USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 38
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Lieutenant Kingsbury who commanded at Colerain was from Connecticut and served throughout the Revolutionary War. The date of his retirement (June 15, 1815) was forty years after his first enlistment in the Continental Army as a private. He retired as a colonel, hav- ing been inspector general during the previous year. He died July 1, 1837. (The details of the service of the foregoing officers have been in a measure taken by permission from Mr. Jones' monograph on Fort Washington.)
The first commander of the fort of course was Major Doughty who built it. He was succeeded in turn by General Harmar, the commander of the army upon his arrival in December. The fort was named Fort Washington by Harmar at the time of the arrival of St. Clair in January, 1790, at the time Hamilton County and Cincin- nati received their names. After Harmar's de- feat General St. Clair succeeded as major-gen- eral of the army, and Colonel Trueman was in command at the fort. After the disastrous St. Clair expedition, St. Clair placed Major Ziegler in command at the fort and he himself hastened to Philadelphia. (Captain Buel had command- cd during the absence of the army.) Ziegler was soon followed by Colonel Wilkinson. In 1794 Captain Pierce was in command. In 1796 Capt. William Harrison became commander at the fort and continued in his command until his resignation in 1798. General Wilkinson bccamc commander-in-chief of the army and made it his headquarters for many months in 1797 but the command of the fort sccmcd to remain in the hands of Captain Harrison. In 1799 Capt. Ed- ward Miller was in command, as shown by the account of the memorial funeral of General Washington. It appears from an advertisement for a deserter from Washington, published Dc- cember 21, 1800, that Lient. Peter Shiras com- manded at that time. In January, 1801, Cap- tain Vance at the recruiting station advertised for soldiers, offering "an abundant supply of whiskey, food and clothing of the best quality- twelve dollars bounty and ten dollars per month with comfortable quarters and a life of casc."
The local paper, The Centinel, contains fre- quent references to the fort and officers.
14
CHAPTER XV.
THE TOWN AND THE GARRISON.
THE STARVING TIME-THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITY-THE SOLDIERS AGAINST THE TOWNSPEOPLE- THE INDIAN BURIAL-THE HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS-WASHINGTON'S FUNERAL-THE SALE OF THE FORT-THE SECOND REGIMENT.
Many episodes connected with the life of the garrison and its relations to the town arc of in- terest. Despite the great plenty of provisions spoken of by Harmar in his letters there were times in the early days when the fort was re- duced to serious straits in procuring supplies. At. one time in 1789, it is said that Captain Strong's company of regulars were contemplat- ing the abandonment of the post. When all pro- visions and supplies from the stations up the river had given out, John S. Wallace suggested. the purchasing of corn at Columbia while he, Wallace, with some hunters would endeavor to get meat. General Harmar sent Captains Strong and Kearsey to Columbia to procure corn. They made application to James Flinn who was sup- posed to have 500 bushels for sale. Flinn re- fused to sell to them. His reason was that during the previous year when living below Marietta he had furnished supplies to the troops at Fort HIarmar but had never been able to get any pay because of the removal of the officer who made the purchase to some other station. Captain Strong thought that if they could not get corn they should be obliged to retreat on acount of starvation. During the conversation, Luke Fos- ter, afterwards associate judge of the county, came up and asked the difficulty, to which Strong replicd that the difficulty was that the troops had been for nine days on half rations and that the half rations were about out and they were starving for corn. Foster thereupon agreed to lend to the garrison 100 bushels upon condition that it should be returned the next season. The
next season Foster was obliged to ride down to Cincinnati six times to get 19 bushels. This particular crop of corn had been the result of a very careful sowing. Foster had run out of seed corn and the only neighbor who had the amount he wanted, less than a peck, was out of corn meal. Foster happening to have a small quantity of corn meal exchanged it for the corn, 13 pint cup fulls of meal for 13 pints of corn. It was planted thrce grains in a hill and in this way managed to seed two and one-half acres. Although the crop was put in late and it was a dry scason, the soil was so good that the result was very successful. The statement is made that this corn in the hands of Foster, together with that owned by Flinn, constituted at that time two-thirds of the whole supply of Colum- bia and Cincinnati.
