History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 8

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1088

USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 8

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Passing over several periods, we reach the glacial, during which the topog- raphy of the continent was considerably modified, and which is among the latest epochs of geology, though exceedingly remote as compared with human

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

history. Previously, a torrid heat prevailed the entire Northern hemisphere. Now the temperature of the frigid zone crept southward until it reached Cincin- nati. A vast field of ice, perhaps hundreds of feet thick, extended from the north pole to this point. As this glacial rigor came southward, the flow of the St. Lawrence River was stopped, and the surplus water of the great lake basin was turned into the Ohio and Mississippi. This glacial sea was by no means stationary even after its southern limit had been reached. It possessed the properties of a solid and a fluid. Its action was slow but powerful, grind- ing mountains to powder and forming great valleys and basins. Separating into two glacial portions, one moved toward the watershed north of the Ohio River; and, continuing westerly, it hollowed out the basin of Lake Erie and crushed the apex of the Cincinnati arch. From this point, it turned south- ward and swept with a regular course through the Maumee and Miami Valleys to the Ohio River. The southern border constantly melting, and flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico, the great field was pressed forward by the accumulationS of ice in the northern latitudes. Thus for ages, this powerful force was fitting the earth for the habitation of man. The surface was leveled, huge rocks broken and reduced to pebbles, sand, clay, etc., other soil and surface-material- while the debris was embedded at the bottom. In some sections, as the ice melted and freed the bowlders and rocks, the lighter material was swept away. The glacier moving forward, and the forces proving an " equilibrium," the edge of this ice-field was held in a solid stronghold, and the material thus de- posited forms a ridge, called by geologists "terminal moraine," first exemplified in Ohio by the "Black Swamp," in the Maumee Valley.

The most extreme rigor of this period beginning to wane, the ice of the Maumee and Miami Valleys began to move slowly forward, toward the north, reaching the points now termed Hudson, Mich .; Fort Wayne, Ind., and Kenton, Ohio-reaching somewhat further south than Lima and Van Wert. The edge of the glacier was defined in outline by the present western border of Lake Erie, and parallel with it. Climatic influences "acting and counteracting," the glacial force was concentrated, the Maumee Valley being subjected to a grinding proc- ess, and a deposit of material going on, which now forms the boundary of the " Black Swamp." As our readers are aware, the waters of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's meet at Fort Wayne, and their united waters form the Maumee; thence the turn is northwest, and, wearing an outlet through the ridge, it reaches the head of Lake Erie.

The torrid zone yet gaining the ascendency, the ice-fields continuing their reverse motion, and retreating toward the north, the basin of the great lakes was formed; and the blocks of ice melting therein, a vast sea of fresh water was formed, which gradually overflowed a portion of Canada and Michigan. But the St. Lawrence, that important outlet, was under the restraint of an ice blockade, and the surplus water of the fresh sea was turned into the Ohio and and Mississippi.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Later, mountains of ice-float were drifted from the north by winds and cur- rents, into temperate latitudes, and melting, deposited rocks, stones and general debris. Following the iceberg-drift, came the permanent elevation above the ocean- level. The St. Lawrence outlet was formed. The inland sea was assuming its division into lakes. The united waters of Erie and Huron flowed through the Wabash Valley and into the Ohio, until, through some agency, that section was dry, and the lakes drained in another direction. The action of the glacial period in the Erie basin vicinity created what is known as the "Niagara lime- stone," by grinding upper strata and drifting the debris elsewhere. This seems to have occurred at intervals, exposures being made in Seneca, Sandusky and Wood Counties, and beneath the axis of the Cincinnati arch. Oriskany lime- stone is also available in another stratum, which has been brought to the surface. Again, there is a carboniferous stratum of limestone, and along the Maumee is a thin exposure of the Hamilton limestone and shale.

