USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 22
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As the journey progressed, General Butler became more impressed, and on October 12th speaks as follows:
" The lands here are really beautiful, and very rich; the majestic Ohio rolling gently along within the most delightful banks that ever en- closed a river; and in a few years must be the happy abode of thousands who with moderate industry may obtain the greatest profusion of the necessaries of life; the soil being so abundant- ly rich and fertile, and the climate inferior to none on the globe."
On the next day he bursts into the following rhapsody :
"The nearer we approach the Kanhawa, the more magnificent is the appearance of the river. Here might the Poet exercise his genius in the descriptive song of future times, and the joy of his soul, with rapture hand down to nations yet unborn to the present fathers, whose joyous hearts will bound with pleasure to see so ample, delightful, and healthy a country for their ris- ing generations, who, far from the tyrannic hand of kingly power, governed by the mild and wholesome laws created by their fathers, and fashioned to their own liking by future legisla- tors, may enjoy the blessings of peace, plenty, and domestic ease; secure in their persons and property, may cultivate the arts and sciences to. such perfection as to become rivals not only of Athens and Rome, but be the patterns of man- kind throughout the globe for learning, piety and virtue. Here may the industrious and broken hearted farmer, tired with the slavery of the un- fortunate situation in which he was born, lay down his burthen and find rest on these peace- ful and plenteous plains ; here may Iberia, Brit- ain and Scotia, pour out their superabundant sons and daughters, who with cheerful hearts, and industrious hands, will wipe away the tear of tyrannic toil, and join the children of America in the easy labors of comfort and plenty, and bless the providence of that power who hath directed them to such a land; yes, they will be good, respectful, and grateful citizens, the great- est enemies of kingly power, and will support with you, ve heroic sons of Independence, and your children's children, those honors, those blessings earned by your toils, blood, and treas- ure ; and sing the praises of God in temples yet
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to form, who, led you to the battles, and con- quest of the unwise and tyrannic George the Third. They will also in the anniversary song transmit your virtues and heroism to the chil- dren of future time, whose hearts shall beat high in emulating their progenitors, and keeping sa- cred the scroll of Independence. Passed two Is- lands about nine o'clock."
Who that has had knowledge of Ohio's sons, can doubt the prophetic power of General But- ler. These islands were sixteen miles above the mouth of the Great Kanawha.
On the same day he writes :
" This delightful country involuntarily draws from my pen praises; it is fine, it is rich, and only wants the cultivating hand of man to ren- der it the joyous seat of happy thousands. Here , are the wild animals provided for the assistance of the first settlers. Here are the finest and most excellent sites for farms, cities, and towns. This seems provided as a reward for the adven- turous and industrious, by the Divine hand, whose good providence appears in all his works. Here we have nothing to do but spring from our boats among flocks of turkeys, kill as we please, for sport or gust; the bear growls in your hearing, and the deer, timid by nature, bounds along before your eye; in short, there is no end to the beauty and plenty. I have just stepped from my boat and killed at one shot two fine turkeys, and our whole party feasts on fine venison, bear meat, turkeys and catfish, pro- cured by themselves at pleasure."
On the following day he was nearly bitten by a copper snake, as he was engaged in a turkey hunt.
At the mouth of the Big Sandy creek, a hunter, the celebrated Mr. Zane, killed a buffalo and just about fifteen miles below three more buffalo, " one of which seems to be a real curi- osity for size.
" The head weighed one hundred and twenty- nine pounds, and the tongue six, total, one hun- dred and thirty-five pounds. The head was cut off as close as possible, being cut off at the large joint, so that the neck was but a small ad- dition to its weight. The leg and shoulder when set upright was as high as my head, which is five feet eight and a half inches, this when on the body, inchiding that extraordinary protuberance called the hump, Mr. Zane assured me, is higher than his head, which is six feet (eighteen hands) ; and it was agreed by all who saw this amazing wild animal that it weighed at least
fifteen hundred pounds. Part of the beef of these fine animals was delivered to the troops and part salted for future use.
