USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Two > Part 9
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And Colonel William Christian who accompanied Lewis, wrote, in a letter of November 8, 1774: "This lay 3 weeks (Oct. 18) our army about 1150 in number narched from the Ohio, and on the Monday evening ollowing we encamped within about 3 miles from A Shawnese Town where their greatest force were .ssembled. His Lordships Camp was then about 7 niles from us & about 6 miles from the Town. We ntended for his Camp but passed the path that took ff to our right hand expecting he had encamped earer the Towns. That day we were met by several xpresses from his Lordship, the last one informing us hat he had concluded a peace. As we went on further han was expected The Indians who watched every notion of our army, informed the Govr. that we had
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not stopt but were pushing strait for their Towns { would be in that day (which we could have done) His Lordship with the Interpreter Mr. Gibson & al Indian Chief & 50 men came to our Camp at Dusk The next day he called the Captains together, tol what he had (done) & desired us to return home. W began our March that day, all but about 50 Fincastl men who went to the other Camp. On Friday nigh we reached Point Pleasant. On Sunday evening th greatest part of the Fincastle & Augusta Troops se out for home, every body being anxious."
On the 25th (October) General Lewis's army lef the Pickaway Plains and took up what Albach in hi "Western Annals"-a famous work in its day-call a "bloodless retreat," to the Ohio River, which wa reached in four or five days. Crossing the river to Point Pleasant, the army of Lewis was there disbanded all returning to their homes, save those detailed to remain and guard the breastworks erected to protect the Kanawha Point. Lord Dunmore remained at camp som days to conclude as far as possible the desired result: of the Ohio invasion. That his Lordship proposed to leave behind no incomplete victory, is best related ir a letter written by Captain William Crawford to George Washington. The letter is dated Stewart' Crossing, November 14, 1774, and a portion of i reads: "Sir :- I yesterday returned from our late expe dition against the Shawanese, and I think we may with propriety say we have had great success; as we have made them sensible of their villainy and weakness, and I hope, made peace with them on such a footing as will be lasting, if we make them adhere to the terms
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of the agreement, which are as follows: 'First, they have to give up all the prisoners taken ever by them in war with white people; also negroes and all the horses stolen or taken by them since the last war. And further, no Indians for the future are to hunt on the east side of the Ohio, nor any white man on the west side; as that seems to have been the cause of some of the disturbance between our people and them. As a guarantee that they will perform their part of the agreement, they have given up four chief men, to be kept as hostages, who are to be relieved yearly, or as they may choose.' The Shawanese have complied with these terms, but the Mingoes did not like the condi- tions, and had a mind to deceive us; but Lord Dunmore discovered their intentions, which were to slip off while we were settling matters with the Shawanese. The Mingoes intended to go to the Lakes and take their prisoners with them and their horses which they had stolen.
"Lord Dunmore ordered myself with two hundred and forty men to set out in the night. We were to march to a town about forty miles distant from our camp, up the Scioto, where we understood the whole of the Mingoes were to rendezvous upon the following day, in order to pursue their journey. This intelli- gence came by John Montour, son of Captain Montour, whom you formerly knew.
"Because of the number of Indians in our camp we marched out of it under pretense of going to Hock- hocking for more provisions. Few knew of our setting off anyhow, and none knew where we were going to until the next day. Our march was performed with as
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much speed as possible. We arrived at a town called the Salt-Lick Town the ensuing night, and at daybreak we got around it with one-half our force, and the re- mainder were sent to a small village half a mile distant. Unfortunately one of our men was discovered by an In- dian who lay out from the town some distance by a log which the man was creeping up to. This obliged the man to kill the Indian. This happened before day- light, which did us much damage, as the chief part of the Indians made their escape in the dark; but we got four- teen prisoners, and killed six of the enemy, wounding several more. We got all their baggage and horses, ten of their guns, and 200 (two) white prisoners. The plunder sold for four hundred pounds sterling, besides what was returned to a Mohawk Indian that was there. The whole of the Mingoes were ready to start, and were to have set out the morning we attacked them."
