USA > Ohio > A history of Ohio, with biographical sketches of her governors and the ordinance of 1787 > Part 2
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A History of Ohio,
in February of this year, Colonel Williamson led his memorable expedition against the Indians. It was an expedition of blood, and the maddened whites forgot all the instincts of humanity. They marched into the Tuscarawas country and captured the peace- ful and Christian Indians of the Moravian Missions. There was no evidence of the guilt or participation of the Indians in the recent outrages against the whites, but, nevertheless, Colonel Williamson's men, in cold blood and with brutal vengeance, massacred the captured Moravian Indians, ninety-sixin number. To the credit of Colonel Williamson can it be said, that he opposed the massacre, and did all he could to prevent it.
The record of Indian brutalities and massacres may furnish parallels, and of course does, to this horrible deed, but the race that was born to the use of the scalping-knife and tomahawk never did any- thing to excel it in its devilish and inhuman char- acter. Williamson pleaded with his men to take their captives to Fort Pitt, but on the question as to whether they should be taken to Fort Pitt or die, the voice of the expedition was almost unanimous for blood. And on March S, 1782, "with gun and spear, and tomahawk and scalping-knife, and bludgeon and mallet, the wholesale brutal murder of these defense- less people was accomplished." The work was kept up until the silence of death reigned in the settle- ment. Then the bodies of the murdered Moravians were burned. Thus was stained with indelible dis- grace the border annals of Ohio. The Moravian Indians, through the gentle influence of the inis- sionaries, were imbued with the sweet spirit of peace.
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From 1669 to 1783.
They were inanly, brave and honorable. True to the teachings of their pastors, they kept aloof from the struggles or warfare of the other tribes. Even dur- ing the War of Independence they refused to partici- pate in the border bloodslied. Situated between the American fort at Pittsburgh, and the English at De- troit, they were importuned and threatened by both. In 1777 they were attacked by the Americans, and in the following year by the English, who sent them a message that they would be inassacred if they did not help fight the Americans. Yet they adhered to their views of peace. What a striking commentary on the white man's practice of Christianity !
In 1781 a leading Wyandot chief visited them to warn them of the dangerous position they occupied. His words of advice and their reply were striking and pathetic :
"My cousins," said he, "you Christian Indians in Gnadenhutten, Schonbrun and Salem, I am con- cerned on your account, as I see you live in a dan- gerous situation. Two mighty and angry gods stand opposite each other with their mouths open, and you stand between them, and are in danger of being crushed by the one or the other, or both of them, and crumbled under their teeth."
"Uncle," replied they, "and you Shawanese, our nephews, we have not hitherto seen our situation so dangerous as not to stay here. We live in peace with all mankind, and have nothing to do with the war. We desire and request no more than that we may be permitted to live in peace and quiet. We will pre- serve your words and consider them, and send you, uncle, our answer."
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A History of Ohio,
Thus they endeavored to cultivate peace and the arts of peace, and did so until the massacre. There is a sadness in their short and tragic career, which has the tinge of a fearful romance.
But the war against the red mnan waged on, and the frightful event of March only seemed to whet the appetite of the whites for Indian blood. In May, 1782, Colonel William Crawford assembled five hun- dred men at Mingo Bottoms, near where Steubenville now stands, and started for the Wyandot Indians on the Sandusky River, from which it got the name of the "Sandusky Campaign." Colonel Crawford was a brave officer, and he led his men to conflict at Upper Sandusky, in Wyandot County. A rout and defeat followed, with a loss of over a hundred of his men, and the capture of Colonel Crawford himself. And here can be recorded another of those terrible events which formed the horrors of border and pioneer his- tory. Colonel Crawford was burned at the stake by the Delawares in retaliation for the massacre of some of their own tribe by Williamson's men at the Mo- ravian towns. The heartrending story of Colonel Crawford's death makes the blood curdle to think of it. Upon his capture he was stripped naked, and with his hands fastened behind him, he was tied to a post. His torturers then fired powder into his body at least seventy times, from his feet to his head. Then they cut off his ears, and, amid the railing jeers of an Indian mob, he was burned to a crisp. The infamous renegade, Simon Girty, stood by and treated Crawford's appeal for a soldier's death by a friendly rifle shot, with laughter and derision. Thus ended the life of one of Ohio's bravest pioneers.