"I cannot help here describing the amazing plenty and variety of this night's supper. We had fine roast buffalo beef, soup of buffalo and turkeys, fried turkeys, fried catfish, fresh caught, roast ducks, good punch, madeira, claret, grog and toddy, and the troops supplied in the most abundant manner. They are all cheerful, and generally in perfect health, and enjoying the bounties of heaven, the land and the water. The industry and judgment of one man could cer- tainly supply many families. Mr. Zane killed this day, on the lowest computation, three thou- sand weight of as fine beef as need be used, all in about four hours' hunting. What a plenty for two large families for one whole year.'
This paragraph may be well recommended to the attention of the Cuvier Club.
General Butler's enthusiasm is not even dis'- turbed by the site of Portsmouth, and the "sweet and delightful little river Sciota, whose charm- ing banks are not only beautiful to a wonder, but the richest and most luxuriant soil in my knowledge."
Buffaloes were very plenty here and the inde- fatigable Mr. Zane was in his element. At Lime- stone, Lieutenant Denny, who had preceded them with Colonel Monroe, rejoined the party. The party left Limestone early in the morning of October 19th, and between that point and the Little Miami seemed to have had considerable trouble with sand bars. On the 20th Mr. Zane killed a small bear.
On Friday, October 21st, appears the follow- ing :
"Sailed at half . past two o'clock; passed the mouth of Little Miami at three o'clock. It is so low there was no water running : above the sand bank, which is off its month, the sand is quick, and the little water which issues from it passes through the sand.
"The bottoms, both above and below, is very flat and low, and I think inundated 'with small floods. About two miles below is a piece of high ground, which I think will be the site of a town. as will be the case at the months of all the principal rivers and creeks of this great coun- try. 1 find Capt. Hutchins' map very de- fective in his delineations of creeks. I think his courses and distances good, and may say really perfect, but he has certainly missed several large creeks, both above Limestone and be-
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tween that place and little Miamis. Below the mouth of this little river about two miles, is a very large bank of sand at which Mr. Zane came in for people to bring in two deer.
"Pushed on to the mouth of Licking Creek, which is a pretty stream; at the mouth, both above and below, is very fine bottoms. The bot- tom below the mouth seems highest and most fit to build a town on; it is extensive, and who- ever owns the bottoms should own the hill also. Passed this at five o'clock, and encamped two miles below on the north side.
"There is great plenty of limestone and coal appears on every strand. Here is a very fine body of bottom land to a small creek four miles below Licking creek.
"I am informed that a Capt. Bird of the British came in the year 1780 from Detroit, down the big Miamis, thence up the Ohio to the mouth of Licking Creek, thence up it about fifty miles with their boats; at this place they took their artillery and cut a road fifty miles into the country, when they attacked several small stations and took them; they then carried off the poor distressed people with their little ones to Detroit in triumph."
Mr. Ford calls attention to the fact that this was the most distinguished party of people that had yet visited the neighborhood. The greek four miles below must have been Bold Face creek, which enters the river at Sedamsville.
The country some miles below the Licking is described as follows :
"One mile below this is a bar of sand in the middle of the river; the channel is on the north shore. Here are the dreadful effects of a tor- nado, on the hill, on the north side, from the top down, every tree and the surface of the earth has been washed or blown off. On the south shore there is about four acres of land, the timber of which is totally blown down and destroyed. One mile below this is a small creek which I think will be sufficient for mills part of the season, as it comes out of a hilly country ; it has thrown out a great body of gravel, &c., which forms a kind of Presque Isle, on the south side of the river. * * * Two miles
below this comes in a small creek, just above which is most excellent land on the face of a beautiful hill. The river is beyond description, deer and turkey sporting before and on eachi side in great abundance-saw above twenty deers before twelve o'clock. Put in to dine about eleven o'clock about twelve miles below Licking creek."
"Sailed at half past one o'clock, the wind ahead. Here is some very fine land covered with pine, ash, and other rich timber. Pushed on to the Great Miami, above the mouth of which I ordered the whole to camp about five o'clock in the evening. I went out with Major Finney to examine the ground for a post."
