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The Indians who roamed over the territory
now forming Warren County, and retarded its settlement, lived in villages
along the upper waters of the two Miamis. The nearest of these was the
Shawnee town, Old Chillicothe, on the Little Miami, about three miles
north of the site of Xenia. Here Daniel Boone was a prisoner
in 1778 for some months, and ingratiated himself into the favor of his
captors by mingling in their sports, hunting, fishing, shooting and swimming.
Boone names five towns on the Miami Rivers which were destroyed by Gen.
George Rogers Clark—Old Chillicothe, Pickaway,
New Chillicothe, Will's Town and Chillicothe. Their huts were generally
built of small round logs, and covered with bark or skins. Old Chillicothe
was built somewhat after the manner of a Kentucky station—that is,
a hollow square. A long council house extended the entire length of the
town, in which embassies were received and the chiefs met to consult on
grave questions. Some of the houses are said to have been covered with
shingles or clapboards. Many Indian huts were made by setting up a pole
on forks and placing bark against it; there being no chimney, the smoke
passed through an opening at the top. Long before the first settlement
of the Miami country by the whites, the habits of the Indians had been
modified by their contact with Europeans. The French and English traders
had supplied them with fire-arms, scalping-knives and tomahawks. They
had iron pots and brass kettles for cooking and sugar-making. They had
learned to love strong drink, and were given to great excesses in eating
and drinking. Some of their own arts showed great skill and ingenuity.
According to James Smith, a captive among the Delawares
in Ohio, the Indian squaws in the sugar-making season of 1756 made vessels
for collecting sugar-water in a very curious manner, from freshly peeled
elm bark. The manner of construction he does not describe. They raised
gourds and used them for cups and dishes. The agriculture of the Indians
was confined chiefly to the growing of corn and beans, to which potatoes
were afterward added. The extent of their corn-fields was much greater
than is generally supposed. A journal of Wayne's campaign, kept by George
Will, under the date of August 8, 1794, says: "We have marched
four or five miles in corn fields down the Auglaize, and there are not
less than one thousand acres of corn around the town." The same journal
describes the immense corn-fields, numerous vegetable patches and old
apple-trees found along the banks of the Maumee from the mouth to Fort
Wayne. It also discloses the fact that the army obtained its bread and
vegetables for eight days, while building Fort Defiance, from the surrounding
corn and potato fields. Four years before, Gen. Harmar, in his expedition,
burnt and destroyed at least twenty thousand bushels of corn. In the cultivation
of these large fields, nearly all the work was performed by the women.
In addition to field work, the Indian women procured water and fire-wood,
dressed skins, made garments and moccasins, and were little more than
mere slaves of the men. The men went to war, procured game, manufactured
such arms and implements as were not ob-
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