USA > Ohio > Noble County > History of Noble County, Ohio: With Portraits and Biographical Sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 10
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The discussion of the project reached Congress, and the passage of the "enabling act" was violently opposed by Paul Fearing, of Wash- ington County, territorial delegate; but the act became a law April 30, 1802. By it the boundaries of the State were defined, and the holding of a convention for the formation of a State government was authorized.
The convention met at Chillicothe in November, 1802. The delegates were as follows: Joseph Darlington, Thomas Kirker and Israel Donald- son, from Adams County ; James Caldwell, from Belmont County ; Francis Dunlady, John Paul, Jere- miah Morrow, John Wilson, Charles W. Byrd, William Goforth, John Smith and John Reily, from Hamill ton County ; Rudolph Bair, John Milligan and George Humphrey, from Jefferson County; Edward Tiffin, Nathaniel Massie, Thomas Worthington, Michael Baldwin, and James Grubb, from Ross County ; Samuel Huntington, from Trumbul. County ; Ephraim Cutler, Rufus Put- nam, Benj. Ives Gilman, and John McIntire from Washington County- Edward Tiffin was elected president, and Thomas Scott secretary of the convention.
When the question was put as to whether it was expedient to form a constitution and State government at that time, only Ephraim Cutler, of Washington County, voted in the negative.
By far the most important work of the convention was the defeat of a provision authorizing slavery in the State. In spite of the ordinance of
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
1787 such a measure was introduced, and came near being adopted by the committee having charge of pre- paring a bill of rights. But here Ephraim Cutler, the son of the author of that famous clause in the Ordi- nance of Freedom, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the territory," interposed, and, by the aid of other wise men, defeated the measure.
The convention, which met upon the 1st, adjourned on the 29th of No. vember, having completed its work and formed that instrument which stood for half a century as the fund- amental law of the State of Ohio. The constitution was never submitted to the people either for approval or disapproval, but became a law solely by act of the convention -- a fact somewhat remarkable, since the con- vention had been called by Congress without having taken the opinion of the inhabitants upon the question. Ohio was first recognized as a State by Congress February 19, 1803. Its first legislature met on March 1, 1803, and the formal organization of the government took place two days later. The legislature continued to meet at Chillicothe until 1816 (with the exception of two sessions, 1810 -- 11 and 1811-12, which were held at Zanesville), when Columbus be- came the capital of the State.
The winter of 1788-89 was long and severe. The Ohio River froze up in December, and no boats passed either to or from Marietta till March. Provisions were scarce, and the game had been mostly killed off in the sur- rounding country by the Indians, so
that wild meat was procured with difficulty. Before navigation was resumed many of the people lived for weeks with little or no meat and without bread, their food consisting of boiled corn, or coarse meal, ground in hand-mills. In 1790 the inhabit- ants of the county suffered again from scarcity of food. Small-pox prevailed at Marietta early in 1790, and at Belpre in 1793. But in spite of all drawbacks the settlements slowly but surely gained in strength and prosperity.
In the winter of 1788-89 an asso- ciation of about forty members was formed at Marietta for the purpose of forming a new settlement, and the Belpre colony .was the result. The settlers began moving to their farms in April, 1789. The outbreak of Indian hostilities found the settle- ment with but two strongly built log blockhouses. In January, 1791, eleven more were built, making thir- teen in all. They were arranged in two rows, along the river, and the whole was inclosed by palisades. The defence when complete was styled "Farmers' Castle," and the United States flag was raised upon one of the principal blockhouses, where sentries were posted at night, ready to discharge a small cannon in case of alarm. About two hundred and twenty persons inhabited the garri- son, seventy of whom were able bodied men. Later in the war (1793) two other garrisons, known respectively as Goodale's and Stone's, were built in the vicinity of the castle, which had been found too small to accom- modate all who required its shelter.
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IMPORTANT EVENTS IN TERRITORIAL HISTORY.
Waterford settlement on the Mus- kingum was begun in April, 1789, by a second association, consisting of thirty-nine members, who in accord- ance with the Ohio Company's reso- lutions, were to receive lands for settling. A part of the company were to locate on Wolf Creek, about a mile above its mouth, for the pur- pose of erecting mills. "The main body of the donated lands," says Hildreth, "lies on the east side of the Muskingum ; and that portion of it bordering on the river was divided into lots of ten or fifteen acres each, for the purpose of making the settle- ment more compact, and the inhab- itants near to each other for mutual assistance and defense in times of danger from the Indians; while the other portion of the hundred acres was located at a greater distance." These lots commenced where the town of Beverly now stands, and ex- tended down the river about two miles.
