USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the state of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 25
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
As soon as Gen. G. R. Clarke heard of the disaster at Blue Licks, he determined to chastise the Indians, and, if possible, destroy them. To this end, he called for one thousand men, to be raised from Kentucky, making their headquarters at Cincinnati, where he . was to meet them, at the head of a part of an Illinois regiment, of which he then had command, bringing with him one brass field- piece.
" The exultant savages had returned to Old Chillicothe, and had divided their spoil and their captives. Colonel Boone was imme- diately sent for to take part in this expedition. Clarke's army crossed the Ohio, and marching very rapidly up the banks of the Little Miami, arrived within two miles of Chillicothe before they were observed. Here they discovered a solitary straggler, who in- stantly fled to the village, yelling like a demon at every jump. The troops pressed on with all possible speed, but upon entering the town found it deserted. So precipitate had been their retreat, however, that the enemy left the fires burning, pots boiling, and
353
INDIAN WARS.
meat roasting on sticks. This was a treat to the almost famished Kentuckians, who, after full indulgence, proceeded to destroy the town, corn, and everything tending to support the savage foe. It is said that on the approach of the army, men, women, and children fled to the forest, leaving everything behind them. Five towns, during this expedition, were left in ashes, and the work of destruc- . tion was complete. This campaign so thoroughly crushed the Indians, that no more organized raids were made against the sur- rounding settlements, and the termination of the Revolutionary War left them to their own resources."
Numerous expeditions took place from this till the general out- break in May, 1790. The militia, under General Harmer, attack the Miami villages. Colonel Hardin is defeated October 19th, and again on the 22d. May 15, 1791, St. Clair organizes his army at Fort Washington, September 17th begins his march, and on Novem- ber 4th is defeated.
From 1780 to 1791, the armies of Clarke, Harmer, and St. Clair had marched through this section of the country. Here was the favorite home of the Indians; their corn-fields, their stronghold, their capital. Here were their councils held, their war dances per- formed. From here they radiated on their missions of murder and rapine. Here was the hot-bed of Indian hostility. The triumphs over Harmer and St. Clair incited the savages to renewed barbari- ties. The frontiers were in continual apprehension of danger. They would retire at night, expecting to awake in flames, by the lurid glare of which the savages would be seen, waving the wreak- ing tomahawk, bathed in.the blood of their wives and their children. General Wayne meets and conquers the Indians, after a severe battle, August 20, 1794. This decisive battle virtually ended the Indian trouble in the northwestern frontiers, and prepared the way for settlement.
Eleven years prior to this battle of General Wayne, Washington, seeing the difficulties that would necessarily grow out of individual settlements in the Indian country, on the 7th day of September, 1783, in a letter to Jamies Duane, a member of congress, urged the necessity of making the settlements more compact, and prohibiting individual purchase of the Indians, even punishing all such pur- chases, not made by congress or the state legislatures, as felonies. To this end, congress did, on the 18th day of April, 1783, urge the. necessity of a cession of the western lands, and on the 13th day of
254
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
September following, stated the terms upon which it would receive a deed from Virginia, to which she acceded, as we have seen, on the 20th of December of the same year; and on the 1st day of March, 1784, the deed was made, and signed by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, delegates in con- gress from Virginia.
It was not deemed advisable to await the settlement of all ques- tions of cession before taking steps to conciliate the Indians and extinguish their title. On the 22d of September all purchases of,. or settlements upon, Indian lands were forbidden by congress, and on the 15th of October the commissioners to treat with the Indians were instructed-
" To require the delivery of all prisoners; to inform the Indians of the boundaries between the British possessions and the United States; and to negotiate for all the land east of the line proposed by Washington, namely : from the mouth of the Great Miami to Mad River (Dayton); thence to Fort Miami, on the Maumee; and thence down the Maumee to the lake, etc."
It is believed the first treaty with the Indians extinguishing their title to the lands comprising the present territory of our county, was held at Fort McIntosh, January 21, 1785, at which the United States were represented by George R. Clarke, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, and the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippe- was, and Ottawa Indians.
