Shelby County, Indiana - Discovery, Ixdiax Occltaxcv, Apmissiox As a Territory Thex As a State, 1909

Discovery, Ixdiax Occltaxcv, Apmissiox As a Territory Thex As a State

After Cdlumbus discovered America in 149^. more than one hundred and fifty years elapsed Ijefore any portion of the territory nr.w embraced witliin the Hmits of what is now known as the state of Indiana was explored by the Europeans. Colonies were established in Florida, Virg'inia and Xova Scotia, by the principal rivals in governmental affairs in Eun. pean cnuntries. but not until about 1(170-72 did the first white travelers venture as far west and northwest as Indiana and Lake ^^lichigan. These first daring explorers were Frenchmen named Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon. who then visited what is now the eastern part of \\'isconsin, the northern portion of Illinois and i)robably that portion of this state lying north of the Kankakee river. In the fdlL'wing vear 'SL Toliel. an agent of the French colonial government and Jame.-> .Marquette, a good and simple-hearted missionary, who had his station at Alackinaw. explored the country in the vicinity of Green Bay, and along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers as far v>estward as tlie ^Nlississiiipi. the banks of which he reached Ju'.ie 17, KV,'^. Tliey descended tlie river, but returned by the way of the Illinois river and the route they came led tlicm. back into the lake region. At a village among the Illinois Indians, Marquette and his small band of adventurers were received in a friendly manner and treated hospitably. They were made tlie hor.ored guest at a great feast, where liriminy, fish, dog meat and roast buft'alo meat were spread Iiefore them in great abundance.

In 16S2 LaSalie explored the West, but it is not definitely known that he eiUered the territory now called Indiana. He took formal possession of all the ]^Iississippi region in the name of the King of France, in whose honijr he gave all the ^Mississippi region, including this state (Indiana) the name of "Louisiana." Spain, at the same time laid claim to all the region about the Gulf of ^Mexico, and thus these two great nati(jnswere brought into collision. But the country was actually held and occupied by the great 2vliami confederacy of Indians, the Miamis proper (anciently the Twightwees) being the eastern and most powerful tribe. Their territory extended strictly from the Scioto river west to the I^linoi^ river. Their villages were fev/ and scattering, and their occupatinn wa. scarcclv -len^e enou-h to niainiain it?clt against invasion. Their settlenicnls \vcre nccasionally visited by Christian missionaries, _ lur traders and adxeniurcrs. but no bodv of white men made settlement snlliciently permanent for a title to natural possession. Christian zeal animated brance and Enc^land in missionarv enterprises, the former in the mtere.t ..t the Catholic church an.l the latter in the name of true Protestantism. Hence t.ieir haste to occupv the land and proselyte the aborigines. Xo doubt this ugly rivalry was often seen by Indians, and they refused to be proselyted xo eit,iei branch of Christianitv. .

Further to the east, the "Five Xatinns.'" comprised the ^lohawks. Uneidas Cavugus. Onondagas and Senecas. In 1677 the number ot warriors m this' confederacv was _M50. About ijn the Tuscaroras retired trom the Carohnas and joined the Iroquois, or Five Nations, winch, atter that event, became kn,.wn as tb.e -Six Xations." It was in 16S9 ^-'nen open hostiht.es were had between the Five Xations and the colonists of Canada, and the almost constant wars in svhich France was urged until the treatv ot Ry^^^ick m 1697 combined to check the grasping policy ot Louis the Xl\ . ana to letard the planting of French colonies in the ^Iississippi valley M.sM..nar; ett...rt., however continued with more failure than success, the Je.uits allying themselves \\ith the Indians in habits and customs, even encouraging mteimaniag. between them and tp.eir white followers.