A glacier having both fluid and solid properties, it will readily be compre- hended that obdurate projections of rock resisted its action, and created currents in other directions, for its forces. When this specified epoch had ceased to be, Ohio was a rough, irregular and crude mixture of ridges and knobs and pinnacles, which were "leveled up " and finished by iceberg-drift and inland-sea deposits. This settled and accumulated, and the work of hundreds of years produced a beautiful surface, its inequalities overcome, the water having receded and " terra firma " remaining. A deep bed of clay, sufficiently compact to hold the germs of organic matter, and sufficiently porous to absorb moisture, was especially adapted to encourage the growth of vegetation. These seeds had been brought by the winds and waves and natural agencies, and now began to produce plants and shrubs, which withered to enrich the soil, after scattering broadcast seeds that would again perpetuate verdure. Worms, land crabs and burrowing ani- mals assisted in the creation of soil, while the buffalo, deer and bear followed, as soon as forestry appeared. Decomposed foliage and fallen timber aided in the great work of preparing the present State of Ohio for the habitation of man. Prairie, marsh, forest, rivers and lakes were formed, which, in turn, were modi- fied and prepared for a grand destiny by other influences.

In glancing over the compiled histories of Ohio, those containing details of her early struggles, afflictions and triumphs, we are especially impressed with its near and sympathetic relation with the great Northwest, and the republic of the United States of America. From the early years when white men built their rude cabins in the then tangled wilderness, to the opulent and magnificent present of this united nation, Ohio has been stanch, loyal and earnest, both in action and principle.

We shall endeavor to trace the history of the State concisely and accurately, according to the data given by the most reliable historians. We are obliged to glean the prominent events only, our space being limited, compared with the multitudinous interests connected with this important part of the United States.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

FRENCH HISTORY.

All through early French history, is the fact especially prominent, that in their explorations and expeditions, they united piety and business. They were zealous in sending out their missionaries, but they were always attended by traders and those who were as skilled in the world's profit and loss, as their companions were in propagating Christianity.

Prior to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock, the Upper Lakes were visited by the French, and records prove that during the first half of the seventeenth century, a vagabondish set, working in the interests of the fur company of New France, understood the geographical position of the lakes and their tributary streams. M. Perrot, an intelligent explorer, made overtures of peace to the Indian tribes around these bodies of water, and effected a treaty, which, it is claimed, established the right for the French, in the name of their king, to hold the place near St. Mary's Falls. They further assert that the Mississippi was discovered by the French from Lake Superior, but this is not authenticated, and Father Marquette and M. Joliet are accepted as the first who found this large stream, in 1763. The good missionary won his way with his patient and sympathetic nature.

Ohio was, like the other portions of the West, originally in the possession of aborigines or Indians. Of their origin, many suppositions are advanced, but no certainties sustained. From practical evidences, the Mound-Builders were active in Ohio, and here as elsewhere, their work marked retrogression rather than advancement. The territory of Ohio was claimed by the French, and included in that wide tract between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, held by them under the name of Louisiana. Before the year 1750, a French trad- ing-post was established at the mouth of the Wabash, and communication was established between that point and the Maumce, and Canada. Between the years 1678 and 1682, the intrepid La Salle and Father Hennepin, assisted by Fondi, an Italian, with a small band of followers, inaugurated a series of explorations about the great lakes and the Mississippi, building forts on their way and planting the French priority. In 1680, La Salle erected a stockade at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, which was a general rendezvous for mission- aries, traders and explorers, besides constituting a primitive "stock exchange."

