Warren County IN Archives History - Books .....Zachariah Cicott 1883
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Book Title: Counties Of Warren, Benton, Jasper And Newton, Indiana

ZACHARIAH CICOTT.

   This man was a French Canadian, who at the age of about sixteen years came
down the Wabash to Vincennes, where he lived for a number of years and then
began the business of conveying boats or pirogues loaded with fancy articles and
whisky up the river to trade with the Indians for their furs. Nothing is known
of these voyagers except what he himself told, and as the information comes from
various mouths and recollections, it should be taken with some grain of
allowance. If Cicott's statements were correct, he came to trade with the
Pottawatomies and Kickapoos at Independence, Warren County, as early as eight or
ten years before the war of 1812. So profitable became his trade, especially
when he could get the Indians under the influence of whisky, that he became a
comparatively wealthy man. Interesting stories, without limit in number, could
be told regarding these trading voyages. Many times Cicott's life was in extreme
danger, but he was watchful and brave, and managed to secure a confidential
Indian, who speedily informed him of all plots involving danger to his person or
interests. Mr. Cicott was a swarthy man of average size, was quick, wiry and
very strong for his weight, and possessed considerable skill and bravery and an
iron constitution. He married a squaw of the Pottawatomie tribe, by whom he had
two children, John Battiece and Sophia. At Independence were two or more natural
springs of excellent water, which circumstance had caused that point to become a
great place for the Indians to encamp. Cicott, in nearly all his voyages, found
it profitable to stop there to trade, although he occasionally went up to
Hackberry Island or stopped to trade with the Kickapoos at the mouth of Kickapoo
Creek, there being quite a large encampment of the tribe there. He erected a
rude building, probably before the war of 1812, and usually occupied it while
trading. On one occasion,* just before the war of 1812 broke out, he found the
Indians so savage and threatening that he thought it prudent not to unload his
liquor from the pirogue, but moored close to the bank, where he dealt out the
liquid for the valuable furs which were handed from the bank to him. Finding
that his liquor was sure to be consumed before all the furs had been secured, he
instructed his companion to cautiously pour water into one end of the barrel
while he dealt out the mixture from the other. In this shrewd way he got all
their furs and had considerable liquor left. But the Indians became clamorous
and violent and demanded more whisky, and were refused because they had no more
furs and were without money. One savage looking fellow, half-frenzied with
intoxication, drew a huge knife and shouted that he must have more whisky or he
would murder the trader, and made preparations to put this threat into
execution; but Cicott also drew his knife and swore that the Indian could have
no more unless he were the better man. A collision seemed inevitable. Several
hundred Indians were present, swarming like maddened bees on the bank, the most
of whom were drunk and all were more or less infuriated at the loss of their
furs and ready to wreak their revenge on the trader, who was careful to keep on
his pirogue and out of their reach. The old chief Parish came forward and bought
the remainder of the whisky, and taking the barrel on his shoulders, carried it
to the top of the bluff, knocked in the head, and told the Indians who crowded
around to help themselves, which they quickly did. Cicott saw that this was his
opportunity to escape, and quickly and quietly pulled out into the middle of the
river and began to row rapidly down the stream, his departure being greatly
favored by the approach of darkness. About a mile down, he stopped under the
shade of the opposite shore to listen. He could distinctly hear the savage
revelry behind him, and finally could hear his own name shouted from scores of
throats, " Se-e-cott, Se-e-cott." He did not dare to return, and continued on
down the river.

*Cicott told this incident to David Moffit, from, whom it was obtained by the
writer.

CICOTT AND THE HARRISON CAMPAIGN.

   A short time before the war of 1812, Cicott received a note from Gen.
Harrison at Vincennes, directing him to go immediately to that point prepared to
act as a scout for the army, which was on the eve of marching against the
Indians. The trader had noticed that the Indians of Warren County were in a
state of great excitement, and soon became aware, that some great disturbance
was on foot, as they were holding war and scalp dances and were arming
themselves and ornamenting their persons with red and black paint and other
horrid paraphernalia of savage warfare. The note was no sooner received than
Cicott began making hurried preparations for his departure. He secretly packed
everything of value that he could take in pirogues, and, unknown to the Indians,
left Independence at night, .pulling rapidly down the Wabash. His confidential
Indian was left on shore to drive about forty ponies around through Warren
County on the way down to a place of safety. This the faithful fellow succeeded
in doing, though all the cattle, sheep and hogs were killed. Upon his arrival at
Vincennes, Cicott was selected as a scout for the army, which soon afterward
passed northward to invade the Indian country. The plan of the Indians was to
bring on an encounter in the ravines and timber, where their mode of warfare
would be greatly favored, one of the places being on Big Pine Creek, eight or
ten miles from its mouth; but Harrison was too prudent and experienced to be
caught in that manner, and in his march sought the open country but kept near
the timber, occasionally passing through detached portions of woodland. His army
entered the county in the southwestern part of Mound Township, thence passing
northeastward through Kent about a mile east of State Line City, thence on
through Steuben and southwestern Jordan, and possibly northwestern Pike, thence
on diagonally on through the center of Liberty, crossing Big Pine Creek about a
mile and a half northeast of Carbondale, at a place known as the "Army Ford,"
thence on through Adams and Medina Townships and into northern Tippecanoe
County, where, on the 7th of November, 1811, the Indians were subdued in the
bloody battle of Tippecanoe. Judge Isaac Naylor, Cicott and several others who
afterward lived in the county, were with this army on its march out and at the
battle, and afterward, when the county was settling up, went over the route or
trail of the army and identified its camping places and related many interesting
anecdotes. The army encamped in Warren County first in Kent Township, in a
detached grove, where two of the men died and were buried. The spot is used now
as the Gopher Hill Cemetery. Much of the route of the army lay along an old
Indian trail, and as it was afterward traveled considerably, it was worn so deep
that it can yet be traced in the county some ten or twelve miles. In the door
yard of G. H. Lucas, who lives about a mile east of State Line City, the trail
is at least a foot deep and five or six yards wide. The army also encamped on
the east bank of Big Pine Creek immediately after crossing the stream. A few
traces of this encampment were yet visible when the county was first settled.