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From 1669 to 1783.
Other expeditions were afterwards organized against the tribes in Ohio, the most notable being those of General Clark and Colonel Logan. The result of retal- iatory campaigns was very disastrous to the Indians.
It was amid such trials and dangerous campaigns as these hardy backwoodsmen endured, that the con- ditions were established which afterward enabled the early settlers of Ohio to lay the foundations of the State in peace. The magnificent empire of progress and civilization, which a century later supplanted the pathless forest through which the border warriors of Clark and Broadhead and Crawford made their marches, owes to them a patriotic remembrance. Many of their campaigns, judged at the firesides of our modern homes, and in a condition of profound safety, may seem to have been but cruel and maraud- ing expeditions, having solely bloodshed in view. But it must be remembered that it was the only way to deal with a savage and treacherous foe. At times the revengeful nature of the pioneers may have car- ried them beyond the pale of proper punishment, but the recollections of murders and atrocities committed by the Indians on the whites, and in some instances upon their own families, dimmed all sight of mercy in the frontiersman's heart. At any rate, just or not, the resistless hand of fate, that stays neither for time nor man, pointed to the extermination of the red man. The destiny of the Great West had to be fought out, and the first step was to put the vast ter- ritory in shape so that the plowshare, the mill and the schoolhouse should take the place of the rifle, the stockade and the camp. The Indian stood in the way, and he had to go.
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A History of Ohio.
While the warfare on the border was being prose- cuted with imminent danger, at the same time with vigor by the frontiersmen, the colonies in the East were establishing by their arms a great nation. Their entire energies were directed towards inde- pendence, and consequently but little attention was, or could be given, to Indian warfare. As a result, the expeditions occurring up to 1782 were mainly the outgrowth of a spirit of adventure, and, of course, for protection of the early Pennsylvanians and Vir- ginians. Most of the campaigns were without warrant either of the Continental Congress or the colonial governments. It was the pressure for the new and rich land of the west that forced the fighting.
The entire territory of what is now Ohio, was, during this period, in the possession of the Indian tribes. The famous Wyandots-the bravest of all the Ohio Indians-occupied the fertile and level region of the Sandusky River, while the rich valleys of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum were the homes of the Delawares. Along the Scioto River, within its beautiful valley, the Shawanese lived in populous towns, and their warriors were famed far and near for their bravery and numbers. The Miamis were confined to the territory between the two rivers to which they gave the names of Great and Little Miami, while along the Ohio was scattered Logan's Tribe, the Mingoes. In the northern part of the State, along the banks of Lake Erie, were the settlements of the Chippewas and Ottawas.
There were no white men permanently within this
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From 1783 to 1788.
Indian land, and the tribes knew them only as enemies whose visits always meant war. They saw with won- der the ministering angels of the Prince of Peace that came to preach about a new Great Father, but the wicked ways of the whites often led them to treat the missionaries with scorn, and sometimes with death.
Such was Ohio when the Independence of the United States was recognized by the mother country -- a great and expansive territory of danger and death to the white man.
CHAPTER II. 1783-1788.
AFTER THE REVOLUTION - SETTLING THE TITLE TO OHIO TERRITORY-CESSIONS OF STATES, AND INDIAN TREATIES-THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 - ARTHUR ST. CLAIR APPOINTED GOVER- NOR - INAUGURATION OF LAW AT MARIETTA- GENERAL ST. CLAIR AND THE JUDGES.
The Treaty of Paris, which was signed at Fon- tainebleau, on the third day of September, 1783, brought peace to Great Britain and independence to the United States. In addition it gave the latter the territory east of the Mississippi River, for by the terms of the treaty, Great Britain relinquished her right and interest in the Northwest Territory to the United States. The next thing to be accomplished before the newly acquired national domain could be throwni open to settlement, was to quiet all claims of the different states that had, or asserted, an inter-
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est therein. Congress maintained that the vast area should be national land, and so declared as early as 1780. The only difficulty in the way of carrying out the declaration of Congress, was the fact that New York, Connecticut and other states claimed positive title to various parts of the new territory, and some of the Indian tribes had undoubted rights which in justice had to be recognized. But with that seeming providential wisdom which characterized the declarations and plans of the founders of the Repub- lic, this source of contention was gradually and quietly removed. For a while this land dispute over the new national acquisition was a continual subject of anxiety to the patriotic statesmen of post-revolu- tionary days.
