Noble County, Ohio - Indians of the Ohio Valley, 1887 (part 1 of 2)

Indians of the Ohio Valley

A Gi>ANCK AT Aboriginal Ohio - A Hunter's Paradise - The Mound Builders and Their Works - The Aborigines - Original Tribes in Ohio - The Iroquois and Their Conc^uest of the Country - The Delawares of the Tuscarawas and the Muskingum - Interesting Traditions - Noted Chieftains - The Shawnees and their History - Their Hostility to the Whites - Other Indian Nations - The Manner of Savage Life - James Smith Relates His Experience - How he WAS Converted Fr(»m a White Man to an Indian - Life in the Wilderness - Hunting the Elk and the Buffalo - War Songs and Dances - Courtship among THE Savages - Hunting Adventures.

FOR many years prior to the advent of the white man a large part of the valley of the Upi^er Ohio was almost wholly destitute of human inhabitants, and occupied by the Indians only now and then as a hunting-ground. Dr. Hildreth estimates that this unpeopled tract was from forty to sixty miles in width on both sides of the Ohio, extending from the site of Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Great Miami. In all this vast region there were few if any spots that were permanently occupied, with the exception of Logstown, in western Pennsylvania, and a Shawnee village at the mouth of the Scioto. Over the hills and through the valleys roamed the elk, the deer and the buffalo, lieasts of prey abounded also, and the silence of the forest was f recjuently broken by the hoarse cry of the bear, the shriek of the panther or the bark of the wolf. The streams abounded in « fish and were the haunts of valuable fur- bearing animals, such as the mink, the otter

Yet there was a time, farther back than the written history of America extends, when all the valley of this great river was the seat of a great race of semi-civilized people. But no pen has recorded their history ; their achievements in war and peace have never been told, and even their manner of life is unknown. Speculation as to their origin and fate has so far proved fruitless. But upon the shores of lakes, streams and rivers, from the western base of the Alleghenies to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, they have left countless mementoes of themselves to remind future generations of the antiquity of human life in America. The relics of this curious and mysterious race known to us only as the Mound- Builders, are especially numerous in Ohio, existing in almost every part of the state. The ancient mounds at Marietta and at many other places in the valleys of the Ohio and the Muskingum are but few of many monu- ments left by this people to mystify the archaeologists of today. Every county in southeastern Ohio had its share of these relics, and though the plowshare has eliminated all traces of many, some are still traceable along the principal water-courses. The following account of an examination of some of these prehistoric works, made by an English traveler named Ash, in the year 1826, may serve as an example of what the mounds are :

" On the banks of a creek on the west side of the Muskingum, in Morgan County, were found numerous small mounds, the bases of which were composed of hard burned bricks about five inches square, and on the bricks were charcoal cinders mixed with particles of calcined bones of human frames. The general shape and size of the mounds showed that the bones had been first burned on the brick altars and afterward covered with earth to protect them and mark the spots. One of these mounds was over twenty feet square, and the bricks plainly showed the action of fire. This mound was covered with large trees, some of which were aiicertained to be five hundred years old. Lying on the ground were found trees in a state of decay that had fallen from old age. From a minute calculation of the age of the fallen ti'ees and of those yet standing it was found that the mound was at least a thousand years old." * on hilltops, seem to have been constructed as watch-towers, while still others, by their peculiar construction, show that they were built as defensive fortifications.

On the farm of John Noble, in Noble township, is a curious relic of the prehistoric people which is doubtless of great antiquity. On a rise of land bordering upon the creek bottom a short distance east of the Cleveland and Marietta railroad may still be traced the outlines of a circular earthwork about sixty feet in diameter. Formerly the enclosure was a mound-shaped elevation, from which an observer could overlook all the ground within a radius of a half mile or more. The earth-wall surrounding the mound - if such it was - was thrown up to the height of at least six feet, leaving a space between the ring and the mound wherein men could stand and guard themselves against their enemies. Cultivation of the ground has jmrtially obliterated the work, but enough of it is still traceable to clearly indicate that here was a defensive fortification probably belonging to the age of the Mound- Kuilders. Mr. Noble states that when he first observed the work a stump of a tree about three feet in diameter was standing on the edge of the outer ring. This would indicate that the work was done in a remote age, for it must have required hundreds of years for the tree to grow, mature and decay. The site of the earth-work clearly shows that the work was intended for a defensive one. There are no neighboring elevations for some distance around commanding a view of the spot, and as the ground juts off abruptly from the fortification toward the creek bottom, those within the wall could effectually guard against a surprise.

On the same farm have been found scores of arrow and spearbeads, fashioned from flint, stone axes, and remains of pottery, which would indicate that the Indians had also occupied this locality in a later |>eriod ; and it is not improbable that here may have been the scene of some mighty conflict between savage nations, years before the Avhite men came to occupy the beautiful valley of the Ohio. Not far from the work above described was formerly a spot called by the early settlers an '* Indian burying-ground." Here the earth was covered to the depth of several feet with bits of broken limestone, none of them larger than a man's fist. Some of the pieces bore evidence of having been burned, and all were so broken and })laced together as to prove beyond question that the work was done by men, though with what object there is no means of determining. No examination of this work has ever beeh made, and no one yet knows whether the /jtones conceal skeletons or not.

Among late theories as to what j)eoj)le built the mounds of the great central valley of America, one supposes them to have been kindred to or identical with the Aztecs of Mexico ; another, that the Zufii Indians of the Far West are the last remnant of this once great people.

the Dpper Ohio was found to be, as Ave have described it, a region without inhabitants when the early French voyayeurs first explored the West, and so it continued years later when English adventurers and American explorers visited it. It seems probable that the savage Indian tribes of the North made warlike incursions upon the ancient people of the valley, dispossessed them of their lands, and were in turn themselves conquered and driven out by the powerful Iroquois. The latter supposition is corroborated by various Indian legends.

The Five Nations (increased to Six by an alliance [about 1711] with their kinsman, the Tuscaroras or Tuscarawas), whose densest population was in Northern New York, ambitiously claimed to be the conquerers of the entire West, and actually held several weaker tribes in subjugation. They maintained the strongest organized confederacy known among the aborigines of North America, and their government had some of the elements of a rude republic. Their confederacy is said to have been formed early in the sixteenth century, and the result of the powerful alliance was that they soon gained a complete mastery of the tribes which had hitherto held dominion in the territory now constituting the State of Ohio. Their powerful warriors were the dreaded enemies of the western Indians, and the use of the Upper Ohio by their war parties doubtless caused it to be deserted by other tribes.

The Eries, a once powerful people are supposed to have anciently held sway over the greater portion of what is now the State of Ohio. Their chief villages were on the borders of the great lake bearing their name. The Andastes are said to have occupied the valleys of the Allegheny and the Upper Ohio, and the Hurons or Wyandots to have held dominion in the upper peninsula between the lakes. All were of Iroquois origin. The Upper Ohio and. the Allegheny was called by the early French travelers the River of the Iroquois, and its exploration was long deferred on account of their hostility. The Hurons were the first nation conquered by the Iroquois confederacy. The Eries were next compelled to yield submission before the prowess of the valiant warriors of the Five Nations. The warfare was long and bloody, and its close left but a feeble remnant of the once mighty Eries alive. This conquest took place about the year 1655. About 1672 the Five Nations won their victory over the Andastes.

The Miamis, occupying the country along the Miami and Maumee Rivers are also supposed by some to have been conquered by the Six Nations, but there is no historical evidence of the fact.

However complete the conquest of the Six Nations may have been, they soon suffered other tribes to occupy the valleys of the chief eastern tributaries of the Ohio, and the villages of the red race again appeai'ed on the banks of the Cuyahoga, the Tuscarawas, the Muskingum, the Scioto, the Miamis and the Maumee.

About 1750, when the West began to be known to English- Americans, the principal tribes within the present limits of Ohio were as follows : The Delawares, on the Tuscarawas and the Muskingum ; the Shawnees, in the Scioto Valley ; the Miamis, upon the rivers bearing their name ; the Wyandots, sometimes called the Hurons, occupying the country on the Sandusky River and Bay ; the Ottawas, in the valleys of the Maumee and the Sandusky ; the Chippewas, along the south shore of Lake Erie, and the Mingoes (of Iroquois lineage), on the Ohio below where Steubenville now is. The territory of each tribe was not fixed by definite boundaries, nor was the seat of densest population of all the tribes permanent. By the time white settlers made their appearance in the valley considerable change had occurred - some tribes having moved westward and others northward - and it was noted that preilatory and war-parties were frequently made up of warriors from several different tribes.

