USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, together with historic notes on the northwest and the state of Ohio > Part 13
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 | Part 95
' Men and Warriors-Pay attention to my words: You informed me yesterday that the Great Spirit had brought us together, and that you hoped, as he was good, that it would be for good. I have also the same hope, and expect that each party will strictly adhere to whatever may be agreed upon, whether it be peace or war, and henceforward prove ourselves worthy of the attention of the Great Spirit. I am a man and a warrior-not a counsellor. I carry war in my right hand, and and in my left peace. I am sent by the great council of the Big Knife, and their friends, to take possession of all the towns possessed by the English in this country, and to watch the motions of the red people; to bloody the paths of those who attempt to stop the course of the river, but to clear the roads from us to those who desire to be in peace, that the women and children may walk in them without meeting anything to strike their feet against. I am ordered to call upon the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, and that the red people may hear no sound but of birds who live on blood. I know there is a mist before your eyes. I will dispel the clouds, that you may clearly see the cause of the war between the Big Knife and the English, then you may judge for yourselves which party is in the right, and if you are warriors, as you profess to be, prove it by adhering faithfully to the party which you shall believe to be entitled to your friendship, and do not show yourselves to be squaws.
'The Big Knives are very much like the red people. They don't know how to make blankets and powder and cloth. They buy these
Digitized by Google
125
CLARK'S SPEECH TO THE INDIANS.
things from the English, from whom they are sprung. They live by making corn, hunting and trade, as you and your neighbors, the French, do. But the Big Knives, daily getting more numerous, like the trees in the woods, the land became poor and hunting scarce, and having but little to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing their children naked, and tried to learn how to make clothes for them- selves. They soon made blankets for their husbands and children, and the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way we did not want to buy so much from the English. They then got mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our country, as you see they have done among you on the lakes, and among the French. They would not let our women spin, nor our men make powder, nor let us trade with anybody else. The English said we should buy everything of them, and since we had got saucy we should give two bucks for a blanket, which we used to get for one; we should do as they pleased ; and they killed some of our people to make the rest fear them. This is the truth, and the real cause of the war between the English and us, which did not take place until some time after this treatment.
'But our women became cold and hungry and continued to cry. Our young men got lost for want of counsel to put them in the right path. The whole land was dark. The, old men held down their heads for shame, because they could not see the sun ; and thus there was mourning for many years over the land. At last the Great Spirit took pity on us, and kindled a great council fire, that never goes out at a place called Philadelphia. He then stuck down a post, and put a war tomahawk by it, and went away. The sun immediately broke out, the sky was blue again, and the old men held up their heads and assembled at the fire. They took up the hatchet, sharpened it, and put it into the hands of our young men, ordering them to strike the English as long as they could find one on this side of the great waters. The young men immediately struck the war post and blood was shed. In this way the war began, and the English were driven from one place to another until they got weak, and then they hired you red people to fight for them. The Great Spirit got angry at this, and caused your old father, the French king, and other great nations, to join the Big Knives, and fight with them against all their enemies. So the English have become like deer in the woods, and you may see that it is the Great Spirit that has caused your waters to be troubled, because you have fought for the people he was mad with. If your women and children
Digitized by Google
126
HISTORIO NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
should now cry, you must blame yourselves for it, and not the Big Knives.
' You can now judge who is in the right. I have already told you who I am. IIere is a bloody belt and a white one, take which you please. Behave like men, and don't let your being surrounded by the Big Knives cause you to take up the one belt with your hands while your hearts take up the other If you take the bloody path, you shall leave the town in safety, and may go and join your friends, the English. We will then try, like warriors, who can put the most stumbling-blocks in each other's way, and keep our clothes longest stained with blood. If, on the other hand, you should take the path of peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knives, with their friends, the French ; should you then listen to bad birds that may be flying through the land, you will no longer deserve to be counted as men, but as creatures with two tongues, that ought to be destroyed without listening to anything you might say. As I am convinced you never heard the truth before, I do not wish you to answer before you have taken time to counsel. We will, therefore, part this evening, and when the Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let us speak and think like men, with but one heart and one tongue.'
