Washington County, Ohio - Chapter 2: Ownership of the Northwest, 1881

The Claims of France, Founded on Discovery and Occupation. - England's Claim Based Upon Discovery and Settlement of the Atlantic Coast and Treaties of Purchase. - Treaty of Paris in 1763. - Ohio as a Part of France and Canada. - The ''Quebec Bill.'' - Title Vested in the Confederated States by Treaty in 1783.--Conflicting Claims of States. - Virginia's Exercise of Civil Authority. - -The Northwest Territory rected as Botetourt County. - Illinois County. - New York Withdraws Claim. - Virginia's Deed of Cession. - Massachusetts Cedes Her Claim Without Reservation. - ''The Tardy and Reluctant Sacrifice of State Pretensions to the Public Good," Made by Connecticut. - A Serious Ivil Averted. - The States Urged to their Action by New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. - IJéxtinguishment of the Indiana Title. - Difficulty of Making Satisfactory Provisions. - A Harsh. and Unjust Policy. - Washington''s Influence Causes More Humane Treatment of the Indians. - 'Treaty of Fort Stanwix. - Treaty of Fort McIntosh. - George Rogers Clark, General Butler and S. H. Parsons Confer with Several Tribes at the Mouth of the Miami. - Measures of the Treaty Ineffectual to Preserve Peace. - Great Improvement in the Attitude of the Government. - Indian Tribes Recognized as Rightful Owners. - Appropriations made to Purchase Title from Them.

FRANCE, resting her claim upon the discovery and explorations of Robert Cavalier de la Salle and Marquette, upon the occupation of the country, and later, upon the provisions of several European treaties (those of Utrecht, Ryswick, Aix-la-chapelle), was the first nation to formally lay claim to the soil of the territory now included within the boundaries of the State of Ohio as an integral portion of the valley of the Mississippi and of the northwest. Ohio was thus a part of New France. After the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was a part of the French province of Louisiana, which extended from the gulf to the northern lakes. The English claims were based on the priority of their occupation of the Atlantic coast, in latitude corresponding to the territory claimed; upon an opposite construction of the same treaties above named; and last but not least, upon the alleged cession of the rights of the Indians. England's charters to all of the original colonies expressly extended their grants from sea to sea. The principal ground of claim by the English was by the treaties of purchase from the Six Nations, who, claiming to be conquerors of the whole country and therefore its possessors, asserted their right to dispose of it. A portion of the land was obtained through grants from the Six Nations and by actual purchase made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744. France successfully resisted the claims of England, and maintained control of the territory between the Ohio and the lakes by force of arms until the Treaty of Paris was consummated in 1763. By the provisions of this treaty Great Britian came into possession of the disputed lands, and retained it until ownership was vested in the United States by the treaty of peace made just twenty years later. We have seen that Ohio was once a part of France and of the French province of Louisiana, and asa curiosity it may be of interest to refer to anact of the British Parliament, which made it an integral part of Canada. This was what has been known in history as the "Quebec Bill" passed in 1774. By the provisions of this bill the Ohio river was made the southwestern, and the Mississippi river the western boundary of Canada, thus placing the territory now constituting

Virginia had asserted her claims to the whole of the territory northwest of the Ohio, and New York had claimed titles to portions of the same. These claims had been for the most part held in abeyance during the period when the general ownership was vested in Great Britian, but were afterwards the cause of much embarrassment to the United States. Virginia, however, had not only claimed ownership of the soil, but attempted the exercise of civil authority in the disputed territory as early as 1769. In that year the colonial house of burgesses passed an act establishing the county of Botetourt, including a large part of what is now West Virginia and the whole territory northwest of the Ohio, and having, of course, as its western boundary the Mississippi river. This was a county of vast proportions - a fact of which the august authorities who ordered its establishment seem to have been fully aware, for they inserted the following among other provisions of the act, viz:

WHEREAS, The people situated upon the Mississippi in the said county of Botetourt will be very remote from the court house, and must necessarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which will probably happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt, which lies on the said waters, shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county for the purpose of building a court house and prison for said county.

It was more in name than in fact, however, that Virginia had jurisdiction over this great county of Botetourt through the act of 1769. In 1778, after the splendid achievements of General George Rogers Clarke - his subjugation of the British posts in the far west, and conquest of the whole country from the Ohio to the Mississippi - this territory was organized by the Virginia legislature as the county of Illinois. Then, and not until then, did government have more than a nominal existence in this far extending but undeveloped country, containing a few towns and scattered population. The act, which was passed in October, contained the following provisions:

All the citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia who are already settled, or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct*county which shall be called Illinois; and the governor of this commonwealth, with the advice of the council, may appoint a county lieutenant or commandant-in-chief, during pleasure, who shall appoint and commission so many deputy commandants, militia officers and commissaries, as he shall think proper, in the different districts, during pleasure, all of whom, before they enter into office, shall take the oath of fidelity to this commonwealth, and the oath of office, according to the form of their own religion. And all officers to whom the inhabitants have been accustomed, necessary to the preservation of peace and the administration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority of citizens, in their respective districts, to be convened for that purpose by the county lieutenant or commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned by the said county lieutenant, or commandantin-chief.

John Todd was appointed as county lieutenant and civil commandant of Illinois county, and served until his death (he was killed in the battle of Blue Licks, August 18, 1782), being succeeded by Timothy de Montbrun.

favor of the United States. Her charter, obtained March 2, 1664, from Charles II, embraced territory which had formerly been granted to Massachusetts and Connecticut. The cession of claim was made by James Duane, William Floyd, and Alexander McDougall, on behalf of the State, March 1, 1781.

Virginia, with a far more valid claim than New York, was the next State to follow New York's example. Her claim was founded upon certain charters granted to the colony by James I, and bearing date respectively, April 10, 1606; May 23, 1609; and March 12, 1611; upon the conquest of the country by General George Rogers Clarke; and upon the fact that she had also exercised civil authority over the territory. The general assembly of Virginia, at its session beginning October 20, 1783, passed an act authorizing its delegates in Congress to convey to the United States in Congress assembled all the right of that commonwealth to the territory northwest of the Ohio river. The act was consummated on March 17, 1784. By one of the provisory clauses of this act was reserved the Virginia Military district, lying between the waters of the Scioto and Little Miami rivers.

Massachusetts ceded her claims, without reservation, the same year that Virginia did hers (1784), though the action was not formally consummated until the eighteenth of April, 1785. The right of her title had been rested upon her charter, granted less than a quarter of a century from the arrival of the Mayflower, and embracing territory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Connecticut made what has been characterized as '"'the last tardy and reluctant sacrifice of State pretensions to the common good"* on the fourteenth of September, 1786. She ceded to Congress all her "right, title, interest, jurisdiction, and claim to the lands northwest of the Ohio, excepting the Connecticut Western Reserve," and of this tract jurisdictional claim was not ceded to the United States until May 30, 1801.

The happy, and, considering all complications, speedy adjustment of the conflicting claims of States and consolidation of all rights of title in the United States was productive of the best results both at home and abroad. The young nation, born in the terrible throes of the Revolution, went through a trying ordeal, and one of which the full peril was not realized until it had been safely passed. Serious troubles threatened to arise from the disputed ownership of the western lands, and there were many who had grave fears that the well-being of the country would be impaired or at least its progress impeded. The infant Republic was at that time closely and 'jealously watched by all of the governments of Europe, and nearly all of them would have rejoiced to have witnessed the failure of the American experiment, and they were not destined to be gratified at the expense of the United States. As it was, the most palpable harm, caused by delay, was the retarding of settlement. The movement towards the complete cession of State claims was accelerated as much as possible by Congress. The national legislature strenuously urged the several States in

1784 to cede their lands to the confederacy to aid the payment of the debts incurred during the Revolution and to promote the harmony of the Union,*

The States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland had taken the initiative action and been largely instrumental in bringing about the cession of State claims. The fact that they had no foundation for pretensions of ownership save that they had equally in proportion to their ability with the other States assisted in wresting these lands from Great Britian, led them to protest against an unfair division of the territory - New Jersey had memorialized Congress in 1778,and Delaware followed in the same spirit in January, 1779. Later in the same year Maryland virtually reiterated the principles advanced by New Jersey and Maryland, though more positively. Her representatives in Congress emphatically and eloquently expressed their views and those of their constituents in the form of instructions upon the matter of confirming the articles of confederation.

The extinguishment of the Indian claims to the soil of the northwest was another delicate and difficult duty which devolved upon the Government. In the treaty of peace, ratified by Congress in 1784, no provision was made by Great Britian in behalf of the Indians - even their most faithful allies, the Six Nations. Their lands were included in the boundaries secured to the United States. They had suffered greatly during the war and the Mohawks had been dispossessed of the whole of their beautiful valley. The only remuneration they received was a tract of country in Canada, and all of the sovereignty which Great Britizn had exercised over them was transferred to the United States. The relation of the new government to these Indians was peculiar. In 1782 the British principle, in brief, that "might makes right" - that discovery was equivalent to conquest, and that therefore the nations retained only a possessory claim to their lands, and could only abdicate it to the government claiming sovereignty - was introduced into the general policy of the United States. The legislature of New York was determined to expel the Six Nations entirely, in retaliation for their hostility during the war. Through the just and humane counsels of Washington and Schuyler, however, a change was wrought in the Indian policy, and the Continental Congress sought henceforward in its action to condone the hostilities of the past and gradually to dispossess the Indians of their lands by purchase, 2s the growth of the settlements might render it necessary to do so. It was in pursuance of this policy that the treaty of Fort Stanwix was made, October 22, 1784. By this treaty were extinguished the vague claims which the confederated tribes, the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscarawas, and Oneidas, had for more than a century maintained to the Ohio valley. The commissioners of Congress in this transaction were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. The Six Nations were represented by two of their ablest chiefs, Cornplanter and Red Jacket, the former for peace and the latter for war. La Fayette was present at this treaty and impor-

By the treaty of Fort McIntosh, negotiated on the twenty-first of January, 1785, by George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, was secured the relinquishment of all claims to the Ohio valley held by the Delawares, Ottawas, Wyandots, and Chippewas. The provisions of this treaty were as follows:

ARTICLE 1st - Three chiefs, one from the Wyandot and two from the Delaware nations, shall be delivered up to the commissioners of the United States, to be by them retained till all the prisoners taken by the said nations or any of them shall be restored.

ARTICLE 2nd - The said Indian nations and all of their tribes do acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States and of no other sovereign whatever.

ARTICLE 3rd - The boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware nations shall begin at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga, and run thence up the said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; then down the said branch to the forks at the crossing-place above Fort Laurens; then westwardly to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two; then along the said portage to the Great Miami or Owl river, and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence down the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga where it began.

ARTICLE 4th - The United States allot all the lands contained within the said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, to live and to hunt on, and to such of the Ottawa nation as now live thereon; saving and reserving for the establishment of trading posts six miles square * at the mouth of the Miami or Owl river and the same at the portage of that branch of the Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the cape of Sandusky, where the fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on the lower rapids of Sandusky river; which posts and the land annexed to them, shall be for the use and under the goyernment of the United States.

ARTICLE 5th - If any citizen of the United States, or other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to the United States in the preceding article, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him as they please.

ARTICLE 6th - The Indians who sign this treaty, as well in behalf of all their tribes as of themselves, do acknowledge the lands east, south, and west of the lands described in the third article, so far as the said Indians claimed the same, to belong to the United States, and none of their tribes shall presume to settle upon the same or any part of it.

ARTICLE 7th - The post of Detroit, with a district beginning at the mouth of the river Rosine on the west side of Lake Erie and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said river; thence northerly, and

ARTICLE 8th - In the same manner the post of Michilimackinack with its dependencies, and twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the use of the United States.

ARTICLE gth - If any Indian or Indians shall commit a robbery or murder on any citizen of the United States, the tribe to which such offenders may belong shall be bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinance of the United States.

ARTICLE toth - The Commissioners of the United States, in pursuance of the humane and liberal views of Congress, upon the treaty's being signed, will direct goods to be distributed among the different tribes for their use and comfort.

The treaty of Fort Finney, at the mouth of the Great Miami, January 31, 1786, secured the cession of whatever claim to the Ohio valley was held by the Shawnees. George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Samuel H. Parsons* were the Commissioners of the United States. James Monroe, then a member of Congress from Virginia and afterwards President of the United States, accompanied General Butler, in the month of October preceding the treaty, as far as Limestone} (now Maysville, Kentucky). The party, it is related, stopped at the mouth of the Muskingum and (in the words of General Butler's journal) "left fixed in a locust tree" a letter reccommend ing the building of a fort on the Ohio side. By the terms of this treaty the Shawnees were confined to the lands west of the Great Miami. Hostages were demanded from the Indians, to remain in the possession of the United States until all prisoners should be returned, and the Shawnees were compelled to acknowledge the United States as the sole and absolute sovereign of all the territory ceded to them, in the treaty of peace, by Great Britain. The clause embodying the latter condition excited the jealousy of the Shawnees. They went away dissatisfied with the treaty, though assenting to it. This fact, and the difficulty that was experienced even while the treaty was making of preventing depredations by white borderers, argued unfavorably for the future. The treaty was productive of no good results whatever. Hostilities were resumed in the spring of 1786, and serious and widespread war was threatened. Congress had been acting upon the policy that the treaty of peace with Great Britian had invested the United States with the fee simple of all the Indian lands, but urged now by the stress of circumstance the Government radically changed its policy, fully recognizing the Indians as the rightful proprietors of the soil, and on the second of July, 1787, appropriated the sum of twenty-six thousand dollars for

* General Samuel H. Parsons, an eminent Revolutionary character, was one of the first band of Marietta pioneers, and was appointed first as associate and then as chief judge of the Northwest Territory. He was drowned in the Big Beaver river, November 17, 1789, while returning to his home in Marietta from the north, where he had been making the treaty which secured the aboriginal title to the soil of the Connecticut Western Reserve.

the purpose of extinguishing Indian claims to lands already ceded to the United States and for extending a purchase beyond the limits heretofore fixed by treaty.

Under this policy other relinquishments of Ohio territory were effected through the treaties of Fort Harmar, held by General St. Clair, January 9, 1789, the treaty of Greenville, negotiatéd by Anthony Wayne, August 3, 1795, and various other treaties made at divers times from 1796 to 1818.* But of these it is beyond our province to speak in this chapter.