
Burial place of Indian Martyrs at Gnadenhutten Save

Description: Dated ca. 1935-1940, this is a photograph of a plaque which reads "Burial Place of Remains of Indian Martyrs. 1782--1798." In the nine-acre plot at Gnadenhutten, German for "Tents of Grace," is a stone monument commemorating the 96 Christian American Indians massacred in 1872 by white men. They are buried in the mound inside the park. After David Zeisberger had established Moravian missions for the Indians at Schoenbrunn, a group of Christian Indians led by Joshua, a Mohican elder, came in 1772 and founded Gnadenhutten. Surrounded by American Indian groups, a ring of British forts on the west, and freebooters in nearby settlements, the little community held on until 1781 when a white renegade, Elliott, and Delware (Lenape) chiefs, Captain Pipe and Half-King, forced the American Indians at Gnadenhutten to move to the Sandusky plains. The winter was severe and their meager supplies ran low. In February of the following year, a large group returned to the Tuscarawas valley to salvage what they could of the crops remaining in the fields.
At the same time, a punitive expedition under Captain David Williamson left Pennsylvania for Gnadenhutten, arriving on March 7, the day before the American Indians were to return to Sandusky. Feigning friendship, the soldiers easily succeeded in disarming the men, and imprisoned them in one building, placing the women and children in another. The American Indians spend the night in prayer, while the militiamen got drunk. At dawn, the executions began. One soldier felled fourteen American Indians before he relinquished his tomahawk. Gnadenhutten was pillaged and burned. Two American Indian boys who had been scalped escaped to Schoenbrunn to warn their fellow Christians. This heinous massacre further aroused Ohio natives against the white Americans.
This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F01_021
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; American Indian history; Tuscarawas County (Ohio); Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas (Ohio)
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F01_021
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; American Indian history; Tuscarawas County (Ohio); Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Gnadenhutten Massacre, Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas (Ohio)
Gnadenhutten massacre illustration Save

Description: Illustration showing the massacre of American Indians led by Colonel David Williamson of the Pennsylvania militia.
In 1772, Moravian missionaries founded a mission for American Indians in the Ohio Country at Schoenbrunn ("Beautiful Spring" in German). Because of its success, Rev. David Zeisberger founded a second village in the same year at Gnadenhutten ("Tents of Grace" in German). Life at Gnadenhutten was similar to life at Schoenbrunn.
On March 8 and 9, 1782, a group of Pennsylvania militiamen under the command of Williamson attacked the mission and the American Indians on site in retaliation for the deaths and kidnappings of several white Pennsylvanians, although this particular group of so-called "Christian Delaware" had recently returned from their new outpost at Upper Sandusky to forage for crops, and had no connection to the Pennsylvania attack. In all, Williamson's men murdered 28 men, 29 women, and 39 children, and the village was burned. There were only two survivors, who informed Moravian missionaries and other American Indians as to what had occurred. This illustration comes from William Dean Howells' "Stories of Ohio" (1897). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07916
Subjects: Gnadenhutten Massacre; Moravian Church -- Missions -- Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Delaware Indians -- History
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
Image ID: AL07916
Subjects: Gnadenhutten Massacre; Moravian Church -- Missions -- Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Delaware Indians -- History
Places: Gnadenhutten (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
Greenville Treaty Camporee photographs Save

Description: Three photographs document events at the 1947 Treaty Camporee held in Greenville, Ohio. The first photograph was taken at the Altar of Peace, a monument built to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The second shows men reviewing the Treaty Camporee Pageant program. The reverse identifies various attendees as; standing, left to right: unidentified, John O. Marsh, Edwin C. Zepp, Fred D. Coppock, unidentified; seated, left to right: Mayor William Reed, Guy D. Hawley, Dr. F. C. Barr and E. L. Kohnle. The photographs measure 8" by 10" (20.32 by 25.4 cm). In 1795, the Treaty of Greenville ended the Indian Wars in Ohio. General Anthony Wayne defeated the American Indian confederacy led by Blue Jacket at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. Abandoned by the British at Fort Miami, the American Indians agreed to a peace settlement. A year later, representatives from twelve tribes met at Greenville, in present-day Darke County, to negotiate with Wayne. Among the leaders were Little Turtle of the Miamis, Tarhe of the Wyandots, and Blue Jacket and Black Hoof of the Shawnees. The treaty confined the American Indians to northwestern Ohio. Despite Wayne's hope that the treaty would hold "as long as the woods grow and waters run," American Indians were removed to the West by the mid-nineteenth century. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3212_3831979_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Sports; Arts and Entertainment; Treaty of Greenville; Celebrations; Anniversaries
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)
Image ID: Om3212_3831979_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Sports; Arts and Entertainment; Treaty of Greenville; Celebrations; Anniversaries
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)
'Death of Richard Butler' drawing Save

