History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 16

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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Mr. William Robson, who landed here in June, 1818, and was long at the head of the coppersmith and brass- founding business in Cincinnati, was originally a ship carpenter by trade, and as such worked upon the Cler- mont, Fulton's first steamboat upon the Hudson. His service upon this was so satisfactory that when the New York company determined to build a steamer for the western waters, in 1811, he was sent to Pittsburgh to su- perintend its construction. Thus closely is Cincinnati related to the introduction of steam navigation in the great west.

Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe, of the celebrated family of engineers, in the first volume of his Rambler in North America, (1832-33), has left an exceedingly read- able and intelligent account of this first voyage of the New Orleans, which is worth extracting in full :

Circumstances gave me the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the particulars of the very first voyage of a steamcr in the west; and their extraordinary character will be my apology to you for filling a page of this sheet with the following brief relation :

The complete success attending the experiments in steam naviga- tion made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to the year 1809, turned the attention of the principal projectors to the idea of its application on the western rivers; and in the month of April of that year, Mr. Roosevelt, of New York, pursuant to an agreement with Chancellor Livingston and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers, with the purpose of forming an opinion whether they admitted of steam navi- gation or not. At this time two boats, the North River and the Cler- mont, were running on the Hudson. Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the riv- ers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, and, as his report was favorable, it was decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under his direction, and in the course of 1811 the first boat was launched on the waters of the Ohio. It was called the "New Orleans," and intended to ply between Natchez, in the State of Mississippi, and the city whose name it bore. In October it left Pittsburgh for its experimental voy- age. On this occasion no freight or passengers were taken, the object being merely to bring the boat to her station. Mr. Roosevelt, his young wife and family, a Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack, the pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed the whole burden. There were no woodyards at that time, and constant delays were una- voidable. When, as related, Mr. Roosevelt had gone down the river to reconnoitre, he had discovered two beds of coal, about one hundred and twenty miles below the rapids at Louisville, and now took tools to work them, intending to load the vessel with the coal and to employ it as fuel, instead of constantly detaining the boat while wood was pro- cured from the banks.

Late at night, on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburgh, they ar- rived in safety at Louisville, having been but seventy hours descending upwards of seven hundred miles. The novel appearance of the vessel, and the fearful rapidity with which it made its passage over the broad reaches of the river, excited a mixture of terror and surprise among many of the settlers on the banks, whom the rumor of such an inven-

tion had never reached; and it is related that on the unexpected arrival of the boat before Louisville, in the course of a fine, still, moonlight night, the extraordinary sound which filled the air, as the pent-up steam was suffered to escape from the valve on rounding-to, produced a general alarm, and the multitudes in the town rose from their beds to ascertain the cause. I have heard that the general impression among the good Kentuckians was that the comet had fallen into the Ohio ; but this does not rest upon the same foundation as the other facts which I lay before you, and which I may at once say I had directly from the lips of the parties themselves. The small depth of water in the rap- ids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately, and during the consequent detention of three weeks in the upper part of the Ohio, several trips were successfully made between Louisville and Cin- cinnati. In fine, the waters rose, and in the course of the last week in November the voyage was resumed, the depth of water barely admit- ting their passagc.

When they arrived about five miles above the Yellow Banks they moored the boat opposite to the first vein of coal, which was on the Indiana side, and had been purchased in the interim of the State gov- crnment. They found a large quantity already quarried to their hand and conveyed to the shore by depredators, who had not found means to carry it off; and with this they commenced loading the boat. While thus engaged, our voyagers were accosted in great alarm by the squat- ters of the neighborhood, who inquired if they had not heard strange noises on the river and in the woods in the course of the preceding day, and perceived the shores shake, insisting that they had repeatedly felt the earth tremble.