Earlv in 1720 Francois ^lorgan de A-incennes sensed in Canada in the regiment'of "'De Carrigan." of the French ser^-ice, and agam ^-^ ^ ^"^ l" the vicinitv of Sault Ste. Marie in the same service under M de \ audral m 17-.:; It is more than likelv that his advent to \-incennes may have taKcn pla^e ^,7732. and in proof of this the only record is an act of ;=;!- "'^^er the jo..^ names of himself andMadame Vincenncs. the daughter or M. Phdip ,..gP|-. and dated January 5. ^735. This document gives his unitary l--^---^^ mandant o"f the post of Duabache in the service ot the French king. 1 he will o Lo'pri dated March loth. the same year, bequeathes him, among t nngs, fiuM^ndrtd eight pounds of pork, .vhich he ordered to be kept sate until X n.- cennes who was then at Ouabache. returned to kaskask^a.

Chadwick S History Of Shelrv Co., Ixd. I9

This closed the career of a gallant otlicer. leaving a name which holds as a remembrancer the pre-ent beaulifni city of \'iiicennes to its jiresent orthography in 1749.

Post \'incennes was settled as early a> 1710 or 171 1. In a letter from Father ^larest to Father Germon. dated at Ka^kaskia. Xovember 9, 1712. occurs this passage: "Ll's Francois itoiciit itabli uiifort sitr Ic flciivc Quahachc" etc., the entire English translation of this passage being: "The French have established a fort upon the ri-\'er \\'abash, and want a missionary; and Father Mermet has been sent to them. That lather believes he should lalvir for the conversion of the Masc'jutens. who ha\e l.niilt a village on the banks of the same river. Thev are a nation of Indians who understand the language of the IlHnois."

IMermet was therefore the first preacher of Christianity in this portion of the world, and his mission was to convert the Mascoutens, a branch of the Miamis. "The way I look," said he, "was to confound, in the presence of the Avhole tribe, one of these charlatans (medicine men), whose INlanitou. or Great Spirit, Avhich he worshiped was a buffalo, which was under the earth and ar.imated all buffaloes, which heals the sick and has all p<iwer, 1 then asked him Avhether other beasts, the bear for instance, and which one of his nation worshiped, was not ecjually inhabited by a manitou, v.hich was under the earth. 'Without doubt.' said the grand medicine m.an." If this is so, said I, men ought to have a manitou who inhabits them. 'Nothing mi,re certain," said he. Ought not that to convince you,' continued I, 'that you are not very reasonable? For if man upon the earth is the master of all the animals, if he kills them, if he eats them, does it not follow that the manitou which inhabits him must have the mastery over all other manitous? A\"hy, then, do you not invoke him in.- stead of the manitou of the bear and the buffalo, when you are sick?' This reasoning disconcerted the charlatan. But this was all the eitect it produced."

The result of convincing these heathen by logic, as is generally the case the world was only temporary logical victory, and no change whatever was produced in the profession and practices of ihe Indians.

The church building used by these missionaries of the Cross at Vincenncs is thus described by an old inhabitant: "Fronting on Water street and running back on church street, it was a plain building with a very rough exterior, of upright i)r)?ts. chinked and daubed, with a rough coat of cement on the outside; about twenty feet wide and sixty long; one story high, v.'ith a small belfry and an ecjually small bell. It was dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. The i^pot has long since been occupied by a splendid Catholic cath.edral."

Almost contcniinaancous with the pn ii^Mess of the church at \'incennc-s was a niis.-innary work near tlie nimith of the W'ea river, among the Ouiatenons. but the settlement was brtiken up at an early day.

Soon after the discovery of the month of the Mississippi by La Salle, in 1682. the government of France began to encourage the policy of establishing a line of trading- posts and missionary stations extending through western Canada to Louisiana, and this policy was maintained, with partial success, for about se\ent_\-five years. The traders insisted on importing whisky, which cancelled nearly every civilization influence that could Ije brought to bear upon the Indian, and the vast distances between the posts prevented that strength which can he enjoyed only by close and convenient inter-communication. Another characteristic of Indian nature v.as to listen attentively to all the missionary said, pretending to believe all he preached, and then offer in turn his theory of the world, of religion, etc., and because lie was not listened to with the same degree of attention and pretense of belief, would g<T off disgusted. This was his idea of the golden rule.