On the west side of the Muskingum, in a bend of Wolf Creek known as the peninsula, another village was laid out in lots of five acres each. For the protection of the settlement two blockhouses were built, one on the east and the other on the west side of the river. After the com- mencement of hostilities Fort Frye, on the east side of the Muskingum about half a mile below the site of Beverly, was erected. It was com pleted in March, 1791.
Wolf Creek mills, the first in the territory, according to Dr. Hildreth, were erected the year the Waterford settlement was begun, by Colonel
Robert Oliver, Major Iaffield White and Captain John Dodge. The mills (a grist mill and sawmill) were built during the year 1789, but were not completed and ready for operation until March of the following year. The crank for the sawmill was made at New Haven, Conn., transported across the mountains on a packhorse to Sumrill's Ferry, and brought thence by water. The stones, of conglomerate rock, were quarried in Laurel Hill, near Brownsville, Pa., and were used more than fifty years. They were not suitable for grinding wheat, but served well for grinding corn, of which, it is said, the mill would grind a bushel in four min- utes. About the mill there grew up a settlement of about thirty peo- ple, all of whom fled to the neigh- boring blockhouses when the news of the Big Bottom massacre reached them. The mill was resorted to by the people of Marietta and Water- ford both before and after the war, and for many years did a thriving business. During the Indian war it was not suffered to lie idle. Parties of twenty or thirty men sometimes went up with their grain in boats, a part of them marching by land to watch for Indians. While the mill was in operation sentries were posted round about to give warning of dan- ger, but during the whole war the mill was undisturbed by the savages.
But one other settlement was founded under the auspices of the Marietta colonists prior to the Indian war-the ill-fated colony at Big Bot- tom, of which we shall proceed to speak in the following chapter.
CHAPTER VI. WAR WITH THE INDIANS - 1790 TO 1795.
THE RISE OF THE WAR CLOUD - A PEACE POLICY DESIRED -ITS FAILURE - ARRANGE- MENTS FOR A TREATY - MEETING AT DUNCAN'S FALLS - A NIGHT ATTACK BY THE SAVAGES - THE TREATY OF FORT HARMAR, JANUARY 9, 1789 - RENEWAL OF BORDER WARFARE - SURVEYORS ATTACKED - JOHN GARDNER'S CAPTURE AND ESCAPE - GEN- ERAL HARMAR'S EXPEDITION TO THE MAUMEE - THE SETTLEMENT AT BIG BOTTOM - THE MASSACRE - NAMES OF THE MURDERED AND CAPTURED - WAR BEGINS - SET- TLERS ATTACKED - THE WHITE SCOUTS AND THEIR METHODS - A SCOUT KILLED - AN INDIAN KILLED ON DUCK CREEK - FOUR PERSONS KILLED NEAR MARIETTA - THE EXPEDITION OF GENERAL. ST. CLAIR - EVENTS OF 1792-3 - INDIAN ATROCITIES - A COLONY FORMED AT THE MOUTH OF OLIVE GREEN CREEK, 1794 - THE INDIAN SIL- VER HEELS - CLOSING EVENTS OF THE WAR - WAYNE'S VICTORY - THE GREENVILLE TREATY - PEACE.
T THE colonization of the north- western territory began under favorable auspices. As we have al- ready noted, when the sturdy New Englanders stepped from their boats at the mouth of the Muskingum, an influential chief and several warriors of the Delawares greeted them with friendly words. The Indians had ceded all title to the lands purchased by the Ohio Company to the govern- ment, and as far as treaties could secure title, the whites had an absolute right to the land. But on account of Indian jealousy and the mistaken policy of others, the colonists soon became involved in a long and bloody war with the savages. Jealousy of the encroachments of the whites was no doubt the primary cause of the In- dian war. Another cause was the un- friendly attitude of the white settlers upon the borders of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky, who were a class of adventurers ill-fitted to dwell peaceably in close proximity to the
red men. The Virginians, or " Long Knives " as the savages called them, were both feared and detested by the Indians. Long years of border war- fare had strengthened the Indian's hatred, and caused them to extend it to the entire race.