The Delawares were the chief occupants of Eastern Ohio, and yere virtually in possession of half the present territory of the state, from the Ohio to the lake. The Delawares called themselves the Lenni- Lenape, or original people, and had various legends proving the antiquity of their origin. According to their traditions, the original home of the Lenni-Lenape was west of the Missis- sippi, whence they migrated eastward to the region of the Allegheny Mountains, where they became involved in a war with a powerful race, of giant stature, known as the AUegewi, who sought to stay their further progress. In this war they were assisted by the Mehgwe, otherwise known as the Mingoes or Iroquois, who had come from the west with them. The Lenape and the Mengwe conquered and extirpated the Allegewi, and took possession of their country, the Mengwe taking as their territory the country along the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, and the Lenape reserving to themselves the vast tract stretching from the Allegheny Mountains to the Atlantic coast, and eventually settling their densest population on the Delaware, the Susquehanna and the Potomac. The Europeans having taken possession of the Atlantic coast, and ' the Delawares having become embittered against their ancient allies, the Iroquois, whom they accused of treachery, a western migration of the Delawares ensued, and they took up their abode in the valley of the Allegheny River. There they were again disturbed by the white man, and a part of the tribe obtained permission from the Wyandots to occupy the valleys of the Tuscarawas and the Muskingum, where their chief population soon became gathered. The Delawares were not such a fierce race as the Iroquois, and were called women by the latter, who held them in subjection to themselves. The success of the Moravian missionaries amono^ them proves that they were susceptible to the influences of Christianity and civihzation, and steadfast in friendship to those who treated them kindly.

The Delawares were divided into three tribes - the Unamis, the Unachtigo and the Minsi, (called also Monseys or Muncies). Their tribal designations signified respectively the turkey, the turtle and the wolf. Their principal villages were on the Tuscarawas and the Upper Muskingum. So far as is known they had no settlements whatever in the lower valleys of the Muskingum, which was regarded as a part of the great hunting-ground. The name of the river was originally MooBkingom^ which, in the Delaware tongue signified elk's eye. The Tuscarawas took its name from an Indian town of the same name, situated near the site of Bolivar. According to Heckewelder the signification of the word was Old Town.

Among Delaware chiefs in Ohio, White Eyes and Captain Pipe were most influential. Others were Netawatmees, Buckongahelas, Half King and King Newcomer, after whom Newcomerstown was named. Captain Pipe was a war chief and mischief maker ; White Eyes was generally on the side of peace, though he was brave and renowned for his valor in war. The two were great and jealous rivals, and there was almost constant intrigue between them. White Eyes was the friend and encourager of the Moravian missions, while Captain Pipe preferred charges against the mission- aries, and was implicated in the movement which led to their arrest and the destruction of the setflements. White Eyes died about 1780, and Captain Pipe gained the ascendency among his people, turning them against the whites and drawing them into war.

The Shawnees, more than any other nation were cruel, relentless and bitterly hostile to the whites. First on the side of the French, then as allies of the British, they made war upon the Americans. They were the terror of the frontier settlements, and the record of their atrocities ii^ Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky would fill volumes. According to their traditions the Shawnees were of foreign origin, and they were accustomed to celebrate annually with festivals and ceremonies the arrival of their progenitors on these shores. It is generally believed that at a remote period of their history the Shawnees dwelt in the south, and ranged from Kentucky to Florida. They appear to have always been wanderers, and have been styled "the Bedouins of the American wilderness. Afterward they are supposed to have drifted northward, and many of them occupied the Scioto VaUey until driven from it by the Iroquois invasion about 1672. The shattered and weakened nation then returned southward and occupied the country of North Carolina until they were forced therefrom and compelled to take refuge among the Creeks. Later, encouraged by the Wyandots and the French, they again returned north of the Ohio, and their camp-fires once more blazed along the Scioto. The Shawnee tribes were known as the Piqua, Kiskapocke, Mequachuke and Chillicothe. Cornstalk was their princiiml chief, and led his warriors on many a hostile expedition. Later, their most renowned chieftain and warrior was Tecumseh, who is said to have had Creek blood in his veins.

The Hurons or Wyandots had their densest population about Detroit, and minor settlements on the Sandusky and the Maumee. With the exception of a village on White-woman Creek they appear to have made no settlements in Central of Southern Ohio. They claimed a remoter origin than any other nation, and even the Delawares did not dispute their claim. Their claim of dominion of the country between the Allegheny and the Ohio Kivers, Lake Erie and the Great Miami was never disputed, save by the Six Nations. The Jesuit missionaries who were among them as early as 1639 estimated their number at ten thousand. They depended less than other tribes on the results of the chase for food, but devoted much attention to the cultivation of the soil, and had extensive conifields around all their settlements. They were valorous in war, seldom retreated, but usually fought to the death.

The Ottawas in Ohio were few and scattering at the time the whites became acquainted with the region. The renowned Pontiac was of this tribe. The Miamis, anciently called the Twigtwees, appear to have l>een the earliest Indians to occupy the valleys of the rivers named after them.

The Mingoes, also known as the Cayugas, had a few small villages in Ohio, one near the present site of Steuben ville, and others on the Scioto.

An interesting statement of the manner of life of the savages of the Muskingum and Tuscarawas Valleys, over a century and a quarter ago, is furnished in a " Narrative " written by James Smith of Pennsylvania, who was captured by the Indians near Bedford, Pa., in 1755, taken west of the Ohio and adopted into their tribe, remaining among them several years. Smith was a remakably courageous backwoodsman, and led a romantic and adventurous career. After his capture he was taken to Fort Duquesne (afterward Fort Pitt), where he witnessed the barbarous atrocities inflicted upon the white prisoners taken at the scene of Braddock's defeat. Thence he was taken to an Indian town called Tulhillas (otherwise Pluggystown), on White-woman Creek, about twenty miles north of Coshocton, where he remained several months. I^ter he went into the lake country, and remained for several years among the ' Indians, hunting and fishing. In 1760 he accompanied a war partj^ into Canada, was taken prisoner, and after some time exchanged and returned to Pennsylvania. There he became the leader of a lawless band of squatter settlers styled the Black Boys, who, on one occasion, attacked and destroyed the stores of a trading party who were crossing the mountains on their way to Fort Pitt. A#:erward he and a portion of his Black Boys surprised and captured Fort Bedford, then held by the king's troops. He accompanied Bouquet as a guide on his expedition to the Muskingum. He joined the patriot army in the Kevolution and became colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment. After the war he settled in Kentucky and served there as a member of the legislature. In his "Narrative," speaking of his being taken to Tulhillas, Colonel Smith says:

"The day after my arrival at the aforesaid town a number of Indians collected about me, and one of them began to pull the hair out of my head. He had some ashes on a piece of bark in which he frequently dipped his fingers, in order to take a firmer hold, and so he went on as if he had been plucking a turkey, until he had all the hair clean out of my head, except a small spot about three or four inches square on my crown ; this they cut oflf with a pair of scissors, excepting three locks, which they dressed up in their own mode. Two of these they wrapped around with a narrow beaded garter made by themselves for that purpose, and the other they plaited at full length, then stuck it full of silver brooches. After this they bored my nose and ears and fixed me oflf with earrings and nose jewels ; then they ordered me to strip oflf my clothes and put on a breechclout, which I did. They then painted my head, face and body in various colors. They put a large belt of wampum on my neck and silver bands on my hands and right arm ; and so an old chief led me out into the street and gave the alarm halloo, Coo-wigh! several times, repeated quick; and on this all that were in town came running and stood around the old chief, who held me by the hand in their midst. As I at that time knew nothing of their mode of adoption, and had seen them put to death all they had taken, and as I never could find that they saved a man alive at Braddock's defeat, I made no doubt but they Avere about putting me to death in some cruel manner. The old chief, holding me by the hand, made a long speech, very loud^ and when he had done he handed me to three young sqUaAvs, Avho led me by the hand down the bank into the river until the water was up to my middle. The squaws then made signs for me to plunge myself into the water, but I did not understand them. I thought the result of the counsel was that I should be drowned, and that these young ladies were to be the executioners. They all three laid violent hold of me, and I for some time opposed them with all my might, which occasioned loud laughter by the multitude that were on the bank of the river. At length one of the squaws made out to speak a little English (for I believe they began to be afraid of me), and said, ' No hurt you.' On this I gave myself up to their ladyships, Avho were as good as their word ; for though they plunged me under water, and Avashed and rubbed me severely, I could not say they hurt me much.

