USA > Ohio > A short history of Ohio > Part 2
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* Judge Chase says in his sketch of Ohio: This expedition was at- tended with important consequences. It annihilated the British authority on the Mississippi, detached several Indian tribes from the British interest, inspired the rest with a salutary dread of Amer- ican arms, and had important influence on the negotiations which afterward established the Mississippi as the western boundary of the United States.
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posts in Illinois. Despite great hardships, this bold Vir- ginian, with a force of less than two hundred men, captured Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and added this vast dominion to Virginia. It was then erected into the County of Illinois.
Colonel Crawford's Expedition.
(1782.) After the massacre of the Moravians, (March 8, 1762,) a new expedition was formed, under command of Colonel William Crawford. Leaving their encampment on the Ohio, near the present city of Steubenville, this expedi- tion, with a force of nearly four hundred men, marched to a point on the Sandusky, three miles north of Upper San- dusky, where a battle was fought June 4-5. Colonel Craw- ford was defeated with a loss of more than one hundred men in killed and prisoners. On the third day of the retreat, Colonel Crawford was captured by a party of Delawares. He was carried to Tymochte Creek, a few miles west of San- dusky, where he was put to death under circumstances of the greatest cruelty.
Colonel Clark's Expedition.
In 1782, a second expedition was made by Colonel George Rogers Clark against the Indians of the Miami Valley. The disastrous battle of "Blue Licks" had caused a spirit of re- taliation among the pioneers of Kentucky. A number of Indian towns on the Great Miami were destroyed, and also Loramie's store, in the present county of Shelby.
Titles to Ohio.
The territory lying northwest of the Ohio River, and drained by it, was, doubtless, in a remote age, in the exclu- sive possession of the Mound Builders. We may conclude, from the number and extent of their works, that they devel-
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oped to the dignity of a nation, and exercised control of this vast domain. When discovered by the Europeans, it was in the peculiar possession of those Indian tribes al- ready enumerated. (See Ohio Indians.) From the time of the voyages of La Salle to the treaty of Paris, in 1763, France exercised authority over this territory, though in defiance of titles set up by Great Britain. The Ohio Valley remained in the possession of Great Britain until the treaty of peace was concluded at Paris in 1783, when it passed under the con- trol of the United States. In 1784, by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the title of the Six Nations to the Ohio Valley was extinguished. When the Revolution closed, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut asserted claims to portions of the territory now included within the limits of Ohio, and Virginia asserted claims to all of it. These titles were based upon grants from the English sovereign. New York made a deed of cession to the United States in 1782; Massachu- setts, in 1785; Connecticut, in 1786, retaining the Western Reserve, which was finally ceded in 1801. In 1784, Virginia through her representatives, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, ceded all her terri- tory lying northwest of the Ohio River (except the Virginia Military District), to the general Government.
The "Ordinance for Freedom."
An ordinance for the government of the newly acquired "Northwest Territory," was passed by Congress, July 13, 1787. Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, was chairman of the committee that reported, July 11th, "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North- west of the Ohio." It discarded the unjust law of primo- geniture, which had existed in the colonies. It also pro-
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vided that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise than in the punish- ment of crime, whereof the party shall have been fully con- vićted." Rev. Manasseh Cutler, more than any other man, secured the passage of the clause prohibiting slavery. The ordinance was a fundamental law for the government of the "Northwest Territory," with which all its subsequent laws, both Territorial and State, were made to conform.
Organization of the Ohio Company.
In March, 1786, General Rufus Putnam and General Ben- jamin Tupper called a meeting at Boston, of Revolutionary officers, for the purpose of organizing a company to pur- chase and settle lands west of the Alleghanies. The com- pany was formed with General Rufus Putnam, General Sam- uel A. Parsons, Rev. Manasseh Cutler and General James N. Varnum as directors. Rev. Manasseh Cutler and Major Winthrop Sargent, agents of the company, made applica- tion to the Board of the Treasury for the purchase of lands. This purchase was perfected, October 26, 1787, and em- braced about a million and a half of acres, situated within the present counties of Washington, Athens, Meigs and Gallia, subject to reservation for educational, religious and charitable purposes. Bancroft says of this company: "It
interested every one. For vague hope of colonization here stood a hardy band of pioneers, ready to lead the way to the rapid absorption of the domestic debt of the United States ; selected from the choicest regiments of the army, capable of self-defense; the protectors of all who should follow them; men skilled in the labor of the field, and artisans, enter- prising and laborious, trained in the severe morality and strict orthodoxy of the New England villages of the day."
