USA > Ohio > The history of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
41
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1765.
now comply with every thing you have asked of us, and assure you that we are sincere in every thing we have said. Here is a belt, with the figure of our father, the king of Great Britain, at one end, and the chief of our nation at the other. This represents them holding the chain of friendship, and we hope that neither side will slip their hands from it so long as the sun and moon give light." During the carly part of May, 1765, a treaty was concluded, at which George Croghan, the deputy-commissioner, was present. When the council broke up, he left Fort Pitt in company with several of the Indian deputies, on a friendly visit to the tribes of Illi- nois. He found the latter greatly under the in- fluence of the French, from whose settlements at Vincennes, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, they re- ceived their supplies.
Having early imbibed from their Canadian friends, and from the traders that constantly visited them, an intense hatred of the English, they were not disposed to exchange the impe- rious domination of the latter for the casy and politic rule of those who had so long called the red man brother, had slept in his wigwam, bad married into his tribe, and had taught him the principles of the Christian religion. As Croghan could not be mistaken in the warm attachment with which the French had inspired all these tribes with whom they had for many years been
45
THE MONONGAHELA SETTLERS.
1766.]
--
brought into contact, the prospect of future difficulties from this source was easily fore- seen.
Neither was the conduct of the settlers them- selves calculated to promote an amicable under- standing with their forest-born neighbours. In 1766, numerous families crossed the Alleghanies and commenced clearing the land on the bor- ders of the Monongahela. This territory never having been purchased from them, the Indians became moody and discontented, and threatened a new outbreak. Already they saw that the day was fast approaching when bands of sturdy emigrants would descend the Ohio and take pos- session of its rugged but fertile slopes. The efforts of the Indian agent, supported by a pro- clamation from General Gage, at that time com- mander-in-chief of the English forces in Ame- rica, were utterly ineffective with the hardy, but self-willed pioneers, to whom their remonstrances and threats were addressed. The first thev laughed at; the second they defied. Caring neither for royal mandates nor Indian warriors, the'y settled themselves down upon the lands they . han' chosen, in quiet disregard of both.
Perhaps, also, in the proposed removal of the intruders, the efficiency of Sir William Johnson, the Indian agent, was materially weakened by a prijject which he himself was at that time con- templating; and which, if it had been carried
46
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1768.
out, would have irritated the neighbouring tribes to a far greater degree than the encroachments against which he so vehemently protested. He proposed to buy of the Iroquois, over whom he exercised an almost unbounded influence, the lands south of the Ohio, and to subsequently fortify himself in the possession of a certain portion of the territory thus acquired by a royal grant. The plan was so far matured, that Frank- lin, then in England, at the instance of his son, the governor of New Jersey, applied to the ministry for a charter. Notwithstanding the petition was opposed by the Ohio company, and conflicted with grants made by Virginia to sol- diers who had served in the late French war, and with a similar application from General Lyman, to whom, rather than to Sir William Johnson, the victory of Lake George was said by many to be owing, a company was speedily organized, which, from the influence of a London banker nominally at its head, became subsequently known as the Walpole company. In the mean- time, Franklin had succeeded in interesting tho ministry in the project, by whom it was referred to the Board of Trade for examination ; but the whole scheme finally came to nothing, from the inability to fix the boundaries of the territory south of the Ohio, and from the threatening aspect of Indian affairs.
In the spring of 1768, Sir William Johnson
47
1768.]
MISSISSIPPI COMPANY.
was directed to make a clearer and more com- prehensive treaty with the Indians. A council was accordingly held at Fort Stanwix in October of the same year. Besides Sir William Johnson and his subordinate agents, it was attended by provincial deputies from New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, and Virginia ; and on the part of the In- dians, by delegates from the Six Nations, the Delawares, and the Shawanese. At this treaty the Iroquois formally disposed of whatever right and title they possessed in all the territory south of the Ohio and the Alleghany. A portion of the traders, who had suffered so greatly by the late war, were also remunerated by the cession of a large tract of land between the Kanawha and Monongahela Rivers, which was named by them Indiana. The remainder of the western lands were then conveyed by deed to the king, and the purchase money paid. Both grants were signed by the Iroquois deputies alone ; but os- tensibly in behalf of themselves and the other nations whose delegates were present.