'* These young women then led me up to the council-house, where some of the tribe were ready with new clothes for me. They gave me a new ruffled shirt, which I put on; also a pair of leggins, done off with ribbons and beads ; likewise a pair of moccasins, and garters dressed with beads, porcupine quills and red hair, also a tinsel-la<3e<l chapeau. They again painted my head and face with various colors, and tied a bunch of red feathers to one of those locks they had left on the crown of my hejui, which stood up five or six inches. They reseated me on a bear-skin, and gave me a pipe, tomahawk and polecat-skin pouch, which had been skinned pocket fashion, and contained tobacco, JcilleyenicOy or dried sumac leaves, which they mixed with their tobacco ; also spunk, flint and steel. When I was thus seated the Indians came in, dressed and painted in their grandest manner. As they came in they took their seats, and for a considerable time there was a profound silence. Everyone was smoking, but not a word was spoken among them. At length one of the chiefs made a speech, which was delivered to me by an interpreter, and was as follows :

" ' My son, you are now flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. By the ceremony which Avas performed this day every drop of white blood was washed out of your v^eins; you are taken into the Caughnewaga nation and initiated into a Avarlike tribe ; j^ou are adopted into a great family, and now received Avith great seriousness and solemnity in the room and place of a great man. After wYiat has passed this day you are now one of us by an old, strong law and custom. My son, you have nothing to fear ; we are now under the same obligation to love, support and defend you that we are to love and defend one another ; therefore you are to consider yourself as one of our people.'

''At this tune I did not believe this fine speech, especially that of the white blood being washed out of me ; but since that time I have found that there was much sincerity in said speech; for from that day I never knew them to make any distinction between me and themselves in any respect whatever until I left them. If they had plenty of clothing, I had plenty ; if we were scarce, we all shared alike.

"After this ceremony was over I was introduced to my new kin, and told that I was to attend a feast that evening, which I did. And, as the custom was, they gave me also a bowl and wooden spoon, which I carried with me to the place where there were a number of large brass kettles full of boiled venison and green corn. Everyone advanced with his bowl and spoon and had his share given him. After this one of the chiefs made a short speech, and then we began to eat.

" The name of one of the chiefs in this town was Tecanyaterightigo, alias Pluggy, and the other Asallecoa, alias Mohawk Solomon. As Pluggy and hk^art}'^ were to start the next day t^var, to the frontiers of Virginia, the next thing to be performed was their war dance and their war songs. At their war dance they had both vocal and instrumental music. They had a short, hollow gun, closed at one end, with Avater in it, and parchment stretched over the open end thereof, which they beat with one stick and made a sound nearly hke a muffled drum. AU those who were going on this expedition collected together and formed. An old Indian then began to sing, and timed the music by beating on this drum, as the ancients formerly timed their music b}'^ beating the tabor. On this the warriors began to advance or move forward in concert, like well disciplined troops would march to the fife and drum. Each warrior had a tomahawk, spear or war-mallet in his hand, and they all moved regularly toward the east, or the way they intended to go to war. At length they all stretched their tomahawks toward the Potomac, and giving a hideous shout or yell, they wheeled quick about and danced in the same manner back.

" The next was the war song. In performing this only one sang at a time, in a moving posture, with a tomahawk in his hand, while all the other Avarriors were engaged in calling aloud, 'Ile-xih! he-uKP which they constantly repeated while the war song was going on. When the warrior that Was singing had ended his song he struck a war-post with his tomahawk, and Avith a loud voice told what warlike exploits he had done, and what he now intended to do, which was answered by the other warriors with loud shouts of applause.

Some who had not before intended to go to war, at this time were so animated by this performance that tliey took up tlie tomahawk and sang the war song, which was answered with shouts of joy as they were then initiated into the present marching company. The next morning this company all collected at one place, with their heads and faces painted various colors, and packs upon their backs. They marched off, all silent except the commander, who in the front sang the traveling song, which began in this manner : ' IIoo cavg/v- Uiinte heeganaH Just as the rear passed the end of the town they began to tire in their slow manner, from the front to the rear, which was accompanied with shouts and yells from all quarters.

''That evening I was invited to another sort of dance, which was a sort of promiscuous dance. The yong men stood in one rank and the young women in another, about a rod apart, facing each other. The one that raised the tune or started the song held a small gourd or dry shell of a squash in his hand, which contained beads or small stones which rattled. When he began to sing he timed the tune with his rattle. Both men and women danced and sang together, advancing toward each other, stooping until their heads would be touching together, and then ceased from dancing, with loud shouts, and retreated and formed again, and so repeated the siime thing over and over for tliree or four houi^s without intermission. This exercise seemed to me at tirst irrational and insipid, but I found that in singing their tunes they used ya^ ne, no^ hoo, wa^ ns^ etc., like our fa^ sol^ la^ and though they have no such thing as jingling verse, they can intermix sentences with their notes and say whatever they please to each other and carry on the tune in concert. I found that this was a kind of wooing or courting dance, and as they advanced, stooping with their heads together, they could say what they pleased in each other's ear without disconcerting their rough music and the others, or those near not hear what they said.

"Shortly after this I went out to hunt in company with Mohawk Solomon, some of the Caughnewagas and a Delaware Indian that was married to a Caughnewaga squaw. We traveled about south from this town, and the first night we killed nothing, but we had w ith us green corn, which we roasted and ate that night. The next day we encamped alK)ut twelve o'clock and |he hunters turned out to hunt, and I went down the run that we encamped on, in company with some squaws and boys to hunt for plums, which we found in great plenty. On my return to camp I observed a large piece of fat meat ; the Delaware Indian that could talk some English observed me looking earnestly at this meat, and asked me, ' What meat you think that is ? ' I said I supposed it was bear-meat ; he laughed, and said : ' IIo, all one fool you ; beal now elly pool,' and jointing to the other side of the camp, he said : * Look at that skin ; you think that beal-skin? I went and lifted the skin, which appeared like an ox-hide. He then said: 'What skin you think that?' I replied that 1 thought it was a buflfalo-hide. 'You fool again; you know nothing; you think buffalo that colo' ? ' I acknowle<lged that I did not know much about these things, and told him that I never saw a buffalo, and that I had not heard what color they were. He replied: 'By and by you shall see gleat many buffalo ; he now go to gleat lick. That skin not buffaloskin ; that skin buck-elk skin.' They went out with horses and brought in the remainder of this buck-elk which was the fattest creature I ever saw of the tallow-kind.

