Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 89

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I > Part 89

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The next day the Confederate forces, who did not know that they had gained any vic- tory, and who had really retired from the battle-field at night as far as our own soldiers had retired, came slowly and cautiously up towards the new Union lines, took a careful look at them, heard the loud cheers of the Union legion as Rosecrans rode along them, and decided not to attack ! The great object of the campaign, the great prize of the bat- tle, namely, the city of Chattanooga, was in possession of the National troops, and never again went out of their hands.

And this was the campaign, this the battle, with which some have associated the terms "failure " and "defeat !" The gallant Army of the Cumberland had crossed a great river, toiled over two chains of mountains, and, under the leadership of the brightest military genius that the war developed, had com-

562

DELAWARE COUNTY.

pletely deceived the enemy and manœuvred him by masterly strategy out of his strong- hold, then had baffled all his efforts to regain it, had fought nearly double its own numbers for two days, suffering a loss of 15,000 men and inflicting a loss of more than 18,000 upon the enemy, had held the field until it retired of its own choice and after all firing had ceased, then leisurely assumed the new position which its great leader had prepared, and then defiantly awaited another attack which its awfully punished foe did not dare to make. And it held the city it had won and for which the battle was fought. Was all this failure and defeat? The blood of every soldier who fell upon that gory field cries out against the falsehood !

Abraham Lincoln's clear eye perceived the truth ; he saw that the skill of Rosecrans had assured relief to East Tennessee, had cut the line of the enemy's defence by rail, had secured the key that was to unlock the treasure-house of the foe, and had opened the way to the very heart of the Confederacy. He telegraphed Rosecrans, as well he might, "be of good cheer; we have unabated con- fidence in your soldiers, in your officers and in you."

And Rosecrans was of good cheer, and immediately devised the plans for reopening communications along the line of the Nash- ville and Chattanooga railroad, plans which others afterwards executed ; for the clear- sighted Lincoln yielded to some sinister in- fluence ; and the brilliant leader of the Army of the Cumberland, after a campaign which in all its aspects was one of the most success- ful known to history, and in the very midst of the city which his valor and genius had won, found himself summarily relieved of his command ! It was the one act of meas- ureless injustice and wrong which, while not Abraham Lincoln's fault, stains the annals of his otherwise spotless career.

On resigning his commission General Rose- crans went to California and became a citizen of that State. He was offered and declined the Democratic nomination for governor of California in 1867. He was also offered the nomination for governor by the conven- tion of Independent Republicans held at Marysville, and declined. In 1868 he was nominated and confirmed as United States minister to Mexico, without con- sultation or knowledge on his part until offi- cially notified thereof. He accepted this appointment on condition that he should be allowed carte-blanche to represent the

good will of the American republic towards Mexico.

In 1869 he returned to California and re- sumed the practice of his profession, namely, that of civil and mining engineering. should be stated, however, that during his residence in Mexico he became thoroughly convinced that the mutual prosperity of Mex- ico and the United States would be promoted by the progress of Mexico under her own autonomy, and, acting in accordance with his carte-blanche, he urged the Mexican cabinet and other leaders to further and foster the construction of railroads. His efforts in this direction met with such success that the ini- tiative period of Mexican development in this regard dates from the time of these earnest efforts on his part.

In 1869 he was also offered and declined the Democratic nomination for Governor of Ohio. In 1870 he memorialized Congress, urging the encouragement of commerce with Mexico. In 1872-3, at the instance of influ- ential people in this country, and on the invi- tation of the president of Mexico, he super- vised the legislation in favor of railroad con- struction among the various States of that republic. As a result of his presence in the country, and counsel given by means of pub- lie discussion in the prominent newspapers of the republic, the legislatures of seventeen Mexican States passed unanimously resolu- tions urging the government to take favora- ble legislative action for encouraging the con- struction of railroads in Mexico. In six other States, whose legislatures were not in session, the governors sent, officially, strong messages to the general government in favor of the fostering of such enterprises. Thus, practically, in twenty-three States favorable legislation was enacted asking the govern- ment to encourage railroad construction.

In 1881 he was urged by the workingmen of California to allow his name to be used by the Democratic party as a candidate for the Forty-eighth Congress, and on his consent thereto was nominated and elected. He was re-elected to the Forty-ninth Congress. Dur- ing each of his congressional terms he was assigned, as representative, to important legislative and political duties. In June, 1885, he was appointed by President Cleve- land to the position of Register of the United States Treasury, the duties of which office he is now performing with characteristic thoroughness and efficiency. Thus his career has been as useful and honorable in peace as it was patriotic and glorious in war.