"The next day after this speech a new fire was kindled with more than usual ceremony; an Indian speaker came forward and said : They ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit had taken pity on them, and opened their ears and their hearts to receive the truth. Ile had paid great attention to what the Great Spirit had put into my heart to say to them. They believed the whole to be the truth, as the Big Knives did not speak like any other people they had ever heard. They now saw they had been deceived, and that the English had told them lies, and that I had told them the truth, just as some of their old men had always told them. They now believed that we were in the right ; and as the English had forts in their coun- try, they might, if they got strong enough, want to serve the red people as they had treated the Big Knives. The red people ought, therefore, to help us, and they had, with a cheerful heart, taken up the belt of peace, and spurned that of war. They were determined to hold the former fast, and would have no doubt of our friendship, from the manner of our speaking, so different from that of the English. They would now call in their warriors, and throw the tomahawk into the river, where it could never be found. They would suffer no more bad birds to fly through the land, disquieting the women and children. They would be careful to smooth the roads for
-
Digitized by Google
127
CLARK TREATS WITH THE INDIANS.
their brothers, the Big Knives, whenever they might wish to come and see them. Their friends should hear of the good talk I had given them; and they hoped I would send chiefs among them, with my eyes, to see myself that they were men, and strictly adhered to all they had said at this great fire, which the Great Spirit had kindled at Cahokia for the good of all people who would attend it."
The sacred pipe was again kindled, and presented, figuratively, to the heavens and the earth, and to all the good spirits, as witness of what had been done. The Indians and the white men then closed the council by smoking the pipe and shaking hands. With no material variation, either of the forms that were observed, or with the speeches that were made at this council, Col. Clark and the officers concluded treaties of peace with the Piankashaws, Ouiatanons, Kickapoos, Illi- nois, Kaskaskias, Peorias, and branches of some other tribes that inhabited the country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi.
Gov. Henry soon received intelligence of the successful progress of the expedition under the command of Clark. The French inhabitants of the villages of Kaskaskias, Cahokia and Post Vincennes took the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia.
In October, 1778, the General Assembly of the State of Virginia passed an act which contained the following provisions, viz: All the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia "who are already settled or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois county; and the governor of this commonwealth, with the advice of the coun- cil, may appoint a county lieutenant, or commandant-in-chief, in that county, during pleasure, who shall appoint and commission so many deputy commandants, militia officers and commissaries as he shall think proper in the different districts, during pleasure ; all of whom, before they enter into office, shall take the oath of fidelity to this common- wealth and the oath of office, according to the form of their own religion. And all civil officers to which the inhabitants have been accustomed, necessary for the preservation of the peace and the admin istration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citizens in their respective districts, to be convened for that purpose by the county lieutenant, or commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned by the said county lieutenant or commandant-in-chief."
Before the provisions of the law were carried into effect, Henry Hamilton, the British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, collected an army, consisting of about thirty regulars, fifty French volunteers, and four hundred Indians. With this force he passed down the River
Digitized by Google
128
HISTORIO NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
Wabash, and took possession of Post Vincennes on the 15th of Decem- ber, 1778. No attempt was made by the population to defend the town. Capt. Helm was taken and detained as a prisoner, and a num- · ber of the French inhabitants disarmed.
