Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 24

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

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"The little fortress alluded to was estab- lished at the outlet of the fertile valley of the Miami, and near the track by which the war parties approached the Ohio, in their in- cursions into Kentucky. The position was also that selected by Judge Symmes and others, the purchasers from Congress of a large tract of country, as the site of a future city; though a trivial accident afterward changed the locality, and placed the Queen City of the West at a point twenty miles farther up the Ohio. It was near the head of that great bend of the Ohio, now widely known as North Bend,-a spot which has become classic ground to the American, as the residence of that excellent man and distinguished statesman and soldier, the venerated and lamented Harrison. The fort was garrisoned by a small party of soldiers, commanded by a captain, who was almost as much insulated from the rest of the world as Alexander Selkirk in the island of Juan Fernandez. * "For several days previous to that ** appointed for holding the council, parties of Indian warriors were seen arriving and erecting their temporary lodges at a short distance from the fort. An unwonted bustle disturbed the silence which usually reigned at this retired spot. Groups of savages, 'surrounding their camp- fires, passed the hours in conversation and in feasting; the tramp of horses and the barking of dogs were heard in every direction. The number of Indians assembled was much greater than was necessary, or was expected; and their disposition seemed to be anything but pacific. Irritated by recent events, and puffed up by de- lusive promises of support, they wore an offended and insolent air. Their glances were vindictive, and their thirst for vengeance scarcely concealed. No one acquainted with the savage character could doubt their intentions, or hesitate for a moment to believe they only waited to ripen their plan of treachery, and at a moment which should be most favorable to their purposes, to butcher every white man in their power.

"The situation of the garrison was very pre- carious. The fort was a slight work, which might be readily set on fire, and the number of Americans was too small to afford the slightest chance of success in open fight against the numerous force of the Shawanoes. The only hope for safety was in keeping them at a dis- tance ; but this was inconsistent with the purpose of meeting thent in council, to treat for peace.

"Both parties held separate councils on the

day previous to that appointed for the treaty. That of the Indians was declamatory and boister- ous. The caution with which they usually feel their way, and the secrecy that attends all their measures, seems to have been abandoned. They had probably decided on their course, and deem- ing their enemy too weak to oppose any serious opposition, were declaiming upon their wrongs, for the purpose of lashing each other into that state of fury which would give relish for the horrid banquet at hand, by whetting the appe- tite for blood. . The American commissioners saw with gloomy forebodings these inauspicious movements, and hesitated as to the proper course to be pursued. To treat with savages thus numerically superior, bent on treachery, and in- toxicated with an expected triumph, seemed to be madness. To meet them in council would be to place themselves at the mercy of ruthless barbarians, whose system of warfare justified and inculcated every species of stratagem, however disingenuous. To close the gate of the fortress, and break up the negotiation, would be at the same time a declaration of war, and an acknowl- edgment of weakness, which would produce im- mediate hostilities. *

"An apartment in the fort was prepared as a council-room, and at the appointed hour the doors were thrown open. At the head of the table sat Clark, a soldier-like and majestic man, whose complexion, eyes and hair all indicated a sanguine and mercurial temperament. The brow was high and capacious, the features were prominent and manly, and the expression, which was keen, re- flective and ordinarily cheerful and agreeable, was now grave almost to sternness.

"The Indians, being a military people, have a deep respect for martial virtue. To other esti- mable or shining qualities they turn a careless eye or pay at best but a passing tribute, while they bow in profound veneration before a suc- cessful warrior. * *

"Such was the remarkable man who now pre- sided at the council-table. On his right hand sat Colonel Richard Butler, a brave officer of the Revolution, who soon after fell, with the rank of brigadier general, in the disastrous campaign of St. Clair. On the other side was Samuel H. Parsons, a lawyer from New England, who after- wards became a judge in the Northwestern Ter- ritory. At the same table sat the secretaries, while the interpreters, several officers and a few soldiers, stood around.