To the foregoing sketch of Mr. Furay we add a paragraph. Nearly a quarter of a century elapsed after the removal of Rosecrans when, at the reunion of the veterans of the Army of the Cumberland, at Washington, in May, 1887, he broke the long silence, unsealed his lips, and spoke of that event which at the time occasioned great indignation and sorrow throughout Ohio. His splendid services as a soldier, his absorbing enthusiasm and loyalty to the Union, his fiery denun- ciation of those who plotted a surrender to the treason, the entire spirit and elan of the man had given untold comfort to multitudes in the early years of the rebellion, au era of indescribable anguish and heart-sinking anxieties.

563

DELAWARE COUNTY.

It was a most pathetic scene when he came upon the platform, an old man, sixty-eight years of age, and told his surviving comrades of the bloody fields how his removal took place. It is thus related by Frank G. Carpenter, the interesting Ohio correspondent, who was present :

"It was at night," said Rosecrans, "that I received the order, and I sent for Gen. Thomas. He came alone to the tent and took his seat. I handed him the letter. He read it, and as he did so his breast began to swell and he turned pale. He did not want to accept the command, but we agreed on consideration that he must do so, and I told him that I could not bear to meet my troops afterward. 'I want to leave,' said I, ' before the announcement is made, and I will start in the early morning.' I packed up that night, and the next morning about 7 o'clock I rode away through the fog which then

hung over the camp. The best of relations prevailed between Gen. Thomas and myself, and as to the statement that he considered himself my superior and obeyed orders only from a sense of duty, I assure you it was not SO."

As Rosecrans bowed to the audience and 'stepped back from the platform there was not a man present who did not feel sorry for him, and he was so much affected bimself that his voice trembled as he uttered his closing words. He talked in a low tone and his accents were almost pleading.

SUNBURY, on Walnut creek and the C. Mt. V. & D. R. R., has I Baptist and 1 Methodist church ; I bank : Farmers', O. H. Kimball, president, Emery J. Smith, cashier; I newspaper : The Sunbury Monitor, Sprague & Robinson, publishers ; and had, in 1880, 340 inhabitants. School census 1886, 192 ; W. W. Long, superintendent.

Here are extensive blue-limestone quarries, supplying the finest quality of building stone; and the new process rolling mill at this place is described as " the pride of the county."

ASHLEY, on the C. C. C. & I. R. R., has churches : I Presbyterian, I Metho- dist, I Baptist, 1 Friends; 1 newspaper : The Ashley Times, C. B. Benedict, pub- lisher ; 1 bank : Ashley, Sperry & Wormstaff; 2 regalia and emblems factories, a roller flouring mill, and is noted as a shipping-point for live-stock. In 1880 it had 483 inhabitants:

The village of GALENA, on the C. Mt. V. & D. R. R., two miles south of Sunbury, had, in 1880, 250 inhabitants. School census 1886, 152; I. C. Guinther, prireipal. OSTRANDER, in 1880, had 269 inhabitants.

WS Roscereal

ERIE.

ERIE COUNTY was formed in 1838 from Huron and Sandusky counties. The surface to the eye seems nearly level, while in fact it forms a gentle slope from the south line of the county, where it has an elevation of about 150 feet above the lake, to the lake level. It has inexhaustible quarries of limestone and freestone. The soil is very fertile. The principal crops are wheat, corn, oats and potatoes. It is very prominent as a fruit-growing county, productive in apples, peaches and especially so in grapes. Its area is 290 square miles, being one of the smallest in territory in the State. In 1885 the aeres cultivated were 78,912; in pasture, 20,638; woodland, 11,825; lying waste, 3,941; produced in wheat, 247,824 bushels ; in oats, 294,676; corn, 564,863; potatoes, 301,306; wool, 144,992 pounds; grapes, 1,571,045. School census 1886, 10,929 ; teachers, 172. It has 90 miles of railroad.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

Berlin,

1,628

2,042

Milan,

1,531

2,239

Florence,

1,655

1,330

Oxford,

736

1,231

Groton,

854

1,038

Perkins,

839

1,878

Huron,

1,488

1,910

Portland,

1,434

15,838

Kelley's Island, '

888

Vermillion,

1,334

1,944

Margaretta,

1,104

2,302

The population in 1840 was 12,457; 1860, 24,474; 1880, 32,640, of whom 20,899 were Ohio-born ; 1,651 New York; 534 Pennsylvania ; 4,882 Germany ; 1,196 Ireland ; 702 England and Wales ; and 287 British America.