The English colonies were at this time east of the Alleghanies, while the French were establishing themselves west of this range, gaining an entrance north and south, the two portions separated by hostile and barbarous foes. La Salle's spirit of adventure led him into new fields, but Father Hennepin was detailed to investigate that part of the world now known as the State of Ohio. The records assert that he published a volume containing an account of his observations "in the country between New Mexico and the frozen ocean," in 1684, together with maps of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a plat of the larger streams in Ohio.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Apparently, the French more speedily comprehended the value of their advantages in the New World than the English, and vigorously inaugurated and sustained commercial and religious projects. They were essentially benefited by the mediation of the Catholic priests between settlers and Indians, this really earnest class everywhere ingratiating themselves with the savages. The Order of Jesuits were very vigorous, and representatives were stationed at every trading-post, village and settlement. The English colonists engaged mostly in agriculture, while the French took a lively interest in the fur trade with the natives, probably from their former settlement in Quebec and thereabouts, where the climate is advantageous for this business. This added to the influence of the priests, and the natural assimilation of French and the Indians, through the tact and amiability of the former, the French possessions gained more rapidly than the English or Spanish. They courted their daughters and married them. They engaged in feasts and trades, and took advantage of those unimpeded times to extend their dominion with surprising celerity. A chain of trading, missionary and military posts extended from New Orleans to Quebec, by way of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, thence via Mackinaw and Detroit to Lakes Erie and Ontario. This route was shortened thereafter by following the Ohio River to the Wabash, following the latter upward, and down the Maumee to Lake Erie.

About the same time, and to check the advancement of the French, the Ohio Company was formed by the English. This was an outgrowth of the contest between these two nations for the ascendency, whether empire, settle- ment or individual. After thirty years' peace between these two nations, "King George's War" opened the campaign in 1744, but terminated in 1748, the treaty at Aix-la-chapelle unfortunately omitting a settlement of any division of claims in America. The English, French and Spanish were the first to enter America, and the right of possession by each monarch or empire was held by right of a first discovery. The only right that England could advance regarding Ohio was that the portion of the Six Nations found in the Ohio Valley had placed some of their lands under British jurisdiction, and that other portions had been purchased at Lancaster, Penn., by means of a treaty with the same nations. All this was strenuously denied and ignored by the French. Thus several conflicting influences swept carnage over fair Ohio. The Indians were allied to one side and the other, and were against each other. The Indians and French would advance against the English, and they, in retaliation, would make a raid into the Indian territory and overcome a French settlement. Whenever they could as well, Indians would take the cause in their own keep- ing and fight each other. The wide, verdant fields of Ohio were drenched ghastly red under a glowing sun, and the great forests echoed moans from the dying and distressed. The English colonists had partially overcome their deprivation, caused by a struggle for subsistence, and means to guard against the savages-this distress augmented by campaigns against Canada-by their

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

increased numbers and wealth, but were now alarmed by the French rule in America, which gained so rapidly, unmolested as it was by Indian raids and other devastating circumstances. A constant conflict was going on between Lake Erie and the Upper Ohio. Atrocities and massacres were committed indiscriminately, which opened the way for a desperate class of marauders and villains from the colonies and European States. These people enlisted with the Indians on either side for the purpose of leadership and plunder. Every fortification, trading-post and settlement was garrisoned or deserted, and the ground between the Alleghanies and the Maumee became a conflict field, rife with thrilling deeds, sacrifice and adventures, the half never having been chronicled, and many heroes falling uncrowned by even a lasting memory, since during these times the, people kept few annals, and cared less for historical memories than anything on earth. They were living, and dying, and struggling, and that was more than they could carry through safely. The French formed a road from the Ohio River to Detroit, via the foot of the Lower Rapids of the Maumee, and the foot of the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky.

The Ohio Company obtained a charter under English views, from the British Government, with a grant of 6,000 acres of land on the Ohio. The English now reverted to the times of the Cabots, and protested that by right they held the entire country between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, bounded by those parallels of latitude defining their Atlantic coast settlements. France claimed the region drained by the Mississippi and tributaries, the great lakes and their tributaries, the area being west of the Alleghanies. Ohio was thus included in the disputed tract.

The Ohio Company was formed in 1748, by a number of Virginians and Londoners, two brothers of George Washington taking conspicuous parts in the movement ; Thomas Lee was especially active. When the surveys were begun, the Governor of Canada entered vigorous protests, and indicated his displeasure by a prompt line of posts from Erie to Pittsburgh, named respectively, Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, Vedango, Kittaning and Du Quesne. The latter was begun by the English, captured by the French, and by them completed.

