USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 19
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one of great interest and was attended with great pomp and ceremony. The citizens including the Governor and the territorial officers and the mil- itary from Fort Harmar assembled on the point and a procession was formed at the head of which marched Col. Ebenezer Sproat, sheriff, with drawn sword and wand of office, "with all the dignity and impressiveness of his prototype, the sheriff of Middlesex at a Harvard commence- ment." (Moore). A path was cut through the forest to the hall, the northeast blockhouse of the Campus Martius. General Force remarks that the parade was observed with interest by the In- dians of the neighborhood and it is recorded that these same Indians were more impressed by this event than by any losses in battle that they had suffered for many years.
"As the photographer had not yet arrived with his art the scene lacks the modern luminous il- lustration obtained from snapshots of the kodak in the hands of the enterprising amateur ; fortu- nately the graphic description by the local histo- rian which has been preserved and handed down needs no artistic illustration. The procession was led by the high sheriff, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, with drawn sword in his right hand and in his left the wand of office. He was a commanding figure, six feet, four inches in height and sym- metrically proportioned. He had borne a con- spicuous part in the numerous battles of the 'Rev- olution and had the bearing of a soldier. The United States officers from Fort Harmar with their bright uniforms and glistening swords ad- ded to the martial aspect of the scene. The im- posing procession made up almost entirely of gen- erals and colonels and majors and captains who had by their courage and patriotism established the right of self government of this continent marched to celebrate the dawn of judicial history in the little colony. When all were assembled in the hall the solemn services were opened by prayer by the Reverend Manasseh Cutler. The court was organized by reading the commissions of the judges, the clerk and the sheriff, after which the latter by proclamation declared it open for business." (Force.)
The opening of the court by Colonel Sproat was in these words: "O, yes! a court is opened for the administration of evenhanded justice, to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the inno- cent, without respect of persons ; none to be pun- ished without trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case."
A week later the first Court of Quarter Ses- sions was opened in the residence of Colonel Bat-
telle in the southeast blockhouse. Colonel Meigs read the commissions to the sheriff. Colonel Sproat once more commanded the solemn atten- tion of all. Generals Putnam and Tupper were the justices of the quorum assisted by Isaac Pierce, Thomas Lord and Colonel Meigs, the son. At this term of court Paul Fearing the first lawyer admitted to the bar in the Northwest Territory presented a certificate, received from Judges Par- sons and Varnum, and took the oath as a mem- ber of the bar. He was appointed court counsel- lor for the United States in the county of Wash- ington.
Fearing was from Massachusetts and a gradu- ate of Harvard, but came to Marietta in June 1778. He was not naturally a ready speaker and his first argument in the Supreme Court has been frequently quoted : "May it please your hon- ors-may it please your honors-I have forgot- ten what I intended to speak." In spite or per- haps by reason of the brevity of this argument he became a very successful lawyer, serving a term as judge of Probate and finally in 1810 became one of the associate judges. He was a member of the Legislature in 1789 and i790 and was elected to Congress in 1801.
At the session of the Court of Quarter Ses- sions just described the charge was given to the grand jury with much dignity and propriety by Judge Putnam after which the grand jury retired for thirty minutes. On its return the jurors pre- sented a written address to the court which was read and filed. Judge Putnam delivered a reply to the address and as there were no suits before the court and. no person accused of any crimes the court adjourned without day.
In addition to these solemn matters of state there were diversions of more pleasing charac- ter to occupy the attention of the settlers. . The blockhouse was appropriated for the use of the Governor and his family and there was much en- tertaining. Directors of the company gave a din- ner to the Governor and the officers of Fort Har- mar on August 20th. The twelve-oared barge, the solemn vessel of state, conveyed the party from the fort to the landing on the other side of the river where the guests including a number of ladies were received with great courtesy. At this dinner were served the greatest variety of game, fish, vegetable and fruit among theni peaches grown from pits planted by Major Doughty' when he erected Fort Harmar in 1785, "very fine and luscious."
