USA > Ohio > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859 > Part 4
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On the 3d of November, the army reached a creek fifty iniles from the Miami villages, and encamped on a commanding piece of ground, in two lines, having the creek in front. The right wing, composed of Butler's, Clark's, and Patterson's battalions,
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commanded by General Butler, formed the first line; the left, con- sisting of Bedinger's and Guthrie's battalions; and the second regi- ment, commanded by Col. Darke, formed the second line. The right flank was supposed to be secured by the creek, by a steep bank, and a small corps of troops. Some of their cavalry and their pickets covered the left flank. The militia were placed over the creek, about a quarter of a mile in advance, and encamped in the same order. At this place the General determined to throw up a slight work for the security of the baggage, and, when joined by Major Hamtramck, who had been detached to protect the convoys of provisions and prevent further desertion, to proceed immediately to the Miami villages. But both these designs were defeated. For the next morning, about half an hour before sunrise, an attack was made upon the militia, who very soon gave way, and, rushing into the camp through Major Butler's battalion, threw it into great confusion. The greatest exertions of the officers were ineffectual to restore order. The Indians pursued the flying militia, and at- tacked the right wing with great fury. The fire, however, of the first line for a few minutes checked them, but almost instantly a much heavier attack began upon that line, and shortly was ex- tended to the second. The great weight of it was directed against the center of each, where the artillery was placed and from which the men were repeatedly driven with great slaughter. Finding no great effect from the fire, and confusion beginning to spread, from the great numbers falling in every quarter, it became necessary to try the effect of the bayonet. Accordingly Colonel Darke, with a part of the second line, was ordered to charge the left flank of the enemy, which he executed with great spirit. The Indians in- stantly gave way, and were driven back three or four hundred yards; but for want of a sufficient number of rifiemen to pursue this advantage, Colonel Darke soon returned, and, in turn, was obliged to give way. At that moment the enemy entered the camp by the left flank, having pushed back the troops that were posted there. Several charges were then made with uniform suc- cess; but in all of them great numbers were killed, particularly the officers. Major-general Butler was dangerously wounded, and every officer of the second regiment, except three, fell. The artillery being silenced, and all their officers killed, except Captain Ford, who was badly wounded, and half the army fallen, it became necessary to retreat, which was done very precipitately. The
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camp and artillery were necessarily abandoned. The Indians pur- sued the remnant of the army about four miles, whence, fortunately, they returned to the field to divide the spoils. The troops con- tinued their retreat to Fort Jefferson, where they found Major Hamtramck with the first regiment. As this regiment was far from restoring the strength of the morning, it was determined not to attempt to retrieve the fortune of the day. Leaving the wounded at Fort Jefferson, the army continued its retreat to Fort Washington.
In this unfortunate battle, which lasted three hours and fourteen minutes, thirty-eight commissioned officers were killed upon the field, and five hundred and ninety-three non-commissioned officers and privates were killed and missing. The wounded amounted to two hundred and fourteen.
General St. Clair, on his arrival at Cincinnati, gave Major Zieg- ler the command of Fort Washington, and repaired to Philadelphia. Soon after Colonel Wilkinson succeeded Major-Ziegler, and, with the regulars under his command, and about one hundred and seventy militia under Major Gano, marched to the field of battle aud buried the dead. Great numbers of the slain were found upon the road near the battle-ground. After interring the dead in the best manner possible, Colonel Wilkinson returned to Cin- cinnati, with nearly one thousand stand of arms, and one piece of artillery, which the enemy had not taken from the field.
This year Cincinnati had little increase in its population. About one-half of the inhabitants were attached to the army, and many of them killed. The unfortunate event of the campaign not only alarmed the citizens for their safety, but so discouraged several of them from persevering to make their settlements, that they removed to Kentucky. No new manufactories were established, except a horse-mill for grinding corn.
On the 5th of March, 1792, Congress passed another law making further and more effectual provision for the protection of the fron- tiers of the United States. This act directed that the battalion of artillery should be completed according to its establishment; that both the two regiments of infantry in service should be filled up to the number of nine hundred and sixty; and that three addi- tional regiments should be raised for a time not exceeding three years. A discretion, however, was given the President to raise the whole or part of the three regiments, and to discharge them
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at pleasure. On the 7th of April, General St. Clair resigned the command of the army, and Anthony Wayne was appointed to suc- ceed him.
