USA > Ohio > The history of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 14
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240
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1816.
pressment and neutral rights, the sole ostensible cause of the war, was evaded by both parties, not a word being said on that subject, a common termination of wars between belligerent and powerful nations, and of which Great Britain herself has given more than one instance. This treaty, having been unanimously ratified and for- mally promulgated, was received throughout the United States with public rejoicings, and a day was set apart by Congress for a national cele- bration, with suitable religious exercises in the churches.
In 1816 the seat of the state government was permanently established at Columbus, the pro- prietors of the town having, pursuant to an agreement, crected the statehouse and other public buildings for the accommodation of the legislature. Before this period there was no per- manent state capital in Ohio. The sessions of the legislature were held at Chillicothe, until 1810, and then at Zanesville. In 1812, Co- lumbus was selected as the future seat of govern- ment, while it was yet a wilderness. The site was chosen during the session of the legislature at Zanesville, and is therefore designated in the act as the " high bank of the Scioto River op- posite Franklinton." On the 17th of February, 1816, it was enacted, " That from and after the second Tuesday of October next, the seat of government of this state shall be established at
1817.]
EXTINCTION OF INDIAN TITLE.
247
the town of Columbus ;" and accordingly, in De- cember, the state authorities met there for the first time in legislative session.
During 1817 an effort was made to extinguish the Indian title within the state of Ohio; and if the Miamies had been present at the council held at the foot of the Maumee rapids, in Sep- tember, it would most probably have been done. As it was, the Hon. Lewis Cass and Hon. Dun- can Walker, commissioners on the part of the United States, purchased nearly the whole state of Ohio from the Indians. By this treaty, how- ever, there was granted to the Wyandot tribe a reservation of twelve miles square, in Wyandot county, the centre of which was Fort Ferree, at Upper Sandusky, and also a tract of one mile square on the Cranberry Swamp, on Broken Sword Creek. So also the terms of the treaty ensured to the Delawares a reservation of three miles square, adjoining the Wyandot tract on its south side ; and a tract of several thousand acres of land to the Senecas. The Delawares ceded their reservation to the United States in 1829; the Senecas theirs in 1831; and the Wy- andots theirs in 1842. Colonel John Johnson met the Wyandots at Upper Sandusky, on the 17th of March, 18442, and had the honour, as commissioner on the part of the United States, of making the last Indian treaty in Ohio, they being the only Indians remaining in the state.
248
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1817.
Every foot of the scil of Chio has been fairly purchased by treaties from its original possessors. The Wyandots left for the far West in July, 1843, and numbered at that time about seven hundred souls.
The war with England having produced a stop- page of specie payment, a paper currency had been originated; and Ohio, about this time, in common with every other state in the Union, showed the same disposition to excess in her banking operations. Prior to 1816, the main object of the Ohio banks was to facilitate trade, then much depressed. The earliest bank char- tered was the Miami Exporting Company of Cin- cinnati, the bill for which passed in April, 1803. Banking was with this company a very second- ary object. Established for the purpose of fa- cilitating commercial transactions, no revenue of any account was raised on the dividends; nor was it till 1808 that the first bank, strictly speaking, that of Marietta, was chartered.
In 1816 the second United States bank was chartered. On the 28th of January, 1817, this bank opened a branch at Cincinnati ; and, on the 13th of October, another at Chillicothe. which did not commence business, however, until the next spring. These two branches the legislature of Ohio determined to tax, and deliberately and unanimously passed a law, which authorized the state auditor to levy a tax of fifty thousand dol-
249
BANK DISPUTES.
