Fayette County, Ohio - Chapter 10: The War for the Empire. Its Loss to the French, 1881 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 10: The War for the Empire. Its Loss to the French

The English not only disputed the right of the French to the fnr trade, but denied their title to the valley of the Mississippi, which lay west of their American colonies on the Atlantic coast. The grants from the British crown conveyed to the chartered proprietors all of the country lying between certain parallels of latitude, according to the location of the several grants, and extending westward to the South Sea, as the Pacific was then called. Seeing the weakness of such a claim to vast tracts of country, upon which no Englishman had ever set his foot, they obtained deeds of cession from the Iroquois Indians - the dominant tribe east of the Mississippi - who claimed all of the county between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi by conquest from the several Algonquin tribes, who occupied it. On the 13th of July, 1701, the sachems of the Five Nations conveyed to "William III, King of Great Britain, " their beaver hunting grounds northwest and west of Albany," including a broad strip on the south side of Lake Erie, all of the present states of Michigan, Ohio' and Indiana, and Illinois as far west as the Illinois River, claiming " that their ancestors did, more than fourscore years before, totally conquer subdue and drive the former occupants out of that country, and had' peaceable and quiet possession of the same, to hunt beavers in, it being the only chief place for hunting in that part of the world," etc. The Iroquois, for themselves and heirs, granted the English crown " the whole soil, the lakes, the rivers, and all things pertaining to said tract of land, with power to erect forts and castles there," only reserving to the grantors and " their descendants forever the right of hunting upon the same," in which privilege the grantee "was expected to protect them." The grant of the Iroquois was confirmed to the British crown by deeds of renewal in 1726 and 1744. The reader will have observed, from what has been said in the preceding chapters upon the Illinois and Miamis and Pottawatomies relative to the pretended conquests of the Iroquois, how little merit there was in the claim they set up to the territory in question. Their war parties only raided upon the country - they never occupied it ; their war parties, after doing as much mischief as they could, returned to their own country as rapidly as they came. Still their several deeds to the English crown were a " color of title" on which the latter laid great stress, and paraded at every treaty with other powers, where questions involving the right to this territory were a subject of discussion.

The war for the fur trade expanded into a struggle for empire that convulsed both continents of America and Europe. The limit assigned this work forbids a notice of the principal occurrences in the progress of the French-Colonial War, as most of the military movements in that contest were outside of the territory we are considering. There were, however, two campaigns conducted by troops recruited in the northwest, and these engagements will be' noticed. We believe they have not heretofore been compiled as fully as their importance would seem to demand.

In 1758 Gen. Forbes, with about six thousand troops, advanced against Fort Do Quesne. In mid-September the British troops had only reached Loyabhannon, where they raised a fort. " Intelligence had been received that Fort Du Quesne was defended by but eight hundred men, of whom three hundred were Indians," and Major Grant, commanding eight hundred Higlilanders and a company of Virginians, was sent toward the French fort. On the third day's march Grant had arrived within two miles of Fort Du Quesne. Leaving his baggage there, he took position on a hill, a quarter of a mile from the fort, and encamped.

Grant, who was not aware that the garrison had been reinforced by the arrival of Mons. Aubry, commandant at Fort Chartes, with four hundred men from the Illinois country, determined on an ambuscade. At break of day, Major Lewis was sent, with four hundred men, to lie in ambush a mile and a half from the main body, on the path on which they left their baggage, imagining the French would send a force to attack the baggage guard and seize it. Four hundred men were posted along tlie hill facing the fort to cover the retreat of Mac Donald's company, which marched with drums beating toward the fort, in order to draw a party out of it, as Major Grant had reason to believe there were, including Indians, only two hundred men within it.

M. de Ligneris, commandant at Fort Du Quesne, at once assembled seven or eight hundred men, and gave the commnnd to M. Aubry. The French sallied out of the fort, and tlie Indians, who had crossed the river to keep out of the way of the British, returned and made a flank movement. Aubry, by a. rapid movement, attacked tlie different divisions of the English, and completely routed and dispersed them. The force under Major Lewis was compelled to give away. Being flanked, a number were driven into the river, most of whom were drowned. The English lost two hundred and seventy killed, fortytwo wounded, and several prisoners ; among the latter was Grant.

On the 22d of September M. Aubry left Fort Du Quesne, with a force of six hundred French and Indians, intending to reconnoitre the position of the English at Loyal-hannon.

" He found a little camp in front of some intrenchments which would cover a body of two thousand men. The advance guard of the French detachment having been discovered, the English sent a captain and fifty men to reconnoitre, who fell in with the detachment and were entirely defeated. In following the fugitives the French fell upon this camp, and surprised and dispersed it.

" The fugitives scarcely gained the principal intrenchment, which M. Aubry held in blockade two days. He killed two hundred horses and cattle." The French returned to Fort Du Quesne mounted. " The English lost in the engagement one Injndred and fifty men, killed, wounded and missing. The French loss was two killed and seven wounded."

The Louisiana detachment, which took the principal part in both of these battles, was recruited from the French posts in " The Illinois," and consisted of soldiers taken from the garrison in that territory, and the couretirs des hois, traders and settlers in their respective neighborhoods. It was the first battalion ever raised within the limits of the present states of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. After the action of Loyal-hannon, "the Louisiana detachment, as well as those from Detroit, returned home."

Soon after their departure, and on the 24th of November, the French abandoned Fort Du Quesne. Pouchot says : " It came to pass that by blundering at Fort Du Quesne the French were obliged to abandon it for want of provisions." This may have been the true reason for the abandonment, but doubtless the near approach of a large English army, commanded by Gen. Forbes, had no small influence in accelerating their movements. The fort was a mere stockade, of small dimensions, and not suited to resist the attacks of artillery.

Having burnt the stockade and storehouses, the garrison separated. One hundred retired to Presque Isle, by land. Two hundred, by way of the Alleghany, went to Yenango. The remaining hundred des- cended tlie Ohio. About forty miles above its confluence witli the Mississippi, and on a beautiful eminence on the north bank of the river, they erected a fort and named it Fort Massac, in honor of the commander, M. Massac, who superintended its construction. This Avas the last fort erected by the French on the Ohio, and it was occupied by a garrison of French troops until the evacuation of the country under the stipulations of the treaty of Paris. Such was the origin of Fort Massac, divested of the romance which fable has thrown around its name.

On the day following the evacuation the English took peaceaj^le possession of the smoking ruins of Fort Du Quesne. They erected a temporary fortification, named it Fort Pitt, in honor of the great English statesman of that name, and leaving two hundred men as a garrison, retired over the mountains.

On the 5th of December, 1758, Thomas Pownall, governor of Massachusetts Bay Province, addressed a memorial to the British Ministry, suggesting that there should be an entire change in the method of carr3^ing on the war. Pownall stated that the French were superior in battles fought in the wilderness ; that Canada never could be conquered by land campaigns ; that the proper way to succeed in the reduction of Canada would be to make an attack on Quebec by sea, and thus, by cutting off supplies from the home government, Canada would be starved out.

Pitt, if he did not act on the recommendations of Governor Pownall, at least had similar views, and the next year (1759), in accordance with this plan. General Wolfe made a successful assault on Quebec, and from that time, the supplies and reinforcements from the home government being cut off, the cause of the French in Canada became almost hopeless.

During this year the French made every effort to stir up the Indians north of the Ohio to take the tomahawk and scalping-knife in hand, and make one more attempt to preserve the northwest for the joint occupancy of the Gallic and American races. Emissaries were sent to Lake Erie, Detroit, Mackinaw, Ouiatanon, Yincennes, Kaskaskia and Fort Chartes, loaded with presents and ammunition, for the purpose of collecting all those stragglers who had not enterprise enough to go voluntarily to the seat of war. Canada was hard pressed for soldiers ; the English navy cut off most of the reinforcements from France, while the English, on the contrary, were constantly receiving troops from the mother country.

Change Of Wae Plan 111

hundred men from the " Illinois country " to follow him eastward. Taking with him two hundred thousand pounds of flour, he embarked his heterogeneous force in bateaux and ca,noes. The route by way of the Ohio was closed ; the English were in possession of its headwaters. He went down the Mississippi, thence up the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash. Having ascended the latter stream to the Miami villages, near the present site of Fort Wayne, his followers made the portage, passed down the Maumee, and entered Lake Erie, »

During the whole course of their journey they were being constantly reinforced by bands of different tribes of Indians, and by Canadian militia as they passed the several posts, until the army wag augmented to sixteen hundred men, of whom there were six hundred French and one thousand Indians. An eye-witness, in speaking of the appearance of the force, said : " When they passed the little rapid at the outlet of Lake Ei-ie (at Buffalo) the flotilla appeared like a floating island, as the river was covered with their bateaux and canoes."

