History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 2

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

the military, probably did not exceed one hundred and fifty. The surroundings were in the primitive condition of nature, Painted savages lurked in the forests ready to pounce upon any one who should incautiously stray beyond the lines of protection, and tomahawk and scalp him in the twinkling of an eye. The outlook was not encouraging, but the hardy pioneers had faith in what was in store for them in the future, and they were not disappointed.

Gen. St. Clair, who was appointed governor of the Northwest Territory by vote of Congress October 5, 1787, filled the office until November 22, 1802, when he was peremptorily removed by President Jefferson, on account of political intrigue and his acrimonious address before the Territorial Legislature at Chillicothe in Novem- ber, 1800. Much of the ill feeling prevailing against him had its origin in Cincin- nati, after the seat of government was removed from that place to Chillicothe. The letter of dismissal directed that he should turn over the office to Charles Willing Byrd, the secretary, until a successor could be designated. William Henry Harri- son, then the Delegate in Congress, was appointed to succeed him. But as Congress about that [St. Clair Papers, vol. I, p. 245] time divided the Northwest Territory, Gen. Harrison was assigned to the Territory of Indiana.

The immense region over which St. Clair so long presided as Territorial gov- ernor was long since formed into five great States, and they are now all populous, prosperous and rich.

This brief introductory chapter would not be complete without telling something of the history of the man who created Hamilton county, served so long as governor of the Territory, and finally died in poverty on account of the ingratitude of the government he served long and brilliantly during the Revolutionary struggle.

Who was Arthur St. Clair? He was a Scot by birth, born in the town of Thurso, in Caithness, Scotland, March 23, 1736. After receiving a fair education he was indentured to Dr. William Hunter, of London, but not liking the study of medicine, purchased his time, obtained an ensign's commission and came to America with Amherst in 1758, landing at Louisburg in May of that year. He was assigned to the command of Wolfe, who had been selected to reduce Quebec, and took a conspic- uous part in that brilliant engagement. He shared in all the Jabors and privations of the campaign which resulted in the defeat of the French and the passage of Can- ada under British rule.

After the close of the war he retired to Boston, where he soon after married Miss Phoebe Bayard, half sister of Governor James Bowdoin. By this marriage he received the sum of £14.000, being a legacy to his wife from her grandfather, James Bowdoin. In April, 1762, he resigned his commission, and soon after located in what isnow Westmoreland county, Penn. When Indian hostilities broke out he took an active part against the savages. In 1764 he resided with his young wife at Bedford for a short time, and they then took up their residence in Ligonier Valley, where he had acquired a large tract of land, partly by purchase and partly by grant by the King, for his services in the French war. The fine stretch of valley land where the town of Ligonier now stands was a part of the tract located by St. Clair. In 1769 he commanded Fort Ligonier. He actively engaged in improving his land, built a fine residence, and a mill, and the future outlook was bright and promising. In April, 1770, he was appointed surveyor for the District of Cumberland, which then embraced the western part of the State.

A month later the offices of Justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Com- mon Pleas, and Member of the Proprietary, or Governor's Council, for Cumberland county, were conferred on him. When Bedford county was erected, in 1771, Gov- ernor Penn made him a Justice of the Court, Recorder of Deeds, Clerk of the Orphan's Court, and Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas for that county.

During Dunmore's war, St. Clair arrested Connolly, the factotum of the irascible Virginia official, at Fort Pitt, and jailed him at Hannastown, then the seat of West-

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

moreland county, which had been erected in 1773, and of which he was the recip- ient of appointments similar to those held in Bedford. Lord Dunmore demanded his removal for this act, but Governor Penn refused, saying that St. Clair was a "gentleman" and a competent official, and reminded him that his demand was "somewhat dictatorial. "

On the breaking out of the Revolution he was commissioned a colonel, having warmly espoused the cause of the Colonies, and asked to repair at once to Philadel- phia. He did so, though the sacrifice was great; he abandoned his improvements. and 700 acres of beautiful land, and, as it afterward proved, his fortune. This was in December, 1775. He entered the army with enthusiasm, and participated in many engagements. The full account of his brilliant and patriotic service is too

long to insert here. In July, 1776, he was made a brigadier general, and on the 19th of February following a major general. He participated in the campaign of the Jerseys, and shared in the horrors of Valley Forge; he was the bosom friend of Washington, who, when Arnold's treason was discovered, directed him to take the command at West Point, "and," remarks his biographer, "it became his sad duty, as a member of the court, to try Major Andre, the victim of Arnold's treason, to declare that that meritorious and virtuous officer had incurred the penalty of death."

When the revolt of the Pennsylvania Line occurred at Morristown, January 1, 1781, St. Clair, who was at Philadelphia, hastened to the scene with Lafayette, and by good advice did much to quell the spirit of insubordination. Afterward he was sent to the army in the South, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. From there he was sent to the aid of Gen. Greene in South Carolina with six regi- ments and ten pieces of artillery.

The war over, St. Clair returned to his family in Pennsylvania. During 1783 he was engaged in closing up the accounts and furlonghing the veteran soldiers, and he had trouble with the new levies stationed at Lancaster, who refused to accept their discharges without pay, marched to Philadelphia and threatened to mob Congress, but he was largely instrumental in quieting them, and they dis- persed after giving Congress a great fright.

Having taken up his residence in Philadelphia, St. Clair, in 1783, was elected a member of the Council of Censors, a body provided for in the Constitution of 1776, and charged with the duty of inquiring whether the Constitution had been pre- served inviolate, and he became a very active member of the council. He was also elected to the office of Vendue Master of Philadelphia-an honorable and lucrative position, through which the public revenues were received at that time -- his trans- actions being with the controller.

In the meantime he was chosen a delegate to Congress from Pennsylvania; on the 20th of February, 1786, he attended that body, and on Friday, February 2, 1787, he was elected its president. "This," says his biographer, "was a recogni- tion of the ability of the man, rather than the patriotism which made him a soldier of the Revolution, as the work of the session of 1787 was scarcely excelled in importance by the results of that other body, in session at the same time, which gave to America a Constitution." During this session the famous Ordinance of 1787, erecting the Northwest Territory, was passed. On the day the final vote was taken he was absent from the chair. but had always taken a deep interest in the measure. On the 5th of October, 1787, Congress proceeded to elect officers for the new government. Arthur St. Clair was chosen governor; James M. Varnum, Samuel Holden Parsons, and John Armstrong, judges; and Winthrop Sargent, sec- retary. Mr. Armstrong declining, John Cleves Symmes was afterward appointed to the vacancy. He did not want the office, but his friends insisted that, aside from his capability, the salary might, in part, assist in reimbursing him for his pecuniary sacrifices during the Revolution. Unable to escape the responsibilities of the gov- ernorship, and realizing that there was yet no congressional legislation for carrying

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

into effect the ordinance, he improved the earliest opportunity, after the assembling of the first Congress under the Federal Constitution, to secure the necessary actions. In July, 1789, a bill, which had been drafted by St. Clair for the government of the Northwest Territory, was introduced, and passed both houses without opposi- tion. This gave the sanction of Congress to all of the important provisions of the Ordinance of 1787.

While in New York attending to these preliminary duties, and consulting with Gen. Knox, Secretary of War, regarding some plan for the settlement of the Indian troubles, St. Clair had the extreme pleasure of assisting at the inauguration of his old friend, Washington, as the first President of the United States. His name at one time was freely canvassed in connection with the position of Vice-President; and in July, 1789, while he was waiting for the new government, he was asked to stand for the governorship of Pennsylvania.

The greatest misfortune that befell the grand old soldier and governor -though a committee of Congress afterward absolved him from all blame-was his overwhelm- ing defeat by the Indians November 4, 1791, which cast a cloud over his name and fame during the balance of his life. The details of this disaster need not be recited here. Suffice it to say it was terrible, and caused him to resign his commission of major-general and commander-in-chief, which honor had been conferred on him.

While engaged in the service of his country during the Revolution, his private affairs were entirely neglected. In the darkest hours, when the Pennsylvania Line revolted, Washington appealed to St. Clair for aid, and he contributed liberally of his own means to feed and clothe the starving soldiers. When the war closed he endeavored to get this refunded in a settlement of his accounts, but failed on account of some irregularity. The justness of the claim, however, was admitted. He then appealed to the committee on claims in Congress, who reported that the money had been received and expended for the benefit of the United States, but payment was barred by the statute. While acting as superintendent of Indian affairs, it became necessary, in order to carry out the instructions of the Secretary of War. to become responsible for supplies which exceeded in amount the warrants furnished by government, $9,000. When St. Clair sent his accounts to the Treasury department it was disallowed, because the accompanying vouchers were not receipted. When this omission was supplied, the contractor required St. Clair to give his personal bond for the payment of the vouchers. When again presented to the Treasury for payment, the vouchers could not be paid because there was no appropriation for debts contracted under the confederation, and before that could be secured, Mr. Hamilton went out of office. Mr. William Henry Smith, in his biography of the old hero, says that he had not been anxious about the matter, and, in 1796, all of the papers were destroyed by fire in the War office.

St. Clair, we are told, finally applied to Congress, where, again, payment was refused because of the statute of limitations! The creditor got a judgment on the bond and $5,000 was paid on the debt; but in 1810, execution was issued, at which time the debt had increased, with interest, to $10,000. At that unfavorable moment, when the embargo had driven money out of the country, St. Clair's property was forced to sale; and a most valuable tract of land, on which there was a good mill, a large and well tinished dwelling bouse, and all of the necessary outhouses for a farm, besides a furnace for smelting iron ore, on which St. Clair had laid out about $10, 000, and which was rented at the time for $2,400 per annum-all of which was worth fully $50,000- a large sum in those days-which would have made him and his family comfortable for the remaining years of his life, was sacrificed to pay a debt which was in no proper sense personal, but was due from the United States. It went under the ham- mer for $4,000! All of his other property went in the same way, and St. Clair, wife, daughters, and orphan grandchildren were reduced to poverty.

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

This home, from which they were now driven, was built while St. Clair was gov- ernor of the Northwest Territory-about 1799-and was named by him " The Hermi- tage," in fond anticipation of the time when he should be relieved of the cares of state. It was about two miles north of Ligonier. The residence was considered handsome at the time, and the situation was picturesque. A fine trout stream flowed in front of the house through an expanse of meadow and woodland, with the blue outlines of the mountains visible in the distance, to complete the landscape. In referring, afterward, to the executions which swept away this beautiful home, and all his personal property, St. Clair said: " They left me a few books of my classical library, and the bust of Paul Jones, which he sent me from Europe, for which I was very grateful."

Was not this forbearance which spared the counterfeit of an old friend, and the means for forgetting the pangs of hunger and the ingratitude of man, sufficient to be grateful for? This was more than the government did-it took the best years of his life and his money, piled debt upon debt, and then, when he sought his own, mocked his gray hairs, and sent him tottering to the grave.

Strenuous efforts were still made by eloquent friends to obtain justice for him at the hands of the government, but a rancorous party feeling stood as a barrier, because he was a Federalist. Such magic orators as Henry Clay and Charles F. Mer- cer advocated the cause of honesty and right embraced in the duty of government; Willam Henry Harrison, afterward President of the United States, exerted all his influence in his behalf, but nothing was accomplished at the time. That debt was never paid. Finally there was wrung from Congress a pension of $60 per month, but not a dollar of it ever reached St. Clair, for a remorseless creditor seized upon it at the very door of the Treasury.

The loss of his home drove St. Clair to a rude log house on the barren lands of Chestnut Ridge-about five miles from Ligonier-where the few remaining years of his life were spent in poverty. His favorite daughter, Mrs. Louisa Robb, shared his fortunes and cheered him in his closing days of gloom. The humble dwelling stood by the side of the old State road that passed from Bedford to Pittsburgh. Here many visitors were attracted by the fame of the noble resident. Hon. Lewis Cass, who once visited him, said: "He was a most interesting relic of the Revolu- tionary period; tall, erect, though advanced in years, well-educated, gentlemanly, thoroughly acquainted with the world, and abounding in anecdotes descriptive of the men and scenes he had encountered in his eventful career."

Hon. Elisha Whittlesey saw him in 1815, as he and three friends were journey- ing on horseback over the road. They proposed to stop at his house and spend the night. "He had," says the distinguished traveler, "no grain for our horses, and after spending an hour with him in the most agreeable and interesting conversation respecting his early knowledge of the Northwestern Territory, we took our leave of him with the deepest regret. I never was in the presence of a man that caused me to feel the same degree of esteem and veneration. He wore a citizen's dress of black of the Revolution; his hair clubbed and powdered. When we entered he rose with dignity and received us most courteously. His dwelling was a common double log house of the Western country, that a neighborhood would roll up in an afternoon. Chestnut Ridge was bleak and barren. There lived the friend and confidant of Washington, the ex-governor of the fairest portion of creation. It was in the neigh- borhood, if not in view, of a large estate near Ligonier that he owned at the com- mencement of the Revolution, and which, as I have at all times understood, was sacrificed to promote the success of the Revolution. Poverty did not cause him to lose his self-respect, and, were he now living, his personal appearance would com- mand universal admiration."

During the last four years of his life the family were frequently in great want. Pennsylvania, his adopted State, finding that he was in such reduced circumstances,

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

settled an annuity of $300 on him, and, in 1817, increased it to $600. In 1857, thirty-nine years after his death, Congress appropriated a considerable sum for his surviving heirs. How much more graceful, as well as appreciative, it would have been, had the money been appropriated when he was living. The lapse of years could hardly condone the shameful treatment he received at the hands of the Republic he helped to create.

We have seen when and how he was removed from the governorship of the Northwest Territory. Let us hasten on and close this pathetic story of ingratitude.

On one of the closing days of August, 1818 (continues Mr. Smith), the venerable patriot undertook to go to Youngstown, three miles distant, for flour and other necessaries. He bade good-bye to his Louisa, and started off with his pony and wagon, in good spirits. The authorities had changed the State road so that it passed along the Loyalhanna creek, several miles north of the St. Clair residence, and the route to Youngstown was rough and dangerous. Pony and wagon moved along safely until within a mile of the village, when a wheel falling into a rut, the wagon was upset, and the aged general thrown with great force upon the rocky road. In the course of the day he was discovered lying where he had fallen, insen- sible, and the pony standing quietly at a short distance, awaiting the command of his old master-faithful to the last. He was carried tenderly back to the house, but neither medical skill nor the tender care of loved ones could restore him, and on the 31st of August, 1818, death relieved him from his sufferings in the eighty-third year of his age.

Thus passed away, after a long and eventful career, one of the heroes of the Revolution. On a plain sandstone monument, in the old cemetery at Greensburg, almost in sight from the car windows on the Pennsylvania railroad, is this inscrip- tion: "The earthly remains of Major-General Arthur St. Clair are deposited be- neath this humble monument, which is erected to supply the place of a nobler one due from his country."

This was the tribute of the Masonic Order, to which he belonged, and is the only one ever raised to perpetuate his name and memory. As he erected Hamilton county and gave Cincinnati its name, what could be more appropriate, honorable and just, than that great and opulent city erecting a statue of heroic size in mem- ory of the patriot and hero in some public place, to remind the people of the man whose patriotism, generosity and fidelity aided in founding this mighty State? Cin- cinnati is the liberal patron of art, music and literature; her stately temples, museums, academies, and magnificent fountain, are noble monuments reared by the liberality of her rich and worthy citizens for her adornment and grandeur; let Arthur St. Clair be remembered in marble or bronze, so that the coming genera- tions may be taught who he was, what he did and how he died.

CHAPTER II.

THE MOUND-BUILDERS.

[BY JOHN B. JEWETT.]

INTRODUCTORY-THE TURNER GROUP-THE NEWTOWN GROUP-THE MADISONVILLE REMAINS -MOUND - BUILDERS AT RED BANK-THE CINCINNATI WORKS-FORT MIAMI-OTHER WORKS IN THE COUNTY-THE MOUND-BUILDERS AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS OF MEXICO.

TO land, which affords so many proofs of a wonderful antiquity as the United States, has so completely lost the story of its past. Italy, Greece, Persia and Egypt not only retain a distinct knowledge of their ancient peoples, and of the great national incidents connected with most of their ruins, but they are still inhabited

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

by the children of those peoples, in whom is reflected something of the character which actuated the deeds of the former time; even Mexico and Central America, our sister lands, are by no means destitute of those legends which

Soften down the hoar austerity Of rugged desolation, and fill up, As 't were anew, the gaps of centuries.

But what was the history of the regal barbarian whose bones were taken from the shapely and lofty tumulus of Grave Creek? Of the industrious communities that dwelt within the massive village-walls of the Ohio Valley? Of those more primeval tribes, the wild comrades of the mastodon, whose grotesque fetich altars rise from the prairies of Iowa and Wisconsin ? Of those devotees of a more elab- orate religion, whose stately temple-pyramids-their very proportions suggestive of the grandeur of civil power-overlook the lowlands of Louisiana and Mississippi ? And who and where are the descendants of the beings who built, used, and tenanted these speechless ruins?

Such questions, which appeal almost as strongly to popular fancy as to philo- sophic contemplation, allow a wide range of speculation within the limits prescribed by the character of the ruins themselves.

Of recent years, the keen eye of science has discerned the fact that some of the simpler and ruder earthworks of this country, especially mounds, and many burial- places, are those of tribes differing but little from the Indians of recent times. The discovery, however, has given no new name to that older and peculiarly distinct race that once occupied the southern half of Ohio; whose most remarkably typical works are seen at Marietta, Liberty, Newark, Hopeton and Fort Ancient, and to whom the world has long alluded as "the mysterious Mound-Builders." The void which separates them from the present is complete. Not even the faint echoes of language and tradition, which associate the stately temples of the Southern States with the Mexicans, survive in this region, or arise from distant quarters; and the partial record of their mode of life, which has been preserved for centuries in their monuments and less imposing relics, furnishes only a few doubtful clues to the rela- tion borne by the nameless nations to other American peoples, to the date of their existence, or to the causes of their disappearance.

It is among their suggestive remains, nevertheless, that those secrets of the past lie buried, and time alone, which hid them there, can bring them forth.

The territory comprised within the present limits of Hamilton county was inhab- ited by several communities, which there is little doubt were of this ancient race, as their remains are of the same distinct and singular character as the most notable in the State. In fact, these works have, from the days of the first white pioneers, attracted wide and distinguished interest, and of late years have been examined and discussed by some of the most celebrated archaeologists and antiquarian scholars in the country.

The sites occupied by these communities are nearly all in the valleys of the two Miamis -- which were peopled for miles upward by kindred communities-and in localities which must have been considered then, as now, the choicest in the land.

The Turner Group .- One of the most favored, in this respect, of the Mound- Builder villages was situated just below the mouth of the East Fork of the Little Miami, upon a spot lying in the northeastern corner of Anderson township, which is well-known to students of archaeology throughout the land as the Turner place. About midway between the sweeping and picturesque hills, a considerable knoll rises from the broad, level, and fertile terrace of the valley. This isolated eleva- tion, formed by nature for a strong defensive position, was skillfully fortified by the old villagers. The knoll is cut into three separate hillocks, by two transverse ditches, each from twenty to thirty feet in depth. The level summit of the middle

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

hillock, insulated by these two formidable chasms, was crowned with a circular wall of earth, which, on the southeast side, opened into a gateway a hundred feet wide; from the portals of this opening a broad and commodious causeway descended by a gentle grade to an extensive group of mounds and enclosures upon the broad and level plain below, showing the destination to which the ancient processions were accustomed to march.

Prof. F. W. Putnam, of Harvard College, one of the very ablest of American archæologists, and Dr. C. L. Metz, of this county, who has won high rank in the same pursuit, explored a great part of this place in 1886. The group of mounds in the fields below the causeway proved to be the coverings of numerous altars, upon which lay loads of burnt ornaments-pearls, images in terra-cotta, and even gold and silver articles-all placed there as religious offerings during elaborate and imposing ceremonies. Not far from the mounds was found the cemetery of the people, containing a great number of skeletons incased in stone-boxed graves, and among the graves, several pits filled with ashes instead of skeletons. The same method of combining the rites of cremation and burial was practiced on a still larger scale by another community of the Hamilton county Mound-Builders.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 2

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592