This was on Saturday, October 22, 1785.
On the following day General Butler with some of his officers went down to call upon General Clark "who lodged at a place called a station, which is a few families collected for mutual safety to one place, and a little fort erected." Clark was below the Great Miami, and favored locating there although it did not come within the resolution of Congress, which authorized the commanding officer of the troops to take post at any proper situation between the Miami and the Muskingum rivers. This little disagreement is significant, as there seems to have been a little feeling at all times between Butler and Clark, which may account for some of the variations in the narrations about the later events of the conference.
The biographer of Major Denny says in his memoir, prefixed to the "Military Journal" of Major Denny :
"When the United States Commissioners were at Fort Finney, waiting for the Shawances to come into the treaty, General Clark kept aloof from his colleagues. There appeared to be some jealousy and coolness between them. But to the young commandant, Lieutenant Denny, he was like a father. He invited him to pass his evenings at his tent; threw off his reserve, and talked about his own adventures. He told him that frequently, at night, when his soldiers lay upon their arms, he has crept, on all fours, to the neighboring lick, with only his tomahawk, for fear of alarming the Indians, watched for the deer to pass and selecting a young one, killed it, and carried it back to the bivouac for the supper of his inen. He was a stout, rather short, square man, with a high, broad forehead, sandy lair, blue eyes, and heavy, shaggy eye- brows. With his personal prowess, hardihood and capacity for detail, there was always com- prehensive wisdom in his plan and purpose. He raised his force and supplies promptly. He knew exactly, and therefore never overrated the dangers in the way. Ile marched quietly to his distant object and took it by surprise. There was no martial pageant, no ostentatious and pompous parade. He threaded the forest silently -or on his Chickasaw ponies galloped across
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the prairies, and gave the first notice of his presence to the savages by his flag supplanting that of their great allies. Hence that prestige, that renown amongst them which was of such value to carry on hostilities or dictate a peace. When he was present, the great warriors never noticed any other General."
THE FORT ON THE POINT.
Butler, after examining the situation sug- gested by Clark, determined to locate above the Great Miami; and on the 25th of October, after Mr. Zane had been sent with a boat and four men to Licking creek to hunt buffalo, work was begun on the permanent stopping place.
"Major Finney began to lay out and clear the ground for four blockhouses and quadrangular work, which was pushed on with great alac- rity by himself and officers.".
Within three days Butler is able to record that "the commanding officer, Major Finney, his officers and troops are really indefatigable. They have got two blockhouses in a tolerable state of defense, and a third well forward. This night Lieutenant Doyle with a party takes post in one of them, and we hope in a few days to be secure even against enemies."
Maj. Ebenezer Denny is a little more specific in his description. His "Military Journal" is not so flowery as that of General Butler but quite accurate in details. His entry of October 22nd reads :
"Arrive at the Great Miami. Best ground for our station about a mile above the mouth, where the boats were brought and everything unloaded. All hands set to work chopping, clearing, &c., and preparing timber for block- houses and pickets ; and on the 8th instant had ourselves inclosed. Hoisted the United States. flag, and christened the place Fort Finney, in compliment to Captain Finney, the command- ing officer. Our work is a square stockade fort ; substantial blockhouses, two stories, twenty- four by. eighteen feet in each angle; curtains one hundred feet of stout pickets, four feet in the ground, and nine feet above; situated one hundred and fifty yards from the river, on a rising second bank. A building, eighteen by twenty fect, within the east and west curtains, . for the accommodation and reception of con- tractors' stores and Indian goods ; and one small, but strong building, centre of north curtain, for magazine. A council house, twenty by sixty, detached, but within gun-shot. Commissioners
and their followers pitch their tents within the . fort, and erect wooden chimneys. Season very favorable, but growing cool. Men employed finishing the blockhouses, and clearing off the timber and brush to some distance outside."
