COVENTRY

     Coventry is bounded on the south by the 41st degree of north latitude, and is the eleventh township west of the western line of Pennsylvania. It is, consequently, Town one, Range eleven. It was an equalizing township—a part of it, in the south-east quarter, was attached to Hinckley in Medina county, and set to Samuel Hinckley, of Northampton, Massachusetts, to make his township equal to the average. General Wadsworth, and others, also got strips of equalizing land in this township.

     The first settler was David Haines, who came from Pennsylva­nia in 1806, and located on lot four, a little south of where widow Charles Sumner now resides. A red house now occupies the site of his old cabin.

     In 1811, Jesse Allen, Nathaniel Allen, and Amos Spicer came into the township from Groton, Connecticut. Jesse Allen bought out Haines, and Amos Spicer settled near where Mr. McNaughton lives, in the south part of what is now Middlebury.

     The Portage Path, and Tuscarawas river, which were the western boundary of the United States, by the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, run through this township from north to south—"the Path" terminating on the river at the village of New Portage.

     All the lands east of this boundary were acquired by tie Treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785—all west of it by the Treaty of Fort Industry, in 1805. The lands on the east side were run into lots, and parts of lots, bounded by the Path and River, and do not correspond with those on the west side, which were not purchased till twenty years later.

     New Portage, in this township, at which point the Indians, having transported their canoes from the Cuyahoga Portage, launched them in the Tuscarawas, was a noted place among the Indians, still more so as a prominent point in the Treaties of Fort McIntosh and Fort Industry, and was looked upon, in the first settlement of the country by the whites, as a place of great promise. As early as 1819, William W. Laird built "flat boats" at this place, loaded them with all kinds of produce, and con­signed them to New Orleans without breaking bulk. They pass­ed down the Tuscarawas into the Muskingum—then into the Ohio, and Mississippi, and after some two months voyage reached their destination. This was then looked upon as one of the most promising commercial routes that Northern Ohio had—and New Portage as a Sea port. Such was the prospect of fu­ture greatness at this point, that Van R. Humphrey, .since a dis­tinguished Judge of this County, located here, as a lawyer, in 1821—and was subsequently elected captain of the militia of New Portage, in which last capacity he showed himself no less expert in wielding the weapons of Mars than those furnished by Coke and Blacksone.

     In 1821-2, a Col. Palmer erected an establishment here for the manufacture of glass, which was in operation several years, but business, and consequent wealth, not flowing into the place as he anticipated, the Colonel failed, and in retaliation for the cold indifference of this world, he abandoned it—joined the Mor­mons, and died at the " far west.''

     Since the country has become cleared up, the Tuscarawas, which formerly so proudly bore the products of the country on its bosom to New Orleans, has so diminished at this point, that it scarcely affords water sufficient to feed the canal. Its commer­cial prospects perished with the construction of the Ohio canal—Coke and Littleton have departed—even its military is disbanded—and the exact site of its manufactory is unknown. William W. Laird, who represented the commercial interest, " sleeps the sleep that knows no waking," in Canton. Judge Humphrey re­sides in Hudson, and Col. Palmer rests in the wilds of Utah.— Sic transit gloria mundi."

     There are many small lakes in this township, and considerable swampy land, and the soil has generally been considered thin and poor—but good cultivation has produced some of the best farms in the county. Bituminous coal has been found in this township, in large quantities, which is giving it an importance and prospective wealth equal to that of almost any township in the county.

     This township is the dividing ridge between the Lake and the Ohio. Summit Lake, two miles south of Akron, through which the Ohio canal runs, feeds the canal north and south. From this small lake the waters pass into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Gulf of Mexico. Singular as it may seem, this Lake, sur­rounded by an almost impenetrable tamarack swamp 503 feet above Lake Erie, and 879 feet above the Atlantic, has no inlet, but a constant outlet both north and south. Being on the high­est land in this part of the country, the question suggests itself to every one—" where does this body of water come from?" No line has yet been found that could sound it.

