Adams County, Ohio - Chapter 5: The Virginia Miutary District, 1900

The Virginia Military lands or the Virginia Reservation in Ohio, includes a vast portion of the State lying between the Scioto and the Little Miami Rivers. In form it may be likened to an isosceles triangle with the Ohio for the base, the Scioto and Little Miami respectively forming the sides, and the old Wyandot reservation, the apex. This region includes the fairest and richest lands within the State, and there have been formed from its territory the counties of Adams, Brown, Clermont, Highland, Clinton, Fayette, Madison and L'nion; and portions of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway. Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Logan, Clark, Champaign, Green and Warren. It covers six thousand five hundred and seventy square miles, and contains over four million acres of land.

When Adams County was erected it embraced the larger portion of the \'irginia Military lands, and from the old stockade at the **Three Islands*' where the town of Manchester now sits, the intrepid Nathaniel Massie, assisted by the Beasleys. the Washbums, the McDonalds, the Leedoms, the Wades, and the Edgingtons, braving savage beascs and more savage men, explored its remotest regions, surveying its richest valleys and most fertile plains.

McDonald, in his "Sketches,'' says: "This fine portion of our State known as the \'irginia Military District, possesses from its situation and soil many advantages. On the east and north its boundary is the Scioto River: on the west, the Little Miami, while its entire southern boundary is washed by the Ohio River for upwards of one hundred miles. The soil of this tract of country presents a greater variety, probably, than any other region of like extent in the L'nited States. In the southeastern portion the uplands extending thirty or forty miles below the mouth of the Scioto, and thirty miles north from the Ohio, are hilly and the lands poor. Below the mouth of Brush Creek, the hills along the Ohio, for a short distance from the river, are rich and heavily timbered. Further down the Ohio the extent of rich land increases to the mouth of the Little Miami. The bottoms of the Ohio, Scioto, Miami and the large tributary streams, composed of a rich and dark loamy soil, are celebrated for their fertility ; and the heavy crops annually taken from them for a succession of upwards of thirty years, without rest or renewal in any way, show that their celebrity is not without foundation. *'The middle portion of the district presents, however, the greatest variety of soil. Although the extent of bottom land along the streams is considerable, yet the greater portion is upland of good quality, on which wheat is raised in great abundance. A portion of it is level land, timbered with beech and sugar trees, and at the first settlement of the country was considered rather too flat and wet for cultivation ; but since it has been cleared and cultivated, it is justly considered very good land, alone surpassed by the rich alluvial bottoms.

**A part of the middle portion consists also of prairie or barren land, the value of which has been lately discovered to be greater than ever was suspected, as it presented, at the first settlement of the country, a marshy appearance, which, it was supposed, could not be overcome by cultivation. The industry of our inhabitants has overcome this obstacle, and the barrens are fast becoming very valuable lands. The other part of the district consists of barrens, and also of wet, flat land, timbered with beech and sugar trees, and is at this time quite unsettled. [Now these are drained and are rated very fine farming and grazing lauds.] From this variety of soil great advantages arise. In our bottoms we raise corn in great abimdance ; on our uplands, wheat and other small grains; while our barrens or prairies furnish most desirable pastures for grazing. Our quarries supply the finest building stone to be obtained, and the Brush Creek hills contain ore from which a quality of iron is obtained unsurpassed in the world."

The Virginia Military District is a product of the Revolution. It grew out of the adjustment of the claims of Virginia to portions of the Northwest Territory acquired by the United States from England under the treaty of Paris in 1783. It will be remembered that the grants of land from the English monarchs to the American Colonies, as set forth in their charters, were "from ocean to ocean," and consequently, upon the acquirement of the territory west of the Alleghenies at the close of the Revolution, the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, each claimed portions of the newly acquired territory within the alleged limits of their respective colonial grants. The claim of New York, however, was limited to "all the territory northwest of the Ohio River belonging to the Six Nations, or Iroquois Indians," from whom that State had acquired title to their lands. The sfx other States in the Confederation whose boundaries were fixed, and which were in consequence barred from claiming, as individuals, any of the newly acquired territory under the plea of extension of boundaries, contended that this territory acquired from Great Britain became the common property of all the States in the Confederation, and should be disposed of for the benefit of all under the authority of the Congress of the Confederation. And so it was, that after the awful hardships and terrible conflicts of the war just closed, in which the States vied with each other in their sacrifices of property and lives to maintain their rights and to establish the principles of liberty, one of the fruits of that victory - this newly acquired territory - very nearly brought on internecine war, and almost disrupted the Federal Union. It is truthfullv said that the history of the times of the