It should be noted that the Mingoes refused to be a party to the Camp Charlotte treaty; their hostility remained unbroken, which fact, in large part, was the justification of the raid upon their town as related by Captain Crawford.
The destruction of the Mingo towns, which were located on the forks of the Scioto, meaning says Captain Alfred Lee-in his "History of the City of Columbus"- the junction of the Scioto and Whetstone, "at which now stands the city of Columbus," by the Crawford expedition, was the only act of violence done to the Indians in the Ohio interior, during the Dunmore in- vasion.
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at Pittsburg, the ensuing spring, to ratify and confirm the Camp Charlotte "reconciliation," Dunmore, with several Shawnee and Mingo hostages as guaranty of the fulfillment of the Indian treaty, broke camp on the last day of October, departed from the Pickaway Plains and reached Fort Gower on the 5th day of November.
And now a most interesting and significant event was to be the final episode to the Dunmore campaign. While the armies of Lewis and Dunmore were conduct- ing their movements in the Indian interior, in behalf of the rights of the Virginia backwoodsmen, the delegates to the first Continental Congress had assembled at Phila- delphia, September 5, 1774, and in the early proceedings had agreed upon a declaration of rights, by which it was, among other things, declared that the inhabitants of the English colonies in North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English Constitution and the several charters or compacts, were entitled to life, liberty and property; and that they had never ceded to any sovereign power whatever a right to dispose of either, without their consent.
When Dunmore's army reached Fort Gower, the Virginian pioneers and patriots received the first news of the action taken by the Continental Congress. On that very day (November 5th), the officers of the army held a meeting and passed resolutions which we repro- duce in full with the record of the meeting as officially preserved in the American Archives:
"Meeting of Officers Under Earl of Dunmore .- At a meeting of the officers under the command of his Excellency, the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore,
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convened at Fort Gower, November 5, 1774, for the purpose of considering the grievances of British America, an officer present addressed the meeting in the following words :
""'Gentlemen :- Having now concluded the campaign, by the assistance of Providence, with honor and advan- tage to the colony and ourselves, it only remains that we should give our country the strongest assurance that we are ready, at all times, to the utmost of our power, to maintain and defend her just rights and privileges. We have lived about three months in the woods without any intelligence from Boston, or from the delegates at Philadelphia. It is possible, from the groundless reports of designing men, that our countrymen may be jealous of the use such a body would make of arms in their hands at this critical juncture. That we are a respectable body is certain, when it is considered that we can live weeks without bread or salt; that we can sleep in the open air with- out any covering but that of the canopy of Heaven: and that our men can march and shoot with any in the known world. Blessed with these talents, let us solemnly engage to one another, and our country in particular, that we will use them to no purpose but for the honor and advantage of America in general and of Virginia in particular. It behooves us, then for the satisfaction of our country, that we should give them our real sentiments, by way of resolves at this very alarming crisis.'
"Whereupon the meeting made choice of a committed to draw up and prepare resolves for their consideration who immediately withdrew, and after some time spent
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therein, reported that they had agreed to and prepared the following resolves, which were read, maturely considered, and agreed to, nemine contradicente, by the meeting, and ordered to be published in the Virginia Gazette:
" Resolved: That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to His Majesty, King George the Third, whilst His Majesty delights to reign over a brave and free people; that we will, at the expense of life, and d everything dear and valuable, exert ourselves in support of his crown, and the dignity of the British Empire. or But as the love of liberty, and attachment to the real e interests and just rights of America outweigh every other consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power within us for the defense of American liberty, ca and for the support of her just rights and privileges; not in any precipitate, riotous or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen. e
"Resolved, That we entertain the greatest respect For His Excellency, the Right Honorable Lord Dun- unore, who commanded the expedition against the Shawanese; and who, we are confident, underwent he great fatigue of this singular campaign from no ther motive than the true interest of this country.
"Signed by order and in behalf of the whole corps.
"Benjamin Ashby, Clerk."
Unique and memorable scene on the soil of Ohio, n the banks of the "beautiful river;" Virginia fron- iersmen celebrate their triumph over the Western ndians, the wards of the British, by proclaiming their ympathy with colonial independence.
