Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 34

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

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The landing was about three o'clock in the af- ternoon. The men that belonged to Captain Kearsey's company, and who had been previously sent down to Columbia, had rejoined him, so that his company was once more full. They im- mediately raised what "in this country is called a camp, by setting two forks of saplings in the

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ground, a ridge-pole aeross, and leaning boat- boards, which I had brought from Limestone, one end on the ground and the other against the ridge-pole : enelosing one end of the eamp, and leaving the other open to the weather for a door, where our fire was made to fence against the eold, which was now very intense. In this hut I lived six weeks, before I was able to ereet myself a log-house, and cover it, so as to get into the same with my family and property."

Captain Kearsey was mueh displeased, beeause Symmes had insisted upon landing at this point, as he had expected to go on to the Old Fort. When he set out on the expedition, he had ex- pected to find a fort ready built for him and had not provided implements neeessary to construet one. As a result of his disappointment, he final- ly eoneluded that he would not begin the build- ing of the new fortification but would leave Symmes' party and join the garrison at Louis- ville, which he did in March. Several days after the landing, however, were oeeupied by Symmes and others in examining the ground with a view of loeating the proposed eity. They found the neek of the land was so broken with hills and small streams of water, as to make the laying out of the eity, from the Ohio aeross to the Great Miami, impracticable. An exploration in a small boat down to the Old Fort, showed that a large part of the land here had been covered with water. The river had fallen fifteen feet, "but the cold had spread a mantle of ice, six inches thick, over all the back waters while at their height, which had elosed so firmly round the trees on the low bottoms of the country along the river side, as to hang like eanopies projeeting from the trees, for four or five feet distanee."

They went over from the Old Fort to the pond on the Miami and examined the whole point, but as it was apparent that it had all been covered to the depth of many fect, the idea of loeating the eity here had to be abandoned. For this reason Symmes concluded without more loss of time to lay out a number of house-lots on the spot where they were in order to form a village. Forty- cight lots of one aere each were laid off, and every other one of these were given away upon condition that the donees should build thereon at onee. Further applications followed, and the village was extended up and down the Ohio, un- til it formed a front one mile and a half on the river, including more than one hundred lots. On this at the time of Symmes' writing in May, 1789, there were comfortable log eabins, covered

with shingles, or elapboards, to the number of forty and other houses in process of erection, so that there were not three donation lots unappro- priated. This village Symmes ealled North Bend, "from its being situated in the most nortli- erly bend of the Ohio, that there is between the Muskingum and the Mississippi."

Encouraged by his suecess at North Bend, and by the faet that fresh applications were pouring in for house-lots, Symmes eoneluded to lay off another village, seven miles up the Ohio from North Bend, and fronting about a mile along the river, This village he ealled South Bend, "from its being contiguous to the most southerly point of land in the purehase."

Despite the sueeess of these settlements, as well as of the third one, a little below North Bend, known as the Sugar Camp settlement, Symmes felt as yet uneertain as to the place where he was to locate his eity. This city, of course, was to be the great emporium of trade for the purehasers and its location was a mat. ter of serious eonsequenee in his mind. His letters from North Bend are full of discussions with relation to the proper site for such a eity. They also give an insight into the many dis- couragements under which he labored, and the dangers to which he was exposed.

In his letter to Dayton, of May of that year, from which so mueh has been quoted, he speaks of two pieces of ground, both of which he thinks eligible for a eity. One of these was on the Ohio about three miles east of North Bend, the other was about three miles northi of North Bend, on the bank of the Great Miami, and about twelve miles from its mouth. His argument as to the merits of these two plaees is most eurious. He admits that most men at first thought would favor the location on the Ohio, from the supposition that the Ohio would command more trade and business than the Miami. But although more boats would neces- sarily ply on a river eleven hundred miles in length, there would be a greater number of towns and merehants strewed along the Ohio. who would have the same advantages possessed by his townspeople. Unless the merchants in his eity would be prepared to pay the New Or- leans priee, the merchants of the upper towns would proceed down the river to the highest market. But the most serious objeetion to the Ohio location was its distance from the Great Miami.

