Licking County, Ohio - Early Explorations in the West, 1881 (part 2 of 2)

nations became more deeply interested in affairs in the West. The English were determined tosecure additional title to the West, and, in 1752, sent Messrs. Fry, Lomax and Patton as commissioners to Logstown to treat with the Indians, and confirm the Lancaster treaty. They met the Indians on the 9th of June, stated their desires, and on the llth received their answer. At first, the sayages were not inclined to recognize the Lancaster treaty, but agreed to aid the English, as the French had already made war on the Twigtees (at Pickawillany), and consented to the establishment of a fort and trading-post at the forks of the Ohio. This was not all the Virginians wanted, however, and taking aside Andrew Montour, now chief of the Six Nations, persuaded him to use his influence with the red men. By such means, they were induced to treat, and on the 13th they all united in signing a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its full extent, constnting to a settlement southwest of the Ohio, and covenanting that it should not be disturbed by them. By such means was obtained the treaty with the Indians in the Ohio Valley.

All this time, the home governments were endeayoring to out-maneuver each other with regard to the lands in the West, though there the outlook only betokened war. The French understood better than the English how to manage the Indians, and succeeded in attaching them firmly to their cause. The English were not honest in their actions with them, and hence, in after years, the massacres that followed.

At the close of 1752, Gist was at work, in conformity with the Lancaster and Logstown treaties, laying out a fort and town on Chartier's Creek, about ten miles below the fork. Eleven families had crossed the mountains to settle at Gist's residence west of Laurel Hill, not far from the Youghiogheny. Goods had come from England for the Ohio Company, which were carried as far West as Will's Creek, where Cumberland now stands; and where they were taken by the Indians and traders.

On the other hand, the French were gathering cannon and stores on Lake Erie, and, without treaties or deeds of land, were gaining the good will of the inimical tribes, and preparing, when all was ready, to strike the blow. Their fortifications consisted of a chain of forts from Lake Erie to the Ohio, onthe border. One was at Presque Isle, on the site of Erie; one on French Creek, on the site of Waterford, Penn.; one at the mouth of French Creek, in Venango County, Penn.; while opposite it was another, effectually commanding that section of country. These forts, it will be observed, were all in the limits of the Pennsylvania colony. The Governor informed the Assembly of their existence, who voted £600 to be used in purchasing presents for the Indians near the forts, and thereby hold their friendship. Virginia, also, took similar measures. Trent was sent, with guns and ammunition and presents, to the friendly tribes, and, while on his mission, learned of the plates of lead planted by the French. In October, 1753, a treaty was consummated with representatives of the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawanees, Twigtwees and Wyandots, by commissioners from Pennsylvania, one of whom was the philosopher Franklin. At the conferences held at this time, the Indians complained of the actions of the French in forcibly taking possession of the disputed country, and also bitterly denounced them for using rum to intoxicate the red men, when they desired to gain any advantage. Not long after, they had similar grounds of complaint against the English, whose lawless traders cared for nothing but to gain the furs of the savage at as little expense as possible.

The encroachments of the French on what was regarded as English territory, created intense feeling in the colonies, especially in Virginia. The purpose of the French to inclose the English on the Atlantic Coast, and thus prevent their extension over the mountains, became more and more apparent, and it was thought that this was the opening of a scheme already planned by the French Court to reduce all North America under the dominion of France. Gov. Dinwiddie determined to send an ambassador to the French posts, to ascertain their real intentions and to observe the amount and disposition of their forces. Heselected a young Virginian, then in his twenty-first year, a surveyor by trade and one well qualified for the duty. That young man afterward led the American Colonies in their struggle for liberty. George Washington and one companion, Mr. Gist, successfully made the trip, in the solitude of a severe winter, received assurance from the French commandant that they would by no means abandon their outposts, and would not yield unless compelled by force of arms. 'The commandant was exceedingly polite, but firm, and assured the young American that "we claim the country on the Ohio by virtue of the discovery of La Salle (in 1669) and will not give itup tothe English. Our orders are to make prisoners of every Hnglishman found

