The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 25

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 25

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"ARTICLE III .- The boundary lines between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware nations shall begin at the mouth of the River Cayahoga, and run thence up the said river to the portage between that and the Tuscara- was branch of the Muskingum; then down the said branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence [Laurens]; then westwardly, to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French in one thousand seven

: Meaning Irvine's.

¡Annals of the West.

į Butterfield.

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

hundred and fifty-two; then along the said portage to the Great Miami or Ome River, and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cayahoga, where it began.

"ART. IV .- The United States allot all the lands contained within the said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware nations. to live and to hunt on, and to such of the Ottawa nation as now live thereon; saving and reserving, for the establishment of trading posts, six miles square at the mouth of the Mi- ami or Ome River, and the same at the portage on that branch of the Big Mi- ami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the Lake of Sandusky, where the fort formerly stood. and also two miles square on each side of the lower rapids of Sandusky River; which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall be to the use and under the Government of the United States.

"ART. V .- If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not be- ing an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to the United States in the preceding article, such person shall forfeit the pro- tection of the United States and the Indians may punish him as they please.

"ART. VI .- The Indians who sign this treaty, as well in behalf of all their tribes as of themselves, do acknowledge the lands east, south and west of the lines described in the third article, so far as the said Indians formerly claimed the same, to belong to the United States; and none of their tribe shall presume to settle upon the same or any part of it.

"ART. VII .- The post of Detroit. with a district beginning at the mouth of the River Rosine [Raisin], on the west side of Lake Erie, and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said river, thence northerly, and always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the Lake St. Clair, shall also be reserved to the sole use of the United States.

"ART. VIII. - In the same manner, the post of Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved for the use of the United States.

"ART. IX .- If any Indian or Indians shall commit a robbery or mnur- der on any citizen of the United States, the tribe to which such offender may belong shall be bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States."

On the 15th of June, 1785, Congress issued the following proclamation, which was circulated in the Western country:

WHEREAS, It has been represented to the United States, in Congress assembled, that several disorderly persons have crossed the Ohio and settled upon their unappropriated lands; and whereas, it is their inteution, as soon as it shall be surveyed, to open offices for the sale of a considerable part thereof, in such proportions and under such other regula- tions as may suit the convenience of all the citizens of the said States and others who may wish to become purchasers of the same; and as such conduct tends to defeat the object they have in view, is in direct opposition to the ordinances and resolutions of Con- gress, and highly disrespectful to the federal authority ; they have, therefore, thought fit, and do hereby issue this their proclamation, strictly forbidding all such unwarrantable in- trusions, and enjoining all those who have settled thereon to depart with their families and effects, without loss of time, as they shall answer the same at their peril.

A treaty was made with the Shawanese, January 31, 1786, at the mouth of the Great Miami River, of which the following is

"ARTICLE VI. - The United States do allot to the Shawanese nation, lands within their territory, to live and hunt upon, beginning at the south line of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, at the place where the main branch of the Great Miami, which falls into the Ohio, intersects said line; then down the River Miami to the fork of that river, next below the old fort which was taken by the French in one thousand seven hundred and fifty-

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

two; thence due west to the River De La Panse; then down that river to the River Wabash; beyond which lines none of the citizens of the' United States shall settle, nor disturb the Shawanese in their settlement and possessions. And the Shawanese do relinquish to the United States all title, or pretense of title. they ever had to the lands east, west and south of the east, west and south lines before described."

It had been endeavored to bring the Wabash tribes and others to treat at this time, but the effort did not succeed, and they continued their depreda- tions. The Shawanese, also, disregarding their treaty, resumed hostilities, and, in the fall of 1786, an expedition was led against them by Col. Benjamin Logan, from Kentucky, who burned their towns on Mad River and destroyed their crops. One of his encampments on the route was at a place in what is now Clinton County, Ohio, known as the Deserted Camp, where it is said a Frenchman deserted from his force in order to give warning to the Indians, and thus partially frustrated the object of the expedition. Another expedition had been undertaken against the Wabash Indians, by Gen. George Rogers Clark, but its results were hardly satisfactory.

Matters now remained in a state of uncertainty until July, 1787, when Congress passed Ordinance No. 32, since known as the ordinance of 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio. It was drawn up by Nathan Dane, a Revolutionary patriot, of Massa- chusetts, and its full text appears elsewhere in this volume Judge Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati, in his "Notes of the Early Settlement of the Northwest- ern Territory," published in 1847, speaks of the ordinance as follows:

"That document was the Constitution of the Territory. It vested the ex- ecutive power in a Governor; the judicial power in a General Court, composed of three Judges, and the legislative power in the Governor and Judges, acting as a Legislative Council. It also provided for the appointment of a Secretary of the Territory, who was subsequently authorized by an act of Congress to execute all the powers and duties of the Governor. in case of his death, re- moval, or necessary absence from the Territory. It also provided for the estab- lishment of tribunals, inferior to the General Court. and for the appointment of subordinate officers. The legislative power was limited to the adoption of such laws of the original States as they might think suited to the condition and wants of the people which were to be submitted to and approved by Con- gress. It also entitled the Territory, as soon as it should be found to contain 5,000 free male inhabitants, of full age, to a General Assembly, to consist of a Legislative Council and House of Representatives, and also to a delegate in Congress. For the purpose of carrying the Ordinance into effect and or- ganizing a Territorial Government, Congress, on the 5th of October, 1787, elected Arthur St. Clair, Governor, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary; and on the 16th of the same month, they appointed Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong, of Newburg, N. Y., and James Mitchell Varnum, Judges of the said Territory. On the 16th of January, John Armstrong declined the ap- pointment, and John C. Symmes was chosen to fill the vacancy."

On the day St. Clair was appointed Governor, Congress passed a resolu- tion instructing him to "hold a general treaty with the tribes of Indians within the United States inhabiting the country northwest of the River Ohio and about the lakes, at such time and place as he should appoint, for the pur- pose of knowing the cause of uneasiness among them-hearing their com- plaints-regulating trade, and amicably settling all affairs concerning lands. and boundaries between them and the United States, agreeably to such in- structions as should be given him, for that purpose." In pursuance of that order, he assembled the Indians at Marietta, in January, 1789, and negotiated

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

with them what afterward became known as the "Treaty of Fort Harmar."* When Congress first assembled under the new Constitution, at New York, in May, 1789, Washington, as one of his first official acts as President, submitted said treaty to the Senate for its action thereon, and that body immediately ap- proved and ratified it. At the same session. St. Clair and Sargent were re-ap- pointed to the positions of Governor and Secretary of the Territory, and a new board of Judges was appointed.

" But these treaties," says Albach. "if meant in good faith by those who made them. were not respected, and the year of which we now write (1789) saw renewed the old frontier troubles in all their barbarism and variety. The Wabash Indians especially, who had not been bound by any treaty as yet, kept up constant incursions against the Kentucky settlers, and the emigrants down the Ohio, and the Kentuckians retaliated, striking foes and friends, even 'the peaceable Piankeshaws, who prided themselves on their attachment to the United States.' Nor could the President take any effectual steps to put an end to this constant partisan warfare. In the first place, it was by no means clear that an attack by the forces of the Government upon the Wabash tribes could be jus- tified."

Troubles multiplied, and the campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair, in 1790 and 1791 respectively, followed by Wayne's terrible punishment of the Indians in August, 1794, are matters of history not necessary to notice at length in this place. The victory of Wayne enabled him to do what a commission had failed to do in an attempt in 1793, namely, to agree on terms of peace with the various Western tribes. The treaty of Greenville was concluded on the 3d of August, 1795, after a long and carefully conducted conference, in the proceed- ings of which the shrewdness and tact of Wayne are most conspicuous. There were present at the conference numbers from the tribes as follows: Wyan- dots, 180; Delawares, 381; Shawanese, 143; Ottawas. 45; Chippewas, 46; Pot- tawattomies, 240; Miamis and Eel Rivers, 73: Weas and Piankeshaws, 12; Kickapoos and Kaskaskias, 10; total 1,130. The provisions of the treaty were as follows :¡

ARTICLE I .- Hostilities were to cease.

ART. II. - All prisoners were to be restored.

ART. III .- The general boundary lines between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes shall begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and run thence up the same to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Lawrence [Laurens]; thence westwardly, to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami River, running into the Ohio. at or near which fork stood Loramie's store, and where commences the portage between the Miami and the Ohio and St. Mary's River, which is a branch of the Miami which runs into Lake Erie; thence a westwardly course, to Fort Recovery. which stands on a branch of the Wabash; thence southwesterly, in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky or Cuttawa River. And in consideration of the peace now established; of the goods formerly received from the United States; of those now to be delivered: and of the yearly delivery of goods now stipulated to be made hereafter; and to indemnify the United States for the injuries and expenses they have sus- tained during the war: the said Indian tribes do hereby cede and relinquish forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly and southwardly of the general boundary lines now described; and these lands, or any part of them,

* This was on the 9th of January, 1789. The treaty confirmed the previous one with the Iroquois at Fort Stan- wix, made in October, 1784, and another made at Fort Mcintosh in January, 1785, with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomies and Sacs, also extending the latter treaty.

¡See Annals of the West, pp. 442-446.

Stevens

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

shall never hereafter be made a cause, or pretense, on the part of said tribes, or any of them, of war or injury to the United States, or any other people thereof.

And for the same consideration, and as an evidence of the said Indian tribes, of their confidence in the United States, and desire to provide for their ac- commodations, and for that convenient intercourse which will be beneficial to both parties, the said Indian tribes do also cede to the United States the fol- lowing pieces of land, to wit: 1. One piece of land six miles square, at or near Loramie's store, before mentioned. 2. One piece, two miles square, at the head of the navigable water or landing, on the St. Mary's River, near Gir- ty's Town. 3. One piece, six miles square, at the head of the navigable wat- ers of the Auglaize River. 4. One piece, six miles square, at the conference of the Auglaize and Miami Rivers, where Fort Defiance now stands. 5. One piece, six miles square, at or near the confluence of the Rivers St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, where Fort Wayne now stands, or near it. 6. One piece, two miles square, on the Wabash River, at the end of the portage from the Miami of the Lake, and about eight miles eastward from Fort Wayne. 7. One piece six miles square, at the Quiatanon, or old Wea towns, on the Wabash River. 8. One piece, twelve miles square, at the British fort on the Miami of the Lake at the foot of the rapids. 9. One piece, six miles square, at the mouth of said river, where it empties into the lake. 10. One piece, six miles square, upon Sandusky Lake, where a fort formerly stood. 11. One piece, two miles square, at the lower rapids of Sandusky River.

12. The post of Detroit, and all the lands to the north, the west and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English Governments; and so much more land to be annexed to the District of Detroit as shall be comprehended between the River Rosine on the south and Lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of Lake Erie and Detroit River. 13. The post of Michili- mackinac, and all the land on the island on which that post stands, and the mainland adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English Governments; and a piece of land on the main to the north of the Island, to measure six miles, on Lake Huron or the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and to extend three miles back from the water on the lake or strait; and also, the Island de Bois Blanc, being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa nation. 14. One piece of land, six miles square, at the mouth of Chicago River, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood. 15. One piece, twelve miles

square, at or near the mouth of the Illinois River, emptying into the Missis- sippi. 16. One piece, six miles square, at the old Peorias' fort and village, near the south end of the Illinois Lake, on said Illinois River. And whenever the United States shall think proper to survey and mark the boundaries of the lands hereby ceded to them, they shall give timely notice thereof to the said tribes of Indians, that they may appoint some of their wise chiefs to attend and see that the lines are run according to the terms of this treaty.

And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United States a free passage, by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found con- venient, through their country along the chain of posts herein before men- tioned, that is to say: from the commencement of the portage aforesaid, at or near Loramie's store, thence along said portage to the St. Mary's and down the same to Fort Wayne, and then down the Miami to Lake Erie; again from the commencement of the portage, at or near Loramie's store, along the por- tage and thence from the River Auglaize, and down the same to its junction with the Miami at Fort Defiance; again, from the commencement of the por-

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

tage aforesaid to Sandusky River, and down the same to Sandusky Bay, and Lake Erie, and from Sandusky to the post which shall be taken at or near the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the Lake; and from thence to Detroit. Again, from the mouth of the Chicago River to the commencement of the port- age between that river and the Illinois, and down the Illinois River to the Mississippi; also, from Fort Wayne, along the portage aforesaid which leads to the Wabash, and then down the Wabash to the Ohio. And the said Indian tribes will also allow the people of the United States the free use of the har- bors and mouths of rivers, along the lakes adjoining the Indian lands, for sheltering vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes when necessary for their safety.

ART. IV .- In consideration of the peace now established, and of the sessions and relinquishments of lands, made in the preceding article by the said tribes of Indians, and to manifest the liberality of the United States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong and perpetual, the United States relinquish their claim to all other Indian lands, northward of the River Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great Lakes and the waters uniting them, according to the boundary line agreed upon by the United States and the King of Great Britain, in the treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783. But from this relinquishment by the United States the following tracts of land are explicitly excepted: Ist. The tract of 150,000 acres, near the rapids of the River Ohio, which has been assigned to Gen. Clark for the use of himself and his warriors. 2d. The post at St. Vin- cennes, on the River Wabash, and the lands adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished. 3d. The lands at all other places, in possesson of the French people and other white settlers among them, of which the Indian title has been extinguished, as mentioned in the third article; and 4th the post of Fort Massac, towards the mouth of the Ohio. To which several parcels of land, so excepted, the said tribes relinquish all the title and claim which they or any of them may have.

And, for the same considerations, and with the same views as above men- tioned, the United States now deliver to the said Indian tribes a quantity of goods to the value of twenty thousand dollars, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge; and henceforward, every year, forever, the United States will deliver, at some convenient place northward of the River Ohio, like useful goods, suited to the circumstances of the Indians, of the value of nine thou- sand five hundred dollars, reckoning that value at the first cost of the goods in the city or place in the United States where they shall be procured. The tribes to which these goods are to be annually delivered. and the proportions in which they are to be delivered are the following:

1st, To the Wyandots, the amount of one thousand dollars; 2d, to the Delawares, the amount of one thousand dollars; 3d, to the Shawanese, the amount of one thousand dollars; 4th, to the Miamis, the amount of one thousand dollars; 5th, to the Ottawas, the amount of one thousand dollars; 6th, to the Chippewas, the amount of one thousand dollars: 7th, to the Potta- watomies, the amount of one thousand dollars; Sth, and to the Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes, the amount of five hundred dollars each.

Provided, That if either of the tribes shall hereafter, at an annual delivery of their share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity should be furnished in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils convenient for them, and in compensation to useful artificers, who may reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries, be furnished accordingly.

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

ART. V .- To prevent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the United States, in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared that the meaning of that relinquishment is this: The Indian tribes who have a right to these lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting and dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molestation from the United States; but when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States; and, until such sale, the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes, in the quiet enjoyment of their lands, against all citizens of the United States. and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same. And the said Indian tribes again acknowledge themselves to be under the pro- tection of the said United States, and no other power whatever.

ART. VI. - The Indians or United States may remove and punish intruders on Indian lands.

ART. VII .- Indians may hunt within ceded lande.

ART. VIII-Trade shall be opened in substance as by provisions in treaty of Fort Harmar.

ART. IX. - All injuries shall be referred to law, not privately avenged; and all hostile plans known to either shall be revealed to the other party.

ART. X. - All previous treaties annulled.

The various nations named in the fourth article signed this treaty on the date given (August 3, 1795); it was laid before the Senate on the 9th of De- cember and ratified by that body on the 22d of the same month. And thus closed the long and bloody old Indian wars of the West. The peace then agreed upon lasted for sixteen years, when the renowned Shawanese chieftain, Tecumseh, who, with his brother the Prophet, had laid plans to unite all the tribes as one, and had stirred them to strife, precipitated the war of that year, in which Gov. William Henry Harrison showed himself to be a man of great nerve and wonderful resources.

That hostilities were brought on largely through the aid of the sneaking emissaries of Great Britain there can be no doubt, and the final breaking-out of the war of 1812 upon the land settled the aim of the British Government conclusively. Happily, that war resulted advantageously to the United States, and cooled the desire of the great foreign power to usurp the rights of the young Republic, which had thus, a second time, taught the British lion a severe lesson. Treaties were made in 1814 and 1815, with several tribes of Indians, and their allegiance secured to the United States. In 1817, an effort was made to extinguish the Indian title to lands in Ohio, but the absence of the Miamis from the council, held at the rapids of the Maumee in September, prevented. Cass and McArthur, however, purchased of the Indians nearly the whole northwestern portion of the State, estimated at 3,694,540 acres, exclusive of reservations, paying therefor the sum of $140,893, or three cents and eight mills per acre.

Mention will now be made of three individuals known to the early history of this region, two of whom had much to do with the affairs of the country in their time:

The Pipe, or Capt. Pipe, as known to history, was one of the most savage enemies of the Americans. In 1764, he was captured, and detained at Fort Pitt until Bouquet dictated terms of peace to the Delawares and Shawanese on the Muskingum, when he was set at liberty. Pipe's Indian name was Kogieschquanoheel, and he was the principal Captain of the Wolf tribe of the Delawares, becoming afterward its tribal chief. After Pontiac's war, until 1780, his tribe was at peace with the Americans, but with the breaking-out of the Revolution, Cart. Pipe became a prominent actor in the field against the country. His home was then upon the Walhonding, about fifteen miles above

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

what is now Coshocton. He was the bitter enemy of the Moravian mission aries. At the close of the Revolution, he changed greatly, and advocated peace with the Americans in the councils of his nation, which had drawn back to the Manmee River. Although he fought against Harmar in the fall of 1790. ho vet desired and advocated a cossation of hostilities, but his advice was un. heeded. His arm was fairly wearied with slaughter at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. " A grand eouneil of nearly all the Northwestern tribes assembled in the autumn of 1792, at the confluence of the Auglaize and the Maumee Rivers. where the town of Defiance now stands, to take into consideration the condi tion of affairs in the United States. The result was that the Indians agreed to hold a treaty with Commissioners of the new Government the next summer. The warriors again gathered upon the Maumee, and The Pipe was among the foremost advocates for peace. But the nations declared for war, and the United States sont against them an army, under the command of the heroic Anthony Wayne, by whom they were reduced to entire submission. Capt. l'ipe did not live to witness the total defeat of the confederate tribes, on the 20th of August, 1794. upon the banks of the Maumee, by that victorious Gen- oral. He died a few days previous."

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The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 25

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1254

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254