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The site of Fort Gower, to-day, gives little evidence of its historic importance. The Ohio at this point takes a plunge due south, while the Hockhocking, or Hocking, as it is usually designated, enters the Ohic by a curve from the west. The exact location of the almost forgotten stockade enclosure, as determined by the best traditionary lore obtainable, "on the spot,' by the present writer-during a visit of inquiry while penning this account-was upon the east or north side of the Hocking, on the elevated bank of the Ohio from which its garrison could overlook the broad placid sweep of the majestic river, which is here flanked on the Virginia side by a chain of picturesque hills, the tip end of a spur of the Alleghany range The palisaded earthworks, long since ploughed away lay on the outskirts of what is now a little sleepy hamlet of a score and a half scattered dwellings, ir which abide some six score inhabitants, who live the simple life "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," whose ancestors gave the settlement the name of Hockingport. Surely there should be a monumen on that spot to perpetuate the memory of those patri otic Virginian officers, who in Ohio, in that prelude to the Revolution, declared their willingness, if called upon, to unsheath their swords "for the defense o American liberty." That was six months before the shot was fired at Lexington and Concord that wa "heard 'round the world."
Dunmore, proceeding by way of Pittsburg, wher he left some of the Indian hostages, reached Williams burg on December 4th, having been absent one hundred and fifty days. He was given a hearty welcome and
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reception in the "Palace" as the official residence was called, by the citizens of the Virginia capital, and the city officers formally took action in which they con- gratulated him on the conclusion of a dangerous and fatiguing service, and his safe return. The faculty of William and Mary College also passed congratula- tory resolutions. The council of the Virginia colony, a body occupying the relation of senate to the House of Burgesses, likewise extended greetings and felicita- tions because of "his Lordship's vigorous opposition to the incursions and ravages of the Indian enemy" and because he had "effectually prevented the desola- tion of a growing back country and the horrors of human carnage," etc. The authorities of several counties joined in the chorus of congratulations and commendation.
But most significant of all was the resolution passed March 20, 1775, by the Virginia Convention, then assembled at Richmond. That resolution cordially und unanimously thanked "our worthy governor, Lord Dunmore, for his truly noble, wise and spirited conduct on the late expedition against our Indian nemy," etc. That convention was composed of the heroic patriots of Virginia, George Washington being ne of them. Mr. Virgil Lewis pertinently asks "does ny one think that if there had been the least suspicion f treachery on the part of Dunmore in that war, that hese men, or any of them would have voted in favor f that resolution?"
The doubt cast upon the honor and loyalty of Dun- hore came later, when on the sixth of June (1775) ›unmore with his family fled from his Williamsburg
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"Palace" and took refuge aboard the British man-of- war "Fowey," lying in the James River. Two weeks later his civil administration of Virginia terminated. He abandoned his office and his adherence to the colony; thenceforth he zealously served the royal government in its contest with the colonial rebels. Then came the odium that overcast his previous service to the Virginia colony.
This odium has been fostered by innumerable writers, one of the most prominent being the historian George Bancroft, who in his chapter on Dunmore's campaign, in which he concedes "the Virginia army appearing as umpire in the valley of the Scioto, nulli- fied the statute which extended the jurisdiction of Quebec to the Ohio," severely arraigns the rapacity and cupidity of Dunmore, charging that the thrifty governor had strong passion for land and fees and was "a partner in two immense purchases of land from the Indians in Southern Illinois." This indictment Ban- croft does not sustain by any proof or authority. In- deed it is claimed there are no records of registratior. or patents either in America or England confirming Colonial land possessions in favor of Lord Dunmore Dunmore's reputation in this matter, moreover, suf- fered greatly at the hands of John Penn, Governor o: Pennsylvania, who in the Virginia-Pennsylvania bound- ary dispute, bitterly assailed the personal character of Lord Dunmore; but in this Penn gave unrestrainec vent to his passion and prejudice.