Again, the savages had witnessed the cruel and inhuman butchery by the whites of the innocent Moravians, and other acts of treachery per- formed by those professing friend- ship. The treaties that had been made were unsatisfactory and imper- fectly comprehended. The British, who still had posts in the Northwest, sought by every means to arouse the ire of the savages against the Ameri- cans, and so prevent settlements in the Ohio Valley. Savage warfare did not cease with the close of the revolution, but continued here and there on the frontiers with almost no cessation. It was estimated that in the seven years preceding the In- dian war, which began in 1790, and
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on Ohio soil in 1791, fifteen hundred people were captured or killed by the Indians on the borders south and west of the Ohio River, and that two thousand horses, and other property to the value of fifty thousand dol- lars were stolen.
The ordinance of 1787, which es- tablished the Northwest Territory, contained in one of its articles the following declarations :
"The utmost good faith shall al- ways be observed toward the In- dians ; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without consent; and in their property rights and liberty they shall never be in- vaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress ; but laws founded in justice and hu- manity shall from time to time be made for preventing wrong being done to them, and for preserving peace with them."
To carry out this peace policy Governor St. Clair was charged with the duty of making a treaty as soon as practicable after arriving in the Ter- ritory, for the purpose of confirming former treaties and establishing friendly relations with the Indians. Anticipating the arrival of the gov- ernor in June, 1788, a party of thirty men, under command of Lieutenant McDowell, was sent from Fort Har- mar to the falls of the Muskingum, since known as Duncan's Falls, to make preparations for the approach- ing treaty. They took goods for presents to the Indians, and pro- visions, and were instructed to erect a council-house and cabins to protect the men and shelter
the goods. On arriving at the spot (which the Indians had selected for the council) the soldiers found quite a number of Delawares assembled there; also a band of about twenty savages, composed of Chippewas and other outcasts of different tribes. During the night of July 12th the sentries who were guarding the tent containing the goods were fired upon, and two of them killed and others wounded. The Indians, who de- signed the robbery of the tent, were defeated in their purpose and retired with a loss of one killed and one wounded. On the same night the colored servant of Major Duncan, a trader, who was awaiting the arrival of the tribes in order that he might traffic with them, was killed and scalped.
The Delawares protested that they were entirely innocent of any part in the attack, pronounced the dead Indian a Chippewa, and seizing and binding six of the offenders gave them into the custody of Lieutenant McDowell to await punishment. On the next day a reinforcement arrived from Fort Harmar, which took charge of the prisoners and carried them back to the fort. They were kept for some time in irons, but finally escaped. The large boat of the Ohio Company was sent up to the falls, and the troops, with the goods and provisions were carried back to the fort.
The treaty was delayed several months by this occurrence. The In- dians in the meantime began to man- ifest symptoms of hostility, and mur- mured against the improvements
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY. OHIO.
which the settlers were making. They continued to linger in the vi- cinity and scoured the woods for miles around, hunting and killing off all the game they could, leaving it to rot upon the ground, "to keep it." as they averred, "from the white hunters." A council was held of the Ottawas and Chippewas, who op- posed making a treaty, and declared themselves for war unless the whites would remove south of the Ohio. The Delawares, however, continued their professions of friendship, and the Wyandots and Six Nations sided with them, telling the dissatisfied tribes that if they fought the white men they must not expect. aid from the Delawares and their friends. Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, dined with General Putnam at Marietta and with the officers at Fort Harmar on several occasions.
In September Gyantwahia, the Cornplanter, a leading Seneca chief, accompanied by about forty warriors, arrived at Fort Harmar, escorted by Captain Zeigler and a company of soldiers from Fort Pitt. It was ex- pected that he would have great in- fluence in consummating a treaty, from his authority in the councils of the Six Nations, his intelligence and his friendliness toward the American government. In December, 1788, the Ohio Company voted to give one mile square of the donation land " to the Gyantwahia and his heirs for- ever," as a testimonial of their appre- ciation of the value of his services.
In November a son of the cele. brated Brant, who was at Duncan's Falls with two hundred warriors,
sent a request to Governor St. Clair that the conference be held at that place rather than at Fort Harmar. On the refusal of the governor, Brant and his warriors retired to their towns and used their influence to keep the Shawnees from Fort Harmar. Very few of them were present when the treaty was made.