Wallace started to the woods to procure the meat with two other settlers, Drennan and De- ment, but Dement knew little of hunting and Drennan having never hunted at all knew less. Wallace however was able to shoot enough for the three ; the other two did their share by carry- ing the mcat on their backs. They went down the river in a canoe to a point ten miles below the fort and landed on the Kentucky side. They used the precaution, which was always neces- sary in a case of this kind, of concealing their boat. This was to prevent the Indians from no- ticing it and lying in ambush for them on their return ;- a frequent occurrence. They struck off into the woods and were very successful in their hunting. They obtained enough buffalo,
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deer and bear meat to last the troops, about sev- enty in number, for six weeks at which time the provisions arrived from Pittsburg. Their suc- cess probably saved the military station at this point. (Cist, Cincinnati in 1859, p. 127.)
In the later years however these straits for supplies disappeared and the officers and men lived in the main at a high rate. This has al- ready been indicated in quotations from Judge Burnet.
During General Wilkinson's time at Fort Washington, he indulged in considerable lux- ury. He is said to have had the first carriage in Cineinnati which was drawn by a fine team of horses. His entertainments were of the most elaborate style some of them taking place on his superb barge which he had built and decorated as a pleasure boat. This is described by H. M. Brackenridge, who saw it at its best as follows :
"The General's lady and several ladies and gentlemen were on board of the boat, which was fitted up in a style of convenience, and even mag- nifieence, seareely surpassed by the present steamboats. It was propelled against the stream by twenty-five or thirty men, sometimes with the pole, by the eordelle, and often by the oar. There was also a band of musicians on board, and the whole had the appearance of a mere party of pleasure. My senses were overpowered-it seemed an Elysium! The splendor of the fur- niture, the elegance of the dresses, and then the luxuries of the table, to a half-starved creature produced an effect which cannot easily be de- scribed. Every repast was a royal banquet, and sueh delicacies were placed before me as I had never seen, and in sufficient abundance to satiate my insatiable appetite. The General's countenance was continually lighted up with smiles, and he seemed the faire le bonheur of all around him. It seemed to be his business to make every one happy."
TIIE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITY.
Conflicts between the civil and military au- thorities were continuous occurrences. This arose from the natural antagonism which exists in a community on which is quartered a military foree but it was largely fostered by the difficulties between St. Clair and his associates, Judges Turner and Symmes. Turner particularly was very tenacious of the rights of the civil author- ities.
The letter of St. Clair to Judge Turner writ- ten from the fort on June 14, 1791, goes at
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length into a matter of the relative jurisdictions of the civil and military authorities. Turner had given an order of commitment remanding a pris- oner for safe keeping to the custody of Colonel Trueman at Fort Washington. This was ob- jected to as liable to establish a bad precedent and for the reason that the military guard-house was not intended for the purpose of confining prisoners charged with all manner of crimes. St. Clair in his letter to the Judge goes into the question at length.
Despite the many disclaimers, it is apparent that the best of feeling did not exist between the two. To receive Turner's note St. Clair had been awakened out of his sleep when he had been more than two hours in bed, "which was not a very proper time for business of that nature." Although the gates of the fort had been long shut the officer of the day had admitted the pris- oner for the night only. St. Clair refused to al- low the sheriff to use the guard-house as a jail and suggested that a military officer holding a prisoner guilty of offenses against the municipal law might be liable to an action for false im- prisonment. He admitted that the troops of the United States were paid for the protection of the people and the government but the manner of that protection was not to be determined by a judge or a justice or by all'of them together, al- though he was willing as a matter of accommo- dation to permit the sheriff to use the guard- house. This permission was not granted as a matter of right. He conceived it to be the duty of the sheriff to provide a jail and if necessary to make a jail of his own house. If the sheriff refused to do this, he would displace him and ap- point another and would afford all the military assistance necessary, but he very properly insist- ed upon keeping the military and civil power distinct. Having given his opinion, he there- upon called upon Judge Turner as the law officer of the administration for his opinion on a num- ber of points connected with the controversy, a practice that has not been favored by our sys- tem of jurisprudence.
In this controversy Judge Symmes wrote an opinion to the effect that it was lawful to con- fine a prisoner of the civil law in a military guard-house and that the sheriff was not dis- charged of responsibility thereby nor could a military officer be held responsible for the safe keeping of the prisoner or be prosecuted in ease of his escape from custody. Judge Turner some months later brought about another conflict be- tween the civil and military authorities by issu-
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ing a writ of habeas corpus for the release of a military prisoner. The commandant of the fort, Colonel Trueman, refused to obey the order to produce the body of the prisoner in court and was sustained in his action by the Governor. The prisoner had been charged with a capital offense under the military law,-the offense of persuading a soldier to desert and of pro- viding him with the means of escape. The de- serter had been arrested, tried and executed and on the scaffold had confessed the facts in the case.
The difficulties between the citizens and the soldiers are referred to in Symmes' letter of Au- gust 15, 1791 :
"The Governor's proclamations have con- vulsed these settlements beyond your conception, sir, not only with regard to the limits of the purchase, but also with respect to his putting part of the town of Cincinnati under military government. Nor do the people find their sub- ordination to martial law a very pleasant situa- tion. A few days ago a very decent citizen, by the name of Shaw, from New England (and one, too, who lived with his family a consid- erable distance beyond the limits assigned by proclamation round Fort Washington, for the exercise of the law martial), was put in irons, as I was yesterday credibly informed, his house burned by the military, and he banished the Ter- ritory. I hear his charges are, that of purchas- ing some of the soldiers' clothing, and advising in some desertions ; but of this he was not other- wise convicted (for he asserts his innocence), than by the soldier's accusation after he had de- serted and been retaken, which he might pos- sibly do in order to shift the blame in some de- gree front himself in hopes of more favor. There are, indeed, many other acts of a despotic com- plexion, such as some of the officers, Capt. Arm- strong, Capt. Kirkwood, Lient. Pastures, and Ensign Schuyler, very recently, and Capt. Strong, Capt. Ford, Capt. Ashton, and Ensign Hartshorn, while General Harmar commanded, beating and imprisoning citizens at their pleas- ure. But here, in justice to the officers general- ly of the levies, I ought to observe that, as yet, I have heard no complaint of any severity or wantonness in them. The violence of which ] speak are found among the officers of the regu- lar troops, who, in too many instances, are im- periously haughty, and evidently affect to look down on the officers of the levies. [ hcar there are several officers with their corps from Jersey arrived at headquarters, but I have not seen any
of them, as I had left Cincinnati a day or two before their arrival, and have not been there since. It really becomes a very unpleasant place to me, for I have always had something in my nature which was shocked at acts of tyranny, and when at that place, my eyes and ears are every day saluted with more or less of those acts which border hard on it."
The proclamation referred to was that of July 19, 1781, which was issued by St. Clair for the purpose of preventing the settlement of land ly- ing eastward of the twenty-mile line which was the first boundary of the Symmes purchase. The citizen, Shaw, referred to is probably one of the family of Esquire Shaw, who with his sons Knoles and Alvin were members of the com- pany which first settled Crosby township in 1801.
Much of this trouble arose from the incompat- ibility of civil and military authority, especially in new settlements. In such cases there seems to be a constant irritation that is very difficult to allay. An illustration of this condition is shown by the occurrence reported in Symmes' letter of June 15, 1792 :
"The superority which the Governor affected to give the military over citizens, is maintained with ridiculous importance by some of the offi- cers. I will give you one instance: Captain John Armstrong, who commands, for the pres- ent, at Fort Hamilton, has, within a few days past, ordered out of the purchase some of Mr. Dunlap's settlers, at Colerain, against whom he has a pique. He threatens to dislodge them with a party of soldiers if he is not obeyed. The citizens have applied to me for advice, andl 1 have directed them to pay no regard to his menaces, yet I very much fear he will put his threats into execution, for I well know his im- perious disposition. This same Armstrong, soon after the Governor had ordered Knoles Shaw's house burned, and himself and family banished, met with Mr. Martin, the deputy sheriff, with whom a little before, he had some dispute tonching the superiority of the civil or military authority. Armstrong now deridingly takes the sheriff by the sleeve, saying: 'What think you of the civil authority now.'
THE SOLDIERS AGAINST THE TOWNSPEOPLE.
A much more serious matter occurred on Feb- ruary 12, 1792. Lieutenant Pasteur of Symmes" letter became involved in a quarrel with Jolin Bartle. Bartle was one of the most prominent men in the place and kept a store at the corner
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of Front and Broadway where the Spencer House now stands. The officer decoyed Bartle on pretense of business to come to the fort and thereupon, surrounded as he was by his friends, he assaulted Bartle and beat him severely. Bartle promptly prosecuted the arrogant soldier and in the course of the trial his attorney, Mr. Blanchard, denounced the conduct of the officer in unmeasured terms and made him appear in so contemptible a light as to divert the anger of Pasteur from the client to the attorney. There- upon a sergeant and 30 private soldiers accom- panied the lieutenant to chastise personally the lawyer and his supporters. Naturally, the. citi- zens took the part of their own associates and a riot took place on Main street between Front and Second, in the neighborhood of Mr. Mc- Millan's office. McMillan, who was the magis- trate, and Col. John Riddle with 18 of the citi- zens succeeded in driving the soldiers off. This affair naturally aroused great excitement and indignation and General Wilkinson who was then in command reduced the sergeant to the ranks. He would have inflicted further punish- ment upon the sergeant and would have pun- ished the soldiers had it not been apparent that they acted under orders. Pasteur himself was tried at the Court of General Quarter Sessions in the following year and sentenced to pay a fine of three dollars for his assault. The im- mediate result of the affray was the issuing of a general order :
"HEADQUARTERS FORT WASHINGTON, "February 13, 1792.
"The riot in the town of Cincinnati yester- day, and the outrage committed by a party of soldiers on the person of a magistrate of this Territory, is a dishonor to the military and an indignity to the National Government, which de- mands that the most exemplary punishment should be inflicted on the perpetrators. Al- though the Commandant cannot admit the idea that any gentleman in commission who wears the garb of honor could be instrumental or ac- cessory to this flagitious transaction, yet the cir- cuinstances of a sergeant and twenty or thirty men from the same company, leaving the gar- rison in a body, as has been represented to the Commandant, carries with it an aspect of pre- meditation, and may subject the officer com- manding such company to undue suspicions and censures. To avert such consequences in future, and to restrain the licentious habits of the sol- diery, the Commandant calls for the firm co-
operation and support of his officers, and orders that all duties beyond the walls of the garrison, whether for water, wood or provisions, must be done by detachment, under a non-commis- sioned officer, who shall be answerable for the conduct of such detachment. No private is to pass the gateway on any other pretence without a special commission from the commanding offi- cer. The Commandant laments that he should be reduced to the necessity of exerting so rigid a system of police, but he considers it indis- pensably necessary, not only to the good of the service but the honor of the corps.
"By order,
"JOHN WADE, "Ensign, Fort Adj't."
Another affray between the citizens and sol- diers took place two years later. In the spring of this year a detachment of Kentucky volun- teers who were on their way to join Wayne encamped for a few days in the vicinity of Cin- cinnati. They were accompanied by about one hundred friendly Indians, Choctaws of the Mis- sissippi region, who encamped on Deer creek. With the Indians was a young white woman who was held as a captive, having been taken in Western Pennsylvania some time previous. It was thought that she had relatives in this city but this did not turn out to be true but several of the citizens happened to know her friends and relatives near Pittsburg as they themselves had come from that neighborhood and after considerable negotiations one of them succeeded in ransoming the girl upon the pay- ment of a barrel of Monongahela whiskey. The whiskey and the girl were exchanged at a tav- ern just above John Bartle's store on Broad- way and the trade was celebrated by the Indians with many libations. The jollification continued until the whiskey had been pretty well consumed, whereupon having no visible evidence for their bargain the Indians concluded that they had been imposed upon and were for retaking the girl from her friends. These naturally objected in a very peaceable yet firm manner and the girl was secreted so that the Indians could not find her. The white men involved in the party were all Irishmen from Pennsylvania and were as- sisted by many others of their countrymen and other citizens. At that time the lower end of Broadway was very narrow but widened rapidly as it went up the hill. The east side was occu- pied by the artificers' shop belonging to the garrison. The Indians retired for a time but presently came back crowding down Broadway
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to the number of fifty and were met at the nar- row part of the street by the Irish contingent and a general mêlée ensued. The weapons used were stones and rocks at first but presently the Irish began to do effective work with sticks or shillalas and although much inferior in number put the redskins to flight up the hill. The leader of the Irishmen was a well-known citizen, Isaac Anderson, who had been taken captive at Laughery's defeat and who felt that he had a grudge against the whole race of redskins re- gardless of their nation and was endeavoring to pay off part of it. It became necessary for Captain Pierce, who was in command at the garrison at that time, to send out troops to quiet the disturbance but they arrived after the fight was over. As a result of this engagement, the row of cabins on the east side of Broadway near the river was called Battle row; this name it retained until 1810 when the houses were re- moved. The girl who caused all the controversy was returned to her friends in Pennsylvania and is said by Mr. Cist to have been living as late as 1859. (Cist, Cincinnati in 1859, p. 135.)
Again in September of the same year it be- came necessary to issue orders for the protec- tion of these and other friendly Choctaw In- dians who were returning from the Miamis of the Lakes where they had been assisting Wayne against the hostiles. The feeling of the com- munity against all Indians was very high at this time and a number of lawless spirits assaulted this party. The Secretary of the Territory, Mr. Sargent, who was at that time the commander of the militia, applied to Judge McMillan about four o'clock in the afternoon stating that it had been represented to him that great violence had been committed on a party of Choctaw Indians by a number of people of the town armed with clubs and calling upon him to take legal meas- ures to prevent a repetition of the outrage and the sacrifice of the lives not only of the Indians but of inhabitants. Two hours later he felt called upon to write to Captain Pierce, then in charge of the garrison, as follows:
"Since I parted from you, I have too sufficient reason to believe that attempts may, indeed, will be made upon the lives of the Choctaw Indians this night; and, although I have ordered out a militia guard, and shall make every possible ex- ertion to prevent mischief, it appears to me that it can not be done unless you take the Indians into the fort immediately. 1, therefore, presume thus, in writing, to reiterate my advice, and stand exculpated under all possible circum- stances."
In accordance with this suggestion it appears that the Indians were taken into the fort for protection over night.
The following militia order was also issued : "Twenty privates from the militia, with the due complement of non-commissioned officers, to be paraded immediately, at Mr. Cutter's, near the churchyard. Major Gano will command this party, and make such dispositions as shall seem best calculated to establish and preserve order at Cincinnati, and afford protection to the Choctaw Indians.
"Colonel Sargent, with the civil officers of the town, and some private gentlemen, will rein- force this guard at an early hour.
"WINTHROP SARGENT, "Commanding the Militia."
The lawlesness of the mob in Cincinnati was certainly very great, for not only were the friendly Indians assailed with clubs and stones and guns, but two balls were fired into the dwelling of Secretary Sargent, and for several nights violence ran riot in the streets of the town. The County Court paying no attention to the matter, when the United States Court met, the Secretary addressed a communication to Judge Putnam, reciting the facts and asked for a spe- cial inquiry. He also said that, unless the hatred of the old pioneers against the Indians could be controlled, it would lead to serious conse- quences. (St. Clair Papers, Vol. II, pp. 328 and 336.)
A curious illustration of the feelings of the old citizens of the Territory at this period to- wards the Indians, and of the difficulties which Governor St. Clair had to encounter to pre- serve peace and the lives of the inhabitants, is afforded by an advertisement which was issued by citizens in the Miami purchase in 1794. It was as follows :
"PUBLIC NOTICE."
"Whereas, many good citizens of this Terri-, tory, with a design to check the incursions of hostile Indians now at war with the people of the United States, have voluntarily entered into and subscribed their names to certain articles; each name having a sum annexed thereto, and have severally bound themselves, their heirs, etc., to pay the same, as in the said articles are mentioned :
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