1817.]
lars on each of the branches, provided they should continue their business transactions after the 15th of September, 1819. This law was passed avowedly for the purpose of compelling the banks to close. The branches not ceasing business, the authorities of the state prepared to collect the assessment. An injunction granted by the Court of the United States, to prevent Ralph Osborn, the state auditor, from proceeding with the Jevy, was disregarded, and the amount was taken by force, under state warrants, from the vaults of the Chillicothe Branch. The bank responding to these proceedings by prosecutions, both civil and criminal, against the agents employed, the United States Circuit Court had the latter arrested and imprisoned for a contempt of the injunction granted, and ordered the money seized by them to be returned to the bank. In February, 1824, the decision of the Circuit Court was tried be- fore the Supreme Court, and its decree affirmed, whereupon the state submitted. In the mean time, however, the legislature passed a series of resolutions in justification of their proceedings; and when the decision of the Supreme Court be- came known to them, in accordance with those resolves, the bank was for a time deprived of the aid of the state laws in the collection of its debts, "and the protection of its rights, and a futile at- tempt was made to effect such a change in the federal constitution as should completely take
250
HISTORY OF OHIO.
- [1818.
the case out of the jurisdiction of the United States tribunals.
On the 31st of August, 1818, that brave but unfortunate officer of the Revolution, Arthur St. Clair, died near Greensburg, Pa., in the eighty- fourth year of his age. The latter years of the life of this veteran were spent in great destitu- tion and misery, the result of his faithfulness in the service of his country. During his admi- nistration of the territorial government he had been induced to fit out an expedition against the Indians at his own expense, and to incur liabilities to the amount of two or three thousand dollars, which he was afterward compelled to pay. Having no use for the money at the time, he did not present his claim to the government. After he was removed from office, he looked to that fund as his dependence for future subsistence, and fully expecting to receive it, repaired to Washington, and presented his account to the proper officer of the treasury. To his surprise and mortification he was refused the money, on the ground that the lapse of time "had rendered its payment illegal, even supposing the govern- ment was indebted to him. It was also plainly intimated that the lapse of time afforded pre- sumptive evidence that it had been settled, and the money paid him, although no voucher or memorandum to that effect could be found in the department.
251
1818.]
LAST DAYS OF ST. CLAIR.
The pride of the veteran was deeply wounded by the plea on which his claim was rejected, and he was induced by that consideration, as well as by the pressure of poverty, to persevere in his efforts to maintain the justice of his demands. Through the influence of his friends his case was laid before Congress, and a bill was introduced, granting him an annuity, which was rejected at the third reading, by a vote of fifty to forty- eight.
After spending the principal part of two ses- sions in useless efforts, he abandoned all further applications, and returned to the Ligonier Valley, in Pennsylvania, where he lived for several years in the family of a widowed daughter as destitute as himself. At length Pennsylvania, his adopt- ed state, from considerations of personal re- spect, and out of gratitude for his past services, settled on him an annuity of three hundred dol- lars, which was soon afterward raised to six hun- dred and fifty. This act of beneficence enabled the gallant old soldier to spend the remnant of his days in peace and comparative comfort.
In January, 1817, the first resolution relating to the construction of a canal for connecting the river Ohio with Lake Erie was introduced into the legislature. New York was the first to com- mence these noble enterprises, in the construction of the great Erie Canal, and this gave an addi- tional impulse to public spirit in Ohio. Governor
252
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1825.
Brown, in his inaugural address of December 14, 1818, referred to the necessity of providing & cheaper way to market for the Ohio farmers ; and, in accordance with his suggestion, Mr. Sill, on the 7th of January, 1819, moved that a com- mittee be appointed to report on the expediency of a canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. In 1820, on the recommendation of Governor Brown, an act was passed providing for the ap- pointment of three canal commissioners, who were to employ a competent engineer and assist- ants for the purpose of surveying the route of the canal, provided Congress would aid in its construction. This aid was not afforded, and in consequence of this restriction on their part, the commissioners accomplished nothing for two years. During the interval, however, an inter- est was excited in the undertaking, which re- sulted in the Ohio assembly passing a law on the 31st of January, 1822, " authorizing an exami- nation into the practicability of connecting Lake Eric with the Ohio River by a canal." Uindler this act, James Geddes, of New York, an expe- rienced and skilful engineer, was employed to make the necessary surveys and examinations. Finally, after all the routes had been surveyed, and a careful estimate made of the necessary expenses, an act was passed in February, 1825, " To provide for the internal improvement of the
1824.]
CANALS AND SCHOOLS.
