he determined that it was better that he should be ruined in his reputation, and the government suffer all sacrifices consequent upon the falsity of the report, than that they should both suffer if it proved true. He, therefore, sent a second time to Capt. Rhea, and declared his intention to make the report and give it his sanction. He informed him that he had just received a dispatch from Gov. Harrison, from Vincennes, saying that he was going to Cincinnati, where he must be addressed, if necessary, and that he should send an express to him, directed to that city, and another to Captain Taylor, at Fort Harrison. 

Reconstruction Of Fort Wayne

When nearly ready to dispatch his messenger, Capt. Rhea sent a note to him requesting that he would delay his express to Cincinnati, until he could write a letter to the governor of Ohio, informing him of the report. Stickney complied with this request, and the express was sent with letters to Gov. Harrison and Gov. Meigs. Active preparations were now begun by the little garrison of 100 for defense. Such men as could be spared with teams were employed to send off ladies who were there, with children, to the frontier; and it was subsequently ascertained that within a few hours after the messengers had started, the Indians drew their lines around the fort.

[Captain Rhea]...met the agent, heard his communication and dismissed it by observing that Bondie was a trifling fellow and no reliance could be placed upon what he said. This increased the perplexity of the agent. He sent for Bondie and his interpreter, to have a cross-examination. This being completed, it remained for the agent either to pass the matter without notice and incur the chances of the siege by the Indians of the two posts, to be followed by a regular force of British troops with artillery without any preparation for defense or relief from abroad, or to report the information, without attaching to it his official belief in its correctness, in which case it would have no effect.

The Indian warriors, to the number of some 500, as then supposed, assembled in the neighborhood of the fort; and it was evident that they had hopes of getting possession of it by stratagem. They would lie in wait near the fort, day after day, a few near, but the majority of them as much out of sight as possible. 

Emigrants Circa 1818

Source

"That although in certain cases such special acts have been made in favor of bodies of foreign emigrants, it has always bee on the ground, and in consideration of a general public benefit accruing.... ." 

Louisiana and Indiana were specifically mentioned.

Peter Bondie, French Trader

Old Fort Reconstruction in Fort Wayne, Indiana

From "The ward of Tecumseh"

The factory building is outside the fort," he said, and I'd be delighted to have you stay there with me, if it wasn't crowded to the doors. My assistant, Captain Wells, with his wife and their children com-
pletely fill it. But there's a sort of hotel here kept by a French trader, one Peter Bondie, and he can put you up for the night. ."

Bryce's Cross-Roads

Source

Narrative from Cahaba. A story of captive boys in blue:

"The leading regiment, the One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois, reached the front almost breathless after its five-mile race, and was thrown at once into action without a solitary support, except the handful of Grierson's cavalry, already on the ground. These men had been hotly engaged for four hours, and their ammunition was about exhausted."

"The Ninety-third Indiana arrived on the scene some ten minutes later, having been delayed by the stragglers of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois. Lest I should be misunderstood, let me say that these stragglers were falling behind, not on account of cowardice, but because overcome by heat and fatigue. Even in this breathless condition they were pressing on and doing the best they could to get to the front. A more gallant regiment was never enlisted."

"The Ninety-third Indiana reached the front with only a handful of men... . It was formed on the right of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois, directly at the intersection of ' Brice's Cross-Roads,'... ."

Source

National Cemeteries (As Of 1902)

National Cemetery in New Albany, Indiana

Source                      

Henry Hay's "Christmas" Present

Hay's Journal Entry for December 26, 1789, in Fort Wayne:

Source

James Abbott, the father of Elizabeth (Betsey) Abbott Baby, 1777-1812, "gave" Henry Hay "his daughter Betsy over the bottle."

Via The Wilderness Trace Through Kentucky

Cumberland Gap Area

Henry Hamilton's Journal:

Dramatic And Significant

Clark At Vincennes

Henry Hamilton's Journal:


The most dramatic and significant event of the American Revolution in the West was the capture of Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton of Detroit by tough young George Rogers Clark at Vincennes on February 24th, 1779.

Antoine Bondy In Fort Wayne

Antoine, the son of Joseph Duarte Bondy and Marie Josette Gamelin and also my daughter's 6th great grand uncle.

From the Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana (also here):


At this time [after the massacre at Chicago] there was a trader residing near Fort Wayne, of French extraction, Antoine Bondie [Bondy]. He was about fifty years of age, and had lived among the Indians from the time he was twelve years old. He was an extraordinary character. At one time he would appear to be brave and generous, at another meanly selfish.

The hostile Pottawatomies, desirous of saving him from the destruction which they contemplated for the garrison [Fort Wayne], sent Metea...to inform him of their intentions and his danger.