Emigrants kept passing on the way down the river and to Kentucky. Rufus Putnam in one of
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his letters speaks of seven thousand who had gone down the river since the settlement had been begun. On one of the boats Colonel May count- ed twenty-nine whites, twenty-four negroes, nine dogs, twenty-three horses, cows and hogs be- sides provisions. On August 27th, Judge Symmes with his family stopped on the way to the new purchase at the Miami. On September 9th, Lieutenant Denny records the arrival of Gen. Richard Butler, commissioner on the part of Pennsylvania to the Indians accompanied by Cornplanter and about fifty Senecas. With them came a man who afterwards became the first mayor of the city of Cincinnati. "They were es- corted from Fort Pitt by Captain Ziegler's com- pany of recruits. They were received with a salute of three rounds of cannon and music. Ziegler is a German, had been in Saxon service previous to our late war with England. Takes pride in having the hand- somest company in the regiment and to do him justice his company has always been considered the first in point of discipline and appearance. Four-fifths of his company have been Germans. The majority of the present are men who served in Germany.'
That Captain Ziegler was as successful in other particulars as in the drilling of his soldiers is indicated by the entry in Lieutenant Denny's diary of February 22nd of the next year. "Mar- ried this evening, Captain David Ziegler, of the first regiment, to Miss Sheffield, only single daughter of Mrs. Sheffield, of Campus Martius, city of Marietta. On this occasion I played the Captain's aid, and at his request, the memoran- dums made. I exhibited a character not more awkward than strange, at the celebration of Cap- tain Ziegler's nuptials, the first of the kind I had been a witness to."
CAPTAIN BRANT AND LOUISA ST. CLAIR.
This little episode in the life of Captain Zieg- ler which terminated so happily was not the only case 'of romance which had for its scene Mari- etta and Fort Harmar, if the gossips of those days ean be believed. On the very day that St. Clair was appointed to the governorship lie was directed to take steps to negotiate with the In- dians. The only Indian chief who hield aloof at this time as has been already stated was Brant the leader of the Mohawks and of the new con- federation of Western tribes.
Brant had a son known as Captain Brant and this son's name has been connected with that of
the daughter of Governor St. Clair in the legends of the St. Clair family. In the winter of 1790 the Governor arrived at Marietta with his son Arthur, at that time twenty-one years of age, and three daughters. The eldest of these daughters, Louisa, was about nineteen years of age and is described in Hildreth's "Pioneer His- . tory" as "a healthy, vigorous girl, full of life and activity, every way calculated for a soldier's daughter; fond of a frolic, and ready to draw amusement from all and everything around her. She was a fine equestrienne, and would mount the most wild and spirited horse without fear, managing him with ease and gracefulness; dash- ing through the open woodlands around Campus Martius at full gallop, leaping over logs or any obstruction that fell in her way. She was one of the most rapid skaters in the garrison; few, if any of the young men equaling her in speed and activity, or in graceful movements in this enchanting exercise. Her elegant person and neat dress showing to much advantage, called forth loud plaudits from both young and old. The broad sheet of ice on the Muskingum, near the garrison, for a few days in the winter, afforded a fine field for this healthy sport. She was also an expert huntress ; and would have afforded a good figure of Diana in her rambles through the woods, had she been armed with the bow in- stead of the rifle. Of this instrument she was a perfect mistress ; loading and firing with the ac- curacy of a back woodsman, killing a squirrel from the highest trce, or cutting off the head of a partridge with wonderful precision. She was fond of roaming in the woods, and often went out alone into the forest near Marietta, fearless of the savages that occasionally lurked in the vicinity. She was as active on foot as on horse- back, and could walk for several miles, with the rapidity of a ranger. Her manners were re- fined ; her person beautiful with highly cultivated intellectual powers, having been educated with much care in Philadelphia. Born with a healthy, vigorous frame, she had strengthened both her body and mind by these athletic exercises when a child; probably first encouraged by her father, who had spent the larger portion of his life in camps. She was one of those rare spirits, so ad- mirably fitted to the times and the manners of the day in which she lived."
