Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 36

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

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In a letter of August 25, 1789, Dayton says : "Gen'l Knox, whom I do not fail to call upon and converse with, in every visit to New York, about your situation assures me I may be per- fectly at ease, for that he has directed such a disposition and arrangement of the troops in the Western territory as will effectually protect you."

In his letter of September 26, 1789, Dayton again speaks of being at New York and says :

"Governor St. Clair was my fellow-passenger, and we conversed much, as may naturally be supposed, on the Western country, and particu- larly your tract. He informs me that the pres- ent plan is to station a considerable part of the troops between the Miamis and to extend a chain of posts from thence to post St. Vincent. Upon my arrival in town, I visited Gen'l Knox, who assured me that Captains Ferguson and Strong's companies were at this time with you, and that he thought it probable you would soon have Headquarters there. These new arrange- ments are of importance and must contribute greatly to promote the population and increase the value of the tract."

TIIE SELECTION OF A SITE.

After the determination to erect a fortification opposite the mouth of the Licking, which should serve to protect the settlers in the Symmes' pur- chase, was finally reached, there was but little delay. As seen from Lieutenant Denny's diary, Captain Strong with Lieutenant Kingsbury and Ensign Hartshorn left Fort Harmar on August 9th, followed on the 4th of the next month by Captain Ferguson and Lieutenant Pratt. The work was entirely under the charge of Major Doughty a native of New Jersey wlio had served in the artillery arm of the service in the Con- tinental Army and was appointed major of the

artillery battalion of the United States Army in 1784. Major Doughty had been the designer and constructor of Fort Harmar in 1785 and was regarded as a very able and patriotic officer. At the conclusion of his work in building Fort Washington he returned to Fort Harmar. He was at this time next in command to General Harmar. In the latter's letter to the Secretary of War, already cited, it is apparent that Doughty reached the Little Miami on the 16th of August and that by the 20th he had deter- mined the matter of location, making the report of the same in his letter of the 21st. This re- port and the letter of General Harmar show that the immediate reason which determined this lo- cation of the site was the height of the elevation and it was due to this that Mr. King makes the remark "that whatever Cincinnati may have suf- fered since by floods she undoubtedly owes her start to that of 1789." (King's Ohio, p. 213.)

The spot selected was immediately east of the platted land and on the second or upper bank. It will be remembered that the shore at this point rose rather sharply to a height of about 55 feet above low water where there was a ter- race which extended for some distance to the east and west. Although this was the level which was first built upon by the settlers, it was not sufficiently high to protect against unusual overflow. The level ground at this place ran back to the top of the bank about 450 feet, at which point there was a second bank rising some 30 feet higher. It was this second terrace which was from 80 to 90 feet above low water, ci- tirely out of the reach of the highest floods in the Ohio River, which was selected by Major Doughty. The bank of the river was heavily wooded with beech trees many of which were quite large. Above these, between this bank and the second bank, was a heavy growth of white walnut, soft maple, white elm, shell bark hickory and white ash. On the second terrace was spread a variety of timber, such as beech, ash, black walnut, hickory and black and red oak, generally of vigorous growth. Here and there white oak and poplar interspersed the rest. The entire reservation as subsequently made by the government, including 15 acres, lay east of Broadway and extended from Fourth street to the river as far east as Ludlow street. The carly maps of the city show in a general way the location of Fort Washington and as late as February, 1841, Samuel Abbey, who belonged as sergeant to the detachment of troops under the command of Major Doughty, revisited the

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city and located the fort. After some difficulty · in determining its actual site, he is reported to have made his way to the Public Landing where he took observations from the mouth of the Lick- ing and the direction of the sun, after which he started up Broadway as far as Third street and turned. After reaching a point where that street alters its angles northwardly he placed his foot on the ground with emphasis and observed, "Here is the very spot where stood the flag staff."

In recent years a movement was started to de- termine accurately the location of the fort and one result of that movement is the admirable monograph on Fort Washington, written by Robert Ralston Jones of the United States En- gineer's Department, and published by the Soci- ety of Colonial Wars for the State of Ohio in its Year Book for 1902. In that volume is given at length the account of the search for proper material from which could be determined accu- rately the location of the fort and a plat is in- cluded marking the lines. In a general way it may be stated that the fort lay east of Broadway and west of Ludlow, right along the present line of Third street with its central part about a point where Third street turns to the northeast.