The name of this county was originally applied to the Erie tribe of Indians. This nation is said to have had their residence at the east end of the lake, near where Buffalo now stands. They are represented to have been the most powerful and warlike of all the Indian tribes, and to have been extirpated by the Five Nations or Iroquois two or three centuries since .*

Father Lewis Hennepin, in his work pub- lished about 1684, in speaking of certain Catholic priests, thus alludes to the Eries : "These good fathers were great friends of the Hurons, who told then that the Iroquois went to war beyond Virginia, or New Sweden, near a lake which they called 'Erige,' or 'Erie,' which signifies ' the cat,' or 'nation of the cat ;' and because these savages brought captives from the nation of the cat in return- ing to their cantons along this lake, the Hu- rons named it, in their language, 'Erige,' or 'Ericke,' 'the lake of the cat,' and which our

Canadians, in softening the word, have called 'Lake Erie.'"

Charlevoix, writing in 1721, says respecting Lake Erie : "The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron [Wyandot] lan- guage, which was formerly seated on its banks, and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie, in that language, signifies cat, and in some accounts this nation is called the cat nation. This name probably comes from the large number of that animal formerly found in this country."

The French established a small trading-post at the mouth of Huron river, and another on the shore of the bay on or near the site of Sandusky City, which were abandoned before the war of the revolution. The small map annexed is copied from part of Evan's map of the Middle British Colonies, published in 1755. The reader will perceive upon the east bank of Sandusky river, near the bay, a French

* These facts are derived from the beautiful " tradition of the Eries," published in the Buffalo .Com- mercial, in the summer of 1845. That tradition (says the editor) "may be implicitly relied upon, every detail having been taken from the lips of Blacksnake and other venerable chiefs of the Senecas and Tonawandas, who still cherish the traditions of their fathers."

W. A. Bishop, Photo., Sandusky, 1888.

SANDUSKY FROM THE BAY.

565

ERIE COUNTY.

fort, there described as "Fort Junandat, built in 1754." The words Wandots are doubtless meant for Wyandot towns.

In 1764, while Pontiac was besieging De- troit, Gen. Bradstreet collected a force of 3,000 men, which embarked at Niagara in boats and proceeded up the lake to the relief of that post. Having burned the Indian coru-fields and villages at Sandusky and along the rich bot- toms of the Maumee, and dispersed the Indians whom they there then found, he reached Detroit without opposition .* Having dispersed the Indians beseiging Detroit he passed into the Wyandot country by way of Sandusky bay. He ascended the bay and river as far as it was navigable for boats and there made a eamp. A treaty of peace and friendship was signed by the chiefs and head men. t

L. ERIE

Fort Sandusky+ AWandots

+ Fort Junandat Buik in 1754

AWandots

Erie, Huron and a small part of Ottawa county comprise that portion of the Western Reserve known as "the fire- lands," being a tract of about 500,000 acres, granted by the State of Connecticut to the sufferers by fire from the British in their incursions into that State.t The history which follows of the fire-lands and the settlement of this county is from the MSS. history of the Fire-Lands, by C. B. Squier, and written about 1840.

The largest sufferers, and, consequently, those who held the largest interest in the fire-lands, purchased the rights of many who held smaller interests. The proprietors of the fire-lands, anxious that their new terri- tory should be settled, offered strong induce- ments for persons to settle in this then un- known region. But, aside from the ordinary difficulties attending a new settlement, the Indian title to the western part of the re- serve was not then extinguished ; but by a treaty held at Fort Industry, on the Maumee, in July, 1805, this object was accomplished, and the east line of the Indian territory was established on the west line of the reserve.