This treaty was no sooner concluded than an- other great company, styled the Mississippi company, was organized in Virginia, of which George Washington and three of the Lees were prominent members. Arthur Lee was sent to England as agent of the association. His appli- cation to the ministry for a grant of two millions of acres was favourably entertained; but the
48
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1772.
Board of Trade being preoccupied with plans for controlling the colonial opposition to Town- send's scheme of taxation, could give but little time to matters of minor importance, and in the growing difficulties between the two countries the project was abandoned.
The prospects of the Walpole company were scarcely less promising. The report of Lord Hillsborough was unfavourable to the grant ; but an admirable reply by Franklin, entitled the " Ohio Settlements," induced the royal council to set aside the decision of the Board of Trade, and accede to the request of the petitioners.
The Ohio company presently formed a junction with that of Walpole, and the sanction of the king to the establishment of a new, independent colony at the west, was obtained about the middle of. August, 1772. Preparations were making to carry out the purpose of the company, when the approach of the American revolution put an end to a scheme which its advocates regarded as one of more than ordinary promise.
But while the Ohio, the Walpole, and the Mississippi companies were petitioning for per- mission to colonize the west, large numbers of pioneers crossed the mountains, and without caring for, or questioning the royal authority, and with an equal disregard of the rights of the Indians, explored, surveyed, and formed ticir settlements upon lands south of the Ohio, at
49
DANIEL BOONE.
1772.]
numerous points between the falls of that river and Fort Pitt. As early as 1766, Colonel James Smith and four others had examined the south- ern portion of Kentucky. After tracing the course of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, from Stone's River to the Ohio, Smith returned through the wilderness to Carolina, while his adventurous companions proceeded to Illinois.
In 1767, John Finley, an Indian trader, pene- trated into Kentucky from North Carolina, by way of the Cumberland gap. Influenced by Finley's enthusiastic report of the country he had so lately visited, on the 1st of May, 1769, Daniel Boone, accompanied by five associates, left his home on the Yadkin to visit a region which, though but partially known, was becoming celebrated for its delightful climate, its abund- ance of game, and its extraordinary fertility. By the Ist of June this little band of adven- turers had succeeded, after infinite toil, in crossing the mountains, and from the knobs of Red River theirit, admiring eyes beheld, for the first time, the gallorious territory which had been the theme of Fdfinley's unmeasured praise. As far as the visicon extended, one magnificent and unbroken forcicst rolled away in undulating waves of densest folierige. In the lowlands grew the succulent canve, affording the finest of pasturage for cattle, wholile from the uplands, clear of underbrush,
5
50
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1772,
rose the giant boles of lofty trees, whose annual rings indicated a growth of centuries.
Finding everywhere excellent trapping and hunting, this small party explored very thoroughly the northern and central portions of Kentucky, until the capture of Boone and Stuart by the Indians so alarmed their companions, that they sought safety in flight. After a week's restraint, Boone and his fellow-prisoner succeeded in making their escape. Being joined by two other adventu- rers, one of whom was Squire Boone, a brother to Daniel, the beauty of the country, and the great variety of game, tempted them to remain. But jealous and watchful eyes were around them. It was not long before Stuart was sur- prised and killed. The man who had accom- panied Squire Boone, eager to escape a similar fate, returned home by himself, leaving the two brothers alone in the wilderness.
For twelve months the latter prosecuted their hunting expeditions, and by the exercise of great caution and sagacity were enabled to cvade the Indian parties constantly prowling around them. Their ammunition at length failing, Squire Boone returned to Carolina for a fresh supply. Daniel remained behind, fearless though solitary. The journey was successfully achom- plished. From the 1st of July, 1770, untile. the spring of 1771, those two daring men contimhed their explorations and hunting excursions; and
51
1776.] SETTLEMENTS IN KENTUCKY.
by their knowledge of woodcraft, and of the artifices usually practised by the Indians, they not only evaded collision with them, but were enabled to bear in safety to Carolina a valuable collection of peltries.