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"The extent of country spreading for many miles on both sides of the Great Miami, is, be- yond all dispute, equal, I believe superior, in point of soil, water and timber, to any tract of equal contents to be found in the United States. From this Egypt on Miami, in a very few years, will be poured down its stream to the Ohio, the products of the country from two hundred miles above the mouth of the Great Miami, which may be principally collected at a trading town low down the banks of that river ; here, no rival city or town can divide the trade of the river. The body of the Miami settlers will have their communications up and down the Great Miami, both for imports and exports. They cannot work their corn and flour boats eight or nine miles up the Ohio, from the mouth of the Great Miami, should the city be built above Muddy creek. But were it built on the Miami, the settlers throughout the purchase would find it very convenient. At Northbend a sufficient number of merchants may, and no doubt will settle, so as to command all the share of trade on the Ohio; half an hour's gallop of three miles brings you to the city plat on the Miami. One mile's portage is all the space that lies between the Miami and Northbend; and I have already 'marked out a road across, which is not only tolerable, but exceedingly good, if you make allowance for the hills which it winds through ; then two miles by water up the Miami brings heavy articles from the Ohio to the city."

Such an arrangement would save farmers doubling the point with their boats. Naturally the point itself, were it high enough, would be the miost eligible spot for a city, but it would have to be raised like Venice, out of the water. The superior advantages of the point, by reason of the richness of its growth of wild and tame grass for pasturing purposes, led Symmes to favor its reservation as a common manor for the proprietors.

The final conclusion reached in this matter was that the great city of Miami was laid out at the point of his landing, running from the Ohio River at North Bend to the Great Miami at the present city of Cleves. The city did not reach quite over the banks of the Miami as it was laid out on the old plan and on the car- dinal points. This necessitated a relocation of the lots taken up by the settlers which in the main resulted in little hardship. Symmes hin- self and his two nephews were the only ones who had gone to the expense of erecting a stone

chimney to their house. A little discussion in Symines' letter with regard to the common stretching from river to river on the side of the city is interesting as showing the conditions and as explaining probably why so little land was set aside as a common property in the early days. . "I would have left a wider common, but at this dangerous time when we have already had a man murdered by the Indians within the squares of the city, to leave a larger extent of unoccupied land between the city and small lots, would have looked rather like trifling with the lives of citizens who are obliged to go daily to their labor on the donation lots beyond the com- mon."

The Judge did not care to lose the results of his own labor and therefore to show the ex- pense to which he had gone in erecting com- fortable log houses for himself and nephews he gives us a description of his improvements which affords us a good opportunity of under- standing the character of the better class of cabins in those days :

"The lots in North Bend were four poles wide, we have therefore occupied twelve poles of ground on the bank of the Ohio. This front is covered with buildings from one end to the other, and of too valuable a construction for me to think of losing them in the general wreck of the village. That the proprietors may be the more sensible of the reasonableness of my re- quest, I will give you a description of them. The first, or most easterly one, is a good cabin, 16 feet wide and 22 feet long, with a handsome stone chimney in it; the roof is composed of boat plank set endwise, obliquely, and answers a triple purpose of rafters, lath and an under- course of shingle, on which lie double rows of clapboards which makes an exceedingly tight and good roof. The next is a cottage 16 feet by 18, and two and a half stories high; the roof is well shingled with nails. The third is a cabin 15 feet wide and 16 feet long, one story high, with a good stone chimney in it; the roof shingled with nails. The fourth is a very hand- some log-house 18 feet by 26, and two stories high, with two good cellars under the same, the second cellar being sunk directly under the first in order to guard more effectually against heat and cold. This large cabin is shingled with nails, has a very large and good stone- chimney which extends from side to side of the house, for the more convenient accommodation of strangers, who are constantly coming and