The proprietors of the fire-lands were deeply interested in this treaty, upon the re- sult of which depended their ability to pos- sess and settle their lands. Consequently, the Hon. Isaac Mills, secretary of the com- pany, with others interested, left Connecticut to be present at these negotiations. Cleve- land was the point first designated for hold- ing the treaty. But, upon their arrival, it was ascertained that the influence of the British agents among the Indians was so great as to occasion them to refuse to treat with the agents of the United States, unless they would come into their own territory, on the Miami of the Lakes, as the Maumee was then termed. Having arrived at the Mau- mee, they found several agents of the British government among the Indians, using every possible effort to prevent any negotiation

whatever, and it was fifteen or twenty days before they could bring them to any reason- able terms. Soon after the conclusion of the treaty, the settlements commenced upon the fire-lands.

It is quite difficult to ascertain who the first settlers were upon the fire-lands. As early, if not prior to the organization of the State, several persons had squatted upon the lands, at the mouth of the streams and near the shore of the lake, led a hunter's life and trafficked with the Indians. But they were a race of wanderers and gradually disappeared before the regular progress of the settle- ments. Those devoted missionaries, the Mo- ravians, made a settlement, which they called New Salem, as early as 1790, on Huron river, about two miles below Milan, on the Hath- away farm. They afterwards settled at Milan.

The first regular settlers upon the fire-lands were Col. Jerard Ward, who came in the spring of 1808, and Almon Ruggles and Jabez Wright, in the autumn succeeding. Ere the close of the next year, quite a num- ber of families had settled in the townships of Huron, Florence, Berlin, Oxford, Marga- retta, Portland and Vermillion. These early settlers generally erected the ordinary log- cabin, but others of a wandering character built bark huts, which were made by driving a post at each of the four corners and one higher between each of the two end corners, in the middle, to support the roof, which

* Lanman's Michigan.

t Whittlesey's address on Bouquet's expedition.

# For some facts connected with the history of the fire-lands, see sketch of the Western Reserve, to he found elsewhere in this work.

566

ERIE COUNTY.

were connected together by a ridge-pole. Layers of bark were wound around the side of the posts, each upper layer lapping the one beneath to shed rain. The roof was barked over, strips being bent across from one eave over the ridge-pole to the other and secured by poles on them. The occupants of these bark huts were squatters, and lived principally by hunting. They were the semi- civilized race that usually precedes the more substantial pioneer in the western wilderness.

For two or three years previous to the late war, the inhabitants were so isolated from other settlements that no supplies could be had, and there was much suffering for want of food and clothing; at times, whole fami- lies subsisted for weeks together on nothing but parched and pounded corn, with a very scanty supply of wild meat. Indeed, there was not a family in the fire-lands, between 1809 and '15, who did not keenly feel the want of both food and clothing. Wild meat, it is true, could usually be procured ; but living on this alone would much enfeeble and disease any one but an Indian or a hunter accustomed to it for years.

For even several years after the war rac- coon caps, with the fur outside, and deerskin jackets and pantaloons, were almost univer- sally worn. The deerskin pantaloons could not be very well tanned, and when dried, after being wet, were hard and inflexible : when thrown upon the floor they bounded and rattled like tin kettles. A man, in a cold winter's morning, drawing on a pair, was in about as comfortable a position as if thrusting his limbs into a couple of frosty stove-pipes.

To add to the trials and hardships of the early settlers, it soon became very sickly, and remained so for several years. The follow- ing is but one of the many touching scenes of privation and distress that might be re- lated :

A young man with his family settled not far from the Huron river, building his cabin in the thick woods, distant from any other settlement. During the summer he cleared a small patch, and in the fall became sick and died. Soon after, a hunter on his way home, passing by the clearing, saw everything still about the cabin, mistrusted all was not right, and knocked at the door to inquire. A fee- ble voice bade him enter. Opening the door he was startled by the appearance of the woman, sitting by the fire, pale, emaciated, and holding a puny, sickly babe !' He imme- diately inquired their health. She burst into tears and was unable to answer. The hunter stood for a moment aghast at the scene. The woman, recovering from her gush of sorrow, at length raised her head and pointed towards the bed, saying, "There is my little Edward-I expect he is dying- and here is my babe, so sick I cannot lay it down ; I am so feeble I can scarcely remain in my chair, and my poor husband lies buried beside the cabin !" and then, as if frantic by the fearful recital, she exclaimed in a tone of the deepest anguish, "Oh ! that I was back

to my own country, where I could fall into the arms of my mother !" Tears of sym- pathy rolled down the weather-beaten cheeks of the iron-framed hunter as he rapidly walked away for assistance. It was a touch- ing scene.

