USA > Ohio > History of the Upper Ohio Valley, with family history and biographical sketches, a statement of its resources, industrial growth and commercial advantages, Vol. I > Part 5
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HE boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, de- fining the jurisdiction of these two colonies, had for several years prior to 1774, been a subject of controversy. At the close of the Dunmore's campaign the excitement of the in- habitants of Westmoreland (a county which had been estab- lished in the year 1773 by the legislature of the first-named colony) and those of Augusta county, Va., began to assume a threatening character, occasioned by the state of Pennsyl- vania including in the new county all of the territory in dispute between the two colonies. The origin of this difficulty is traceable mainly to the indefinite provisions of their charters and the loose manner in which they were worded, thus involving their respective. boundaries in uncertainty and doubt. In 1773 Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia, attempted to enforce jurisdiction over the territory around the headwaters of the Ohio, claiming it as being within the boundaries of Augusta county, Va. Virginia claimed title under the charter of James I., granted in the year 1606, while Penn- sylvania claimed title under the charter issued by Charles II., in 1681.
The ideas of geography, so far as the western continent was con- cerned, in those early days were rather crude and indefinite. The controversy between Dunmore and Gov. Penn in regard to the dis- puted territory waxed very warm, and in the year 1774 had reached a high state of excitement. Two separate authorities claimed juris- diction over it, and the inhabitants of the territory in dispute recog- nized the one or the other as it suited their individual tastes and inclinations. Warrants conveying titles to the same lands were issued under the authority of both colonies, the result of which was to encourage quarrels and disputes and arouse the most embittered feelings among the settlers.
In the year 1774, Governor Dunmore opened offices for the sale of lands in what are now the counties of Fayette, Washington, Alle- gheny and Greene, in the state of Pennsylvania, which were issued at the rate of two shillings and sixpence, as fees. The price paid per hundred acres was ten shillings, but even this sum was not, in many instances, demanded. The price per hundred acres charged by the
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
Pennsylvania land office was greatly in excess of that charged by the Virginia offices, amounting to about $25. Hence, the inducement to purchase from the Virginia offices in preference to the Pennsylvania office had a prevailing influence with the settlers.
In the year 1774, Dunmore determined to take advantage of the un- settled condition of affairs on the western border, and accordingly ap- pointed Dr. John Connolly as vice-governor and commandant of the district of West Augusta, a rash and unscrupulous man, who, with a force of Virginia militia, seized Fort Pitt and held it as the prop- erty of Virginia, and changed its name to Fort Dunmore. The near- est court at that time was held at Staunton, Va. The distance from the western borders to that town being so great and the un- settled condition of the country, led to the establishment of a court at Fort Pitt, of which Connolly was one of the justices. Upon the return of Lord Dunmore from his campaign against the Indians, to Fort Pitt, he issued a proclamation with a view of quelling the disturban- ces prevailing in the disputed territory and warning the inhabitants not to obstruct the administration of His Majesty's government as he had reason to apprehend. The document we here subjoin:
" WHEREAS, I have reason to apprehend that the government of Pennsylvania, in prosecution of their claims to Pittsburgh and its de- pendencies, will endeavor to obstruct His Majesty's government thereof, under my administration, by illegal and unwarrantable com- mitment of the offices I have appointed for that purpose, and that settlement is in some danger of annoyance from the Indians also, and it being necessary to support the dignity of His Majesty's gov- ernment and protect his subjects in the quiet and peaceable enjoy- ment of their rights, I have therefore thought proper, by and with the consent and advice of His Majesty's council, by this proclamation in His Majesty's name, to order and require the officers of militia in that district to embody a sufficient number of men to repel any insult whatsoever, and all His Majesty's liege subjects within this colony are hereby strictly required to be aiding and assisting therein, or they shall answer the contrary at their peril; and I further enjoin and re- quire the several inhabitants of the territories aforesaid, to pay His Majesty's quit rents and public dues to such officers as are or shall be appointed to collect the same within this dominion until His Majes- ty's pleasure therein shall be known."