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Settlement at Marietta.
Immediately after the purchase of lands on the Muskin- gum by the Ohio Company, they began the organization of a colony for its settlement. At a meeting of the directors, held November, 1787, General Putnam was chosen president of the company. In December, 1787, a number of mechan- ics and boat-builders assembled at Danvers, Massachusetts, and departed for the head waters of the Ohio. A month later they arrived at Simrall's Ferry on the Youghiogheny. In January, General Rufus Putnam and party, consisting of proprietors and surveyors, left Hartford, Connecticut, for the same point. The two parties met at Simrall's Ferry, where they built a boat of fifty tons burden, which they called the "Mayflower." "Her bows were raking, or curved, like a galley, and strongly timbered; her sides were made bullet- proof, and she was covered with a deck roof." By April 2d, they had constructed a sufficient number of boats to trans- port the colony to its new home. In the afternoon of the same day, the fleet, consisting of the "Mayflower," one flat- boat and three canoes, dropped down the river. They reached Kerr's Island, about three miles above the present site of Marietta, on the morning of the fifth day following, and about noon of the same day, they landed on the east bank of the Muskingum, about four hundred yards above its mouth. When General Putnam landed at the mouth of the Muskingum River with forty-eight colonists, April 7, 1788, the germ was planted which in one hundred years has developed into the great civilization of the "Northwest."
Laws for the Government of the Colony
"The emigrants under command of General Rufus Put- nam, landed their boats at the upper point of the Muskingum River, Marietta, on the 7th of April, 1788, where they un-
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loaded their effects. The boards which they brought with them for the erection of temporary huts were landed and properly disposed of. A large tent was put up for the gov- ernor of the colony, General Putnam and in this tent he transacted all the business of the colony. On the 9th of April, 1788, the Governor's chart of laws was read by his private secretary, General Benjamin Tupper, and approved by the members of the colony association :-
"'First .- Be it ordained by the Officery and Council, that said territory be one district, subject to be divided into five districts, as future circumstances may make it expedient.
"'Second .- Be it ordained that the Governor and Officery may make such laws, civil, criminal and military, for the Colony, but not to conflict with the laws of the original re- established United States laws of 1787.
"'Third .- Be it ordained that the Grand Council be com- posed of three Supreme Judges and three Territorial Asso- ciation Judges, before whom shall be tried and decided all the business of the Colony, civil, criminal and military.
""'Fourth .- The Grand Council will hold their sessions, 5th July; 8th, 9th of April, and 2d Wednesday, September, annually, where all claims against the association must be presented and canceled.
"'Fifth .- Be it ordained that the Governor receive at the rate of forty dollars per month for his services while per- forming the duties of his office. All other Officery and Grand Council, one dollar per day while in the performance of their duties, martial, military, musicians, chaplain, sing- ers and teachers of schools.
"'Sixth .- Be it ordained that all permanent emigrants to the Territory, shall be entitled to one hundred acres of land free, within the Nortwest purchase.
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"'Seventh .- Be it ordained that all pioneers and their de- scendants may become life and benefit members of the Emi- grant Association, Northwest Territory, by paying $1 per annum to the Governor, for the use of the association.
"'Eighth .- Be it ordained that all members must enter- tain emigrants, visit the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, attend funerals, cabin raisings, log rollings, husk- ings; have their latchi-strings always out.
"'Ninth .- Be it ordained that all members of the Colony, from the ages of eighteen to forty-five, must perform four days of military duty per annum. All uniformed companies may drill once a month, dates and places fixed by their officers. Officer drills once a year.
""'Tenth .- Be it ordained that all members of the Colony must celebrate the 22d of February, 7th of April, and 4th of July annually. Also in proper manner observe the 28th of November, 25th of December, and Ist day of January an- nually.
""'Eleventh .- Be it ordained that every member must keep the Sabbath by attending some place of religious worship agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience.
"'Twelfth .- Be it ordained that common schools should be established as soon as emigration to the Territory is suffi- cient.