The river St. Joseph of Lake }^Iicliigan was called "'the river Mianiis" in 1679, in which }-car La Salle built a small fort on its banks, near the lake shore. The cliief station of the mission for the instruction of tlie Miamis was establishetl on the borders of that river. Tlie first French post within th.e territory of the Miamis was at the mouth of the river Miamis, on an eminence naturally fortified on two sides by the river, and on otie side by a deep ditch made by a water fall. It was triangular in form. The missionary. Father Hennepin, gave a good description of it and he was one of the number wiio assisted in its construction. It was built in i('>79. He says: "W'c felled the trees that were on the top of the hill : and having cleared the same from bushes for about two musket shots, we began to build a redouljt of eighty feet long and forty feet wide, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon another, and prepared a great number of stakes of about twenty-five feet long to drive into the ground, to make our fort more inaccessible on the river side. We employed the whole cjf the month of Xo\'ember alxjut the work, which \vas very hard, though we had no other f<jod. except bear's flesh our savages killed. These beasts were \ery common in that place Iiecause of the great quantity of grapes they find there ; but their flesh being too fat and luscii-us, our men began to weai-y of it and desired to leave and go hunting to kill some wild goats. M. La Salle denied them that liberty, w-hich caused some murmurs among them, and it was not unwillingly that they continued their work. This, together with the ajjproach 'if winter, anrl the apprehension that M. La Salle had that his \essel (the GritYm) was lost, made him verv melaiicholv, thviuqli he C(jn- ccalcd it as nuich as possihle. \\"c iiiadc a cabin wherein we performed disine sen-ice every Sunday, and I'atlier (;al)riel and I. who preaclied alternately, took care to tal:e .such texts as were 5uital>le to our present circumstances and fit and in-]rire us with courage, concrml and brotherly love. The fort was at last perfected and called Fort Miamis."

In 17(15 ^^^'^ Miami nation was composed of four tribes, whose total number of warriors was estimated at only one thousanil fifty men. Of these about two hundred fifty were Twightwees. or ]\Iiamis proper, three hundred \\'cas, or Ouiatenons. three hundred Piankeshaws. and two hundred Sb.i 'ckevs : and at this time the principal villages of ihe Twightwees were situated aKjut the head of the ^Maumee river at and near the place where Fort \\'avne now stands. The largest of the Wea villages were near the bariks of the \Vabash river, in the vicinity of the Post Ouiatenon. and the Shockeys and Piankeshaws dwelt on the banks of the A'ermilion and on the Ixjrdcrs of the Wabash between \'incennes and Ouiatenon. Branches <jf the Pottawatomie. Shawnee. Delaware and Kickapoo tribes were permitted at different times to enter within the boundaries of the ?.Iiamis and reside for a while.

The wars in wliich France and England engaged, from i68S to 1607. retarded the growth of the colonies of both these great countries in North America, and the efforts made by France to conricct Canada and the Gulf of ^ilexico by a chain of trading posts and colonies naturally excited the jealousy of England and gradually laid the foundation for a struggle at arms. Tt is probable that before the close of 17 19. temporary trading posts were erected at the sites of Fort \\'ayne. Ouiatenon and \'incennes. These points were probably often visited by French fur traders jirior to 1700. In the meantime the English people began establishing military posts west of the Alleghany mountains, and thus matters were culminated in a general war. which being waged by the French and Indians combined on the one side, was termed "the French and Indian war." This war terminated by a treaty in Paris, by wdiich France ceded to Great Britain all of North America east of the Mississippi river, except New Orleans and tlie island on which it is situated; and indeed, I'rance had the preceding autumn, by a secret convention, ceded to Spain all the country west of that river.