The conditions of this treaty were, that three chiefs, one from the Wyandots, and two from the Delaware nations, should be de- livered to the commissioners, to be held until all prisoners then in possession of the nations represented should be given up. The boundary line between the United States and the said Indians, was to begin at the river Cuyahoga, and run up that river to the port- age between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; then down the said branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence; thence westwardly to the portage of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch (Laramie's Creek) the fort stood, (Fort Laramie) which was taken by the French in 1752; then along the said portage to the Great Miami. or Ome (Maumee) river; and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, where it began.
At the treaty of Fort Harmer, January 9, 1789, between Arthur
255
INDIAN WARS.
St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, and the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, and others, the treaty of Fort McIntosh was confirmed ; and in consideration of peace then granted, and the presents they then received, as well as a quantity of goods amount- ing to $6,000, which were delivered to them, they released and quit claimed, and ceded to the United States all the land east, south, and west of the lines above described.
Subsequently, by the treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795, the boundary lines of the two former treaties were confirmed, so far as from the mouth of the Cuyahoga to the crossing place above Fort Lawrence. "Thence," says this treaty, "westwardly to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami River running into the Ohio, at or near which stood Laramie's store." (Laramie's store, or Picka- willany, was at the mouth of Laramie Creek, in Miami County, but Fort Laramie was sixteen miles up the creek, in Shelby County, evidently the spot mentioned.) Instead of running up the Mau- mee,-which was formerly called the Miami of the Lake,-and along the southern shore of Lake Erie to the place of beginning, the Greenville treaty line runs to Fort Recovery, thence south in a direct line to the Ohio, intersecting it opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river. (See preceding pages.)
By this last treaty all other treaties were confirmed and ratified ; and all the territory northwest of the river Ohio, east and south of the above boundary lines, was ceded and relinquished forever by the Indians, " And these lands, or any part of them, shall never hereafter be made a, cause or pretense, on the part of the said tribes, or any of them, of war or injury to the United States, or any other people thereof.
" In consideration of the peace now established, and of the ces- sions and relinquishment of lands made in the preceding article by the said tribes of Indians, and to manifest the liberality of the United States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong and perpetual, the United States now deliver to the said Indian tribes a quantity of goods to the value of twenty thousand dollars, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge; and hencefor- ward, every year, forever, the United States will deliver, at some convenient place northward of the river Ohio, like useful goods, suited to the circumstances of the Indians, of the value of nine thousand five hundred dollars; reckoning thiat value at the first. cost of the goods in the city or place in the United States where
256
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
they shall be procured. The tribes to which these goods are to be annually delivered, and the proportions in which they are to be delivered, are the following :
" To the Wyandots, the amount of one thousand dollars.
" To the Delawares, the amount of one thousand dollars.
" To the Shawanoes, the amount of one thousand dollars.
" To the Miamis, the amount of one thousand dollars.
"To the Ottawas, the amount of one thousand dollars.
" To the Chippewas, the amount of one thousand dollars.
" To the Pottawatamies, the amount of one thousand dollars.
" And to the Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw, and Kas- kaskia tribes, the amount of five hundred dollars each.
" To prevent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands re- linquished by the United States, in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared that the meaning of that relinquishment is this : The Indian tribes who have a right to these lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting and dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molestation from the United States. But when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States ; and until such sale, the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the United States; and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same. And the said Indians again acknowl- edge themselves to be under the protection of the United States, and no other power whatever.
" The Indians, or the United States, may remove and punish in- truders on Indian lands.
" Indians may hunt within ceded lands.
" Trade shall be opened in substance, as by provisions in treaty of Fort Harmer.
" All injuries shall be referred to law, not privately avenged ; and all hostile plans known to either, shall be revealed to the other party. 1
" All previous treaties annulled."
This great and abiding peace document was signed by the various nations named in the fourth article, and dated August 3d, 1795. It was laid before the Senate, December 9th, and ratified December 22d. So closed the old Indian wars of the West.