"'Thirteenth .- Be it ordained that a library of historical and school books be established at the Governor's head- quarters, and that General McIntosh, who is now engaged in writing a history of the colony, will serve as legal agent for that purpose; also, Colonel Timothy Flint act as an assist- ant. Also, that all official appointments be made by the Governor of the Colony and confirmed by the Grand Coun- cil. Be it further ordained that the Metropolis be named
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Marietta, in honor of Queen Marie Antoinette, of France, who gave aid and influence during the darkest days of the Revolution. Ordered that three copies of this territorial chart of ordinances be copied and posted, as ordained: One at Fort Harmar, one at the East Point, and one at the Stock- ade. These ordinances to take effect on the Ist day of May, 1788 (Queen Marie's birthday).
"'By the Governor of the Northwest Territory, 9th of April, 1788.
"'RUFUS PUTNAM.
"' By his Private Secretary, N. W. T.,
"'BENJAMIN TUPPER.'"'
Civil Government Established.
Governor St. Clair arrived at Marietta, July 9, 1788, and six days thereafter he, with Judges James N. Varnum, Samuel H. Parsons, and Secretary Winthrop Sargent, form- ally established civil government in the Northwest Terri- tory. Judge John Cleves Symmes had not yet arrived. On the 25th, a law was published for the organization of the militia; and two days thereafter, all the territory east of the Scioto, or nearly one half of the present State of Ohio, was erected, by proclamation of the Governor, into the County of Washington. On the 2d of the following Septem- ber, the first Court of Common Pleas in the territory was opened at Marietta with imposing ceremonies. Rufus Put- nam and Benjamin Tupper were judges of the court; Return Jonathan Meigs, clerk, and Ebenezer Sproat, sheriff. Paul Fearing, the first lawyer in the Territory, was admitted to practice on the day the court was organized.
Growth of the Colony.
Before the close of 1788, eighty-four new colonists had
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joined the original number. The new city was laid out with great regularity. It included the interesting remains of an ancient fortified town. On one of the reverses was built an extensive block-house, called "Campus Martius." "This fortification, designed to be one of the strongest in the West, was laid out in a perfect square, surmounted by a watch-tower at each angle." It was strongly fortified at the beginning of the Indian War, in 1791. Several houses were
erected and clearings made. In the winter of 1788-89, there was a scarcity of provisions. Flour could not be had, and boiled corn or coarse meal was substituted for it. The deer and bears, upon which the colonists wholly relied for animal food, had been well nigh exterminated by the Indians. In January, a great flood occurred in the Ohio, from which all settlements along this river suffered. Before the close of the year 1790, two settlements had been begun at Belpré, a fer- tile tract of land at the mouth of the Little Hockhocking; and two others at Waterford and Millersborough, twenty miles above Marietta, on the Muskingum. At the latter place, the first mill in Ohio was in successful operation.
Education in the Colony.
The "Ordinances of 1787" contained the following famous article: "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
The founders of the colony at Marietta, were men of edu- cation, and in many instances men of mark in the nation (n history. Early attention was given in the colony to educa- tion of the youth and to public worship. The directors of the colony were requested to employ, if possible, "an in structor eminent for literary accomplishments and the virtue
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of his character." Schools were opened as rapidly as the population of the colony would permit. General Rufus Put- nam was especially active in the cause of education. He was the leading spirit in the organization of the first educa- tional institution west of the Alleghanies. The building of the Muskingum Academy was proposed in 1797, and was opened as an institute of learning in 1800. David Putnam, a graduate of Yale College, was first teacher.
Rufus Putnamı.
Rufus Putnam, founder of Ohio, was born at Sutton, Massachusetts, April 9, 1738. He was left fatherless at the age of seven years. His early life was beset with very great disadvantages, yet by self-denial and great industry he obtained a fair English education. At the age of fifteen he became the apprentice of a mill-wright at Brookfield. Four years later he enlisted as a private in the French and Indian War. He made an expedition to Florida in 1773, and two years later entered the Continental Army as a lieutenant- colonel of a regiment at Roxbury. As an engineer he played a memorable part in the siege of Boston. Before the close of the Revolution, he was commissioned as brigadier-gen- eral. For a time after the Revolution he was land agent and surveyor for his native state. Being one of the chief pro- moters in the organization of the Ohio Company, he was chosen the superintendent of the company, and managed its affairs until the arrival of Governor St. Clair at Marietta, July 9, 1788. He presided over the first court held in the Northwest Territory. He was appointed by Washington as Surveyor-General of the United States. Rufus Putnam was one of the trustees of the university at Marietta from the date of its origin till the close of his life. He died in Marietta, Ohio, May 1, 1824.