Clark was aware that Gov. Hamilton, now that he had regained possession of Vincennes, would undertake the capture of his forces, and realizing his danger, he determined to forestall Hamilton and capture the latter. His plans were at once formed. He sent a por- tion of his available force by boat, called The Willing, with instruc- tions to Capt. Rogers, the commander, to proceed down the Mississippi and up the Ohio and Wabash, and secrete himself a few miles below Vincennes, and prohibit any persons from passing either up or down. With another part of his force he marched across the country, through prairies, swamps and marshes, crossing swollen streams-for it was in the month of February, and the whole country was flooded from con- tinuous rains-and arriving at the banks of the Wabash near St. Francisville, he pushed across the river and brought his forces in the rear of Vincennes before daybreak. So secret and rapid were his movements that Gov. Hamilton had no notice that Clark had left Kaskaskia. Clark issued a notice requiring the people of the town to keep within their houses, and declaring that all persons found else- where would be treated as enemies. Tobacco's Son tendered one hundred of his Piankashaw braves, himself at their head. Clark declined their services with thanks, saying his own force was sufficient. Gov. Hamilton had just completed the fort, consisting of strong block- houses at each angle, with the cannon placed on the upper floors, at an elevation of eleven feet from the surface. The works were at once closely invested. The ports were so badly cut, the men on the inside could not stand to their cannon for the bullets that would whiz from the rifles of Clark's sharp shooters through the embrasures whenever they were suffered for an instant to remain open.
The town immediately surrendered with joy, and assisted at the siege. After the first offer to surrender upon terms was declined, Hamilton and Clark, with attendants, met in a conference at the Catholic church, situated some eighty rods from the fort, and in the afternoon of the same day, the 24th of February, 1779, the fort and garrison, consisting of seventy-five men, surrendered at discretion. The result was that Hamilton and his whole force were made prison- ers of war. Clark held military possession of the northwest until the close of the war, and in that way it was secured to our country. At the treaty of peace, held at Paris at the close of the Revolutionary
Digitized by Google
129
THE LAKES THE BOUNDARY.
war, the British insisted that the Ohio River should be the northern boundary of the United States. The correspondence relative to that treaty shows that the only ground on which "the American commis- sioners relied to sustain their claim that the lakes should be the boundary was the fact that General Clark had conquered the country, and was in the undisputed military possession of it at the time of the negotiation. This fact was affirmed and admitted, and was the chief ground on which British commissioners reluctantly abandoned their claim."
.
...
Digitized by Google
·
...
CHAPTER XII.
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF OHIO, AFTER SMUCKER, WITH ADDITIONS.
THE TITLE OF VIRGINIA AND HER DEED OF CESSION.
" Virginia acquired title to the great Northwest by its several char- ters, granted by James I., bearing dates respectively April 10, 1606; May 23, 1609 ; March 12, 1611. The Colony of Virginia first attempted to exercise authority in, or jurisdiction over, that portion of its extensive domains that was organized by the ordinance of '87 into 'the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio,' when in 1769, the House of Burgess of said Colony passed an act establishing the county of Botetourt, with the Mississippi River as its western boundary. The aforesaid act recited that, ' Whereas, the people situated on the Mississippi, in said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court-house, and must necessarily become a separate county, as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which, probably, will happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt which lics on said waters shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by said county court for the purpose of building a court-house and prison for the said county.'
"Civil government, however, between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers was more in name than reality, until in 1778, after the conquest of the country by General George Rogers Clark, when the Virginia Legislature organized the county of Illinois, embracing within its limits all the territory owned by Virginia west of the Ohio River. Colonel Tolin Todd served, under appointment received from the Governor of Virginia, as civil commandant, and lieutenant of the county, until his death, at the battle of Blue Licks, in 1782, less than two years before Virginia ceded the country to the United States. Timothy de Montbrun was his successor.
"In 1783 'the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act author- izing the Virginia delegates in Congress to convey to the United
130
Digitized by Google
131
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF OHIO.
States all the right of that Commonwealth to the territory northwest- ward of the River Ohio.'
"Pursuant to the foregoing action of the General Assembly of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, Virginia's delegates in Congress, did, as per deed of session, on the first day of March, 1784, it being the eighth year of American independence, 'convey (in the name and for, and on behalf of, the said Commonwealth), transfer, assign, and make over unto the United States in Congress assembled, for the benefit of said States, Virginia inclusive, all right, title and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction, to the territory of said State lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio.' Upon the presentation of said deed of cession, Congress resolved, on the same day, 'that it be accepted, and the same be recorded and enrolled among the acts of the United States in Con- gress assembled.'