" We remained at this camp about eight or ten days and killed a number of deer. Though we had neither bread nor salt at this time yet we had both roast and boiled meat in great plenty, and they were frequently inviting me to eat when I had no api)etite. We then moved to the buffalo lick, where we killed several buffalo, and in their small brass kettles they made about a bushel of salt. I suppose the lick was about thirty or forty miles from the aforesaid town, and somewhere between the Muskingum, the Ohio and the Scioto. About the lick were clear, open woods, and thin whiteoak land, and at that time there were large roads leading to the lick, like wagon roads. We moved from this lick about six or seven miles and encam peil on a creek.

hunt. At this place Mohawk Solomon asked me to go out with him to hunt, which I readily agreed to. After some time we came upon some fresh buffalo tracks. I had observed before this that the Indians were upon their guard and afraid of an enemy ; for until now they and the southern nations had been at Avar. As we were following up the buffalo tracks, Solomon seemed to be upon his guard, went very slow and would frequently stand and listen and appeared to be in suspense. We came to where the tracks were very plain in the sand, and I said, ' It is surely buffalo tracks.' He said, ' Hush, you know nothing ; may be buffalo tracks and may be Catawba!' He went very cautious until we found some fresh buffalo dung. He then smiled and said, ' Catawba cannot make so.' He then stopped and told me an odd story about the Catawbas. He said that formerly the Catawbas came near one of their hunting camps and at some distance from the camp lay in ambush ; and in order to decoy them out, sent two or three Catawbas in the night past their camp, with buffalo hoofs fixed on their feet, so as to make artificial tracks. In the morning those in the camp followed after these tracks, thinking they were buffalo, until they were fired on by the Catawbas and several of them killed. The others fled, collected a party and pursued the Catawbas; but they in their subtlety brought with them rattlesnake poison, which they had collected from the bladder that lies at the roots of the snake's teeth ; this they corked up in a short piece of a cane stalk ; they had also brought with them small cane or reed about the size of a rye straw, which they made sharp at the end like a pen, and dipped them into this poison, and stuck them in the ground among the grass, along their own tracks, in such a position that they might stick into the legs of the pursuers, which answered the design; and as the Oatawbas had runners to watch the motion of the the pursuers, when they found that a number of them were lame, being artificially snake-bit, and that they were all turning back, the Catawbas turned upon the pursuers and defeated them, and killed and scalped all that were lame. When Solomon had finished his storv and found that I understood him, he concluded by saying, 'You don't know, Catawba velly bad Indian, Catawba all one devil, Catawba.'

" Some time after this I Avas told to take the dogs with me and go down the creek - perhaps I might kill a turkey. It being in the afternoon, I was also told not to go far from the creek, and to come up the creek again to the camp, and to take care not to get lost. When I had gone some distance down the creek I came upon fresh buffalo tracks, and as I had a number of dogs with me to stop the buflFalo, I concluded I would follow after and perhaps kill one; as the grass and weeds were rank I could rejidily follow the track. A little before sundown I despaired of coming up with them ; I was then thinking how I might get to camp before night. I concluded, as the buffalo had made several turns, if I took the back track to the creek it would be dark before I could get to the camp ; therefore, I thought I would take a nearer way through the hills and strike the creek a little below the camp. But as it was cloudy weather, and I a very young woodsman, I could find neither creek nor camp. When night came on I fired my gun several times and halloed, but could get no answer. The next morning early the Indians were out after me, and as I had with me ten or a dozen dogs, and the grass and weeds were rank, they could readily follow my track. When they came up with me they appeared to be in a very good humor. I asked Solomon if he thought I Avas running away. He said : ' No, no ; you go too much clooked.' On my return to camp they took away my gun from me, and for this rash step I was reduced to a bow and arrow for nearly two years. We were out on this tour for about six weeks.

" When we returned to the town, Pluggy and his party had arrived, and brought with them a considerable number of scalps and prisoners from the south branch of the Potomac. They also brought with them an English Bible, which they gave to a Dutch woman who w^as a prisoner, but as she could not read English she made a present of it to me, which was very acceptable.

"When they killed a buffalo they would lash the paunch of it round a sapling, cast it into the kettle, boil it and sup the broth. They were polite in their own way, passed but few compliments, and had but few titles of honor. Captains or military leaders were the highest titles in the military line, and in the civil line, chiefs, or old wise men. No such terms as sir, mister, madam or mistress, but in their stead, grandfather, father, uncle, brother, mother, sister, cousin or my friend, were the terms they used in addressing one another. They paid great respect to age, and allowed no one to attain to any place of honor among them without having performed some exploit in war, or become eminent for wisdom. They invited every one that came to their camps or houses to eat as long as they had anything to give, and a refusal to eat when invited was considered a mark of disrespect. In courting, it was common for a young woman to make suit to a young man, as the men generally possessed more modesty than the women.

" Children were kept obedient, not by whipping, but by ducking them in cold water. Their principal punishment for infractions of their laws or customs was degradation. The crime of murder was atoned for by liberty given to the friends or relations of the murdered to slay the murderer. They had the essentials of military discipline, and their warriors were under good command and punctual in obeying orders. They cheerfully united in putting all their directions into immediate execution, and by each man observing the motion or movement of his right hand companion, they could communicate the motion from right to left and march abreast in concert and in scattered order, though the line was a mile long. They could {)erform various military maneuvers, eitlier sloAV or fast, as they could run. They formed the circle in order to surround the enemy, and the semi-circle if the enemy had a river on one side of them. They could also form the large hollow square, face out and take trees; this they did, if their enemies were about surrounding them, to prevent being shot from either side of the tree.

" Their only clothing when going into battle was the breechclout, leggins and moccasins. Their leaders gave general orders by a shout or yell in time of battle, either to advance or retreat, and then each man fought as though he were to gain the battle himself. To ambush and surprise the enemy and to prevent being ambushed and surprised themselves was their science of war. They seldom brought on an attack without a sure pros|>ect of victory, with the loss of few men ; and if mistaken, and likely to lose many men to gain a victory, they would retreat and wait for a better opportunity. If surrounded, however, they fought while there was a man alive, rather than surrender. A Delaware chief, called Captain Jacobs^ being with his warriors surrounded, took possession of a house, defended themselves for some time, and killed a number of the whites. When called on to surrender, he said he and his men were warriors, and they would all fight while life lasted. Being told that they would be well used' if they

Chapter Hi Tekritorial Government And Public Lands

First Measure Providing for Territorial Government, 17B4 - An Act Providing for THE Survey of Ohio Lands, 1785 - Names of the Surveyors Chosen - Squatter Intrusion on the Public Lands - List of S<iUATTER Settlers in Eastern Oino in 1785 - The Journey of General Richard Butler - Attempts to Disperse the Squatters - Erection of Fort Harmar, 1785 - Frontier Life - The Beginning OF THE Survey - Particulars op the Experiencf^ of the Surveyors, 1785-6 - The Indians Cause Trouble - The Survey of the First Seven Ranges - Tpe Moravian Reservations - The Ohio Company's Purchase - Symmes* Purchase - Donations to Ebenezer Zane - The Act of May, 1796, Providing for the Sur. VEY and Sale of Congressional Lands - The Military District - Land Offices Established - Later Land Legislation - The Ordinance op 1787.

ON the 23d of April, 1784, Congress passed the first ordinance providing for the establishment and maintenance of government by the United States in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. Thomas Jefferson was chairman of the committee that reported the measure. The ordinance contained a provision prohibiting slavery in the territory after the year 1800, but this clause was stricken out before the law was passed.

Under this first ordinance the survey of the public lands was begun. This appears to have been the only important result accomplished by the measure. Though the ordinance was nominally in force from the time of its enactment until July 13, 1787, when it was supereeded by the celebrated " Ortlinance of Freedom," in reality it was a dead letter. The establishment of government in the West and the promotion of settlement there seem to have been warmly favored by Jefferson, but for a time all his eflforts failed to accomplish the desired result.

(.^ongress, having purchased from the Indians at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, in New York, in 1784, whatever title the Six Nations had to lands in the valley of the Ohio, now sought to provide for the survey and disposjil of the same; and on May 20, 1785, was passed " An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory." This ordinance provided that a surveyor should be appointed from each State, who should take oath before the geographer of the United States for the faithful performance of his duties. The geographer was to have the direction of the survey, and as soon as they had qualified, the surveyors were to divide the territory into townships six miles square, by lines running north and south, crossed by other lines " at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same impracticable." The pay of the surveyors was fixed at $2 for every mile in length surveyed ; this included the wages of chainmen,' markers and all expenses. The first north and south line was to begin on the Ohio River at a point due north from the western termination of a line that had been run at the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and the first east and west line was also to begin at the same point. The geographer was instructed to number the townships and fractional parts of -townships from south to north, the first township on the river being numbered one and so on progressively ; also to number the ranges in like manner from east to west, the first range west of Pennsylvania and extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie, being range number 1. lie was also to attend personally to the running of the first east and west line, the fixing of the latitudes of the terminations of the first north and south line, and also that of the mouths of the principal rivers. The surveyors were required carefully to note on their plats all mines, saltsprings, mill-seats, mountains, watercourses, the nature of the soil, etc. Plats of townships were to be divided into lots of one mile square by lines running parallel to the boundary lines.