The southeast angle and the blockhouse of the fort stood upon a site of the house since known as the Drake house,-the second house from the southwest corner of Ludlow and Third streets which was begun by Drake as early as 1812 and not completed until 1818. In the cornice on the north wall of the front room of this house be- tween two windows opening on the balcony is a plaster cast or alto-relievo of Washington which is said by Mr. Jones to have been placed there about the year 1815. Mr. Jones in his mono- graph gives an illustration of this head of Wash- ington as well as of the Drake and Mansfield houses. Drake states in his deposition, in a case in the United States Court referred to elsewhere, that he lived here from 1812 to 1823; this is an inaccurate statement, however, as he did not move into this house until October, 1818, at the time of its completion.

The Mansfield house to the west of the Drake house is said to mark the site of the gateway of the fort. This house was built in 1827 by Hon. Jared Mansfield, surveyor-general of the United States. It was occupied for many years by the late Rufus King, one of the leaders of the Cin- cinnati bar and the historian of Ohio.

The southwest angle of the fort and blockhouse was marked for many years by the remarkable

building known as the Bazaar built by Madam Trollope in 1829 and removed in March, 1881, to be supplanted by a building known as the Lor- raine Building.

Among the best known pictures relating to the carly history of Cincinnati is a picture of Fort Washington taken from a sketch made by Maj. Jonathan Heart in 1791 just prior to his setting out on the St. Clair expedition in which he was killed. Another well known picture is that of "Cincinnati in 1802," made up from a drawing by a man named William Bucknell who resided in the city at that time which gave the location of the buildings and streets with considerable ac- curacy. From this drawing and Captain Heart's sketch of Fort Washington and other materials Alfred J. Swing made the picture referred to which shows with more or less accuracy the city at that time, with the fort on the upper bank and the artificers' yard on the lower bank just south of the pond and east of Yeatman's Cove. A little to the southeast of the fort is shown the residence of Dr. Allison in the midst of Peach Grove, afterwards the site of the Lytle home- stead. Dr. Drake says that the house was where "the Lytle house now stands." If so, the pic- ture by Swing is quite inaccurate in this par- ticular, even after making allowance for the southwestern point of view. The Lytle house is the present Foster residence on Lawrence street. (Drake's Discourses, p. 29.) Dr. Alli- son's house was subsequently occupied by Dr. Goforth, the tutor of Drake.

The various hereditary patriotic societies of the city have erected at the southeastern part of the fort a monument built of native Ohio stone in the form of a blockhouse, which stands about nine feet above ground. This is surround- ed by a chain railing supported by four old cannons. The monument bears upon its various faces bronze tablets upon which are inscribed the dedication and a map of the fort together with the streets surrounding it and intersecting it.

THE BUILDING OF THE FORT.

It is apparent that froin the first this fortifi- cation was intended to be a permanent and im- portant one and it was designed as the head- quarters of General Harmar. As early as Sep- tember 22nd he writes from Fort Harmar to Col. Francis Jolinson, "I am shortly going to make my headquarters down opposite Licking River." On the 28th in a letter to Gen. Richard Butler, then at Pittsburg, he says : "Your

FORT WASHINGTON. (From a sketch by Maj. Jonathan Heart, U. S. A., drawn in 1791.)

THE DRAKE HOUSE AND THE FORT WASHING- TON MONUMENT.

(Near the site of the Southeast Blockhouse of the Fort .- From Jones' "Fort Washington.")

THE MANSFIELD HOUSE.

(On the site of the Great Gateway of Fort Wash- Ington .- from Jones' "Fort Washington.")

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humble servant is a bird of passage. Some time the latter end of next month or beginning of November I shall move down the river, bag and baggage (leaving Ziegler's and Heart's companies at this post for the protection of our New England brethren), and shall fix my head- quarters opposite Licking River. I am in hourly expectation of the Governor" (St. Clair, ---- Gov- ernor of the Northwest Territory).

Again on November 9th, he writes to Thomas Mifflin : "I am now on the wing, expecting to move down the Ohio in a few days and to fix my headquarters opposite the mouth of the Licking River about three hundred miles below this garrison where I shall be proud to be honored with your company." General Harmar evidently had great expectations for in the same letter he speaks as follows of the game: "Venison two or three inches cut deep of fat, turkey at one pence per pound, buffalo in abundance, and cat fish of one hundred pounds weight, are stories that are by no means exaggerated. I am going to a country where there is a much greater plenty of game than there is here at present."