"The United States having thus secured title to the 'Great North- west,' Congress soon deemed it advisable to take the preliminary steps looking to the permanent establishment of civil government in the new and extensive territory of which that body had just become the legal custodian. Accordingly, after much mature deliberation and careful consideration of the subject, as well as prolonged discussion of the important questions involved, they, on the 13th of July, 1787, gave to the world the results of their deliberations in 'An ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States North- west of the river Ohio,' which has come to be best known as 'The Ordinance of '87,' sometimes also called 'The Ordinance of Free- dom.' Said ordinance was the fundamental law, the Constitution, so to speak, of the great Northwest, upon which were based, and with which harmonized, all our territorial enactments, as well as all our subsequent State legislation, and, moreover, it is to that wise, states- manlike document that we are indebted for much of our prosperity and greatness. 1
PROBABLE NUMBER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION IN 1787.
" Up to the time of the passage of the above ordinance there had been no permanent settlements by white men established upon terri- tory embraced within the boundaries given to the Northwest Territory, except the few French villages and their immediate vicinities, in the western and northwestern portions of it. If any such existed within the present limits of Ohio, they must have been situated along the
Digitized by Google ·
-
132
A SKETCH OF THE
Maumee River, and were of small extent. The Government had hitherto, for the sake of peace, discouraged, and by military force prevented, all attempts of white settlers to occupy lands belonging to the Indians. The chief of those French villages were Detroit, on the Detroit River; St. Vincents, on the Wabash; Cahokia, five miles below St. Louis; St. Philip, forty-eight miles below St. Louis, on the Mississippi ; Kaskaskia, on Kaskaskia River, six miles above its mouth, which empties into the Mississippi seventy-five miles below St Louis; Prairie-du-Rocher, near Fort Chartres; and Fort Chartres, fifteen miles northwest from Kaskaskia. These were all small settlements or villages, whose aggregate inhabitants probably did not exceed three thousand.
" The inhabitants of these remote settlements in the wilderness and on the prairies, says a late writer, 'were of a peculiar character. Their intercourse with the Indians, and their seclusion from the world, developed among them peculiar characteristics. They assimilated themselves with the Indians, adopted their habits, and almost uni- formly lived in harmony with them. They were illiterate, careless, contented, but without much industry, energy, or foresight. Some were hunters, trappers, and anglers, while others run birch-bark canoes by way of carrying on a small internal trade, and still others cultivated the soil. The traders, or voyageurs, were men fond of adventure, and of a wild, unrestrained, Indian sort of life, and would ascend many of the long rivers of the West almost to their sources in their birch-bark canoes, and load them with furs bought of the Indians. The canoes were light, and could easily be carried across the portages between streams.'
" There was attached to these French villages a 'common field,' for the free use of the villagers, every family, in proportion to the num- ber of its members, being entitled to share in it. It was a large inclosed tract for farming purposes. There was also at each village a 'common,' or large inclosed tract, for pasturage and fuel purposes, and timber for building. If a head of a family was sick, or by any casualty was unable to labor, his portion of the 'common field' was cultivated by his neighbors, and the crop gathered for the use of his family. 'The French villagers,' says the author of Western Annals, 'were devout Catholics, who, under the guidance of their priests, attended punctually upon all holidays and festivals, and performed faithfully all the outward dutjes and ceremonies of the church. Aside from this, their religion was blended with their social feelings. Sun- day, after mass, was the especial occasion for their games and assem-
Digitized by Google
133
HISTORY OF OHIO.
blies. The dance was the popular amusement with them, and all classes, ages, sexes, and conditions, united by a common love of enjoy- ment, met together to participate in the exciting pleasure. They were indifferent about the acquisition of property for themselves or their children. Living in a fruitful country, which, moreover, abounded in fish and game, and where the necessaries of life could be procured with little labor, they were content to live in unambitious peace, and comfortable poverty. Their agriculture was rude, their houses were humble, and they cultivated grain, also fruits and flowers; bur they lived on from generation to generation without much change or improvement. In some instances they intermarried with the sur- rounding Indian tribes.'