Source

The morning after Metea had made this revelation, Bondie, accompanied by Charles Peltier, a French interpreter, went to the agent very early, and with many injunctions of secrecy, informed him of it all.

 On the 5th of August, Major Stickney [the agent] was prostrated by severe illness, from which he did not become convalescent for twelve days. He was then conveyed from the agency house to the fort for safety. It was now very plain that the statement of Bondie was no fiction. He, with his Indian family, moved into the fort.

A Grave Found For Little Turtle

From Little Turtle (Me-she-kin-no-quah): the great chief of the Miami Indian ...:

He was thirty-nine years old at the time of St. Clair's defeat and sixty years old at the time of his death. It seemed that his grave had been lost to all human knowledge, and that the most diligent search in recent times had failed to locate the exact place of his burial. Thus after sleeping in an unknown grave for a number of years in the vicinity of his former glory, his remains were accidentally found on July 4th, 1911. Two brothers, Albert and Charles Lockner, who had contracted to build a house for Dr. George W. Gillie on Lawton Place, lot 28, near the west bank of the St. Joseph river, while engaged in digging the cellar, uncovered the supposed remains of the great Miami War Chief. [Source]

Source - Gravestone

More about Little Turtle.

Hamilton's Militia

From the Henry Hamilton and George Rogers Clark in the American Revolution, with the unpublished Journal of Henry Hamilton":


In addition to the regulars there were fourteen officers and seventy-one rank and file in the volunteer militia, five officers and thirty-five rank and file in Captain La Mothe's volunteer company, three artillery men, and seventy Indian chiefs and picked warriors.

Other Indians joined the force as it proceeded on its way towards Vincennes.

Historic Vincennes [Indiana]

The names of the officers of the volunteer militia and of the Indian Department who accompanied the expedition reveal the extent to which Hamilton placed himself in the hands of the French. Among the three captains of the volunteer militia were Guillaume La Mothe and Alexis Maisonville. The five lieutenants were Jacob Schieffelin, Pierre St. Cosme, Medard Gamelin*.... .

List of officers of Militia at Detroit:

Source

*My daughter has a Gamelin ancestor from the Detroit area in her family tree (don't know the relationship to Medard Gamelin).

In Memory Of Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan

A centograph in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama:

Morgan's Raid, by Allan Keller, is a detailed account of this Civil War General's cavalry dash through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

Source

Details surrounding the General's death from Tennessee History excerpted below:

"In September 1864, Morgan and his men came to rest around Greeneville, Tenn. The General posted his men to guard the town and retired to the Williams residence– a local home where he was a friend of the family. During the night, a unit of Union cavalry charged down a road in Greeneville unguarded by Morgan’s men. They swarmed the town and headed straight towards the William’s residence, which they immediately surrounded."

"According to remaining Union reports, General John Hunt Morgan was shot when he resisted capture."

Was Hamilton Sabotaged?

From DANIEL BOONE:

"Some Kentuckians eventually joined the Detroit Militia. On the other hand, part of the Detroit Militia deserted to the American side, and [Henry] Hamilton (the lieutenant-governor at Detroit also known as the "hair buyer") later declared that 'secret treason' had ruined his government at Detroit."

Was Lt. Governor Hamilton referring to his French associates with the "secret treason" sentiment, including his expedition from Detroit to Fort Sackville in Vincennes?

For the Lieutenant-Governor to employ a considerable number of French officers at Detroit, where he was in communication with stronger forces of English soldiers, was understandable; but to undertake a long and difficult journey into the wilderness...and in this isolated situation to place so much dependence upon men who had hardly forgotten their hostility to England cannot be considered an act of wisdom. [Source]

This change in loyalty, which involved the French inhabitants of Vincennes, the French volunteers in the Detroit militia, and the Indians, was fatal to Hamilton's expedition. [Source]

Or was it something else?

Hamilton's Surrender Of Fort Sackville (Vincennes) To George Rogers Clark

I don't know if Henry Hamilton was referring to his French associates, but it is a possibility.

Mr. Sill's Underground Railroad Records

William Sill

"This once slave [William Sill's father] but now freeman was Levin Steel--afterwards changed to Still the better to escape identity by Southern claimants and pursuers of his family. Being free he could not breathe an air tainted by slavery, nor brook the surroundings of bondage. So, severing the sacred ties of family, bidding good bye to his wife, Cidney, and the four children she had borne him--two boys and two girls--and trusting under God to a future which should be brighter for himself and loved ones than the past, he started North and located in the neighborhood of Greenwich, New Jersey."

William's mother escaped and joined her husband, but was captured and returned to slavery.  She escaped a second time, leaving the boys behind with her mother and taking the girls with her.  William, born 7 October 1821, was the youngest of 18 children.