On the first day of March, 1781, the State of New York made a cession of all her claims to the North- west Territory. Exactly three years afterwards, Vir- ginia ceded all of her lands, excepting the tract known as the Virginia Military District, between the Little Miami and the Scioto Rivers, which she reserved as a bounty for her brave sons who fought in the Revolution. On the 18th of April, 1785, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ceded all its claims to the United States, and on the 14th of September, 1786, the State of Connecticut executed an act of cession of all its title to the territory in question, reserving, however, from the grant, what is known as the "Western Reserve of Connecticut," which she held until May 30, 1800, when she surrendered that also.
In addition to these quitclaims of the States, it was further necessary, in order to open the Northwest
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From 1783 to 1788.
Territory to settlers, and to confer upon them a good title whenever they should come within its borders, to secure a relinquishment of the Indian titles. Ac- cordingly, by the treaty of Fort Stainwix, in October 1784, the powerful Six Nations, comprising the Mo- hawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras and Oneidas, released their claims to the territory. In this treaty the celebrated chiefs, Cornplanter and Red Jacket, represented the Nations, and Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee were the Congressional Commissioners. In January of the next year, the Delawares, Wyandots, Chippewas and Ottawas, with whom the treaty of Fort McIntosh was formed, relinquished all claim to the Ohio Val- ley. A year later the Shawanese concluded a treaty concerning their interest with the same result. These and other treaties, with subsequent purchases, extin- guished the title of the red man to the Ohio Ter- ritory.
The Territory of the Northwest added about two hundred and forty thousand square miles to the United States. Congress saw the necessity of cloth- ing it with some kind of official government, for it prohibited settlement within its limits until such measures should be taken. I11 1784, a committee, with Thomas Jefferson as its Chairman, reported a plan which was entirely too cumbersome for prac- tical operation. He provided for seventeen states, for ten of which, Jefferson proposed the following names: Sylvania, Michigania, Cheronesus, Assenis- ipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia and Pelisipia. The project resulted as a dead letter statute; the names alone were sufficient 3
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A History of Ohio,
to kill it. Congress again took up the subject on the 7th of July, 1786, the entire plan of governinent and its operation was thoroughly debated until July 11th, 1787, when Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, reported the famous "Ordinance of Freedom," better known as the Ordinance of 1787, which was passed by Con- gress two days afterwards. By its terms all former legislation on the subject was repealed. Next to the Federal Constitution, it has passed into history as the greatest of all American legislative acts. The wisdom and statesmanship of its makers seemed to penetrate the distant future, for they legislated for a coming generation as if it were present. It has been a marvelous factor in the greatness of five states; it stamped upon the Northwest the marks of a new age, and furnished for citizens yet to be born, the foundations on which they might build mighty and prosperous commonwealths.
Daniel Webster said that no one single law of any law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than this ordinance. Of it Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States, wrote, "Never, probably in the history of the world, did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and so mightily exceed the antici- pations of the legislators."
The ordinance of 1787, or, as its legal title reads, "An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River," provided that not more than five, nor less than three states should be formed out of the territory. It guaranteed freedom, religious and civil; prohibited slavery, except as to criminals; provided for the
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From 1783 to 1788.
maintenance of common schools, and set apart lands for a university, doing so with the preamble that "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government, schools and the means of edu- cation shall ever be encouraged." Thus was the Ter- ritory of the Northwest consecrated to civilization. The authorship of this ordinance has been the sub- ject of much dispute ; its greatness has placed it side by side with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It has been variously ascribed to Rufus King, of Massachusetts, to Nathan Dane, of the same state, and to Thomas Jefferson. The cir- cuinstances all mark its controlling features as the handiwork of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, who afterwards settled at Marietta.
In October, 1787, Congress ordered seven hundred troops for the frontier, to emphasize to the Indians that the white man's government had at last com- menced in the territory. On the fifth of the same month Congress also elected officers for the new gov- ernment. Arthur St. Clair was chosen Governor, and elected with him were James M. Varnum, Sam- uel Holden Parsons and John Armstrong, Judges, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary. Mr. Armstrong afterwards declined to serve as Judge, and John Cleves Symines was named to fill the vacancy.