Thus have we endeavored to trace the history of our county,
/
257
INDIAN WARS.
from the original grant of King James I, April 10, 1606, to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers, Richard Hackluit, and Ed- ward Maria Wingfield, " adventurers of and for our city of Lon- don," with various additions, May 23, 1609, and March, 1611, (vide sup.) to its cession to the United States by Virginia, March 1, 1784; and on till its final conveyance by the Indians, under the treaties above mentioned, which freed it from savage depredation, prepared it for individual purchase and settlement, and cleared the way for the advancing tide of immigration, which was rapidly moving along the banks of every stream emptying into that great artery of the northwest, the Ohio River, appropriately called by the French " La Belle Rivier."
During the consummation of these various treaties, ranging from the year 1785 to 1795, a portion of the country began to be sur- veyed, (vide anti pages,) which was followed by purchase and actual occupation. A company, composed of officers and soldiers of the Revolution, was formed in Boston, March, 1786, with Gen. Rufus Putnam as agent, who, in the spring of 1788, with forty- seven others from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, erected a stockade, and formed a permanent settlement known as Marietta. In the winter of 1786, a Mr. Stites, of Redstone, visited congress, then at New York, with a view to settling a tract of coun- try between the two Miamis. John Cleves Symmes, then a mem- ber from New Jersey, becoming interested in the scheme, and with an eye to speculation, determined to make a personal investigation ; the result of which was the purchase of one million acres between the Miamis, in his name. Soon after, he sold to Mathias Denman, and others, that portion which now forms the site of Cincinnati, and in the fall of 1789 several families from New York, New Jer- sey, and Redstone, descended the Ohio River in flat-boats, as far as the mouth of the Little Miami. As the Indians manifested hostile intentions, forty soldiers, under Lieutenant Kersey, joined them as an escort and guard. They erected at first a single block house; soon adding to it, however, three others. Subsequently a stockade fort was built on a spot now included within the town of Columbia. In June, 1789, Major Doughty, with one hundred and forty regu- lars, put up four block houses opposite the mouth of the Licking, on the purchase by Denham of Symmes, and about the same time built Fort Washington. Soon after, General Harmer arrived with three hundred more troops, and occupied the fort. Assured now
17
258
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
of protection, Israel Ludlow, Denham, and Patterson, began the erection of cabins along the river, and within range of the fort. During the following winter Ludlow surveyed and laid out the town of Losantiville. (A quadroon production of the Latin os, Greek anti, and French rille, and L unknown.) When General St. Clair came there to reside as Governor of the Northwest Territory, he changed the name to Cincinnati.
In 1787 the reserved lands of Virginia were examined, and en- tries made. In the following year congress protested the validity of these claims, which, however, was withdrawn in 1790. In this year Nathanial Massie entered into an agreement with certain per- sons to survey these lands, and lay them open for individual pur- chase; establishing a town above Maysville, called Manchester, from which they made surveying expeditions during the years from 1791 to 1796.
Symmes having originally contracted for two million acres of land, and under this contract having disposed of portions of it to settlers along the Little Miami, and vicinity of the present site of Dayton, his failure to pay for but two hundred and forty-eight thousand five hundred and forty acres threw these purchasers to the mercy of the federal rulers, until preemption rights were secured to them by the act of 1799.
A few days after Wayne's treaty, St. Clair, Wilkinson, Jonathan Dayton, and Israel Ludlow, purchased the seventh and eighth ranges of Symmes, between Mad River and the Little Miami. On the 21st of September, 1795, Daniel C. Cooper undertook to mark out and survey a road on these lands, which was completed by John Dunlap, October 4th, the same year. November 4th, Israel Ludlow laid off Dayton, and the lots were disposed of by raffle.
As the Indians receded, the bold and adventurous pioneers fol- lowed closely in their wake. Radiating from their stronghold, they assembled in groups, and put out their little patches of corn ; and shooting out in different directions, the little settlements spread toward all points of the compass, until in passing through the dense forest, the lonely cabin was frequently to be met with, and the smoke might be seen curling up through the closely intertwin- ing branches of the patriarchal oaks.
.