This proclamation indicates to some extent the feeling prevailing in the upper Ohio valley at that day. The prevailing state of affairs was the more to be deprecated from the circumstances surrounding the political situation of the colonies at this period, which were making the necessary preparations at the time, to meet the approaching storm of war, which threatened in a few months at the furthest to develop into actual conflict between the mother country and the colonies. The conservative and patriotic citizens of each colony exerted their influ- ence in endeavoring to quell the passions and excitements of the hour, but in vain. The passions of the masses appear to have become more inflamed and their excitement to increase. Deeming it the
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best mode to arrive at a solution of the difficulty, it was proposed fin- ally to petition congress to establish a new state, in which was to be included the disputed territory. Hence a petition to this effect was presented to congress proposing the fourteenth state. In this peti- tion was set forth the conflicting claims of the two states, and also justly complaining of the laying of land warrants on land claimed by others, which had been issued by Dunmore's officers. The unfortu- nate state of affairs existing at the time will be more evident from a circular letter, addressed to the discontented inhabitants and appeal- ing to their patriotism, to desist from extreme measures, and to exer- cise a spirit of mutual forbearance. This letter was issued by the delegates from the two states in congress, and bears the date of Phil- adelphia, July 25, 1775, and is as follows:
To the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Virginia on the west side of the Laurel Hill:
FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN: It gives us much concern to find that disturbances have arisen and still continue among you, concerning the boundaries of our colonies. In the character in which we now address you, it is unnecessary to inquire into the origin of those unhappy dis- putes, and it would be improper for us to express our approbation or censure on either side; but as representatives of two of the colonies united among many others, for the defense of the liberties of America, we think it our duty to remove as far as lies in our power, every obstacle that may prevent her sons from co-operating as vigorously as they would wish to do toward the attainment of this great and important end. Influenced solely by this motive, our joint and earnest request to you is, that all animosities which have heretofore subsisted among you, as inhabitants of distinct colonies, may now give place to generous and concurring efforts for the preservation of everything that can make our common country dear to us.
We are fully persuaded that you, as well as we, wish to see your differences terminate in this happy issue. For this desirable purpose we recommend it to you, that all bodies of armed men kept up under either province, be dismissed; that all those on either side who are in confinement, or under bail for taking a part in the contest, be dis- charged; and that until the dispute be decided, every person be per- mitted to retain his possessions unmolested. By observing these directions the public tranquility will be secured without injury to the titles on either side; the period we flatter ourselves, will soon arrive when this unfortunate dispute, which has produced much mischief and as far as we can learn, no good, will be peaceably and constitu tionally determined.
We are your friends and countrymen:
JOHN DICKINSON,
P. HENRY, RICHARD HENRY LEE,
GEO. Ross,
B. FRANKLIN, JAMES WILSON,
BENJ. HARRISON,
TH. JEFFERSON.
CHAS. HUMPHREYS,
PHILADELPHIA, July 25, 1775.
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
Such was not only the state of affairs at the time the foregoing docu- ment bears date, but such they continued to be in 1776 at the time of the declaration of our independence. Neither the kindling of the flames of the revolution, nor the conciliatory and kind letters of the dele- gates in congress from the two colonies, nor the patriotic and earnest appeals of individuals, had the effect of wholly quenching the spirit of bitterness and prejudice which had been enkindled and which con- tinued to smoulder and at intervals to burst forth in fearful intensity and power. It was believed at the time and this belief, in part at least, appeared to have been confirmed by subsequent events, that it was the policy of Lord Dunmore to fan the flames of discord and to keep alive the jealousies existing between the discontented of the two colonies as the issue between the mother country and the colonies was rapidly assuming shape, and the hour for decisive action was near at hand. Hence, if he could succeed in embroiling the inhabitants of this region in internicine quarrels and at the same time turn loose upon them the savages as allies of the mother country, his sagacity assured him that to that extent at least he would paralyze the energies of the col- onists and compromise their cause. As has been supposed, with