Hitherto nothing extraordinary had been perceived. The following day they pursued their monotonous voyage in those vast solitudes. The weather was observed to be oppressively hot ; the air misty, still, and dull ; and though the sun was visible, like a glowing ball of copper, his rays hardly shed more than a mournful twilight on the surface of the water. Evening drew nigh, and with it some indications of what was passing around them became evident. And as they sat on deck, they ever and anon heard a rushing sound and violent splash, and saw large portions of the shore tearing away from the land and falling into the river. "It was," as my informant said, "an awful day ; so still that you could have heard a pin drop on the deck." They spoke little, for every one on board appeared thunderstruck. The comet had disap- peared about this time, which circumstance was noticed with awe by the crew.

The second day after their leaving the Yellow Banks, the sun rose over the forest the same ball of fire, and the air was thick, dull, and oppressive as before. The portentous signs of this terrible natural con- vulsion continued and increased. The pilot, alarmed and confused, affirmed that he was lost, as he found the channel everywhere altered; and where he had hitherto known deep water, there lay numberless trees with their roots upwards. The trees were seen waving and nod- ding on the bank, without a wind; but the adventurers had no choice but to continue their route. Towards evening they found themselves at a loss for a place of shelter. They had usually brought to under the shore, but everywhere they saw the high banks disappearing, over- whelming many a flat-boat and raft, from which the owners had landed and made their escape. A large island in mid-channel, which was selected by the pilot as the better alternative, was sought for in vain, having disappeared entirely. Thus, in doubt and terror, they proceeded hour after hour till dark, when they found a small island, and rounded to, mooring themselves to the foot of it. Here they lay, keeping watch on deck during the long autumnal night, listening to the sound of the waters which roared and gurgled horribly around them, and hearing from time to time the rushing earth slide from the shore, and the com- motion as the falling mass of earth and trees was swallowed up by the river. The mother of the party, a delicate female, who had just been confined on board as they lay off Louisville, was frequently awakened from her restless slumber by the jar given to the furniture and loose articles in the cabin, as, several times in the course of the night, the shock of the passing earthquake was communicated from the island to the bows of the vessel. It was a long night, but morning dawned and showed them that they were near the mouth of the Ohio. The shores and the channel were now equally unrecognizable; everything secmed changed. About noon that day they reached the small town of New Madrid, on the right bank of the Mississippi. Here they found the in- habitants in the greatest distress and consternation; part of the popu- lation had fled in terror to the higher grounds; others prayed to be taken on board, as the earth was opening in fissures on every side, and their houses hourly falling around them.

Proceeding thence, they found the Mississippi, at all times a fearful

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Stream, now unusually swollen, turbid and full of trees; and, after many days of great danger, though they felt and perceived no more of the earthquakes, they reached their destination at Natchez, at the close of the first week in January, 1812, to the great astonishment of all, the escape of the boat having been considered an impossibility.

At that time you floated for three or four hundred miles on the rivers, without seeing a human habitation.

Such was the voyage of the first steamer.

The shocks of earthquake were felt at Cincinnati al- most as severely as at some points in the Mississippi val- ley. The first shock occurred at 2:24 A. M., on the morning of the sixteenth of December. The motion was a quick oscillation or rocking, continuing six or seven minutes, and accompanied, as some averred, by a.rush- ing or rumbling noise. Some mischief was done to brick-walled houses and to chimneys, and many persons were afflicted by it with vertigo or nausea. A brief but graphic picture of the earthquake, as it affected this place, is given by Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his biography of his brother-in-law, Dr. Drake. Mr. Mansfield, it should be remarked, had himself personal recollections of this event:

In the morning of the sixteenth of December, 1811, the inhabitants of the Miami country, and especially of Cineinnati and its neighbor- hood, were awoke from a sound sleep, at about three o'clock, by a shaking of their houses, and by rumbling noises which sounded like distant thunder. To each one the phenomenon was alike unknown and awful. In the country the animals soon began to shriek, and all Nature seemed to feel the shock of a common evil and the dread of a common danger. The most intelligent persons soon discovered it to be an earthquake; but this discovery by no means allayed the alarm. On the contrary, as earthquakes were never known before in this region, there was nothing to reason upon, and full scope was left for the im- agination. Pictures of the earth opening to devour the inhabitants, of burning lava bursting forth, of yawning gulfs, and to many of a general destruetion and a general doom, rose to the visions of the affrighted people, filling them with fears and anxieties.