Revolution shows that nothing except the war itself, so deeply agitated the whole country as the question to whom properly beloneed this vast western domain, and no question so subjected the Confederation to greater peril. All the States were gjeatly straitened for means of bearing their respective portions of the expense of the war ; and all attached a very great, and probably an undue, importance to these lands as a source of revenue, or as a fund on which to obtain credit by their hypothecation. Many distinguished men arrayed themselves on different sides of this question. Mr. Hamilton, for example, held that the Confederacy or nation at large had succeeded to the rights and property of the Crown as a common fund, while Mr. Madison maintained that the States respectively had succeeded to the Crown lands within their limits, and thus the matter was carried into the Congress of the Confederation.

Congress appealed to the States to relinquish their claims to the disputed territory, and to cede it to the Confederation for the benefit of all the States. Under the powerful influence of Hamilton, New York, whose claims were not so well established as those of the other States above referred to, authorized her delegates in Congress to restrict her western boundary by such limits as the>' might deem expedient. The conciliatory course adopted by New York was followed by the other States, and finally, under the Ordinance of 1787, this vexed question was brought to a happy termination. But in their deeds of cession to the Congress of the Confederation. Connecticut and Virginia each provided for a large "reservation*' of lands in the territory northwest of the Ohio River ; the former a large tract known as the **\Vestem Reserve," for the benefit of her citizens who suffered from Tory raids, and for the purpose of establishing a common school fund ; the latter for the purpose of making good her promises of bounties in lands to her soldiers in the Revolution.

The Commonwealth of Virginia during the Revolution had raised two descriptions of troops - State and Continental - to the latter of which she had promised large bounties of **good lands on the Cumberland, between the Green and Tennessee Rivers'* in her territory southwest of the Ohio River. Rut anticipating that there would be a deficiency of good lands in that reservation, in order to provide against such an emergency, when she deeded her interest in the Northwest Territory to Congress, she prudently reserved the tract between the Scioto and the Little Miami, since known as the ^'Virginia Military Lands," to fulfill all her obligations to her soldiers of the Continental line.

The act of cession of Virginia was passed by the Legislature of that State, October 20, 1783, and the ceded territory was adopted by act of Congress March 1, 1784. The reservation above refered to in the deed of cession is as follows :

"That in case the quantity of good lands on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon the Cumberland River, and between the Green River and the Tennessee River, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops of the Continental establishment, should, from the North Carolina line bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the deficiency should be made up to the said troops in good lands to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and the Little Miami, on the northwest side of the

August I, 1784, Gen. Robert C. Anderson, grandfather oi Major Anderson, of Fort Sumpter fame, who had been appointed principal surveyor of these lands, opened an office in Louisville, Kentucky, for the reception of entries and surveys upon warrants issued to the Virginia soldiers of the Continental line. These warrants could be laid by the original grantees or by some one to whom they had been legally assigned. And as many of the soldiers to whom these warrants were granted had not the means or inclination to locate them, from the great hardships to be endured and the risk and danger from Indian attacks after crossing west of the Alleghenies, there sprung up a class of land jobbers who bought these warrants and employed deputy surveyors to locate them. The deputy surveyors themselves became speculators in lands through the purchase of warrants or by taking an agreed portion of the lands entered and surveyed by them. Sometimes they would get as much as one-half of a survey for their services. Or, if paid in money, the usual terms were £10 Virginia currency for each 1,000 acres entered and surveyed exclusive of chainmen's expenses.