December 13th about two hundred Indians from different tribes arrived at the fort. They came from the north, along the west bank of the Muskingum, some of them mounted and bearing the United States flag at the head of the column in token of friendship. As they approached the fort they saluted it by firing their rifles in the air. "The salute," says Dr. Hildreth, " was returned by the cannon and musketry of the soldiers for several minutes, sounding so much like a real engagement of hostile bands that the old officers at Campus Martius were quite animated with the sound. A guard of soldiers with music escorted them into the garri- son in military style, which much pleased the chiefs, who expressed their thanks to the governor in a set speech at their cordial reception." The governor replied, welcoming them in appropriate words, and ex- pressed the hope that the treaty might soon be finished.
The council-fire was lighted the next day, but the deliberations pro- ceeded so slowly that it was not until the 9th of January that all the articles of the treaty were arranged and agreed to. During this time Gov- ernor St. Clair was ill with gout, and was carried by the soldiers in a chair
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to the council daily. General Rich- ard Butler was present as a commis- sioner at the treaty ; also the vener- able Moravian missionary. Rev. John Heckewelder, who had labored for years among the Delawares on the Tuscarawas, and was beloved and re- spected both by the Christian and heathen Indians of that tribe. He spoke their language with fluency, and his presence was of great weight in the council. Three interpreters were present - Nicholson, Williams and La Chappelle.
Two treaties were made, both on the 9th of January, 1789. The first was with the sachems and warriors of the Six Nations, and was signed by twenty-four of their chiefs. It renewed and confirmed previous treaties and re-established the bound- aries of the territory of the Six Na- tions, as fixed by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, October 22, 1784. A dis- tinct article was attached to the treaty which provided that if any murders were committed, either by the whites or the Indians, the guilty persons should be given up to the proper authorities to be punished according to law ; and if any horses were stolen the owners should re- claim them if found. For confirm- ing and renewing the treaty the Six Nations were given presents in goods to the value of $3,000.
The second treaty was between Governor St. Clair and the Wyan- dots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippe- was, Pottawatomies and Sacs, con- firming and extending the treaty of Fort McIntosh (January, 1785). The Indians agreed to give over to Gov-
ernor St. Clair, as soon as they con- veniently could, all white prisoners then in their hands. The boundar- ies of their lands were fixed the same as by the treaty of Fort McIn- tosh, and they were forbidden to sell to any foreign power. They were granted permission to hunt on lands ceded to the United States so long as they conducted themselves peace- ably ; white men were forbidden to settle in their reservation ; trade with the Indians was to be permitted and encouraged, under regulations, etc.
But what matters it to state the provisions of a treaty which was so soon to be disregarded and annulled by the Indians! At the time it gave great satisfaction. The people of Marietta banqueted the chieftains ; speeches were made and Governor St. Clair was presented with a congratu- latory and laudatory address. Peace seemed secure, but the hope was il_ lusive.
Dissatisfaction began among the different tribes -some complaining that they were not represented at the treaty ; others that young war- riors and not chiefs had acted, with- out authority, while one tribe com- plained because they had received no presents. When Indians seek causes for complaint they usually find them without difficulty.
Border warfare against the " Long Knives" of Virginia and Kentucky was renewed with the opening of spring. On the 1st of May, 1789, a settler of Washington County, C'ap- tain Zebulon King, of Belpre, who had gone into his clearing to work, was shot and scalped by two In-
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
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dians. Alarm and uneasiness pre- and bound, and taken two or three vailed in all the settlements through- ' miles up Wolf Creek to the Indians' out the summer. In the month of August, at Meigs' Station, a small stockade near Belpre, two boys were
camp, where he saw two or three horses, one of which he recognized as that of his neighbor, Judge Devol. killed while hunting for the cows in ! The Indians then mounted and rode the woods near their home.
On the 7th of August John Mathews, the Ohio Company's sur- veyor, while engaged in his work in what is now Lawrence County, with a party of assistants, was at tacked by the Indians and narrow- ly escaped death. Six soldiers and . a corporal attended the surveying , attached some cow-bells-stolen party as a guard. The attack was made on their camp in the morn- ing in daylight. Patchen, one of the surveyor's assistants, was killed, and all the soldiers except the corporal shared his fate. Mathews and three of his men fled and made their way to the river, where they opportunely fell in with a boat and assistance. The corporal, who had remained con- cealed while the Indians plundered the camp, joined Mathews and his companions on the same day. It was supposed that the attacking Indians were Shawnees.
