USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
" Of all and every of the above, the said Sieur de la Salle having required of us an instrument, we have delivered to him the same, signed by us, and by the undersigned wit- nesses, this 9th day of April, 1682.
" LE MATAIRE, Notary.
" DE LA SALLE.
P. ZENOBE, Recollect Missionary.
HENRY DE TONTY. FRANÇOIS DE BOISRONDET. JEAN BOURDON.
SIEUR D'AUTRAY.
JAQUES CAUCHOIS.
PIERRE YOU.
GILLES MEUCRET.
JEAN MICHEL, Surgeon.
JEAN MAS.
JEAN DULIGNON.
NICOLAS DE LA SALLE."
15
3585
LA SALLE'S RETURN.
The return voyage of the discoverers, against the pow- erful current of the Mississippi, was slow and laborious. They reached Fort Prudhomme, built in their descent, the 15th of May. Here La Salle fell sick, and was left in charge of Father Gabriel and a part of the men ; while Tonti was ordered on with the rest to Michillimackinac, where he arrived in the beginning of July following.
M. La Salle joined Tonti at Mishillimackinac, in Septem- ber following, where he stayed only three days, and then pursued his journey to Quebec to make a report of his dis- coveries to Count de Frontenac, who much to his regret and disappointment had been recalled to France during his absence. M. De la Barre was sent out to supply his place. The news of La Salle's discoveries was received with great joy in Quebec, and the "Te Deum" was sung in the churches. Early in October he sailed for France for the purpose of reporting his discoveries to the king, who re- ceived him very graciously, and in the spring of 1684, fitted out an expedition under his command to take possession of the mouth of the Mississippi, and make settlements along the coast. This expedition consisted of four ships. In the meantime Tonti, who had been placed in the command of Fort St. Lewis, became uneasy at not hearing any thing from La Salle, to whom he appears to have been greatly attached, and learning, by way of Fort Michillimackinac, of his sailing from France for the Gulf of Mexico, immediately set out with a party of forty men, by water, to join him at the mouth of the river. He left his station on the Illinois, sometime in 1686; but he could find nothing of La Salle, and returned to his post again.
On his return, after reaching the territory of the Akanceas, a very friendly tribe, his men were so delighted with the country, that at their request he left a colony to form a set- tlement in that country. This was probably the first settle- ment, for cultivating the earth, ever made on the Mississippi by white men.
16
LA SALLE'S DEATH.
As for Mons. La Salle, being unable to find the mouth of the Mississippi with his ships, he landed in the bay of St. Bernard, within the present territory of Texas, in February, 1685, and took possession of the country, and erected a fort. From this spot he made excursions by land into the adjacent territories. In one of these excursions he was murdered by two of his own men, March 17, 1687. Thus perished this enterprising man in the midst of his discoveries. How would his noble heart exult, were he now living and could see the millions of white men who people the Illinois and the shores of the Mississippi, with the hundreds of vessels and steamships that navigate the lakes first traversed by his little barque, " the Griffin."
17
COUNTRY ON THE OHIO.
CHAPTER II.
Country on the Ohio little known to the English until 1740 .- Indian traders .- Colonial Ohio land company .- The French take formal possession of the country .- Forbid English traders .- Leaden plates buried at the mouth of the rivers .- Copies and translation .- French erect forts .- Journal of Chr. Gist, in a visit to the Indian tribes .- Block-house sacked at Logstown .- George Washington sent as a commissioner to the French posts .- Fort Du Quesne built .- Battle at Great Meadows .- Copy of capitulation .- Pontiac's Indian confederacy.
FROM the death of La Salle, to near the period of the old colonial Ohio company's formation, we have but little au- thentic history, of the discoveries on the Ohio river, except what is furnished by the French missionaries, who tra- versed the country on the Wabash and Illinois, establishing several missions among the Indians. Proofs of their in- tercourse with the western tribes are seen in the small sil- ver crosses often found near the Ohio, several of which have been seen by the writer. Their imposing ritual, and showy forms of worship, attracted the attention of the sav- ages, while their unwearied labors to conciliate them, strongly attached them to the interest of the French, whose king they were taught to consider their great father. No traveler ventured from the Atlantic settlements to visit the country west of the Allegheny mountains. It is stated, in Gordon's History of Pennsylvania, that as early as the year 1740, traders from that colony and Virginia, "went among the Indians on the Ohio and tributary streams, to deal for peltries," and in 1745, Peter Chartier, an influential Indian interpreter, went and joined the French Indians on the Ohio, to the injury of Pennsylvania. This same Peter, at the head of four hundred Shawanese Indians, attacked 2
18
FRENCH TAKE POSSESSION.