The shoek of the sixteenth of December was so violent that it shook down the chimneys of several houses. In the midst of the general alarm there was some amusement; and the buoyant spirits of young and happy people will often extract something pleasant, even from the most fearful cireumstances. Mrs. Willis's Columbian inn was a sort of fashionable hotel, where many of the gay people of the town boarded. I remember to have heard a great deal of laughter at the odd and curious appearance and grouping of maids and madams, bachelors and husbands, as they rushed into the street, tumultuous, in midnight drapery. But this cheerfulness did not last long; for the earthquakes continued during the winter, and although they were better understood, they were not the less dreaded. This common fear, and indced the common necessity of being prepared for any event, had a great influ- ence in destroying the artificiality of society and bringing friends and neighbors together. Many families had their valuables carefully packed up, that they might take a rapid flight, in case of the destruction of their houses or of chasms in the earth, which would render their de- parture necessary. As the shocks of an carthquake were generally pre- ccded by signs of their approach, such as rumbling sounds and a pc- culiar atmosphere, families would often sit up late at night, in dread of a night shock, and neighbors and friends would assemble together to make the time pass more pleasantly, especially to the young, by cheer- ful conversation. In this manner social intercourse and friendly fecling were promoted, and, as in other afflictions of Providence, good was still educed from evil.

The scientific observations and explanations upon this (in the valley of the Ohio) most extraordinary phenomenon are recorded by Dr. Drake in the Appendix to the Picture of Cincinnati. Most careful notes of the duration and deviation of the shocks were made by Col- onel Mansfield, at Bates's place. A carefully prepared pendulum, hung in the parlor window of his house, never ceased its vibrations from December to the following May; and several shocks occurred during the remainder of the year 1812.

The original seat of this shaking of the earth seems to have been near New Madrid, on the Mississippi, a point four hundred miles, in a direct line, from Cincinnati. There the convulsion was terrific. Boats on the

river were thrown into a boiling whirpool, and seemed for a time to be engulfed in an endless vortex. The banks of the river were rent, the earth was opened, and the waters, rushing in, formed lakes for miles, where the land was dry before. Explosions from beneath took place, and fossils buried in the alluvium of ages were forced to the surface. The power of the original cause may be estimated by the fact of such violent effects at Cincinnati, four hundred miles distant, and that the movements, as of a lever, of this central force, were felt almost through- out North America, diminishing in intensity in the inverse ratio of the distance.

The hardest shock here occurred on the second of February following, throwing down chimneys and doing other mischief. Slight shocks were felt from time to time for nearly two years, the last being observed Decem- ber 12, 1813. They are said to have been much severer in the valley of the Ohio than on the uplands, where, in many places, the convulsion of the earth was scarcely felt. Twenty miles from Cincinnati, and on the ridges of Kentucky, it is recorded there were whole families who slept through the first shock without being awakened.

A literary curiosity appeared this year-and seems to have been published for some years before, as this is No. 6-in the shape of the Cincinnati Almanac, the first calendar published west of the Alleghanies. It was printed by Rev. John W. Browne, and prepared by "Robert Stubbs, Philom.," an English clergyman, who came to this region in 1800 and took charge of the New- port Academy. He was quite noted locally as a scholar, and used to excite great wonderment in the minds of the people as he paced to and fro before his front door, recit- ing scraps of Greek and Latin. Colonel James Taylor, of Newport, is reputed to be the sole surviving member of his school.

This year Mr. John Melish, another Englishman abroad, makes Cincinnati a visit, and records some shrewd observations in manufactures here, which will be found hereafter, in our chapter on that subject.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWELVE.