As to the wide-spread statement that Dunmore formed a secret alliance with the Indians to assist Great Britain in the expected revolution or that he
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played into the hands of Cornstalk's warriors in order to curry their favor against the Colonists, the evidence attainable is in favor of Dunmore's steadfast loyalty to the Colonists, up to the time that he yielded the governship. Mr. Alfred Williams, in an address before the Pickaway Pioneer Society, in 1873, declared that he wrote General Schenk, then American Minister to London, and obtained from him "full copies of the Dispatches of Lord Dunmore to the English govern- ment, containing a detailed account of the origin, pro- gress, and execution of the campaign against the Scioto Indians. * * These private confidential dispatches," continues Mr. Williams, "contained no intimation of any design, or desire even, upon the part of Lord Dunmore to form any alliance with the Indians against the Colonists. On the contrary, his confidential report to his government establishes the fact that he acted in the utmost good faith, and honestly labored for the promotion of the prosperity of the colony of which he was governor."
The initial contest of the Revolution in the New England colonies threw the people thereof into a fever of excitement and withdrew their attention from the distant events in the West. But the opening of hostili- ties between the Crown and the colonies brought about a shifting of the scenes in the trans-Allegheny country.
Under the provisions of the Quebec Act (1774) Detroit was made the capital of the territory northwest of the Ohio, and about the same time Captain Arent Schuyler de Peyster of the King's Regiment was assigned to the command of the post at Michilimacki- nac, with the superintendency of the Lake Indians,
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comprising sixteen or more tribes, inhabiting the forests and prairies on both sides of the Mississippi from the Ohio to the north of Lake Superior.
As the rumblings of the approaching Revolutionary War in the colonies reverberated through the forests of the south and west, the tribesmen were struck with consternation and confusion. What should be their position in the contest and what would be their fate in the result?
The attitude of the Six Nations was a matter of great solicitude on the part of both British and colonial authorities and each side hastened to bring influences to bear on the great Iroquois Confederacy. In July, 1775, Lord Dartmouth forwarded from England, instructions to Colonel Guy Johnson, the Royal Super- intendent of Colonial Indian Affairs, "to keep the Indians in such a state of affection and attachment to the King that his Majesty may rely upon their assist- ance in any case in which it may be necessary," and as to the Six Nations he wrote, "it is his Majesty's pleasure that you lose no time in taking such steps as may induce them to take up the hatchet against his Majesty's rebellious subjects in America."
Colonel Guy Johnson, who had much the same power and influence over the Six Nations possessed by his late father-in-law, Sir William Johnson, pro- ceeded at once to carry out the behests of England. This he did in full sympathy for he was a Tory in feeling and he was heartily assisted by his brother- in-law, John Johnson, Sir William's son, and by the celebrated Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, then the most able and influential chieftain of the Six Nations. The
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Johnsons went so far as to raise a Tory regiment of five hundred men and fortify Johnson Hall against the expected attacks of the colonists. Many con- Ferences were held with representatives of the confeder- acy, the outcome of it all being that the Iroquois Long House became divided. The Mohawks, Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas gave their allegiance to England; while the Oneidas and Tuscarawas cast their ot with the colonists.
