History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 15

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 15
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 15

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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Fac Simile of the Leaden Plate Buried althe Mouth of Wheeling creek, called by the French River Kanououara, August 13.174.9.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

Witt Clinton. The latter presented it to the Antiquarian So- eiety of Massachusetts, in the library of which it is now depos- ited. A poor fac-simile of the fragment is given in Hildreth's Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley, on page 20. It appears to have been substantially the same as the other plates which have been discovered, with the exception of a different arrange- ment of the lines. The place of deposit is given as "riviere Yenangue" on the part of the plate which was rescued from the boys. Mr. Atwater, Gov. Clinton, and several historians, mis- led by the similarity between the names "Yenangue" and "Venango," supposed that it had originally been deposited at Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek in Pennsylvania, one hundred and thirty miles above the mouth of the Muskingum, and had been carried down by a freshet, or removed by some party to the place where it was discovered. The Journal of de Celoron removes all doubt on the subject, and conclusively establishes the fact that the plate was origi- nally deposited where it was found, on the site where old Fort Harmer was subsequently built, and opposite the point where the city of Marietta is now situated.

After the deposit of the fourth plate was completed, the ex- pedition broke up their forest camp, embarked in their canoes, and resumed the descent of the river. About three-fourths of a mile below the Muskingum, Father Bonnecamps took some observations, and found the latitude to be 39º 36' and the longi- tude 81° 20' west of Paris. They accomplished twelve leagues on the 16th, and on the 17th, embarking early, they passed two fine rivers, one on each side, the names of which are not given. On the 18th, after an early start, they were arrested by the rain at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, which is called by Father Bonnecamps "Chinodaichta." The bank of this large stream, flowing from the southcast, and draining an extensive terri- tory, was chosen for the deposit of the fifth plate. Only a brief record of the ceremony is given. A copy of the inscription is omitted by Celoron, but his record of the interment of the plate is as follows: "Enterree au pied d'un orme, sur la rire meri- dionale de l' Oyo, et la rive orientale de Chinondaista, le 18 Aout, 1749." "Buried at the foot of an elm, on the south bank of the Ohio, and on the east bank of the Chinondaista, the 18th day of August, 1749."

Fortunately the discovery of the plate in March, 1846, leaves no doubt of the inscription. It was found by a boy while play- ing on the margin of the Kanawha river. Like that at the mouth of the Muskingum, it was projecting from the river bank, a few feet below the surface. Since the time it was buried, an accumulation of soil had been deposited above it by the annual river freshets for nearly one hundred years. The day of the deposit, as recorded on the plate, corresponds pre- cisely with the one stated by de Celoron. The spelling of the Indian name of the river differs slightly from the Journal, that on the plate being "Chinodahichetha." Kanawha, the Indian name of the river in another dialect, is said to signify "the river of the woods." The place selected by Celoron for the interment of the plate must have been one of surpassing beauty. The native forest, untouched by the pioneer, and crowned with the luxuriant foliage of Northern Kentucky, covered the banks of both rivers, and the picturesque scenery justified the name of "Point Pleasant," which was afterwards bestowed by the early settlers. On the 16th day of October, 1774, it became the scene of a bloody battle between an army of Virginians, com- inanded by Colonel Lewis, and a large force of western Indians, 'under the leadership of the celebrated Cornstalk, Logan and others, in which the latter were defeated."

The expedition was detained at this point by rain. It re- embarked on the 20th, and when they had proceeded about three leagues, Father Bonnecamps took the latitude and longi- tude, which he records at 38º 39' 57" for the former, and 82° 01' for the latter. Joncaire was sent forward the next day with two chiefs from the Sault St. Louis, and two Abenakis to pro- pitiate the inhabitants of "St. Yotoc," a village they were now approaching. They embarked early on the morning of the 22d, and reached St. Yotoc the same day. This village was composed of Shawanese, Iroquois, Loups, and Miamis, and In- dians from the Sault St. Louis, Lake of the Two Mountains, as well as representatives from nearly all the nations of the "upper country." The name "St. Yotoc" seems to be neither French nor Indian. It is probably a corruption of Scioto. Father Bonnecamps calls it "Sinhioto" on his map. He records the latitude of the south bank of the Ohio, opposite its mouth, at 38° 50' 24", and the longitude 82° 22'. Pouchot, in his Memoires sur la derniere guerre," French edition, vol. III, page 182, calls the river "Sonhioto." This village of St. Yotoe, or Scioto, was probably on the north bank of the Ohio, a little

6-B. & J. COS.

below the mouth of the Scioto, now the site of Alexandria. Its principal inhabitants were Shawanese.