This was the great historic year which opened the last war with Great Britain. The west was considerably dis- turbed by the movements of the British and Indians and the dread of approaching hostilities, for months before the war formally opened. It was determined by the authori- ties to form an army of Ohio troops on the northwest frontier, and Hamilton, Butler, Warren, and Clermont counties were called upon for one battalion, which was promptly raised, and marched to the rendezvous at Camp Meigs, near Dayton. General Gano was promi- nent in these early movements, as afterwards in the war; and General Findlay, although a major-general in the militia, consented to command a regiment as colonel. The Governor of the State issued the following:

A CALL ON THE PATRIOTISM OF CINCINNATI.

The situation of our country has compelled the Government io resort to precautionary measures of defence. In obedience to its call, 400 men have abandoned the comforts of domestic life and are here assem- bled in camp, at the distance of some hundred miles from home, pre- pared to protect our frontier from the awful effects of savage and of civilized warfare. But the unprecedented celerity with which they have moved precluded the possibility of properly equipping them. Many, very many of them, are destitute of blankets, and without those indispensable articles it will be impossible for them to move to their point of destination. Citizens of Cincinnati! this appeal is made to you, Let cach family furnish one or more blankets, and the requisite

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

number will be easily completed. It is not requested as a boon: the moment your blankets are delivered you shall receive the full value in money -- they are not to be had at the stores. The season of the year is approaching when each family may, without inconvenience, part with one. Mothers! Sisters! Wives !- Recollect that the men in whose favor this appeal is made, have connections as near and dear as any which can bind you to life. These they have voluntarily abandoned, trusting that the integrity and patriotism of their fellow-citizens will supply every requisite for themselves and their families, and trusting that the same spirit which enabled their fathers to achieve their independence will enable their sons to defend it. To-morrow arrangements will be made for their reception, and the price paid.

R. J. MEIGS, Governor of Ohio. -

Cincinnati, April 30, 1812.

The appeal was promptly and generously responded to, and the brave boys in camp slept warm during the cool nights of spring.

Most of the prominent names or events connected with the war, so far as tradition or the records have handed them down, have been recorded in Part I., chap- ter II, of this book. It is to be regretted that more of the interior history of the struggle, and especially the rolls of the regiments recruited, are not now accessible to the historian.

Cincinnati and Newport presented many stirring scenes during the war. A recruiting station was maintained in each place, and the strains of martial music soon became familiar sounds. Business at first fell off, through the excitement of volunteering and drafting and the equip- ment of the troops; but recovered as the people became accustomed to it and the war created new demands. Mr. L'Hommedieu says, in his Pionecr Address April 7, 1874:

Everything wore a military aspect. United States troops from the Newport barracks were marched under arms, on Sunday, to the pio- neer Presbyterian meeting-house, to hear the stirring words of our good and brave Dr. Wilson. Kentucky sent her thousands of volunteers on their march to join the Army of the North (soon to be commanded by General Harrison), to give battle to the British and their savage allies. It was a glorious sight to see these brave men pass up Main street; and what glory they earned in the second war for independence.

On the twentieth of June Liberty Hall published the declaration of war, and patriotism was immediately at fever heat. The citizens assembled, passed resolutions of approval, fired cannon, and engaged in other demon- stations. Per contra, intense indignation was manifested when, on the eighth of September, news was received of General Hull's outrageous surrender at Detroit.

Lieutenant Hugh Moore conducted the recruiting station here. Many volunteers were already in the field from Hamilton county, marching against the British and Indians at the northward, while a company of home guards was organized among the older men of Cincin- nati and commanded by General William Lytle. The troops and the cause were fitly remembered in the toasts at the celebration of Independence day this year: Among them were these: "The Northwestern Army: Our brethren and fellow-citizens now on the frontier -.

'Nor do they sigh ingloriously to return,

But breathe revenge, and for the battle burn.'

May they have pleasant paths and unclouded spirit." General Harrison was responsible for a toast which would certainly have been withheld, if he could have forecast the near future: "General Hull and his Army

-They have passed that scene immortalized by the vic- tory of Wayne; the spirit of that hero will animate them to deeds like his, and teach them the lesson of victory or death."