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Aeeording to the story referred to, during the negotiations Louisa St. Clair visited at his eamp at Duncan's Falls, nine miles below Zanesville, young Brant, son of the famous chief of that
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name. She rode on a pony and was dressed in Indian style carrying a short rifle slung to her body. She prevailed upon a ranger whom she inet to accompany her until they came within sight of the Indian camp. There she dismissed the ranger and dashed off on her pony and was soon a prisoner in the hands of the Indians. She was brought before Brant who appeared in full panoply of war. She had met him before while he was a student on a visit from college to Phila- delphia and upon seeing her he became quite excited. and took from her and read a message which was reported to be from her father. After he had read the paper she demanded a guard back to Marietta as she had risked her life to see him. The young Indian accompanied her home and she introduced him to her father. The ne- gotiations which she trusted would follow came to nothing, but Brant had fallen in love with Louisa St. Clair. It is said that he renewed his suit for her hand a number of times but with- out success. The story goes that at the time of St. Clair's defeat Brant led the Chippewas and told the warriors to shoot the General's horse and not him. St. Clair had four horses killed under him but escaped without injury. This story which is sufficiently romantic unfortunately lacks consistency in the matter of dates.
THE TREATY OF FORT HARMAR.
The great event of the fall and winter follow- ing the settlement of Marietta, was the treaty of Fort Harmar. The Indians were restless under the occupation of the white men and their attacks upon the settlers were continued. . One of the great inconveniences resulting from these at- tacks was the fact that the surveys had to be practically abandoned. Governor St. Clair in writing to Parsons in September, speaks of this as being necessary because of the disturbance in the minds of the Indians on the subject of lands. General Harmar in October felt obliged to de- tach a captain's command with Captain Hutch- ins the geographer for his protection to the mouth of the Scioto in order to survey the exterior lines of Messrs. Cutler and Sargent's purchase. The importance of this matter of survey made all interested in the enterprise of settling the Northwest Territory very anxious especially as they were now in active competition with the State of Kentucky for settlers.
General Harmar writing from Fort Harmar, December 15, 1788, to the Secretary of War, speaks as follows :
"My calculation is, that before Christmas the two exterior lines of Messrs. Cutler and Sar- gent's purchase will be completed. The geogra- pher is at present sick at Fort Pitt. If he was able to come down and take the latitude of the northern corner of the tenth township of the seventh range, Mr. Ludlow, who is a smart active young fellow, could run the northern boundary ; the purchase money could then be paid, that business finished, and in the spring the next affair would be, to take up Judge Symmes' purchase. Several chiefs of the different na- tions arrived at this post the day before yester- day. The inhabitants of Kentucky, I am in- formed, have it in contemplation to declare themselves not only independent of the State of Virginia, but of the United States altogether."
The reference in the last sentence of General Harmar's letter is to the efforts of Connolly at Louisville. Connolly was upon the half-pay list of England but at that time was tampering with the people of Kentucky endeavoring to induce them to throw themselves in the arms of Great Britain for protection and support or if that could not be brought about to induce them to accept the hospitalities of the Spaniards or in any manner to cause a breach with the new nation. At this time the Spaniards were offering one thousand acres of land gratis to every American who would move into the West or Florida and Colonel Morgan who obtained a grant on the Spanish side opposite. the mouth of the Ohio was en- deavoring to induce the Kentuckians to avail themselves of the Spanish grant. Fortunately the schemes of Connolly and Morgan failed.