Source

Running The Gauntlet

From DANIEL BOONE by John Bakeless (1939):

"George Rogers Clark became a major in the new militia of Virginia's Kentucky County, with Daniel Boone appointed as a captain. Kentucky's militia's primary enemies were the British military based in Detroit and their Indian allies."

"In February of 1778 Daniel Boone and companions were captured by Shawnee warriors (and two of the three Girty brothers) at Blue Licks while making salt...".

"Though taken to Detroit, they were kept by the Indians in their village where Daniel Boone was to run a 'warriors only' gauntlet. Normally, "most captives were dragged to the villages and compelled to sing at the tops of their voices as they approached. Thus warned, the entire population--squaws, children, old men, and any warriors who happened to have stayed behind--seized clubs, sticks, stones, hatchets, deer's antlers, or anything else that seemed likely to hurt the prisoner, and raced out to help belabor him."

Although Daniel Boone's captivity predated my ancestor's; their initial experience with their Indian captors was similar.  In 1781 my ancestor, William Roark, under Colonel Lochrey, was enroute to join General George Rogers Clark when Lochrey's group was attacked by a group of British regulars and Indians (including a Girty brother).

 History of Detroit and Wayne County...

(The force that attacked Colonel Lochrey consisted of about six hundred regulars and Indians from Detroit, commanded by Joseph Brant and George Girty )

Roark was taken prisoner and marched to Detroit.  A first person account of William Roark's ordeal was found in William Worthington's Revolutionary War pension application; Roark provided an affidavit.  Another survivor of Lochrey's Defeat was said to have run the gauntlet. 

A 1784 map of Kentucky shows were "Col. Boon's" fort was located and also the Great Miami (Lochrey's Defeat occurred about ten miles below the mouth of the Big Miami).

Little Turtle Vs. The United States Army

"Indian Wars of the U. S. Army (1776-1865)", by Fairfax Downey, included Little Turtle of the Miamis and the war waged against Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harmar, General Arthur St. Clair and the American Army.

Little Turtle (site at Fort Wayne, Indiana)

"On September 26, 1790, Harmar with 320 of the 1st and 1133 militia marched from Fort Washington, near present Cincinnati, against the Miami villages. Little Turtle let Harmar come on and burn a few deserted villages. Then his Miamis and their allies swooped down on the vanguard, caught in a defile. Most of the militia ran for their lives. A small body of the Regulars alone made a stand and was cut to pieces. The American Army, such as it was, had taken a sound licking, and there was no disguising it or the ineptitude of the whole affair by the whitewash a court of inquiry gave Harmar. Prestige and the safety of the borderlands demanded another campaign...". [Downey]

General St. Clair was chosen to avenge Harmar's defeat. St. Clair led his army to the one of the worst defeats, known as St. Clair's Massacre, when he battled Little Turtle.

"In supreme folly St. Clair had sent the veteran 1st Regiment to the rear several days before to round up sixty or seventy deserters who had sworn to take the ration-laden pack horses with them. The mission was important, but a detail from the 2nd would have served as well for it. As a result the troops most experienced in Indian fighting were absent at a time of critical need." [Downey]

Little Turtle capitulated at the Treaty of Greenville after General "Mad" Anthony Wayne was victorious at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

A Relative In The Flowering of the Cumberland

Elizabeth Colville married 1st John Black (they were the parents of my 5th great-grandmother, Christian Black, wife of Christopher Acklin). Elizabeth married 2nd Samuel Newell and had a son, Samuel Newell, who fought in the Revolutionary War, most notably at King's Mountain, and is the Samuel Newell referenced in the book, Flowering of the Cumberland by Harriette Simpson Arnow.

"The books owned by the Robertsons, Bledsoes, Stumps, Winchesters, and many other first and early settlers were also not listed. We only know of Samuel Newell, officer at King’s Mountain, and in time a settler up river, that he had ‘a pretty good library and was a great reader." [Arnow]

This article stated that Samuel Newell ("King's Mountain hero and member of the Franklin Convention") received his education at "Liberty Hall," which evolved into the Washington & Lee University. An unflattering description of Newell can be found here.

Harriet Arnow mentioned that Samuel Newell was living near Burnside, Kentucky in her writings here.

Samuel Newell was a representative of Sevier County in the formation of the State of Franklin:

"Friction there was from earliest years over a multitude of vexing matters—to join or not to join the State of Franklin [Footnote: Middle Tennessee never joined, but there must have been much discussion.] ‘Politics in this part of the country run high,’ Anthony Bledsoe wrote to Gov. Caswell March 26, 1787, ‘you hear in almost every collection of people frequent declarations for North Carolina and others in the like manner for the State of Franklin. I have seen it in much warmth,'...choice of a muster master, or the site of a seat for a new county—but men seem never to have been guided in their loves or hatreds by religious or nationality backgrounds. [Arnow]

Samuel Newell died in Owen County, Indiana, 21 September 1841.