Gen. Anderson's Address at Ohio Centennial
From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908
If Simon Kenton is entitled to such a distinguished honor as the quotation above gives him it certainly would not be inappropriate considering his pioneer residence in this county, in a work of this kind, to give a brief sketch of his life.
Simon Kenton was born in Culpeper County, Va., on the 3d day of April, 1755, and died near Zanesfield, Logan county, Ohio, on the head waters of Mad River, on April 29, 1836, aged eighty-one years. A great many biographies give Fauquier County. Virginia, as the county of his birth, but Culpeper County is given as the proper county on his monument. We know little of his parentage or his early life, otherwise than his parents were poor and that he was never taught to read and write. At an early age, some say sixteen years, he became the suitor for the affections of a young lady of his neighborhood. In this he had a rival and chivalric-like, whether by agreement or by way of banter, a contest was agreed upon between the rivals, in John L. Sullivan style, to determine who should be the favorite one. From Kenton's fiery and fighting qualities, it may be well conjectured that he would not fail to accept such an offer, although he might have realized that his strength was not equal to that of his adversary, and so it turned out, for Kenton was the vanquished one. He was not a man to accept defeat without some thought of revenge, so he awaited his appointed time, and when he became a man the rivals again met. This was about the year 1771. It can be conjectured that, having suffered the thoughts of his defeat to rankle in his bosom for so long a time, Kenton engaged in this battle with the full strength of his manhood and determined to wreak vengeance at all hazards. It seems that his adversary's hair was long, and after they had clinched and rolled around upon the ground Kenton managed to bring his opponent's head close to a sapling and by a quick turn locked his hair around the branches. Then having him at his mercy, he pommeled him to his heart's content; and he kept up this punishment so long that when he left his victim he thought he was dead. With this fear in his mind, suspicion, and prompted also by his love of adventure, he came westward to where there was a clustering settlement near Harrods, or Boone's Station, in Kentucky. It may be presumed from what we afterwards learned, that he possessed the common idea prevailing among the people of his class, that to steal from an Indian was no wrong, for in 1778, about the first of September, he and two others set off for the express purpose of obtaining horses from the Indians. They crossed the Ohio and proceeded cautiously until they had come to what is now Chillicothe, without any adventure. In the night they fell in with a drove of horses that were feeding on the prairies. They were prepared with salt and halters, and at length succeeded in catching seven. With these they traveled as speedily as possible towards the Ohio River, reaching the ford at Eagle Creek, now in Brown County. There they found the waves of the river so high that they could not force the horses across. The Indians at daybreak had discovered the loss of their property and immediately commenced pursuit. One of Kenton's companions was killed and the other made his escape, Kenton himself being captured. The next morning the Indians prepared to return to their Indian village. When ready they got on of their wildest horses and tied Gen. Kenton on its back. The horse lunged and plunged in various ways, but finally becoming satisfied that he could not get rid of his rider, quietly submitted and followed the Indians. In about three days they reached Old Chillicothe. Here he was made to run the gauntlet. Having been informed by one who knew the customs of the Indians, that if he could break through the Indian lines and arrive at the Council House before he was over-taken, they would not force him to run the gauntlet the second time, he attempted the feat and would have succeeded, had he not met a fresh Indian near the Council House. This Indian saw him coming and threw him down and held him until his captors came. The next thing that the Indians did was to decide his method of punishment. After consultation they decided that he should be punished with death, which in the Indian method, meant burning at the stake; and it was further decided that his place of execution should be at Wapatomika, now near Zanesfield, Logan County, and which, as it turned out afterwards singularly enough, was the place where he finally died a peaceful death. I am not sure that the Chillicothe first spoken of was the Chillicothe in Ross County or the old Chillicothe situated three miles above Xenia. Anyway, on their route they were to pass through what was then the Indian village of Piqua in Clark County, and thence up the valley through the other villages along Mad River. At these various villages Kenton was required to run the gauntlet. At one of these places he made an attempt to escape and got about two miles from the town when he accidentally met some Indians on horse back and was by them recaptured. It was after this recapture that he met with the famous Simon Girty. It seems that previously Kenton and Girty were quite warm friends. When Kenton went to Kentucky he had assumed the name of Butler. Having had his face blackened, which among the Indians was a sign that the death sentence had been passed, he was not at once recognized. After Girty recognized him he did all in his power to have the death sentence annulled, but in this he was unsuccessful, and Kenton was a second time sentenced, when the great Mingo chief, Logan, took an interest in his welfare and it was finally decided to send him to Upper Sandusky. There after some more proceedings had been gone through, he was ransomed and finally was enabled to secure his freedom. After this thrilling experience he revisited his old home and was probably not with General Clark in the battle of Piqua. The first that we know of him again was about 1784 when he came with Captain Logan in the raid that he made against Mac-i-chesk and other Indian villages along Mad River. He then served in various Indian wars and was a major in the army of General Wayne, whose conquest of the Indians resulted in the treaty of Greenville. Of his life in Kentucky we know little, other than that that section seemed to be a place of his abode when not engaged in Indian Excursions.
