CHAPTER 45 THE INDIAN CHIEF RHON YAN NESS

CHAPTER 45 THE INDIAN CHIEF RHON YAN NESS At the death of Rhon-yan-ness he was the oldest chief in the Wyandott nation. He was among the first that embraced the Gospel, and became a convert to the religion of Christ, among the Wyandotts. He was a great hunter, and first among the braves of his tribe, and was as much honored as a chief as any chief of any nation. Like Saul of Tarsus, who, as a brave and indefatigable opponent of Christianity, when converted, became equally courageous and persevering in the cause of Christ, so it was with this Christian Indian. There was no enterprise, however hazardous, that he would not undertake for the interests of his nation before conversion; nor was there any danger he would not brave, or sacrifice he would not make, for the sake of Christ and his cause, after he had been made partaker of the grace of life.

We will relate an incident which occurred in his life, that will serve to show, in some degree, his zeal and courage as an Indian, and will also illustrate several points in his character better, perhaps, than the most elaborate detail. Previous to the relation of this incident it will be necessary to refer the reader to a scrap of border warfare.

"About the middle of July, 1782, seven Wyandotts crossed the Ohio, a few miles above Wheeling, and committed great depredations upon the southern shore, killing an old man, whom they found alone in his cabin, and spreading terror throughout the neighborhood. Within a few hours after their retreat, eight men assembled from different parts of the small settlement, and pursued the enemy with great expedition. Among the most active and efficient of the party were two brothers — Adam and Andrew Poe. Adam was particularly popular. In strength, action, and hardihood, he had no equal, being finely formed, and inured to all the perils of the woods. They had not followed the trail far before they became satisfied that the depredators were conducted by Big Foot, a renowned chief of the Wyandott tribe, who derived his name from the immense size of his feet, and his strength was represented as herculean. He had also five brothers, but little inferior to himself in size and courage; and as they generally went in company, they were the terror of the whole country. Adam Poe was, overjoyed at the idea of measuring his strength with that of so celebrated a chief, and urged the pursuit with a keenness which quickly brought him into the vicinity of the enemy. For the last few miles the trail had led them up the southern bank of the Ohio, where the footprints in the sand were deep and obvious; but when within a few yards of the point at which the whites as well as the Indians were in the habit of crossing, it suddenly diverged from the stream, and stretched along a rocky ridge, forming an obtuse angle with its former direction. Here Adam halted for a moment, and directed his brother and the other young men to follow the trail with proper caution, while he himself still adhered to the river path, which led through clusters of willows directly to the point where he supposed the enemy to lie. Having examined the priming of his gun, he crept cautiously through the bushes, till he had a view of the point of embarkation. Here lay two canoes, empty and apparently deserted. Being satisfied, however, that the Indians were close at hand, he relaxed nothing of his vigilance, and quickly gained a jutting cliff, which hung immediately over the canoes. Hearing a low murmur below, he peered cautiously over, and beheld the object of his search. The gigantic Big Foot lay below him in the shade of a willow, and was talking, in a low, deep tone, to another warrior, who seemed a mere pigmy by his side. Adam cautiously drew back, and cocked his gun. The mark was fair; the distance did not exceed twenty feet, and his aim was unerring.

Raising his rifle slowly and cautiously, he took a steady aim at Big Foots breast, and drew the trigger. His gun flashed. Both Indians sprung to their feet with a deep interjection of surprise, and for a single second all three stared upon each other. This inactivity, however, was soon over. Adam was too much hampered by the bushes to retreat, and setting his life upon a cast of the die, he sprung over the bush which had sheltered him, and, summoning all his powers, leaped boldly down the precipice, and alighted upon the breast of Big Foot with a shock which bore him to the earth. At the moment of contact Adam had also thrown his right arm around the neck of the smaller Indian, so that all three came to the earth together. At that moment a sharp firing was heard among the bushes above, announcing that the other parties were engaged; but the trio below were too busy to attend to any thing but themselves. Big Foot was, for an instant, stunned by the violence of the shock, and Adam was enabled to keep them both down. But the exertion necessary for that purpose was so great, that he had no leisure to use his knife. Big Foot quickly recovered, and, without attempting to rise, wrapped his long arms around Adams body, and pressed him to his breast with the crushing force of a boa-constrictor! Adam, as we have already remarked, was a powerful man, and had seldom encountered his equal; but never had he yet felt an embrace like that of Big Foot. He instantly relaxed his hold of the small Indian, who sprung to his feet.