In 1765 the total number of French families within the limits of the Northwestern Territory did not probably exceed six h.undred. These were at the settlements at Detroit along the Wabash river and in the neighborhor)d of FVjrt Chartres on the Mississippi. Of these French families alx'Ut eighty lived at Post X'incennes, fr.urteen at Fort Ouitenon. on th.e Wabash, and nine or ten at th.e continence of the St. ^lary and St. Joseph rivers.

The colonial policy of the British q-ovcnimont opposed any measure that might strengthen interior settlements, lest they hecome self-supporting and thus independent of the mother cuuntr\-. Hence the early and rapid settlement of the Nortiiwesterii Territory was still further retarded by the short-sighted selfishness of England. The fatal policy consisted largely of holding the land of the go'semmen.t and not allowing it to be sub-divided and sold to actual settlers. But in spite of all her efforts, she constantly made just such efforts as provoked the American people to rebel, and that successfully, which they did within fifteen }-ears after the perfect close of the French and Indian war.

Americax Policy

Thomas Jeffcrs'nn. the shrewd statesman and wise Governor of \'irginia, saw the first and actual occupation of western lands was the only way to keep them out of the hands of the foreigners an.d Indians. Blence, directly after the conquest at Vincennes by Clark, he engaged a scientific corps to proceed under an escort, to the -Mississippi river and ascertain by celestial observations the point on that river intersected by latitude 36 degrees and 30 minutes, the southern limit of the state, and to measure its distance to the Ohio. To General Clark was entrusted the conduct of military affairs in that quarter of the countiy. He was instructed to select a strong position near that point and establish there a fort and garrison; thence to extend his conquests northward to the lakes, erecting forts at different points, which might serve as monuments of actual possession, besides affording protection to thar portion of the country. Fort ''Jeft'erson" was erected and garrisoned on the ^lississippi above the southern limit a few miles.

The result of these operations was the addition to the chartered limits of Virginia, of that immense region known as the "Northwest Territory." The simple fact that such and such forts were established by the Americans in this vast region convinced British Commissioners that we had entitled oursehes to the land. But \\here are those "^ilonuments" of our po\\'er now?

The portion of territory now included withir. the limits of Indiana \\ as at the time of its first exploration b}- Europeans inhabited by the Miami Confederation of Indians. That portion of the state in which Shelby county now lies was occupied by the powerful tribe of Twightwees. The state derived its name from the word Indian, the "a"' being added to give it the feminine signification. It was first applied to this territoiy in 1768 to a grant oi land near the Oliii^, which a company of traders in that year obtained from llic natives. The first wliite men who ever tnul the soil of this state were the I'rencli missionaries, Claude Dablon and Claude Allouez, who in 1670-72, more than two hundred and thirty years ago, passed along the west side of Lake IMichigan, and entered the state somewhere north of the Kankakee river. The first wliite man to enter the fair dumain of Shelby county, was A\'illiam Connor, an Indian trader, whose business post was at the present site of Connersville. As early as 1S16 he was in the habit of corning up the streams in small boats, in order to barter and exchange with the Delaware Indians, who then held possession of all the lands watered by the White river and its tributaries. Indiana was formally admitted into the Union October 3. 1S18, at a treaty entered into at St. INIarys, Ohio, the same being found within this work.

Last Exodl'S Of The Ixdiaxs

In July. 1837, Col. Abel C. Pepper convened the Pottawatomie Xalion of Indians at Lake Ke-waw-nay for tlic purjiose of rcmo\'ing' them west of the ]Mississippi river. That autumn a small i)arty of possibly ninety Pottav.atomies was conducted west of the ^Ji^sissippi by George Proffit, Escp Among the number were Ke-waw-na}-, Xebash, X'as-waw-kay, Pash-po-ho and many other leading men of the nation. The regTilar emigration of these poor Indians, about one thousand in number, took place under Col. Pepper and General Tipton in the summer of 1S38.

