Chief Little Turtle was born circa 1750 near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. Also known as Meshikinquah, he was both Miami and Mohican Indian by birth. By tribal consent, the half-blood became a leader of the Miami Indians, and his skill on the battlefield made him a legendary war chief. Little Turtle sided with the British during the American Revolution and guided the Indian resistance in the Ohio Country after the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. The chief helped lead two Indian victories, Harmar’s Defeat and St. Clair’s Defeat, named after the beaten leaders.

Following a defeat in 1794 at Fort Recovery, Little Turtle realized that the English, who had been aiding the Natives Americans against the settlers, no longer wanted to support their resistance. The Americans’ numbers and weapons put his people at a serious disadvantage, so Little Turtle encouraged his followers to enter peace negotiations. His fellow chiefs did not agree, however, and Little Turtle was stripped of his leadership position.

The following year, the Miami suffered defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. After the battle, the chiefs decided to seek peace with the Americans. The Treaty of Greenville was written, in which the Native American people of the area agreed to cede all but the northwestern corner of modern-day Ohio to the Americans. The treaty was signed on August 3, 1795, after two months of negotiations. Representatives from twelve Native American tribes were present, their numbers totaling 1130. Eighty-eight chiefs signed the treaty, including Little Turtle. The action officially ended the war and set boundary lines for the United States government and each tribe. It also released all prisoners, opened free passage of waterways and roads, and forbade further hostile uprisings against the United States government. It is said that when Little Turtle signed the treaty he remarked, “I was the last to agree to make this treaty; I shall be the last to break it.” Little Turtle kept his word, refusing to ever fight against the United States again even though the Americans would later break their promises in the treaty.

Little Turtle’s peacekeeping efforts soon made him famous. He traveled the East Coast and met with both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson at the capital. But while Little Turtle grew popular with the American people, he lost favor with his own tribe, many of whom were jealous of his fame. He would spend the latter part of his life encouraging his people to be peacekeepers, to abstain from alcohol and to avoid the ways of civilization, only to die of gout on July 14, 1812. He was buried with full military honors by U.S. troops in Fort Wayne.

Not long after Chief Little Turtle’s death, the small island that was named for him found itself at auction. Turtle Island had served as a fort during the Battle of 1794, but by 1827, the United States government no longer had a need for it. 6 2/3 acres in size, the parcel was auctioned in Monroe, Michigan. Edward Bissell of Lockport, New York was the highest bidder. As such he gained ownership of the deteriorated fort and island, which many believe is not an island at all, but a former extension of Little Cedar Point. Unlike the other islands in Lake Erie, Turtle Island is not made up of rock, but of clay and gravel. Bissell’s intention was to preserve the tiny island as a piece of Northwest Territory history.

Meanwhile, commerce was booming in the Toledo area. The federal government decided that the increased shipping traffic made a navigational aid near Maumee Bay necessary. The main shipping channel happened to run just south of Turtle Island, and on May 21, 1831, the government purchased the island back from Edward Bissell. The government paid $300 for the parcel. The elements had been hard on Turtle Island, and all but 1½ acres of its mass had washed away. Nevertheless, the island was important to Toledo’s future. Congress had already appropriated $5,000 to built a lighthouse there and $2,000 to combat the island’s erosion.

Philo Scovile was contracted to build the lighthouse, and soon a yellow brick and stone tower was standing 44 feet high on the north end of the island, facing south-southeast. The tower had a black lantern and eight white fixed lamps with reflectors. Even in the best of conditions, the light could be seen only as far as six miles away. Connected to the tower was a 1½ story dwelling that boasted a parlor, dining room, bedroom and kitchen. The honor of being the lighthouse’s first keeper was bestowed on Samuel Choate in 1832 because of his service during the War of 1812. He served until his sudden death of cholera in 1834 and was buried on the island by his son, Captain Seth Choate, who also died of cholera soon thereafter. Seth’s wife and two small children were left on the island alone, four miles from civilization, until a sailor rescued them when he noticed that the lighthouse was not lit.

By July of 1836, Turtle Island had eroded to less than one acre in mass. In a desperate attempt at preservation, the government implemented a plan conceived by Isaac Smith, Superintendent of Public Works in Buffalo, New York. Smith proposed a series of piles and fortifications. The end result was a smaller island, part of its sand having been used as reinforcement within the protective wall. Over the next two years, the government would spend $16,700 to keep the island intact. Luckily, Smith’s plan was successful, for additional funds would not be available until after the Civil War.

Turtle Island Lighthouse continued to operate through the next two decades. By 1857, however, its lamps and reflectors were all in terrible condition and a new lighting system was needed. A Fresnel lens seemed the best solution, and after it was installed, Turtle Island’s beam could be seen for fourteen miles.