James Dinnew and Peter Teete, and robbed them of their goods. They were considered respectable Indian traders, and much excitement prevailed in consequence of their rob- bery." (Hist. Notes of Pa. in Hazard's Register.) From this record it appears that traders visited the Ohio river as early as 1740; also, that Chartier's creek, a few miles be- low Pittsburgh, was named after this same Peter Chartier, probably from his having a station on, or near, the mouth of the creek. In the second volume of Sparks's writings of Washington, note 6, we find an account of the first move- ment towards a settlement on the Ohio river : "In the year 1748, Thomas Lee, one of his Majesty's council, in Vir- ginia, formed the design of effecting a settlement on the wild lands west of the Allegheny mountains, through the association of a number of gentlemen. Before this date there were no English residents in those regions. A few traders wandered from tribe to tribe and dwelt among the Indians; but they neither cultivated nor occupied the land. Mr. Lee associated with himself Mr. Hanbury, a merchant from London, and twelve persons in Virginia and Maryland, composing ' the Ohio Land Company.' A half million of acres of land was granted them, to be taken principally on the south side of the Ohio river, between the Monongahela and Kenawha rivers."
In the year 1749, or that following the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, the French began to take formal possession of their discoveries on the Ohio river and its tributary branches. The manner of doing this was by erecting a wooden cross, near the mouth of the stream, and burying a leaden plate at its foot, on which was engraven a legend, setting forth the claim of Louis the Fifteenth to the country by right of prior discovery, and by formal treaties with the European powers. This was done by the order of the Marquis De la Galissoniere, commandant general of New France, and under the immediate direction of Captain Cel- eron de Brienville, commander. of the detachment, who,
19
FORBID ENGLISH TRADERS.
while engaged in this service, directed a letter to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, dated, "Camp sur le Belle Riviere, a une ancienne village des Chouans, 6th August, 1749," notifying him to forbid the colonial or English tra- ders, visiting that region, as the English never had any claim to it, and he was surprised to find them there with- out permission, trespassing on the territory of the French king." This was dispatched by a trader, whom he had taken prisoner, somewhere on the waters of the Allegheny river, and set at liberty with two others, who were charged with similar dispatches, so that there should be little chance of their failing to reach the Governor. The route pursued by Captain Celeron must have been from Presque Isle, over on to the heads of Le Beouf or French creek, and thence down the Allegheny to the Ohio river. We have proof of this fact in the dates of the leaden plates, since found at several places. The first is dated July 29th, and was doubtless dug up by the Seneca Indians, after the de- parture of the French, and who might have been present at the ceremony, and carried to Governor Clinton, of New York, at Fort George. He sent a copy of it to the Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, a transcript of which is published in Patterson's History of the Backwoods.
On the 6th of August he wrote the letter above noticed, dated at the ancient village of the Chouans or Shawanese, and might have been at Venango, where there was an old Indian town. On the 16th of August he was at the mouth of the Muskingum, and on the 18th, at Big Ke- nawha, as will be shown by the dates on the plates buried at these places, a history of which follows :
In the spring of the year 1798, there was a freshet in the Muskingum river, which bore away large masses of earth from the bank at the mouth, leaving it quite perpendicular. In the summer following, some boys, who were bathing, dis- covered projecting from the face of the bank, three or four feet below the surface of the earth, a square metallic plate.
20
LEADEN PLATES.
By the aid of a pole, they succeeded in loosening it from its bed. On a more close inspection, it was found to be lead, engraven with letters in a language which they did not understand. Not thinking it of any value, except for the lead, which was then a scarce and dear article, they took it home, and being in want of rifle bullets, a portion of it was cut up and cast into balls. It shortly after came to the knowledge of Paul Fearing, Esq., that a curious old lead plate had been found by the boys, a little below, or nearly opposite to, the site of Fort Harmar. He immedi- ately got possession of it, and ascertained that the inscrip- tion was in the French language. The present Hon. Wil- liam Woodbridge, of Detroit, from whom we have these facts, then quite a youth, was living in Marietta, and had recently returned from Gallipolis, where he had been learn- ing the French language. Mr. Fearing took the plate to him, and ascertained that it had been deposited there by the French as an evidence of their right to the possession of the country. Quite a large portion of the inscription had then been cut away by the boys, so that the whole could not be deciphered, but sufficient to ascertain its ob- ject. About the year 1821, it came into the possession of Caleb Atwater, and soon after was sent to Governor De Witt Clinton, who, in October, 1827, sent it to the Antiqua- rian Society of Massachusetts, in whose cabinet it still re- mains. The following extract from the letter of Governor Clinton, accompanying the plate, copied from Smith's His- tory of Canada, volume 1, page 209, will throw still more light on the subject :
" Galissoniere, persuaded that peace would soon be con- cluded, and sensible of the importance of giving certain boundaries both to Canada and Nova Scotia, detached an officer, M. Celeron de Brienville, with three hundred men, with orders to repair to Detroit, and from thence to tra- verse the country, as far as the Apalachian mountains, which he admitted to be the bounds of the English planta-
ROY
AMAND
NS LEVR
IDAN'T
RETAB LARE R
LIVES VILLAGES
ENTER
VIERE'
RIVIERD YO
POVR
DE POSSESS
DITTE
ROY
RISMA
Leader Plate found at the Mouth of the Muskingum River in 1998
21
LEADEN PLATES.
tions in America, and beyond which he denied that they had any pretensions. This officer was directed, not only to use his influence to procure a number of Indians to ac- company him, but to exact a promise from them, that they would not in future admit English traders among them. This officer was furnished with leaden plates, with the arms of France engraved on them, and he was ordered to bury them at particular stations. A process verbal was then drawn up, signed by himself and those officers that accom- panied him. With this gentleman Galissoniere sent a letter to Mr. Hamilton, the governor of Pennsylvania, ap- prizing him of the step he had taken, and requesting that in future he would give orders to prevent his people from trading beyond the Apalachian mountains, as he had re- ceived commands, from the court of France, to seize the merchants and confiscate the goods of those trading in these countries, incontestibly belonging to France. De Celeron discharged his commission with punctuality, but not without exciting the apprehensions of the natives, who declared that the object of France, in taking possession of their country, was either to make them subjects or perhaps slaves. The immense load of process verbaux, that had been drawn up on this expediton, were handed over to Galissoniere and transmitted to the court of France. As a recompense for his trouble, Celeron was, two years after, appointed to the command of Detroit, with the rank of major. Galissoniere was appointed Governor of Canada, 25th September, 1747, and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, alluded to in the above extract, was concluded in 1748.". Accompanying the description, on another page, is shown an exact copy of the remains of the ancient plate, found at Marietta, as it now appears in the museum of the Anti- quarian Society at Worcester, taken from the original for this history, by James Tenny, M. D.
In March, 1846, a similar plate was found at the mouth of the Kenawha, a short distance above its junction with
:
22
LEADEN PLATES.
the Ohio river. It was discovered projecting from the face of the bank, like that at Marietta, by a boy, R. P. Hereford, a few feet below the surface of the soil, which must proba- bly have accumulated considerably from the deposits of earth by freshets, in the course of nearly a hundred years- the period which has elapsed since the time of its burial, August 18th, 1749. The size of this plate is eleven inches and three lines long, by seven inches and six lines broad. The thickness varies, on the different edges, from one fourth to one eighth of an inch. The engraving of the let- ters is quite distinct and deeply cut, except the name of the river and date, which appear to have been filled in at the time, and are more lightly cut. This was probably the case with all the tablets, as the period and place would de- pend on circumstances ; but all the other matters set forth could have been put on by Paul Le Brosse, the engraver, as his name is on the back of the plate, but whether he lived in Quebec or Paris, does not appear- and as they all contained the same amount of matter, they were probably nearly of the same size. The name of the river "Chi-no- da-hich-e-tha," now known by that of Kenawha, is doubtless its original Indian name, as known by the savages, who accompanied Captain Celeron, as well as that of the Mus- kingum being called by them " Ye-nan-gu-e." It has been surmised that the plate found at Marietta was originally deposited at the mouth of the Venango, and subsequently removed by some person to the mouth of the Muskingum. But this is highly improbable; and there can be no reason- able doubt of its being found in the exact spot where the French commander left it, and intended it should remain. Venango was the name of an old Indian village at the mouth of Le Beouf, or French creek, and was one hundred and thirty miles by water, and eighty by land, above the site of Fort Du Quesne. It is not probable that the plates were buried at any other points, than at the mouths of the principal rivers that fall into the Ohio; and this was,
23
LEADEN PLATES.
doubtless, done from the Allegheny to its junction with the Mississippi, and with the legal forms attending the reading of the "process verbaux," must have occupied the time of several months. The object of the mission was to take possession of the country in a legal form, and in such manner as could be established hereafter by written evi- dence. To this they were probably urged by the proceed- ings of the Ohio land company, then forming. No nation ever had a fairer claim to a newly discovered country, than the French had to the valley of the Ohio, but a wise Provi- dence had ordained, that the beautiful region should be possessed by the Anglo Saxon race, and not by the Gallic.