In September, John Gardner, a young man from Massachusetts, who was at work clearing land in the Waterford settlement, becoming a little weary with his labor, sat down upon a fallen tree to rest. Four Indians and a white man suddenly appeared ; Gardner, supposing the Indians to be some of the friendly Delawares who were hunting in the vicinity, was not alarmed, but on the white man beckoning to him, ap- proached the group. Ile was seized
by turns, but forced Gardner to walk : all the time. Their course led south- west to the waters of Federal Creek. During the night he had no oppor- tunity to escape, being securely bound to a sapling which the Indians bent over and forced him to lie upon. To the branches of the sapling they
from the settlers' cows-so that any movement made by him would awaken his captors. During the second day the Indians conversed with him, promised him he should build their cabins, become a good Shawnee and have a Shawnee wife. During a halt they cut his hair and painted his face. The second night was ramy, and the thongs which bound his hands having become slightly pliable, Gardner resolved to free himself from them and escape. After several hours of careful work- ing he succeeded in his purpose, and grasping his rifle (which one of the Indians had appropriated to his own use) he left the camp without awak- ening his slumbering guardians. He traveled rapidly during the following day, and at night slept in a hollow log. The next day he came to Wolf Creek, which he followed down to the mills and accounted to his friends for his mysterious disappearance. He suffered much from hunger, eat- ing nothing from the time of his last supper with the Indians until he ar-
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WAR WITH THE INDIANS.
rived at home, for though he had his rifle and saw some game, he could not kill anything, as the Indians had robbed him of powder and bullets.
During the year 1790 the Indians did not seriously molest any of the inhabitants of the Ohio Company's lands, but many reports reached them of outrages south of the Ohio River and at the mouth of the Scioto. War was considered inevitable and the settlers made the best preparations they could. In June of this year Major Doughty left the fort at the mouth of the Muskingum, and, ac- companied by 150 men, proceeded down the Ohio and commenced the erection of Fort Washington, within the present limits of Cincinnati. A little later General Harmar arrived at that place with 300 men, and, with the addition of nearly 1,000 Virginians, Kentuckians and Penn- sylvanians, led an expedition against the Indians on the Maumee, destroy- ing several of their villages. IIis forces were defeated with heavy losses on the 19th and 22d days of October. IIis campaign provoked instead of allaying the growing hos tility. He returned to Fort Harmar in November. Meantime the British were furnishing arms and stores to the hostile tribes. Return J. Meigs, Jr., afterward governor, was sent to the governor of Detroit by General St. Clair, about the time IIarmar started, with a letter informing the British commandant of the pro- posed expedition. The letter stated that no British post would be mo- lested, and asked that no supplies be furnished the hostile savages. Only
a formal answer was returned. Meigs was told that it would be dangerous for him to return to Marietta through the wilderness by the route he had come, and with his companion, John Whipple, son of Commodore Whip- ple, made a long detour, going on a schooner to Presque Isle, whence they proceeded down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers by boat.
In spite of the unsettled condition of affairs the people of Washington County pursued their usual avoca- tions during the year. An attempt was even made to extend the settle- ment at this time-a rash and fool- hardy experiment.
The "Big Bottom," on the left bank of the Muskingum, in Windsor Township, Morgan County, contains the largest body of level or bottom land on the river between Duncan's Falls and Marietta. The lower part is directly opposite Roxbury, and ex- tends up five miles, with an average width of three-fourths of a mile.
Induced by the offer of donations to actual settlers by the Ohio Com- pany, an association of men, princi- pally young, ummarried and unac- quainted with the dangers of frontier life and the mode of Indian warfare, began, in the fall of 1790, a settle- ment by erecting a blockhouse a few rods from the river on the farm now owned and occupied by Obadiah Brokaw. About twenty rods from the blockhouse, and a few rods fur- ther from the river, Francis and Isaac Choate erected a cabin and con- menced clearing a lot. Another of the company, James Patton, and a hired laborer, Thomas Shaw, lived
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