On July 9th, 1813, a soldier in Hosbrook’s company at Fort Amanda returned from St. Marys with news that a white man had been “killd 2 miles from St. Mary by the Indian, tomahawk,d & scalp,d.” Turns out the incident was only partially true. A man had been killed near St. Marys, but the incident took place the previous fall and the victim was an Indian, not a white man. In a strange twist of events, at the same time this rumor was spreading, the man who killed the Indian the previous year was at Fort Amanda and was about to be murdered on the trail to Wapakoneta.
Vengeance Is Mine Sayeth the Indian
The incident took place the first week of July 1813. An Indian and a white man traveling together had just left Ft. Amanda on their way to Wapakoneta. Somewhere along the way the white man bragged about how he had shot and killed a Shawanee Indian near Ft. Loramies the previous fall. Little did he know, the Indian he was traveling with was a close relative of the man he had killed. In an act of revenge, somewhere between Ft. Amanda and Wapakoneta, the Indian killed the white man.
Kain Goes to Wapak to Arrest the Murderer
When news of the murder reached Ft. Amanda, Major Kain, immediately assembled a group of soldiers and started for Wapakoneta. Meanwhile, the Indian who killed the white man had been openly bragging about the killing to others in the tribe.
When Major Kain and his men arrived at Wapakoneta Kain demanded that the murderer be turned over to him.
An Honor Killing
The 73 year old great warrior chief year Catecahassa (Blackhoof) tried to reason with Kain, telling him that he and the other chiefs had talked with the accused man who told them the white man he’d killed had killed his relative the previous fall and he felt it was his duty to avenge his death.
Undaunted, Kain continued with his threats about holding the chiefs personally accountable for the murder if the guilty man wasn't handed over to him. The longer the conversation went on, the more agitated Blackhoof and the other tribal leaders became. Blackhoof pointed out to Major Kain that large numbers of Indians had been killed by whites since the beginning of the war, yet no one was ever held accountable and now a white has been killed and the Army was making unjustified demands and threatening them.
Taken into "Close Keeping" (Jailed)
In no mood to argue, Kain told Blackhoof that a large military force was on its way to Piqua and if the murderer wasn’t turned over to authorities, the army would come to Wapakoneta and destroy the entire village and everyone in it. In a difiant tone, Blackhoof told Kain that if that happened, they would fight to the end and die like men, rather than be subjected to such injustice.
Kain returned to Amanda where he wrote a letter to the Indian Agent John Johnston at Piqua with details of the situation. He sent it on by courier. Johnston informed Indian agent B. F. Stickney who then informed General Harrison of the details. Stickney’s letter stated that Major Kain took the 4 Indian chiefs into “close keeping.”
The following letter was from Indian Agent B. F. Stickney to General Harrison July 18, 1813.
Three Indians came in
today from the west, who inform that some 7 or 8 days ago, a white man and a
Shawanoe Indian, were passing from Fort Amanda to Wappancannatta in company,
and that the Indian killed the White man. That the Commanding officer at Amanda
immediately took into Close Keeping four of the Shawnoe Chiefs - (Black
Hoof was one of them) and declared he should hold them answerable for
the murder, unless the murderer was given up. This, those who remained in the
village refused to do. The Indian confessed he had killed the man, and assigned
as his reason for so doing, that the white man on the way, had told him that he
(the white man) was the person who wounded the Shawanoe at Loremy last fall,
who died of his wound, and that he (the Shawanoe) was a near relation of his,
and that he considered it his duty to kill him (the white man) as just revenge
for killing his friend. It was said that on this ground the Shawanoe refuse to
give up the murderer; and adding that a number of cases of Indians being killed
and wounded by our people since the War had commenced, and that little or not
notice has been taken of it, and therefore such a demand upon them now, was
highly unjust. The Indians were further told that a Military force was coming
on, who would be at Piqua, in a certain number of days. If the murderer should
be given up before that time, it would be well otherwise, they would fall upon
them, and destroy the whole of them. The answer was that we will defend
ourselves as long as we can, and when that can not be done any longer, we will
die like men - we will not submit to such injustice.
An express had gone to Mr. Johnston when the last came from Wappancannatta but
no return from him. This has produced much commotion among all our Indians.
I have the honour to be Your very Obedient Servant
(signed) B. F. Stickney Indian Agent.
Personal Thought:
Stickney pointed out in his letter that Blackhoof and the other chiefs were "took into close keeping," and those who remained in the village....". In closing, Stickney wrote, "This has produced much commotion among all our Indians." The key phrases, "close keeping, "those who remained in the village, and "much commotion among all our Indians", leads me to believe that Kain took Blackhoof and the others into custody and brought them back to Amanda as prisoners. Arresting Blackhoof, an old fighter and hero among his tribe would certainly have infuriated others. (note, not just the Indians at Wapakoneta, it infuriated "all our Indians."
Saturday the 10th July Very cold for the season
Around noon Lt. Davis returned from his three week furlough and brought Schillinger a letter from his brother-in-law Capt. John Armstrong and news that all was well at home. Later that same day, Mr. Kercheval returned from Ft. Jennings.
Francis Duchouquet Comes to Amanda
Sunday the 11th Cool & pleasant
Shawnee interpreter Frenchman, Francis Duchouquet came to the fort with a group of Indians from Wapakoneta to get provisions including 800 rations of meat for the tribe in Wapakoneta. A short time later Sgt. Wheelan and a private soldier from Ft. Jennings came to Ft. Amanda by boat to take some flour back to Ft. Jennings.
Major Crisis Averted?
Wensday the 14th Thunder showers
Around noon on July 14, 1813, Mr. Benagh, the forts wagon master returned from St. Marys and brought back news that the Shawnee chiefs had held a council to discuss what they should do about surrendering the Indian accused of murdering the white man a couple weeks earlier. Apparently cooler heads prevailed and either the accused agreed to turn him himself in, or the chiefs decided they would hand him over to authorities is unknown, however the agreement was that he would be taken into custody that evening. The outcome is unknown.
After the War
With the British defeat, the War Department changed its method of procuring land from the Native Americans in the north. Rather than gaining land through treaties, it would be done by removal. Black Hoof tried for as long as possible to keep his band of 300 Shawnee in northwest Ohio, but the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the death knell. Even though they could show that they were good farmers and that their children attended the Society of Friends School for the Shawnee and even though they had the support of Secretary of War Lewis Cass, it was to no avail.
The removal process (which began with a dubiously negotiated treaty in 1831) ended in the Shawnee removal to Kansas in 1832. Black Hoof stayed in Wapakoneta and died there just three months after his people moved west.
Black Hoof is buried near St. John’s Ohio. His monument shown here is located in Black Hoof Memorial Park/St. John’s Cemetery at the intersection of U.S. Route 33 and Ohio State Route 65.