" An Indian council is one of the most impos-

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ing spectacles in savage life. It is one of the few occasions in which the warrior exercises his right of suffrage, his influence and his talents, in a civil capacity ; and the meeting is conducted with all the gravity and all the ceremonious os- tentation with which it is possible to invest it. The matter to be considered, as well as all the details, are well digested beforehand, so that the utmost decorum shall prevail and the decision be unanimous. The chiefs and sages, the lead- ers and orators, occupy the most conspicuous seats; behind them are arranged the younger braves, and still further in the rear appear the women and youth, as spectators. All are equally attentive. A dead silence reigns throughout the assemblage. The great pipe, gaudily adorned with paint and feathers, is lighted and passed from mouth to mouth, commencing with the chief highest in rank and proceeding, by regular gradation, to the inferior order of braves. If two or three nations be represented, the pipe is passed from one party to the other, and saluta- tions are courteously exchanged before the busi- ness of the council is opened by the respective speakers. Whatever jealousy or party spirit may exist in the tribe, it is carefully excluded from this dignified assemblage, whose orderly conduct and close attention to the proper subject before them might be imitated with profit by some of the most enlightened bodies in Christen- dom.

" It was an alarming evidence of the temper now prevailing among them and of the brooding storm that filled their minds, that no propriety of demeanor marked the entrance of the sav- ages into the council-room. The usual formali- ties were forgotten or purposely, dispensed with, and an insulting levity substituted in their place. The chiefs and braves stalked in with an ap- pearance of light regard, and seated themselves promiscuously on the floor, in front of the com- missioners. An air of insolence marked all their movements, and showed an intention to dictate terms or to fix a quarrel upon the Americans.

"A dead silence rested over the group; it was the silence of dread, distrust, and watchful- ness, not of respect. The eyes of the savage band gloated upon the banquet of blood that seemed already spread out before them; the pil- lage of the fort and the bleeding scalps of the Americans were almost within their grasp ; while that gallant little band saw the portentous na- ture of the crisis and stood ready to sell their lives as dearly as possible.

" The commissioners, without noticing the dis- orderly conduct of the other party or appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in due form. They lighted the peace pipe, and, after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who received it. Colonel Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command, and the easy assurance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the commissioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawanoes; that the President had no wish to continue the war; he had no resentment to gratify; and that, if the red men desired peace, they could have it on liberal terms. 'If such be the will of the Shawanoes,' he concluded, ' let some of their wise men speak.'

" A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and assuming a haughty attitude, threw his eye contemptuously over the commis- sioners and their small retinue, as if to measure their insignificance, in comparison with his own numerous train, and then stalking up to the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum of different colors-the war and the peace belt. * *

" The chiefs drew themselves up, in the con- sciousness of having hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men. They had offered an insult to the renowned leader of the Long Knives, to which they knew it would be hard for him to submit, while they did not suppose he would dare to resent it. The council-pipe was laid aside, and those fierce, wild men gazed intently on Clark. The Americans saw that the crisis had arrived; they could no longer doubt that the Indians understood the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it ; and a common sense of danger caused each eye to be turned on the leading commissioner. He sat undisturbed, and apparently careless, until the chief who had thrown the belts on the table had taken his seat ; then, with a small cane which he held in his hand, he reached as if playfully towards the war-belt, entangled the end of the stick in it, drew it towards him, and then, with a twitch of the cane, threw the belt into the midst of the chiefs. The effect was electric. Every man in the council, of each party, sprang to his feet : the savages with a loud exclamation of astonish- ment, 'Hugh! ' the Americans in expectation of a hopeless conflict against overwhelming num- bers. Every hand grasped a weapon.