A year before the Boones quitted Kentucky, a party of hunters, under Colonel Knox, explored the middle and southern regions. Their glowing accounts of the country influenced many Vir- ginians, who had served in the French war, to locate the lands which the province had allotted them on the south side of the Ohio River. Du- ring 1773, numerous surveys were made in Ken- tucky, under the personal directions of Captain Bullitt, the brothers M'cAfee, and others. In the summer of 1774, James Harrod erected a log cabin on the present site of the town which now bears his name. A stockade fort speedily grew up around it, and from this period emigra- tion proceeded rapidly.
Deeply incensed by these increasing encroach- ments, and not unfrequently suffering personal indignity at the hands of rough unscrupulous borderers, the Indians began once more to pre- party for war. Some collisions had already taken place, in which, it is to be feared, the settlers wer , in the wrong. Independent of the dispute, nov, rapidly approaching a crisis, between the colonies and Great Britain, a quarrel which
52
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1774.
threatened serious consequences, had arisen be- tween Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The small village of Pittsburg, and the country adjacent, being claimed by the latter province, Governor Dunmore authorized Dr. John Connolly, the Indian agent, to take possession of the dis- puted territory, and embody the settlers into a military corps under the militia laws of Virginia. A proclamation was accordingly issued by Con- nolly, calling the people together ; but before the day arrived, which had been appointed for their assembling, Connolly was arrested by St. Clair, the agent of Pennsylvania. Being subse- quently released on his parole, he gathered around him a number of adherents, seized upon Pittsburg and Fort Pitt, and even went so far as to imprison several persons who were obnox- ious to him.
To justify the expenses attendant upon retain- ing an armed force around him, Connolly took advantage of the difficulties already existing be- tween the whites and the Indians, and alarmed the former for their personal safety by calling upon them to be prepared for a renewal of ?'hos- tilities. Partly influenced by exaggeratedfy re- ports, and partly by personal hatred, Cancrain Michael Cresap collected fron Zane's statichi at Wheeling, a number of armed men; and Fero- cecding a short distance up the river, wantonly murdered in cool blood two friendly Shawancase,
53
1774.] MASSACRE BY GREATHOUSE.
in the employ of a Pittsburg trader, who were descending the Ohio in a canoe. The same even- ing, Cresap and his sanguinary followers attacked an encampment of Indians at Castina, and killed several of them. But neither of these murder- ous outrages equalled in atrocity one which was perpetrated a few days afterward, at Baker's station, forty miles above Wheeling, by a band of desperadoes headed by one Daniel Greathouse. By a most unworthy artifice, twelve Indians were killed and several others wounded. Among the slain were the whole family of Logan, a cele- brated Mingo chief, who had long been known as a firm friend of the English. These atrocious
acts were speedily retaliated. While the Shawa- nese and Delawares were still desirous of re- maining at peace, bands of warriors instigated by their own wrongs, and by those of the be- reaved Logan, were spreading terror and desola- tion over the settlements on the Monongahela. Influenced by Sir William Johnson, messengers from the Iroquois endeavoured to restore quiet on The western borders; but it was not until thirteen scalps avenged the death of an equal nuriber of his kindred, that Logan declared his anger appeased.
5*
54
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1774.
CHAPTER IV.
Expedition organized against the Indians on the Scioto -- Mc- Donald marches to the Muskingum-Destruction of Indian Villages-Retaliatory invasions -- Dunmore's expedition -- March of Lewis to the Ohio -- Battle of Point Pleasant --- Dunmore advances on the Scioto -- Propositions for peace .- Lewis ordered to return to Point Pleasant-Treaty at Camp Charlotte-Warlike preparations of Great Britain and the colonies-British emissaries among the Indians-Congress organizes an Indian department -- How the cause of co- lonial revolt was explained to the Indians-Colony of Christ- ian Indians on the Muskingum-The Moravain missionaries, Post, Heckewelder and Zeisberger-Morgan appointed Indian agent at Fort Pitt-Hamilton, governor of Detroit-His in- fluence with the north-western tribes-Unsatisfactory con- ference with Indian delegates at Fort Pitt-McIntosh ordered to the west-Expedition organized against Detroit- Forts McIntosh and Laurens built -- Hostilities of the Shawa- nese and Wyandots.