The expedition remained here until the 26th of August. On the 27th they proceeded as far as the riviere La Blanche, or White river, which they reached at ten at night. On the bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of this river, Bonnecamps found the latitude to be 39º 12' 01", and the longitude 83º 31'. Embarking on the 30th, they passed the great north bend of the Ohio, and reached the riviere a la Roche, now known as the Great Miami. Here their voyage on the Ohio ended, and they turned their little fleet of bark gondolas northward into the channel of its great tributary.

The sixth and last of the leaden plates was buried at this place. The text of Celoron's journal reads as follows : "En- terree sur la pointe formee par la rive droite de l' Ohio, et la rive gauche de la riviere a la Roche, Aout 31, 1749." "Buried on the point formed by the intersection of the right bank of the Ohio, with the left bank of the Rock river, August 31, 1749." So far as known this plate has never been discovered. Celoron calls the Great Miami the Riviere a la Roche, and Pouchot, quoted above, and other French writers give it the same name.

The expedition left its encampment at the mouth of this river on the first day of September, and began the toilsome ascent of the stream, now greatly diminished by the summer drought. On the 13th they arrived at " Demoiselles," which Father Bonnecamps, with his constant companion, the Astro- labe, found to be in latitude 40° 23' 12", and longitude 83º 29'. This was the residence of LaDemoiselle, a chief of a portion of the Miamis who were allies of the English .* The fort and vil- lage of La Demoiselle were mentioned by M. de Longueil in 1752. It was probably situated on what was afterwards known as Laramie's creek, the earliest point of English settlement in Ohio. It became quite noted in the subsequent history of the Indian wars, and was destroyed by General Clark in his expe- dition of 1782. A fort was built on the site several years after- wards by General Wayne, which he named Fort Laramie. Here the French remained a week to recruit, and prepare for the portage to the Maumee. Having burned their canoes, and obtained some ponies, they set out on their overland journey. In arranging for the march, M. de Celoron took command of the right, and M. de Contrecoeur of the left. The distance was estimated by Celoron as fifty leagues, and five a half days were allotted for its accomplishment.+

They completed the portage on the 25th, and arrived at Kis- kakon. This appears to be the Indian name for the site of Fort Wayne, which was built there in 1794. Celoron found it a French post, under the command of M. de Raymond. It un- doubtedly took the name of Kiskakon, from a branch of Otta- was that removed to this place from Missillimackinac, where they had resided as late as 1682. It was here that de Celoron provided pirogues and provisions for the descent of the Mau- mee to Lake Erie. The Miami Chief " Pied Froid," or Coldfoot resided in that village. He appears not to have been very con- stant in his allegiance either to the French or the English.

Leaving Kiskakon on the 27th of September, a part of the expedition went overland to Detroit, and the remainder dc- scended the river by canoc. The latter landed near Detroit on the 6th of October. Having renewed his supplies and canoes for the transportation of his detachment, Celoron prepared for the return to Montreal by way of Lake Erie. His Indian allies, as usual, occasioned some delav. They had stopped at the mouth of the Maumee, and were overcome by a drunken de- bauch on the white man's fire-water. It was not until the Sth of October that the party finally launched their canoes, and descended the river into Lake Erie. Their first night was spent on its northern shore at Point Pellee. Nothing worthy of note occurred during their traverse of the lake. They reached Fort Niagara on the 19th, where they remained three days. Leav- ing there on the 22d, they coasted the south shore of Lake On- tario, and arrived at Fort Frontenae on the 6th of November, their canoes badly shattered by the autumnal gales, and their men greatly fatigued with the hardships of the voyage. They pushed on, however, with as little delay as possible, to Mon- treal, which they reached on the 10th of November, having, ae- cording to the estimate of both de Celoron and Father Bonne- camps, traveled at least twelve hundred leagues.

Allusion has been made to the changes which took place in the Ohio valley prior to the expedition of de Celoron. Those which have since occurred are no less remarkable. Both the

$N. Y. Col. Doc., X. pp. 139, 142, 245 and 247.