a view of accomplishing this purpose, he had appointed Dr. John Con- nolly as an instrument who could be depended upon. As heretofore stated Connolly took possession of Fort Pitt, and proceeded to repair and rebuild it, and changed its name. This man Connolly was a na- tive of Lancaster county in the state of Pennsylvania, and was a tory of the deepest dye. He was an unprincipled schemer and withal excessively ambitious. He devoted himself earnestly to the work which he had in hand and ingeniously kept alive the broils and troubles existing between the inhabitants of the two colonies. Some of the means employed by him consisted in the arrest and imprison- ment of unoffending magistrates for no other reason than that they held commissions from the governor of Pennsylvania and were acting under the authority of these commissions. These persons he would send to Virginia for trial on treasonable charges. The property of individuals deemed by him to be personally obnoxious, he unhesitat- ingly confiscated or destroyed. Private houses were entered and carefully searched for letters or documents with the purpose of finding evidence which might compromise them or in some manner involve them as being criminally guilty of offenses. He also insolently abused those individuals who did not think, speak or act as he did, as en- emies. The more surely to attach him to himself and to secure his services, Dunmore made him a grant of 2,000 acres of land at the falls of the Ohio, where the city of Louisville now stands. He occupies in local history the same unenviable notoriety which Arnold does in national history. Both were traitors to their country -both were the victims of licentious wickedness and unbridled ambition-both were unprincipled and treacherous - both sold themselves and would, if they could have accomplished it, have sold their country for British gold, as they in fact attempted to do, but failed in the effort, and both merited the gibbet. To complete their likeness both were placed on
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OIIIO VALLEY.
half pay on the British establishment as a further reward for their treason to their country.
A few years since, the writer discovered among the papers of the Pennsylvania Historical Society a document which has never been published heretofore and which was found among the papers of Hon. Jasper Yeates, which had, just before the writer's discovery been turned over to that society. The writer was subsequently informed that the original was lost and could not be found. If this be so, this copy taken by me at the time, is, so far as we are aware, the only one in existence. Judge Yeates was a distinguished jurist of Lancaster county, Penn. In the year 1776 he was sent by the continental congress to Fort Pitt to act as commissioner of Indian affairs. In 1774 he was a member of the committee of correspond- ence of Lancaster county. He was one of the judges of the supreme court of Pennsylvania from the year 1791 to the year 1817, and was also a member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He also published reports of cases decided by the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He was a man of fine abilities, scholarly and refined, and exercised a guiding and directing influence in shaping the future greatness and growing destiny, as well as in forming and shaping the history of his native state. A man of enter- prise and great public spirit, he has left behind him as a proud heri- tage the noble record of a well-spent, exceptional and honorable life.
The document above referred to sets forth the differences and complaints of the inhabitants in the disputed territory, and their request to be established as a separate state. The length of the docu- ment, which is in the form of a petition, does not detract from its value and importance. Jacob, in his "Life of Captain Cresap," has a brief reference to this paper, but declined to publish it on account of its length. But as it fits into this boundary question and is a part of its history, no apology is needed for its publication. It is as follows, verbatim et literatim:
"To the Honorable the President & Delegates of the thirteen united American Colonies in General Congress assembled:
"The Memorial of the Inhabitants of the Country, West of the Alle- gheny Mountains,
Represents:
" That - Whereas the Provinces of Pennsylvania & Virginia set up Claims to this large and extensive Country, which for a considerable Time past have been productive of & attended with the usual Con- comitants & pernicious & destructive Effects of discordant & con- tending Jurisdictions, innumerable Frauds, Impositions, Violences, Depredations, Feuds, Animosities, Divisions, Litigations, Disorders & even with the Effusion of human Blood, to the utter Subversion of all Laws human & divine of Justice, Order, Regularity & in a great Measure even of Liberty itself & must unless a timely speedy Stop be put to them in all Probability terminate in a Civil War, which how far it may effect the Union of the Colonies & the General Cause of America, we leave to your prudent, impartial & Serious Consideration.
