Seneca County, Ohio - Chapter 28, 1886 (part 2 of 5)

By the provisions of this grant, the company were to pay the United States one dollar per acre, subject to a deduction of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies. They received 750,000 acres, bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the east by the seventh range of townships, on the west by the sixteenth range, and on the north by a line so drawn as to make the grant complete without the reservations. In addition to this. Congress afterward granted 100,000 acres to actual settlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the resolutions of 1789 and 1790.

While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressing its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance for the political and social organization of this Territory. When the cession was made by Virginia, in 1784, a plan was offered, but rejected. A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan the prohibition of slavery, which prevailed. The plan was then discussed and altered, and finally passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina. By this proposition, the Territory was to have been divided into states, by parallels and meridian lines. This, it was thought, would make ten states, which were to have been named as follows - beginning at the northwest corner and going southwardly : Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, lUenoia, Saratoga, Wasliington, Polypotamia and Pelisipia.

There was a more serious objection to this plan than its category of names, - the boundaries. The root of the difficulty was in the resolution of Congress passed in 'October, 1780, which fixed the boundaries of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles square. These resolutions being presented to the Legislatures of Virginia and Massachusetts, they desired a change, and in July, 178G, the subject was taken up in Congress, and changed to favor a division into not more than five states, and not less than three. This was approved by the State Legislature of Virginia.

The subject of the Government was again taken up by Congress in 1786, and discussed throughout that year and until July, 1787, when the famous " Compact of 1787 " was passed, and the foundation of the government of the Northwest laid. This compact is fully discussed and explained in the history of Ohio in this book, and to it the reader is referred.

The passage of this act and the grant to the New England Company was soon followed by an application to the Government by John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, lor a grant of the land between the Afiamis. This gentleman had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1786, and, being greatly pleased with them, offered similar terms to those given to the New England Company. The petition was referred to the Treasury Board with power to act, and a contract was concluded the following year.

During the Autumn the directors of the New England Company were preparing to occupy their grant the following Spring, and upon the 23d of November made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men, under the superintendency of Gen. Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six boat-builders were to leave at once, and on the first of January the surveyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hartford and proceed on their journey westward ; the remainder to follow as soon as possible. Congress, in the meantime, upon the 3d of October, had ordered seven hundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and to prevent unauthorized intrusions ; and two days later appointed Arthur St. Clair Governor of the Territory of the Northwest.

American Settlements

The civil organization of the Northwest Territory was now complete, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of Indian affairs, settlers from the East began to come into the country rapidly. The New England Company sent their men during tlie Winter of 1787-8 pressing on over the AUeghenies by the old Indian path which had been opened into Braddock's road, and which has since been made a national turnpike from Cumberland westward. Through the weary winter days they toiled on, and by April were all gathered on the Youghiogheny, where boats had been built, and at once started for the Muskingum. Here they arrived on the 7th of that month, and unless the Moravian missionaries be regarded as the pioneers of Ohio, this little band can justly claim that honor.

Gen. St. Clair, the appointed Governor of the Northwest, not having yet arrived, a set of laws were passed, written out, and published by being nailed to a tree in the embryo town, and Jonathan Meigs appointed to administer them.

Washington in writing of this, the first American settlement in the Northwest, said : " No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at Muskingum. Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know

On the 2d of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of tlie Muskingum, " for the purpose of naming the new-born city and its squares." As yet tlie settlement was known as the " Muskingum," but that was now changed to the name Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, The square upon which the block-houses stood was called Martins;^'' square number 19, Capitolium ;" square number 61, " Cecilia;" and the great road through tlie covert way, " Sacra Via." Two days after, an oration was delivered by James M. Varnum, who with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory on the 16th of October, 1787. On July 9, Gov. St. Clair arrived, and the colou}^ began to assume form. The act of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the Northwest, under the first of which the whole power was invested in the hands of a governor and three district judges. This was immediately formed upon the Governor's arrival, and the first laws of the colony passed on the 25th of July. Tiiese provided for the organization of the militia, and on the next day appeared the Governor's proclamation, erecting all that country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto River into the County of Washington. From that time forward, notwithstanding the doubts yet existing as to the Indians, all Marietta prospered, and on the 2d of September the first court of the territory was held with imposing ceremonies.

Tlie emigration westward at this time was very great. The commander at Fort Harmer, at the mouth of the Muskingum, reported four thousand five hundred persons as having passed that post between February and June, 1788 - many of whom would have purchased of the " Associates," as the New England Company was called, had they been ready to receive them.

On the 26th of November, 1787, S3'mmes issued a pamphlet stating the terms of his contract and the plan of sale he intended to adopt. In January, 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an active interest in Symmes' purchase, and located among other tracts the sections upon which Cincinnati has been built. Retaining one-third of this locality, he sold the other two-thirds to Robert Patterson and John Filson, and the three, about August, commenced to lay out a town on the spot, which was designated as being opposite Licking River, to the mouth of which they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington. The naming of the town is thus narrated in the " Western Annals " : - " Mr. Filson, who had been a schoolmaster, was appointed to name the town, and. in respect to its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed race that were to inhabit it in after days, he named it Losantiville, which, being interpreted, means : v'llle, the town ; anti, against or opposite to ; os, the mouth ; L. of Licking."

Meanwhile, in July, Symmes got thirty persons and eight four-horse teams under way from the West. These reached Limestone (now Maysville) in September, where were several persons from Redstone. Here Mr. Symmes tried to found a settlement, but the great freshet of 1789 caused the " Point," as it was and is yet called, to be fifteen feet under water, and the settlement to be abandoned. The little band of settlers removed to the mouth of the Miami. Before Symmes and his colony left the " Point," two settlements had been made on his purchase. The first was by Mr. Stiltes, the original projector of the whole plan, who, with a colony of Redstone people, had located at the mouth of the Miami, whither Symmes went with his Maysville colony. Here a clearing had been made by the Indians owing to the great fertility of the soil. Mr. Stiltes with his colony came to this place on the 18th of November, 1788, with twenty-six persons, and, building a block-house, prepared to remain through the Winter. The}' named the settlement Columbia. Here they were kindly treated by the Indians, but suffered greatly from the flood of 1789.

On the 4th of March, 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into operation, and on April 30, George Washington was inaugurated President of the American people, and during the next Summer, an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. The President at first used pacific means ; but these failing, he sent General Harmer against the hostile tribes. He destroyed several villages, but was defeated in two battles, near the present City of Fort Wayne, Indiana. From this time till the close of 1795, the principal events were the wars with the various Indian tribes. In 1796, General St. Clair was appointed in command, and marched against the Indians; but while he was encamped on a stream, the St. Mar3% a branch of the Maumee, he was attacked and defeated with the loss of six hundred men.

General Wayne was now sent against the savages. In August, 1794, he met them near the rapids of the Maumee, and gained a complete victory. This success, followed by vigorous measures, compelled the Indians to sue for peace, and on the 30th of July, the following year, the treaty of Greenville was signed by the principal chiefs, by which a large tract of country was ceded to the United States.

Before proceeding in our narrative, we will pause to notice Fort Washington, erected in the early part of this war on the site of Cincinnati. Nearly all of the great cities of the Northwest, and indeed of the whole country, have liad their nuclei in those rude pioneer structures, known as forts or stockades. Thus Forts Dearborn, Washington, Ponchartrain, mark the original sites of the now proud Cities of Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit. So of most of the flourishing cities east and west of the Mississippi. Fort Washington, erected by Doughty in 1790, was a rude but highly interesting structure. It was composed of a number of strongly-built hewed log cabins. Those designed for soldiers' barracks were a story and a half high, while those composing the oflScers quarters were more imposing and more conveniently arranged and furnished. The whole were so placed as to form a hollow square, enclosing about an acre of ground, with a block house at each of the four angles.

