Before we leave the Falls of the Ohio, we need to mention the work of the great military leader, Governor, and short time president William Henry Harrison. He located what he called citadels; stone towers that lined the Ohio River from the Falls to the mouth of the Great Miami River (for those who don’t know the area, the Miami Indians of Ohio gave their name to this river. It flows 150 miles through Dayton and Sydney until it joins with the Whitewater River just five miles from the point where they join the Ohio River in southwestern Hamilton County, Ohio).

His notes of his exploration of these citadels are extensive and largely agree with an early savant in the region, Dr. J.W. Baxter of Indiana. Baxter was certain of seven towers while Harrison believed that two other spots were also the remains of fortified towers for a total of nine forts. In some ways, these are reminiscent of the towers in the Scottish borders in that they are all within sight of each other — if barely. Smoke or fire signals given in one tower could be seen by another. The Scots used such towers to warn against Viking or English invasion. These towers are not at all made in the style of Scottish towers, however. It is entirely possible that they were made by Native Americans with no European input at all. Still, the early story was that the Welsh and Indians built these together after the Welsh stopped existing as a separate people. By this time, the story goes, they had intermarried with the local tribes either by choice or force. No proof of this exists, but the remains of the towers are still there.

The standard story is that Indians did not build with stone, but I’m not sure we can be certain of that. They certainly DID build incredible forts in this same area, but they were mostly earthworks with a rubble interior. Some of these are elaborate depictions of animals such as the Great Serpent Mound we’ve looked at some months ago. Others are laid out like cities, still others as burial or worship areas, and some as forts such as Fort Ancient just outside Cincinnati. Still, I would hate to say that they NEVER built stone towers or walls. Since these examples are located in a hotbed of Welsh activity, it is safe to assume that some sharing of information and skill (again — willing or unwilling) took place.

Truth be told, after this point in history, it becomes harder to trace the Welsh in America. We find Melungeons claiming to be Welsh or Portuguese but, while some say they spoke that language, no proof of that is forthcoming. Towns along the southern third of Ohio often claim to have been settled by the Welsh. They even have Welsh holidays such as the Eisteddfod, the annual singing of the bards, in the small town of Jackson. However, these Welsh settlers were probably miners and engineers and metal workers of later times, not the remnant of the tribe of Madoc (although the thought of it sounds like a good idea of a novel: a Welsh metal worker comes to Ohio to work the iron ore that is abundant there sometime in the early 1700’s. Across the field, an Indian brave sits on a horse and watches the white incomers. Neither of them realize that they are distant cousins…I’d love to write a novel about that, but I am no B.J. Hoff and should best leave historical novels to others).

Sometime after the last, biggest battle of the Falls of Ohio (1660), all certainty about the movement of the Welsh disappears. The Iroquois and Shawnee led the attack but other tribes were there in great number. It seems, from the collection of bones found in two major areas and from the descriptions of the battle from no less than six major Indian sources, that this battle would lead to one of the greatest losses of life in any battle until the Civil War. Thousands of bones have been found. The Indian histories vary wildly about the number of white men killed (or “white Indians”) but it is safe to say at least two thousand men, women, and children perished. Who knows how many were taken prisoner? The great Madoc migration died at the Falls.

For some reason, Indians deserted this area after the battle. They would use northern Kentucky as a hunting ground but never live in it again. They called it the Bloody Ground. No colonist wondered why — they knew the story. In fact, they knew a lot more about this than do “experts” today. Captain John Smith of the Jamestown colony wrote of the voyages of Madoc and the survivors of his people who likely lived inland from their outpost. Daniel Boone and the other explorers and colonists of his day told stories of the Welsh who were — they were certain — still out there somewhere. Did they have reason to believe this? Yes. You see… some remnants of the Welsh still existed beyond their forts and deserted mountaintops. Here is one of the greatest tales of early American history…

In 1666, Morgan Jones, chaplain to Major General Bennett, the Governor of Virginia, was sent to South Carolina to explore the region, claim it for England (the Spanish had colonies there a long time before this. So did the Portuguese. Both grew to respectable size before wars drove them away from the coast and into the interior where… well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves). Landing on the coast, they found themselves unprepared for the attacks from Indians and the harsh weather. Their ships were lost to them so they set out overland for Virginia. The Tuscora Indians took them prisoner and played with them cruelly until they got bored with that. They told the Indian interpreter Jones had brought with them that they were to prepare themselves; they were to die the next morning.

Jones was in such anger and grief over this that he slipped into his native tongue, Welsh, saying “Have I escaped so many dangers and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog?” This appears to be part of an Old Testament style prayer he was slinging at God. The Indians heard him and some ran off, bringing back with them a War Captain (as the interpreter told them) who was from the Sachem of Doegs. The fierce, painted warrior walked up to Jones and spoke to him… in Welsh. He told him that he would not die. The Indian Captain spoke to the Tuscora Indians in their own tongue. After that, the Englishmen were untied and treated as honored guests. Jones even preached to them in Welsh and found that they understood most of it (“they would confer with me about anything that was difficult therein”). Before they left, the Indians gave them all the supplies they could carry.

To this day, no one has been able to satisfactorily explain how so many of the Indians knew enough Welsh to understand the tortured prayer of the Welsh chaplain or why they were transformed from torturers to brothers when they heard that tongue. Still, we have some theories. You’ll hear them next time.