It Vv-as a sad and mournful spectacle to witness these children, of the forest slowl}- retiring from the home of thieir childhood, that contained not only the graves of their ancestors, but also m.any endearing scenes to which their memories would ever recur as sunny spots along their pathway through the wilderness. They felt that they v. ere bidding farewell to the hills, valleys and streams of their infancy; tlic more exciting hunting grounds of their advanced youth, as well as the stern and bloody battle-grounds, where they had contended in riper manhood for what they honestly believed to be their rights. All these they were leaving behind them, to he desecrated by the plowshare of the white man. As they cast mournful glances back toward these loved scenes that were rapidly lading in the distance.- tears fell from their swarthv checks, the old trembled, matrons wept, the pink-faced maiden turned pale, and half-suppressed sighs escaped from the motley groups as they passed along, some on foot, some on horseback, and others in wagons, sad as a funeral procession. Several of tlie aged warriors were seen to cast glances toward the sky, as if they were imploring aid from the spirits of their departed heroes, who were looking down upon them from the clouds, or from the Great Spirit. who would immediately, as least ultimately, redress the wror.gs of the red man, whose broken Ixiw had fallen from liis hand, and whose sad heart v.-as then bleeding within him. Ever and anon one of the party would start out into the brush and break back to their okl encanMjnients on the Eel river and on the Tippecanoe, declaring that they would rather die than be banished from their country. Thus scores of discontented emigrants returned from different points on their journey, and it was several years before they could be induced to join their cuunlrynier, wcm uf the Mis^i^^ippi.

Several years after the reuTival of the Indians, known as the Pottawatomies. the ^lianii nation was removed to their western home, by coercive means, under an escort of ilie United States troops. They were a proud and once powerful nation. Init at the time of their removal were far inferior, in point of numbers, to the PottawatiMuies. whom they had permitted to settle and hunt upon their lands, and fish in their lakes and rivers after they had been driven souiliward bv powerful and war-like trilies who ir.habited the shores of the northern lakes.

Indian Titles

In 1 83 1 a joint res.jlution of the Leg-islauire of Indiana, requesting an appropriation by Congress for the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands within the state, was forwarded to that body, v.-hich granted the request. The Secretarv of \\'ar. In- authority, appointed a committee of tln-ee citizens to cany ir.to effect the provisions of the recent law. The ^liamis v,-ere surrounded on all sides by American settlers, and were situated almost in the heart of the state on the line of the canal then being constructed. The chiefs were called to a council for the purpose of making a treaty: ihey i)romptly came. but refused peremptorily to go westward or sell the remainder oi their lands. The Pottawatomies sold alxxit six niiUion acres in Indiana. Illinois and Michigan, including all of their claim in this state.

In iS^S a treatv was concluded with ihe ]Miami Indians through the good offices of Col. A. C. Pepper, the Indian agent, by which a considerable of the most desirable portion of their reserves was ceded to the United States.

Land Sales

Land si)eculators were not loved by the early pioneers of Indiana, for thev h.ad been apprized of their tricks and underhanded means of securing control of the best lands in new countries. As an illustration of the way tlse Yankee land man was treated in this state, we qn.;,te from Cox's "Recollections of the Wabash A^alley.""

"At Crawfordsville. December 24. 1824. many parties were present from the eastern and southern portions of the state, as well as horn Ohio, Kentuckv. Tennessee and even Pennsylvania, to atieiid a land '^ale. There was but little bidding against one another. The settlers, or 'squatters,' as they were called bv land speculators, had arranged matters among themselves to tlicir <;eneral satiffaciion. If, upm comparing numbers, it appeared tliat iuo were after the same piece of land, one would ask the other what he would take nut to bid against him; if neitlier would consent to be bought off. they w.iuld retire and cast lots, and the lucky man would enter the tract at Coni;u-,si.:na! ]jricc. one dollar and twcnly-five cents per acre, and the other w. .uld t;ike a second choice on the list. If the speculator made a bid. or showed a di-p. .sition to take an actual settler's claim from him. he so(->n s;iw the white (.1 a score of eves glaring at him. and he would 'crawfish' out of the crowd at the first opportunity.