CICOTT AFTER THE WAR.

    After the war of 1812 had terminated, probably about the year 1816, Cicott
resumed his voyages up the Wabash to trade with the Indians. The following year*
he erected the hewed-log house which is yet standing, though on the verge of
falling down from neglect and decay. It stands on the bank of the river a few
rods east of the town of Independence, and is surrounded by about four acres of
land which were cleared by Cicott and used by his family for a garden. A few old
apple trees planted by the family are yet standing. At the Indian treaty of St.
Mary's, Ohio, on the 2d of October, 1818, a section of land on Flint River,
Mich., was reserved for Perig, a Pottawatomie chief, but at the treaty with the
Pottawatomies at Chicago on the 29th of August, 1821, the claim of Perig was
transferred to John Battiece, son of Zachariah Cicott, by a Pottawatomie woman,
though the section thus reserved was not the same, but was to be located by the
President the United States, who, at the request of the Cicotts, established it
at Independence. The Cicott reserve was located on Sections 13, 14, 23 and 24,
Township 22 north, Range 7 west. Upon reflection, it would hardly seem that
Cicott would go to the trouble and expense of erecting his large hewed-log house
on land which did not belong to himself or some member of his family; and
therefore the writer concludes that Cicott's recollection of the time when the
building was construtced, or Mr. Jacob Hanes' recollection of what Cicott told
him regarding the date, is at fault, and the log house was not really erected
until after the section was reserved to John Battiece Cicott, or probably about
the year 1822. Here Zachariah Cicott lived until his death, about the year 1850,
continuing to trade with the Indians as long as they remained in the county.
John B. Cicott could not sell the reservation without authority from the
President of the United States, but this was finally gained through John Tipton,
Indian Agent, who certified (when the land passed from J. B. Cicott to his
father, Zachariah Cicott, in about 1830) that J. B. Cicott was receiving a
valuable and sufficient consideration. The recorded consideration for the
transfer is $1,000, though David Moffit informed the writer that as a matter of
fact the consideration was an Indian pony almost thin enough to warrant being
followed by the crows, and a saddle which looked as if a thunderbolt had fallen
on it. Mr. Moffit is no doubt correct, as it would not take much ingenuity to
have the pony and saddle valued at $1, 000. In March, 1830, Cicott mortgaged the
reservation to Menard and Valle, French traders of St. Genevieve, for $3,000,
which amount was due them for merchandise obtained by Cicott for the Indian
trade. The mortgage also covered the following personal property: Two large two
horse wagons, one small wagon, two yokes of work oxen, eighteen stock cattle,
twelve horses, 100 hogs, one cherry bureau, two butt rifle guns, eleven head of
sheep, four promissory notes of $185 each and Cicott's Indian book account.**
This mortgage was afterward largely satisfied by the transfer to Menard and
Valle of numerous town lots in Independence, which was laid out by Cicott in
1832. In his latter years, Cicott was partially paralyzed, the disorder seizing
his tongue and preventing speech, which made him an object of general sympathy.
At last, in 1850, he died at an age of over eighty years, and now lies buried in
the cemetery at Independence, near the spot made historic by his own energy and
daring.

   *From the recollection of Jacob Hanes, Sr., of Independence, who obtained the
facts from Cicott.

   **The Indians were better to pay when trusted than the whites, and this fact
led Cicott and all other traders to keep running accounts with them. His old
account book would be an interesting object if it could be found. In 1830, he
was the wealthiest resident of the county.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

PART II.
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Geology and Settlement

========================

COUNTIES OF 
Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton,
INDIANA

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
ILLUSTRATED.

CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1883.


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