At that period lands were abundant and cheap, and it was the practice to give "full measure'' in the location of warrants ; and if the deputy surveyor had a contract for one-fourth or one-half of the lands located, the "measure would be full and overflowing" for a certainty, as he would get, besides his agreed share, the surplus. It is said of General Lytle, a famous frontiersman and a noted surveyor and land speculator of the times, that he made many of his surveys on horseback, and never troiibled himself to thread thickets or to cross fallen timbers, but that he would conveniently ride around such obstacles.

Previous to the year 1787, the warrants issued troops of the Continental line were laid on lands upon the Cumberland, between the Creen and Tennessee Rivers. But early in that year it became apparent to General Anderson, that there would be a deficiency of good lands in that reservation, and he accordingly established in his office, August i, 1787, a bureau for the reception of entries and surveys in the reservation northwest of the Ohio. This region had been cautiously explored by Kenton, Davis, Helm, Fox, O'Bannon and other frontiersmen, who painted fine pictures of the beauty of the region, and related wonderful stories of its abundance of game and great fertility of soil. This, together with the fact that Congress had just enacted an ordinance providing for a most liberal and enlightened code of laws for the government of the Territory in which the reservation was situated, caused hundreds of holders of the military warrants to anxiously turn to this eldorado of the West. But the ever-vigilant and revengeful savages of the Territory stood as a bar to its entrance. From their look-outs on the Ohio, they scrutinized every pirogue that passed over its waters, and reckoned the military strength of every armed foe that threatened their shores. None but the most experiencetl Indian fighters dared enter the region with hope of returning alive- Under these difficnhies the early surreys in the Mrginia Reservation were made, and it was not until aher the treaty ot Greenville that the danger of assault from the savages was removed.

The first survey made in the district was that of Jc^n 0*Bannon of lands upon which the village of Xeville, in what is now Clermont County, is situated. This was on the thirteenth day of November, 1787. Two days later he made a number of surveys on Three Mile, in Sprigg Township, and one of i/xx> acres for Philip Slaughter, opposite Limestone, and on the ijih surveyed 1,000 acres at the mouth <A Eagle Creek lor M'ice Qements. The entry of this survey is said to have been the first made within the district, it having been recorded on the day of the opening of the reservation, August i, 1787. The survey made by O'Bannon opposite Limestone, and the one at the mouth of Eagle Creek, were of lands within the limits of Adams Cotmtv until the formation of Brown Countv in 1818.

On July 17, 1788, Congress, by resolution, declared all the entries and surveys pmiously made in this district in^-alid for the reason that General Anderson acted without authority of law in opening the reservation, as it had not been officially ascertained that there was a deficiencv of lands in the Cumberland Reser\ation. This was a bitter disappomtment to those who had endured severest hardships and risked life itself to lav the foundation of their future homes in this choice region of the Northwest Territory. But this galling resolution was repealed August 10, 1790, by an act of Congress which declared the Cumberland Reser\'ation insufficient, and immediately thereafter entries and surveys were made in the new resenation as rapidly as conditions would permit.

The principal deputy surveyors in this district, and most of whom made surveys in Adams Countv. were John O'Bannon, Arthur Fox, Nathaniel Massie, John Beasley. William L\tle, Cadwallader Wallace, Allen Latham, Robert Tod. Benjamin Hough, Joseph Riggs, E. V. Kendrick. James Taylor, Joseph Kerr, James Poage, John Ellison, John Barriit, William Robe and G. \insonhaler. Of all these Nathaniel Massic is probably the most distinguished.

In the winter of 1790, after Congress had declared this reservation open for entries and surveys upon proper warrants, Nathaniel Massie, with a few brave spirits, made the first settlement in the district at the "Three Islands," where Manchester, in Adams County, is now situated. Here they erected rude cabins for shelter on the banks of the Ohio,oppositc the lower of the three islands, and enclosed them with strong pickets driven into the ground, forming a rude kind of stockade as a means <)\ protection from attacks of the Indians.