A majority of the inhabitants of this pe- riod were of upright characters ; bold, daring and somewhat restless, but generous-minded. Although enduring great privations, much happiness fell to the kind of life they were leading. One of them says : "When I look back upon the first few years of our residence here, I am led to exclaim, O! happy days of primitive simplicity ! What little aristo- cratic feeling any one might have brought with him was soon quelled, for we soon found ourselves equally dependent on one another ; and we enjoyed our winter evenings around our blazing hearths in our log-huts cracking nuts full as well, aye ! much better than has fallen to our lots since the distinctions and animosities consequent upon the acquisition of wealth have crept in among us."

Another pioneer says : "In illustration of that old saw,

'A man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long,'

I relate the following. A year or two after we arrived, a visit was got up by the ladies, in order to call on a neighboring family who lived a little out of the common way. The hostess was very much pleased to see them, and immediately commenced preparing the usual treat on such occasions-a cup of tea and its accompaniments. As she had but one fire-proof vessel in the house, an old broken bake kettle, it, of course, must take some time. In the first place, some pork was tried up in the kettle to get lard-secondly, some cakes were made and fried in it- thirdly, some shortcakes were made in it- fourthly, it was used as a bucket to draw water-fifthly, the water was heated in it ; and sixthly and lastly, the tea was put in and a very sociable dish of tea they had. In those good old times, perfectly fresh to my recollection, the young men asked nothing better than buckskin pantaloons to go a courting in, and the young ladies were not too proud to go to meeting barefoot."

The following little anecdote illustrates the intrepidity of a lady in indulging her socia feelings. A gentleman settled with his fam- ily about two miles west of the Vermillion river without a neighbor near him. Soon after a man and wife settled on the opposite side of the river, three miles distant ; the lady on the west side was very anxious to visit her stranger neighbor on the east, and sent her a message setting a day when she should make her visit, and at the time ap- pointed went down to cross the river with her husband, but found it so swollen with recent rains as to render it impossible to cross on foot. There was no canoe or horse in that part of the country. The obstacle was appa- rently insurmountable. Fortunately the man on the other side was fertile in expedients ;

567

ERIE COUNTY.

he yoked up his oxen, anticipating the event, and arrived at the river just as the others were about to leave. Springing upon the back of one of the oxen he rode him across the river, and when he had reached the west bank, the lady, Europa-like, as fearlessly sprang on the hack of the other ox, aud they were both borne across the raging waters, and safely landed upon the opposite bank ; and when she had concluded her visit, she returned in the same manner. The lady still lives on the same spot, and is noted for her goodness of heart and cultivated manners.

Early in the settlement of the fire-lands the landholders injudiciously raised the price of land to $5 per acre. The lands belonging to the general government on the west were opened for sale at $2 per acre ; immigration ceased, and as most of the settlers had bought their land on a credit, the hard times which followed the last war pressed severely upon them, and the settlements languished. Money was so scarce in 1820 and 1822, that even those who had their farms paid for were in the practice of laying up sixpences and shillings for many months to meet their taxes. All kinds of trade were carried on by barter. Many settlers left their improve- ments and removed farther west, finding themselves unable to pay for their lands.

The first exports of produce of any conse- quence commenced in 1817; in 1818 the article of salt was $8 per barrel ; flour was theu $10, and a poor article at that.

There was no market for several years be- yond the wants of the settlers, which was sufficient to swallow up all the surplus prod- ucts of the farmer ; but when such an outlet was wanted, it was found at Detroit, Monroe and the other settlements in the upper regions of Lake Erie. As to the commercial advan- tages, there was a sufficient number of vessels on the lake to do the business of the country, which was done at the price of $2.50 per bar- rel bulk, from Buffalo to this place, a dis-

tance of 250 miles. Now goods are trans- ported from New York to Sandusky City as low as forty-seven cents per hundred, or $9 per ton. Most kinds of merchandise sold at a sale corresponding to the prices of freight. Domestic shirtings from fifty to sixty-two cents and satinets $2.50 to $3.50 per yard ; green teas $1.50 to $2.50 per pound ; brown sugar from twenty-five to thirty cents per pound ; loaf from forty to fifty per pound, etc., etc. Butter was worth twenty-five cents, and corn $1.00 per bushel. As to wheat there was scarcely a price known for some of the first years; the inhabitants mostly de- pended on buying flour by the barrel on ac- count of the want of mills.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 89

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006