Monongahela and Alleghany; and when, on his return, "he met seventeen horses loaded with miaterialy and stores for a fort at the forks of the Ohio, and, soon after, some families going out to settle, he knew the defense had begun. As soon as Washington made his report, Gov. Dinwiddie wrote to the Board of Trade, stating that the French were building a fort at Venango, and that, in March, twelve or fifteen hundred men would be ready to descend the river with their Indian allies, for which purpose three hundred canoes had been collected ; and that Logstown was to be made headquarters, while forts were to be built in other places. Pennsylvania and New York, apprising them of the nature of affairs, and calling upon them for assistance. He also raised two companies, one of which was raised by Washington, the other by Trent. The one under Trent was to be raised on the frontiers, and was, as soon as possible, to repair to the Fork and erect there a fort, begun by the Ohio Company. Owing to various conflicting opinions between the Governor of Pennsylvania and his Assembly, and the conference with the Six Nations, held by New York, neither of those provinces put forth any vigorous measures until stirred to action ' by the invasions on the frontiers, and until directed by the Earl of Holderness, Secretary of State. The fort at Venango was finished by the French in April, 1754. All along the creek resounded the clang of arms and the preparations for war. New York and Pennsylvania, though inactive, and debating whether the French really had invaded Enelish territory or not, sent aid to the Old Dominion, now all alive to the conquest. The two companies had been increased to six; Washington was raised to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and made second under command of Joshua Fry. Ten cannon, lately from England, were forwarded from s.lexandria; wagons were got ready to carry westward provisions "and. stores through the heavy spring roads; and everywhere men were enlisting under the King's promise of two huudred thousand acres of land to those who would go. They were gathering along Will's Creek and far beyond, while Trent, who had come for more men and supplies, left a 'little band of forty-one men, working away in hunger and want at the Fork, to which both nations were looking with anxious eyes. Though no enemy was near, and only a few Indian scouts were seen, keen eyes had observed the low

Swift feet had borne the news of it up the valley, and though Ensign Ward, left in command, felt himself secure, on the Lith of April he saw a sight that made his heart sick. Sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes were coming down the Alleghany. The commandant sent him a summons, which evaded no words in its meaning. It was useless to contend, that evening he supped with his conqueror, the next day he was bowed out by the polite Frenchman, and with his men and tools marched up the Monongahela. The first birds of spring were filling the air with their song; the rivers rolled by, swollen by April showers "and melting snows; all nature was putting on her robes of green; and the fortress, which the English had so earnestly strived to obtain and fortify, was now in the hands of the French. Fort Du Quesne arose on the incomplete fortifications. The seven years' war that followed not only affected America, but spread to all quarters of the world. The war made England a great imperial power ; drove the French from Asia and America; dispelled the brilliant and extended scheme of Louis and his voluptuous empire.

The active field of operations was in the Canadas principally, and along the western borders of Pennsylvania. There were so few people then in the present confines of Ohio, that only the possession of the country, in common with all the West, could be the animus of the conflict. It so much concerned this part of the New World, that a brief resumé of the war will be necessary to fully understand its history.

The fall of the post at the fork of the Ohio, Fort Du Quesne, gave the French control of the West. Washington went on with his few militia to retake the post. Though he was successful at first, he was in the end defeated, and surrendered, being allowed to return with all his munitions of war. The two governments, though trying to come to a 'pe saceful solution of the question, were getting ready for the conflict. France went steadily on, though at one time England gave, in a measure, her consent to allow the French to retain all the country west of the Alleghanies and south of the lakes. Had this been done, what a different future would have been in America! Other destinies were at work, however, and the plan fell stillborn.

England sent Gen. Braddock and a fine force of men, who marched directly toward the post on the Ohio. His ill- fated expedition resulted only im the total defeat of his army, and his own death.