The first English settlement of which we can find traces was a block-house at Piqua, about the year 1752. It was attacked, and a bitter struggle ensued, resulting in the death of fourteen of the assailants. Those within the garrison suffered severely, many being burned, and the remainder captured and dis- patched to Canada.

In 1753, the French and Indian war actively began. It did not extend beyond the American continent until 1756, when the home governments took an interest in its progress beyond encouraging their respective colonists to pur- sue the war-path to a direful finale for their adversaries. For four years, the French captured and conquered, spreading terror wherever they went, and they followed every Englishman that set his foot on Ohio soil to the death. We may state that these people had not retained their civilized habits, and

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

constant association with savages had embued them with barbarous methods of warfare which were sickening and revolting to the English, and to which they could not resort. It is highly probable that French success was vastly brought about by these means, together with the assistance of their Indian allies. In 1758, when the English hope was almost exterminated, the elder Pitt being placed at the head of the administration, a new and energetic system was inaugurated, wise measures instituted, and military science triumphed over savage cunning and French intrigue. The first brilliant English achievement was the conquest of Canada. When the home governments interfered, the war assumed the character of a French and English conflict, regardless of Indian right, yet the tribes continued to participate in the carnage.

A certain Christian, Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, located upon the Muskingum, near Beavertown. Heckewelder consented to become his associate. The Indians receiving them kindly, under conditions that Post should serve as tutor, this missionary began clearing a field for the purpose of planting corn for sustenance. This did not accord with Indian logic. They had stipulated that he teach and he was planting corn, which to them was a signal of the coming of other whites, the building of a fort and encroachments upon the Indians. They referred to the French priests, who were in good physical condition, did not till land, but were in charge of the Great Spirit who provided for them, a conclusive proof to them that when divine work was acceptable to the Great Spirit, priests were somehow sustained by other than the plans which disturbed their great hunting-grounds. However, they allowed him a small space, and he remained with them, preaching and teaching during the summer of 1762, when, accompanied by one of the principal chiefs, he returned to Lancaster, Penn., where a treaty was concluded. On his return to his post, he was met by Heckewelder, who imparted the tidings that friendly Indians had warned him that the war was about to sweep over their section, and destruction awaited them if they remained. The mission was accordingly abandoned. This failure was not so bitter as the English effort to sustain their trading-post in 1749, on the Great Miami, afterward called Laramie's storc. It pursued a feeble existence until 1752, when a French raid upon the Twig- twees and English colonists proved fatal.

A European treaty now excluded the French from any rights to make treaties with the Indians, and the English, in their flush of victory after Pitt's succession, assumed the authority over Indians and lands. The savages did not accept the situation with anything resembling the gentle spirit of resigna- tion, and the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, led the several tribes into a general war against the intruders. It was no longer French and English, but Indian and English, the former being instigated and assisted many times by the French, now desperate and unscrupulous in a mad spirit for revenge.

The intention of the Indians was to drive the whites east of the mountains, destroying their numerous strongholds in Pennsylvania and Virginia, if they

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

failed in their hope of utterly exterminating them. Pontiac had effected a consolidation of the tribes ranging from Mackinaw to North Carolina, thus being enabled to swoop down upon all the settlements simultaneously. A deadly beginning was made in the Ohio Valley, and only two or three English traders escaped out of the one hundred and twenty located in that vicinity. The forts at Presque Isle, St. Joseph and Mackinaw, were captured amid scenes of slaughter too terrible to perpetuate in description. The years 1763 and 1764 were literally drenched in human carnage and anguish. Ohio was a great field of crime, murder, pain and horror. The expeditions of Bradstreet and Bouquet crushed the war in 1764, and Pontiac with his Ottawas removed to the Maumee and settled. English settlement now progressed with great rapidity, but this was destined to be disturbed in 1774, by the action of Lord Dunmore, who led an expedition against the tribes of the Ohio country, termi- nated by his treaty on the Scioto plains. At this period, the colonists were not in strict harmony with England, and the spirit of revolution was spreading every day.