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" And Whereas (exclusive of & as an Addition & further aggravation to the many accumulated Injuries & Miseries and complicated & insupportable Grievances & Oppressions, we already labor under, in Consequence of the aforesaid Claims & the Controversies &c there-by occasioned, the fallacies, Violences, and fraudulent Im- positions of Land Jobbers, pretended Officers & Partisans of both Land Officers & others under the Sanction of the Juris- diction of their respective Provinces, the Earl of Dunmore's Warrants, Officer's & Soldier's Rights & an Infinity of other Pre- texts, in which they have of late proceeded so far, as in express Con- tradiction to the Declaration of the Continental Commissioners made on the ninth day of October 1775 at the Treaty at Fort Pitt made en- croachments on the Indian Territorial Rights by improving laying Warrants & Officers Claims & Surveying some of the Islands in the Ohio and Tomahawking (or as they term it) improving in a Variety of Places on the Western side of the said River, to the great, imminent & Manifest Danger of involving the Country in a bloody, ruinous & destructive War with the Indians, a people extremely watchful, tenacious & jealous of their Rights, Privileges & Liberties, and already it is to be doubted, too much inclined to a Rupture and Commencement of Hostilities from the Persuasions & Influences of British Emissaries, Agents & Officers & the little attention unfortu- nately hitherto paid to them by the American Confederacy in Con- ciliating their Affections, Confidence and Friendship:) there are a number of private or other Claims to Lands within the Limits of this Country, equally embarrassing & perplexing: George Croghan Es- quire, in various Tracts, Claims Lands by Purchase from the Six Nations in 1748 and confirmed to him at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 to the Amount by Computation of 200,000 Acres on which are settled already 150 or 200 Families: - Major William Trent in Behalf of himself & the Traders who suffered by the Indian Depredations in 1763 another large Tract containing at least 4,000,000 of Acres by Do- nation & Cession of the Six Nations aforesaid at the aforesaid Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 & on which 1500 or 2000 Families are already Settled: - and there was on the 4th Day of January 1770 a Certain Contract & Purchase made by the Honourable Thomas Wal- pole & Associates (including the Ohio Company & the Officers & Soldiers in the Service of the Colony of Virginia Claiming under the Engagements of that Colony in the year 1754) under the name of the Grand Ohio or Vandalia Company with and of the Lords Commis- sioners of the Treasury on Behalf of Crown for an Extensive Tract of Country within the Purchase & Cession from the aforesaid Six Nations & their Confederates at the said Treaty of Fort Stanwix aforesaid made and by his Majesty's Special Command & Direction notified to the Indians of the Western Tribes of the aforesaid Con- federacy on the 3d day of April 1773, by Alexander McKee Esq Deputy Agent of the Western Department for Indian Affairs on the Plains of Scioto, who by their Answer of the 6th of the Same Month expressed their Approbation thereof, & Satisfaction & Acquiescence
1
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
therein, at the same time justly observing that for the Peace of the Country, it was as necessary for prudent People to govern the White Settlers, as for the Indians to take Care of their foolish young men.
"This is a country of at least 240 Miles in Length from the Kittan- ning to opposite the mouth of Scioto 70 or So in Breadth from the Allegheney Mountains to the Ohio, rich, fertile & healthy even be- yond a credibility & peopled by at least 25,000 Families since the year 1768 (a population be believe scarce to be paralled in the Annals of any Country. Miserably distressed an harassed and rendered a scene of the most consumate Anarchy & Confusion by the Ambition of some & averice of others, and its wretched Inhabitants (who through al- most insuperable Difficulties, Hardships, Fatiegues & Dangers at the most imminent Risque of their lives, their little all & every thing that was dear & Valuable to them, were endeavoring to secure an Asylum & a safe Retreat from threatning Penury for their tender & numer- ous Families with which they had removed from the lower Provinces & settled themselves in different Parts of the afore said Lands & Claims, Agreeable to the usual Mode of Colonization & Ancient equitable & long established Custom & usage of the Colonies, the Rights of Pre-Emption whenever those Lands could be rightfully & legally conveyed & disposed of after surmounting every other obsta- cles to their hopes, their wishes, their Expectations now unhappily find themselves in a worse & more deplorable situation than whilst living on the poor barren rented Lands in their various respective Provinces below; through Party Rage, the Multiplicity of Proprietory Claims & Claimants & the Precariousness & Uncertainty of every kind of Property from the fore cited causes, the want of regular Administration