Washington saved a remnant of the army, and _ made his way back to the colonies. The English needed a leader. They next planned four campaigns; one against Fort Du Quesne; one against Crown Point; one against Niagara, and one against the French settlements in Nova Scotia. Nearly every one proved a failure. The English were defeated on sea and on land, all owing to the incapacity of Parliament, and the want of a suitable, vigorous leader. The settlements on the frontiers, now exposed to a cruel foe, prepared to defend themselves, and already the signs of a government of their own, able to defend itself, began to appear. They received aid from the colonies. Though the French were not repulsed, they and their red allies found they could not murder with impunity. Self-preservation was a stronger incen- | tive in conflict than aggrandizement, and the land, and for them a brighter day was at hand. The key to the West must be retaken, and to Gen. Forbes was assigned the duty. Preceding him, a trusty man was sent to the Western Indians at the head-waters of the Ohio, and along the Monongahela and Alleghany, to see if some compromise with them could not be made, and their aid secured. The French had been busy through their traders inciting the Indians against the English. The lawless traders were another source of trouble. Caring nothing for either nation, they carried on a ried into one of their tribes. Tle was wimissionary, and though obliged to cross a country whose every stream had been dyed by blood, and every hillside | rung with the death-yell, and grown red with the light of burning huts, he went willingly on his way. Of his journey, sufferings and doings, his own journal tells the story. Heleft Philadelphia on the 15th of July, 1758, and on the 7th of August safely passed the French post at Venango, went on to Big Beaver Creek, where he held a conference with the chiefs of the Indians gathered there. It was decided that a great conference should be held opposite Fort Du Quesne, where there were Indians of eight nations. "We will bear you in our bosoms," said the natives, when Post expressed a fear that he might be delivered over to the French, and royally they fulfilled their promises. At the conference, it was made clear to Post that all the Western Indians were wavering in their allegiance to the French, owing largely to the failure of that nation to fulfill their promises of aid to prevent them from being deprived of their land by theSix Nations, and through that confederacy, by the English. The Indians complained bitterly, moreover, of the disposition of the whites in over-running and claiming their lands. "Why did you not fight your battles at home or on the sea, instead of coming into our country to fight them?" they asked again and again, and mournfully shook their heads when they thought of the future before them. " Your heart is good," said they to Post. "You speak sincerely; but we know there is always a great number who wish to get rich; they have enough; distressing traffic in direct violation of the laws, continually engendering ill-feeling among the natives. 'Your traders,' said one of them, "bring scarce anything but rum and flour. They bring little powder and lead, or other valuable goods. The rum ruins us. We beg you would prevent its coming in such quantities by regulating the traders. * * * 'These wicked whisky sellers, whe:. they have got the Indians in liquor, make them sell the very clothes off their backs. If this practice be continued, we must be inevitably ruined. We most earnestly, therefore, beseech you to remedy it." They complained of the French traders the same way. They were also beginning to see the animus of the whole conflict. Neither power cared as look! we do not want to be rich and take away what others have. The white people think we have no brains in our heads; that they are big, /and we are a handful; but remember when you hunt for a rattlesnake, you cannot always find it, and perhaps it will turn and bite you before you see it."* When the war of Pontiac came, and all the West was desolated, this saying might have been justly remembered. After concluding a peace, Post set out for Philadelphia, and after incredible hardships, reached the settlement uninjured early in September. His mission had more to do than at first is apparent, in the success of the English. Had it not been for him,a second Braddock's defeat might have befallen Forbes, now on his way to subjugate Fort Du Quesne.