Aubry was compelled to leave his flour and provisions at the Miami portage. He afterward requested M. de Port-neuf, commandant at Presque Isle, to take charge of the portage, and to send it constantly in his bateaux.

Before Aubry reached Presque Isle he was joined by other bodies of Indians and Canadians from the region of the upper lakes. They were under the command of French traders and commandants of interior posts. At Fort Machault he was joined by M. de Lignery ; the latter had assembled the Ohio Indians at Presque Isle. It was the original intention of Aubry to recapture Fort Du Quesne from the English. On the 12th of July a grand council was held at Fort Machault, in which the commandant thanked the Indians for their attendance, threw down the war belt, and told them he would set out the next day for Fort Du Quesne. Soon after messengers arrived with a packet of letters for the ofticers. After reading them Aubry told the Indians : " Children, I have received bad news ; the English are gone against Niagara. We must give over thoughts of going down the river to Fort Du Quesne till we have cleared that place of the enemy. If it should be taken, our road to you is stopped, and you must become poor." Orders were immediately given to proceed with the artillery, provisions, etc., up French Creek, and the Indians prepared to follow."

stated that he was besieged by a much superior force of English and Indians, who were under the command of General Predeaux and Sir William Johnson, Aubry answered these letters on the next day, and said he thought they might fight the enemy successfully, and compel them to raise the siege. The Indians who brought these messages to Pouchot informed him that they, on the part of the Indians with Aubry and Lignery, had offered the Iroquois and other Indian allies of the English five war belts if they would retire. These promised that they would not mingle in the quarrel. "We will here recall the fact that Pouchot, by his letter of the 10th, had notified Lignery and Aubry that the enemy might be four or five thousand strong without the Indians, and if they could put themselves in condition to attack so large a force, he should pass Chenondac to come to Niagara by the other side of the river, where he would be in condition to drive the English, who were only two hundred strong on that side, and could not easily be reinforced. This done, they could easily come to him, because after the defeat of this body they could send bateaux to bring them to the fort."

M. Pouchot now recalled his previous request, and informed Aubry that the enemy were in three positions, in one of which there were three thousand nine hundred Indians. He added, could Aubry succeed in driving the enemy from any of these positions, he had no doubt they would be forced to raise the siege.

Aubry's route was up French Creek to its head waters, thence making the portage to Presque Isle and sailing along the shores of Lake Erie until he reached Niagara. Arriving at the foot of Lake Erie he left one hundred and fifty men in charge of his canoes, and with the remainder advanced toward Niagara. Sir William Johnsoti was informed, on the evening of the 23d, of this advance of the French, and ordered his light infantry and pickets to take post on the left, on the road between Niagara Falls and the fort ; and these, after reinforcing them with grenadiers and parts of the 46th and 44th regiments, were so arranged as to effectually support the guard left in the trenches. Most of his men were concealed either in the trenches or by trees.

On the tnorning of the 24th the French made their appearance. They were marching along a path about eight feet wide, and " were in readiness to fight in close order and without ranks or files." On their right were thirty Indians, who formed a front on the enemy's left. The Indians of the English army advanced to speak to those of the French. Seeing the Iroquois in the latter's company, the French

Indians refused to advance, under pretext that they were at peace with the first named. Though thus abandoned by their chief force, Aubry and Lignery still proceeded on their way, thinking that a few savages they saw were isolated men, till they reached a narrow pathway, when they discovered great numbers beyond. The English Indians then gave the war whoop and the action commenced. The English regulars attacked the French in front, while the Indians poured in on their flank. Thus surprised by an ambuscade, and deserted by their savage allies, the French proved easy victims to the prowess of far superior numbers. Tliey were assailed in front and rear by two thousand men. The rear of the column, unable to resist, gave way, and left the head exposed to the enemy's fire, which crushed it entirely. An Indian massacre followed, and the pursuit of the victors continued until they were compelled to desist by sheer fatigue. Almost all the French ofiicers were killed, wounded or taken prisoners. Among the latter was Aubry. Those who escaped joined M. Rocheblave, and with his detachment retreated to Detroit and other western lake posts.

This defeat on the shores of Lake Erie was very severe on the struggling western settlements. Most of all the able bodied men had gone to Aubry, many never to return. In 1Y60 M. de MacCarty, commandant at Fort Chartes, in a letter to Marquis Vaudreuil, stated that " the garrison was weaker than ever before, the check at Niagara having cost him the elite of his men."

It is apparent, from the desertion of Aubry by his savage allies, that they perceived tliat the English were certain to conquer in the end. They felt no particular desire to prop a falling cause, and thus deserted Mons. Aubry at the crisis when their assistance was most needed. Thus was defeated the greatest French-Indian force ever collected in the northwest.

After the surrender of Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, the Indian allies of France retired to the deep recesses of the western forests, and the English frontiers suffered no more from their depredations. Settlements were gradually formed on the western side of the Alleghanies, and they remained secure from Indian invasions.

In the meantime many Canadians, becoming satisfied that the con quest of Canada was only a mere question of time, determined, before that event took place, to remove to the French settlements on tlie lower. Mississippi. '" Many of them accordingly departed from Canada

After the surrender of Quebec, in 1759, Montreal became the headquarters of the Freneli in Canada, and in the spring of 1760 Mons. Levi, the French commander-in-chief, besieged Quebec. The arrival of an English fleet compelled him to relinquish his designs. Amherst and Johnson formed a junction, and advanced against Montreal. The French governor of Canada, Marquis Yaudreuil, believing that further resistance was impossible, surrendered all Canada to the English. This included the western posts of Detroit, Mackinaw, Fort Miami, Ouiatanon, Yincennes, Fort St. Joseph, etc.

After this war ceased to be waged in America, though the treaty of Paris was not concluded until February, 1763, the most essential parts of which are contained in the following extracts :

" In order to establish peace on solid and durable foundations, and to remove forever all subjects of dispute with regard to the limits of the British and French territories on the continent of America, it is agreed that for the future the confines between the dominions of his Britannic Majesty and those of His Most Christian Majesty in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi from its source to the Eiver Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river and the Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea ; and for this purpose the most Christian King cedes, in full right, and guarantees to his Britannic Majesty, the river and port of Mobile, and everything which he possesses, or ought to possess, on the left side of the Mississippi, with the exception of the town of JSTew Orleans and of the island on which it is situated; it being well understood that the navigation of the Mississippi shall be equally free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole length and l^readth, from its source to the sea."

Thus Gallic rule came to an end in North America. Its downfall M'as the result of natural causes, and was owing largely to the difference between the Frenchmen and the Englishmen. The former, as a rule, gave no attention to agriculture, but found occupation in hunting and trading with the Indians, acquiring nomadic habits that unfitted them for the cultivation of the soil ; their families dwelt in villages separated by wide stretches of wilderness. While the able men were hunting and trading, the old men, women and children produced scanty crops sown in " common fields," or inclosures of a piece of ground which were portioned off among the families of a village. The Englishman, on the other hand, loved to own land, and pushed his improvements from the coast line up through all the valleys extending westward. Reaching the summit of the Alleghanies, the tide of emigration flowed into the valleys beyond. Every cabin was a fort, every advancing farm a new line of intrenehment. The distinguishing characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon is consistency and firmness in his designs, and, more than all, his love for a home. In the trials and hardships necessarily connected with the opening ujj of the wilderness these traits come prominently into play. The result was, that the English colonies prospered in a degree hitherto unknown in the annals of the world's progress. And by way of contrast, how little did the French have to show in the way of lasting improvements in the northwest after it had been in their possession for nearly a century !

However, the very traits that disqualified the Gaul as a successful colonist gave him a pre-eminent advantage over the Anglo-Saxon in the influence he exerted upon the Indian. He did not want their lands ; he fi'aternized with them, adopted their ways, and flattered and pleased them. The Anglo-Saxon wanted their lands. From the start he was clamorous for deeds and cessions of territory, and at once began crowding the Indian out of the country. " The Iroquois told Sir William Johnson that they believed soon they should not be able to hunt a bear into a hole in a tree but some Englishman would claim a right to the property of it, as being found in his tree."

The happiness which the Indians enjoyed from their intercourse with the French was their perpetual theme ; it was their golden age. '" Those who are old enough to remember it speak of it with rapture, and teach their children to venerate it, as the ancients did the reign of Saturn. ' You call us your children,' said an aged chief to General Harrison, ' why do you not make us happy, as our fathers the French did? They never took from us our lands, which, indeed, were in common between us. They planted where they pleased, and cut wood where they pleased, and so did we ; but now, if a poor Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree as his own.' ".