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" Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance changed to a ferocious sternness, and his eye flashed; but otherwise he was un- moved. A bitter smile was slightly perceptible upon his compressed lips, as he gazed upon that savage band, whose hundred eyes were bent fiercely and in horrid exultation upon him, as they stood like a pack of wolves at bay, thirsting for blood, and ready to rush upon him when- ever one bolder than the rest should commence the attack. It was one of those moments of in- decision when the slightest weight thrown into either scale will make it preponderate; a moment in which a bold man, conversant with the secret springs of human action,. may seize upon the minds of all around him and sway them at his will. Such a man was the intrepid Virginian. He spoke, and there was no man bold enough to gainsay him-none that could return the fierce glance of his eye. Raising his arm, and waving his hand towards the door, he exclaimed : 'Dogs ! you may go!' The Indians hesitated for a mo- ment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council-room.

" The decision of Clark on that occasion saved himself and his companions from massacre. The plan of the savages had been artfully laid; he had read it in their features and conduct, as plainly as if it had been written upon a scroll before him. He met it in a manner which was unexpected; the crisis was brought on sooner than was intended; and upon a principle similar to that by which, when a line of battle is broken, the dismayed troops fly before order can be re- stored, the new and sudden turn given to these proceedings by the energy of Clark confounded the Indians, and before the broken thread of their scheme of treachery could be reunited, they were panic-struck. They had come prepared to browbeat, to humble, and then to destroy ; they looked for remonstrance and altercation; for the luxury of drawing the toils gradually around their victims; of beholding their agony and degradation, and of bringing on the final catastrophe by an appointed signal, when the scheme should be ripe. They expected to see, on our part, great caution, a skillful playing-off, and an unwillingness to take offence, which were to be gradually goaded into alarm, irritation and submission. The cool contempt with which their first insult was thrown back in their teeth, surprised them, and they were foiled by the self-

possession of one man. They had no Tecumthe among them, no master-spirit to change the plan, so as to adapt it to a new exigency ; and those braves who, in many a battle, had shown themselves to be men of true valor, quailed be- fore the moral superiority which assumed the vantage-ground of a position they could not com- prehend, and therefore feared to assail.

" The Indians met immediately around their own council fire, and engaged in an animated discussion. Accustomed to a cautious warfare, they did not suppose a man of Colonel Clark's known sagacity would venture upon a display of mere gasconade, or assume any ground that he was not able to maintain; and they therefore at- tributed his conduct to a consciousness of strength. They knew him to be a consummate warrior ; gave him the credit of having measured his own power with that of his adversary; and suspected that a powerful reinforcement was at hand."

John Scott Harrison in his address at Cleves, September 8, 1866, referred to elsewhere in this volume, seems to have accepted this story as cor- rect for he speaks of the fort as being "ren- dered somewhat famous in the early settlement of the country, as the place where the distin- guished and gallant General George Rogers Clark held a treaty with several tribes of Indians in 1786, and on which occasion he displayed, in a remarkable manner, that cool intrepidity of character and recklessness of danger for which he was so distinguished."

He continues from this point and gives the story according to Judge Hall's own account. Harrison must have heard the episode discussed by his father and grandfather and would hardly have accepted it, even upon Judge Hall's version, unless it was generally believed to be a true one. The statement made by Mr. Ford that General Butier was really the chief personage in these transactions is a mistake on its face. Butler was undoubtedly a very brave man but at that time he was of small importance in the estimation of the country as compared with George Rogers Clark, who was regarded by many as the man who saved the Northwestern territory to the American people. Mr. Ford undoubtedly bases his criticism on that of Mr. Craig who liad never seen Major Denny's journal, and who probably would have given a different version had he been familiar with that impartial account.

CHAPTER X.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH CONGRESS AND WITH SETTLERS.

BENJAMIN STITES-JOHN CLEVES SYMMES-THE TRENTON PROSPECTUS-SYMMES STARTS WESTWARD- MATTHIAS DENMAN-THE DENMAN PURCHASE-COL. ROBERT PATTERSON-JOHN FILSON.

BENJAMIN STITES.