Tlie logs for the construction of this fort were cut from the ground upon which it was erected. It stood between Third and Fourth Streets of the present city (Cincinnati) extending east of Eastern Row, now Broadway, which was then a narrow alley, and the eastern boundary of of the town as it was originally laid out. On the bank of the river, immediately in front of the fort, was an appendage of the fort, called the Artificer's Yard. It contained about two acres of ground, enclosed by small contiguous buildings, occupied by workshops and quarters of laborers. Within this enclosure there was a large two-story frame house, familiarly called the " Yellow House," built for the accommodation of the Quartermaster General. For many years this was the best finished and most commodious edifice in the Queen City. Fort Washington was for some time the headquarters of both the civil and military governments of the Northwestern Territory.

Following the consummation of the treaty various gigantic land speculations were entered into by different persons, who hoped to obtain from the Indians in Michigan and northern Indiana, large tracts of lands. These were generally discovered in time to prevent the outrageous schemes from being"carried out, and from involving the settlers in war. On October 27, 1795, the treaty between the United States and Spain was signed, whereby the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured.

No sooner had the treaty of 1795 been ratified than settlements began to pour rapidly into the West. The great event of the year 1796 was the occupation of that part of the Northwest including Michigan, which was this year, under the provisions of the treaty, evacuated by the British forces. The United States, owing to certain conditions, did not feel justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in relation to Detroit and other frontier posts. When at last the British authorities were called to give them up, they at once complied, and General Wa3-ne, who had done so much to preserve the frontier settlements, and who, before the year's close, sickened and died near Erie, transferred his head- quarters to the neighborhood of the hakes, where a county named after liim was formed, which included the northwest of Ohio, all of Michigan, and the northeast of Indiana. During this same year settlements were formed at the present City of Chillicothe, along the Miami from Middletown to Piqua, while in the more distant West, settlers and speculators began to appear in great numbers. In September, the City of Cleveland was laid out, and during the Summer and Autumn, Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless erected the first manufactory of paper - the " Redstone Paper Mill'" - in the West. St. Louis contained some seventy houses, and Detroit over three hundred, and along the river, contiguous to it. were more than three thousand inhabitants, mostly French Canadians, Indians and half-breeds, scarcely any Americans venturing yet into that part of the Northwest.

The election of representatives for the territory had taken place, and on the 4th of February, 1799, they convened at Losantiville - now known as Cincinnati, having been named so by Gov. St. Clair, and considered the capital of the Territory - to nominate persons from whom the members of the Legislature were to be chosen in accordance with a previous ordinance. This nomination being made, the Assembly adjourned until the 16th of the following September. From those named the President selected as members of the council, Henry Vandenl)urg, of Vincennes, Robert Oliver, of Marietta, James Findlay and Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville. On the 16th of September the Territorial Legislature met, and on the 24th the two houses were duly organized, Henry Vandenburg being elected President of the Council.

The iTiessage of Gov. St. Clair was addressed to the Legislature September 20th, and on October l;3th that body elected as a delegate to Congress Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, who received eleven of the votes cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of Gen. St. Clair.

The whole number of acts passed at this session, and approved by the Governor, were thirty-seven - eleven others were passed, but received his veto. The most important of those passed related to the militia, to the administration, and to taxation. On the 19th of December this protracted session of the first Legislature in the West was closed, and on the 30th of December the President nominated Charles Willing Bryd to the ofiBce of Secretary of the Territory vice Wm. Henr}' Harrison, elected to Congress. The Senate confirmed his nomination the next day.

Division Of The Northwest Territory

The increased emigration to the Northwest, the extent of the domain, and the inconvenient modes of travel, made it very difficult to conduct the ordinary operations of government, and rendered the efficient action of courts almost impossible. To remedy this, it was deemed advisable to divide the territory for civil purposes. Congress, in 1800, appointed a committee to examine the question and report some means for its solution. This committee, on the 3d of March, reported that :

" In the three western countries there has been but one court having cognizance of crimes, in five years, and the immunity which offenders experience attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned criminals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements in such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assistance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * * - Xo minister a remedy to these and other evils, it occurs to this committee that it is expedient that a division of said territory into two distinct and separate governments should be made ; and that such division be made by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, running directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States and Canada."

The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its suggestions, that body passed an Act extinguishing the Northwest Territory, which Act was approved May 7. Among its provisions were these :

" That from and after July 4 next, all that part of the Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at a point on the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory."

" That until it shall otherwise be ordered by the Legislatures of tiie said Territories, respectively, Chillicothe on the Scioto River shall be the seat of government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River ; and that St. Vincennes on the Wabash River shall be the seat of government for the Indiana Territory."

Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of the Indiana Territory, and entered upon his duties about a year later. Connecticut also about this time released her claims to the reserve, and in March a law was passed accepting this cession. Settlements had been made upon thirty-five of tlie townships in the reserve, mills had been built, and seven hundred miles of road cut in various directions. On the 3d of November, the General Assembly met at Chillicothe. Near the close of the year, tlie first missionary of the Connecticut Reserve came, who found no township containing more than eleven families. It was upon the first of October that the secret treaty had been made between Napoleon and the King of Spain, whereby the latter agreed to cede to France the province of Louisiana.

In January, 1802, the Assembly of the Northwestern Territory chartered the college at Athens. From the earliest dawn of the western colonies, education was promptly pi'ovided for, and as early as 1787, newspapers were issued from Pittsburgh and Kentucky, and largely read throughout the frontier settlements. Before the close of this year, the Congress of the United States granted to the citizens of the Northwestern territory the formation of a State government. One of the provisions of the "compact of 1787" provided that whenever the number of inhabitants within prescribed limits exceeded 45,000, they should be entitled to a separate government. TJie prescribed limits of Ohio contained, from a census taken to ascertain the legality of the act, more than that number, and on the 30th of April, 1802, Congress passed the act defining its limits, and on the 29th of November the Constitution of the new State of Ohio, so named fi-om the beautiful river forming its southern boundary, came into existence. The exact limits of Lake Michigan were not then known, but the territory now included within the State of Michigan was wholly Avithin the territory of Indiana.

Gen. Harrison, while residing at Vincennes, made several treaties with the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of lands. The next year is memorable in the history of the West for the purchase of Louisiana from France by the United States for 115,000,000. Thus by a peaceful mode, the domain of the United States was extended over a large tract of country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction of the Northwest government, and, as has been mentioned in the early part of this narrative, was called the "New Northwest." The limits of this history will not allow a description of its territory. The same year large grants of land were obtained from the Indians, and the House of Representatives of the new State of Ohio signed a bill respecting the College Township in the district of Cincinnati.

Before the close of the year. Gen. Harrison obtained additional grants of lands from the various Indian nations in Indiana and the present limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at St. Louis, whereby over 51,000,000 acres of lauds were obtained from the

C. Jouett, the Indian agent in Michigan, still a part of Indiana Territory, reported as follows upon the condition of matters at that post :

" The Town of Detroit. - The charter, which is for fifteen miles square, was granted in the time of Louis XIV. of France, and is now, from the best information I have been able to get, at Quebec. Of those two hundred and twenty-five acres, only four are occupied by tlie town and Fort Lenault. The remainder is a common, except t\vent3"-four acres, which were added twenty years ago to a farm belonging to Wm. Macomb. » * * A stockade incloses the town, fort and citadel. The pickets, as well as the public houses, are in a state of gradual decay. The -streets are narrow, straight and regular, and intersect each other at right angles. The houses are, for the most part, low and inelegant."

During this year. Congress granted a township of land for the support of a college, and began to offer inducements for settlers in these wilds, and the country now comprising the State of Michigan began to fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same 3-ear, also, a law was passed organizing the Soutliwest Territory, dividing it into two portions, the Territory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of government, and the District of Louisiana, which was annexed to the domain of Gen. Harrison.

On the 11th of January, 1805, the Territori'of Michigan was formed, Wm. Hull was appointed governor, with headquarters at Detroit, the change to take effect on June 30. On the 11th of that month, a fire occurred at Detroit, which destroyed almost every building in the place. When the officers of the new territory reached the post, they found it in ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the country. Reljuilding, however, soon commenced, and ere long the town contained more houses than before the fire, and many of them much better built.