253
state by navigable canals," and thercupon the work was commenced in good earnest.
This act provided for the making of two ca- nals: one from the Ohio to Lake Erie, by the r.valleys of the Scioto and the Muskingum ; the rother from Cincinnati to Dayton, which was called the Miami Canal. On the 4th of July, 1825, the ceremony of removing the first shovelful of carth was performed by Governor Clinton, who had been invited from New York for that purpose. The Ohio Canal is three hundred and seven miles in length, and extends from Cleveland, on the shore of Lake Erie, to Portsmouth on the Ohio River. Its cost was five millions of dollars. The Miami Canal is one hundred and seventy- eight miles long, and cost three millions, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. These works have been of immense advantage in developing the resources of Ohio, which has been changed in little more than half a century from a frontier wilderness to one of the most powerful states in the Union.
About the time the canal enterprise was in agitation, the friends of education called the at- tention of the Ohio legislature to the importance of a well-devised system of common schools; and on the same day that the law was passed authorizing the canal survey, commissioners were appointed to prepare an educational report, to be presented at the next session of the assembly,
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254
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1824.
----
The ordinance of 1787 provided that " religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be for ever encouraged ;" and the previous ordinance of 1785 devoted the sixteenth section of land in every township to " the maintenance of public schools within the said township ;" and in the Constitution of Ohio, the very words of the or- dinance of 1787 were used, it being there pro- vided that "schools and the means of instruction shall for ever be encouraged by legislative provi- sion." Yet nothing had yet been done to pro- vide common schools for the people, although the governors of Ohio, in accordance with the spirit of these enactments, always mentioned the sub- ject of education with great respect in their mes- sages. When, therefore, Mr. Williams, on the 6th of December, 1821, moved for a committee on canals, Caleb Atwater moved for one on coin- mon schools, as it was thought to be then the most favourable time to bring the subject before the legislature. Commissioners were accordingly appointed to report on both measures.
In 1824, & strong opposition existing to these great plans of improvement, the friends of com- merce and education put forth their utmost ef- forts to secure such a legislative assembly as should carry these measures. Information on both subjects was extensively diffused, meetings
255
SENECA INDIANS.
1825.]
were held, and every other means resorted to that could be devised, to secure the election of liberal and enterprising members to both branches of the legislature. These efforts were crowned with complete success ; and the autumn election was such as to enable the assembly, in the Febru- ary of the following year, to pass its commercial and educational bills by large majorities. These bills, which have laid the foundation of so much physical and intellectual good in Ohio, were car- ried by the union of the friends of cach, and by the unremitting efforts of a few public-spirited men.
The Soneca Indians owned and occupied a re- servation of forty thousand acres of land ou the cast side of Sandusky River, situated partly in Sandusky, but principally in Seneca county. This reservation had been granted to them by the treaty of the 29th of September, 1817, held at the foot of the Maumee rapids, to which re- ference has been already made. At this time their principal chiefs were Coonstick, Small Cloud, Seneca, Steel, Hard Hickory, Tall Chief, and Good Hunter.
About the year 1825, Coonstick and Steel left the reservation for three years, on a hunt- ing and trapping excursion, and also to seck a more suitable home for the tribe in the far West. When they started, Comstock, their brother, was the principal chief. They returned in 1828, with
256
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1828.
a number of horses richly laden with furs, but they found Comstock dead, and Seneca John, who was also their brother, principal chief in his stead. As Comstock was their favourite brother, they at once charged Seneca John with producing his death by witchcraft. John elo- quently denied the charge. " I loved my bro- ther Comstock," said he, " more than I love the green earth I stand upon. I would give up my- self, limb by limb, piecemeal by piecemeal, to restore him to life." But his protestations of innocence and affection were of no avail. His
two brothers pronounced him guilty and declared their intention to become his executioners. John replied that he was willing to die, and only wished to live until the next morning, in order " to see the sun rise once more." This request being grant- cd, John told his brothers he should sleep that night on Hard Hickory's porch, which fronted the east, where they would find him at sunrise. He chose that place because he did not wish to be killed in the presence of his wife, and desired that the chief, Hard Hickory, should witness that he died like a man. Coonstick and Steel retired for the night to a cabin in the im- mediate neighbourhood.
