USA > Ohio > Clinton County > The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 1 > Part 24
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Gen. Richard Butler, one of the Treaty Commissioners, kept a private diary, and the portion of it relating to this affair was long afterward published in Neville B. Craig's Olden Time, at Pittsburgh. From this diary it appears that the Indians first offered the black or war belt, and Gen. Butler tendered in return the option of a black or white belt. The head chieftain of the Shaw- nees, bearing the name of Kekewepellethe, made an insolent speech, and, at its close, threw down the war belt. After a short conference between the Com- missioners, Butler writes: "I (not Clark) addressed them in this short man- ner." The speech was decidedly pointed, and closed about as follows:
"You joined the British King against us.
We have overcome him; he has cast you off and given us your country, and Congress, in bounty and mercy. offer you peace and a country. We have told you our terms, and these we will not alter. They are just and liberal. We now tell you, if you are so unwise as to adhere to what you have said, and to refuse these terms, you may depart in poace; you shall have provisions to take you to your towns, and no man shall touch you for eight days; but after that, we shall consider ourselves free from all ties of protection, and you may depend the United States will protect their citizens and distress your obstinate nation. It rests now with you. Peace or war is in your power. Make your choice like men. We tell you plainly that this country belongs to the United States. Their blood has defended it, and will protect it. You should be thankful for its forgiveness and offers of kind- ness, instead of the sentiments which the black string imports and the man- ner you have delivered it. We shall not receive it or any other from you in any such way."
The General then adds: "I took it up and dashed it on the table. We then loft them and threw down a black and white string. In the afternoon, the Shawnees (this name is spelled in various ways) sent a message requesting a council, on which we went in. Kekowepellethe then arose and spoke as fol- lows: 'Brothers-the Thirteen Fires: We feel sorry that a mistake has caused you tobe displeased at us this morning. You must have misunderstood us. We told you yesterday that three of our mon wore to go off immediately
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to gather your flesh and blood' (meaning white prisoners in their hands). 'We had also appointed persons to remain with you till this is performed; they are hore, and shall stay with you. Brethren, our people are sensible of the truths you have told them. You have everything in your power; we, therefore, hope that you will take pity on our women and children. Brothers, everything shall be as you wish; we came here to do that which is good, and we agree to all you have proposed, and hope in future we shall both enjoy peace and be secure.' " (A white string. )
Vastly different was the tone of this speech from that of the morning, when the same chieftain who now made so cringing an apology had declared that his people would not give hostages for the return of all the " white flesh " in. their hands, and that they would have none of the presents offered them for their women and children, with other insolent and impudent remarks. The speech and manner of Gen Butler cowed them, and it was only through fear of. con- sequences that they agreed upon a peaceful course. Very likely Butler's, speech was agreed to by Clark, and perhaps in part suggested by him, but, from the evidence stated, it is improbable that Clark was the man who deliv- ered it. Thus is romance spoiled. Among the provisions of this treaty were the following:
ARTICLE 2. The Shawnee nation do acknowledge the United States to be the sole and absolute sovereigns of all the territory ceded to them, by a treaty of peace made between them and the king of Great Britain, the Fourteenth day of January, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-four.
ART. 6. The United States do allot to the Shawnee nation lands within their terri- tory, to live and hunt upon, beginning at the south line of the lands allotted to the Wyan- dots 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-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 Shawnees in their settlement and possessions. And the Shawnees do relinquish to the United States all title or pretense of title they ever had to the lands east, west and south of the cast, west and south lines before described.
Notwithstanding this treaty and others were made, the affairs of the re- gion remained in an unsettled condition for many years longer, and settlement by whites was greatly retarded. Marietta and Cincinnati were founded, and that was about the extent to which the people dared go. Soveral expeditions were sent against disturbing tribes of Indians, but none of them were fruitful of much until " Mad Anthony " Wayne administered such terrible punishment in 1794, partially wiping out the disgrace of the defeat of former command- .
ers. August 3, 1795, witnessed the treaty of Greenville, and soon afterward, settlers began pushing for the interior. Many had located in various parts of the State previous to the war of 1812, and to some of them the horrors of In- dian warfare were made newly familiar. Finally, however, the career of Te- cumseh, the great Indian chieftain and organizer, was closed by a death-shot in the battle of the Thames (October 5, 1813), the second war with Great Brit- ain was ended, the smoke of the conflict lifted, and peace reigned throughout the land.