Description: This black-and-white illustration portrays the death of Richard Butler (1743-1791), frontiersman and military leader, on November 4, 1791, during the Battle of the Wabash (also known as St. Clair’s Defeat). It comes from an engraving in "History of the Discovery of America," written by Henry Trumbull and first published in 1811. The uniformed Butler is reclining against a tree, his right hand raised in supplication or in self-defense, as an American Indian man armed with a tomahawk approaches.
Butler was born in Dublin, Ireland, and at age five came to North America with his father. They settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Richard Butler had a long career in the military, serving an ensign in Bouquet's Expedition in 1764 and an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He participated in the Battle of Saratoga and eventually attained the rank of brigadier-general. In 1783 the Confederation Congress appointed him to be an Indian commissioner. He helped to negotiate a treaty with the Iroquois tribe, determining their western boundary with the United States.
In 1785 the Confederation Congress sent George Rogers Clark, Arthur Lee, and Butler to the Ohio Country to negotiate a treaty with the Delaware, the Wyandot, the Ottawa, and the Chippewa. Treaty negotiations took place at Fort McIntosh. Most of the tribal representatives were younger chiefs who did not have the legal authority to negotiate a treaty; despite this, American commissioners pressed for a treaty. After several weeks of negotiations and the consumption of a lot of alcohol provided by the Americans, the American Indians signed the Treaty of Fort McIntosh on January 21, 1785. Tribal leaders agreed that they lived under the American government and could not form alliances with any other powers. They were forced to relinquish their lands in southern and eastern Ohio, and were confined to the western corner of modern-day Ohio. Many American Indians rejected the treaty. The Shawnee were especially opposed to the treaty because they lost claim to all of their lands in southwestern Ohio.
Later that year, the Confederation Congress sent Butler and Samuel Holden Parsons to negotiate a new treaty with the Shawnee. The negotiations took place at Fort Finney near what is now Cincinnati. The Shawnee refused to give up their land, but Butler and Parsons threatened them with attack. Shawnee chiefs, fearing the power of the American military, agreed to the Treaty of Fort Finney on February 1, 1786. The Shawnee agreed to relinquish all claims to their land in southwestern Ohio and southern Indiana, and would move to the land set aside for them in the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. The Americans also promised to keep white squatters from settling on land reserved exclusively for the tribes.
Butler spent the remainder of the 1780s as the superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District of America. He also served in the Pennsylvania legislature. Butler was killed during St. Clair's Defeat, a major confrontation between the U.S. military and a large alliance of American Indians, led by Shawnee chief Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket) and Miami chief Mishikinakwa (Little Turtle). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06995
Subjects: Butler, Richard, 1743-1791; Kekionga, Battle of, Ohio, 1791; American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; American Indians--Warfare
Places: Ohio; Northwest Territory
Image ID: AL06995
Subjects: Butler, Richard, 1743-1791; Kekionga, Battle of, Ohio, 1791; American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; American Indians--Warfare
Places: Ohio; Northwest Territory
Boy Scouts at the Greenville Treaty Camporee photographs Save

Description: Seven photographs document events of the Treaty Camporee held in Greenville, Ohio in June 1947. Boy Scouts can be seen carrying supplies, pitching tents, reading the scouting manual and relaxing at camp sites. The photographs measure 8" by 10" (20.32 by 25.4 cm). In 1795, the Treaty of Greenville ended the Indian Wars in Ohio. General Anthony Wayne defeated the American Indian confederacy led by Blue Jacket at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. Abandoned by the British at Fort Miami, the American Indians agreed to a peace settlement. A year later, representatives from twelve tribes met at Greenville, in present-day Darke County, to negotiate with Wayne. Among the leaders were Little Turtle of the Miamis, Tarhe of the Wyandots, and Blue Jacket and Black Hoof of the Shawnees. The treaty confined the American Indians to northwestern Ohio. Despite Wayne's hope that the treaty would hold "as long as the woods grow and waters run," American Indians were removed to the West by the mid-nineteenth century. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3211_3831349_001
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Sports; Arts and Entertainment; Camping; Tents; Treaty of Greenville; Boys; Boy Scouts of America
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)
Image ID: Om3211_3831349_001
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Sports; Arts and Entertainment; Camping; Tents; Treaty of Greenville; Boys; Boy Scouts of America
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)
Treaty of Greenville Sesquicentennial Commemoration photographs Save