The recruiting service was commenced and carried on with much activity. Commissioners were again sent to treat with the Indians, and, if possible, to bring them to an amicable negotiation ;- but they treated every offer with disdain, and cruelly massacred all but one of the commissioners. Such a flagrant outrage called upon the nation for redress, by the most exemplary exertion of its power.
The enemy frequently attacked convoys of provisions, and killed great numbers. The troops at Fort Jefferson, under the command of Captain Shaylor, and of Major Adair, who succeeded him, had several skirmishes with the enemy, in which many were slain.
About fifty persons were added, by emigration, this year, to the population of Cincinnati. Several cabins, three or four frames, and a Presbyterian house of worship were crected. This building stood on Main street, near the site of the present First Presbyte- rian church, and is still in existence, although removed to the northwest part of Cincinnati.
The troops which had been recruited for Wayne's army, assem- bled at Pittsburg during the summer and autumn of 1792, and en- camped for the winter, on the Ohio, about twenty miles below that place. They descended the river the next spring-1793-under the command of General Wayne, and landed at Cincinnati. Here the General made an encampment, where he remained for two or three months, and then marched to the spot where he established Fort Greenville. The army remained at the fort during the win- ter, and until July following. In the fall of this year, soon after the army left Cincinnati, the small-pox broke out among the sol- diers, in Fort Washington, and spread through the town with such malignity, that nearly one-third of the soldiers and citizens fell victims to its ravages.
In July, 1794, the army left Fort Greenville, and built Fori Adams, Fort Defiance, and Fort Deposit. At the latter place, the heavy baggage of the army was deposited, as a general engage- ment with the enemy was shortly expected. Accordingly, on the morning of the 20th of August, the army advanced to meet the enemy, and, after marching about four miles, the Indians, who
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were secreted behind fallen trees and high grass, made a sudden attack upon the mounted volunteers under Major Price, who were compelled to retreat to the main body. The army was immedi- ately formed in order of battle, having the Miami on the right, a thick wood on the left, and the fallen timber, among which the Indians were secreted, in front. The savages were formed in' three lines, within supporting distance of each other, and extend- ing nearly two miles at right angles with the river. It was soon discovered, from the weight of the enemy's fire, and the extent of their lines, that they were endeavoring to turn the left ilank of the American army. The second line, therefore, was ordered to advance with trailed arms, and rouse the Indians from their coverts, at the point of the bayonet, and as soon as that was effected, to deliver a close fire upon their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so as not to give them time to load again. Major Campbell was ordered to turn the left flank of the enemy near the river. The orders of the commander-in-chief were promptly obeyed; and such was the impetuosity of the charge of the first line, that the enemy, consisting of Indians, Canadian militia, and volunteers, were driven from their coverts in so short a time, that notwithstanding every exertion was used by the second line, and Generals Scott, Todd, and Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper posi- tion, only part of each could get up to participate in the action; the enemy being driven, in the course of an hour, more than two miles. From the best accounts, the enemy amounted to two thou- sand, while the American troops actually engaged against them, were less than nine hundred. The savages, with their allies, abandoned themselves to Alight, and left the Americans in quiet possession of the field of battle.
The army remained several days near the battle-ground, during which time they destroyed all the houses and corn-fields, for a considerable distance above and below Fort Miami. In this deci- sive battle, thirty-three American officers and privates were killed, and one hundred wounded. On the 28th, the army commenced its return to the Auglaize, by easy marches, destroying in its route all the villages and corn-fields within fifty miles of the river; from thence up the Miami to the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's, where they erected Fort Wayne. They then proceeded to Loramie Stores, seventy miles southeast from Fort Wayne, and erected Fort Loramie, and marched from thence to Greenville,
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which they reached about the 20th of November, and went into winter quarters.
In this battle the Indians received a chastisement so severe, and lost so many of their leading warriors, that they began to fear the American power, and to exhibit a disposition favorable to peace. This disposition was promptly reciprocated by our government, and accordingly, on the 3d of August, 1795, a treaty was made by General Anthony Wayne, at Fort Greenville, with all the warlike - tribes, which put an end to their unprovoked, protracted, and san- guinary hostilities.