+Major Long, of the United States Army, in his second expedition to the St. Peter's River, in 1823, traveled over the same route.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

French and the English continued equally determined to pos- sess the country north of the Ohio. The former stretched a chain of posts from Niagara to the Mississippi, as a barrier against English encroachments, and to exclude the Indians from their influence and control. To counteract these demon- strations, Gist was sent by the Ohio Company, in 1750, to sur- vey its lands preliminary to their occupation and settlement. In 1753 Washington was dispatched, by Governor Dinwiddie, to Venango and Le Boeuf on what proved to be a fruitless mis- sion. A post was established the same year by the English at Pittsburgh, which was captured the next by the French, and called after the Marquis du Quesne. It was occupied by the latter until retaken by General Forbes in 1756.

This was followed, the next year, by an expedition under Washington, who, at the age of twenty-two, drew his maiden sword at the Great Meadows in an encounter with a detach- ment of French under Jumonville, which resulted in the death of the latter. Washington pushed on farther west, but the advance of the enemy with strong reinforcements compelled him to fall back to the Great Meadows, which he strengthened and fortified, under the significant name of Fort Necessity. Here he was attacked by the French under Coulon de Villiers, a brother of Jumonville, with a vigor inspired by the desire of avenging his brother's death. Washington was compelled to capitulate. The French were thus enabled to acquire complete control for the time being over the disputed territory. Thus was the opening scene in the great drama of the "Old French War" enacted. The disastrous defeat of Braddock followed the next year, and exposed the whole frontier to the hostile incur- sions of the French and Indians.

In 1759 the grand scheme for the conquest of Canada, con- ceived by the illustrious Pitt, was carried into execution. The expeditions of Amherst against Ticonderoga, Wolfe against Quebec, and Prideaux against Niagara, resulted in the fall of those important fortresses. Major Rogers was sent to the North- west in 1760 to receive possession of the French posts, which had been surrendered to the English by the capitulation of Quebec. He was met at Cuyahoga by Pontiac, the Ottawa, who forbade his further progress. "I stand," says he, "in your path ; you can march no further without my permission." A friend to the French, a leader in the attack on Braddock, ambitious and vindictive, Pontiac was a chief of commanding intellect and well qualified for bold enterprises and strategic combina- tions. These qualities were indicated in his great conspiracy for the simultaneous capture of the ten principal posts in the Northwest, and the massacre of the English trading in their vicinity. Eight of those posts, embracing Sandusky, St. Joseph, Miami, Ouatanon, Mackinaw, Presque Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango successively fell before the deep laid plans of the wily chieftain. Forts Pitt and Detroit successfully withstood the most vigorous assaults, and the latter a protracted siege, conducted by Pontiac himself.

Now, war in all its horrors raged with savage intensity along the entire frontier. The unprotected settlers, men, women and children, were massacred and scalped, or, if spared, borne away into hopeless captivity. The English colonists were aroused to meet the emergency, and Colonel Bouquet was sent, in 1763, with a large force into the Indian territory to relieve the west- ern posts, but was compelled to halt at Pittsburgh.

The succeeding spring found the Indians again on the war- path, and Detroit was invested for the second time by Pontiac. An expedition was sent to the northwestern posts under Brad- street, and another, under Bouquet, penetrated the interior of Ohio. Bradstreet was duped by his crafty adversaries into a peace not intended to be kept, but Bouquet, undeceived by similar artifices, pushed on to the heart of the Indian country. At the junction of the White Woman and Tuscarawas rivers he dictated a peace by his bold and energetic movements, which, with the exception of occasional outbreaks, was des- tined to last until the commencement of the great contest be- tween the colonists and the mother country.

The treaty of 1783 left the western tribes without an ally, and the United States became free to extend the arts of peace over their new territory. The pioneers shouldered the axe and marching westward in solid column, invaded the land. The frail canoe and sluggish batteau, which had so long and wearily contended with the adverse currents of the Ohio, were soon re- placed by the power of steam. The dense forests, that for a thousand miles had fringed both borders of the river were opened to the sunlight, and thriving cities and smiling vil- lages arose on the ruins of the mound builders. The narrow trails of the Indian, deep worn for centuries by the tread of hunter and warrior, were now superseded by the iron rail and

broad highway. The hardy emigrants and their descendants subdued the wilderness, and with the church, the school-house, the factory and the plough, planted a civilization on the ruins of a fallen barbarism.