The following is a copy of the inscription on the Ke- nawha river tablet, and below, a translation made by L. Soyer, Esq., mayor of the city of Marietta, and one well skilled in the French language, being himself a native of France :
" LAN, 1749, DV REGNE DE LOVIS XV ROY DE FRANCE, NOVS CELORON, COMMANDANT DVN DETACHEMENT ENVOIE PAR MONSIEUR LE MS. DE LA GALISSONIERE, COMMANDANT GENERAL DE LA NOVVELLE FRANCE, POVR RETABLIR LA TRANQVILLITE DANS QVELQVES VILLAGES SAUVAGES DE CES, CANTONS AVONS ENTERRE CETTE PLAQVE A LENTREE DE LA RIVIERE CHINODAHICHETHA, LE 18 AOUST, PRES DE LA RIVIERE OYO, AUTREMENT BELLE RIVIERE, POVR MONVMENT DV RENOVVELLEMENT DE POSSES- SION, QVE NOVS AVONS PRIS DE LA DITTE RIVIERE OYO, ET DE TOVTES CELLES QVI Y TOMB'NT, ET DE TOVES LES TERRES DES DEVX COTES JVSQVE AVX SOVRCES DES DITTES RI- VIES, AINSI QVEL ONT JOVY OV DV JOVIR LES PRECEDENTS ROYS DE FRANCE, ET QVILS SI- SONT MAINTENVS PAR LES ARMES, ET PAR LES
2
24
FRENCH ERECT FORTS.
TRAITTES, SPECIALEMENT PAR CEVX DE RISV- VICK DVTRCHT ET DAIX LA CHAPELLE."
Translation.
In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis XV, of France, We, Celoron, commandant of a detachment sent by the Mar- quis de la Galissoniere, Captain-General of New France, in order to re-establish tranquility among some villages of savages of these parts, have buried this plate at the mouth of the river Chi-no-da-hich-e-tha, the 18th August, near the river Ohio, otherwise beautiful river, as a monument of renewal of possession, which we have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all those which empty themselves into it, and of all the lands of both sides, even to the sources of said rivers; as have enjoyed, or ought to have enjoyed the preceding kings of France, and that they have maintained themselves there, by force of arms and by treaties, espe- cially by those of Riswick, of Utrecht, and of Aix-la-Cha- pelle.
In the year 1750, after the return of Captain Celoran from his voyage of reconnoisance, the French proceeded to erect forts, or stockaded garrisons, answering for defence, as well as for trading posts with the Indians, at the most commanding points along the water courses. The first was at Presque Isle, on an inlet or bay, at the easterly end of Lake Erie. The second at Le Beouf, on the head water of that branch of the Allegheny, distant about fifteen miles from the lake, making a carrying place between that stream and Presque Isle. All their intercourse and travel was by water, carried on in canoes and batteaux. At this point was the nearest approach of the waters of the Ohio to lake Erie. The third post was at the mouth of Le Beouf, called fort Venango, from an ancient Indian village located at this place. These forts were occupied by the troops which erected them. Their claim to the Ohio river,
25
INDIAN TREATIES.