In the morning, in company with another In- dian, the brothers proceeded to the house of Hard Hickory. The latter, hearing their footsteps upon the porch, gently opened the door, when
257
DEATH OF SENECA JOIIN.
1828.]
John was discovered asleep upon his blanket. On being awakened, he rose to his feet, and tak- ing his handkerchief from his head, let his hair, which was unusually long, fall on his shoulders. Having surveyed the landscape and the morning sun, and for a moment contemplated the scene of beauty spread around him, he turn- ed to his brothers, and calmly told them he was ready to die. The Indian and Coonstick took hold of either arm, and their victim walked between them about ten paces from the door, when Steel, who was behind, struck him with a tomahawk on the back of his head, and he fell to the ground bleeding freely. Supposing this blow to be sufficient they dragged him under a peach tree, which grew in the vicinity. Here hc revived, the force of the blow having been brok- en by the great mass of his hair. Knowing that it was Steel who had struck him, John as he lay, turned his head and said to Coonstick, " Now, brother, do you take your revenge." This so
affected Coonstick that he sought to save him, but Steel drew his knife and completed his san- guinary work. The next day this innocent vic- tim to Indian superstition was buried with the usual ceremonies of his tribe, not more than twenty feet from the spot where he had fallen.
By the treaty concluded at Washington city, February 28, 1831, James B. Gardiner being the commissioner, the Seneca Indians ceded their 29*
258
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1881.
reservation to the United States, and consented to emigrate to the Neosho River, south-west of the Missouri. The day before their departure they held a grand religious festival, when they sacrificed two dogs to the Great Spirit. The dogs, which were of a beautiful cream colour, after being strangled, were suspended on a cross. Good Hunter officiated as high priest on the oc- casion. The Indians being all assembled, the dogs were taken down from the cross, and with much ceremony committed to the flames of a fire expressly kindled for the occasion. The wrath of the Great Spirit having been appeased, the chiefs of the tribe rose in succession, recount- ed their warlike exploits, the number of scalps they had taken, and what they intended to do in the new settlement. After the speeches were finished, the floor was cleared, and a dance com- menced, which was kept up without intermission the whole of the night. During the continuance of this festival the hospitality of the Senecas was unbounded. In the council-house, and at the residence of Tall Chief, a number of deer and hogs were cooked. Bread also, of both corn and wheat, was provided in great abundance. Large kettles of soup, sweetened with maple sugar, were prepared, and all comers were in- vited to partake of their bounty.
259
TORNADO.
1825.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
Tornado in Ohio-Incidents illustrative of its violence-Great flood in Ohio-Proceedings at Cincinnati for the relief of the sufferers-Mormonism at Kirtland-Description of the Mor- mon temple-Failure of the Mormon bank-The Ohio and Michigan war.
Ov the 18th of May, 1825, a most dreadful tornado swept over a portion of Ohio. It was called the "Burlington storm," because its effects were more severely felt in Burlington township than in any other part of the state. Its general course was north by cast. Its track
through Licking county was from one-third to three-fifths of a mile wide; but became wider as it advanced farther to the eastward. Its average advance was at the rate of a mile per minute, and it did not last more than a minute and a half or two minutes. Houses were blown down, forests uprooted, cattle lifted from the carth and carried to a distance of a hundred rods. Several persons were killed, and others scriously injured by the extreme violence of the wind. Those who witnessed its progress represent the atmo- sphere as loaded with the fragments of trees, buildings, &c., which, high in the air, resembled largo flocks of birds such as buzzards and ravens.
260
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1825.
The roar of the wind, the trembling of the ground, and the crash of the falling timber were awfully sublime. For force and violence this tornado has never been surpassed in any other country in the same latitude.