     The base line, or the line of 41 degrees north, was run by Seth Pease in 1797. Where that line strikes the Tuscarawas, below New Portage, his survey closed, as that was the western bounda­ry of the United States. On a tree, still standing, his entry is plain to be seen—"56 M"—meaning 56 miles west of the Penn­sylvania line. Abram Tappan run the line in 1806-7, and he and Pease differed several rods in many places.

     The first couple married in the township was John Collins and Mary Chapman, and the first death was that of Samuel Munroe. He came from the State of New York, and died in Coventry in 1806. Many of his descendants lived in this town till quite recently—but-all are now gone.

          Boat building at New Portage becoming a matter of consider­able importance, Milo Hudson, a son of Dea. David Hudson, in 1814, laid out a city at the head of navigation on the Tuscara­was; and the first settler in this new commercial emporium, was Michael Dixon, who still resides there, in a fresh and vigorous old age, the connecting link between the past and present age.

     This town was formerly noted as the residence of Joe Keeler, celebrated as a Mormon preacher, and dealer in bogus money.—He built and resided in a brick house just north of the canal bridge in New Portage.

     In the speculating mania of 1836-7, Dorsey W. Viers laid out a town adjoining New Portage, forming an important ad­dition to it. He sold a lot to Jacob Brown, Esq., of Akron, and in honor of the man, and to commemorate the circumstance, he called it Brownsville. It now contains one building, used for the manufacture of matches.

     From an early period Coventry has been called the " State of Coventry"; but few, at this day, know the origin of that tale.— It should have been called " The Kingdom of Coventry," as it took its title from being the residence of a King, and the seat of a mighty monarchy.

     Hopocan, (or Capt. Pipe as he was usually called by the whites,) used to reside at New Portage, and swayed his sceptre, as King, over the mighty and powerful Delawares. He was a great warrior, and the implacable enemy of civilization. He was one of the Chiefs in the battle at St. Clair's defeat, and afterwards boasted that he tomahawked white men that day till his arm ached.

     But this Capt. Pipe is better known in history, for his connec­tion with the defeat of Col. Crawford, at Upper Sandusky, in June, 1782.

     In March, 1782, Col. David Williamson, one of the Indian hunters, assembled 80 or 90 men on the frontier of Pennsylvania, and started on an expedition to murder and plunder the Mora­vian Indians at Gnadenhutten on the Tuscarawas. These In­dians had been converted to christianity by the Moravians, whose religious principles forbid them to fight. The dastardly cowards, under Williamson, found them, as they had reason to expect, an easy conquest. Their first exploit was to kill a young half-breed Indian, by the name of Schebosh, in the most brutal manner.— They first fired upon him and broke his arm, when he fell on his knees and begged hard for his life, saying]he was the son of a white christian; but while thus pleading for his life he was chopped to pieces by them, scalped and tomahawked. They then took the remainder of the inhabitants and confined them in a couple of old log houses, and Williamson then put the question to a vote of his soldiers whether the prisoners should be put to death. To this base and inhuman proposition all but 16 said yes. During the short time occupied by this vote, the Indians, foreseeing their fate, were employed in singing, praying, and exhorting each other. They were notified of the result of the vote by the commencement of the horrid butchery, and in a few minutes those slaughterhouses, as these butchers called them, exhibited, in the interior, the bloody remains of men, women, and children; from the grey-haired Patriarch to the prattling infant sporting on the mother's breast. Thirty-four out of the ninety-six murdered, were children.

     These Moravians were Delawares, and that tribe were natural­ly aroused for revenge. Capt. Pipe summoned his warriors—the tomahawk was dug up, and the war whoop given.

     So successful had Williamson been, that another expedition was got up in May, of the same year, for the command of which Williamson and Col. William Crawford were rival candidates.— Crawford was elected. They rendezvoused at the old Mingo town, on the Ohio river, and started on the trail. Williamson followed on the route of the first expedition. Before starting, every man pledged himself not to spare an Indian of any age or sex, but to destroy all that fell in their power.

     They first went to the Moravian towns to see if any had returned; but all was silent save the cawing of the vulture as he hovered over the mouldering bodies of the murdered Moravians.