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going, and never fail to make my house their home while they stay in the village. In this chimney is a large oven built of stone. Adjoin- ing to this house, I have' built me a well finished smoke-house, 14 feet square, which brings you to a fortified gate of eight feet, for communica- tion back. All the buildings east of this gate are set as close to each other as was possible. Adjoining to and west of the gate is a double cabin of 48 feet in length and 16 feet wide, with a well built stone chimney of two fireplaces, one facing each room. This roof is covered with boat plank throughout, and double rows of clap- boards. in the same manner with the first de- scribed cabin. In these several cabins I have fourteen sashwindows of glass. My barn or fodder-house comes next, with a stable on one side for my horses, and on the other, one for my cows. These entirely fill up the space of twelve poles. This string of cabins stands feet from the bank of the river, and quite free from and to the south of the front or Jersey street of the city.

"Now, gentlemen, I beg of the proprietors this small piece of land at some price which they may set, that I may have the fee thereof vested in me. These buildings have cost me more than two hundred pounds specie, and I can not afford to ,let them go to strangers for nothing-the mason work alone, came to more than one hun- dred dollars. There is not another house on the ground that has either cellar, stone chimney, or glass. window in it, nor of any value com- pared with mine-therefore none can complain of this indulgence as a partiality to me."

As has already been stated, one of the first undertakings was to establish another settle- ment at South Bend for which Symmes seemed to have great hopes. In almost every letter he speaks of the desirability of encouraging this settlement by giving away donation lots and in other ways. As South Bend was near the center of the purchase he had hopes as is apparent in a letter quoted elsewhere of its being made the county town but these hopes soon disap- peared. For a time however the settlement seemed to improve.

The immediate condition of affairs is indi- cated by Symmes' letter of August 15, 1791 :

"South Bend is pretty well established, but we have done nothing towards laying out a village at the northeast corner of the reserved township. The inhabitants of the purchase are

very much favored this summer in point of health. There are few complaints of any kind -rheumatisms are the chief. Provisions are extremely plenty ; corn may be had at Columbia for 2/0 cash per bushel; wild meat is still had with little difficulty, and hogs are increasing in number at a great rate, so that I expect any quantity of pork may be had next killing time at 25/0 per hundred. We have not yet a supply of horn-cattle; therefore very little beef will be slaughtered."

THE CITY OF MIAMI.

The new city was supposed to be called the city of Miami but in fact it was known as Symmes or Symmes' City in the early days. It retained its name however in the popular mind as North Bend by which name it is still known. It grew for a few years and in 1791, according to Dr. Goforth's letters, a garrison of eighty soldiers was stationed there. The gradual con- centration of interests at the new county town for those who desired town life and the increas- ing safety of the out lying lands to those of agri- cultural tendencies soon reduced North Bend in population and in importance.

Symmes in a letter of August 6, 1795, speaks of this and gives the reason :

"The village is reduced more than one-half in its numbers of inhabitants since I left it to go to Jersey in February, 1793. The people have spread themselves into all parts of the purchase below the military range since the In- dian defeat on the 20th of August, and the cabins are of late deserted by dozens in a street. What has in some measure contributed to this is the demand I made on all volunteer settlers at my arrival to go out and improve on their forfeitures in the course of this year, as the truce with the Indians afforded a very favorable opportunity for the purpose. * * They do not value a town lot more than so inany square perches at any other place out of the town, for there is not a single advantage enjoyed in the limits of the village of North Bend which they do not enjoy in more perfection in the country, and there are many more inconveniences to conflict with."

How complete was this pacification as a re- sult of the Greenville treaty is apparent from the fact that the Indians at once changed their atti- tude towards the whites.

The condition of trade is indicated in Symmes' letter to Dayton, January 20, 1796:

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"One word on the subject of the Indians. They now begin to crowd in upon us in num- bers, and are becoming troublesome. We have but one merchant in this part of the purchase, and he will not buy their deer-skins. Their next resort is to beg from me, and I was compelled last week to give them upwards of forty dollars value or send near forty of them away offended.

