The Historic Graves of Olde Town Indiana Near Logansport

The battle of OldeTown took place near the Miami Indian War Dance ring close to Logansport , Indiana The site of the Olde Town village was also known as Kenapeco-maqua Town. Here on the afternoon of August 8th 1791, men of the then Virginia Volunteers Mounted Kentucky District attacked the Indian village charging across the Eel River. The Virginia Volunteers numbered 525. We have no specific number of the amount of warriors in the village at the time of the attack.

By the evening of August 8th nine Indians (including two women) and two of the Virginia Volunteers were killed. Three Miami Indians were taken prisoner and later released. The soldiers killed were residents of the Kentucky which at the time was still part of the state of Virginia. One of the known soldiers was John Bartlett who lived at Great Crossing in Scott County Kentucky. The other unknown soldier is said to most likely be from this area as well.

The surviving Virginia Volunteers after having destroyed the Indian village planned to leave the area the next day. They buried their dead comrades and placed bonfires on the graves to conceal their location .The fear was that when the Miami Indians returned to bury their dead, that the warriors would desecrate the graves of the Virginia Volunteers killed.

Many years later two of the Virginia volunteers returned to the Olde Town site. They to pointed out to pioneer jurist Judge James Rush the exact location of the graves of the two soldiers killed in the battle at Olde Town

Map of Indiana highlighting Cass County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The story of the burial sites was faithfully passed down to various residents and relatives of Judge James Rush in Adamsboro, Cass County. Adamsboro is where Judge James Rush died in 1841. The site of the graves eventually came to attention of Miss Laura D. Henderson, State Historian of the Daughters of the American Revolution.She enlisted the help of many local patriotic organizations to get the graves officially marked. These organizations petitioned the War Department and Logansport American Legion Post to mark the grave sites.

On the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Olde Towne two marble stones were used to mark the graves of the soldiers that had lain there almost 150 years with their graves unmarked. The inscription on the graves is as follows

John Bartlett August 8, 1791 Killed in action.

Unknown Soldier August 8, 1791

John Bartlett was also a veteran of the American Revolution having served as a Sergeant.

Nearly 500 local residents attended the outside memorial service to set these headstones on August 13th 1939. An exhibit to remember the history of this location was held at the Methodist Church in Hoover.There are also at least two known Miami Indian burial sites at this location . Over the years and many artifacts of both former European and Miami Indian residents have been found at this site.
Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kenapacomaqua
http://casscountyin.tripod.com/history.htm