     Disappointed in their hopes of murder and plunder at these places, they turned towards the Delaware towns on the Sandusky plains, where the Moravian Indians had assembled after the de­struction of their towns on the Tuscarawas.

     Nothing material occurred, as the Indians had all fled, until the 7th of June, when the advance guard, about three miles north of where Upper Sandusky now is, was attacked and driven in by the Indians, who, in great numbers, were concealed in the high grass. The fight continued till dark. The Indians were continually receiving reinforcements, and on the next day Craw­ford made arrangements to retreat. The flight commenced, and soon became a perfect rout. All order or discipline was lost, and a general slaughter followed. So inveterate was the Indian hos­tility, and so determined were they on revenge, that they pur­sued the retreating fugitives almost to the Ohio river. One of them was killed two miles east of St. Clairsville. Two days af­ter the battle, Crawford was taken prisoner by Capt. Pipe, who, commanded the Indians in the engagement, and on the 11th of June 1782, he was burnt at the stake at a Delaware town on the Tyemotchee creek, a few miles west of the present location of Up­per Sandusky. Pipe painted him black, with his own hands, pre­paratory to burning. After he was stripped and bound to the stake, Crawford asked to see Wingenund, another noted Delaware chief, with whom he had formerly been on the most friendly terms.

     A long conversation ensued between them, when Crawford asked, "can you devise no method of getting me off ? You shall be well rewarded if you will save my life." Wingenund replied: "Had Williamson been taken with you, I and some of my friends, might have succeeded in saving you, but as the matter now stands, no man dare interpose in your behalf. The King of England himself, were he to come on to this spot with all his wealth, could not effect this purpose. The blood of the innocent Moravians, more than half of whom were women and children, cruelly and wantonly murdered, calls loudly for revenge—the relatives of the slain, that are among us, cry out for revenge—the Nation to which they belonged will have revenge—all those nations connected with us cry out revenge, revenge! The Mora­vians, whom you came to destroy, having fled instead of avenging their brethren, the offence becomes national, and the nation itself is bound to take revenge." "My fate, then," said Crawford, is fixed, and I must prepare to, meet death in its worst form."

     " I am sorry for it," said Wingenund, "but cannot do anything for you. Nothing now remains for you but to meet your fate like a brave man. Farewell, Crawford, they are coming."

     Captain Pipe then led on his tormentors, and for three hours Crawford was literally roasting alive. At last, exhausted, he sunk on the ground, when an old squaw scalped him, and then threw a quantity of burning coals and ashes on his naked skull, which ended his torments and closed the drama.

     Pipe was also in the battle of the Rapids of the Maumee on the 20th of August, 1794, when Wayne broke down the Indian spirit, and he then returned to his tribe in Coventry, where he professed great friendship for the Americans until the breaking out of the war of 1812, when he with his band, left the country and joined the British.

      At the treaty at the foot of Maumee Rapids in Sep., 1817, there was granted to the Delaware Indians, a reservation of three miles square in the northern part of Marion county. Capt. Pipe was one of the grantees named in the reservation.

     The principal chief of the tribe was Buckongehelas, who signed the treaty with General Wayne at Fort Greenville, in 1795; but at the treaty at the same place, in July, 1814, the tribe was represented by Capt. Pipe, King of New Portage.

     By the treaty of Lower Sandusky, in August, 1829, the Dela­wares sold their reservation in Marion county to the United States, and moved west of the Mississippi, where Capt. Pipe has since died. With him perished the once powerful Delawares of the Tuscarawas. At the first settlement of America, they inhabited the country around where Philadelphia now stands, and were as numerous perhaps as any tribe on the Continent. They were then friendly to the whites and welcomed William Penn and his followers with true hospitality, for whom, amid all the injuries they received from the whites, they ever retained a kind recollection. Whenever they speak of a good man, they say, " wa she a E le ne "—that is, he is a Quaker.

     Thus passed away the once powerful nation of Delawares and arose on its ruins, " The State of Coventry."