The immediate occasion of the settlement of Cincinnati or at least the circumstance that at- tracted attention to this special locality, was a marauding trip of the Indians. In the year 1786 one Maj. Benjamin Stites, of Red Stone, Old Fort, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, undertook a trading expedition down the Ohio. Major Stites was a native of New Jersey, born at Scotch Plains, in Essex County, but while still a young man he emigrated to Western Pennsylvania and settled on the Ten Mile creek, in Greene County. He became a captain of militia and took a very active part in the struggles with the Indians. His venture down the Ohio was one of the numerous expeditions so common at that time. For the demands of the growing settlements in Kentucky, he carried with him in his flat-boat, flour and whiskey and other wares such as were salabie at the river towns. He floated down to Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky, which though still a small place was one of consider- able activity. Here was a blockhouse and the set- tlement was on the line of the old buffalo trail to Maysville. The boats used by the traders are thus described by a historian of the river: "A typical flat-boat of these carly years was 55 feet long, 16 feet broad, with a draught of three feet ; a capacious hull, accommodating under its roof horses, cattle and wagons, as well as their owners. With a good stage of water, the voyage from Pittsburg, or Red Stone, Old Fort, twenty miles

above on the Monongahela, to the falls of the river, now becoming a lively centre, occupied a week or ten days; with low water, when sand bars might obstruct, a month might be required. The sides required to be built high, to be loop- holed, and made bullet-proof either by heavy timbering or the disposition of the cargo, for at many points there was danger of Indian attack. Of course, for these 'broad-horns,' there was no return against the current ; they were broken up when the down stream voyage was ended, the material doing service in a thousand ways." (Hosmer's Mississippi Valley, p. 95.)

Not long before this time, General Butler, the commissioner to negotiate treaties with the In- dians, recorded his impressions of this town in his diary, as follows :

"This I think to be a settlement of fine land, and believe the people will do very well, provided they have peace. There are about fifteen good cabins for families, kitchens, etc., included, and twenty-five houses. Here is a small creek, and from here a good wagon road to Lexington and other places. The people seem to be determined to defend this. Every man walks with his rifle in his hand, so inured are they to alarms. They are very civil, but possess that roughness of man- ner so universally attendant on seclusion from general society, where, and where only.the graces are, or will be wooed, or the rough covering of the human disposition be rubbed off. This mis- fortune of the early settlers of new countries seems, as all other things, wisely disposed by

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Providence ; it fits them for the state they are in, and enables them to bear the hardships which re- fined men will not submit to in the first settling a country, and answers the grand purposes of extending a frontier, and introducing the rudi- ments of law in the wilds of America, and are fully entitled to their share of merit on a certain line; and in the first instance are the most useful people in the land and merit great encouragement for their hardship, dangers, and adventures." (The Olden Time, Vol. II, p. 45.)

Stites did not meet with great success at Lime- stone on this trip, and therefore he carried his goods a few miles back into the interior to a little village called Washington, where he had friends from his native town. The community was very much excited at this time, by reason of the nu- merous forays of the Indians, who came down the valley of the Miamis, crossed the Ohio oppo- site the mouth of the Licking and carried off the property, particularly the horses, of the Ken- tuckians. A specially wanton case of this char- acter had occurred just prior to the arrival of Stites.

Stites was a man of great strength and cour- age and full of energy and also was possessed of considerable experience in Indian warfare. His enthusiasm was aroused and he volunteered to go with a party, which he was duly instru- mental in raising, in pursuit of the thieves. He was selected as the leader of the party and he hastened across the country, following the trail of the Indians until the river was reached, just below where the town of Augusta now stands. From this point they kept the Kentucky side of the river down as far as a point almost opposite the mouth of the Little Miami, where it was learned that the savages had constructed a raft and crossed with their plunder, making for their towns, about the head waters of the Miamis. Stites and his party made a raft and crossed over to the Ohio or Indian side of the Ohio River, in all probabilities at a point not far from where Stites subsequently located his colony. Here was the trail of the Indians to the north through the so-called "Miami slaughter house, a name justified by the drenching of blood its soil had received before that time and was to receive in the future." The old war-path from the British garrison at Detroit crossed the Ohio at this point and this was the usual avenue of approach for the savages from the head waters of the Wabash, . the Miamis and the country bordering upon the lakes, where were their towns and villages, while

the southern section was now reserved for the hunting grounds. (This was but a few months after the conclusion of the treaty at Fort Finney.)