INFLUENCED by representations received from Connolly, Dunmore, with the concurrence of the Virginia assembly, authorized an expedition against the Indian villages on the Scioto Roma While this was being organized, Colonel MacDo- nald collected a smaller force in the vicinitt "', of Wheeling, and descending the Ohio, mardihed against the town of Wappatomica, on the Mus- kingum. Unprepared for resistance, the Indianns sucd for peace. Five chiefs surrendered thetem- selves as hostages, two of whom were sent "liby McDonald to summon delegates from other tribestes
55
1774.] DUNMORE'S EXPEDITION.
to unite with him in the ratification of a treaty. Failing to make their appearance at the appoint- ed time, and rumours prevailing that the Indians were taking advantage of the armistice to pro- parc themselves for a continuance of the war, McDonald proceeded to destroy their villages and lay waste their crops. When this was ac- complished, he returned without loss to Wheeling. To retaliate for this destruction of property, the Shawanese, Wyandots, Mingoes, Cayugas, and Delawares made common cause ; and from June until September, 1774, the frontier settlements were subjected to repeated attacks.
The large expedition, ordered by Dunmore to be organized, was at length ready to march. It was composed of volunteers and militia, number- ing in all some twenty-seven hundred men. Go- vernor Dunmore in person assumed command of one of the two columns into which this force was divided, while General Andrew Lewis was ap- pointed to lead the other. The latter, marching overland from Camp Union, in Greenbrier county, was to proceed to Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, where a junction was to be formed with Dunmore, whose troops were de- scending the Ohio from Fort Pitt. On the 6th of October, eleven hundred men under Lewis reached the appointed rendezvous, and com- menced to encamp themselves until Dunmore's division should arrive.
56
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1774.
-
Three days after this, a messenger from the latter, who had halted his force at the mouth of the Big Hockhocking, informed Lewis that the original plan of the campaign had been changed, and directed him to cross the Ohio, and join: Dunmore in the vicinity of the Shawanese towns on the Sciota.
Early on the morning of the 10th, while pre- parations were making to resume the march, a thousand Indians, chiefly Shawanese, commanded by Cornstalk, an able and courageous warrior, were unexpectedly discovered in the neighbour- hood of the camp. The contest commenced soon after by a vigorous attack upon a reconnoitering force of Virginians, under Colonel Fleming and Charles Lewis, brother to the commanding officer. The latter was killed almost immediately. The former being badly wounded about the same time, a panic began to spread among the troops, when a reinforcement under Colonel Field restored order and confidence. From sunrise until nearly the close of the day the battle was obstinately maintained on both sides. Sustained by the in- trepid example of their respective chiefs, a mong whom Logan was conspicuous, the confede rated warriors fought with unusual courage ands de- termination.
" Be strong ! be strong !" shouted Cornstalck to the wavering, and confidence returned at Itthe sound of his voice. Only one warrior showwed
57
BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT.
1774.]
signs of fear, and his skull was cleft open by the tomahawk of the resolute chief. A successful stratagem finally terminated the victory in favour of the Virginians. Attacked suddenly in rear by a detachment sent out by Lewis for that purpose, the Indians, placed between two fires, supposing themselves assailed by a fresh body of troops, gradually gave way, and finally retreated precipitately across the Ohio, in the direction of their towns on the Scioto. The victory on the part of the Virginians was deci- sive, but they had to mourn the loss of seventy- five killed, and nearly double that number wounded. As usual, the number of Indians ` slain or disabled was never ascertained. Being joined the morning after the action by a rein- forcement under Colonel Christian, Lewis left his wounded entrenched and under a competent guard, and pushed forward with great celerity in pursuit of the enemy. At this time Dunmore was marching toward the Scioto ; but as he ap- preached to the neighbourhood of the Indian towns, he was met by a deputation of chiefs bearing proposals for a peace, to be negotiated at l'ort Pitt, and requesting, in the meanwhile, the Withdrawal of all the forces under his com- manl. Dunmore refused to counter-march his trops, but offered to encamp in the vicinity, and ive their propositions. At the same time he sen, orders to Lewis to return and encamp his
1
53
HISTORY OF OHIO.