While this was being done, Indiana had passed to the second grade of government, and through her General Assembly had obtained large tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian, Tecumthe or Tecumseh, vigorously protested, and it was the main cause of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the settlers. To obtain a full account of these attempts, the workings of the British, and the signal failure, culminating in the death of Tecumseh at the battle of tlie Tluimes, and the close of the war of 1812 in the Northwest, we will step aside in our story, and relate the principal events of his life, and his connection with this conflict.

The Northwest Terkitokt Tecumseh, And The War Of 1812

This famous Indian chief was born about the year 1768, not far from the site of the present city of Springfield, Ohio. His father, Puckeshiinvii, was a member of the Kisopok tribe of tlie Swanoese nation, and his mother, Methontaske, was a member of the Turtle tribe of the same people. They removed from Florida about the middle of the last century to the birthplace of Tecumseh. In 1774, his father, who had risen to be chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after Tecumseh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 1795 he was declared chief, and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the present City of Urbana. He remained here about one year, when he returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River, Indiana. In 1805, he and his brother, Laulewasikan (Open Door"), who had announced himself as a prophet, went to a tract of land on the Wabash River, given them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. From this date the chief comes into prominence. He was now about thirty-seven years of age, was five feet and ten inches in height, was stoutly built, and possessed of enormous powers of endurance. His countenance was naturally pleasing, and he was, in general, devoid of those savage attributes possessed by most Indians. It is stated he could read and write, and had a confidential secretary and adviser, named Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, whoafterward became chief of the Pottawatomies. He occupied the first house built on the site of Chicago. At this time, Tecumseh entered upon the great work of his life. He had long objected to the grants of land made by the Indians to the whites, and determined to unite all' the Indian tribes into a league, in order that no treaties or grants of land could be made save by the consent of this confederation.

He traveled constantly, going from north to south ; from the south to the north, everywhere urging the Indians to this step. He was a. matchless orator, and his burning words had their effect.

Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana, by watching the movements of the Indians, became convinced that a grand conspiracy was forming, and made preparations to defend the settlements. Tecumseh's plan was similar to Pontiac's, elsewhere described, and to the cunning artifice of that chieftain was added his own sagacity.

During the j-ear 1809, Tecumseh and the prophet were actively preparing for the work. In that year. Gen. Harrison entered into a treaty with the Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel River Indians and Weas, in which these tribes ceded to the whites certain lands u[)on the Wabash, to all of which Tecumseh entered a bitter protest, averring

Tecumseh, in August, 1810, visited the General at Vincennes and held a council relating to the grievances of the Indians. Becoming uudulv angry at this conference he was dismissed from the village, and soon after departed to incite the soutiiern Indian tribes to the conflict.

Gen. Harrison determined to move upon the chiefs headquarters at Tippecanoe, and for this purpose went about sixty-five miles up the Wabash, where he built Fort Harrison. From this place he went to the Prophet's town, where he informed the Indians he had no hostile intentions, provided they were true to the existing treaties. He encamped near the village early in October, and on the morning of November 7, he was attacked by a large force of the Indians, and the famous battle of Tippecanoe occurred. The Indians were routed and their town broken up. Tecumseh returning not long after, was greatly exasperated at his brother, the Prophet, even threatening to kill him for rashly precipitating the war, and foiling his (Tecumseh's) plans.

Tecumseh sent word to Gen. Harrison that he was now returned from the South, and was ready to visit the President as had at one time previously been proposed. Gen. Harrison informed him he could not go as a chief, which method Tecumseh desired, and the visit was never made. In June of the following j'ear, he visited the Indian agent at Fort Wayne. Here he disavowed any intention to make a war against the United States, and reproached Gen. Harrison for marching against his people. The agent replied to this ; Tecumseh listened with a cold indifference, and after making a few general remarks, with a haughty air drew his blanket about him, left the council house, and departed for Fort Maiden, in Upper Canada, where he joined the British standard.

In the Summer of 1813, Perry's victory on Lake Erie occurred, and shortly after active preparations were made to capture Maiden. On the 27th of September, the American army, under Gen. Harrison, set sail for the shoi-es of Canada, and in a few hours stood around the ruins of Maiden, from which the British army, under Proctor, had retreated to Sandwich, intending to make its way to the heart of Canada by the Valley of the Thames. On the 29th Gen. Harrison was at Sandwich, and Gen. McArthur took possession of Detroit and the territory of Michigan.

The pursuit of Proctor began October 2. He was overtaken on the 5th at the Thames. Tecumseh fell * in that battle and British power was forever broken, Canada alone being left them, as the Americans had no orders to follow up their victory eastward. Burr's incipient insurrection of 1805 was quelled, and the murderer of the eloquent Hamilton driven from his beautiful island fortress in the Ohio River.

In January, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a tteaty with the Indians, whereby all that peninsula was ceded to the United States. Before the close of the year, a stockade was built about Detroit. It was also during this year that Indiana and Illinois endeavored to obtain the repeal of that section of the compact of 1787, whereby slavery was excluded from the Northwest Territory. These attempts, however, all signally failed.

In 1809 it was deemed advisable to divide the Indiana Territory. This was done, and the Territory of Illinois was formed from the western part, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia. The next year, the intentions of Tecumseh manifested themselves in open hostilities, and then began the events already narrated.

While this war was in progress, emigration to the West went on with surprising rapidity. In 1811, under Mr. Roosevelt of New York, the first steamboat trip was made on the Ohio, much to the astonishment of the natives, many of whom fled in terror at the appearance of the "monster." It arrived at Louisville on the 10th day of October. At the close of the first week of January, 181 i2, it arrived at Natchez, after being nearly overwhelmed in the great earthquake which occurred while on its downward trip.

The battle of the Thames was fought on October 6, 1813. It effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest, although peace was not fully restored until July 22, 1814, when a treaty was formed at Greenville, under the direction of General Harrison, between the United States and the Indian tribes, in which it was stipulated that the Indians should cease hostilities against the Americans if the war were continued. Such, happily, was not the case, and on the 24th of December the treaty of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various Indian tribes throughout the West and Northwest, and quiet was again restored in this part of the new world.

On the 18th of March, 1816, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city. It then had a population of 8,000 people, and was already noted for its manufacturing interests. On April 19, Indiana Territory was allowed to form a state government. At that time there were thirteen counties organized, containing about sixty-three thousand inhabitants. The first election of state officers was held in August, when Jonathan Jennings was chosen Governor. The officers were sworn in on November 7, and on December 11, the State was formally admitted into the Union. For some time the seat of government was at Corj'don, but a more central location being desirable, the present capital, Indianapolis (City of Indiana), was laid out January 1, 1825.

On tlie 28th of December the Bank of Illinois, at Shawiieetown, was chartered, with a capital of $300,000. At this period ail banks were under the control of the States, and were allowed to establish branches at different convenient points.

Until this time Chillicothe and Cincinnati had in turn enjoyed the privileges of being the capital of Ohio. But the rapid settlement of the northern and eastern portions of the State demanded, as in Indiana, ;i more central location, and before the close of the year, the site of Columbus was selected and surveyed as the future capital of the State. Banking had begun in Ohio as early as 1808, when the first bank was chartered at Marietta, but here as elsewhere it did not bring to the state the hoped-for assistance. It and other banks were subsequently unable to redeem their currency, and were obliged to suspend.

In 1818, Illinois was made a state, and all the territory north of hsr northern limits was erected into a separate territor)' and joined to Michigan for judicial purposes. By the following year, navigation of the lake* was increasing with great rapidity and affording an immense source of revenue to the dwellers in the Northwest, but it was not until 1826 that the trade was extended to Lake Michigan, or that steamships began to navigate the bosom of that inland sea.

Until the year 1832, the commencement of the Black Hawk War, but few hostilities were experienced with the Indians. Roads were opened, canals were dug, cities were built, common schools were established, universities were founded, many of which, especially the Michigan University, have achieved a world wide-reputation. The people were becoming wealthy. The domains of the United States had been extended, and had the sons of the forest been treated with honesty and justice, the record of many years would have been that of peace and continuous prosperity.

Black Hawk And The Black Hawk War

This conflict, though confined to Illinois, is an important epoch in the Northwestern history, being the last war with the Indians in this part of the United States.

Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or Black Hawk, was born in the principal Sac village, about three miles from the junction of Rock River with the Mississippi, in the year 1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa or Pahaes ; his grandfather's, Na-na-ma-kee, or the Thunderer. Black Hawk early distinguished himself as a warrior, and at the age of fifteen was permitted to paint and was ranked among the braves. About the year 1783, he went on an expedition against the enemies of his nation, the Osages, one of whom he killed and scalped, and for this deed of Indian bravery he was permitted to join in the scalp dance. Three or four years after he, at the head of two hundred braves, went on another expedition against the Osages, to avenge the murder of some women and children belonging to his own tribe. Meeting an equal number of Osage warriors, a fierce battle ensued, in which the latter tribe lost one-half their number. The Sacs lost only about nineteen warriors. He next attacked the Cherokees for a similar cause. In a severe battle with them, near the present City of St. Louis, his father was slain, and Black Hawk, taking possession of the " Medicine Bag," at once announced himself chief of the Sac nation. He had now conquered the Cherokees, and about the year 1800, at the head of five hundred Sacs and Foxes, and a hundred lowas, he waged war against the Osage nation and subdued it. For two years he battled successfully with other Indian tribes, all of whom he conquered.

Black Hawk does not at any time seem to have been friendly to the Americans. When on a visit to St. Louis to see his " Spanish Father," he declined to see any of the Americans, alleging, as a reason, he did not want two fathers.

The treaty at St. Louis was consummated in 1804. The next year the United States Government erected a fort near the head of the Des Moines Rapids, called Fort Edwards. This seemed to enrage Black Hawk, who at once determined to capture Fort Madison, standing on the west side of the Mississippi above the mouth of the Des Moines River. The fort was garrisoned by about fifty men. Here he was defeated. The difficulties with the British Government arose about this time, and the War of 1812 followed. That government, extending aid to the Western Indians, by giving them arms and ammunition, induced them to remain hostile to the Americans. In August, 1812, Black Hawk, at the head of about five hundred braves, started to join the British forces at Detroit, passing on his way the site of Chicago, where the famous Fort Dearborn Massacre had a few days before occurred. Of his connection with the British Government but little is known. In 1813 he with his little band descended the Mississippi, and attacking some United States troops at Fort Howard waB defeated.

In the early part of 1815, the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi were notified that peace had been declared between the United States and England, and nearly all hostilities had ceased. Black Hawk did not sign any treaty, however, until May of the following year. He then recognized the validity of the treaty at St. Louis in 1804. From the time of signing this treaty in 1816, until the breaking out of the war in 1832, he and his band passed their time in the common pursuits of Indian life.

Indians were urged to join the lowas on the west bank of the Father of Waters. All were agreed, save the band known as the British Band, of which Black Hawk was leader. He strenuously objected to the removal, and was induced to comply only after being threatened with the power of the Government. This and various actions on the part of the white settlers provoked Black Hawk and his band to attempt the capture of his native village uow occupied by the whites. The war followed. He and his actions were undoubtedly misunderstood, and had his wishes been acquiesced in at the beginning of the struggle, much bloodshed would have been prevented.

Black Hawk was chief now of the Sac and Fox nations, and a noted warrior. He and his tribe inhabited a village on Rock River, nearly three miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where the tribe had lived many generations. When that portion of Illinois was reserved to them, they remained in peaceable possession of their reservation, spending their time in the enjoyment of Indian life. The fine situation of their village and the quality of their lands incited the more lawless white settlers, who from time to time began to encroach upon the red men's domain. From one pretext to another, and from one step to another, the crafty white men gained a foothold, until through whisky and artifice they obtained deeds from many of the Indians for their possessions. The Indians were finally induced to cross over the Father of Waters and locate among the lowas. Black Hawk was strenuously opposed to all this, but as the authorities of Illinois and the United States thought this the best move, he was forced to comply. Moreover other tribes joined the whites and urged the removal. Black Hawk would not agree to the terms of the treaty made with his nation for their lands, and as soon as the military, called to enforce his removal, had retired, he returned to the Illinois side of the river. A large force was at once raised and marched against him. On the evening of May 14, 1832, the first engagement occurred between a band from this army and Black Hawk's band, in which the former were defeated.

This attack and its result aroused the whites. A large force of men was raised, and Gen. Scott hastened from the seaboard, by way of* the lakes, with United States troops and artillery to aid in the subjugation of the Indians. On the 24th of June, Black Hawk, with 200 warriors, was repulsed by Major Demont between Rock River and Galena. The American army continued to move up Rock Rivei- toward the main body of the Indians, and on the 21st of July came upon Black Hawk and his band, and defeated them near the Blue Mounds.

The Northwest Terbttort

"Wisconsin in pursuit of Black Hawk and his band who were fleeing to the Mississippi. They were overtaken on the 2d of August, and in the battle which followed the power of the Indian chief was completely broken. He fled, but was seized by the Winnebagoes and delivered to the whites.

On the 21st of September, 1832, Gen. Scott and Gov. Reynolds concluded a treaty with the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes by which they ceded to the United States a vast tract of country, and agreed to remain peaceable with the whites. For the faithful performance of the provisions of this treaty on the part of the Indians, it was stipulated that Black Hawk, his two sons, the prophet Wabokieshiek, and six other chiefs of the hostile bands should be retained as hostages during the pleasure of the President. They were confined at Fort Barracks and put in irons.

The next Spring, by order of the Secretary of War, they were taken to Washington. From there they were removed to Fortress Monroe, "there to remain imtil tlie conduct of their nation was such as to justify their being set at liberty." They were retained here until the 4th of June, when the authorities directed them to be taken to the principal cities so that they might see the folly of contending against the white people. Ever3'where they were observed by thousands, the name of the old chief being e.-ctensively known. By the middle of August they reached Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, where Black Hawk was soon after released to go to his countrymen. As he passed the site of his birthplace, now the home of the white man, he was deeply moved. His village where he was born, where he had so happily lived, and where he had hoped to die, was now another's dwelling place, and he was a wanderer.

On the next day after his release, he went at once to his tribe and his lodge. His \viie was yet living, and with her he passed the remainder of his days. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk always remained true to his wife, and served her with a devotion uncommon among the Indians, living with her upward of forty years.

Black Hawk now passed his time hunting and fishing. A deep melancholy had settled over him from which he could not be freed. At all times when he visited the whites he was received with marked attention. He was an honored guest at the old settlers' reunion in Lee County, Illinois, at some of their meetings, and received many tokens of esteem. In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his annuity from the Government, he contracted a severe cold which resulted in a fatal attack of bilious fever which terminated his life on October 3. His faithful wife, who was devotedly attached to him, mourned deeply during his sickness. After his death he was dressed in the uniform presented to him by the President while in Washington. He was buried in a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful emiueuce. " The body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting posture, upon a seat constructed for the purpose. On his left side, the cane, given liim by Henry Clay, was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it. Many of the old warrior's trophies were placed in the grave, and some Indian garments, together with his favorite weapons."

No sooner was the Black Hawk war concluded than settlers began rapidly to pour into the northern parts of Illinois, and into Wisconsin, now free from Indian depredations. Chicago, from a trading post, had grown to a commercial center, and was rapidly coming into prominence. In 1835, the formation of a State Government in Michigan was discussed, but did not take active form until two years later, when the State became a part of the Federal Union.

The main attraction to that portion of the Northwest lying west of Lake Michigan, now included in the State of Wisconsin^ was its alluvial wealth. Copper ore was found about Lake Superior. For some time this region was attached to Michigan for judiciary i)urposes, but in 1830 was made a territory, then including Minnesota and Iowa. The latter State was detached two years later. In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted as a State, Madison being made the capital. We have now traced the various divisions of the Northwest Territory (save a little in Minnesota) from the time it was a unit comprising this vast territory, until circumstancei compelled its present division.

(1) Arthur St. Clair, of Pennsylvania, was Governor of the Northwest Territory, of which Ohio was a part, from July 13, 1788, when the first civil government was established in the Territory, until about the close of the year 1802, when he was removed by the President.

(4) Return Jonathan Jleigs was elected Governor on the second Tuesday of October, 1807, over Nathaniel Massie, who L-oiitested the election of Meigs on the ground " that he had not been a resident of this State for four years next preceding the election as required by the Constitution," and the General As.'^embly, in joint convention, decided that he was not eligible. The office was not given to Massif, nor does it appear ffoiu the records that he claimed it, but Thom:is Kirker, Actiug Governor, continued to discharge the duties of the office until December 12, 1808, wheu Samuel Huntington was inaugurated, he having been elected on the second Tuesday of October in that year.

(8) The result of the election in 1848 was not finally determined in joint convention of the two houses of the General Assembly until January 19, 1849, and the inauguration did not take place until the 22d of that month,

(12) Resigned March 2, 1877, to accept the office of President of the United States. ''Acting Governor. Succeeded to office, being the Speaker of the Senate.

Histoey Of Ohio

IT is not our province in a volume of this description, to delineate the chronology of prehistoric epochs, or to dwell at length upon those topics pertaining to the scientific causes which tended to the formation of a continent, undiscovered for centuries, by the wisdom and energy of those making a history of the Old World, by the advancement of enlightenment in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Naturally, the geological foi'mation of the State of Ohio cannot be entirely separated from facts relative to the strata, which, in remote ages accumulated one layer above the other, and finally constituted a "built-up" America, from a v;ist sea. The action of this huge body of water washed sediment and whatever came in its way upon primitive rocks, which were subjected to frequent and repeated submersions, emerging as the water subsided, thus leaving a stratum or layer to solidify and mark its number in the series - a system of growth repeated in trees of the forest - in those descernible rings that count so many years. The southeastern part of North America emerging a second time from the Silurian Sea, which e.xtended west to the Rocky Mountains and north to the primitive hills of British America, a succession of rock-bound, salt-water lakes remained. These covered a large portion of the continent, and their water evaporating, organic and mineral matter remained to soliiHfy. This thick stratum has been designated by geologists as the water-lime layer. This constitutes the upper layer of rock in the larger portion of the west half of Ohio. In other sections it foi'ms the bed rock.

Following the lime-rock deposit, must have been more frequent sweeps of the great sea, since the layers are compai-atively thin, proving a more speedy change. During this scientific rising and falling of the sea, other actions were taking place, such as volcanic and other influences which displaced the regularity of the strata, and occasionally came out in an upheaval or a regular perpendicular dip. A disturbance of this character formed the low mountain range extending from the higldands of Canada to the southern boundary of Tennessee. This "bulge" is supposed to be the consequence of the cooling of the earth and the pressure of the oceans on either side of the continent. Geologists designate this as the Cincinnati arch. This forms a separation between the coal fields of the Allcghanies and those of Illinois.

Passing over several jieriods, we reach the glacial, during which the topography of the continent was considerably modified, and which is among the latest epochs of geology, though e.xceedingly remote as compared with human history. Previously, a torrid heat prevailed the entire Northern hemisphere. Now the temperature of the frigid zone crept southward until it reached Cincinnati. A vast field of ice, perhaps hundreds of feet thick, extended from the north pole to this point. As this glacial rigor came southward, the flow of the St. Lawrence River was stopped, and the surplus water of the great lake basin was turned into the Ohio and Mississippi. This glacial sea was by no means stationary even after its southern limit had been reached. It possessed the properties of a solid and a fluid. Its action was slow but powerful, grinding mountains to powder and forming great valleys and basins. Separating into two glacial portions, one moved toward the watershed north of the Ohio River ; and, continuing westerly, it hollowed out the basin of Lake Erie and crushed the apex of the Cincinnati arch. From this point, it turned southward and swept with a regular course through the Maumee and Miami Valleys to the Ohio River. The southern border constantly melting, and flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico, the great field was pressed forward by the accumulations of ice in the northern latitudes. Thus for ages, this powerful force was fitting the earth for the habitation of man. The surface was leveled, huge rocks broken and reduced to pebbles, sand, clay, etc., other soil and surface-material - while the debris was embedded at the bottom. In some sections, as the ice melted and freed the bowlders and rocks, the lighter material was swept awav. The glacier moving forward, and the forces proving an " equilibrium," the edge of this ice-field was held in a solid strongliold, and the material thus deposited forms a ridge, called by geologists "terminal moraine," first exemplified in Ohio by the "Black Swamp," in the Maumee Yalley.

The most extreme rigor of this period beginning to wane, the ice of the Maumee and Miami Valleys began to move slowly forward, toward the north, reaching the points now termed Hudson, Mich.; Fort Wayne, Ind., and Kenton, Ohio - reaching somewhat further south than Lima and ^'an AVert. The edge of the glacier was defined in outline by the present western border of Lake Erie, and parallel with it. Climatic influences " acting and counteracting," the glacial force was concentrated, the Maumee Valley being subjected to a grinding process, and a deposit of material going on, which now forms the boundary of the "Black Swamp." As our readers are aware, the waters of the St. Jose])h and St. Mary's meet at Fort Wayne, and their united waters form the Maumee; thence the turn is northwest, and, wearing an outlet through the ridge, it reaches the head of Lake Erie.

The torrid zone yet gaining the ascendency, tlio ice-fields continuing their reverse motion, and retreating toward the north, the basin of the great lakes was formed ; and the blocks of ice melting therein, a vast sea of fresh water was fonned, which gradually overflowed a portion of Canada and Michigan. But the St. Lawrence, that important outlet, was under the restraint of an ice blockade, and the surplus water of the fresh sea was turned into the Ohio and and Mississippi.

Later, mountains of ice-float were drifted from the north by winds and currents, into temperate latitudes, and melting, deposited rocks, stones and general debris. Following the iceberg-drift, came the permanent elevation above the oceanlevel. The St. Lawrence outlet was formed. The inland sea was assuming its division into lakes. The united waters of Erie and Huron flowed through the Wabash Valley and into the Ohio, until, through some agency, that section was dry, and the lakes drained in another direction. The action of the glacial period in the Erie basin vicinity created what is known as the "Niagara limestone," by grinding upper strata and drifting the debris elsewhere. This seems to have occurred at intervals, exposures being made in Seneca, Sandusky and Wood Counties, and beneath the axis of the Cincinnati arch. Oriskany limestone is also available in another stratum, which has been brought to the surface. Again, there is a carboniferous stratum of limestone, and along the Maumee is a thin exposure of the Hamilton limestone and shale.

A glacier having both fluid and solid properties, it will readily be comprehended that obdurate projections of rock resisted its action, and created currents in other directions, for its forces. ^Yhen this specified epoch had ceased to be, Ohio was a rough, irregular and crude mixture of ridges and knobs and pinnacles, which were " leveled up " and finished by iceberg-drift and inland-sea deposits. This settled and accumulated, and the work of hundreds of years produced a beautiful surface, its ine([ualities overcome, the water having receded and " terra firma" remaining. A deep bed of clay, sufficiently compact to hold the germs of organic matter, and sufficiently porous to absorb moisture, was especiallv adapted to encourage the growth of vegetation. These seeds had been broui^ht by the winds and waves and natural agencies, and now began to produce plants and shrubs, which withered to enrich the soil, after scattering broadcast seeds that would again perpetuate verdure. Worms, land crabs and burrowing animals assisted in the creation of soil, while the buffalo, deer and bear followed, as soon as forestry appeared. Decomposed foliage and fallen timber aided in the great work of preparing the present State of Oliio for the habitation of man. Prairie, marsh, forest, rivers and lakes were formed, which, in turn, were modified and prepared for a grand destiny by other influences.

In glancing over the compiled histories of Ohio, those containing details of her early struggles, afflictions and triumphs, we are especially impressed with its near and sympathetic relation with the great Northwest, and the republic of the United States of America. From the early years when white men built their rude cabins in the then tangled wilderness, to the opulent and magnificent present of this united nation, Ohio has been stanch, loyal and earnest, both in action and principle.

We shall endeavor to trace the history of the State concisely and accurately, according to the data given by the most reliable historians. We are obliged to glean the prominent events only, our space being limited, compared with the multitudinous interests connected with this important part of the United States.

French History

All through early French history, is the fact especially prominent, that in their explorations and expeditions, they united piety and business. They were zealous in sending out their missionaries, but they were always attended by traders and those who were as skilled in the world's profit and loss, as their companions were in propagating Christianity.

Prior to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock, the Upper Lakes were visited by the French, and records prove that during the first half of the seventeenth century, a vagabondish set, working in the interests of the fur company of New France, understood the geographical position of the lakes and their tributary streams. M. Perrot, an intelligent explorer, made overtures of peace to the Indian tribes around these bodies of water, and t'fTected a treaty, which, it is claimed, established the right for the French, in the name of their king, to hold the place near St. Mary's Falls. They further assert that the Mississippi was discovered by the French from Lake Superior, but this is not authenticated, and Father Marquette and M. Joliet are accepted as the first who found this large stream, in 1763. The good missionary won his way with his patient and sympathetic nature.

Ohio wa.s, like the other portions of tlie West, originally in the possession of aborigines or Indians. Of their origin, many suppositions are advanced, but no certainties sustained. From practical evidences, the Mound-Builders were active in Ohio, and here as elsewhere, their work marked retrogression rather than advancement. The territory of Ohio was claimed by the French, and included in that wide tract between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, held by them under the name of Louisiana. Before the year 1750, a French trading-post was established at the mouth of the Wabash, and communication was established between that point and the Maumee, and Canada. Between the years 1678 and 1G82, the intrepid La Salle and Father Hennepin, assisted by Fondi, an Italian, with a small band of followers, inaugurated a series of explorations about the great lakes and the Mississippi, building forts on their way and planting the French priority. In 1680, La Salle erected a stockade at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, which was a general rendezvous for missionaries, traders and explorers, besides constituting a primitive "stock exchange."

The English colonies were at this time east of the AUeghanies, while the French were establishing themselves west of this range, gaining an entrance north and south, the two portions separated by hostile and barbarous foes. La Salle's spirit of adventure led him into new fields, but Father Hennepin was detailed to investigate that part of the world now known as the State of Ohio. The records assert that he published a volume containing an account of his observations " in the country between New Mexico and the frozen ocean," in 1684, together with maps of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a plat of the larger streams in Ohio.

Apparently, the French more speedily comprehended the value of their advantages in the New World than'the English, and vigorously inaugurated and sustained commercial and religious projects. They were essentially benefited by the mediation of the Catholic priests between settlers and Indians, this really earnest class everywhere ingratiating themselves with the savages. The Order of Jesuits were very vigorous, and representatives were stationed at every trading-jiost, village and settlement. The English colonists engaged mostly in agriculture, while the French took a lively interest in the fur trade with the natives, probably from their former settlement in Quebec and thereabouts, where the climate is advantageous for this business. This added to the influence of the priests, and the natural assimilation of French and the Indians, through the tact and amiability of the former, the French possessions gained more rapidly than the English or Spanish. They courted their daughters and married them. They engaged in feasts and trades, and took advantage of those unimpeded times to extend their dominion with surprising celerity. A chain of trading, missionary and military posts extended from New Orleans to Quebec, by way of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, thence via Mackinaw and Detroit to Lakes Erie and Ontario. This route was shortened thereafter by following the Ohio River to the Wabash, following the latter upward, and down the Maumee to Lake Erie.

About the same time, and to check the advancement of the French, the Ohio Company was formed by the English. This was an outgrowth of the contest between these two nations for the ascendency, whether empire, settlement or individual. After thirty years' peace between these two nations, "King George's War" opened the campaign in 1744-, but terminated in 1748, the treaty at Aix-la^Chapelle unfortunately omitting a settlement of any division of claims in America. The English, French and Spanish were the first to enter America, and the right of possession by each monarch or empire was held by right of a first discovery. The only right that England could advance regarding Ohio was that the portion of the Six Nations found in the Ohio A'^allcy had placed some of their lands under British jurisdiction, and that other portions had been purchased at Lancaster, Penn., by means of a treaty with the same nations. All this was strenuously denied and ignored by the French. Thus several conflicting influences swept carnage over fair Ohio. The Indians were allied to one side and the other, and were against each other. The Indians and French would advance against the English, and they, in retaliation, would make a raid into the Indian territory and overcome a French settlement. Whenever they could as well, Indians would take the cause in their own keeping and fight each other. The wide, verdant fields of Ohio were drenohed ghastly re<l under a glowing sun, and the great forests echoed moans from the dying and distressed. The English colonists had partially overcome their deprivation, caused by a struggle for subsistence, and means to guard against the savages - this distress augmented by campaigns against Canada - by their increased numbers and wealth, but were now alarmed by the French rule in America, which gained so rapidly, unmolested as it was by Indian raids and other devastating circumstances. A constant conflict was going on between Lake Erie and the Upper Ohio. Atrocities and massacres were committed indiscriminately, which opened the way for a desperate class of marauders and villains from the colonies and European States. These people enlisted with the Indians on either side for the purpose of leadership and plunder. Every fortification, trading-post and settlement was garrisoned or deserted, and the ground between the Alleghanies and the Maumee became a conflict field, rife with thrilling deeds, sacrifice and adventures, the half never having been chronicled, and many heroes falling uncrowned by even a lasting memory, since during these times the people kept few annals, and cared less for historical memories than anything on earth. They were living, and dying, and struggling, and that was more than they could carry through safely. The French formed a road from the Ohio River to Detroit, via the foot of the Lower Rapids of the Maumee, and the foot of the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky.

The Ohio Company^ obtained a charter under English views, from the British Government, with a grant of 6,000 acres of land on the Ohio. The English now reverted to the times of the Cabots, and protested that by right they held the entire country between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, bounded by those parallels of latitude defining their Atlantic coast settlements. France claimed the region drained by the Mississippi and tributaries, the great lakes and their tributaries, the area being west of the Alleghanies. Ohio was thus included in the disputed tract.

The Ohio Company was formed in 1748, by a number of Virginians and Londoners, two brothers of George Washington taking conspicuous parts in the movement ; Thomas Lee wa.s especially active. When the surveys were begun, the Governor of Canada entered vigorous protests, and indicated his displeasure by a prompt line of posts from Erie to Pittsbui-gh, named respectively, Presque Isle, Le Boeuf, Vedango, Kittaning and Du Quesne. The latter was begun by the English, captured by the French, and by them completed.

The first English settlement of which we can find traces was a block-house at Piqua, about the year 1752. It was attacked, and a bitter struggle ensued, resulting in the death of fourteen of the assailants. Those within the garrison suffered severely, many being burned, and the remainder captured and dispatched to Canada.

In 1753, the French and Indian war actively began. It did not extend beyond the American continent until 1756, when the home governments took an interest in its progress beyond encouraging their respective colonists to pursue the war-path to a direful finale for their adversaries. For four years, the French captured and conquered, spreading terror wherever they went, and they followed every Englishman that set his foot on Ohio soil to the death. We may state that these people had not retained tieir civilized habits, and constant association with savages had embv^ed them with barbarous methods of which were sickening and revolting ito the English, and to which they could not resort. It is highly probable that French success was vastly brought about by these means, together with the assistance of their Indian allies. In 1758, when the English hope was almost exterminated, the elder Pitt being placed at the head of the administration, a new and energetic system was inaugurated, wise measures instituted, and military science triumphed over savage cunning and French intrigue. The first brilliant English achievement was the conquest of Canada. When the home governments interfered, the war assumed the character of a French and English conflict, regardless of Indian right, yet the tribes continued to participate in the carnage.

A certain Christian, Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, located upon the Muskingum, near Beavertown. Heckewelder consented to become his associate. The Indians receiving them kindly, under conditions that Post should serve as tutor, this missionary began clearing a field for the purpose of planting corn for sustenance. This did not accord with Indian logic. They had stipulated that he teach and he was planting corn, which to them was a signal of the coming of other whites, the building of a fort and encroachments upon the Indians. They referred to the French priests, who were in good physical condition, did not till land, but were in charge of the Great Spirit who provided for them, a conclusive proof to them that when divine work was acceptable to the Great Spirit, priests were somehow sustained by other than the plans which disturbed their great hunting-grounds. However, they allowed liim a small space, and he remained with them, preaching and teaching during the summer of 1762, when, accompanied by one of the principal chiefs, he returned to Lancaster, Penn., where a treaty was concluded. On his return to his post, he was met by Heckewelder, who imparted the tidings that friendly Indians had warned him that the war was about to sweep over their section, and destruction awaited them if they remained. The mission was accordinglj'^ abandoned. This failure was not so bitter as the English effort to sustain their trading-post in 1749, on the Great Miami, afterward called Laramie's store. It pursued a feeble existence until 1752, when a French raid upon the Twigtwees and English colonists proved fatal.

A European treaty now excluded the French from any rights to make treaties with the Indians, and the English, in their flush of victory after Pitt's succession, assumed the authority over Indians and lands. The savages did not accept the situation with anything resembluig the gentle spirit of resignation, and the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, led the several tribes into a general war against the intruders. It was no longer French and English, but Indian and English, the former being instigated and assisted many times by the French, now desperate and unscrupulous in a mad spirit for revenge.

The intention of the Indians was to drive the whites east of the mountains, destroying their numerous strongholds in Pennsylvania and Virginia, if they failed in their hope of utterly exterminating them. Pontiac had effected a consolidation of the tribes ranging from Mackinaw to North Carolina, thus being enabled to swoop down upon all the settlements simultaneously. A deadly beginning was made in the Ohio Valley, and only two or three English traders escaped out of the one hundi'ed and twenty located in that vicinity. The forts at Presque Isle, St. Joseph and Mackinaw, were captured amid scenes of slaughter too terrible to perpetuate in description. The years 1763 and 1764 were literally drenched in human carnage and anguish. Ohio was a great field of crime, murder, pain and horror. The expeditions of Bradstreet and Bouquet crushed the war in 1764, and Pontiac with his Ottawas removed to the Maumee and settled. English settlement now progressed with great rapidity, but this was destined to be disturbed in 1774, by the action of Lord Dunmore, who led an expedition against the tribes of the Ohio country, terminated by his treaty on the Scioto plains. At this period, the colonists were not in strict harmony with England, and the spirit of revolution was spreading every day.

When Lord Dunmore made his treaty, the affirmation was made and gained ground that he, being a thorough loyalist, had compromised under such terms as held the Indians British allies against the settlers. Directly following this treaty, was the deliberate murder of a number of Indians, near Wheeling, including the family of the great chief, Logan - which inaugurated retaliating atrocities.

In the year 1773, July 4, the first white child was born within the present limits of Ohio, and was christened John L. Roth, son of a Moravian missionary. All the settlers of these Moravian towns on the Muskingum were made prisoners in September of the same year. Heckwelder was transported to Detroit, but English tyranny failed to find any evidence against him or his colaborers, and they were reluctantly released, and returned to their families in Sandusky. Poverty added to their sufferings, and in the forlorn hope of finding a remnant of their property at the old settlements, which might assist in mitigating their necessities, they wearily went thitherward. They began gathering their grain, but the Wyandots attacked them, and many lives were lost. Frontiersmen had also grown jealous of them, and a body of about ninety marched out together, for the fiendish purpose of pillaging, slaughtering and laying waste all Moravian towns and posts. With the wily insidiousness of savages, they went about their tliabolical plan. The Moravians were cordial and - bade this band welcome, when they reached their towns in the guise of friendship. Williamson, the leader, and the gleaners, were called from the fields, when, to the dismay of these trusting and frank people, they were all bound, and only fifteen out of the marauding band of ninety were in favor of even sparing the lives of these hapless men, women and children. Forty men, twenty-two women and thirty-four children were then cruelly and heartlessly murdered, their sufferings laughed to scorn, and the last sound that fell on their ears was exultant derision. Succeeding this tragic event was the expedition against the Indian towns upon the Sandusky. Tho hostile Indians had been making frequent incursions upon the settlements of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, destroying both life and property. There seemed to be no bounds to their bloody work, and it became necessary, for the peace and safety of the settlers, to take some measures to prevent their outrages. Accordingly, in May, 1782, Gen. William Irvine, who was then commander of the Western Military Department, with headquarters at Fort Pitt, called a council of the ofiScers of his department to meet at Fort Pitt. At this meeting it was decided to form and equip a body of men, and make an expedition into the Indian country. Upper Sandusky, then the rendezvous of the hostile Wyandots, Delawares, Shawaneae and Mingoes, was to be the point of attack.

Col. William Crawford led the expedition, which counted 480 men. Warning had in some manner reached the towns, and the troops found them deserted. But the Indians were incensed, and their wrath had not driven them to hiding-places, but to a preparation to meet their foes. They fought desperately, and Crawford's troops were defeated and scattered, many being captured, and among them Col. Crawford himself. It is hardly probable that Crawford could justly expect much mercy at the hands of his captors. Accounts state that Crawford implored the aid of Girty, and at last secured a promise to use his power to obtain the Colonel's pardon. However, this was of no avail, and it is doubtful whether Girty was disposed to intercede. The prisoners were tortui-ed and put to death, and Crawford's agonies were protracted as long as possible. Dr. Knight managed to disable the Indian who had him in charge, and made his escape to the settlements, where he related the result of the expedition and the tortures of the captured.

On October 27, 1784, a treaty was concluded at Fort Stanwix, with the sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senocas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Tuscaroras, and the Six Nations then ceded to the Colonial Government all claims to the country west of a line defined by the western boundary to the Ohio - thus rendering the Indian claim to a large portion of Ohio lands practically extinct.

Although the French and Indian war was a series of heart-rending events, it was a serious and remarkable school of discipline for the untrained troops which soon engaged in the Revolutionary struggle. On the fields of Ohio, many valuable ofiicers, who earned distinction in the war of independence, learned their first lessons in intrepid valor.

During the Revolution, the colonial troops were engaged east of the mountains, and western settlements and frontier people were left alone to defend themselves and their property against encroachments and attacks.

The Indian tribes again became belligerent, and united with the English against the " Americans." The latter held a line of posts along the Upper Ohio, while the British were stationed in the old French strongholds on the lakes and the Mississippi. The unscrupulous whites and Indians ranged at random between this boundary and the Cuyahoga, thence southerly to the Ohio,.

Gen. Clarke's expedition, although chiefly confined to Indiana and Illinois, greatly influenced the settlement of Ohio. His exploits and the resolution of his troops were chiefly instrumental in holding the country -nest of the Alleghanies, and insuring its possession by the United States during the Revolution. The British had been emphatic, in the Paris treaty, at the time of the settlement of the French and English difiiculties, in demanding the Ohio River as the northern boundary of the United States. The American Commissioners relied upon Gen. Clarke's valor and energy in hokling the country west of the Alleghanies, which he had conquered, and the British Commissioners were compelled to give their consent, under civil and military measures. In 178-3, by the treaty of Paris, at the close of the Revolutionary war, the English relinquished all rights to the fertile territory between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, and the United States held undisputed possession.

January 10, 1786, Gens. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper circulated a pamphlet, proposing the formation of a company for the purpose of settling the Ohio lands, and soliciting the attention and consideration of all those desiring a future home and prosperity. A meeting was also called, to assemble during the following February, and select delegates to represent each county in Massachusetts. These dignitaries should convene during the month of March, at the "Bunch of Grapes" tavern, in Boston, for the purpose of definitely forming the association, and adopting such measures as would benefit all directly interested. The meeting and " convention " followed, and the subscription books were opened. One million dollars, chiefly represented by Continental certificates, was the price of the land. The shares were valued at $1,000 each, and there was a division of a thousand shares. The first payment was to be $10 per share, this money to be set aside for such expenses as might accrue. A year's interest was to be devoted to the establishment of the settlement, and those families who were unable to incur the expense of moving were to be assisted. Those who purchased shares to the number of twenty were entitled to a representation by an agent, who was permitted to vote for Directors. This plan matured and was acted upon during the following year. It may be that the action of Connecticut, in ceding her territorial claims to the General Government, with few exceptions, greatly encouraged this new undertaking. That tract was, until recently, designated the " Western Reserve " - an extent 170 miles from the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and parallel thereto, being reserved.

On October 21, 1787, a contract wiis made between the Board of the Treasury, for the United States, and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, agents for the Directors of the New England Ohio Company, for the purchase of a tract of land, bounded by the Ohio, and from the mouth of the Scioto to the intersection of the western boundary of the seventh townships, then surveying ; thence by said boundary to the northern boundary of the tenth township from

However fertile and attractive Ohio was known to have been, settlement did not gain rapidly after the close of the war with England, although the United States has gained her freedom. It was more than six years after Cornwallis laid down his sword, before a white settlement was formed on the Ohio side of the river. The French and Indian war had incited the English to be jealous of her colonial conquests, and mistrusting their loyalty, they had, so soon as the French claims were annulled, taken measures to crush all colonial claims also, and a royal proclamation rescinded all colonial land grants and charters, holding all the country west of the sources of the Atlantic rivers under the protection and sovereignty of t'-ie king of Great Britain, for the use of the Indians. All white persons were forbidden to remain or settle within the prescribed limits. Parliament then attached this tract to Quebec, and the English Government felt assured that the thirteen colonies were restricted and held secure east of the Alleghanies.

The result of the war between the colonies and England did not constitute an Indian treaty. Although England signed over her title and right, the savages held the land and ignored all white agreements, one way or the other. Whenever an attempt at settlement was undertaken, Indian depredations proved disastrous. The tribes were encouraged by the English fur traders, and the English commandant at Detroit incited them to destroy all Americans who attempted to usurp the rights of red men.

Added to this serious difficulty was the unsettled debate regarding State claims, which rendered a title precarious. A treaty, signed at Fort Mcintosh, previous to the war, and authenticated, shows that during the conflict the Delawares and Wyandots occupied the Indian and British frontier, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, from the Cuyahoga to the Maumee, and from the lake to the sources of its tributaries. Later, these two tribes ceded to the United States " the neutral ground," by warranty deed, and by quit-claim, the territory south and west of the described tract, set apart for their use.

By special measures, the grant of Congress in the matter of the Ohio Company extended to nearly 5,000,000 acres, valued at ^3,500,000. The original Ohio Company obtained 1,500,000, acres, the remaining being reserved by individuals, for private speculation.

Fort Harmar had previously been built, at the mouth of the Muskingum, and in 1788, a New England colony attempted the " Muskingum settlement," on the opposite side, which was afterward named Marietta. In July, 1788, the Territorial officers were received in this village, and there established the first form of civil government, as set forth in the Ordinance of 1787. Three United States Judges were appointed, and Courts of Common Pleas, Probate and Justice were established.

If the stormy times were supposed to be of the past, that composure was rudely broken by the utter disregard of the Shawnee and other Indian tribes, who soon induced the Delawares and ^Yyandots to repudiate their consent in the matter of settlement. The miseries of frontier horrors were repeated. The British commandant at Detroit instigated many of these hostilities, yet the American Government took honorable action in assuring the English representative that American military preparations in the West was not an expedition against Detroit, or other British possessions, although the possession of Detroit by that nation was in direct opposition to the treaty of 1783. Gov. St. Clair, to avert the direful consequences of a border war, dispatched a Frenchman, Gameline, to the principal Indian towns of the Wabash and Maumee countries, to request them to meet the United States agents, and make a compromise for the benefit of both parties, at the same time reiterating the desire of the General Government to adhere to the Fort Harmar treaty. The Miamis, Shawnees, Ottawas, Kickapoos and Delawares received this representative kindly, but declined the wampum sent by the Governor, and deferred giving an answer until they had considered the subject with the " father at Detroit."

Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawnees, informed the Frenchman that the Indians doubted the sincerity of the Americans. The new settlement on the Ohio was a proof that the whites intended to crowd further and further, until the Indians were again and again robbed of their just right. He then emphaticallv asserted that unless the north side of the river was kept free from these inroads there could be no terms of peace with the Shawnees, and many other tribes.

Blue Jacket was unusually intelligent and sagacious, and expressed himself eloquently. He was persistent in his determination to engage in the war of extermination, should the white settlements continue north of the Ohio.

Congress called upon Kentucky and Pennsylvania to lend the aid of their militia. Gen. Harmar was instructed to destroy the Miami villages at the head of the Maumee. Late in the fall of 1790, he executed this order.

The Indians had stored a large quantity of provisions, in expectation of a campaign, and this dependence was devastated. Without authority, and with undue carelessness, he divided his army and attempted to achieve other victories. He more than lost what he had gained. Two raids upon the Wabash Indians, thereafter, proved successftil, but the campaign under Gov. St. Clair was not calculated to establish peace or obtain power, and was deemed but little less than a failure.

The year 1792 was a series of skirmishes, so far as a settlement was concerned, but 1793 succeeded well enough to convene a meeting of United States Commissioners and representatives of the hostile tribes, at the rapids of the Maumee. It is highly probable that a satisfactory treaty might have beea arranged, had it not been for the intervention and malicious influence of the

British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Col. McKee, his assistant Capt. Elliott, and the notorious Capt. Simon Girty, who instigated the savages to deeds more horrible than their own barbarisms.

It was evident that a severe struggle must ensue, and Capt. Wayne, in 1792, appointed to the command of the Western army, was called upon to conduct the campaign. He exhibited his wisdom in the beginning, by preparing his men in military discipline and fully equipping them before marching to meet a savage foe in a wilderness. Various causes detained the army, and it was not until the fall of 1793, that the force marched from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) to begin the battle.

It was already late in the season, and, before any progress had been made, the army went into winter quarters at Greenville, on a branch of the Big Miami.

In the mean time, the Ohio Company had not matured its practical " settlement plan," although a generous grant had been obtained. In 1792, they received a clear title to 750,000 acres of land, for which the full price had previously been paid, in Continental currency. Congress set aside 214,285 acres a.s army bounties, and 100,000 acres to actual settlers. The two latter appropriations joined that of the Ohio Company.

There had been numerous conventions, discussions and other fruitless attempts to somehow form a plan for the government of the Northwest Territory, but it was not until July 1-3, 1787, that an ordinance was passed, and that was the result of Dr. Cutler's efforts. Every State sustained its measures.

Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said Territory, for the purpose of government, be one district; subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, m,ike it expedient.

£e it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates of both resident and non-resident proprietors in the said Territory, dj-ing intestate, shall descend to and be distributed among their children and the descendants of a deceaseil 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 wlien there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal <lpgree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parent's share; and there shall in no case be a <listrihution between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving in all cases to the widow of intestate, her third part of the real estate, for life, and one-third part of the persona! estate; and this law relative to descents and dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the Legislature of the district. .\nd until the Governor and Judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in said Ten-ilory 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 estate may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed and sealed, and delivered by the person (being in 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 Kaskaskias, St. Vincent's 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 by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed from time to time, by Congress, a Governor whose commission shall continue in force for a term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein, of a thousand acres of land while in the exercise of his office.

There shall be appointed from time to time by Congress, a Secretary whose commission shall continue in force for two years, unless sooner revoked. He shall reside in the district, and shall have a freehold est.ate therein in 500 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 ti-ansmit 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 shall reside in the district and have each therein a freehold estate in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of their office, 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 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 officers 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 regulated 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 adopted or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal or 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 5,000 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. Provided, That for every 500 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 shall be regulated by the Legislature. Provided, That no person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative unless he sh.all have been a citizen of one 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 200 acres of land within the same.

Provided, Also, that a freehold in 50 acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being a resident in the district, or the like freehold and two 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 case of the death of a representative or removal from office, the Governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which 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 Representatives. The Legislative Council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress; any three of whom 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 in the district, and each person in a freehold in 500 acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission 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 each 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 good 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 he 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, Secretary, and such other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity and of office. The Governor before the President of Congress, and all other officers before the Governor.

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 forms the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are created ; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in said Territory. To provide for the establishment of States, and permanent governments therein, and for their admission to a share in the-Federal Council on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest.

It it hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, That the following articles shall he considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people, and States in said Territory, and forever remain unaltered unless by common consent, to wit: