USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 48
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The establishment of stations was of course much affected by the success or defeat of the army. In the letter of November 4, 1790, after Harmar's defeat, Symmes speaks of attempting to go from the Bend to Captain Ludlow's Sta- tion and getting lost in the woods for two days. He finally found himself near Dunlap's Station on the Big Miami, having escaped the Indians but having been nearly captured by wolves. It is apparent from this that the presence of the Indians was a matter to be counted upon. "But for the repulse of our army, I should have had several new stations advanced farther into the purchase by next spring, but I shall now be happy if we are able to maintain the three ad- vanced stations."
It was at Ludlow's Station that St. Clair's army encamped for some time on account of better food for the cattle. After St. Clair's de- feat the settlements were all mich alarmed and many of the stations were abandoned. Dunlap. however, the founder of the station at Colerain prevailed on the settlers to return to that point.,
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as this had been considered the best barrier to all the settlements, which reoccupation gave con- fidence to the other stations. A guard of six soldiers which returned with the settlers to Col- erain was ordered back by St. Clair to Fort Washington and upon St. Clair's departure for Philadelphia, Ziegler, who succeeded him, re- placed the men having great confidence in the value of these stations. The stations were guard- ed from time to time by soldiers but for some unexplained reason the officers of the regular army seemed to begrudge any troops for the protection of these pioncer outposts. Dr. Go- forth in his letter of September 3, 1791, refers to two of the stations in giving the number of militia at the various points. "The number of militia at these stations, from the best accounts I have received, are at Columbia, 200; Cincinnati, 150; South Bend, 20; City of Miami, 80; Dun- lap's, 15; and Covalt's, 20." The activity of the Indians was directed very largely against these stations and it was here that settlers braved the greatest dangers. The principal station by rea- son of the prominence of the settler and of its subsequent residents and also because of the fact that it is a part of the present city of Cin- cinnati was Ludlow's Station.
This station did not suffer as much from the attacks as some of the others however. Other important stations were Dunlap's Station at Colerain on the east side of the Great Miami River in the great bend about a half mile south of the county line; Covalt's Station on the Little Miami just below the present site of Milford and White's Station northeast of the present site of Carthage on the bank of Mill creek.
LUDLOW'S STATION,
Which was established in the spring of 1790, was in many respects the most famous of all the stations. Its site was what is now the north part of Cumminsville and is within the limits of Cin- cinnati, about five miles from Fountain square. It was at this point that St. Clair's army rendez- voused preparatory to the expedition of 1791, staying there from August 7 to September 17, 1791.
On March 9, 1790, Israel Ludlow entered land warrants 83 and 84, locating the west half of section 23 in the third township of the second fractional range. Here with James Miller, Jos- eph and Enoch McHendry, Daniel Bates, Elijah Hardesty, Frederick Patchel, John Nobel Cum- mins, . Jonathan Pierson, Enos Terrace and Thomas Goudy he formed a settlement. Goudy,
a native of Pennsylvania, was a lawyer and having reached the city as early as 1789 has been called the first lawyer in the town. Four years after his arrival he married the sister of John S. Wallace. His descendants are still living north of Reading.
The settlers erected a blockhouse at the point known as Knowlton's Corner where Knowlton street intersects the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Day- ton Railway. After St. Clair's defeat, the set- tlement was entirely deserted and the soldiers when they encamped here at the time of their re- treat took possession of the cabins and block- houses which were entirely unoccupied. After a time the settlers drifted back, among whom was Abner Boston who had a cabin near the station. Ludlow himself did not reside at the station until after the treaty of Greenville, as his business interests kept him in Cincinnati where he lived at the northwest corner of Front and Main streets in the first frame house built in Cincinnati in 1791. The blockhouse stood upon the ground now occupied by the Cumminsville Christian Church, which was built from the liberality of Colonel Ludlow's daughter, Mrs. McLean. When Ludlow moved to the station in 1796, he erected his dwelling house some dis- tance above the site of the blockhouse, where as the Ludlow mansion it has become familiar to many generations of Cincinnatians. It was at first a log structure but subsequently covered with weather boarding and at the time of its crection was regarded as the best looking and largest house in the neighborhood of Cincin- nati.
E. D. Mansfield, the son of Jared Mansfield, the surveyor-general, describes the house in his reminiscences : "It was then a large two-story dwelling with wings-the best looking and I think the largest house then in Cincinnati. My father being surveyor-general took one of the wings as his office, and the other was used as the kitchen ; the lawn sloped down toward Mill creek and there was a large garden. This house is still standing in the midst of Cumminsville. *
* It had a large apple orchard and two gardens, a kitchen and a flower garden." Mr. Mansfield's accounts of the life at this house give a charming view of many of the people who constituted what was the best of the early society of Cincinnati.
Mrs. Ludlow, who survived her husband after his premature death in 1804, had come from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was a member of the Chambers family. Her letters are among
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the best descriptions we have of the life of that time. Slie was a woman of fine education and many accomplishments and so popular among the Indians as to receive front them the name of Athapasca,-the good woman. After the death of her husband in 1804, she moved to Cincinnati but upon her remarriage in 1810 to Rev. David Risk, she returned to live at the station. Her second husband died in 1818 after which she lived in Cincinnati for a time and afterwards among relatives in Franklin where she died in 1821. 1
Her granddaughter, the daughter of James C. Ludlow, Sara Bella Dunlop Ludlow, became the third wife of Salmon P. Chase. Another grand- daughter married Randall Hunt of New Or- leans. A daughter, Sara Bella Ludlow became the wife of John McLean, afterwards justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She had first married a young lawyer from Kentucky named Garrard. Two of her sons became prom- inent soldiers during the War of the Rebellion, both of them attaining the rank of general. Mr. Mansfield gives us a lively picture of Sarah Bella, "who was quite near his own age, and a fair haired bright eyed girl, a perfect blonde. She grew up to be a handsome woman and was as brilliant as handsome. She was as long as I saw much of her one of the most attractive persons in society.
"When they left the 'station' for us the little Sara gave me in a keg a large number of duck eggs which subsequently proved a great amuse- ment. I hatched my eggs under hens and found myself having a flock of seventeen ducks all of which were white without a dark feather. That flock of ducks was my pride and delight. One day I was thrown in a great fright by a very natural though to me a strange incident. Wild ducks were very numerous in the creek, and my white ducks got to associating with themn; so one morning the wild ducks took flight into the skies and my ducks with them. I thought they were gone but after a while to my delight they returned."
Other visitors mentioned by Mr. Mansfield, in addition to Little Turtle whose visit has been noted, were "John Mansfield a young man of ex- traordinary worth and genius; Joseph Totten, who afterwards became General of Engineers; Dr. Daniel Drake, the most distinguished physi- cian of the Ohio Valley; Judge afterwards Gov- ernor Brown, and others of less note and equal- ly agreeable members of the social circle."
THE MANSFIELDS.
The Mansfield family itself was no less note- worthy in the early days of this community. In addition to the surveyor-general and his son, the editor, biographer and. historian, was Miss Harriet Sisson, "my father's nicce and adopted daughter. While at Ludlow Station she married Dr. Daniel Drake a man of genius and science." Dr. Drake as is apparent to any student of the early history of Cincinnati was in many respects the most considerable figure of his time. '"My father had in his office two nephews both of whom were pleasant and even brilliant men. One of these, Captain John Fenno Mansfield, was an older brother of General Mansfield and was killed at Antietam. Captain John F. Mans- field was thought by my parents, who were good judges, to be the most promising man they knew. He was a man .of genius, a student of science, and an elegant writer. Some of his writings appear in the 'Portfolio,' edited by Major Denny."
Captain Mansfield was captain of one of the two volunteer companies in Cincinnati in the spring of 1812 and became a part of the army of Hull, and with that army was surrendered at Detroit. He was seized with a fever while crossing Lake Erie and died just after his re- turn to Cincinnati "not of fever alone but of a broken heart." The other nephew referred to was Joseph Gilbert Totten, then about 18 years of age "a genial, pleasing and popular person." His subsequent career is well known. He graduated at West Point, served through the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the War of the Rebellion, during which he had become chief of the En- gineer Corps." Mansfield left Ludlow's Station in June, 1809, having lived there almost four years. ( Mansfield's Personal Memories, Chap- ters II and III.)
Other visitors to the Ludlow mansion at various times were John Cleves Symmes, Arthur St. Clair, Anthony Wayne, William H. Harri- son, Governor Worthington, Salmon P. Chase, Jacob Burnet, Nicholas Longworth, Oliver M. Spencer, Judge Goforth, Governor Meigs, Gov- ernor Brown, Lewis Cass, Gen. Jolin S. Gano, Judge D. K. Este, Gen. William Lytle, Gen. J. H. Piatt, Little Turtle, and Bok-on-ja-la-lus, (our old friend Bohengechalus). (Teetor, Mill- creek Valley, p. 127.)
Mrs. Ludlow in a letter written to Dr. Bou- dlinot from this station describes the visit she received from the celebrated Indian chief just
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mentioned : "About the year 1800, in the month of June, near the middle of the day, as I sat in my parlor at Ludlow's Station, commanding a view of the smooth green yard, slightly shaded from the fervor of the sun by the depending boughs of three luxuriant willows, which a few years had brought to sentimental perfection- with feelings in perfect accordance with the harmony of the scene, I experienced a tranquil- ity of mind to which I had been for some time a stranger, and forgot for the moment that there was in all the world a human being less happy than myself.
"I was interrupted by the entrance of two strangers of uncommon interest. The first was my old friend, the Delaware chief, Bok-on-ja- ha-lus. I rose to meet him with a cordial wel- come. After taking my hand, he said, 'La-na- pak-wa (a name given me by the Delaware In- dians) this is my friend Kin-ka-box-kie.' They took their seats, and informed me that they had called for the purpose of taking dinner, having made the engagement with my husband in town. They were on their return from seeing the Great Father, as they called the President.
"At dinner they received my attentions as persons of good breeding in those circles where good breeding excludes every useless ceremony. "Kin-ka-box-kie was taciturn. When he spoke, it was in the Delaware tongue. He de- sired his friend to tell me that he could not speak English. Bok-on-ja-ha-lus informed me that the President had said 'they must improve their lands; their young men must learn to plough ; their young women must learn to spin.' He seemed dejected, but he was noble in his de- portment. While we sat conversing at the table after the cloth was removed, he said, 'Lah-na- pak-wa, we now go.' 'And when shall I see you again, Bok-on-ja-ha-lus?' said I. 'Me old; me soon lay down,' said he, with a horizontal mo- tion of his hand. Then raising his eyes to Heaven, with an ardent emotion, he added with an effusion of feeling I have never seen more expressive, 'But we shall meet with Jesus.' I took his hand, inquiring with rapture, 'Bok-on- ja-ha-lus do you know Jesus?' He answered with firmness, 'Me know Jesus ; me love Jesus.' Then rising from the table, they shook hands with me, solemnly saying farewell. My eyes followed their venerable figures until the door closed from my view for the last time in this world Bok-on-ja-ha-lus and his friend."
Ludlow's original tract of land embraced what is now Spring Grove Cemetery, a part of Clif-
ton and the town of Cumminsville. At his death in 1804 the part where the blockhouse was erect- ed came into the possession of his son, James C. Ludlow. At the time of the building of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway, it be- came necessary to destroy this fortification which was in the line of the road. The place contin- ued to be known as Ludlow's Station for many years although little was done towards building a town there. In 1832 a log school house in the neighborhood was used by preachers who came to the neighborhood, among them Rev. David Fergus and Rev. David Root, Presby- terians, and Rev. Walter Scott of the Christian Church. The Hall of Free Discussion was built by James C. Ludlow in 1832 in the interest of education, literature, and religion and Mrs. MC- Lean finally donated the site of the old block- house for the Christian Church which dated back as far as 1832. The neighborhood was some- times called the "Tan-yard" from the tannery of David Cummins which was in the triangle formed by Spring Grove avenue, Hamilton pike and Blue Rock street in the early "forties."
CUMMINSVILLE.
David Cummins, a son of one of the early pio- neers, was born in a house on Third street op- posite the Burnet House. He is said by Dr. Drake to have been the first child born in Cin- cinnati. "The eldest born of a broad and bril- liant succession was David Cummins, whose name has been appropriately perpetuated in our little neighbor-Cumminsville, the site of which was then a sugar tree wood with groves of paw- paw and spicewood bushes." The place of his birth was a "humble log cabin in front of where the Burnet House now stands." Other candi- dates for this important honor mentioned else- where are William Moody, born at the southi- west corner of Fourth and Main streets, a daugh- ter of Samuel Kitchel and Maj. Daniel Gano. There is a John Cummins mentioned in Timothy Flint's "Wars of the West," who was probably the same person. (Drake's Discourses, p. 20.)
Just above this on a knoll was the tavern of Mr. Hutchinson where afterwards was located the celebrated Hoffner residence. Between Mr. Cummins and the Hutchinson family there arose a contest of historic interest. A stream of water flowed from the Hutchinson place from which Mr. Cummins by his deed was entitled to use as much as would flow through "five three-quar- ter inch auger holes." Hutchinson had connect- ed with his tavern a farm of two hundred acres
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on which was a dairy and on a dry summer s day his wife frightened by the scarcity of water plugged up the pipe to the tannery. It was opened naturally enough by the Cummins fac- tion and again closed. The controversy involved all the members of both families and all those connected with them and all the neighbors. A Corsican vendetta, to the extent of reprisals in the way of destroying the property of the con- testants. ensued. Naturally lawsuits followed and court costs and attendant expenses finally impoverished the litigants. Mr. Hutchinson's farm was mortgaged to the United States Bank and finally on the foreclosure of the mortgage the property was taken by the bank and sold. Mr. Hoffner bought the tavern with 47 acres of land for $5,000. Mr. Cummins on his part lost his tan-yard which fell into the hands of Ephraim Knowlton from whom runs the name of Knowl- ton's corner. This is the first instance recorded in the annals of Hamilton County of the serious result which follows from watering stock.
Knowlton had built his dwelling and his store at the junction of the old Wayne and St. Clair roads, now Spring Grove avenue and Hamilton pike, along in the early "twenties." On the burning of this house he erected the stone struc- ture known as Knowlton's Corner. In 1845 he laid out part of his farm in lots extending from Mill creek to the west of Colerain pike. When the post office was established, he its first post- master gave to it the name of Cumminsville in memory of the old tanner whose property he had bought.
The village was incorporated November 29, 1865, and was annexed to the city of Cincinnati as the 25th Ward, September 6, 1872. Strange- ly enough the name Ludlow is in no way at present identified with the village which owed its origin to the pioneer. For a few years the post office was called Ludlow but the name was soon abandoned. It is now, under the new sub- division of the city, the 23rd Ward.
COLERAIN OR DUNLAP'S STATION.
In the early spring of 1790, John Dunlap and associates laid out the station of Colerain on the Great Miami, 17 miles northwest of Fort Wash- ington. Dunlap was an Irishman from Cole- raine, Ireland, and was one of the surveyors of the Miami. A few settlers joined him and built a fort or station at this spot. It consisted of a cluster of cabins facing each other occupy- ing a space of about an acre and connected to- gethier with pickets, eight feet high composed
of small timber split in half and sharpened at the ends and set a sufficient depth in the ground. At the corners were small blockhouses. The roofs of the cabins were built so as to slope out- ward with eves so low that it is said the dogs were accustomed to jump from the stumps on the outside to the roof and so get into the en- closure. Within this fortification dwelt about thirty people, men, women and children of whom not more than ten were able to bear arms. The fear of the Indians whose marauding parties fre- quently came down as far as the Ohio caused ap- plication to be made at Fort Washington for a garrison. Lieutenant Kingsbury was sent with 18 soldiers to assist the station. This little station was the scene on January 10, 1791, of the fiercest and longest sustained Indian attack made upon any of the settlements within the limits of Hamilton County and its story has been told by several of the survivors.
THE ATTACK ON DUNLAP'S STATION.
On January 8th, Col. John S. Wallace, a native of Pennsylvania and one of the carliest settlers of Cincinnati, was surveying on the west bank of the Great Miami. He was accompanied by Abner Hunt, who was also a surveyor and John Sloan and Mr. Cunningham. They had encamped during the night and after breakfast- ing on venison which they roasted at their camp fire they set out to explore the Miami bottoms above the spot where Dunlap's Station was lo- cated. They had proceeded not more than seventy yards when they were attacked in the rear by savages who had undoubtedly prepared an am- buscade for them. At the first volley of eight or ten guns, Cunningham fell to the ground. Hunt was thrown from his horse and made a prisoner before he could recover. Sloan was shot through the body but managed to keep his feet and started off on the run with Wallace who was unhurt. About all the Indians pursued Wallace for over a mile and a half, but by reason of his uncommon activity he was able to escape them. He was accompanied by Hunt's loose horse. Wallace was shot at twice before he caught up with Sloan but fortunately was not hit. His leggings became loosened and at the moment of the first shot he tripped and fell. Supposing him struck by the bullet the Indians raised a shout, "Wah! Hoo!" calculating on the cer- tainty of his scalp. He hastily tied his leggings and resumed his flight and effected his escape. They succeeded in crossing the Miami River and headed for Fort Washington. On the way
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Sloan faint from his wound stopped but Wallace advised him to thrust part of his shirt in the bullet-hole to stop the flow of blood. After traveling about six miles they fell into the trace from Colerain and concluded to visit that post and put the settlers there on their guard, es- pecially as Sloan was so weak and faint from the loss of blood and the opening of his wound, that they concluded that it would be impossible to reach the farther point. That night it rained, froze and finally snowed six or seven inches in depth.
