Big Bottom Massacre
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Stockport, Ohio
Stockport is a village in Morgan County, Ohio, United States, along the Muskingum River. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 540.-Geography:Stockport is located at ....
now in Morgan County
Morgan County, Ohio
**----...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Delaware
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
and Wyandot Indians surprised a new settlement at the edge of the flood plain, or "bottom" land of the Muskingum River
Muskingum River
The Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
; they stormed the blockhouse
Blockhouse
In military science, a blockhouse is a small, isolated fort in the form of a single building. It serves as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery...
and killed eleven men, one woman, and two children. Three settlers were captured while four others escaped into the woods.
The Ohio Company of Associates
Ohio Company of Associates
The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...
acted immediately after this to provide greater protection for settlers.
The Ohio Historical Society
Ohio Historical Society
The Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1885 as The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society "to promote a knowledge of archaeology and history, especially in Ohio"...
manages the three-acre Big Bottom Park site. In addition to the markers noted below, the site features a twelve-foot marble obelisk, picnic tables and information signs about the site's history.
Previous treaties with Indians
On January 9, 1787 a treaty was signed at Fort HarmarFort Harmar
Fort Harmar was an early United States frontier military fort, built in pentagonal shape during 1785 at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River. It was built under the orders of Josiah Harmar and took his name...
between the United States and the Wyandot Indian tribe. The Wyandots ceded land to the United States and agreed to not sell their land to anyone except for the US. The land of the Wyandots was reduced, but the land in Ohio was still under dispute.
Ohio Company of Associates
The actions by the Ohio Company of Associates can help understand why the Big Bottom Massacre occurred as well as the Indian wars that were going on in the Northwest TerritoryNorthwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
. The company was formed by a group of several New England veterans of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. They purchased approximately 1500000 acres (6,070.3 km²) from the United States in 1787. These early settlers followed national guidelines for settling the West and respected the government a great deal likely because of their role in the Revolution. The founders of the Ohio Company promoted orderly and nationalistic western expansion. The founders of the company began to worry about problems that arose as more and more individuals bought into the land company, and individual goals began to take over. By 1791, an Indian war was raging in the Northwest Territory and threatened the Company's settlement at Marietta
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
. A financial crisis in New York was hurting the investors as well as the company treasury. Also present among the company was a geographic divide between settlers in the West and settlers and investors in the East. The Company's power structure favored the Eastern part of the territory, and settlers in the West were not well represented. Westerners wanted protection from Indians, but funds were low and the Ohio company refused. Following the Big Bottom Massacre, the Ohio Company provided protection for Western settlers in 1792.
Historical markers
Big Bottom, named for the broad Muskingum River Flood Plain, this park is the site of an attack on an Ohio Company settlement by Delaware and Wyandot Indians on Jan 2, 1791. The Big Bottom Massacre marked the outbreak of four years of frontier warfare in Ohio, which only stopped when General Anthony Wayne and the Indian Tribes signed the Treaty of Greeneville.
A second marker at the site, posted by the Ohio Historical Society
Ohio Historical Society
The Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1885 as The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society "to promote a knowledge of archaeology and history, especially in Ohio"...
, reads:
Big Bottom Massacre
Following the American RevolutionAmerican RevolutionThe American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the new FederalFederal government of the United StatesThe federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
government, in need of operating funds, sold millions of acres of western lands to land companies. One such company, the Ohio Company of Associates, brought settlement to MariettaMarietta, OhioMarietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
in 1788. Two years later, despite warnings of Native AmericanNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
hostility, an association of 36 Company members moved north from Marietta to settle "Big Bottom," a large area of level land on the east side of the Muskingum River. The settlers were acquainted with Native American warfare, but even so, built an unprotected outpost. They did not complete the blockhouse, put pickets around it, or post a sentry. On Jan 2, 1791, a war party of 25 Delaware and Wyandot Indians from the north attacked the unsuspecting settlers, killing nine men, one woman and two children. War raged throughout the Ohio Country until August 1794 when the tribes were defeated at the Battle of Fallen TimbersBattle of Fallen TimbersThe Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...
.
A third marker was posted in 2002 by the Ohio Bicentennital Commission, the Longaberger Company, the Morgan County Bicentennial Committee, and the Ohio Historical Society. This monument reads:
- "Erected by Obadiah Brokaw, 1905"
- "Site of Big Bottom Massacre, Winter of 1790"
- "Escaped, Asa Bullard, Eleazer Bullard, Philip Stacy"
- "Killed, John Stacy, Zebulon Throop, Ezra Putnam, John Camp, Jonathan Farewell"
- "Killed, James Couch, Wm James, Joseph Clark, Isaac Meeks & his wife and two children"
Colonel Stacy’s visit prior to the massacre
John Stacy and Philip (Philemon) Stacy were sons of Colonel William StacyWilliam Stacy
William Stacy was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country...
of Marietta
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
. Colonel Stacy ice skated thirty miles up the frozen Muskingum River
Muskingum River
The Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
in late December 1790 and warned his sons about the danger of a possible Indian attack. His concerns were realized several days later on January 2, 1791 with the occurrence of the massacre. His son John was killed in the attack, and his son Philemon was taken captive and died later.