After the Indians had submitted to English rule the west enjoyed a period of quiet. When the American colonists, long complaining against the oppressive acts of the mother country, broke out into open revolt, and the war of the revolution fairly began, the English, from the westward posts of Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, incited the Indians against the frontier settlements, and from these depots supplied their war parties with guns and ammunition. The depredations of the Indians in Kentucky were so severe that in the fall of 1T77 George Rogers Clark conceived, and next year executed, an expedition against the French settlements of Kaskaskia and Yincennes, which not only relieved Kentucky from the incursions of the savages, but at the same time resulted in consequences which are without parallel in the annals of the Northwest.

The account here given of Clark's campaign in "the Illinois" is taken from a manuscript memoir composed by Clark himself, at the joint request of Presidents Jefferson and Madison, We prefer giving the account in Gen. Clark's own words, as far as practicable.

The memoir of Gen. Clark proceeds : " On the (24th) of June, 1778, we left our little island, and run about a mile up the river in order to gain the main channel, and shot the falls at the very moment of the sun being in a great eclipse, which caused various conjectures among the superstitious. As I knew that spies were kept on the river below the towns of the Illinois, I had resolved to march part of the way by land, and of course left the whole of our baggage, except as much as would equip us in the Indian mode. The whole of our force, after leaving such as was judged not competent to [endure] the expected fatigue, consisted only of four companies, commanded by Captains John Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, Leonard Helms and William Harrod. My force being so small to what I expected, owing to the various circumstances already mentioned, I found it necessary to alter my plans of operation.

tliose western settlements had great influence among the Indians in general, and were more beloved by them than any other Europeans ; that their commercial intercourse was universal throughout the western and northwestern countries, and that the governing interest on the lakes was mostly in the hands of the English, who were not much beloved by them. These, and many other ideas similar thereto, caused me to resolve, if possible, to strengthen myself by such train of conduct as might probably attach the French inhabitants to our interest, and give us influence in the country we were aiming for. These were the principles that influenced my future conduct, and, fortunately, I had just received a letter from Colonel Campbell, dated Pittsburgh, informing me of the contents of the treaties between France and America. As I intended to leave the Ohio at Fort Massac, three leagues below the Tennessee, I landed on a small island in the mouth of that river, in order to prepare for the march. In a few hours after, one John Duff and a party of hunters coming down the river were brought to by our boats. They were men forme^'ly from the states, and assured us of their happiness in the adventure. . . . They had been but lately from Kaskaskia, and were able to give us all the intelligence we wished. They said that Governor Abbot had lately left Port Yincennes, and gone to Detroit on business of importance ; that Mr. Eochblave commanded at Kaskaskia, etc. ; that the militia was kept in good order, and spies on the Mississippi, and that all hunters, both Indians and others, were ordered to keep a good look-out for the rebels ^ that the fort was kept in good order as an asylum, etc., but they believed the whole to proceed more from the fondness for parade than the expectation of a visit ; that if they received timely notice of us, they would collect and give us a warm reception, as they were taught to harbor a most horrid idea of the rebels, especially the Virginians ; but that if we could surprise the place, which they were in ho^Dcs we might, they made no doubt of our being able to do as we pleased ; that they hoped to be received as partakers in the enterprise, and wished us to put full confidence in them, and they would assist the guides in conducting the party. This was agreed to, and they proved valuable men.

" The acquisition to us was great, as I had no intelligence from those posts since the spies I sent twelve months past. But no part of their information pleased me more than that of the inhabitants viewing us as more savage than their neighbors, the Indians. 1 was determined to improve upon this if I was fortunate enough to get them into ray possession, as I conceived the greater the shock I could give them at first the more sensibly would they feel my lenity, and become more valuable friends. This I conceived to be agreeable to human nature, as I had observed it in many instances. Having everything prepared, we moved down to a little gully a small distance above Massac, in which we concealed our boats, and set out a northwest course. The weather was favorable. In some parts water was scarce, as well as game. Of course we suffered drought and hunger, but not to excess. On the third day John Saunders, our principal guide, appeared confused, and we soon discovered that he was totally lost, without there was some other cause for his present conduct.

"I asked him various questions, and from his answers I could scarcely determine whkt to think of him - whether or not that he was lost, or that he wished to deceive us. . . . The cry of the whole detachment was that he was a traitor. He begged that he might be suffered to go some distance into a plain that was in full view, to try to make some discovery whether or not he was right. I told him he might go, but that I was suspicious of him, from his conduct ; that from the first day of his being employed he always said he knew the way well ; that there was now a different appearance ; that I saw the nature of the country was such that a person once acquainted with it could not in a short time forget it ; that a few men should go with him to prevent his escape, and that if he did not discover and take us into the hunter's road that led from the east into Kaskaskia, which he had frequently described, I would have him immediately put to death, which I was determined to have done. But after a search of an hour or two he came to a place that he knew perfectly, and we discovered that the poor fellow had been, as they call it, bewildered.

" On the fourth of July, in the evening, we got within a few miles of the town, where we lay until near dark, keeping spies ahead, after which we commenced our march, and took possession of a house wherein a large family lived, on the bank of the Kaskaskia River, about three-quarters of a mile above the town. Here we were informed that the people a few days before were under arms, but had concluded that the cause of the alarra was without foundation, and that at that time there was a great number of men in town, but that the Indians had generally left it, and at present all was quiet. We soon procured a sufiiciency of vessels, the more in ease to convey us across the river.

" "With one of the divisions I marched to the fort, and ordered the other two into different quarters of the town. If I met with no resistance, at a certain signal a general shout was to be given and certain parts were to be immediately possessed, and men of each detachment who could speak the French language, were to run through every street and proclaim what had happened, and inform the inhabitants that every person that appeared in the streets would be shot down. This disjjosition had its desired effect. In a very little time we had complete possession, and every avenue was guarded to prevent any escape to give the alarm to the other villages in case of opposition. Various orders had been issued not worth mentioning. I don't suppose greater silence ever reigned among the inhabitants of a place than did at this at present ; not a person to be seen, not a word to be heard by them, for some time, but, designedly, the greatest noise kept up by our troops through every quarter of the town, and patrols continually the whole night around it, as intercepting any information was a capital object, and in about two hours the whole of the inhabitants were disarmed, and informed that if one was taken attempting to make his escape he should be immediately put to death."

When Col. Clark, by the use of various bloodless means, had raised the terror of the French inhabitants to a painful height, he surprised them and won their confidence and friendship, by performing, unexpectedly, several acts of justice and generosity. On the morning of the 5th of July a few of the principal men were arrested and put in irons. Soon afterward M. Gibault, the priest of the village, accompanied by five or six aged citizens, waited on Col. Clark, and said that the inhabitants expected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again, and they begged to be permitted to assemble in their church, and there to take leave of each other. Col. Clark mildly told the priest that he had nothing to say against his religion ; that it was a matter which Americans left for every man to settle with his God ; that the people might assemble in their church, if they would, but that they must not venture out of town.

Nearly the whole French population assembled at the church. The houses were deserted by all who could leave them, and Col. Clark gave orders to prevent any soldiers from entering the vacant buildings. After the close of the meeting at the church a deputation, consisting of M. Guibault and several other persons, waited on Col. Clark, and said " that their present situation was the fate of war, and that they could submit to the loss of their property, but they solicited that they might not be separated from their wives and children, and that some clothes and provisions might be allowed for their suj^port." Clark feigned surprise at this request, and abruptly exclaimed, " Do you mistake us for savages ? I am almost certain you do from your language ! Do you think that Americans intend to strip women and children, or take the bread out of their mouths ? My countrymen," said Clark, " disdain to make war upon heljDless innocence. It was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our own wives and children that we have taken arms and penetrated into this remote stronghold of British and Indian barbarity, and not the despicable prospect of plunder; that now the king of France had united his powerful arms with those of America, the war would not, in all probability, continue long, but the inhabitants of Kaskaskia were at liberty to take which side they pleased, without the least danger to either their property or families. Nor would their religion be any source of disagreement, as all religions were regarded with equal respect in the eye of the American law, and that any insult offered to it would be immediately punished."

"And now," Clark continues, "to prove my sincerity, you will please inform your fellow-citizens that they are quite at liberty to conduct themselves as usual, without the least apprehension. I am now convinced, from what I have learned since my arrival among you, that you have been misinformed and prejudiced against us by British officers, and your friends who are in confinement shall immediately be released." In a few minutes after the delivery of this speech the gloom that rested on the minds of the inhabitants of Kaskaskia had passed away. The news of the treaty of alliance between France and the United States, and the influence of the magnanimous conduct of Clark, induced the French villagers to take the oath of allegiance to the state of Yirginia. Their arms were restored to them, and a volunteer company of French militia joined a detachment mider Capt. Bowman, when that officer was dispatched to take possession of Cahokia. The inhabitants of this small village, on hearing what had taken place at Kaskaskia, readily took the oath of allegiance to Yirginia.