On the ninth of July, 1788, Governor St. Clair and his associate officers, with the exception of Judge Symmes, arrived at Fort Harmar, where they re- mained until the 15th, when they entered Marietta as the representatives of the National Government. He was received with display and acclamations by the new settlement. He addressed the people in a
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A History of Ohio,
dignified speech. Secretary Winthrop Sargent read the Ordinance. Governor St. Clair's address on this occasion, accurately preserved in his papers, shows the striking interest that he had already formed for the new territory and its people. It was replete with wisdom and affection. Of the powers of the new officers, he said, "You will observe, gentlemen, that the system which has been formed for this country, and is now to take effect, is temporary only, suited to your infant situation, and to continue no longer than that state of infancy shall last. During that period the Judges, with my assistance, are to select from the codes of the mother States such laws as may be thought proper for you. This is a very important part of our duty, and will be attended to with the greatest care. But Congress has not intrusted this great business wholly to our prudence and discretion. We are bound to report to them all laws which shall be inade, and they have reserved to themselves the power of annulling them, so that, if any law not proper in itself, or not suited to your circumstances, either from our not seeing the whole extent of its operation, or any other circumstance, should be imposed, it will be immediately repealed." The Governor then spoke of the necessity of fair treat- ment and good example to the Indians; of the physical advantages of the location of the settle- ment, as well as of the territory at large, and he closed by asking the co-operation, as well as the cheerful acquiescence, of the settlers in his official rule of the territory. After the speech, General Rufus Putnam, in behalf of the citizens of Marietta, welcomed the Governor to their midst, and pledged
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From 1783 to 1788.
in warm and loyal language their support to his administration. The peroration was, "Great sir, we pray that Heaven may grant to you, both in public character and private life, all the felicity that can meet your expectations, or warmest desires. May you long enjoy the tranquility of a mind influenced by the principles of rectitude only. May the cold hand of death never arrest you until you shall have accomplished all the objects which a great and good man can embrace; and then, when life shall lose her charins, when nature shall begin to sink beneath the weight of inortality, and when the mind, impa- tient to be free, shall burst the brittle shell whichi holds it, may you rise triumphant on cherub's wings to enjoy God in realms of endless felicity." This was the inauguration of civil government in the Ter- ritory of the Northwest. It was the beginning of law in Ohio.
Arthur St. Clair, the first and only Governor of the territory, was one of the most brilliant and distin- guislied military characters in the Revolutionary War. A contemporary writer calls him the "great St. Clair," and while in the gubernatorial chair of the Northwest, Judge Burnet marked him as " un- questionably a man of superior talents, of extensive information, and of great uprightness of purpose, as well as suavity.of manners." Courtly, scholarly and honest, he was a fitting representative of the govern- ment in the new laud. St. Clair, as his name indi- cates, was of French origin, although his ancestors had for centuries lived in Scotland, where he was born in 1734. He received his education at Edin- burgh University, and was indentured as a student of
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A History of Ohio,
medicine. He disliked this, and purchasing his time, he entered the English army in 1757. He was in the French and Indian War, and served under General Wolfe at Quebec, where his conduct was gal- lant and effective. He resigned from the English army in 1762, and settled down to civil life in Penn- sylvania, where he filled many positions of trust, honor and importance. When the colonies rebelled against Great Britain, St. Clair threw his entire for- tune and enthusiasm on the side of his country. In 1775, he was summoned to Philadelphia by a letter from President Hancock. His record from thence forward is a part of the history of the Republic. Hle was the assistant and confidant of Washington; he was a member of his military family, and shared the hardships of Valley Forge, together with the vic- tories of many well-fought battles. St. Clair after the Revolution retired to civil life. His fortune was gone in the whirligig of war. He started into the Revolution a rich man; when peace was declared, the riches had flown. In 1783, he was one of a Board of Censors from the County of Philadelphia. In 1786, he was in Congress from Pennsylvania, and as a hero of two wars, and a distinguished patriot, lie was elect- ed its President in 1787. This Congress formulated and passed the Ordinance of 1787, under which St. Clair was nominated to the Governorship of the Northwest Territory, which occurred October 5th. Governor St. Clair accepted his new honor with great misgivings. He says in his letters that it was forced upon him by his friends, who expected that there was more pecuniary compensation attached to it than events proved. It was supposed that the opportuni-
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From 1783 to 1788.