Cincinnati had at least two little notices abroad this year-the one from Alcedo; or a Geographical and His- torical Dictionary of America and the West Indies-an English work by G. A. Thompson, Esq .; and the other from the Topographical Description of Ohio, Indiana Territory and Louisiana, "by a late officer of the army," which is accompanied by an engraving of the best-known view of early Cincinnati, that taken by Lieutenant Jervis Cutler, from Newport, in 1810:

Cincinnati, a flourishing town in the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, and the present seat of government. It stands on the north bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Licking river, two miles and a half southwest of Fort Washington [!] and about eight miles west of Columbia. Both these towns lie between Great and Lit- tle Miami rivers. Cincinnati contains about two hundred houses, and is eighty-two miles north by east of Frankfort; ninety northwest of Lex- ington, and seven hundred and seventy-nine west by south of Philadel- phia. Latitude thirty-eight degrees forty-two minutes north. Longi- tude eighty-four degrees eleven minutes west.

Mr. Cutler's Topographical Description is mainly use- ful as introducing another and better notice, from a well known authority of the olden time. The writer says:

Returning back to the Ohio, the first town below Columbia is Cin- cinnati, five miles distant. In the Ohio Navigator a concise and correct description is given of this town:

"Cincinnati is handsomely situated on a first and second bank of the Ohio, opposite Licking river. It is a flourishing town, has a rich, level, and well settled country around it. It contains about four hun- dred dwellings, an elegant court house, jail, three market houses, a land office for the sale of Congress lands, two printing offices, issuing weekly gazettes, thirty mercantile stores, and the various branches of mechanism are carried on with spirit. Industry of every kind being duly encouraged by the citizens, Cincinnati is likely to become a consid, erable manufacturing place. It is eighty-two miles north by east from Frankfort, and about three hundred and eighty by land south-south- west from Pittsburgh, north latitude thirty-nine degrees, five minutes, fifty-four seconds, according to Mr. Ellicot, and west longitude eighty- five degrees, forty-four minutes. It is the principal town in what is called Symmes' Purchase, and is the seat of justice for what is called Hamilton county, Ohio. It has a bank issuing notes under the author- ity of the State, called the Miami Exporting company. The healthi- ness and salubrity of the climate; the levelness and luxuriance of the soil; the purity and excellence of the waters, added to the blessings attendant on the judicious administration of mild and equitable laws; the great security in the land titles; all seem to centre in a favorable point of expectation - that Cincinnati and the country around it must one day become rich and very populous, equal, perhaps, if not superior to any other place of an interior position in the United States. The site of Fort Washington is near the centre of the town. It was a principal frontier post: it is now laid out in town lots.

A considerable trade is carried on between Cincinnati and New Orleans in keel-boats, which return laden with foreign goods. The passage of a boat of forty tons down to New Orleans is computed at about twenty-five, and its return to Cincinnati at about sixty-five days.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN.

The population of the village this year is cstimated to have reached four thousand.

The death of the Rev. John W. Browne, a prominent editor in the early days of local journalism, occurred this year. Arrived, Thomas Pierce, anonymous author of the amusing satires entitled Horace in Cincinnati, and also writer of Hesperia, a prize poem. He was a merchant till 1822, then studied medicine, but resumed merchandising, and died here in 1850.

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

February 2d, news of Winchester's defeat on the river Raisin, in Michigan, is received.

September 9th, four thousand Kentucky volunteers pass through town, on their way to join the northern army. On the twenty-first the glad news comes of Perry's great naval victory at Put-in Bay.

James W. Gazlay came to the village this year, and opened a law office on Main street, between Sixth and Seventh-then quite out of the business quarter.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.

This year, February 26, the people of the county and of the State sustained the loss of the hero of the Miami Purchase, Judge John Cleves Symmes. He died in Cincinnati, between which and North Bend he alternated his residence. The following notice was issued to his friends and the general community :

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 16

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666