This event was hailed, by the infant settlements, as the era of peace and security. They now looked forward to an exemption from ravage, danger, and distress, and all the horrors of savage warfare. The return of peace gave them new ambition and new hopes. They removed from their forts into the adjacent country, selected farms, built cabins, and began to subdue the forest. They were soon joined by other emigrants, who, upon the news of peace, began to flock across the mountains in great numbers.
The whole Miami country, with the exception of Cincinnati and its vicinity, at the time of Wayne's treaty, was one interminable forest. In 1795, the town contained ninety-four cabins, ten frame houses, and about five hundred inhabitar ts.
Let us now turn from Indian warfare to the civil progress of the new settlement.
On the 2d of January, 1790, General St. Clair arrived at Fort Washington, in the purchase of Judge Symmes, and, on the 4th, established the county of Hamilton, with the following limits :-- "Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, at the confluence of the Little Miami river, and down the said Ohio river to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the Standing Stone forks or branch of said river; and thence with a line to be drawn due east to the Little Miami, and down said Little Miami river to the place of beginning."
On the same day, commissions for the County Courts of Common ' Pleas, and General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, for said county, were granted by the Governor. And William Goforth, William Wells, and William McMillan, were appointed Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and Justices of the Court of General Quarter Ses- sions of the Peace. They were also appointed and commissioned as Justices of the Peace, and quorum in said court. Jacob Topping, 4
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Benjamin Stites, and J. Stites Gano, were also appointed Justices of the Peace of the county. J. Browne, Gent., was appointed and commissioned Sheriff during the Governor's pleasure. Israel Lud- low, Esq., Prothonotary to the Court of Common Pleas, and Clerk of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace of the county.
The Governor also made the following military appointments, viz .: Israel Ludlow, James Flinn, John Stites Gano, and Gershom Gard, Captains; Francis Kennedy, John Ferris, Luke Foster, and Brice Virgin, Lieutenants; Scott Traverse, Ephraim Kibby, Elijah Stites, and John Dunlap, Ensigns; all in the first regiment of militia of the county of Hamilton.
The civil and military powers were thus organized, and the gov- ernment brought to act for the protection of the people.
On the 1st of December, Scott Traverse was appointed Lieuten- ant in place of Kennedy, resigned, and Robert Benham an Ensign, vice Traverse, promoted, both in the company of Capt. Ludlow.
On the 24th of May, 1791, Wm. Burnet was appointed Register of Deeds in said county.
On the 10th of December, 1791, Oliver Spencer was appointed Lieutenant-colonel, Brice Virgin a Captain, Daniel Griffin a Lieu- tenant, and John Bowman an Ensign.
On the 14th of December, George McCulluin was appointed a Justice of the Peace.
On the 18th of February, 1792, the Secretary of the Territory, then at Cincinnati, and in the absence of Governor St. Clair, acting as Governor, issued the following proclamation :
"To all persons to whom these presents shall come grecting :-
" Whereas, It has been represented to me that it is necessary for the public interests, and the convenience of the inhabitants of the county of Hamilton, that a ferry should be established over the river Ohio, nearly opposite the mouth of Licking, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Mr. Robert Benham having requested permission to erect and keep said ferry;
" Now Know Ye, That, having duly considered of the said rep- resentation and request, I have thought it proper to grant the same, and by these presents do empower the said Robert Benham, of the county of Hamilton, to erect and keep a ferry over the Ohio river, from the landing place in the vicinity of his house lot, which is
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nearly opposite the mouth of Licking, to both points of said riculet upon the Virginia shore; and to ask, demand, recover, and receive as a compensation ---
For every single person that he may transport over the said ferry, .... 6 cents. For a man and horse,. 18
For a wagon and team,. 100
For horned cattle, per head,. 18 " For hogs, each, .6
until those rates shall be altered by law or future instructions from the Governor of this Teritory. -
"And he is hereby required to provide good and sufficient flats or boats for the purpose, and to give due attention to the same according to right and common usage, and to govern himself in the premises by all such laws as hereafter may be adopted for the regulation of ferries, as soon as such laws shall be published in the Territory.
" Given under my hand and seal, at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton, this eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and of the in- dependence of the United States the sixteenth, and to continue in force during the pleasure of the Governor of the Territory.
" WINTHROP SARGENT."