[1774.
army at Point Pleasant, his late battle ground. The victorious Virginian, eager to improve an advantage he had purchased at the expense of one-fifth of his entire force, and regarding Dun- more's pacific policy on such an occasion with more than ordinary suspicion, pressed forward upon old Chillicothe, and was only prevented from utterly destroying that town by the approach of Dunmore in person. With great difficulty the latter prevailed upon Lewis to suspend all further hostilities, and retire to the mouth of the Great Kanawha. On the 7th of November, the preliminaries of a treaty were agreed upon, greatly to the chagrin of the militia under Lewis, who panted to revenge the loss of so many brave / companions. The acceptance of propositions for peace, when the enemy had already suffered a severe blow, and while a large and confident army was within easy distance of their chief towns, led the excited borderers to charge Dun- more with being influenced to shield the Indians from chastisement by political motives; but it appears more probable that his sympathy was awakened by the abject supplications of a pros- trate foe. The Mingoes alone despatched no delegates to the council; but Logan sent to Dunmore, through Colonel Gibson, the speech which has rendered his name so celebrated, and which, for pathetic eloquence, has never yet I excelled.
59
INDIAN DEPARTMENTS FORMED.
1775.]
Six months previous to this treaty at Camp Charlotte, the first revolutionary skirmish took place in the streets of Lexington. From that time both parties steadily prepared for the con- test, which was plainly seen to be rapidly ap- proaching.
To alarm the fears of the recusant provinces by the danger of a general border war, British emissaries were sent among the various Indian tribes to enlist their aid in the coming struggle. The Iroquois, influenced by the son of Sir Wil- liam Johnson, and by the arts of Colonel Guy Johnson, who had succeeded his deceased uncle as Indian superintendent, at once declared in favour f England.
Tearing the western Indians would be brought OVr in a similar manner, the provincial con- gress, 'uring the year 1775, organized three In- dian deartments, over which commissioners were apointed, for the purpose of maintaining friendlyrelations with such tribes as were dis- posed t remain neutral. Conferences with the Indian were also ordered to be held in each de- simst, and the reason why the Americans sumed a hostile attitude against England be explained to the Indians by means of legory. To bring the cause of quarrel to the simple comprehension of the red men, America was compared to a child ordered to carry a pack too heavy for its strength. " The
60
HISTORY OF OHIO. [1775.
boy complains, and, for answer, the pack is made a little heavier. Again and again the poor . urchin remonstrates; but the bad servants mis- represent the matter to the father, and the boy gets continually a heavier burder, until, at last, almost broken-backed, he throws off the load and says he will carry it no longer."
In the midst of these preparations for war, a peaceful colony of Christian Indians were set- tled quietly at Shonbrun, on the Muskingum.
As early as 1758, Christian Frederick Post, the fearless Moravian missionary, had been in- duced by the governor of Pennsylvania to hold a conference with the Delawares, on the banks of the Big Beaver. The fall of Fort Duquesne,- and the subsequent decay of French influence.in the north-west, seeming to offer a favourable opportunity for preaching the gospel to the tribes of that region, Post crossed the mountains in 1701, and settled among the Indian villages in the neighbourhood of the Muskingum. The fol- lowing year his labours were cheered by the as- sistance of the meek and self-denying Ilecko- weller. The jealousy of the chiefs, however seemed to see, in the clearing of a few am pretext for further encroachments, to be f. by a military post for the protection of t tlers; and as Pontiac was at this time sei maturing his formidable conspiracy, the
61
MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES.
1775.]
sionaries were sullenly ordered to return to the settlements.
No further attempt was made to christianize the Indians for several years. At length, in the spring of 1768, the Moravian Zeisberger went and established himself among them. The jealous savages "saw nothing but evil in the white man's eye," and sought, by secret conspi- racies and open threats, to compel him to aban- don his mission. But Zeisberger laboured on, and bore with patient serenity the indignities to which he was exposed. The conversion of a few of the principal Indians animated him to perse- vere. Presently he was encouraged to settle with his associates, on the banks of the Big Beaver ; and, not long after, the Delawares and Wyandots proposed that his little Christian com- munity should take up their abode on the borders of the Muskingum. This invitation was finally accepted, and resulted in founding the village of Shonbrun, on the 3d of May, 1772. Being joined, the year following, by other converts from the borders of the Susquehannah and Big Bea- ver, the little Moravian association in the depths of the wilderness, though occasionally regarded with suspicion by the surrounding tribes, slowly increased in numbers, and, for a considerable period, escaped molestation.
But when the battles of Lexington and Bun- ker's Hill had been fought, the preparations
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.