Indian Burial Ground - Putnam

It is not possible to speak of early white life in Putnam county without reference to James Athey, grandfather of Lawrence Athey of this city, who, with John M. Coleman, came to Washington Township in 1817, from Fort Harrison, originally from Bourbon County, Kentucky.      Athey and Coleman each bought from the government a quarter section of land, paying $1.25 per acre, that secured by Mr. Athey, being known to this generation as the Ivan Huffman farm, and that homesteaded by Mr. Coleman, eventually passing into ownership of Greeley Huffman. The land lies along the west side of Big Walnut Creek in Washington Township, south of the Big Walnut Missionary Baptist Church. The Athey farm extended southward to a point on the west side of Big Walnut opposite, where Mill Creek flows into that stream from the east. Deer Creek joins Mill Creek just before the latter meets Big Walnut, so that the waters of the three streams are thus united to form Eel River.      All of this rich bottom land was then covered by a dense growth of the finest timber known to this state, chiefly black walnut, poplar, hickory, ash and oak. There were immense sycamore trees. This land, which cost them $1.25 per acre, was sold by its original owners for $30 per acre, but the present market value of it is problematical – one hears $200 or more per acre mentioned. The present day value of the huge trees which were cut down and burned to clear the land would be something for lumber men to work out.      James Athey and his wife Prudence brought their little son, Henry H. with them. The family moved into the region on horseback, coming in from the west over a well travelled Indian trail which was a branch of the great trail which ascended the Wabash River bottoms, leaving that main trail at a point not now known, but probably near Montezuma.      The branch trail followed a great backbone of land which is the crest of the watershed between Big Raccoon Creek and Eel River. It was broken only by the channel of Croy’s Creek until it reached Big Walnut, about half a  mile southeast of the Athey home. There the trail crossed the large stream and continued on in the same general direction, keeping on the ridges, above flood water, crossing Mill Creek in Owen County at aa point which is said to be at the lower falls of Cataract. A well defined trace of an ancient trail may be seen there even now. Incidentally, the famous Ten O’clock Line crosses Mill Creek at about the same point.      The Athey’s built a log cabin about the bottom land. The stones used in the old chimney are there yet, the only remnant of the old cabin. It was located about three hundred yards east of where the Ivan Huffman home now stands, nearer the creek. A large hackberry tree stands near the site. That cabin was the place wherein the first circuit court in Putnam County was held.      The Indians had long before built a town on land that became part of the Athey holdings, situated west of the Athey house, on the same level. The town site which may be easily located now, is partly encircled by low hills which effectually shut off the winds, from the north, northeast and northwest.      The soil is a sandy loam, never muddy, and is admirably suited for the location of a town of that character. There is yet the strong spring of good water which the Indians used, at the foot of the slope.      Not far away, there were two springs of brackish water yet flowing known to early settlers as ‘deer licks’. The writer, when he visited their location some time ago, in company with Ed. C. Hamilton and others, took a little of the fluid into his mouth and marveled that deer would travel miles to drink it. Once there were deer trails leading to the springs from several directions.      One morning when the Athey family were yet at the breakfast table an Indian came to their cabin and sat inside, by the unglazed window. Through it he saw a deer bounding up the trail hear the house to one of the deer licks. He ran to Mr. Athey holding up one finger, which signaled one deer, and then pointed toward the rifle hanging on the wall. Mr. Athey nodded his head. The Indian took the gun and powder horn, disappearing up the trail. A couple of hours later, he returned, and held up two fingers, which meant two deer, He had killed them by the side of the deer lick. He had to have help to get them home and gave Mr. Athey one of the hind quarters for the use of the gun.      The Indians buried their dead in a small area which is a quarter of a mile or more from the Huffman home. It may yet be located by means of the sunken places where bodies were once interred. A few white people were buried there, also, and it is probable that the small, unchiseled slabs of sandstone on several of the sunken spots mark the resting places of the white persons than the Indians. Strange as it may seem to us, the first white man buried there was a mail carrier. He had been coming through the region once a month, driving a team of oxen over the Indian trail from the Wabash River. His trips ended when his oxen ran away close to the Indian town, throwing him out and killing him.  At a time now so far in the past that it is not now possible to locate it chronologically, the body of an aged chief and that of a youthful ruler were interred there, James Athey was told, under secrecy, where the graves were located and he never revealed the secret. In later years the situation of the grave of the younger chieftain was discovered by white people and it was opened, but they found nothing which they considered of value.      The grave of the old ruler was never discovered and he yet sleeps there undisturbed not aware so we may believe that the old forests have gone, that his people have faded away – not hearing the distant whistles of locomotives, nor the exhaust from automobiles and from airplanes.      The writer visited the Indian burying ground when there was a misty haze in the air and a solemn hush over the earth, and he could well believe that the dusky butterflies which flitted silently among the shadows over the graves were embodiments of the restless spirits of those departed warriors.      Those Indians were of the great Miami tribe, it is said. In the late spring they always deserted their Putnam County home and travelled northward, spending the summer in different haunts. Their houses were constructed of bark and skins. The men hunted and trapped here, and when they left, each spring, they cached their unsold furs in the loft of the Athey’s log barn.      James Athey at intervals returned to Vincennes to trade and left his family in their cabin alone, in a close proximity to the Indian town, and his confidence in the integrity of his red-skin neighbors was never violated.      On one of his trips to Vincennes, Mr. Athey secured a tin cup for each of his two children. Articles of tin were rare in those days, at least among the frontiersmen. An Indian buck with his own little son visited the Athey home soon afterward. The Indian boy so coveted the shining cups that when he left he secreted one under his blanket, but as he walked he stumbled, and the cup rolled out on the ground. His father gave him a whipping and made him return the cup to the little white boy.      Arrowheads, spear heads, darts and other flint articles were found in abundance in the vicinity of the Indian town and are occasionally seen yet.      It was said that it was not an uncommon thing for pike fish four feet long to be caught in Big Walnut, close to the Athey home, in those early days, and game was abundant in the forests.  G. E. Black – thanks to Mary Lou