The dominion and power of France had disappeared, and no traces of her lost sovereignty exist, save in the few names she has left on the prominent streams and landmarks of the coun- try, and in the leaden plates which, inscribed in her language, and asserting her claims, still lie buried on the banks of the " Beautiful River."

CHAPTER IX.

COUNTER EFFORTS OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH TO ESTABLISH CLAIM TO THE REGION OF THE OHIO VALLEY, 1749 TO 1760 -EXPLORATIONS BY THE OHIO COMPANY-FRENCH ERECT A CHAIN OF FORTS FROM THE LAKES TO THE OHIO-APPROACH OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR-WASHINGTON SENT ON A MISSION TO TIIE FRENCH POSTS-ALARM AT THE FRENCH MOVE- MENTS-PROMPT ACTION AND LEADING PART OF VIRGINIA IN THE STRUGGLE-WASHINGTON'S FIRST CAMPAIGN-CHRISTOPHER GIST-BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT-CONTINUATION OF THE STRUGGLE AND FINAL DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH.

HILE de Celoron was engaged in the expedition, de- scribed in the preceding chapter, he sent the following letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania:

TRANSLATION.

"From our camp on the Beautiful River (Ohio), at an ancient village of the Chouanons, 6th of August, 1749.

" SIR,-Having been sent with a detachment into these quarters by M. the Marquis de la Gallissoniere, Commandant- General of New France, to reconcile among themselves certain savage nations, who are ever at variance on account of the war just terminated, I have been much surprised to find some traders of your government in a country to which England never had any pretensions. It even appears that the same opinion is en- tertained in New England, since in many of the villages which I have passed through, the English who were trading there, have mostly taken flight.

" Those I have fallen in with, and by whom I wrote you, were treated with all the mildness possible, although I would have been justified in treating them as interlopers, and men without design, their enterprise being contrary to the prelimi- naries of peace, signed five months ago.

"I hope, sir, you will carefully prohibit for the future this trade, which is contrary to treaties ; and I give notice to your traders that they will expose themselves to great risks in re- turning to these countries, and they must impute only to them- selves the misfortunes they may meet with.

"I know that our Commandant-General would be very sorry to resort to violence; but he has orders not to permit foreign traders in his government.

" I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your humble servant,

" CELORON."

The French based their claims to all the countries situated on the Mississippi and all its tributaries on the original dis- coveries of Marquette and La Salle, together with their construc- tion of the treaties of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix la Chapelle. As early as the beginning of the eighteenth century, Bancroft tells us that, 'Not a fountain bubbled on the west of the Alle- gheny, but was claimed as belonging to the French Empire." Later they seem to have claimed all west of the Allegheny Mountains.

To make good their title to the lands which they had claimed in this manner, the French were most active and enterprising. They not only made vigorous efforts to occupy the territory, but proceeded with great energy to construct a line of forts from the lakes to the Ohio.

The English elaimed the same region, or portions of it, by virtue of the grant of King James the First to sundry of his subjects, which covered all the territory between the thirty- fourth and forty-eighth parallels of latitude, and thence to the Great South Sea. They also claimed the country on the head-

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

waters of the Ohio, by virtue of the treaty of Lancaster with the Six Nations, though the latter denied having sold any lands west of the mountains.

1 In the spring or summer of 1749, the Assembly of Pennsyl- vania received intelligence that a force of one thousand French was preparing to leave Canada for the Ohio.

Startled by these rumors, they sent an agent, Mr. George Croghan, to the Ohio, for the purpose of gaining all possible intelligence of the movements of the French. On his arrival at Logstown, an Indian village on the right bank of the Ohio, about twenty-two miles below the forks, he learned that a French officer, named Jean Cœur, or Joncaire, was on the Allegheny, about one hundred and fifty miles above, with a strong party, for the purpose of erecting trading posts and for- tifications.

This party was either Celoron's expedition or a part of it, as Joncaire, with a portion of the force, was frequently sent in advance to make overtures to the Indians along the river.

EXPLORATIONS BY THE OHIO COMPANY.