General Butler, in his diary, notes from day to day the presence of Indians in the neighbor- hood, who were naturally much disturbed by the settlements, and reports many conversations with representatives of the various tribes in the neigh- borhood. Mr. Zane in the meantime continued his slaughter of buffaloes, deer and turkeys, and the troops seemed well provided and quite contented.
On Monday, the 7th, sailing on the river was tried with success, as the effect of the wind was found to be more than the common drift of the current. In the various excursions from the fort many bones of large animals were found, which are discussed at considerable length and the conclusion is reached that they were granivorous.
General Parsons, another commissioner, ar- rived on the 13th and brought with him reports of Indian attacks at various points up the river.
On the 17th, the place for the encampment of the Indians who were expected was selected on the bank of the Miamis, about three miles north of the post.
"I observe the Miama is a very fine, and will be a useful, river, as it has a great deal of good water, at almost all seasons; but the bed being broad it is generally shallow, but this may be helped as the bottom is not very, or generally. rocky, but gravelly, and by throwing a curtain of rocks, starting down the river on one or both sides of a shoal, so as to collect the water to a focus, whereby a channel fit to take up boats may be made, this will continue always good with a small annual repair after the spring freshes, and will render the boat navigation of this and all other streams of a similar kind use- ful at all seasons-as in low water it will be practicable, and in high water easy and cer- tain."
Later after examining the bottom between the Miami and Ohio, he says :
"I find a great body of the low land which overflows, will make good corn and pasture fields, and is not injured by the floods, which may be still improved by preserving the timber on the rivers and banking, and that there is an excellent piece of ground for a town near the hills, which never is flooded. The hills will
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not only afford timber and stone for building, but is in most places fit for fields, orchards and gardens; most delightfully situated, the town may be sufficiently near the two rivers, to add beauty to them, and be delighted with the majesty and elegance of their meandering cur- rents. I also find that the land is very fine along the Ohio for about one mile, to the first narrows and to the foot, and many places to the top of the ridges, which are all covered with fine ash, walnut, oak, hickory, vines, and other rich timbers."
These descriptions, as well as those of Judge Symmes, written a little over three years later, are the most interesting, as showing how little the founders of the city, in determining as to the future site, were affected by what impressed both General Butler and Judge Symmes.
The peninsula in the southwestern part of the county seemed the natural place for the great city of the Miamis, and it was not until the prac- ticed eye of Major Doughty saw the advantages of the present site of Cincinnati as a location for Fort Washington that the first plan had to be abandoned.
CONFERENCES WITH THE INDIANS.
For some days the journals of both General Butler and Major Denny were filled with inci- dents connected with the camp life, which served to while away the time, while awaiting the ar- rival of the Indians. The commissioners from time to time took trips through the neighbor- hood, sometimes to Big Bone Lick and at other times to the falls of the Ohio. The Indians that were in the encampment were ever ready to accept the hospitality of the whites in the shape . of liquor and returned it with entertainments of their own devising.
On November 24th, General Butler refers to the efforts made by certain disaffected parties to prevent any considerable gathering. "The messengers and Indians both agree that Girty and others are in the Shawnee towns using every persuasion in their power to stop the Indians from coming, but from present appearances I expect a great number of them."
The following day he records the conference between the Delaware and Wyandot chiefs, in the presence of two young Shawanees, which re- sulted in the promise of the latter to endeavor to bring their people to the council.
On the 30th, the friction between Butler and Clark is indicated by the following entry :
"During our conversation, General Clark sent in to us a private letter from Mr. Croghan of Louisville, which arrived by Captain Howell, on Saturday, the 26th inst., of which I took a copy. What he meant by detaining this letter so long and shewing it at this time, I am at a loss to say. *
* * In truth, though, he has always been consulted on every public measure, and none adopted without his concurrence, there has appeared a mysterious something in his con- duct which I cannot comprehend, nor am I certain he can comprehend it himself, as I can- not remember a single proposition of his, which has not been either agreed to, or himself con- vinced of its being improper, but he is very modest and makes but few."
On the 5th, the three commissioners left on a visit for the falls of the Ohio, while Captain Finney and Major Denny, with a party of soldiers, took a trip to Big Bone Lick, thirty miles down, where they collected some very large bones.
