aass_P3Si_ Book ^_-^^- ANNALS OF THE AVEST: EMBRACING A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF 2-7.y PRINCIPAL EVENTS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED IN THE WESTERN STATES AND TERRITORIES, From the discovery of the Mississippi valley to the year eighteen hundred and forty five. compiled from the most authentic sources. BY JAMES H. PERKINS. CI N CI N N A'rl^' ^^'tSi? PUBLISHED BY JAMES R. ALBACH. J. A. & U. P. JAMES, PRINTERS. 1846. EntereJ according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by James R. Albach, in the Clerk's OfEce of the District Court of the United States for the District of Ohio. PREFACE. An attempt has been made in this vohame to present the outlines of Western History in a form easy of reference, and drawn from the best authorities: those authorities are in ahnost every case referred to, and a list of the works consulted may be found on pages xviii, xix, and xx. Whenever it could be done, with a proper regard to conciseness, the words of eye-witnesses have been used in the accounts given of important events. The limits of this volume have made it necessary to state most matters with great brevity, and, with the exception of the Indian wars in 1790-95^ no subject has received a full developement ; upon that portion of our history the Compiler dwelt longer than upon any other, because the conduct of the administration of Washington toward the Aborigines is believed to be among the most honorable passages of American Annals. The events of the last war, and those which have occurred since, are given in a few words comparatively, — as many volumes are in circulation which state their details. A Chronological Table, an Index which it is believed wull be found sufficiently full, and three Maps, illustrating the early settle- ments, are added to the Annals, making in all a volume of 612 pages, — one hundred more than the Publisher promised in his Prospectus. Notwithstanding great care has been taken in preparing this work, many mistakes have been made, a list of those noticed is on page 592 ; and it is not supposed that it is free from other important errors and omissions: if any one will point out these, or any of them to the Compiler by letter or otherwise, it will be regarded as a favor, as his wish is to make any future editions, if called for, as full and exact as possible. Hoping that this volume may prove of some service to the Student of Western History, and of some interest to the in- habitants of the Great Valley, it is RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE NATIVES OF THE WEST. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 1512. Ponce de Leon discovers Florida. 1516. Diego Miruelo visits Florida. 1526. Pamphilo de Narvaez goes to Florida. 1538. De Soto asks leave to conquer Florida. 1539. May, De Soto reaches Tampa bay. November, De Soto reaches Appalachee bay. ' 1540. De Soto in Georgia. October, De Soto reaches Mavilla on the Alabama. 1541. May, De Soto reaches Mississippi. De Soto crosses it and goes to Washita. 1542. De Soto descends Washita to Mississippi. May 21, De Soto dies. His followers try to reach Mexico by land and fail. 1543. July, De Soto's followers reach Mexico by water. 1544. De Biedma presents his account of De Soto's expedition to King of Spain. 1616. Le Caron explores Upper Canada. 1630. Charles 1st grants Carolana to Sir Robert Heath. 1634. First mission founded near Lake Huron. 1641. French at Falls of St. Mary, Lake Superior. 1660. First missionary station on Lake Superior. 1664. Colonel Wood's alledged travels previous to this year. 1665. Allouez founds first permanent station on Lake Superior. 1668. Mission at St. Mary's Falls founded. 1670. Perrot explores Lake Michigan. La Salle first goes to Canada. Alledged travels of Captain Bolt. 1671. French take formal possession of the northwest. Marquette founds St. Ignatius on Strait of Mackinac. 1673. May 13, Marquette and his companions leave Mackinac to seek the Mississippi. June 10, Marquette and his companions cross from Fox river to Wisconsin. June 17, Marquette and his companions reach Mississippi. June 21, Marquette and his companions meet Illinois Indians. July, Marquette and his companions reach Arkansas. July 17, Marquette and his companions leave on return to Canada. September, Marquette and his companions reach Green Bay. 1675. May 18, Marquette dies. La Salle goes to France to see the King. 1676. La Salle rebuilds Fort Frontenac. 1677. La Salle visits France a second time. 1678. July 14, La Salle and Tonti sail for Canada. Sept. 15, La Salle and Tonti arrive at Quebec. Nov. 18, La Salle and Tonti cross Lake Ontario. Persons from New England said to have explored the southwest. 1679. January, La Salle loses his stores. August 7, The Griffin sails up Lake Erie. August 27, The Griffin at Mackinac. B VI CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. The Griffin sent back to Niagara. La Salle at St. Joseph's river, Lake Michigan. La Salle crosses to Kankakee. La Salle in Peoria Lake. Fort Crevecu'iir built. Hennepin sent to explore Mississippi. La Salle returns to Canada. Hennepin on the Mississippi. [Illinoig. Tonti after commencing Fort St. Louis (Rock fort,) forced to leave the La Salle returns to the Illinois. Hennepin returns to Canada. La Salle and Tonti meet at Mackinac. La Salle a third time goes to the Illinois. La Salle at St. Joseph's again. 1679. Sept. 18, Nov. 1, Dec. 3, 1680. Jan. 4th, Feb. 28, March, April &May, September, Oct. 6: Nov. November, 16S1. June, August, Nov. 3, 1682. Jan. 5 or 6, La Salle goes from Chicago westward. Feb. 6, La Salle on banks of the Mississippi. Feb. 13, La Salle descends Mississippi. March 6, La Salle discovers mouths of Mississippi. September, La Salle returns to St. Joseph's of Michigan. 1683. Dec. 13, La Salle reaches France. 1684. July 24, La Salle sails from France for mouth of Mississippi. Sept. 20, La Salle reaches St. Domingo. Nov. 25, La Salle sails from St. Domingo for mouth of Mississippi. Dec. 28, La Salle discovers the main land. Iroquois place themselves under England. 1685. January, La Salle in Gulf of Mexico. February 4, La Salle sends party on shore to go eastward for mouth of Mississippi, Feb. 13, La Salle reaches Matagorda Bay. March 15, La Salle left in Texas. July, La Salle building in Texas : unfortunate. August, La Salle building in Texas : unfortunate. Dec. La Salle goes to look for Mississippi. 1686. March, La Salle returns to Matagorda Bay. April, La Salle goes again to seek the Mississippi. April, Tonti goes down ISIississippi to meet La Salle. August, La Salle returns unsuccessful. 1687. Jan. 12, La Salle leaves for Mississippi the third time. March 15, La Salle sends men to look for stores. March 17, La Salle follows and is killed by those men. May, His murderers quarrel ; seven go on toward Mississippi. July 24, The seven reach the Arkansas. Sept. 14, The seven reach Fort St. Louis on Illinois river. 1688. La Hontan's travels to the " Long river." 1693. Before this time Gravier, the founder of Kaskaskia, was among the Kaskaskia founded, date unknown. [Illinois. Cahokia founded, date unknown. Peoria founded, date unknown. 1698. Oct. 17, D'Iberville leaves France for Mississippi. Dr. Coxe sends two vessels to the Mississippi. 1699. Jan. 31, D'Iberville in Bay of Mobile. March 2, D'Iberville enters Mississippi. D'Iberville returns to France- September, Bienville sounds Mississippi and meets English. 1700. January, D'Iberville returns from France. D'Iberville goes up the Mississippi. D'Iberville sends Le Sueur for copper. 1701. De la Motte Cadillac founds Detroit. D'Iberville founds colony on Mobile river. Iroquois again place themselves under England. 1707. First grants of land at Detroit. 1708. D'Artaguette in Louisiana. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 'VB 1710. Governor Spotswood of Virginia explores the Alleghanies. ■ \r 1712. Louisiana granted to Crozat. , '"^/Ut/tV'v. * , 1714. Fort Rosalie commenced. 1717. Crozat resigns Louisiana. September, Louisiana trade granted to Company of West. 1718. Colonists sent to Louisiana and New Orleans laid out. 1719. Company of the West made Company of the Indies. 1720. January, Law made minister of finance. April, Stock of Company of the Indies worth 2050 per cent. May, Company of Indies bankrupt. 1722. Charlevoix visits West. 1726. Iroquois a third time place themselves under England. 1729. Nov. 28, French among the Natchez murdered. 1730. Jan. &Feb., Natchez conquered and destroyed. Alleged travels of Sailing in the West. 1731. Previous to this Governor Keith wishes West secured to England. 1732. Company of Indies resign Louisiana to King. July 14, Daniel Boone born. 1735. Vincennes settled according to some, (see pp. 40 and 41.) 1736. May, Expedition of French against Chickasavs. May 20, D'Artaguette conquered. May 27, Bienville fails in assault on Chickasaws. May 31, Bienville retreats. 1739. French collect to attack Chickasaws. 1740. March, Peace between French and Chickasaws. 1742. John Howard goes down Ohio. 1744. Treaty of English and Iroquois at Lancaster. Vaudreuil fears English influence in West. 1746. Illinois makes large exports. 1748. Chickasaws attack French post on Arkansas. Conrad Weiser sent to Ohio. Ohio Company formed. 1749. Grant of land to Loyal Company. ' Celeron sent to bury medals along Ohio. English fort built on Great Miami. English traders seized on Maumee. 1750. Five French villages in Illinois. Forty vessels at New Orleans. Dr. Walker explores Kentucky. 1751. Christopher Gist explores Ohio and Great Miami. November, Gist surveys lands south of Ohio, east of Kanawha. General Andrew Lewis surveys for Greenbriar Company. 1752. French build forts on French creek. French attack English post on Great Miami. June, Treaty of Logstown. Families settle west of Alleghanies. 1753. May, Pennsylvania Assembly informed of French movements. June, Commissioner sent to warn French. Trent sent with arms for friendly Indians. August, Colonies authorized to resist French by force. September, Treaty of Winchester. Treaty with Iroquois ordered by England- October, Treaty of Carlisle. Ohio Company open line of " Braddock's road." Nov. 15, Washington leaves Will's creek for Ohio. Nov. 22, Washington reaches Monongehela. Dec. 4, Washington reaches Venango. Dec. 11, Washington reaches French Commander. Vlll CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1754 Jan. 6, Washington returns to Will's creek. Troops called out by Virginia. April, French fort at Venango finished. April, Virginia troops moving westward. April 17, Fort at the Fork of the Ohio taken by French. May, Washington crosses Allcghanies. May 28, Washington attacks and kills Jumonville, June, New York sends £5000 to Virginia. July 1, Washington at Fort Necessity. July 3, Washington capitulates. October, Washington retires to Mount Vernon. French hold the whole West. 1755. January, Feb. 20, April, April 20, May 20, July 8, July 9, July 13, 1756. January, April, May, September, 1757. June 29, 1758. July 15, August 2i, Sept. 21, October, Nov. 5, Nov. 25, 1759. 1760. Sept. 8, Sept. 13, Nov. 19, France proposes a compromise. Braddock lands in Virginia. France and England send fleets to America. Braddock marches westward. JLxpcdition against Nova Scotia leaves Boston. Braddock reaches Monongehcla. Braddock defeated, Braddock died. Lewis commands an expedition against the Ohio Indians, and fails. Indians fill the Valley of Virginia. War declared between France and England. Armstrong attacks Indians at Kittaning. First treaty of Easton. Massacre of Fort William Henry. Pitt returns to office. Louisbiirg and Fort Frontenac taken. Post leaves for the Ohio river to conciliate the Indians. Post confers with Indians at Fort Pitt. Grant defeated. Washington opening a road over the mountains. Washington at Loyalhanna. Washington at Fort Du Quesne, which the French left on the 24th. Second treaty of Easton. Post's second mission to Ohio Indians. Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niagara, and Quebec yield to English. The French yield Canada. Cherokee War, General Monkton treats with the Indians at Fort Pitt for land. Settlers go over the mountains. Rogers goes to Detroit. Rogers reaches Detroit. December, Rogers returns across Ohio to Fort Pitt. 1761. Alexander Henry visits northwest. Christian Post goes to settle on the Muskingum. 1762. Nov. 3. Bouquet warns settlers off of Indian lands. Post and Hcckcwelder go to Muskingum. Preliminaries to peace of Paris settled, Louisiana transferred to Spain. 1763. Feb, 10, Treaty of Paris concluded. May 9, Detroit attacked by Pontiac. June 4, Mackinac taken by Indians. June, Presqu'ile (Erie) taken by Indians. Juneto Aug. Fort Pitt besieged and relieved by Bouquet. October, Proclamation to protect Indian lands. / Nov. 3, M. Laclede arrives in St. Genevieve. '/December, M. Laclede selects site of St. Louis. 1764. June to Aug. Bradstreet makes peace with northern Indians. November, Bouquet makes peace with Ohio Indians. April 21, French ofiicers ordered to give up Louisiana to Spain. 1765. April, Sir William Johnson makes treaty at German Flats. May, June, George Croghan goes westward. Captain Stirling for England takes possession of Illinois. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. IX 1766. Settlers cross mountains. Walpole Company proposed. Colonel James Smith visits Kentucky. 1767. Western Indians grow impatient. Franklin labors for Walpole Company. Finley visits Kentucky. Zeisberger founds mission on the Alleghany. 1768. Oct. 24, Treaty of Fort Stanwix by which the title of the Iroquois to all south of the Ohio is purchased. 1769. March, Mississippi Company proposed. May 1 , Boone and others start for Kentucky. ' June 7, Boone and others reach Red river. Dec. 22, Boone taken by Indians. 1770. October, Treaty of Lochaber. Ohio Company merged in Walpole Company. Washington visits the West. The Long Hunters explore the West. The Zanes found Wheeling. Moravians invited to Big Beaver. Captain Pittman in Illinois. Spain obtains possession of St. Louis. 1771. March, The Boones return to North Carolina. 1772. Indians killed by whites on Lower Kenawha. May 3, Moravians invited by Dela.vares, found Shoenbrun on the Muskingum. April, General Gage's proclamation against settlers on Wabash. 1773. Sept. 25, Boone and others start to settle Kentucky. Oct. 10, Boone and others are attacked by Indians and turn back. Bullitt, McAfee, &c., descend the Ohio. Bullitt, McAfee, &c., survey at Falls, and on Kentucky river. General Thompson surveys in the valley of the Licking. General Lyman goes to Natchez. July, Purchase by Illinois Company in Illinois. 1774. James Harrod in Kentucky. [within Virginia. January, Dunmore sends Connolly to take possession of Pittsburgh as being Jan. 25, Connolly calls out the militia; he is arrested by St. Clair; his follow- ers are riotous, and fire on the Indians. March 28, Connolly, released on parole, comes to Pittsburgh with an armed force. He rebuilds the fort and calls it Fort Dunmore. April 16, Cherokees attack a boat on the Ohio. April 2] , Connolly writes to the settlers to beware of the Indians. Cresap, having Connolly's letter, attacks Indians. Greathouse murders several Indians. Preparations for war. Logan revenges his family. June, Boone sent for surveyors in Kentucky. June 10, Friendly Shawanese attacked by Connolly. Traders murdered. July, McDonald attacks Wappatomica. Sept. 6 & 12, Troops under Lewis march down Kenhawa. Oct. 6, Troops under Lewis reach Point Pleasant. Oct. 10, Battle of Point Pleasant. November, Dunmore makes peace. 1775. March 17, Treaty of Wataga; purchase by Transylvania Company. April 1, Boone goes to Kentucky and founds Boonesboro'. April 20, Henderson reaches Boonesboro'. May 23, Henderson calls representatives together. May 27, Legislature adjourns. April, Massachusetts Council try to prevent hostility by Iroquois. May, Guy Johnson influences Iroquois against Americans. June 28, Oneidas and Tuscaroras adhere to America. June, Boone and several families move to Kentucky. July, Congress forms three Indian Departments. August, Meeting of Commissioners and Indians at Albany. October, Meeting of Commissioners and Indians at Pittsbio'. Connolly arrested in Maryland. October, Purchase by Wabash Company on Wabash. X CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1776. April 29, An attack on Detroit proposed in Congress. April 19, Washington advises tlie employment of the Indians. May, Indians incline to British. June 3, Congress authorises the employment of Indians. July 7 to 21, Indians attack Kentuckians ; settlers leave. George Rogers Clark moves to Kentucky. June 6, Kentuckians petition Virginia for admission as citizens, and choo3€- Clark and Jones members of Virginia Assembly. Augustus, Clark procures powder from Council of Virginia. Dec. 7, Virginia admits Kentucky among her counties. Clark and Jones return by Pittsbro' with powder. Dec. 25, Jones killed wliile going for powder to Limestone. Clark reaches Harrodsburg. 1777. Summer, Cornstalk murdered at Point Pleasant. Congress of Indians and British at Oswego. Spring, Kentucky infested with savages. April, Kentucky chooses Burgesses. May, Logan's station attacked. April 20 to June 22 — Clark-s spies in Illinois. August, Logan crosses the mountains for powder. Colonel Bowman and 100 men come from Virginia. Sep.26&27,Fort Henry (Wheeling) attacked. September, First Court at Harrodsburg. Oct. 1, Clark leaves for Virginia. Nov. 20, The attack on Detroit urged in Congress, Dec. 10, Clark opens his plan for conquering Illinois to Governor of Virginia. 1778. January 2, Orders issued to Clark to attack Illinois. February 7, Boone taken prisoner at Blue Lick. March 10, Boone carried to Detroit. June 24, Clark passes Falls of Ohio. June 16, Boone escapes. May, Mcintosh commands at Fort Pitt. Fort Mcintosh built. June 25, New Jersey objects to land claims of Virginia. July 4, Clark takes Kaskaskia. July 6, Clark takes Cahokia. Aug. 1, St. Vincents joins the American cause. Aug. 1, Boone goes to attack Paint creek town. Aug. 8, Boonesboro' besieged. Fort Laurens built. September, Clark holds council with the Indians. Sept. 17, Treaty with Delawares at Pittsbro'. October, Virginia grants Henderson and Company 200,000 acres on Green river. December, Governor Hamilton takes Vincennes. 1779. Jan. 29, Clark hears of capture of Vincennes. January, Delaware objects to land claims of Virginia. Feb. 7, Clark starts against Hamilton. Feb. 24, Hamilton surrenders. Hamilton is sent to Virginia. April 1, Americans suspect and attack Iroquois. Lexington Kentucky settled. May, Virginia passes land laws. May 21, Maryland objects to land claims of Virginia. July, General Sullivan devastates Iroquois country. July, Bowman's expedition against Indian towns on Miamies. August, Fort Laurens abandoned. September, Indians treat with Brodhead at Fort Pitt. October, Rogers and Bcnham attacked by Indians. Oct. 13, Land Commissioners open their sessions in Kentucky. Oct. 30, Congress asks Virginia to reconsider land laws. 1780. Hard winter — great suffering. Feb. 19, New York authorises a cession of western lands. Spring, Fort Jefferson built on Mississippi. Spring, Great emigration to Kentucky. May, Virginia grants lands in Kentucky for education. May, St. Louis attacked by British and Indians. Louisville established by law. June, Byrd invades Kentucky. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. XI 1780. July, Clark prepares to attack Shawanese. July, He destroys British store on Miami, &c. Sept. 6, Resolution of Congress relative to western lands. October, Connecticut passes first act of cession. October, Fort Pitt threatened by savages. November, Kentucky divided into three counties. December, Clark prepares to attack Detroit. 1781. Jan. 2, Virginia makes her first act of cession. January, Spaniards take St. Joseph's. Feb. 15, Mr. Jay instructed that he may yield the navigation of the Mississippi. March 1, New York cedes her western lands. Brodhead attacks Delawares on Muskingum. April 16, Mary Heckevvelder born ; first white child in Ohio. Americans begin to settle in Illinois. Chickasaws attack fort Jefferson. ■ September, Colonel Floyd rescued by Wells. September, Moravians carried to Sandusky by British and Indians. October, Moravian missionaries taken to Detroit. Williamson leads a party against the Moravians, but finds the town Kentucky organized. [deserted. Great emigration of girls to Kentucky. 1782. March, Moravians murdered by Americans. March, Moravian missionaries taken to Detroit. March 22, Estill's defeat. June, Crawford's expedition. June 11, Crawford burnt. Aug. 14, Attack on Bryant's station, Aug. 19, Battle of the Blue Licks. September, Clark invades the Miami valleys the second time. November, Land ofiices opened. Nov. 30, Provisional articles of peace with Great Britain. 1783. Jan. 20, March, April 18, AprO 19, May, June, July 12, August, Sept. 3, Sept. 7, Sept. 13, Sept. 22, Oct. 15, Dec. 20. Nov. 25, 1784. Jan. 4, February, March 1, March 4, April 9, June 22, July, Oct. 22, Dec. 27, 1785, Jan. 21, April, May 20, May 23. July, August 8, Hostilities of United States and Great Britain cease. Kentucky formed into one District. Congress calls on States to cede lands. Peace proclaimed to the army. English propose to carry away negroes. Washington protests against course of English. Rufus Putnam applies for lands in west. Baron Steuben sent to receive western posts. Cassaty sent to Detroit. Virginia withdraws Clark's commission. Definitive treaty of peace. Washington writes to Duane about western lands. Congress proposes terms of cession to Virginia. Congress forbids all purchases of Indian lands. Congress instructs Indian Commissioners. Virginia grants Clark and his soldiers lands. Virginia authorises cession on terms proposed. British leave New York taking negroes; Daniel Brodhead opens a store in Louisville, Treaty of peace ratified by United States. James Wilkinson goes to Lexington Kentucky, Virginia gives deed of cession. Indian Commissioners reinstructed, Pittsburgh re-surveyed. Treaty of peace ratified by England, Virginia refuses to comply with treaty. England refuses to deliver up western posts. Treaty with Iroquois at Fort Stanwix. Logan calls meeting at Danville. First Kentucky Convention meets. Kentucky receives many emigrants. Treaty with Delawares, &c., at Fort Mcintosh. An attempt to settle at mouth of Scioto. Ordinance for survey of western lands passed. Second Kentucky Convention meets. Don Gardoqui comes from Spain. Third Kentucky Convention meets. xu CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. S5. August, 1786. January, January, Jan. 10, Jan. 31, March 1, May 16, May, May 26, June 30, July 29, August, September, Sept. 14, October, October 8, November, November, Dec. 22, 1787. Jpnuary, March 8, May, June, July. July 27, July 13, July, August 18, August 29, Sept. 17, Oct. 27, Oct. 2, Oct. 3, Oct. 5, Nov. 23, Nov. 26, December, 1788. Summer, January, Feb. 29, April 7, July 2, July 3, July 9, July 28, July 25, August, Sept. 2, Sept. 22, Nov. 4, Nov. 18, November, Dec. 24, Dec. 28, Dec. 29, 1789. Jan. 9, Spring, June, June, Indians threaten hostility. Great confederacy of northwestern Indians formed by Brant. Fort Harmar built. Brant visits England to learn purposes of ministers. Virginia agrees to independence of Kentucky. Putnam and Tupper call meeting to form Ohio Company. Treaty with Shawanese at Fort Finney, (mouth of Great Miami.) Ohio Company of Associates formed. Governor of Virginia writes to Congress respecting Indian invasions. The negotiations as to Mississippi before Congress. Resolution of Congress produces cession by Connecticut. Congress authorises the invasion of northwestern territory. Pittsburgh Gazette first published. Mr. Jay authorized to yield navigation of Mississippi for a term of years. Clark and his troojjs .it Vincennes. Connecticnt makes second act of cession. Clark's troops leave him. Clark seizes Spanish -^-ropcrty at Vincennes. Virginia protest.! n gainst yielding navigation of Mississippi. Great dissatisfaction in the west. Governor of Virginia informed as to Clark's movements^ Great Indian Council in northwest ; they address Congress. Fourth Kentucky Convention meets. Ohio Company chooses Directors. Meeting in Kentucky relative to navigation of Mississippi. Wilkinson goes to New Orleans. Dr. Cutler negotiates with Congress for lands for Ohio Company. Congress make order in favor of Ohio Company. Ordinance passed for government of northwestern territory. Harry Innis refuses to prosecute invaders of Indian lands. Kentucky Gazette established. Symmes applies for land. Entries of Virginia Military Reserve, north of Ohio, begin. Fifth Kentucky Convention meets. Ohio Company completes contract for lands. Symmes' application referred to Board of Treasury. Troops ordered west. St. Clair appointed Governor of northwestern territory. Preparations made by Ohio Company to send settlers west. Symmes issues proposals for settlers. John Brown, first western representative goes to Congress. Indians expected to make treaty at Marietta. Great emigration ; 4,500 persons pass Fort Harmar. Denman purchases Cincinnati. The admission of Kentucky debated in Congress. Ohio Company settlers land at Muskingum. Marietta named. The admission of Kentucky refused by Congress. St. Clair reaches northwestern territory. Si.\th Kentucky Convention meets. First law of northwestern territory published. Symmes starts for the west Losantiville (Cincinnati) laid out. First court held at Marietta. Symmes reaches his j)urchase. Great Indian Council in northwest to forbid treaties with separate nations. Seventh Kentucky Convention meets. Columbia settled by Stites. Dr. Connolly in Kentucky as a British agent. The founders of Cincinnati leave Maysville. Cincinnati reached according to McMillan. Virginia passes third act to make Kentucky independent. George Morgan removes to New Madrid. Treaties of Fort Harmar concluded. Wilkinson goes to New Orleans again. Daniel Story, first teacher and preacher, in Ohio Company's purchase. Symmes' settlements tlireatnned by Indians. Major Doughty arrives at Symmes' purchase and begins Ft. Washington. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. XIU 1789. July, Western scouts withdrawn by Virginia. July 20, Eighth Kentucky Convention meets. September, Governor Miro of New Orleans writes Sebastian. Sept. 29, Congress empowers President to call out western militia. Oct. 6, President authorises Governor St. Clair to call out militia. Dec. 29, General Harmar reaches Cincinnati with 300 troops. 1790. Jan. 1 or 2, Governor St. Clair at Cincinnati, which name is then given it. Spring, St. Clair goes west to Kaskaskia. April, Gamelin sent to Wabash Indians. May, Indian hostilities take place. July 15, St. Clair calls out western militia. July 26, Ninth Kentucky Convention meets. Sept. 15, Troops gather at Fort Washington. Sept. 30, Harmar leaves Fort Washington. Oct. 15, Colonel Hardin with the advance reaches Miami villages. ^ Oct. 17, Main army reaches Miami villages. Oct. 18, Trotter goes after Indians. Oct. 19, Hardin's first defeat. Oct. 22, Hardin's second defeat. December, Kentuckians petition Congress to fight Indians in their own way. ^ December, Admission of Kentucky to United States brought before Congress. December, Massie and others contract to settle Manchester. 1791. Jan. 2, Big Bottom settlement destroyed by Indians. Feb. 4, Congress agree to admit Kentucky. March 3, Excise laid on spirits. March 9, Scott of Kentucky authorised to march against Indians. March 12, Procter starts on his western mission. April 27, Procter reaches Buffalo creek. May 5, Procter is refused a vessel to cross Lake Erie. May 15, St. Clair at Fort Washington preparing his expedition. May 21, Procter abandons his mission. May 23, Scott marches up Wabash. July 27, Meeting at Brownsville against excise. August 1, Wilkinson marches against Eel river Indians. Sept. 6, Collector of Alleghany and Washington counties (Penn.) attacked. Sept. 7. Meeting at Pittsburgh against excise. Sept. 17, St. Clair commences his march. Oct. 12, Fort Jefferson commenced. October, Wilson maltreated in west of Pennsylvania. Nov. 4, St. Clair's defeat. Nov. 8, The remainder of the army at Fort Washington. December, Convention elected to form Constitution for Kentucky. 1792. January 7, Peace offered by the U. States to the Indians, through the Senecas. January 9, Pond and Stedman sent west. Feb. Brant invited to Philadelphia. Feb. 1, Wilkinson sends to field of St. Clair's defeat. Gallipolis settled. March, Iroquois chiefs visit Philadelphia. Aprils, Instructions issued to Trueman. April 3, Kentucky Constitution prepared. May 8, Excise laws amended. May 8, Captain Hendrick sent west. May 22, Instructions issued to Rufus Putnam. May 22, Trueman leaves Fort Washington--Hardin also. June General Wayne moves westward. June 20, Brant visits Philadelphia. Fire lands given to suflerers, by Connecticut. July 7, Indians seize O. M. Spencer, &c. Aug. 21, Great anti-excise meeting at Pittsburgh. Sept. 15, Washington issues proclamation on Lxcise law. Sept. '27, R. Putnam makes a treaty at Vincennes. Nov. 6, Adair attacked near Fort St. Clair. Nov. 6. Opposition to excise law dnninishes. December, United States troops at Legionville, on the Ohio. 1793. March 1st, Lincoln, Randolph and Pickering, appointed to treat with Indians. J April, United States legion goes down to Cincinnati. Aprils, Genet reaches United States. May 17, Commissioners reach Niagara. May 18, Genet is presented;to WasTiington. May 30, First Democratic society in Philadelphia. XIV CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1793. June, July 15, July 21, July 31, Aug. 16, Oct. 7, Oct. 13, Oct. 24, Oct. 17, Nov. Dec. 25, Dec. 25, 1794. January, February, February, Spring, April, April, May, May, Summer, June 30, June, July 16, July 17, July 23, July 26, July 26, Aug. 1, Aug. 7, Aug. 8, Aug. 13, Aug. 18, Aug. 20, Aug. 21, Sept. Sept. 11, Sep). 25, Sept & Oct Dec. 28, 1795. Jan. 24, Spring, May, June 16, July, July, Aug. 3, Aug. 10, August, Sept 5 or 9 Oct. 27, Nov. 4, 1796. Sept. July, August, August, August, 1797. 1798. Oct. Oct. Dec. Commissioners correspond with Governor Simcoe. Commissioners meet ]3rant and hold a council. Commissioners at Elliott's house, mouth of Detroit river. Commissioners meet Indian delegates. FinaPaction of the commissioners and Indians. Wayne leaves Cincinnati with his legion. Wayne encamps at Greenville. Wayne is joined by Kentuckians under Scott. Lowryand Boyd attacked. French emissaries sent west. Field of St. Clair's defeat taken possession of by Wayne's troops. Dissatisfaction in the West. Opposition to e.xcise feebler. Whiskey riots recommence. Lord Dorchester's speech to Indians. The Mingo Creek Association formed. Wayne prepares for his campaign. General Simcoe builds a fort on the Maumee. Democratic society formed at Pittsburgh. Spaniards offer help to Indians. French emissaries forced to leave west. Contest respecting Presqu'isle. Indians attacked Fort Recovery, Suits commenced against whiskey rioters. First gathering about Neville's house. Neville's house burnt. Meeting at I\Iingo Creek. Mail robbed by Bradford. Scott, with 1600 men, joins Wayne. Great gathering at Braddock's field. Washington issues proclamation against whiskey rioters. Wayne near Maumee. Wayne sends his last peace message to Indians. Wayne builds Fort Deposit. Wayne meets and conquers Indians. Commissioners of government meet committee of rioters. British try to prevent Indians making peace. Vote taken upon obedience to the law in Pennsylvania. Washington calls out militia. Fort Wayne built. Indians ask for peace of Colonel Hamtramck. Indians sign preliminaries of a treaty. Prisoners are interchanged. Connecticut prepares to sell her reserve. Council of Greenville opens. The Baron de Carondelet writes Sebastian. Jay's tfeaty formed. Treaty of Greenville'signed. Council of Greenville closed. Grant by Congres.^ to Gallipolis settlers. Connecticut sells Western Reserve to Land company. Pinckney concludes treaty with Spain. Dayton laid out. Chillicothe founded. M. Adet, French IMinister, sends emissaries to disaflfect the west to the union. Sebastian visits the southwest. Cleveland laid out and named. British give up posts in northwest. Difficulties with Spain begin. General Wayne died. First paper mill in the west. Power visits Kentucky, and writes to Sebastian. Daniel Boone moves west of Mississippi. Occupying claimant law of Kentucky passed, W. H. Harrison appointed secretary^of Northwest territory. Alien and sedition laws passed. Nullifying resolutions in Kentucky. Death abolished in Kentucky, e.xcept for murder. Representatives for Northwest territory first chosen. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. XV 1799; Feb. 4, Representatives of Northwest territory meet to nominate candidates for Council. February, Kentucky constitution amended. February Internal improvements talked of in Kentucky. Sept. 24, Assembly of Northwest territory organizes at Cincinnati. Oct. 6, W. H. Harrison appointed delegate in Congress for N. West territory. 1800. May 7, May 30, Oct. 1, Nov. 3, Nov. 3, 1801. Dec. 1802. January, January, April 30, Oct. 16, Nov. 1, Nov. 29, 1803. April, April, April, April, Oct. 21, Dec. 20, 1804. March 26, May 14, 1805. Jan. 11, June 11, June, June, June, June, 1806. July 29, Aug. Aug. 21, Sept. Nov. Dec. 6, Dec. 10, Dec. 14. 26, 1807. Jan. 17, Jan. May May, 1808. June, 1809. Feb. 17, 1810. August, 1811. July, August, Oct° Nov. 7, Dec. 16, 1812. June 1, June 28, Indiana territory formed. Connecticut yields jurisdiction.'of her reserve to the U. States, and U. States gives her patents for the soil. Treaty of St. Ildefonso. Assembly of Northwest' territory meets at Chillicothe. First missionary in Connecticut Reserve. W. H. Harrison appointed Governor of Indiana territory. St. Clair re-appoinled Governor of Northwest territory. Cincinnati, in place of Chillicothe, again made seat of government for Northwest territory. Thomas Worthington goes to Washington to procure the erection of Ohio into a state. University at Athens, Ohio, established. First Bank in Kentucky. Congress agree that Ohio may become a state. The Spanish Intendant forbids the use of N.Orleans by the'Americans Convention meets to form a constitution for Ohio. Constitution formed. New Orleans opened to Americans again. Livingston and Munroe in France — purchase Louisiana. Lands located for Miami University. Miami Exporting Company chartered. The Senate ratily the purchase of Louisiana. Louisiana given up to the Americans. Louisiana organised. Lewis and Clarke start on their expedition. Michigan territory formed. Detroit burned to the ground. Burr visits the west. General Assembly meet in Indiana territory. Tecumthe and the Prophet begin to influence the Indians. Steps taken to make National road. Burr's letter to Wilkinson. Spaniards cross the Sabine. Burr goes west ; is at Pittsburg. Lewis and Clarke return from Oregon. Davies tries to arrest Burr. Sebastian found guilty by Kentucky House of Representatives. Burr's men go down the Ohio. Burr's boats and stores arrested. Burr meets his men at the mouth of the Cumberland. Burr yields to civil authority of Mississippi. Burr escapes and is seized. Burr's trial at Richmond. Slavery finally forbidden in Indiana. Bank of Marietta chartered. Bank of Chillicothe chartered. Tecumthe and the Prophet remove to Tippecanoe. Illinois territory formed. Miami University chartered. Meeting of Tecumthe and Harrison at Vincennes. Tecumthe goes to the south. Harrison proposes to visit Indians. Harrison marches toward Tippecanoe. First steamer (New Orleans) leaves Pittsburg. Battle of Tippecanoe. Great earthquakes begin. General Hull marches from Dayton. British at Maiden hear of the declaration of war. XVI CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1812. July 1, Hull sends men and goods by water to Detroit. July 2, Hull hears of the declaration of war. July 12, Americans at Sandwich. July 17, Mackinac taken by the British. Aug. 7, Hull retires to Detroit. Aug. 13, Brock reaches Maiden. Aug. 14, Brock at Sandwich. Aug. 16, Brock before Detroit. Aug. 16, Hull surrenders. Aug, 15, Massacre of troops near Chicago. Sept. 8, Fort Harrison attacked. Sept. 17, W. H. Harrison appointed Commander in Northwest. Oct. General Hopkins attacks the Indians on the Wabash. Oct. Governor Edwards attacks the Indians on the Illinois. Dec. Colonel Campbell attacks the Indians on the Missisinncway. 1813. Jan. 10. Winchester reaches the rapids of Maumeu. Jan. 17, Sends troops to Frenchtown. Jan. 18, British at Frenchtown defeated. Jan. 22, Americans defeated at Frenchtown, with great loss. Jan, 23, Massacreof the wounded. Jan. 24, Harrison retreats to Portage river. Feb. ], Harrison advances to Maumee, and builds Fort Meigs. April 28, Fort Meigs besieged. May 5, General Clay reaches Fort Meigs ; Dudley's party lost. May 9, British return to Maiden. July 18, British fleet prepare to attack Erie. July 31, Fort Stephenson besieged. Aug. 2, Siege of Fort Stephenson raised. Aug. 4, Perry's vessels leave Erie. Sept. 10, Victory by Perry, on lake Erie. Sept. 27, American army at Maiden. Sept. 29, American army at Sandwich. Oct. 5, Battle of the Thames. 1814. Feb. Holmes's expedition into Canada. Feb. J. C. Symmes died. July, Expedition under Croghan against Mackinac. July, Fort Shelby, at Prairie du Chien, taken by the British. July 22, Treaty with Indians at Greenville. Oct. Nov. McArthur's expedition into Canada. Dec. 24, Treaty of Ghent. 1815. Various treaties with Indians. Feb. Ohio taxes the Banks. 1816. March, Pittsburgh incorporated. March, Columbus made capital of Ohio. Dec. Bank of Shawneetown chartered. Dec. General Banking law of Ohio passed. Dec. 11, Indiana admitted to the Union. 1817. September, Northwest of Ohio bought of Indians. Jan. & Oct. United States bank opens branches in Cincinnati and Chillicothe. 1818. Aug. 26, Illinois becomes a State. 1819. The first steamer on Lake Erie. September, Conest of Ohio and the United States bank. 1820. December, Nullification resolutions of Ohio. Nov. 23, Missouri admitted to United States. May, Cass visits Lake Superior, &c. 1822. Jan. 31, Ohio moves in relation to canals. Jan. 31, Ohio moves in relation to schools. 1823. Feb. 14, Illinois moves in relation to canals. 1825. Feb. 4 & 5, Ohio passes canal and school laws. 1826. The first steamer on Lake Michigan. 1830. Treaty by Keokuk at Prairie du Chien. 1831. Blackhawk driven west of Mississippi. 1832. First steamer at Chicago. Blackhawk crosses Mississippi again. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. XVU 1832. February, Great flood in Ohio. May 14, Stillman's defeat. Indian creek settlement destroyed. Blackhawk defeated on Wisconsin. Blackhawk defeated on Mississippi. Blackhawk delivered to United States. Cholera among Scott's troops and along Lakes. Treaty with Indians. Cholera at Cincinnati and along the Ohio. Michigan asks admission to United States. Congress offers her conditions. Terms offered Michigan rejected. Terms in a second Convention agreed to. Michigan admitted. Alton riots, Lovejoy killed. Contest with Mormons in Missouri. Bank Commissioners appointed in Ohio. Nauvoo founded. Cincinnati Astronomical society founded. Illinois banks closed by Legislature. Corner stone of Cincinnati Observatory laid. Joe Smith killed. Banking law of Ohio creating a State bank with branches, and independent banks. April, Observatory at Cincinnati finished. May 21, July 21, Aug. 2, Aug 27, Jul}, Sept. Oct. 1835. May, 1836. Sept. Dec. 1837. Sept. 1838. 1839. 1840. Spring, 1842. May, 1843. Nov. 1844. June 27, 1845. LIST OF BOOKS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS WORK. Ameiican State Papers. 21 vols. Washington. Vols. r. to IV. are ForeiRn Afl'airs, I. to IV. " V. and VI. " Indian Affairs. I., II. " VII.. VIII., IX. are Finance, I., II., III. " X., X!., are Commerce, &c., I., II. '• XII., XIII., are Military Affairs, I., 11. " XIV. is Naval Affairs, I. " XV. is Post Office, I , " XVI.. XVII., XVIII. are Public Land?, I,, II., III. " XIX. is Claims, I. " XX. XXI. are Miscellaneous, I., II. American Archives. Fourth Series. 5 Vols. Washington. 1837 to 1844. American Pioneer. Cincinnati. 1842. 1843. Atwater'e History of Ohio. Cincinnati. No date. Account of the First Discovery of Florida, London. 1763. Account of the French Settlements in North America. Boston. 174G. Account of Conferences and Treaties between Sir William Johnson, and Indians, at Fort Johnson: in 1755, '56. London. 1756. Almoii's Rememlirancer ; from 1775 to 1784. London. Publislied from year to year : with an intro- ductory volume, frivini,' mailer previous to 1775. American Remembrancer, giving matter in relation to Jay's treaty, 1795. 3 Vols. Philadelphia. 1795. Armstrong's Notices of the War of 1812. 2 vols. New York. ISiO. Allen's American Biographical Dictionary. Boston. 1832. Bancroft's History United States. Boston, 1834 to 1840. Butler's Kentucky. Second edition. Cincinnati, 183G. Brown's History of Illinois. New York. 1844. Butler"s History of Kentucky. Cincinnati. 1830. Burk's History ol Virginia. Bouquet's E.i£pedilion, 1764. London, 1766. Barbe Marbois' History of Louisiana. Translation. Philadelphia. 1830. Brackenridge's Incidents of the Whiskry Insurrection. Philadelphia. 1795. — N. B. This is one volume in three parts, each paged as, and called, a srparate volume. Vol. I. gives the incidents from July to September. 1794. Vol. II. those which followed. Vol. IIL those which preceded. There is also an appendix. Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania : in which the conduct of the As.'jembly is examined. liOndon, 1755. Answer to the above. London, 1755. Brief View of the conduct of Pennsylvania in 1755. London. 1756. Brown's Views of the Campaign of the Northwest Army. Troy, N. Y. 1814. Brown's History of the Second War of Independence. Boone's Adventures. N. Y. 1844. Beecher's Account pf Alton Riots. Alton. 1838. Blackhawk's Account of Himself. Cincinnati. 1833 Butler's Western Chronology. Frankfort, Ky. 1837. Burgess' Account of Perry's Victory, with strictures on the conduct of Captain Elliott. Boston. 1839. Charlevoix's New France. Paris. 1744. 1774. '• Journal. " " ,' Carver's Travels. London. 1780.— Philadelphia. 1789 —New York. 1838. Contest in America between England and France. (Said to be by Dr. Mitchell.) London. 1757. Colden's History of the Iroquois. London. 1755. Correspondence of Genet, &c. Phila(leli)hia. 1793. [N. B.— This gives hia secr2t instructions.] Coxe's Description of Carolana- London. 1722. Carey's American Museum, Sec. Philadelphia. 1789, &.C. Cincinnati Directory. 1819. Cist's Cincinnati. Cincinnati. 1841. Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany. 2 Vols. 1844. 1845. Chase's Laws. 3 Vols. Cincinnati. 1835. " Sketch of History of Ohio. Cincinnati. 1833. Campbell's Remains. Columbus. 1838. Drake's Indian Captivities. Boston. 1839. Doddridge's Notes. Wcllsburgh, Va. 1824. Dillon's History of Indiana. Vol.1. Indianapolis. 1843. Drake's Picture of Cincinnati. Cincinnati. 1815. Drake's Life of Tecumseh. Cincinnati. 1841. Drake's Life of niackhawk. Cincinnati. 1846. Dalliba's Narrative of the Battle of Brownstovvn, Aucust 9, 1812. New York. 1816. Davis's Memoirs of Burr. 2 Vols. New York. 1837. Dawson's Life of Harrison. Cincinnati. 1824. Expedition of Braddock; being extracts of letters from an officer. London. 1755. Enquiry into causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawantse Indians from the British in- terest. TakCQ from Public Documents. London. 1759. LIST OF BOOKS. XIX EIIlcoU's Journal. &:c. Philadelphia. 1603. Executive Journals of the Senate. 3 Vols. Washington, 1828. Pilson's Account of Kentucky. London. 1793. Findley's History of the Whiskey Insurrection. Philadelphia. 17S6. Filson's Account of Kentucky in French. Paris. 1785. [N. B.— This is a P.S. to Crevecceur a Letters of a Planter.] Flint's Recollections ot Last Ten Years in Mississippi Valley. Boston. 1826. Flint's Geography. Cincinnati. 1832. Gibbs' Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams. 2 vols. N. Y. 184C. Greene's Facts relative to the Mormons. Cincinnati. 1839. Hennepin's Louisiana. Paris. 1684. " New Discovery. Utrecht. 4697. Hall's Sketches of the West, Philadelphia, 1835. Holmes Annals. 2 Vols. Cambridge. 1829. Hall's Statistics of the West. Cincinnati. 1836. Histoire General des Voyages. Paris. 1757. Harrison's Address, 1837, in Ohio Historical Transactions. Heckewelder's Narrative. Philadelphia. 1820. Hull'sTrial. Boston. 1814. [N. [3.— This volume does not give the evidence.] Hull's Memoirs. Boston. 1824. Hull's Defence. Boston. 1814. Historical Register of United States. Edited by T. H. Palmer. 4 Vols. Philadelphia. 1814. History of Louisiana. By M. Le Page du Pratz. 2 veils. Paris. 1758. " Translated. Loudon. 1763. ■'' Historical Collections of Pennsylvania. By Sherman Day. Philadelphia and New Haven. _Nodate. Hutchins' Geographical Description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, &c. London. 1778. '' Historical Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana, &c. Philadelphia. 1784. History of the conquest of Florida by De Soto. Paris. 1685 —London. 16t6. Hall's Memoir of Harrison. Philadelphia and Cincinnati. 1836. Hunt's History of the Mormon War. St. Louis. 1844. Hesperian. (Periodical.) Columbus and Cincinnati. Hall's Wilderness and War-path, in Wiley and Putnam's Library. New York. 1846. Independent Chronicle and General Advertiser. Boston. [N. B.— Democratic] Imlay's Topograohical Description of the Western Territory of North America. Published in one volume in London, in 1792, 1793 and in 1797.— The edition of 1797 contains Pownal's Topo- graphy ; Filson's Kentucky ; the two works of Hutchins, and ten other additions. It was repub- lished in 2 vols, at N. Y., 1793. Indian Treaties from 1778 to 1837. Washington. 1837. Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence. Boston and New York. 1830, •' Notes on Virginia. London. 1787. Journal of the Federal Convention. Boston. 1819. Kercheval's Valley of Virginia. Kentucky Resolutions on798. Richmond, V. 1832. Kilbourn's Gazetteer of Ohio. Columbus. 1837. La Salle, Sparks' Life of. Boston. 1844. Land Laws of United States. Washington. 1828. Lettres Edifiantes.* Paris. 1781. " Original edition published from year to year. Lanman's His'ory of Michigan. New York. 1843. Letter to a Friend, giving an account of Braddock's Defeat. Boston. 1755. Letters from an American Farmer, &e. Bv Hector St. John de Crevecceur. First published In French. 3 Vols. Pari do. of Big Beaver from ' eyes. A fourth volume gives Filson's Account of Kentucky.] Loskiel's History of Moravian Missions. London. 1791. Land Laws affecting Ohio. Columbus. 1825. Latrobe's Rambler in America. New York. 1835. Laws of Missouri. Jefferson City. 1842. " Indiana, revised. " Ohio, " Columbus. 1841. Law's Historical Address at Vincennes. Louisville. 1839. Marquette's Journal in Thevenot.f Paris. 1681. Marquette, Life of by Sparks. Boston. Marshall's History of Kentucky. 2 Vols, Frankfort. 1824. McClung's Western Adventure. Cincinnati. 1839. Morehead's Address. Frankfort, 1841. Meraoires Historiques sur la Louisiane. Paris. 1753. Massachusetts Historical Collections. 29 Vols. 3 Series. Boston. 1806 to 184C. Mante's History of the War of 1754-63. 1772. Probably published at London. Minutes of the Treaty of Carlisle in 1753. No date of publication. Mac Afee's History of the War of 1812. Leiuigton, Ky. 1816. * Since this work went to press, a translation of the Letters referred to in It has been published in New York, in a couple of volumes entitled " Early Jesuits in North America. Translated by Kev. William Ingraham Kip." t Since this work went to press, a volume called " Notes on the Northwest by Wm. J. A. Bradford," has reached us, in which an attempt is made to throw discredit upon Marquette's alleged discovery. The attempt is, however, based upon an error, viz. that Marquette's account was not published till 1687, after La Salle's Vo>a2e, whereas it appeared in 1C81, ihe year before La Salle reached the Mississippi. Mr. Bradford had never seen the original edition of Thevenot. See his " Notes," p. 68 ris. 17B7. r\. B.— Contains map of Scioto, from General Richard (Butler : n" White Mingo :" do of Muskingum from Bouquet, Hutchins, and White- XX LIST OF BOOKS. Memoirs on the Last War In North America. 3 Vols. Yverdon. 1781. [N. B.— This work is in Freiicli. 'J'lie Scioto is licre written Sonliioto.] Minutes of tlie rrovinclal Council of rennsylvania. Tublisheil by the State. 3 vols. Harrisburg, J838an(l 1810. Marshall's Life of Washinston. 5 Vols. Philadelphia. 1804 and 1807. Martin's History of Louisiana. 2 Vols. New Orleana. 1829. McDonald's Sketches. Cincinnati. 1838. / Nicollet's Report to the Senate. Washington. 1S43.'' North American Review. Boston. New York Historical Collections. 3 Vols. New York. IBIL 1814. 1821. Niles' Weekly Rcf^ister. Baltimore. Observations on the North American Land Company, &c. London. 1796. Old Journals of Congress, from 1774 to 1788. 4 Vols. Way & Gideon. Washington. 1823. Ohio Journals, published yearly. y Ohio Canal Documents. Columbus. 1828. Pownall's Memorials on Service in North America. London. 1767. Present State of North America. London. 1755. Proud's History of Pennsylvania. 2 Vols. PJiiladelphia. 1797. Plain Facts. Philadelphia. 1781. Proofs of the Corruption of James Wilkinson. By Daniel Clark. Philadelphia. 1809. Plea in vindication of the Connecticut 'J'iile to contested lands west of New York. By Benjamin Trumbull. New Haven. 1774. Present State of Virginia, &c. By Hugh Jones. London. 1724. Present Slate of European Settlements on Mississippi. By Captain Philip Fittman. London. 1770, Pitkin's History of the United States. New Haven. 1828. Revised Statutes of Virginia. Richmond. 1819. Report of the Committee to inquire into the conduct of General Wilkinson, February, 1811. Wash- ington. 1811. Review of the Military Operations in North America, from 1743 to 175G. By Governor Livingston, of New Jersey. I.ond' ii. 1757. Ramsay's History ol ihe V\ ar from 1755 to 17G3. Edinburgh. 1779. Relations de la Louisiaue, &c. 2 Vols. Amsterdam. 1720. N. B.— Vol. second contains the documents relative to Law's Mia^issippi Company. Rogers' Journals. London. 1765. Renwick on the Stenm Engine. New York. 1839. Silliman's Journal. Vol. 31. New Haven. 1837. Sparks' Washington. 12 Vols. Boston. 1837. " Franklin. 10 Vol, Boston, 1840. " Life of Morris. Boston. 1832. Stuart's Memoirs of Indian Wars. Stone's Life Urandt. 2 Vols. New York. 1838. Smollett's History of England. Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana. Philadelphia. 1812. Set of Plans and Forts in North America, reduced from actual survey. 1763. Probably published at London. State of British and French Colonics in North America. In two letters to a friend. London. 1755. St. Clair's Narrative of his campaign. Philadelphia. 1812. Smyth's Travels in America. 3 Vols. London. 1784. See p. 135 of this volume. [N. B.— Ly- man C. Draper, of Baltimore, who has tested Dr. Smyth's work by original documents in his posses- sion, pronounces it full of entire falsehoods; not mere exagerations, but shameless lies. — Manu- script letter to Cincinnati Historical Society.] Secret Journals of Congress. 4 Vols. Boston. 1820. Stipp's Miscellany. Xenia, Ohio. 1827. State of the case relative to United States Bank in Ohio. Cincinnati. 1823. Thatcher's Lives of the Indians. 2 vols. N. Y. 1822. Transactions of American Antiquarian Society. Worcester, Mass. 1820. Tonti's Account of La Salle's Discoveries. Paris IC87. [Spurious.] Todd & Drake's Life of Harrison. Cincinnati. 1840. Travels in North America in 179.% '96 and '97, by Isaac Weld. 2 Vols. London. 1799. Travels in Louisiana. By Bossu. Translated by J. R, Forster. London. 1771. Transactions of Ohio Historical Society, containing Burnet's Letters. Cincinnati. 1839. Universal Modern History. London. 1763. United States Gazette, edited by John Fetino. Published at New York from April 15, 1789 to Nov- ember, 3, 1790 ; then transferred to Philadelphia. It was Federal. VoIney'sView of the Climate and Soil of the United States. London. 1804. View of the Title to Indiana, a tract of country on the river Ohio. Philadelphi.1. 1776. [N. B.— Sec page 107 of this volume. This contains the treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768.] Voyages, ikc. relative to the Discovery of America. Paris, 1841. Whittlesey's Discourse on Lord Dunmore's Expedition. Cleveland. 1842. " Life of Fitch. (In American Biography, New Series, vi.) Boston Withers' Chronichs of Border Warfare. Clarksburg h, Va. 1821. Western Monthly Magazine. Cincinnati. 1832, &c. Periodical. Washington's Journal. Published at VVilliamsburgh, Va. Republished London, 1754, with a map. [N. B.— On this map the Scio;o is called " Sikoder," and lake Erie " Erri or Okswego.' ' This last name is also given lake Erie on the map to Coldcn's history of Die Iroquois. London, 1755. On the Cumberland is marked " Walker's Settlement, 1750.'' See page 111 and note of this volume,] Wctmnre's Missouri Gazetteer. St. Louis. 1837. Wilkinson's Memoirs. 3 Vols. Philadelphia. 1816. Western Messenser. Periodical. Cincinnati. Western Garland, Periodical. Cincinnati. SPANISH AND FRENCH WSCOVEBIES. In the year 1512, on Easter Sunday, the Spanish name for which is Pascua Florida ; * Juan Ponce de Leon, an old com- rade of Columbus, discovered the coast of the American con- tinent, near St. Augustine ; and, in honor of the day, as well as because of the blossoms which covered the trees along the shore, named the new-found country Florida. Juan had been led to undertake the discovery of strange lands, partly by the hope, common to all his countrymen at that time, of finding endless stores of gold, and partly by the wish to reach a fountain that was said to exist, deep within the forests of North America, which possessed the power of renovating the life of those who drank of, or bathed in, its waters. In return for his discovery he was made Governor of the region he had visited, but various circumstances prevented his return thither until 1521, and then he went only to meet with death at the hands of the Indians. In the mean time, in 1516, a roving Spanish sea captain, Diego Miruelo, had visited the coast first reached by Ponce de Leon, and in his barters with the natives had received con- siderable quantities of gold, with which he returned home, and spread abroad new stories of the wealth hidden in the interior. Ten years, however, passed before Pamphilo de Narvaez undertook to prosecute the examination of the lands north of the Gulf of Mexico ; the shores of which, during the intervening years, had been visited and roughly surveyed. Narvaez was excited to action by the late astonishing success of the conqueror of Montezuma, but he found the gold for which he sought, fly constantly before him; each tribe of Indians referred him to those living still farther in the interior, and from tribe to tribe * Pascua, the old English « Pasch" or Passover; "Pascua Florida" is the "Holy- day of Flowers." 1 2 De Soto in Florida. 1540, he and his companions wandered, weary and disappointed, during six months; then, having reached the shore again, naked and famished, they tried to regain the Spanish colonies; but of three hundred only four or five at length reached Mexico. And still these disappointed wanderers persisted in their original fancy that Florida* was as wealthy as Mexico or Peru; and after all their wanderings and sufferings so told the world, f Among those to whom this report came, was Ferdinand de Soto, who had been with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, and who longed for an opportunity to make himself as rich and noted as the other great Captains of the day. He asked leave of the King of Spain to conquer Florida at his own cost. It was given in 1538; with a brilliant and noble band of followers, he left Europe; and in May 1539, after a stay in Cuba, anchored his vessels near the coast of the Peninsula of Florida, in the bay of Spiritu Santo, or Tampa bay.:]: De Soto entered upon his march into the interior with a deter- mination to succeed. He had brought with him all things that it was supposed could be needful, and that none might be tempted to turn back, he sent away his vessels. From June till November, of 1539, the Spaniards toiled along until they reached the neighborhood of Appalachee bay, finding no gold, no foun- tain of youth. During the next season, 1540, they followed the course suggested by the Florida Indians, who wished them out of their country, and going to the north east, crossed the rivers and climbed the mountains of Georgia. De Soto was a stern, severe man, and none dared to murmur. Still finding no cities of boundless wealth, they turned westward, towards the waters * By Florida the Spaniards of early times meant at least all of North America south of the Great Lakes. t For facts in relation to Florida see Bancroft's Hist. U. S., Vol. I. \ The original authorities in relation to De Soto, are an anonymous Portuguese writer^ a gentleman of Elvas, who claims to have been an eye-witness of what he relates ; and Luis Hernandez de Biedma, who was also with the expedition, and presented hia account to the Spanish King in 1544. We have also a letter from De Soto, to the authorities of the city of Santiago, in Cuba, dated July 9, 1539. These authorities in the main agree, though the Portuguese account is much the fullest, and the Governor's letter of course relates but few events. The Portuguese narrative was published ia 1557 ; Hakluyt gave it in English in 1609, and it was again published in London in 1686; a French translation appeared in Paris in 16S5. Its credibility is questioned. See Sparks in Butler's Kentucky, 2d Ed. 498; also, Bancroft's U. S. I ; 66. note. The account by Biedma and De Soto's letter arc in a work published in Paris, called " Voy- ages, Relations, et 3Iemoins origi?iaux pour servir a Vhistoirc de la decouverle de VAmcrique.^' One volume of this collection relates to Florida, and appeared in 1841. We have epitomised the account as given by Bancroft in his first volume. 1542. Death of De Soto. 3 of the Mobile, and following those waters, in October (1540,) came to the town of Mavilla on the Alabama, above the junction of the Tombecbee. This town the Europeans wished to occupy, but the natives resisted them, and in a battle which ensued, the Indians were defeated. Finding himself, notwithstanding his victory, exposed to con- stant attacks from the redmen at this point, De Soto resumed his march towards the Mississippi, and passed the winter, probably, near the Yazoo. In April 1541, once more the resolute Spaniard set forward, and upon the first of May reached the banks of the Great River of the West, not far from the 35th parallel of lati- tude. A month was spent in preparing barges to convey the horses, many of which still lived, across the rapid stream. Hav- ing successfully passed it, the explorers pursued their way north- ward, into the neighborhood of New Madrid ; then turning west- ward again, marched more than two hundred miles from the Mississippi to the highlands of White river. And still no gold, no gems, no cities ; only bare prairies, and tangled forests, and deep morasses. To the south again they toiled on, and passed their third winter of wandering upon the Washita. In the fol- lowing spring (1542,) De Soto, weary with hope long deferred, descended the Washita to its junction with the Mississippi, wish- ing to learn the distance and direction of the sea. He heard, when he reached the mighty stream of the West, that its lower portion flowed through endless and uninhabitable swamps. — Determined to learn the truth, he sent forward horsemen; in eight days they advanced only thirty miles. The news sank deep into the stout heart of the disappointed warrior. His men and horses were wasting around him; the Indians near by challenged him, and he dared not meet them. His health yielded to the contests of his mind and the influence of the climate; he appointed a successor, and upon the 21st of May died. His body was sunk in the stream of the Mississippi. Deprived of their energetic though ruthless leader, the Span- iards determined to try to reach Mexico by land. They turned West again therefore, and penetrated to the Red river, wander- ing up and down in the forests, the sport of inimical Indians. The Red river they could not cross, and jaded and heartless, again they went eastward, and reached in December 1542, the great Father of waters once more. Despairing of success in 4 French in the West. 1671. the attempt to rescue themselves by land, they proceeded to pre- pare such vessels as they could to take them to the sea. From January to July 1543, the weak, sickly band of gold-seekers, labored at the doleful task ; and in July reached, in the vessels thus wrought, the Gulf of Mexico, and by September, entered the river Panuco. One-half of the six hundred* who had dis- embarked with De Soto, so gay in steel and silk, left their bones among the mountains and in the morasses of the South, from Georgia to Arkansas. Such was the first expedition by Europeans, into the great Western Valley of North America. They founded no settle- ments, left no traces, produced no effect unless to excite the hostility of the red against the white men, and to dishearten such as might otherwise have tried to follow up the career of dis- covery to better purpose. As it was, for more than a century after the expedition of De Soto, the West remained utterly unknown to the whites. In 1616, four years before the Pilgrims "moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had penetrated through the Iroquois and Wyandotsf to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuits had founded the first mission among the rivers and marshes of the region east of that great inland sea; but it was 1641, just one hundred years after De Soto reached the Mississippi, that the first Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest, at the falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of lake Superior. This visit, however, led to no permanent result, and it was not till 1659 that even any of the adventurous fur- traders spent a winter on the frozen and inhospitable shores of the vast lake of the North, nor till 1660 that the unflinching devotion of the Missionaries caused the first station to rise upon its rocky and pine-clad borders. But Mesnard, who founded that station, perished in the woods in a few months afterward, and five more years slipped by before Father Claude Allouez, in 1665, built the earliest of the lasting habitations of white men among the kindly and hospitable Indians of the Northwest. Following in his steps, in 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission at St. Mary's Falls; in 1670, * De Biedma says there landed 620 men. + The VVyandots are the same as the Hurojns. Heckewelder's Narr. 336, note : see their traditionary history by J. Badger, a Missionary among them. — Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany I. 153. 1673. Marquette leaves Green Bay. 5 Nicholas Perrot, as agent for Talon, the intendant of Canada, explored lake Michigan as far as Chicago; in 1671 formal pos- session was taken of the Northwest by French officers in the presence of Indians assembled from every part of the surround- ing region, and in the same year Marquette gathered a little flock of listeners, at Point St. Ignatius, on the main land north of the island of Mackinac* During the three years which this most excellent man had now spent in that country, the idea of explor- ing the lands yet farther towards the setting sun, had been grow- ing more and more definite in his mind. He had heard, as all had, of the great river of the West, and fancied upon its fertile banks, — not mighty cities, mines of gold, or fountains of youth — but whole tribes of God's children to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with the wish to go and preach to them he obeyed with joy the orders of Talon, the wise inten- dant of Canada, to lead a party into the unknown distance ; and having received, as companions on behalf of the government, a Monsieur Joliet, of Quebec, together with five boatmen, in the spring of 1673, he prepared to go forth in search of the much talked of stream. f Upon the 13th of May, 1673, this little band of seven left Michillimacinac in two bark canoes, with a small store of Indian corn and jerked meat, bound they knew not whither. The first nation they visited, one with which our reverend Father had been long acquainted, being told of their venturous plan, begged them to desist. There were Indians, they said, on that great river, who would cut off their heads without the least cause; warriors who would seize them; monsters who would swallow them, canoes and all; even a demon, who shut the way, and buried in the waters that boiled about him, all who dared draw nigh ; and, if these dangers were passed, there were heats there that would infallibly kill them. "I thanked them for their good advice," says Marquette, "but I told them that I could not follow it; since the salvation of souls was at stake, for which I should be overjoyed to give my life." Passing through Green Bay, from the mud of which, says our voyager, rise " mischievous vapors, that cause the most grand "This was the first town of Michillimacinac. The post and station north of the Btrait were afterward destroyed, and others with the same name, St. Ignatius, built on the southern shore, at the extremity of the peninsula of Michigan — Charlevoix'' s Journal, fFor the above dates, &c., see Bancroft's U. S., Vol. III. 6 Marquette reaches the Mississippi. 1673. and perpetual thunders that I have ever heard," they entered Fox river, and toihng over stones which cut their feet, as they dragged their canoes through its strong rapids, reached a village where lived in union theMiamis, Mascoutens,:j: and " Kikabeux" (Kickapoos.) Here Allouez had preached, and behold! in the midst of the town, a cross, {une belle d'oix,) on which hung skins, and belts, and bows, and arrows, which "these good people had offered to the gi-eat Manitou, to thank him because he had taken pity on them during the winter, and had given them an abundant chase." Beyond this point no Frenchman had gone; here was the bound of discovery; and much did the savages wonder at the hardihood of these seven men, who, alone, in two bark canoes, were thus fearlessly passing into unknown dangers. On the 10th of June, they left this wondering and well-wish- ing crowd, and, wuth two guides to lead them through the lakes and marshes of that region, started for the river, which, as they heard, rose but about three leagues distant, and fell into the Mississippi. Without ill-luck these guides conducted them to the portage, and helped them carry their canoes across it; then, returning, left them "alone amid that unknown country, in the hand of God." With prayers to the mother of Jesus they strengthened their souls, and committed themselves, in all hope, to the current of the westward-flowing river, the "Mescousin" (Wisconsin;) a sand-barred stream, hard to navigate, but full of islands covered with vines, and bordered by meadows, and groves, and pleasant slopes. Down this they floated until, upon the 17th of June, they entered the Mississippi, "with a joy," says Marquette, "that I cannot express." Quietly floating down the great river, they remarked the deer, the buffaloes, the swans, — " wingless, for they lose their feathers in that country," — the great fish, one of which had nearly knocked their canoe into atoms, and other creatures of air, earth, and water, but no men. At last, however, upon the 21st of June, they discovered, upon the western bank of the river, the foot-prints of some fellow mortals, and a little path leading into a pleasant meadow. Leaving the canoes in charge of their followers, JoUet and Father Marquette boldly advanced upon i In Charlevoix's time these occupied the country from the Illinois to the Fox river, and from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. — See his Map. 5673. Marquette reaches Arkansas. 7 this path toward, as they supposed, an Indian village. Nor were they mistaken; for they soon came to a little town, to which, recommending themselves to God's care, they went so nigh as to hear the savages talking. Having made their pres- ence known by a loud cry, they were graciously received by an embassy of four old men, who presented them the pipe of peace, and told thera, that this was a village of the "Illinois." The voyagers were then conducted into the town, where all received them as friends, and treated them to a great smoking. After much complimenting and present-making, a grand feast was given to the Europeans, consisting of four courses. The first was of hominy, the second of fish, the third of a dog,* which the Frenchmen declined, and the whole concluded with roast buflfalo. After the feast they were marched through the town with great ceremony and much speech-making; and, having spent the night, pleasantly and quietly, amid the Indians, they returned to their canoes with an escort of six hundred people. The Illinois, Marquette, like all the early travellers, describes as remarkably handsome, well-mannered, and kindly, even some- what effeminate. • Leaving the Illinois, the adventurers passed the rocks upon which were painted those monsters of whose existence they had heard on Lake Michigan, and soon found themselves at the mouth of the Pekitanoni, or Missouri of our day; the character of which is well described; muddy, rushing, and noisy. — "Through this," says Marquette, "I hope to reach the Gulf of California, and thence the East Indies," This hope was based upon certain rumors among the natives, which represented the Pekitanoni as passing by a meadow, five or six days' journey from its mouth, on the opposite side of which meadow was a stream running westward, which led, beyond doubt, to the South Sea. "If God give me health," says our Jesuit, "I do not despair of one day making the discovery." Leaving the Missouri, they passed the demon, that had been portrayed to them, which was indeed a dangerous rock in the river,t and came to the Ouabouskigou, or Ohio, a stream which makes but * A dog feast is still a feast of honor among the savages. See Fremont's Report of Expeditions of 1842, '43, and '44, printed at Washington, 1845 ; p. 42. Fremont says the meat is somewhat like mutton. See, also, Dr. Jarvis's discourse before the N. York Historical Society in 1819, note R.j Lewis and Clark's Journal, II. 165) Godman'e Natural History, I. 254. i The grand Tower. 8 Marquette returns. 1675. a small figure in Father Marquette's map, being but a trifling water-course compared to the Illinois. From the Ohio, our voyagers passed with safety, except from the musquitocs, into the neighborhood of the " Akamscas," or Arkansas. Here they were attacked by a crowd of warriors, and had nearly lost their lives; but Marquette resolutely presented the peace-pipe, and some of the old men of the attacking party were softened, and saved them from harm. "God touched their hearts," says the pious narrator. The next day the Frenchmen went on to " Akamsca," where they were received most kindly, and feasted on corn and dog till they could eat no more. These Indians cooked in and eat from earthen ware, and were amiable and unceremonious, each man helping himself from the dish and passing it to his neighbor. From this point Joliet and our writer determined to return to the North, as dangers increased towards the sea, and no doubt could exist as to the point where the Mississippi emptied, to ascertain which point was the great object of their expedition. Accordingly, on the 17th of July, our voyagers left Akamsca ; retraced their path with much labor, to the Illinois, through which they soon reached the Lake; and "nowhere," says Marquette, "did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers," as on the Illinois river. In September the party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay, and reported their discovery ; one of the most important of that age, but of which we have now no record left except the brief narrative of Marquette, Joliet, (as we learn from an abstract of his account, given in Hennepin's second volume, London, 1698,) having lost all his papers while returning to Quebec, by the upsetting of his canoe. Marquette's unpretending account, we have in a collection of voyages by Thevenot, printed in Paris in 1681.* Its general correctness is unquestionable ; and, as no European had claimed to have made any such discovery at the time this volume was published, but the persons therein named, we may consider the account as genuine. Afterwards Marquette returned to the Illinois, by their request, * This work is now very rare, but Marquette's Journal has been republislied by Mr. Sparks, at least in substance, in Butler's Kentucky, 2J Ed. 492 ; and in the American Biography, 1st scries. Vol. X. A copy of the map by Marquette, is also given by Mr. Bancroft, Vol. III. Wc have followed the original in Thevenot, a copy of which is ia Harvard Library. 1674. La Salle rebuilds Fort Frontenac. 9 and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing with his boatmen up Lake Michigan, he proposed to land at the mouth of a stream running from the pen- insula, and perform mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he went a little way apart to pray, they waiting for him. As much time passed; and he did not return, they called to mind that he had said something of his death being at hand, and anxiously went to seek him. They found him dead ; where he had been praying, he had died. The canoe-men dug a grave near the mouth of the stream, and buried him in the sand. Here his body was liable to be exposed by a rise of water; and would have been so, had not the river retired, and left the missionary's grave in peace. Charlevoix, who visited the spot some fill}' years afterward, found that the waters had forced a passage at the most difficult point, had cut through a bluff, rather than cross the lowland where that grave was. The river is called Marquette.* While the simple-hearted and true Marquette was pursuing his labors of love in the West, two men, differing widely from him, and each other, were preparing to follow in his footsteps, and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him and the Sieur Joliet. These were Robert de la Salle and Louis Hennepin. La Salle was a native of Normandy, and was brought up, as we learn from Charlevoix, f among the Jesuits; but, having lost, by some unknown cause, his patrimony, and being of a stirring and energetic disposition, he left his home to seek for- tune among the cold and dark regions of Canada. This was about the year 1670. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages, a short-cut to China and the East; and, gaining his daily bread, we know not how, — was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the hot mind of La Salle received from his and his companion's * Charlevoix's Letters, Vol. II. p. 96. New France, Vol. VI. p. 20. Marquette spells the name of the great western river, " Mississipy ; " Hennepin made it " Mes- chasipi;" others have written " Meschasabe," &c. &c. There is great confusion in all the Indian oral names; we have " Kikabeaux," "Kikapous," "Quicapous;" " Outtoauets," " Outnovas ; " " Miamis," " Oumamis ; " and so of nearly all the nations. Our " Sioux," Charlevoix tells us, is the last syllable of " Nadouessioux," which is Written, by Hennepin, " Nadoussion" and "Nadouessious," in his "Lou- isiana," and " Nadouessans," in his " Nouvelle Decouverte." The Shawanese are always called the "Chouanons." t Charlevoix's New France, Paris edition of 1744, Vol. II. p. 263. 10 La Salle goes to France. 1678. narrations, the idea, that, by following the Great River north- ward, or by turning up some of the streams which joined it from the westward, his aim might be certainly and easily gained. Instantly he went towards his object. He applied to Frontenac, then governor-general of Canada, laid before him an outline of his views, dim but gigantic, and, as a first step, proposed to rebuild of stone, and with improved fortifications. Fort Frontenac upon Lake Ontario, a post to which he knew the governor felt all the affection due to a namesake. Frontenac entered warmly into his views. He saw, that, in La Salle's suggestion, which was to connect Canada with the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of forts upon the vast navigable lakes and rivers which bind that country so wonderfully together, lay the germ of a plan, which might give unmeasured power to France, and unequalled glory to himself, under whose administi'ation he fondly hoped all would be realized. He advised La Salle, therefore, to go to the King of France, to make known his project, and ask for the royal patronage and protection; and, to forward his suit, gave him letters to the great Colbert, minister of finance and marine. With a breast full of hope and bright dreams, in 1675, the penniless adventurer sought his monarch ; his plan was approved by the minister, to whom he presented Frontenac's letter ; La Salle was made a Chevalier; was invested with the seignory of Fort Catarocouy or Frontenac, upon condition he would rebuild it; and received from all the first noblemen and princes, assu- rances of their good-will and aid. Returning to Canada he labored diligently at his fort till the close of 1677, when he again sailed for France with news of his progress. Colbert and his son, Seignelay, now minister of marine, once more received him with favor, and, at their instance, the King granted new letters patent with new privileges. His mission having sped so well, on the 14th of July, 1678, La Salle, wdth his lieutenant, Tonti, an Italian, and thirty men, sailed again from Rochelle for Quebec, where they arrived on the 15th of September; and, after a few days' vStay, proceeded to Fort Frontenac* Here was quietly working, though in no quiet spirit, the rival and co-laborer of La Salle, Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan friar, of the Recollet variety; a man full of ambition to be a great discoverer; daring, hardy, energetic, vain, and self-exaggerating, •Charlevoix's New France, 1744, Vol. TT. p. 264, 266. Sparks' life Ox'' La Salle. American Biography, new series, I. 10 to 15. 1678. La Salle at JVtagara. 11 almost to madness ; and, it is feared, more anxious to advance his own holy and unholy ends than the truth. He had in Europe lurked behind doors, he tells us, that he might hear sailors spin their yarns touching foreign lands; and he profited, it would seem, by their instructions. He came to Canada when La Salle returned from his first visit to the court, and had, to a certain extent, prepared himself, by journeying among the Iroquois, for bolder travels into the wilderness. Having been appointed by his religious superiors to accompany the expedition which w^as about to start for the extreme West, under La Salle, Hennepin was in readiness for him at Fort Frontenac, where he arrived, probably, some time in October, 1678.* The Chevalier's first step was to send forward men to prepare the minds of the Indians along the lakes for his coming, and to soften their hearts by w^ell-chosen gifts and words ; and also, to pick up peltries, beaver skins, and other valuables ; and, upon the 18th of November, 1678, he himself embarked in a little vessel of ten tons, to cross Lake Ontario. This, says one of his chroniclers, was the first ship that sailed upon that fresh water sea. The wind was strong and contrary, and four weeks nearly were passed in beating up the little distance between Kingston and Niagara. Having forced their brigantine as far towards the Falls as was possible, our travellers landed ; built some maga- zines with difficulty, for at times the ground was frozen so hard that they could drive their stakes, or posts, into it only by first * Hennepin's New Discovery, Utrecht edition of 1697, p. 70. — Charlevoix's New France, "Vol. II. pp. 266. We give the names of the lakes and rivers as they appear in the early travels. Lake Ontario was also Lake Frontenac. Lake Erie, was Erike, Erige, or Erie, from a nation of Eries destroyed by the Iroquois ; they lived where the State of Ohio now is (Charlevoix's New France, Vol. II. p. 62;) it was also Lake of Conti. Lake Huron, was Karegnondi in early times [3Iap of 1656 ;) and also, Lake of Orleans. Lake Michigan, was Lake of Puans {Map of 1656 ;) also, of the Illinois, or Illinese, or Illinouacks ; also Lake Mischigonong, and Lake of the Dauphin. Lake Superior was Lake Superieur, meaning the Upper, not the Larger Lake — also, Lake of Conde. Green Bay, was Bale des Puans. Illinois river, in Hennepin's Louisiana, and Joutel's Journal, is River Seignelay; and the Mississippi river, in those works is River Colbert; and was by La Salle, called River St. Louis. Ohio river was Ouabouskigou, Ouabachi, Ouabache, Oyo, Ouye, Belle Riviere. Missouri river, was Pekitanoni, Riviere des Osages et Massourites ; and by Coxe is called Yellow River. 12 La Salle in Lake Michigan. 1679. pouring upon it boiling water ; and then made acquaintance with the Iroquois of the village of Niagara, upon Lake Erie. Not far from this village, La Salle founded a second fort, upon which he set his men to work; but, finding the Iroquois jealous, he gave it up for a time, and merely erected temporary fortifications for his magazines ; and then, leaving orders for a new ship to be built, he returned to Fort Frontenac, to forward stores, cables, and anchors for his forthcoming vessel. Through the hard and cold winter days, the frozen river lying before them "like a plain paved with fine polished marble," some of his men hewed and hammered upon the timbers of the Grijiny as the great bark was to be named, while others gathered furs and skins, or sued for the good-will of the bloody savages amid whom they were quartered ; and all went merrily until the 20th of January, 1679. On that day, the Chevalier arrived from below ; not with all his goods, however, for his misfortunes had commenced. The vessel in which his valuables had been embarked was wrecked through the bad management of the pilots ; and, though the more important part of her freight was saved, much of her provision went to the bottom. During the winter, however, a very nice lot of furs was scraped together, with which, early in the spring of 1679, the commander returned to Fort Frontenac to get another outfit; while Tonti was sent forward to scour the lake coasts, muster together the men who had been sent before, collect skins, and see all that was to be seen. In thus coming and going, buying and trading, the sum- mer of this year slipped away, and it was the 7th of August before the Griffin was ready to sail. Then, with Te-Deums, and the discharge of arquebuses, she began her voyage up Lake Erie. Over Lake Erie, through the strait beyond, across St. Clair, and into Huron, the voyagers passed most happily. In Huron they Avere troubled by storms, dreadful as those upon the ocean, and were at last forced to take refuge in the road of Michilli- mackinac. This was upon the 27th of August. At this place, which is described as one " of prodigious fertility," La Salle remained until the middle of September, founded a fort there, and sent men therefrom in various directions to spy out the state of the land. He then went on to Green Bay, the "Bale des Puans," of the French ; and, finding there a large quantity of skins and furs collected for him, he determined to load the Griffin therewith, and send her back to Niagara. This was 1680. La Salle at Peoria Lake. 13 done with all promptness; and, upon the 18th of September, she was despatched under the charge of a pilot, supposed to be com- petent and trustworthy, while the Norman himself, with fourteen men, proceeded up Lake Michigan, paddling along its shores in the most leisurely manner; Tonti, meanwhile, having been sent to find stragglers, with whom he was to join the main body at the head of the lake. From the 19th of September till the 1st of November, the time was consumed by La Salle in his voyage up the sea in question. On the day last named, he arrived at the mouth of the river of the Miamis, or St. Josephs, as it is now called.* Here he built a fort and remained for nearly a month, when hearing nothing from his Griffin^ he determined to push on before it was too late. On the 3d of December, therefore, having mustered all his men, thirty working men and three monks, he started again upon his "great voyage and glorious undertaking."! By a short portage they passed to the Illinois, or Kankakee, and "falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe that country," about the last of December, reached a village of the Illinois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but, at that moment, no inhabitants. The Sieur La Salle, being in great want of bread-stuffs, took advantage of this absence of the Indians to help himself to a sufficiency of maize, of which large quantities were found hidden in holes under the huts or wigwams. This village was, as near as we can judge, not far from the spot marked on our maps as Rock Fort, in La Salle county, Illinois. The corn being got aboard, the voyagers betook themselves to the stream again, and toward evening on the 4th of January, 1680, fell into a lake, which must have been the lake of Peoria. Here the natives were met with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent some time with them, La Salle determined in that neighborhood to build another fort, for he found that already some of the adjoin- ing tribes were trying to disturb the good feeling which existed ; and, moreover, some of his own men were disposed to complain. A spot upon rising ground, near the river, was accordingly * See on this point, North American Review, January 1839, No. CII. p. 74. + Charlevoix, JVew France, (Vol. II. p. 269,) tells us, that La Salle returned from the fort of the Miamis to Fort Frontenac ; but Hennepin, and the journal published as Tonti's, agree that he went on, and tell a more consistent story than the historian. See, also, Sparks' life. / 14 La Salle returns to Canada. 1680. chosen about the middle of January, and the fort of Creveccsur (Broken Heart,) commenced; a name expressive of the very natural anxiety and sorrow, which the pretty certain loss of his Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment (for there were no insurance offices then,) the danger of hostility on the part of the Indians, and of mutiny on the part of his own men, might well cause him. Nor were his fears by any means groundless. In the first place, his discontented followers, and afterwards emissaries from the Mascoutens, tried to persuade the Illinois that he was a friend of the Iroquois, their most deadly enemies; and that he was among them for the purpose of enslaving them. But La Salle was an honest and fearless man, and, as soon as coldness and jealousy appeared on the part of his hosts, he went to them boldly and asked the cause, and by his frank statements pre- served their good feeling and good will. His disappointed ene- mies, then, or at some other time, for it is not very clear when,* tried poison; and, but for "a dose of good treacle," La Salle might have ended his days in his Fort Crevecceur. Meanwhile the winter wore away, and the prairies were getting to look green again; but our discoverer heard no good news, received no reinforcement; his property was gone, his men were fast deserting him, and he had little left but his own strong heart. The second year of his hopes, and toils, and failures, was half gone, and he further from his object than ever; but still he had that strong heart, and it was more than men and money. He saw that he must go back to Canada, raise new means, and enlist new men ; but he did not dream) therefore, of relinquishing his projects. On the contrary, he determined that, while he was on his return, a small party should go down to the Mississippi and explore that stream towards its sources ; and that Tonti, with the few men that remained, should strengthen and extend his rela- tions among the Indians. For the leader of the Mississippi exploring party, he chose Father Lewis Hennepin ; and, having furnished him with all the necessary articles, started him upon his voyage on the last day of February, 1680. Having thus provided against the entire stagnation of discovery * Charlevoix says it was at the close of 1679 ; Hennepin, that they did not reach the Illinois, till January 4th, 1680. We have no means of deciding, but follow Heunepin, who is particular as to dates, and was present. 1681. Hennepin on Mississippi. 15 during his forced absence, La Salle at once betook himself to his journey eastward : a journey scarce conceivable now, for it was to be made by land from Fort Crevecceur round to Fort Fron- tenac, a distance of at least twelve hundred miles, at the most trying season of the year, when the rivers of the lakes would be full of floating ice, and offer to the traveller neither the security of winter, nor the comfort of summer. But the chevalier w^as not to be daunted by any obstacles ; his affairs were in so pre- carious a state that he felt he must make a desperate effort, or all his plans would be for ever broken up; so through snow, ice and water, he won his way along the southern borders of Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario, and at last reached his destination. He found, as he expected, every thing in confusion : his Griffin was lost; his agents had cheated him; his creditors had seized his goods. Had his spirit been one atom less elastic and ener- getic, he would have abandoned the whole undertaking ; but La Salle knew neither fear nor despair, and by midsummer we behold him once more on his way to rejoin his little band of explorers on the Illinois. This pioneer body, meanwhile, had suffered greatly from the jealousy of the neighboring Indians, and the attacks of bands of Iroquois, wiio wandered all the way from their homes in New York, to annoy the less warlike savages of the prairies. Their sufferings, at length, in September, 1680, induced Tonti to abandon his position, and seek the Lakes again, a point which with much difficulty he effected. When, therefore. La Salle, who had heard nothing of all these troubles, reached the posts upon the Illinois in December 1680, or January 1681, he found them utterly deserted ; his hopes again crushed, and all his dreams again disappointed. There was but one thing to be done, however, to turn back to Canada, enlist more men, and secure more means: this he did, and in June, 1681, had the pleasure to meet his comrade. Lieutenant Tonti, at Mackinac, to whom he spoke, as we learn from an eye-witness, with the same hope and courage which he had exhibited at the outset of his enterprise. And here for a time we must leave La Salle and Tonti, and notice the adventures of Hennepin, who, it will be remembered, y left Fort Crevecceur on the last of February, 1680. In seven days he reached the Mississippi, and, paddling up its icy stream as he best could, by the 11th of April had got no higher than the Wisconsin. Here he was taken prisoner by a band of northern Indians, who treated him and his comrades with considerable 16 La Salle goes down Mississippi. 1682. kindness, and took them up the river until about the first of May, when they reached the Falls of St. Anthony, which were then so christened by Hennepin in honor of his patron saint. Here they took to the land, and travelling nearly two hundred miles toward the north-west, brought him to their villages : these Indians w^ere the Sioux. Here Hennepin and his companions remained about three months, treated kindly and trusted by their captors : at the end of that time, he met with a band of Frenchmen, headed by one Sieur du Luth, who, in pursuit of trade and game, had pene- trated thus far by the route of Lake Superior; and, with these fellow countrymen the Franciscian returned to the borders of civilized life, in November, 1680, just after La Salle had gone back to the wilderness as we have related. Hennepin soon after went to France, where, in 1684, he published a work narrating his adventures.* To return again to the Chevalier himself, he met Tonti, as we have said, at Mackinac, in June, 1681 ; thence he went down the lakes to Fort Frontenac, to make the needful preparations for prosecuting his western discoveries ; these being made, w^e find him, in August, 1681, on his way up the lakes again, and on the 3d of November at the St. Josephs, as fvdl of confidence as ever. The middle of December had come, however, before all were ready to go forward, and then, with twenty-three Frenchmen, eighteen eastern Indians, ten Indian W'omen to wait upon their lazy mates, and three children, he started, not as before by the way of the Kankakee, but by the Chicago river, travelling on foot and with the baggage on sledges. It was upon the 5th or 6th of January, 1682, that the band of explorers left the borders of Lake Michigan ; they crossed the portage, passed down to Fort Crevecceur, which they found in good condition, and still * This volume, called " A Description of Louisiana," he, thirteen years afterwards, enlarged and altered, and published with the title, " New Discovery of a Vast Country situated in America, between New Mexico and the Frozen Ocean." In this new pub- lication, he claimed to have violated La Salle's instructions, and in the first place to have gone down the Mississippi to its mouth, before ascending it. His claim was very naturally doubted ; and examination has proved it to be a complete fable, the materials having been taken from an account published by Le Clercq in 1691, of La Salle's suc- cessful voyage down the great river of the West, a voyage of which we have presently to speak. This account of Le Clercq's was drawn from tlie letters of Father Zenobe Membrc, a priest who was with La Salle, and is the most valuable published work in relation to the final expedition from Canada, made by that much-tried and dauntless commander. The whole subject of Hennepin's credibility, is presented by Mr. Sparks, in his life of La Salle, with great fairness and precision, and to that we refer all curious readers. ■f'. 1682. La Salle at mouth of Mississippi. 17 going forward, on the 6th of February, were upon the banks of the Mississippi. On the thirteenth they commenced their down- ward passage, but nothing of interest occurred until, on the 26th of the month, at the Chickasaw Bluffs, a Frenchman, named Prudhomme, w^ho had gone out with others to hunt, was lost, a circumstance which led to the erection of a fort upon the spot, named from the missing man, who was found, however, eight or nine days afterwards. Pursuing their coursCj they at length, upon the 6th of March, 1682, discovered the three passages by which the Mississippi discharges its waters into the Gulf; and here we shall let La Salle himself tell his story, as it is given in the " Proces-verbal" which Mr. Sparks has translated from the original in the French archives. It thus proceeds : " We landed on the bank of the most western channel, about three leagues from its mouth. On the 7th, M. de la Salle went to reconnoitre the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonty likewise examined the great middle channel. They found these two outlets beautiful, large and deep. On the 8th, we reascended the river, a little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place, beyond the reach of inundations. The elevation of the North Pole was here about twenty-seven degrees. Here we pre- pared a column and a cross, and to the said column were affixed the arms of France, with this inscription ; LOUIS LE GRAND, ROI DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, REGNE ; LE NEUVIEME AVRIL, 1682. The whole party, under arms, chaunted the Te Denm, the Exau- diat, the Domine salvum fac Begem; and then, after a salute of firearms and cries of Vive le Roi, the column was erected by M. de la Salle, who, standing near it, said, with a loud voice in French ; — " ' In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victo- rious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth, of that name, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, I, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, har- bors, ports, bays, adjacent straits; and all the nations, people, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, 2 18 La Salle at mouth of Mississippi. 1682. streams, and rivers, comprised in the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, on the eastern side, otherwise called Ohio, Alighin, Sipore, or Chukagona, and this with the consent of the Chaounons, Chichachaws, and other peo- ple dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance; as also along the River Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the country of the Kious or Nadouessious, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Motantees, Illinois, Mesigameas, Natches, Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance either by ourselves, or by others in our be- half;* as far as its mouth at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, about the twenty-seventh degree of the elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth of the River of Palms ; upon the assurance, w^hich we have received from all these nations, that we are the first Europe- ans who have descended or ascended the said River Colbert; hereby protesting against all those, who may in future undertake to invade any or all of these countries, people, or lands, above described, to the prejudice of the right of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations herein named. Of which, and of all that can be needed, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the Notary, as required by law.' " To which the whole assembly responded wdth shouts of Vive le Roi, and with salutes of firearms. Moreover, the said Sieur de la Salle caused to be buried at the foot of the tree, to which the cross was attached, a leaden plate, on one side of which were engraved the arms of France, and the following Latin inscription. LVDOVICVS MAGNVS REGNAT. NONO APRTLIS CIO IOC LXXXII. ROBERTVS CAVELIER, CVM DOMINO DE TONTY, LEGATO, R. P. ZENO- BIO MEMBRE, RECOLLECTO, ET VIGINTI GALLIS PRIMVS HOC FLVMEN, INDE AB ILINEORVM PAGO, ENAVIGAVIT, EJVSQVE OSTIVM FECIT PER- VIVVM, NONO APRILIS ANNI CIO IOC LXXXII. After which the Sieur de la Salle said, that his Majest}^-, as eldest son of the Church, would annex no country to his crown, without making it his chief care to establish the Christian religion therein, * There is an obscurity in this enumeration of places and Indian nations, wliicli may "be ascribed to an ignorance of the geography of the country ; but it seems to be the design of the Sieur de la Salle to take possession of the whole territory watered by the ISIississippi from its mouth to its source, and by tlie streams flowing into it on both sides. Sparke. 1.683. La Salle saUsfor France. 19 :and that its symbol must now be planted ; which was accordingly done at once by erecting a cross, before which the Vexilla and the Domine salvumjcic Regem were sung. Whereupon the ceremony was concluded with cries of Vive h RoL " Of all and every of the above, the said Sieur de la Salle having required of us an instrument, we have delivered to him the ^same, signed by us, and by the undersigned witnesses, this ninth ■day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two. " LA METAIRE, JYotary. De LA Salliv, Pierre You. P. Zenobe, Recollect, Missionary, Gilles Meucret, Henry de Tonty, Jean Michel, Surgeon^ Frakcois de B01SROJVDET5 Jean Mas. Jean Bourdon. Jean Dulignon. Sieur d'Autray, Nicholas de la Salle. Jaques Cauchois," Thus was the foundation fairly laid for the claim of France to the Mississippi Valley, according to the usages of European powers. But La Salle and his companions could not stay to examine the land they had entered, nor the coast they had reached. Provisions witli them were exceedingly scarce, and they were forced at once to start upon their return for the north. This they did without serious trouble, although somewhat annoyed by the savages, until they reached Fort Prudhomme, where La Salle was taken vio- lently sick. Finding himself unable to announce his success in person, the Chevalier sent forward Tonti to tlie lakes to communi- cate with the Count de Frontenac : he himself was unable to reach the fort at the mouth of the St, Joseph's, until toward the last of September. From that post he sent with his despatches, Father Zenobe, to represent him in France, while he pursued the more lu- crative business of attending to his fur trade in the north-west, and completing his long projected fort of St. Louis, upon the high and commanding bluff of the Illinois, now known as Rock Fort; a bluff two hundred and fifty feet high, and accessible only on one side. Having seen this completed, and the necessary steps taken to pre- serve a good understanding with the Indians, and also to keep up a good trade with them, in the autumn of 1683, the Chevalier sailed for his native land, which he reached, December 13th. At one time he had thought probably of attempting to establish a colony on the Mississippi, by means of supplies and persons sent 20 La Salle in France. 1684^ from Canada ; but farther reflection led him to believe his true course to be to go direct from France to the mouth of the Missis- sippi, witli abundant means for settling and securing the country; and to obtain the necessary ships, stores, and emigrants, was the- main purpose of his \dsit to Europe. But he found his fair fame in danger, in the court of his king. His success, his wide plans, and his overbearing character were- all calculated to make him ene- mies; and among the foremost was La Barre, Avho had succeeded Frontenac as governor of Canada. But La Salle had a most able advocate in France, so soon as he was there in person ; and the whole nation being stirred by the story of the new discoveries, of which Hennepin had widely pro- mulgated his first account some months before La Salle's return,, our hero found ears open to drink in his words, and imaginations warmed to make the most of them. The minister, Seignelay, desired to see the adventurer, and he soon won his way to what- ever heart that man had ; for it could not have required much talk wath La Salle to have been satisfied of his sincerfty, enthusiasm, energy, and bravery. The tales of the new governor fell dead, therefore, and the king listened to the prayer of his subject, that a fleet might be sent to take possession of the mouth of the Missis- sippi, and so that great country of which he told them be secxired to France. The king listened ; aipd soon the town of RochelTe was busy with the stir of artisans, ship-riggers, adventurers, soT- diersy sailors, and all that varied crowd which in those days looked into the dim West for a land where wealth was to be had for the seeking. On the 24th of July, 1684, twenty-four vessels sailed from Rochelle to America, four of which were for the discovery and settlement of the famed Louisiana. These four carried two hund- red and eighty persons, including the crews ; there were soldiers, artificers, and volunteers, and also "some young women." There is no doubt that this brave fleet started full of light hearts, and vast, vague hopes; but, alas! it had scarce started when discord began ; for La Salle and the commander of the fleet, M. de Beau- jeu, were well fitted to quarrel one Math the other, but never to work together. In truth La Salle seems to haA'e been nowise amiable, for he was overbearing, harsh, and probably selfish to the full extent to be looked for in a man of worldly ambition. However, in one of the causes of quarrel which arose during the passage, he acted, if not with policy, certainly with boldness and 1685. La 'Salle in Gulf of Mexico. 21 humanity. It was when they came to the Tropic of Cancer, where, in those times, it was customary to baptize all green hands, as is still sometimes done under the Equator. On this occasion, the sailors of La Salle's little squadron promised themselves rare sport and much plunder, grog, and other good things, the forfeit paid by those who do not wish a seasoning; but all these expectations were stopped, and hope turned irito hate, by the express and emphatic statement on the part of La Salle, that no man under his command should be ducked, whereupon the commander of the fleet was forced to forbid the ceremony. With such beginnings of bickering and dissatisfaction the Atlantic was slowly crossed, and, upon the 20th of September, the island of St. Domingo was reached. Here certain arrange- ments were to be made with the colonial authorities; but, as they were away, it became necessary to stop there for a time. And a sad time it was. The fever seized the new-comers; the ships were crow^ded with si<;k; La Salle himself was brought to the verge of the grave ; and, when he recovered, the first news that greeted him, was that of his four vessels, the one wherein he had embarked his stores and implements, had been taken by the Span- iards. The sick man had to bestir himself thereupon to procure new supplies ; and while he was doing so, his enemies were also bestirring themselves to seduce his men from him, so that what with death and desertion, he was likely to have a small crew at the last. But energy did much ; and, on the 25th of November, the first of the remaining vessels, she that was "to carry the light," sailed for the coast of America. In her w^ent La Salle, and the historian of the voyage, Joutel. For a whole month were the disconsolate sailors sailing, and sounding, and stopping to take in water and shoot alligators, and drifting in utter uncertainty, until, on the 2Sth of December, the mainland was fairly discovered. But "there being" as Joutel says, " no man among them who had any knowledge of that Bay," and there being also an impression that they must steer very much to the westward to avoid the currents, it was no wonder they missed the Mississippi, and wandered far beyond it, not knowing where they went ; and so wore away the whole month of January, 1685. At last. La Salle, out of patience, determined to land some of his men, and go along the shore toward the point where he believed the mouth of the Mississippi to be, and Joutel was appointed one of the commanders of this exploring party. They 22 La SalTe in Matagorda Bay,. 1685. started on the 4th of February, and travelled eastward, (for it was- clear that they had passed the river) during three days, when they came to a great stream which they coadd not cross, having nO' boats. Here they made fire signals, and, on the 13th, two of the vessels came in sight; the mouth of the river, or entrance of the bay, for such it proved to be, was forth^vith sounded, and the barks sent in to be under shelter. But„ sad to say. La Salle's old fortune was at work here again ; for the vessel which bore his provisions and most valuable stores, was run upon a shoal by the grossest neglect, or, as Joutel thinks, with malice prepense; and, soon after, the wind coming in strong from the sea, she fell to- pieces in the night, and the bay was full af casks and packages, which could not be saved, or were worthless w^hen drawn from the salt water. From this untimely fate our poor adventurer res- cued but a small half of his second stock of indispensables. And here, for a moment, let us pause to look at the Chevalier's condition in the middle of March, 1685. Beaujeu, with his ship,, is gone, leaving his comrades in the marshy wilderness, with not much of joy to look forward to. They had gims, and powder, and shot; eight cannon, too, "but not one bullet," that is, can- non-ball, the naval gentlemen having refused to give them any. And here are our lonely settlei-s, building a fort upon the shores of the Bay of St. Louis, as they called it, known to us as the Bay of St. Bernard, or Matagorda Bay, in Texas. They build from the wreck of their ship, we cannot think with light hearts; every plank and timber tells of past ill luck, and, as they look forward, there is vision of irritated savages (for there had been warring already,) of long search for the Hidden River* of toils and dan- gers in its ascent w^hen reached. No wonder, that " during that time several men deserted." So strong was the fever for deser- tion, that, of some who stole a^^^*y and were retaken, it was found necessary to execute one. And now La Salle prepares to issue from his nearly completed fort, to look round and see where he is. He has still a good force, some hundred and fifty people ; and, by prompt and detennined action, much may be done between this last of March and next autumn. In the first place, the river falling into the Bay of St. Louis is examined, and a new fort commenced in that neighbor- hood, w^here seed is planted also ; for the men begin to tire of meat and fish, with spare allowance of bread, and no vegetables. * So the Spaniards called the Mississippi. 1685. La Sulk in Texas. ^% But the old luck is at work still. The seed will not sprout; men desert ; the fort goes forward miserably slow ; and at last, three months and more gone to no purpose, Joutel and his men, who are still hewing timber at the first fort, are sent for, and told to bring their timber with them in a float. The float or raft was begun "with immense labor," says the wearied historian, but all to no purpose, for the weather was so adverse, that it had to be all taken apart again and buried in the sand. Empty-handed, therefore, Joutel sought his superior, the effects being left at a post by the way. And he came to a scene of desolation ; men sick, and no houses to put them in ; all the looked-for crop blasted ; and not a ray of comfort from any quarter. "Well," said La Salle, "we must now muster all hands, and build ourselves ' a large lodgment.' " But there was no timber within a league ; and not a cart nor a bullock to be had, for the buffaloes, though abundant, were ill broken to such labor. If done, this dragging must be done by men ; so, over the long grass and weeds of the prairie-plain, they dragged some sticks, with vast suffering. Afterwards the carriage of a gun w^as tried ; but it would not do ; "the ablest men were quite spent." Indeed, heaving and hauling over that damp plain, and under that July sun, might have tried the constitution of the best of Africans; and of the poor Frenchmen thirty died, worn out. The carpenter was lost; and, worse still. La Salle, wearied, worried, disappointed, lost his temper and insulted his men. So closed July; the Che- valier turned carpenter, marking out the tenons and mortises of what timber he could get, and growing daily more cross. In March he thought much might be done before autumn, and now autumn stands but one month removed from him, and not even a house built yet. And August soon passed too, not without results, however ; for the timber that had been buried below was got up, and a second house built, "all covered with planks and bullock's hides over them." And now once more was La Salle ready to seek the Mississippi. First, he tliought he would try with the last of the four barks with which he left France; the bark La Belle, "a little frigate carrying six guns," which the King had given our Chevalier to be his navy. But, after having put all his clothes and valuables on board of her, he determined to try with twenty men to reach bis object by land. This was in December, 1685. From this 24 La Salle in Texas. 1686. expedition he did not return until March, 1686, when he came to his fort again, ragged, hatless, and worn down, with six or seven followers at his heels, his travels having been all in vain. It was not very encouraging ; but, says Joutel, " we thought only of mak- ing ourselves as merry as we could." The next day came the rest of the party, who had been sent to find the little frigate, which should have been in the bay. They came mournfully, for the little frigate could not be found, and she had all La Salle's best effects on board. The bark was gone ; but our hero's heart was still beating in his bosom, a little cracked and shaken, but strong and iron-bound still. So, borrowing some changes of linen from Joutel, toward the latter end of April, he again set forth, he and twenty men, each with his pack, " to look for his river," as our writer aptly terms it. Some days after his departure, the bark La Belle came to light again ; for she was not lost, but only ashore. Deserted by her forlorn and diminished crew, however, she seems to have been suffered to break up and go to pieces in her own w^ay, for we hear no more of the little frigate. And now, for a time, things went on pretty smoothly. There was even a marriage at the fort ; and " Monsieur le Marquis la Sabloniere" wished to act as groom in a second, but Joutel abso- lutely refused. By and by, however, the men, seeing that La Salle did not return, " began to mutter." There were even pro- posals afloat to make away with Joutel, and start upon a new enterprise ; the leader in w^hich half-formed plan was one Sieur Duhaut, an unsafe man, and inimical to La Salle, who had, proba- bly, maltreated him somewhat. Joutel, however, learned the state of matters, and put a stop to all such proceedings. Know- ing idleness to be a root of countless evils, he made his men work and dance as long as there was vigor enough in them to keep their limbs in motion ; and in such manner the summer passed away, until in August La Salle returned. He had been as far as the sources of the Sabine, probably, but had suffered greatly; of the twenty men he had taken with him, only eight came back, some having fallen sick, some having died, and others deserted to the Indians. He had not found " his river," though he had been so far in that direction ; but he came back full of spirits, "which," says our writer, " revived the lowest ebb of hope." He was all ready, too, to start again at once, to seek the Missis- sippi, and go onward to Canada, and thence to France, to get new 1687. La Salle starts for the Mississippi. 25 recruits and supplies; but, "it was determined to let the great heats pass before that enterprise was taken in hand." And the heats passed, but with them our hero's health, so that the pro- posed journey was delayed from time to time until the 12th of January, 1687. On that day started the last company of La Salle's adventurers. Among them went Joutel, and also the discontented Duhaut ; and all took their " leaves with so much tenderness and sorrow as if they had all presaged that they should never see each other more." They went northwest along the bank of the river on which their fort stood, until they came to where the streams running toward the coast were fordable, and then turned eastward. From the 12th of January until the 15th of March did they thus journey across that southern country, crossing " curious meadows," through which ran " several little brooks, of very clear and good water," which, with the tall trees, all of a size, and planted as if by aline, "afforded a most delightful landskip." They met many Indians too, with whom La Salle established relations of peace and friendship. Game was abundant, " plenty of fowl and par- ticularly of turkeys," was there, which was " an ease to their suf- ferings" ; and so they still toiled on in shoes of green bullocks' hide, which, dried by the sun, pinched cruelly, until, following the tracks of the buffaloes, who choose by instinct the best ways, they had come to a pleasanter country than they had yet passed through, and were well on toward the long-sought Father of Waters. On the 15th of March, La Salle, recognising the spot where they then were as one through which he had passed in his former journey, and near which he had hidden some beans and Indian wheat, ordered the Sieurs Duhaut, Hiens, Liotot the Surgeon, and some others, to go and seek them. This they did, but found that the food was all spoiled, so they turned toward the camp again. While coming campward they chanced upon two bullocks, which were killed by one of La Salle's hunters, who was with them. So they sent the commander word that they had killed some meat, and that, if he would have the flesh dried, he might send horses to carry it to the place where he lay ; and, meanwhile, they cut up the bullocks, and took out the marrow-bones, and laid them aside for their own choice eating, as was usual to do. W^hen La Salle heard of the meat that had been taken, he sent his nephew and chief confidant, M. Moranget, with one De Male and his own footman, giving them orders to send all that was fit to the camp at 26 Death of La Salle. 1687. once. M. Moranget, when he came to where Duhaut and tlie rest were, and found that they had laid by for themselves the marrow- bones, became angry, took from them their choice pieces, threat- ened them, and spoke harsh words. This treatment touched these men, already not well pleased, to the quick ; and, when it was night, they took counsel together how they might best have their revenge. The end of such counselling, where anger is foremost, and the wilderness is all about one, needs scarce to be told ; "we will have their blood, all that are of that party shall die," said these malcontents. So, when M. Moranget and the rest had supped and fallen asleep, Liotot the surgeon took an axe, and with few strokes killed them all ; all that were of La Salle's party, even his poor Indian hunter, because he was faithful ; and, lest De Male might not be with them (for him they did not kill,) they forced him to stab M. Moranget, who had not died by the first blow of Liotot's axe, and then threw them out for the carrion -birds to feast on. This murder was done upon the 17th of March. And at once the murderers would have killed La Salle, but he and his men were on the other side of a river, and the water for two days was so high that they could not cross. La Salle, meantime, was growing anxious also ; his nephew so long absent, what meant it? and he went about asking if Duhaut had not been a malcontent ; but none said. Yes. Doubtless there was something in La Salle's heart, which told him his followers had cause to be his foes. It was now the 20th of the month, and he could not forbear setting out to seek his lost relative. Leaving Joutel in command, therefore, he started with a Franciscan monk and one Indian. Coming near the hut which the murderers had put up, though still on the opposite side of the river, he saw car- rion-birds hovering near, and to call attention if any were there, fired a shot. There were keen and watching ears and eyes there ; the gun told them to be quick, for their prey was in the net; so, at once, Duhaut and another crossed the river, and, while the first hid himself among the tall weeds, the latter showed himself to La Salle at a good distance off. Going instantly to meet him, the fated man passed near to the spot where Duhaut was hid. The traitor lay still till he came opposite; then, raising his piece, shot his commander through the head ; after lingering an hour, he died. Thus fell La Salle, on the threshold of success. No man had 1687. Death of La Salle, 27 more strong-Iy all the elements that would have home him safe through, if we except that element Miiich insures affection. "He had a capacity and talent," says Joutel, one of his staunchest friends, "to make his enterprise successful; his constancy, and courage, and extraordinary knowledge in arts and sciences, which rendered him fit for any thing-, together with an indefatigable body, which made him surmount all difficulties, would have procured a glorious issue to his undertaking, had not all those excellent quali- ties been counterbalanced by too haughty a behavior, which some- times made him insupportable, and by a rigidness toward those that were under his command, which at last drew on him an implaca- ble hatred, ^d was the occasion of his death." La Salle died, as far as can be judged, upon a branch of the Brazos.* And now, the leader being killed, his follower toiled on mourn- fully, and in fear, each of the others, ^ — Duhaut assuming the command, — until May. Then there arose a difference among them as to their future course ; and, by and by, things coming to extremities, some of La Salle's murderers turned upon the others, and Duhaut and Liotot were killed by their comrades. This done, the now dominant party determined to remain among the Indians, with whom they then were, and where they found some Avho had been with La Salle in his former expedition, and had deserted. These were living among the savages, painted, and shaved, and naked, with great store of squaws and scalps. But Joutel was not of this way of thinking; he and some others still wished to find the Great River and get to Canada. At last, all consenting, he did, with six others, leave the main body, and take up his march for the Illinois, where he hoped to find Tonti, who should have been all this while at Fort St. Louis. This was in May, 1687. With great labor this little band forced their heavy-laden horses over the fat soil, in which they often stuck fast; and, daring countless dangers, at length, upon the 24th of July, reached the Arkansas, where they found a post containing a few Frenchmen who had been placed there by Tonti. Here they stayed a little while, and then went forward again, and on the 14th of Septem- ber, reached Fort St. Louis, upon the Illinois. At this post, Joutel remained until the following Mai'ch, — that of 168S, — * Sparks, 158. 28 Tontiin Illinois. 1687. when he set off for Quebec, which city he reached on the last of July, just four years having passed since he sailed from Rochelle. Thus ended La Salle's third and last voyage, producing no /permanent settlement; for the Spaniards came, dismantled the fort upon the Bay of St, Louis, and carried away its garrison, and the Frenchmen who had been left elsewhere in the southwest intermingled with the Indians, until all trace of them was lost. And so closed his endeavors, in defeat. Yet he had not worked and suffered in vain. He had thrown open to France and the world an immense and most valuable country; had established several permanent forts, and laid the foundation of more than one settlement there. Peoria, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, to this day, are monuments of La Salle's labors; for, though he founded neither of them, (unless Peoria, which was built nearly upon the site of Fort CreveccEur,) it w^as by those whom he led into the West, that these places were peopled and civilized- He was, if not the discoverer, the first settler of the Mississippi Valley, and as such deserves to be known and honored,* Tonti, left by La Salle when he sailed for France after reach- ing the Gulf Mexico in 1682, remained as commander of that f^ Rock Fort of St. Louis, which he had begun in 1680. Here he stayed, swaying absolutely the Indian tribes, and acting as viceroy over the unknown and uncounted Frenchmen who w^ere beginning to wander through tliat beautiful country, making discoveries of which we have no records left. In 1686, looking to meet La Salle, he went down to the mouth of the Mississippi ; but discov- ering no signs of his old comrade, turned northward again, and reaching his fort on the Illinois, found work to do ; for the Iro- quois, long threatening, were now in the battle-field, backed by the English, and Tonti, with his western wild allies, was forced to march and fight. Engaged in this business, he appears to us at intervals in the pages of Charlevoix; in the fall of 1687 we have him with Joutel, at Fort St. Louis; in April, 1689, he sud- denly appears to us at Crevecceur, revealed by the Baron La Hontan; and again, early in 1700, D'Iberville is visited by him at the mouth of the Mississippi. After that we see him no more, and the Biographie Universelle tells us, that, though he remained * The authorities in relation to La Salle are Hennepin ; a narrative publislied in the name of Tonti in 1697, but disclaimed by him ; (Charlevoix iii. 365. — Letlres edifantes letter of Marest, xi. 308, original edition. Introduction to Sparks' Life of La Salle :) the work of Le Clercq, already mentioned ; Joutel's Journalj and Sparks' Life; the last is especially valuable. IG87. Adventures of La Hontan. 29 many years, in Louisiana, he finally was not there ,' but of hi's death, or departure thence, no one knows. Next in sequence, we have a glimpse of the above-named Ba- ron La Hontan, discoverer of the Long' River, and, as that disco- very seems to prove, drawer of a somewhat long bow. By his volumes, published a la Haye, in ]706, we learn, that he too warred against the L-oquois in 1687 and 1688; and, having gone so far w^estward as the Lake of the Illhiois, thought he would con- tribute his mite to the discoveries of those times. So, with a suf- ficient escort, he crossed, by Marquette's old route Fox River and the Wisconsin, to the Mississippi; and, turning up that stream, sailed thereon till he came to the mouth of a river, called Long River, coming from the West. This river emptied itself (as ap- pears by his map) nearly where the St. Peter's does in our day. Upon this stream, one of immense size, our Baron sailed for eighty and odd days, meeting the most extensive and civilized Indian nations of which we have any account in those regions; and, after his ei^ty and odd days' sailing, he got less than half-way to the head of this gi-eat river, which was, indeed, not less than two thousand miles long, and, as he learned from the red men, who drew him a map of its course above his stopping-point, led to a lake, whence another river led to the South Sea ; so that at lasl the great problem of those days w^as solved, and the wealth of China and the East thrown open by the Baron de la Hontan.* All this was of course false ; and, even in his own day, though a man of some station, he was thought to be a mere romancer; and yet it may be that the Baron entered the St. Peter's when filled with the back waters of the Mississippi, and heard from the Indians of the connection by it and the Red River with Lake Winnipeg, and the communication between that lake and Hudson's Bay, by Nel- son River, and, looking westward all the while, turned Hudson's Bay into the South Sea.f After La Hontan's alleged discoveries we have few events worth recording in the annals of the north-west previous to 1750. " La Salle's death," says Charlevoix, in one place, "dispersed the French who had gathered upon the Illinois ;" but in another, he speaks of Tonti and twenty Canadians, as established among the * Voyages de La Hontan, vol. i. p. 194. t See map in Long's Second Expedition up the St. Peter-s, and La Hontan-s maps. Also, Nicollet's Report to Congress, in 1843. Nicollet thinks the Cannon River, which he calls " River La Hontan/' was the one entered by the Baron, 30 Kaskaskia Founded. 1693. Illinois three years after the Chevalier's fate was known there.* This, however, is clear, that befbre 1693, the reverend Father Gravicr began a mission among the Illinois, and became the foun- der of Kaskaskia, though in what year we know not; but for some time it was merely a missionary station, and the inhabitants of the village consisted entirely of natives, it being one of three such villages, the other two being Cahokia and Peoria. This we learn from a letter written by Father Gabriel Marest, dated " Aux Cas- caskias, autrement dit de Plmmaculee Conception de la Sainte vierse, le 9 Novembre 1712." In this letter the writer after tell- insf us that Gravier must be regarded as the founder of the Illinois Missions, he having been the first to reduce the principles of the lantruao-e of those Indians to grammatical order, and so to make preaching to them of avail, — goes on near the close of his epistle to say, "These advantages (rivers, &c.) favor tiie design which some French have of establishing themselves in our village. * * If the French who may come among us will edify our Neophytes by their piety and good conduct, nothing would please us bmer than their coming; but if immoral, and perhaps irreligious, as there is reason to fear, they would do more harm than we can do good."f Soon after the founding of Kaskaskia, though in this case also we are ignorant of the year, the missionary Pinet gathered a flock at Cahokia ;:j: while Peoria arose near the remains of Fort Creveca;ur.|l An unsuccessful attempt was also made to found a colony on the Ohio,§ it failed in consequence of sickness. In the north De la Motte Cadillac, in June, 1701, laid the foun- dation of Fort Pontchartrain on the Strait, (le Detroit :)1I while in * New France, vol. iii. pp. 395, 383. t Bancroft, iii. 195. LeUres Edifiantes, (Paris 17S1,) S2S, 339, 375. Hall and others speak of the Kaskaskia records as containing deeds dated 1712; these may have been to the French referred to by Marest, or perhaps to converted Indian.s'; \ Bancroft, iii 196. II There was an Old Peoria on the northwest shore of the lake of that name, a mile and a half above the outlet. From 1778 to 1796 the inhabitants left; this for New Peoria, (Fort Clark,) at the outlet. American State Papers, xviii. 476. § Judge Law, in liis Address of February, 1839, before the Vincennes Historical So- ciety, contends that this post was on the Wabash, and at Vincennes, (p. 1-1, 15, and note B.) Charlevoix, (ii. 266, edition 1744,) says it was "a Ventree de la Eiviere Oiinhnrhc, qui se (hchaifrp dafis le JMicissipi, ifc." — "At the entrance (or mouth) of the River Ouabachc which discharges itself into the Mississippi." The name Ouabache was ap- |)lied to the Ohio below the mouth of what we now call the Wabash. See all the more ancient maps, &.c. H Charlevoix, ii. ;84. — Le Detroit was the whole Strait from Eric to Huron. (Cliarlc- voix, ii. 269, note: sec also his Journal) The first grants of land at I>:troit, i, c. Fort 1699. DUberville at mouth of Mississippi. 31 the southwest efforts were making to realize the dreams of La Salle. The leader in the last named enterprise was Lemoine d'Iberrille, a Canadian officer, who, from 1694 to 1697, distin- guished himself not a little by battles and conquests among the icebergs of the " Baye d'Udson" or Hudson's Bay.* He having, in the year last named, returned to France, proposed to the minister to try, what had been given up since La Salle's sad fate, the discovery and settlement of Louisiana by sea. The Count of Pontchartrain, who was then at the head of marine affairs, w^as led to take an interest in the proposition ; and, upon the 17th of October, 1698, D'Iberville took his leave of France, handsomely equipped for the expedition, and with two good ships to forward him in his attempt. f Of this D'Iberville we have no very clear notion, except that he was a man of judgment, self-possession, and prompt action. Gabriel Marest presents him to us in the " Baye d'Udson," his ships crow^led and almost crushed by the ice, and his brother, a young, bright boy of nineteen, his favorite brother, just killed by a chance shot from the English fort which they were besieging;^ and there the commander stands on the icy deck, the cold October wind singing in the shrouds, and his dead brother waiting till their lives are secured before he can receive Christian burial, — there he stands, " moved exceedingly," says the missionary, — but giving his orders with a calm face, full tone, and clear mind. " He put his trust on God," says Father Gabriel, " and God consoled him from that day ; the same tide brought both his vessels out of dan- ger, and bore them to the spot where they were wanted. "f Such was the man who, upon the 31st of January, 1699, let go his anchor in the Bay of Mobile. Having looked about him at this spot, he went thence to seek the great river called by the savages, says Charlevoix, " Malbouchia," and by the Spaniards, " la Palissade," from the great number of trees about its mouth. Searching carefully, upon the 2d of March, our commander found and entered the Hidden River, whose mouth had been so Ions: and unsuccessfully sought. As soon as this was done, one of the vessels returned to France to carry thither the news of D'lber- ville's success, wdiile he turned his prow^ up the Father of Waters. Poi.tchartrain, v.-ere made in 1707. — (See American State Papers, xvi. 263 to 284 Lan- inan's History of Michigan, 336.) * New France, vol. iii. pp. 215, 299.— Lettres Edif antes, vol. x. p. 2^0. t New France, vol. iii. p. S77. :j; Lettres Edifantes, vol. x. p. .300. 32 The English claim the Mississippi. 1700. Slowly ascending the yast stream, he found himself puzzled by the little resemblance which it bore to that described by Tonti and by Hennepin. So great were the discrepancies, that he had begun to doubt if he were not upon the wrong stream, when an Indian chief sent to him Tonti's letter to La Salle, on which, through thirteen years, those wild men had been looking with wonder and awe. Assured by this that he had indeed reached the desired spot, and wearied probably by his tedious sail thus far, he returned to the Bay of Biloxi, between the Mississippi and the Mobile ■waters, built a fort in that neighborhood, and, having manned it in a suitable manner, returned to France himself.* While he was gone, in the month of September, 1699, the lieu- tenant of his fort, M. De Bienville, went round to explore the mouths of the Mississippi, and take soundings. Engaged in this business, he had rowed up the main entrance some twenty-five leagues, when, unexpectedly, and to his no little chagrin, a British corvette came in sight, a vessel carrying twelve cannon, slowly creeping up the swift current. M. Bienville, nothing daunted, though he had but his leads and lines to do battle with, spoke up, and said, that, if this vessel did not leave the river without delay, he had force enough at hand to make her repent it. All which had its effect; the Britons about ship and stood to sea again, growling as they went, and saying, that they had discovered that country fifty years before, that they had a better right to it than the French, and would soon make them know it. The bend in the river, where this took place, is still called "English Turn." This was the first meeting of those rival nations in the Mississippi Valley, which, from that day, was a bone of contention between them till the conclusion of the French war of 1756. Nor did the matter rest long with this visit from the corvette. Englishmen began to creep over the mountains from Carolina, and, trading with the Chicachas, or Chickasaws of our day, stirred them up to acts of enmity against the French. When D'Iberville came back from France, in January, 1700, and heard of these things, he determined to take possession of the country anew, and to build a fort upon the banks of the Missis- sippi itself. vSo, with due form, the vast valley of the West was again sworn in to Louis, as the whole continent through to the South Sea had been previously sworn in by the English to the / Charleses and Jameses; and, what was more effectual, a little fort i * New France vol. iii. p. rSO, el. scq. 1712. Louisiana granted to Crozat. 33 was built, and four pieces of cannon placed thereon. But even this was not much to the purpose ; for it soon disappeared, and the marshes about the mouth of the Great River were again, as they had ever been, and long must be, uninhabited by men. D'Iberville, in the next place, having been visited and guided up the river by Tonti in 1^00, proposed to found a city among the Natchez, — a city to be named, in honor of the Countess of Pontchartrain, Rosalie. Indeed, he did pretend to lay the corner- stone of such a place, though it was not till 1714 that the fort called Rosalie was founded, where the city of Natchez is standing at this day. Having thus built a fort at the mouth of the Great River, and designated a choice spot above for a settlement, D'Iberville once more sought Europe, having, before he left, ordered M. Le Sueur to go up the Mississippi in search of a copper mine, which that person- age had previously got a clue to, upon a branch of the St. Peter's river;* which order was fulfilled, and much metal obtained, though at the cost of great suffering. Mining was always a Jack- a-lantern with the first settlers of America, and our French friends were no wiser than their neighbors. The products of the soil were, indeed, scarce thought valuable on a large scale, it being supposed that the wealth of Louisiana consisted in its pearl- fishery, its mines, and the wool of its wild cattle. f In 1701 the commander came again, and began a new establishment upon the river Mobile, one which superseded that at Biloxi, w^hich thus far had been the chief fort in that southern colony. After this things went on but slowly until 1708 ; D'Iberville died on one of his voyages between the mother country and and her sickly daughter, and after his death little was done. In 1708, however, M. D'Artagnette came from France as commissary of Louisiana, and, being a man of spirit and energy, did more for it than had been done before. But it still lingered ; and, under the impression that a private man of property might manage it better than the government could, the king, upon the 14th of September, 1712, granted to Crozat, a man of great wealth, the monopoly of Louisi- ana for fifteen years, and the absolute ownership of whatever mines he might cause to be opened. | * Charlevoix, vol. iv. pp. 162, 164, In Long's Second Expedition, p. 318, may be seen a detailed account of Le Sueur's proceedings, taken from a manuscript statement of them. t Charlevoix, vol. iii. p. 389. ;f The grant may be found Land Laws 944. 3 34 Mississippi Company. 1717. Crozat, witli whom was associated Cadillac, the founder of Detroit and governor of Louisiana, relied mainly upon two things for success in his speculation; the one, the discovery of mines; the other, a lucrative trade with New Mexico. In regard to the first, after many years' labor, he was entirely disappointed ; and met with no better success in his attempt to open a trade with the Spaniards, although he sent to them both by sea and land. Crozat, therefore, being disappointed in his mines and his trade, and having, withal, managed so badly as to diminish the colony, at last, in 1717, resigned his privileges to the king again, leaving in Louisiana not more than seven hundred souls. Then followed the enterprises of the far-famed Mississippi Com- pany or Company of the West, established to aid the immense banking and stock-jobbing speculations of John Law, a gambling, wandering Scotchman, who seems to have been possessed with the idea that wealth could be indefinitely increased by increasing the circulating medium in the form of notes of credit. The pub- lic debt of France was selling at 60 to 70 per cent, discount ; Law was authorized to establish a bank of circulation, the shares in which might be paid for in public stock at par, and to induce the public to subscribe for the bank shares, and to confide in them, the Company of the West was established in connection with the Bank, having the exclusive right of trading in the Mississippi country for twenty-five years, and with the monopoly of the Canada beaver trade. This was in September, 1717; in 1718 the monopoly of tobacco was also granted to this favored creature of the State; in 1719, the exclusive right of trading in Asia, and the East Indies; and soon after the farming of the public revenue, together with an extension of all these privileges to the year 1770 ; and as if all this had been insufl[icient, the exclusive right of coining, for nine years, was next added to the immense grants already made to the Company of the West.* Under this hotbed system, the stock of the Company rose to 500, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and at last 2050 per cent. ; this was in April, 1720. At that time the notes of the bank in circulation exceeded two hundred millions of dollars, and this abundance of money raised the price of every thing to twice its true value. Then the bubble burst ; decree after decree was made to uphold the tottering fabric of false credit, but in vain ; in January, 1720, Law had been • After 1719, called the Company of the Indies. 1718. JVew Orleans laid out. 35 made minister of finance, and as such he proceeded first, to forbid all persons to hare on hand more than about one hundred dollars in specie, any amount beyond that must be exchanged for paper, and all payments for more than twenty dollars were to be made in paper ; and this proving insufficient, in March, all payments over two dollars were ordered to be in paper, and he who dared at- tempt to exchange a bill for specie forfeited both. Human folly could go no farther; in April the stock began to fall, in May the Company was regarded as bankrupt, the notes of the bank fell to ten cents on the dollar, and though a decree made it an ofTence to refuse them at par they were soon worth little more than waste paper. Under the direction of a Company thus organized and controll- ed, and closely connected with a bank so soon ruined, but little could be hoped for a colony which depended on good manage- ment to develop its real resources for trade and agriculture.* In 1718, colonists were sent from Europe, and New Orleans laid out with much ceremony and many hopes; but in January, 1722, Charlevoix writing thence, says, *' if the eight hundred fine houses and the five parishes that were two years since represented by the journals, as existing here, shrink now to a hundred huts, built x^dthout order, — a large wooden magazine, — two or three houses that would do but little credit to a French village, — and half of an old store-house, which was to have been occupied as a chapel, but from which the priests soon retreated to a tent as preferable, — if all this is so, still how pleasant to think of what this city will one day be, and instead of weeping over its decay and ruin to look forward to its growth to opulence and power."! And again, *' The best idea you can form of New Orleans, is to imagine two hundred persons, sent to build a city, but who have encamped on the river-bank, just sheltered from the weather, and waiting for houses. — They have a beautiful and regular plan for this metropo- lis, but it will prove harder to execute than to draw."| Such, not in words precisely but in substance, were the representations and hopes of the wise historian of New France, respecting the capital of the colony of Law's great corporation ; and we may be sure that with the chief place in such a condition, not much had been * A set of regulations for governing the Company, passed in 1721, may be found in Dillon's Indiana, 41 to 44. t Charlevois, iii. 430— ed. 1744. \ Charlevois, iii. 441 — ed. 1744. 36 Massacre by JVatchez^ 1729. done for the permanent improvement of the country about it. The truth was, the same prodigahty and folly which prevailed in France during the government of John Law, over credit and commerce, found their way to his western possessions; and though the colony then planted, survived, and the city then founded be- came in time what had been hoped, — it was long before the in- fluence of the gambling mania of 1718, 19 and 20, passed away. Indeed the returns from Louisiana never repaid the cost and trouble of protecting it, and, in 1732, the Company asked leave to surrender their privileges to the crown, a favoi- wdiich was granted them. But though the Company of the West did little for the enduring welfare of the Mississippi valley, it did something ; the cultivation of tobacco, indigo, rice and silk, was introduced, the lead mines of Missouri were opened, though at vast expense and in hope of finding silver ; and, in Illinois, the culture of wheat began to assume some degree of stability, and of importance. In the neighborhood of the River Kaskaskias, Charlevoix found three villages, and about Fort Chartres, the head quarters of the Com- pany in that region, the French were rapidly settling. All the time, how^ever, during which the great monopoly lasted, was, in Louisiana, a time of contest and trouble. The English, who, from an early period, had opened commercial relations with the Chickasaws, through them constantly interfered with the trade of the Mississippi. Along the coast, from Pensacola to the Rio del Norte, Spain disputed the claims of her northern neighbor : and at lenglh the war of the Natchez struck terror into the hearts of both white and red men. Amid that nation, as we have said, D'Iberville had marked out Fort Rosalie, in 1700, and fourteen years later its erection had been commenced. The French, placed in the midst of the natives, and deeming them worthy only of contempt, increased their demands and injuries until they required even the abandonment of the chief town of the Natchez, that the intruders might use its site for a plantation. The inimical Chicka- saws heard the murmurs of their wronged brethren, and breathed into their ears counsels of vengeance ; the sufferers determined on the extermination of their tyrants. On the 28th of November, 1729, every Frenchman in that colony died by the hands of the natives, with the exception of two mechanics : the women and children were spared. It was a fearful revenge, and fearfully did the avengers suffer for their murders. Two months passed by. 1736, TrencJi attack Chickasaws. 37 and the French and Chocktaws in one day took sixty of their scalps ; in three months they were driven from their country and scattered among the neighboring tribes; and within t^'o years the remnants of the nation, chiefs and people, w^ere sent to St. Domingo and sold into slavery. So perished this ancient and peculiar race, in the same year in which the Company of the West yielded its grants into the royal hands. When Louisiana came again into the charge of the government ©f France, it was determined, as a first step, to strike terror into tlie Chickasaws, who, devoted to the English, constantly inter- fered with the trade of the Mississippi. For this purpose the forces of New France, from New Orleans to Detroit, were ordered to meet in the country of the inimical Indians, upon the 10th of May, 1736, to strike a blow which should be final. D'Artaguette, :governor of Illinois, with the young and gallant Vincennes, lead- ing a small body of French and more than a thousand northern Indians, on the day appointed, was at the spot appointed ; but Bien"vdlle, who had returned as the king's lieutenant to that southern land which he had aided to explore, was not where the commanders from above expected to meet him. During ten days they waited, and still saw nothing, heard nothing of the forces from the south. Fearful of exhausting the scant patience of his red allies, at length D'Artaguette ordered the onset ; a first and a second of the Chickasaw stations were carried successfully, but in attacking a third the French leader fell ; when the Illinois saw their commander wounded, they turned and fled, leaving him and de Vincennes, who would not desert him, in the hands of the Chickasaws. Five days afterwards, Bienville and his followers, among whom were great numbers of Choctaws, bribed to bear arms against their kinsmen, came creeping up the stream of tlie Tombecbee ; but the savages were on their guard, English traders had aided them to fortify their position, and the French in vain attacked their log fort. On the 20th of May, D'Artaguette had fallen ; on the 27th, Bienville had failed in his assault ; on the 31st, throwing his cannon into the river, he and his white com- panions turned their prows to the south again. Then came the hour of barbarian triumph, and the successful Chickasaws danced round the flames in which were crackling the sinews of D'Arta- guette, Vincennes, and the Jesuit Senat, who stayed and died of his own free will, because duty bade him. Three years more passed away, and again a French army of 38 . West in 175a. 1750. nearly four thousand white, red and black men was gathered upon the banks of the INIississippi, to chastise the Chickasaws. From the summer of 1739 to the spring of 1740,( this body of men sickened and wasted at Fort Assumption,, upon the site of ^Nlemi- phis. In March of the last named year,, without a blow struck, peace was concluded, and the province of Louisiana once more sunk into inactivity.* Of the ten years which followed,, we know but little that is interesting in relation to the West; and of its condition in 1750,, w^e can give no better idea than may be gathered from the follow- ing extracts of letters written by Vivier, a missionary among the Illinois. Writing " Aux Illinois," six leagues from Fort Chai'tres, June 8th, 1750, Vivier says: "We have here Whites, Negroes and Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds. There are live French villages, and three villages of the natives, within a space of twenty-one leagues, situated between the Mississippi and another river called the Karkadiad (Kaskaskias.) In the five French vil- lages are, perhaps, eleven hundred whites, three hundred blacks, and some sixty red slaves or savages. The three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight hundred souls, all told.f Most o.f the French till the soil ; they raise wheat, cattle, pigs and horses^ and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can be consumed; and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New Orleans." In this letter, also^ Vivier says that which shows Father Marest's fears of French influence over the Indian neophjies to have been well founded. Of the three Illinois towns, he tells uSj one was given up by the missionaries as beyond hope, and in a second but a poor harvest rewarded their labors; and all was owing to the bad example of the French, and the introduction by them of ardent spirits. | Again, in an epistle dated November 17, 1750, Vivier says: * In reference to Crozat, Law, and events in Louisiana, we refer to Bancroft iii.; Penny Cyclopedia, articles '* Law," " Mississippi Company ;'' Charlevoix, vol. ii. ; Du Pratz's Louisiana; Niles's Register, ii. 161, 189; and the collection of documents (mostly official) relative to the Company of the West, published at Amsterdam, in 1730, in the work called " Relations de la Louisiane, et du Fleuve Mississippi," 2 vols. t There was a fourth, (Peoria probably,) eighty leagues distant, nearly an large as the three referred to ; this is stated in another part of the same letter. ■^ Criminals, vagabonds and strumpets, were largely exported to Louisiana, when the first settlements were made. — Father Poisson in Lettrcs EdiliantCF, (Paris^. 17S1,) vi.. 393, &c. 1750. West in 1750. 39 "For fifteen leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi, l5ne sees no dwellings, the ground being too low to be habitable. Thence to New Orleans the lands are only partially occupied. New Orleans, contains, black, white and red, not more, I think, than twelve hundred persons. To this point come all kinds of lumber, bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins and bear's grease ; and above all, pork and flour from the Illinois. These things create some commerce, forty vessels and more have come hither this year. Above New Orleans, plantations are again met with ; the most considerable is a colony of Germans, some ten leagues up the river. At Point Coupee, thirty-five leagues above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within five or six leagues, are not less than sixty ' habitations.' Fifty leagues farther up is the Natchez post, where we have a garrison who are kept prisoners by their fear of the Chickasaws and other savages. Here and at Point Coupee, they raise excellent tobacco. Another hundred leagues bring us to the Arkansas, %vhere we have also a fort and garrison, for the benefit of the river traders. There were some in- habitants about here formerly, but in 1748, the Chickasaws attacked the post, slew many, took thirteen prisoners, and drove the rest, into the fort. From the Arkansas to the Illinois, near five hun- dred leagues, there is not a settlement. There should, however, be a good fort on the Oubache, (Ohio,) the only path by which the English can reach the Mississippi. In the Illinois are numberless mines, but no one to work them as they deserve. Some individuals dig lead near the surface, and supply the Indians and Canada. Two Spaniards now here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are like those of Mexico, and that if we would dig deeper, we should find silver under the lead ; at any rate the lead is excellent. There are also in this country copper mines beyond doubt, as from time to time large pieces are found in the streams."* • Lettres Edifiantes, (Paris, 1781,) vii. 79 to 106, ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AND CLAIMS. We have now sketched the progress of French discovery in the valley of the Mississippi. The first travellers reached that river in 1673, and when the new year of 1750 broke upon the great wilderness of the West, all was still wild except those little spots upon the prairies of Illinois, and among the marshes of Louisiana, which we have already named. Perhaps we ought also to except Vincennes, or St. Vincent's, on the Wabash*, as there is cause to believe that place was settled as early as 1735, at least. But the evidence in relation to this matter is of a kind which we think worth stating, not from the importance of the matter itself, but to illustrate the difficulty which besets an inquirer into certain points of our early western history. Volney, by conjecture, fixes the set- tlement of Vincennes about 1735 rf Bishop Brute of Indiana, speaks of a missionary station there in 1700, and adds, *' The friendly tribes and traders called to Canada for protection, and then M. de Vincennes came with a detachment, I think, of Carig- nan, and was killed in 1735; "| Mr. Bancroft says a military establishment was formed there in 1716, and in 1742, a settlement of herdsmen took place. || Judge Law regards the post as dating back to 1710 or 1711, supposing it to be the same with the Ohio settlement noticed on page 30, and quotes also an Act of Sale, existing at Kaskaskia, (if we understand him aright,) which, in in January, 1735, speaks of M. de Vinsenne, as " Commandant au Poste de Ouabache.§" Again, in a petition of the old inhabi- tants at Vincennes, dated in November, 1793, we find the settle- ment spoken of as having been made before 1742 ;1I and such is the general voice of tradition. On the other hand, Charlevoix, who records the death of Vincennes, which took place among the • Also called Post St. Vincent's and Au Poste or O'Post. t Volney's View, p, 336. ^ Butler's Kentucky, Introduction, xix., note. J History United States, iii. 346. § Law's Address, 1839, p. 21. ■% jVmerican State Papers, xvi. 32. 1750. Founding of Vincennes. 41 Chickasaws, (see ante p. 37,) in 1736, makes no mention of any post on the Wabash, or any missionary station there ; neither does he mark any upon his map, although he gives even the British 'forts upon the Tennessee and elsewhere. Vivier, a part of whose letters we have already quoted, says in 1750 nothing of any mission on the Wabash, although w-riting in respect to western missions, and speaks of the necessity of a fort upon the " Oua- bache ;" by this, it is true, he meant doubtless the Ohio, but how natural to refer to the post at Vincennes, if one existed. In a volume of " Memoires" on Louisiana, compiled from the minutes of M. Dumont and published in Paris, in 1753, but probably pre- pared in 1749,* though we have an account of the Wabash or St. Jerome, its rise and course, and the use made of it by the traders, not a word is found touching any fort, settlement or station on it. Vaudreuil, when Governor of Louisiana, in 1751 mentions even then no post on the Wabash, although he speaks of the need of a post on the Ohio, near to where Fort Massacf or Massacre was built afterwards, and names Fort Miami, on the Maumee.| The records of Vincennes, Judge Law says, show no mission earlier than 1749.11 Still farther, in "The Present State of North Ame- rica," a pamphlet published in London, in 1755, with which is a map of the French posts in the West, we have it stated that in 1750 a fort was founded at Vincennes, and that in 1754, three hundred families were sent to settle about it.§ * Memoires Historiques sur la Louisiane, &c. t Thirty-five or forty miles from the Mississippi. It received its name, as the common tale goes, from the slaughter of its garrison by the Indians, who decoyed the French sol- diers to the river side, by covering themselves with bear skins. The story may be found in Hall's Sketches of the West, i. 181. Nicolet, however, in his Report to Congress, (p. 79,) says it was not named Massac or Massacre, but Marsiac : while the writer of Bouquet's Expedition in 1764, calls it Massiac or Assumption, built in 1757. (Appendix ii. p. 64.) This last is probably the best authority. I Quoted by Pownall, in his Memorial on Service in North America, drawn up in 1756. It forms an appendix to his" Administration of the Colonies," 4th edition, London, 1768. There is also an English map published in 1747, by Kitchen, purposely to show the French settlements, which does not name Vincennes. See also Sparks' Fratikli?i, iii. 2S5. II Address, p. 17. § p. 65. The French forts mentioned in this work, (Present State, &c.) as north of the Ohio, were, Two on French Creek, (Riviere des Bffiufs.) Du Quesne. Sandusky. ' Miamis on Maumee. St. Joseph's on the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan. Pontchartrain at Detroit. (over) 42 * Spotswood crosses the Allegheny. 1710. Such is the state of proof relative to Vincennes : one thing, however, seems certain, which is, that the AV abash was very early frequented. Hennepin, in 1663-4, had heard of the "Hohio"; the route from the lakes to the Mississippi, by the Wabash, was explored in 1676;* and in Hennepin's volume of 1698, is a jour- nal, said to be that sent by La Salle to Count Frontenac, in 1682 or 3, which mentions the route by the Maumeef and Wabash, as the most direct to the great western river. In 1749, therefore, when the English first began to move seri- ously about sending men into the West, there were only the Illi- nois and the lower country settlements, and perhaps Vincennes ; the present States of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, being still substantially in the possession of the Indians. From this, how- ever, it must not be inferred that the English colonists were ignor- ant of, or indifferent to, the capacities of the West, or that the movements of the French were unobserved up to the middle of the eighteenth century. Governor Spotswood of Virginia, as early as 1710, had commenced movements, the object of which was to secure the country beyond the Alleghenies to the English crown. He caused the mountain passes to be examined, and with much pomp and a great retinue, undertook the discovery of the regions on their western side. Then it w^as that he founded " The Tramontine Order," giving to each of those who accompanied him a golden horse-shoe, in commemoration of their toilsome mountain march, upon which they w^ere forced to use horse-shoes, which were sel- dom needed in the soft soil of the eastern vallies. In Pennsylva- nia, also. Governor Keith and James Logan, Secretary of the Province, from 1719 to 1731 represented to the powers in Eng- Massillimacanac. Fox River of Green Bay. Crevecoeur. ' ) T, , T- . v . e. T • ? on the Illinois. Rock Fort, or Fort St. Louis,} vincennes. Mouth of the Wabash. Culiokia. Kaskaskia. Mouth of the Ohio. Mouth of the Missouri. At the mouth of the Scioto, (called in the work just named, the " Sikoder") the French had a post during the war of 1756 ; see Rogers's Journal, London, 1765 ; Post's Journal in Proud's Pennsylvania, vol. ii. App. p. 117. See also Holmes' Annals, ii. 71, 72. * Histoire General dcs Voyages, xiv. 75?. t Until this century, usually called the Miami, and sometimes the Tawa or Ottawa River. 1664. Colonel WoocPs Travels. 43 land, the necessity of taking steps to secure the western lands.* Nothing, however, was done by the government of the mother country, except to take certain diplomatic steps to secure the claim of Britain to those distant and unexplored wildernesses. Eno-land, from the outset, claimed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on the ground that the discovery and possession of the seacoast was a discovery and possession of the country ; and, as is well known, her grants to Virginia, Connecticut, and other colo- nies were through to the South Sea. It was not upon this,, how- ever, that Great Britain relied in her contest with France ; she had other grounds, namely, actual discovery, and purchase or tide of some kind from the Indian owners. Her claim on the score of actual discovery was poorly supported however, and little insisted on. "King Charles the First, in the fifth year of his reign (1630^) granted unto Sir Robert Heath, his attorney-general, a patent of all that part of America," which lies between thirty-one and thirty-six degrees north latitude, from sea to sea. Eight years afterwards. Sir Robert conveyed this very handsome property to Lord Maltravers, who was soon, by his father's death. Earl of Arundel. From him, by we know not what course of conveyance, this grant, which formed the Province of Cai-olana (not Carolina,) came into the hands of Dr. Daniel Coxe, who was, in the opinion of the attorney-general of England, true owner of that Province in the year of D 'Iberville's discovery, 1699.1 In support of the English claim, thus originating, we are told by Dr. Coxe, that, from the year 1654 to the year 1664, one " Colonel Wood in Virginia, inhabiting at the Falls of James river, above a hundred miles west of Chesapeake Bay, discovered at several times, several branches of the great rivers, Ohio and Meschasebe." Nay, the Doctor affirms, that he had himself pos- sessed, in past days, the Journal of a Mr. Needham, who was in the Colonel's employ, which Journal, he adds, "is now in the hands of," &c. The Doctor also states, that about the year 1676, he had in his keeping a Journal, written by some one who had gone from the mouth of the Mississippi, up as far as the Yellow or Muddy river, otherwise called Missouri; and he says, this * Bancroft, iii. 354; Jones's Present State of Virginia, (1724,) 14; Universal History, xl. 192. + A Description of the English Province of Carolana, &c., by Daniel Coxe, Esquire. London 1722. pp. 113 et seq. 44 English Discovenes. 1699. Journal, in almost every particular, was confirmed by the late travels. And still further, Dr. Coxe assures us, that, in 1678, " a considerable number of persons went from New England upon discovery, and proceeded so far as New Mexico, one hundred and fifty leagues beyond the river Meschasebe, and, at their return, rendered an account to the government at Boston ;" for the truth of all which he calls Governor Dudley, who was still living, as witness. Nor had he been idle himself; " apprehending that the planting of this country would be highly beneficial," he tried to reach it first from Carolina, then from " Pensilvania, by the Sus- quehannah river," and "many of his people travelled to New Mexico." He had also made discoveries through the great river Ochequiton, or, as we call it, Alabama; and "more to the north- west, beyond the river Meschasebe," had found " a very great sea of fresh water, several thousand miles in circumference," w^hence a river ran into the South Sea, about the latitude of forty- four degrees, and "through this," he adds, "we are assured the Eno;lish have since entered that great lake." These various statements are, it must be owned, somewhat startling; but, leaving them undisturbed for the present, we can see clearly the bearing of what follows, namely, that the Doctor, in 1698, fitted out two vessels, well armed and manned, one of which (when, we hear not) entered the Mississippi and ascended it above one hundred miles, and then returned, — wherefore, is not specially stated. This was, doubtless, the corvette which M. Bienville turned out of what he considered French domains ; as Charlevoix tells us, that the vessel which Bienville met, was one of two which left England in 1698, armed with thirty-six guns, the same number which Daniel Coxe, the Doctor's son, tells us, were borne by his father's vessels. The English, having thus found their way to the Meschasebe, wished to prosecute the mat- ter, and it was proposed to make there a settlement of the French Huguenots, who had fled to Carolina; but the death of Lord Lonsdale, the chief forwarder of the scheme, put an end to that plan, and we do not learn from Coxe, whose work appeared in 1722, that any further attempts were made by England, whose wars and woes nearer home kept her fully employed. And now, what are we to say to those bold statements by Coxe ; statements contained in his memorial to the King in 1699, and such as could hardly, one would think, be tales a la Hontan^ Colonel Wood's adventures are recorded by no other writer, so 1742. John Howard taken by the French. 45 far as we have read ; for, though Hutchins, who was geographer to the United States when the western lands were first surveyed, refers to Wood, and also to one Captain Bolt, who crossed the Alleghanies in 1670, his remarks are very vague, and he gives us no one to look to, as knowing the circumstances. Of the Boston expedition we know still less ; the story is repeated from Coxe by various pamphlet waiters of those days, when Law's scheme had waked up England to a very decided interest in the West ; but all examinations of contemporary writers, and the town records, have as yet failed to lend a single fact in support of this part of the Doc- tor's tale. While, therefore, there is no doubt that the English, at an early day, had visited the South West, and even had stations on the Tennessee and among the Chickasaws, (see Charlevoix's map,) we cannot, on the other hand, regard the statements made by Coxe as authenticated.— Then we have it also from tradition, that in 1742, John Howard crossed the mountains from Virginia, sailed in a canoe made of a buffalo skin down the Ohio, and was taken by the French on the Mississippi ; * and this tradition is confirmed by a note, contained in a London edition of Du Pratz, printed in 1774, in which the same facts as to Howard are substantially given as being taken from the oflScial report of the Governor of Virginia, at the time of his expedition. But this expedition by Howard, could give England no claim to the West, for he made no settlement, and the whole Ohio valley had doubtless long be- fore been explored by the French f if not the English traders. It is, however, worthy of remembrance, as the earliest visit by an Englishman to the West, Avhich can be consiHered as distinctly authenticated. Soon after that time, traders undoubtedly began to flock thither from Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1748, Con- rad Weiser, an interpreter, was sent from Philadelphia wath pres- ents to the Indians at Logstown, an Indian town upon the Ohio, between Pittsburgh and the Big Beaver creek, and we find the residence of English traders in that neighborhood referred to as of some standing, even then.| * Kercheval's Valley of Virginia, p. 67. + Trees have been found in Ohio bearing marks of the axe, which, if we may jndge by the rings, were made as far back as 1660. — Whittlesey's Discourse 1840, p. 8. % Butler's History of Kentucky, vol. i. second edition, (Introduction xx.) gives the adventures of one Sailing in the West, as early as 1730, but his authority is a late work, {Chronicles of Border Warfare,) and the account is merely traditional, we presume ; Sailing is named in the note to Du Pratz, as having been with Howard in 1742. There are various vague accounts of English in the West, before Howard's voyage. Keating, 46 Lord Howard held a treaty with the Six J^ations. 16S4. But the great ground whereon the English claimed dominion beyond the Alleghanics, was that the Six Nations* owned the Ohio valley, and had placed it, with their other lands, under the protection of England. As early as 1684, Lord Howard, Gov- ernor of Virginia, held a treaty with the Six Nations, at Albany, when, at the request of Colonel Dungan, the Governor of New York, they placed themselves under the protection of the mother country.! This was again done in 1701; and, upon the 14th of September, 1726, a formal deed was drawn up, and signed by the chiefs, by which their lands were conveyed to England, in trust, "to be protected and defended by his Majesty, to and for the use of the grantors and their heirs." | If, then, the Six Nations had a good claim to the western country, there could be little doubt that England w^as justified in defending that country against the French, as France, by the treaty of Utrecht, had agreed not to invade the lands of Britain's Indian allies. But this claim of the New York savages has been disputed. Among others General William H. Harrison has attempted to disprove it, and show, that the Miami confederacy of Illinois and Ohio could not have been conquered by the Iroquois, j] We shall not enter into the contro- versy ; but will only say, that to us the evidence is very strong, that, before 1680, the Six Nations had overrun the w^estern lands, and were dreaded from Lakes Erie and INIichigan to the Ohio, in Long's Expedition, speaks of a Colonel Wood, who had been there, beside the one mentioned by Coxe. In a work called " The Contest in America between England and France. By an Impartial Hand, London 1757," we find it stated, that the Indians at Albany, in 1754, acknowledged that the English had been on the Ohio for thirty years. And in a memorial by the British ministry, in 1755, they speak of the West as having been cultivated by England for "above twenty t/eory." (Sparks' Frmiklin, vol.iv. p. 330.) Clearer proof still is found in the fact that the Government of Pennsylvania recalled its traders from the Ohio as early as 1732, in consequence of apprehending trouble with the French and Indians. (Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, iii.-476. * When we first hear of the great northern confederacy, there were five tribes in it ; namely, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterwards the Tusca- roras were conquered and taken into the confederacy, and it became the Six Nations. Still later, the Nanticokcs, and Tutclocs, came into the union, which was, however, still called the Six Nations, though sometimes the Eight United Nations. This confederacy was by the French called the " Iroquois," by the Dutch "Maquas," by the other In- dians "Mengive," and, thence, by the English, •'Mingoes." These varied names have produced countless errors, and endless confusion. By many writers we are told of the Iroquois or Mohawks ; and the Mingoes of the Ohio are almost always spdven of as a tribe. We have used the terms " Six Nations," and " Iroquois," and now and then " Mingoes," always meaning the whole confederacy. t Flain Facts, &c. Philadelphia, 17S1. pp. 22, 23. ^ This may be found at length in Pownall's Administration of the Colonies, fourth edition, London, 1768, p. 269. fl See Harrison's Historical Address, 1837. 1744. Western Lands claimed by the British. 47 and west to the Mississippi. In 1673, Allouez and Dablon found the Miamis upon Lake Michigan, fearing a visit from the Iroquois,* and from this time forward we hear of them in that far land from all writers, genuine and spurious, as may be easily gathered from what we have said already of Tonti and his w^ars.f We cannot doubt, therefore, that they did overrun the lands claimed by them, and even planted colonies in what is now Ohio ; but that they had any claim, which a Christian nation should have recog- nized, to most of the territory in question, we cannot for a moment think, as for half a century at least it had been under the rule of other tribes, and, when the differences between France and Eng- land began, was, with the exception of the lands just above the head of the Ohio, the place of residence and the hunting-ground of other tribes. | But some of the western lands were also claimed by the British, as having been actually purchased. This purchase was said to have been made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, when a treaty was held between the colonists and the Six Nations relative to some alleged settlements that had been made upon the Indian lands in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland ; and to this treaty, of which we have a very good and graphic account, wTitten by "Witham Marshe, who went as secretary with the commissioners for Maryland, we now turn, dwelling upon it somewhat, as a specimen of the mode in which the Indians were treated with. The Maryland, commissioners reached Lancaster upon the 21st of June, before either the governor of Pennsylvania, the Virginia commissioners, or the Indians, had arrived ; though all but the natives came that evening. The next forenoon wore wearily away, and all were glad to sit down, at one o'clock, to a dinner in the court-house, which the Virginians gave their friends, and from which not many were drawn, even by the coming of the Indians, who came, to the •George Croghan, the Indian agent, took an oath that the Iroquois claimed no farther on the north side of the Ohio than the Great Miami or Stony river ; (called also Rocky river, Great Mineami ; and Assereniet. Hutchin's Geographical Descriptions, 25. The purport of this oath has been misunderstood, it says nothing of what the Iroquois trans- ferred to England in 1768. See Butler's Kentucky, — 5. 6. — Hall's Statistics of the West, Preface, viii. Butler's Chronology, 9. — The oath is given American State Papers, xvii. 110. + See Charlevoix, La Hontan, Hennepin, Tonti, &c. ^ " In 1744, when the Lancaster treaty was held with the Six Nations, some of their number were making war upon the Catawbas." — 3Iarsh^s Journal, Massachusetts His- torical Collections, vol. vii. pp. 190^ 191. 48 Treaty of Lancaster. 1744. number of two liundred and fifty-two, with squaws and little children on horseback, and with their fire-arms, and bows, and arrows, and tomahawks, and, as they passed the coust-house, in- "vited the white men with a song to renew their fisrmer treaties. On the outskirts of the town, vacant lots had been chosen for the savages to build their wigwams upon, and thither they marched on with Conrad Weiser, their friend and interpreter,* while the Virginians " drank the loyal healths," and finished their enter- tainment. After dinner they went out to look at their dark allies, who had few shirts among them, and those black from wear, and who were very ragged and shabby; at all which the well-clad and high-fed colonists bit their lips, but feared to laugh. That afternoon the chiefs and commissioners met at the court-house, " shaked hands," smoked a pipe, and drank " a good quantity of wine and punchy The next day, being Saturday, the English went " to the Dunkers' nunnery," and the Indians drank, and danced, and shrieked. Monday, the speaking began, to the satis- faction of all parties, and ended merrily with dancing, and music, and a gi-eat supper. On Tuesday and Wednesday, also, speeches were made, varied by dances, in which appeared some very disa- gi-eeable women, who " danced wilder time than any Indians." On Thursday the goods were opened, wherewith the Maryland people wished to buy the Indian claim to the lands on which set- tlements had been made. These goods were narrowly scanned by the red men, but at last taken for j£220 Pennsylvania money, after which they drank punch. Friday, the Six Nations agreed to the grant desired by the Marylanders, and punch was drunk again ; and, on Saturday, a dinner was given to the chiefs, "at which," says Marshe, " they fed lustily, drunk heartily, and were very greasy before they finished." At this dinner, the Indians bestowed on the governor of Maryland the name of Tocaryhogon, meaning " Living in the honorable place." Jljler this caine much drinking, and when that had gone forward some time, the Indians were called on to sign the deed which had been drawn up, and the English again ^^ put about the glass, pretty briskly. ^^ Next, the commissioners from Virginia, supported by a due quantity of wine and bumbo,] held their conference with the Indians, and received from them " a deed releasing their claim to a large quantity of *For some idea of Weiser, see Proud's History of Pennsylvania, vol. ii., p. 316, where a long letter by him is given. Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 134. + Rum and water. 1748, Ohio Company proposed, 49 land lying in that colony ;" the Indians being persuaded to " re- cognise the king's right to all lands that are, or by his majesty''s appointment shall be, within the colony of Virginia." For this they received j£200 in gold, and a like sum in goods, with a pro- mise that, as settlements increased, more should be paid, which pro- mise was signed and sealed. We need make no comment upon this deed, nor speculate upon the probable amount of bumbo which produced it. The commissioners from Virginia, at this treaty of Lancaster, were Colonel Thomas Lee and Colonel Wil- liam Beverly.* On the 5th of July, every thing having been settled satisfactori- ly, the commissioners left " the filthy town" of Lancaster, and took their homeward w^ay, having suffered much from the vermin and the water, though when they used the latter would be a curi- ous enquiry. Such was the treaty of Lancaster, upon which, as a corner-stone, the claim of the colonists to the west, by purchase, rested ; and upon this, and the grant from the Six Nations, Great Britain relied in all subsequent steps. As settlements extended, and the Indians murmured, the pro- mise of further pay w^as called to mind, and Weiser was sent across the Alleghanies to Logstown, in 1748, f wdth presents, to keep the Indians in good humor ; and also to sound them, pro- bably, as to their feeling with regard to large settlements in the west, which some Virginians, with Colonel Thomas Lee, the Lan- caster commissioner, at their head, were then contemplating. J The object of these proposed settlements w^as not the cultivation of the soil, but the monopoly of the Indian trade which, with all its profits, had till that time been in the hands of unprincipled men, half civilized, half savage, who, through the Iroquois, had from the earliest period penetrated to the lakes of Canada and com- • Plain Fads, bei7ig an Examination, c^c, oTid a Vindication of the Grant from the Six United Nations of Indians to the Proprietors of Indiana vs. the Decision of the Legislature of Virginia. Pp. 29-39. Philadelphia : R. Aitken. 1781. Sparks' IFasA- ington, vol. ii. p. 4S0. Marshe's Journal. The whole proceedings may be found in Colden's History of the Iroquois, given with proper formal solemnity. + Plain Facts, pp. 40, 119, 120. I Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 478. Scarce any thing was known of the old Ohio Company, until Mr. Sparks' inquiries led to the note referred to ; and even now so little is known, that we cannot but hope some Historical Society will prevail on Charles Fenton Mercer, formerly of Virginia, who holds the papers of that Company, to allow their pub- lication. No full history of the West can be written, until the facts relative to the great land companies are better known. 4 60 Companies for Western Trade. 1749, peted everpvhere with the French for skins and furs.* It was now proposed in Virginia to turn these fellows out of their good berth beyond the mountains, by means of a great company, which should hold lands and build trading-houses, import European goods regularly, and export the furs of the west in return to London. Accordingly, after Weiser's conference with the Indians at Logs- town, which was favorable to their views, Thomas Lee, with twelve other Virginians, among whom were Lawrence and Augus- tine, brothers of George Washington, and also Mr. Hanbury of London, formed an association which they called the " Ohio Com- pany," and in 1748, petitioned the king for a grant beyond the mountains. This petition was approved by the monarch, and the government of Virginia was ordered to grant to the petitioners half a million of acres within the bounds of that colony, beyond the Alleghanies, two hundred thousand of which were to be loca- ted at once. This portion was to be held for ten years free of quitrent, provided the company would put there one hundred families within seven years, and build a fort sufficient to protect the settlement ; all which the company proposed, and prepared to do at once, and sent to London for a cargo suited to the Indian trade, which was to come out so as to arrive in November, 1749. Other companies were also formed about this time in Virginia, to colonize the west. Upon the 12th of June, 1749, a grant of 800,000 acres, from the line of Canada, north and west, was made to the Loyal Company ; and, upon the 29th of October, '57, another, of 100,000 acres to the Greenbriar Company. f But the French were not blind all this while. They saw, that, if the British once obtained a strong-hold upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent their settlements upon it, but must at last' come upon their lower posts, and so the battle be fought sooner or later. To the danger of the English possessions in the west, Vau- dreuil, the French governor, had been long alive. Upon the 10th of May, 1744, he wrote home representing the consequences that must come from allowing the British to build a trading-house among the Creeks ;| and, in November, 1748, he anticipated their * See Charlevoix, first and second vol. in many places ; especially i. 502, 515, ii. 133, 269, 373. The English were at Mackinac as early as 16S6. t Revised Statutes of Virginia, by B. W. Leigh, ii. 347. j^ Pownall's Mcmoriul on Service in America, as before quoted. Vaudreuil came out as Governor of Canada in 1755. — Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. vii., p. 105. See also Holmes' Annuls, vol.ii. p. 23. 1749, Celeron sent to Ohio. 51 seizure of Fort Prudhomme, which was upon the Mississippi be- low the Ohio.* Nor was it for mere sickly missionary stations that the governor feared ; for, in the year last-named, the Illinois settlements, few as they were, sent flour and corn, the hams of hogs and bears, pickled pork and beef, myrtle wax, cotton, tallow, leather, tobacco, lead, iron, copper, some little buffalo wool, veni- son, poultry, bear's grease, oil, skins, and coarse furs, to the New Orleans market. Even in 1746, from five to six hundred barrels of flour, according to one authority, and two thousand according to another, went thither from Illinois, convoys annually going down in December with the produce. f Having these fears, and seeing the danger of the late movements of the British, Galli- soniere, then governor of Canada, determined to place, along the Ohio, evidences of the French claim to, and possession of, the country; and for that purpose, in the summer of 1749, sent Louis Celeron, with a party of soldiers, to place plates of lead, on which were written out the claims of France, in the mounds, and at the mouths of the rivers. J Of this act, William Trent, who was sent out in 1752, by Virginia, to conciliate the Indians, heard while upon the Ohio, and mentioned it in his Journal ; and, within a few years, one of the plates, wath the inscription partly defaced, has been found near the mouth of the Muskingum. Of this plate, the date upon which is August 16th, 1749, a particular account was sent, by De Witt Clinton, to the American Antiquarian So- ciety, in whose second volume (p. 535-541) the inscription may be found at length. By this step, the French, perhaps, hoped to quiet the title to the river, " Oyo" ; but it produced not the least result. In that very year, we are told, a trading-house was built by the English, upon the Great Miami, at the spot since called Loramie's Store ;|| while, from another source we learn, that two * Pownall's Memorial. + Ibid. Representations to Earl of Hillsborough, 1770, quoted in Filson's Kentucky, 1784 : also, in Hutchins' Geographical Description, p. 15. % Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 430. — Atwater's History of Ohio, first edition, p. 109. — Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. ii. pp. 535-541. De Witt Clinton received the plate mentioned in the text from Mr, Atvvater, who says it was found at the mouth of the Muskingum, though marked as having been placed at the mouth of tlie Venango (Yenangue) River, (French Creek, we presume.) Celeron wrote from an old Shawanee town on the Ohio, to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, respecting the intrusion of traders from that colony into the French dominions. — ^Minutes of the Cotmcil of Pennsylvania, quoted in Dillon's History of Indiana, i. 66. I Contest in America, by an Impartial Hand. Once this writes speaks of this post as npon the Wabash, but he doubtless meant that on the Miami. 52 Gist visits Tivighvees. 1751. traders were, in 1749, seized by the French upon the jNIaumee. At any rate, the storm was gathering ; the Enghsh company was determined to carry out its plan, and the French were determined to oppose them. During 1750, we hear of no step, by either party ; but in Fe- bruary, 1751, we find Christopher Gist, the agent who had been appointed by the Ohio Company to examine the western lands, upon a visit to the Twigtwees or Tuigtuis, who lived upon the Miami River, one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth.* In speaking of this tribe, Mr. Gist says nothing of a trading-house among them, (at least in the passage from his Journal quoted by Mr. Sparks,) but he tells us, they left the Wabash for the sake of trading with the English ; and we have no doubt, that the spot which he visited was at the mouth of Loraime's Creek, where, as we have said, a trading-house was built about or before this time. Gist says, the Twigtwees were a very numerous people, much superior to the Six Nations, and that they were formerly in the French interest. Wynne speaks of them as the same with the Ottowas ; but Gist undoubtedly meant the great Miamis confede- racy ; for he says that they are not one tribe, but " many different tribes, under the same form of government,"! Upon this journey Gist went as far down the Ohio as the Falls, and was gone seven months, though the particulars of his tour are yet unknown to us ; his Journal, with the exception of one or two passages published by Mr. Sparks, and some given in the notes to Imlay and Pownall's account of the West, still resting in manuscript. J Having thus generally examined the land upon the Ohio, in November Gist commenced a thorough survey of the tract south ■* Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 37. -}• See Harrison's Discourse, already quoted. — Franklin, following a Twigtwee chief present at Carlisle, in 17.53, (Minutes of that Council, p. 7. Sparks' Franklin, vol. iv. p, 71,) speaks of the Piankeshaws, a tribe of the Twigtwees ; and again, of the Jliamis or Twigtwees (ibid. vol. iii. p. 72.) The name is spelt in the Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, Twechtwese, and they are described as those Indians, called by the French, Miamis, (iii. 470 ) On Evans' map, of 1755, they arc called Tawixtwi, and are mentioned among the confederated nations, of the west. — See also General Harrison's letter of March 22, 1814, in McAfee, p. 43. ^ Pownall's typography is in Imlay, edition of 1797, London, from p. 82 to 129. From Evans' map, first published in 1755, and republished in 1776, we learn that Gist crossed the mountains near tlie heads of the Cumberland, went down the Kentucky River some distance, thence crossed to the mouth of the Scioto, which stream he followed up, and afterwards turning east, went across the Muskingum to Fort Pitt : the year in which he did this is not given, nor do wo know whether the route is laid down in Evans' first edition of 1755. 1752. French begin their Forts. 53 of the Ohio and east of the Kanawha, which was that on which the Ohio Company proposed to make their first settlement. He spent the winter in that labor. In 1751 also, General Andrew Lewis, commenced some surveys in the Greenbriar country, on behalf of the company already mentioned, to which one hundred thousand acres of land had been granted in that region;* but his proceedings, as well as Gist's, were soon interrupted. Mean- while no treaty of a definite character had yet been held with the western Indians ; and, as the influence both of the French and of the independent English traders, was against the company, it was thought necessary to do something, and the Virginia government was desired to invite the chiefs to a conference at Logstown, wdrich was done. All this time the French had not been idle. They not only stirred up the savages, but took measures to fortify certain points on the upper waters of the Ohio, from which all lower posts might be easily attacked, and, beginning at Persqu'Ile, or Erie, on the lake, prepared a line of communication with the Alleghany. Tliis was done by opening a wagon-road from Erie to a little lake lying at the head of French Creek, where a second fort was built, about fifteen miles from that at Erie. When this second fort was fortified we do not clearly learn ; but some time in 1752, we believe. f But lest, while these little castles were quietly rising amid the forest, the British also might strengthen themselves too securely to be dislodged, a party of soldiers was sent to keep the Ohio clear; and this party, early in 1752, having heard of the trading- house upon the Miami, and, very likely, of the visit to it by Gist, came to the Twigtwees and demanded the traders, as unau- thorized intruders upon French lands. The Twigtwees, how- ever, were neither cowards nor traitors, and refused to deliver up their friends. | The French, assisted by the Ottawas and Chip- pewas, then attacked the trading-house, which was probably a • Stuart's Memoir of Indian War. Border Warfare, 4S. t Washington's Journal, of 1753. — Mante, in his History of the War, says, early ia 1753 , but there was a post at Erie when the traders were taken, before June, 1752. % Sparks' FranMin, vol. iv. p. 71. — vol. iii. p. 230. PlainFactg,p. 42. — Contest in North America, &c. p. 36. — Wester7i Monthly Magazine, 1833. — This fort was always referred to in the early treaties of the United States with the Indians ; see Land Laics and treaties, j)ost. — Several other captures beside this are referred to by Franklin and others. The attack on Logstown, spoken of by Smollett and Russell, was doubtless this attack on the Miami post. Smollett; George IL chap, is. See also Burk's Virginia^ vol. iii. p. 170. 54 Post on Miami destroyed. 1752. block-house, and after a severe battle, in which fourteen of the natives were killed,* and others wounded, took and destroyed it, carrying the traders away to Canada as prisoners, or, as one account says, burning some of them alive. This fort, or tradmg- house, was called by the English writers Pickawillany.f Such was the fate of the first British settlement in the Ohio valley, of which we have any record. It was destroyed early in 1752, as we know by the fact, that its destruction was referred to by the Indians at the Logstown treaty in June. What traders they were who were taken, w^e do not know wnth certainty. Some have thought them agents of the Ohio Company ; but Gist's pro- ceedings about the Kenhawa do not favor the idea, neither do the subsequent steps of the company; and in the " History of Penn- sylvania," ascribed to Franklin, we find a gift of condolence made by that Province to the Twigtwees for those slain in defence of the traders among them, in 1752, which leads us to believe that they were independent merchants from that colony. | Blood had now been shed, and both parties became more deeply interested in the progress of events in the west. The English, on their part, determined to purchase from the Indians a title to the lands they washed to occupy, by fair means or foul; and, in the spring of 1752, Messrs. Fry,|| Lomax, and Pat- ton, were sent from Virginia to hold a conference with the na- tives at Logstown, to learn what they objected to in the treaty of Lancaster, of which it was said they complained, and to settle all difficulties. § On the 9th of June, the commissioners met the red men at Logstown: this was a little village, seventeen miles * Among them a king of the Piankeshaws. (Minutes of the Council of Carlisle, 1753.) From those Minutes we learn also that the Ottawas and Chippewas aided the French. t Washington's Journal (London, 1754) has a map on which the name is printed " Pik- kawalinna." — A memorial of the king's ministers, in 1755, refers to it as " Pickawillancs, in the centre of the territory between the Ohio and the Wabash." (Sparks' prawi/m, vol. iv. p. 330.) The name is probably some variation of Piqua or Pickaway in 1773: written by Rev. David Jones " Pickaweke." (Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 265.) :j: The Twigtwees met the Pennsylvanians at Lancaster, in July, 1748, and made a treaty with them. (Dillon's Indiana, i. 63.) Croghan also (Butler's Kentucky, 471,) speaks of them as connected with Pennsylvania. The Shawnese, from the west, went to Philadelphia to make treaties, in 1732. (Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsyl- vania, iii. 491.) H Afterwards Commander in Chief over Washington, at the commencement of the French war of 1755— 63 ; he died at Will's Creek, (Cumberland) May 31, 1754. (Sparks' Washington, ii. 27. note.) § Plain Facts, ■p. 40. — Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 4S0. 1752. Treaty of Logstown. 55 and a half below Pittsburgh, upon the north side of the Ohio.* It had long been a trading-point, but had been abandoned by the Indians in 1750. f Here the Lancaster treaty was produced, and the sale of the western lands insisted upon ; but the chiefs said, *'No; they had not heard of any sale west of the warrior's road, | which ran at the foot of the Alleghany ridge." The commis- sioners then offered goods for a ratification of the Lancaster treaty ; spoke of the proposed settlement by the Ohio Company ; and used all their persuasions to secure the land wanted. Upon the 11th of June, the Indians replied. They recognised the treaty of Lan- caster, and the authority of the Six Nations to make it, but denied that they had any knowledge of the western lands being conveyed to the English by said deed ; and declined, upon the whole, having any thing to do %vith the treaty of 1744. " However," said the savages, " as the French have already struck the Twigtwees, we shall be pleased to have your assistance and protection, and wish you would build a fort at once at the Fork of the Ohio."|[ But this permission was not what the Virginians wanted ; so they took aside Montour, the interpreter, who was a son of the famous Catherine Montour,§ and a chief among the Six Nations, being three-fourths of Indian blood, and persuaded him, by valid argu- ments, (of the kind which an Indian most appreciates doubtless,) to use his influence with his fellows. This he did ; and, upon the 13th of June, they all united in signing a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its full extent^ consenting to a settlement southeast of the Ohio, and guarantying that it should not be disturbed by them.H * Croghan, in his Journal says, that Logstown was south of the Ohio. ( Butler's Ken- tucky, App.) The river is itself nearly north and south at the spot in question ; but we always call the Canada side the north side, having reference to the general direction of the stream. + Bouquet's Expedition. London, 1766. p. 10. — Logstown is given on the map accom-' panying the volume. \ Washington (Sparks' ii. 526,) speaks of a warrior's path coming out upon the Ohio' about thirty miles above the Great Kenhawa; — Filson and Hutchins (see map) make the one referred to by them terminate below the Scioto. — One may have been a branch used by the Muskingum and Hocking tribes, the other by those of the Scioto Valley- 1 Plain Facts, p. 42. § For a sketch of this woman, see Massachusetts Historical Collections, First Series, vol. vii p. 189, or Stone's Life of Brant, vol. i. p. 339. She had two sons, Andrew and Henry. The latter was a captain among the Iroquois, the former a common interpreter, apparently. Andrew was taken by the French in 1749. Which of them was at Logstown we are not told ; but, from his influence with the Indians, it was probably Henry. f Plain Facts, pp 38 — 14. The Virginia commissioners were men of high character, but ti-fiated with the Indians according to the ideas of their day. 56 Settlers a-oss the Mountains. 1752, By such means was obtained the first treaty Avith the Indians in the Ohio valley. All this time the two powers beyond the Atlantic were in a professed state " of profound peace ;" and commissioners were at Paris trying to out-manoeuvre one another with regard to the dis- puted lands in America,* though in the West all looked like war. We have seen how the English outwitted the Indians, and secured themselves, as they thought, by their politic conduct. But the French, in this as in all cases, proved that they knew best how to manage the natives; and, though they had to contend with the old hatred felt toward them by the Six Nations, and though they by no means refrained from strong acts, marching through the midst of the Iroquois country, attacking the T\^'igtwees, and seizing the English traders, nevertheless they did succeed, as the British never did, in attaching the Indians to their cause. As an old chief of the Six Nations said at Easton, in 175S; "The Indi- ans on the Ohio left you because of your own fault. When we heard the French were coming, we asked you for help and arms, but we did not get them. The French came, they treated us kindly, and gained our affections. The Governor of Virginia set- tled on our lands for his own benefit, and, when we wanted help, forsook us.f" So stood matters at the close of 1752. The English had secured (as they thought) a title to the Indian lands south-east of the Ohio, and Gist was at work laying out a town and fort there on Shurtees (Chartier's) Creek, about two miles below the Fork.J Eleven families also were crossing the mountains to settle at the point W'here Gist had fixed his own residence, west of Laurel Hill, and not far from the Youghiogany. Goods too had come from England for the Ohio Company, which, however, they could not w^ell, and dared not, carry beyond Will's Creek, the point where Cumberland now stands, W'hence they were taken by the traders and Indians ; and there w^as even some prospect of a road across the mountains to the Moriongahela. On the other hand, the French were gathering cannon and stores upon Lake Erie, and, without treaties or deeds for land, were gaining the good will of even inimical tribes, and preparing, when all was ready, to strike the blow. Some of the savages, it • Sec Smollett : George II., chapters viii. and ix. + Flu'm Fuels, p. 5i3. — Pownall's Memoir on Service in North America. I Sparks' Washington, vol- "- PP- "ISS, 4S2j and map, p. ^S. 1753. Treaties of Winchester and Carlisle. 57 is true, remonstrated. They said they did not understand this dispute between the Europeans, as to which of them the western lands belonged to, for they did not belong to either. But the French bullied when it served their turn, and flattered when it served their turn, and all the while went on with their prepara- tions, which were in an advanced state early in 1753.* In May of that year, the governor of Pennsylvania informed the Assembly of the French movements, a knowledge of which was derived, in part at least, from Montour, who had been present at a conference between the French and Indians relative to the inva- sion of the West.f The assembly thereupon voted six hundred pounds for distribution among the tribes, besides two hundred for the present of condolence to the Twigtwees, already mentioned. This money was not sent, but Conrad Weiser was despatched in August to learn how" things stood among the Ohio savages.:]: Vir- ginia was moving also. In June, or earlier, a commissioner was sent westward to meet the French, and ask how they dared invade his Majesty's province. The messenger went to Logstown, but was afraid to go up the Alleghany, as instructed. ][ Trent was also sent off with guns, powder, shot and clothing for the friendly Indians ; and then it was, that he learned the fact already stated, as to the claim of the French, and their burial of medals in proof of it. While these measures were taken, another treaty with the wild men of the debatable land was also in contemplation ; and in September, 1753, William Fairfax met their deputies at Winches- ter, Virginia, where he concluded a treaty, with the particulars of which we are unacquainted, but on which, we are told, was an indorsement, stating that such was their feeling, that he had not dared to mention to them either the Lancaster or the Logstown treaty ;^ a most sad comment upon the modes taken to obtain those grants. In the month following, however, a more satisfac- tory interview took place at Carlisle, between the representatives of the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawanese, Twigtwees and Owendeats, and the commissioners of Pennsylvania, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin. At this meeting the attack on the * See in Washington-s Journal, the Speech of Half-king to the French commander and his answer. — Sparks's Washington, vol. ii. p. 4S4. t Sparks' Franklin, vol. iii. p. 2 '9. I Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 230. I Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 430. § Plain Facts, p- 44. 58 Washington sent West. 1753. Twigtwees was talked over, the plans of the French discussed, and a treaty concluded. The Indians had sent three messages to the French, warning them away; the reply was, that they were coming to build forts at " Wenengo," (Venango,) Mohongialo forks, (Pittsburgh,), Logtown, and Beaver Creek. The red men com- plained of the traders as too scattered, and as killing them with rum ; they wished only three trading stations, viz. niouth of "Mohongely," (Pittsburgh,) Logtown, and mouth of "Canawa."* Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio, either as to the force, position, or purposes of the French, Robert Dinwiddle, then Governor of Virginia, determined to send to them another messenger, and selected a young surveyor, who, at the age of nineteen, had received the rank of major, and whose previ- ous life had inured him to hardship and woodland ways, while his courage, cool judgment, and firm will, all fitted him for such a mission. This young man, as all know, was George Washington, who was twent}'-one years and eight months old, at the time of the appointment.! With Gist as his guide, Washington left Will's Creek, where Cumberland now is, on the 15th of Novem- ber, and, on the 22d, reached the Monongahela about ten miles above the Fork. Thence he went to Logstown, where he had long conferences with the chiefs of the Six Nations living in that neigh- bourhood. 5: Here he learned the position of the French upon the * Minutes of Treaty at Carlisle in Oct. 1753, pp. 5 to 8. t Sparks' Washington^ vol. ii. pp. 32S-447. \ A passage of Washington's Diary is worth extracting as showing the condition of the French, in tlie Far West at that time. ''25th. — Came to town four of ten Frenchmen, who had deserted from a company at the Kuskuskus, which lies at the mouth of this river. I got the following account from them : — They were sent from New Orleans with a hundred men and eight canoe-loads of provisions to this place, where they expected to have met the same number of men, from the forts on this side of Lake Erie, to convoy them and the stores up, who were not arrived when they ran off. " I inquired into the situation of tlie French on the Mississippi, their numbers and what forts they had built. They informed me, that there were four small forts between New Orleans and the Black Islands, garrisoned with about thirty or forty men, and a few small pieces in each. That at New Orleans, which is near the moulh of the Mississippi, tliere are thirty-five companies of forty men each, with a pretty strong fort mounting eight carriage-guns ; and at the Black Islands there are several companies and a fort with six guns. The Black Islands arc about a hundred and thirty leagues above the mouth of the Ohio, which is about three hundred and fifty above New Orleans. They also acquainted me, that there was a small palisadoed fort on the Ohio, at the mouth of the Obaish, about sixty leagues from the Mississippi. The Obaish heads near the west end of Lake Erie, and affords the communication between the French on the Mississippi and those on the lakes. These deserters came up from the lower Shannoahtown with one Brown, an Indian trader, and were going to Philadelphia." 1753. Washington on French Creek. 59 Riviere aux Bceufs, and the condition of their forts. He heard also that they had determined not to come down the river till the fol- lowing spring, but had warned all the Indians, that, if they did not keep still, the whole French force would be turned upon them ; and that, if they and the English were equally strong, they would divide the land between them, and cut off all the natives. These threats, and the mingled kindness and severity of the French, had produced the desired effect. Shingiss, king of the Delawares, feared to meet Washington, and the Shannoah (Shawanee) chiefs would not come either.* The truth was, these Indians w^ere in a very awkward position. They could not resist the Europeans, and knew not w^hich to side with; so that a non-committal policy was much the safest, and they were w^ise not to return by Washington (as he desired they should) the wampum received from the French, as that would have been equivalent to breaking with them. Finding that nothing could be done with these people, Wash- ington left Logstown on the 30th of November, and, travelling amid cold and rain, reached Venango, | an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek, on the 4th of the next month. Here he found the French ; and here, through the rum, and the flattery, and the persuasions of his enemies, he very nearly lost all his Indians, even his old friend, the Half-king. Patience and good faith conquered, however, and, after another pull through mires and creeks, snow, rain, and cold, upon the 11th he reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here he delivered Governor Dinwiddie's letter, took his observations, received his answer, aud upon the 16th set out upon his return journey, having had to combat every art and trick, "which the most fruitful brain could suggest," in order to get his Indians away with him. Flattery, and liquor, and guns, and provision were showered upon the Half- king and his comrades, while Washington himself received bows, and smirks, and compliments, and a plentiful store of creature- comforts also. From Venango, Washington and Gist went on foot, leaving their Indian friends to the tender mercies of the French. Of their hardships and dangers on this journey out and back we need only • Shingiss, or Shingask, was the great Delaware warrior of that day, and did the British much mischief. — See Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 64. t A corruption of Innungah; (Day's Hist. Collections of Pa. 636, note.) The French fort there was called Fort Machault. (Memoires sur la Derniere Guerre, iii. ISl.) 60 Preparations against the French. 1754. to say that, three out of five men who went with them were too badly frost-l)itten to continue the journey.* In spite of all, how- ever, they reached Will's Creek, on the Cth of January, well and sound. f During the absence of the young messenger, steps had been taken to fortify and settle the point formed by the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany; and, while upon his return, he met " seventeen horses, loaded with materials and stores for a fort at the Fork of the Ohio," and, soon after, "some families going out to settle." These steps were taken by the Ohio Com- pany ; but, as soon as Washington returned with the letter of St. Pierre, the commander on French Creek, and it was perfectly clear that neither he nor his superiors meant to yield the West without a struggle. Governor Dinwiddle wrote to the Board of Trade, stating that the French were building another fort at Venango, and that in March twelve or fifteen hundred men would be ready to descend the river with their Indian allies, for which purpose three hundred canoes had been collected; and that Logs- tow'n was then to be made head-quarters, wdiile forts w^ere built in various other positions, and the whole country occupied. He also sent expresses to the Governors of Pennsylvania and New York, calling upon them for assistance ; and, with the advice of his council, proceeded to enlist two companies, one of which was to be raised by Washington, the other by Trent, who was a frontier man. This last was to be raised upon the frontiers, and to pro- ceed at once to the Fork of the Ohio, there to complete in the best manner, and as soon as possible, the fort begun by the Ohio Company; and in case of attack, or any attempt to resist the set- tlements, or obstruct the works, those resisting w^ere to be taken, or if need were, killed.:]: While Virginia was taking these strong measures, which were fully authori/ied by the letter of the Earl of Holdernessc, Secretary of State, II written in the previous August, and which directed the Governors of the various provinces, after representing to those who were invading his Majesty's dominions the injustice of the act, to call out the armed force of the province, and repel force * Sparks' W'ashington, ii. 55. t Gist's Journal of this Expedition may be found in the Massachusetts Historical Col- lections, tliird scries, vol. v. (1836,) 101 to lOS. \ Sparks' Wash'inirton, vol. ii. pp. 1, 431, 416. — Sparks' FranMin,\o\. iii. p. 254. [ Sparks' FranMin, vol. iii. p. 251, where the letter is given. 1754. JVew York conferring with the Six JVations. 61 by force ; while Virginia was thus acting, Pennsylvania was dis- cussing the question, whether the French were really invading his Majesty's dominions, — the Governor being on one side, and the Assembly on the other,* — and New York was preparing to hold a conference with the Six Nations, in obedience to orders from the Board of Trade, written in September, 1753. f These orders had been sent out in consequence of the report in England, that the natives would side with the French, because dissatisfied with the occupancy of their lands by the English ; and simultaneous orders were sent to the other provinces, directing the Governors to recommend their Assemblies to send Commissioners to Albany to attend this grand treaty, which was to heal all wounds. New York, however, was more generous when called on by Virginia, than her neighbor on the south, and voted, for the assistance of the resisting colony, five thousand pounds currency, f It was now April, 1754. The fort at Venango was finished, and all along the line of French Creek troops were gathering ; and the wilderness echoed the strange sounds of a European camp, — tlie watchword, the command, the clang of muskets, the uproar of soldiers, the cry of the sutler; and with these were mingled the shrieks of drunken Indians, won over from their old friendship by rum and soft words. Scouts were abroad, and little groups formed about the tents or huts of the officers, to learn the move- ments of the British. Canoes were gathering, and cannon were painfully hauled here and there. All was movement and activity among the old forests, and on hill-sides, covered already with young wild flowers, from Lake Erie to the Alleghany. In Phila- delphia, meanwhile, Governor Hamilton, in no amiable mood, had summoned the Assembly, and asked them if they meant to help the King in the defence of his dominions ; and had desired them, above all things, to do whatever they meant to do, quickly. The Assembly debated, and resolved to aid the King with a little money, and then debated again and voted not to aid him with any money at all, for some would not give less than ten thousand pounds, and others would not give more than five thousand pounds; and so, nothing being practicable, they adjourned upon the 10th of April until the 13th of May.|| * Sparks' Fraiiklin, vol. iii. pp. 254, 263. t Plain Facts, pp. 45, 46.— Sparks' Franklin, vol. iii. p. 253. i 3IassachuseUs Historical Collections, first series, vol. vii. p. 73. H Sparks' Fraiiklin, vol. iii. pp. 264, 265. 62 Washington appointed Lieutenant Colonel. 1754. In New York, a little, and only a little better spirit, was at work; nor was this strange, as her direct interest was much less than that of Pennsylvania. Five thousand pounds indeed was, as we have said, voted to Virginia; but the Assembly questioned the invasion of his Majesty's dominions by the French, and it was not till June that the money voted was sent forward.* The Old Dominion, however, was all alive. As, under the provincial law, the militia could not be called forth to march more than five miles beyond the bounds of the colony, and as it was doubtful if the French were within Virginia, it was determined to rely upon volunteers. Ten thousand pounds had been voted by the Assembly; so the two companies were now increased to six, and Washington was raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and made second in command under Joshua Fry. Ten cannon, lately from England, were forwarded from Alexandria ; wagons were got ready to carry westward provisions and stores through the heavy spring roads ; and everywhere along the Potomac men were enlist- ing under the Governor's proclamation, which promised to those tliat should serve in that war, two hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio, — or, already enlisted, were gathering into grave knots, or marching forward to the field of action, or helping on the thirty cannon and eighty barrels of gunpowder, which the King had sent out for the western forts. Along the Potomac they were gathering, as far as to Will's creek; and far beyond Will's creek, whither Trent had come for assistance, his little band of forty-one men was working away, in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the Fork of the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest. The first birds of spring filled the forests with their song ; the redbud and dogwood were here and there putting forth their flowers on the steep Alleghany hill-sides, and the swift river below swept by, swollen by the melting snows and April showers ; a few Indian scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand ; and all was so quiet, that Frazier, an old Indian trader, who had been left by Trent in command of the new fort, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle creek, ten miles up the Monongahela. But, though all was so quiet in that wilderness, keen eyes had seen the low entrenchment that was rising at the Fork, and swift feet had borne the news of it up the valley; and, upon the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw upon the Alleghany a sight that made his heart * Massachusetts Historical Collections, first series, vol. vii. pp.72, 73, and note. 1754. Port at the Fork of the Ohio taken by the French. 63 sink, — sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to surrender ; by the advice of the Half-king, Ward tried to evade the act, but it would not do ; Contrecoeur, with a thousand men about him, said "Evacuate," and the ensign dared not refuse. That evening he supped with his captor, and the next day was bowed off by the Frenchman, and, with his men and tools, marched up the Monongahela. From that day began the war.* * Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. The number of French troops was probably over- stated, but to the captives there seemed a round thousand. Burk, in his history of Virginia, speaks of the taking of Logstown by the French ; but Logstov^n was never a post of the Ohio Company as he represents it, as is plain from all contemporary letters and accounts. Burk's ignorance of Western matters is clear in this, that he says the French dropped down from Fort Du Quesne to Presqu'ile and Venango ; they, or part of them, did drop down the Ohio, but surely not to posts, one of which was on Lake Erie, and the other far up the Alleghany ! In a letter from Captain Stobo, written in July, 1754, at fort Du Quesne, where he was then confined as hostage under the capitulation of Great Meadows, he says there were but two hundred men in and about the fort at that time. — (American Pioneer, i. 236. — For plan of Forts Du Quesne and Pitt, see article in Pioneer ; also, Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 77.) WAR OF 17.31 TO 1763. Washington was at Will's Creek, (Cumberland,) when the news of the surrender of the Fork reached him. He was on his way across the mountains, preparing roads for the King's cannon, and aiming for the mouth of Red Stone Creek, (Brownsville,) where a store-house had been already built by the Ohio Company; by the 9th of May, he had reached Little Meadows, on the head waters of a branch of the Youghiogany, toiling slowly, painfully forward, four, three, sometimes only two miles a day! — All the wiiile from ti'aders and others he heard of forces coming up the Ohio to re- inforce the French at the Fork, and of spies out examining the valley of the Monongahela, flattering and bribing the Indians. On the 27th of May he was at Great Meadows, west of the Youghiogany, near the Fort of Laurel Hill, close by the spot now known as Braddock's Grave. He had heard of a body of French somewhere in the neighborhood, and on the 27th, his former guide. Gist, came from his residence beyond Laurel Hill, near the head of Red Stone Creek, and gave information of a body of French who had been at his plantation the day before. That evening from his old friend the Half-king, he heard again of ene- mies in the vicinity. Fearing a surprise Washington at once started, and early the next morning attacked the party referred to by the Chief of the Iroquois. In the contest ten of the French were killed, including M, de Jumonville their Commander; of the Americans but one was lost. This skirmish France saw fit to regard as the commencement of the war, and in consequence of a report made by M. de Contrecoeur, to the Marquis Du Quesne, founded upon the tales told by certain of Jumonville's men who had run away at the first onset, it has been usual with French wri- ters to represent the attack by Washington as unauthorized, and tlie party assailed by him as a party sent with peaceable inten- tions; and this impression was confirmed by the term "assassina- tion of M. de Jumonville," used in the capitulation of Great Meadows in tlie following July; — this having been accepted by 1754. Capitulation of Fort JYecessity. 65 Washington (to lohom the term was falsely translated,) it was naturally regarded as an acknowledgment by him of the improper character of the attack of May 28th. Mr. Sparks, in his appen- dix to Washington's papers, vol. ii. pp. 447, 459, has discussed this matter at length, and fully answered the aspersions of the European writers ; to his work we refer our readers. From the last of May until the 1st of July, preparations were made to meet the French who were understood to be Ciatherinsf their forces in the West. On the 28th of June, Washington was at Gist's house, and new reports coming in that the enemy was approaching in force, a council of war was held, and it was thought best, in consequence of the scarcity of provisions, to retreat to Great Meadows, and even farther if possible. When, however, the retiring body of Provincials reached that post, it was deemed impossible to go farther in the exhausted state of the troops, who had been eight days without bread. Measures were therefore taken to strengthen the fort, which, from the cir- cumstances, was named Fort Necessity. On the 1st of July, the Americans reached their position; on the 3d the alarm was given of an approaching enemy; at eleven o'clock, A. M., nine hund- red in number, they commenced the attack in the midst of a hard rain ; and from that time till eight in the evening, the assail- ants ceased not to pour their fire upon the little fortress.* About eight the French requested some officer to be sent to treat with them; Captain Vanbraam, the only person who pretended to understand the language of the enemy, was ordered to go to the camp of the attacking party, whence he returned bringing terms of capitulation, which, by a flickering candle, in the dripping- quarters of his commander, he translated to Washington, and as it proved, from intention or ignorance, mistranslated. By this capitulation the garrison of Fort Necessity were to have leave to retire with everything but their artillery ; the prisoners taken May 28th were to be returned; and the party yielding were to labor on no works west of the Mountains for one year: for the observ- ance of these conditions Captain Vanbraam, the negotiator, and Captain Stobo, were to be retained by the French as surities.* The above provisions having been agreed to, Washington and his men, hard pressed by famine, hastened to the nearest depot which was at Will's Creek. At this point, immediately afterwards. Fort * This fact would seem to show that Vanbraam's mistranslation must have been from ignorance or accident. 5 66 Washington retires to Mount Vernon. 1754. Cumberland was erected under the charge of Colonel Innes, of North Carolina, who, since the death of Colonel Fry, had been Commander-in-Chief. At that time there were in service, 1st, the Virginia militia; 2d, the Independent Companies of Virginia, South Carolina, and New York, all of whom w-ere paid by the King; 3d, troops raised in North Carolina and paid by the Colony; and, 4th, recruits from Maryland ; of these the Virginia and South Carolina troops alone had been beyond the mountains. From August to October little appears to have been done, but in the latter month the Governor of Virginia, (Dinw^iddie,) so changed the military organization of the Colony, as to leave no one in the army wdth a rank above that of Captain ; this was done in order to avoid all contests as to precedence among the Ameri- can officers, it being clear that troops from various Provinces would have to be called into the field, and that the different Com- missions from the Crown, and the Colonies, would give large openings for rivalry and conflict; but among the results of the measure was the resignation of Washington, w^ho for a time, retired to Mount Vernon.* It was now the fall of 1754. In Pennsylvania, Morris, w^ho had succeeded Hamilton, was busily occupied with making speeches to the Assembly and listening to their stubborn replies ; f while in the north the Kennebec w^as fortified, and a plan talked over for attacking Crown Point on Lake Champlain the next spring;:]: and in the south things went on much as if there were no war coming. All the colonies united in one thing, however, in calling loudly on the mother country for help. During this same autumn the pleasant Frenchmen were securing the West, step by step ; settling the valley of the Wabash, gallanting with the Delawares, and coquetting with the Iroquois, who still bal- anced between them and the English. The forests of the Ohio shed their leaves, and the prairies filled the sky with the smoke of their burning ; and along the great rivers, and on the lakes, and amid the pathless woods of the West, no European was seen, whose tongue spoke other language than that of France. So closed 1754. The next year opened wuth professions, on both sides, of the most peaceful intentions, and preparations on both sides to push * Sparks' Washington, ii. 64, 67, and generally, the whole volume, as to this war. + Sparks' Franklin, vol. iii. p. 282. \ 3Iassachiset(s Historical ColJect!o?if, vol. vii. p. 88. 1755. Proposed corrvpromise by the French. 67 tiie war vigorously. France, in January, proposed to restore every thing to the state it was in before the last war, and to refer all claims to commissioners at Paris ; to which Britain, upon the 22d, replied that, the west of North America must be left as it was at the treaty of Utrecht. On the 6th of February, France made answer, that the old English claims in America were untenable ; and offered a new ground of compromise, namely, that the English should retire east of the Alleghanies, and the French west of the Ohio. This offer was long considered, and at length was agreed to by England on the 7th of March, provided the French would destroy all their forts on the Ohio and its branches ; to which, after twenty days had passed, France said, "No,"* While all this negotiation was going on, other things also had been in motion. General Brad- dock, with his gallant troops, had crossed the Atlantic, and, upon the 20th of February, had landed in Virginia, commander-in-chief of all the land forces in America ; and in the north all this while there was whispering of, and enlisting for, the proposed attack on Crown Point; and even Niagara, far off by the Falls, was to be taken, in case nothing prevented. In France, too, other work had been done than negotiation ; for at Brest and Rochelle ships were fitting out, and troops gathering, and stores crowding in. Even old England herself had not been all asleep, and Boscawen had been busy at Plymouth, hurrying on the slow workmen, and gath- ering the unready sailors. f In March the two European neighbors were smiling and doing their best to quiet all troubles; in April they still smiled, but the fleets of both were crowding sail across the Atlantic ; and, in Alexandria, Braddock, Shirley, and their fellow officers were taking counsel as to the summer's campaign. In America four points w^ere to be attacked ; Fort Du Quesne, Crown Point, Niagara, and the French posts in Nova Scotia. On the 20th of April, Braddock left Alexandria to march upon Du Quesne, whither he was expressly ordered, though the officers in America looked upon it as a mistaken movement, as they thought New York should be the main point for regular operations. The expedition for Nova Scotia, consisting of three thousand Massa- chusetts men, left Boston on the 20th of May; while the troops which General Shirley was to lead against Niagara, and the * Flain Facts, pp. 51, 52. — Secret Journals, vol. iv. p. 74. t Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 68. — Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. vii. p. S9. — Smollett. George II. chapter x. 68 Braddodc's Defeat. 1755. provincials which William Johnson was to head in the attack upon Crown Point, slowly collected at Albany. May and June passed away, and mid-summer drew nigh. The fearful and desponding colonists waited anxiously for news ; and, when the news came that Nova Scotia had been conquered, and that Boscawen had taken two of the French men of war, and lay before Lewisburg, hope and joy spread everywhere. July passed away, too, and men heard how slowly and painfully Braddock made progress through the wilderness, how his contractors de- ceived him, and the colonies gave little help, and neither horses nor wagons could be had, and only one Benjamin Franklin sent any aid;* and then reports came that he had been forced to leave many of his troops, and much of his baggage and artillery, behind him ; and then, about the middle of the month, through Virginia there went a whisper, that the great general had been defeated and wholly cut off; and, as man after man rode down the Poto- mac confirming it, the planters hastily mounted, and were off to consult with their neighbors ; the country turned out ; companies were formed to march to the frontiers; sermons were preached, and every heart and every mouth was full. In Pennsylvania the Assembly were called together to hear the "shocking news;" and in New York it struck terror into those who were there gath- ered to attack the northern posts. Soldiers deserted ; the bateaux- men dispersed; and when at length Shirley, since Braddock's death the commander-in-chief, managed with infinite labor to reach Oswego on Lake Ontario, it was too late and stormy, and his force too feeble, to allow him to more than garrison that point, and march back to Albany again. f Johnson did better; for he met and defeated Baron Dieskau upon the banks of Lake George, though Crown Point was not taken, nor even attacked. But we must turn back for a moment to describe particularly the events of Braddock's famous defeat, connected as it is with the history of the West ; and we cannot do it more perfectly than in the words of Mr. Sparks in his appendix to the writings of Washington. The defeat of General Bradilock, on the banks of the IMonongahela, is one of the most remarkable events in American liistory. Great preparations had been made for the expedition, under that experienced * Sparks' Wasliington, vol. ii. p.77, &c. — Sparks' FranJdin, yo\. vii. p. 94, &c. + For a full account of Shirley's Expedition, see the paper in Massachusetts Histori- cal Collections, vol. vii. 1755. Braddoclc's March. 69 officer, and there was the most sanguine anticipation, both in England and America, of its entire success. Such was the confidence in the prowess of Braddock's army, according to Dr. Franklin, that, while he was on his march to Fort Duquesne, a subscription paper was handed about in Philadelphia, to raise money to celebrate his victory "by bonfires and illuminations, as soon as the intelligence should arrive. General Braddock landed in Virginia on the 20th of February, 1755, with two regiments of the British army from Ireland, the forty-fourth and forty-eighth, each consisting of five hundred men, one of them commanded by Sir Peter Halket, and the other by Colonel Dunbar. To these were joined a suitable train of artillery, with military supplies and provisions. The General's first head-quarters were at Alexandria, and the troops were stationed in that place and its vicinity, till they marched for Will's Creek, where they arrived about the middle of May. It took four weeks to efi'ect that march. In letters written at "Will's Creek, General Braddock, with much severity of censure, com- plained of the lukewarmness of the colonial governments and tardiness of the people, in facilitating his enterprise, the dishonesty of agents and the faithlessness of contractors. The forces which he brought together at Will's Creek, however, amounted to somewhat more than two thousand efiiective men, of whom about one thousand belonged to the royal regiments, and the remainder were furnished by the colonies. In this number were embraced the fragments of two independent com- panies from New York, one of which was commanded by Captain Gates, afterwards a Major-General in the Revolutionary war. Thirty sailors had also been granted for the expedition by Admiral Keppel, who commanded the squadron that brought over the two regiments. At this post the army was detained three weeks, nor could it then have moved, had it not been for the energetic personal services of Franklin, among the Pennsylvania farmers, in procuring horses and wagons to transport the artillery, provisions and baggage. The details of the march are well described in Colonel Washington's letters. The army was separated into two divisions. The advanced division, under General Braddock, consisted of twelve hundred men besides oflScers. The other, under Colonel Dunbar, was left in the rear, to proceed by slower marches. On the 8th of July, the General arrived with his division, all in excellent health and spirits, at the junction of the Youghiogany and Monongahela rivers. At this place Colonel Washington joined the advanced division, being but partially recovered from a severe attack of fever, which had been the cause of his remaining behind, The officers and soldiers were now in the high- est spirits, and firm in the conviction, that they should within a few hours victoriously enter the walls of Fort Du Quesne. The steep and rugged grounds, on the north side of the Monongahela 70 Braddock attacked. 1755v prevented the army from marching in that direction, and it was neces- sary in approaching the fort, now about fifteen miles distant, to ford the river twice, and march part of the way on the south side. Early on the morning of the 9lh, all things were in readiness, and the whole train passed through the river a little below the mouth of the Youghio- gany, and proceeded in perfect order along the southern margin of the Monongahela. Washington was often heard to say during his lifetime, that the most beautiful spectacle he had ever beheld was the display of the British troops on this eventful morning. Every man was neatly dressed in full uniform, the soldiers were arranged in columns and marched in exact order, the sun gleamed from their burnished arms, the river flowed tranquilly on their right, and the deep forest overshadowed them with solemn grandeur on their left. Ofiicers and men were equally inspired with cheering hopes and confident anticipations. In this manner they marched forward till about noon, when they arrived at the second crossing-place, ten miles from Fort Du Quesne. They halted but a little time, and then began to ford the river and regain its northern bank. As soon as they had crossed, they came upon a level plain, elevated but a few feet above the surface of the river, and extending northward nearly half a mile from its margin. Then commenced a gradual ascent at an angle of about three degrees, which terminated in hills of a considerable height at no great distance beyond. The road from the fording place to Fort [Du Quesne, led across the plain and up this ascent, and thence proceeded through aa uneven country, at that time covered with woods. By the order of march, a body of three hundred men, under Colonel Gage, afterward General Gage of Boston memory, made the advanced party, which was immediately followed by another of two hundred. Next came the General with the columns of artillery, the main body of the army, and the baggage. At one o'clock the whole had passed the river, and almost at this moment a sharp firing was heard upon the advanced parties, who were now ascending the hill, and had got for- ward about a hundred yards from the termination of the plain. A heavy discharge of musketry was poured in upon their front, which was the first intelligence they had of the proximity of an enemy, and this was suddenly followed by another on their right flank. They were filled with great consternation, as no enemy was in sight, and the firing seemed to proceed from an invisible foe. They fired in their turn, however, but quite at random, and obviously without eflect, as the enemy kept up a discharge in quick, continued succession. The General advanced speedily to the relief of these detachments ; but before he could reach the spot which they occupied, they gave w^ay and fell back upon the artillery and the other columns of the armyj. 1755. Braddock killed. 71 causing extreme confusion, and striking the whole mass with such a panic, that no order could afterwards be restored. The General and the officers behaved with the utmost courage, and used every effort to rally the men, and bring them to order, but all in vain. In this state they continued nearly three hours, huddling together in confused bodies, firing irregularly, shooting down their own officers and men, and doing no perceptible harm to the enemy. The Virginia provin- cials were the only troops who seemed to retain their senses, and they behaved with a bravery and resolution worthy of a better fate. They adopted the Indian mode, and fought each man for himself behind a tree. This was prohibited by the General, who endeavored to form his men into platoons and columns, as if they had been manceuvring on the plains of Flanders, Meantime the French and Indians, concealed in the ravines and behind trees, kept up a deadly and unceasing discharge of musketry, singling out their objects, taking deliberate aim, and pro- ducing a carnage almost unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare. More than half of the whole army, which had crossed the river in so proud an array, only three hours before, were killed or wounded ; the General himself had received a mortal wound, and many of his best officers had fallen by his side. In describing the action a few days afterwards, Colonel Orme wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania : — " The men were so extremely deaf to the exhortations of the General and the officers, that they fired away in the most irregular manner all their ammunition, and then ran off, leaving to the enemy the artillery, ammunition, provision and baggage; nor could they be persuaded to stop till they had got as far a? Gist's plantation, nor there only in part, many of them proceeding as far as Colonel Dunbar's party, who lay six miles on this side. The officers were absolutely sacrificed by their good behavior, advancing some- times in bodies, sometimes separately, hoping by such example to engage the soldiers to follow them, but to no purpose. The General had five horses shot under him, and at last received a wound through his right arm into his lungs, of which he died the 13ih instant. Secre- tary Shirley was shot through the head ; Captain Morris, wounded, Colonel Washington had two horses shot under him, and his clothes shot through in several places, behaving the whole time with the greatest courage and resolution. Sir Peter Halket was killed upon the spot. Colonel Burton and Sir John St. Clair were wounded," In addition to these the other field officers wounded were Lieutenant- Colonel Gage, (afterwards so well known as the commander of the British forces in Boston, at the beginning of the Revolution,) Colonel Orme, Major Sparks, and Brigade Major Halket, Ten captains were killed, and twenty-two wounded ; the whole number of officers in the engagement was eighty-six, of whom twenty-six were killed, and thirty- 72 Account of Braddodc's Defeat. 1755. seven wounded. The killed and wounded of the privates amounted to seven hundred and fourteen. Of these at least one half were supposed to be killed. Their bodies left on the field of action, were stripped and scalped by the Indians. All the artillery, ammunition, provisions, and baggage, every thing in the train of tlie array, fell into the enemy's hands, and were given up to be pillaged by the savages. General Braddock's papers were also taken, among which were his instructions and correspondence with the ministry after his arrival in Virginia. The same fate befell the papers of Colonel Washington, including a private journal and his official correspondence, during his campaign of the preceding year. No circumstantial account of this afTair has ever been published by the French, nor has it hitherto been known from any authentic source, what numbers were engaged on their side. Washington conjectured, as stated in his letters, that there were no more than three hundred, and Dr. Franklin, in an account of the battle, considers them at most as not exceeding four hundred. The truth is, there was no accurate informa- tion on the subject, and writers have been obliged to rely on conjecture. In the archives of the JVar Department, at Paris, I found three sepa- rate narratives of this event written at the time, all brief and imperfect, but one of them apparently drawn up by a person on the spot. From these I have collected the following particulars: M. de Contrecceur, the commandant of Fort Du Quesne, received early intelligence of the arrival of General Braddock and the British regiments in Virginia. After his removal from Will's Creek, French and Indian scouts were constantly abroad, who watched his motions, reported the progress of his march, and the route he was pursuing. His army was represented to consist of three thousand men. M. de Contrecceur was hesitating what measures to take, believing his small force wholly inadequate to encounter so formidable an enemy, wlien M. de Beaujeu, a Captain in the French service, proposed to head a detachment of French and Indians, and meet the enemy in their march. The consent of the Indians was first obtained. A large body of them was then encamped in the vicinity of the Fort, and M. de Beaujeu opened to them his plan, and requested their aid. This they at first declined, giving as a reason the superior force of the enemy, and the impossibility of success. But at the pressing solicitation of M. de Beaujeu, they agreed to hold a council on tlie subject, and talk with him again the next morning. They still adhered to their first decision, and when M. de Beaujeu went out among them to inquire the result of their deliberation, they told him a second time they could not go. This was a severe disappointment to M. de Beaujeu, who had set his heart upon the enterprise, and was resolved to prosecute it. Being a man of great good nature, afTability, and ardor, and much beloved by the 1755. Attack on Braddock. 73 savages, he said to them, "I am determined to go out and meet the enemy. AVhat! will you suffer your father to go out alone? I am sure we shall conquer." With this spirited harangue, delivered in a manner that pleased the Indians, and won upon their confidence, he subdued their unwillingness, and they agreed to accompany him. It was now the 7th of July, and news came that the English were within six leagues of the Fort. This day and the next were spent in making preparations, and reconnoitering the ground for attack. Two other Captains, Dumas and Liquery were joined with M. de Beaujeu, and also four Lieutenants, six Ensigns and two Cadets. On the morn- ing of the 9th they were all in readiness, and began their march at an early hour. It seems to have been their first intention to make a stand at the ford, and annoy the English while crossing the river, and then retreat to the ambuscade on the side of the hill where the contest actu- ally commenced. The trees on the bank of the river afforded a good opportunity to effect this measure, in the Indian mode of warfare, since the artillery could be of little avail against an enemy, where every man was protected by a tree, and at the same time the English would be exposed to a point blank musket shot in fording the river. As it happened, however, M. de Beaujeu and his party did not arrive in time to execute this part of the plan. The English were preparing to cross the river, when the French and Indians reached the defiles on the rising ground, where they posted themselves, and waited until Braddock's advanced columns came up. This was the signal for the attack, which was made at first in front, and repelled by so heavy a discharge from the British, that the Indians believed it proceeded from artillery, and showed symptoms of wavering and retreat. At this moment M. de Beaujeu was killed, and the com- mand devolving on M. Dumas, he showed great presence of mind in rallying the Indians, and ordered his officers to lead them to the wings and attack the enemy in the flank, while he with the French troops would maintain the position in front. This order was promptly obeyed, and the attack became general. The action was warm and severely contested for a short time ; but the English fought in the European method, firing at random, which had little effect in the woods, while the Indians fired from concealed places, took aim, and almost every shot brought down a man. The English columns soon got into con- fusion; the yell of the savages, with which the woods resounded, struck terror into the hearts of the soldiers, till at length they took to flight, and resisted all the endeavors of their officers to restore any degree of order in their escape. The rout was complete, and the field of battle was left covered with the dead and wounded, and all the arlil* lery, ammunition, provisions, and baggage of the English army. The 74 Defeat of Braddock. 1755. InJians gave themselves up to pillage, which prevented them from pur- suing the English in their flight. Such is the substance of the accounts written at the time by the French oflicers and sent home to their Government. In regard to the numbers engaged, there are some slight variations in the three state- ments. The largest number reported is two hundred and fifty French and Canadians, and six hundred Indians. If we take a medium, it will make the whole number, led out by M. de Beaujeu, at least eight hund- red and fifty. In an imperfect return, three officers were stated to be killed, and four wounded; about thirty soldiers and Indians killed, and as many wounded. AVhen these facts are taken into view, the result of the action will appear much less wonderful, than has generally been supposed. And this wonder will siill be diminished, when another circumstance is recurred to, worthy of particular consideration, and that is, the shape of the ground upon which the battle was fought. This part of the description, so essential to the understanding of military operations, and above all in the present instance, has never been touched upon it is believed, by any writer. We have seen that Braddock's advanced columns, after crossing the valley extending nearly half a mile from the margin of the river, began to move up a hill, so uniform in its ascent, that it was little else than an inclined plane of a somewhat crown- ing form. Down this inclined surface extended two ravines, beginning near together, at about one hundred and fifty yards from the bottom of the hill, and proceeding in diflferent directions till they terminated in the valley below. In these ravines the French and Indians were con- cealed and protected. At this day they are from eight to ten feet deep, and sufficient in extent to contain at least ten thousand men. At the time of the battle, the ground was covered with trees and long grass, so that the ravines were entirely hidden from view, till they were approached within a few feet. Indeed, at the present day, although the place is cleared from trees, and converted into pasture, they are percep- tible only at a very shgi-t distance. By this knowledge of the local peculiarities of the battle ground, the mystery, that the British con- ceived themselves to be contending with an invisible foe, is solved. Such was literally the fact. They were so paraded between the ravines, that their whole front and right flank were exposed to the incessant fire of the enemy, who discharged their muskets over the edge of the ravines, concealed during that operation by the grass and bushes, and protected by an invisible barrier below the surface of the earth. William Butler, a veteran soldier still living (1833,) who was in this action, and afterwards at the plains of Abraham, said to me, " We could only tell where the enemy were by the smoke of their muskets." A few scattering Indians were behind trees, and some were 1755. Braddock killed hy one of his own men. 75 killed venturing out to take scalps, but much the larger portion fought wholly in the ravines. It is not probable, that either General Braddock or any one of his officers suspected the actual situation of the enemy, during the whole bloody contest. It was a fault with the General, for which no apology can be offered, that he did not keep scouts and guards in advance and on the wings of the army, who would have made all proper discoveries before the whole had been brought into a snare. This neglect was the primary cause of his defeat ; which might have been avoided. Had he charged with the bayonet, the ravine would have been cleared instantly ; or had he brought his artillery to the points where the ra- vines terminated in the valley, and scoured them with grape-shot, the same consequence would have followed. But the total insubordination of his troops would have prevented both these movements, even if he had become acquainted with the ground in the early part of the action. The disasters of this day, and the fate of the commander, brave and resolute as he undoubtedly was, are to be ascribed to his contempt of Indian warfare, his overweening con- fidence in the prowess of veteran troops, his obstinate self-complacency, his disregard of prudent council, and his negligence in leaving his army exposed to a surprise on their march. He freely consulted Colonel Washington, whose experience and judgment, notwithstanding his youth, claimed the highest respect for his opinions ; but the General gave little heed to his advice. While on his march, George Croghan, the Indian interpreter, joined him with one hundred friendly Indians, who offered their services. These were accepted in so cold a manner, and the Indians themselves treated with so much neglect, that they deserted him one after another. Washington pressed upon the import- ance of these men, and the necessity of conciliating and retaining them, but without effect. A report had long been current in Pennsylvania, that Braddock was shot by one of his own men, founded on the declaration of a provincial soldier, who was in the action. There is another tradition also, worthy of notice, which rests on the authority of Dr. Craik, the intimate friend of Washington from his boyhood to his death, and who was with him at the battle of the Monongahela. Fifteen years after that event, they travelled together on an expedition to the Western country, with a party of woodsmen, for the purpose of exploring wild lands. While near the junction of the Great Kenhawa and Ohio Rivers, a com- pany of Indians came to them with an interpreter, at the head of whom was an aged and venerable chief. This personage made known to them by the interpreter, that, hearing Colonel Washington was in that region, he had come a long way to visit him, adding, that during the battle of the Monongahela, he had singled him out as a conspicuous 76 SmitJi^s account of the action. 1755. object, fired his rifle at him mnny times, and directed his young war- riors to do the same, but to his utter astonishment none of their balls took cfTect. lie was then persuaded, that the youthful hero was under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, and ceased to fire at him any longer. He was now come to pay homage to the man, who was a particular favorite of Heaven, and who could never die in battle. Mr. Custis, of Arlington, to whom these incidents were related by Dr. Craik, has dramatized them in a piece called The Indian Prophecy. When the battle was over, and the remnant of Braddock's army had gained, in their flight, the opposite bank of the river. Colonel Wash- ington was dispatched by the General to meet Colonel Dunbar, and order forward wagons for the wounded with all possible speed. But it was not till the 11th, after they had reached Gist's plantation with great difficulty and much suffering from hunger, that any arrived. The General was at first brought off in a tumbril ; he was next put on horse-back, but being unable to ride, was obliged to be carried by the soldiers. They all reached Dunbar's camp, to which the panic had already extended, and a day was passed there in great confusion. The artillery was destroyed, and the public stores and heavy baggage were burnt, by whose order was never known. They moved forward on the 13th, and that night General Braddock died, and was buried in the road, for the purpose of concealing his body from the Indians. The spot is still pointed out, within a few yards of the present national road, and about a mile west of the site of Fort Necessity at the Great Mea- dows. Captain Stewart, of the Virginia Forces, had taken particular charge of him from the time he was wounded till his death. On the 17th, the sick and wounded arrived at Fort Cumberland, and were soon after joined by Colonel Dunbar with the remaining fragments of the army. The French sent out a party as far as Dunbar's camp, and destroyed every thing that was left. Colonel Washington being in very feeble health, proceeded in a few days to Mount Vernon. To this we add a few paragraphs from the memoirs of James Smith who was a prisoner at Fort Du Quesne, at the time of this celebrated action.* I asked him what news from Braddock's army. He said the Indians spied them every day, and he showed me, by maing marks on the ground with a stick, that Braddock's army was advancing in very close * See also as to Braddock's defeat, Sherman Day's Historical Collections of Pennsysl- vania, published at Philadelphia and New Haven, p. 72 to 75 ; and for proof of the fact that Braddock was intentionally shot by one of liis own men, p. 335. Also pamphlets named in the Preface to this volume. 1755. English prisoners burned. 7T order, and tliat the Indians would surround them, take trees, and (as he expressed ii) shoot iim doivn all one pigeon. Shortly after this, on the 9th day of July, 1755, in the morning, I heard a great stir in the fort. As I could then walk with a staff in my hand, I went out of the door, which was just by the wall of the fort, and stood upon the wall, and viewed the Indians in a huddle before the gate, where were barrels of powder, bullets, flints, &c., and every one taking what suited. I saw the Indians also march off in rank entire j likewise the French Canadians, and some regulars. After viewing the Indians and French in different positions, I computed them to be about four hundred, and wondered that they attempted to go out against Brad- dock with so small a party. I was then in high hopes that I would soon see them fly before the British troops, and that General Braddock would take the fort and rescue me. I remained anxious to know the event of this day ; and, in the after- noon, I again observed a great noise and commotion in the fort, and though at that time I could not understand French, yet I found that it was the voice of joy and triumph, and feared that they had received what I called bad news. I had observed some of the old country soldiers speak Dutch ; as I spoke Dutch, I went to one of them, and asked him what was the news. He told me that a runner had just arrived, who said that Braddock would certainly be defeated ; that the Indians and French had surround- ed him, and were concealed behind trees and in gullies, and kept a con- stant fire upon the English, and that they saw the English falling in heaps, and if they did not take the river, which was the only gap, and make their escape, there would not be one man left alive before sun- down. Some time after this I heard a number of scalp halloos, and saw a company of Indians and French coming in. I observed they had a great many bloody scalps, grenadiers' caps, British canteens, bayonets, &c. with them. They brought the news that Braddock was defeated. After tliat another company came in, which appeared to be about one hundred, and chiefly Indians, and it seemed to me that almost every one of this company was carrying scalps ; after this came another company with a number of wagon horses, and also a great many scalps. Those that were coming in, and those that had arrived, kept a constant firing of small arms, and also the great guns in the fort, which were accompanied with the most hideous shouts and yells from all quarters ; so that it appeared to me as if the infernal regions had broke loose. About sundown I beheld a small party coming in with about a dozen prisoners, stripped naked, with their hands tied behind their backs, and their faces and part of their bodies blacked ; these prisoners they burn- ed to death on the bank of Alleghany river, opposite to the fort. I stood on the foit wall until I beheld them begin to burn one of these 78 Commencement of the Seven Years'* War. 1756. men ; they had him tied to a stake, and kept touching him with fire- brands, red-hot irons, &c., and he screamed in a most doleful manner; the Indians, in the mean time, yelling like infernal spirits. As this scene appeared too shocking for me to behold, I retired to my lodgings both sore and sorry. When I came into my lodgings I saw Russel's Seven Sermons, which ihey had brought from the field of battle, which a Frenchman made a present to me. From the best information I could receive, there were only seven Indians and four French killed in this battle, and five himdred British lay dead in the field, besides what were killed in the river on their retreat. The morning after the battle I saw Braddock's artillery brought into the fort ; the same day I also saw several Indians in British officers' dress, with sash, half-moon, laced hats, &c., which the British then wore.* Although the doings of 1755, recorded above, could not well be looked on as of a very amicable character, war was not declared by either France or England, until May of the following year; and even then France was the last to proclaim the contest which she had been so long carrying on, though more than three hundred of her merchant vessels had been taken by British privateers. The causes of this proceeding are not very clear to us. France thought, beyond doubt, that George would fear to declare war, because Hanover was so exposed to attack ; but why the British move- ments, upon the sea particularly, did not lead to the declaration on the part of France is not easily to be guessed. Early in 1756, however, both kingdoms formed alliances in Europe ; France with Austria, Russia, and Sweden ; England with the Great Frederic. And then commenced forthwith the Seven Years' War, wherein most of Europe, North America, and the East and West Indies partook and suffered. Into the details of that war we cannot enter; not even into those of the contest in North America. In Virginia many things worthy of notice took place, but most of them took place east of the mountains — among western events we find only the following : — Immediately after Braddock's defeat, the Indians began to push their excursions across the mountains, so that in April 1756, Washington writes from Winchester; "The Blue Ridge is now our frontier, no men being left in this county (Frederick) except a few who keep close with a number of women and children in * Colonel Smith's Captivity, iu Drake's Indian Captivitiesj p. 1S3. 1756. Expedition against the Indian towns upon the Ohio. 79 forts." Under these, or similar circumstances, it was deemed advisable to send an expedition against the Indian towns upon the Ohio; Major Lewis, in January 1756, was appointed to command the troops to be used in the proposed irruption, and the point aimed at was apparently the upper Shawanese town,* situated on the Ohio three miles above the mouth of the Great Kenhawa.f The attempt proved a failure, in consequence, it is said, of the swollen state of the streams, and the treachery of the guides, and Major Lewis and his party suffered greatly.^ Of this expedition, however, we have no details unless it be, as we suspect, the same with the " Sandy Creek voyage" described by Withers, in his Border warfare, as occurring in 1757, during which year Wash- ington's letters make no reference to any thing of the kind. Withers moreover says, the return of the party was owing to orders from Governor Fauquier; but Dinwiddle did not leave until January, 1758 ; ]| and the French town of Galliopolis, which, the Border Warfare says, was to have been destroyed by the Virginians did not exist till nearly forty years later. If there were two expeditions, in both the troops underwent the same kind of suffering; in both were forced to kill and eat their horses; and in both were unsuccessful. Upon a larger scale it was proposed during 1756, to attack Crown Point, Niagara, and Fort Du Quesne, but neither was attacked; for Montcalm took the forts at Oswego, which he destroyed to quiet the jealousy of the Iroquois, within whose territory they were built, and this stroke seemed to paralyze all arms. One bold blow was made by Armstrong at Kittaning, on the Alleghany, in September, § and the frontiers of Pennsylvania for a time were made safe ; but otherwise the year in America wore out with little result. During the next year, 1757, nothing took place, but the capture of Fort William Henry, by Montcalm, and the massacre of its * The lower Shawanese town was just below the mouth of the Scioto. See Croghan's Journal — Butler's Kentucky, second edition, 462. t Sparks' Washington, ii. 527. ^ Sparks' Washington, ii. 125, 135, 136. II Sparks' Washington, ii. 270. Had the return been owing to the Governor's orders, would Lieutenant M'Nutt, as Withers states, have presented his journal blaming Lewis for returning, to the very Governor whose commands he obeyed ? Border Warfare, 65. § Holmes' Annals, vol. ii. p. 73. — Burk's Virginia, vol. iii. p. 221. — Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 96. Holmes, (referring to New York Historical Collections, iii. 399,) says the Ohio Indians had already killed one thousand persons on the frontier : Armstrong did not, however, destroy more than forty savages. 80 Fort Frontenac taken by Bradstreet. 1758. garrison by his Indians ; a scene of which the readers of Cooper's Last of the Mohicans need scarce be reminded. This, and the near destruction of the British fleet by a gale off Louisburg, were the leading events of this dark season ; and no wonder that fear and despair sank deep into the hearts of the colonists. Nor was it in America alone, that Britain suffered during that summer. On the continent Frederic was borne down ; in the Mediterranean the navy of England had been defeated, and all was dark in the east; and, to add to the weight of these misfortunes, many of them came upon Pitt, the popular minister.* But the year 1758 opened under a new star. On sea and land, in Asia, Europe, and America, Britain regained what had been lost. The Austrians, Russians, and Swedes, all gave way before the great Captain of Prussia, and Pitt sent his own strong, and hopeful, and energetic spirit into his subalterns. In North America Louisburg yielded to Boscawen; Fort Frontenac was taken by Bradstreet; and Du Quesne was abandoned upon the approach of Forbes through Pennsylvania. From that time, the post at the Fork of the Ohio was Fort Pitt. In this last capture, as more particularly connected with the West, we are now chiefly interested. The details of the gather- ing and the march may be seen in the letters of Washington, w^ho, in opposition to Colonel Bouquet, was in favor of crossing the mountains by Braddock's road, whereas. Bouquet wished to cut a new one through Pennsylvania. In this division. Bouquet was listened to by the General ; and late in the season a new route w^as undertaken, by which such delays and troubles were produced, that the whole expedition came near proving a failure. Braddock's road had, in early times, been selected by the most experienced Indians and frontier men as the most favorable whereby to cross the mountains, being nearly the route by Vv-hich the national road has been since carried over them. In 1753, it was opened by the Ohio Company. It was afterward improved by the Provincial troops under Washington, and w^as finished by Braddock's engineers;! and this route was now to be given up, and a wholly new one opened, probably, as Washington sug- gested, through Pennsylvania influence, that her frontiers might thereby be protected, and a way opened for her traders. The * He returned to office, June 29th, 1757. t Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 302. 1758. Arrival of the British at Fort Dii Quesne. 81 hardships and dangers of the march from Raystown to Fort Du Quesne, where the British van arrived upon the 25th of Novem- ber, may be seen slightly pictured by the letters of Washington and the second journal of Post,* and may be more vividly con- ceived by those who have passed through the valley of the upper Juniata, t But, turning from this march, let us look at the position of things in the West, during the autumn of 1758. We have said, that in the outset the French did their utmost to alienate the Six Nations and Delawares from their old connexion with the British ; and so politic were their movements, so accurate their knowledge of Indian character, that they fully succeeded. The English, as we have seen, had made some foolish and iniquitous attempts to get a claim to the western lands, and by rum and bumbo had even obtained grants of those lands; but when the rum had evaporated, the wild men saw how they had been deceived, and listened not unwillingly to the French professions of friendship, backed as they w^ere by presents and politeness, and accompanied by no attempts to buy or wheedle land from them. J Early, therefore, many of the old allies of England joined her enemies; and the treaties of Albany, Johnson Hall, and Easton|| did little or nothing towards stopping the desolation of the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The Quakers always believed, that this state of enmity between the Delawares and themselves, or their rulers, * Proud's Pennsylvania, vol. ii. Appendix. + While upon this march General Forbes was so sick that he was carried in a close litter, and to this the officers went to receive their orders. An anecdote was afterwards told of some inimical Indian chiefs, who came to the army on an embassy, and who, observing that from this close litter came all commands, asked the reason. The British officers, thinking the savages would despise their General, if told he was sick, were at first puzzled what answer to make ; but in a moment one of them spoke out, and said, that in that litter was their General, who was so fierce and strong that he felt it necessary to bind himself, hand and foot, and lie still until he came to the enemy's country, lest he should do the ambassadors, or e\;en his own men, a mischief. The red men gave their usual grunt, and placed some miles of forest between themselves and this fierce chieftain as soon as possible. General Forbes died in Philadelphia a few weeks after the capture of Fort Du Quesne. ^ See Post-s Journals ; Pownall's 3Iemoir,on Service in North America. I Many treaties were made between 1753 and 1758, which amounted to little or nothing. See 3IassacJnise(ts Historical Collections, vol. vii. p. 97 Sparks' Franklin, vol. iii. pp. 436, 450, 471. — Proud's Pennsylvania, vol. ii. app. ; Friendly Associa- tion's Address, and Post's Journals. There were two Easton treaties ; one with the Pennsylvania Delawares, in 1756, the other with all the Indians in 1758. — See also in Proud's Pennsylvania, yo\. ii. p. 331, an inquiry into the causes of quarrel with the Indians, and extracts from treaties, &c. 6 82 Post sent West. 1758. might be prevented by a little friendly communion; but the persuasions of the French, the renegade English traders, and others who had gone to the West, were great obstacles to any friendly conversation on the one side, and the common feeling among the whites was an equal difficulty on the other. In the autumn of 1756, a treaty was held at Easton with the Pennsylvania Dela- wares,* and peace agreed to. But this did not bind the Ohio Indians even of the same nation, much less the Shawanese and Mingoes; and though the Sachem of the Pennsylvania savages, Teedyuscung, promised to call to his western relatives with a loud voice, they did not, or would not hear him ; the tomahawk and brand still shone among the rocky mountain fastnesses of the inte- rior. Nor can any heart but pity the red men. They knew not whom^to believe, nor where to look for a true friend. The French said they came to defend them from the English ; the English said they came to defend them from the French ; and between the two powers they were wasting away, and their homes disappearing before them. " The kings of France and England," said Teed- yuscung, " have settled this land so as to coop us up as if in a pen. This very ground that is under me was my land and inheri- tance, and is taken from me by fraud." Such being the feeling of the natives, and success being of late nearly balanced between the two European powers, no wonder that they hung doubting, and knew not which way to turn. The French wished the Eastern Delawares to move west, so as to bring them within their influ- ence ;t and the British tried to persuade them to prevail on their western brethren to leave their new allies and be at peace. In 1758, the condition of affairs being as stated, and Forbes' army on the eve of starting for Fort Du Quesne, and the French being also disheartened by the British success elsewhere, and their force at Du Quesne weak, — it was determined to make an effort to draw the western Indians over, and thereby still further to weaken the force that would oppose General Forbes. It was no easy matter, however, to find a true and trustworthy man, whose courage, skill, ability, knowledge, and physical power, would fit him for such a mission. He was to pass through a wilderness filled with doubtful friends, into a country filled with open ene- mies. The whole French interest would be against him, and the Indians of the Ohio were little to be trusted. Every stream on his * Sparks' FrawWm, vol. vii. p. 125. •}■ Heckewelder's Nairalive p. 53. 1758. Tost at Fort Du Quesm. 83 Avay had been dyed with blood, every hill-side had rung with the death-yell, and grown red in the light of burning huts. The man who was at last chosen was a Moravian, who had lived among the savages seventeen years, and married among them ; his name Christian Frederic Post. Of his journey, sufferings, and doings, we have his own journal, though Heckewelder tells us, that those parts which redound most to his own credit, he omitted when printing it. He left Philadelphia upon the 15th of July, 1758; and, against the protestations of Teedyuscung, who said he would surely lose his life, proceeded up the Susquehannah, — passing ^' many plantations deserted and laid waste." Upon the 7th of August, he came to the Alleghany, opposite French Creek, and was forced to pass under the very eyes of the garrison of Fort Venango, but was not molested. From Venango he went to " Kuskushkee," which was on or near Big Beaver Creek. This place, he says, contained ninety houses and two hundred able warriors. At this place Post had much talk with the chiefs, who seemed well disposed, but somewhat afraid of the French. The great conference, however, it was determined should be held opposite Fort Du Quesne, where there were Indians of eight nations. The messenger was at first unwilling to go thither, fear- ing the French would seize him; but the savages said, "they would carry him in their bosom, he need fear nothing," and they well redeemed this promise. On the 24th of August, Post, with his Indian friends, reached the point opposite the Fort ; and there immediately followed a series of speeches, explanations and agree- ments, for which we must refer to his Journal. At first he was Avas received rather hardly by an old and deaf Onondago, who claimed the land whereon they stood as belonging to the Six Nations; but a Delaware rebuked him in no A'ery polite terms. "That man speaks not as a man," he said; "he endeavors to frighten us by saying this gi-ound is his ; he dreams ; he and his father (the French) have certainly drunk too much liquor ; they are drunk ; pray let them go to sleep till they are sober. You do not know what your own nation does at home, how much they have to say to the English. You are quite rotten. You stink. You do nothing but smoke your pipe here. Go to sleep w^th your lather, and when you are sober we will speak to you." It was clear that the Delawares, and indeed all the western Indians, were wavering in their affection for the French; and, though some opposition was made to a union with the colonists, 84 Ch-anth Bpfeat. 1758. the general feeling, produced by the prospect of a quick approach by Forbes' army, and by the truth and kindness of Post himself, was in favor of England. The Indians, however, complained bitterly of the disposition which the whites showed in claiming and seizing their lands. "Why did you not fight your battles at home, or on the sea, instead of coming into our country to fight them ?" they asked, again and again ; and were mournful when they thought of the future. " Your heart is good," they said to Post, '■^ you speak sincerely: but we know there is always a great number who wish to get rich ; they have enough ; look ! we do not want to be rich, and take away what others have." " The white people think we have no brains in our heads ; that they are big, and we a little handful ; but remember, when you hunt for a rattle- snake you cannot find it, and perhaps it will bite you before you see it." When the war of Pontiac came, this saying might have been justly remembered. At length, having concluded a pretty definite peace, Post turned toward Philadelphia, setting out upon the 9th of Septem- ber; and, after the greatest sufferings and perils from French scouts and Indians, reached the settlements uninjured. Wliile Post was engaged upon his dangerous mission, the van of Forbes' army was pressing slowly forward under the heats of August from Raystown, (Bedford,)* toward Loyalhanna, hewing their way as they went. Early in September, the General reached Raystown, whither he also ordered Washington, who had till then been kept inactive among his sick troops at Fort Cumberland. Meantime two officers of the first Virginia regiment had gone sep- arately, each with his party, to reconnoitre Fort Du Quesne, and had brought accounts of its condition up to the 13th of August, f It being deemed desirable, however, to have fuller statements than they were able to give, a party of eight hundred men under Major Grant, with whom went Major Andrew Lewds of Virginia, was pushed forward to gain the desired information. Grant appears to have exceeded his orders, which were merely to obtain all the knowledge relative to the French which he could ; and after having unwisely divided his force, with equal want of sagacity brought on an engagement; having before liim, perhaps, the vain hope that he should take the fort he was sent to examine. In the skirmish thus needlessly entered into. Grant's troops were thrown * Sparks' Wasliingtoii, ii. 312. t See map in Sparks' Washington, ii.j also plate and account in Am. Pioneer, ii. 147. 17BS. British take Fort Du Quesne. 85 into confusion by their Indian foes. Lewis, who had been left two miles behind, hastening forward when he heard the sound of fire- arms, to relieve his comrades, was unable to check the rout which had commenced, and together with his commanding officer •was taken prisoner. Indeed, the whole detachment would have shared their fate, had not Capt. Bullitt, with his fifty Virginians, rescued them. Ordering his men to lower their arms, this able officer waited until the Indians, who thought the little band about to yield, were full in view, then giving the word, poured upon the enemy a deadly fire, which was instantly followed by a charge with the bayonet, — a proceeding so unlooked for and so fatal as to lead to the complete rout of the assailants. This conduct of the Virginians was much admired, and Washington received publicly the compliments of the Commander-in-Chief on account of it.* October had now arrived, and Washington was engaged in opening the road toward the Fork of the Ohio. On the 5th of November, he was still at Loyalhanna, w^here at one time the General thought of spending the winter; on the 15th, he was on Chesnut ridge, advancing from four to eight miles a day; and in ten days more stood where Fort Du Quesne had been ; the French having destroyed it, when they embarked for the lower posts on the Ohio the preceding day. At Easton, meantime, had been gathered another great council, at which were present "the eight United Nations, (the Iroquois,) and their confederates;" with all of w^hom, during October, peace was €oncluded. The particulars of this treaty are given in the American pioneer i. 244, taken from the Annual Register for 1759, p. 191 ; and from a note in Burk's " History of Virginia,"! we find that the Iroquois were very angry at the prominence of Teed- yuscung. With the messengers to the West, bearing news of this treaty, Post was sent back, within five weeks after his return. He followed after General Forbes, from whom he received messages to the various tribes, with which he once more sought their chiefs ; and was again very instrumental in preventing any junction of the Indians with the French. Indeed, but for Post's mission, there would in all probability have been gathered a strong force of * Sparks' Washington; ii. 313; note. — Butler's Kentucky, 2d edition, Introduction, xliv.— Marshall's Life of Vv^ashington, (Edition 1804, Philadelphia,) ii. 66. This defeat occurred, September 21. Washington commanded all the Virginia troops. + Vol. iii. p. 239. S6 Indian War in the South. 1760.. western savages to waylay Forbes and defend Fort Du Quesne j in which ease, so adverse was the season and the way, so wearied the men, and so badly managed the whole business, that there would have been great danger of a second "Braddock's field ;" so that our humble Moravian friend played no unimportant part in securing again to his British Majesty the key to western America. With the fall of Fort Du Quesne, all direct contest between the French and British in the West ceased. From that time Canada was the only scene of operations, though garrisons for a while remained in the forts on French Creek. In 1759, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niagara, and at length Quebec itself yielded to the English; and, on the 8th of September, 1760, Montreal, Detroit, and all Canada were given up by Vaudreuil, the French governor. But the French had not been the only dwellers in western America; and, when they were gone, the colonists still saw before them clouds of dark and jealous warriors. Indeed, no sooner were the Delawares quiet in the north, than the Cherokees, who had been assisting Virginia against her foes, were roused to war by the thoughtless and cruel conduct of the frontier men, who shot several of that tribe, because they took some horses which they found running at large in the woods. The ill-feeling bred by this act was eagerly fostered by the French in Louisiana ; and, while Amherst and Wolfe were pushing the war into Canada, the fron-^ tiers of Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, were writhing under the horrors of Indian invasion. This Cherokee war continued through 1760, and into 1761, but was terminated in the summer of the last-named year by Colonel Grant. We should be glad, did it come within our province, to enter somewhat at large into the events of it, as then came forward two of the most remarkable chiefs of that day, the Great Warrior and the Little Carpenter (Attakullakulla) ; but we must first refer our readers to the second volume of Thatcher's "Indian Biography." Along the frontiers of Pennsylvania and northern Virginia, the old plantations had been, one by one, reoccupied since 1758, and settlers were slowly pushing further into the Indian country, and traders were once more bearing their burdens over the mountains,, and finding a way into the wigwams of the natives, who rested, watching silently, but narrowly, the course of their English defenders and allies. For it was, professedly, in the character of defenders, that Braddock and Forbes had come into the 1760. Settlements in the West resumed. 87 West ;* and, while every British finger itched for the lands as well as the furs of the wild men, with mistaken hypocrisy they would have persuaded them that the treasure and the life of England had been given to preserve her old allies, the Six Nations, and their depen- dents, the Delawares and Shawanese, from French aggression. But the savages knew whom they had to deal with, and looked at every step of the cultivator with jealousy and hate. In 1760, the Ohio Company once more prepared to pursue their old plan, and sent to England for such orders and instructions to the Virginia government as would enable them to do so.f Dur- ing the summer of that year, also, General Monkton, by a treaty at Fort Pitt, obtained leave to build posts within the wild lands, each post having ground enough about it to raise corn and vege- tables for the use of the garrison. | Nor, if we can credit one writer, were the settlements of the Ohio Company, and the forts, the only inroads upon the hunting grounds of the savages ; for he says, that in 1757, by the books of the Secretary of Virginia, three millions of acres had been granted west of the mountains. Indeed, we know that in 1758 she tried by law to encourage set- tlements in the West; and the report of John Blair, Clerk of the Virginia Council, in 1768 or 1769, states, that most of the grants beyond the mountains were made before August, 1754. || At any rate, it is clear that the Indians early began to murmur; for, in 1762, Bouquet issued his proclamation from Fort Pitt, saying that the treaty of Easton, in 1758, secured to the red men all lands west of the mountains as hunting-grounds ; wherefore he forbids all settlements, and orders the arrest of the traders and settlers who were spreading discontent and fear among the Ohio Indians. § But if the Ohio Indians were early ill-disposed to the English, much more was this the case among those lake tribes, who had known only the French, and were strongly attached to them ; the Ottaways, Wyandots, and Chippeways. The first visit which they received from the British was after the surrender of Vaud- reuil, when Major Robert Rogers was sent to take charge of * Sparks' Frankli7i, vol. iv. p. 328. — Post's Journals show how full of jealousy the Indians were ; see there also Forbes' letter, sent by him. t Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. p. 482 — Plain Facts, p. 120, where a letter from the Company, dated September 9th, 1761, is given. i Dated August 20th. Flain Facts, pp. 55, 56. U Contest in North America, by an Impartial Hand, p. 36. — Secret Journals, vol. iii. p. 187 — Plain Facts. Appendix. § Plain Facts, p. 56. — See Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 64. 88 Rogers crosses Ohio. 1759. Detroit.* He left Montreal on the 13th of September, 1760, and, on the 8th of October, reached Presqu'Ile, where Bouquet then commanded. Thence he went slowly up Lake Erie, to Detroit, which place he summoned to yield itself on the 19th of Novem- ber. It was, if we mistake not, while waiting for an answer to this summons, that he was visited by the great Ottawa chief- tain, Pontiac, who demanded how the English dared enter his country; to which the answer was given, that they came, not to take the country, but to open a free way of trade, and to put out the French, who stopped their trade. This answer, together with other moderate and kindly words, spoken by Rogers, seemed to lull the rising fears of the savages, and Pontiac promised him his protection. Beleter, meantime, who commanded at Detroit, had not yielded ; nay, word was brought to Rogers on the 24th, that his messenger had been confined, and a flag-pole erected, with a wooden head upon it, to represent Britain, on which stood a crow picking the eyes out, — as emblematic of the success of France. In a few days, however, the commander heard of the fate of the lower posts, and, as his Indians did not stand by him, on the 29th he yielded. Rogers remained at Detroit until December 23d, under the personal protection of Pontiac, to whose presence he probably owed his safety. From Detroit the Major went to the Maumee, and thence across the present State of Ohio to Fort Pitt ; and his Journal of this overland trip is the first we have of such an one in that region. His route was nearly that given by Hutchins,f in Bouquet's " Expedition," as the common one from Sandusky to the Fork of the Ohio. It went from Fort Sandusky, where- San- dusky City now is, crossed the Huron river, then called Bald Eagle Creek, to " Mohickon John's Tov/n," upon what we know as Mohicon Creek, the northern branch of White Woman's River, and thence crossed to Beaver's Town, a Delaware town on the west side of the " Maskongam Creek," opposite " a fine river" which, from Hutchins' map, we presume was Sandy Creek. At Beaver's Town were one hundred and eighty warriors, and not less than three thousand acres of cleared land. From there the track went up Sandy Creek and across to the Big Beaver, and up * See his Journal, London, 1765. Also, his Concise Account of North America- London. 1765. \ Thomas Hutchins, afterwards Geographer of the United States, was, in 1764, assist- ant engineer on Bouquet's edition. 1761. Henry at MacJcinac. 89 the Ohio, through Logstown, to Fort Pitt, which place Rogers reached January 23d, 1760, precisely one month having passed while he was upon the w'ay. In the spring of the year following Rogers' visit, (1761,) Alexander Henry, an English trader, went to Missillimacnac for purposes of business, and he found everywhere the strongest feel- ing against the English, who had done nothing by word or act to conciliate the Indians. Even then there were threats of reprisals and war. Having, by means of a Canadian dress, managed to reach Missilimacanac in safety, he was there discovered, and was waited on by an Indian chief, who was, in the opinion of Thatcher, Pontiac himself. This chief, after conveying to him the idea, that their French father would soon awake and utterly destroy his enemies, continued: " Englishman ! Although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves ! These lakes, these woods, these mountains, were left to us by our ances- tors. They are our inheritance, and we will part widi them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, can- not live without bread, and pork, and beef. But you ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food for us upon these broad lakes and in these mountains." He then spoke of the fact that no treaty had been made with them, no presents sent them , and while he announced their inten- tion to allow Henry to trade unmolested, and to regard him as a brother, he declared, that with his king the red men were still at war.* Such were the feelings of tlie northwestern savages immediately after the English took possession of their lands ; and these feel- ings were in all probability fostered and increased by the Cana- dians and French. Distrust of the British was general ; and, as the war between France and England still went on in other lands, there was hope among the Canadians, perhaps, that the French power might be restored in America. However this may have been, it is clear that disaffection spread rapidly in the West, though of the details of the years from 1759 to 1763 we know hardly any thing. Upon the 10th of February, 1763, the treaty of Paris was con- cluded, and peace between the European powers restored. Of * Travels of Alexander Henry in Canada, from 1760 to 1776. New York, 1809.— Thatcher's Indian Biography, vol. ii. pp. 75, et seq. 90 Peace of Paris. 1763. that treaty we give the essential provisions bearing upon our subject. Art. 4 •' His most Christian Majesty renounces all pretensions which he has heretofore formed, or might form, to Nova Scotia or Acadia in all its parts, and guarantees the whole of it, and with all its dependencies, to the King of Great Britain: moreover, his most Chris- tian Majesty cedes and guarantees to his said Britannic Majesty, in full right, Canada, with all iis dependencies, as well as the island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulf and river of St. Lawrence ; and, in general, every thing that depends on the said coun- tries, lands, islands, and coasts, with the sovereignty, property, posses- sion, and all rights acquired by treaty or otherwise, which the most Christian King and the crown of France have had, till now, over the said countries, islands, lands, places, coasts, and their inhabitants; so that the most Christian King, cedes and makes over the whole to the said King, and to the crown of Great Britain, and that in the most am- ple manner and form, without restriction, and without any liberty to depart fiom the said cession and guarantee under any pretence, or to disturb Great Britain in the possessions above mentioned. Art. 7. " In order to establish peace on solid and durable founda- tions, and to remove forever all subjects of dispute with regard to the limits of the British and French territories on the continent of Ameri- ca, it is agreed that for the future, the confines between the dominions of his Britannic Majesty and those of his most Christian Majesty in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartr.iin, to the sea ; and for this puipose, the most Christian King cedes, in full right, and guarantees to his BritRnnic Majesty, the river and port of the Mobile, and every thing which he possesses or ought to possess on the left side of the river Mississippi, with the exception of the town of New Orleans, and of the island in which it is situated, which shall remain to France ; it being well under- stood that the navigation of the river Mississippi shall be equally free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole breadth and length from its source to the sea ; and expressly, that part which is between the said island of New Orleans, and the right bank of that river, as well as the passage both in and out of its moulh. It is further stipulated that the vessels belonging to the subjects of either nation shall not be stopped, visited, or subjected to the payment of any duty whatsoever." [It is necessary to observe, that the preliminary articles, which so far 1763. Indian Conspiracy. 91 as relates to the two articles here inserted, are verbatim the same with those of the definitive treaty, were signed on the third day of Novem- ber, 1762, on which same day, as will appear, France ceded Louisiana to Spain. 3* FROM 1763 TO 1764. And now once more men began to think seriously of the West. Pamphlets were published upon the advantages of settlements on the Ohio ; Colonel Mercer was chosen to represent the old Com- pany in England, and try to have their affairs made straight, for there were counter-claims by the soldiers who had enlisted, in 1754, under Dinwiddle's proclamation ; and on all hands there were preparations for movement. But, even at that moment, there existed through the whole West a conspiracy or agreement among the Indians, from Lake Michigan to the frontiers of North Carolina, by which they were with one accord, with one spirit, to fall upon the whole line of British posts and strike every white man dead. Chippeways, Ottoways, Wyandots, Miamis, Shawanese, Delawares, and Mingoes, for the time, laid by their old hostile feelings, and united under Pontiac in this great enterprise. The voice of that sagacious and noble man was heard in the dis- tant North, crying, " Why, says the Great Spirit, do you suffer these dogs in red clothing to enter your country and take the land I have given you 9 Drive them from it ! Drive them ! When you are in distress, I will help you." That voice was heard, but not by the whites. The unsuspecting traders journeyed from village to village; the soldiers in the forts shrunk from the sun of the early summer, and dozed away the day ; the frontier settler, singing in fancied security, sowed his crop, or, watching the sunset through the girdled trees, mused upon one more peaceful harvest, and told his children of the hor- * See Land Laws, p. 83. 92 Mackinac taken. 1763. rors of the ten years' war, now, — thank God! over. From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi the trees had leaved, and all was calm life and joy. But through that great country, even then, bands of sullen red men were journeying from the central valleys to the lakes and the Eastern hills. Bands of Chippeways gathered about Missilimacanac. Ottaways filled the woods near Detroit, The Mauraee post, Presqu'Ile, Niagara, Pitt, Ligonier, and every English fort was hemmed in by mingled tribes, who felt that the great battle drew nigh which was to determine their fate and the possession of their noble lands. f At last the day came. The traders everywhere were seized, their goods taken from them, and more than one hundred of them put to death. Nine British forts yielded instantly, and the savages drank, " scooped up in the hol- low of joined hands," the blood of many a Briton. The border streams of Pennsylvania and Virginia ran red again. " We hear," says a letter for Fort Pitt, " of scalping every hour." In Western Virginia, more -than twenty thousand people were driven from their homes. Mackinac was taken by a stratagem, which Henry thus describes : The next day, being the fourth of June, was the king's birth-day. The morning was sultry. AChippeway came to tell me that his nation was going to play at baggatiway, with the Sacs or Saaiiies, another Indian nation, lor a high wager. He invited me to witness the sport, adding that the commandant was to be there, and would bet on the side of the Chippeways. In consequence of this infoimaiicn, I went to the com- mandant, and expostulated with him a little, representing that the Indians might possibly have some sinister end in view ; but the commandant only smiled at my suspicions. Baggathvay, called by the Canadians le jeu de la crosse, is played with a bat and ball. The bat is about four feet in length, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket. Two posts are planted in the ground, at a considerable distance from each other, as a mile or more, Each party has its post, and the game consists in throwing the ball up to the post of the adversary. The ball at the beginning is placed in the middle of the course, and each party endeavors as well to throw the ball out of the direction of its own post, as into that of the adversary's. I did not go myself to see the match which was now to be played without the foit, because, there being a canoe prepared to depart, on the following day, for Montreal. 1 employed myself in writing letters to my friends; and even when a fellow-trader, Mr. Tracy happened to •fSee Henry's Narrative. — Thatcher's Indian Biography, vol. ii. p. 83. 1763. Mackinac taken. 93 call upon me, saying that another canoe had just arrived from Detroit, and proposing that I should go with liim to the beach, to inquire the news, it so happened that I still remained, to finish my letters ; pro- mising to follow Mr. Tracy in the course of a few minutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more than twenty paces from the door, when I heard an Indian war-cry, and a noise of general confusion. Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of Indians, within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found. In particular, I witnessed the fate of Lieutenant Jemette. * * * « The game of baggatiway, as from the description above will have been perceived, is necessarily attended with much violence and noise. In the ardor of contest, the ball, as has been suggested, if it cannot be thrown to the goal desired, is struck in any direction by which it can be diverted from that designed by the adversary. At such a mo- ment, therefore, nothing could be less liable to excite premature alarm, than that the ball should be tossed over the pickets of the fort, nor that, having fallen there, it should be followed on the insiant by all engaged in the game, as well the one party as the other, all eager, all struggling, all shouting, all in the unrestrained pursuit of a rude athletic exercise. Nothing could be less fitted to excite premature alarm ; nothing, there- fore, could be more happily devised, under the circumstances, than a stratagem like this ; and this was, in fact, the strategem which the In- dians had employed, by which they had obtained possession of the fort, and by which they had been enabled to slaughter and subdue its garrison, and such of its other inhabitants as they pleased. To be still more certain of success, they had prevailed upon as many as they could, by a pretext the least liable to suspicion, to come voluntary without the pickets ; and particularly the commandant and garrison ihemselves.* At Detroit, where Pontiac commanded, treachery prevented suc- cess ; and here also we give the account of a cotemporary writer : y " As every appearance of war was at an end, and the Indians seemed to be on a friendly footing, Pontiac approached Detroit without exciting any suspicions in the breast of the governor, or the inhabitants. He encamped at a little distance from it, and let the commandant know that he was come to trade ; and being desirous of brightening the chain of peace between the English and his nation, desired that he and his chiefs might be admitted to hold a council with him. The governor, * See Drake's Captivities, 289, 292. + Captain Carver, who was in the north-west from 1766 to 1768. In 1767 he says Detroit contained more than one hundred houses, and that tlie river bank was settled for twenty miles, although poorly cultivated j the people were engaged in the Indian trade. 94 Poniiac before Detroit. 1763. still unsuspicious, and not in the least doubting the sincerity of the Indians, granted their general's request, and fixed on the next morning for their reception. •• On the evening of that day, an Indian woman who had been appointed by Major Gladwyn to make a pair of Indian shoes, out of a curious elkskin, brought them hou.e. The major was so pleased with them, thai, intending these as a present for a friend, he oidered her to take the remainder back, and make it into others for himself. He then directed his servant to pay her for those she had done, and dismissed her. The woman went to the door that led to the street, but no fur- ther ; she there loitered about as if she had not finished the business on which she came. A servant at length observed her, and asked her why she staid there ? She gave him, however, no answer. •' Some short time after, the governor himself saw her, and inquired of his servant what occasioned her stay. Not being able to get a satis- factory answer, he ordered the woman to be called in. When she came into his presence, he desired to know what was the reason of her loitering about, and not hastening home before the gates were shut, that she might complete in due time the work he had given her to do. She told him, after much hesitation, that as he had always behaved with great goodness towards her, she was unwilling to take away the remain- der of the skin, because he put so great a value upon it ; and yet had not been able to prevail upon herself to tell him so. He then asked her why she was more reluctant to do so now than she had been when she made the former pair. With increased reluctance she answered, that she should never be able to bring them back. " His curiosity was now excited, he insisted on her disclosing the secret that seemed to be struggling in her bosom for utterance. At last, on receiving, a promise that the intelligence she was about to give him should not turn to her prejudice; and that if it appeared to be beneficial, she should be rewarded for it, she informed him, that at the council to be held with the Indians the following day, Pontiac and his chiefs intended to murder him ; and, after having massacred the garrison and inhabitants, to plunder the town. That for this purpose, all the cliiefs who were to be admitted into the council room had cut their guns short, so that they could conceal them under their blankets ; with which, on a signal given by their general, on delivering the belt, they were all to rise up, and instantly to fire on him and his attendants. Having effected this, they were immediately to rush into the town, where they would find themselves supported by a great number of their warriors, that were to come into it during the silting of the council under the pretence of trading, but privately armed in the same manner. Having gained from the woman every necessary particular relative to the plot, 1763. Pontine betrayed. 95 and also the means by which she acquired a knowledge of them, he dismissed her with injunctions of secrecy, and a promise of fulfilling on his part with punctuality the engagements he had entered into. •' The intelligence the governor had just received gave him great uneasiness ; and he immediately consulted the officer who was next him in command on the subject. But this gentleman, considering the information as a story invented for some artful purpose, advised him to pay no attention to it. This conclusion, however, had happily, no weight with him. He thought it prudent to conclude it to be true, till he was convinced that it was not so ; and therefore, without revealing his suspicions to any other person, he took every needful precaution that the time would admit of. He walked around the fort for the whole night, and saw himself, that every sentinel was upon duty, and every weapon of defence in proper order. " As he traversed the ramparts that lay nearest to the Indian camp, he heard them in high festivity, and little imagining that their plot was discovered, probably pleasing themselves with the anticipation of their success. As soon as the morning dawned, he ordered all the garrison under arms, and then imparting his apprehensions to a few of the prin- cipal officers, gave them such directions as he thought necessary. At the same time he sent round to all the traders, to inform them, that as it was expected a great number of Indians would enter the town that day, who might be inclined to plunder, he desired they would have their arms ready, and repel any attempt of that kind. " About ten o'clock, Pontiac and his chiefs arrived, and were con- ducted to thfc council chamber, where the governor and his principal officers, each with pistols in his belt, awaited his arrival. As the Indi- ans passed on, they could not help observing that a greater number of troops than usual were drawn up on the parade, or marching about. No sooner were they entered and seated on the skins prepared for them, than Pontiac asked the governor, on what occasion his young men, meaning the soldiers, were thus drawn up and parading the streets ? He received for answer that it "was only intended to keep them perfect in their exercise. " The Indian chief warrior now began his speech, which contained the strongest professions of friendship and good will towards the Eng- lish : and when he came to the delivery of the belt of wampum, the particular mode of which, according to the woman's information, was to be the signal for the chiefs to fire, the governor and all his attendants drew their swords half way out of their scabbards ; and the soldiers at the same time made a clattering with their arms before the door, which had been purposely left open. Pontiac, though one of the bravest men, immediately turned pale and trembled ; and instead of giving the bell in the manner proposed, delivered it according to the usual way 1763. Pontiac lays siege to Detroit. 97 His chiefs who had impatiently expected the signal, looked at each other with astonishment, but continued quiet wailing the result. "The governor, in his turn, made a speech, but instead of thanking Mhe great warrior for the piofessions of friendship he had just uttered, he accused him of being a traitor. He told him that the English, who .. knew every thing, were convinced of his treachery and villainous designs ; and as a proof that they were acquainted wiih his most secret thoughts and intentions, he stepped towards an Indian chief that sat nearest to him, and drawing aside the blanket, discovered the shortened firelock. This entirely disconcerted the Indians, and frustrated their design. " He then continued to tell them, that as he had given his word at the time they had desired an audience, that their persons should be safe, he would hold his promise inviolable, though they so little deserved it. However, he desired them to make the best of their way out of the fort, lest his young men, on being acquainted with their treacherous purposes, should cut every one of them to pieces. "Pontiac endeavored to contradict the accusation, and to make ex- cuses for his suspicious conduct; but the governor, satisfied of the falsity of his protestations, would not listen to him. The Indians immediately left the fort ; but instead of being sensible of the governor's generous behavior, they threw off the mask, and the next day made a regular attack upon it." Thus foiled, Pontiac laid formal siege to the fortress, and for many months that siege was continued in a manner, and with a perseverance, unexampled among the Indians. Even a regular commissariat department was organized, and bills of credit drawn out upon bark, w^ere issued, and what is rarer, punctually paid. It was the 9th of May,* when Detroit was first attacked, and upon the 3d of the following December it was still in danger. As late as March of the next year, the inhabitants were " sleeping in their clothes, expecting an alarm every night."! Fort Pitt was besieged also, and the garrison reduced to sad straits from want of food. This being known beyond the moun- tains, a quantity of provision was collected, and Colonel Bdquet * This date seems certain. See Thatcher's Lives of the Indians, ii. 93 to 103. — That of the attack on Mackinac is yet more certain : but how could the people at Macki- nac remain ignorant of Pontiac's movements from May 9th to June 4th ? A common canoe voyage, with all its stoppages, did not take more than fourteen days. See School- craft's Travels of 1820, (Albany 1821,) p. 73 to 110. Presqu'IIc also was not attacked till June 4th, and yet no suspicions seem to have existed. — (Mr. Harvey, of Erie, quoted in Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 314.) t See Henry's Narrative. — Thatcher's Indian Biography, vol. ii. p. 83. 1763. Bouquet attacked by the Indians. 97 was appointed to convey it to the head of the Ohio, having as- signed him for the service the poor remains of two regiments, which had but lately returned from the war in Cuba. He set out toward the middle of July, and upon the 25th reached Bedford. From that post, he went forward by Forbes's road, passed Fort Ligonier, and iipon the 5th of August was near Bushy Run, one of the branches of Turtle Creek, which falls into the Monongahela ten miles above Fort Pitt. Here he was attacked by the Indians, who, hearing of his approach, had gathered their forces to defeat him, and during two days the contest continued. On the 6th, the Indians, having the worst of the battle, retreated ; and Bouquet, with his three hundred and forty horses, loaded with flour, reached and relieved the post at the Fork.* It was now nearly autumn, and the confederated tribes had failed to take the three most important fortresses in the West, Detroit, Pitt, and Niagara. Many of them became disheartened ; others wished to return home for the winter ; others had satisfied their longings for revenge. United merely by the hope of striking and immediate success, they fell from one another when that suc- cess did not come ; jealousies and old enmities revived ; the league was broken ; and P#ntiac was left alone or with few followers. In October, also, a step was taken by the British government, in part, for the purpose of quieting the fears and suspicions of the red men, which did much, probably, toward destroying their alli- ance; a proclamation was issued containing the following para- graphs and prohibitions: And whereas, it is just and reasonable, and essential to our interest and the security of our colonies, that the several nations or tribes of Indians with whom we are connected, and who live under our protec- tion, should not be molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of our dominions and territories as, not having been ceded to, or pur- chased by us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their hunting grounds ; we do, therefore, with the advice of our privy council, declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, that no Governor or Commander- in-chief, in any of our colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any pretence whatever, to grant warrants of survey, or pass any patents for lands beyond the bounds of their respective governments, as described in their commissions ; as, also that * Holmes's ylwwaZs, vol. ii. p. 121.— Sparks' Washington, vol. ii. Map, at p. 38.~ Day's Historicul Collections of Pennsylvania) 681. 7 98 Proclamation by the Bntish Government. 1763. no Governor or Commander-in-chief of our other colonies or plantations in America, do presume for the present, and until our further pleasure be known, to grant warrants of survey, or pass patents for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic ocean from the west or northwest ; or upon any lands whatever, whicli, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians or any of them. And we do further declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the land and territories not included within the limits of our said three new Governments, or with- in the limits of the territory granted to the Hudson's Bay Company; as also all the lands and territories lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the west and northwest as aforesaid ; and we do hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects from making any purchases or settlements what- ever, or taking possession of any of the lands above reserved, without our special leave and license for that purpose first obtained. And we do further strictly enjoin and require all persons whatever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands within the countries above described, or upon any other lands, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such settlements. And whereas great frauds and abuses have been committed in the pur- chasing lands from the Indians, to the great prejudice of our interests, and to the great dissatisfaction of the said Indians ; in order, therefore, to prevent such irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our justice and determined resolution to remove all reasonable cause of discontent, we do, with the advice of our privy council, strictly enjoin and require that no private person do pre- sume to make any purchase from the said Indians, of any lands reserved to the said Indians, within those parts of our colonies where we have thought proper to allow settlement; but that, if at any time, any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall be purchased only for us, in our name, at some public meeting or assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that purpose, by the Gov- ernor or Commander-in-chief of our colony, respectively, within which they shall lie : and in case they shall lie within the limits of any pro- prietaries, conformable to such directions and instructions as we or they shall think proper to give for that purpose : and we do, by the advice of our privy council, declare and enjoin, that the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever: Provided, That every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do 1764. Treaty with the Indians at Detroit. 99 take out a a license, for carrying on such trade, from the Governor or Commander-in-chief of any of our colonies, respectively, where such person shall reside ; and also give security to observe such regulations as we shall, at any time, think fit, by ourselves or commissaries, to be appointed for this purpose, to direct and appoint, for the benefit of the said trade ; and we do hereby authorize, enjoin, and require the Gov- ■ernors and Commanders-in-chief of all our colonies, respectively, as well those under our immediate government as those under the gov- ■ernment and direction of proprietaries, to grant such licenses without fee or reward, taking especial care to insert therein a condition that such license shall be void, and the security forfeited, in case the person to whom the same is granted shall refuse or neglect to observe such regu- lations as we shall think proper to prescribe as aforesaid.* To assist the effect of this proclamation, it was determined to make two movements in the spring and summer of 1764 ; General Bradstreet being ordered into the country upon Lake Erie, and Bouquet into that upon the Ohio. The former moved to Niagara early in tlie summer, and there in June, accompanied by Sir William Johnson, held a grand council with twenty or more tribes, all of whom sued for peace; and, upon the 8th of August, reached Detroit, where, about the 21st of that month, a definite treaty was made with the Indians. Among the provisions of this treaty were the following : f 1. All prisoners in the hands of the Indians were to be given up. 2. All claims to the Posts and Forts of the English in the West were to be abandoned ; and leave given to erect such other forts as might be needed to protect the traders, &c. Around each fort as much land was ceded as a " Cannon-shot" would fly over. 3. K any Indian killed an Englishman he was to be tried by English law, the Jury one-half Indians. 4. Six hostages were given by the Indians for the true fulfil- ment of the conditions of the treaty. | * See Land Laws, p. 86. t Annual Register, 1764. — (State Papers, 181.) :j; Henry's Narrative (New York edition, 1809,) pp. 185, 186.— Henry was with Brad- street. — The Annual Register of 1764, (State Papers, p. 181,) says the treaty was made at Presqu'ile, (Erie.) Mr. Harvey, of Erie, (quoted by Day in Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 314, says the same. Others have named the Maumee, where a truce was agreed to, August 6th. (See Henry.) There may have been two treaties, one at Detroit with the Ottawas, &c., and one at Erie with the Ohio Indians. 100 Pontiac killed hy a Kaskaskia Indian. 1765. Bouquet, meanwhile, collected troops at Fort Pitt, and in the autumn marched across from Big Beaver to the upper Muskingum, and thence to the point where the White Woman's river comes into the main stream. There, upon the 9th of November, he concluded a peace with the Delawares and Shawanese, and received from them two hundred and six prisoners, eighty-one men and one hundred and twenty-five women and children. He also received, from the Shawanese, hostages for the delivery of some captives, who could not be brought to the Muskingum at that time. These hostages escaped, but the savages were of good &ith, and upon the 9th of May, 1765, the remaining whites were given up to George Croghan, the deputy of Sir W^illiam Johnson, at Fort Pitt.* Many anecdotes are related in the account of the delivery of the captives to Bouquet, going to show that strong attachments had been formed between them and their captors ; and West's pencil has illustrated the scene of their delivery. But we have little faith in the representations of either writer or painter, f Pontiac, the leading spirit in the past struggle, finding his attempts to save his country and his race at that time hopeless, left his tribe and went into the West, and for some years after was living among the Illinois, and in St. Louis, attempting, but in vain, to bring about a new union and new war. He was in the end killed by a Kaskaskia Indian. So far as we can form a judg- ment of this chieftain, he was, in point of talent, nobleness of spirit, honor, and devotion, the superior of any red man of whom we have an account. His plan of extennination.was most mas- terly; his execution of it equal to its conception. But for tjie treachery of one of his followers, he would have taken Detroit early in May. His whole force might then have been directed in one mass, first upon Niagara, and then upon Pitt, and in all proba- bility both posts would have fallen. | Even disappointed as he was at Detroit, had the Six Nations, with their dependent allies, * Sec however, American Archives, fourth series, i. 1015, where the good faith of the Shawanese is disputed. t " An Historical Account of the Expedition against the Ohio Indians in the year 17t)4, under the command of Henry Bouquet, Esquire, &c. Published from Authentic Docu- ments, by a Lover of his Country. London, 1766. Tliis volume was first printed in Philadelphia. I Tliatcher's Indian Biography, \o\. ii. Our knowledge of Pontiac and his war is very limited. 'We hope somctliihg more may come to liglit yet. Nicollet in liis Report, (p. 81,) gives some particulars from one who knew Pontiac. His death \\as revenged by the Nortliern nations, who nearly exterminated the Illinois. 1765. Sir William Johnson succeeds in a Treaty of Peace. 101 the Delawares and Shawanese, been true to him, the British might have been long kept beyond the mountains; but the Iroquois, — close upon the colonies, old allies of England, very greatly under the influence of Sir William Johnson and disposed, as they ever proved themselves, to claim and sell, but not to defend the West, — were for peace after the King's proclamation. In- deed, the Mohawks and leading tribes were from the first with the British ; so that, after the success of Bradstreet and Bouquet, there was no diflficulty in concluding a treaty with all the Western Indians ; and late in April, 1765, Sir William Johnson, at the German Flats, held a conference with the various nations, and settled a definite peace.* At this meeting two propositions were made ; the one to fix some boundary line, west of which the Euro- peans should not go ; and the savages named, as this line, the Ohio or Alleghany and Susquehannah ; but no definite agreement was made, Johnson not being empowered to act. The other pro- posal was, that the Indians should grant to the traders, who had suffered in 1763, a tract of land in compensation for the injuries then done them, and to this the red men agreed. f With the returning deputies of the Shawanese and Delawares, George Croghan, Sir William Johnson's sub-commissioner, went to the west for the purpose of visiting the more distant tribes, and securing, so far as it could be done, the alliance of the French who were scattered through the western valleys, and who were stirring up the savages to warfare, as it was believed. The Jour- nal of his voyage may be found in the Appendix to Butler's "History of Kentucky" (second edition,) together with the esti- mate of the number of Indians in the west ; a very curious table, though, of course vague and inaccurate. From his Journal we present some passages illustrative of the state of the western French settlements, and the feelings of the western Indians at that time. On the 15th of May, Croghan left Pittsburgh: on the 6th of June reached the mouth of the Wabash, and on the 8th was taken prisoner by a party of Indians from the upper Wabash. Upon the 15th he reached Vincennes, or St, Vincent, or Post Vincent. On ray arrival there, I foimd a village of about eighty or ninety French families settled on the east side of this river, being one of the » Plain Facts, p. 60, ^ 76i. 1^1. — Dwddriilge's Indian Wars, &c 1777. Cornstalk and Redhawk ensnared and killed. 163 order to talk the matter over with Captain Arbuckle, who com- manded there, and with whom he was acquainted. This was early in the summer of 1777. The Americans, knowing the Shawanese to be inclining to the enemy, thought it would be a good plan to retain Cornstalk and Redhawk, a younger chief of note, who was with him, and make them hostages for the good conduct of their people. The old warrior, accordingly, after he had finished his statement of the position he was in, and the necessity under which he and his friends would be of "going with the stream," unless the Long-Knives could protect them, found that, in seeking counsel and safety, he had walked into a trap, and was fast there. However, he folded his arms, and, with Indian calmness, waited the issue. The day went by. The next morning came, and from the opposite shore was heard an Indian hail, known to be from Ellinipsico, the son of Cornstalk. The Americans brought him also into their toils as a hostage, and were thankful that they had thus secured to themselves peace; — as if iniquity and deception ever secured that first condition of all good ! Another day rolled by, and the three captives sat waiting what time would bring. On the third day, two savages who were unknown to the whites, shot one of the white hunters, toward evening. Instantly the dead man's comrades raised the cry, "Kill the red dogs in the fort." Arbuckle tried to stop them, but they were men of blood, and their wrath was up. The Captain's own life was threatened if he offered any hindrance. They rushed to the house where the captives were confined; Cornstalk met them at the door, and fell, pierced with seven bullets; his son and Redhawk died also, less calmly than their veteran compan- ion, and more painfully. From that hour peace was not to be hoped for.* But this treachery, closed by murder, on the part of the Ameri- cans, in no degree caused, or excuses the after steps of the British agents ; for almost at the moment when Cornstalk was dying upon the baiis of the Ohio, there was a Congress gathering at Oswego, under the eye of Colonel Johnson, "to eat the flesh and drink the blood of a Bostonian ; " in other words, to arrange finally the measures which should be taken against the devoted rebels by Christian bretliren and their heathen allies, f * Doddridge, 237.— Withers' Border Warfare, 15L t Stone, vol. :.. p. ISu. 164 British offer bounties for scalps. 1775. In Kentucky, meanwhile, Indian hostilities had been unceasing- In illustration of this we give some passages from George R- Clark's Journal,* March Gth, Thos. Shores and William Ray killed at the Shawanese Spring. — 7lh, the Indians attempted to c\x% ofT from the fort a smal! party of our men : a skirmish ensued — we had four men wounded and some cattle killed. We killed and scalped one Indian, and wounded several. — 8ih, brought in corn from the different cribs until the 18ih day. — 9th, express sent to the settlement, Ebenezer Corn & Co. arrived from Captain Linn on the Mississippi. — 18th, a small party of Indians killed and scalped Hugh Wilson, about half a mile from the fort, near night, and escaped. — 19ih, Archibald McNeal died of his wounds re- ceived on the 7th inst. — 28th, a large party of Indians attacked the stragglers about the fort, killed and scalped Garret Pandergrest, killed or took prisoner, Peter Flin. Jlpril 7ih, Indians killed one man at Boonesborough, and wounded one. — 8ih, Sloner arrived with news from the settlement. — 24th. forty or fifty Indians attacked Boonesborough, killed and scalped Daniel Good- man, wounded Captain Boone, Captain Todd, Mr. Hite and Mr. Stoner, Indians, 't is thought sustained much damage. — 29th, Indians attacked the fort and killed ensign McConnell. May 6ih, Indians discovered placing themselves near the fort. A few shots exchanged — no harm done.— 12th, John Cowan and Squire Boone arrived from the settlement. — 18ih, McGary and Haggin sent express to Fort Pitt. — 23d, John Todd & Co. set off for the setdement. — 23d, a large party of Indians attacked Boonesborough fort ; kept :?■ warm fire until 11 o'clock at night; began it next morning, and kept a warm fire until midnight, attempting several times to burn the fort; three of our men were wounded — not mortally; the enemy suffered considerably. — 26th, a party went out to hunt Indians; one wounded Squire Boone, and escaped. — 30th, Indians attacked Logan's Fort j killed and scalped William Hudson, wounded Burr Harrison and John Kennedy. June 5th, Harrod and Elliot went to meet Colonel Bowman &; Co.~ Glen and Laird arrived from Cumberland ; Daniel Lyons, who parted with them on Green River, we suppose was killed going into Logan's Fort. John Peters and Elisha Baihey we expect were killed coming home from Cumberland. — 13lh, Burr Harrison died of his wounds re- ceived the 30th of May. — 22d, Barney Stagner, Sen. killed and behead- ed half a mile from the fort. A few guns fired at Boone's. * See also extracts from another journal of the same period in Cist's Cincinnati Miscel - lany, ii, 138, 1777. Condition of Kentucky. 1:65 July 9th, Lieutenant Linn married; great merriment. — 11th, Harrod returned. — 23d, express leturned from Pittsburgh. August 1st, Colonel Bowman arrived at Boonesborough. — 5lh, sur- rounded ten or twelve Indians near the fort; killed three and wounded others; the plunder was sold for upwards of £70. — 11th, John Hig- gins died of a lingering disorder. — 25th, Ambrose Grayson killed near Logan's Fort, and two others wounded ; Indians escaped. September "Sih, twenty-seven men set out for the settlement. — 9th, Indians discovered; a shot exchanged; nothing done. — 11th, thirty- seven men went to Joseph Bowman's for corn, while shelling they were fired on ; a skirmish ensued; Indians drew off, leaving two dead on the spot, and much blood; Eli Gerrard was killed on the spot and six others wounded. — 12th, Daniel Bryan died of his wounds received yesterday.* At times, the stations were assailed by large bodies of savages ; at times, single settlers were picked off by single, skulking foes- The horses and cattle were driven away; the corn-fields remained uncultivated ; the numbers of the whites became fewer and fewer, and from the older settlements little or no aid came to the frontier stations, until CJoL Bowman, in August, 1777, came from Virginia with one hundred men. It was a time of suffering and distress through all the colonies, which was in most of them bravely l)orne ; but none suffered more, or showed more courage and forti- tude, than the settlers of the West. Their conduct has excited less admiration out of their own section than that of Marion, and men like him, because their struggles had less apparent connection with the great cause of American independence. But who shall say what would have become of the resistance of the colonies, had England been able to pour from Canada her troops upon the rear of the rebels, assisted, as she would have been, by all the Indian nations? It may have been the contests before the stations of Kentucky, and Clark's bold incursions into Illinois and against Vincennes, which turned the oft tottering fortunes of the great struggle. ^ But, however we may think of this point, we cannot doubt the picturesque and touching character of many incidents of Western history during the years from 1777 to 1780. Time has not yet so mellowed their features as to give them an air of romance pre- cisely ; but the essence of romance is in them. In illustration, we * JMorehead's Address, jp. 162. 166 James Ray supplies liarrodshurgJi. 1777. will mention one or two of these incidents, familiar enough in the West, but still worthy of repetition. One of the eminent men of Kentucky in those and later times was General James Ray. While yet a boy, he had proved himself able to outrun the best of the Indian warriors; and it was when but seventeen years of age that he performed the service for a distressed garrison of which we are about to speak. It was in the winter of 1776-7, a winter of starvation. Ray lived at Harrodsburgh, which, like the other stations, was destitute of corn. There was game enough in the woods around, but there were also Indians more than enough, and had the sound of a gun been heard in the neighborhood of a station, it would have insured the death of the one who discharged it. Under these cir- cumstances, Ray resolved to hunt at a distance. There was one horse left of a drove of forty, which Major McGary had brought to the West ; an old horse, faithful and strong, but not fitted to run the gauntlet through the forest. Ray took this solitary nag, and before day-dawn, day by day, and week by week, rode noise- lessly along the runs and rivers until he was far enough to hunt with safety ; then he killed his game, and by night, or in the dusk of the evening, retraced his steps. And thus the garrison lived by the daring labors of this stripling of seventeen. Older hunters tried his plan, and were discovered; but he, by his sagacity, boldness, care, and skill, safely pursued his disinterested and dangerous employment, and succeeded in constantly avoiding the perils that beset him. We do not think that Boone or any one ever showed more perfectly the qualities of a superior woodsman than did Ray through that winter. If any one did, however, it was surely Benjamin Logan, in the spring of that same year. Logan, as we have seen, crossed the mountains with Henderson, in 1775, and was of course one of the oldest settlers. In May, 1777, the fort at which Logan lived, was surrounded by Indians, more than a hundred in number ; and so silently had they made their approach, that the first notice which the garrison had of their presence was a discharge of firearms upon some men who were guarding the women as they milked the cows outside the station. One was killed, a second mortally wounded, and a third, named Harrison, disabled. This poor man, unable to aid himself, lay in sight of the fort, where his wife, who saw his condition, was begging some one to go to his relief. But to attempt such a thing seemed madness ; for whoever 1777. Heroism of Logan. 167 ventured from either side into the open ground, where Harrison lav writhing and groaning, would instantly become a target for all the sharpshooters of the opposite party. For some moments Logan stood it pretty well ; he tried to persuade himself and the poor woman who was pleading to him, that his duty required him to remain within the walls and let the savages complete their bloody work. But such a heart as his was too warm to be long restrained by arguments and judicious expediency ; and suddenly turning to his men, he cried, " Come, boys, who's the man to help me in with Harrison?" There were brave men there, but to run into certain death in order to save a man whom, after all, they could not save, — it was asking too much; and all shook their heads, and shrunk back from the mad proposal. " Not one ! not one of you help a poor fellow to save his scalp ?" " Why, what's the good. Captain ? to let the red rascals kill us wont help Harrison ?" At last, one, half inspired by Logan's impetuous courage, agreed to go; he could die but once, he said, and was about as ready, then, as he should ever be. The gate was slightly opened, and the two doomed men stepped out ; instantly a tempest of rifle balls opened upon them, and Logan's compa- nion rapidly reasoning himself into the belief that he was not so ready to die as he had believed, bolted back into the station. Not so his noble-hearted leader. Alone, through that tempest, he sprang forward to where the wounded man lay, and while his hat, hunting-shirt, and hair were cut and torn by the ceaseless shower, he lifted his comrade like a child in his arms, and regained the fort without a scratch. But this rescue of a fellow-being, though worthy of record in immortal verse, was nothing compared with what this same Ben- jamin Logan did soon after. The Indians continued their siege; still they made no impression, but the garrison were running short of powder and ball, and none could be procured except by cross- ing the mountains. To do this, the neighboring forest must be passed, thronging with Indians, and a journey of some hundred miles accomplished along a path every portion of which might be waylaid, and at last the fort must be re-entered with the articles so much needed. Surely, if ever an enterprise seemed hopeless, it was this one, and yet the thing must be tried. Logan pondered the matter carefully ; he calculated the distance, not less than four hundred miles in and back ; he estimated the aid from other quar- ters ; and in the silence of night asked wisdom and guidance from 168 Logan goes for powder to the Holston. 1777. God. Nor did he' ask in vain ; wisdom was given him. At night, with two picked companions, he stole from the station, every breath hushed. The summer leaves were thick above them, and with the profoundest care and skill, Logan guided his followers from tree to tree, from run to run, unseen by the savages, who dreamed not, probably, of so dangerous an undertaking. Quickly but most cautiously pushing eastward, walking forty or fifty miles a day, the three woodsmen passed onward till the Cum- berland range was in sight; then, avoiding the Gap, which they supposed would be watched by Indians, over those rugged hills, where man had never climbed before, they forced their way with untiring energy and a rapidity to us, degenerate as we are, inconceivable. The mountains crossed, and the valley of the Holston reached, Logan procured his ammunition, and then turned alone on his homeward track, leaving his two companions, with full directions, to follow him more slowly with the lead and powder. He returned before them, because he wished to revive the hopes of his little garrison in the wilderness, numbering as it did, in his absence, only ten men, and they without the means of defence. He feared they would yield, if he delayed an hour; so, back, like a chamois, he sped, over those broken and precipitous ranges, and actually reached and re-entered his fort in ten days from the time he left it, safe and full of hope. Such a spirit would have made even women dare and do every thing, and by his influence the siege was still resisted till the ammunition came safe to hand. From May till September that little band was thus beset; then Colonel Bowman relieved them. In the midst of that summer, as George Rogers Clark's journal has it, " Lieutenant Linn was married — great merriment!" This was at Harrods- burgh, near by Logan's station. Such was the frontier life! It was a trying year, 1777, for those little forts in the wilder- ness. At the close of it, three settlements only existed in the interior, — Harrodsburgh, Boonesborough, and Logans ;* and of these three the whole military population was but one hundred and two in number I Nor was it in Kentucky alone that the Indians were busy. Through the spring and summer constant attacks were made upon the settlements in the neighborhood of Wheeling. At this point, as we have already said, the Zanes had settled in 1770, and here in 1774, Connolly, or the settlers, by his direction, had built a fort * See Butler, Marshall, McClung, &c. 1777. /Wheeling attacked. 169 called Fort FIncastle* the name of the western county of Vir- ginia. In this a body of men was left by Lord Dunmore, when he made his treaty with the Shawanese,t and through the whole of 1775 and 1776 it was occupied by more or fewer soldiers; indeed, in those times all men were soldiers, and hostility from the Indians daily anticipated. This fort in 1776 was called, in honor of the eloquent governor of Virginia, Fort Henry,! '''^^ "^'^^ the central point between Fort Pitt and the works at the mouth of Kenawha. In the early autumn of 1777, word from friendly Indians, perhaps the Christian Delawares, of the Muskingum, or perhaps from Isaac Zane, the brother of the Wheeling settlers, || reached General Hand, who commanded at Fort Pitt, informing him that a large body of the north-western Indians was preparing to attack the posts of the Upper Ohia. These news were quickly spread abroad, and all were watching where' the blow would come. On the evening of September 26, smoke was seen by those near Wheeling, down the river, and was supposed to proceed from the burning of the block-house at Grave creek, and the people of the vicinity taking the alarm, betook themselves to the fort. Within its walls were forty-two fighting men, of various ages and gifts : these were well supplied with guns, both rifles and muskets, but had only a scant supply of gun- powder, as the event proved. The night of the 26th passed with- out alarm, but when very early upon the 27th two men, who were sent out for horses, in order to alarm the settlements near by, had proceeded some distance from the fort, they met a party of six savages, by whom one of them was shot. The commandant of the post. Col. Shepherd, learning from the survivor that there were but six of the assailants, sent a party of fifteen merv to see to them. These were suffered to march after the six, who seem to have been meant merely for a decoy, until they were within the Indian lines, when, suddenly, in front, behind, and on every side, the painted warriors showed themselves. The little band fought bravely against incalculable odds, but of the fifteen three only escaped, and they by means of the brush and logs which were in the corn field where the skirmish took place. As soon as the * George R. Clarke is said to have planned it. (American Pioneer, ii. 303.) t American Archives, 4th series, ii. 1189, I American Pioneer, ii. 304. I Isaac Zane was with the Wyandots from the time he was nine years old. (Americfla State Papers, xvi, 93 121.) 170 Sketch of Simon Girty, the white Indian. 1777. position of the first band was seen at the fort thirteen others rushed to their assistance, and shared their fate. Then, and it was not yet sunrise, the whole body of Indians, disposed in some- what martial order, appeared regularly to invest the devoted fort. There were nearly four hundred of them, and of the defenders but twelve men and boys ; unless indeed we count women, than whomj as we shall see, none were braver or calmer within the walls of that little fortress. The Indians were led by Simon Girty,* who was acting as an * As this is the first time we have had occasion to speak of this far-famed white Indian, we introduce from the writings of Judge Campbell, the best account of the family that we have met with. See also Hesperian, September and October, 1838 : and Index to this volume. Perhaps there was no part of America so highly prized by the aboriginals as Kentucky. To them its importance consisted not so much in the fertility of soil as in the abundance of game which it afforded. Indeed, by common consent, they abstained from occupying it with their families, reserving it exclusively for a great hunting ground. The intermina- ble cane-brakes and numerous licks, yielded subsistence to such vast herds of buffaloes and deer, as have never been seen elsewhere. It is not at all astonishing that the Indians should have defended, with great obstinacy, a country so dear to them, against the incursions of the whites. That they were vigilant, active and cruel cannot be denied. They were provoked to a degree of phrenzy, which led to acts of daring and outrage shocking to humanity. In their atrocities they had the aid and countenance of the Girtys, of whom a brief account will be given. Girty, the father, was an emigrant from Ireland, about eighty years ago, if report can be relied on. He settled in Pennsylvania where that liberty which he sought degenerated in his possession into the basest licentiousness. His hours were wasted in idleness and beastly intemperance. Nothing ranked higher in his estimation, or so entirely com- manded his regard, as a jug of whiskey. " Grog was his song and grog would he have." His sottishness turned his wife's affection. Ready for seduction, she yielded her heart to a neighboring rustic, who, to remove all obstacles to their wishes, knocked Girty on the head and bore off the trophy of his prowess. He left four sons, Thomas, Simon, George and James. The three latter were taken prisoners by the Shawanese, Delawares, and Senecas, in that war which developed the military talents of General Washington. George was adopted by the Delawares, and continued with them until his death. He became a perfect savage — his manners being entirely Indian. To consummate cunning he added the most fearless intrepidity. He fought in the battles of Kenhawa, Blue Licks, and Sandusky, and gained himself much distinction for skill and bravery. In his latter years, like his father, he gave himself up to intemperance, and died drunk, about twenty-five years ago, on the Miami of the Lake. Simon was adopted by the Senecas, and became as expert a hunter as any of them. In Kentucky and Ohio, he sustained the reputation of an unrelenting barbarian. Forty-five years ago, with his name was associated every thing cruel and fiend -like. To the women and children in particular, nothing was more terrifying than the name of Simon Girty. At that time, it was believed by many, that he had fled from justice and sought refuge among the Indians, determined to do his countrymen all the harm in his power. This impression was an erroneous one. It is true he joined the Indians in their wars with the whiles and cpnformed to their usages. This was the education he had received, and those who were the foes of his red brethren were his foes. Although trained in all his pursuits as an Indian, it is said to be a fact, susceptible of proof, that through his importunities, many prisoners were saved from death. His influence was great, and when he chose to be merciful, it was generally in his power to protect the imploring captive. 1777. Fort Henry attacked hy Girty and his party. 171 agent for the British in the attempt to secure the aid of a part, at any rate, of the frontier men, in the revolutionary struggle. Fort Henry stood immediately upon the bank of the Ohio about a quarter of a mile above the mouth of Wheeling Creek ; between it and the steep river hill which every traveller in the west is acquainted with, were twenty or thirty log huts. When Girt}' then, as we have said, led his red troops against the fort, he at once took possession of the houses of the village as a safe and ready-made line of attack, and from the window of one of the cabins called upon the little garrison to surrender to King George, and promised absolution to all who would do so. Colonel Shep- herd answered at once that they would neither desert nor yield ; and when Girty recommenced his eloquence, a shot from some impatient listener suddenly stopped his mouth. Then commenced the siege. It was just sunrise in the quiet valley, through which the quiet autumnal river flowed as peacefully as if war was never known. A calm, warm, bright September day; — one of those days most lovely among the many pleasant ones of a year in the Ohio valley. — And from sunrise till noon, and from noon till night of that day, the hundreds of besiegers and units of besieged about and within Fort Henry, ceased not to load and discharge musket or rifle till it was too hot to hold. About noon the fire of His reputation was that of an honest man. In the payment of his debts he was scru- pulously exact. Knowing and duly appreciating integrity, he fulfilled his engagements to the last cent. It is stated that on one occasion he sold his horse rather than incur the odium of violating his promise. He was a great lover of rum. Nothing could afford him more joy than a keg of this beverage. When intoxicated, in abuse he was indiscriminate, sparing neither friends nor foes. Then it was, he had no compassion in his heart. Although much disabled by the rheumatism for the last ten years of his life, he rode to his hunting grounds in pursuit of game. Suffering the most excruciating pains, he often boasted of his war-like spirit. It was his constant wish that he might breathe his last in battle. So it happened. He was at Proctor's defeat on the river Thames, and was cut to pieces by Colonel Johnson's mounted men. James Girty fell into the hands of the Shawanese, who adopted him as a son. As he approached manhood he became dextrous in all the arts of savage life. To the most sanguinary spirit, he added all the vices of the depraved frontiersmen with whom he frequently associated. It is represented that he often visited Kentucky at the time of its first settlement, many of the inhabitans feeling the effects of his courage and cruelty. Neither age nor sex found mercy at his hand. His delight was in carnage. When unable to walk, in consequence of disease, he laid low, with his hatchet, captive women and children who came within his reach. Traders who were acquainted with him, say, so furious was he that he would not have turned on his heel to save a prisoner from the flames. His plea- sure was to see new and refined tortures inflicted ; and to perfect this gratification he frequently gave directions. To this barbarian are to be attributed mnny of the cruelties charged upon his brother Simon. Yet this monster was caressed by Elliott and Proctor. 172 Elizabeth Zane procures Powder. 1777. the attackers slackened, and then as powder was scarce in the fort, and it was remembered that a keg was concealed in the house of Ebenezer Zane, some sixty yards distant, — it was determined to make an effort to obtain it. When the question, "Who will go?" was proposed, however, so many competitors appeared that time was wasted in adjusting claims to what was almost sure death. The rest of the story we must let Mr. Geo. S. McKiernan, from whom we take our whole account nearly, — tell in his own words. At this crisis, a young lady, the sister of Ebenezer and Silas Zane, came forward and desired that she might be permitted to execute the service. This proposition seemed so extravagant that it met with a peremptory refusal; but she instanlly renewed her petition in terms of redoubled earnestness, and all the remonstrances of the colonel and her relatives failed to dissuade her from her heroic purpose. It was finally represented to her that either of the young men, on account of his su- perior fleetness and familiarity witli scenes of danger, would be more likely than herself to do the work successfully. She replied, that the danger which would attend the enterprize was the identical reason that induced her to offer her services, for, as the garrison was very weak, no soldier's life should be placed in needless jeopardy, and that if she were to fall the loss would not be felt. Her petition was ultimately granted, and the gate opened for her to pass out. The opening of the gate ar- rested the attention of several Indians who were straggling through the village. It was noticed that their eyes were upon her as she crossed the open space to reach her brother's house ; but seized, perhaps, with a sudden freak of clemency, or believing that a woman's life was not worth a load of gunpowder, or influenced by some other unexplained motive, they permitted her to pass without molestation. When she reappeared with the powder in her arms, the Indians, suspecting, no doubt, the character of her burden, elevated their firelocks and dis- charged a volley at her as she swiftly glided towards the gate ; but the balls all flew wide of the mark, and the fearless girl reached the fort in safety with her prize.* The allies of Britain, finding rifles powerless when used against well-built block-houses and pickets, determined upon trying an ex- temporary cannon, and having bound a hollow maple with chains, having bored a touch hole, and plugged up one end, they loaded it liberally and levelled it at the gate of the impregnable castle. It was now evening, and the disappointed Wyandots gathered about their artillery, longing to see its loading of stones open to * See American Pioneer, vol. ii. p. 309. 1777. Escape of Major McCoUoch. 173 them the door of the American citadel. The match was applied ; bursting into a thousand pieces the cannon of Girty tore, maimed, and killed his copper-colored kinsfolk, but hurt none else.* During that night many of the assailants withdrew disheartened. On the morning of the 28th, fifteen men came from Cross creek to the aid of Fort Henry, and forty-one from Short creek. Of these all entered the fort except Major McColloch, the leader of the Short creek volunteers. He was separated from his men, and at the mercy of the natives, and here again we prefer to use the words of Mr. McKiernan. From the very commencement of the war, his reputation as an Indian hunter was as great, if not greater, than that of any white man on the north-westeru border. He had participated in so many rencounters tha4 almost every warrior possessed a knowledge of his person. Among the Indians his name was a word of terror ; they cherished against him feelings of the most phrensied hatred, and there was not a Mingo or Wyandot chief before Fort Henry who would not have given the lives of twenty of his warriors to secure to himself the living body of Major McColloch. When, therefore, the man whom they had long marked out as the first object of their vengeance, appeared in their midst, they made almost superhuman efforts to acquire possession of his person. The fleetness of McColloch's well-trained steed was scarcely greater than that of his enemies, who, with flying strides, moved on in pursuit, Ai length the hunter reached the top of the hill, and, turning to the left, darted along the ridge with the intention of making the best of his way to Short Creek. A ride of a few hundred yards in that direction brought him suddenly in contact with a party of Indians who were re- turning to their camp from a marauding excursion to Mason's Bottom, on the eastern side of the hill. This party being too formidable in numbers to encounter single-handed, the major turned his horse about and rode over his own trace, in the hope of discovering some other avenue to escape. A few paces only of his countermarch had been made, when he found himself confronted by his original pursuers, who had, by this time, gained the top of the ridge, and a third party was discovered pressing up the hill directly on his right. He was now completely hemmed in on three sides, and the fourth was almost a per- pendicular precipice of one hundred and fifty feet descent, with Wheel- ing Creek at its base. The imminence of his danger allowed him but lilUe time to reflect upon his situation. In an instant he decided upon * This incident, and the heroic act of Elizabeth Zane, are placed by Withers in the siege of Fort Henry in 1782 (Border Warfare, 263. 264.) We follow the writer in the\ Pioneer, who is represented as an accurate man ; Withers was not always eo. ■-T- 174 Kentuc/cians choose Burgesses. 1777. his course. Supporting his rifle in his left hand and carefully adjusting his reins with the other, he urged his horse to the brink of the bluff, and then made the leap which decided his fate. In the next moment the noble steed, still bearing his intrepid rider in safety, was at the foot of the precipice. McCoUoch immediately dashed across the creek, and was soon beyond the reach of the Indians.* Finding all attempts to take the fort fruitless, the Indians killed all the stock, including more than three hundred cattle, burned houses and fences, and destroyed every article of furniture. Of the forty-two men who had been in the fort, twenty-five were killed, all outside of the walls; of the savages probably one hun- dred perished, f But notwithstanding the dangers and difficulties which sur- rounded them during 1777, the pioneers of the West held steadily to their purposes, and those of Kentucky being now a component part of the citizens of Virginia, proceeded to exercise their civil privileges, and in April elected John Todd and Richard Gallaway, burgesses to represent them in the Assembly of the parent State. Early in the following September the first court was held in Har- rodsburg; and Col. Bowman, who, as we have mentioned, had arrived from the settlements in August, was placed at the head of a regular military organization which had been commenced the March previous. Thus, within herself, feeble as she was, Ken- tucky was organizing ; and her chief spirit, he that had represented her beyond the mountains the year before, was meditating another trip to Williamsburg, for the purpose of urging a bolder and more decided measure than any yet proposed. He understood the whole game of the British. He saw that it was through their possession of Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia and the other western posts — which gave them easy and constant access to the Indian tribes of the north-west — that the British hoped to effect such an union of the wild men as would annihilate the frontier fortresses. He knew that the Delawares were divided in feeling, and the Shawa- nese but imperfectly united in favor of England, ever since the murder of Cornstalk. He was convinced that could the British in the north-west be defeated and expelled, the natives might be easily awed or bribed into neutrality; and by spies sent for the * American Pioneer, vol. ii. p. 312. tSee Withers' Border Warfare, 160. American Pioneer, ii. 302-314-339. The usual (lito of the -ittnck is Scpteiubcr 1. Mr. M-jKiciiian g'.'es good authority for his dates, which we follow. 1777. Clark proposes to conquer tltinois. 175 purpose, and who were absent from April 20 to June 22d, he had satisfied himself that an enterprise against the Illinois settlements might easily succeed. Having made up his mind, on the 1st of October, he left Harrodsburg for the East, and reached the capital of Virginia November the 5th. Opening his mind to no one, he watched with care the state of feeling among those in ^ power, waiting the proper moment to present his scheme. Fortu- nately, while he was upon his road, on the 17th of October, Bur- goyne had surrendered, and hope was again predominant in the American councils. When therefore the western soldier, upon the 10th of December, broke the subject of his proposed expe- dition against the forts on the far distant Mississippi, to Patrick Henry, who was still governor, he met wuth a favorable hearing, and though doubts and fears arose by degrees, yet so well digested were his plans, that he was able to meet each objection, and remove every seeming impossibility. Already the necessity of securing the western posts had been presented to the consideration of Congress ; as early as April 29, 1776, the committee on Indian affairs were instructed to report upon the possibility of taking De- troit ; * and again, upon the 20th of November, 1777, a report was made to that body, in which this necessity was urged, and also the need that existed, of taking some measure to prevent the spirit of disaffection from spreading among the frontier inhabitants.! Three commissioners also were chosen to go to Fort Pitt, for the purpose of inquiring into the causes of the frontier difficulties, and doing what could be done to secure all the whites to the American cause, to cultivate the friendship of the Shawanese and Delawares, and to concert with General Hand some measures for pushing the war westward, so as to obtain possession of Detroit and other posts. General Washington was also requested to send Colonel William Crawford, an old pioneer, to take the active command in the West; and he accordingly left head quarters upon the 25th. All this, as we shall see by and by, ended in nothing, but it proved the correctness of Clark's views, and aided, we may sup- pose in convincing those who ruled in the Ancient Dominion that their glory and interest, as well as the safety of the whole frontier country, were deeply involved in the success of the bold plan of the founder of Kentucky. And here, before proceeding to narrate the steps taken by Clark * Secret Journals i. 43. t Old Journals, vol. ii. p. 340, 176 Condition of Illinois. 11^2 to 1111, to reduce the Illinois and other British posts of the north-west, it will be proper to bring up the scant and simple annals of that por- tion of our country from 1750, when Vivier wrote respecting them, to the period at which we have now arrived. The settlements along the Mississippi, from 1750 to 1762, ex- perienced few changes with which we are acquainted.* On the 3d of the month of November of the year last named, the prelim- inary articles of peace between Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal, which resulted in the peace of Paris, of February 10th, 1763, were signed at Fontainbleau ; on that day also, by a secret act of cession the French king gave to Spain all of Louisiana (west of the Mississippi,!) together with New Orleans and the island on which it is situated. The command of this territory, however, was not given over by the officers of France until directed to do so by an order dated April 21, 1764. The regions east of the Mississippi, including all the various towns of the north-west, were by the same peace-making given over to England ; but they do not appear to have been taken possession of by that power until 1765, when Captain Stirling, in the name of the majesty of England, established himself at Fort Chartres, bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage, dated December 30, 1764, which promised freedom of religious worship to the western Catholics, a right to leave the country with their effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen. | During some years, differences occurred between the British rulers and French inhabitants, and many of the latter crossed the river into the dominions of Spain ; so that when Captain Pittman visited "the Illinois," in 1770, Kaskaskia contained only sixty-five resident families, and Cahokia only forty-five dwellings. || Still at that time^ one man furnished the king's stores from his crop, 86,000 lbs. of flour. § Soon after this we find General Gage issu- ing his proclamation of April, 1772, against interlopers on the Wabash, at St. Vincent and elsewhere, which led to a protest on * Some account of the Illinois in 175G may be found in the travels of Bossu, translated by J. R. Forster, London, 1771. 2 vols. t This was intended, but not stated. See order to Mons. D'Abbadie, Land Laws 976. \ Land Laws, 918. — Brown's Illinois, 212. [Pittman's present state of English Settlements on the Mississippi. (London, 1770) p. 43. § Pittman, p. 43. On p. 55 this writer says a man in Illinois could have been fed and lodged the year round for two months' work ; the one in seed-time, the other in harvest. In 1769, Hutchins (Geographical Description, 43) says the Illinois produced 110 Hhds. of wine. 1762-1777. Condition of Illinois. 177 the part of the old inhabitants in the following September, this pro- test the General replied to by requiring the name of every person at St. Vincents, with all the details of each one's claim.* These claims at the time of the Revolution passed, as did those from the posts further west, into the hands of the United States' Govern- ment, and were by them equitably adjusted, although it was by no means an easy matter to do so, as the claims finally existing had arisen in various ways ; some from grants by the old French commandants, others from those by the British officers, who suc- ceeded in the government of Illinois, others by purchase from the Indians, and others again under promises made by the old con- federation. Many of these claims were supported by scarce any proof, most of the old records having been destroyed ; and others were upheld only by perjury, which seems to have been easily procured when needed. Among the cases w^hich appear most embarrassing were those of the Illinois and Wabash Go's, who, in July, 1773, and October, 1775, had bought of the Indians three immense and most valuable tracts of land in what are now the States of Illinois and Indiana, upon the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash rivers. The purchases were made by William Murray, for himself and others, at open councils held at Kaskaskia and St. Vincent, in the presence of the British officers, and which lasted for several ~ weeks. From these meetings ardent spirits were entirely excluded, and the savages, in return for their deeds, received goods to the value of fifty thousand dollars. The British government, however, under the pressure of the time, did not confirm the proceedings, although Lord Dunmore was one of the leaders of the Wabash Company — and when, after the Revolution, the purchasers presented their claim to the United States, which they did several times, it was not granted. Congress taking the ground that the purchase from the natives was in contempt of the Proclamation of 1763, and could not be recognized. Upon the same ground the vast tract in the north-west, which Jonathan Car- ver, the old traveller, alledged a title to, as having been purchased of the Sioux, w^as considered as in no degree his, even though he- had been able to show a fair title, (independent of the proclama- tion,) which, as it happened, he was not able to do. There are many voluminous reports in relation to these matters in the Amer- ican State papers, which may be found by turning to the Index of * Land Laws, 948-949. For Gage's Proclamation, see American State Papers, xvii. 209, 12 178 Condition of Illinois. 1762 to 1777. those volumes ; a few of them we refer to below.* Among those referred to, that on page 108, is a very able and full argument in favor of the Illinois and Wabash Companies, (which had been united in 1780,) — a paper probably prepared by Robert Goodloe Harper. In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, &c., we find it stated that Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1000 white and black inhabitants; the whites being a little the most numerous. Cahokia is stated at 50 houses and 300 white inhabitants, with 80 negroes. He also estimates east of the Mississippi, 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 230 negroes. This last calcu- lation is made for 1771, and although Hutchins did not publish his work until 1778, we presume his calculations all apply to a period anterior to the commencement of the Revolutionary War. From 1775 until the expedition by Clark, we find nothing re- corded, and know nothing of the condition of the Illinois settle- ments beyond what is contained in the following extract from a report made by a committee to Congress in June, 1788. Near the mouth of the river Kaskaskies, there is a village which ap- pears to have contained nearly eighty families, from the beginning of the- late revolution. There are twelve families in a small village at la Prairie du Rochers, and near fifty families at the Kahokia village. There are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philip's, which is five miles further up the river.t Such were the posts against which Clark was to march. But in the immediate neighorhood of those posts was the young and promising, though while under Spanish rule by no means thriving, colony of which St. Louis| was the central point ; a brief history of which, (drawn almost entirely from the report of J. N. Nicollet made to Congress, in 1843,) seems also appropriate at this point. The country west of the Mississippi was secretly given over by France to Spain, November 3, 1762, the order on the French Governor, Mons. D'Abbudie, to deliver up his command, was drawn on the 21st of April, 1764. Meantime a company of mer- * See American State Papers, xvii. 123 to 240. 108. 253. xviii. 551. 611. See also case of Johnson vs. Mcintosh. Wheaton's Reports, viii. 543. + See Land Laws, 393. [Volney, (view, 381,) says that Colonel Sargent, in 1790, esti- mated the French families in Illinois at 150.] t Or Pancorcj sec Volncy's View, 381. 3762 — 1777. Condition of Missouri. 179 y ■chants, headed by a Mr. Laclede, had obtained the monopoly of the Indian fur-trade on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and an expedition was fitted out to form establishments, and open com- mercial relations with the natives. Says Nicollet : Mr. Laclede, the principal projector of the company, and withal a man of great intelligence and enterprise, was placed in charge of the expedition. Leaving New Orleans on the 3d of August, 1763, he arrived at St. Genevieve three months afterwards — namely, on the 3d of November. ********* At this time, the French establishments were on the east side of the Mississippi, particularly those made in Illinois. The small village of St. Genevieve alone v/as on the right side, in which Mr. Laclede could scarcely find a house of sufficient size to store a fourth part of his cargo. On the other hand, the director general of Louisiana had received orders to deliver up the territory on the west side of the river ; so that the British authorities might be expected at any moment, presenting themselves to take possession of it. In the midst of these difficulties, Mr. Laclede, greatly embarrassed under the new aspect of things, found himself, however, relieved when the commanding officer, Mr. NeyoK^ de Villiers, allowed him the use of the store at Fort'' Chartres; until the final surrender of the place. Laclede gladly accepted the ofler, and lost no time in apportioning his squad and dis- tributing his flotilla along the rivers, so as to render them most efleclive either for defence or for trade. Having accomplished that preliminary arrangement, it became neces- sary to look out for the position of a central establishment. The left bank of the river no longer presented any fit situation, since the whole teriitory of Illinois had been passed over to the British Government ; the village of St. Genevieve, on the right bank, being his only alterna- tive, and this situated at too great a distance from the mouth of the Missouri. Mr. Laclede, therefore, left Fort Chartres, on a voyage of exploration to the junction of this river with the Mississippi, and was not long before he discovered that the bluff" upon which St. Louis now stands was the spot that would best answer the purposes of the company. Deferring, for the present, a more particular account of the geologi- cal situation of St. Louis, it may be remarked in this place that the hill upon which the city is situated is composed of limestone rocks, covered by a deep deposite of alluvial soil of great fertility. The limestone bluff" rises to an elevation of about eighty feet over the usual recession of the waters of the Mississippi, and is crowned by an upland, or plateau, extending to the north and west, and presenting scarcely any limit to the foundation of a city entirely secure from the invasions of the river. *********** 180 Condition of Missouri. 1762—1777. It was on this spot that the prescient mind of Mr. Laclede foresaw and predicted the future importance of the town to which he gave the name of St. Louis, and about which he discoursed, a few (lays after- ward, with so much enthusiasm, in presence of the officers at Fort Chartres. But winter had now set in, (December,) and the Mississippi was about to be closed by ice. Mr. Laclede could do no more than cut down some trees, and blaze others, to indicate the places Mhich he had selected. Returning afterwards to the fort, where he spent the winter, he occupied himself in making every preparation for the establisliment of the new colony. Accordingly, at the breaking up of winter, he equipped a large boat, which he manned with thirty hands. It is proper to mention, in this place, that Mr. Laclede was accompanied by two young Creoles of New Orleans, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, of high intelligence, in whom he reposed the greatest confidence, and from whom he derived much assistance. These two young men, who never afterwards quitted the country of their adoption, became in time the heads of numerous families; enjoying the highest respectability, the comforts of an hon- orably acquired affluence, the fruit of their own industry, and possessed of a name which to this day, after a lapse of seventy years, is still a passport that commands safety and hospitality among all the Indian nations of the United States, north and west. Mr. Laclede gave the command of his boat to Auguste, the elder of the two brothers, who died in 1826; and it is with mixed feelings of veneration and filial affection that, at the moment of recording these events, (1842,) I have the satisfaction of believing that my respectable and esteemed friend, Pierre Chouteau, is still alive, in the full enjoyment of his faculties, at the ripe old age of 86 years. Auguste Choteau, who had accompanied Mr. Laclede in his first excursion, was directed to carry out his plans ; and on tlie L5lh of February, 1764, had arrived at his point of destination, with all his men, whom he immediately set to work. The present old market- place of St. Louis is the spot where the first tents and log cabins were pitched, upon the site of this now important city of the West. Mr. Laclede being detained at Fort Chartres in the settlement of his private aff*airs, and in anticipation of the arrival of the British troops, thought it necessary, however, to 'pay a visit, early in the ensuing month of April, tn h\s pioicers ; and, finding every thing in good train, contented himself with leaving such instructions as were best fitted to develop the resources of the location, and returned to Fort Chartres, with the inten- tion of removing thence the goods belonging to the company.* For some time, however, as the English did not appear, M. Laclede remained at Fort Chartres, from the vicinity of which * Nicollet's Report, pp. 70—77. 1762 — 1777. Condition of Missouri. 181 many of the French, during the summer of 1764, removed to St. Louis. This emigration was soon checked, however, by the news of the secret cession to " His Catholic Majesty,"* which news left the unfortunate and simple hearted Frenchf of Illinois, deserted by their own monarch, to choose between the dominion of England and Spain. The troubles which followed the attempt of Spain to take possession of Lower Louisiana, for some time left the upper settlements in the hands of the French : it was not, indeed, till 1770, that Spain obtained final possession of St. Louis. Meanwhile other towns were rising. Of the state of St. Louis and its neighboring towns, about 1771, we may form some conception from the facts and estimates given by Hutchins." At St. Genevieve he says there were 208 whites and 80 negroes, capable of bearing arms ; and at St. Louis, 415 whites and 40 blacks. He further tells us there were 120 houses in the town last named, mostly of stone, large and commo- dious : and the whole number of people he places at 800, besides 150 negroes; the whites being chiefly French. The population of St. Genevieve, he puts at 460, besides blacks. J In 1767, a man by the name of Delo Detergette settled upon a splen- did amphitheatre on the right bank of the Mississippi, six miles south of St. Louis. He was soon followed by others ; but, as they were not overburdened with wealth, they used to pay frequent visits to their kinsfolk of St. Louis, who, on seeing them approach, would exclaim, " Here come the empty pockets," — " voila les poches vides qui vien- ?2en?." But, on some occasion, a wag remarked, "You had better c3l\1 them emptier s of pockets," les vide-poches ; a compliment which * Nicollet says (p. 82) that news of this cession reached New Orleans, April 21, 1764 ; that was the date of the king's order, which was printed at New Orleans, in the follow- ing October. See Land Laws, 976. "^ + The following story, told by I^icollet, is very characteristic. " A genuine Missourian, it is related, was hovering for some time around the stall of a negro dealer, situated on the "bank of the Mississippi, in Lovver Louisiana. The dealer was a Kentucky merchant, who, observing him, asked him if he wished to purchase any tiling ? ' Yes,' said the Missourian, ' I should like to buy a negro.' He was invited to walk in, made his choice, and inquired the price. ' Five hundred dollars," said the dealer, ' but, according to custom, you may have one year's credit upon the purchase.' The Missourian, at this proposition, became very uneasy , the idea of such a load of debt upon him for a whole year was too much. ' No, no,' said he, ' I'd rather pay you six hundred dollars at once, and be done with it.' ' Very well," said th e Kentuckian, any thing to accommodate.' " :j: Hutchins' Topographical description of Virginia, (we have lost the pages of this ref- erence.) There is no additional information on the subject in his pamphlet on Louisi- ?Jia, though published several years later. 182 Siege of St. Louis. 1780. was retaliated by tliese upon the place of St. Louis, which was subject to frequent seasons of want, by styling it Pain-court — short of bread. The village, being still nameless, retained the appellation of Vide poche until 1776, when it was changed into that of Carondelet. In 1769, settlements were made on both shores of the lower portion of the Missouri river. Blanchette, surnamed " the hunter," built his log-house on the hills called les Petites Cotes ; being the first dwelling of the beautiful village that, in 1781, received the name of St. Charles.* Francois Borosier Dunegan commenced the village of Florissant ^ which name it still popularly retains, although more lately called by the Spaniards St. Ferdinand. About the same time, Francois Saucier originated the establishment of the Portage des Sioux, on the bank of the Mississippi, seven miles above the mouth of the Missouri. And here, anticipating a little, we give Nicollet^s account of the attack on St. Louis by the British and Indians usually assigned to 1778, but by Nicollet said to have been in May, 1780; a date made probable by the fact that Spain did not side with the United States until June 16th, 1779, and that act of hers must have been the provocation to the attack referred to.f The garrison, says Nicollet's report, consisted of only fifty to sixty men, commanded by a certain Captain Lebas,:j: (a Spaniard, and not a Frenchman, as his name might lead one to suppose.) But, what- soever his origin, he deserves nothing but public contempt. This Lebas, during the first three years that the Spaniards occupied the country, had commanded a small fort somewhere towards the mouth of the Missouri perhaps at Belle Fontaine — and afterwards received the command of St. Louis, as a successor to Cruzat, who himself had succeeded Piernaz. The only means of defence for the place at that time, was a stone tower erected near the village on the bank of the Mississippi, and some v/eak palisades. There were not more than 150 males in the place, of whom not more than 70 could be relied upon as efiicient to repel an enemy numbering, according to the best authorities, 900 combatants ; though, by some, their number is represented to have been from 1,400 to 1,500. It would have been useless to propose a capitulation, the conditions of which the Indians, (as has been unfortunately too often experienced,) * Hall (Sketches, i. 171,) says, 1804. t Nicollet had the papers of Colonel Augnste Chouteau. — For the date of Spain's action see Pitkins' United States, ii. 72. 4 Spelt Leyba by Hall, whose account of the transaction, see Sketches, i. 171. Judgs Hall's spelling of the name is probably correct, if the man was a Spaniard. 1780. Skge of St. Louis. 183 either from ignorance or treachery, never fulfil'; and the inhabitants knew too well the character of those with whom they had to deal, to expect salvation in anything but a courageous resistance. The women and children, who could not take part in the defence, took shelter in the house of Auguste Chouteau ; whilst all those, both men and women, who were within the palisades, commenced so vigorous a resistance, that the enemy was forced to retreat. But these, with characteristic ferocity, threw themselves upon those of the inhabitants who, engaged in the cultivation of their fields, had not had time to reach the palisades ; and it is said that sixty were killed, and thirteen made prisoners. It is averred that the Spanish garrison took no part in this gallant de- fence. Lebas and his men had betaken themselves to the stone tower ; and it is further stated, that, as the tower threatened to give way after the first fire from it, he ordered the firing to be stopped ; and that he died on receiving information that the Sacs, Foxes, and Iowa Indians were massacring the people on the plains. The year this attack took place, is called by the French V Jinnee die Grand Coup — the year of the great blow. Historical accuracy demands a denial here of the assertion of some authors, who ascribe to American troops an active part in this defence. Unfortunately, there were no United States troops on the bank of the Mississippi opposite to St. Louis, as none were needed, there being nothing to guard or to defend. It is well known that General George R. Clark, with his men, then occupied the important post of Kaskaskia, which is more than fifty-six miles south-east of St. Louis ; and that, consequently, this gallant officer could not have had time, even if it fell within his line of duty, to aid in an affair that concerned the Spaniards and the British, which was planned as a surprise, and lasted but a few hours. Afier the event narrated above, the inhabitants of St. Louis, finding that their garrison were unworthy of trust, without ammunition, and without means of defence against a regularly organized attack, deputed Mr. A. Chouteau to proceed to New Orleans for assistance. Cruzat was again made commander of St. Louis, the affairs of which place he ad- ministered with mildness and public satisfaction. A wooden fort was built on the most elevated spot within the city, upon which were mounted several heavy pieces of ordnance, and still later there were added four stone turrets, from which cross-fires could be kept up. This might have answered for the protection of the city, but only against the In- dians. No trace of this fortification are now to be seen — the very site of which has yielded to the improvements of the city.* * See Nicollet, p. 83. 1778. Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his plan, received on the 2d of January two sets of instructions — the one open, authorising him to enlist seven companies to go to Kentucky, subject to his orders, and to serve for three months from their arrival in the West; the other set secret and drawn as follows : VIRGINIA: Set. Lv Council, Williamsburg, Jan. 2d, 1778. Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark: You are to proceed, wilh all convenient speed, to raise seven com- panies of soldiers to consist of fifty men each, officered in the usual manner, and armed most properly for the enterprize ; and with this force attack the British post at Kaskasky. It is conjectured that there are many pieces of cannon and military stores, to considerable amount, at that place; the taking and preserva- tion of which would be a valuable acquisition to the State. If you are so fortunate, therefore, as to succeed in your expedition, you will take every possible measure to secure the artillery and stores, and whatever may advantage the Slate. For the transportation of the troops, provisions, &;c., down the Ohio, you are to apply to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt, for boats ; and during the whole transaction you are to take especial care to keep the true destination of your force secret : its success depends upon this. Orders are therefore given to Captain Smith to secure the two men from Kaskasky. Similar conduct will be proper in similar cases. It is earnesdy desired that you show humanity to such British sub- jects and other persons as fall in your hands. If the white inhabitants at that post and the neighborhood, will give undoubted evidence of their attachment to this State, (for it is certain they live within its limits,) by taking the test prescribed by law, and by every other way and means in their power, let them be treated as fellow-citizens, and their persons and property duly secured. Assistance and protection against all ene- mies whatever, shall be afforded them ; and the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if these people will not accede 1778. Clark descends the Ohio. 185 to these reasonable demands, they must feel the miseries of war, under the direction of that humanity that has hitherto distinguished Americans, and which it is expected you will ever consider as the rule of your con- duct, and from which you are in no instance to depart. The corps you are to command are to receive the pay and allowance of miliiia, and to act under the laws and regulations of this State, now in force, as militia. The inhabitants at this post will be informed by you, that in case they accede to the offers of becoming citizens of this Commonwealth, a proper garrison will be maintained among them, and every attention bestowed to render their commerce beneficial ; the fairest prospects being opened to the dominions of both France and Spain. It is in contemplation to establish a post near the mouth of the Ohio. Cannon will be wanted to fortify it. Part of those at Kaskasky will be easily brought thither, or otherwise secured, as circumstances will make necessary. You are to apply to General Hand, at Pittsburgh, for powder and lead necessary for this expedition, If he can't supply it, the person who has that which Captain Lynn brought from Orleans can. Lead was sent to Hampshire by my orders, and that may be delivered you. Wishing you success, I am Sir, your humble servant,* P. HENRY. With these instructions and twelve hundred pounds in the depreciated currency of the time, Colonel Clark, (for such was now his title,) on the 4th of February started for Pittsburg. It had been thought best to raise the troops needed beyond the moun- tains, as the colonies were in want of all the soldiers they could muster east of the Alleghanies, to defend themselves against the British forces. Clark therefore proposed to enlist men about Pittsburg, while Major W. B. Smith, for the same purpose went to the Holston, and other officers to other points. None, however, succeeded as they hoped to ; at Pittsburg Clark found great oppo- sition to the intention of carrying men away to defend the outposts in Kentucky, while their own citadel and the whole region about it were threatened by the savage allies of England ; and Smith, though he nominally succeeded in raising four companies, was unable essentially to aid his superior officer after all. With three companies and several private adventurers, Clark at length com- menced his descent of the Ohio, which he navigated as far as the Falls, where he took possession of and fortified Corn Island, op- posite to the spot now occupied by Louisville. At this place he appointed Colonel Bowman to meet him with such recruits as had * See Butler's History of Kentucky, p. p. 489. 186 Clark crosses Illinois. 1778. reached Kentucky by the southern route, and as many men as could be spared from the stations. Here also he announced to the men their real destination. Having waited until his arrange- ments were all completed, and those chosen who were to be of the invading party, on the 24th of June, during a total eclipse of the sun, with four companies he left his position and fell down the river. His plan was to follow the Ohio as far as the fort known as Fort Massac or Massacre, and thence to go by land direct to Kaskaskia. His troops took no other baggage than they could carry in the Indian fashion, and for his success he trusted entirely to surprise. If he failed, his plan was to cross the Mississippi and throw himself into the Spanish settlements on the west of that river. Before he commenced his march he received two pieces of information of which he made good use at the proper time, by means of which he conquered the west without bloodshed. One of these important items was the alliance of France with the colo- nies; this at once made the American side popular with the French and Indians of Illinois and the lakes, France having never lost her hold upon her ancient subjects and allies, and England having never secured their confidence. The other item was, that tlie inhabitants of Kaskaskia and the other old towns had been led by the British to believe that the Long Knives or Virginians, were the most fierce, cruel, and blood-thirsty savages that ever scalped a foe. With this impression on their minds, Clark saw that proper management would readily dispose them to submit from fear, if surprised, and then to become friendly from gratitude, when treated with unlocked for clemency. In the hot July sun, therefore, the little army toiled along the dimly seen hunters' paths toward the British Fort, suffering not a little from thirst. A party of hunters which had been stopped on their way from Kaskaskia, told the Americans that, alarmed by some means, we know not how, the English commander, Mr. Rocheblave, was on the alert, and that they must ensure a sur- prise if they wished success. This was just as the Colonel ex- pected, and cautiously, quickly, and full of hope, he and his men pressed on, until on the evening of July 4th they drew near the settlement they were in search of. Carefully concealed, the troops lay still while boats were collected to carry them across the river ; then, in the darkness, two divisions crossed with directions to re- main hidden at different points, until a signal should warn them that Clark, with the third division, had succeeded in taking the 1778. Clark takes Kaskaskia. 187 fort opposite the village, when with shouts and yells they were to rush upon the town, and give warning that any citizens who ap- peared in the streets would be instantly shot. These arrange- ments made, the Colonel with his party, led by a hunter, taken prisoner the evening previous, obtained quiet possession of the fort by entering an open gate on the river side. The signal agreed on was given ; the other parties broke into the quiet streets like bands of wild Iroquois; and the inhabitants, surprised, terrified and trembling, heard the formidable notice shouted forth which forbade their appearance in the streets, and listened all night to the screams and shrieks of the white savages who, by Clark's ^ orders, constantly patrolled the streets.* The commandant of Kas- kaskia was taken in his~bed, but his papers were saved by being placed in his wife's trunks, which the Virginia barbarians were too gallant to seize and search against her will ; conduct contrast- ing singularly with that of the Great Frederick, the leader of Eu- ropean civilization, who, twenty years before, would have certain documents, though the Queen of Poland not only put them in her trunk, but sat down herself upon the top of it.f On the 5th of July, Clark withdrew his troops from the town, but still forbade communication among the inhabitants, and all intercourse between them and the American soldiers. Not con- tent with this, the Virginian placed some of the more prominent of the French in irons, without assigning any cause, a step which wrought up the terror of their fellow citizens to a still higher pitch. One thing more only was wanting to complete the conster- nation of the conquered — the appearance of the victors. To the Illinois Europeans, who even in their far-off wilderness, associated much of splendor and pomp with military command, the soiled, torn, shabby clothes, burned faces, and useful rather than orna- mental arms of the American officers, carried conviction of all that had been told them as to the untamed ferocity of the Long Knives ; and when a deputation waited upon the General and his staff to ask leave to meet in the village church, and there bid one another farewell before being separated forever, as they supposed they should be, it was plain that fear had done the work intended. In answer to the request which they made, Clark said bluntly, * On that same night, while the soldiers of Clark scared the Kaskaskians with pretended ferocity, the valley of Wyoming echoed with real shrieks of rage and pain, and swam with blood shed by white men ; for the leaders in that massacre wera Tories. i Lord Dover's Life of Frederick, ii,, 15, (Harpers' Edition.) 188 ^ Clark takes CahoMa. 1778. that Americans left all men to worship as they would, that they might meet in the church, if they pleased, hut on no account to venture upon any farther step: they wished, apparently, to say something more, but the ragged General would not listen. After the assemblage had taken place, the leading men, together with their priest, once more came with an humble petition to the dangerous Virginia chieftain ; they asked that they might not be separated from their wives and children, and that some food and clothing might be allowed them. "Do you mistake us for sava- ges?" asked Clark, who saw that the hour for leniency was come, " Do you think that Americans intend to strip women and chil- dren, or take the bread out of their mouths ? My countrymen disdain to make war upon helpless innocence ; it was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our own wives and children, that we have taken arms and penetrated into this remote strong- hold of British and Indian barbarity ; and not the despicable ^ prospect of plunder. Now that the king of France has united his powerful arms with those of America, the war will not, in all probability, continue long; but the inhabitants of Kaskaskia are at liberty to take which side they please, without the least danger to either their property or families. Nor will their religion be any source of disagreement ; as all religions are regarded with equal respect in the eye of the American law, and any insult which shall be offered it, will be immediately punished. And now, to prove my sincerity, you will please inform your fellow-citizens, that they are quite at liberty to conduct themselves as usual, with- out the least apprehension ; I am now convinced from what I have learned since my arrival among you, that you have been misin- formed and prejudiced against us by British officers; and your friends who are in confinement shall immediately be released." The change of feeling which followed this speech of Clark's fully justified the course of conduct he had pursued ; expecting every severity which war could justify, the joy produced by the an- nouncement that they would be deprived of neither liberty nor property, prepared them to become the friends and supporters of those before whom they had trembled, and when a detachment was ordered to march against Cahokia, the Kaskaskians offered to go with it and secure the submission of their neighbors. In this they perfectly succeeded, and on the 6th of July, the two chief posts in the Illinois had passed, and without bloodshed, from the possession of England into that of Virginia. 1778. Clark takes Vincennes. 189 But St. Vincent's, the most important western post except Detroit, still remained unconquered, nor could Clark, with his small force, hope to obtain possession of it, as he must of necessity be for some time near the Mississippi, to organize a government for the colo- nies he had taken, and to treat with the Indians of the north-west. Under these circumstances, he determined to accept the offer of M. Gibault, the priest of Kaskaskia, who told him he would undertake by persuasion alone to lead the inhabitants of Vin- cennes to throw off their forced connexion with England. On the 14th of July, in company with a fellow townsman, M. Gibault left upon his mission of peace ; and upon the 1st of August, returned with the intelligence that the inhabitants of the post upon the Wabash had taken the oath of allegiance to the Old Dominion. Having met with such great success, Clark in the next place re-enlisted his men, established courts, placed garrisons at Kaskas- kia, Cahokia and Vincennes, sent word to have a fort, which proved the germ of Louisville, commenced at the falls of the Ohio, and despatched Mr. Rocheblave, who had been command- ant at Kaskaskia, as a prisoner to Richmond. In October, the county of Illinois was created by the legislature of Virginia, and John Todd appointed Lieutenant Colonel and civil Commandant ; and in November, Colonel Clark, his officers and men, received the thanks of their native state in these words : In the House of Delegates, Monday, the 23(1 Nov. 1778. TVIiereas, authentic information has been received, that Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, with a body of Virginia militia, has re- duced the British posts in the western part of this Commonwealth, on the river Mississippi, and its branches, whereby great advantage may accrue to the common cause of America, as well as to this Common- wealth in particular. Resolved, That the thanks of this House are justly due to the said Colonel Clark and the brave officers and men under his command, for their extraordinary resolution and perseverance, in so hazardous an en- lerprize, and for the important services thereby rendered their country. *" Test, E. RANDOLPH, C. H. D. The next steps of the western leader had reference to securing the co-operation or neutrality of the various Indian tribes, and here, especially, he seems to have been in his element. His meetings with them were opened at Cahokia, in September, and * See Butler's History of Kentucky, p. 490. 190 Clark's Speech to the Indians. 1778. his principles of action being never to court them, never to load them with presents, never to seem to fear them, though always to show respect to courage and ability, and to speak in the most direct manner possible, — he waited for the natives to make the first advances and offer peace. When they had done so, and thrown away the bloody wampum sent them by the British, Clark coldly told them he would answer them the next day, and meanwhile cautioned them against shaking hands wdth the Americans, as peace was not yet concluded; it will be time to give hands when the heart can be given too, he said. The next day the Indians came to hear the answer of the Big Knife, which we give entire, as taken by Mr. Butler and Mr. Dillon, from Clark's ow^n notes. " Men and warriors : pay attention to my words. You informed me yesterday, that the Great Spirit had brought us together, and that you hoped, that as he was good, it would be for good. I have also the same hope, and expect that each party will strictly adhere to whatever may be agreed upon, whether it shall be peace or war ; and henceforward prove ourselves worthy of the attention of the Great Spirit. I am a man and a warrior, not a counsellor ; I carry war in my right hand, and in my left, peace. I am sent by the Great Council of the Big Knife, and their friends, to take possession of all the towns possessed by the English in this country, and to watch the motions of the Red people : to bloody the paths of those who attempt to stop the course of the river ; but to clear the roads from us to those that desire to be in peace ; that the women and children may walk in them without meeting any thing to strike their feet against. I am ordered to call upon the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, and that the Red people may hear no sound, but of birds who live on blood. I know there is a mist before your eyes ; I will dispel the clouds, that you may clearly see the causes of the war between the Big Knife and the English ; then you may judge for yourselves, which party is in the right ; and if you are warriors, as you profess yourselves to be, prove it by adhering faith- fully to the party, which yon shall believe to be entitled to your friend- ship, and not show yourselves to be squaws. *' The Big Knife is very much like the Red people, they don't know how to make blankets, and powder, and cloth ; they buy these things from tlie English, from whom they are sprung. They live by making corn, hunting and trade, as you and your neighbors, the French, do. But the Big Knife daily getting more numerous, like the trees in the woods, the land became poor, and hunting scarce ; and having but little to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing their children naked, and tried to learn how to make clothes for themselves ; soon made blan- 1778. Clark'^s Speech. 191 kets for iheir husbands and children ; and the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way we did not want to buy so much from the English ; they then got mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our country, (as you see they have done among you on the lakes, and among the French,) they would not let our women spin, nor our men make powder, nor let us trade with any body else. The Eng- lish said, we should buy every thing from them, and since we had got saucy, we should give two bucks for a blanket, which we used to get for one ; we should do as they pleased, and they killed some of our people, to make the rest fear them. This is the truth, and the real cause of the war between the English and us ; which did not take place for some time after this treatment. But our women became cold and hungry, and continued to cry : our young men got lost for want of counsel to put them in the right path. The whole land was dark, the old men held down their heads for shame, because they could not see the sun, and thus there was mourning for many years over the land. At last the Great Spirit took pity on us, and kindled a great council fire, that never goes out, at a place called Philadelphia ; he then stuck down a post, and put a war tomahawk by it, and went away. The sun immediately broke out, the sky was blue again, and the old men held up their heads, and assembled at the fire ; they took up the hatchet, shar- pened it, and put it into the hands of our young men, ordering them to strike the English as long as they could find one on this side of the great waters, The young men immediately struck the war post, and blood was shed : in this way the war began, and the English were driven from one place to another, until they got weak, and then they hired you Red people to fight for them. The Great Spirit got angry at this, and caused your old Father, the French king, and other great na- tions to join the Big Knife, and fight with them against all their enemies. So the English have become like a deer in the woods ; and you may see that it is the Great Spirit, that has caused your waters to be troubled; because you have fought for the people he was mad with. If your women and children should now cry, you must blame yourselves for it, and not the Big Knife. You can now judge who is in the right; I have already told you who I am ; here is a bloody belt, and a white one, take which you please. Behave like men, and don't let your being surrounded by the Big Knife, cause you to take up the one belt with your hands, while your hearts take up the other. If you take the bloody path, you shall leave the town in safety, and may go and join yonr friends, the English ; we will then try like warriors, who can pVit the most stumbling blocks in each other's way, and keep our clothes longest stained with blood. If, on the other hand, you should take the path of peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knife, with their fiiends, the French, should you then listen to bad birds, that may be 192 Clark^s treatment of the Indians. 1778. flying throiigli the land, you will no longer deserve to be counted as men ; but as creatures with two tongues, that ought to be destroyed without listening to any thing you might say. As I am convinced you never heard the truth before, I do not wish you to answer before you have taken time to counsel. We will, therefore, part this evening, and when the Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let us speak and think like men with but one heart and one tongue."* This speech produced the desired effect, and upon the following day, the " Red People" and the " Big Knife" united hearts and hands both. In all these proceedings, there is no question that, directly and indirectly, the alliance of the United States with France was very instrumental in producing a friendly feeling among the Indians, who had never lost their old regard toward their first Great Father. But though it was Clark's general rule not to court the savages, there were some particular chieftains so powerful as to induce him to invite them to meet him, and learn the merits of the quarrel between the colonies and England. Among these was Black Bird, one of the lake chiefs ; he came at the invitation of the American leader, and dispensing with the usual formulas of Indian negotiation, sat dow^n with Colonel Clark in a common sense way, and talked and listened, questioned and considered, until he was satisfied that the rebels had the right of the matter ; after which he became, and remained, a firm friend of the Big Knives. While the negotiations between the conqueror of Kaskaskia and the natives were going forward, a couple of incidents occurred, so characteristic of Colonel Clark, that we cannot omit their mention. One was as follows: — A party of Indians, known as Meadow Indians,! had come to attend the council w4th their neighbors. These, by some means, were induced to attempt the murder of the invaders, and tried to obtain an opportunity to commit the crime proposed, by surprising Clark and his officers in their quar- ters. In this plan they failed, and their purpose w'as discovered by the sagacity of the French in attendance ; when this was done Clark gave them to the French to deal with as they pleased, but with a hint that some of the leaders would be as well in irons. Thus fettered and foiled, the chiefs were brought daily to the * Sec Butler's History of Kentucky, p. 6S. t \Vere these the Mascoutins, Prairie Indians 1 See Dillon's Indiana, i, 5. 1778. Clark's Treatment of the Indians. 193 council house, where he whom they proposed to kill, was engaged daily in forming friendly relations with their red brethren. At length, when by these means the futility of their project had been sufficiently impressed upon them, the American commander ordered their irons to be struck off, and in his quiet way, full of scorn, said, " Every body thinks you ought to die for your treach- ery upon my life, amidst the sacred deliberations of a council. I had determined to inflict death upon you for your base attempt, and you yourselves must be sensible that you have justly forfeited your lives; but on considering the meanness of watching a bear and catching him asleep, I have found out that you are not war- riors, only old women, and too mean to be killed by the Big Knife. But," continued he, " as you ought to be punished for putting on breech cloths like men, they shall be taken away from you, plenty of provisions shall be given for your journey home, as women don't know how to hunt, and during your stay you shall be treated in every respect as squaws." These few cutting words concluded, the Colonel turned away to converse with others. The children of the prairie, who had looked for anger, not con- tempt — punishment, not freedom — were unaccountably stirred by this treatment. They took counsel together, and presently a chief came forward with a belt and pipe of peace, which, with proper words, he laid upon the table. The interpreter stood ready to translate the words of friendship, but, with curling lip, the Ameri- can said he did not wish to hear them, and lifting a sword which lay before him, he shattered the offered pipe, with the cutting expression that "he did not treat with women." The bewil- dered, overwhelmed Meadow Indians next asked the intercession of other red men already admitted to friendship, but the only reply was, " The Big Knife has made no war upon these people ; they are of a kind that we shoot like wolves when we meet them, in the woods, lest they eat the deer." All this wrought more and more upon the offending tribe ; again they took counsel, and then two young men came forward, and covering their heads with their blankets, sat down before the impenetrable commander; then two chiefs arose, and stating that these young warriors offered their lives as an atonement for the misdoings of their relatives, again they presented the pipe of peace. Silence reigned in the assembly, while the fate of the proffered victims hung in suspense : all watched the countenance of the American leader, who could scarce master the emotion which the incident excited. Still, all 13 194 Clark^s Interview witk Big Gate. 1779. sat noiseless, nothing heard but the deep breathing of those whose lives thus hung by a thread. Presently he upon whom all depended arose, and approaching the young men, he bade them be uncovered and stand up. They sprang to their feet. "I am glad to find," said Clark warmly, " that there are men among all nations. With you, who alone are fit to be chiefs of your tribe, I am willing to treat ; through you I am ready to grant peace to your brothers ; I take you by the hand as chiefs, worthy of being such." Here again the fearless generosity, the generous fearless- ness of Clark, proved perfectly successful, and while the tribe in question became the allies of America, the fame of the occurrence, which spread far and wide through the north-west, made the name of the white negotiator everywhere respected. The other incident to which we referred was this. — There was a warrior known in the West as the Big Gate, who was noted for his unceasing adherence to British interests. This man, when Clark began to gain the favor of the other red men, still remained unbending and at last coming to Cahokia, had the boldness to attend the councils there held, with his English war wampum and medals displayed upon his person. While the public business remained unfinished, Clark took no notice of the hostile chief, who still, day after day, attended the deliberations. At length the various treaties were concluded, and then the American commander, for the first time, turning toward the great warrior, told him, that private matters he w^as forced to lay aside while those of the country were concerned, but that he should be happy at last to pay his respects to one so distinguished, and asked the fierce tomahawker to dine with him. The Big Gate was taken unawares, and while he hesitated, Clark added, — " With us, however much we may be enemies, it is usual to show respect to those who are brave ;" and insisted upon the company of the savage. The red man was at a loss ; among all his tactics and strategems, this one of bold, kind appeal to the sympathies, was unknown; — for a moment he hesitated, then, stepping into the midst of the assembly, he threw down his emblems of amity for Britain, tore oflf his clothes, and proclaimed himself ally to the Big Knife. But while Clark was thus fortunate in one portion of the West, misfortunes beset those parts which were less distant from the centre of American life. In January, Boone, with thirty men, had started for the Blue 1778. Daniel Boone taken captive by tlie JVatives. 19T) Licks, to enter upon the interminable business of salt making, the water being by no means strongly impregnated. Boone was to be guide, hunter, and scout; the rest cut wood and attended to the manufacturing department. January passed quietly, and before the 7th of February, enough of the precious condiment had accumulated to lead to the return of three of the party to the stations with the treasure. The rest still labored on, and Boone enjoyed the winter \veather in the forest after his own fashion. But, alas for him, there was more than mere game about him in those woods along the rugged Licking. On the 7th of February, as he was hunting, he came upon a party of one hundred and four foes, two Cana- dians, the remainder Indians, Shawanese apparently. Boone fled ; but he was a man of forty-six, and his limbs were less supple than those of the young savages who pursued him, and in spite of every effort he was a second time prisoner. Finding it impossible to give his companions at the Licks due notice so as to secure their escape, he, proceeded to make terms on their behalf with his captors, and then persuaded his men by gestures, at a distance, to surrender without offering battle. Thus, without a blow, the invaders found themselves possessed of twenty-eight prisoners, and among them the greatest, in an Indian's eyes, of all the Long Knives. This band was on its way to Boonesborough to attack or to reconnoitre; but so good luck as they had met with changed their minds, and, turning upon their track, they took up their march for Old Chillicothe, an Indian town on the Little Miami. It was no part of the plan of the Shawanese, however, to retain these men in captivity, nor yet to scalp, slay, or eat them. Under the influence and rewards of Governor Hamilton, the British Com- mander in the Northwest, the Indians had taken up the business of speculating in human beings, both dead and alive ; and the Shawanese meant to take Boone and his comrades to the Detroit market. On the 10th of March, accordingly, eleven of the party, including Daniel himself, were despatched for the North, and, after twenty days of journeying, were presented to the English Governor, who treated them, Boone says, with great humanity. To Boone himself Hamilton and several other gentlemen seem to have taken an especial fancy, and offered considerable sums for his release ; but the Shawanese also had become enamored of the veteran hunter, and would not part with him. He must go home with them, they said, and be one of them, and become a great chief. So the pioneer found his very virtues becoming the cause 196 Boone becomes ahnost idolized by the JVatives. 1778, of a prolonged captivity. In April, the red men, with their one white captive, about to be converted into a genuine son of nature^ returned from the flats of Michigan, covered with brush-choked forests, to the rolling valley of the Miamis, with its hill-sides clothed in their rich open woods of maple and beech, then just bursting into bloom. And now the white blood was washed out of the Kentucky ranger, and he was made a son in some family, and was loved and caressed by father and mother, brothers and sisters, till he was thoroughly sick of them. But disgust he could not show; so he was kind, and affable, and familiar, as happy as a lark, and as far from thinking of leaving them as he had been of joining them. He took his part in their games and romps ; shot as near the centre of a target as a good hunter ought to, and yet left the savage marksmen a chance to excel him, and smiled in his quiet eye when he witnessed their joy at having done bet- ter than the best of the Lon^ Knives. He grew into favor with the chief, was trusted, treated with respect, and listened to with attention. No man could have been better calculated than Boone to disarm the suspicions of the red men. Some have called him a white Indian, and, except that he never showed the Indian's blood-thirstiness when excited, he was more akin in his loves, his ways, his instincts, his joys, and his sorrows to the aboriginal inhabitants of the West than to the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Scarce any other white ever possessed in an equal degree the true Indian gravity, which comes neither from thought, feeling, or vacuity, but from a bump peculiar to their own craniums. And so in hunt- ing, shooting, swimming, and other Shawanese amusements, the newly made Indian boy Boone spent the month of May, necessity making all the little inconveniences of his lot quite endurable. On the 1st of June, his aid was required in the business of salt- making, and for that purpose he and a party of his brethren started for the valley of the Scioto, where he stayed ten days, hunting, boiling brine, and cooking ; then the homeward path was taken again. But when Chillicothe was once more reached, a sad sight met our friend Daniel's eyes; four hundred and fifty of the choice warriors of the West, painted in the most exquisite war-style, and armed for the battle. He scarce needed to ask whither they were bound ; his heart told him Boonesborough ; and already in imagina- tion he saw the blazing roofs of the little borough he had founded; and he saw the bleeding forms of his friends. Could he do nothing? He would see; meanwhile be a good Indian and look 1778. Boone's escape from Captivity. 197 all ease and joy. He was a long way from his own white home- stead; one hundred and fifty miles at least, and a rough and inhospitable country much of the way between him and it. But he had travelled fast and far, and might again. So, without a word to his fellow prisoners, early in the morning of June the 16th, without his breakfast, in the most secret manner, unseen, unheard, he departed. He left his red relatives to mourn his loss, and over hill and valley sped, forty miles a day, for four success- ive days, and ate but one meal by the way. He found the station wholly unprepared to resist so formidable a body as that which threatened it, and it was a matter of life and death that every muscle should be exerted to get all in readiness for the expected visiters. Rapidly the white men toiled in the summer sun, and through the summer night, to repair and complete the fortifications, and to have all as experience had shown it should be. But still the foe came not, and in a few days another escaped captive brought information of the delay of the expedition in con- sequence of Boone's flight. The savages had relied on surprising the stations, and their plans being foiled by their adopted son Daniel, all their determinations were unsettled. Thus it proved the salvation of Boonesborough, and probably of all the frontier forts, that the founder of Kentucky was taken captive and re- mained a captive as long as he did. So often do seeming misfor- tunes prove, in God's hand, our truest good. Boone, finding his late relatives so backward in their proposed call, determined to anticipate them by a visit to the Scioto valley, where he had been at salt-making; and about the 1st of August, with nineteen men, started for the town on Paint Creek. He knew, of course, that he was trying a somewhat hazardous experi- ment, as Boonesborough might be attacked in his absence ; but he had his wits about him, and his scouts examined the country far and wide. Without interruption, he crossed the Ohio, and had reached within a few miles of the place he meant to attack, when his advanced guard, consisting of one man, Simon Kenton, dis- covered two natives riding one horse, and enjoying some joke as they rode. Not considering that these two might be, like himself, the van of a small army, Simon, one of the most impetuous of men, shot, and run forward to scalp them, — but found himself at once in the midst of a dozen or more of his red enemies, from whom he escaped only by the coming up of Boone and the remainder. The commander, upon considering the circumstances. 198 Boonesborough attacked by the British and Indians. 1778. and learning from spies whom he sent forward that the town he intended to attack was deserted, came to the opinion that the band just met was on its w^ay to join a larger body for the invasion of Kentucky, and advised an immediate return. His advice was taken, and the result proved its wisdom ; for, in order to reach Boonesborough, they were actually obliged to coast along, go round, and outstrip a body of nearly five hundred savages, led by Canadians, who were marching against his doomed borough, and after all, got there only the day before them. On the 8th of August, with British and French flags flying, the dusky army gathered around the little fortress of logs, defended by its inconsiderable garrison. Captain Du Quesne, on behalf of his mighty Majesty, King George the Third, summoned Captain Boone to surrender. It was, as Daniel says, a critical period for him and his friends. Should they yield, what mercy could they look for? and he, especially, after his unkind flight from his Shaw- anese parents? They had almost stifled him with their caresses before; they would literally hug him to death, if again within their grasp. Should they refuse to yield, what hope of successful resistance ? And they had so much need of all their cattle to aid them in sustaining a siege, and yet their cows were abroad in the woods. Daniel pondered the matter, and concluded it would be safe, at any rate, to ask two days for consideration. It was granted, and he drove in his cows ! The evening of the 9th soon arrived, however, and he must say one thing or another; so he politely thanked the representative of his gracious Majesty for giv- ing the garrison time to prepare for their defence, and announced their determination to fight. Captain Du Quesne was much grieved at this ; Governor Hamilton was anxious to save blood- shed, and wished the Kentuckians taken alive ; and rather than proceed to extremities, the worthy Canadian offered to withdraw his troops, if the garrison would make a treaty, though to what point the treaty was to aim is unknown. Boone was determined not to yield ; but then he had no wish to starve in his fort, or have it taken by storm, and be scalped ; and he thought, remem- bering Hamilton's kindness to him when in Detroit, that there might be something in what the Captain said ; and at any rate, to enter upon a treaty was to gain time, and something might turn up. So he agreed to treat; but where? Could nine of the garri- son, as desired, safely venture into the open field? It might be all a trick to get possession of some of the leading whites. Upon 1778. The invaders forced to retreat from Booneshorough. 199 the whole, however, as the leading Indians and their Canadian allies must come under the rifles of the garrison, who might with certainty and safety pick them off if treachery were attempted, it was thought best to run the risk; and Boone, with eight others, went out to meet the leaders of the enemy, sixty yards from the fort, within which the sharpest shooters stood with leveled rifles, ready to protect their comrades. The treaty was made and signed, and then the Indians, saying it was their custom for two of them to shake hands with eveiy white man when a treaty was made, expressed a wish to press the palms of their new allies. Boone and his friends must have looked rather queer at this proposal ; but it was safer to accede than to refuse and be shot instantly ; so they presented each his hand. As anticipated the warriors seized them with rough and fierce eagerness, the whites drew back struggling, the treachery was apparent, the rifle-balls from the garrison struck down the foremost assailants of the little band, and, amid a fire from friends and foes, Boone and his fellow deputies bounded back into the station, with the exception of one, unhurt. The treaty trick having thus failed. Captain Du Quesne had to look to more ordinary modes of warfare, and opened a fire which lasted during ten days, though to no purpose, for the woodsmen were determined not to yield. On the 20th of August, the Indians were forced unwillingly to retire, having lost thirty-seven of their number, and wasted a vast amount of powder and lead. The garrison picked up from the ground, after their departure, one hundred and twenty-five pounds of their bullets.* Meanwhile the United States had not lost sight entirely of west- ern affairs. A fort was built early in the summer of this year, upon the banks of Ohio a little below Pittsburgh, near the spot where Beaver now stands. It was built by General Mcintosh, who had been appointed in May to succeed General Handf in the West, and was named with his name.|: It was the first fort built by the whites north of the Ohio. From this point it was intended to operate in reducing Detroit, where mischief was still brewing. Indeed the natives were now more united than ever against the colonies. In June we find Congress in possession of information, that led them to think a universal frontier war close * See Butler 534, — Marshal i. Boone's Narrative, &c. t Sparks' Washington, v. 361, 382. :j: Doddridge, p. 243. — Silliman's Journal, toI. xxsi. Art. i. p. 18. ^' 200 Treaty of peace and alliance with the Delawares. 1778. at hand.* The Senecas, Cayugas, Mingoes (by which we pre- sume, were meant the Ohio Iroquois, or possibly the Mohawks,) Wyandots, Onandagas, Ottawas, Chippeways, Shawanese, and Delawares, were all said to be more or less united in opposition to America. Congress, learning the danger to be so immediate and great, determined to push on the Detroit expedition, and ordered another to be undertaken by the Mohawk valley against the Senecas, who might otherwise very much annoy and impede the march from Fort Pitt. For the capture of Detroit, three thou- sand continental troops and two thousand five hundred militia were voted; an appropriation was made of nearly a million of dollars ; and General Mcintosh was to carry forward the needftil operations.! All the flourish which was made about taking Detroit, however, and conquering the Senecas, ended in the Resolves of Congress, it being finally thought too late in the season for advantageous action, and also too great an undertaking for the weak-handed colonies. | This having been settled, it was resolved, that the forces in the West should move up and attack the Wyandots and other Indians about the Sandusky ; || and a body of troops was accord- ingly marched forward to prepare a half-way house, or post, by which the necessary connexion might be kept up. This was built upon the Tuscarawas, a few miles south of the present town of Bolivar. In these quiet, commercial days the Ohio canal passes through its midst. § It was named Fort Laurens, in honor of the President of Congress. While these warlike measures w^ere pursued on the one hand, the Confederacy on the other by its Commissioners, Andrew and Thomas Lewis of Virginia, formed at Fort Pitt on the 17th of September, a treaty of peace and alliance with the Chiefs of the Delawares, White-Eyes, Kill-Buck, and Pipe.H • Journals of the Old Congress, vol. ii. p. 685. t Washington speaks of Mcintosh as having great worth and merit, a firm disposition, love of justice, assiduity, and a good understanding. — Sparks v. 361. \ Journals of the Old Congress, vol. ii. p. 633. g Journals of the Old Congress, vol. ii. p. 633. § Silliman's Journal, xxxi. 57 ; where the name as in many treaties, &c. is misprinted Lawrence. % See volume of Indian Treaties Washington, 1837. — It is the first treaty recorded. See also Old Journals, ii. 577.— Do. iii. 81. 1779. We have already noticed the erection of Fort Laurens. — At that point, seventy miles from Fort Mcintosh, and exposed to all the fierce north western tribes. Colonel John Gibson had been left with one hundred and fifty men to get through the winter of 1778-9, as he best could, while Mcintosh himself returned to Pittsburgh, disappointed and dispirited.* Nor was Congress in a very good humor with him, for already had six months passed to no purpose. Washington was consulted, but could give no defi- nite advice, knowing nothing of those details which must deter- mine the course of things for the winter. Mcintosh, at length, in February asked leave to retire from his unsatisfactory command, and was allowed to do so. No blame, however, appears to have fairly attached to him, as he did all in his power; among other things leading a party with provisions to the relief of Colonel Gibson's starving garrison. Unhappily the guns fired as a salute by those about to be relieved, scared the pack-horses and much of the provision was scattered and lost in the woods. The force at Fort Laurens, meantime, had been as we have intimated, suffering cruelly, both from the Indians and famine, and, though finally rescued from starvation, had done, and could do, nothing. The post was at last abandoned in August 1779. But, while Mcintosh was groaning and doing nothing, his fellow General, Clark, was very difTerently employed. Governor Hamil- ton, having made his various arrangements, had left Detroit, and moved down to St. Vincent's (or Vincennes,) on the Wabash, from which point he intended to operate in reducing Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and also in conquering Kentucky, and driving the rebels from the West. But in the very process of taking St. Vin- cent's, he met with treatment that might have caused a more modest man to doubt the possibility of conquering those rebels. Hamilton came upon that post, in December 1778. He came * Sparks Washington, voL vi. p. 156, 202 Capture of St. Vincents. 1779. with a large body of troops, and unexpectedly ; so that there was no chance of defence on the part of the garrison, which consisted indeed of only two men, Captain Helm, of Fauquier county, Vir- ginia, and one Henry. Helm, however, was not disposed to yield, absolutely, to any odds; so, loading his single cannon, he stood by it with a lighted match, and, as the British came nigh, bade them stand, and demanded to know what terms would be granted the garrison, as otherwise he should not surrender. The Governor, unwilling to lose time and men, offered the usual honors of war, and could scarce believe his eyes, when he saw the threat- ening garrison to be only one officer and one private. However, even this bold conduct did not make him feel the character of the people with whom he was contending ; and so, thinking it too late to operate in such a country, he sent his Indians, of whom he had some four hundred, to prevent troops coming down the Ohio, and to annoy the Americans in all ways, and sat quietly down for the winter. Information of all these proceedings having reached Clark, he saw, at once, that either he must have Hamilton, or Hamilton would have him ; so he cast about him, to see what means of con- quest were within his reach. On the 29th of January, 1779, the news of the capture of St. Vincents reached Kaskashia, and, by the 4th of February, a "battoe," as Colonel Bowman writes it, had been repaired, provisioned, manned, and armed, and was on her way down the Mississippi, in order to ascend the Ohio and Wabash, and co-operate with the land forces which were assemb- ling. These forces, on the 5th of February, numbered one hund- red and seventy men,* "including artillery, packhorsemen, &c." and with this little band, on the 7th, Clark set forward to besiege the British Governor, who had under him about half as many fol- lowers as a garrison. t It was "rain and drizzly weather," and the "roads very bad with mud and water;" but through those prairie ways, and the waters which covered some of the plains, the little rebel band slipped and spattered along, as they best coidd, and how they did it, cannot be shown better than by copy- ing a portion of Joseph Bowman's Journal, and Clark's own account. February 7th. Began "our march early ; made a good day's march • Bowman. Clark in his letter to JefTeroon, says, one hundred and thirty men, but he may not have counted packhorsemen, &c.— (See Jefferson's Writings, i. 451.) t There were seventy-nine men. — (See Clark's letter to Jefierson.) 1779. Bowman's Journal. 203 for about nine leagues. The road very bad with mud and water. Pitched our camp in a square, baggage in the middle, every company to guard their own square. 8th. Marched early through the waters which we now began to meet in those large and level plains where, from the flatness of the country, the water rests a considerable time before it drains off". Not- withstanding our men were in great spirits, though much fatigued. 9th. Made another day's march. Rain part of the day. lOih. Crossed the river Petit Fort, upon trees which we felled for that purpose, the water being so high there was no fording it. Still raining and no tents. Encamped near the river. Stormy weather. 11th. Crossed the Saline river. Nothing extraordinary this day. 12th. Marched across Cat Plains. Saw and killed numbers of buffaloes. The road very bad from the immense quantity of rain that had fallen. The men much fatigued. Encamped on the edge of the wood. This plain being fifteen or more miles across, it was late in the night before the baggage and troops got together. Now 21 miles from St. Vincents. 13th. Arrived early at the two Wabashes ; although a league asun- der they are now but one. "We set to making a canoe. 14th. Finished the canoe and put her into the river about four o'clock in the afternoon. 15th. Ferried across the Two Wabashes, it being three miles in water, to the opposite hills, where we encamped. Still raining. Oir- dered not to fire any guns in future, but in case of necessity. 16ih. Marcli all day through rain and water. Crossed the Fir River. Provisions begin to be short. 17th. Marched early. Crossed several runs very deep. Sent Mr. Kennedy, our commissary with three men, to cross the river Embarrass, if possible, and proceed to a plantation opposite Post St. Vincents m order to steal boats or canoes to_ferry us across the Wabash. About an hour by sun we got near the river Embarrass, and found the country all overflowed with water. We strove to find the Wabash. Travelled till three o'clock in mud and water, but could find no place to encamp on. Still keep marching on, but after some time Mr. Kennedy and his party returned. Found it impossible to pass the Embarrass river. We found the water falling from a small spot of ground. Staid there the remainder of the night. Drizzly and dark weather. 18th. At break of day, heard Governor Hamilton's morning guns. Set off" and marched down the river. Saw some fine lands. About two o'clock came to the bank of the Wabash. Made rafts for four men to cross and go up to town and steal boats, but they spent the day and night in the water to no purpose, for there was not a foot of dry land lQ> be found- 204 Bowman^s Journal. 1779. 19th. Captain McCarty's company set to making a canoe. At three o'clock, the four men returned after spending the night on some old logs in the water. The canoe finished. Captain McCarty with three of his men embarked in the canoe, and made the next attempt to steal boats. But he soon returned, having discovered four large fires about a league distant from our camp, that seemed to him to be fires of whites and Indians. Immediately Colonel Clark sent two men in the canoe down to meet the battoe, with orders to come on day and night, that being our last hope from starving. Many of the men much cast down, particularly the volunteers. No provision of any sort for two days. Hard fortune. 20th. Camp very quiet but hungry. — Many of the Creoles volun- teers talking of returning. Fell to making more canoes, when about 12 o'clock our sentry brought too a boat with five Frenchmen from the Port, who told us we were not as yet discovered, that the inhabi- tants were well pleased towards us, &c. Captain Willing's brother, who was taken in the Fort, had made his escape to us, and said that one Masonville, with a party of Indians, were then seven days in pursuit of him, with much news, more news in our favor, such as repairs done to the fort, &c. They informed us of two canoes they had seen adrift some distance above us. Ordered Captain Worthington, with a party of men, to go in search of them. Returned late with one only. One of our men killed a deer which was distributed in the camp very acceptably. 21st. At break of day began to ferry our men over in our two canoes, to small hills called mamelles, or breasts. Capt. Williams with two men went to look for a passage ; but were discovered by two men in a canoe, but could not bring them to. The whole army being over, we thought to get to town that night, so plunged into the water, some- times to the neck, for more than a league, when we slopped on the next hill of the same name, there being no dry land on any side for many leagues. Our pilot says we cannot get along — that it was impossible. The whole army being over, we encamped. Rain all this day. No provisions."* And here we turn to Clark himself. •• This last day's march, [February 21st,] through the water was far superior to any thing the Frenchmen had an idea of: they were back- ward in speaking — said that the nearest land to us was a small league, called the sugar camp, on the bank of the [river ?] A canoe was sent off, and returned without finding that we could pass. I went in her myself, and sounded the water : found it deep as to my neck. I return- * We take our extracts from a MS copy of the journal : portions may also be found in Dillon, L 167. 1779. Clark^s account. 2(1^ ed with a design to have the men transported on board the canoes to the Sugar camp, which I knew would spend the whole day and ensuing night, as the vessels would pass slowly through the bushes. The loss of so much time, to men half starved, was a matter of consequence. I would have given now a great deal for a day's provision, or for one of our horses. I returned but slowly to the troops — giving myself time to think. On our arrival, all ran to hear what was the report. Every eye was fixed on me. I unfortunately spoke in a serious manner to one of the officers : the whole were alarmed without knowing what I said- I viewed their confusion for about one minute — whispered to those near me to do as I did — immediately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, blackened my face, gave the war-whoop, and marched into the water, without saying a word. The party gazed, and fell in, one after another, vi'iihout saying a word, like a flock of sheep. I ordered those near me to begin a favorite song of theirs : it soon passed through the line, and the whole went on cheerfully. I now intended to have theni transported across the deepest part of the water ; but when about waist deep one of the men informed me that he thought he felt a path. We examined, and found it so; and concluded that it kept on the highest ground, which it did ; and by taking pains to follow it, we got to the Sugar camp, without the least difficulty, where there was about half an acre of dry ground, at least not under water, where we took up our lodging. The Frenchmen that we had taken on the river appeared to be uneasy at our situation. They begged that they might be permitted to go in the two canoes to town in the night : they said that they would bring from their own houses provisions, without a possibility of any persons knowing it — that some our men should go with them, as a surety of their good conduct — that it was impossible we could march from that place till the water fell, for the plain was too deep to march. Some of the [[officers ?] believed that it might be done. I would not suffer it. I never could well account for this piece of obstinacy, and give satisfactory reasons to myself, or any body else, why I denied a proposition apparently so easy to execute, and of so much advantage : but something seemed to tell me that it should not be done ; and it was not done. " The most of the weather that we had on this march, was moist and warm, for the season. This was the coldest night we had. The ice in the morning was from one half to three quarters of an inch thick, near the shores, and in still water. The morning was the finest we had on our march. A little after sunrise I lectured the whole. What I said to them 1 forget ; but it may be easily imagined by a person that could possess my affijctions for them at that time: — I concluded by in- forming them that passing the plain that was then in full view, and reaching the opposite woods, would put an end to their fatigue — that in 206 Clark's account. 1779. a few hours they would have a sight of their long wished for object — and immediately stepped into the water without waiting for any reply. A huzza took place. As we generally marched through the water in a line, before the third entered I hailed and called to Major Bowman, or- dered him to fall in the rear with twenty-five men, and put to death any man who refused to march ; as we wished to have no such person among us. The whole gave a cry of approbation, and on we went. This was the most trying of all the difficulties we had experienced. I generally kept fifteen or twenty of the strongest men next myself; and judged from my own feelings what must be that of others. Getting about the middle of the plain, the water about mid-deep, I found myself sensibly failing ; and as there were no trees nor bushes for the men to support themselves by, I feared that many of the most weak would be drowned. I ordered the canoes to make the land, discharge their load- ing, and play backwards and forwards with all diligence, and pick up the men ; and to encourage the party, sent some of the strongest men forward, with orders, when they got to a certain distance, to pass the word back that the water was getting shallow ; and when getting near the woods to cry out ' Land !' This stratagem had its desired effect. The men, encouraged by it, exerted themselves almost beyond their abilities — the weak holding by the stronger. * * * The water never got shallower, but continued deepening. Getting to the woods where the men expected land, the water was up to my shoulders : but gaining the woods was of great consequence : all the low men and the weakly hung to the trees, and floated on the old logs, until they were taken off by the canoes. The strong and tall got ashore and built fires. Many would reach the shore, and fall with their bodies half in the water, not being able to support themselves without it. " This was a delightful dry spot of ground, of about ten acres. We soon found that the fires answered no purpose ; but that two strong men taking a weaker one by the arms was the only way to recover him — and, being a delightful day, it soon did. But fortunately, as if designed by Providence, a canoe of Indian squaws and children was coming up to town, and took through part of this plain as a nigh way. It was dis- covered by our canoes as they were out after the men. They gave chase and took the Indian canoe, on board of which was near half a quarter of a buffalo, some corn, tallow, kettles, &c. This was a grand prize, and was invaluable. Broth was immediately made and served out to the most weakly, with great care : most of the whole got a little ; but a great many gave their part to the weakly, jocosely saying some- thing cheering to their comrades. This little refreshment and fine weather, by the afternoon gave new life to the whole. Crossing a nar- row deep lake in the canoes, and marching some distance, we came to a copse of timber called the Warrior's Island. We were now in full 1779. Clark* s account. 207 view of the fort and town, not a shrub between us, at about two miles distance. Every man now feasted his eyes, and forgot that he had suf- fered any thing — saying, that all that had passed was owing to good policy, and nothing but what a man could bear ; and that a soldier had no right to think, &c. — passing from one extreme to another, which is common in such cases. It was now we had to disply our abilities. The plain between us and the town was not a perfect level. The sunken grounds were covered with water full of ducks. We observed several men out on horseback, shooting them, within a half mile of us ; and sent out as many of our active young Frenchmen to decoy and take one of these men prisoner, in such a manner as not to alarm the others ; which they did. The information we got from this person was similar to that which we got from those we took on the river ; except that of the British having that evening completed the wall of the fort, and that there was a good many Indians in town. Our situation was now truly critical — no possibility of retreating in case of defeat — and in full view of a town that had at this time upwards of six hundred men in it, troops, inhabitants, and Indians. The crew of the galley, though not fifty men, would have been now a reinforce- ment of immense magnitude to our little army, (if I may so call it,) but we would not think of them. We were now in the situation that I had labored to get ourselves in. The idea of being made prisoner was foreign to almost every man, as they expected nothing but torture from the savages, if they fell into their hands. Our fate was now to be de- termined, probably in a few hours. We knew that nothing but the most daring conduct would ensure success. I knew that a number of the inhabitants wished us well — that many were lukewarm to the inte- rest of either — and I also learned that the Grand Chief, the Tobacco's son, had, but a few days before, openly declared in council with the British, that he was a brother and friend to the Big Knives. These were favorable circumstances ; and as there was but little probability of our remaining until daik undiscovered, I determined to begin the career im- mediately, and wrote the following placard to the inhabitants : To the inhabitants of Post Vincennes. Gentlemen : — Being now within two miles of your village, with my array, determined to take your fort this night, and not being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request such of you as are true citizens and willing to enjoy the Tberty I bring you, to remain still in your houses . — And those, if any there be, that are friends to the king, will instantly repair to the fort and join the hair-buyer General, and fight like men. And if any such as do not go to the fort shall be discovered afterwards, they may depend on severe punishment. On the contrary, those who are true friends to liberty may depend oq being well treated ; 208 Clark's account. 1779, and I once more request them to keep out of the streets. For every one I find in arras on my arrival, I shall treat him as an enemy. [Signed,] G. R. CLARK. A little before sunset we moved and displayed ourselves in full view of the town — crowds gazing at us. We were plunging ourselves into certain destruction, or success. There was no mid-way thought of. We had but little to say to our men, except inculcating an idea of the necessity of obedience, &c. We knew they did not want encouraging; and that any thing might be attempted with them that was possible for such a number — perfectly cool, under proper subordination, pleased with the prospect before them, and much attached to their officers. They all declared that they were convinced that an implicit obedience to orders was the only thing that would ensure success — and hoped that no mercy would be shown the person that should violate them. Such language as this from soldiers, to persons in our station, must have been exceedingly agreeable. We moved on slowly in full view of the town ; but as it was a point of some consequence to us lo make ourselves ap- pear as formidable, we, in leaving the covert that we were in, marched and counter-marched in such a manner that we appeared numerous. In raising volunteers in the Illinois, every person that set about the business had a set of colors given them, which they brought with them, to the amount of ten or twelve pair. These were displayed to the best ad- vantage ; and as the low plain we marched through was not a perfect level, but had frequent raisings in it seven or eight feet higher than the common level, (which was covered wiih water,) and as these raisings generally run in an oblique direction to the town, we took the advantage of one of them, marching through the water under it, which completely prevented our being numbered : but our colors showed considerably above the heights, as they were fixed on long poles procured for the purpose, and at a distance made no despicable appearance : and as our young Frenchmen had, while we lay on the Warrior's Island, decoyed and taken several fowlers, with their horses, officers were mounted on these horses, and rode about more completely to deceive the enemy. In this manner we moved, and directed our march in such a way as to suffer it to be dark before we had advanced more than half way to the town. We then suddenly altered our direction, and crossed ponds where they could not have suspected us, and about eight o'clock gained the heights back of the town. The garrison was soon completely surrounded, and the firing con- tinued without intermission, (except about fifteen minutes a little before day,) until about nine o'clock the following morning. It was kept up by the whole of the troops, — joined by a few of the young men of the town, who got permission — except fifty men kept as a reserve. * * * 1779. Clark^s Account. 209 I had made myself fully acquainted with the situation of the fort and town, and the parts relative to each. The cannon of the garrison was on the xipper floors of strong block-houses at each angle of the fort, eleven feet above the surface ; and the ports so badly cut that many of our troops lay under the fire of them within twenty or thirty yards of the walls. They did no damage except to the buildings of the town, some of which they much shattered : and their musketry, in the dark, employed against woodsmen covered by houses, palings, ditches, the banks of the river, (fcc, was but of little avail, and did no injury to us except wounding a man or two. As we could not afford to lose men, great care was taken to preserve them sufficiently covered, and to keep up a hot fire in order to intimidate the enemy as well as to destroy them. The embrasures of their cannon were frequently shut, for our riflemen, finding the true direction of them, would pour in such volleys when they were opened that the men could not stand to the guns : seven or eight of them in a short time got cut down. Our troops would fre- quently abuse the enemy, in order to aggravate them to open their ports and fire their cannon, that they might have the pleasure of cutting them down with their rifles — fifty of which perhaps would be levelled the mo- ment the port flew open : and I believe that if they had stood at their artillery the greater part of them would have been destroyed in the course of the night, as the greater part of our men lay within thirty yards of the walls ; and in a few hours were covered equally to those within the walls, and much more experienced in that mode of fighting. *********** Sometimes an irregular fire, as hot as possible, was kept up fiom dif- ferent directions for a few minutes, and then only a continual scattering fire at the ports as usual ; and a great noise and laughter immediately commenced in different parts of the town, by the reserved parties, as if they had only fired on the fort a few minutes for amusement; and as if those continually firing at the fort were only regularly relieved. Con- duct similar to this kept the garrison constantly alarmed. Thus the attack continued, until about nine o'clock on the morning of the 24th. Learning that the two prisoners they had brought in the day before, had a considerable number of letters with them, I supposed it an express that we expected about this time, which I knew to be of the greatest moment to us, as we had not received one since our arrival in the country : and not being fully acquainted with the character of our > enemy, we were doubtful that those papers might be destroyed ; to pre- vent which, I sent a flag, [yi'iih. a letter,] demanding the garrison. The following is a copy of the letter* which was addressed by Colonel Clark to Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, on this occasion : Sir : — In order to save yourself fro.u the impending storm that now * Extracted from Major Bowman's MS. Journal. 14 210 Hamilton proposes terms. 1779. threatens yoii, I order you immediately to surrender yourself, with all your garrison, stores, &c. For if I am obliged to storm, you may de- pend on such treatment as is justly due to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession, or hurting one house in town — for, by Heavens ! if you do, there shall be no mercy shown you. [Signed,] G. R. CLARK. To this the Governor replied, that he could not think of being " awed into any action unworthy a British subject" ; but his true feeling peeped out in his question to Helm, when the bullets rat- tled about the chimney of the room in which they were playing piquet together, and Helm swore that Clark would have them prisoners. " Is he a merciful man?" said the Governor. Clark, finding the British unwilling to yield quietly, began "firing very hot.", When this came on, Helm cautioned the English soldiers not to look out through the loop-holes ; for these Virginia riflemen he said, w^ould shoot their eyes out, if they did. And seven being actually shot by balls which came through the port holes, Hamilton was led to send out a flag with the following letter : Lieutenant Governor Hamilton proposes to Colonel Clark a truce for three days ; during which time he promises there shall be no defensive works carried on in the garrison, on condition that Colonel Clark shall observe on his part, a like cessation of any defensive work : that is, he wishes to confer with Colonel Clark as soon as can be ; and promises that whatever may pass between them two, and another person mutually agreed upon to be present, shall remain secret till matters be finished, as he wishes, that whatever the result of the conference may be, it may tend to the honor and credit of each party. If Colonel Clark makes a difficulty of coming into the fort, Lieutenant Governor Hamil- ton will speak to him by the gate. [Signed,] HENRY HAMILTON. 24th February, '79. I was at a great loss to conceive what reason Lieutenant Governor Hamilton could have for wishing a truce of three days, on such terms as he proposed. Numbers said it was a scheme to get me into their possession. I had a different opinion, and no idea of his possessing such sentiments ; as an act of that kind would infallibly ruin him. Al- though we had the greatest reason to expect a reinforcement in less than three days that would at once put an end to the siege, I yet did not 1779. Clark and Hamilton meet. 211 ihink it prudent to agree to the proposals ; and sent the followmg answer: Colonel Clark's compliments to Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, and begs leave to inform him that he vpill not agree to any terms other than Mr. Hamilton's surrendering himself and garrison prisoners at discre- tion. If Mr. Hamilton is desirous of a conference with Colonel Clark, he will meet him at the church, with Captain Helm. [Signed,] G. R. C. February 24lh, '79. We met at the church,* about eighty yards from the fort — Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Major Hay, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Captain Helm, their prisoner. Major Bowman and myself. Tlie confe- rence began. Hamilton produced terms of capitulation, signed, that contained various articles, one of which was that the garrison should be surrendered, on their being permitted to go to Pensacola on parole. After deliberating on every article, I rejected the whole. He then wish- ed that I would make some proposition. I told him that I had no other to make, than what I had already made — that of his surrendering as prisoners at discretion. I said that his troops had behaved with spirit ^ that they could not suppose that they would be worse treated in conse- quence of it ; that if he chose to comply with the demand, though hard, perhaps the sooner the better ; that it was in vain to make any proposition to me; that he, by this time, must be sensible that the gar- rison would fall; that both of us must [view ?] all blood spilt for the future by the garrison as murder ; that my troops were already impa- tient, and called aloud for permission to tear down and storm the fort : if such a step was taken, many of course would be cut down ; and the result of an enraged body of woodsmen breaking in, must be obvious to him ; it would be out of the power of an American officer to save a single man. Various altercation took place for a considerable time. Captain Helm attempted to moderate our fixed determination. I told him he was a British prisoner, and it was doubtful whether or not he could with propriety speak on the subject. Hamilton then said that Captain Helm was from that moment liberated, and might use his * During the conference at the church, some Indian warriors who had been sent to the Falls of the Ohio, for scalps and prisoners, were discovered on their return, as they entered the plains near Post Vincennes. A party of the American Troops, commanded by Captain Williams went out to meet them. The Indians, who mistook this detachment for a party of their friends, continued to advance " with all the parade of successful warriors." " Our men," says Major Bowman, " killed two on the spot ; wounded three , took six prisoners, and brought them into town. Two of them proved to be whites, we released them, and brought the Indians to the main street, before the fort gate — there tomahawked them, and threw thsm into the river." — [Major Bowman's MS. Journal.] 212 Hamilton capitulates. 1779. pleasure. I informed the Captain that I would not receive him on such terms — that he must retarn to the garrison, and await his fate. I then told Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton that hostilities should not com- mence until five minutes after the drums gave the alarm. We took our leave, and parted but a few steps, when Hamilton stopped, and politely- asked me if I would be so kind as to give him my reasons for refusing the garrison on any other terms than those I had offered. I told him I had no objections in giving him my real reasons, which were simply these : that I knew the greater part of the principal Indian partizans of Detroit were with him — that I wanted an excuse to put them to death, or otherwise treat them, as I thought proper — that the cries of the widows and the fatherless on the frontiers, which they had occasioned, now required their blood from my hands, and that I did not chose to be so timorous as to disobey the absolute commands of their authority, which I looked upon to be next to divine: that I would rather lose fifty men, than not to empower myself to execute this piece of business with propriety : that if he chose to risk the massacre of his garrison for their sakes, it was his own pleasure ; and that I might perhaps take it into my head to send for some of those widows to see it executed. Major Hay, paying great attention, I had observed a kind of distrust in his countenance, which in a great measure influenced my conversation during this time. On my concluding, " Pray, sir," said he, " who is it that you call Indian partiz:nis ?" "Sir," I replied, "I take Major Hay to be one of the principal." I never saw a man in the moment of execution so struck as he appeared to be — pale and trembling, scarcely able to stand. Hamilton blushed — and, I observed was much affected at his behaviour. Major Bowman's countenance sufficiently explained his disdain for the one and his sorrow for the other. * * * * Some moments elapsed without a word passing on either side. From that moment my resolutions changed respecting Hamilton's situation. I told him that we would return to our respective posts ; that I would reconsider the matter, and let him know the result: no offensive mea- sures should be taken in the mean time. Agreed to; and we parted. What had passed, being made known to our officers, it was agreed that we should moderate our resolutions. In the course of the afternoon of the 24th, the following articles* were signed, and the garrison capitulated : I. — Lieutenant Governor Hamilton engages to deliver up to Colonel Clark, Fort Sackville, as it is at present, with all the stores, &c. II. — The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners of war ; and march out with their arms and accoutrements, &c. III.— The garrison to be delivered up at ten o'clock^ to-morrow. * Major Bowman's MS. Journal. 1779. Hamilton sent to Virginia. 213 IV. — Three days time to be allowed the garrison to settle their ac- counts with the inhabitants and traders of this place. V. — The officers of the garrison to be allowed their necessary baggage, &c. Signed at Post St. Vincent, [Vincennes,] 24th February, 1779. Agreed for the following reasons : the remoteness from succor ; the stute and quantity of provisions, &c.; unanimity of officers and men in its expediency ; the honorable terms allowed ; and lastly, the confidence in a generous enemy. [Signed,] HENRY HAMILTON, Lt. Gov. and Superintendent. The business being now nearly at an end, troops were posted in seve- ral strong houses around the garrison, and patroled during the night to prevent any deception that might be attempted. The remainder on duty lay on their arms ; and, for the first time for many days past, got some rest. * * # During the siege I got only one man wounded : not being able to lose many, I made them secure themselves well. Seven were badly wounded in the fort, through ports.* * * Hamilton's surrender of St. Vincent's, or Fort Sackville, put a stop of course to the proposed purging of the West from the Long Knives. The Governor and some others were sent prisoners to Virginia, where the Council ordered their confinement in jail, fettered and alone, in punishment for their abominable policy of urging barbarians to ultra barbarism, as they surely had done by offering rewards for scalps but none for prisoners, a course which naturally resulted in wholesale and cold-blooded murder ; the Indians driving captives within sight of the British forts and then butchering them. As this rigid confinement, however just, was not in accordance with the terms of Hamilton's surrender. General Phillips protested in regard^to it, and Jefferson, having referred the matter to the commander-in-chief, Washington gave his opinion decidedly against it, in consequence of which the Council of Vir- ginia released the Detroit " hair-buyer" from his irons. f Clark returned to Kaskaskias, where, in consequence of the competition of the traders, he found himself more embarrassed from the depreciation of the paper money which had been advanced him by Virginia, than he had been by the movements of tlie British; and where he was forced to pledge his own credit * Our extracts from Clark's Journal we owe to Dillon, i. 157 to 173. t Sparks' Washington, vi. 315.— Almon's Remembrancer for 1779, pp. 337. 340.— JeA- ferson's Writings, i. 451 to 458. 214 Conduct of the Iroquois. 1779 to procure what he needed, to an extent that influenced vitally his own fortune and life thenceforward. After the taking of Vincennes, Detroit was undoubtedly within the reach of the enterprising Virginian, had he but been able to ^ raise as many soldiers as were starving and idling at Forts Lau- rens and Mcintosh.* He could not; and Governor Henry having promised him a reinforcement, he concluded to wait for that, as his force was too small to both conquer and garrison the British forts. But the results of what was done were not unimportant ; indeed, we cannot estimate those results. Hamilton had made arrangements to enlist the southern and western Indiansf for the next spring's campaign; and, if Mr. Stone be correct in his sup- positions, Brant and his Iroquois were to act in concert with him.f Had Clark, therefore, failed to conquer the Governor, there is too much reason to fear, that the West would have been, indeed, swept, from the Mississippi to the mountains, and the great blow struck, which had been contemplated, from the outset, by Britain. But for his small army of dripping, but fearless Virginians, the union of all the tribes from Georgia to Maine, against the colonies, might have been effected, and the whole current of our historj' changed. Turning from the west to the north, we find a new cause of trouble arising there. Of the six tribes of the Iroquois, the Sene- cas, Mohawks, Cayugas, and Onondagas, had been, from the out- set, inclining to Britain, though all of these, but the Mohawks, had now and then tried to persuade the Americans to the con- trary. During the winter of 1778-9, the Onondagas, who had been for a while nearly neutral, w^ere suspected, by the Americans, of deception ; and, this suspicion having become nearly know- ledge, a band was sent, early in April, to destroy their towns, and take such of them, as could be taken, prisoners. The work appointed was done, and the villages and wealth of the poor savages were annihilated. This sudden act of severity startled alL The Oneidas, hitherto faithful to their neutrality, were alarmed, lest the next blow should fall on them, and it was only after a full explanation that their fears were quieted. As for the Onondagas, ♦ Clark in his letter to Jefferson, (Jefferson's Writinrrs, i 451,) says that with 500 men, ■when he first reached Illinois, or with 300 after the conquest of St. Vincents, he could have taken Detroit. The people of Detroit had great rejoicings when they heard of HamOton'3 capture, and the garrison of the fort was but eighty strong, + Butler, p. 80. \ Stone, vol. i. p. 400. 1779. General Sullivan attacks Iroquois. 215 it was not to be hoped that they would sit down under such treat- ment ; and we find, accordingly, that some hundred of their war- riors were at once in the field, and from that time forward, a portion of their nation remained, and, we think, justly, hostile to the United Colonies.* Those colonies, meanwhile, had become convinced, from the massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, that it was advisable to adopt some means of securing the north-western and western frontiers against the recurrence of such catastrophes ; and, the hos- tile tribes of the Six Nations being the most numerous and deadly foes, it was concluded to begin by strong action against them. Washington had always said, that the only proper mode of defence against the Indians was to attack them, and this mode he deter- mined to adopt on this occasion. Some difference of opinion ex- isted, however, as to the best path into the country of the inimical Iroquois ; that most lovely country in the west of New York, which is now fast growing into a granary for millions of men. General Schuyler was in favor of a movement up the Mohawk river; the objection to which route was, that it carried the invaders too near to Lake Ontario, and within reach of the British. The other course proposed was up the Susquehanna, which heads, as all know, in the region that was to be reached. The latter route was. the one determined upon by Washington for the main body of troops, which was to be joined by another body moving up the Mohawk, and also by detachments coming from the western army, by the way of the Alleghany and French Creek; upon further thought, however, the movement from the West was counter- manded.* All the arrangements for this grand blow were made in March and April, but it was the last of July before General Sul- livan got his men under way from Wyoming, where they had gathered ; and, of course, information of the proposed movements had been given to the Indians and Tories, so that Brant, the John- sons, and their followers stood ready to receive the invaders. They were not, however, strong enough to withstand the Amer- icans ; and, having been defeated at the battle of Newiown, were driven from village to village, and their whole country was laid waste. Houses were burned, crops and orchards destroyed, and every thing done that could be thought of, to render the country uninhabitable. Of all these steps Mr. Stone speaks fully. Forty * Stone, vol. i. p. 405. • Sparks'g Washington, vol. vi. pp. 183 et seq 216 Brodhead attacks Iroquois. 1779. towns, he tell us, were burnt, and more than one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn. Well did the Senecas name Washington, whose armies did all this, "the Town Destroyer." Having performed this portion of his work, Sullivan turned home- ward from the beautiful valley of the Genesee ; leaving Niagara, whither the Indians fled, as to the strong hold of British power in that neighborhood, untouched. This conduct, Mr. Stone thinks "difficult of solution,"* as he supposes the conduct of that post to have been one of the main objects of the expedition. Such, however, was not the fact. Originally it had been part of the pro- posed plan to attack Niagara ; f but, early in January, Washington was led to doubt, and then to abandon, that part of the plan, thinking it wiser to carry on, merely, some operations on a smaller scale against the savages. "| One of the smaller operations was from the West. On the 22d of March, 1779, Washington wrote to Colonel Daniel Brodhead, who had succeeded Mcintosh at Fort Pitt, that an incursion into the country of the Six Nations was in preparation, and that in con- nection therewith, it might be advisable for a force to ascend the Alleghany to Kittaning, and thence to Venango, and having for- tified both points, to strike the Mingoes and Munceys upon French creek and elsewhere in that neighborhood, and thus aid General Sullivan in the great blow he was to give by his march up the Susquehanna. Brodhead was also directed to say to the western Indians, that if they made any trouble, the whole force of the United States would be turned against them, and they should be cut off from the face of the earth. But on the 21st of April these orders were countermanded, and the western commander was directed to prepare a rod for the Indians of the Ohio and western lakes ; and especially to learn the best time for attacking Detroit. Whether this last advice came too late, or was withdrawn again, we have no means of learning; but Brodhead proceeded as originally directed; marched up the Alleghany, burned the towns of the Indians, and destroyed their crops. || The immediate results of this and other equally prompt and severe measures, was to bring the Delawares, Shawanese, and even W^yandots, to Fort Pitt, on a treaty of peace. There Brod- * Vol.ii. p. 36. tSparks's Washington, vol. vi. pp. 120, 146. i Ibid., pp. 162-166. 11 Sparks'8 Washington, vi. 205. 224. 384. 387. 1779. Rogers and Benham Defeated. 217 head met them, on his return in September, and a long conference was held, to the satisfaction of both parties. Farther west during this summer and autumn the Indians were more successful. In July, the stations being still troubled, Colonel Bowman undertook an expedition into the country of the Shawanese, actingupon Washington's principle, that to defend yourselves against Indians, you must assail them. He marched undiscovered into the immediate vicinity of the towns upon the Little Miami, and so divided and arranged his forces, as to ensure apparent success ; one portion of the troops being commanded by himself, another by Colonel Benjamin Logan; but from some unexpected cause, his division of the whites did not co-operate fully with that led by Logan, and the whole body was forced to retreat, after having taken some booty, including a hundred and sixty horses, and leaving the town of the savages in cinders, but also leaving the fierce warriors themselves in no degree daunted or crippled.* Nor was it long before they showed themselves south of the Ohio again, and unexpectedly won a victory over the Americans of no slight importance. The facts, so far as we can gather them, are these : An expedition which had been in the neighborhood of Lexing- ton, where the first permanent improvements were made in April, of this year,f upon its return came to the Ohio near the Licking, at the very time that Colonel Rogers and Captain Benham reached the same point on their way up the river in boats. A few of the Indians were seen by the commander of the little American squadron, near the mouth of the Licking ; and supposing himself to be far superior in numbers, he caused seventy of his men to land, intending to surround the savages ; in a few moments, however he found he was himself surrounded, and after a hard fought battle, only twenty or twenty-five, or perhaps even fewer, of the party were left alive. { It was in connection with this skirmish that a coincidence occurred which seems to belong rather to a fanciful story than to sober his- tory, and which yet appears to be well authenticated. In the party of whites was Captain Robert Benham. He was one of those that fell, being shot through both hips, so as to be powerless in his lower limbs ; he dragged himself, however, to a tree-top, and there lay concealed from the savages after the contest was over. On the •Marshall i. 91, See General Ray's opinion, note to Butler, 110. t Holmes's Annals, ii. 304; note. American Pioneer, ii. 346. Butler, 101. Marshall, 1.89. I Butler, 2d edition, 102. (In this account there is confusion ; the Indians are represented as coming on their return from Kentucky, down the Little Miami.) McClung, 148. 218 Claims to Western Lands. 1779. evening of the second day, seeing a raccoon, he shot it, but no sooner was the crack of his rifle heard than he distinguished a hu- man voice, not far distant; supposing it to be some Indian, he re-loaded his gun and prepared for defence ; but a few moments undeceived him, and he discovered that the person whose voice he had heard was a fellow-sufferer, with this difference, however, that both his arms were broken ! Here then, were the only two survivers of the combat, (except those who had entirely escaped,) with one pair of legs and one pair of arms between them. It will be easily believed that they formed a co-partnership for mutual aid and defence. Benham shot the game which his friend drove to- ward him, and the man with sound legs then kicked it to the spot where he with sound arms sat ready to cook it. To procure water, the one with legs took a hat by the brim in his teeth, and walked into the Licking up to his neck, while the man with arms was to make signals if any boat appeared in sight. In this way they spent about six weeks, when, upon the 27th of November, they were rescued. Benham afterward bought and lived upon the land where the battle took place ; his companion, Mr. Butler, tells us, was, a few years since, still living at Brownsville, Pennsylvania. But the military operations of 1779 were not those which were of the most vital importance to the west. The passage of the Land Laws by Virginia was of more consequence than the losing or gaining of many battles, to the hardy pioneers of Kentucky and to their descendents. Of these laws we can give at best a vague outline, but it may be enough to render the subject in some de- gree intelligible. In 1779 there existed claims of very various kinds to the western lands; 1. Those of the Ohio, Walpole, and other companies, who had a title more or less perfect, from the British government : none of these had been perfected by patents, however. 2. Claims founded on the military bounty warrants of 1763: some of these were patented. 3. Henderson's claim by purchase from the Indians. 4. Those based on mere selection and occupancy. 5. Others resting on selection and survey, without occupancy. 6. Claims of persons who had imported settlers ; for each such settler, under an old law, fifty acres were to be allowed. 7. Claims of persons who had paid money into the old colonial treasury for land. 1779. Virginia Land Laws. 219 8. The claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution, to whom Virginia was indebted. These various claims were in the first place to be provided for, and then the residue of the rich vallies beyond the mountains might be sold to pay the debts of the parent State. In May,* the chief laws relative to this most important and complicated subject were passed, and commissioners were appointed to examine the various claims which might be presented, and give judgment ac- cording to the evidence brought forward, their proceedings, how- ever, to remain open to revision until December 1, 1780. And as the subject was a perplexed one, the following principles were laid down for their guidance : I. All surveys (without patents,) made before January 1, 1778, by any county surveyor commissioned by William and Mary Col- lege, and founded (a) upon charter; (b) upon importation rights duly proved ; (cj upon treasury rights, (money paid into the colo- nial treasury ; ) (d) upon entries not exceeding four hundred acres, made before October 26, 1763; (e) upon acts of the Virginia Assembly resulting from orders in council, &c.; (f) upon any war- rant from a colonial governor, for military services, &c. were to be good ; all other surveys null and void. II. Those who had not made surveys, if claiming (a) under im- portation rights ; (b) under treasury rights ; (c) under warrants for military services, were to be admitted to survey and entry. III. Those who had actually settled, or caused at their cost others to settle, on unappropriated lands, before January 1, 1778, were to have four hundred acres, or less, as they pleased, for every family so settled ; paying $2.25 for each hundred acres. IV. Those who had settled in villages befoi'e January 1, 1778^ were to receive for each family four hundred acres, adjacent to the village, at $2.25 per hundred acres; and the village property was to remain unsurveyed until the general assembly could examine the titles to it, and do full justice. V. To all having settlement rights, as above described, was given also a right of pre-emption to one thousand acres adjoining the settlement, at State prices — forty cents an acre. VI. To those who had settled since January 1, 1778, was given a pre-emption right to four hundred acres, adjoining and including the settlement made by them. VII. All the region between Green river, the Cumberland moun- * Morehead, 166. 220 Virginia Land Laws. 1779. tains, Tennessee, the river Tennessee, and the Ohio, was reserved, to be used for military claims. VIII. The two hundred thousand acres granted Henderson and his associates, October, 1778, along the Ohio, below the mouth of Green river, remained still appropriated to them. Having thus provided for the various classes of claimants, the Legislature offered the remainder of the pubhc lands at forty cents an acre : the money was to be paid into the Treasury and a war- rant for the quantity wished taken by the purchaser ; this warrant he was to take to the surveyor of the county in which he wished to locate, and an entry was to be made of every location, so spe- cial and distinct that the adjoining lands might be known with certainty. To persons unable to pay cash, four hundred acres were to be sold on credit, and an order of the county court was to be substituted for the warrant of the Treasury. To carry these laws into effect, four Virginians were sent west- ward to attend to claims ; these gentlemen opened their court on the 13th of October, at St. Asaphs, and continued their sessions at various points, until April, 26, 1780, when they adjourned to meet no more, after having given judgment in favor of about three thousand claims. The labors of the commissioners being ended, those of the surveyor commenced ; and Mr. George May, who had been appointed to that office, assumed its duties upon the 10th day of that month the name of which he bore.* •Marshall, i, 82. 97. See also Statutes of Virginia, by B. W. Leigh, ii. 347. 348. 350. 353. 388. 1780. With this year commences the history of those troubles relative to the navigation of the Mississippi, which for so long a time produced the deepest discontent in the West. Spain had taken the American part so far as to go to war with Britain, but no treaty had yet been concluded between Congress and the powers at Madrid. Mr. Jay, however, had been appointed Minister from the United States, at the Spanish court, where he arrived in the spring of this year, and where he soon learned the grasping plans of the Southern Bourbons. These plans indeed, were in no degree concealed, the French Minister being instructed to inform Congress, — That his most Christian majesty,* being uninformed of the appointment of a minister plenipotentiary to treat of an alliance between the United States and his catholic majesty ,t has signified to his minister plenipo- tentiary to the United States, that he wishes most earnestly for such an alliance ; and in order to make the way more easy, has commanded him to communicate to the congress, certain articles, which his catholic majesty deems of great importance to the interests of his crown, and on which it is highly necessary that the United States explain them- selves with precision and with such moderation, as may consist with their essential rights. That the articles are, 1. A precise and invariable western boundary to the United States. 2. The exclusive navigation of the river Mississippi. 3. The possession of the Floridas ; and, 4. The land on the left or eastern side of the river Mississippi. That on the first article, it is the idea of the cabinet of Madrid, that the United States extend to the westward no farther than settlements were permitted by the royal proclamation, bearing date the 7lh day of October, 1763, (that is to say, not west of the Alleghanies.) On the second, that the United States do not consider themselves as having any right to navigate the river Mississippi, no territory belong- ing to them being situated thereon. • Of France. t Of Spain. 222 Fort Jefferson built. 1780. On ihe third, that it is probable the king of Spain will conquer the Floridas, during the course of the present war ; and in such an event, every cause of dispute relative thereto, betwen Spain and these United States, ought to be removed. On the fourth, that the lands lying on the east side of the Mississippi, whereon the settlements were prohibited by the aforesaid proclamation, are possessions of the crown of Great Britain, and proper objects against which the arras of Spain may be employed, for the purpose of making a permanent conquest for the Spanish crown. That such con- quest may, probably, be made during the present war. That, therefore, it would be advisable to restrain the southern states from making any settlements or conquests in these territories. That the council of Madrid consider the United States, as having no claim to those territories, either as not having had possession of them, before the present war, or not having any foundation for a claim in the right of the sovereignty of Great Britain, whose dominion they have abjured.* These extraordinary claims of his Catholic Majesty were in no respect admitted during this year either by Mr. Jay or Congress, and in October a full statement of the views of the United States as to their territorial rights, was drawn up, probably by Mr. Madi- son, and sent to the Ambassador at Madrid. f Meantime, as Vir- ginia considered the use of the Great Western river very neces- sary to her children. Governor Jefferson had ordered a fort to be constructed upon the Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio. This was done in the spring of the year 1780, by General G. R. Clark, who was stationed at the Falls ; and was named by him after the writer of the Declaration of Independence. This fort for some purposes may have been well placed, but it was a great mistake to erect it, without notice, in the country of the Chicka- saws, who had thus far been true friends to the American cause. They regarded this unauthorized intrusion upon their lands as the first step in a career of conquest, and as such resented it ; while the settlers of Kentucky looked upon the measure with but little favor, as it tended to diminish the available force in their stations, which were still exposed to the ceaseless hostility of the Shawa- nese and Wyandots. The inhabitants of these stations, mean- while, were increasing with wonderful rapidity under the induce- ments presented by the land laws, and although the winter of 1779-80, was one of the most severe ever experienced in the * See Pitkin's History of the United States, ii. p. 92. t Pitkin, ii. 512, 91. Life of John Jay, i. lOS, &c. 1780. Land donated for School purposes. 223 West, the wild animals being starved and frozen in the forest, while the domesticated fared no better in the settlements, — still emigrants crowded over the mountains as soon as spring opened. Three hundred large family boats arrived early in the year at the Falls; and on Beargrass creek was a population containing six hundred serviceable men.* — Nor did the swarming stop with the old settlements ; in the southwest part of the State the hunter Maulding, and his four sons, built their outpost upon the Red river which empties into the Cumberland;! while, sometime in the spring of this same year, Dr. Walker, and Colonel Henderson, the first visitor and first colonist of Kentucky, tried to run the line which should divide Virginia from Carolina, (or as things are now named, Kentucky from Tennessee,) westward as far as the Missis- sippi; an attempt in which they failed. | Nor was it to western lands and territorial boundaries alone that Virginia directed her attention at this time ; in May we find her Legislature saying that, " Whereas, it is represented to this General Assembly that there are certain lands within the county of Kentucky, formerly belong- ing to British subjects, not yet sold under the law of escheats and forfeitures, which might at a future day be a valuable fund for the maintenance and education of youth, and it being the interest OF this Commonwealth always to promote and encourage EVERY design WHICH MAY TEND TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND AND THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE EVEN AMONG ITS REMOTE CITIZENS, whose situation in a barbarous neighborhood and a savage intercourse J might otherwise render unfriendly to science : be it there- enacted, that eight thousand acres of land, within the said county of Kentucky, late the property of those British subjects, || should be vested in trustees, ' as a free donation from this Commonwealth for the purpose of a public school, or seminary of learning, to be erected w^ithin the said county, as soon as its circumstances and the state of its funds will permit.' " Such, and so early laid, was the foundation of the first western Seminary of literature ; just five years after the forts of Boones- borough and Harrodsburg rose amidst the woods. In May of this year, as already related, St. Louis was attacked by the British and * Butler, second edition, 99. . + Morehead, p. 83. 4 Marshall, i. 113. Holmes' Annale, ii. 304, note 3d. J There names were Robert McKenzie, Henry CollinS; and Alexander McKee. 224 Invasion of Kentucky by Canadians and Indians. 1780. Indians.* Nor did they confine their attentions entirely to the Spaniards and the more distant West. In the summer of 1780, just before the return of Boone to the West, the most formidable invasion of Kentucky took place of which her annals contain any notice. A body of six hundred men, Canadians and Indians, commanded by Colonel Byrd, a British officer, and accompanied by either two or six cannon,! marched up the valley of the Licking. It first appeared, on the 22d of June, before Riddle's station on the south fork of that river, and required instant surrender. The demand could not be resisted, as the Kentucky stockades were powerless against can- non. Martin's station on the same stream was next taken; — and then, from some unexplained cause, the whole body of invaders — whose number was double that of all the fighting men east of the Kentucky river — turned right about face and hurried out of the country with all speed. The only reasonable explanation of the matter is that the British commander, horror-stricken and terrified at the excesses and cruelties of his savage allies, dared not go forward in the task — by no means a hopeless one — of depopu- lating the woods of Kentucky. | This incursion by Byrd and his red friends, little as it had effected, was enough to cause Clark, who had just returned from his labors on Fort Jefferson, and who found at the Falls a letter from the Governor of Virginia, recommending an attack upon the Indian villages north of the Ohio — to take immediate steps for the chastisement of the savages, and especially for the destruction of the store which furnished goods to the natives. This was situ- ated where the post destroyed by the French in 1752 had been, and was known in later days as Loramie's store. When, how- ever, in accordance with his determination, Clark, in July, went to Harrodsburg to enlist recruits, he found the whole population crazy about land entries, Mr. May, the Surveyor, having opened his office but two months previous. The General proposed to him to shut up for a time while the Indians were attended to ; the Surveyor in reply expressed a perfect willingness to do so in case General Clark would order it, but said that otherwise he had no authority to take such a step. The order was accordingly given and public notice spread abroad, accompanied by a full statement • Ante, p. 182. + Butler, 110.— Marshall i. 107.— Boone'd Narrative in Filson, 44. \ Butler, 110.— Marshall i. 106, 1780. Objections of J^ew Jersey to the plan of Union. 225 of the reasons for the proceeding. The result proved, as usual, Clark's sagacitj^; volunteers flocked to his standard, and soon with a thousand men he was at the mouth of the Licking. Silently and swaftly from that point he proceeded to attack the town known as Chillicothe, on the Little Miami, and then the Pickaway towns on Mad river. In both attacks he succeeded; destroying the towns, burning the crops, and above all annihilating the British store above referred to, with its contents. This expedition, the first efficient one ever undertaken against the Miami nests of enemies — for a time relieved Kentucky from the attack of any body of Indians sufficiently numerous to produce serious alarm.* During this period of comparative quiet those measures which led to the cession of the western lands to the United States began to assume a definite form. Upon the 25th of June, 1778, when the articles of confedera- tion were under discussion in Congi-ess, the objections of New Jersey to the proposed plan of union were brought forward, and among them was this : It was ever the confident expectation of this State, that the benefits de- rived from a successful contest were to be general and proportionate ; and that the property of the common enemy, falling in consequence of a pros- perous issue of the war, would belong to the United States, and be appro- priated to their use. We are llierefore greatly disappointed in finding no provision made in the confederation for empowerhig the Congress to dispose of such property, but especially the vacant and impatented lands, commonly called the crown lands, for defraying the expenses of the war, and for such other public and general purposes. The juris- diction ought in every instance to belong to the respective states within the charter or determined limits of which such lands may be seated ; but reason and justice must decide, that the property which existed in the crovi'n of Great Britain, previous to the present revolution, ought now to belong to the Congress, in trust for the use and benefit of the United States. They have fought and bled for it in proportion to their respective abilities ; and therefore the reward ought not to be predilec- tionally distributed. Shall such States as are shut out by situation from availing themselves of the least advantange from this quarter, be left to sink under an enormous debt, whilst others are enabled, in a short period, to replace all their expenditures from the hard earnings of the whole confederacy .t * See, for a particular account of this expedition, Stipp's Miscellany, 63 to ''0. — Butler 117. — Marshall i. 109. — Americaa Pioneer, i. 346. — Boone's Narrative. — Filson's Map. t See Secret Journal, i. p. 377, 15 226 Instructions of Maryland. 1780.. Nor was New Jersey alone in her views. In January 1779, the Council and Assembly of Delaware, while they authorized their Delegates to ratify the Articles of Confederation, also passed cer- tain resolutions, and one of them was in these words : Hesolved also, That this state consider themselves justly entitled to a right, in common with the members of the Union, to that extensive tract of country which lies to the westward of the frontiers of the Uni- ted States, the property of which was not vested in, or granted to, indi- viduals at the commencement of the present war. That the same hath been, or may be, gained from the king of Great Britain, or the native Indians, by the blond and treasure of all, and ought therefore to be a common estate, to be granted out on terms beneficial to the United States.* But this protest, however positive, w-as not enough for Mary- land, the representatives of which in Congress, presented upon the 21st of May, 1779, their instructions relative to confirming the much talked-of bond that was to make the colonies one. From those instructions we select the following passages : Virginia, by selling on the most moderate terms a small proportion of the lands in question, would draw into her treasury vast sums of money; and in proportion to the sums arising from such sales, would be enabled to lessen her taxes. Lands comparatively cheap, and taxes compara- tively low, with the lands and taxes of an adjacent State, would quickly drain the State thus disadvantageously circumstanced of its most useful inhabitants ; its wealth and its conseqtience in the scale of the confede- rated States would sink of course. A claim so injurious to more than one half, if not to the whole of the United States, ought to be supported by the clearest evidence of the right. Yet what evidences of that right have been produced ? What arguments alleged in support either of the evidence or the right? None that we have heard of deserving a serious refutation. » # » » We are convinced, policy and justice require, that a country unsettled at the commencement of this war, claimed by the British crown, and ceded to it by the treaty of Paris, if wrested from the common enemy by the blood and treasure of the thirteen States, should be considered as a common property, subject to be parceled out by Congress, into free, convenient, and independent governments, in such manner, and at such times as the wisdom of that assembly shall hereafter direct. Thus convinced, we should betray the trust reposed in us by our con- stituents, were we to authorize you to ratify on their behalf the confede- * See Secret Journal, i. p. 429.. 1780. Resolution of Congress respecting Public Lands. 227 ration, unless it be farther explained. We have coolly and dispassion- ately considered the subject ; we have weighed probable inconveniences and hardships against the sacrifice of just and essential rights ; and do instruct you not to agree to the confederation, unless an article or articles be added thereto in conformity with our declaration. Should we succeed in obtaining such article or articles, then you are hereby fully em- powered to accede to the confederation.* These difficulties toward perfecting the Union were increased by the passage of the laws in Virginia, for disposing of the public lands; this, as we have stated, was done in May, 1779. Appre- hensive of the consequences. Congress, upon the 30th of October, in that year, resolved that Virginia be recommended to reconsider her Act opening a land office, and that she and all other States claiming wild lands be requested to grant no warrants during the continuance of the war.f The troubles which thus threatened to arise from the claims of Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, to the lands which other colonies regarded as com- mon property, caused New York, on the 19th of February, 1780, to pass an act which gave to the Delegates of that State power to cede the western lands claimed by her for the benefit of the United States. This law was laid before Congress on the 7th of the next month, (March, '80, :{: ) but no step seems to have been taken until September 6th, 1780, when a resolution passed that body pressing upon the States claiming western lands the wisdom of giving up their claims in favor of the whole country ; || and to aid this recommendation, upon the 10th of October, was passed the fol- lowing resolution — § which formed the basis of all after action, and was the first of those legislative measures which have thus far resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, — No. 9. Resolved, — That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, by any particular State, pursuant to the recommendation of Congress of the 6th day of September last, shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United Stales, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which shall become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence, as the other States : that each State which * See Secret Journal, i. p. 435, ^ Old Journals, iii. 582. t Old Journals, iii. 384, 385. § Old Journal, iii. 535.— Land Laws, 338, J Old Journals, iii. 516. 228 Plan of conquering Detroit again renewed. 1780. shall be so formed shall contain a suitable extent of territory, not less than 100 nor more than 150 miles square, or as near thereto as circura- slanees will admit: that the necessary and reasonable expenses which any particular state shall have incurred since the commencement of the present war, in subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts or garrisons within and for the defence, or in acquiring any part of the territory that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, shall be reimbursed. That the said lands shall be granted or settled at such times, and un- der such regulations, as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United Slates in Congress assembled, or in any nine or more of them.* Such were the steps taken in relation to the great western wil- derness during the year of which we are treating. And soon after, in December of that year, the plan of conquer- ing Detroit was renewed again. In 1779 that conquest might have been effected by Clark had he been supported by any spirit ; f in January 1780, the project was discussed between Washington and Brodhead, and given up or deferred, as too great for the means of the Continental establishment : | in the following Octo- ber so weak was that establishment that Fort Pitt itself was threat- ened by the savages and British, while its garrison, destitute of bread, while there was an abundance in the country, were half disposed to mutiny. 1| Under these circumstances. Congress being powerless for action, Virginia proposed to carry out the original plan of her' western General, and extend her operations to the Lakes; we find, in consequence, that an application was made by Jefferson to the Commander-in-chief for aid, and that on the 29th of December, an order was given by him on Brodhead for artillery, tools, stores, and men.§ How far the preparations for this enterprize were carried and why they were abandoned we have not been able to discover; but upon the 25th of April 1781, Washington wrote to General Clark, warning him that Connolly, who had just been exchanged, was expected to go from Canada * See Land Laws, p. 338. t See p. 214. \ Sparks' Washington, vi. 433. — An attempt upon Natchez was also contemplated and abandoned. — Do. do. II Sparks' Washington, vii. 270. § Four field pieces, one howitzer, five hundred spades, two hundred picks, &c. &c. Sparks' Washington, vii. 343. 1780. Act estabUshing the town of Louisville. 229 to Venango, (Franklin, mouth of French creek,) with a force of refugees, and thence to Fort Pitt, with blank Commissions for some hundreds of dissatisfied men believed to be in that vicinity.* From this it would seem probable that the Detroit expedition was not abandoned at that time. Two other facts close the chronicle of 1780 ; the one, that upon the 1st of November the county of Kentucky was divided into the three counties of Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson;! the other, the passage of an Act in May for establishing the town of Louis- ville. | We have mentioned the survey of the lands at the Falls by Bullitt, in 1773, on account of John Connolly ; || and also the advertisement of that gentleman and John Campbell, dated April 3, 1774. § Connolly, however, as a tory, had forfeited his title, and in the present year Virginia proceeded to dispose of his share in the one thousand acres at the Falls of the Ohio. But as Camp- bell, the apparent joint owner, was in captivity in 1780, final action was delayed until his return. This having taken place, successive acts in May and October, 'S3, and October '84, were passed protecting and securing his interests while the share of his refugee partner was disposed of. IT ^ * sparks' Washington, viii. 25. — This letter is not in the Index to Mr. Sparks' work, t Marshall, i. 111. — Filson's Map. \ Collection of Acts, &c., relative to Louisville. — Louisville, 1837, p. 3. p. 152, note. § p. Do. ^ p. 151. — Acts relative to Louisville, pp.4, 5, 6. 1781. Virginia, in accordance with the recommendation of Congress already noticed, upon the 2d of January of this year, agreed to yield her western lands to the United States, upon certain condi- tions ; among which were these; — 1st, no person holding ground under a purchase from the natives to him or his grantors, indivi- dually, and no one claiming under a grant or charter from the British crown, inconsistent with the charter or customs of Virginia, was to be regarded as having a valid title : and 2nd, the United States were to guarantee to Virginia all the territory south-east of the Ohio to the Atlantic, as far as the bounds of Carolina. These conditions Congress would not accede to, and the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion failed, nor was any thing farther done until 1783.* Early in the same month in which Virginia made her first Act of Cession, a Spanish captain, with sixty-five men, left St. Louis, for the purpose of attacking some one of the British posts of the north-west. Whether this attempt originated in a desire to re- venge the English and Indian siege of St. Louis, in the previous year, or whether it was a mere pretence to cover the claims about that time set up by Spain to the western country, in opposition to the colonies! which she claimed to be aiding, it is perhaps impos- sible to say. But these facts, that the point aimed at, St. Joseph's, was far in the interior — and that this crusade was afterwards looked to by the court of Spain as giving a ground of territorial right — make it probable that the enterprise was rather a legal one against the Americans, than a military one against the English : and this conclusion is made stronger by the fact that the Spaniards having taken the utterly unimportant post of St. Joseph, and having claimed the country as belonging to the King of Spain, by right of conquest, turned back to the quiet west bank of the Mis- sissippi again, and left the Long Knives to prosecute the capture of Detroit, as they best could. J * Old Us. iv. 265 to 267. t See ante p. 221 . I Diplomatic Correspondence, iii. 339 ; viii. 150. — Secret Journals, iv, 64. 74. 1781. Birth of Mary Heckewelder, 231 Upon the 16th of April in this year, was born at Salem upon the Muskingum river, Mary Heckewelder, daughter of the widely known Moravian missionary — the earliest born of white American children, who first saw the light north of the Ohio; and in her language rather than our own, we now give some incidents rela- tive to the Christian Delawares aad their teachers. Soon after ray birth, times becoming very troublesome, the settle- ments were often in danger from war parties ; and finally, in the begin- ning of September of the same year, we were all made prisoners. First, four of the missionaries v/ere seized by a party of Huron warriors, and declared prisoners of war ; they were then led into the camp of the Delawares, where the death-song was sung over them. Soon after they had secured them, a number of warriors marched off for Salem and Shoenbrun.* About thirty savages arrived at the former place in the dusk of the evening, and broke open the mission house. Here they took my mother and myself prisoners, and having led her into the street and placed guards over her, they plundered the house of every thing they could take with them and destroyed what was left. Then going to take my mother along with them, the savages were prevailed upon, through the intercession of the Indian females, to let her remain at Salem till the next morning — the night being dark and rainy and almost impossible for her to travel so far — they at last consented on condition that she should be bronght into the camp the next morning, which was accordingly done, and she was safely conducted by our Indians to Gnadenhutten. After experiencing the cruel treatment of the savages for some time, they were set at liberty again ; but were obliged to leave their flourish- ing settlements, and forced to march through a dreary wilderness to Upper Sandusky. We went by^ land through Goseachguenk to the Walholding, and then pardy by water and partly along the banks of the river, to Sandusky Creek. All the way I was carried by an Indian woman, carefully wrapped in a blanket, on her back. Our journey was exceedingly tedious and dangerous ; some of the canoes sunk, and those that were in them lost all their provisions and every thing they had saved. Those that went by land drove the catde, a pretty large herd. The savages now drove us along, the missionaries with their families usually in their midst, surrounded by their Indian converts. The roads were exceedingly bad, leading through a con- tinuation of swamps. Having arrived at Upper Sandusky, they built small huts of logs and bark to screen them from the cold, having neither beds nor blankets, and being reduced to the greatest poverty and want ; for the savages * Moravian Towns. 232 Treatment of the Moravians. 1781, had by degrees stolen almost every thing, both from the missionaries and Indians, on the journey. We lived here extremely poor, often- times very little or nothing to satisfy the cravings of hunger ; and ihe poorest of tlie Indians were obliged to live upon their dead cattle, which died for want of pasture.* To this account by one who is, from her age at the time, but a second-hand witness, we may add the following particu- lars. We have already mentioned the rise of the Christian-Indian towns upon the Muskingum. During the wars between the north- west savages and the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontier-men, the quiet converts of Post, Zeisberger, and Heckewelder had any other than a pleasant position. The Wyandots thought they be- trayed the red men's interests to their religious white kinsfolk ; the pale-faced Indian-haters of the Kenawha, doubted as little that the " praying" Delawares played them false, and favored the fierce warriors of the lakes. f Little by little these suspicions and jeal- ousies assumed form, and the missionaries having actually been guilty of the crime of interpreting to the Delaware chiefs, certain letters received from Pittsburgh, measures were taken by the Eng- lish, as early it seems, as 1779, to remove them from the American borders, and thus prevent their interference. No result followed at that time from the steps alluded to ; but in 1780 or '81, the Iroquois were asked at a council held at Niagara to remove the Muskingum Christians, as the settlements were in the country claimed by the Five Nations. The New York savages were per- fectly willing the thing should be done, but were not willing to do it themselves, so they sent ^o the Ottawas and ChippewaysJ a message to the effect that they might have the Moravian congre- gations to make soup of. The Ottawas in their turn declined the treat and sent the message to the Hurons, or, as they are most commonly called, the Wyandots. These, together with Captain Pipe, the war chief of the Delawares, who was the enemy of the missionaries because they taught peace, carried the wish of the English into execution, in the manner narrated by the daughter of the Moravian leader. At Detroit, whither four of the Europeans were taken in October, Heckewelder and his Co-laborers were * American Pioneer, ii. 224. t In Oct. 1777, a party of Americans crossed the Ohio to attack the Moravian towns. — Heckevveliler's Narrative, 165. \ The Ojibbeways or Odjibways, as it is lately written in conformity with tlie true sound and old writing. — Schoolcraft's Algic Researches. — American State Papers, V. 707. 718. 1781. Treatment of the Moravians. 233 tried ; but as even Captain Pipe could find no other charge against them than that of interpreting the American letters above referred to, they were discharged and returned to their families at San- dusky, toward the close of November.* While the English and their red allies were thus persecuting the poor Moravians and their disciples on the one hand, the Americans were preparing to do the same thing, only, as the event proved, in a much more effectual style. In the spring of 1781, Colonel Brodhead led a body of troops against some of the hostile Delawares, upon the Muskingum. This, a portion of his followers thought, would be an excellent opportunity to destroy the Moravian towns, and it was with difficulty he could withhold them. He sent word to Heckewelder, and tried to prevent any attack upon the members of his flock. In this attempt he appears to have succeeded ; but he did not, perhaps could not, prevent the slaughter of the troops taken from the hostile Delawares. First, sixteen were killed, and then nearly twenty. A chief, who came under assurances of safety to Brodhead's camp, was also murdered by a noted partisan, named Wetzel. f From that time, the Virginians rested, until autumn, when the frontier men, led by Colonel David Williamson, marched out expressly against the towns of the christian Delawares ; but they found that the Hurons had preceded them, and the huts and fields of the friends of peace were deserted. J The particular cause of this attempt on the part of the Ameri- cans was the series of attacks made during this year by small bands of Indians, along the whole range of stations, from Laurel Hill to Green river. The details of these incursions may be found in Withers' Border Warfare, 225, and Marshall's Kentucky, I. 115. Among these details, the mass of which we, of necessity, oinit, is the following, which seems worthy of especial notice. Squire Boone's station, near Shelbyville, being very much ex- posed, those within it determined to seek a place of greater security: while on their way to the Beargrass settlements they were attacked by the Indians. Colonel Floyd, hearing of this, * See a full account in Heckewelder's Narrative, 230 — 299. t Heckewelder's Narrative, 214. — Doddridge, 291, (the date is in this account 1780, but we presume wrongly.) — Border Warfare, 219 ; Withers follows Doddridge, but both draw from Heckewelder, who says 1781 For a full acceunt of Lewis Wetzel, the very embodiment of the most reckless class of frontier men, see Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, iJ21, 161, 169, 177. t Border Warfare, 229. Doddridge, 262. 234 Mohle act of Captain Wells. 1781. hastened with twenty-five men against the enemy, but fell into an ambuscade of two hundred savages, and lost half his men. Among those in his party was Captain Samuel Wells, with whom Floyd had been for some time at feud. This gentleman, as he retreated, saw his superior officer, but personal foe, on foot, nearly exhausted, and hard pressed by the invaders, on the point of falling a sacrifice to their fury; instantly dismounting, he forced Colonel Floyd to take his place in the saddle, and being himself fresh, ran by the side of the horse, supporting the fainting rider, and saved the lives of both. It will readily be believed their enmity closed with that day.* In addition to the incursions by the northern Indians, this year witnessed the risings of the Chickasaws against Fort Jefferson, which, as we have said, had been unwisely built in their country, without leave asked. The attack was made under the direction of Colbert, a Scotchman, who had acquired great influence with the tribe, and whose descendants have since been among their influential chiefs. The garrison were few in number, sickly, and half starved ; but some among them were fool-hardy and wicked enough to fire at Colbert, when under a flag of truce, which pro- voked the savages beyond all control, and had not Clark arrived with reinforcements, the Chickasaws would probably have had all the scalps of the intruders. As it was, the fort was relieved, but was soon after abandoned, as being too far from the settlements, and of very little use at any rate.f Meantime the internal organization of Kentucky was proceeding rapidly. Floyd, Logan, and Todd were made county Lieutenants of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Fayette, with the rank of Colonel ; while William Pope, Stephen Trigg, and Daniel Boone, were made Lieutenant Colonels, to act for the others in case of need. Clark was made Brigadier General, and placed at the head of military affairs, his head quarters being at the Falls, between which point and the Licking he kept a row galley going, to inter- cept parties of Indians, though to very little purpose. George May, who had been surveyor for the whole county of Kentucky, after the division had Jefferson assigned him ; Jwhile Thomas Marshall was appointed to the same post in Fayette, and James Thompson in Lincoln. Of the three, however, only the last • Butler, 2d edition, 115. — Marshall, i. 115. — Marshall, says this took place in April, Butler in September, and refers to Colonel F.'s MS. letters. + Butler, 2d edition, 119. 1781. Habits of Life in the West. 235 opened his office during this year, and great was the discontent of those waiting to enter the fertile lands of the two counties which were thus kept out of their reach ; a discontent ten-fold the greater in consequence of the laws of Virginia in relation to her depreci- ated currency, the effect of which was to make land cost in specie only half a cent an acre.* One other event will close the western annals of 1781, and no more important event has yet been chronicled : it was the large emigration of young unmarried women, into a region abounding in young unmarried men ; its natural result was the rapid increase of population. t And here, in imitation of the first historian of Ken- tucky, we may properlyj introduce some notice of the modes of life prevailing at that early period. Then, the women did the offices of the household ; milked the cows, cooked the mess, prepared the flax, spun, wove, and made the garment of linen or linsey ; the men hunted, and brought in the meat; they planted, ploughed, and gathered in the corn ; grinding it into meal at the hand-mill, or pounding it into hominy in the mortar, was occasional- ly the work of either, or the joint labor of both. The men exposed themselves alone to danger ; they fought the Indians, they cleared the land, they reared the hut, or built the fort, in which the women were placed for safety. Much use was made of the skins of deer for dress ; while the buffalo and bear skins were consigned to the floor, for beds and covering. There might incidentally, be a few articles brought to the country for sale, in a private way ; but there was no store for supply. Wooden vessels, either turned or coopered, were in common use as table furniture. A tin cup was an article of delicate luxury, almost as rare as an iron fork. Every hunter carried his knife ; it was no less the implement of a warrior: not unfrequently the rest of the family was left with but one or two for the use of all. A like workmanship com- posed the table and the stool ; a slab, hewed with the axe, and sticks of a similar manufacture, set in for legs, supported both, When the bed was by chance or refinement, elevated above the floor, and given a fixed place, it was often laid on slabs placed across poles, supported on forks, set in the earthen floor; or where the floor was puncheons, the bedstead was hewed pieces, pinned on upright posts, or let into them by auger holes. Other utensils and furniture, were of a corresponding description, applicable to the time. The food was of the most wholesome and nutritive kind. The richest milk, the finest butter, and best meat, that ever delighted man's palate, were here eaten with a relish which health and labor only * Marshall, i. 124. t Ibid, 122. 236 Habits of Life in the West. 1781. know. Those were shared by friend and stranger in every cabin, with profuse hospitality. Hats were made of the native fiir ; and the buffalo wool employed in the composition of cloth, as was also the bark of the wild nettle. There was some paper money in the country, which had not depre- ciated one half nor even a fourth as much as it had at the seat of govern- ment. If there was any gold or silver its circulation was suppressed. The price of a beaver hat, was five hundred dollars.* The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open be- fore, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The cape was large, and sometimes handsomely fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself. The bosom of his dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cakes, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt which was always tied behind an- swered several purposes, besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens, and sometimes the bullet-bag occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk, and to the left the scalping knife in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers or breeches and leggins, were the dress of the thighs and legs, a pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of a single piece, with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gathers, as high as the ankle joint or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles and lower part of the leg by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gra- vel, or snow, could get within the moccasin. The moccasins in ordinary use cost but a few hours labor to make them. This was done by an instrument denominated a moccasin awl, which was made of the back spring of an old clasp-knife. This awl, with its buck-horn handle, was an appendage of every shot pouch strap, together with a roll of buckskin for mending the moccasins. This was tlie labor of almost every evening. They were sewed together and patched with deerskin thongs, or whangs as they were commonly called. In cold weather the moccasins were well stuffed with deers' hair, or * See Marshall's History of Kentucky, i. p. 123. 1781. Habits of Life 171 the West. 237 dry leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably warm ; but in wet wea- ther it was usually said that wearing them was " a decent way of going barefooted ;" and such was the fact, owing to the spongy texture of the leather of which they were made. Owing to this defective covering of the feet, more than to any other circumstance, the greater number of our hunters and warriors were af- flicted with the rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they were all apprehensive in cold or wet weather, and therefore always slept with their feet to the fire to prevent or cure it as well as they could. This practice unquestionably had a very salutary effect, and prevented many of them from becoming confirmed cripples in early life. The fort consisted of cabins, blockhouses and stockades. A range of cabins commonly formed one side at least of the fort. Divisions, or partitions of logs separated the cabins from each other. The walls on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of the roof being turned wholly inward. A very few of these cabins had puncheon floors, the greater part were earthen. The blockhouses were built at the angles of the fort. They pro- jected about two feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches every way larger in di- mension than the under one, leaving an opening at the commencement of the second story to prevent the enemy from making a lodgment under their walls. In some forls instead of blockhouses, the angles of the fort were furnished with bastions. A large folding gate, made of thick slabs, nearest the spring closed the fort. The stockades, bastions, cabins, and blockhouse walls were furnished with port holes at proper heights and distances. The whole of the outside was made completely bullet proof. It may be truly said that necessity is the mother of invention ; for the whole of this work was made without the aid of a single nail or spike of iron, and for this reason, such things were not to be had. In some places, less exposed, a single blockhouse, with a cabin or two constituted the whole fort. For a long time after the first settlement of this country, the inhabi- tants in general married young. There was no distinction of rank, and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first impression of love resulted in marriage; and a family establishment cost but a little labor and nothing else. In the first years of the settlement of this country, a wedding engaged the attention of a whole neighborhood, and the frolic was anticipated by old and young with eager expectation. This is njt to be wondered at, when it is told that a wedding was almost the only gathering which we:s not accompanied with the labor of reaping, log rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or campaign. f 238 HaUts of Life in the West. 1781. In the morning of the wedding day, the groom and his attendants as- sembled at the house of his father for the purpose of reaching tlie man- sion of his bride by noon, which was the usual time for celebrating the nuptials ; which for certain must take place before dinner. Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store, tailor, or mantuamaker within an hundred miles ; and an assemblage of horses, without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance. The gentlemen dressed in shoepacks, moccasins, leather breeches, leggings, linsey hunting shirts, and all home-made. The ladies dressed in linsey petticoats and linsey or linen bed gowns, coarse shoes, stockings, hand- kerchiefs and buckskin gloves, if any. If there were any buckles, rings, buttons, or ruffles, they were the relics of old times, family pieces from parents or grand-parents. The horses were caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, and pack-saddles, with a bag or blanket thrown over them : a rope or string as often constituted the girth as a piece of leather. The march, in double file, way often interrupted by the narrowness and obstructions of our horse paths, as they were called, for we had no roads : and these difficulties were often increased sometimes by the good, and sometimes by the ill will of neighbors, by falling trees and tying grape vines across the way. Sometimes an ambuscade was formed by the way-side, and an unexpected discharge of several guns took place, so as to cover the wedding company with smoke. Let the reader imagine the scene which followed this discharge : the sudden spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls, and the chivalric bustle of their partners to save them from falling. Sometimes, in spite of all that could be done to prevent it, some were thrown to the ground. If a wrist, elbow, or ankle happened to be sprained it was tied with a hand- kerchief, and little more was thought or said about it. Another ceremony commonly took place before the party reached the house of the bride, after the practice of making whisky began, which was at an early period ; whnn the party were about a mile from the place of their destination, two young men would single out to run for the bottle; the worse the path, the more logs, brush, and deep hollows the better, as these obstacles afl'orded an opportunity for the greater display of intrepidity and horsemanship. The English fox chase, in point of danger to the riders and tlieir horses, is nothing to this race for the bottle. The start was announced by an Indian yell ; logs, brush, muddy hollows, hill and glen, were speedily passed by the rival ponies. The bottle was always filled for the occasion, so that there was no use for judges ; for the first who reached the door was presented with the prize, with which he returned in triumph to the company. On approaching them, he announced his victory over his rival by a shrill whoop. At the head of the troop, he gave the bottle first to the groom and his 1781, HaUts of Life in the West. 239 attendants, and then to each pair in succession to the rear of the line» giving each a dram ; and then putting the bottle in the bosom of his hunting shirt tooiv his station in the company. The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was a sub- stantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes venison and bear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes, cabbage, and other vegetables. During the dinner the greatest hilaiity always pre- vailed ; although the table might be a large slab of timber, hewed out with a broad axe, supported by four sticks set in auger holes, and the furniture some old pewter dishes, and plates, the rest wooden bowls and trenchers ; a few pewter spoons, much battered about the edges, were to be seen at some tables. The rest were made of horns. If knives were scarce, the deficiency was made tip by the scalping knives which were carried in sheaths suspended to the belt of the hunting shirt. After dinner the dancing commenced, and generally lasted till the next morning. The figures of the dances were thr^e and four handed reels, or square sets, and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by what was called jigging it off; that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and were followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accompanied with what was called cutting out ; that is, when either of the parliea became tired of the dance, on intimation the place was supplied by some one of the company without any interruption of the dance. In this way a dance was often continued till the musician was heartily tired of his situation. Toward the latter part of the night, if any of the company, through weariness, attempted to conceal themselves, for the purpose of sleeping they were hunted up, paraded on the floor, ani the fiddler ordered to play " Hang on till to-morrow morning." About nine or ten o'clock, a deputation of the young ladies stole off the bride, and put her to bed. In doing this, it frequently happened that they had to ascend a ladder instead of a pair of stairs, leading from the dining and ball room to the loft, the floor of which was made of clap- boards lying loose and without nails. This ascent, one might think, would put the bride and her attendants to the blush ; but as the foot of the ladder was commonly behind the door, which was purposely opened for the occasion, and its rounds at the inner ends were well hung with hunting shirts, petticoats, and other articles of clothing, the candles being on the opposite side of the house, the exit of the bride was noticed but by iew. This done, a deputation of young men in like manner stole off" the groom, and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. The dance still continued ; and if seats happened to be scarce, which was often the case, every young man, when not engaged in the dance, was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls ; and the offer 240 Habits of Life in the West. 1781. was sure to be accepted. In the midst of this hilarity the bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty late in the night, some one would remind the company that the new couple must stand in need of some refreshment: black Betty, which was the name of the bottle, was called for, and sent up the ladder, but sometimes black Betty did not go alone, I have many times seen as much bread, beef, pork and cabbage sent along with her, as would afTord a good meal for half a dozen hungry men. The young couple were compelled to eat and drink, more or less, of whatever was offered them. It often happened that some neighbors or relations, not being asked to the wedding, took offence ; and the mode of revenge adopted by them on such occasions, was that of cutting off the manes, foretops, and tails of the horses of the wedding company. I will proceed to state the usual manner of settling a young couple in the world. A spot was selected on a piece of land of one of the parents, for their habitation. A day was appointed, shortly after their marriage, for commencing the work of building their cabin. The fatigue party con- sisted of choppers, whose business it was to fell the trees and cut them off at proper lengths. A man with a team for hauling them to the place, and arranging them, properly assorted, at the sides and ends of the building, a carpenter, if such he might be called, whose business it was to search the woods for a proper tree for making clapboards for the roof. The tree for this purpose must be straight grained and from three to four feet in diameter. The boards were split four feet long, with a large frow, and as wide as the timber will allow. They were used with- out planing or shaving. Another division were employed in getting pun- cheons for the floor of the cabin ; this was done by splitting trees, about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewing the faces of them with a broad axe. 'They were half the length of the floor they were intended to make. The materials for the cabin were mostly prepared on the first day and sometimes the foundation laid in the evening. The second day was allotted for the raising. In the morning of the next day the neighbors collected for the raising. The first thing to be done was the election of four corner men, whose business it was to notch and place the logs. The rest of the company furnished them with the timbers. In the meantime the boards and pun- cheons were collecting for the floor and roof, so that by the time the cabin was a few rounds high the sleepers and floor began to be laid. The door was made by sawing or cutting the logs in one side so as to make an opening about three feet wide. This opening was secured by upright pieces of timber about three inches thick, through which holes were bored into the ends of the logs for the purpose of pinning 1781. Hckis of Life in the West. 241 them fast. A similar opening, but wider, was made at the end for the chimney. This was built of logs and made large to admit of a back and jambs of stone. At the square, two end logs projected a foot or eighteen inches beyond the wall to receive the butting poles, as they were called, against which the ends of the first row of clapboards was supportetl. The roof was formed by making the end logs shorter until a single log formed the comb of the roof, on these logs the clapboards were placed, the ranges of them laping some distance over those next below them and kept in their places by logs, placed at proper distances upon them. The roof, and sometimes the floor, were finished on the same day of the raising. A third day was commonly spent by a few carpenters in leveling off the floor, making a clapboard door and a table. This last was made of a split slab, and supported by four round legs set in auger holes. Some three legged stools were made in the same manner. Some pins stuck in the logs at the back of the house supported some clap- boards which served for shelves for the table furniture. A single fork, placed with its lower end in a hole in the floor, and the upper end fas- tened to a joist served for a bedstead, by placing a pole in the fork with one end through a crack between the logs of the wall. This front pole was crossed by a shorter one within the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the front pole, through a crack between the logs of the end of the house, the boards were put on which formed the bot- tom of the bed. Sometimes other poles, were pinned to the fork a little distance above these, for the purpose of supporting the front and foot of the bed, while the walls were the supports of its back and head. A few pegs around the walls for a display of the coats of the women, and hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks or bucks' horns to a joist for the rifle and shot pouch, completed the carpenter work. In the mean time masons were at work. With the heart pieces of the timber of which the clapboards were made, they made billets for chunking up the cracks between the logs of the cabin and chimney, a large bed of mortar was made for daubing up those cracks ; a few stones formed the back and jambs of the chimney. The cabin being finished, the ceremony of house-warming took place, before the young couple were permitted to move into it. The house-warming was a dance of a whole night's continuance, made up of the relations of the bride and groom, and their neighbors. On the day following the young couple took possession of their new mansion. At house raisings, log rollings, and harvest parties, every one was expected to do his duty faithfully. A person who did not perform his share of labor on these occasions, was designated by the epithet of " Lawrence," or some other title still more opprobious ; and when it 16 242 Habits of Life wi the West. ' 1781. came to liis turn to require the like aid from his neighbors, the idler soon felt his punishment, in their refusal to attend to his calls. Although there was no legal compulsion to the performance of mili- tary duty, yet every man of full age and size was expected to do his full share of public service. If he did not do so he was " Hated out as a coward." Even the want of any article of war equipments, such as ammunition, a sharp flint, a priming wire, a scalping knife or toma- hawk, was thought highly disgraceful. A man, who without a reason- able cause failed to go on a scout or campaign when it came to his turn, met with an expression of indignation in tlie countenances of all his neighbors, and epithets of dishonor were fastened upon him without mercy. Debts, which make such an uproar in civilized life were but little known among our forefathers at the early settlement of this country. After the depreciation of the continental paper they had no money of any kind ; every thing purchased was paid for in produce or labor. A good cow and calf was often the price of a bushel of alum salt. If a contract was not punctually fulfilled, the credit of the delinquent was at an end. Any petty theft was punished with all the infamy that could be heap- ed on the off'ender. A man on a campaign stole from his comrade a cake out of the ashes, in which it was baking: he was immediately named " The bread rounds." This epithet of reproach was bandied about in this way, when he came in sight of a group of men, one of them would call " Who comes there ?" Another would answer, " The bread rounds." If any one meant to be more serious about the matter, he would call out " Who stole a cake out of the ashes ?" Another re- plied, by giving the name of the man in full ; to this a third would give confirmation, by exclaiming, "That is true and no lie." This kind of " tongue-lashing" he was doomed to bear, for the rest of the campaign, as well as for years after his return home. If a theft was detected, in any of the frontier settlements, a summary mode of punishment was always resorted to. The first settlers, as far as I knew of them, had a kind of innate, or hereditary detestation of the crime of theft, in any shape or degree, and their maxim was, that " a thief must be whipped." If the theft was of something of some value, a kind of jury of the neighborhood, after hearing the testimony, would condemn the culprit to Moses Law, that is to forty stripes, save one. If the theft was of some small article, the offender was doomed to carry on his back the flag of the United States, which then consisted of thirteen stripes. In either case, some able hands were selected to execute the sentence, so that the stripes were sure to be well laid on. This punishment was followed by a sentence of exile. He then was 1781, Habits of Life in tJie West 243 informed that he must decamp in so many days, and be seen there no more on penalty of having the number of his stripes doubled. If a woman was given to tattling and slandering her neighbors, she was furnished by common consent, with a kind of patent-right to say whatever she pleased, without being believed. Her tongue was then said to be harmless, or to be no scandal. With all their rudeness, these people were given to hospitality, and freely divided their rough fare with a neighbor, or stranger, and would have been offended at the offer of pay. In their settlements and forts, they lived, they worked, they fought, and feasted, or suffered together, in cordial harmony. They were warm and constant in their friendships. On the other hand they were revengeful in their resentments. And the point of honor sometimes led to personal combats. If one man called another a liar, he was considered as having given a challenge which the person who received it must accept, or be deemed a coward, and the charge was generally answered on the spot, with a blow. If the injur- ed person was decidedly unable to fight the aggressor, he might get a friend to do it for him. The same thing took place on a charge of cowar- dice, or any other dishonorable action, a battle must follow, and the person who made the charge must fight, either the person against whom he made the charge or any champion who choose to espouse his cause. Thus circumstanced, our people in early times were much more cautious of speaking €vil of their neighbors than they are at present. Sometimes pitched battles occurred, in which time, place and seconds, were appointed beforehand. I remember having seen one of those pitched battles in «iy father's fort, when a boy. One of the young men knew very well beforehand that he should gel the worst of the battle, and no doubt lepented the engagement to fight; but there was no getting over it. The point of honor demanded the risk of battle. He got his whipping ; they then shook hjinds and were good friends afterwards. The mode of single combats in those days was dangerous in the ex- treme ; although no weapons were used, fists, teeth, and feet were em- ployed at will, but above all, the detestable practice of gouging, by which eyes were sometimes put out, rendered this mode of fighting frightful indeed; it was not hovvever, so destructive as the stiletto of an Ifalian, the knife of a Spaniard, the small sword of the Frenchman, or the pistol of the American or English duelist. Instances of seduction and bastardy did not frequently happen in our early times. I remember one instance of the former, in which the life of the man was put in jeopardy by the resentment of the family to which the girl belonged. Indeed, considering the chivalrous temper of our people, this crime could not then take place without great personal danger from the brothers, or other relations of the victims of seduction, family honor being then estimated at an high rate. 244 Murder of Moravian Indians. 1782'- I do not recollect that profane language, was much more prevalent in our early times than at present. Among the people with whom I was most conversant, there was no other vestige of the Christian religion than a faint observation of Sun^ (lay, and that merely as a day of rest for the aged, and a play day for the young.* 1782. The suflferings of the Moravians did not close with 1781. In^ the following spring, some of them who had been literally starving through the winter, returned to their old places of abode, to gather what they could of the remainder of their property, and busied themselves in collecting the corn which had been left in the fields. About the time they returned for that purpose, parties of Wyandots came down upon the settlements, and slew many. This excited the frontier-men, and believing a connection to exist between the acts of the Wyandots and the late movements of the Moravians, it was determined to attack and extiriainate the latter, or at least to waste their lands and destroy their towuis. Eighty or ninety men met for the purpose of effecting the objects just named, and marched in silence and swiftness upon the devoted villages. They reached them; by threats and lies got hold of the gleaners scattered among them, and bound their prisoners, while they deliberated upon their fate. Williamson, the commander of the party, put the question; Shall these men, women and children be taken to Pitts- burg, or be killed ? Of the eighty or ninety men present, sixteen or eighteen only were for granting their lives; and the prisoners were told to prepare for death. They prepared for death, and soon were dead ; slaughtered,, some say in one way, and some in another; but thus much is certain, that eighty or ninety American men murdered, in cold blood, about forty men, twenty women, and and thirty-four children, — all defenceless and innocent fellow Christians.* * See Doddridge's Notes, Part Second. + Heckewelder's Narrative, 313. 328. Doddridge, 24S. 255. Withers' Border War- fare, 232. 239. American Pioneer, ii. 425. 432. 1782. Crawford Taken. 245 It was in March of 1782, that this great murder was committed. And as the tiger, having once tasted blood, longs for blood, so it was with the frontier-men ; and another expedition was at once organized, to make a dash at the towns of the Moravian Delawares and Wyan- dots upon the Sandusky.* No Indian was to be spared; friend or foe, every red man was to die.f The commander of the expedi- tion was Colonel William Crawford, Washington's old agent in the west. He did not want to go, but found it could not be avoided. The troops, numbering nearly five hundred men, marched in June to the Sandusky uninterrupted. There they found the towns de- serted and the savages on tiie alert. A battle ensued, and the whites were forced to retreat. In their retreat many left the main body, and nearly all who did so perished. Of Crawford's own fate we have the following account by Dr. Knight, his companion.| Monday morning the tenth of June, we were paraded to march to Sandusky, about thirty-three miles distant; they had eleven prisoners of us and four scalps, the Indians being seventeen in number. ColonelCrawford was very desirous to see a certain Simon Girty, who lived with the Indians, and was on this account permitted to go to town the same night, with two warriors to guard him, having orders at the same lime to pass by the place where the Colonel had turned out his horse, that they might, if possible, find him. The rest of us were taken as far as the old town, which was within eight miles of the new. Tuesday morning, the eleventh, Colonel Crawford was brought out to us on purpose to be marched in with the other prisoners. I asked the Colonel if he had seen Mr. Girty ? He told me he had, and that Girty had promised to do every thing in his power for him, but that the Indians were very much enraged against the prisoners ; particularly Captain Pipe, one of the chiefs ; he likewise told me that Girty had in- formed him that his son-in-law, Colonel Harrison, and his nephew, William Crawford, were made prisoners by the Shawanese, but had "been pardoned. This Captain Pipe had come from the town about an hour before Colonel Crawford, and had painted all the prisoners' faces black. As he was painting me he told me I should go to the Shawa- * On the 20th of May of this year, advertisements are said to have been made at Wheeling, of a new state to be founded on the Muskingum : the plan was headed by a certain J. who had been in England. See Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, y.80. t From Heckewelder (Narrative, 342.) we learn that the Indians knew this determina- tion ; their spies, who were constantly abroad — having found it written with coal upon the peeled trees of the camp, near the Ohio. All such writings they copied and took to some one who could read them. I See American Pioneer, ii. 282, a statement derived from the Wyandots, to the effect •hat Girty v/ishcd to save Crawford ; not. from mercy, however, but on speculation. 246 Crawford's Death, 1782.. iiese towns and see my friends, When the Colonel arrived he painted him black also, told him he was glad to see him, and that he would have him shaved when he came lo see his friends at the Wyandot town. When we marched the Colonel and I were kept back between Pipe and Wyngenim, the two Delaware chiefs; the other nine prisoners were sent forward with another party of Indians. As we went along we saw four of the prisoners lying by the path tomahawked and scalped, some of them were at the distance of half a mile from each other. When we arrived within half a mile of the place where the Colonel was executed, we overtook the five prisoners that remained alive; the Indians had caused them to sit down on the ground, as they did also the Colonel and me at some distance from them. I was there given in charge to an Indian fellow to be taken to the Shawanese towns. In the place where we were now made to sit down, there was a num- ber of squaws and boys, who fell on the five prisoners and tomahawked them. There was a certain John McKinly amongst the prisoners, for- merly an ofiicer in the 13lh Virginia regiment, whose head an old squaw cut off, and the Indians kicked it about upon the ground. The young Indian fellows came often where the Colonel and I were, and dashed the scalps in our faces. We v/ere then conducted along toward the place where the Colonel was afterwards executed ; when we came with- in about half a mile of it, Simon Girty met us, with several Indians on horseback ; he spoke to the Colonel, but as I was about one hundred and fifty yards behind, could not hear what passed between them. Almost every Indian we met stinick us either with sticks or their fists- Girty waited till I was brought up and asked, was that the Dootor? I told him yes, and went towards him reaching out my hand, but he bid me begone, and called me a damned rascal, upon which the fellows who had me in charge pulled me along. Girty rode up after me and told me I was to go to the Shawanese towns. When we went to the fire the Colonel was stripped naked, ordered to sit down by the fire, and then they beat him with sticks and their fists. Presently after I was treated in the same manner. They then tied a- rope to the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, bound the Colonel's- hands behind his back and fastened the rope to the ligature between his wrists. The rope was long enough for him to sit down or walk round the post once or twice, and return the same way. The Colonel then called to Girty and asked if they intended to burn him ? Girty an- swered, yes. The Colonel said he would take it all patiently. Upon: this, Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, made a speech to the Indians, viz : about thirty or forty men, sixty or seventy squaws and boys. When the speech was finished they all yelled a hideous and hearty assent to what had been said. The Indian men then took up their guns and shot powder into the Colonel's body, from his fcQt as far up as his. 1782. Crawford?s Death. 