Lieutenant Denny records in his diary on November 10th that "the General intends re- moving to head quarters very shortly to the new fort building by Major Doughty opposite the mouth of Licking creek."

General Harmar left the fort bearing his name on December 24th and after a passage of four days arrived at the new fort with his command including about three hundred men. This was just one year after the landing of the Patterson party at Losantiville. His first letter from Fort Washington was written to the committee of the Ohio Company and inhabitants of the settlement of Marietta, thanking them for a polite address sent to him upon his de- parture. This was written January 8, 1790, and headed, "Head Quarters, Fort Washington." On January 14, he reports to the Secretary of War, General Knox, concerning the construc- tion of the fort. From this letter we learn that the plan of the fort is Major Doughty's and that Captain Ferguson and Lieutenant Pratt are particularly entitled to credit for their inde- fatigable industry and attention in forwarding the work thus far. It was evidently not entirely completed for General Harmar says: "This will be one of the most solid and substantial wooden fortresses, when finished, of any in the Western Territory. It is built of hewn timber a per- fect square, two stories high with four block-

houses at the angles. * * * On account of its superior excellence I have thought proper to honor it with the name of Fort Washington. The public ought to be benefited by the sale of these buildings whenever we evacuate them, although they will cost them but little."

The reason for the low cost is given in the letter : "About forty or fifty Kentucky boats have begun and will complete it. Limestone is the grand mart of Kentucky; whenever boats arrive there they are scarcely of any value to the owners; they are frequently set adrift in order to make room for the arrival of others. I have contracted for the above number for the moderate price of from one to two dollars each ; thus much for the plank work. All other ex- penses (wagon-hire, nails and some glass ex- cepted) are to be charged to the labor of the troops. The lime we have burned ourselves, and the stone is at hand. Be pleased to receive the enclosed plan of the fort." General Har- mar proceeds to give some information con- cerning the settlements: "The distance between the Little' and Great Miami is twenty-eight measured miles. Near the Little Miami there is a settlement called Columbia ; here seven miles

distant from Columbia, there is another named Losantiville but lately changed to Cincinnati and Judge Symmes himself resides at the other, about fifteen miles from hence, called the Miami city, at the north bend of the Ohio River. They are, in general, but small cabins, and the in- habitants of the poorer class of people."

General Harmar was evidently a little home- sick for Marietta. In a letter to Major Doughty, written some months before, he speaks of find- ing gay circles, of ladies' balls, etc., and in his letter to General Mifflin, from which an extract has already been made, he says: "Our New England brethren are a very industrious set of people. With the protection afforded by the troops which they acknowledge with great grati- tude they have converted the wilderness into a fine state of cultivation. Their settlement bids fair to be very flourishing. Cornfields, gardens, etc., now appear in places which were lately the habitation of wild beasts. Such are the glorious effects of industry."

Hle also complains of the difficulty of forward- ing despatches to Fort Washington by river : "Fort Pitt is about five hundred miles away which makes it too fatiguing to send monthly a boat against the stream." For this reason hie was making arrangements to send his letters to

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. Danville, in Kentucky, to be forwarded through the wilderness and deposited at the post office in Richmond.

Major Denny had also been favorably im- pressed with the settlement at Fort Harmar. Many of the men from New England, he said, were of the first respectability,-old Revolution- ary officers.

CONTEMPORANEOUS DESCRIPTIONS.