In the meantime the warrior chieftains were beginning to assemble at Fort Harmar for the purpose of holding the conference. They began coming as carly as September 19th, but it was not until December 13th, that they arrived in, any great numbers. On the 14th there was a meet- ing in the council house to welcome each other and on the 15th the council was opened. On the 29th the Indians' cause was stated by the old Wyandot chief Shendatto. He described the origin of his race and how the thirteen fires had gotten possession of his country. In two in- stances by treachery "the first he said was in a bargain made with them for just as much ground as an ox hide would cover-merely to build one fire on. The Americans cut the hide into strings and claimed all the ground they could encompass therewith. The second case was a bargain for such an extent of country in a certain direction as a white man would travel to and back in one
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day. A surprising walker was found who went as far and back again the same day as any of their swiftest men could do in two." He insisted that the Ohio River was the proper boundary and presented a large belt of wampum with a black strip running through the middle representing the Ohio River. On the 6th of January the Gov- ernor stated his side of the case and explained to the Indians by simile how they had forfeited their country. He had all the time insisted upon the treaties of Fort Stanwix and Fort McIntosh and Fort Finncy. He reminded the Indians they had taken up the hatchet against the United States and joined the English in the late war. The English had ceded to the United States the country south of the lakes and the Indians by their actions had forfeited their rights. The United States wanted peace but if the Indians wanted war they should have war. The views of St. Clair prevailed and the treaties were agreed to on the 9th and signed on the 11th. On the 13th the goods were given out to the different nations of Indians and in the afternoon the of- ficers of the fort attended the funeral of Judge Varnum. The treaty was proclaimed by St. Clair on January 24, 1789, and was supposed to be to the satisfaction of all concerned. It was soon learned however that Brant had not lost his in- fluence and that the Indians to the Northwest particularly the Shawanees were by no means satisfied.
THE SETTLEMENT OF GALLIPOLIS.
While the settlers at Marietta were holding courts and making treaties and giving dinners and planting trees another colony a little lower down the river was endeavoring to find a resting place., When Cutler's little bit of politics which resulted in the increase of the grant three times the size originally contemplated was understood by his associates it did not receive the approval of all. Cutler and Sargent retained an interest in the lands ceded to the Scioto Company. This they shared with Putnam, Parsons and others in- cluding Joel Barlow the poet, and the apothecary John Craigie, whose house in Cambridge is one of the historic buildings of this country, having been the headquarters of Washington and the residence of Longfellow .. Barlow sailed from New York for Paris where he arrived in June, 1778. Ilere during the following year he formed a company to which he soll three millions of acres of the Ohio west of the seventeenth range. To advance this speculation he circulated a pros-
pectus which Cutler had written and printed at Salem in 1787. This prospectus was misleading in that it represented a settled country both in the "Seven Ranges," and in the lands of the Ohio and Scioto companies. The uncertainty of the Revolutionary times tended to aid the schemes of the promoters and as a result a large number of French were induced to start for Am- erica. The French government suspected the snare and tried to warn the victims by caricatures but were unsuccessful. One hundred thousand acres of land were sold and among the pur- chasers were a number who had been prominent as founders of the National Assembly. Brissot, who had been in America two years before and was a member of the assembly, in his speeches as in his book published the next year warned the loyal aristocrats wlio showed a tendency to fly from what was coming and thus seeking "to pre- serve their titles, their honors, and their priv- ileges they would fall into a new society (in America), where the titles of pride and chance are despised and even unknown" and pointed out to the poor that they would find in America an asylum where they could obtain' property. As a result on October 20, 1790, the first of the emigrants from France arrived at Gallipolis where a house had been built for them by Put- nam. The transaction seems involved in frand and misrepresentation throughout in which the names of Putnam, Cutler and even General Knox were used in a way that did not reflect credit upon their sagacity. The settlers were made up of all kinds of people except laborers. "There were carvers and artists with no annual salon to look forward for. There were gilders and friseurs with no expectation of a drawing room. There were carriage makers going to a country without a road. There were artisans to make tools without a farmer to wield them." They seemed to be unable to help themselves or make any progress and as a result there was great dis- satisfaction concluding with a financial panic in- volving Duer, Craigie and many men of Ohio. The settlement persisted however and to-day is the county seat of Gallia County.
Another settlement made north of the Ohio was that at Massieville, now Manchaster, twelve miles above Maysville, where in December, 1790, Daniel Massie from Virginia, a surveyor and land operator, led thirty families. They built a stockade and block house to protect their station which was one of the greatest dangers on the river.
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CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY VISITORS TO THE OHIO COUNTRY.
McBRIDE - BOUQUET'S SOLDIER - CROGHAN - FINDLEY - BOONE-THE MCAFEES -FLOYD-CLARK- ROGERS - BENHAM - LYTLE -BIRD-MCCADDON-THE BLOCKHOUSES-VICKROY-LAUGHERY- MCCRACKEN -- GALLOWAY-KENTON-HINDMAN-PURVIANCE PARTY-BAXTER AND HALL.