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Symmes' Purchase.
Soon after the purchase of the "Ohio Company," John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, made a similar purchase of one million acres, fronting on the Ohio and lying between the Great and Little Miami Rivers. The purchase was sub- sequently so modified, by act of Congress, that it only amounted to 311,682 acres, exclusive of reservations.
Columbia.
While Judge Symmes was attempting a settlement at South Bend, Major Stites, of Pennsylvania, made a settle- ment at the mouth of the Little Miami River, called Colum- bia. He landed here with a party of twenty-six men about the middle of October, 1788, and constructed a block-house. This was the first English settlement in the Miami Valley, and the second in Ohio.
Founding of Cincinnati.
Settlement was begun where Cincinnati now stands, De- cember 28, 1788, by Mathias Denman and others. They soon completed a survey for the town, which was called Losantiville. In 1790, Major Doughty built Fort Washing- ton here. In January, 1790, Governor St. Clair arrived at the post and organized the county of Hamilton, which was made to include all the territory lying between the Great and Little Miami Rivers. Cincinnati was made the county- seat. Governor St. Clair officially abolished the name " Lo- santiville," and named the town Cincinnati, in honor of a society of soldiers which was known by that name.
Harmar's Campaign.
Two treaties were concluded with the principal Western tribes at Fort Harmar, January, 1789. After prolonged de-
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liberation, the Indians consented to terms of peace. But it soon became evident that the savages had but little regard for these treaties. During the summer and autumn of 1790, Indian depredations on the frontier settlements were frequent. Parties floating down the Ohio from the settle- ments about Marietta were often attacked and murdered by the Indians. Governor St. Clair, having learned that the Northwest tribes were preparing for war on the whites, de- termined to send an expedition against these Indians. This expedition, consisting of about fourteen hundred troops, left Port Washington under command of General Harmar, September 30, 1790. After a toilsome journey of seven- teen days, they encamped among the Indian villages on the Maumee. After a few days' inaction, a detachment was sent out under Colonel Hardin, which was ambushed and suf- fered a severe repulse. Having destroyed the deserted vil- lages, General Harmar ordered a homeward march. Colonel Hardin with a force of three hundred and sixty returned to the Indian villages to renew the attack. He was again de- feated by an overwhelming number of Indians concealed in the tall grass. Colonel Hardin lost more than half of his men. Major Willis, who led the regulars, fell. The army retired to Fort Washington.
Effect of Harmar's Campaign.
Instead of checking the Indian depredations, the disas- trous defeat of Hardin and the destruction of their villages only incited the savages to a more vigorous prosecution of the war. During the winter of 1790-91, no frontier settle- ment was free from attack. The pioneers in the exposed settlements found safety in the military stations at Marietta, Belpré, and Waterford. Spies or rangers were employed to
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traverse the forest and to keep close watch of the foe. These were men whose courage, endurance and knowledge of Indian warfare especially fitted them for such a duty.
St. Clair's Expedition.
To hold back the barbarians from sweeping down on the exposed settlements along the Ohio River, Congress pre- pared to construct a chain of forts from the head-waters of the Maumee to Fort Washington. General St. Clair was intrusted with this undertaking. Leaving Fort Washington September 6, 1791, with an army of two thousand men, he advanced twenty miles northward, where Fort Ham- ilton, on the east bank of the Great Miami, was con- structed and garrisoned. Advancing forty-two miles farther, they constructed Fort Jefferson. Leaving this post, the army encamped on one of the tributaries of the Wabash, in what is now the southwest angle of Mercer County, at night- fall, November 3d. The foe hovered about the encamp- ment. St. Clair resolved to construct some defenses the following morning and await the arrival of a detachment, sent to the rear, to escort their train of provisions. They were attacked, however, in the early morning ( November 4th ) by Little Turtle with more than two hundred warriors. St. Clair was defeated with great loss. His army had been weakened by the desertion of three hundred militia and the absence of one regiment of regulars. Pressed upon all sides by the savages, it was with great difficulty that his shattered columns drove the enemy from the possession of the road, and escaped destruction. Major Butler, second in command, was killed. The survivers retreated to · Fort Jefferson. St. Clair lost more than eight hundred in killed and wounded. This defeat subjected General St. Clair to
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unlimited abuse. He was tried by a military tribunal and pronounced free from blame. General Anthony Wayne was appointed his successor.