In 1799 he with six other families emigrated to Clark County, first settling near where the National Road crosses Buck Creek west of the city. Afterwards he and his brother-in-law, Philip Jarbo, no doubt following the old Indian trail to Sandusky, moved up to what is known as the Hunt farm in Moorefield Township, Kenton's cabin being a short distance west of the present Hunt residence close to the Urbana Pike and Philip Jarbo's about a mile east along the little stream.
Some biographies say that in 1802 he moved to Urbana, but this I think is a mistake. Where he resided in Moorefield Township was then or was a short time afterwards considered Champaign County, and from this fact probably comes the other statement that he lived in Urbana. If he did live in Urbana it was but for a very short time, for in the vear 1806 he moved to what were then the rapids of Buck Creek, and where the village of Lagonda now stands. Here he built a gristmill and attached thereto a carding machine which for want of perfect machinery did not prove a success. He also built the first saw-mill upon the same site, the first in the county. His love of adventure, patriotism and military spirit led him to abandon or leave this mill property in 1812, to join the army of this country in the second war with Great Britain. In this war he was a brigadier general of militia, serving under General Wm. H. Harrison. In the year 1820 he moved to his final earthly home, situate near Zanesfield in Logan Coimty, Ohio. That he was a resident of this county in 1818, or at least that he was supposed to be, would appear from the fact that at the June term of Court of Common Pleas of this couty, process was issued for him. At his place near Zanesfield he erected a small house and resided there until his death, which occurred as heretofore stated. Through the efforts of one of his life-long friends of Urbana, in 1865, his remains were removed to Oakdale Cemetery at that place, where a monument was erected to his memory, which bears this inscription on the north side—"Erected by the State of Ohio 1884," on the south side "1775-1886." On the north side is a wolf's head, on the south side an Indian, on the west side a bear's head, and on the east side a panther.
At the time of his death he was drawing a pension of $20.00 a month and was a member of the Methodist Church.
He was described as being of fair complexion, six feet one inch in height. He stood and walked very erect, and, in the prime of life, weighed about 190 pounds. He never was inclined to be corpulent, although of sufficient fullness to form a graceful person. He had a soft, tremulous voice, very pleasing to the hearer. He had laughing gray eyes, which appeared to fascinate the beholder. He was a pleasant, good-humored, and obliging companion. When excited or provoked to anger (which was seldom the case) the fiery glance of his eye would almost curdle the blood of those with whom he came in contact. His rage, when aroused, was a tornado. In his dealing he was perfectly honest; his confidence in man and his credulity were such that the same man might cheat him twenty times, and if he professed friendship he might cheat him still.
Another who knew General Kenton at Zanesfield describes him as follows:
"General Kenton, in the prime of life, according to his own statement, was red haired and his face was badly freckled. He walked with a slight limp, because of a cut inflicted in his left foot caused by an Indian tomahawk. Although nearly seventy years old when he took up his abode near Zanesfield, his hair was not entirely whitened, and here and there, until the day of his death, were evidences of its former ruddy color. He was over six feet tall and in younger days weighed about one hundred and ninety pounds. His eyes were changeable, now gray, but when he was roused to anger they assumed a greenish hue. As his years fled, displays of temper became infrequent."