Many incidents are related illustrative of the power and violence of the wind. A chain, from three to four feet long, of the size of a com- mon plough-chain, was carried about half a mile, and lodged in the top of a sugar-tree about twenty-five feet from the ground. A log-house belonging to Colonel Wright was torn to pieces, and his son, while standing at the door, was borne with such violence across the room as to kill him instantly. A coat which was hanging in the same room was found the following November in Coshocton county, more than forty miles distant. The family of a Mr. Vance fled from the ap- proaching storm to an adjoining orchard; there they saw the upper part of their house blown off and carried over the orchard. Two sons of Mr. Vance were killed by the falling timber. A little girl about twelve years of age was com- pletely lifted from the earth and carried to 3 distance of more than forty rods from her father's house. She was very much bruised, but other- wise not materially injured. A heavy ox-cart was blown out of the yard of Colonel Wright. carried about forty rods, and struck the ground with such force as to break the axle, and entirely
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261
1832.]
GREAT FLOOD.
--
demolish one wheel. A cow was taken from the field of the same gentleman, carried the same distance, and lodged in the top of a fallen tree, where it was found dead.
In February, 1832, the Ohio valley was flooded by water, and an immense amount of property destroyed. An excessively severe winter had been suddenly closed by long continued and very heavy rains, which unable to penetrate the ground, soon raised all the tributary streams of the Ohio to an unusual height. The Ohio itself overflowed its banks, flooding all the towns and villages situ- ated along its shores, and forcing their inhabit- ants to take refuge on the neighbouring hills. The water continued to rise from the 7th to the 10th of February, when it attained the extraor- dinary height of sixty-three feet above low-water mark at Cincinnati.
In Cincinnati, the rise of the river carried desolation into all the lower parts of the city, and rendered hundreds of families houseless. Such families as continued to reside in the upper parts of their dwellings, made use of boats in going to stores and other places of business. The water extended over about thirty-five squares of the most thickly settled part of the city, spreading from John street on the west to Deer Creek on the east; and north to Lower Market and Pearl streets. The amount of property destroyed or materially injured was so great as
262
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1882.
to cause business of almost every description to be suspended. Active measures were taken by the citizens for the relief of the sufferers. A committee of vigilance was appointed, whose duty it was to render all needful assistance in the re- moval of persons and goods surrounded by water ; another committee was organized to pro- cure shelter for those whose houses were ren- dered untenable. These committees, consisting of the most influential and liberal gentlemen in Cincinnati, faithfully and generously dis- charged their duties. The committee of vigi- lance liberally distributed provisions and clothing to all who applied. Those who had vacant houses and rooms, cheerfully offered them for the use of the sufferers. Public buildings, school-houses, and the basement stories of churches were also appropriated to this purpose, while all classes of citizens vied with each other in extending such pecuniary relief as the urgency of the occasion demanded.
In the year 1832, the Mormons, or followers of Joseph Smith, a celebrated religious impostor, settled at Kirtland in Lake county, Ohio. This sect derives its name from the Book of Mormon, which the impostor Smith claimed to have trans- lated, under the influence of divine inspiration, from gold plates alleged to have been found by him in a bill in Palmyra county, New York. Soon after their arrival at Kirtland, the Mor-
1834.]
THE MORMONS.
263
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mons commenced building their temple, which they finished in 1835. They were then few in number, but before it was completed they had in- creased, by means of proselytes, to two thousand members.
The Mormon temple at Kirtland was eighty feet in length by sixty in width, and mea- sured one hundred and forty-two feet from the base to the top of its spire. It cost about forty thousand dollars. It was built of rough stone, plastered over, coloured blue, and marked to imitate regular courses of masonry. Over the large window in the front of the building was a tablet, bearing this inscription ; " House of the Lord, built by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, A. D. 1834." The first and second stories were divided into two grand rooms for public worship; and the attic was partitioned off into about a dozen small apartments. The lower grand room was furnished with seats, as in an ordinary church. Canvas curtains suspended from the ceiling could be let down so as to sepa- rate the different collections of worshippers from each other, as completely as if they were in pri- vate apartments. In the Mormon hierarchy there are two orders of priests, the Melchisedec, who minister in spiritual concerns ; and the Aaronie, who attend to the temporal affairs of the society. At either end of the lower grand room was a set of pulpits, four in number, rising
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