ties for land speculation would be so great that St. Clair would make money out of his advantages of position. But he was not so inclined, nor did he ex- pect such a result. He was satisfied with, and frankly stated, that he had the "ambition of becom- ing the father of a country, and laying the foundation for the happiness of millions then unborn." Such was Arthur St. Clair.
In personal appearance the new Governor was tall, well-formed, yet slender, powerfully built, yet grace- ful. When he spoke on that July day at Marietta, he was in the prime of a remarkably well-developed manhood. The effect upon him of the hardships of his campaigns had been greatly softened by his recent mild and successful civil life. Yet there was little, save its dignity, to show that the classical face was that of the handsome Ensign St. Clair, who used to wield the accomplishments of the drawing room among the Bowdoins and Bayards of Boston twenty years before.
The Judges were men of good sense and character. They formed his legislative council. Major General Samuel Holden Parsons who was the Chief Justice, was from Connecticut; he had distinguished himself in the Revolution, and was much esteemed by Washi- ington, who appointed him. His military and social standing gave him considerable prominence at the time. His mother was a daughter of Governor Matthew Griswold, of Connecticut, and he was a graduate of Harvard of the class of 1756. James Mitchell Varnum was from Massachusetts; he grad- uated from Providence College in 1769, and was afterwards an active politician in Rhode Island. He
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A History of Ohio,
espoused the patriot cause and joined the army in 1775. He was commissioned Brigadier General in the Continental service. The next year he resigned, and in 1786 he was elected delegate to the Continen- tal Congress. John Cleves Symines was from New Jersey; he had been Chief Justice of that State and represented it in Congress. His revolutionary record was good, and he distinguished himself in the battle of Saratoga. To the Governor and these Judges were committed the legislative powers of the new territory. These powers they were to exercise until there were five thousand male white persons in the territory, when, under the ordinance, a territorial legislature would be organized.
CHAPTER III.
1788-1799.
THE OHIO COMPANY OF ASSOCIATES-THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN OHIO-THE CHARACTER OF THE MARIETTA COLONISTS-THE PIONEERS OF CINCINNATI - THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT AT GALLIPOLIS - NATHANIEL MASSIE SETTLES IN THE SCIOTO VALLEY- THE WESTERN RE- SERVE -THE GROWTH OF TOWNS-GENERAL HARMAR'S CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE INDIANS - ST CLAIR'S DEFEAT -GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE'S VICTORY - THE TREATY OF GREEN- VILLE- THE GROWTH OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY.
The year 178S and the succeeding decade are re- markable as being the era of early settlements in Ohio, and the period of the last Indian campaigns
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From 1788 to 1799.
within its borders. These events will be treated in their order.
When the war was over, many of the patriots of the Revolution saw a magnificent opportunity for riches and fame in the country northwest of the Ohio River. Among these were some of the purest and most distinguished men of that time. General Rufus Putnam was the controlling character. At the " Bunch of Grapes " tavern in Boston, on March I, 1786, was formed the "Ohio Company of Asso- ciates." Its object was to raise funds for buying land beyond the Ohio and settling thereon. When the land was purchased it was to be divided among the members of the syndicate. The Ohio Company, as it was best known, was a remarkable combination. It was composed of the very best men in the nation. Among its members were Alexander Hamilton and Samuel Dexter, the first and third Secretaries of the Treasury; Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War ; three Governors of Massachusetts; a Vice President of the United States; the Governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island; a United States Senator ; a Post- master General; a Justice of the Supreme Court; and a President of Harvard College. Besides these, were many celebrated in military life. Of course these men did not emigrate with the settlers, but they staked their means, their character, and their influence on the success of the proposed adventure. Exactly one year after the organization at the " Bunch of Grapes," another meeting was held at Brackett's Tavern, Boston, at which a committee of five, with General Putnam as Chairman, was ap- pointed to draft a plan for submission to the share-
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