The next year the situation of the issue between the French and English plainly indicated that no compromise was possi- ble. An appeal to arms was imminent-both sought rather to fortify their interests and conciliate and secure the aid of the Indians.

In the fall of 1750 the Ohio Company employed Christopher Gist, a surveyor and an experienced woodsman, to proceed to the Ohio, for the purpose of examining their lands, to select suitable locations for settlements and fortifications, and to con- ciliate the friendship of the Indians.

Mr. Gist had a settlement on the Yadkin river, in North Carolina. He is said to have understood several Indian dia- lects. Leaving Cumberland, Md., on the last of October, he proceeded by way of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers to the headwaters of the latter stream, where he crossed the moun- tains to the Kiskeminetas, which he descended to the Alle- gheny. This was no doubt a well known route, as the portage from the Juniata was a short one, giving the trappers and pio- neers an easy route, mostly by water, from the seaboard to the western waters. No mention is made of the route subsequently pursued by the Ohio company, and by Washington and Brad- dock, though it was undoubtedly a well known and prominent one.

Continuing down the left bank of the Allegheny, Gist crossed at a point a few miles above its junction with the Mononga- bela, which latter stream he makes no mention of, probably because he passed to the right of the "Hog-back Hill," in Alle- gheny, which would effectually hide the mouth of the Monon- gahela from his view.

He visited Logstown, where Tannacharison, a chief of the Mingoes, and who was called a half-king of the Six Nations, had his home. He was received apparently with distrust, and gained very little information here. Passing west, he next visited the Ottawa and Wyandot villages on the Muskingum river. The Ottawas were friendly to the French, and the Wy- andots were somewhat divided.

At this point Gist found George Croghan, the agent of Penn- sylvania, and the two held a council with the chiefs. They then visited the Shawanese, on the Scioto river, and went as far as the Miami valley. Crossing the Great Miami on a raft of logs they visited Piqua, the chief town of the Pickawillanies, where they made a treaty with the last named tribe, and rep- resentatives of the Weas and Piankeshaws living on the Wa- bash.

From this place Croglran returned, but Gist followed the Miami to its mouth, and went down the Ohio to within fifteen miles of the great falls at Louisville, returning by way of the Kentucky river, and thence over the Cumberland mountains to Virginia, in May, 1751 ; having during his journeyings, visited the Mingoes, Delawares, Wyandots, Shawanese, and Miamis, and appointed a general council, to be held at Logstown, for the purpose of forming an alliance between the Indians and the colony of Virginia.

In the mean time some traders from Pennsylvania had opened a trading house at some point, not certainly known, but within the limits of the state of Ohio, and certainly with- in the region claimed by the French.

The latter, accompanied by a band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, demanded the traders of the Miamis, who refused to surrender them ; whereupon a battle ensued in which fourteen of the Miamis were slain, and the traders taken to Canada, where some accounts say they were burned.

The English now determined to purchase the disputed territory, from the Indians, and accordingly Messrs. Fry, Lomax, and Patton were dispatched by Virginia to meet them in coun- cil, which was held at Logstown on the 9th of June, 1752.

Gist attended this council as agent for the Ohio Company. The Lancaster treaty of 1744 was produced, but the Indians insisted that "they had not heard of any sale of lands west of the 'Warrior's Road,'" which ran at the foot of the mountains (Allegheny Ridge).

The commissioners endeavored to get the assent of the Indi- ans to the treaty of Lancaster, by offers of goods, and mentioned the proposed settlement by the Ohio Company at the forks. The Indians recognized the treaty, and the authority of the Six Nations for making it, but insisted that no western lands were conveyed by it, and declined having anything to do with it. They were willing, however, to have the Company con- struct a fort at the forks of the Ohio.

This did not satisfy the commissioners, and they persuaded the Indians, through Montour, the interpreter, to recognize the Lancaster treaty in its broadest sense, which they finally did, and the tribes united in signing a deed confirming it on the 13th of June.

The determination with which the French prepared to make good their claims is shown by the following letter from Joncaire to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania:

"DECHINIQUE,* June 6th, 1751. "SIR :- Monsieur the Marquis de la Gallissoniere, Governor of the whole of New France, having honored me with his or- ders to watch that the English should make no treaty in the country of the Ohio, I have directed the traders of your gov- ernment to withdraw.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 15

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728