Description: Three photographs depict part of the commemoration in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Greenville in August 1945. The first photograph shows the commemoration headquarters, housed in a 100-year-old cabin that was reconstructed in the Greenville town square. Several Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio Historical Society) board members can be seen in front of the cabin, from left to right: Harlow Lindley, secretary; A. C. Johnson, president; and Henry C. Shetrone, director. The Treaty of Greenville was displayed in the cabin August 1-3. Two soldiers can be seen guarding the treaty in the second image. Other events included a parade, an appreciation dinner for Howard Chandler Christy and the unveiling of the his painting "The Signing of the Treaty of Greene Ville." These photographs measure 5" by 7" (12.7 by 17.8 cm). The Treaty of Greenville is part of the collections of the National Archives. This event was the first time the document had been removed from the archives of the United States. The treaty bears not only the signatures and seals of General Wayne and the Indian chiefs but also includes the ratification of the United States Senate signed by President George Washington. Mrs. Elizabeth E. Hammer was the official custodian of the document. She accompanied the treaty on its journey from Washington D.C. to the headquarters of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society in Columbus, then to the office of Governor Frank J. Lausche, and then to the Sesquicentennial Celebration at Greenville. In 1795, the Treaty of Greenville ended the Indian Wars in Ohio. The American Indian confederacy led by Blue Jacket was defeated by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. Abandoned by the British at Fort Miami, the American Indians agreed to a peace settlement. A year later, representatives from twelve tribes met at Greenville, in present-day Darke County, to negotiate with Wayne. Among the leaders were Little Turtle of the Miamis, Tarhe of the Wyandots, and Blue Jacket and Black Hoof of the Shawnees. The treaty confined the American Indians to northwestern Ohio. Despite Wayne's hope that the treaty would hold "as long as the woods grow and waters run," American Indians were removed to the West by the mid-nineteenth century. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3213_3832005_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Ohio Government; Arts and Entertainment; Treaty of Greenville; Treaties; Celebrations; Soldiers; Guards; Anniversaries; Ohio Historical Society
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)
Image ID: Om3213_3832005_001
Subjects: Military Ohio; American Indians in Ohio; Ohio Government; Arts and Entertainment; Treaty of Greenville; Treaties; Celebrations; Soldiers; Guards; Anniversaries; Ohio Historical Society
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio)
Indians in Ohio history map Save

Description: A map of Ohio Indian village sites and trails, done by H.C. Shetrone and R.B. Sherman of the Ohio Historical Society. Also included on the map are American and European posts, the Greenville Treaty line, and notations for whether an Indian town was associated with the Delaware, Wyandot, Shawnee or Miami tribe. A chronology printed on either side of the map covers Ohio's history and settlement, as well as interactions between American Indians and settlers, from 1669 until 1842. Shetrone was Curator of Archaeology for the Ohio Historical Society between 1921 and 1928 and served as the Society's director from 1928 until 1947. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MAP_VFM0477_4
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Maps--Ohio; Map drawing; American Indian history and society; American Indians--Maps; Treaty of Green Ville (1795);
Places: Ohio
Image ID: MAP_VFM0477_4
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Maps--Ohio; Map drawing; American Indian history and society; American Indians--Maps; Treaty of Green Ville (1795);
Places: Ohio
American Indians on horseback photograph Save

Description: Dated July 3 ,1923, this photograph shows American Indians on horseback, riding along a trail in Meacham, Oregon, near the Old Oregon Trail. The man leading is holding an American flag. This occurred while President Warren G. Harding was in town giving a speech commemorating the Oregon Trail. The President and First Lady stopped in Meacham during their "Voyage of Understanding," a cross-country train journey that included numerous stops along the route where Harding had speaking engagements, and culminated in the first-ever presidential visit to the territory of Alaska. The trip was taken in spite of the president's failing health, and on August 2, Harding suffered a heart attack, and never made it to his second stop in Portland, scheduled for July 28. He died August 2, 1923, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California.
This photograph is part of a photograph album in the Warren G. Harding Photograph Collection (P146). Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States (1921-1923), was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio, in 1865. At age 14, Harding attended Ohio Central College in Iberia, Ohio, where he edited the campus newspaper and became an accomplished public speaker. He married Florence Kling de Wolfe in 1891, and embarked on his political career in 1900 by winning a seat in the Ohio legislature. After serving two terms as an Ohio Senator, Harding served as Lieutenant Governor in 1904 for two years before returning to the newspaper business. Although he lost the 1910 gubernatorial race, Harding was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1914. Political insider Harry Daugherty promoted Harding for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. His front porch campaign was centered on speeches given from his home in Marion, Ohio, pledging to return the country to “normalcy” in this post World War I era. Harding easily won the election, gaining 61 percent of the popular vote. On August 2, 1923, Harding unexpectedly died from a massive heart attack while touring the western United States, and is entombed in the Marion Cemetery.
View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P146_B09A01_p06
Subjects: American Indians; Horseback riding; United States--Oregon National Historic Trail; Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923
Places: Meacham (Oregon)
Image ID: P146_B09A01_p06
Subjects: American Indians; Horseback riding; United States--Oregon National Historic Trail; Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923
Places: Meacham (Oregon)
Simon Girty illustration Save