The following very interesting sketch appears in the sketches of Springfield by R.C.Woodward:
"My first visit to Springfield and the Mad River Country was in October, 1832. I took lodging with Colonel Warden, then keeper of the National, for the night. When I entered the two-horse hack in the morning, I found seated therein a very elderly and dignified gentleman, who at the first glance commanded my respect. By his side sat a lady, much younger in appearance than himself. We three formed the load. The lady and myself soon fell into a running conversation, and I found her to be a very agreeable and companionable traveler. Among other facts, she told me that Springfield was so named at her suggestion, on account of the many delightful and valuable springs within and around the plat located for the town. While we chatted, the old gentleman sat in silence, and, as his grave appearance was not of a character to invite conversation, with a young and bashful man, I had to be content, for the while, with looking at him, and wondering who he was! At length, however, when we came into the neighborhood of Major William Hunt's, I ventured to ask him if he were 'going far north.' He said, 'No.' The lady then said they were going to their home near Zanesfield, Logan County. This question happened to break the ice a little, and the gentleman became somewhat talkative—in a slow way. He told me he had been to Newport, Ky., to attend a meeting of pioneers appointed fifty years before, but that the cholera had thwarted the meeting. He pointed out along the verge of the road, nearly opposite the Half-Way House (now the residence of L. L. Young), the path along which the Indians had once escorted him, a prisoner, on the way to Zanesfield, to make him run the gauntlet, and gave me sundry snatches of detail as to his early hardships in the backwoods, and adventures with the Indians, so that by the time we came to Urbana, we had all become quite free talkers. All the time, I did not take any hint as to who he was, though I tried hard to study him out, and thought I had been familiar with his history from my boyhood. When we landed at Urbana, at the house kept by Daniel Harr, Esq., the people collected pretty freely around the hack, all anxious to see and speak to him whom, as I soon learned, I had been traveling with, and whom I had, till then, known only in history—the celebrated pioneer, SIMON KENTON, and his excellent lady."
The reports about Kenton's life and his final home are somewhat conflicting with respect to the fact as to whether he resided alone or with some relative. It would seem from the statements of Mr. Woodward, that during sometime of his residence there, his wife was living, and yet other statements seem to indicate that, at least at the time of his death, he was living alone. On a stone at the corner of what used to be his log cabin, close to the Indian town of Wapatomika, Zanesfield, Ohio, these words are carved, "This is the comer stone of Simon Kenton, do not remove it." This is all that remains now to indicate the place where this old hero spent his last days. The following from the pen of William Hubbard, a newspaper editor of Bellfontaine, is worthy of quotation:
Tread lightly, this is hallowed ground;
tread reverently here!
Beneath this sod in silence sleeps the
brave old pioneer
Who never quailed in darkest hour, whose
heart ne'er felt a fear;
Tread lightly, then, and here bestow the
tribute of a tear.
Ah ! can this be the spot where sleeps the
bravest of the brave?
Is this rude slab the only mark of Simon
Kenton's grave!
These fallen palings, are they all his ingrate
country gave
To one who periled life so oft, her homes
and hearths to save?
Long, long ago, in manhood's prime when
all was wild and drear
They bound the hero to a stake of savage
torment here—
Unblanched and firm, his soul disdained a
supplicating tear—
A thousand demons could not daunt the
Western Pioneer.
They tied his hands, Mazeppa-like, and
set him on a steed.
Wild as a mustang of the plains, and,
mocking, bade him speed!
They sped that courser like the wind, of
curb and bit all freed,
O'er flood and field, o'er hill and dale,
wherever chance might lead.
But, firm in every trial hour, his heart
was still the same—
Still throbbed with self-reliance strong,
which danger could not tame.
Yet fought he not that he might win the
splendor of a fame,
Which would in ages long to come shed
glory on his name.
He fought because he loved the land
where first he saw the light—
He fought because his soul was true and
idolized the right;
And ever in the fiercest and thickest of
the fight,
The dusk and swarthy foeman felt the
terror of his might.