Bloody Rock Tragedy

Incident In The History Of the Maumee Valley

Roche de Boeuf, one of the most historic spots in the vicinity of Bowling Green, O., is fast becoming a prey to the swift currents of the Maumee river, and not many years hence the famous rock will have been washed into the bay and its romantic and interesting history be only tradition. This small island, or huge rock, is located about a mile above the little village of Waterville in the Maumee river between Wood and Lucas counties.

The event which made this place memorable was one of the most sanguine that appear on the blood stained pages of the early history of the Maumee valley. In frenzied struggle nearly an entire Indian nation was wiped off the earth one fair autumn day on the place, and on the mainland near by a huge Indian burying ground testifies to the truth of the soul harrowing tale.

In the dawn of civilization in this section this huge rock was named by the French settlers Roche de Boeuf. The Indians were numerous at that time.

One day in the hazy Indian summer the Ottawas and the Pottawattamies gathered at this place to celebrate the feast of corn. The fore part of the day was spent merrily, and the Indian carnival was at its height when occurred the accident which cost so many savage lives. A papoose, whose mother had set it down on the grass, fell over the bank of the island into the stream and was swept to its death.

The father of the babe, standing near, saw the accident and, incensed that the mother should have been so careless, with a whoop, sank his tomahawk into the brain of the grief stricken mother and, pushing her over the bank, said, "Follow the child!"

A relative of the unfortunate squaw stood near and, seizing an ax, brained the murderer of the woman and threw his corpse into the swiftly rushing stream. Member from both families then closed in deadly conflict, and the slaughter was awful. The island was crowded, and the contest was hand to hand, featured with every kind of savage ferocity, and quarter was neither given nor asked.

The waters of the Maumee on this day were red with blood, and not many years ago there were those alive whose eyes had seen the crimson current of the stream dyed with the blood of the flower of Indian chivalry. Almost an entire nation perished at this battle, and only the timely intervention of the aged sachems of both tribes saved what few remained. The dead braves whose bodies had not been swept down the river and out into the Maumee bay were buried on the mainland near the island, and there to this day arrow heads and other Indian things can be found by digging a few feet beneath the surface of the earth.

The swiftly rushing current of the Maumee and the large packs of ice that come down the river each spring have worn away the rocky island until only a narrow strip remains of what was quite a goodly island, though small. Trees and brush have grown over the surface of the rock, but a few years hence and it will be no more. This historic place is rarely visited because of its isolation, as it were, from the other objects of historic interest which are nearer the mouth of the river and easier to view.