When Lord Dunmore made his treaty, the affirmation was made and gained ground that he, being a thorough loyalist, had compromised under such terms as held the Indians British allies against the settlers. Directly following this treaty, was the deliberate murder of a number of Indians, near Wheeling, including the family of the great chief, Logan-which inaugurated retaliating atrocities.

In the year 1773, July 4, the first white child was born within the present limits of Ohio, and was christened John L. Roth, son of a Mora- vian missionary. All the settlers of these Moravian towns on the Muskingum were made prisoners in September of the same year. Heckwelder was trans- ported to Detroit, but English tyranny failed to find any evidence against him or his colaborers, and they were reluctantly released, and returned to their fam- ilies in Sandusky. Poverty added to their sufferings, and in the forlorn hope of finding a remnant of their property at the old settlements, which might assist in mitigating their necessities, they wearily went thitherward. They began gathering their grain, but the Wyandots attacked them, and many lives were lost. Frontiersmen had also grown jealous of them, and a body of about ninety marched out together, for the fiendish purpose of pillaging, slaughtering and laying waste all Moravian towns and posts. With the wily insidiousness of savages, they went about their diabolical plan. The Moravians were cordial and bade this band welcome, when they reached their towns in the guise of friend- ship. Williamson, the leader, and the gleaners, were called from the fields, when, to the dismay of these trusting and frank people, they were all bound, and only fifteen out of the marauding band of ninety were in favor of even sparing the lives of these hapless men, women and children. Forty men, twenty-two women and thirty-four children were then cruelly and heartlessly murdered, their sufferings laughed to scorn, and the last sound that fell on their

Charles Er Faster

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

ears was exultant derision. Succeeding this tragic event was the expedition against the Indian towns upon the Sandusky. The hostile Indians had been making frequent incursions upon the settlements of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, destroying both life and property. There seemed to be no bounds to their bloody work, and it became necessary, for the peace and safety of the settlers, to take some measures to prevent their outrages. Accordingly, in May, 1782, Gen. William Irvine, who was then commander of the Western Military Department, with headquarters at Fort Pitt, called a council of the officers of his department to meet at Fort Pitt. At this meeting it was de- cided to form and equip a body of men, and make an expedition into the Indian country. Upper Sandusky, then the rendezvous of the hostile Wyan- dots, Delawares, Shawanese and Mingoes, was to be the point of attack.

Col. William Crawford led the expedition, which counted 480 men. Warn- ing had in some manner reached the towns, and the troops found them de- serted. But the Indians were incensed, and their wrath had not driven them to hiding-places, but to a preparation to meet their foes. They fought desper- ately, and Crawford's troops were defeated and scattered, many being capt- ured, and among them Col. Crawford himself. It is hardly probable that Crawford could justly expect much mercy at the hands of his captors. Ac- counts state that Crawford implored the aid of Girty, and at last secured a promise to use his power to obtain the Colonel's pardon. However, this was of no avail, and it is doubtful whether Girty was disposed to intercede. The prisoners were tortured and put to death, and Crawford's agonies were pro- tracted as long as possible. Dr. Knight managed to disable the Indian who had him in charge, and made his escape to the settlements, where he related the result of the expedition and the tortures of the captured.

On October 27, 1784, a treaty was concluded at Fort Stanwix, with the sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Onei- das and Tuscaroras, and the Six Nations then ceded to the Colonial Govern- ment all claims to the country west of a line defined by the western boundary to the Ohio-thus rendering the Indian claim to a large portion of Ohio lands practically extinct.

Although the French and Indian war was a series of heart-rending events, it was a serious and remarkable school of discipline for the untrained troops which soon engaged in the Revolutionary struggle. On the fields of Ohio, many valuable officers, who earned distinction in the war of independence, learned their first lessons in intrepid valor.

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Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1088

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1088