" Most of these far-off western villages were protected by military posts, and some of them (notably Detroit, which for months had suc- cessfully resisted, in 1763, when in possession of the English, the attacks of the great Pontiac) had realized something of the 'pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war.' The morning guns of these forts had sounded the merry reveille upon the early breeze, waking the slumbering echoes of the forests, daily, for a century or more ; the boom of their loud mid-day cannon across the broad prairies, and its reverberations from the cliffs beyond, had been heard for genera- tions; and their evening bugle had wailed plaintively its long-drawn, melancholy notes along the shores of the 'Father of Waters'-the mighty river of the West-for more than a hundred years before the adoption of ' freedom's ordinance.'
ORGANIZATION OF THE OHIO LAND COMPANY.
" While Congress had under consideration the measure for the organization of a territorial government north-west of the Ohio River, the preliminary steps were taken in Massachusetts towards the forma- tion of the Ohio Land Company, for the purpose of making a pur- chase of a large tract of land in said Territory, and settling upon it. Upon the passage of the ordinance by Congress, the aforesaid land company perfected its organization, and by its agents, Rev. Manas- seh Cutler and Major Winthrop Sargent, made application to the Board of Treasury, July 27, 1787, to become purchasers, said board having been anthorized four days defore to make sales. The pur- chase, which was perfected October 27, 1787, embraced a tract of land containing atout a million and a half of acres, situated within the present counties of Washington, Athens, Meigs and Gallia, subject
Digitized by Google
134
A SKETCH OF THE
to the reservation of two townships of land six miles square, for the endowment of a college, since known as Ohio University, at Athens; also every sixteenth section, set apart for the use of schools, as well as every twenty-ninth section, dedicated to the support of religious institutions ; also sections eight, eleven and twenty-six, which were reserved for the United States, for future sale. After these deduc- tions were made, and that for donation lands, there remained only nine hundred and sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-five acres to be paid for by the Ohio Land Company, and for which pat- ents were issued.
"At a meeting of the directors of the company, held November 23, 1787, General Rufus Putnam was chosen superintendent of the company, and he accepted the position. Early in December six boat builders and a number of other mechanics were sent forward to Sim- rall's Ferry (now West Newton), on the Youghiogheny River, under the command of Major Haffield White, where they arrived in Jan- uary, and at once proceeded to build a boat for the use of the com- pany. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, of Rhode Island, Anselm Tupper and John Matthews, of Massachusetts, and Colonel Return J. Meigs, of Connecticut, were appointed surveyors. Preliminary steps were also taken at this meeting to secure a teacher and chaplain, which resulted in the appointment of Rev. Daniel Story, who some time during the next year arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum, in the capacity of the first missionary and teacher from New England.
" Early in the winter the remainder of the pioneers, with the sur- veyors, left their New England homes and started on their toilsome journey to the western wilderness. They passed on over the Alleghanies, and reached the Youghiogheny about the middle of February, where they rejoined their companions who had preceded them.
" The boat, called the ' Mayflower,' that was to transport the pioneers to their destination, was forty-five feet long, twelve feet wide, and fifty tons burden, and was placed under the command of Captain Devol. 'Her bows were raking, or curved like a galley, and strongly timbered ; her sides were made bullet-proof, and she was covered with a deck roof,' so as to afford better protection against the hostile sav- ages while floating down towards their western home, and during its occupancy there, before the completion of their cabins. All things being ready, they embarked at Simrall's Ferry, April 2, 1788, and passed down the Youghiogheny into the Monongahela, and thence into the Ohio, and down said river to the mouth of the Muskingum,
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.