As early as 1754, a party headed by James McBride descended the Ohio River as far as the mouth of the Kentucky River, and after a partial examination of the country returned with an account of their discoveries.
If the story reported by the late Dr. A. E. Jones, in his "Early Days of Cincinnati," as told to him by Joseph Coppin, who came here in 1805, be true, it would seem that in 1764 there were visitors to the present site of Cincinnati. According to this account, Coppin stated that "soon after his arrival in Cincinnati he with some other boys were looking at some men dig- ging a drain in front of the old red tavern, which stood on Water street below Main, near where the suspension bridge lies on this side. The old tavern had a porch along the entire front, and on it sat a very old man, the oldest loking man he had ever seen; his hair was as white as snow, literally.
"He got up and leaned on the bannister a few minutes, looking at the men digging in front, and then tottered to where the men were at work. Leaning upon his cane, he asked what they were digging for. They told him they were making a drain. 'Well,' said he, after looking over at Licking and all around him, as if getting the points of the compass, 'within six feet of where you are digging there is a man buried,' and pointing with his cane said, 'dig right there and you will find it; if it is not rotten, you will find a bullet hole over the right eye.' Rather to grat- ify the old man, than from any confidence in what he said, they. dug where he had indicated, and
sure enough, about three feet under ground, they found the skeleton, and the bullet hole over the right eye, in the skull; and the ball rattled in the skull when they pulled it up. Astonished, he was asked how he knew the skeleton was there. He replied : 'In 1764 I was a British soldier in General Bouquet's army when he made his ex- pedition on the Muskingum, and after we re- turned to Fort Pitt, a squad was sent down the Ohio to see if the French had established any trading posts north of the falls. We landed right here one evening, and pitched our tent there,' pointing to a certain spot with his canc. . 'We built our fire here to cook our supper, and while sitting around the fire, eating, a shot was fired from the direction of the corner of Main and Front streets, and one of our men was killed. As it was dark we were afraid to move far away to bury him; we put out our fire, and dug his grave and buried him where you found his skel- eton.' This was a burial 'away back,' and is probably the first white man buried within the limits of our city." ( Early Days of Cincinnati, P. 33.)
In the following year, 1765, came Croghan's trip down the Ohio on his errand to Vincennes and Detroit, as commissioner for Sir William Jolinson. It will be remembered on the 29th of May he passed the Little Miami River and the following day the Great Miami, commenting on the level character of the country on both sides and the rich and well watered bottoms. It was on this trip that he was captured and carried to Vincennes by some young Indians who were
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ignorant of the serious character of their offense until some of their elders told them of the danger they incurred while meddling with an emissary of Sir William Johnson.
In 1767, John Findley or Finlay, an Indian trader, from North Carolina, led another party through the Cumberland Gap up along the banks of the Kentucky River. Impressed with the coun- try, he returned to the banks of the Yadkin, and there communicated his discoveries to the cele- brated Col. Daniel Boone. Boone was so much impressed by the flattering account given by Findley, that in 1769, in company with James Robertson, a young Scotch Irishman, he under- took to explore the wilderness, and after great hardship and fatigue, reached the neighborhood of the present city of Lexington, where he re- mained until 1771, having been joined in the meantime by his brother, Squire Boone. During this expedition he explored the fertile lands of the Elkhorn and Kentucky rivers. Much im- pressed with the beauties of the country and full of schemes in regard to future explorations and settlements he returned in 1771 to the Yad- kin Valley.
In 1773 Boone again started west with a party, having in it the first women and children who passed the Cumberland Mountains. They tar- ried for a short time with a few families settled west of Holston and along the Clinch River, but in October they were attacked by the Indians, and turned back. It was apparent that an In- dian war was coming, and the following year Boone was sent to give warning to the various wanderers, hunters and surveyors scattered through this remote country. His farthest point on this trip was the rapids of the Ohio.
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