From other descriptions of Fort Washington we learn that it was built generally upon the plan of most of the forts on the Western fron- tier. This plan usually provided for blockhouses or bastions located at the angles. These block- houses were sometimes set obliquely to the side walls or curtains of the fort, or as in the case of Fort Washington parallel to these walls and projecting about ten feet in front of them in each direction so as to command completely, by the direct and raking fire of cannon and musket- ry, each of the four walls of the fortification. The entire structure was about one hundred and eighty feet square. The blockhouses were usually two stories in height with the upper story projecting beyond the one below and pierced with loop-holes for firearms. They were built of hewn logs and were probably about twenty feet square. The logs were hewed on the upper and lower edges to bring them into close contact and were built in horizontal courses notched together at the corners. On the middle of each side wall or curtain were the barrack buildings or store houses built also of hewn timber and two stories high but without the over hanging of the second story. Between the blockhouses and barracks were palisades made of tree trunks, placed upright in a trench which was usually four feet deep. These pali- sades rose from ten to sixteen feet above the surface of the ground and were squared off at their lower end and pointed at the top. The edges of the palisades, where they came into contact with each other, were fitted together and usually a second row was placed in such a man- ner as to cover the joints of the outer row. The whole structure was bound firmly together by horizontal string pieces secured by wooden pins to the upper ends of the palisades. The roofs of the buildings and the floors were usually con- structed of the rough plank riven or sawed from logs except where better lumber could be ob- tained as in the case of Fort Washington, where

the planks from the Kentucky boats were used. Chimneys were sometimes made of stone and sometimes of sticks built up in cob house fashion and plastered with clay. The earth in the trench was usually rammed about the palisades while on the outside shallow ditches were dug for the surface drainage. The logs used for the framing timbers and for the palisades and outer walls were cut of course from the trees in the neighborhood. We are informed that the build- ings used as the barracks were located one in the middle of each of the four sides and that the one on the south side contained six rooms of twenty feet each arranged three on each side of the gateway. This gateway was about twelve feet wide and ten feet high and secured by heavy wooden doors affording a passage through the line of barracks. The barracks ran over the gateway. From these dimensions it seems that there was about twenty-two and one half feet of palisade work at each end of the barrack buildings. (See "Fort Washington" by R. R. Jones from which this description is largely taken.)

The fort was sufficiently large to accommo- date fifteen hundred soldiers, with officers' quar- ters, conveniently arranged and better furnished than the barracks, in the southeast blockhouse for the proper complement of such a force.

In that most valuable contribution to the literature of Fort Washington made in recent years just cited, R. R. Jones quotes at length from the proceedings in the case of lessee of Harmar's heirs vs. David Gwynne and George Morris which was tried in December, 1829, in the Circuit Court of the United States for the then Seventh Circuit which included the Ohio District. Among these proceedings is the de- position of John Cleves Symmes made in 1809, in which he describes the laying out of small lots of sixty square rods each on the land be- tween the fort and parade ground on the west and Deer creek on the east in the year 1790, eight of which lots were sold to General Har- mar for £32. Dr. Daniel Drake testified as to the correctness of a plat made by Joseph Gest, city surveyor, and stated that he once lived in the rooms that were occupied by the com- mander of the garrison (this was in 1802 or 1803) and that afterwards in 1808, when the reserve was sold by the government, he pir- chased several lots which included the south- east angle and blockhouse. He built a resi- dence upon these lots and resided there until 1823. During this period the foundations of

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the fort were everywhere to be seen and could be compared with the lines and corners of the lots and streets.

According to the deposition of William H. Or- cutt given in an action in the Cireuit Court of the United States in Mareh, 1829 (printed by Mr. Jones), the artifieers' yard was to the west of the garrison and somewhat in the form of a triangle and contained a bloekhouse on the west corner of the triangle. This blockhouse must have stood near the present east line of Broad- way. It is not mentioned by the other depon- ents in that ease nor show'n on the map presented in eourt nor is it mentioned by General Harmar in his report to the Seeretary of War. It is how- ever shown on the sketeh of the fort made by Maj. Jonathan Heart in 1791, the familiar sketeh so well known to all interested in the history of Cineinnati.

Major Heart was in the fort from the 20th of April until the departure of the troops for the St. Clair campaign in the fall of the same year, during which time this sketch must have been made. This same bloekhouse was also men- tioned in the "Narrative" of Rev. O. M. Speneer (page 27). In his deseription of early Cinein- nati, as he first saw it in February, 1791, he says :

