Greentown Native Americans doomed by breach of faith
By Amber Kanuckel
October 5, 2016
1137
In Ashland County, not too far from Perrysville on state Route 39, youll find a historical marker commemorating the Greentown Delaware Village. Today there is nothing left of the village except that marker, but thanks to the efforts of the Greentown Preservation Association, a group devoted to recording historical fact and preserving the memory of Greentown, we know quite a lot about the history of this village. The story starts more than 200 years ago in the tumultuous time between the American Revolution and the War of 1812 and cannot be told without mentioning some of the historic events that led to the formation of Greentown.
The first was the Gnadenhutten Massacre, the killing of Munsee Delaware Indians that had been converted to Moravian Christianity by missionary David Ziesberger. In 1781 these Delawares were removed from the village of Gnadenhutten and resettled on the Sandusky River. The forced removal was so rapid that the villages crops lay unharvested in the fields, and by the following February the Gnadenhutten Delaware were starving.
After obtaining permission to go back to Gnadenhutten to harvest what was left, the Native Americans who went back for their crops were massacred by Captain William Davidson. On March 8, 1782, at least 96 unarmed Delaware men, women and children were brutally murdered.
The Indian raids on the frontier had been so devastating to them, [the Americans], that when they found a group of Indians, they just decided to kill them, said Doc Shaffer of the Greentown Preservation Association. I think that was the motivation.
He also tells us some Native Americans did survive the Gnadenhutten massacre. There were two boys that hid under a building. They later went up to the Mt. Vernon Delaware town, he said. There were some that also voted against the massacre and took Delaware children home with them.
This happened around the same time as the Crawford Expedition, which was a campaign looking to destroy hostile Indian towns. Between these two things, Native Americans including those friendly to the United States were looking for safe places to live. By 1783 tensions had cooled slightly, and Crawfords Expedition had been defeated, so a group of Delaware, Mohawk, Mingo, Shawnee and Wyandot people felt safe enough to settle in Ashland County, forming the village of Greentown.
The Greentown lands, named for Thomas Green, a man who had fought alongside Native Americans, were on the north bank of the Black Fork River, a protected, idyllic location they used to farm squash, pumpkins, corn and beans. The area provided them with wild berries and greens, cherries, nuts, and more. Game in the area provided everyone with meat, hides and bones to make tools.
Where Greentown was, there were swamps on three sides and a river on the fourth, Shaffer said. Thats why they chose that location.
On Aug. 3, 1795, a treaty the Greenville Treaty, named for Fort Greenville, not Greentown was signed with the intention of ending hostilities between Indians and whites once and for all. The treaty gave land to the Greentown Indians, and on Dec. 2, 1808, President Thomas Jefferson officially deeded 13 sections of land to Chief Armstrong and the Greentown Delaware.
In a letter to Armstrong, Jefferson wrote, You cannot, indeed, sell them [the plots] to the white citizens of the United States. Knowing how liable you would be to be cheated and deceived, were we to permit our citizens to purchase your lands, our government does not permit white persons to purchase your lands from you.
However, settlers moved onto Greentown land anyway. Cabins started to appear on the banks of the Black Fork River, but the Delaware were a peaceful, hospitable people. They allowed and even welcomed settlers, forming fast friendships and sharing food. Life went on like this for nearly 30 years between 1783 until the War of 1812.
John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, lived in the area and was a great friend to the Native Americans of Greentown, but he would be the one to unintentionally break the peace between the settlers and the Indians.
Two months after the war started, Chapman received information that a force of British and Native Americans who opposed the United States were headed into the area. The settlers fled upon hearing this, but it turned out that Chapmans information had been wrong.
Even so the settlers were now uneasy living near any Native Americans including the peaceful people of Greentown, so they asked the local militia to do something about it. Captain Douglass brought a force to Greentown in late August or early September 1812 to remove the Delaware of Greentown, but the Native Americans did not want to leave the land deeded to them.
Douglass finally resorted to negotiating with Reverend James Copus, a friend of Chief Armstrong. Copus became afraid violence would ensue if the Delaware continued to stay in Greentown, so he convinced Armstrong no one would be hurt and nothing destroyed if only Armstrong and the Delaware would agree to go with the militia.
Chief Armstrong finally agreed and led several hundred of his Delaware people out of the village. The Native Americans were told they could not take all of their belongings and what they left behind would be safe.
The Reverend, friend of their chieftain, assured them all this was true. An inventory of the things left behind at Greentown and Jerometown, another Native American settlement that was removed, shows that $3,235 worth of food, equipment and goods were left behind a large sum to people 200 years ago.
Convinced all would be well, the Delaware left their beloved Greentown behind. As they marched away with the militia, some turned back to look at their village. They saw smoke rising from Greentown. Their village was burning. The official record shows the burning of Greentown was not an act sanctioned by Captain Douglass or the military, but an illegal act committed by militia men who simply wanted revenge against Native Americans.