Big Foot then ordered him to run for his tomahawk, which lay within ten steps, and kill the white man while he held him in his arms. Adam, seeing his danger, struggled manfully to extricate himself from the folds of the giant, but in vain. The lesser Indian approached with his uplifted tomahawk; but Adam watched him closely, and as he was about to strike, gave him a kick so sudden and violent as to knock the tomahawk from his hand, and sent him staggering back into the water. Big Foot uttered an exclamation in a tone of deep contempt at the failure of his companion, and raising his voice to its highest pitch, thundered out several words in the Indian tongue, which Adam could not understand, but supposed to be a direction for a second attack. The lesser Indian now again approached, carefully shunning Adams heels, and making many motions with his tomahawk, in order to deceive him as to the point where the blow would fall. This lasted for several seconds, till a thundering exclamation from Big Foot compelled his companion to strike. Such was Adams dexterity and vigilance, however, that he managed to receive the tomahawk in a glancing direction upon his left wrist, wounding him deeply, but not disabling him.

He now made a sudden and desperate effort to free himself from the arms of the giant, and succeeded. Instantly snatching up a rifle — for the Indian could not venture to shoot for fear of hurting his companion — he shot the lesser Indian through the body. But scarcely had he done so when Big Foot arose, and placing one hand upon his collar, and the other upon his hip, pitched him ten feet into the air, as he himself would have pitched a child, Adam fell upon his back at the edge of the water; but before his antagonist could spring upon him, he was again upon his feet, and stung with rage at the idea of being handled so easily, he attacked his gigantic antagonist with a fury which, for a time, compensated for inferiority of strength. It was now a fair fist fight between them; for in the hurry of the struggle neither had leisure to draw their knives. Adams superior activity and experience as a pugilist gave him great advantage. The Indian struck awkwardly, and finding himself rapidly dropping to leeward, he closed with his antagonist, and again hurled him to the ground. They quickly rolled into the river, and the struggle continued with unabated fury, each attempting to drown the other. The Indian being unused to such violent exertion, and having been much injured by the first shock in his stomach, was unable to exert the same powers which had given him such a decided superiority at first; and Adam, seizing him by the scalp-lock, put his head under water, and held it there till the faint struggles of the Indian induced him to believe that he was drowned, when he relaxed his hold, and attempted to draw his knife. The Indian, however, to use Adams own expression, had only been possuming! he instantly regained his feet, and in his turn put his adversary under. In the struggle both were carried out into the current, beyond their depth, and each was compelled to relax his hold and swim for his life. There was still one loaded rifle upon the shore, and each swam hard in order to reach it; but the Indian proved the most expert swimmer, and Adam, seeing that he should be too late, turned and swam out into the stream, intending to dive, and thus frustrate his enemy’s intention. At this instant Andrew, having heard that his brother was alone, in a struggle with two Indians, and in great danger, ran up hastily to the edge of the bank above, in order to assist him.

Another white man followed him closely, and seeing Adam in the river, covered with blood, and swimming rapidly from shore, mistook him for an Indian, and fired upon him, wounding him dangerously in the shoulder. Adam turned, and seeing his brother, called loudly upon him to shoot the big Indian upon the shore. Andrew’s gun, however, was empty, having just been discharged. Fortunately Big Foot had also seized the gun with which Adam had shot the lesser Indian, so that both were on an equality. The contest now was who should load first. Big Foot poured in his powder first, and drawing his ramrod out of its sheath in too great a hurry, threw it in the river, and while he ran to recover it. Andrew gained an advantage. Still the Indian was but a second too late, for his gun was at his shoulder when Andrews ball entered his breast. The gun dropped from his hands, and he fell forward on his face upon the very margin of the river. Andrew, now alarmed for his brother, who was scarcely able to swim, threw down his gun, and rushed into the river, in order to bring him ashore; but Adam, more intent upon securing the scalp of Big Foot as a trophy than upon his own safety, called loudly upon his brother to leave him alone and scalp the big Indian, who was now endeavoring to roll himself in the water, from a romantic desire peculiar to the Indian warrior, of securing his scalp from the enemy. Andrew, however, refused to obey, and insisted upon saving the living before attending to the dead. Big Foot, in the mean time, had succeeded in reaching the deep water before he expired, and his body. . .