"The President's plan of fixing traders and stores of Indian goods along the frontiers, I think, is very judicious. They must have a market for their skins or they can purchase nothing from us. Though we have twenty or more merchants at Cincinnati, not one of them is fond of purchasing deer-skins. Some atten- tion of Government is certainly necessary to this object. If the Indians can not enjoy the bene- fits of peace with us (trade and commerce) most assuredly they will have war, where one party only need be consulted. Some of our citi- zens will purchase horses from the Indians. The consequence is, that the Indians immediately steal others, for not an Indian will walk if he can steal a horse to ride. I wish it was made penal by Congress to buy horses directly or in- directly from the Indians."

The history of. North Bend from this time is not eventful. Judge Symmes remained here for years and here received visitors from all over the world who happened to be traveling in this neighborhood. Here it was that in 1795 Wil- liam Henry Harrison married his daughter Annie and here for many years he resided. The original log cabin of the presidential campaign

of 1840 which was in fact to a large extent a myth was supposed to be located here. The old Harrison mansion was in part built of logs but a large frame structure was added and the whole clapboarded and painted white making for a time a commodious house. Henry Howe in his "Ohio" gives us a plan of this house and also a drawing showing its exterior appearance.

Symmes himself built another residence in the northwest part of the town which was after- wards destroyed by an incendiary in March, 1811. The fire destroyed as well a large num- ber of papers relating to his transactions in the purchase, including certificates of the original proprietors of Cincinnati and other documents which could not be replaced. The loss was a matter of serious consequence and gave the Judge great trouble in his later years. A man named 'Hart was suspected of being the incen-

diary and his reason was supposed to be the refusal of Judge Symmes to vote for him when a candidate for justice of the peace. He was arrested, indicted, and tried and although the evidence against him seemed strong and most of the public believed in his guilt he was ac- quitted by the jury.

Thomas Ashe, the English traveler, visited Symmes in 1808 and gives an interesting account of his household: "I left Cincinnati with an impression very favorable to its inhabitants, and with a higher opinion of its back country than I entertain of any other. Seven miles below my departure, at a place called North Bend, I stopped to take breakfast with the hospitable Judge Symmes, the original proprietor, after the extinction of the Indian title, of the whole of . the country lying between the two Miamis. The situation which the Judge has chosen for his residence cannot be equalled for the variety and elegance of its prospects. Improved farms, vil- lages, seats, and the remains of ancient and modern military works, decorate the banks of the finest piece of water in the world, and pre- sent themselves to view from the principal apart- ments of the house, which is a noble stone man- sion, erected at great expense-and on a plan which does infinite honor to the artist and to the taste of the proprietor. Differing from other settlers, Mr. Symmes has been studious to give the river-sides a pastoral effect by preserving woods, planting orchards, and diversifying these with corn fields, sloping pastures, and every other effect incidental both to an improved and rural life. From this expression of elevated judgment you may be prepared to know that the proprietor formerly resided in England, and after in New York, where he married his pres- ent wife, a lady distinguished by elegance of mind and a general and correct information. They have no children, but there resides with them a Miss Livingston, on whom they fix their affections, and whom they treat with parental kindness and respectful urbanity, the one being due to her intrinsic merit, and the other to her family, which is eminent by birth, property, and talent in the State of New York.

"The Judge passes his time in directing his various works, and the ladies read, walk, and attend to numerous birds and animals, which they domesticate, both for entertainment and use. Miss Livingston is much of a botanist- a practical one. She collects seeds from such plants and flowers as are most conspicuous in

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the prairies, and cultivates them with care on the banks and in the vicinity of the house. She is forming a shrubbery also, which will be en- tirely composed of magnolia, catalpa, papaw, rose, and tulip trees, and all others distinguished for blossom and fragrance. In the middle is crected a small Indian temple, where this young lady preserves seeds and plants, and classes speci- mens of wood, which contribute much to her knowledge and entertainment. When

the beauties of the finc season fade, and the country becomes somewhat inert and insipid, the Judge and the ladies remove to Cincinnati, and revolve in its pleasures till fatigued, when they again return to their rural cconomy, and to the prose- cution of happy and inoffensive designs. I could with great difficulty tear myself from per- sons so amiable."