ordered with his troops. Sickness had prevented him from being here already. Two officers were sent out to reconnoiter the fort, who returned and gave avery good account of its condition. Gen. Forbes desired to know more of it, and sent out Maj. Grant, with 800 men, to gain more complete knowledge. Maj. Grant, supposing not more than 200 soldiers to be in the fort, marched near it and made a feint to draw them out, and engage them in battle. He was greatly misinformed as to the strength of the French, and in the engagement that followed he was badly beaten - 270 of his men killed, 42 wounded, and several, including himself, taken prisoners. The French, elated with their victory, attacked the main army, but were repulsed and obliged. to retreat to the fort. The army continued on its march. On the 24th of November they reached Turtle Creek, where a council of war was held, and where Gen. Forbes, who had been so ill as to be carried on a litter from the start, declared, with a mighty oath, he would sleep that night in the fort, or in a worse place. The Indians had, however, carried the news to the French that the English were as plenty as the trees of the woods, and in their fright they set fire to the fort in the night and left up and down the Ohio River. The next morning the English, who had heard the explosion of the magazine, and seen the light of the burning walls, marched in and took peaceable possession, A small fortification was thrown up on the bank, and, in honor of the great English statesman, it was called Fort Pitt. Col. Hugh Mercer was left in command, and the main body of the army marched back to the settlements. It reached Philadelphia January 17, 1759. On the 11th of March, Gen. Forbes died, and was buried in the chancel of Christ's Church, in that city.

Post was now sent on a mission to the Six Nations, with a report of the treaty of Easton. He was again instrumental in preventing a coalition of the Indians and the French. - Indeed, to this obscure Mora.ian missionary belongs, in a large measure, the honor of the capture of Fort Du Quesne, for by his influence had the Indians been restrained from attacking the army on its march,

The French, though deprived of the key to the West, went on preparing stores and ammunition, expecting to retake the fort in the spring. Before they could do this, however, other places demanded their attention.

The success of the campaien of 1758 opened the way for the consummation of the great scheme of Pitt - the complete reduction of Canada. Three expeditions were planned, by which Canada, already well nigh annihilated and suffering for food, was to be subjugated. On the west, Prideaux was to attack Niagara; in the center, Amherst was to advance on Ticonderoga and Crown Point; on the east, Wolfe was to besiege Quebec. All these points gained, the three armies were to be united in the center of the province.

Amherst appeared before Ticonderoga July 22. The French blew up their works, and retired to Crown Point. Driven from there, they retreated to Isle Aux Nois and entrenched themselves. The lateness of the season prevented further action, and Amherst went into winter quarters at Crown Point. Early in June, Wolfe appeared before Quebec with an army of 8,000 men. On the night of September 12, he silently ascended the river, climbed the heights of Abraham, a spot considered impregnable by the French, and on the summit formed his army of 5,000 men. Montcalm, the French commander, was compelled to give battle. The British colwns, flushed with success, charged his half-formed lines, and dispersed them.

exclaimed, " Now, God be praised, I die happy." Montcalm, on hearing from the surgeon that death would come in a few hours, said, "I am glad of it. T shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." At five the next morning he died happy.

Prideaux moved up Lake Ontario, and on the 6th of July invested Niagara. Its capture would cut off the French from the west, and every en- Troops, destined to take the small garrison at Fort Pitt, were held to assist In raising the siege of Niagara. M. de Aubry, commandant in Illinois, came up with 400 men and 200,000 pounds of flour. Cut off by the abandonment of Fort Du Quesne from the Ohio down the Maumee to Lake Erie, and on to Presquville, or Presque Isle, over the portage to Le Boeuf and thence down French Creek to Fort Venango. He was chosen to lead the expedition for the relief of Niagara. They were pursued by Sir William J ohnson, successor to Prideaux, who had lost his life by the bursting of a cannon, and were obliged to flee. The next day Niagara, cut off ftom succor, surrendered.

All America rang with exultation. Towns were bright with illuminations ; the hillsides shone with bonfires. From press, from pulpit, from platform, and from speakers' desks, went up one glad song of rejoicing. Kngland was victorious everywhere. The colonies had done their full share, and now learned their strength. That strength was needed now, for ere long a different conflict raged on the soil of America - a conflict ending in the birth of a new nation. ra

The English sent Gen. Stanwix to fortify Fort Pitt, still looked upon as one of the principal fortresses in the West. He erected a good fortification there, which remained under British control fifteen years. Now nothing of the fort is left. No memorial of the British possession remains in the the submission of Canada. M. de Levi, on whom the command devolved, retired with the French Army to Montreal. In the spring of 1760, he besieged Quebec, but the arrival of an English fleet caused him to again retreat to Montreal.