"Not a man of the Indians had escaped. Five of Big Foots brothers, the flower of the Wyandott nation, had accompanied him in the expedition, and all perished. It is said that the news of this calamity threw the whole tribe into mourning. Their remarkable size, their courage, and their superior intelligence, gave them immense influence, which, greatly to their credit, was generally exerted on the side of humanity. Their powerful interposition had saved many prisoners from the stake, and had given a milder character to the warfare of the Indians in that part of the country. A chief of the same name was alive in that part of the country so late as 1792; but whether a brother or son of Big Foot is not known. Adam Poe recovered of his wounds, and lived many years after his memorable conflict; but never forgot the tremendous hug which he sustained in the arms of Big Foot." He was the grandfather of Adam Poe, present Assistant Agent of the Book Concern. The great loss sustained by the Wyandott nation in the death of the Big Foot brothers, created an implacable hatred in every heart toward their destroyers. Many an Indian malediction had been poured out upon the head of Adam Poe, and many a prize had been offered for his scalp. His place of residence, which was on the west bank of the Ohio river, at the mouth of Yellow creek, was known to the Wyandotts. It seemed, however, that none of the nation possessed sufficient courage to encounter, single-handed, this foe of the red man, whose strength was considered equal to that of Big Foot himself. At length, having determined to wait no longer in seeking to be revenged of the death of their Goliath, the nation made choice of their bravest warrior, in the person of Rhon-yan-ness, one of their chiefs. Having made all the preparations necessary for the accomplishment of the fearful mission intrusted to him by his nation, he started out on foot for the residence of Poe. After passing through the then wilderness of Ohio, he at length reached the creek, which emptied into the Ohio, on the bank of which his intended victim lived. No sooner, however, had he placed his foot within the door of the brave backwoods hunter than he was received with the utmost cordiality and friendship, while every hospitality that the cabin afforded was, with true pioneer generosity, tendered to the Indian guest. When the time for retiring to rest had come, there being but one room and one bed, Poe made a comfortable pallet for the Indian on the floor by the fire, after which he and his wife retired to rest, without any suspicion whatever in regard to the designs of the Indian. It was now a time of peace, and the Indians, particularly the Wyandotts, were regarded as friendly. It was not long till they both fell asleep, when Rhon-yan-ness rose stealthily from his couch, and proceeded cautiously, with his tomahawk and scalping-knife, to the bedside of the unconscious sleepers. Scarcely had he arrived at the spot than the kindness of his host flashed upon his mind. How, thought he, can I perpetrate an act of so much cruelty upon one who has taken me into his wigwam, and treated me with so much friendship?" The better feelings of his nature overcame him, and finding it impossible to commit an act which, though it might bring honor to him from his nation as the avenger of the death of Big Foot, he could not nerve himself up to such a pitch of desperateness as to obliterate all the gratitude of his heart.

Enemy as Poe had been to his nation, yet he could not think of imbruing his hands in his blood, and with these thoughts he crept back softly to his bed. he had not lain long till the question came up before him in a somewhat different aspect, and his thoughts took a turn something like the following "Have you not been solemnly set apart by the nation to avenge the death of its bravest warrior? and will not the ghost of the departed haunt you in your chase in the wilderness, and in your night slumbers, till it is appeased by the death of Poe? Does not your religion require you to execute vengeance as the agent of the Great Spirit? and will he not frown upon you if you fail to do the work of death? At this Rhon-yan-ness again seized his deadly instruments, and sprang to his feet. It was now past midnight, and all was still. No sound could be heard but the gloomy hoot of an owl, which had nestled in some tree in the surrounding forest. The light of the fire had gone out, and there were only a few burning coals left upon the hearth, from which was emitted a kind of twilight glare that enabled him to gaze upon the features of his victim. Summoning all his courage he raised the fearful tomahawk, and was about to bury it in the head of his host, when something whispered, "Shame on the Indian that can strike a friend. Mean and cowardly is the warrior who would kill even an enemy that has treated him kindly. His heart faltered, his hand trembled, and the tomahawk fell by his side. Without disturbing the family he returned to his pallet, and, dismissing all thoughts of revenge, he slept soundly till morning.