"The settlers made it definitely understood to foreign capitalists that ihev would enter the tract of land they had settled on before allowing the latter to come in with their speculations. Th.e land was sold in tiers of townships, beginning at the southern part of the district and continuing north until all had been offered at public sale. This plan was persisted in. although it kept many on the ground for several days waiting, who desired to purchase land in the northern part of the district.

"In 1827 a regular Tndian scare' was gotten up to keep speculators away for a short time. A luan who owned a claim on Tippecanoe river, near Pretty Prairie, fearing that some one of the niunerous land hunters constantly scouring the country, migh.t enter the land he had settled on before he could raise the money to buy it with, and seeing one day a cavalcade of land hunters riding toward where his land lay, mounted his horse and darted off at full speed to meet them, swinging his hat and shouting at the top of his voice: "Iridians! Indians! The woods are full of Indians, murdering and scalping all Iiefore tliem!' They paused a moment. Init as the terrified horseman still urged his jaded steed along ar.d cried: 'Help! Longlois. Cicots. help!' they turned au.d fled like a troop of retreating cavalry, hastening to the thickest settlement ar.d giving the alarm, which spread like wild-fire among the stublile until the whole "frontier region was shocked with the startling cry. The 'squatter," who had fabricated the story and started a false alarm, took a circuitous route home that evening, and while others were busy building tem-porary block-houses and rubbing up their guns to meet the Indians he was quietly gathering up monev and slipped down to Crawfordsville and entered his land, chuckhng to himself: "There's a Yankee trick for you, done up by a Hoosier.' "

Marvelous and interesting, indeed, is the Ordinance of 1787, for by its enactment the Northwest Territory, including Indiana, was virtually made a free soil territory, and has forever so remained.. There now secm^ but little doubt that the originators of this ordinance were Xathan Dane. Rut us King and Timothy Pickering, so far as the proviso it contained against slavery, and also for aids to rt-ligion and knowledge, as well as forever settling- the question of the waters of the ]\Iississipi river and the St. Lawrenee with tributaries, as common property for highway purposes without any toll or charge system for the sante. But to Thomas Jefferson is also due nnich credit, as some features of this onlinance were embraced in his ordinance of 17S4. But to all four of these distinguished men belongs the honor of consecrating by one unchangeable monument, the veiy heart of our country to freedom, knowledge and union.

Mr. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government for the Northwest Territory. lie was really an emancipationist and favored the exclusion of slavery from the territory, but the South voted him down every time he proposed the question. In 1787, as late as July loth. an organizing act without the anti-slavery issue or clause was pending. The concession of the South was expected to carry it. Congress was then in session in New York Citv. Ti^lv 5th Rev. 3ilenasseh Cutler, }*Iassachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the Northwestern Territory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events w'ere ripe. The state of the public credit, the growing of Southern prejudice, the basis of his mission, his personal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden and almost man-elous revolutions of public sentiment that once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the Almighty.

Cutler was a Yale College graduate and had taken his degrees in medicine, law and divinity. He had published a scientific explanation of the plants of New England. He stood in America, in science, second only to Benjamin Franklin. He was a courtly gentlemen of the old scliool type, and possessed a commanding dignified manner of address. The Southern members of Congress said they had never such a true gentleman in the North. He came from Alassachusetts representing the company by that name, and they desired to buy a tract of land, now included in Ohio, for the purpose of planting a colony. It was a pure speculation, government money was worth but eighteen cents on a dollar. This company had collected enough to purchase one million five hundred thousand acres of land. Other speculators in New York made Doctor Cutler their agent, which enabled -him. to represent a demand for five million five hundred thousand acres. As this would reduce the national debt, and Jefferson's policy was to provide for the public credit, it providing a good opportunity to do something.