Within the present limits of the county of Wilmington is a spot made prominent by an incident which occurred during one of the several expeditions against the Miami Indians. It is still known as
THE DESERTED CAMP.
The story connected with the name is given as follows, from the notes of Judge Harlan, deceased, of Wilmington:
"Clinton County is by no means celebrated for her many places of his- toric interest. A reason for this may be found in the fact that no Indian town
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
was located within her borders, and the white man's war-trace and the Indian warrior's road generally lay to the west or east of us. Among the places of more or less celebrity within the county, tho Deserted Camp is perhaps the most conspicuous. This is a well-known landmark, and is prominently shown on the county map. It is situated on a high bank of Todd's Fork, about three miles north-northeast of where Wilmington now is, on the spot now covered in part by Starbucktown. Surrounded by flat and rather low lands, this place of encampment is high and rolling, and, in a state of nature, was covered by a heavy growth of large oaks and such other trees as are common to the forests in the neighborhood. With such a surface, and so convenient both as to wood and water, it offered facilities for encampment unsurpassed for miles around. "The name of tho placo was plainly derived from a circumstance which is said to have occurred there several years prior to the first white settlement in this part of the Stato.
" The tradition of the neighborhood is that an expedition in some force was fitted out in Kentucky during the existence of the long and bloody war between the people of that district and the Indians, to march against the Shaw- neo towns on the Miamis or Mad Rivers. On its way, it oncamped on Todd's Fork, and in the morning, it was discovered that one of the men had deserted to the enemy. Several questions arise here, as: What expedition is here re-' forred to? When did it march? And who was the man who abandoned the brave and civilized Kentuckians to unite his fortunes with a savage people?
"The expedition was one in force, or it never would have ventured into the Indian country so far as the Deserted Camp. Four armies (if that is not too magnificent a term) were sent against the Indians mentioned above, and only four at any time.
"The above-mentioned 'armies' consisted of Col. Bowman's, in 1779; Gen. George Rogers Clark's first, in 1780; Clark's second, in 1782; and Col. . Benjamin Logan's, in 1786. Neither Harmar's, St. Clair's nor Wayne's need be mentioned in this connection, because they were not fitted out in Kentucky, and were never near the Deserted Camp. Bowman and Clark marched against the Shawnee towns, but they either collected their forces at the mouth of the Licking River, opposite the point where Cincinnati now is, or marched that way. Neither Bowman nor Clark was ever within the limits of what is now Clinton County.
[NOTE .- In the year first given (1770), the Indians were exceedingly troub- lesome. Congress had become aroused, subsequent to the massacres at Wyo- ming and Cherry Valley, to the necessity of adopting some means of protection for the western and northwestern frontiers, and Gen. Sullivan's decisive cam- paign against the Indian towns of Pennsylvania and New York, under the di- rection of Washington, whom the Senecas named the " town destroyer," was the outcome. Forty towns were burned, and more than one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn destroyed, according to Stone. In the West, the operations were on a smaller scale, and the Indians were far more successful. Col. Bowman's expedition was organized in July, 1779, one wing of his little army boing commanded by Col. Benjamin Logan. From some unexpected cause, the two divisions did not fully co-operate, and the entire body was forced to retreat, after taking some booty and burning an Indian town. Gen. George Rogers Clark and Col. Logan were more successful in subsequent ox- poditions, and the mettle of Kentucky men proved equal to the emergencies of the day .- P. A. D.]