On the following day, Major Denny gives an account of a trip to the Indian camp:
"Spent this day in the Indian camp by invi- tation ; treated with attention. It was a high day among them, a frolic and feast ; several games played-exceedingly active at the game our boys call shinny or common. About forty young men were paraded for this game, equally divided ; the ground had been cleared for the pur- pose. At the centre was a painted post, dec- orated with pieces of cloth suitable for leggings and breech clouts; the winning side got these. Their ball, the size of a man's head, made of deer's hair, covered with skin; their sticks, four or five feet long, resembling a racket. The ball was thrown in the air-all endeavored to catch it upon his racket : a fellow would take it in this way and keep it until another more smart over- took him or knocked it abroad, when another scramble took place. They insisted on my join- ing in one of these games. Several other games were played; some with beans and dishes or bowls, in imitation of backgammon. Our din- ner was served upon skins spread on the ground. Had walked to the camp, but must ride back ; girl and horse got for me."
Two of the. commissioners, General Butler and General Parsons, returned in a little over a week, General Butler very much disgusted with the lack of consideration with which they had been treated at Lonisville. General Clark did not return with them, although he expected to
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follow in a few days. At this time about one hundred Indians, principally Wyandots and Del- awares, with whom the treaty at Fort McIntosh had been made, had gathered; the Shawanees, for whom the present treaty was particularly in- tended, seemed to hang back, although several messages were received as to their intentions of coming in a few days.
General Parsons, in a letter to Captain Heart, at Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, dated Fort Finney, at the mouth of the Great Miami, December 20, 1785, says :
"Since we have been here every measure has been taken to bring in the Indians. The Wyan- (lots and Delawares are here; the other nations were coming, and were turned back by the Sha- wanese. These at last sent two of their tribe to examine our situation, and satisfy themselves of our designs. With these men we were very open and explicit. We told them we were fully convinced of their designs in coming; that we were fully satisfied with it; that they were at liberty to take their own way and time to answer the purposes they came for; that we were de- sirous of living in peace with them, and for that purpose had come with offers of peace to them, which they would judge of, and whether peace or war was most for their interest ; that we very well knew the measures the British agents had taken to deceive them. That if they came to the treaty, any man who had filled their ears with those stories was at liberty to come with them, and return in safety. But if they refused to treat with us, we should consider it as a declaration of war on their part, &c.
. "These men stayed about us eight days, and then told us they were fully convinced our de- signs were good; that they had been deceived ; that they would return home, and use their in- fluence to bring in their nation, and send out to the other nations. Last night we received a belt of wampum, and a twist of tobacco, with a message that they would be in when we had smoked the tobacco. From our information, we are led to believe these people will very gen- erally come in, and heartily concur with us in peace. I think it not probable the treaty will be- gin sooner than January.
"The British agents, our own traders, and the inhabitants of Kentucky. I am convinced, are all opposed to a treaty, and are using every measure to prevent it. Strange as this may seem, I have very convincing proofs of its reality. The causes I can assign, but they are too many for the com- pass of a letter. Notwithstanding all treaties
we can make, I am convinced we shall not be in safety until we have posts established in the upper country."
Major Denny speaks much to the same effect : "Those with us, about one hundred, are princi- pally Wyandots and Delawares, with whom the treaty at McIntosh was held. The Shawanees are the fellows the present treaty was intended for; they seem to hang back. Indians treated very kindly-dancing parties in our council house almost every afternoon; the men jump, stamp and exert themselves much, but all keep good time : females glide round and have a gait or step peculiar to theniselves. An old fellow has a keg, with skin drawn over each head-sort of drum, on which he beats time-considerable reg- ularity-dance in a circle round the fire-can't dance without something to make their hearts warm, and generally break up pretty merry. Very few went home sober, but those who did were sure to get drunk at night. They would come next day and peremptorily demand a quan- tity of rum ; on being refused they set homeward very much offended, declaring that the next day should move thein off, never to be seen as friends again. This day our clothing came."
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