of Justice & of a due & proper Execution & Exertion of a System of Laws & Regulations & Mode of Polity & Government adapted to their peculiar Necessities, local Curcumstances & Situation, and its Inhabitants, who though neighter Politicians, Courtiers nor orators, are at least a rational & Social People, inured to hardships & Fatigues & by Experience taught to despise Dangers & Difficulties, and having immigrated from almost every Province of America, brought up under & accustomed to vareous different & in many re- spects discordant and even contradictory Systems of Laws & Govern- ment and since their being here from the want of Laws & order irritated & exasperated by ills & urged & compelled by oppressions & sufferings, and having imbibed the highest & most extensive Ideas of Liberty, as the only pure effecient Source of happiness and Pros- perity will with difficulty submit to the being annexed to or Subju- gated by (Terms Synonomous to them) any one of those Provinces, much less the being partitioned or parcelled out among them, or be prevailed on to Entail a State of Vassalage & Dependence on their Posterity or suffer themselves who might be the happiest & perhaps not the least useful Part of the American Confederacy as forming a secure extensive & Effectual Frontier & Barrier against the Incur- sions, Ravages & Depredations of the Western savages to be enslaved by any set of Proprietary or other claimants or arbitrarily deprived
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
& robbed of those Lands & that country to which by the Laws of Nature & of Nations they are entitled as first occupants and for the Possessions of which they have resigned their all & exposed them- selves and Families to Inconveniences, Danger & Difficulties which language itself wants words to express & describe, whilst the Rest of their Countrymen softened by Ease, enervated by Affluence & Lux- urious Plenty & unaccustomed to Fatigues, Hardships, Difficulties or Dangers are bravely Contending for & Exerting themselves on Behalf of a Constitutional, Natural, rational & Social Liberty:
" We the Subscribers Inhabitants of the Country as aforesaid there- fore by Leave by- hereby plenarily, amply & specially delegated, interested, authorised & impowered, to act & to do for us on this oc- .casion as our immediate Representatives, Solicitors, Agents & At- tornies, Humbly to represent to you, as the Guardians, Trustees & Curators, Conservators & Defences of all that is dear to us or valu- able to Americans, that in our opinions no Country or People can be either rich, flourishing, happy or free (the only laudable rightful, useful, warrantable & rational Ends of Government) or enjoy the Sweets of that Liberty, the Love & Desire of which is radically im- pressed or Self-Existent with & animates & actuates every brave, generous, humane, and honest soul, and for which every American Breast at this this time pants & glows with an unusual Flow of Warmth & Expectation & with redoubled Zeal & Ardor; whi'lst annexed to or dependent on any Province whose Seat of Govern- ment is those of Pennsylvania or Virginia four or five hundred miles distant and Separated by a vast, extensive & almost impassable Tract of Mountains by Nature itself formed & pointed out as a boundary between this Country & those below it, that Justice might be both Tedious & Expensive, the Execution of the Laws dilatory & per- haps mercenary, if not arbitrary; Redress of Grievances precarious & Slow & the Country so Situated without participating of any of the Advantages, Suffer all the Inconveniences of such a Govern- ment & be continually exposed, as we already too well know by Dear bought & fatal experience, to the Violence, Frauds, Depredations, Exactions Oppressions of interested, ambitious, designing, insolent, avaricious, rapacious & mercenary Men & Officers-
" And pray that the Said Country be constituted declared & ac- knowledged a separate, distinct, and independent Province & Gov- ernment by the Title and under the Name of -'the Province & Government of W'estsylvania,' be empowered & enabled to form such Laws & Regulations & such a System of Polity & Government as is best adapted & most agreeable to the peculiar Necessities, local Circumstances & Situation thereof & its inhabitants invested with every other Power, Right, Privilege & Immunity, vested, or to be vested in the other American Colonies, be considered as a Sister Colony & the fourteenth Province of the American Confederacy; that its Boundaries be - Beginning at the Eastern Branch of the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Scioto & running thence in a direct Line to the Owasioto Pass, thence to the top of the Allegheny,
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Mountain, thence with the top of the said Mountain to the Northern Limits of the Purchase made from the Indians in 1768, at theTreaty of Fort Stanwix aforesaid, thence with the said Limits to the Alle- gheny or Ohio river, and thence down the said River as purchased from the said Indians at the aforesaid Treaty of Fort Stanwix to the Beginning.
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