Poe rose early and made his fire, without disturbing his guest, who was in a heavy slumber. When it was fully day, and the bright fire blazed around, he had an opportunity of gazing upon the broad, open features of the manly Indian whose giant form was before him. There he lay, with his tomahawk and scalping knife by his side. Poe understood enough of the Indian character to know that in the days of peace they were capable of the most sincere and lasting friendship; and though he had measured arms with them in the deadly strife, they were more sinned against than sinning, and whatever cruelties they may have committed, were excited by the depredations of the white man: hence he loved the Indian, and had often bewailed the unhappy fate of Big Foot and his brothers. Anxious to enjoy the society of his Indian guest he approached him, and gently touching him, said softly, "Wake, brother, wake; the morning has come." The Indian sprang to his feet instantly, and, seizing him by the hand, bestowed his Indian blessings. After again partaking of the humble but bounteous fare of the cabin, he made ready for departure. As he was leaving Poe furnished him with provisions for his journey, and, taking him by the hand, said, "Once we were at war, and were enemies; but now we are at peace, and are friends. We have buried the hatchet, and are brothers. Let us live in peace and brotherhood." Rhon-yan-ness was too much overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for the goodness of his heart to make any reply; but the big tear which rolled down his bronze cheek told the sincerity of grateful emotion, and he left to join his nation on the distant plains of Sandusky.

He often told us that was a happy day in his life, and the more he thought and reasoned about the course he had pursued the more he was convinced that he had acted right. Not long after his return to his nation he became interested in the missionary labors among his people; and the wonderful story of the white man’s God, as he came to earth and suffered and died for sinners, deeply affected his heart. Soon this bold, intrepid chief renounced his Indian religion and forms of worship, and embraced Christianity. He was soundly and happily converted to God, and became a burning and a shining light in the midst of a dark and perverse nation. Being now in Christ he was a new creature; old things had passed away, and all things had become new. He felt upspringing in his heart that love which worketh no ill to its neighbor, but makes its possessor kind, and gentle, and forgiving; and which teaches that "whomsoever hateth his brother is a murderer, in the eye of the holy law, as effectually as if he had plunged the fatal knife into his heart. He took a bold stand in religion, and as a class-leader and steward he rendered efficient service to the mission. Three years after his conversion he realized a maturity of Christian grace, which enabled him to rejoice in that perfect love which casts out all tormenting fear. His life was hid with Christ in God, and he walked as seeing Him who was invisible. His whole life was unblamable, and his character is a Christian irreproachable; and we never knew a Christian in any nation, or among any people, more innocent, guileless, and happy than Rhon-yan-ness. Rooted and grounded in love he was steadfast in his profession, and labored hard to elevate and improve his nation. His powerful influence as a chief was brought to bear upon the heartless trader, who would come among the Indians with his fire-water, and rob them of their brains and furs. The Indians have been cruelly treated, and it is high time the Government should interpose more effectually its authority in their behalf. How much we owe them as a nation none can tell; but it is high the that some move was made to repay the debt. We were deeply and intensely thrilled at the last anniversary of the Parent Society, which was held in this city, by the speech of Bishop Janes, who has charge of the Indian missions. It was so true, so appropriate, and so fearless that we would, had we space, hand it down to posterity as the testimony of the Church in behalf of our native red brethren.

After being a member of the Church militant for a period of sixteen years, Rhon-yan-ness was called to join the Church triumphant. He has attended a quarterly meeting at the mission on Sabbath, and while, as a steward, he was handing round the bread in love-feast, as emblematic of universal charity, he seemed to be unusually happy. When relating his Christian experience, in which he referred to his interview with Adam Poe, he thrilled every heart with the story of redeeming love. Raising his streaming eyes toward heaven, he clapped his hands and shouted in prospect of his long-sought home. Two days after this meeting he was called by the Master to enter his inheritance above, and full of faith and holy triumph he passed away to the spirit-land. THE END