Having thus presented an outline history of Cincinnati during the first seven years of its existence, I propose to fill up the pic- ture it forms by various notes and statements, taken down by my- self and others, from the lips of the actors in the scenes they describe. I pursue this course as imparting a clearer light to the subject, than can be obtained from the continuous narrative just brought to its close. In doing this, as far as possible, I shall ob- serve the order of time in which the events they refer to occurred. In some instances, it will be perceived, I have been obliged to in- clude recollections of early events and circumstances which extend to a later period than the seven years to which I have limited my general narrative. This has been done to avoid impairing the entireness of the several statoments.
Incidents Prior to the Settlement of Cincinnati .-- In the year 1773, and about the beginning of June, three brothers, named James, George, and Robert McAfce, from Botetourt county,
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Virginia, set out on an exploring tour for the west, with the in- tention of settling opposite the mouth of Licking, if they found the country such as it was described to them to be; if otherwise, they meant to push on for the waters of Salt river, where they had acquaintances from their own neighborhood in Virginia. They struck the river Ohio at Kanawha, where they procured canoes. An unprecedented rise had filled both rivers full to their banks, and the Ohio was still rising.
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In this stage of water they made rapid progress, keeping the current of the river as a measure of safety from the savages, who, watching the approach of boats, frequently lay hid on the northern bank; and by the time they reached the mouth of Licking river, the Ohio had swelled to such a degree as to spread itself at this point-to use their own expression -" full from hill to hill." This, in reference to the Cincinnati side, meant the abrupt bank which, at the distance of about one hundred feet south of Third street, followed the line of that street, nearly, from Broadway to John street, and even further west.
This, no doubt, was the great flood whose extreme height was marked at the time on a tree, below Fort Washington, and pointed out by the Indians as the greatest height to which the river had ever risen. As nearly as could be ascertainicd, it was twelve fect higher than the subsequent rises of 1832 and 1847, the greatest known since, on which occasions the Ohio did not overflow Coving- ton or Newport.
The McAfee party, ignorant of the character of the country and the extraordinary nature of the freshet, concluded it would not answer to settle lands subject to such inundations, and, as they had contemplated, went into Kentucky, where, after first re-visiting Vir- ginia, they finally settled. One of these brothers was the father of General Robert McAfee, author of a history of the war of 1812, and afterward Lieutenant-governor of Kentucky, and still later U. S. charge to Bogota.
I have this statement from the late Dr. J. L. Wilson, who, in early life, was well acquainted with the parties.
General Wm. Lytle, who resided for many years in Cincinnati, and survived to March 8, 1831, emigrated, with his father, from Pennsylvania in 1780. They descended the Ohio with, doubtless, the largest fleet of boats and the greatest number of emigrants that ever left the upper country at one time-the boats numbering sixty-
---
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three, and the fighting men alone of the party exceeding one thou- sand. At Maysville two or three boats, with a few families, landed and remained. The residue started off early on the morning of the 11th of April, and at 10 o'clock, the next day, two boats, which were ahead as pilots, signaled that an encampment of Indians had been formed on the northern or Indian side of the river, and oppo- site the mouth of Licking, just where Broadway intersects Front street. The shore, at that time, was a high bluff, rendering the savages clearly visible. Three boats, in a concerted order, landed half a mile above. It was arranged that half the fighting men should be in readiness to spring to the shore the moment the boats should touch it: they were then to form and march down to where the Indians were. The number of these hardly exceeded one hundred and fifty, while their opponents reached five hundred. Discovering a force so greatly superior moving rapidly upon them, they fled in so much haste and disorder, as to leave most of their movables behind. They followed the bank till they reached what is now called Mill creek, up the bottom of which they were pur- sued beyond the present site of Cumminsville. Several of the Indians were mounted, and they fled faster than their wearied pursuers could follow them on foot. The whites then returned to the boats and floated, without interruption, to Beargrass creek --- Louisville.
John McCaddon, of Newark, O., in a letter to the editor of the American Pioneer, of May 16, 1842, states, that in May, 1780, he descended the Ohio. He left Louisville with the expedition of Colonel George Rogers Clark, which was raised in Kentucky, to chastise the Indians. "On our way up the river to where Cincin- nati now stands," he 'states, " Captain Hugh McGary, a well- known Indian hunter and memorable for his participation in the unfortunate issue of the battle at the Blue Licks, in 1782, with a party had placed himself on the Indian side of the river, alleging that they lived better than we did, as they kept their hunters out to procure meat. The main body followed the Kentucky shore. One day, as we halted for dinner, McGary's men, as usual, halted opposite to us. When we were ready to march, they con- cluded to come over to us, as they discovered fresh Indian tracks. They had got but few yards from the shore, when they were fired on from the top of the bank. Colonel Clark's barge was instantly
--
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filled with men, but before they were able to cross, they heard the Indians give the scalp halloo, and saw them disperse.