The garrison had no special reason to expect an attack, and on the next morning, Sunday, Lieutenant Kingsbury sent out four or five men, who were guided by Wallace, to the scene of the disaster, where they found the body of the unfortunate Cunningham, tomahawked and scalped. They buried it on the spot, and re- turned without molestation. So assured was Kingsbury that there was no danger that he sur- rendered his own quarters to Sloan and spent the night in the soldiers' quarters in lively and jocose conversation. The next morning at sun- rise just as the women were milking the cows, the fort was invested by a party of five hundred Indians, commanded by Simon Girty. His broth- er was also in the attacking force, as well as Blue Jacket and other well known chiefs. The first notice of the Indians' presence was given by a large black dog, which sprang from a stump on the outside upon one of the cabins and began barking furiously ; but for this alarm the In- dians would have been at the gates and every soul in the garrison would have been massacred, so secret and quiet had been their . approach. Lieutenant Kingsbury immediately clapped his hands and called : "The Indians !"
So unsuspicious was the garrison that they thought this alarm by Kingsbury to be merely a ruse to put them to the proof, as of course the alarm should have been given by the sentry. A volley, however, fired by the Indians soon brought the occupants of the station to a reali- zation of the actual condition of affairs. This shot wounded a soldier named McVickar. The soldiers within were at once posted in their posi- tions, without waiting for them to dress them- selves. One of them, William Wiseman, tells us that he had on no clothing except a shirt, and this probably was the condition of many others. Wiseman, who was Kingsbury's orderly-ser- geant, tells us that hie ran into the mill-house, a small building not far from the blockhouse, which had no chinking or danbing. His action
was from curiosity, as he had never seen an Indian. "To his unaccustomed vision, the whole face of the earth appeared at first to be covered with them, and their peculiar headgearing of feathers and pigment, and the horrid jingling of the deerhoofs and horns, tied around their knees, presented a spectacle of great interest, so much so as to make him forget, for the moment, that they were enemies, and had invested the station with a hostile intent."
The Indians had surrounded the fortress en- tirely on the land side, and were resting their flanks on the bank of the stream on either side of the station. Wiseman says that the thought of firing did not occur to him, but he stood lean- ing on his musket, looking at the Indians until another man, MeVickar, came into the mill- house. The Indians, who seem to have over- looked Wiseman, saw McVickar, and fired at him, and wounded him in the arm. Some of the balls from the volley coming in close prox- imity to Wiseman convinced him of the ex- pediency of retiring to a place of shelter. He went to the blockhouse and put on his clothes, and then was located at a port-hole, where he staid all that day and ensuing night without being relieved.
The Indians in the meantime had sheltered themselves behind the logs which were lying about, and finding that the garrison was prepared, they demanded a parley. Abner Hunt, who had been captured with Wallace's party, was placed upon a log three or four rods from the pickets. He was securely bound, his arms were pinioned behind him, and Simon Girty, lying behind the log, hield the cord by which he was bound. He was compelled to demand the surrender of the place upon the promise that life and property would be respected. The consciousness of his own danger induced him to urge the acceptance of these terms. No one in the fort, however, was willing to trust to. the good faith of Girty. and Kingsbury refused to consider the propos- tion. It became apparent in the course of the parley that Simon Girty was in command, and his brother George was with them, as well as Blue Jacket. The Indians claimed to have pres- ent five hundred of their number, with three hundred in the neighborhood, and to have scouts guarding the way between the station and Fort Washington.
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