Judge Symmes died in Cincinnati in 1814 and was buried at North Bend in the cemetery about a mile southeast of his former residence. On his grave is the following inscription :

"Here rest the remains of John Cleves Symmes, who, at the foot of these hills, made the first settlement between the Miami rivers.

Born on Long Island, in the State of New York, July 21, A. D. 1742. Died at Cincinnati, Feb- ruary 26, A. D. 1814."

Not very far from this grave on the height back of North Bend rests the body of his son- in-law, President William Henry Harrison.

The Sugar Camp settlement about three miles below North Bend founded about the same time had at one time about thirty houses but after- wards became extinct. The blockhouse which was built in the early days for the protection of the settlers was said to be standing in 1847 but being in a very dilapidated condition it soon dis- appeared altogther.

South Bend, of which so much was expected, was reported on September 17, 1791, to have in- cluded eighteen or twenty families. A garrison of twenty soldiers was also stationed there. The scttlement gradually dwindlcd, its population de- parted and its buildings were abandoned and its very site became almost unknown. As a matter of fact the southeastern part of it is within the present limits of the city of Cincinnati. The post office which for a long time bore its name now appears as a railway station,-Trautman's.

CHAPTER XIV.

FORT WASHINGTON.

SYMMES' COMPLAINTS -- THE DEPARTURE OF KEARSEY-THE ARRIVAL OF LUCE-THE ROMANTIC STORY OF LUCE-THE ARRIVAL OF MAJOR DOUGHTY-THE SELECTION OF A SITE-THE BUILDING OF THE FORT-CONTEMPORANEOUS DESCRIPTIONS-THE LIFE AT THE FORT-THE ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR -- THE OFFICERS OF THE FORT.

The first military works on the site of Cincin- nati, of which we have any record, were the blockhouses built for the expeditions of George Rogers Clark. These blockhouses were just op- posite the Licking River and probably not far from the mouth of Deer creek. Fort Finney was subsequently built for the conference with the Indians, which was held at the mouth of the Great Miami in the winter of 1785-86.

Stites and his party immediately upon landing at Columbia built a blockhouse which has been described, and shortly afterwards three block- houses were erected near this, forming a square stockade fort. A few weeks later a sergeant and six soldiers, who had been sent as military pro- · tection to the settlement at Columbia, built a blockhouse near Columbia to which a letter from Dr. William Goforth, written from Fort Wash- ington in September, 1791, probably refers : "Just below the mouth of the Little Miami is a garrison called Fort Miami; at a small distance below this garrison is the town of Columbia." Judge Goforth in his diary enters on August 3, 1790: "Named the Fort 'Miami.'"

SYMMES' COMPLAINTS.

From the first Symmes relied upon receiving from the War Department proper protection against the Indians. In his prospectus written at Trenton in 1787, he states that the Secretary of War, General Knox, has assured him of his friendly disposition to support the settlers against

the Indians, "by replacing a garrison of federal troops in the fort which is still remaining on the land at the mouth of the Great Miami," which Symmes relied upon greatly to facilitate the set- tlement and to furnish safety to the first adven- turers. It may as well be remarked here that the government of the United States never in the carly period of the settlement of the Miami coun- try gave proper and adequate protection to the settlers. This was a matter of complaint on the part of Symmes from the very earliest days of the settlement. In his letter to Dayton written from North Bend on May 18, 1789, he complains :

"And though I have not been actually hindered from a settlement by the United States troops, yet very small has been the support which I have hitherto received. At Muskingum, I believe, from two to three hundred men are stationed, though that post is not to be named, in point of danger, with the Miami settlement. On the other hand, one ensign (Luce) and seventeen rank and file are all the guards that are allowed me at present, for the protection and defence of this slaughter-house, as some in this country (Kentucky) are pleased to term the Miami pur- chase, on which are three settlements, now be- coming somewhat considerable, and would have been important beyond my former most sanguine expectations, had I been properly aided, as prom- ised, with troops of the United States, last stint- mer ; and permitted to have made my lodgment in September last, when I first explored the pur- chase."

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 34

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