]\Iassachusetts then owned the territoiy of Maine, which she was crowding into the market. She was opposed to the opening of the Northwest region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The whole South caught the inspiration and exalted Doctor Cutler. The entire South rallied around his forces. ^Jdassachusett-; could not vote against him. because many of its constituents were personally interested in the We^t as speculators. Thus Cutler, making friends in ihe South, ami using- all known resorts as a lo])l,yist, he was able to command the situation. True to deeper convietions. he dictated one ot the most compact and finished documents of wise statesmanship that had ever adorned any human law book. He borrowed from Thomas Jefferson the term "Arlicie of Compact," which preceding- die Federal constitution, rose in the most sacred character. He then followed very closely the constitution of :Mas^achusetts, adopted but three years before that date. It contained amring other things the following- points:

2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a seminar}-, and every section numbered i6 in each township, one thirty-sixth of all public lands fur educational purposes.

this compact declared that "religion, morality and knowledge being i!ie necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, sc1;oj1s, and the means of an education shall alwa}-s be encouraged,"

Doctor Cutler planted himself squarely on this platform of sour.d pn:> ciples and started w-ivh his horse and buggy for Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention. On luW 13. 1787, this bill was put upon its passage and was unanimously adopted. Thus the great st.ates of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, as well as Michigan and V>"isconsin (and as United States Senator George V\'. Tones, of Iowa, remarked "all that territory in the great and unknown ^\'cst, beyond the states just nap.uxl"). This vast domain was thus consecrated to freedon;, intelligence and ni.orality.

Soon the South saw their great bluni.ler and tried to have the compact repealed. In 1S03 Congress referred it to a comir.ittee of w-hich John Randolpl-; ^ was cr.airrnan. He reported that this ordinance was a compact and opposed its repeal. Thus it stood, a rock in the w-ay of the on-ru^hing sea of slavery.

The Xortliw-est Territory, of course, included Indiana, and ^^laj. Gen. Arthur St, Clair was elected by Congress as its territorial Governor, aiid he proceeded to organize a form of government, beginning at ^Marietta, Ohio, to perform his duties. He sent out messages to all the leading Indian tribes to get their opinion of n^.atters and feel of their temper towards the new-bom wdiite man's governmeiit. These messengers v.-ere not w-ell received and war Was declared by St, Clair, w-ho led his own army against the Indians, but failed in accomplisliing results, indeed w-as surrounded and badly cut to pieces. Men and women were horribly killed and all seemed dark. But after he wiseh- resigned his command. Gen, Anthony Wayne ("^^lad Anthony") took the trocips and after drilling a long time in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. October, 1793, with a amiv of three thousand six hundred i-nen, he moved w-estw,-.rd to Tort Washington. The Indians insisted on the iir.e between their lands and t!:at of the Unitcil Slates should l>c the Ohio river. Eni:;agcn-ients tool.- place at Defiance and many other pnints in Ohio. The army remained three days and nights on the hanks of the Maumee. in fnmt of a field of Ijattle. duriny which time all the houses and cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a long distance below Fort ^^liami. as well as within a pistol shot of the British garrison, \\ho were compelled to remain idle spectators to the destructive warfare.

September 14. 1794. Cieneral Wayne cumnienced h.is niaich toward the deserted villa-e of ^Miaiiii, arriving Oct'.iber ijlh. and the f.)ll.,)wing day the site of Fort Wayne was selected. The fort was completed November 226, and garrisoned by a strong detachment of infantry and artillery, under Colonel Hamtramck. Fie gave the name to Fort Wayne. A new fort was built there in 1S14. General \\'ayne marched with Federal troops to Greenville, and there took up his headquarters for the viinter. There, in August, 1793. after many months of negotiation, this gallant ollrcer succeeded in concluding a general treaty of peace with all the hostile tribes of the Northwest Territory. This treaty opened up a flood of immigration th.at continued many }'ears, and eventually caused the mighty stales of the Xi^rihwest.

In the latter part of 1796 Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit arid organized the county of AA'ayne. forming a part of the Indiana Territciry uritil its di\"ision in iSo^, when the Territorv of !>.[icliigan was organized.