From this stockade, or Station, as it was called, Massie and his chosen assistants ventured forth into the unbroken wilderness, carefully exploring the principal water-courses, noting the most desirable situations and making surveys and entries of the best lands.

These excursions were full of peril ; but the "plan adopted by Massie," says McDonald, *'was such as to insure the greatest possible security. He usually had three assistant surveyors; each surveyor, including himself, was accompanied by six men, which made a mess of seven, and the whole party would amount to twenty-eight. Every man had his prescribed duty to perform. Their operations were conducted in this manner : In front went the hunter, who kept in advance of the surveyor two or three hundred yards, looking for game and prepared to give notice should any danger from Indians threaten. Then followed, after the surveyor, the two chainmen, marker, and pack-horse man with the baggage, who always kept near each other, to be prepared for defense, in case of an attack. Lastly, two or three hundred yards in the rear, came a man, called the spy, whose duty it was to keep on the back trail and look out, lest the party in advance might be pursued and attacked by surprise. Each man, the surveyor not excepted, carried his rifle, his blanket, and such other articles as he might stand in need of. On the pack-horse were carried the cooking utensils and such provisions as could be most conveniently taken. Nothing like bread was thought of. Some salt was taken, to be used sparingly. For subsistence, they depended on the game which the woods afforded, procured by their unerring rifles.

"When night came, four fires were made for cooking; that is, one for each mess. Around these fires, till sleeping time arrived, the company spent their time in social glee, singing songs and telling stories. When danger was not apparent or immediate, they were as merry a set of men as ever assembled. Resting time arriving, ^lassie always gave the signal, and the whole party would leave their comfortable fires, and carrying with them their blankets, their firearms, and their little baggage, walking in perfect silence two or three hundred yards from their fires. They would then scrape away the snow, and huddle down together for the night. Each mess formed one bed ; they would spread down on the ground one-half of the blankets, reserving the other half for covering. The covering blankets were fastened together with skewers, to prevent them from slipping apart. Thus prepared, the whole party crouched dovrn together with their rifles in their arms, and their pouches under their heads for pillows ; lying "spoon-fashion,'' with three heads one way and four the other, their feet extending to the middle of their bodies. When one turned, the whole mess turned, or else the close range would be broken, and the cold let in. In this way they lay till broad daylight, no noise, and scarcely a whisper being- uttered during the night, When it was perfectly light, Massie* would call up two of the men in whom he had the most confidence and send them to reconnoiter, and make a circuit around the fires, lest an ambuscade might be formed by the Indians to destroy the party as they returned to the fires. This was

From the opening of this reservation in 1790 until 1871, the time for making entries and surveys was repeatedly fixed by act of Congress and then extended from time to time, as is shown by the following epitome of laws bearing upon the subject : be released from claim under Virginia warrants. 1807. Time extended four years. 1810. Five years allowed for obtaining and locating warrants, and making returns. 1821. Time of location extended two years, and returns five years. 1823. Two years additional for locating warrants, and four returning surveys. 1830. Time for issuing Virginia warrants extended to 1832. 1838. Time extended. 1841. Time further extended. 1850. Time again extended. 1855. Time extended for returning survey.

As shown above, the unsurveyed and unappropriated lands in the district were by Act of Congress, February 18, 1871, granted to the State of Ohio with the provision that each settler on these lands should have the privilege of pre-empting, under such restrictions as the Legislature might provide, any number of acres not in excess of one hundred and sixty. This grant was accepted by the State in March, 1872, and then conveyed to the Agricultural and Mechanical College, since styled the Ohio State University, at Columbus. At the following session of the Legislature, it was enacted that the Trustees of the College should survey, set off, and convey to each such settler forty acres at the cost of the survey and deed only. And it was further provided that each such settler might demand and require the said Trustees to set off and convey to him one hundred and twenty acres additional or such proportion of that amount as such settler might have in actual possession, at the cost of one dollar per acre.

Under the act of 1872, the courts held that not only the title to "unsurveyed*' lands in the district, but to all "unpatented" lands where the survey was not returned to the General Land Office before January i, 1852. passed to the College. This was remedied by the act of 1893, which provided for proof of occupancy for more than twenty-one years, and an exhibit of the deed under which such occupant claimed possession; Board of Trustees to make deed, for which occupant should pay two dollars.

In the winter of 1794-5, Nathaniel Massie and his assistant surveyors, Nathaniel Beasley, John Beasley and Peter Lee, together with about twenty-five chainmen, markers, hunters and spies, set out from Manchester to locate lands on Tod's fork of the Little Miami and the head waters of Paint Creek. After several weeks' work without interruption from the Indians, the party had turned from the waters of the Miami and were slowly moving toward the waters of Paint Creek, making choice locations and noting the topographical aspect of the region lying between Caesar's Creek and Rattlesnake fork of Paint. Late one evening the party discovered tracks of Indians in the snow. A hasty reconnoiter of the vicinity was made, and a party of Indians was discovered encamped a short distance away. As the Indians greatly outnumbered the surveying party, it was deemed prudent to withdraw toward Manchester as speedily as possible. The party traveled till ten or eleven o'clock that night before going into camp. The next morning, fearing pursuit if their trail should be discovered by the Indians, they broke camp before daylight and hurriedly marched toward home. About noon they struck a fresh trail made by Indians, some mounted and others afoot. As they were evidently inferior in point of numbers, to the surveying party, it was determined to follow the trail, as it led in the direction of Brush Creek and the Ohio River. The trail was cautiously followed until evening, when the Indians were discovered making preparations for the night's encampment. This was on the waters of Clear Creek, in what is now Highland County. In his "Life of General Massie," in noting this expedition, Col. McDonald says : "It was put to a vote whether the Indian camp should be attacked immediately, or whether they should postpone it till daylight. A majority were for lying by and attacking them in daylight. Two or three men were then sent to reconnoiter their camp and bring away their horses. The horses were brought away, and preparations made to lie by for the night. Massie, who was more thoughtful than the rest of the company, began to reflect on the critical situation of the party. He told them he did not approve of the idea of lying by until morning, as there was no doubt they were rapidly pursued by the Indians from the head of Caesar's Creek, and that by waiting until morning the pursuing Indians might come up in the course of the night, and when daylight appeared they would find themselves between two fires. He said it was true the Indians might be more effectually destroyed in daylight, but it was dangerous to loiter away their time on a retreat, and advised that whatever they did to the Indians should be done quickly, and the march continued toward home. It was resolved to follow his advice.

"It was about two hours in the night when this occurred. The day had been warm, and had melted the snow, which was eight inches deep, and quite soft on the top. At night it began to freeze rapidly, and by this time there was a hard crust on the top. In this situation, the crust, when broken by a man walking on a calm night, could be heard at a distance of three hundred yards. Massie, under these circumstances, prepared to attack the Indians forthwith. The men were formed in a line, in single file, with their wiping sticks in their hands to steady them when walking. They then commenced moving toward the Indian camp in the following manner : The foremost would walk about twenty steps and halt ; then the next in the line would move on, stepping in the tracks of the foremost to prevent any noise when breaking the crust of the snow. In this cautious and silent manner, they crept within about twenty-five yards of the Indian encampment, when an unexpected interruption presented itself ; a deep ravine was found between Massie and the camp, which was not perceived by the reconnoitering party. The Indians had not yet lain down to rest, but were singing and amusing themselves around their fires in the utmost self-security, not dreaming of danger in their own country in the depth of winter. The bank of the ravine concealed Massie and his men,who were on low ground, from the light of the Indian fires. After halting for a few minutes on the bank of the ravine, Massie discovered, a few paces above him, a large log which had fallen across the ravine. On this log he determined to cross the gully. Seven or eight of the men, on their hands and knees, had crossed, and were within not more than twelve or fifteen paces of the Indians, crouching low, and turning to the right and left, when too many men at the same time got on the log; and as it was old and rotten, it broke with a loud crash. This startled the Indians. The whites who had crossed over before the log broke, immediately fired into the Indian camp, shouting as they ran. The Indians fled, naked, and without their arms. No Indian was killed in the camp, although their clothing and blankets were found stained with blood. No attempt was made to pursue them. Their camp was plundered of their horses and arms, making altogether considerable booty. The party traveled that night and until noon the next day, when they halted to cook some provisions and rest their wearied limbs. After taking some refreshments, they loitered about the fires a short time, and again commenced their march through snow and brush, and about midnight of the second day, arrived at Manchester after a fatiguing march of two days and nights from the head of Caesar's Creek.