It was also provided that as soon as seven ranges of townships htul been surveyed, the geographer should transmit plats of the same to the Board of Treasury, by whom they were to be recorded in well-bound books, to which the Secretary of War should have access. The secretary was then to take by lot a number of townships and fractional townships, both of those to be sold entire and of those to be sold in lots, such as would be equal to oneseventh part of the whole seven ranges, for the use of officers and soldiers of the Continental army. The Board of Treasury should from time to time cause the remainder to be drawn in the names of the thirteen States. The plan for the* sale of lands not distributed to the soldiers of the several States was as follows: The Board of Treasury to transmit to the commissioners of the loan offices of the several States copies of the original plats, with the townships and fractional townships that should have fallen to the several States noted thereon ; notice then to be given by advertisements in newspapers and announcements posted in public places of the proposed sale, which was to be at public vendue, in the following manner: Township or fractional township number 1, range 1, to be sold entire; number 2, in lots; and thus, in alternate order, through the whole of the first range. The same alternation to be observed in the sale of the second range, though beginning in the reverse order. The third range to be sold in the same order as the first, and the fourth in the same order as the second, etc. Provided, however, that none of the lands be sold at a le^s price than one dollar per acre, payable in specie or loan-office certificates, reduced to specie value, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States including interest, besides the expense of the survey, and other charges thereon, which were rated at thirty-six dollars per township; payment to be made at the time of sale. The United States reserved for future sale four lots, numbers 8, 11, 26 and 29, in each township and lot number 16 in each township for the maintenance of schools in said township. One-third part of all gold, silver, lead and cojv per mines were reserved for future disposition by Congress.

May 27, 1785, Congress chose the following surveyors : Nathaniel Adams, New Hampshire; Rufus Putnam, Massachusetts; Caleb Harris, Rhode Island ; William Morris, New York ; Adam Hoops, Pennsylvania ; James Simpson, Maryland; Alexander Parker, Virginia; Absalom Tatum, North Carolina; William Tate, South Carolina; and July 18th, Isaac Sherman, Connecticut, General Rufus Putnam being thcii engaged in surveying lands in Maine for the

State of Massachusetts, General Benjamin Tupper was appointed in his stead. Caleb Harris and Nathaniel Adams having resigned. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat and Winthrop Sargent were chosen in their places.

Hunters and squatter settlers had I)enetrated the country now forming the eastern part of Ohio as early as the Revolution - a few even earlier. To the salt-springs in the present county of Trumbull white hunters had resorted as early as 1754, and salt was made there by Pennsylvanians some twenty years later. From the old settlement of Wheeling and its vicinity a number of adventurers crossed the river from time to time and erected cabins. A number who came out with General Mcintosh to Fort Laurens in 1778 as axemen, scouts, hunters, etc., are supposed to have remained and built homes on several of the branches of the Ohio and the Muskingum. After the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, it was feared that there would be such a rush of squatters into that portion of the territory bordering on Pennsylvania and Virginia that evil results would ensue, and accordingly measures were taken both to drive out the intruders already there and prevent the entrance of others. June 15, 1785, Congress ordered the following proclamation published and circulated in the territory :

" Whereas, it has been represented to the United States in Congress assembled that several disorderly persons have crossed the Ohio and settled upon their unappropriated lands ; and whereas, it is their in ten- tion, as soon as it shall be surveyed, to open offices for the sale of a considerable part thereof, in such proportions and under such other regulations as may suit the convenience of all the citizens of the United States, and others who may wish to become purchasers of the same ; and as such conduct tends to defeat the object they have in view, is in direct opposition to the ordinances and resolutions of Congress, and is highly disrespectful to the Federal authority, they have therefore thought fit, and do hereby issue this proclamation, forbidding all such unwarrantable intrusions, and enjoining all those who have settled thereon to depart with their families and effects without loss of time, as they shall answer the same at their peril."

The intrusion was confined principally to the territory now forming the counties of Columbiana, Jefferson, Stark, Carroll, Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey and Monroe, and the names of the intruders in 1785 were as follows :

The first attempt to drive out the squatters northwest of the Ohio was made in October, 1779, when Captain Clarke, of a Pennsylvania regiment, with sixty soldiers, was sent to Wheeling by Colonel Brodhead, then in command of Fort Pitt, with orders to cross the river and apprehend some of the principal trespassers and destroy their huts. Captain Clarke did not succeed in finding any of the trespassers, but destroyed several huts and reported that several improvements had been made all the way from the Muskingum* to Fort Mcintosh and thirty miles up some of the branches.

In 1785 Colonel Harmar, commandant at Fort Mcintosh, sent out troops to dispossess the squatter settlers whose names are given above. The squatters actually banded together to resist the United States troops; but a compromise was effected, whereby they were allowed to prepare temporary habitations on the Virginia side before leaving their homes in the Territory. They then retired from the Ohio country, but subsequently many of them returned,

In the fall of the same year Geneml Richard Butler |)assed down the Ohio on his way to the Little Miami, where a treaty-meeting was to l>e held with the Indians. From his published diary of his journey it apix?ars that many s(]uatter settlers still continue to reside north of the Ohio, notwithstanding the proclamation of Congress and their own promises to vacate. On October 1, 1785, General Butler passed the mouth of Yellow Creek and found considerable improvements on both sides of the Ohio River. Five miles below Yellow Creek he found Jesse Penniman, a squatter, on the north side of the river, whom he Avarned off ; also one Pry, his neighbor. General Butler states that he " told him as well as the others that Congress w^as determined to put all of the people off of the lands, and that none would be allowe<l to settle but the purchasers, and that these and these only would be protecte^l ; that troops would be down next week, who have orders to destroy every house and improvement on the north side of the river, and that garrisons will be placed at Muskingum and elsewhere, and that if any person or [Kjrsons attempted to oppose Government they may (le|)en(l on being treated with the greatest rigor." Passing on to the Mingo towns, he found several white settlei*s, among whom a man named Ross appeared to be

On the next day General Butler called at the settlement of Charles Morris, who had rebuilt his house after the agent of the Government had pulled it down. Here he *" found one Walter Kean, who seemed but a middling character, and rather of a dissentious cast ; wame<l all of these oflF, and rdjuested they would inform their neighlx)rs, which they promised to do." Colonel James Monroe, meml>er of Congress for Virginia, who accompanied Butler on this journey, also addressed the settlers and advised them to leave ; his words had Aveight when the General "informed them of his character." They next called at the home of Captain Hoglan, another wiiose cabin had been pulled down and rebuilt; he acknowledged the impropriety of his conduct, and appeared very submissive.

October 4, General Butler directetl one coqwral and three soldiers to stay at Wheeling until a boat should be sent to them from Fort Mcintosh. He wrote to Colonel Harmar for three other men to join these as an escort to the Miami, and requested that Major Doughty be oi*dered to pull down every house, on his way to the Muskingum, that he found on the north side of the Ohio.

On the 8th, he noted that there was "good improvement on the north side," nearly opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha. He also found a settlement on the first island below the Little Hockhocking (Hocking) and others further down on the north side of the Ohio. The people on the island appeared very reasonable; among them were " several women, who appeared clean and decently dressed."

One object of General Butler's journey was the selection of a point for the establishment of a military post to protect the frontier inhabitants, prevent the intrusion of squatters on the lands of the United States and afford security to the surveyors. Before leaving Fort Mcintosh he had prepared and left with Colonel Harmar, the commandant, a paper in which he expressed the opinion that at the mouth of the Muskingum was an eligible site for the proposed fort. On October 8, his journal says: " Sent Lieutenant Doyle and some men to burn the houses of the settlers on the north side and put up proclamations. Went on very well to the mouth of the Muskingum and found it low. I went on shore to examine the ground most proper to establish a post on ; find it too loWj but the most eligible point is on the Ohio side. Wrote to Major Doughty and recommended this place with my opinion of the kind of work most proper. Left the letter, which contained other remarks on the fort, fixed to a locust tree."