Stites followed the trail up the Little Miami to Old Town, or Old Chillicothe, an Indian village north of where Xenia now stands (not the site of the present city of Chillicothe). From this point the trail went to the head waters of the Lit- tle Miami, which it was thought prudent not to approach too closely. They went westward to the Big Miami, and in a more leisurely manner retraced their steps southward by way of Mill creek valley to the Ohio. This excursion, which was fruitless in immediate results, happening in summer, brought to the mind of the old Indian fighter the ambition to own and possess this beautiful land with its rich soil, magnificent for- est and clear streams. It is asserted that before recrossing the river, he had made up his mind to go back to this valley with a colony and make there a permanent settlement. He realized that the time would not be long before a country so rich in promise would be eagerly sought by many others and that the race was for the quick. He closed out his business in Kentucky and started for New York where Congress was then in ses- sion. The story is told that his enthusiasm was so great that he walked the entire distance from Ohio. As walking was as speedy a means of locomotion ini those days as anything within reach, the story does not seem improbable.

JOHN CLEVES SYM MES.

It seems likely that Stites at first made some efforts to negotiate in person, with those of in- fluence and authority, but he soon found that he achieved no success; it was necessary for him to join with him some one of prominence. It was his good fortime to find a man suitable for his purpose, in the person of Judge John Cleves Symmes, whose name for all time thereafter was to be identified with the undertaking, and more than any other to be credited with the movement which resulted in the settlements that now constitute one of the richest and most int- portant communities of the land.

Judge Symmes was at this time a member of Congress from Trenton, New Jersey. lle had been born July 21, 1742, at River Head on Long Island, the oldest son of Rev. Timothy and Mary (Cleves) Symmes. In early life he was a teacher and surveyor, but some time before the Revolutionary War he removed to New -Jersey. He was chairman of the Sussex County Commit-

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tee of Safety, and entered the army as colonel of the third battalion of militia. He served through a large part of the war, and was at the battle of Saratoga. He was elected a delegate to the New Jersey State Convention, and was one of those who drafted the State constitution. Subsequent- ly he became Lieutenant-Governor and member of the Council, and for two years was a member of the Continental Congress (1785-86). He served twelve years as a judge of the Supreme Court of his State, during part of which time he also at- tended to his duties in Congress. While on the bench he presided at the famous trial of James Morgan, the murderer of the patriot James Cald- well. Symmes had married a daughter of Gov- ernor Livingston, of New Jersey, was connected politically and socially with the most influential people of his time, and was the man of all men to aid Stites in his cherished plan.

Either at Trenton, as is asserted in one account, or in New York, during the session of Congress, Stites described to Symmes the beauties of the Miami country, and unfolded his plan. He pro- posed a purchase of a large body of land in the Miami country to be selected at the first eligible point west of the purchase of the Ohio Company and the Virginia Military Reservation; this nat- urally included the land lying on the Ohio River between the two Miamis. Symmes became in- tensely interested and with five companions he took a trip to the Miami country, in the summer of 1787, crossing the mountains and descending the Ohio River to the falls.

Colonel Harmar, who was at that time in com- mand at the camp at the rapids of the Ohio, trans- mitted to the Secretary of War on June 15, 1787, what is probably the first official notice received of Symmes' plans. He states "Judge Symmes formerly a member of Congress is here and has it in contemplation to establish a settlement on the Wabash. I think it my duty to transmit you the enclosed proposals of his in order that you may be acquainted with his intentions." It will be remembered that this was prior to the pas- sage of the Ordinance of 1787 and at a time when all prospective settlers seem to have been held in suspicion by the authorities.

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 24

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020