"Between Eastern row (a narrow street now enlarge into Broadway) and Main street, on Front and Columbia Streets, there were about twenty log houses; and on Syeamore and Main, prineipally on the second bank, or hill, as it was ealled, there were scattered about fifteen eabins more. At the foot of this bank, extending aeross Broadway and Main streets, were large ponds, on which as lately as the winter of 1798, I have seen boys skating. All the ground from the foot of the second bank to the river, between Lawrence street and Broadway, and appropri- ated to the fort, was an open space, on which, al- though no trees were left standing, most of their large trunks were still lying. On the top, and about . eighty feet distant from the brow of the second bank, facing the river, stood Fort Wash- ington, oeeuping nearly all the ground between Third and Fourth streets, and between Ludlow street and Broadway. This fort, of nearly a square form, was simply a wooden fortifieation, whose four sides or walls, cach about one hun- dred and eighty feet long, were constructed of liewed logs, erected into barraeks two stories high, eonneeted at the corners by high piekets, with bastions or blockhouses, also of hewed logs, and projeeting about ten feet in front of each

side of the fort, so that the eannon placed within them eould be brought to rake its walls. Through the eentre of the south side, or front of the fort, was the principal gateway, a passage through this line of barraeks, about twelve feet wide and ten feet high, secured by strong wooden doors of the same dimensions. Appended to the fort on its north side, and enelosed with high pal- isades extending from its northeast and north- west corners to a bloekhouse, was a small trian- gular spaee, in which were eonstrueted shops for the accommodation of the artificers. Extending along the whole front of the fort, was a fine es- planade, about eighty feet wide and enelosed with a handsome paling on the brow of the bank; the deseent from which, to the lower bot- tom, was sloping, about thirty feet. The front and sides of the fort were whitewashed, and at a small distanee presented a handsome and im- posing appearance. On the eastern side were the officers' gardens finely cultivated, ornament- ed with beautiful summer houses and yielding in their season abundance of vegetables."

It will be noticed that this varies from the testimony of Oreutt and the picture by Captain Heart which places the fifth bloekhouse to the west. Some of the blockhouses in Captain Heart's sketeh have the appearance of being hex- agonal instead of square as deseribed. In the eenter of the enelosure stood the flagstaff. The road from the river seems to come along the east side of the structure probably along the line of the present Ludlow street. This led down to the old artifieers' yard which was on the -lower bank near the river a little distanee east of Broadway. This appendage to the fort eon- tained about two acres of ground which were en- elosed by small and contiguous buildings oeeu- pied as work shops and quarters for the labor- rers. Within the enelosure there was a large two-story frame house familiarly ealled the "Yellow House," built for the aeeommodation of the quartermaster-general, Captain Thorp, which was said to be the most commodious and best finished edifiee in Cineinnati. Ranging be- tween the fort and this yard, probably near the southeast corner of Seeond and Broadway, were. several log houses which were occupied by sol- diers. The fort itself as well as the paling fence in front of it was whitewashed (afterwards painted red) and at a short distance must indeed have presented a very handsome and imposing appearance, standing out so. prominently above the little town nestling below it. ( Burnet's Notes, p. 34.)

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To the east, Dr. Allison, as already stated, the surgeon-general of the army, subsequently erect- ed a plain frame dwelling in the center of a large lot cultivated as a garden and fruitery which was called "Peach Grove." To the north on the north side of Fourth street behind the fort, Col. Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Terri- tory, built a convenient frame house which was also surrounded by a spacious garden.

General Harmar was so delighted with the lo- .cation that in March, 1790, he wrote to Judge Symmes speaking of his desire for an acre of ground or perhaps a little more near the garri- son on the east side of it for the purpose of mak- ing a garden. "I suppose by applying to Mr. Ludlow he will be able to stake off three or four lots accordingly. I wish to give him the neces- sary directions." This garden which was located south of Third and east of Ludlow contained a summer house which became one of the points for determination some years later in the cause in the United States Court already referred to. Just previous to this the General had written to a merchant friend of his in Philadelphia, Jona- than Williams, recalling the gay moments passed together in France which recollection afforded him an opportunity 'for comparisons: "Here we are delightfully situated on the most beautiful river in the world, La Belle Riviere, opposite the mouth of Licking in Kentucky. You'll wonder at this when you call to mind the handsome me- anders of the Seine at the foot of your old quar- ters. Society, unless what the military affords, is entirely out of the question. Buffalo, venison, turkeys, and fish of an enormous size (when the season arrives), we have in great abundance .. If ever Miss-Fortune, the slippery jade, should direct your course to the westward, it will give me great pleasure to regale you with some of our dainties. You shall have a hearty soldierly wel- come."

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 36

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