Once the Civil War was over, Congress appropriated $12,000 to build a new light station on Turtle Island. The new tower and keeper’s dwelling were built of Milwaukee brick. The tower stood 45 feet above sea level, featured a cast-iron staircase, and was attached “church-style” to a one-and-a-half-story keeper’s dwelling, similar to the lighthouses at Marquette Harbor and Ontonagon. The tower was capped with a black lantern and retained the former lighthouse’s Fresnel lens. Access to the tower was through a door on its west side, above which the year of construction, “1866”, was carved in sandstone. On September 12 of that year, Turtle Island’s new tower shone for the first time. During the following years, a cistern, fog bell and well would be added to the station.

It seems that the lighthouse did not function solely as an aid to navigation, however, as evidenced by a 1929 story in The Toledo Blade: “Captain John Skeldon of Toledo recalls piloting, immediately after his return from the Civil War, a party of young people to the island for a dancing party on the tug GEORGE R. HAND shortly after the completion of the lighthouse. They were guests of the lightkeeper.”

Lake Erie’s elements continued to wreak havoc on Turtle Island. Storms in 1876, 1881 and 1882 caused extensive damage. The government made the necessary repairs, a project that cost $15,000. It was clear that something had to be done to protect the tiny island and its lighthouse from future storms. In 1884 a four-foot concrete wall surrounding the lighthouse was completed. A storm house, storm sashes, cellar and new boathouse were also added.

Turtle Island Lighthouse continued to serve valiantly into the twentieth century. As time passed, however, business on Lake Erie continued to boom and it became clear that the shipping lane off Turtle Island was too shallow to accommodate the large ships sailing to and from Toledo. A new light station and a deeper channel were needed.

In 1904, Toledo Harbor Lighthouse was completed. Turtle Island was decommissioned on May 15 of that year, having cost the US government over a million dollars to maintain. She had been watched over by fifteen keepers, two of them women. The last keeper was William Haynes, who served from March 29, 1875, to May 15, 1904. He is credited with having saved the lives of seven people when their boat broke up in the choppy waters surrounding Turtle Island. Mr. Haynes raised his family on Turtle Island, converting the upstairs of the keeper’s dwelling into a one-room school. All totaled, Turtle Island and its keepers served a period of seventy-two years, and not a single shipwreck was recorded during that time.

Once decommissioned, Turtle Island again found itself at public auction. This time the island boasted a beautiful building with a boathouse, an apple orchard, shrubs and a garden. The lighthouse was sold to A. H. Merrill for $1,650 on December 6, 1904. As for the lens, both it and the lighthouse’s lighting apparatus were removed and taken to the Maumee Bay ranges light station to be shipped to the Buffalo lighthouse depot. Unfortunately, no one knows what the ultimate fate of the lens was.

After being auctioned in 1904, ownership of Turtle Island changed three times. During the next thirty years, vandals destroyed the house and the tower. They took parts of the roof, inside walls, and shot out all the windows. By the late twenties, the island was the property of Captain George Craig, and The Toledo Blade reported, “Vandals have wrecked the house, stealing everything that could be salvaged from the structure except the grim, bare walls which stand as a monument to the service this light rendered for nearly half a century.”

For a brief moment during the 1930s, Turtle Island’s future looked hopeful. In 1933, the Associated Yacht Club of Toledo leased Turtle Island to establish their yacht club and harbor. The club worked hard to restore the house and refinish the tower, but ultimately decided that the island was too remote a location for many of their members.

Once abandoned by the Associated Yacht Club, Turtle Island was again at the mercy of vandals. And what people did not destroy, the Palm Sunday tornado of 1965 did. The fierce storm hit the Ohio-Michigan state line with great force and blew Turtle Island’s lantern right off the lighthouse. After the tornado, the lantern lay shattered in pieces along the concrete wall. To this day, only its iron spokes remain atop the tower.

Efforts have been made to restore Turtle Island, but the task will not be an easy one. Terry Mohn of Point Place started a not-for-profit organization to restore the light, but after a long, hard effort, he proved unsuccessful.

In 2002, Keith Fifer, leaseholder of Turtle Island, announced his plan to restore Turtle Island Lighthouse, combat the erosion, and make the island available to the public. In August of that year, authorities of Monroe County, Michigan sued Fifer to stop him from building without permits on the Michigan side of Turtle Island. In 1802, Ohio had set its boundary lines to include all of Turtle Island, but Michigan disputed the line, and the finally boundary line, which divided the island equally between the two states, was not settled until a Supreme Court decision in 1973. One month later, Fifer had secured the appropriate permits and building continued. Today, a couple of dwellings share the island with the old brick tower. Ice floes in 2009 caused substantial damage to at least one of the structures on the island.

Hopefully, Turtle Island Lighthouse will someday shine as it did many years ago, paying a fitting tribute to Chief Little Turtle.

Photo Gallery: 1 2

References

1. Turtle Island Lighthouse: The Darkened Light, B. Ellen Gardner.
2. “Little Turtle,” Ohio History Central.
3. “People from Fort Wayne's Past,” Old City Hall Museum: Local History of the FortWayne Area.
4. “Turtle Island Lighthouse,” United States Lighthouse Society.