South Messenger - February 21st, 2021

PAGE 2 - MESSENGER - February 21, 2021
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Native Americans and the Ohio frontier
The tranquil waters of the Scioto River were once
anything but placid.
The Scioto River and its tributaries, such as Big
Darby Creek, Big Walnut Creek, and the Olentangy
River were once hot beds of activity as Prehistoric and
Woodland Native Americans used them as major
transportation routes.
A new book by Janet Shailer, “Trouble on Scioto’s
Waters — Soldiers, Frontiersmen & Native Americans:
1725-1815,” explores the Native American history surrounding
these waterways.
“From 1754 — 1814 fighting raged within the state
between Native Americans and their adversaries,”
Shailer said. “Those years are vital to understanding
the history of Ohio. By 1843, the last of the Native
Americans left the state after the signing of the Treaty
with the Wyandots. A mere 18 years later the Civil
War would start.”
The importance of the Scioto River watershed to
Ohio’s early history cannot be underestimated. This
river was a transportation artery for the Shawnee,
Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Seneca, and Miami on
their way to camps in the Pickaway Plains and beyond.
The area between the Scioto River and the Big
Darby Creek was once a cradle of Prehistoric and
Woodland activity. This area alone has artifacts from
the Paleo-Indian, Adena, Hopewell, and Fort Ancient
cultures. Battelle Darby Metro Park along Big Darby
Creek, for one, is continuously being studied by
archaeologists for its numerous mounds and Native
American artifacts that are still being discovered
there. Later the European fur trappers and frontiersmen
understood their significance, followed by soldiers
from three different countries.
“I have included chapters on five men who were
important figures in central Ohio’s early history,”
Shailer said. “They include Col. William Crawford,
Simon Girty, and Jonathan Alder plus Native
Americans Blue Jacket and Tecumseh. The Indian
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Removal Act of 1830
began to drive the
Native Americans
out of Ohio permanently.”
Shailer said the
Native Americans
knew the Ohio country
was a special
place and they
helped to make it so.
“I believe that to
understand the history
of a great people,
we must thoroughly
study them, including
walking the
ground where they
JANET SHAILER
once lived,” said Shailer. “Part of this book is a guide to
visiting some of those sites. Native Americans entered
what is now central Ohio about 9,000 - 10,000 years
ago.”
For people interested in both Prehistoric and
Eastern Woodland Indians, the Middle Ohio Valley is
an archaeologist’s gold mine.
“The Ohio Historical & Archaeological Society estimated
in the 1880s there were once 10,000 mounds
and earthworks in Ohio alone,” said Shailer.
“Unfortunately, urban development has left us with
few remaining sites to see and explore.”
The Ohio History Connection has documented
dozens of Prehistoric and Eastern Woodland sites all
along the edges of the Scioto River.
“In Jackson Township/Franklin County, archaeological
maps show dozens of Native American sites
along the edges of this waterway,” said Shailer. “Other
creeks in the Scioto River basin were also important
for development. On the western side of Franklin
County lies Big Darby Creek, another important transportation
artery for several tribes. In the
eastern part of Franklin County, Alum
Creek runs south from Mount Gilead and
joins Big Walnut and Blacklick creeks in
(now) Three Creeks Metro Park. The Adena
built at least seven mounds in the Alum
Creek Valley.”
The book includes a guide to those who
would like to visit sites once occupied by
these First Ohioans. Books may be ordered
online from the publisher Orange Frazer
Press at www.orangefrazer.com or via
Amazon.com.
“Janet Shailer has captured a long-overlooked
portion of Ohio’s history, a past era
that we are still feeling the effects of today,”
said Rick Palsgrove, managing editor of the
Columbus Messenger Newspapers and
director of the Groveport Heritage Museum.
“The stories she tells of the Native
Americans, military, and frontiersmen who
helped shape Ohio are fascinating. Her listing
of pertinent historical sites that help
tell the story of those times is helpful to
those who wish to see the places where this
history took shape.”
Janet Shailer is a former editor with the
Columbus Messenger Newspapers and has
written two other history books including
“Images of Grove City,” and “Images of Modern
America: Grove City.” She also wrote the novel,
“The Austerlitz Bugle-Telegraph: A King, A
Goddess and a Chronicle of Deception,” as
well as three children’s books.