A few days later General Butler met a man ascending the Ohio, and instructed him to take the letter from the tree and carry it to Major Doughty. Shortly afterward a detachment of troops under the command of Major Doughty arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum and began the construction of the fortification, Avhich, in honor of the commandant at Fort Mcintosh, was named Fort Harmar. Hildreth says of it:

" This fort was erected on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio, by a detachment of United States troops under the command of Major John Doughty, in the autumn of the year 1785, but Avas not completed until the following year. The position was judiciously chosen, as it commanded not only the mouth of the Muskingum, but swept the waters of the Ohio, from a curve in the river, for a considerable distance both above and below the fort. It was the first military post built within the limits of the present state of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, which was built in 1778. The fort stood on what is called the second bottom, being elevated above the ordinary floods of the Ohio, while between it and the banks of the river was a lower or first bottom, depressed about six feet, to which the descent was by a natural slope. This regular or natural glacis was continued for a quarter of a mile up the Muskingum and for a considerable distance below on the Ohio, adding greatly to the unnvaled beauty of the spot.

" The outlines of the fort formed a regular pentagon, and the area embraced within its walls was about three-fourths of an acre. The curtains or main walls of the fort were constructed of large timbers placed horizontally to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, and were one hundred and twenty feet in length, as was recently ascertained by measure- ment, as the outlines of two of the bastions can still (1848) be traced in the earth. The bastions were constructed of large timbers set upright in the ground, fourteen feet in height, fastened together by strips of timber tree-nailed into each picket. The outlines of these were also pentagonal; the fifth side, or that opening into the area of the fort, being occupied by blockhouses used as quarters for the officers.

" The barracks or dwellings for the private soldiers were built along the sides of the curtains with their roofs sloping inward. They were divided into four rooms of thirty feet each, with convenient fireplaces, and afforded ample space for a regiment of men. The officers houses were made of hewed logs two stories high, two rooms on a floor, with chimneys on each end. The large house in the southeast bastion was used for a storehouse. From the roof of the bastion which stood in the curtain facing the Ohio there arose a square tower, like a cupola, surmounted by a flagstaflF, in which was stationed the sentinel. The room beneath was the guardhouse. An arsenal, built of timber and covered with earth, stood in the area of the fort near the guardhouse and answered as a magazine or bomb-proof for their powder. The main gate was next the river, with a sally-port on the site toward the hills which arise abruptly from the level ground at the distance of a quarter of a mile.

purposes water was brought from the river. In the rear and to the left of the fort, on the ground which had supplied the materials for building, Major Doughty had laid out fine gardens. These were cultivated by the soldiers, and in the virgin soil of the rich alluvions produced an abundant crop of culinary vegetables for the use of the garrison. To the bravery and pride of a soldier the major added a refined taste for horticulture. Peaches were planted as soon as the ground was cleared, and in the second or third year produced fruit. A variety of his .originating is still cultivated in Marietta and known as the Doughty peach."

Foit Harmer continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, >yhen they were ordered to Fort Washington. During the Indian war the barracks and houses of the fort were chiefly occupied by the Ohio Company's settlers, only a small detachment of National troops being stationed there.

Joseph Buell, a native of Connecticut, who Avas afterward a settler at Marietta, was in the service of the United States in the Northwest from 1785 to 1788, and kept a diary which affords many interesting glimpses of pioneer and military life at that period. His journal may be found in the seventh chapter of Ilildreth's "Pioneer History." From it we learn that the treatment of private soldiers, was so rigorous as to be almost despotic. They were frequently punished by flogging, sometimes receiving two hundred lashes. The chief offenses were drunkenness and desertion. The men were idle, dissolute and depraved. As there wages were but three dollars a month, it is not surprising that few industrious, sober men were to be found among them.

Buell left West Point, N. Y., November 20, 1785, in one of the companies which had been ordered to the western frontier. Major Wyllis, who shortly afterward became commandant at Fort Mcintosh, commanded the troops. They arrived at Fort Mcintosh on the 26th of December. Shortly afterward three men deserted, were captured, and shot by order of Major Wyllis, without even the formality of a court-martial. Buell describes the act as the most inhuman he ever saw. On the 12th of March, 1786, Buell writes that Generals Parsons and Butler arrived from the treaty-meeting at the Miami. On the 3d of April Major Wyllis and Captain Hamtramck with his company went down the river to disperse the frontier settlers on the right bank of the Ohio. May 4th, Captain Zeigler and Captain Strong embarked with their companies for the Muskingum. (Buell was orderly sergeant in Captain Strong's company.) They arrived on the 8th, and two days later Captam Zeigler and his company departed for the Miami, and Captain Strong's company moved into the garrison.

In the month of June, Major Fish arrived from New York, and on the return of Major Wyllis from the Miami, arrested him for shooting the three men at Fort Mcintosh without trial. Subsequently he was tried by a court-martial at Fort Pitt and acquitted. During the same month news was received of murders by the Indians in the vicinity of the Miami, and at Fish Creek, thirty miles from Fort Harmar. On the 4th of July Buell made this significant entry: '' The great day of American Independence was commemorated by the discharge of thirteen guns; after which the troops were served with extra rations of liquor and allowed to get as drunk as they pleased."

During the summer and fall Indians were frequently seen in the neighborhood of the garrison, and the troops were constantly expecting an attack. The savages, however, did nothing more serious than to steal some of the officers' horses. The soldiers were kept a great part of the time on short rations. Provisions were exceedingly scarce, and though hunters were employed to bring in all the game they could, there was frequently a lack of sufficient food. An Indian known as Captain Tunis frequently visited the garrison, and was on friendly terms with the soldiers, often warning them of hostile warriors being in the vicinity. In August a portion of the troops, under the command of Captain Hart, left for Wheeling to escort and protect the surveyors of the seven ranges. November 25, " Captains Hart's and McCurd's companies came in from the survey of the seven ranges. They had a cold, wearisome time - their clothes and shoes worn out, and some of their feet badly frozen."

was without important incident at the garrison. On the 15th of March a sargeant and a party of men was sent out to assist some inhabitants (probably from Fish or Grave Creek) to move their families and settle near the fort. In the latter part of the same month, some of the hunters brought in a buflFalo that was eighteen hands high and weighed a thousand pounds. April 1st the Indians came within twelve miles of the garrison, killed an old man and took a young boy prisoner.

April 9th, a party was sent out to bring in the hunters of the garrison? then fifty miles up the Muskingum, on account of rumored hostility of the Indians.

April 17th Major Ilamtramck arrived and took command of the post. May 6th thirteen boats passed down the river, loaded with families, cattle, .goocls, etc., bound for Kentucky; and on the next day twenty -one boats passed, on their way to the lower country, having on board five hundred and nine pei*sons, with Avagons, goods, etc. The entry for May 21st is as follows : '*This evening I sent a young man, who cooked for me, to Kerr's Island (so called from Hamilton Kerr, a noted scout, who settled there early in the year 1787), about half a mile above the fort, after some milk. lie was seen to jump into the river near the shore when about a third of a mile from the garrison. We suj>posed some of the people were playing in the water. lie did not return that evening, which led me to fear he had lost his canoe. In the morning a party was sent after him.

They discovered fresh signs of Indians and found his hat. The\' followed the trail, but did not find them. We afterward heard that they killed and scalped him. The Indians were a party of Ottawas."

On the 26th of May, Buell, with the rest of Captain Strong's company, embarked for the Falls of the Ohio, and did not return to Fort Ilannar until the 21st of the following November. The remainder of his journal contains little that would interest our readers.

While the events recorded by Buell in his diary were transpiring the survey of the seven ranges of townships, as ordered by Congress in the ordinance of 1785, was in progress, under the direction of Captain Thomas Ilutchins, geographer of the United States. The surveyors proceeded to the Ohio River, at the place designated in the ordinance in in the fall of 1785 and made a beginning of the survey. General Butler, on his way to the Miami, met the surveyors at the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and dined with them on the 30th of September. They were then apprehensive of trouble from the Indians, who, dissatisfied with the provisions of the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, were strongly opposed to the survey. Their hostile attitude soon caused the abandonment of the work. In January, 1786, a treaty was held at Fort Finney, which promised to secure peace, and in the following summer the survey was resumed. A very full account of the progi'ess of the work is afforded by the journal of John Mathews, also published in Ilildreth's history along with BuelPs diary. Mathews was a young man from New Braintree, Mass., the nephew of General Rufus Putnam. He came to the western country, led by a desire of adventure with the hope of obtaining employment in the survey, in which he was successful. lie was afterward one of the Ohio Company's surveyors, and a pioneer of Muskingum county, Avhere he settled in 1796.

Mathews arrived at Pittsburg July 29, 1786, and, finding that the surveyors had already proceeded down the Ohio to Little Beaver Creek, immediately started to overtake them, accompanieil by Colonel Sherman. On the 31st they arrive<l at the camp of the surveyor, on the eastern bank of the Ohio, and found them awaiting the arrival of troops from Mingo (Fort Steuben) to act as their escort in the survey. The troops arrived on the 5th of August, and from the middle of that month to the 1st of September Mathews was employed under Adam Hoops, of Pennsylvania, in the survey of the second range. On the 7th of September he started with General Tupper to assist in the survey of the seventh range. On Sunday, the 17th, he records a visit made to an Indian camp on Sandy Creek. The Indians, eight in numb*ir, and including both men and women, were returning from Fort Mcintosh to their town. "They had rum with them, and had had a drunken frolic the night before, but they appeared decent and friendly." The next day

General Tupper began his range, locating his camp on " Nine Shilling Creek" (Nimishillen.) Here an express came to them from Major Ilamtramck's camp, at Little Beaver, bringing the word that the Shawnees were preparing to make an attack on the surveyors. Deeming it unsafe to proceed further, they suspended work and retreated toward Little Beaver. On the 21st they met Major Ilamtramck and his command advancing to meet them, and all returned to Ilamtramck's station. Early in October it was determined to continue the survey, the troops of Major Ilamtramck acting as their guard.

On the 11th they crossed the Ohio one mile below the old Mingo town, and started west on Crawford's trail, which they followed until the 13th. On the 30th of October, at their camp in the fifth range, they dis^ coverered that all the packhorses of the escort except one had been stolen by the Indians. Captain Hart, commanding the troops, at once set about erecting a blockhouse. From the 1st to the 7th of November the party to which Mathews belonged were on what is now the south boundary of the seventh township in the third range of the United States Military District. Mathews and Major Sargent then started down Wheeling Creek, crossed the Ohio, and stopped at Colonel Zane's. They there found Captain Hutchins, and in his company Matthews started for Esquire McMahan's, sixteen miles aoove. On the 9th he was at the house of William Greathouse, on the Virginia side. The next day he listened to a sermon delivered by a Methodist preacher, and on the 11th witnessed exercises of a far diflferent character, as will be seen by the following entry :

''Saturday, November 11. Being disappointed in my expectation of teaching a school this winter, I went to Harman Greathouse, the father of my friend William. Here 1 found a number of the neighbors seated in social glee around a heap of corn. Thejnspiring juice of rye had enlivened their imaginations and given their tongues such an exact balance that they moved with the greatest alacrity, amid scenes of boxing, wrestling, hunting, etc. At dusk of evening the corn was finished, and the company retired to the house, where many of them took such hearty draughts of the generous liquor as quite deprived them of the use of their limbs. Some quarreled, some sang, and others laughed ; while the whole displayed a scene more diverting than edifying. At ten o'clock all that could walk went home, but left three or four round the fire, hugging the whisky bottle and arguing very obstmately on religion ; at which I left them and went to bed."

The surveying party disbanded for the winter early in December, and most of its members left for their eastern homes. Mathews, however, remained at the home of the Greathouses and pursued his studies. In February he went to Fort Steuben, at the request of Major Hamtramck, to take charge of the commissary department. February 10, 1787, Captain Martin and Mr. Ludlow left the fort for the woods to continue and complete the survey of the ranges, and were soon after followed by other surveyors. On the 8th of May three surveyors returned to the fort, having received information of Indian outrages at Fish Creek, on the 25th of April, when three persons were killed and three taken prisoners. On the 11th a family was attacked about fifteen miles from the fort; one man and two children wore.killed, ^ woman .wounded, and two children taken prisoners.

In June Mathews was at Wheeling, opposite which the surveyors were then encamped, awaiting the arrival of troops to act as their escort. The troops came from Fort Harmar on the 6th, and two days later the surveyors started for their work. About this time other Indian outrages were reported in the vicinity of Wheeling. In August Mathews visited Fort Harmar, and subsequently he again assisted the surveyors. In February, 1788, having been appointed one of the Ohio Company's surveyors, he joined the advance party of New Englanders en route for the West at Sumrill's Ferry, on the Youghiogheny river, and on the 7th of April he arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum with the rest of the pioneers composing the first colony in Ohio.

We have devoted thus much space to Mathews' diary, not because it contains much of local interest, but because it shows the condition of the Ohio wilderness one hundred years ago, and affords such glimpses of life on the borders of civilization that from them the reader can, in imagination at least, picture what were the hardships and perils which the surveyoi's and adventurers of that day had to encounter.

By a provision of the ordinanq^ of May 20, 1785, it was ordained that '^ the towns of Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrunn and Salem, on the Muskingum (Tuscarawas), and so much of the lands adjoining to the said towns, with the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be reserved for the sole use of the Christian Indians who were formerly settled there, or the remains of that society, as may, in the judgment of the geographer, be sufficient for them to cultivate." The construction is involved, but ,the meaning is apparent. By a resAlution passed July 27, 1787, Congress declared that tracts of land surrounding the towns mentioned, amounting in the whole to ten thousand acres, should be reserved and held in trust by the Moravians, or United Brethren, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania^ " for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity," and for the uses specified in the ordinance.

The first sale of a tract of public lands of the United States to an association was made October 27, 1787, when the Board of Treasury agreed with the agents of the Ohio Company to sell to the latter a million and a half acres, lying on the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. The lands known as the Ohio Company's purchase, were to be surveyed by the company within seven years without expense to the government, and laid oflf into townships, fractional parts of townships, and lots, as provided in the ordinance of 1785. The history of this purchase will be found in another chapter.

In May, 1788, a contract was made between the Board of Treasury and John Cleves Sy mmes for a tract lying on the Ohio River between the Great and Little Miami Rivers.

The unsettled state of Indian affairs in the territory from 1788 until the establishment of peace in 1795 prevented the government from continuing the surveys of congressional lands, and there was but little further legislation in relation to the same during this period. By an act of Congress of March 3, 1795, the President was authorized and empowered to cause twenty-four thousand acres to be surveyed, which were to be granted under certain regulations to the French settlers at Gallipolis.

A donation, small in itself, but important in its relation to the history of the Muskingum Valley, was made to Ebenezer Zane, of Wheeling, in accordance with the provisions of an act passed May 17, 1796. This act provided that there should be granted to Zane "three tracts of land, not exceeding one mile square each, one on the Muskingum, one on Hocking River, and one other on the north bank of Scioto River, and in such situations as shall best promote the utility of a road to be opened by him on the most eligible route between Wheeling and Limestone (Maysville, Ky.), to be approved by the President of the United States or such other person as he shall appoint for that purpose." Besides opening the road, Zane was required to maintain ferries across the rivers during the pleasure of Congress. These tracts were located where the cities of Zanesville and Lancaster now stand, and on the Scioto opposite Chillicothe. For assisting him in opening the road Ebenezer Zane gave to his brother Jonathan and John Mclntire the tract on the Muskingum, and they in 1799 laid out the village of Westbourn, now the city of Zanesville.

May 18, 1790, Congress passed an act providing for the survey and sale of the lands northwest of the Ohio, the substance of which will be given further on. This was followed b}^ the act of June 1, 1796, establishing the United States Military District, the boundaries of which were as follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of the seven ranges of townships, and running thence fifty miles due south, along the western boundary of the seventh range ; thence due west to the main branch of the Scioto Kiver ; thence up the main branch of that river to the place where the Indian boundary line crosses the same (northwestern part of Delaware County); thence along the said boundary line to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum Eiver at the crossing-place above Fort Laurens ; thence up that stream to the point where a line run due west from the place of beginning will intersect said river; thence along the line so run to the place of beginning. The act provided that this tract should be surveyed into townships five miles square; the lands to be granted for military services to the holders of registered warrants. One section provided that so much of the tract as should remain unlocated on the 1st of January, 1800,- should be released from the reservation and be at the free disposition of the United States. March 2, 1799, this section was re- {)ealed and the time extende<l to January 1, 1 S()2. The time was extended af terw ard by various acts and amendments passed at different dates between 1802 and 1825.

The act of May 18, 1796, provided that a surveyor-general should be appointed ; that he should engage a sufficient number of skillful surveyors as his deputies, whom he should cause, "without delay, to survey and mark the unascertained outlines of the lands lying northwest of the River Ohio and above the mouth of the Kiver Kentucky, in which the titles of the Indian tribes have been extinguished." Such part of the lands ^s had not already been conveyeil by letters patent, or divided according to the terms of the ordinance of 1785, or which had not already been appropriated for satisfying military land bounties, and which might not be so appropriated by Congress dm*- ing that session, was to be surveyed into ranges, townships and sections - the manner of the survey to be very nearly according to the rules of the act of 1785, already given. Saltsprings were to be reserved, with the sections in which they were found, and also the four central sections of each township, for the future disposal of the United States. One-half of the townships, taken alternately, were to be subdivided into thirty-six sections, each containing six hundred and forty acres.

Section 4 provided that whenever seven ranges of to^'nships had been surveyed, and tlie plats transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, the lands should be offered for sale at public vendue, under the direction of the governor or secretary of the Ter ritory and the surveyor-general, in sections; lands below the Great Miami to be sold at Cincinnati, and those between the Scioto and the seven ranges, and north of the Ohio Company's purchavSe, at Pittsburgh. The townships remaining undivided were to be offered for sale in like manner at the seat of government of the United States, under the dij'ection of the Secretary of the Treasury, in tracts of one-quarter of a township, excluding the four central sections and the other reserves before mentione<l. It was further provided that none of the lands to be offered for sale under this act should be sold at a price less than two dollars per acre. The time of the sale was to be advertised in the newspapers of the different States and Territories, and the sales at the different places must not commence within less than a month of each other.

Immediately after the passage of this act the Secretary of the Treasury was to advertise for sale the lands which remained unsold in the seven ranges, including the lands drawn for the army by the Secretary of War; also those lands before sold but not paid for. The townships which, by the ordinance of 1785, were to be sold entire, should be sold at Philadelphia in quarter-townships, the four central sections being reserved ; the townships to be sold in sections were to be sold m Pittsburgh.

. The highest bidder for any tract was required to dejwsit one-twentieth of the purchase money at the time of sale, and to pay one-half of the sum bid within thirty days; this being done he was entitled to a credit of one year on the balance, patents to be issued on the final payment being made. Any purchaser paying in full at the time the first moiety was due should be entitled to a deduction of ten per cent.

The compensation of the surveyorgeneral was fixed at $2,000 per annum, and the expense of the survey was limited to three dollars per mile for each mile surveyed.

The fees for each certificate were as follows : For a tract of a quarter of a township, $20; for a section, $6, and for each patent the same sums.

An act passed May 10, 1800, changed and repealed several of the provisions of the foregoing law. Four land-offices were established in the Northwest Territory : at Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Marietta and Steuben vi lie.

The townshi])s west of the Muskingum which, by the act of 1796, were directed to be sold in quarter- ^townships, were to be subdivided into half-sections; and all townships east of the Muskingum and all inter-

The lands thus subdivided were grdered to be oflfered for sale in sections and half-sections at the respective land offices at specified dates, the sales to continue for three weeks and no more. The sale at Marietta was to begin on the first Monday in May, 1801. All lands remaining unsold at the closing of the public sales could be sold at private sale by the register. No lands to be sold either privately or publicly at less than two dollars per acre. The terms as to payment and the amount of fees were also modified.

The subsequent acts in relation to public lands were so multifarious that it would be tedious to chronicle them ; therefore, having shown how public lands could be acquired in the beginning, we will drop the subject.

Allusion has been made in the beginning of this chapter to the first ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory. Another and far superior measure was enacted on the 13th of July, 1787, which is known in history as the Ordinance of Freedom, and was the fundamental law from the time of its enactment until the Territory ceased to exist. The text of the ordinance is as follows :

''Be it ordained hy the authority aforesaid: That the estates both of resident and non-resident proprietors in the Said territory dying intestate shall descend to and be distributed among their children and the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts ; the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them ; and where there shall be no children or descendants then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have in equal jmrts among them their deceased parent's share; and there shall in no case be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving, in all cases, to the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life and onethird part of the personal estate; and this law relative to descents and dowers shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age) and attested by three witnesses, and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed and delievered by the person (being of full age) in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses; provided such wills be duly proved and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates, courts and registers shall be appointed for that purpose, and personal property may be transferred by delivery ; saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Easkaskies, St. Vincents and the neighboring villages who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them relative to the descent and conveyance of property.

^^Be it ordained hy the authority aforesaid: That there shall be appointed from time to time by Congress a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for three years unless sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein in one thousand acres of land while in the exercise of his office.

"There shall be appointed from time to time a secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years unless sooner revoked ; he shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein in five hundred acres of land while in the exercise of his office ; it shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the legislature and the public records of the district and the proceedings of the governor in his executive department, and transrait authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months to the Secretary of Congress. There shall also be appointed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate in five hundred acres of land while in the exercise of their offices ; and their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior.

"The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to to time; which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the general assembly therein, unless disapproved by Congress ; but afterward the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit.

" The governor, for the time being, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and commission all officers in the same below the rank of general officers. All general officers shall be appointed and commissioned by Congress.

" Previous to the organization of the general assembly the governor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil offiers in each county or township as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the general assembly shall be organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall be regu- lated and defined by the said assembly; but all magistrates and other civil officers not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the governor.

" For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adc*pted or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal and civil, the governor shall make proper divisions thereof ; and he shall proceed from time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished into counties and townships - subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the legislature.

"So soon as there shall be fiv^e thousand free male inhabitants of full age in the district upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they shall receive authority, with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships to represent them in the general assembly : Prmnded^ That for every five hundred free male inhabitants there shall be one representative, and so on progressively; with the number of free male inhabitants shall the right of representation increase, until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five; after which the number and proportion of representatives shall be regulated by the legislature: Provided, That no person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of (me of the

United States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years; and in either case shall likewise hold in his own right in fee simple two hundred acres of land within the same: Provided^ also. That a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold and tw^o years' residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative.

"The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two years ; and in the case of the death of a representative, or removal from office, the government shall issue a writ to the county or township for Avhich he was a member to elect another in his stead to serve for the residue of the term.

*' The general assembly, or legislature, shall consist of the governor, legislative council and a house of rej)- resentatives. The legislative council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress, any three of w^hom to be a quorum ; and the members of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to wit : As soon as representatives shall be elected, the governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together, and when met they shall nominate ten persons, residents of the district, and each })ossessed of a freehold in five hundi'ed acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid ; and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council by death or removal from office, the house of representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for e^ch vacancy, and return their names to Congress, one of whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of the council, the said house shall nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the council five years unless sooner removed. And the governor, legislative council and house of representatives shall have authority to make laws in all cases for the government of the district not repugnant to the principles and articles in this ordinance established and declared. And all bills, having passed by a majority in the house, and by a majority in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent; but no bill or legislative act whatever shall be of any force without his assent. The governor shall have power to convene, prorogue and dissolve the general assembly when in his opinion it shall be expedient.

''The governor, judges, legislative council and such other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district shall take an oath of affirmation of fidelity and of office - the governor before the President of Congress, and all c)ther officers before the trovernor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house, assembled in one room, shall have authority by joint ballot to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting, during this temporary government.

"And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected ; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be established in the said territory ; to provide also for the establishment of States and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal Councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early i>eriods as may be consistent with the general interests:

^'^Be H ordained wnd declared hy the authority aforesaid: That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the i)eo})le and States in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable unless by common consent, to wit :

"Article 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mcxle of worship or religious sentiments in the said territory.

"Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of haheas rorpm and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable unless for capital oflFences where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land; and should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property it is understood and declared that no laws ought ever to be made or have force in the said territory that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or aflfect private contracts or engagements, bona fide and without fraud, previously formed.

"Art. 3. Religion, morality and knowledge l>eing necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them and for preserving peace and friendship with them.