44 THE PROBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUNDS. 



the American coutiueut. For some reason which I do not tind accounted for, they de- 

 termined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out together in a body. ] 

 After a very long journey and many nights' encampments ' by the way, they at length 

 arrived on the 2iamacsi-Si2)u,'' v.-here they fell in with the Meugwe,' who had likewise 

 emigrated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. 

 Their object was the same witli that of the Delawares ; they were proceeding on to the 

 eastward, until they should liud a country that pleased them. The spies which the 

 Lenape had sent forward for the purpose of reconnoitring, had long before their arrival 

 discovered that the country cast of the Mississippi was inhabited by a very powerful 

 nation who had many largo towns built on the great rivers flowing through their 

 land. Those people (as I was told) called themselves TaUlgew or Talleyeic}. * ^ * 

 Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been 

 remarkably tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there were giants among 

 them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the Lenape. It is related that 

 they had built to themselves regular fortifications or iutrenchments, from whence 

 they would sally out, but were generally rejiulsed. I have seen many of the fortifi- 

 cations said to have been built bj" them, two of which, in particular, were remarkable. 

 One of them vras near the mouth of the river Huron, which empties itself into the 

 Lake St. Clair, on the north side of that lake, at the distance of about 20 miles north- 

 east of Detroit. Tliis spot of ground was, in the year 1776, owned and occupied by a 

 Mr. Tucher. The other works, properly iutrenchments, being walls or banks of earth 

 regularly thrown up, with a deep ditch on the outside, were on the Huron River, east 

 of the Sandusky, about six or eight miles from Lake Erie. Outside of the gateway of 

 each of these two iutrenchments, which lay Avithin a mile of each other, were a 

 number of large llat mounds in which, the Indian pilot said, were buried hundreds 

 of the slain Talligewi, whom I shall hereafter, Avith Colonel Gibson, call Alligewi. 

 Of these iutrenchments Mr. Abraham Steiner, who was with me at the time when I 

 saw them, gave a very accurate description, which Avas published at Philadelphia 

 in 1789 or 1790, in some periodical Avork the name of Avhich I can not at present 

 remember. 



When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi they sent a message to the 

 Alligewi to request permission to settle themselves in their neighborhood. This was 

 refused them, but they obtained leave to pass through the country and seek a settle- 

 ment farther to the eastward. They accordingly began to cross the Namaesi-Sipu, 

 when the Alligewi, seeing that their numbers were so very great, and in fact they con- 

 sisted of many thousands, made a furious attack upon those who had ci'ossed, threat- 

 ening them all Avith destruction, if they dared to persist in coming over to their side 

 of the river. Fired at the treachery of these people, and the great loss of men they 

 had sustained, and besides, not being prepared for a conflict, the Leuapi consulted 

 on what Avas to be done; Avhether to retreat in the best manner they could, or to try 

 their strength, and let the enemy see that they were not cowards, but men, and too 

 high-minded to suffer themselves to be driven oif before they had made a trial of 

 their strength and were convinced that the enemy was too ])owerful for them. The 

 Mengwe, Avho had hitherto been satisfied with being spectators from a distance, 

 offered to join them, on condition that, after conquering the country, they should be 

 entitled to share it Avith them ; their proposal Avas accepted, and the resolution was 

 taken by the two nations, to conquer or die. 



. Having thus united their forces the Lenape and Mengwe declared Avar against the 

 Alligewi, and great battles Avero fought in Avhich many warriors fell on both sides. 

 The enemy fortified their largo towns and erected fortifications, especially on largo 

 riA-ers and near lakes, where they were successfully attacked and sometimes stormed 

 by the allies. An engagement took place in which hundreds fell, who were after- 



' " Many Nights' encampment " is a halt of one year at a place. 



2 The Mississippi or The River of Fish ; Namacs, a fish, and Sijxi a river. 



^ The Iroquois, or Five Nations. 