and the adjacent territory, was founded on the discoveries of La Salle and his successors, seventy years before, and their present measures for its defence arose from the attempt of the colonial land company to occupy its banks. "In the year 1744, a treaty was made with the [Iroquois and] Delaware Indians at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by which they ceded to the king of England all the lands within the bounds of Virginia. This was the first treaty, supposed to contain a cession of lands on the Ohio; but at a subsequent treaty in 1752, held at Logstown, an In- dian village on the north side of the Ohio, seventeen miles below Fort Du Quesne, Colonel Frye and two other com- missioners being present on the part of Virginia, and Mr. Gist as agent of the Ohio company, one of the old chiefs declared that the Indians considered that the treaty at Lan- caster did not cede any lands west of the first range of hills on the east side of the Allegany mountains," not thinking that the boundaries of Virginia extended to the Ohio river, or even west of the mountains. "They agreed, however, not to molest any settlements that might be made on the south east side of the Ohio." At a treaty held at Fort Stanwix in 1768, by Sir William Johnson, with the six na- tions and many western tribes, the Iroquois accused the Delawares of selling lands to the whites which did not be- long to them ; they claiming by right of conquest all the lands on the Ohio, as far south as the Tennessee river. "Soon after the treaty at Logstown, Gist was appointed surveyor to the Ohio company, and directed to lay off a town and fort near the mouth of Chartier's creek. Nothing however, we presume, was done in the matter, as Washing- ton, in his journal of his visit to Le Beouf, uses the following language:" " About two miles from this (the forks) on the south east side of the river, at the place where the Ohio company intended to lay off their fort, lives Shingiss, king of the Delawares." The place where Shingiss resided
26
JOURNAL OF GIST.
was near the river, and a short distance south of Mr. Rees's rocks .*
In the autumn of the year 1750, the agents of the Ohio company employed Christopher Gist, a land surveyor and familiar with the woods, to explore their contemplated pos- sessions on the Ohio river, as well as the adjacent country, the situation of which was only known from the vague re- ports of Indian traders, as no English traveler had visited that region. He kept a journal of his proceedings, which was published, and is entitled, "a journal of Christopher Gist's journey, began from Colonel Cresap's, at the old town on the Potomac river, Maryland, October 31, 1750, con- tinued down the Ohio within fifteen miles of the falls thereof; and from thence to Roanoke river in North Caro- lina, where he arrived in May, 1751."
Not having the advantage of the whole journal to exam- ine, but only extracts kindly made by Dr. Johnson, member of Congress from Morgan county, Ohio, from Pownal's " Topographical Description," it is difficult to point out the route pursued until he struck the Ohio river. Mr. Craig, in his notes on the early history of Pittsburgh, thinks from what he can ascertain, that he "ascended the Juniata, after crossing over from the Potomac, and descended the Kiske- minetas to the Allegheny, which stream he crossed about four miles above the present city, and passed on to the Ohio." As he makes no mention of the Monongahela, it is . presumed that he was ignorant of its existence. "If he passed to the north of ' Hogback hill,' that river might read- ily escape his notice." From the mouth of Beaver creek he passed over on to the Tuscarawas, or Muskingum river, called by him, and by the Indians, Elk Eye creek ; striking it on the 5th of December, or thirty-five days after leaving the Potomac, at a point about fifty miles above the present
*Extracted from N. B. Craig, Esq's. writings, published in the Pittsburg Ga- zette, 1841.
27
JOURNAL OF GIST.
town of Coshocton, as near as can be ascertained from the journal. On the 7th, he crossed over the Elk Eye to a small village of Ottawas, who were in the French interest. He speaks of the land as broken, and the bottoms rather nar- row, on this stream. On the 14th December he reached an Indian town, a few miles above the mouth of the White- woman creek, called Muskingum, inhabited by Wyandots, who, he says, are half of them attached to the French, and half to the English, containing about one hundred families : · " When we came in sight of it, we perceived English colors hoisted on the King's house, and at George Croghan's. Upon inquiring the reasons, I was informed that the French had lately taken several English traders, and that Mr. Crog- han had ordered all the white men to come into this town, and had sent expresses to the traders of the lower towns, and among the Piquatinces, and that the Indians had sent to their people to come to council about it."
"Monday, 17th. Two traders belonging to Mr. Croghan, came into town, and informed us that two of his people had been taken by forty Frenchmen and twenty Indians, who had carried them with seven horse loads of skins to a new fort the French were building on one of the branches of Lake Erie," (probably Fort Le Beouf.)
"Tuesday, 18th. I acquainted Mr. Croghan and Mr. Montour with my business with the Indians, and talked much of a regulation of trade, with which they were pleased, and treated me very well."
"Tuesday, 25th. This being Christmas day I intended to read prayers, but after inviting some of the white men, they informed each other of my intentions, and being of several persuasions, and few of them inclined to hear any good, they refused to come; but one Thomas Burney, a blacksmith, who is settled there, went about and talked to them, and then several of the well disposed Indians came freely, being invited by Andrew Montour." Mr. Gist deli- vered a discourse, which was interpreted to the Indians, and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.