**On the last day of their march, about a mile north of where West Union now stands, one of the men who carried a bag of Indian plunder, and rode one of the horses,dropped the bag and did not miss it until they arrived at Manchester. Some time in the succeeding day, two of the men took fresh horses and rode back on the trail to look for the bag. They found the bag some distance south of the brow of the hill, and concluded they would go to the brow and look over for deer. When they reached it, they were astonished to find the spot where a large- party of Indians had followed the trail to the top of the hill, and then stopped to eat their breakfast, leaving some bones and sinewy jerk that was too hard to eat. Had the Indians pursued the trail one hundred yards further, they would have found the bag and lain in ambush for the whites to return, and would doubtless have killed or taken prisoners the men who returned for the bag. This was truly a narrow escape."

The hill on which the Indians had encamped, and on which the bag of lost plunder was recovered, referred to above, is the elevation on the farm now owned by S. R. Stroman, about one mile to the north of West Union, on the line of Tod's Trace, which was the line of travel followed by the various expeditions from Maysville and Manchester to the Paint Creek region prior to the location of Zane's Trace in 1796.

The largest entry and sun-ey is Xo. 798 on Warrant Xo. 76, in the name of Thomas Hill, in what is now Liberty To^nTiship, on Hill's Fork of Eagle Creek. This survey contained 5.333 1-3 acres, and was made by Arthur Fox in 1793.

The longest sur\'ey is Entr\' Xo. 491, in the name of Charles Scott, in Green Township. It contains 2,000 acres, and extends from Sandy Springs along the Ohio River bottom to the mouth of Ohio Brush Creek. It is eig^t miles long and but one-half mile in average width. Made by Massie, April 10, 1793.

The most irregular survey is Xo. 14,354. for Cadwallader Wallace, on Warrant Xo. 8677. The sun-ey was made by A. D. Kendrick in 185 1, and contains 2,000 acres. It is in Jefferson Township.

Xo. 1581 was entered on February 2, 1788, by Robert Todd. It covered 1,000 acres in what is now Tiffin Township, near West Union. The Trotter land is embraced within this sur\'ey, and was originally the finest and richest upland in Adams County. It was heavily timbered with the largest yellow poplars and sugar trees. Some of the poplar trees were over eight feet in diameter.

Warrant Xo. i was issued to Richard Askren, and is Ento- Xo. 1426 for 100 acres on Eagle Creek, Sprigg Township, and was surveyed by John O'Bannon, Xovember 20, 1787.

Among the chainmen and "markers" for O'Bannon were John Xealey. J. Britton, Sylvester Munroney, George Abed, William Hood, William Christie, John Williams, Thomas Palmer and Josiah Stout.

For Arthur Fox were William Leedom, George Edg^ngton, Robert Smith, Duncan McKenzie, James Thompson, Robert Walton, James McCutlin and John Reed.

For Massie were John Mclntyre. Edward Walden, Zephaniah Wade, William Colvin, William Campbell. Thomas Kirker, Duncan McArthur, David Lovejoy, John Riggs. John Beasley, John Yochum and Xathaniel Hart.

The following list contains all the land patents on record in Adams County, so far as can be learned from the record books in the Recorder's office: