Washington County, Ohio - Chapter 5: Inception of the Emigration Idea and Organization of the Ohio Company, 1881

Chapter 5: Inception of the Emigration Idea and Organization of the Ohio Company

Review of the History of the West - Early Time Spirit of Emigration in New England. - ''The Military Company of Adventurers" Propose Settlement in Mississippi. - Rufus Putnam goes thither with his Uncle Israel. - Feature of the Scheme of Colonization. - Effect on the New England Mind. - The Revolutionary War. - By the Camp- Fires in the Watch of the Night. - Washington Directs the Attention of the Soldiers to the West During the Darkest Days of the Conflict. - Impoverishment of the Revolutionary Officers at the Close of the War. - Condition of the Country. - Officers Petition Government for a Grant of Land. - Their Plan of Western Settlement. - General Putnam's Letter to Washington. - Its Wise Suggestions. - Some of Them Adopted with Beneficial Results. - Washington's Influence Unavailing to Secure Action of Congress. - Impatience of the Officers for the Realization of their Plans. - Something of their Character and Condition After the War. - ''Financial Settlement Certificates."" - Their Depreciated Value. - Speculators Purchase them to their own Advantage. - Loyalty to the Government. - Shay's Rebellion. - Virginia's Action in Regard to Lands for her Soldiers. - Destiny. - New England to Effect First Settlement in the West rather than the "Old Dominion." - Opportunity and Advantages of the Latter State. - General Putnam Again Addresses Washington. - Reply to his Letter. - ''Justice and Gratitude to the Army" Demand the Granting of the Officers' Petition. - Despair of Succeeding in the Old Scheme. - A New One Boldly Entered on. - General Tupper's Visit to the West. - His All Night Conference with General Putnam. - They Publish a Call for the Organization of the Ohio Company. - Delegates Elected. - Meet at ''Bunch of Grapes'' Tavern in Boston. - Certificates of Agreement Adopted. - Progress of the Company's Affairs. - A Purchase in the Ohio Company Decided upon. - Dr. Manasseh Cutler Employed as Agent of the Company.- - Canvass for the Location on the Muskingum.

In the preceding pages has been given something of the history of the west while it was still a wilderness, the ownership of which was successively vested in France, in the British crown, in Virginia, and in the Confederated Colonies of America. Something of the history of the Indian tribes of the northwest has been shown; of the advent of the white man as an adventurer among them , of the invasion of the country by armed forces who came to conquer; and of its peaceful penetration by the zealous missionaries who came to propagate a faith. Some idea has been given of the operations of explorers and political economists ; of the feeling that prevailed in Virginia in respect to the country; and the unsuccessful projects for its colonization. In the last few years of the period prior to the red letter year, 1788, we have witnessed just over the boundary, in the easternmost edge of the vast territory, unlawful settlers driven from their homes; we have seen the frontier surveyors at their work, harassed by Indians; and we have seen a fort arise in the forest at the mouth of the Muskingum. At the far western boundary, upon the Mississippi, are a few French settlers and possibly there are a score or so of transient residents upon the Maumee - mere traders. But the northwest is still practically an unknown land, explorers to the contrary notwithstanding, a desolate though beautiful wild inhabited by savage tribes, its vast latent wealth awaiting, as it had for ages, the talismanic touch of civilization.

Far away upon the Atlantic sea board forces were at work a score of years anterior to 1788 which were not only to form the first settlement but to plant New England morals, law, and instituticrs upon this vast inland domain of the nation. Ideas were in inception, which as the prime impetus in a long chain of causes and effects were to swell the tremendous result and effect the destiny not alone of the west but of the Republic from sea to sea.

It is a pleasant thought that in the British war against the French, General Putnam (at the time of his enlistment in 1757, nineteen years of age) and many others assisted in wresting from the enemy and in securing to their sovereign the very territory which was to become their home, and it is a diagreeable fact that they had finally so dearly to purchase a small portion of the domain which they had twice bought by bravery of arms. The very men who fought to win for England the territory which the French disputed, in 1755-1760, were foremost to win it from her twenty years later, and thus twice exhibited the hardihood and heroism of their natures.

Something of the spirit of emigration manifested itself in New England after the conclusion of the French and Indian war, and was in fact an outgrowth of that struggle. An organization of ex-soldiers of the colonies was formed, called "'The Military Company of Adventurers," whose purpose it was to establish a colony in West Florida (now Mississippi). Although the project had been entered upon soon after the establishment of peace, it was not until the year 1772 that anything was accomplished. General Lyman, after several years' endeavor, succeeded in procuring a grant of a tract of land. It was decided to explore the tract, and a company of surveyors, of which the celebrated Israel Putnam was the leader, went out in January, 1773, for that purpose. Rufus Putnam was a member of the party. The examination was satisfactory, and several hundred families embarked from Massachusetts and Connecticut to make a settlement. They found to their chagrin that the King's grant had been revoked, and the settlement was therefore abandoned. Those who did not fall sick and die returned to their homes. Such was the disastrous end of this project of settlement, which, had it succeeded, might possibly have changed the whole political history of the United States. It seems at least to be within the realm of probability that had a settlement been planted in Mississippi, Massachusetts would not have made the initial settlement in the Ohio country and extended her influence over the territory from which five great States have been created. The enterprise of founding a colony in the far south, thwarted as it was, undoubtedly had its effect upon the New England mind, and was one of the elements which prepared the way for the inauguration of a new scheme of emigration in later years. The dream which had been fondly indulged in for a long term of years, was not to be forgotten even when the opportunity for its realization had passed away.

Soon, however, there arose a subject for thought which overshadowed all others. What men of shrewd foresight had long expected had come to pass. The colonies were arrayed against the mother country in a battle for independence. Weshall not here attempt to follow Generals Putnam, Parsons, Varnum, and Tupper, Major Winthrop Sargent, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, and the many other brave soldiers who became Ohio company emigrants, through the perils of those seven dark years of the Revolution. But is it not natural to suppose that some of them who had been interested in the old colonization project talked of it around their camp fires? Is it not probable that the review of the past suggested the possibility of forming in the future another military colony, in which they should realize the bright hopes that had once been blasted? It seems natural that in the long lulls between the periods of fierce activity this topic should have come up frequently in conversation, or at least that it should have appeared as a vague but alluring element in many pictures of the future painted by hopeful imaginations. It is evident from perusal of General Putnam's autobiography that he had indulged the hope of emigration to "some remote land rich in possibilities "for many years before he led the little New England colony to the Muskingum. He had very likely cherished the hope unceasingly from the time when the military company of adventurers was organized, and doubtless the journey to that far away strange and beautiful Mississippi had served as a stimulus to quicken his desire for the realization of a project which would employ so much of his energy and enterprise, and afford so fine an oppotunity for the achieyment of a life success. We know that Washington, during the darkest days of the Revolution, directed the attention of his companions at arms to the west, as a land in which they might take refuge shoula they be worsted in the struggle, but happily it was not to be that contingency which should cause the movement of emigration toward the Ohio. If during the war the western counizy was the subject of an occasional estray, light thought, the time was to come when it should be uppermost in the minds of many of the soldiers and practically considered, not as a land in which they must seek to take refuge from a victorious foe, but as one in which they might retrieve the losses they had sustained in repelling the enemy. It must be borne in mind that the independence of the American colonies was dearly bought as indeed has been all the great good attained in the history of the world. 'The very men by whose long continued, selfsacrificing devotion and bravery, the struggle against the tyrannical mother country had been won, found themselves at the close of the war reduced to the most straitened circumstances, and the young nation ushered into being by their heroism was unable to alleviate their condition. These were the times which tried men's souls. Nowhere was the strain any more severe than in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The joy which peace brought after seven years of war was in most localities too deep to be voiced by noisy demonstration, and it was not unmingled with forebodings of the future. 'The rejoicings," says a local historian,* "'were mostly expressed in religious solemnities." There were still difficult problems to be solved - and there was the memory of husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and lovers who would not return with the victorious patriots, and it may in many cases have been difficult "to discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people."

For the purpose of more adequately representing the feeling which prevailed in New England during the years following the war, we shall revert to the time when the great struggle was drawing to a close. Then the subject of western colonization was strongly agitated and the movement which culminated in the Ohio company's purchase and settlement had its inception. As the object which they had been fighting to achieve had been attained, the soldiers saw that their occupation was gone and looked about them for a new means of subsistence. Congress had in 1776 made an appropriation of lands by the laws of which it was provided that a colonel who should serve through the war should receive five hundred acres, a lieutenant colonel four hundred and fifty, and so on down to a private soldier who should be entitled to one hundred acres. The act was extended to the general officers in 1780, and it was arranged that a major general should receive one thousand one hundred acres and a brigadier eight hundred and fifty acres. In the summer of 1783 seeing that the final reduction must soon take place the officers to the number of two hundred and eighty-eight, anxious for definite action, petitioned Congress that the lands they were entitled to might be located in the country bounded on the north by Lake Erie, on the east by Pennsylvania, southeast and south by the river Ohio and west by a line beginning on the Ohio twenty-four miles west of the mouth of the Scioto, thence running north to the Miami of the lakes (Maumee) and down that stream to its mouth. "This tract," they said, "'would be sufficient in extent, and the land of such quality and situation as may induce Congress to assign and mark it out as a tract or territory suitable to form a distinct government in time to be admitted as one of the Confederate States of America." This tract, it was claimed, "was not the property of or within the jurisdiction of any particular State" - which, by the way, was an erroneous assumption, as Virginia at that time laid claim to the whole northwest.

General Rufus Putnam was interested in the project. Like most of the other offlcers he was impoverished by the war, and had been so long engaged in the profession of arms that he necessarily knew little of any other. How earnestly he had entered into the scheme with his brother officers, and how thoroughly he had pondered the subject of western settlement is shown by a letter which he wrote to George Washington to enlist his great influence in favor of the petitioners. The letter shows that many of the wisest measures afterward adopted by the National Government in its plan for the disposal of the public domain, had their origin in the mind of the writer. It therefore has a broad and deep value as a matter of history, and as it is scarcely less interesting as exhibiting the spirit of the patriots in Massachusetts and Connecticut at the time it was written, we have thought it well to print it entire:

NEw WINDSOR, June 16, 1783. S1r: - As it is very uncertain how long it may be before the honorable Congress may take the petition of the officers of the army for lands between the Ohio river and Lake Erie into consideration, or be in a situation to decide thereon, the going to Philadelphia to negotiate the business with any of its members or committee to whom the petition may be referred, is a measure none of the petitioners will think of undertaking. The part I have taken in promoting the petition is well known, and therefore needs no apology when I inform you that the signers expect that I will pursue measures to have it laid before Congress. Under these circumstances I beg leave to put the petition in your excellency's hands, and ask with the greatest assurance your patronage of it. That Congress may not be wholly unacquainted with the motives of the petitioners, I beg your indulgence while I make a few observations on the policy and propriety of granting the prayer of it, and making such arrangements of garrisons in the western quarter as shall give effectual protection to the settlers and encourage immigration to the new government; which, if they meet your approbation and the favor be not too great, I must request your excellency will give them your support and cause them to be forwarded, with the petition, to the president of Congress, in order that when the petition is taken up, Congress or their committee may be informed on what principles the petition is grounded. I am, sir, among those who consider the cession of so great a tract of territory to the United States, in the western world, as a very happy circumstance and of great consequence to the American empire; nor have I the least doubt but Congress will pay an early attention to securing the allegiance of the motives as well as provide for the defence of the country in case of a war with Great Britain or Spain. One great means of securing the allegiance of the natives, I take to be the furnishing them with such necessaries as they stand in need of, and in exchange receiving their furs and skins. 'They have become so accustomed to the use of firearms that I doubt if they could gain a subsistence without them, at least they will be very sorry to be reduced to the disagreeable necessity of using the bow and arrows as the only means of killing their game; and so habituated are they to the woollen blankets, etc., etc., that absolute necessity alone will prevent their making use of them.

This consideration alone, is I think, sufficient to prove the necessity of establishing such factories as may furnish an ample supply to these wretched creatures; for unless they are furnished by the subjects of the United States, they will undoubtedly seek elsewhere, and like all other people, form their attachments where they have their commerce; and then in case of war will always be certain to aid our enemies. Therefore, if there were no other advantages in view than that of attaching them to our interests, I think good policy will dictate the measure of carrying on a commerce with these people; but when we add to this the consideration of the profit arising from the Indian trade in general, there cannot, I presume, be a doubt that it is the interest of the United States to make as early provision for the encouragement and protection of it as possible. For these and many other obvious reasons, Congress will no doubt find it necessary to establish garrisons in Oswego, Niagara, Michilimackinac, Illinois, and many other places in the western world.

The Illinois and all the ports that shall be established on the Mississippi, may undoubtedly be-furnished by way of the Ohio, with provisions, at all times, and with goods whenever a war shall interrupt the trade with New Orleans. But in case of a war with Great Britain, unless a communication is open between the river Ohio and Lake Erie, Niagara, Detroit, and all the ports seated on the great lakes will inevitably be lost without such communication; for a naval superiority on lake Ontario and the seizing of Niagara, will subject the whole country bordering on the lakes to the will of the enemy. Such a misfortune will put it out.of the power of the United States to furnish the natives, and necessity will again oblige them to take an active part against us.

Where and how this communication is to be opened shall be next considered. If Captain Hutchins, and a number of other map makers, are not out in their calculations, provisions may be sent from the settlements on the south side of the Ohio by the Muskingum or Scioto to Detroit, or even to Niagara, at a less expense than from Albany, by the Mohawk, to those places. To secure such communication (by the Scioto, all circumstances considered, will be the best) let a chain of forts be established; these forts should be built upon the banks of the river, if the ground will admit, and about twenty miles distant from each other, and on this plan the Scioto communication will require ten or eleven stockaded forts, flanked by block-houses, and one company of men will be a sufficient garrison for each, except the one at the portage, which will require more attention in the construction and a larger number of men to garrison it. But besides supplying the garrisons on the great lakes with provisions, etc., we ought to take into consideration the protection that such an arrangement will give to the frontiers of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. I say New York, as we shall undoubtedly extend our settlements and garrisons from the Hudson to Oswego. This done and a garrison posted at Niagara, whoever will inspect the map must be convinced that all the Indians on the waters of the Mohawk, Oswego, Susquehanna, and Allegheny rivers and in all the country south of the lakes Ontario and Erie, will be encircled in such a manner as will effectually secure their allegiance and keep thern quiet, or oblige them to quit the country.

Nor will such an arrangement of forts from the Ohio to Lake Erie be any additional expense; for unless this gap is shut, notwithstanding the garrisons on the lakes and from Oswego to the Hndson, yet the frontier settlers on the Ohio, by Fort Pitt to the Susquehanna, and all the country south of the Mohawk, will be exposed to savage insult, unless protected by a chain of garrisons which will be far more expensive than the arrangement proposed, and, at the same time, the protection given to these States will be much less complete; besides, we should not confine our protection to the present settlements, but carry the idea of extending them at least as far as the lakes Ontario and Erie.

These lakes form such a natural barrier that when connected with the Hudson and Ohio, by the garrisons proposed, settlements in every part of New York and Pennsylvania may be made with the utmost safety; so that these States must be deeply interested in the measures, as well as Virginia, who will by the same arrangement have a great part of its frontier secured and the rest much strengthened; nor is there a State in the Union but will be greatly benefitted by the measure, considered in any other point of view, for, without any expense, except a small allowance of purchase money to the natives, the United States will have within their protection seventeen million, five hundred thousand acres of very fine land, to dispose of as they think proper.

But I hasten to mention some of the expectations which the petitioners have respecting the conditions on which they hope to obtain the lands. This was not proper to mention in the body of the petition, especially as we pay for grants to all members of the army who wish to take up lands in that quarter.

The whole tract is supposed to contain about seventeen million four hundred and eighteen thousand two hundred acres, and will admit of seven hundred and fifty-six townships of six miles square, allowing to each township three thousand and forty acres for the ministry, schools, waste lands, ponds and highways; then each township will contain of settlers' lands twenty thousand acres, and in the whole fifteen million, one hundred and twenty thousand acres. The land to which the army is entitled by resolve of Congress, referred to in the petition, according to my estimate, will amount to two million one hundred and six thousand eight hundred and fifty acres, which is about the eighth part of the whole. For the survey of this the army expect to be at no expense, nor do they expect to be under any obligation to settle these lands or do any duty to secure their title to them; but in order to induce the army to become actual settlers in the new government, the petitioners hope Congress will make a further grant of lands on condition of settlement, and have no doubt but that honorable body will be as liberal to all those who are not provided for by their own States, as New York has been to the officers and soldiers who belong to that State; which, if they do, it will require about eight million acres to complete the army, and about seven million acres will remain for sale. The petitioners, at least some of them, are much opposed to the monopoly of the lands, and wish to guard against large patents being granted to individuals, as, in their opinion, such a mode is very injurious to a country, and greatly retards its settlement; and whenever such patents are tenanted it throws too much power into the hands of afew. For these and many other obvious reasons, the petitioners hope that no grant will be made but by townships of six miles square, or six by twelve, or six by eighteen miles, to be subdivided by the proprietors to six miles square, that being the standard by which they wish all calculations to be made; and that officers and soldiers, as well as those who petition for charters on purchase may form their associations on one uniform principle, as to number of persons or rights to be contained in a township, with the exception only that when the grant is made for services already done, or on condition of settlement, if the officers petition with the soldiers for a particular township, the soldier shall have one right only to a captain's three, and so in proportion with commissioned officers of every grade.

These, sir, are the principles which give rise to the petition under consideration; the petitioners, at least some of them, think that sound policy dictates the measure, and that Congress ought to lose no time in establishing some such chain of posts as have been hinted at, and in procuring the tract of land petitioned for, of the natives; for, the moment this is done, and agreeable terms offered to the settlers, many of the petitioners are determined not only to become adventurers, but actually to remove themselves to this country; and there is not the least doubt but other valuable citizens will follow their example, and the probability is that the country between Lake Erie and the Ohio will be filled with inhabitants, and the faithful subjects of the United States so established on the waters of the Ohio and the lakes as to banish forever the idea of our western territory falling under the dominion of any European power. The frontiers of the old States will be effectively secured from savage alarms, and the new will have little to fear from their insults.

It will be observed that in the foregoing letter the admirable township system of New England is suggested as an element in the plan for settling and developing the western country. 'That measure was adopted very nearly as General Rufus Putnam originally advocated it, and it has been in the opinion of very many students of political economy* one of the most important factors in building up the civilization of the northern States and advancing them beyond the southern, in which the township system has only a nominal existence.

But to return to the matter directly in hand. Washington used his utmost influence to advance the object sought by the petitioners, and urged by General Putnam, but without avail. He wrote a communication to Congress, which he forwarded with the long letter he had received, but no legislation affecting the interests of the petitioners was enacted. The General Government had not yet a perfect title to the territory northwest of the Ohio, and even, if it had, Congress would undoubtedly have been tediously slow in taking the initiative in disposing of the domain which, in after years, was to be squandered with the most prodigal hand.

As time progressed, the New England Revolutionary officers and soldiers interested in western immigration became more and more impatient to realize their hopes. They were poorer than their neighbors who had not been in the field; and if they had more of pride, that was only natural from the lives they had led, and surely they had a right to feel proud of the services they had rendered. One who was among them, and a close observer, says that they had a better and more dignifiec bearing than before the war, dressed more handsomely, and were improved in manners and conversation.t Many of them were members of the Masonic order and of the Cincinnati, an order which was established to maintain the

*De Tocqueville, in his '' Democracy in America," was,perhaps the first writer who brought this subject prominently into consideration, and Judge Tourgee, author of the reconstruction novels ''A Fool's Errand" and ''Bricks without Straw" may be mentioned as the best known late writer who has dwelt upon the township plan as accounting in large measure, for the difference between the conditions of the north+- and south. In 1830, in the senate of the United States, Daniel Webster, in discussing the modes for the disposal of land - the northern and the southern - after speaking of the latter as the one which had shingled over the country in which it had been applied with conflicting titles and claims, causing the two great evils in a new country, of speculation and litigation, said: ''From the system actually established these evils are banished. Now, sir, in effecting this great system, the first important measure on the whole subject, New England acted with vigor and effect, and the latest posterity of those who settled northwest of the Ohio, will have reason to remember with gratitude her patriotism and her wisdom. New England gave the system to the West, and while it remains, there will be spread over all the west one monument of her intelligence in matters of government and her practical good sense." friendships of the war between the colonnial officers and their French associates, and to aid the widows and the orphans of those who had fallen. It was by no means strange that, the war being ended and these men returned to their homes among people with whom they could not be wholly in sympathy, and from whom they had been separated seven long years, they should seek to perpetuate the newer ties that had been closely knit in common trials and dangers. 'These men, it must be remembered, did not receive money in fay for their fatigue, exposure and suffering, but final certificates in settlement. They were almost valueless, for the country had not the money to make them good. In 1784 they were worth only about three shillings and sixpence or four shillings to the pound, face value, and as late as 1788 they brought not more than five or six shillings. Even at these ruinous rates many holders had to part with them, and there were speculators who realized some profit from the transactions. Some lost property which would have been the support of their old age, because unable to raise comparatively trifling sums with which to save it. Thus illy were these men who had gained the Nation's independence requited. They rebelled at the idea of living in destitution and deficiency among people of relatively easy circumstances, and the thought of toiling at menial manual labor they could not entertain. Still, they were willing to work to gain a livelihood, but preferred to do that in a new country where they would all be in a condition of equality. They looked upon the western country, which should have been their free inheritance, as a land in which they could begin anew the toilsome grind of life. Still,.in their perplexed, humiliated condition, they never wavered in loyalty; and, when the lower populace in Massachussetts, beginning to feel the distress caused by the long, costly war, broke forth in the first organized rebellion in the United States (Shay's insurrection), these soldiers were found, like General Benjamin Tupper, actively engaged upon the side of law and order.

There was an action, too, at this time, far away in Virginia, which could not be without its effect upon the waiting New Englanders. In 1783 the legislature of the Old Dominion authorized a deed ceding her claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio, with a very important reservation. A rich body of lands lying between the Scioto and the Little Miami, now known as the Virginia Military district, was reserved to be given to Virginia's Revolutionary soldiers of the continental line, or, in other words, to pay their bounty awards.

But in spite of this advantage possessed by Virginia in the privilege retained for her troops, and in spite of her contiguity to the territory, it was to be first settled by New Englanders, and leavened by New England law. And the events which were to lead to that consummation were closely following each other in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Impelled anew, in all probability by the action of Congress, March 1, 1784, in accepting Virginia's cession, General Putnam again addressed George Washington in the interests of the New England officers. His letter was as follows:

DEAR Sir: Being unavoidably prevented from attending the general meeting of the Cincinnati at Philadelphia, as I had intended, where I once more expected the opportunity in person of paying my respects to your excellency, I cannot deny myself of addressing you by letter, to acknowledge with gratitude the ten thousand obligations I feel myself under to your goodness, and most sincerely to congratulate you on your return to domestic happiness; to enquire after your health, and wish the best of Heaven's blessings may attend you and your lady.

The settlement of the Ohio country, sir, engrosses many of my thoughts, and much of my time since I left the camp has been employed in informing myself and others in respect to the nature, situation, and circumstances of that country, and the practicability of removing ourselves there; and if I am to form an opinion on what I have seen and heard on the subject, there are thousands in this quarter who will emigrate to that country as soon as the honorable Congress makes provisions for granting lands there, and locations and settlements can be made with safety, unless such provision is too long delayed; I mean until necessity turn their views another way, which is the case with some already, and must soon be the case with many more. You are sensible of the neeessity as well as the possibility of both officers and soldiers fixing themselves in business somewhere, as soon as possible, as many of them are unable to lie longer on their oars waiting the decision of Congress, on our petition, and, therefore, must unavoidably settle themselves in some other quarter, which, when done, the idea of removing to the Ohio country will probably be at an end, with respect to most of them. Besides, the commonwealth of Massachusetts have come to a resolution to sell their eastern country for public securities, and should their plan be formed, and propositions be made public before we hear anything from Congress respecting our petition and the terms on which the lands petitioned forare to be obtained, it will unboubtedly be much against us, by greatly lessening the number of Ohio associates.

Another reason why we wish to know, as soon as possible what the intentions of Congress are respecting our petition, is the effect such knowledge will probably have on the credit of the certificates we have received on settlement of accounts. Those securities are now selling at no more than three shillings and six pence, or four shillings on the pound, which in all probability might double, if not more, the moment it was known that the Government would receive them for lands in the Ohio country. From these circumstances, and many others which might be mentioned, we are growing quite impatient, and the general inquiry now is, When are we going to the Ohio? Among others, Brigadier General Tupper, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver and Mayor Ashley have agreed to accompany me to that country the moment the way is open for such an undertaking. I should have hinted these things to some member of Congress, but the delegates from Massachusetts, although exceedingly worthy men, and in general would wish to promote the Ohio scheme, yet, if it should militate against the particular interests of that State, by draining her of inhabitants, especially when she is forming the plan of selling the eastern country, I thought they would not be very warm advocates in our favor, and I dare not trust myself with any of the New York delegates, with whom I was acquainted, because that government is wisely inviting the eastern people to seitte in that State; and as to the delegates of other States, I have no acquaintance with any of them.

These circumstances must apologize for my troubling you on this subject, and requesting the favor of a line, to inform us in this quarter what the prospects are with respect to our petition and what measures have been or are likely to be taken with respect to settling the Ohio country.

I shall take it as a very particular favor sir, if you will be kind enough to recommend me to some character in Congress acquainted with, and attached to, the Ohio cause, with whom I may presume to open a correspondence,

MOUNT VERNON, June 2, 1784 DEAR SiR: I could not answer your favor of the fifth of April from Philadelphia, because General Knox, having mislaid it, only presented the letter to me in the moment of my departure from that place. The sentiments of esteem and friendship which breathe in it, are exceedingly pleasing and flattering to me, and you may rest assured they are reciprocal.

I wish it was in my power to give you a more favorable account of the officers' petition for lands on the Ohio, and its waters, than I am about todo, After this matter and information respecting the establishment for peace were my inquiries, as I went through Annapolis, solely directed, but I could not learn that anything decisive had been done in either.

On the latter, I hear Congress are differing about their powers, but as they have accepted of the cession from Virginia and have resolved to lay off ten new States, bounded by latitudes and longitudes, it should be supposed that they would determine something respecting the former before they adjourn; and yet I very much question it, as the latter is to happen on the 3rd - that is, to-morrow. As the Congress who are to meet in November next, by the adjournment, will be composed of an entire new choice of delegates, in each State, it is not in my power, at ¢his time, to direct you to a proper correspondent in that body. I wish I could, for persuaded I am, that to some such cause as you have-assigned, may be ascribed the delay the petition has encountered, for surely, if justiceand gratitude to the army and general policy of the Union were to govern in this case, there would not be the smallest interruption in gratifying its request. I really feel for these gentlemen, who, by the unaccountable delays (by any other means than those you have suggested) are held in such an awkward and disagreeable state of suspense, and wish my endeavors could remove the obstacles. At Princetown, before Congress left that place, I exerted every power I was master of, and dwelt upon the argument you have used, to show the propriety of a speedy decision. Every member with whom I conversed acquiesced in the reasonableness of the petition. All yielded, or seemed to yield, to the policy of it but plead the want of cession of the land to act upon; this is made and accepted, and yet matters as far as they have come to my knowledge, remain in statu quo.

George Washington

All of the efforts of General Putnam assisted by the strongest influence of the Father of his Country were unavailing to secure those simple measures of justice which would have relieved those Revolutionary officers of New England from their embarrassed and desperate situation. As time went slowly by they gave up even the little hope that had sustained them while waiting Congressional measures. Despairing of the success of the old scheme they finally adopted a new one, resolving to purchase outright what the Nation refused to bestow as the hard earned remuneration of their services. Early in 1786 the idea of Ohio immigration began to form into that shape in which it became effective.

It has been shown in a former chapter that General Benjamin Tupper, in the early autumn of 1785, had gone to the Ohio country to engage in surveying under the ordinance passed by Congress May 2oth of that year, and it will be remembered that owing to the hostility of the Indians and consequent hazard of entering upon the work, he returned to New England. General Tupper was one of the men who had been most intently engaged in planning western settlements, and was undoubtedly a coworker with his intimate old friend, General Putnam, he advocating and agitating the scheme which had proved unsuccessful. He returned from the west filled with admiration of that portion of the country which he had seen, and made enthusiastic through the descriptions given by traders of the region farther down 7a belle riviere than he had journeyed. Doubtless he pondered upon the idea of removing to the west, during the whole time spent there, and was chiefly occupied with the subject while making the tedious return to his home. Early in January he visited, at his house in Rutland, Worcester county, Massachusetts, General Putnam, and there these two men, who may be properly called the founders of the Ohio company, earnestly talked of their experiences and their hopes in front of the great fire, while the night hours fast passed away. In the language of ore whom it is fair to suppose had preserved the truthful tradition of that meeting: "A night of friendly offices and conference between them gave, at the dawn, a development - how important in its results! - to the cherished hope and purpose of the visit of General Tupper." * As the result of that long conversation by a New England fireside, appeared the first mention in the public prints of the Ohio company. The two men had thought so deeply and carefully upon the absorbing theme of colonization, were so thoroughly impressed with the feasibility of their plans as they had unfolded them, so impatient to put them to that test, that they felt impelled to take an immediate and definite step. They could no longer rest inactive. They joined in a brief address, setting forth their views and feeling the opinion of the people. It appeared in the newspapers on the twenty-fifth of January, and read as follows: INFORMATION.

The subscribers take this method to inform all officers and soldiers who have served in the Jate war, and who are by a late ordinance of the honorable Congress to receive certain tracts of land in the Ohio country, and also all other good citizens who wish to become adventurers in that delightful region, that from personal inspection, together with other incontestible evidences, they are fully satisfied that the lands in that quarter are of a much better quality than any other known to the New England people; that the climate, seasons, products, etc., are in fact equal to the most flattering accounts that have ever been published of them; that being determined to become purchasers and to prosecute a settlement in that country, and desirous of forming a general association with those who entertain the same ideas, they beg leave to propose the following plan, viz.: That an association by the name of The Ohio Company be formed of all such as wish to become purchasers, etc., in that country, who reside in the commonwealth of Massachusetts only, or to extend to the inhabitants of other States as shall be agreed on.

That in order to bring such a company into existence the subscribers propose that all persons who wish to promote the scheme, should meet within their respective counties (except in two instances hereinafter mentioned) at 1o o'clock A. M. on Wednesday, the fifteenth day of February next, and that each county or meeting there assembled choose a delegate or delagates to meet at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, in Boston, on Wednesday, the first day of March next, at 10 o'clock A. M., then and there to consider and determine upon a general plan of association for said company; which plan, covenant, or agreement, being

At Captain Webb's, in Salem, Middlesex; at Bradish's, in Cambridge, Hampshire; at Pomeroy's in North Hampton, Plymouth; at Bartlett's, in Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties; at Howland's, in Barnstable, Bristol; at Crocker's, in Taunton, York; at Woodbridge's, in York, Worcester; at Patch's, in Worcester, Cumberland and Lincoln; at Shothick's, in Falmouth, Berkshire, at Dibble's, in Lenox, RUFUS PUTNAM, delegates from the several counties assembled at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, the designated place in Boston, (which was then a considerably smaller city than is now the capital of Ohio), and there discussed in conventional form the proposed organization of the Ohio company. The delegates present at that historical meeting were: Manasseh Cutler, of Essex; Winthrop Sargent and John Mills, of Suffolk; John Brooks and Thomas Cushing, of Middlesex; Benjamin Tupper, of Hampshire; Crocker Sampson, of Plymouth; Rufus Putnam, of Worcester; Jelaliel Woodbridge and John Patterson, of Berkshire; Abraham Williams, of Barnstable.

General Putnam was made chairman of the convention, and Major Winthrop Sargent, secretary. Before adjournment a committee of five was appointed to draft a plan of an association, as "from the very pleasing description of the western country, given by Generals Putnam and Tupper and others, it appeared expedient to form a settlement there." That committee consisted of General Putnam, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, Colonel Brooks, Major Sargent, and Captain Cushing.

Preamble

cates, for the sole purpose and to be appropriated to the entire use of purchasing lands in the western territory belonging to the United States, for the benefit of the company and to promote a settlement in that country.

ARTICLE 1S8T. - That the fund shall not exceed one million of dollars in Continental specie certificates, exclusive of one year's interest due thereon (except as hereafter provided), and that each share or subscription shall consist of one thousand dollars as aforesaid, and also ten dollars in gold or silver, to be paid into the hands of such agents as the subscribers may elect.

ARTICLE 2ND. - That the whole fund of certificates raised by this association, except one year's interest due thereon, mentioned under the first article, shall be applied to the purchase of lands in some one of the proposed States northwesterly of the river Ohio, as soon as those landsare surveyed and exposed for sale hy the commissioners of Congress according to the ordinance of that honorable body, passed the twentieth of May, 1785, or on any other plan that may be adopted by Congress, not less advantageous to thecompany. 'The one year's interest shall be applied to the purpose of making a settlement in the country and assisting those who may be otherwise unable to remove themselves thither. -

The gold and silver is for defraying the expenses of those persons employed as agents in purchasing the lands'and other contingent charges that may arise in the prosecution of the business. 'The surplus, if any, to be appropriated as one year's interest on the certificates.

ARTICLE 4TH. - That the prosecution of the company's designs may be the least expensive and at the same time the subscribers and agents as secure as possible, the proprietors of twenty shares shall constitute one grand division of the company; appoint the agent, and in case of vacancy by death, resignation or otherwise, shall fill it up as immediately as can be.

ARTICLE 5TH. - That the deco shall make himself accountable to each subscriber for certificates and invoices received, by duplicate receipts, one of which shall be lodged with the secretary; that -the whole shall be appropriated according to articles of association, and that the subscriber shall receive his just dividend according to quality and quantity of lands purchased, as near as possibly may be, by lot drawn in person or through proxy, and that deeds of conveyance shall be executed to individual subscribers, by the agent, similar to those he shall receive from the directors.

five shares in the company's funds and no subscription for less than a full share will be admitted; but this is not meant to prevent those who cannot or choose not to adventure a full share, from associating among themselves, and by one of their number subscribing the sum required.

ARTICLE 7TH. - That the directors shall have the sole disposal of the company's fund for the purposes before mentioned; that they shall by themselves, or such person or persons as they may think proper to entrust with the business, purchase lands for the benefit of the company, where and in such way, either at public or private sale, as they shal judge will be the most advantageous to the company. They shall also direct the application of the one year's interest, and gold and silver, mentioned in the first article, to the purposes mentioned under the second article in such way and manner as they shall think proper. For these purposes the directors shall draw on the treasurer from time to time, making themselves accountable for the application of the moneys agreeably to this association.

ARTICLE 8TH. - That the agents being accountable to the subscribers for their respective divisions, shall appoint the directors, treasurer and secretary, and fill up all the vacancies which may happen in these offices respectively. =

ARTICLE 9TH. - That the agents shall pay all the certificates and moneys received from subscribers into the hands of the treasurer, who shall give bonds to the agents, jointly and severally, for the faithful discharge of his trust; and also on his receiving certificates or morieys from any particular agent shall make himself os therefor, according to the condition of his bonds.

ARTICLE 10TH. - That the directors shall give bonds, jointly and severally, to each of the agents, conditioned that the certificates and moneys they shall draw out of the treasury shall be applied to the purposes stipulated in these articles; and that the lands purchased by the company shall be divided among them within three months from the completion of the purchase, by lot, in such manner as the agents or a majority of them shall agree; and that on such division being made, the directors shall execute deeds to the agents, mespectively, for the proportions which fall to their divisions, correspondent to those the directors may receive from the commissioners of Congress.

ARTICLE 11TH. - Provided, that whereas a sufficient number of subscribers may not appear to raise the fund to the sums proposed in the first article, and thereby the number of divisions may not be completed, it is therefore agreed that the agents of divisions of twenty shares each shall, after the seventeenth day of October next, proceed in the same manner as if the whole fund had been raised.

ARTICLE 12TH. - Provided, also, that whereas it will be for the common interest of the company to obtain an ordinance of incorporation from the honorable Congress, or an act of incorporation from some one of the States in the Union (for which the directors shall make application), it is therefore agreed that in case such incorporation is obtained, the fund of the company (and consequently, theshares and divisions thereof) may be extended to any sum, for which provision shall be made in said ordinance or act of incorporation, anything in this association to the contrary notwithstanding.

ARTICLE 13TH. - That all notes under this association may be given in person or by proxy, and in numbers justly proportionate to the stockholder or interest represented.

These articles of agreement were unanimously adopted and subscription books were immediately opened. A committee was appointed, consisting of three members, to transact necessary business, and some other measures taken to advance the project of the association; but in spite of all the exertions made there was but little progress in the affairs of the Ohio company. When the next meeting was held, a little more than a year from the time of the first, that is, upon March 8, 1787, it was found that the total number of shares subscribed for was only two hundred and fifty. And yet, all untoward circumstances considered, that was probably a fair exhibit, and more than was expected. One active friend of the movement, General Tupper, was the greater part of the year in the west. The influence of the others was very bellion. That civil commotion growing out of the imposition of heavy taxes upon the already impoverished people threatened for a time exceedingly dire results, bur fortunately, it was speedily quelled. It served asa startling illustration, however, of the general depression in New England, and of the desperation to which men can be driven by ill condition. Possibly the outbreak gave a slight impetus to the progress of the Ohio company's project, by way of increasing the disposition of some citizens to seek in the west a new home. General Tupper, whose immediate neighborhood was "deeply infected with the sedition," returned from his second visit to the Ohio country in time to take a prominent part in subduing the revolt. The dawn of 1787 witnessed the pacification of the troubled country, but no marked increase

It was reported at the meeting held on the eighth of March at Brackett's tavern in Boston, that 'many in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, also at Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire are inclined to become adventurers, who are restrained only by the uncertainty of obtaining a sufficient tract of country, collectively, for a good settlement."

It was now decided to make direct and immediate application to Congress for the purchase of lands, and General Putnam, Dr. Manasseh Cutler and General Samuel H. Parsons were appointed directors and especially charged with this business. General Parsons had previously been employed to negotiate for a private purchase, had petitioned Congress, and a committee of that body had been appointed to confer with him. 'To that committee," says Dr. Cutler, 'she proposed a purchase on the Scioto river," but as the proprietors in Massachusetts "were generally dissatisfied with the situation and lands on the Scioto and much preferred the Muskingum," the negotiation was suspended. The directors now employed Dr. Cutler to make a purchase upon the Muskingum. It was considered desirable that the negotiations be commenced and the purchase consummated as soon as possible, as other companies were forming, the spirit of private speculation rapidly increasing, and there was a fear that the lands which the Ohio company wished to Possess would be bought by some other organization, or perhaps some part of them by individuals.

Just here the query arises: why were the New Eng. landers so anxious to purchase lands upon the Muskingum, rather than upon the Scioto, or elsewhere in the territory? To this question there are various answers. In the first place the greater part of the Federal territory was unfitted for settlement by the fact that it was occupied by the Indian trites. None of these, however, had their residence in the lower Muskingum region, and it was only occasionally resorted to by them, when upon their hunting excursions. Then, too, the people who proposed making a settlement beyond the Ohio were very naturally influenced by the proximity of well established stations upon the east and south of the river; they doubtless preferred the Virginians rather than the Kentuckians, as neighbors. 'The lower Scioto offered no more alluring an aspect than the lower Muskingum. The best bodies of lands on each river are fifty miles from their mouth. To penetrate so far into the interior, however, as the site of either Chillicothe or Zanesvile would have been, at the time the Marietta settlement was made, 'was unsafe. The location of Fort Harmar, which we have seen was built in 1785 - 86, doubtless had its influence upon the Ohio company. Thomas Hutchins, the United States geographer, who-had formerly been geographer to the king of Great Britain, and had travelled extensively in the west, had said and written much in favor of the Muskingum country, and as we shall see in the following chapter strongly advised Dr. Cutler to locate his purchase in this region. Other explorers and travellers had substantiated what Hutchins had said. General Butler and General Parsons, who had descended the Ohio to the Miamis, were deeply impressed with the desirableness of the tract of country now designated as southeastern Ohio, and the latter, writing on the twentieth of December, 1785, from Fort Finney (mouth of the Little Miami), to Captain Jonathan Hart, at Fort Harmar, said: 'I have seen no place since I left you that pleases me so well for settlement -as Muskingum." General Benjamin Tupper doubtless added important testimony supporting that of Hutchins, Parsons, Butler, and others. General Parsons, it has been asserted, became most strongly possessed of the belief that the Muskingum region was the best part of the territory, because one of the Zanes who had been many years in the west told him that the Scioto or Miami regions offered superior attractions, and he suspected that the old frontiersman artfully designed to divert attention from the Muskingum that he might have the first choice of purchase himself when the lands were put onsale. It is probable, too, that the prospect of establishing a system of communication and commerce between the Ohio and Lake Erie, by way of the Muskingum and Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga, and between the Ohio and the sea board, by way of the Great Kanawha and the Potomac, (a plan which Washington had thought feasible before the Revolutionary war), had its weight. It is not probable that the New Englanders, interested in immigration, were ignorant of the existence of minerals in the Muskingum region, and they may have been far-seeing enough to have appreciatively estimated the value of their presence.