The memoir of Clark proceeds : " Post Yincennes never being out of my mind, and from some things that I had learned I suspected that Mr. Gibault, the priest, was inclined to the American interest previous to our arrival in the country. He had great influence over the people at this period, and Post Yincennes was under his jurisdiction. I made no dou-bt of his integrity to us. I sent for him, and had a long conference with him on the subject of Post Yincennes. In answer to all my queries lie informed me that lie did not think it wortli my while to cause any military preparation to be made at the Falls of the Ohio for the attack of Post Yincennes, although the j)lace was strong and a great number of Indians in its neighborhood, who, to his knowledge, were generally at war; that the governor had, a few weeks before, left the place on some business to Detroit ; that he expected that when the inhabitants w^ere fully acquainted with what had passed at the Illinois, and the present happiness of their friends, and made fully acquainted with the nature of the war, their sentiments would greatly change ; that he knew that his appearance there would have great weight, even among the savages ; that if it was agreeable to me he would take this business on himself, and had no doubt of his being able to bring that place over to the American interest without my being at the trouble of marching against it ; that the business being altogether spiritual, he wished that another person might be charged with the temporal part of the embassy, but that he would privately direct the whole, and he named Dr. Lafont as liis associate. " This was perfectly agreeable to what I had been secretly aiming at for some days. The plan was immediately settled, and the two doctors, with their intended retinue, among whom I had a spy, set about preparing for their journey, and set out on the 14th of July, with an address to the inhabitants of Post Yincennes, authorizing them to garrison their own town themselves, which would convince them of the great confidence we put in them, etc. All this had its desired effect. Mr. Gibault and his party arrived safe, and after their spending a day or two in explaining matters to the people, they universally acceded to the proposal (except a few emissaries left by Mr. Abbo^ who immediately left the country), and went in a body to the church, where the oath of allegiance was administered to them in a most solemn manner. An officer was elected, the fort immediately [garrisoned], and the American flag displayed to the astonishment of the Indians, and everything settled far beyond our most sanguine hopes. The people here immediately began to put on a new face, and to talk in a different style, and to act as perfect freemen. With a garrison of their own, with the United States at their elbow, their language to the Indians was immediately altered. They began as citizens of the United States, and informed the Indians that their old father, the king of France, was to life again, and was mad at them for fighting for the English ; that they would advise them to make peace with the Americans as soon as they could, otherwise they might expect the land to be very bloody, etc. The Indians began to think seriously ; throngliout the country this was the kind of h^ngnage they generally got from the ancient friends of the Wabash and Illinois. Through the means of their correspondence spreading among the nations, our batteries began now to play in a proper channel. Mr. Gibault and party, accompanied by several gentlemen of Post Vincennes, returned to Kaskaskia about the 1st of August with the joyful news. During his absence on this business, which caused great anxiety to me (for without the possession of this post all our views would have been blasted), I was exceedingly engaged in regulating things in the Illinois. The reduction of these posts was the period of the enlistment of our troops. I was at a great loss at tlie time to determine how to act, and how far I might venture to strain my authority. My instructions were silent on many important points, as it was impossible to foresee the events that would take place. To abandon the country, and all the prospects that opened to our view in the Indian department at this time, for the want of instructions in certain cases, I thought would amount to a reflection on government, as having no confidence in me. I resolved to usurp all the authority necessary to carry my points. I had the greater part of our [troops] re-enlisted on a different establishment, commissioned French officers in the country to command a company of the young inhal)itants, established a garrison at Cahokia, commanded by Captain Bowman, and another at Kaskaskia, commanded by Captain Williams. Post Vincennes remained in the situation as mentioned. Colonel William Linn, who had accompanied us as a volunteer, took charge of a party that was to be discharged upon their arrival at the Falls, and orders were sent for tlie removal of that post to the mainland. Captain John Montgomeiy was dispatched to government with letters. ... I again turned my attention to Post Yincennes. I plainly saw that it would be highly necessary to have an American officer at that post. Captain Leonard Helm appeared calculated to answer my purpose ; he was past the meridian of life, and a good deal acquainted with the Indian [disposition]. I sent him to command at that post, and also appointed him agent for Indian affairs in the department of the Wabash. . . . About the middle of August he set out to take possession of his new command. Thus," says Cljirk, referring to Helm's success, " ended this valuable negotiation, and the saving of much blood. ... In a short time almost the whole of the various tribes of the different nations of the Wabash, as high as the Ouiatanon, came to Post Vincennes, and followed the example of the Grand Door Chief ; and as expresses were continually passing between Captain Helm and myself the whole time of these treaties, the business was settled perfectly to my satisfaction, and greatly to the advantage of the public. The British interest daily lost ground in this quarter, and in a short time our influence reached the Indians on the Riv^er St. Joseph and the border of Lake Michigan. The French gentlemen at the different posts we now had possession of engaged warmly in our interest. They appeared to vie with each other in promoting the business, and through the means of their correspondence, trading among the Indians, and otherwise, in a short time the Indians of various tribes inhabiting the region of Illinois came in great numbers to Cahokia, in order to make treaties of peace with us. From the information they generally got from the French gentlemen (whom they implicitly believed) respecting us, they were truly alarmed, and, consequently, we were visited by the greater part of them, without any invitation from us. Of course we had greatly the advantage in making use of such language as suited our [interest]. Those treaties, which commenced about the last of August and continued between three and four weeks, were probably conducted in a way different from any other known in America at that time. I had been always convinced that our general conduct with the Indians was wrong; that inviting them to treaties was considered by them in a different manner from what we expected, and imputed by them to fear, and that giving them great presents confirmed it. I resolved to guard against this, and I took good pains to make myself fully acquainted with the French and Spanish methods of treating Indians, and with the manners, genius and disposition of the Indians in general. As in this quarter they had not yet been spoiled by us, I was 'resolved that they should not be. I began the business fully j)repared, having copies of the British treaties."

At the first great council, which was opened at Cahokia, an Indian with a belt of peace in his hand, advanced to the table at which Col. Clark was sitting ; another chief, bearing the sacred pijje of the tribe, went forward to the table, and a third chief then advanced with fii-e to kindle the pipe. When the pipe was lighted it was figuratively presented to the heavens, then to the earth, then to all the good spirits, to witness what was about to be done. After the observance of these forms the pipe was presented to Clark, and afterward to every person present. An Indian speaker then addressed the Indians as follows : " Warriors - You ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit has taken pity on you, and cleared the sky and opened your ears and hearts, so that you may hear the truth. We have been deceived by bad birds flying through the land. But we will take up the bloody hatchet no more against the Big Knife, and we hope, as the Great Spirit has brought ns togetiier for good, as he is good, that we may be received as friends, and that the belt of peace may take the place of the bloody belt."

"I informed them," says Clark, "that I had paid attention to what they had said, and that on the next day I would give them an answer, when I hoped the ears and hearts of all people would be opened to receive the truth, which should be spoken without deception. I advised them to keep prepared for the result of this day, on which, perhaps, their very existence as a nation depended, etc., and dismissed them, not suffering any of our people to shake hands with thenr, as peace was not yet concluded, telling them it was time enough to give the hand when the heart could be given also. They replied that ' such sentiments were like men who had but one heart, and did not speak with a double tongue.' The next day I delivered them the following speech :

' Men and Warriors - Pay attention to my words : You informed me yesterday that the Great Spirit had brought us together, and that you hoped, as he was good, that it would be for good. I have also the same hope, and expect that each party will strictly adhere to whatever may be agreed upon, whether it be peace or war, and henceforward prove ourselves worthy of the attention of the Great Spirit. I am a man and a warrior - not a counsellor. I carry war in ray right hand, and and in my left peace. I am sent by the great council of the Big Knife, and their friends, to take possession of all the towns possessed by the English in this country, and to watch the motions of the red people ; to bloody the paths of those who attempt to stop the course of the river, but to clear the roads from us to those who desire to be in peace, that the women and children may walk in them without meeting anything to strike their feet against. I am ordered to call upon the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, and that the red people may hear no sound but of birds who live on blood. I know there is a mist before your eyes. I will dispel the clouds, that you may clearly see the cause of the war between the Big Knife and the English, then you may judge for yourselves which party is in the right, and if you are warriors, as you profess to be, prove it by adhering faithfully to the party Mdiich you shall believe to be entitled to your friendship, and do not show yourselves to be squaws.

things from the English, from whom they are sprung. They live by making corn, hunting and trade, as yon and your neighbors, the French, do. But the Big Knives, daily getting more numerous, like the trees in the woods, the land became poor and hunting scarce, and having but little to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing their children naked, and tried to learn how to make clothes for themselves. They soon made blankets for their husbands and children, and the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way we did not want to buy so much from the English. They then got mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our country, as you see they have done among you on the lakes, and among the French. They would not let our women spin, nor our men make powder, nor let us trade with anybody else. The English said we should buy everything of them, and since we had got saucy we should give two bucks for a blanket, which we used to get for one; we should do as they pleased ; and they killed some of our people to make the rest fear them. This is the truth, and the real cause of the war between the English and us, which did not take place until some time after this treatment.

' But our women became cold and hungry and continued to cry. Our young men got lost for want of counsel to put them in the right path. The whole land was dark. The old men held down their heads for shame, because they could not see the sun ; and thus there was mourning for many years over the land. At last the Great Spirit took pity on us, and kindled a great council fire, that never goes out at a place called Philadel]3hia. He then stuck down a post, and put a war tomahawk by it, and' went away. The sun immediately broke out, the sky was blue again, and the old men held up their heads and assembled at the fire. They took up the hatchet, sharpened it, and put it into the hands of our young men, ordering them to strike the English as long as they could find one on this side of the great waters. The young men immediately struck the war post and blood was shed. In this way the war began, and the English were driven from one place to another until they got weak, and then they hired you red people to fight for them. The Great Spirit got angiy at this, and caused your old father, the French king, and other great nations, to join the Big Knives, and fight with them against all their enemies. So the English have become like deer in the woods, and you may see that it is the Great Spirit that has caused your waters to be troubled, because you have fought for the people he was mad with. If your women and children

' You can now judge who is in the right. I have already told you who I am. Here is a bloody belt and a white one, take which you please. Behave like men, and don't let your being surrounded by the Big Knives cause you to take up the one belt with your hands while your hearts take up the other If you take the bloody path, you shall leave the town in safety, and may go and join your friends, the English. We will then try, like warriors, who can put the most stumbling-blocks in each other's way, and keep our clothes longest stained with blood. If, on the other hand, you should take the path of peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knives, with their friends, the French ; should you then listen to bad birds that ma^' be flying through the land, you will no longer deserve to be counted as men, but as creatures with two tongues, that ought to be destroyed without listening to anything you might say. As I am convinced you never heard the truth b«fore, I do not wish you to answer before you have taken time to counsel. We will, therefore, part this evening, and when the Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let us speak and think like men, with but one heart and one tongue.'

" The next day after this speech a new fire was kindled with more than usual ceremony ; an Indian speaker came forward and said : They ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit had taken pity on them, and opened their ears and their hearts to receive the truth. He had paid great attention to what the Great Spirit had put into my heart to say to them. They believed the whole to be the truth, as the Big Knives did not speak like any other people they had ever heard. They now saw they had been deceived, and that the English had told them lies, and that I had told them the truth, just as some of their old men had always told them. They now believed that we were in the right ; and as the English had forts in their country, they might, if they got strong enough, want to serve the red peoi)le as they had treated the Big Knives. The red peojjle ought, therefore, to help us, and they had, with a cheerful heart, taken up the belt of peace, and spurned that of war. They were determined to hold the former fast, and would have no doubt of our friendship, from the manner of our speaking, so different from that of the English. They would now call in their warriors, and throw the tomahawk into the river, where it could never be found. They would suffer no more bad birds to fly through the land, disquieting the women and children. They would be careful to smooth the roads for their brothers, the Big Knives, whenever they might wish to come and see them. Their friends should hear of the good talk I had given them; and they hoped I would send 'chiefs among them, with my eyes, to see myself that they were men, and strictly adhered to all they had said at this great fire, which the Great Spirit had kindled at Cahokia for the good of all people who would attend it."

The sacred pipe was again kindled, and presented, figuratively, to the heavens and the earth, and to all the good spirits, as witness of what had been done. The Indians and the white men then closed the council by smoking the pipe and shaking hands. With no material variation, either of the forms that were observed, or with the speeches that were made at this council. Col. Clark and the officers concluded treaties of peace with the Piankashaws, Ouiatanons, Kickaj^oos, Illinois, Kaskaskias, Peorias, and branches' of some other tribes that inhabited the country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi.

Gov. Henry soon received intelligence of the successful progress of the expedition under the command of Clark. The French inhabitants of the villages of Kaskaskias, Cahokia and Post Yincennes took the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia.

In October, 17Y8, the General Assembly of the State of Virginia passed an act which contained the following provisions, viz : All the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia "who are already settled or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois county^ and the governor of this commonwealth, with the advice of the council, may appoint a county lieutenant, or commandant-in-chief, in that county, during pleasure, who shall appoint and commission so many deputy commandants, militia officers and commissaries as he shall think proper in the diiferent districts, during pleasure ; all of whom, before they enter into office, shall take the oath of fidelity to this commonwealth and the oath of office, according to the form of their own religion. And all civil officers to which the inhabitants have been accustomed, necessary for the preservation of the peace and the admin istration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citizens in their respective districts, to be convened for that purpose by the county lieutenant, or commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned by the said county lieutenant or commandant-in-chief."

Before the provisions of the law were carried into effect, Henry Hamilton, the British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, collected an army, consisting of about thirty regulars, fifty French volunteers, and four hundred Indians. "With this force he passed down the River

Wabash, and took possession of Post Yincennes on the 15th of December, 1778. No attempt was made by the population to defend the town. Capt. Hehn was taken and detained as a prisoner, and a number of the French inhabitants disarmed.

Clark was aware that Gov. Hamilton, now that he had regained possession of Yincennes, would undertake the capture of his forces, and realizing his danger, he determined to forestall Hamilton and capture the latter. His plans were at once formed. He sent a portion of his available force bj boat, called The Willing^ with instructions to Capt. Rogers, the commander, to proceed down the Mississippi and up the Ohio and Wabash, and secrete himself a few miles below Yincennes, and prohibit any persons from passing either up or down. With another part of his force he marched across the country, through prairies, swamps and marshes, crossing swollen streams - for it was in the month of February, and the whole country was flooded from continuous rains - and arriving at the banks of the Wabash near St. Francisville, he pushed across the river and brought his forces in the rear of Yincennes before daybreak. So secret and rapid were his movements that Gov. Hamilton had no notice that Clark had left Kaskaskia. Clark issued a notice requiring the people of the town to keep within their houses, and declaring that all persons found elsewhere would be treated as enemies. Tobacco's Son tendered one hundred of his Piankashaw braves, himself at their head. Clark declined their services with thanks, saying his own force was sufficient. Gov. Hamilton had just completed the fort, consisting of strong blockhouses at each angle, with the cannon placed on the upper floors, at an elevation of eleven feet from the surface. The works were at once closely invested. The ports were so badly cut, the men on the inside could not stand to their cannon for the bullets that would whiz from the rifles of Clark's sharp-shooters through the embrasures whenever they were suffered for an instant to remain open.

The town immediately surrendered with joy, and assisted at the siege. After the first offer to surrender upon terms was declined, Hamilton and Clark, with attendants, met in a conference at the Catholic church, situated some eighty rods from the fort, and in the afternoon of the same day, the 24th of February, 1779, the fort and garrison, consisting of seventy-five men, surrendered at discretion. The result was that Hamilton and his whole force were made prisoners of war. Clark held military possession of the northwest until the close of the war, and in that way it was secured to our country. At the treaty of peace, held at Paris at the close of the Revolutionary war, the British insisted that the Ohio River should be the northern boundary of the United States. The correspondence rehitive to that treaty shows that the only ground on which " the American commissioners relied to sustain their claim that the lakes should be the boundary was the fact that General Clark had conquered the country, and was in the undisputed military possession of it at the time of the negotiation. This fact was affirmed and admitted, and was the chief ground on which British commissioners reluctantly abandoned their claim."

Chaptek Xil The Title Of Virginia And Her Deed Of Cession

" Virginia acquired title to the great Northwest by its several charters, granted by James I., bearing dates respectively April 10, 1606 ; May 23, 1609; March 12, 1611. The Colony of Virginia first attempted to exercise authority in, or jurisdiction over, that portion of its extensive domains that was organized by the ordinance of '87 into ' the Territory Northwest of the Kiver Ohio,' when in 1Y69, the House of Burgess of said Colony passed an act establishing the county of Botetourt, with the Mississippi Eiver as its western boundary. The aforesaid act recited that, ' Whereas, the people situated on the Mississippi, in said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court-house, and must necessarily become a separate county, as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which, probably, will happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt which lies on said waters shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by said county court for the purpose of building a court-house and prispn for the said county.'

" Civil government, however, between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers was more in name than reality, until in 1778, after the conquest of the country by General George Rogers Clark, when the Virginia Legislature organized the county of Illinois, embracing within its limits all the territory owned by Virginia west of the Ohio River. Colonel ^ohn Todd served, under appointment received from the Governor of Virginia, as civil commandant, and lieutenant of the county, until his death, at the battle of Blue Licks, in 1782, less than two years before Virginia ceded the country to the United States. Timothy de Montbrun was his successor.

A Sketch Of The History Of Ohio

"Pursuant to the foregoing action of the General Assembly of Yirginia, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, Yirginia's delegates in Congress, did, as per deed of session, on the first day of March, 1784, it being the eighth year of American independence, ' convey (in the name and for, and on behalf of, the said Commonwealth), transfer, assign, and make over unto the United States in Congress assembled, for the benefit of said States, Yirginia inclusive, all right, title and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction, to the territory of said State lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio.' Upon the presentation of said deed of cession, Congress resolved, on the same day, 'that it be accepted, and the same be recorded and enrolled among the acts of the United States in Congress assembled.'

" The United States having thus secured title to the 'Great Northwest,' Congress soon deemed it advisable to take the preliminary steps looking to the permanent establishment of civil government in the new and extensive territory of which that body had just become the legal custodian. Accordingly, after much mature deliberation and careful consideration of the subject, as well as prolonged discussion of the important questions involved, they, on the 13th of July, 178 Y, gave to the world the results of their deliberations in 'An ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States IS^^orthwest of the river Ohio,' which has come to be best known as ' The Ordinance of '87,' sometimes also called ' The Ordinance of Freedom.' Said ordinance was the fundamental law, the Constitution, so to speak, of the great Northwest, upon which were based, and with which harmonized, all our territorial enactments, as well as ad our subsequent State legislation, and, moreover, it is to that wise, statesmanlike document that we are indebted for much of our prosperity and greatness.

" Up to the time of the passage of the above ordinance there had been no permanent settlements by white men established upon territory embraced within the boundaries given to the Northwest Territoiy, except the few French villages and their immediate vicinities, in the western and northwestern portions of it. If any such existed within the present limits of Ohio, they must have been situated along the

Maumee Kiver, and were of small extent. The Government had hitherto, for the sake of peace, discouraged, and by military force prevented, all attempts of white settlers to occupy lands belonging to the Indians. The chief of those French villages were Detroit, on the Detroit Eiver ; St. Yincents, on the Wabash ; Cahokia, five miles below St. Louis ; St. Philip, forty-eight miles below St. Louis, on the Mississippi ; Kaskaskia, on Kaskaskia River, six miles above its mouth, which empties into the Mississippi seventy-five miles below St Louis ; Prairie-du-Eocher, near Fort Chartres; and Fort Chartres, fifteen miles northwest from Kaskaskia. These were all small settlements or villages, whose aggregate inhabitants probably did not exceed three thousand.

" The inhabitants of these remote settlements in the wilderness and on the prairies, says a late writer, ' were of a peculiar character. Their intercourse with the Indians, and their seclusion from the world, developed among them peculiar characteristics. They assimilated themselves with the Indians, adopted their habits, and almost uniformly lived in harmony with them. They were illiterate, careless, contented, but without much industry, energy, or foresight. Some were hunters, trappers, and anglers, while others run birch-bark canoes by way of carrying on a small internal trade, and still others cultivated the soil. The traders, or voyageurs, were men fond of adventure, and of a wild, unrestrained, Indian sort of life, and would ascend many of the long rivers of the West almost to their sources in their birch-bark canoes, and load them with furs bought of the Indians. The canoes were light, and could easily be carried across the portages between streams.'

" There was attached to these French villages a ' common field,' for the free use of the villagers, every family, in proportion to the number of its members, being entitled to share in it. It was a large inclosed tract for farming purposes. There was also at each village a 'common,' or large inclosed tract, for pasturage and fuel purposes, and timber for building. If a head of a family was sick, or by any casualty was unable to labor, his portion of the ' common field ' was cultivated by his neighbors, and the crop gathered for the use of his family. ' The French villagers,' says the author of Western Annals, ' were devout Catholics, who, under the guidance of their priests, attended punctually upon all holidays and festivals, and performed faithfully all the outward duties and ceremonies of the church. Aside from this, their religion was blended with their social feelings. Sunday, after mass, was the especial occasion for their games and assem- blies. The dance was the popular amusement witli them, and all classes, ages, sexes, and conditions, united bj a common love of enjoyment, met together to participate in the exciting pleasure. They were indifferent about the acquisition of property for themselves or their children. Living in a fruitful country, which, moreover, abounded in fish and game, and where the necessaries of life could be procured with little labor, they were content to live in unambitious peace, and comfortable poverty. Their agriculture was rude, their houses were humble, and they cultivated grain, also fruits and flowers ; bur they lived on from generation to generation without much change or improvement. In some instances they intermarried with the surrounding Indian tribes.'

" Most of these far-off western villages were protected by military posts, and some of them (notably Detroit, which for .months had sue cessfully resisted, in 1763, when in possession of the English, the attacks of the great Pontiac) had realized something of the ' pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war.' The morning guns of these forts had sounded the merry reveille upon the early breeze, waking the slumbering echoes of the forests, daily, for a century or more ; the boom of their loud mid-day cannon across the broad prairies, and its reverberatioi.s from the cliffs beyond, had been heard for generations ; and their evening bugle had wailed plaintively its long-drawn, melancholy notes along the shores of the ' Father of Waters ' - the mighty river of the West - for more than a hundred years before the adoption of ' freedom's ordinance.'

Organization Of The Ohio Land Company

" While Congress had under consideration the measure for the organization of a territorial government north-west of the Ohio Kiver, the preliminary steps were taken in Massachusetts towards the formation of the Ohio Land Company, for the purpose of making a purchase of a large tract of land in said Territory, and settling upon it. Upon the passage of the ordinance by Congress, the aforesaid land company perfected its organization, and by its agents, Rev. Manasseh Cutler and Major Winthrop Sargent, made application to the Board of Treasury, July 27, 1787, to become purchasers, said board having been authorized four days defore to make sales. The purchase, which was perfected October 27, 1787, embraced a tract of land containing about a million and a half of acres, situated within the present counties of Washington, Athens, Meigs and Gallia, subject to the reservation of two townships of land six miles square, for the endowment of a college, since known as Ohio University, at Athens; also every sixteenth section, set apart for the nse of schools, as well as every twenty-ninth section, dedicated to the support of religious institutions ; also sections eight, eleven and twenty-six, which were reserved for the United States, for future sale. After these deductions were made, and that for donation lands, there remained only nine hundred and sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-five acres to be paid for by the Ohio Land Company, and for which patents were issued.

"At a meeting of the directors of the company, held November 23, 1787, General Rufus Putnam was chosen superintendent of the company, and he accepted the position. Early in December six boat builders and a number of other mechanics were sent forward to Simrail's Ferry (now West Newton), on the Youghiogheny River, under the command of Major Haffield White, where they arrived in January, and at once proceeded to build a boat for the use of the company. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, of Rhode Island, Anselm Tupper and John Matthews, of Massachusetts, and Colonel Return J. Meigs, of Connecticut, were appointed surveyors. Preliminary steps were also taken at this meeting to secure a teacher and chaplain, which resulted in the appointment of Rev. Daniel Story, who some time during the next year arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum, in the capacity of the first missionary and teacher from New England.

" Early in the winter the remainder of the pioneers, with the surveyors, left their New England homes and started on their toilsome journey to the western wilderness. They passed on over the Alleghanies, and reached the Youghiogheny about the middle of February, where they rejoined their companions who had preceded them.

" The boat, called the ' Mayflower,' that was to transport the pioneers to their destination, was forty-five feet long, twelve feet wide, and fifty tons burden, and was placed under the command of Captain Devol. ' Her bows were raking, or curved like a galley, and strongly timbered ; her sides were made bullet-proof, and she was covered with a deck roof,' so as to afford better protection against the hostile savages while floating down towards their western home, and during its occupancy there, before the completion of their cabins. All things being ready, they embarked at Simrall's Ferry, April 2, 1788, and passed down the Youghiogheny into the Monongahela,, and thence into the Ohio, and down said river to the mouth of the Muskingum, where tliey arrived April 7, and then and there made the first permanent settlement of civilized men loithin the present limits of Ohio. These bold adventurers were reinforced by another company from Massachusetts, who, after a nine weeks' journey, arrived early in July, 1788.

" Many of these Yankee colonists had been officers and soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and were, for the most part, men of intelligence and character, and of sound judgment and ability. In short, they were just the kind of men to found a State in the wilderness. They posssessed great energy of character, were enterprising, fond of adventure and daring, and were not to be intimidated by the formidable forests nor by the ferocious beasts sheltered therein, nor by the still more to be dreaded savages, who stealthily and with murderous intent roamed throughout their length and breadth. Their army experience had taught them what hardships and privations were, and they were quite willing to encounter them. A better set of men could not have been selected for pioneer settlers than were these !New England colonists - those brave-hearted, courageous hero-emigrants to the great Northwest, who, having triumphantly passed the hery ordeal of the Eevolution, volunteered to found a State and to establish American laws, American institutions, and American civilization in this wilderness of the uncivilized west. If any State in our American Union ever had a better start in its incipient settlement than Ohio, I am not aware of it. General Washington, writing of these bold pioneers, said that ' no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property and strength, will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.' Having had a personal army acquaintance with Generals Putnam and Parsons, and with Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, and probably with many other leading members of this pioneer colony, his favorable opinion of them is entitled to great weight.

The First Settlement Under The Ordinance Of 1787

Of course no time was lost by the colonists in erecting their habitatations, as well as in building a stockade fort, and in clearing land for the production of vegetables and grain for their subsistence, fifty acres of corn having been planted the first year. Their settlement was established upon the point of land between the Ohio and Musk- ingum rivers, just opposite and across the Muskingum from Fort Ilarmar, built in 1786, and at this time garrisoned by a small military force under command of Major Doughty. At a meeting held on the banks of the Muskingum, July 2, 1T88, it was voted that Marietta should be the name of their town, it being thus named in honor of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

Surveys And Gkaijts Of The Public Lands

" The first survey of public lands northwest of the Ohio river was the seven ranges of Congress lands, and was. done pursuant to an act of Congress of May 20, 1785. This tract of the seven ranges is bounded by a line of forty-two miles in length, running due west from the point where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses the Ohio river ; thence due south to the Ohio river, at the southeast corner of Marietta township, in Washington county ; thence up said river to the place of beginning. The present counties of Jefferson, Columbiana, Carroll, Tuscarawas, Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Noble, Monroe, and Washington are, in whole or in part, within the seven ranges.

"The second survey was that of the Ohio Company^ s purchase, made in pursuance of an act of Congress of July 23, 1785, though the contract was not completed with the Ohio Company until October 27, 1787. Mention of its extent, also the conditions, reservations, and circumstances attending the purchase, have already been given. One hundred thousand acres of this tract, called donation lands, were reserved upon certain conditions as a free gift to actual settlers. Portions of the counties of Washington, Athens, and Gallia are within this tract, also the entire county of Meigs. The donation lands were in Washington county.

"The next survey was the ^ Symmes purchase' and contiguous lands, situated on the north and west of it, and was made soon after the foregoing. The ^ Symmes purchase^ embraced the entire Ohio River front between the Big Miami and Little Miami Rivers, a distance of twenty-seven miles, and reaching northwards a sufficient distance to include an area of one million of acres. The contract with Judge Symmes, made in October, 1785, was subsequently modified by act of Congress bearing date of May 5, 1792, and by an authorized act of the President of the United States of September 30, 1794, so as to amount to only 31 1,082 acres, exclusive of a reservation of fifteen acres around Fort Washington, of a square mile at the mouth of the

History Op Ohio

Great Miami, of sections 16 and 29 in each township, the former of which Congress had reserved for educational and the latter for religious purposes, exclusive also of a township dedicated to the interests of a college; and sections 8, 11, and 26 which Congress reserved for future sale.

" The tract of land situated between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, known as the Yii^ginia military lands, was never regularly surveyed into townships, but patents were issued by the President of the United States to such persons (Yirginians) as had rendered service on the continental establishment in the army of the United States (hence the name), and in the quantities to which they were entitled, according to the provisions of an act of Congress of August ^0, 1790. 'It embraces a body of 6,750 sc[uare miles, or 4,204,000 acres of land. The following counties are situated in this tract, namely: Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Higliland, Madison, and Union entirely ; and greater or less portions of the following, to wit : Marion, Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Warren, Grreene, Clarke, Champaign, Logan, and Hardin.'

" Connecticut ceded all lands in the Northwest to which she claimed title to the United States (except the tract wliicli has been known as the ' Western Rese7've^), by deed of cession bearing date of September 14, 1786 ; and in May, 1800, by act of the Legislature of said State, renounced all jurisdictional claim to the ' territory called the Western Reserve of Connecticut.' That tract of land was surveyed in 1796, and later into townships of five miles square, and in the aggregate contained about 3,800,000 acres, being one hundred and twenty miles long, and lying west of the Pennsylvania State line, all situated between forty-one degrees of north latitude and forty-two degrees and two minutes. Half a million of acres of the foregoing lands were set apart by the State of Connecticut in 1792 as a donation to the sufferers by fire (during the revolutionary war) of the residents of Greenwich, New London, Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New Haven, and other Connecticut villages whose j)i"operty was burned by the British ; hence the name ''Firelands' by which this tract taken from the western portion of the Reserve has been known. It is situated chiefly in Huron and Erie counties, a small portion only being in Ottawa county. The entire Western Reserve embraces the present counties of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Trumbull ; also the greater portion of Malioning and Summit, and very limited portions of Ashland and Ottawa. ' ''''French grant is a tract of 24,000 acres of land bordering on the

Ohio River, within the present limits of Scioto county, granted by Congr6ss in March, 1795, to certain French settlers of Gallipolis, who, through invalid titles, had lost their lands there. Twelve hundred acres were added to this grant in 1798, making a total of 25,200 acres.

" The United States military lands were surveyed under the pro. visions of an act of Congress of June 1, 1796, and contained 2,560,000 acres. This tract was set apart to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war, hence the title by which it is known. It is bounded by the seven ranges on the east, by the Oreenmlle treaty line on the north, by the Congress and refugee lands on the south, and by the Scioto River on the west, including the county of Cosliocton entire, and portions of the counties of Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Muskingum, Licking, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Morrow, Knox, and Holmes.

" The Moravian lands are three several tracts of 4,000 acres each, situated, respectively, at Shoenbrun, Gnadenhutten, and Salem, all on the Tuscarawas Rivei-, now in Tuscarawas county. These lands were originally dedicated by an ordinance of Congress dated September 3, 1788, to the use of the Christianized Indians at those points, and by act of Congress of June 1, 1796, were surveyed and patents issued to the Society of the United Brethren, for the purposes above specified.

" The refugee tract is a body of land containing 100,000 acres, granted by Congress February 18, 1801, to persons who fled from the British provinces during the Revolutionary war and took up arms against the mother country and in behalf of the Colonies, and thereby lost their property by confiscation. This tract is four and one-half miles wide, and extends forty-eight miles eastward from the Scioto River at Columbus into Muskingum county. It includes portions of the counties of Franklin, Fairfield, Perry, Licking, and Muskingum.

" Dohrman^ 8 grant is a townshij) of land six miles square, contain, ing 23,010 acres, situated in the south-eastern part of Tuscarawas county. It was given to Arnold Henry Dohrman, a Portuguese merchant of Lisbon, by act of Congress of February 27, 1801, ' in consideration of his having, during the Revolutionary war, given shelter and aid to the American cruisers and vessels of war.'

" The foregoing is a list of the principal land grants and surveys during our Tcrritoirial history, in that portion of the Northwest that now constitutes the State of Ohio. There were canal land grants, Maumee Road grants, and various others, but they belong to our State, and not to our Territorial, history.

" By the terms of the treaty of Fort Stcmwix, conchicled with the Iroquois or Six Nations (Mohawks, Onoiidagas, Senecas, Cayiigas, Tuscaroras and Oneidas), October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of said confederacy to the greater part of the valley of the Ohio was extinguished. The commissioners of Congress were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. Cornplanter and Red Jacket represented the Indians.

" This was followed in January, 1Y85, by the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, by which the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas relinquished all claim to the Ohio Valley, and established the boundary line between them and the United States to be the Cuyahoga River, and along the main branch of the Tuscarawas to the forks of said river near Fort Laurens, thence westwardly to the portage between the head waters of the Great Miami and the Maumee or Miami of the Lakes, thence down said river to Lake Erie, and along said lake to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. This treaty was negotiated by George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee for the United States, and by the chiefs of the aforenamed tribes.

" A similar relinquishment was effected by the treaty of Fort Finney (at the mouth of the Great Miami), concluded with the Shawnees January 31, 1786, the United States commissioners being the same as the foregoing, except the substitution of Samuel H. Parsons for Arthur Lee.

" The treaty of Fort Harmar, held by General St. Clair January 9, 1779, was mainly confirmatory of the treaties previously made. So also was the treaty of Greenville, of August 3, 1795, made by General Wayne on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of eleven of the most powerful tribes of the north-western Indians, which re-established the Indian boundary line through the present State of Ohio, and extended it from Loramie to Fort Rocovery, and from thence to the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.

"The rights and titles acquired by the Indian tribes under the foregoing treaties were extinguished by the General Government, by purchase, in pursuance of treaties subsequently made. The Western Reserve tract west of the Cuyahoga River was secured by a treaty formed at Fort Industry, in 1805. The lands west of Richland and Huron counties and north of the boundary line to the western limits of Ohio were purchased by the United States in 1818. The last possession of the Delawares was purchased in 1829 ; and by a treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1812, by Colonel John Johnston and the Wyandot chiefs, that last remnant of the Indian tribes in Ohio sold the last acre they owned within the limits of our State to the General Government, and retired, the next year, to the Far West," settling at and near the mouth of Kansas River.

" Congress, in October, 1787, appointed General Arthur St. Clair Governor, Major Winthrop Sargent Secretary, and James M. Varnum, Samuel H. Parsons, and John Armstrong Judges of the Territory, the latter of whom, however, having declined the appointment, John Cleve Symmes was appointed in his stead in February, 1788. On the 9th of July, 1788, Governor St. Clair arrived at Marietta, and finding the Secretary and a majority of the Judges present, proceeded to organize the Territory. The Governor and Judges (or a majority of them) were the sole legislative power during the existence of the first grade of Territorial government. Such laws as were in force in any of the States, and were deemed applicable to the condition of the people of the Territory, could be adopted by the Governor and Judges, and, after publication, became operative, unless disapproved of by Congress, to which body certified copies of all laws thus adopted had to be forwarded by the Secretary of the Territory.

" The further duty of the Judges, who were appointed to serve during good behavior, was to hold court four times a year, whenever the business of the Territory required it, but not more than once a year in any one county.

The Second Grade Of Territorial Government

" After it shall have been ascertained that five thousand free male inhabitants actually resided within the Territory, the second grade of Territorial government could, of right, be established, which provided for a legislative council, and also an elective House of Eepresentatives, the two composing the law-making power of the Territory, provided always that the Governor's assent to their acts was had. He possessed the absolute veto power, ,and no act of the two houses of the Legislature, even if passed by a unanimous vote in each branch, could become a law without his consent. The conditions that authorized the second grade of Territorial government, however, did not exist until 1798, and it was not really put into operation until Sep.

Early Laws Of The Territory

" The first lav^^ was proclaimed July 25, 1788, and was entitled 'An act for regulating and establishing the militia." Two days thereafter the Governor issued a proclamation establishing the county of Washington, which included all of the territory east of the Scioto Kiver to which the Indian title had been extinguished, reaching northward to Lake Erie, the Ohio River and the Pennsylvania line being its eastern boundary ; Marietta, the seat of the Territorial government, also becoming the county seat of Washington county.

" Quite a number of laws were necessarily adopted and published during 1788 and the following year. From 1790 to 1795 they published sixty-four, thirty-four of them having been adopted at Cincinnati during the months of June, July and August of the last named year, by the Governor and Judges Syrames and Turner. They are known as the ' Maxwell Code,' from the name of the jDublisher, and were intended, says the author of ' Western Annals,' ' to form a pretty complete body of statutory provisions.' In 1798 eleven more were adopted. It was the published opinion of the late Chief Justice Chase, ' that it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever had so good a code of laws.' Among them was that 'which provided that the common law of England, and all statutes in aid thereof, made previous to the fourth year of James I., should be in full force within the Territory.' Probably four-fifths of the laws adopted were selected from those in force in Pennsylvania ; the others were mainly taken from the statutes of Yirginia and Massachusetts.

Local Courts And Court Officers

" Among the earliest laws adopted was one which provided for the institution of a county court of common pleas, to be composed of not less than three nor more than five Judges, commissioned by the Governor, who were to hold two sessions in each year. Pursuant to its provisions, the first session of said court was held in and for Washington county, September 2, 1788. The Judges of the court were General Pufus Putnam, General Benjamin Tupjjer, and Colonel ^Archibald Crary. Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs was Clerk, and Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was Sheriff. Elaborate details of the open.

ing of this, the first court held in the Northwest Territory, have come down to us, showing it to have been a stylish, dignified proceeding. Briefly, ' a procession was formed at the Point (the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio River) of the inhabitants and the officers from Fort Harmar, who escorted the Judge of the court, the Governor of the Territory, and the Territorial Judges to the hall appropriated for that purpose, in the northwest block house in ' Campus Martins.' ' The procession,' says Mitchener, ' was headed by the Sheriff, with drawn sword and baton of office.' 'After prayer by Rev. Manasseh Cutler, the court was organized by reading the commissions of the Judges, Clerk and Sherifl: ; after which the Sheriff proclaimed that the court was open for the administration of evenhanded justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons ; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case.'

" On the 23d day of August, 1788, a law was promulgated for establishing ' general courts of quarter sessions of the peace.' This court was composed of not less than three nor more than five Justices of the Peace, appointed by the Governor, who were to hold four sessions in each year. The first session of this court was held at ' Campus Martius ' September 9, 1788. The commission appointing the Judges thereof was read. General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper,' says Mitchener, constituted the Justices of the quorum, and Isaac Pearce, Thomas Lord, and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., the assistant Justices ; Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, Sr., was Clerk. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was Sheriff of Washington county fourteen years. The first grand jury of the Northwest Territory was impaneled by this court, and consisted of the following gentlemen : . William Stacey (foreman), Nathaniel Gushing, Nathan Goodale, Charles Knowles, Ansel m Tuj)per, Jonathan Stone, Oliver Rice, Ezra Lunt, John Matthews, George Ingersoll, Jonathan Devol,

Organization Of Counties

" Washington county, embracing the eastern half of the present State of Ohio, was the only organized county of the Northwest Territory until early in 1790, when the Governor proclaimed Hamilton county, which included all the territory between the Big and Little Miami Rivers, and extended north to the ' Standing Stone Forks,' on the first named stream.

" It will be observed that Hamilton was the second county organized. There were situated within its limits, when organized, several flourishing villages, that had their origin during the closing months of 1Y88 and early in 1Y89. Columbia, situated at the mouth of the Little Miami, was the first of these laid out, its early settlers being Colonel Benjamin Stites, of ' Bedstone Old' Fort ' (proprietor) ; William Goforth, John S. Gano, John Smith (a Baptist minister, who afterward became one of Ohio's first United States Senators), and others, numbering in all twenty-five persons or more, though some of them arrived a little later,

" Cincinnati was the next in order of time, having been laid out early in 1789, by Colonel Kobert Patterson, Matthias Denman and Israel Ludlow. Several not very successful attempts had also been made at various points between Cincinnati and the mouth of the Great Miami by Judge Syrames.

" The early settlers of Hamilton county were principally from New Jerse}^, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. Judges Synnnes and Burnet were representative men in the Miami Valley from New Jersey; Jeremiah Morrow and Judge Dunlavy from Pennsylvania ; William H. Harrison and William McMillan from Virginia ; and Colonel Robert Patterson and Rev, James Kemper from Kentucky.

" The Scioto Valley, the next in order of time, was settled chiefly by Virginians and Kentuckians, represented by Colonel Thomas Worthington and General Nathaniel Massie, two of its prominent settlers.

years of the eighteenth century, whose representative men were Governor Samuel Huntington and Hon. Benjamin Tajjpan, were established by men not a whit inferior to those above named. And the good that General Washington said of the New England Colony that settled Marietta could, with very slight modifications, be said of most of the settlers and pioneers of the aforesaid set-^ tlements.

Early Tekkitokial Villages And Towns

" The following is a list of the principal villages and towns of the I^orthwest Territory, started and built up during Territorial rule, with the time of the first survey of lots, together with the names of their proprietors :

" Cincinnati at the close of the Territorial government was the largest town in the Territory, containing about one thousand inhabitants. It was incorporated in 1802, with the following as its first ofiicers.

Tekkitorial Officeks

Governor - General Arthur St. Clair, served from 1788 to 1802. Secretaries - Wintlirop Sargent, served from 1788 to 1798; William H. Harrison, served from 1798 to 1799; Charles Willing Byrd, served from 1799 to 1803.

" The latter gentleman was also acting Governor during the closing months of the Territorial government, Governor St. Clair having been removed from office, in 1S02, by President Jefferson.

Territorial Delegates in Congress - S^iWiom H. Harrison, served from 1799 to 1800; William McMillan, served from 1800 to 1801; Paul Fearing, served from 1801 to 1803.

Judges. - James Mitchell Yarnum, Samuel Holden Parsons, and John Armstrong were appointed Judges for the Northwest Territory, by Congress, in October, 1787; the latter, however, declined, and John Cleves Symmes was appointed to the vacancy in February, 1788, and he accepted.

" Judge Varuum died in January, 1789, and William Barton was appointed his successor, but declined the appointment ; George Turner, however, in 1789, accepted it. On the 10th of November, 1789, Judge Parsons was drowned in attempting to cross Big Beaver Creek, and Kufus Putnam became his successor, March 31, 1790. In 1796 he resigned, and Joseph Gilman succeeded him. The Territorial court was composed of three judges, two of whom constituted a quorum for judicial purposes, and also for the exercise of legislative functions, in co-operation with the Governor.