To cold to go south so me and my HD bud hit a small monument for a Revolutionary War memorial a few Counties away. It was 40 deg at noon today. We only did 125 miles.
Had to stop at his shop to realign his rear wheel. It was a little loose on him.
I was a little cold!
The monument.
The Eal river
Nice fall color
D.A.R
OLDE TOWNE BATTLEFIELD CEMETERY
Located near the mouth of MUD BRANCH CREEK [was Mud Creek], near the S.E. CORNER of the M e t e h i n e q u e a Indian Reserve, between [south of] the Adamsboro-Hoover county road and [north of] the Logansport-Butler Branch of the Pennsylvania railroad. [the next line unreadable]. In S.W. CLAY Township, CASS County, INDIANA; south of the old Miami Indian WAR-DANCE-RING & north of the CEREMONIAL-DANCE-RING, near the heart of the site of a three-mile-long Indian village known to history as Kenapeequomakonga, Kikiah, Kenapeco-maqua Town, Eel River Town, L’Anguille, Snakefish Town, The Snakelike Fish, Eel Town and “ye olde village,” or Olde Towne.
Buried the NIGHT of August 8, 1791, two United States Soldiers, Mounted Kentuck District , Virginia Volunteers, members of James Wilkinson’s July-August, 1791, expedition,
Soldiers who had been killed late that afternoon in a battle with Eel River Wea or Miami Indians, after having charged across Eel River [from the south] to attack this Indian town.
Name Died Remarks
John Bartlett August 8, 1791 Killed in action. Served as a sergeant of VA Cavalry during American Revolution.
Unknown Soldier August 8, 1791
These men were residents of what was than known as the Kentucky District of the state of Virginia , though now, and since 1892, the state of Kentucky . Research has not as yet disclosed the name of his comrade who lies buried at his side; but private John Bartlett is thought to have lived near the Great Crossing vicinity of what today is (1940) SCOTT County, KY.
No markers or monuments were erected at the graves at the time of burial. In fact, tradition says that roaring bon-fires were built on the graves, as to conceal their exact location! [For the army was to depart on the following day; and it is said to have been feared that when the Indians returned to the site of their ruined town, they might disinter & desecrate the bodies of these United States soldiers.]
At least two of the soldiers surviving 523 comrades visited the site in later years and pointed out to American pioneer settlers of this immediate vicinity, including Judge James Rush[a PA born ca.1781, who had served as a pioneer jurist in OH & who died near Adamsboro, Cass Co., IN on July 31, 1841], the supposed precise spots where the graves were situated and gave a circumstantial account of the full circumstances of their interment. Mr. Rush faithfully passed this information along to his sons, one of who later repeated to two boys living in the immediate vicinity with the admonition that they “should not ever forget, as long as they lived, the important information that was then being conveyed to them.”
One of these boys, the late Mr. William H. Harrison of the Adamsboro vicinity, when grown to manhood, brought the matter to the attention of Miss Laura D. Henderson, State Historian of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a Logansport lady who passed along a complete report of the matter to the L’Anguille Valley Memorial Association, which in co-operation with the UNITED STATES WAR DEPARTMENT, Cass County (Indiana) Post of the American Legion, Olde Towne Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and other patriotic groups of the vicinity, dedicated marble stones at the graves in connection with the observation of the 148th ANNIVERSARY of the BATTLE, on Sunday afternoon, August 13, 1939, a crowd of nearly 500 persons participated in the outdoor Memorial service and viewed historical and other exhibits in the Methodist Church at the nearby hamlet of Hoovers.
The Kentucky State Historical Society of Frankfort, KY, the Filson Club of Louisville , KY. , and the Wisconsin State Historical Society of Madison, WI co-operated in the research which was sponsored by the L’Anguille Valley group.
There are on the site of this old Indian village at least two or three known INDIAN BURIAL GROUNDS;
But whatever may be said of the NINE INDIANS who were killed in the battle, the American soldiers were not buried in any one of them. Instead the soldiers were buried at a charming & easily identifiable spot near the point where the “Old Kaintuck Trail” climbed out of the bottom of the Eel River [known to the early French as L’Anguille] & entered the very heart of this old Indian town [most of which was on the terrace-rim overlooking the bottoms]. This trail which crossed the Wabash River at Cass Station ford----just E. of Cedar, or Country Club, Island in the Eel River near Kidd’s Island] was an unusually wide one, and is understood to have been a sort of prehistoric “Dixie Highway.” In 1791, it contained the hoof-prints of many Indian ponies
This Report submitted on December 1, 1940 by the
L’ANGUILLE VALLEY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION
500 FRONT STREET
LOGANSPORT , INDIANA
Robert B.Whitsett, Jr., Secretary
NOTE: The following by R.B.W.,Jr. was very difficult to transcribe as it appears that the typewriter needed a new ribbon. It was very faint with entire letters & parts of letters missing.
Though the main Indian burial grounds are said to be in the Adams and Miami Township portions of the town-site, a number of Indian skeletons have accidentally been uncovered at scattered points and even the Clay township portion along with artifacts, charcoal, glass-beads & occasionally objects [brass rings, or -- kettles; ----, ---- or coin [be ring picture of “Frederick, King of Prussia]”, brass-cross [etched with initials R.C.] which are plainly of European or non-Indian origin, though presumably of Indian use.
Many of the Indian skeletons were found buried in the customary [recumbent] position; but occasionally, one has been found in a sitting position, with the top of the skull only a few inches below the ground surface.