Description: Illustration of Simon Girty, Ohio Country frontiersman, printed in Volume 6 of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Girty was born in Chambers Mill, Pennsylvania, in 1741. During the French and Indian War, his family sought refuge in Fort Granville, which was captured in 1755 by an army of French soldiers and native Indians. Girty eventually found himself in the hands of the Seneca Indians who took him to the Ohio Country and adopted him. His knowledge of Indian culture and language was highly sought after during the American Revolutionary War as both the British and Americans hoped to secure alliances with various local tribes. Girty first aligned himself with the Americans. However, he was discharged from the American military in 1777 and afterwards offered his help to the British. After the war, Girty continued to aid the Indians of the Ohio Country in resisting further settlement of the Ohio Country, participating in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. He eventually moved to Canada, where he died in 1818. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC2697_Girty_001
Subjects: American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; American Indians in Ohio; Fallen Timbers, Battle of, Ohio, 1794; Forts & fortifications; American Indian history; American Indians--Warfare; American Indians; Ohio History; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Ohio
Image ID: SC2697_Girty_001
Subjects: American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; American Indians in Ohio; Fallen Timbers, Battle of, Ohio, 1794; Forts & fortifications; American Indian history; American Indians--Warfare; American Indians; Ohio History; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Ohio
Simon Girty on horseback illustration Save

Description: Illustration of Simon Girty, Ohio Country frontiersman, from "History of Ohio in Words of One Syllable" by Anne Cole Cady, printed in "An Ohio Portrait" by George W. Knepper. Girty was born in Chambers Mill, Pennsylvania, in 1741. During the French and Indian War, his family sought refuge in Fort Granville, which was captured in 1755 by an army of French soldiers and native Indians. Girty eventually found himself in the hands of the Seneca Indians who took him to the Ohio Country and adopted him. His knowledge of Indian culture and language was highly sought after during the American Revolutionary War as both the British and Americans hoped to secure alliances with various local tribes. Girty first aligned himself with the Americans. However, he was discharged from the American military in 1777 and afterwards offered his help to the British. After the war, Girty continued to aid the Indians of the Ohio Country in resisting further settlement of the Ohio Country, participating in the Ba View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC2697_Girty_002
Subjects: American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; American Indians in Ohio; Fallen Timbers, Battle of, Ohio, 1794; Forts & fortifications; American Indian history; American Indians--Warfare; American Indians; Ohio History; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Ohio
Image ID: SC2697_Girty_002
Subjects: American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; American Indians in Ohio; Fallen Timbers, Battle of, Ohio, 1794; Forts & fortifications; American Indian history; American Indians--Warfare; American Indians; Ohio History; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Ohio
American Indians on horseback Save

Description: Photographic postcard depicting a group of Native Americans on horseback, 1908. Many appear in traditional dress, while the man in front wears an apron embroidered with "Chief Bear Claw." A notation in the upper right corner reads "View by Dedrick No 26." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02737
Subjects: Horses; American Indians; American Indian history and society; Photography--History
Image ID: AL02737
Subjects: Horses; American Indians; American Indian history and society; Photography--History
'Handy Book for Collectors' illustration Save

Description: Drawing of an ancient mound near Cedarville, Ohio. The drawing is on the inside front cover of "Handy Book for Collectors: A Short Description of Most of the Varieties of Indian and Mound Builder Implements, Arranged and Classified According to Size and Use" by W. K. Moorehead, a well-known American archeologist. The image is a drawing of an tall mound that situation in a field near a stream. Three tiny human figures stand between the stream and the mound. The caption reads: "Ancient Mound near Cedarville, Ohio. Relics from this Mound for sale, as follows: Fragment of pottery, Indian bones, and Arrow Head, by Mail 25 cents. W.K. Moorehead, Xenia, Ohio." Fascinated by Indians and their culture since his boyhood in Xenia, Moorehead enrolled in Denison University (Granville, Ohio) in 1884 and began collecting hundreds of specimens from Indian sites near Granville. He later worked at the Smithsonian Institution and then conducted his own exploration of Fort Ancient in Ohio. He also conducted explorations of the Hopewell site near Chillicothe, Ohio, and at pueblos in the Southwest U.S. In 1894 Moorehead became curator of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, a post he held for three years. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Moorehead to the Board of the U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners. He served on the board until 1934, when it was abolished by executive order. In the earlier part of his career, Moorehead built a personal collection of artifacts found at his excavation sites, he later became a strong advocate for just treatment of American Indians. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05900
Subjects: Moorehead, Warren King, 1866-1939; Mound-builders--Ohio; American Indians--Archaeology; American Indians; Archaeology; Catalogs
Image ID: AL05900
Subjects: Moorehead, Warren King, 1866-1939; Mound-builders--Ohio; American Indians--Archaeology; American Indians; Archaeology; Catalogs