Amherst and Johnson, meanwhile, effected a union of their forces, the magnitude of whose armies convinced the French that resistance would be useless, and on the &th of September, M. de Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, surrendered Montreal, Quebec, Detroit, Mackinaw and all other posts in Canada, to the English commander-inchief, Amherst, on condition that the French inhabitants should, during the war, be "protected in the full and free exercise of their religion, and the full enjoyment of their civil rights, leaving their future destinies to be decided by the treaty of peace." -

Though peace was concluded in the New World, on the continent the Powers experienced some difficulty in arriving at a satisfactory settlement. It was finally settled by what is known in history as the "family compact." France and Spain saw in the conquest the growing power of England, and saw, also, that its continuance only extended that power. Negotiations were re-opened, and on the 3d of November, 1762, preliminaries were agreed to and signed, and afterward ratified in Paris, in February, 1763. By the terms of the compact, Spain ceded to Great Britian Hast and West Florida. To compensate Spain, France ceded to her by a secret article, all Louisiana west of the Mississippi.

The French and Indian war was now over. Canada and all its dependencies were now in possession of the Knglish, who held undisputed sway over the entire West as far as Mississippi. It only remained for them to take possession of the outposts. Major Robert Rogers was sent to take possession of Detroit and establish a garrison there. He was a partisan officer on the borders of New Hampshire, where he earned a name for bravery, but afterward tarnished it by treasonable acts. On his way to Detroit, on the 7th of November, 1760, he was met by the renowned chief, Pontiac, who authoritatively commanded him to pause and explain his acts. Rogers replied by explaining the conquest of Canada, and that he was acting under orders from his King. Through the influence of Pontiac, the army was saved from the Indians sent out by the French, and was allowed to proceed.on its way. Pontiac had assured his protection as long as the English treated him with due deference. Beletre, the commandant at Detroit, refused to surrender to the English commander, until he had received positive assurance from his Governor, Vaudreuil, that the country was indeed conquered. On the 29th of September, the colors of France gave way to the ensign of Great Britain amid the shouts of the soldiery and the astonishment of the Indians, whose savage natures could not understand how such a simple act declared one nation victors of another, and who wondered at the forbearance displayed. The lateness of the season prevented further operations, but early the next spring, Mackinaw, Green Bay, Ste. Marie, St. Joseph and the Ouitenon surrounded, and nothing was left but the Illinois towns. These were secured as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made.

Though the English were now masters of the West, and had, while many of these events na:- rated were transpiring, extended their settlements beyond the Alleghanies, they were by no means secure in their possession. The woods and prairies were full of Indians, who, finding the English like the French, caring more for gain than the welfare him a desire for Huropean goods. They also affiliated easily with them, and became thereby strongly endeared to the savage. The French were a merry, easy-going race, fond of gayety and delighting in adventure. The English were harsh, stern, and made no advances to gain the friendship of the savage. They wanted land to cultivate and drove away the Indian's game, and forced him farther west. ' Where shall we go?" said the Indian, despondently; "you drive us farther and farther west; by and by you will want all the land." And the Anglo-Saxon went sturdily on, paying no heed to the complaints. The French traders incited the Indian to resent the encroachment. "The English will annihilate you and take all your land," said they. "Their father, the King of France, had been asleep, now he had awakened

Discontent under such circumstances was but natural. Soon all the tribes, from the mountains to the Mississippi, were united in a plot. It was discovered in 1761, and arrested. The next summer, another was detected and arrested. The officers, and all the people, failed. to realize the danger. The rattlesnake, though not found, was ready to strike. It is only an Indian discontent, thought the people, and they went on preparing to occupy the country. They were mistaken - the crisis only needed a leader to direct it. That leader appeared.