FIRST SETTLEMENT IN GREENE COUNTY.
We are now brought down to the limits of our own county. The little settlements have been pushed forward, until our venturesome frontiersman has cleared his patch for corn, and built his lonely cabin, actually within the bounds of Greene County.
By common consent, it is admitted that John Wilson was the first white man to make a permanent home in what is now Sugar Creek Township, this county. On the 7th day of April, 1796, he erected a log cabin, moved into it, and began clearing out the forest around him. Tender associations cluster around this little cabin in the woods, as being the nucleus around which has gathered, in the course of four-score years, the stupendous growth and wealth that the county, in its present state of perfection, now presents.
In addition to the above, it is stated by John Mills, of Jamestown, that in April, 1796, his father, Jacob Mills, John Wilson, and his sons, Amos, Daniel, and George, came from Kentucky, and settled in the Northwest Territory. In its subsequent division into states and counties, the purchase of John Wilson was found to be in the southwest corner of Greene; his sons, Amos and George, each pur- chased a quarter section adjoining him, in the same county, while the purchase of Daniel fell into Montgomery, and Mills' into War- ren. Mr. Mills having been allowed the overplus in his survey, made his purchase two hundred acres, and also making the combin- ed purchase of all one thousand acres in one body, at the junction of three counties.
Each one cleared a spot in the dense timber large enough to plant a little corn, a few beans, potatoes, etc., in the meantime erect- ing a small cabin on the lands of John Wilson, for the temporary accommodation of all. This cabin, it is believed, was the first per- manent structure put up by a white man in what is now Greene County.
Not having been accompanied by their families, these hardy
259
260
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
pioneers left their little patches of corn and beans, and their lonely cabin to stand guard in the wilds of nature, and returned to Ken- tucky for their wives and children, their furniture, and the appli- ances of civilization ; while in their absence the tender blade of corn sprang up, and the vine threw out its tendrils, expanding, nursed by the genial rays of the sun, and guarded by the sturdy oak, fit emblem of the little settlement that in time was destined to expand into gigantic proportions of wealth and strength.
Procuring an ox team and wagon, all five families, with the house- hold goods of each, were placed in it, and the journey to the wil- derness, through the wilderness, was begun. The men, with their guns, usually walked, and, when necessary, put the shoulder to the wheel, to help the tired oxen, when the axle would disappear. At night a fire was built, the meal was prepared, and in the fragrant air " nature's sweet restorer " came unbidden. Crossing the Ohio at Fort Washington (now Cincinnati), they followed the military. road cut by General Wayne in 1793. On their arrival at the little cabin, their goods were put into it, and all five families occupied it until, by their joint efforts, other houses were erected on the pur- chase of each. This was called the Wilson settlement. Mr. Mills, having erected a cabin this side of Lebanon, was the first pioneer in that part of Warren. Ichabod Corwin, father of the illustrious statesman, Tom Corwin, was one of their nearest neighbors.
The Wilsons and Millses, acting in conjunction, and being con- temporaneous in settlement, we shall consider them as one family, or colony.
John Wilson was one of the framers of Ohio's first constitution, and, as such, deserves special mention. Advantageously located, they utilized the bounteous gifts with which nature had surrounded them, and the liberal reward which flowed from labor, still prompted their efforts to push forward. Not alone dependent upon the slow return of their planting, the forests afforded deer, bear, turkeys, pheasants, squirrels, and other game necessary to the pioneer table, and the oak and beech trees also afforded mash for the pioneer hog, so that with these natural auxiliaries, the table was not scantily supplied, but, with the corn-dodger, venison or bacon, beans, and milk, they had a repast, as Isaac Walton would say, "too good for anybody but honest men."
In the spring following, the little settlement received valuable accessions, by the addition of John Vance, father of Joseph C.
261
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
Vance, who settled on the present site of Bellbrook, shortly after followed by General Benjamin Whiteman, Colonel Maxfield, John Paul, and Owen Davis, who all located on Beaver Creek, the latter of whom built the first mill, in this county. It is said that this mill drew custom from a radius of thirty miles, and we know that the members of the "Dutch Station," in Miami County, brought their corn here, through the woods, camping out at night. Mr. Davis is spoken of by them as having been a genial, accommodating man, often remaining up all night to oblige them. It is given to us on pretty good authority, that this mill was not finished until 1798. Two block houses were built a little east of the mill, with the intention, should danger necessitate, to connect by a line of pickets, so as to include the mill. The way once opened, other set- tlers flocked in, and soon the sound of the ax was heard on the creek above the mill, and John Thomas, John Webb, and John Kizer might be seen, chopping, splitting, hewing, and erecting their cabin homes.
Mr. Davis often started his mill on the Sabbath, and ground corn for customers who had come a long distance. To this, some of his extremely religious neighbors protested, even threatening him with prosecution. Mr. Davis replied, that as soon as steps were taken in this direction, they would go without their meal and flour. This proved to be a too persuasive argument for them to stomach, at least their stomachs protested, and the subject was dropped.
LETTER FROM SAMUEL FREEMAN.
" I will give a small account of what I know of the first settling of Ohio, as a pioneer.
" My grandfather, Samuel Freeman, came from New Jersey to Cincinnati, in 1795, when my father, John Freeman, was about fourteen years old. There were then but three houses in the town, covered with shingles. It was then called Fort Washington, I believe grandfather lived there about six years, during which Gen- eral Wayne's army was stationed there. Samuel Freeman gave the first piece of ground in the town for burying the dead. I have heard my father say he could have bought the best lot in town, and paid for it in one week's catching fish with a hook and line, and selling them to the soldiers.
" In 1801, grandfather sold out in Cincinnati, and moved to Greene
262
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
County, on Little Beaver, about seven or eight miles from Dayton, where he lived till 1806. In 1802, my father was married to Mary MeKinney, and in 1803, August 29th, I was born, on the old farm on Beaver. In the fall of 1806, father and grandfather sold out, and we all moved to a section we had bought, between the present site of Tippecanoe and the Montgomery County line."
Thus, up to the year 1800, we have seen that the settlements were principally made by those already enumerated, in addition to which we may name, in summing up, in Beaver Creek, Gen. Ben. White- man, Owen Davis, Grover, Maxwell, Paul, Puterbaugh,, McClain, Wolf, Nesbit, Fulk, Tatman, Shoup, Robinson, Marshall, Lamme, and Allison; and on Massie's Creek and the Little Miami, Thomas Townsley, James Galloway, Mitchell, Miller, MeHatton, Hawn, Andrews, Quinn, Hopping, Mccullough, and Stewarts, and Isaiah and William Sutton on Cæsar's Creek.
We subjoin, with slight changes, a communication from Mr. Cooley to the "Torchlight :"
The first settler in the northern central part of the county of whom we have any record or well authenticated account was James Galloway, sen., who emigrated to this place from Bourbon County, Kentucky, early in the spring of 1798, now very nearly eighty- three years since. About twenty years previous, to-wit, November 23, 1778, he married Miss Rebecca Junkin, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. How long he sojourned in Kentucky we have not been able to determine. Mr. Galloway possessed many of the traits of Daniel Boone. He was in the service of the United States eighteen months, during the Revolutionary War, in the capacity of hunter, to procure game for the army. He was en- gaged in several conflicts with the Indians, and on one occasion, was brought face to face with Simon Girty, who, perceiving that Galloway was unarmed, accosted him thus : "Now Galloway, d-n you, I have got you," and instantly fired. Galloway received a dangerous wound, and was supposed by Girty to have been killed. He however wheeled his horse and made for camp, a mile distant, which he reached in safety, but in a fainting condition. The ball passed through his shoulder and lodged some place near the back of the neck. After carrying this bullet many years, it was ex- tracted, some say by a cobbler, others by Dr. Joshua Martin. However this may have been, it was a source of considerable an- noyance, and the wound was affected very much by the state of
263
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
the weather, and served as a barometer. On occasions, when something important was to be done, requiring fine weather, young Hugh would be dispatched to Mr. Galloway to learn the condition of the barometer.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.