"At the place where Cincinnati now is, it was necessary to build a block-house, for the purpose of leaving some stores and some wounded men of McGary's company. Although I did not cut a tree, or lift a log, I helped to build the first house ever built at Cincinnati, for I was at my post guarding the artificers who did the building."
On the return, in 1782, of Logan's second expedition against the Indian towns in Ohio, it was suggested by Colonel McCracken, of the light horse, and agreed to by the party, that as many as should survive that day-November 4-fifty years, should meet and exchange their final greeting and farewell to each other oppo- site the mouth of Licking river, that being the point where they first struck the Indian territory.
McCracken, the proposer of it, was the first one disabled from keeping the arrangement. He had received a wound in the arm from a rifle bullet, which, being neglected, produced mortification, and terminated his life on the litter which bore him, as the party descended Keys' hill, at the head of Main street, just as the troops were entering the future Cincinnati. He was buried near the block-house, already referred to by John McCaddon, erected opposite the mouth of Licking, and breastworks were thrown over his grave to conceal the spot and save his scalp from the savages.
The proposed meeting-November 4, 1832-would doubtless have gathered the survivors of that pledge to the appointed meet- ing, but shortly before its arrival our city had been visited with that terrible pestilence, the cholera, and its virulence and extent magnified at a distance, indefinitely postponed the meeting of the old pioneers, and deprived the community of what would have been one of the most interesting incidents in western history.
The impression that John Cleves Symmes, and those who pur- chased from him, were the first settlers on the banks of the Miami, has extended so generally as to leave no doubt of the fact in the public mind. Yet, as far back as 1785, almost four years prior to the landing of Symmes, the whole Miami bottom had been explored as far up as Hamilton, and openings made at the best spots for the purpose of establishing pre-emption rights, by a party from Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania. One of the company, John Ifind-
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man, was surviving as late as 1845, residing then a few miles from Hillsborough, Ohio. I add his narrative as given to me in his own words:
" My father, John Hindman, was a native and resident of Lan- caster county, Penn., where I was born in 1760, and at the age of twenty left that neighborhood for Washington county, where I re- maincd four years. In the month of March, 1785, I left the State of Pennsylvania, taking water at the mouth of Buffalo creek with a party, consisting of William West, John Simons, John Soft, and old Mr. Carlin, and their families. We reached Limestone point, now Maysville, in safety, where we laid by two weeks. The next landing we made was at the mouth of the Big Miami. We were the first company that landed at that place. The Indians had left two or three days before we landed. We found two Indians buried, as they were laid on the ground, a pen of poles built around them, and a new blanket spread over each one. The first we found was near the bank of the Ohio, and the second near the mouth of White river. Soon after we landed, the Ohio raised so as to overflow all the bottoms at the mouth of the Big Miami. We went over, therefore, to the Kentucky side, and cleared thirty or forty acres on a claim of a man by the name of Tanner, whose son was killed by the Indians, some time afterward, on a creek which now bears his name. Some time in May or June we started to go up the Big Miami, to make what we called improvements, so as to secure a portion of the lands, which we selected out of the best and broadest bottoms, between the mouth of the river and where Hamilton now stands. We started a north course and came to White Water, supposing it to be the Miami: we proceeded up the creek, but Joseph Robinson, who started from the mouth of the Miami with our party, and who knew something of the country from having been taken prisoner with Colonel Laughery and carried through it, giving it as his opinion that we were not'at the main river, we made a raft and crossed the stream, having the misfor- tune to lose all our guns in the passage. We proceeded up to where Hamilton now is, and made improvements wherever we found bottoms finer than the rest, all the way down to the mouth of the Miami. I then went up the Ohio again to Buffalo, but. returned the same fall, and found Generals Clark, Butler, and Parsons, at the mouth of the Big Miami, as commissioners to treat with the Indians. Major Finney was there also. I was in com-
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