"Logan took another route. Ho marched by the way of Bryant's Station, on Elkhorn and the Lower Blue Lick to the Ohio River, where Maysville now. is. This was a large force for that day. It was raised in Kentucky, in Octo-
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
bor, 1786, and Gen. Benjamin Logan received the command. Gen. Logan, from whom Logan County derived its name, was a man well acquainted with Indian warfare, and well qualified to command. The numerical strength of the force was variously estimated at from four hundred to seven hundred men. It was the second expedition fitted out in Kentucky that year. The first, com- manded by Gen. George Rogers Clark, fifteen hundred strong, was on its way . to the Illinois country. Kentucky had sustained a heavy drain of her men to supply the requisito force for Gon. Clark's expedition, and when Gen. Logan's call was made and responded to sho was, as it were, deprived of male help and defense.
"The mustoring of these forces prevented the meeting of the convention elected to form a constitution for the State.
"The expedition under Logan was raised for the purpose of punishing the warlike Shawnees for their many murders and cruel outrages, and to keep ' the warriors of the Miami, Wyandot, Delaware and Shawnee tribes close at home, while Gen. Clark was operating against the Wabash and Vermilion In- dians.
"The men engaged in Gen. Logan's expedition, among whom were Dan- iel Boone, Maj. (afterward General) Simon Kenton, Judge McManis (an early Associate Judge of Clinton County) and Col. Robert Patterson (one of the pro- prietors and an old resident of Dayton), were mostly backwoods riflemen. All were mounted. They crossed the Ohio River at Limestone, now Maysville, and took a course leading almost directly north, aiming to strike the first blow at the Shawneo town on Mad River, the birthplace of the great Tecumseh, sit- uate about five miles southwest of the site of the present city of Springfield, Clark County. They entered into what is now Clinton County, at or near Lynchburg, Highland County, passed east of the sites of Martinsville, Mor- risville and Wilmington, and west of the site of Now Antioch, and encamped for the night at this point, since known as the Deserted Camp.
"Some time during the night, a Frenchman belonging to Logan's army desorted to give notice to the Indians of the near approach of the Kentuckians. The fact of his desertion was soon ascertained. The army was aroused and put in motion. The race for the Indian town was closely contested, but the dosorter, having the advantage in the start, retained it to the end. When Lo- gan arrived at the principal Indian town, the Indians were aroused, and evi- dently trying to make their oscapo. The deserter had given notice of the ap- proach of the Kentuckians, but not in time to enable the Indians to get away. Their towns were destroyed by firo, and their fields of corn laid waste. Twenty warriors were killed, seventy or eighty prisoners taken, and the women and children loft bat a procarious supply of miserable food.
"The Frenchman who desorted from Logan's army had been taken pris- : oner by Gon. Clark, in one of his campaigns in Illinois, under such circum- stances as plainly showed that he and the Indians were not on opposite sides. Ho claimed, however, to bo their prisoner, not their ally. He was permitted to accompany the army of Clark to Kentucky, where he remained two years, when he joined the forces of Logan and accompanied thom to the crossing of Todd's Fork.
"The camp then and there mado was a controlling call for the Deputy Surveyor for Col. Anderson, the principal surveyor of the lands reserved by the State of Virginia for the officers and soldiers for three years' service in the Virginia lino, on Continental establishment.
"On the county map, it is named the Deserted Camp. Five military sur- veys call for this spot, as one corner of each of these surveys. All call for be ginning at 'Logan's encampment in October, 1786, where a man deserted from him,'
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
"In an account of this attack upon the Indian towns, given by the late Gen. William Lytle, of Cincinnati, from whom our Lytlo's Crook was named, speaking of the operations in a part of the field of warfaro in which he took a part, he says: 'We had taken thirteen prisoners. Among them was the chief, his threo wives-one of them a young and handsome woman, another of them the famous grenadier squaw, upward of six feet tall-and two or three fine young lads. The rest were children. One of these lads was a remarkably interesting youth, about my own age (seventeen years) and size. He clung ยท closely to me, and appeared keenly to notice everything that was going on. When we arrived at the town, a crowd of our men pressed around to see the chief. A young man by the name of Curner had been to one of the springs to drink. He discovered the young savage by my side, and came running toward me, The young Indian supposed he was advancing to kill him. As I turned around. in the twinkling of an eye he let fly an arrow at Curner, for he was armed with a bow. I had just time to catch his arm as he discharged his arrow. It passed through Curner's dress and grazed his side. The jerk I gave his arm undoubtedly prevented his killing Curner on the spot.'
"The youth referred to by Gen. Lytle was a Shawnee half-blood-was the Capt. Logan well known to many of the early settlers in the Miami coun- try. He was taken to Kentucky as a prisoner, after the defeat and punish - ment of the Shawnee nation, but was made a member of Gen. Logan's family, and received some education. He became able to converse in tolerably good English. How long he remained in Kentucky is involved in some obscurity. He afterward returned to his tribe, and in after years became a chief, but al- ways retained the name of Logan.
" Gen. Lytle further describes a desperate fight made by a wounded In- dian, who was at last killed. He then adds: 'We found with him Capt. Beasley's rifle, the Captain having been killed at the Lower Blue Licks a few days before the army passed through that place.' "
An anecdote relating to the early settlement of Cincinnati will not be out of place in this chapter. In 1789, alarm was felt at points on the river that the Wabash Indians would invade and destroy the weak settlements, and, some time in July of that year, Maj. Doughty arrived with a small force, and began the erection of Fort Washington on the site of Losantiville, the village oppo- site the mouth of the Licking, where now is Cincinnati. Judge Burnet related the following anecdote in relation to the choice of this spot, instead of the one picked out by Judge Symmes, the founder of the place:
"Through the influence of the Judge (Symmes), the detachment sent by Gen. Harmar to erect a fort between the Miami Rivers, for the protection of the settlers, landed at North Bend. This circumstance induced many of the first emigrants to repair to that place on account of the expected protection which the garrison would afford. While the officer commanding the detach- ment was examining the neighborhood to select the most eligible spot for a garrison, he became enamored with a beautiful black-eyed female, who hap- pened to be a married woman. The vigilant husband saw his danger, and immediately determined to remove with his family to Cincinnati, where he supposed they could be safe from intrusion. As soon as the gallant officer discovered that the object of his admiration had been removed beyond his reach, he began to think that the Bend was not an advantageous situation for a military work. This opinion he communicated to Judge Symmes, who con- tended very strenuously that it was the most suitable spot in the Miami coun- try, and protested against the removal. The arguments of the Judge, how- ever, were not as influential as the sparkling eyes of the fair female, who was then at Cincinnati. To preserve the appearance of consistency, the officer
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
agreed that he would dofor a decision till he had explored the ground at and noar Cincinnati; and that, if he found it to be loss eligible than the Bend, he would return and erect the garrison at the latter place. The visit was quickly made, and resulted in a conviction that the Bend was not to be compared with Cincinnati. The troops were accordingly removed to that place, and the building of Fort Washington was commenced. This movement, apparently trivial in itself, and certainly produced by a whimsical cause, was attended by results of incalculable importanco. It settled the question at once whether Symmes or Cincinnati was to be tho great commercial town on the Miami Pur- chase. This anecdote was communicated by Judge Symmes, and is unques- tionably authentic. As soon as the troops romoved to Cincinnati and estab- lished the garrison, the settlers at the Bend, then more numerous than those at Cincinnati, bogan to remove, and in two or three years, the Bend was liter- ally desorted, and the idea of establishing a town at that point was entirely abandonod.
"Thus we see what great results are sometimes produced by trivial cir- cumstances. The beauty of a female transferred the commercial emporium of Ohio from the place where it was commoncod to the place where it now is. Had the black-eyed beauty remained at the Bond, the garrison would have beon erocted there, population, capital and business would have centered there, and our city must have been now of comparatively small importance."*
However much beauty may have influenced the matter, it is certain that the sito of Cincinnati was the most eligible location, and the wisdom of locat- ing the garrison at that point is very evident to a close observer.
The expedition of Gen. Benjamin Logan has been mentioned in the story of the Deserted Camp. Logan was of Irish descent, and one of the most re- spocted pioneers of Kentucky. He was an experienced Indian fighter, and had taken part in many border engagements of more or less note. Among those who accompanied him on his expedition against the Mack-a-cheek towns on Mad River were Col. Daniel Boone, Maj. Simon Kenton, Col. Trotter, Col. Hugh McGary (of unsavory reputation), and others who wore prominent in the early days. Gon. Lytle, then a lad of sixteen years, was also present, and wrote an interesting account of the affair, which has been preserved in several publications. (Sco McKnight's " Western Border," p. 359.)
Although Clinton County was not the scene of warfare in its worst fornt, yet her soil echoed to the tread of the men who fought to conquer a lasting poaco with the savages " an hundred years ago."
*Transactions Onio Historical Society, and Albach's Western Aunals.
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
LAND GRANTS, ENTRIES AND SURVEYS.
D ECEMBER 20, 1783, the State of Virginia authorized its delegates to make a deed to the United States of all its right in the territory north- west of the Ohio River, upon condition that the territory so ceded should " be laid out and formed into States, containing a suitable extent of territory, not less than 100 nor more than 150 miles square, or as near thereto as circum- stances will admit; and that the States so formed shall be distinct Repub- lican States and admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other States."*
These were only a part of the conditions. Among others were the following: "That the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have pro- fessed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall have their possessions and titles confirmed to them and be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liber- ties. That a quantity, not exceeding 150,000 acres, of land, promised by this State, shall be allowed and granted to then Colonel, now General, George Rogers Clark, and to the officers and soldiers of his regiment who marched with him when the posts of Kaskaskies and St. Vincents were reduced, and to the officers and soldiers that have since been incorporated into the said regi- ment, to be laid off in one tract, the length of which not to exceed double the breadth, in such place, on the northwest side of the Ohio, as a majority of the officers shall choose, and to be afterward divided among the said officers and soldiers in due proportion, according to the laws of Virginia. That in case the quantity of good land on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon the waters of the Cumberland River, and between the Green River and the Tennessee River, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops upon continental es- tablishment, should, from the North Carolina line bearing in farther upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for their legal boun- ties, the deficiency should be made up to the said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the Rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of the River Ohio, in such proportions as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia. That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for or appropriated to any of the beforemen- tioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American Army, shall be considered a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become, or shall become, members of the Confederation or Federal Alliance of the said States, Virginia included, ac- cording to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expend- iture, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever."i
In agreement with these conditions, a deed was made March 1, 1784. The number of soldiers in the Virginia continental line proved to be 1,124.
*Virginia received a charter May 23, 1609, from King James I, of England, for all the lands extending 200 miles north and 200 miles south from Point Comfort along the coast. and " up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." This was a sweeping charter and gave a, Virginia claim to a vast territory.
t Albach's Annals of the West.
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
The tract reserved for them' between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers be- came known as the " Virginia Military Tract."*
In 1783, the Continental Line chose Col. Richard C. Anderson Prin- cipal Surveyor on their behalf, and concluded a contract with him Decem- ber 17 in that year. July 20, 1784, he opened an office at Louisville, Ky., but no entries were made north of the Ohio until August 1, 1787. The first work done in what is now Clinton County by a deputy surveyor was by Gen. Nathaniel Massie, whose name appears in 1792 and a number of subsequent years. Others were John Obannon, 1794,; Wm. Lytle, 1795; John Beasley, 1796; James Galloway, 1804; William Barlow, 1802; James Taylor, 1813; Walter Dun, 1820; Allen Latham, 1822; Cadwallader Wallace, 1822; E. P. Kendrick, 1833; A. D. Kendrick, 1847. These, with the exception of Walter Dun, all appear to have been employed on surveys through a number of years each, and probably the names of Nathaniel Massie and John Obannon are most frequently found on the records.
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