Meanwhile the sturdy, hard-headed Virginians saw he probable danger to the colonial cause because of he Western Indian hostility. They forwarded peti- ions of alarm and caution to the Continental Congress, nd on July 12, 1775, the records of that body relate hat the report of the committee on Indian affairs was aken up and considered, resulting in the passage of a esolution that there was "too much reason to appre- end that the British Government would spare no d ains to excite the several nations of Indians to take 's p arms against these colonies, and that it becomes as 3 to strengthen and confirm their friendly disposition is pward these colonies." 1 e 0
Congress then proceeded to create three Indian ne apartments, to superintend Indian affairs in behalf edo the colonies. The Northern Department was to ro- clude the Six Nations, and all the tribes northward dad eastward; the Southern Department was to com- in j'ise the Cherokees, and all the Indians that might be er-suthward of them; the Middle Department embraced thete Indian nations located between the other two ostpartments-the territory of the Ohio country. Five Themmissioners were then appointed for the Northern
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Department and three each for the other two depart. ments. Appropriations were made for the maintenance of each commission. Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry and James Wilson were elected for the Middle Department. Subsequently Lewis Morris and Dr Thomas Walker were substituted for Franklin anc Henry, who found other duties would prevent thei: serving. The Journal of the Virginia House of Bur gesses for the 24th of June (1775) records that, "Certain information having been received of the great discon tent of the Ohio Indians, by reason of the delay of th Ratification of the late treaty of Peace concluded upor by his Excellency the Governor, on the part of thi Colony and the Cornstalk, on the part of the said Indians, and that the Inhabitants on our Frontier are under just apprehensions of a renewal of an India: War, and no steps having been pursued by his Lord ship for carrying on the said Treaty, or delivering u the Indian Hostages, agreeable to the terms of th said Treaty; resolved that said Treaty be immediatel entered upon." It was further resolved that Georg Washington, Thomas Walker, James Wood, Andre Lewis, John Walker and Adam Stephen, esquires, "c any three or more of them be and are hereby constitute a commission, on the part and behalf of this Colon to meet the chiefs or head men of the said Ohio Indian as soon as the same can be done, at such place as the shall find most proper, to ratify and confirm the sa treaty."
Washington did not serve on that Ohio India treaty commission; he had become otherwise engage for on June 15th, the Continental Congress at Phil
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delphia had proceeded to the selection of a commander- in-chief of the Colonial Army and all members had at once turned toward Washington; with characteristic modesty he shrank from the preferred honor, deprecat- ing his own fitness and recommending Andrew Lewis, the hero of Point Pleasant, as better qualified for the responsible office. But Washington was the unanimous choice of Congress and on June 24th-one week after the battle of Bunker Hill-accompanied by that bril- liant cavalcade of officers, the new commander was on his horseback journey to Cambridge to assume charge of the cause of American Independence. When the Burgesses of Virginia chose Washington as a delegate to the Fort Dunmore Treaty, they did not know that he was then on that greater errand.
On September 15, 1775, in accordance with the pre- vious agreement at Camp Charlotte between Dunmore and Cornstalk, the Indian delegates from the Ohio confederacy, assembled at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg) and met the Continental commissioners, Walker, Wilson and Morris, and the commission representing the Virginia colony. It was a gathering of distin- guished chiefs; Cornstalk, Minwha, Wryneck, Silver Heels, Blue Jacket, and fifteen other chiefs from the Shawnees; Captain White Eyes, Custaloga, and Cap- ain Pipe, for the Delawares; Flying Crow and Kya- huta for the Six Nations; The Half King for the Wyandots; The White Mingo for the Mingoes; Sha- janaba for the Ottawas; Glikkikan, Nathaneil and William, influential Christian Indians, represented the )hio Moravian Missions; and many other orators and
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lesser chiefs of the Western wilderness were present. Probably there had never been such an assembly of great chiefs from the Ohio country.
The deliberations with all the picturesque parapher- nalia and dignified formalities lasted some five weeks. Many interpreters were kept busy day and night translating the speeches and recording the proceedings. It was a serious and exciting time for the anxious and perplexed tribesmen. It was difficult for the Ohio nations to understand the nature of the quarrel between the Americans and the British and more difficult for them to decide which side, if any, they should espouse.
Heckewelder in his Narrative relates some of the graphic incidents of the Pittsburg conferences. The Delawares, from Ohio, particularly, were troubled over the situation and were torn asunder in their views concerning the coming war. This discord developed into two factions led respectively by Captain White Eyes, at that time head chief of the Ohio Delawares- and lately the guide and main adviser of Lord Dun- more-and Captain Pipe, or Hopocan, chief of the Monsey or Wolf division of the Delawares, a turbulent and restless band; Pipe's residence, at that time, was on the Walhonding about fifteen miles from Goshoch- gung, at the forks of the Muskingum. White Eyes openly declared in favor of the Americans, which, says Heckewelder, so chagrined some of his people that "they thought proper to offer a check to his proceed- ings, by giving him a haughty tone in a hint, intended to remind him, who the Delaware Nation were, in the Eyes of the Six Nations (meaning that these had no will of their own, but were subordinate to the
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