"In December, 1793, detachment was sent forward by General Wayne to build a fort on the site of St. Clair's de- feat. It arrived there on Christmas day. The ground, now free from snow, was covered with remains of the dead. The next day pits were opened and the bones were reverently buried. Six hundred skulls were found upon the field. After this melancholy duty had been performed, a fortifica- tion was built, which was called Fort Recovery."
Wayne's Expedition.
After St. Clair's defeat, no less than five attempts were made to settle the difficulties with the Indians by treaty. They failed. Knowing that these failures to obtain peace would be followed by hostilities on the part of the Indians, General Anthony Wayne, with an army of three thousand men, broke up camp at Cincinnati and marched to Green- ville, where he spent the winter of 1793-94. The next sum- mer he took up his march to the Maumee, and there built Fort Defiance, at its junction with the Auglaize. After building Fort Adams on the St. Marys, he made an encamp- ment near the British post called Fort Miami, which is sit- uated at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. With an ample force to defeat the savages and lay waste their country, but wishing to avoid bloodshed, General Wayne made pro- posals of peace. They were rejected. Breaking up his camp he advanced to the head of the rapids, near the pres- ent site of Maumee City, where he attacked and signally defeated the Indian tribes of the Northwest, August 20, 1784, in what is known as the "Battle of Fallen Timbers."
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After some sharp correspondence with the English com- mandant at Fort Miami, because of his occupation of ac- knowledged territory of the United States, General Wayne finally retired into winter quarters at Greenville.
Treaty at Greenville.
The Indian war, which had scarcely subsided since 1791, was concluded with the Treaty at Greenville, negotiated August 3, 1795. Eleven hundred and thirty Indians par- ticipated in this treaty. It established peace, and defined the extent of the lands of these tribes. The boundary line, then recognized, followed the Cuyahoga River and the Tus- carawas to Fort Laurens, thence due west to Fort Recovery, thence southerly, striking the Ohio near the mouth of the Kentucky.
Rapid Settlement.
After the conclusion of the Treaty at Greenville, the settle- ments in the Ohio Territory had no more to fear from Indian forays. The pioneers emerged from the block house to build new homes unharmed. The population of the North- west Territory began to increase rapidly. New settlements were made about Marietta, and numbers of Revolutionary veterans of Virginia found homes in the Virginia military reservation. The valleys of the Miamis became the scene of rapid and prosperous settlement. Citizens from Connect- icut were beginning settlement in the Western Reserve. Regular mail service was established between Cincinnati and Pittsburg, July, 1786. In the same year the Britishı evacuated the northwestern posts.
Second Grade of Territorial Government.
In 1798, the Northwest Territory contained "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age," the requisite number to
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entitle it to an elective legislative assembly, as provided by the "Ordinance." The General Assembly consisted of gov ernor, legislative council, and house of representatives. The first election in the Territory was held on the third Monday of December, 1798. Members of the legislature were chosen. This body nominated ten men, from which body the president chose five to act as legislative council. Members of the council were elected for a term of five years, and representatives for a term of two years each. The governor had unlimited veto power. The first meet- ing of the General Assembly for the Territory convened at Cincinnati, September 16, 1799. Thirty bills passed at the first session, but Governor St. Clair vetoed eleven of them. It is thought that the free exercise of the veto power by the governor of the Northwest Territory was the cause of the very limited prerogatives subsequently granted to the governors of Ohio under the State Constitution. William Henry Harrison was chosen delegate to Congress. On May 7, 1800, the seat of government was changed to Chil- licothe, and on the same day Congress created Indiana Ter- ritory, which was made to include the present States of Indiana and Illinois. The third session of the legislature adjourned, January 23, 1802, to meet at Cincinnati in No- vember following, but that fourth session was never held. The Ohio Territory was found to contain a population suf- ficient to permit its admission into the Federal Union.
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