247 neck. I think that not less than seventy loads were discharged upon his naked body. They then crowded about him, and to the best of my observation, cut off his ears ; when the throng had dispersed a little, I saw the blood running from both sides of his head in consequence thereof. The fire was about six or seven yards from the post to which the Colonel was tied ; it was made of small hickory poles, burnt quite through in the middle, each end of the poles remaining about six feet in length. Three or four Indians by turns would take up, individually, one of these burning pieces of wood and apply it to his naked body, already burnt black with the powder. These tormenlors presented themselves on every side of him with the burning faggots and poles. Some of the squaws took broad boards, upon which they would carry a quantity of burning coals and hot embers and throw on him, so that in a short time he had nothing but coals of fire and hot ashes to walk upon. In the midsi of these extreme tortures, he called to Simon Girty and begged of him to shoot him ; but Girty making no answer, he called to him again. Girty, then, by way of derision, told the Colonel he had no gun, at the same time turning about to an Indian who was behind him, laughed heartily, and by all his gestures seemed delighted at the horrid scene. Girly then came up to me and bade me prepare for death. He said, however, I was not to die at that place, but to be burnt at the Shawa- nese towns. He swore by G — d I need not expect to escape death, but should suffer it in all its extremities. He then observed that some prisoners had given him to understand, that if our people had him they would not hurt him ; for his part, he said, he did not believe it, but desired to know my opinion of the mat- ter, but being at that time in great anguish and distress for the torments the Colonel was suffering before my eyes, as well as the expectation of undergoing the same fate in two days, I made little or no answer. He expressed a great deal of ill will for Colonel Gibson, and said he was one of his greatest enemies, and more to the same purpose, to all which I paid very little attention. Colonel Crawford at this period of his sufferings besought the Al- mighty to have mercy on his soul, spoke very low, and bore his tor- ments with the most manly fortitude. He continued in all the extrem- ities of pain for an hour and three quarters or two hours longer, as near as I can judge, when at last, being almost exhausted, he lay down on his belly; they then scalped him, and repeatedly threw the scalp in my face, telling me, " that was my great captain." An old squaw (whose ap- pearance every way answered the ideas people entertain of the Devil,) got a board, took a parcel of coals and ashes and laid them on his back and head, after he had been scalped, he then raised himself upon his 248 Treatment of the Moravians by the British. 1782. feet and began to walk round the post; they next put a burning stick to him as usual, but he seemed more insensible of pain than before. The Indian fellow who had me in charge, now took me away to Captain Pipe's house, about three-quarters of a mile from the place of the Colonel's execution. I was bound all night, and thus prevented from seeing the last of the horrid spectacle. Next morning, being June 12th, the Indian untied me, painted me black, and we set off for the Shawanese town, which he told me was somewhat less than forty miles distant from that place. We soon came to the spot where the Colonel had been burnt, as it was partly in our way; I saw his bones lying amongst the remains of the fire, almost burnt to ashes ; I suppose after he was dead they laid his body on the fire. The Indian told me that was my big Captain, and gave the scalp halloo. In strange but pleasant contrast to the treatment of the Chris- tian Indians upon the Muskingum, we have to record next the con- duct of the British toward their religious leaders during this same spring. Girty, who early in the season had led a band of Wyan- dots against the American frontiers, had left orders to have Hecke- welder and his comrades driven like beasts from Sandusky, where they had wintered, to Detroit; specially enjoining brutality toward them. But his agents, or rather those of the English commandant in the west, together with the traders who were called upon to aid in their removal, distinguished themselves by kindness and con- sideration, aiding the missionaries on their march, defending the captives from the outrageous brutality of Girty, who overtook them at Lower Sandusky, and who swore he would have their lives, and at length re-uniting them to their surviving disciples at a set- tlement upon the river Huron.* It was in March that Williamson's campaign took place, and during the same month the Moravians were taken to Michigan. It was in that month also f that an event took place in Kentucky, near the present town of Mt. Sterling, in Montgomery county, which has been dwelt upon with more interest by her historians, than almost any other of equal unimportance ; we refer to Estell's defeat by a party of Wyandots. The interest of this skirmish arose from the equality of numbers on the two sides; the supposed cowardice of Miller, Estill's lieutenant, who was 'sent to outflank * Heckewelder's Narrative, 308. 329-349. t Marshall (i. 126) says May ; wc follow Chief Justice Robertson, quoted by Butler (121 note) who says March 22. See also Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 3. This is a detailed account. 1782. EstilVs Defeat and Mtack on Bryanfs Station. 249 the savages ; and the consequent death of the leader, a brave and popular man. Its effect upon the settlers was merely to excite a deeper hostility toward the Indian races. Nor did the red men on their part show any signs of losing their animosity. Elliot, McKee and Girty urged them on with a fury that it is not easy to account for. Again the woods teemed with savages, and no one was safe from attack beyond the walls of a station. The influence of the British, and the constant pressure of the Long Knives upon the red-men, had produced a union of the various tribes of the north- west, who seemed to be gathering again to strike a fatal blow at the frontier settlements, and had they been led by a Philip, a Pon- tiac, or a Tecumthe, it is impossible to estimate the injury they might have inflicted. June and July passed, however, and August was half gone, and still the anticipated storm had not burst upon the pioneers in its full force, when, upon the night of the 14th of the latter month, the main body of the Indians, five or six hundred in number, gathered, silent as the shadows, round Bryant's station, a post on the bank of the Elkhorn, about five miles from Lexington. The garrison of this post had heard on the evening of the 14th, of the defeat of a party of whites not far distant, and during that night were busy in preparations to march with day-break to the assist- ance of their neighbors. All night long their preparations contin- ued, and what little sound the savages made as they approached, was unheard amid the comparative tumult within. Day stole through the forest; the woodsmen rose from their brief slumbers, took their arms, and were on the point of opening their gates to march, when the crack of rifles, mingled with yells and howls, told them in an instant how narrowly they had escaped captivity or death. Rushing to the loop-holes and crannies, they saw about a hundred red-men firing and gesticulating in full view of the fort. The young bloods, full of rage at Estill's sad defeat, wished in- stantly to rush forth upon the attackers, but there was something in the manner of the Indians so peculiar that the older heads at once suspected a trick, and looked anxiously to the opposite side of the fort, where they judged the main body of the enemy were probably concealed. Nor were they deceived. The savages were led by Simon Girty. This white savage had proposed by an attack upon one side of the station with a small part of his force, to draw out the garrison, and then intended, with the main body 250 Attack on BryanVs Station. 1782. to fall upon the other side and secure the fort ; but his plan was defeated by the over-acting of his red allies, and the sagacity of his opponents. These opponents, however, had still a sad diffi- culty to encounter ; the fort was not supplied with water, and the spring was at some distance, and in the immediate vicinity of the thicket in which it was supposed the main force of the Indians lay concealed. The danger of going or sending for water was plain, the absolute necessity of having it was equally so; and how it could be procured was a question which made many a head shake, many a heart sink. At length a plan equally sagacious and bold was hit upon, and successfully carried into execution by as great an exertion of womanly presence of mind as can, perhaps, be found on record. If the savages were, as was supposed, concealed near the spring, it was believed they would not show themselves until they had reason to believe their trick had succeeded, and the gar- rison had left the fort on the other side. It was therefore proposed to all the females to go with their buckets to the spring, fill them, and return to the fort, before any sally was made against the at- tacking party. The danger to which they must be exposed was not to be concealed, but it was urged upon them that this must be done or all perish ; and that if they were steady, the Indians would not molest them ; and to the honor of their sex be it said, they went forth in a body, and directly under five hundred rifles, filled their buckets, and returned in such a manner as not to suggest to the quick-sighted savages that their presence in the thicket was sus- pected.* This done, a small number of the garrison were sent forth against the attackers, with orders to multiply their numbers to the ear by constant firing, while the main body of the whites took their places to repel the anticipated rush of those in concealment. The plan succeeded perfectly. The whole body of Indians rushed from their ambuscade as they heard the firing upon the opposite side of the fort, and were received by a fair, well-directed dis- charge of all the rifles left within the station. Astonished and hor- ror-stricken, the assailants turned to the forest again as quickly as they had left it, having lost many of their number. In the morning, as soon as the presence of the Indians was ascertained, and before their numbers were suspected, two messen- gers had broken through their line, bearing to Lexington tidings of the seige of Bryant's station, and asking succors. These * Wc have it on the best authority, however, that Simon Kenton said this was all romance, by his account there was a covered way to the spring. 1782. Girtyh talk vnth Reynolds. 251 succors came about two in the afternoon; sixteen men being- mounted, and thirty or more on foot. The savages expected their arrival, and prepared to destroy them, but the horsemen, by rapid riding, and enveloped in dust,* reached the fort unharmed, and of the footmen, after an hour's hard fighting, only two were killed and four wounded. The Indian's courage rarely supports him through long continued exertion ; and Girty found his men so far disheartened by their failures, that of the morning in the attempt to take the fort, and that in the afternoon to destroy the troops from Lexington, that before night they talked of abandoning the siege. This their leader was very unwilling to have done : and thinking he might scare the garrison into surrender, he managed to get within speaking distance, and there from behind a large stump, commenced a parley. He told the white men who he was ; assured them of his great desire that they should not suffer; and informing them that he looked hourly for reinforcements wnth cannon, against which they could not hope to hold out, begged them to surrender at once ; if they did so, no one should be hurt^ but if they waited till the cannon came up, he feared they would all fall victims. The garrison looked at one another with uncer- tainty and fear ; against cannon they could do nothing, and cannon had been used in 1780. Seeing the effect of Girty's speech, and disbelieving every word of it, a young man named Reynolds took it upon himself to answer the renegade. " You need not be so particular," he cried, " to tell us your name; we know your name^ and you too. I've had a villanous, untrustworthy cur-dog, this, long while, named Simon Girty, in compliment to you ; he's so like you — ^just as ugly and just as wicked. As to the cannon, let them come on ; the country's roused, and the scalps of your red cut-throats and your own too, will be drying on our cabins in twenty-four hours. And if by any chance, you or your allies do get into the fort, we've a big store of rods laid in on purpose to scourge you out again." The method taken by Reynolds was much more effectual than any argument with his comrades would have been, and Girt^^ad to return to the Indian council-fire unsuccessful. But he and the chiefs well knew that though their reinforcements and cannon were all imaginary, the expected aid of the whites w^as not. Boone, Todd, and Logan would soon be upon them ; the ablest * Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 238. The account is by E.. E- WOliams, who was a boy in the station at the time of the attack. 252 KentucJcians pursue Girty. 1782. and boldest of the pioneers would cut them off from a retreat to the Ohio, and their destruction would be insured. On the other hand, if they now began to retire and were pursued, as they surely would be, they could choose their own ground, and always fight with their way home clear behind them. All night they lay still, their fires burning, but when day broke, the whole body of savages was gone.* ' By noon of the 18th of August, about one hundred and eighty men had gathered at Bryant's station ; among them were Boone and^his youngest son. They had nominal commanders but no true discipline, and after a disorderly discussion, determined upon immediate pursuit, without waiting for the arrival of General Logan ; accordingly, in the afternoon of the 18th, the whole body set forward. Colonel John Todd acting as leader. The trail of the savages was as plain as could be wished ; indeed, to Boone and the more reflecting, it was clear that the retiring army had taken pains to make it so, and our sagacious woodsmen at once concluded that a surprise at some point was intended, and that point Boone was confident was the Lower Blue Licks, where the nature of the ground eminently favored such a plan. With great caution the little army proceeded until, upon the following day, they reached the Licking river, at the point designated by Boone as the one where an attack might be expected ; and as they came in sight of the opposite bank, they discovered upon its bare ridge a few Indians, who gazed at them a moment and then passed into the ravine beyond. The hills about the Blue Licks are even now almost wholly without wood, and the scattered cedars which at present lend them some green, did not exist in 1782. As you ascend the ridge of the hill above the spring, you at last reach a point where two ravines, thickly w^ooded, run down from the bare ground to the right and left, affording a place of concealment for a very large body of men, who could thence attack on front, flank, * The difficulty of telling any thing about details in our western border stories, is well shown by the uncertainty which exists as to liow long the Indians were before Bryant's stati^ — Butler says they came on the evening of the 14th, and left on the morning of the fourth day, or 18th. — McClung says they came on the night of the 14th, and implies that they left on the morning of the 15th. — Governor Morchead agrees with McClung. — Boone's Sketches says the investment took place on the 15th, and that they retired the third day, or 17th ; though his letter to the Governor of Virginia, dated August 30th, 1782, says the attack was on the 16th, and the retreat about ten o'cZoci the next day ; while the account in Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 236, by one present, makes the attack on the l6th, and the retreat before daylight on the 17th. Boone's letter is in the appendix to Governor Moorehead's address at Boonesboro^ 1782. Battle of Blue Licks. 253 and rear, any who were pursuing the main trace along the higher ground: in these ravines, Boone, who was looked to by the com- manders for counsel, said that the Indians were probably hidden. He proposed, therefore, that they should send a part of their men to cross the Licking farther up, and fall upon the Indians in the rear, while the remaining troops attacked them in front. While Boone's plan was under discussion by the officers of the pursuing party, Major Hugh McGary, according to the common account, "broke from the council," (to use the words of one present,*) " and called upon the troops who were not cowards to follow him, and thus collecting a band, went without order, and against orders, into the action, and in consequence of this act a general pursuit of officers and men took place, more to save the desperate men that followed McGary, than from a hope of a successful fight with the Indians." It is to be noticed, however, that Boone in his letter to the Governor of Virginia, dated August 30th, 1782, not only fails to mention McGary's conduct, but men- tions circumstances which seem wholly at variance with such a sudden and disorderly chargef as that described by Colonel Cooper and the common tradition. His words are these: — on discovering the enemy — " We formed our columns into one single line, and marched up in their front within about forty yards before there was a gun fired. Colonel Trigg commanded on the right, myself on the left, Major McGary in the centre, and Major Harlan the advance party in the front. From the manner in which we had formed, it fell to my lot to bring on the attack. This was done with a very heavy fire on both sides, and extended back of the line to Col. Trigg, where the enemy was so strong that they rushed up and broke the right wing at the first fire. Thus the enemy got in our rear, and we were compelled to retreat with the loss of seventy-seven of our men and twelve wounded." Nor is the impression of this passage altered by the statement of the same keen pioneer, as given in his account of his adventures. There he says: "The savages observing us, gave way, and we, being ignorant of their numbers, | passed the river. When the " Benjamin A. Cooper's certificate in Frankfort Commonwealth, of January 15tli, 1846 :' taken from St. Louis Era, and furnished that paper by Mann Butler. t See Marshall, i. 138. He speaks of the whites advancing without any regular order,. McGary at the head. The same account is given in Stipp. \ Col.Cooper says he was with Boone when by counting the Indian fires, (query, before Bryant's station ?) he concluded there were at least 500 savages. Boone's letter says, " by the signs we thought the Indians had exceeded four hundred" — but this he says as though the calculation had beeo made after the battle. 254 Battle of Blue Licks. 1782. enemy saw our proceedings, having greatly the advantage of us in situation, they formed the line of battle, from one bend of Licking to the other, about a mile from the Blue Licks. An exceeding fierce battle immediately began, for about fifteen minutes, when we, being overpowered by numbers, were obliged to retreat with the loss of sixty-seven men, seven of whom were taken prisoners." Governor Morehead, however, has derived from the accounts of eye-witnesses, received through R. Wickliffe, some particulars, which, if correct, will reconcile most of the common story with Boone's statement, and these we give in the words of his address ; leaving our readers to judge, 1st, as to the probability that Boone would entirely omit all reference to the conduct of McGary ; and 2d, as to the likelihood of McGary and his followers pausing when once under way. It is also to be noticed that Colonel Cooper, Marshal, and Stipp say nothing of the pause alluded to. Scarcely had Boone submitted his opinions, when Major McGary *' raised the war-whoop," and spurring his horse into the river, called vehemently upon all who were not cowards to follow him, and he would show them the enemy. Presently'- the army was in motion. The greater part suffered themselves to be led by McGary — the re- mainder, perhaps a third of the whole number, lingered a while with Todd and Boone in council. All at length passed over, and at Boone's suggestion, the commanding officer ordered another halt. The pioneer then proposed, a second time, that the army should remain where it was, until an opportunity was afforded to reconnoitre the suspected region. So reasonable a proposal was acceded to, and two bold but experienced men were selected, to proceed from the lick along the buffalo trace to a point half a mile beyond the ravines, where the road branched off in different directions. They were instructed to examine the country with the utmost care on each side of the road, especially the spot where it passed between the ravines, and upon the first appearance of the enemy to repair in haste to the army. The spies discharged the dangerous and responsible task. They crossed over the ridge — proceeded to the place designated beyond it, and returned in safety without having made any discovery. No trace of the enemy was to be seen. The little army of one hundred and eighty two men* now marched forward — Colonel Trigg was in command of the right wing, Boone of the left, McGary in the centre, and Major Harlan with the party in front.t After the disastrous defeat of the Blue Licks, the Kentuckians * Butler, 125, on the authority of General Clark, t Morehead's Address, p, 99. 1782 Clark attacks Shawanese. 255 retired until they met Logan who had advanced, Colonel Cooper says, but six miles north-east of Bryant's station ; and from the same source we learn that the common story is wrong, in respect to the expectation of Todd, Boone, and others, before the battle, of a reinforcement. In this short, but severe action, Todd, Trigg, Harland, and Boone's son, all fell. It was a sad day for Ken- tucky. The feelings and fears of the Fayette county settlers may be guessed from the following extract from Boone's letter to Virginia ; when he felt anxiety, what must they have suffered ! By the signs we thought the Indians had exceeded four hundred ; while the whole of this militia of the county does not amount to more than one hundred and thirty. From these facts your Excellency may form an idea of our situation. I know that your own circumstances are critical, but are we to be wholly forgotten ? I hope not. I trust about five hundred men may be sent to our assistance immediately. If these shall be stationed as our county lieutenants shall deem necessary, it may be the means of saving our part of the country ; but if they are placed under the direction of General Clark, they will be of little or no service to our settlement. The Falls lie one hundred miles west of us, and the Indians north-east; while our men are frequently called to protect them. I have encouraged the people in this county all that I could, but I can no longer justify them or myself to risk our lives here under such extraordinary hazards. The inhabitants of this county are very much alarmed at the thoughts of the Indians bringing another campaign into our country this fall. If this should be the case, it will break up these settlements. I hope, therefore, your Excellency will take the matter into your consideration, and send us some relief as quick as possible.* Clark, of course, soon learned how severe a blow had been struck by the northern savages, and determined, as soon as possible, again to lead an expedition into the Miami valleys. It was the last of September, however, before a thousand men could be gathered at the mouth of the Licking, whence they marched northward. But their coming, though expeditious and secret, was discovered by the natives, and the towns on the Miamies and Mad River abandoned to their fate. The crops were again destroyed, the towns burned, the British store, (Loramie's) with its goods, annihilated, and a few prisoners taken, but no engagement of any consequence took place. f Such, however, appears to have been * See Morehead's Address, p. 173. t Clark's letter in Butler, 2d edition, 536; also in Almon's Remembrancer, for 1783, part ii. p. 93. 256 Treaty of Peace. 1783. the impression made by Clark upon the Shawanese, that no large body of Indians thenceforward invaded the territory south of the Ohio. In November, after the return of the Kentucky troops, Messrs. May and Marshall opened their land offices, and the scramble for choice locations began again, and in a way which laid the founda- tion for intinite litigation and heartburning. 1783. Upon the 30th of November, 1782, provisional articles of peace had been arranged at Paris between the Commissioners of Eng- land and her unconquerable colonies. Upon the 20th of the January following hostilities ceased; on the 19th of April, — the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, — peace was proclaimed to the army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next Sep- tember, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle was concluded.' — Of that treaty we give so much as relates to the boundaries of the West. "The line on the north was to pass along the middle of Lake Ontario, to the Niagara river; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake, until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron ; thence through the middle of said lake, to the w^ater communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior, northward to the isles Royal and Philipe- aux, to the Long Lake ; thence through the middle of the said Long Lake, and the w^ater communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake, to the most northwestern point thereof; and, from thence, on a due west course, to the river Mississippi; 1783. Land speculation stronger than Law. 257 tlience, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi, until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the equator, to the middle of the river Appalachicola or Catahouche ; thence along the mid- dle thereof, to its junction wdth the Flint river; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's river ; and, thence down along the middle of St. Mary's river to the Atlantic Ocean." But the cessation of hostilities with England was not, necessa- rily, the cessation of warfare with the native tribes ; and while all hoped that the horrors of the border contests in the West were at an end, none competent to judge, failed to see the probability of a continued and violent struggle. Virginia, at an early period, (in October 1779,) had by law discouraged all settlements on the part of her citizens northwest of the Ohio ; * but the spirit of land speculation was stronger than law, and the prospect of peace gave new energy to that spirit; — and how to throw open the immense region beyond the mountains, without driving the natives to des- peration, was a problem which engaged the ablest minds. Wash- ington, upon the 7th of September 1783, writing to James Duane in Congress, enlarged upon the difficulties which lay before that body in relation to the public lands. He pointed out the neces- sity which existed for making the settlements compact; and proposed that it should be made even felony to settle or survey lands -svest of a line to be designated by Congress ; which line, he added, might extend from the mouth of the Great Miami to Mad river, thence to Fort Miami on the Maumee, and thence northward so as to include Detroit; or, perhaps, from the Fort down the river to Lake Erie. He noticed the propriety of excluding the Indian Agents from all share in the trade with the red men, and showed the wisdom of forbidding all purchases of land from the Indians except by the sovereign power, — Congress or the State Legislature as the case might be. — Unless some such stringent measures were adopted he prophecied renewed border wars, v/hich would end only after great expenditure of money and of life.f But before the Congress of the freed Colonies could take any efficient steps to secure the West, it was necessary that those ifteasures of cession which commenced in 1780-Sl, should be * Revised Statutes of Virginia, by B. Watkins Leigh, ii. 378. t Sparks' Washington, viii. 477. 17 258 Land cession by Virginia. 1183 completed. New York had conditionally given up her claims upon the 1st of March, 1781,* and Congress had accepted her deed, but Virginia, as we have said, had required from the United States a guarantee of the territories retained by her, which they were not willing to give, and no acceptance of her provision to cede had taken place. Under these circumstances. Congress, upon the 18th of April, again pressed the necessity of cessions,! and upon the 13th of September, — six days after Washington's letter above referred to, — stated the terms upon which they would receive the proposals of the Ancient Dominion, j To these terms the Virginians acceded, and upon the 20th of December au- thorized their delegates to make a deed to the United States of all their right in the territory northwest of the river Ohio, — Upon condilion that the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into States, containing a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred, nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit: and that the States so formed shall be distinct republican States, and admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independ- ence, as tlie other States. That the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by this State in subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts and garrisons within, and for the defence, or in acquiring any part of the territory so ceded or relinquished, shall be fully reimbursed by the United States; and that one commissioner sha'l be appointed by Congress, one by this Commonwealth, and another by those two commissioners, who, or a majority of them, shall be authorized and empowered to adjust and liquidate the account of the necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by this State, which they sliall judge to be comprised within the intent and meaning of the act of Congress of the tenth of October, one thous- and seven hundred and eighty, respecting such expenses. That the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other setders of the Kaskaskies, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have professed them- selves citizens of Virginia, shall have their possessions and titles con- firmed to them, and be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties. That a quantity not exceeding one hundred and fifty thou- .sand acres of land, promised by this State, shall be allowed and granted to the then Colonel, now General George Rogers Clark, and to the officers and soldiers of his regiment, who marched with him when the posts of Kaskaikies and St. Vincents were reduced, and to the office» * Land Laws, 95. + Old Journals, iv, 267. \ Old Journals, iv. 189. 1783. Instructions to Indian Commissioners. 259 and soldiers that have been since incorporated into the said regiment, to be laid off in one tract, the length of which not to exceed double the breadth, in such place, on the north-west side of the Ohio,'as a majority of the officers shall choose, and to be afterwards divided among the said officers and soldiers in due proportion, according to the laws of Vir- ginia. That in case the quantity of good land on the south-east side of the Ohio, upon the waters of the Cumberland river, and between the Green river and Tennessee river, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops upon Continental establishment, should, from the North Carolina line, bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the defi- ciency should be made up to the said troops, in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the north-west 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 before mentioned 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 inclusive, according to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever.* And, in agreement with these conditions a deed was made March 1, 1784. But it was not possible to wait the final action of Vir- ginia, before taking some steps to soothe the Indians, and extin- guish their title. On the 22d of September, therefore. Congress forbade all pm-chases of, or settlements on, Indian lands,! and on the 15th of October, the Commissioners to treat with the natives were instructed, 1st. To require the delivery of all prisoners: 2d. To inform the Indians of the boundaries between the British possessions and the United States: 3d. To dwell upon the fact that the red men had not been faithful to their agreements : 4th. To negotiate for all the land east of the line proposed by Washington, namely, from the mouth of the Great Miami to Mad river, thence to Fort Miami on the Mauraee, and thence down the Maumee to the Lake : • See Land Laws, p. 98. + Old Journals, iv. 275. 260 Efforts to obtain Detroit and other Western Ports. 1783. 5th. To hold, if possible, one Convention with all the tribes; 7th. To learn all they could respecting the French of Kaskas- kia, &c. 8th. To confirm no grants by the natives to individuals; and, 9th. To look after American stragglers beyond the Ohio, to signify the displeasure of Congress at the invasion of the Indian lands, and to prevent all further intrusions. Upon the 19th of the following March, the 4th and 5th of these instructions were en- tirely changed at the suggestion of a committee headed by Mr. Jefferson ; the western boundary line being made to run due north from the lowest point of the Falls of the Ohio, to the northern limits of the United States, and the Commissioners being told to treat with the nations at various places and di^erent times.* Meanwhile steps had been taken by the Americans to obtain possession of Detroit and the other w^estern posts, but in vain. Upon the 12th of July Washington had sent Baron Steuben to Canada for that purpose, with orders, if he found it advisable, to embody the French of Michigan into a militia and place the fort at Detroit in their hands. But when the Baron presented himself near Quebec, General Haldimand, while he received him very politely, refused the necessary passports, saying that he had received no orders to deliver up the posts along the Lakes. This measure failing, one Cassaty, a native of Detroit, was sent thither in August to learn the feelings of the people and do what he might to make the American side popular, f About the same time Virginia, having no longer any occasion for a western army, and being sadly pressed for money, withdrew^ her commission from George Rogers Clark, with thanks however, "for his very great and singular services. "| He and his soldiers in the distribution of lands were not forgotten either, and in October a tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land was granted them north of the Ohio, to be located where they pleased ; they chose the region opposite the Falls, and the town of Clarksville w^as then founded. || * Secret Journals, i. 255, 261. April 16th, in order to expedite matters, the times and places of meeting were left to the Commissioners. — Secret Journals, i. 264. t Sparks' Washington, viii. 463, 470. — Marshall, (i. 175,) gives the letters of Steuben and Haldimand. ^ See Governor Harrison's letter. Butler, 490. B Revised Statutes of Virginia; by G. W. Leigh, ii. 405. 1784. Difficulties between Great Britain and United States. 261 While these various steps, bearing upon the interests of the whole west, were taken by Congress, Washington, and the Assem- bly of Virginia, Kentucky was organizing herself upon a new basis, Virginia having united the three counties, with their sepa- rate courts, into one District, having a court of common law and chancery for the whole territory that now forms the State, and to this District restored the for-a-time-discarded name, Kentucky. — The sessions of the court thus organized resulted in the founda- tion of Danville, which in consequence for a season became the centre and capital of the District.* 1784. It might have been reasonably hoped that peace with the mother country would have led to comparative prosperity within the newly formed nation. But such was not the case. Congress had no power to compel the States to fulfil the provisions of the treaty which had been concluded, and Britain was not willing to comply on her side with all its terms, until evidence was given by the other party that no infraction of them was to be feared from the rashness of democratic leaders. Among the provisions of that treaty were the following : Art. 4. It is agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted. Art. 5, It is agreed that the Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the Legislatures of the respective States, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated, be- longing to real British subjects, and also of the estates, rights, and pro- perties of persons resident in districts in the possession of his Majesty's * Marshall, i. 159. 262 Provisions of Treaty of Peace. 1784. arras, and who have not borne arms against the said United Slates. And that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months, unmolested in their endeavors to obtain tlie resti- tution of such of their estates, rights, and properties, as may have been confiscated ; and that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several Slates a reconsideration and revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation which, on the return of the blessings of peace, should universally pre- vail, And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States, that the estates, rights, and properties, of such last mentioned persons, shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession, the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties, since the confiscation. And it is agreed, that all persons who have any interest in confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful im- pediment in the prosecution of their just rights. Art. 6. That there shall be no future confiscations made, nor any prosecutions commenced against any person or persons for, or by reason of, the part which he or they may have taken in the present war; and that no person shall, on that account, suffer any future loss or damage, either in his person, liberty, or property ; and that those who may be in confinement on such charges, at ihe time of the ratificatiou of the treaty in America, shall be immediately set at liberty, and the prosecu- tions so commenced be discontinued. Art. 7. There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Bri- tannic Majesty and the said Slates, and between the subjects of the one and the citizens of the other, wherefore, all hostilities, both by sea and land, shall from henceforth cease: all prisoners, on both sides, shall be set at liberty; and his Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets, from the said United States, and from every post, place, and harbor, within the same ; leaving in all fortifications the American artillery that may be therein ; and shall also order and cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers, belonging to any of the said States, or their citizens, which, in the course of the war, may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper States and persons to whom they belong.* * See Land Laws, p. 11. 1784. Virginia refuses to fulfil Treaty. 263 That these stipulations were wise and just, none, perhaps doubt- ed ; but they opened a door for disputes and troubles, through which troubles enough swarmed in; and we may now, with as much propriety as at any time, say the little that our limits will allow us to say, in reference to those disagreements between Eng- land and America, which for so long a time kept alive the hopes and enmities of the Indians, contending as they were, for their native lands and the burial places of their fathers. The origin of the difficulty was an alleged infraction of the provisional treaty, signed November 30th, 1782, on the part of the British, who showed an intention to take away with them from New York certain negroes claimed as the "property of the American inhab- itants," none of which, by the terms both of that and the definitive treaty, was to be removed. Against this intention Washington had remonstrated, and Congress resolved in vain : in reply to all remonstrances it was said that the slaves were either booty taken in war, and as such, by the laws of war, belonged to the captors, and could not come within the meaning of the treaty; or were freemen and could not be enslaved,* It was undoubtedly true in regard to many of the negroes, that they were taken in war, and as such, (if property at all,) the booty of the captors; but it was equally certain that another portion of them consisted of runa- ways, and by the terms of the treaty, as the Americans all thought, should have been restored or paid for.f It was in April, 1783, that the purposes of England in relation to the negroes became ap- parent; in May the Commander-in-chief and Congress tried, as we have said, ineffectually, to bring about a different course of action. Upon the 3d of September, the definitive treaty was sign- ed at Paris ; on the 25th of November the British left New York carrying the negroes claimed by the Americans with them ; while upon the 4th of the following January, 1784, the treaty was ratifi- ed by the United States, and on the 9th of April by England. Under these circumstances Virginia and several other States saw fit to decline compliance with the article respecting the recovery of debts ; refused to repeal the laws previously existing against British creditors; and upon the 22d of next June, after the ratification of peace by both parties, the Old Dominion expressly declined to ful- • Marshall, i. 173. + See Mr. Jay's excellent statement of facts and principles. Secret Journals, iv. 275. Washington thought the British unfair and dishonest in their retention of the western posts, and considered the non-payment of their debts by the Americans, as used by them for a mere excuse. Sparks' Washington, iv. 163. 179. 264 Posts retained by British. 1784'. fil the treaty In its completeness. This refusal, or neglect, which was equivalent to a refusal, on the part of the States to abide strictly by the treaty, caused England, on the other hand, to retain pos- session of the western posts, and threatened to involve the two countries again in open warfare. The dispute, therefore, originated in a difference of opinion be- tween the parties as to the meaning of thai: part of the seventh article which relates to the " carrying away negroes :" this was fol- lowed by a plain infraction of the fourth article on the part of the States ; and that by an equally plain violation of the provision in regard to evacuating the posts (article 7) on the side of Great Britain. In March, 1785, John Adams was sent to England to " require" the withdrawal of his Majesty's armies from the posts still held by them. This requisition he made on the 8th of the following December ; and was told in reply that when the fourth article was respected by the States, the seventh would be by England. These facts having been laid before Congress, that body, in March, 1787, pressed upon the States the necessity of repealing all laws violating the treaty ; but Virginia, in substance, refused to comply with the requisition respecting British creditors, until the western forts were evacuated, and the slaves that had been taken, returned or paid for.* From what has been said, it will be easily surmised that, to the request of Governor Clinton of New York, relative to the abandon- ment of the western posts within that state, Niagara, Oswego, &c. — as well as to the demand of Congress in the following July, for the possession of all the strongholds along the lakes — General Haldimand replied, as he had done to Baron Steuben, " I have received no orders from his Majesty to deliver them up.^f While the condition of the western frontier remained thus un- certain, settlers were rapidly gathering about the inland forts. In the spring of this year, Pittsburgh, which had been long settled and once before surveyed, was regularly laid out under the direc- tion of Tench Francis, agent for the Messrs. Penn; who, as adherents to England in the revolutionary struggle, had forfeited a large part of their possessions in America. The lots were soon sold, and improvements immediately began ; though, as would appear from the following extract from Arthur Lee's journal, who * Secret Journals, iv. 185 to 287.— Pitkin, ii. 192 to 200.— Marshall, i. 167 to 188. t Marshall, i. 177, &c. 1784. First Convention in Kentucky. 265 passed through Pittsburgh on his way to the Indian council at Fort Mcintosh, it was not, late in its first year, very prepossessing or promising in its appearance : " Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log-houses, and are as dirty as if in the north of Ireland, or even Scotland. There is a great deal of trade carried on ; the goods being brought at the vast expense of forty- five shillings per hundred, from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take, in the shops, money, wheat, flour and skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel. The rivers encroach fast on the town; and to such a degree, that, as a gentleman told me, the Allegheny had within thirty years of his memory, carried away one hundred yards. The place, I believe, will never be very considerable."* The detention of the western fortresses, however, though of little moment to Pennsylvania, was a very serious evil to the more distant settlers of Kentucky. The northern savages again pre- pared their scalping knives, and the traders from Canada, if not the agents of the British government, urged them to harass the frontiers. Although Kentucky, therefore, grew rapidly during 1784, the emigrants numbering twelve, f and the whole population thirty thousand;]: — although a friendly meeting was held by Thomas J. Dalton, with the Piankeshaws, at Vincennes, in April ;|| and though trade was extending itself into the clearings and among the canebrakes — Daniel Brodhead having opened his store at Louisville the previous year, and James Wilkinson having come to Lexington in February as the leader of a large commercial company, formed in Philadelphia ;§ — still the cool and sagacious mind of Logan led him to prepare his fellow citizens for trial and hardship. He called, in the autumn of 1784, a meeting of the people at Danville, to take measures for defending the country, and at this meeting the whole subject of the position and danger of Kentucky was examined and discussed, and it was agreed that a convention should meet in December to adopt some measures * American Pioneer, i. 304. t Inilay, 44. :j: Filson, 22. Filson's work was prepared this year (1784) and the first edition printed at Wilmington, ((^uecy, North Pnirnlinnior Delaware V) II Filson, 49. ' § Marshall i. 161. 165. In 1784 Louisville contained 63 houses finished, 37 partly finished, 22 raised but not covered, and more than 100 cabins. (Letters of an American Planter, fi-om 1770 to 1786. Vol. iii.p. 422.) 266 Virginia military lands surveyed. 1784. for the security of the settlements in the wilderness. Upon the 27th of that month it met, nor was it long before the idea became prominent that Kentucky must ask to be severed from Virginia, and left to her own guidance and control. But as no such con- ception was general, when the delegates to this first conveiition were chosen, they deemed it best to appoint a second, to meet during the next May, at which was specially to be considered the topic most interesting to those who were called on to think and vote — a complete separation from the parent state; — political independence.* It was during 1784, also, that the military claimants of land, under the laws of Virginia, began their locations. All the terri- tory between the Green and Cumberland rivers, excepting that granted to Henderson & Co., was to be appropriated to soldiers of the parent state ; and when that was exhausted, the lands north of the Ohio, between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers. In 1783, the Continental Line had chosen Colonel Richard C. Anderson principal surveyor on their behalf, and on the 17th of December in that year, concluded with him a contract, under which, upon the 20th of the following July, he opened his office near Louis- ville ; and entries at once began. The first entry north of the Ohio, however, was not made until August 1, 1787. f Two subjects which in order of time belong to this year, we defer, the one to 1787, the other to 1785 : the former is the mea- sure adopted by Congress for the government of the new territory ; the latter the first treaty with the Indians relative to the West. * Marshall, i. 190 to 195. t McDonald's Sketches, 22 to 24. He gives the contract. Also letter of W. M. Anderson. (American Pioneer, i. 43S.) The number ofsoldiers in the Virginia Continen- tal Line proved to be 1124. (American State Papers, xviii.535.) 1785. In speaking of Pittsburgh, we referred to the passage of Arthur Lee through that place late in 1784, to attend a council with the Indians at Fort Mcintosh. Upon the 22d of the previous Octo- ber, this gentleman, in connection with Richard Butler and Oliver Wolcott, had met the hostile tribes of the Iroquois,* at Fort Stan- wix, and had there concluded a treaty of peace, among the arti- cles of which was the following : Art. 3. A line shall be drawn, beginning at the raouth of a creek, about four miles east of Niagara, called Oyonwayea, or Johnston's Landing Place, upon the lake, named by the Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario ; from thence southerly, in a direction always four miles east of the carrying path, between Lake Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron, or Buffalo Creek, or Lake Erie ; thence south, to the north boundary of the State of Pennsylvania ; thence west, to the end of tlie said north boundary ; thence south, along the west boundary of the said State, to the river Ohio ; the said line, from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations ; so that the Six Nations shall, and do, yield to the United States, all claims to the country west of the said boundary ; and then they shall be secured in the peaceful possession of the lands they inhabit, east and north of the same, reserving only six miles square, round the fort of Oswego, to the United States, for the support of the same.t The old indefinite claim of the great northern confederacy to the west, being thus extinguished, Mr. Lee, together with Richard Butler and George Rogers Clark, proceeded to treat with the Western Indians themselves at Fort Mcintosh, upon the 21st of January, 1785. The nations represented were the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippeways, and Ottoways ; and among the represen- * Of the Six tribes, the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas, and Cayugas, had joined England ; the Oneidas, and Tuscaroras had not. t See Land Laws, p. 122. 268 Provisions of the Treaty of Fort Mcintosh. 1785. tatives, it is said, was the celebrated war chief of the Delawares, Buckongahelas.* The most important provisions of the treaty agreed up were the seven following, — Art. 3. The boundary line between the United States and the Wy- andot and Delaware nations, shall begin at the mouth of the river Caya- hoga, and run ihence, up the said river, to the porlage between thit and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum ; then, down the said branch, to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence, [Laurens ; j then, westerly, 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 hundred and fifiy-lwo ; then, along the said portage, to the Great Miami or Ome River, and down the south- east side of the same to its month; thence, along the south shore of Lake Erie, to the mouth of Cayahoga, where it began. Art. 4. 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 Ottowa nation as now live thereon ; saving and re- serving, for the establishment of trading posts, six miles square at the mouth of Miami or Ome River, and the same at the portage on that branch of the Big Miami 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. 5. If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being 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 protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him as they please. Art. 6. 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 tribes shall presume to settle upon the same, or any part of it. Art. 7. The post of Detroit with a district beginning at the mouth of the River Rosine, on the west end of Lake Erie, and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said river, thence, northerly, and *So says Dawson, (life of Harrison, 82, note,) and Thatcher and Butler follow liim ; but the name of the Chief does not appear in the proceedings. — He did, however, sign the treaty of the Great Miami, in January 1786, as a witness. — (Dillon, i. 432, 440. Indian Treaties, Washington, lf!37.) Did not he there meet Clark and not at Fort Mcintosh? 1785. Ordinance relative to Western Lands. 269 always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the Lake St. Clair, shall be also reserved to the sole use of the United States. Art. 8. In the same manner, the post at Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the u'se of the United States. Art. 9. If any Indian or Indians shall commit a robbery or murder on any citizen of the United States, the tribe to which such offenders may belong, shall be bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States. Thus were the first steps taken for securing to the United States the Indian titles to the vast realm beyond the Ohio ; and a few months later the legislation was commenced, that was to determine the mode of its disposal, and the plan of its settlements. In April of the previous year Congress had adopted certain resolutions in relation to the number and size of the States to be formed from the Western Territory, and sketched the great fea- tures of an Ordinance for its organization, but as all these things were afterwards modified in 1787, we have deferred the subject of that organization to the last named year. But though the details of the government of the West were not as yet settled, Congress, upon the 20th of May, 1785, f passed an ordinance relative to surveys which determined a plan for the division of the ceded lands, and the main principles of which still remain in force. This was not done, however, until Massachusetts, as well as New York and Virginia, had ceded her claims to the Union ; which she did upon the 19th of April in this year, the Act authori- zing the cession having been passed upon the 13th of the previous November. X By the ordinance above referred to, the territory purchased of the Indians was to be divided into townships, six miles square, || by north and south lines crossed at right angles by others : the first north and south line to begin on the Ohio at a point due north of the western termination of the southern boundary of Pennsyl- vania, and the first east and west line to begin at the same point * See Land Laws, p. 148. t There was an ordinance reported May 28, 1784, (Old Journals, iv. 416;) a second, April 26th, 1785, (Old Journals, iv. 507 :) that of May 20th differed in several respects, \ Old Journals, iv. 500 to 504. Land Laws, 102. U By the first ordinance these were to have been ten miles, and by the second seven miles square. — See Journals. 270 Settlements northwest of the Ohio forbidden. 1785, and extend throughout the territory. The ranges of townships thus formed were to be numbered from the Pennsylvania line westward ; the townships themselves from the Ohio northward. Each township was to be subdivided into thirty-six parts or sec- tions, each, of course, one mile square. When seven ranges of townships had been thus surveyed, the Geographer was to make a return of them to the Board of Treasury, who were to take there- from one-seventh part, by lot, for the use of the late Continental army ; and so of every seven ranges as surveyed and returned : the remaining six-sevenths were to be drawn for by the several States, in the proportion of the last requisition made on them ; and they were to make public sale thereof in the following manner: range 1st, township 1st, was to be sold entire, township 2d in sections, and so on alternately; while in range 2d, township 1st, was to be sold in sections, and township 2d entire, retaining throughout both as to the ranges and townships the principle of alternation. The price was to be at least one dollar per acre in specie, "loan office certificates reduced to specie value," or "cer- tificates of liquidated debts of the United States." Five sections in each township were to be reserved, four for the United States and one for schools. All sales thus made by the States were to be returned to the Board of Treasury. This ordinance also gave the mode for dividing, among the Continental soldiers, the lands set apart to them ; reserved three townships for Canadian refugees ; secured to the Moravian Indians their rights ; and excluded from sale the territory between the Little Miami and Scioto, in accord- ance with the provisions made by Virginia in her deed of cession in favor of her own troops. Many points in this law were after- wards changed, but its great features remained. * It had been anticipated that so soon as the treaty of Fort Mcin- tosh was known, settlers and speculators would cross the Ohio, and to prevent the evil which it was foreseen would follow any general movement of the kind the Indian Commissioners were authorized in June, to issue a Proclamation commanding all per- sons northwest of the river to leave without loss of time, or stay at their peril, and announcing the intention of government as soon as possible to sell the soil as fast as surveyed, f The peril to be • Land Laws, 349 to 354.— Old Journals, iv. 520 to 521. t Land Laws, 354. — Old Journals iv. 53S, 1785. Attempt at settling upon Indian Lands. 271 apprehended from the weak hands of the confederacy might not have deterred fearless men from filling the forbidden land, but there were those near by who executed the laws they made in a manner which was by no means to be disregarded ; and, as we learn from the honorable George Corwin of Portsmouth, when four families from Redstone attempted a settlement at the mouth of the Scioto in April 1785, they received such a notice to quit from the natives in the shape of rifle-balls, that the survivors, (for two of the men were killed,) were glad enough to abandon their enterprize, and take refuge at Limestone or Maysville.f Farther west the experi- ment succeeded better, and some years before the time of which we are writing, in 1781, a settlement was made in the neighbor- hood of the old French forts by emigrants from Western Vir- ginia, who were joined during the present year by several other families from the same region. Upon the American stations thus unlawfully commenced the Kickapoos began to commit hostilities in '86, the Osages joined them in '90, and from that time until after the treaty of Greenville the few inhabitants of Illinois led the same life of danger and excitement, — of hair-breadth escapes and miraculous deliverances, which the frontier men of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky, had led for twenty or thirty years previous: — the details may be found in an article by J. M. Peck, read before the Illinois State Lyceum in 1832, and published in the Western Monthly Magazine, vol. i. p. 73, (February 1833.) In Kentucky during 1785 events were of a different character from any yet witnessed in the West. Hitherto to live and resist the savages had been the problem, but now the more complicated questions of self-rule and political power presented themselves for discussion and answer. The Convention which met late in 1784, finding a strong feeling prevalent in favor of separation from Vir- ginia, and unwilling to assume too much responsibility, had pro- posed, as we have stated, a second Convention to meet in the fol- lowing May. It met upon the 23d of that month, and the same spirit of self dependence being dominant, an address to the Assem- bly of Virginia and one to the people of Kentucky, together with five resolutions, all relative to separation, and in favor of it, were unanimously carried. Two of these resolutions deserve especial hotice ; one of them recognized, what the Constitution of Virginia * American Pioneer, i. 56. 272 Third Convention in Kentucky. 1785. did not, the principle of equal representation, or a representation of the people living in a certain territory, and not the square miles contained in it: the other referred the whole matter again, to a third Convention, which was to meet in August and continue its sessions by adjournment until April 1786. As the members of the body which passed this resolve had been chosen, it is believed, on the basis of equal representation,* and for the very purpose of considering the question of independence, it is by no means clear why this reference to a third assembly was made. It may have been from great precaution, or it may have been through the influ- ence of James Wilkinson, who, though not a member of the second Convention exercised great power in it ; and who being chosen a member of the third became its leader and controller, by the combined influence of his manners, eloquence, intellect, and character. This gentleman, there appears to be reason to think, deemed the tone of the petition to Virginia too humble, and wished another meeting to speak both to the Parent State and the people of the District in more rousing and exciting w^ords. And his wish, if such was his wish, was fulfilled. Upon the 8th of August, a third Convention met, adopted a new form of address to the Old Dominion, and called upon the people of Kentucky to "arm, associate, and embody," "to hold in detestation and abhorrence, and treat as enemies to the community, every person who shall withhold his countenance and support, of such measures as may be recommended for [the] common defence ; " and to pre- pare for offensive movements against the Indians, without waiting to be attacked.! That Wilkinson in this address to the people of Kentucky some- what exaggerated the danger of Indian invasion is probable ; and the propriety of his call upon his countrymen to invade the lands beyond the Ohio, at the time that Congress was treating with the natives owning them, and seeking to put a stop to warfare, is more than questionable: but still his expressions of anxiety lest the whites should be found unprepared, were not wholly without cause. In August an Indian Council was held upon the Wabash clearly hostile in its character : | in October the southern savages were engaged in hostilities; j] and through the whole season small * Marshall, i. 195. t Marshall, i. 196 to 220; where are all the original papers at length, \ Dillon's Indiana, i. 201. I Marshall, i. 2:0. 1786. Virginia offers Kentucky Terms. 273 parties of red men were doing mischief among the settlements.* But the proper source of action in the matter at this time was the confederation, and Wilkinson and his associates in proposing to invade the northwest territory, should have sought to act under its sanction, and not as leaders of a sovereign power. Nor was the confederation at this very time unmindful of the West: in the autumn of '85 Major Doughty descended the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum, and upon the point north of the former, and west of the latter, river, began Fort Harmar.f 1786. The address or petition, though the last name seems scarcely applicable, which the Third Kentucky Convention had sent to the Assembly of the parent State, was by that body duly received and listened to, and the reasons for an early separation appearing co- gent, Virginia, in January, 1786, passed a law by which Kentucky might claim independence, provided she were willing to accept certain conditions, | which conditions were to be submitted to a * Border Warfare, 272. Marshall, i. 195. + American Pioneer, i. 25 to 30, and frontispiece. \ The following extract of a letter, dated December 9th, 1785, from Madison to Wash- ington, will explain these conditions, and the feeling of Kentucky. (Sparks' Washington, ix. 510.) " Kentucky made a formal application for independence. Her memorial has been con- sidered, and the terms of separation fixed by a committee of the wliole. The substance of them is, that all private rights and interests, derived from the laws of Virginia, shall be secured ; that the unlocated lands shall be applied to the objects to which the laws of Vir- ginia have appropriated them ; that the Ohio shall be a common highway for the citizens of the United States, and the jurisdiction of Kentucky and Virginia, as far as the remain- ing territory of the latter will be thereon, be concurrent only with the new States on the opposite shore ; that the proposed State shall take its due sliare of our State debts ; and that the separation shall not take place unless these terms shall be approved by a conven- tion to be held to decide the question, nor until Congress shall assent thereto, and fix the terms of their admission into the Union. The limits of the proposed State are to be the same with the present limits of the district. The apparent coolness of the repre- sentatives of Kentucky, as to a separation, since these terms have been defined, indicates that they had some views, which will not be favored by them. They dislike much to be hung upon the will of Congress." 18 274 Convention with Western Tribes Proposed. 1786. Fourth convention to be held in llie following September. If those were agreed to, the convention was to select a day posterior to September 1st, 1787, after which the laws of Virginia were to cease forever to be of force within the western district ; for which, meanwhile, a constitution and laws were to be prepared by a Fifth convention to be called for that purpose : it being provided that this act was to be effective only when in substance approved by the United States.* This act was not, however, altogether pleasant to the more zealous of the advocates of self-rule, and an attempt was made by Wilkinson and his friends to induce the people of the district to declare themselves independent of Virginia before the comparatively distant period fixed by the law in question. The attempt, however, was opposed and defeated; the election of members from the Fourth convention took place without disturb- ance, and in September it would undoubtedly have met to attend to the business confided to it, had not the Indian incursions led to a movement against the tribes on the Wabash, at the very time appointed for the assembly at Danville. Before we come to this movement beyond the Ohio, however, it is necessary to mention the steps taken by Congress during the early part of this year to secure and perpetuate peace with the north-western tribes. The treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Iro- quois, was upon the 22d of October, 1784 ; that of Fort Mcintosh, with the Delawares, W^yandots, &c., upon the 21st of January, 1785 ; upon the 18th of March following it was resolved that a treaty be held with the Wabash Indians at Post Vincent on the 20th of June, 1785, or at such other time and place as might seem best to the commissioners.! Various circumstances caused the time to be changed to the 31st of January, 1786, and the place to the mouth of the Great Miami, where, upon that day a treaty was made by George R. Clark, Richard Butler, and Samuel H. Par- sons, — not, however, v.'ith the Piankishaws and others named in the original resolution, but with the Delawares, W^yandots and Shawanese.J That treaty, in addition to the usual articles, con- tained the following. II * Marshall, i. 222. + Old Journals, iv. 487. ^ Those first named were the Potawatama, Twightwecs, Piankishaw and other western nations. See Old Journals, iv. 528. 633. 538. 542. The resolution on the page last cited (June 29, 1785) changes the place to the mouth of tlic Great Miami or the Falls. JOld Journals, iv. 6'27. Lard La'.vs, ZOO. 1786. Letter of General Parsons. 275 Art. 2. The Shawanee 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 Januaiy, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- four.* Art. 6. The United States do allot to the Shawanee nation, lands within their territory to live and hunt upon, beginning at the south line of the lands allotted to the Wyandots 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 ; be- yond which lines none of the citizens of the United States shall settle, nor disturb the Shawanees in their settlement and possessions. And the Shawanees do relinquish to the United States, all title, or pretence of title, they ever had to the lands east, west, and south, of the east, west, and south lines before described. t The absence of the Wabash Indians from this council was not the result of any change of plans on the part of the Americans, but solely of a growing spirit of hostility among the savages, fostered, there is too much reason to think, by the sub-agents of England. The temper of the Indians who first met the commissioners, is thus referred to by General Parsons, in a letter to Captain Hart at Forf Harmar, dated "Fort Finney," (mouth of Great Miami, where Major Finney was stationed for the time,|) December 20th, 1785." Since we have been here, every measure has been taken to bring in the Indians. The Wyandots and Delawares are here ; the other nations were coming, and were turned back by the Shawanese. These at last sent two of their tribe to examine our situation and satisfy themselves of our designs. With these men we were very open and explicit. We told them we were fully convinced of their designs in coming; that we were fully satisfied with it; that they were at liberty to take their own way and time to answer the purposes they came for; that we were de- sirous of living in peace with them ; and for that purpose had come with off'ers of peace to them, which they would judge of, and whether peace or war was most for their interest ; that we very well knew the measures the British agents had taken to deceive them. That if they * Alluding to the deSnilive treaty of peace. + See Land Laws, 299. ij; Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, ii. 33. He was v.itness to the treaty. See the treaty in «he Wasliington Concclisn of 1837. 216 Treaty at mouth of Great Miami. 1186. came to tlie treaty, any man who had filled their ears with those stories was at liberty to come with them and return in safety. But if they re- fused to treat with us, we should consider it as a declaration of war on their part, &c. These men stayed about us eight days, and then told us they were fully convinced our designs were good ; that they had been deceived; that they would return home, and use their influence to bring in their nation, and send out to the other nations. Last night we re- ceived a belt of Wampum and a twist of tobacco, with a message that they would be in when we had smoked the tobacco. From our infor- mation we are led to believe these people will very generally come in and heartily concur with us in peace. I think it not probable the treaty will begin sooner than January. The British agents, our own traders, and the inhabitants of Kentucky, I am convinced are all opposed to a treaty, and are using every measure to prevent it. Strange as this may seem, I have very convincing proofs of its reality. The causes I can assign, but they are too many for the compass of a letter. Notwithstaniling all treaties we can make, I am convinced we shall not be in safety until we have posts established in the upper country.* The various tribes of the north-west therefore had been invited to the mouth of the Miami, but owing to counter influence, neither attended nor took any notice of the messages sent them ;t and those who did finally attend, came, if tradition tells truly, in no amicable spirit, and but for the profound knowledge possessed by Clark of the Indian character, and the high rank he -held in the estimation of the natives, the meeting of January 31st might very probably have terminated in the murder of the commissioners.:}: From a late work by Judge Hall we take the following passage, descriptive of the scene which is said to have taken place. The Indians had entered in a disorderly an^ disrespectful manner, "the commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or appearing to have discovered their meditated * See North American Review, October, 1841, p. 330. told Journals, iv. 657. \ The following account of a meeting between Clark and the great Delaware chief, Euckongahelas, took place, wc presume, at this time, and not as commonly said, (Butler, 153. Dawson's Harrison, 82, note. Thatcher's Indians, ii . 180,) at Fort Mcintosh, in 1785. His name does rot appear in the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, but does in that of Fort Finney. (Dillon's Indiana, i. 432. 440. Indian Treaties, Washington, 1837.) "When the peace chiefs had addressed tlie commissioners, Buckongahelas, not deigning to notice the colleagues of Clark, took the latter by the hand, and said, " I thank the Great Spirit for having this day brought together two such great warriors as Buckongahelas and General Clark," 1786. Clarlc's Treatment of the Indians. 277 treachery, opened the council in due form. They lighted the peace-pipe, and after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs who received it. Colonel Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command, and an easy as- surance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the commissioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawanese; that the President had no wish to continue the war; he had no re- sentment to gratify ; and, if the red men desired peace, they could have it on reasonable terms. ' If such be the will of the Shawa- anese,' he concluded, 'let some of their wise men speak.' "A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and as- suming a haughty attitude, threw his eye contemptuously over the commissioners and their small retinue, as if to measure their insig- nificance, in comparison with his own numerous train, and then stalking to the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum, of dif- erent colors — the war and the peace belt. "We come here,' he exclaimed, 'to offer you two pieces of wampum; they are of different colors; you know what they mean : you can take which you like!' and turning upon his heel, he re- sumed his seat. " The chiefs drew themselves up, in the consciousness of having hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men. They offered an insult to the renowned leader of the Long Knives, to which they knew it would be hard for him to submit, while they did not sup- pose he dare resent it. The council-pipe was laid aside. Those fierce wild men gazed intently at Clark. The Americans saw that the crisis had arrived; they could no longer doubt that the Indians understood the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it ; and a common sense of danger caused each eye to be turn- ed on the leading commissioner. He sat undisturbed and appar- ently careless until the chief who had thrown the belts upon the table had taken his seat ; then with a small cane which he held in his hand, he reached as if playfully, towards the war belt, entan- gled the end of the stick in it, drew it towards him, and then with a switch of the cane threw the belt into the midst of the chiefs. The effect was electric. Every man in the council, of each party sprang to his feet, the savage with a loud exclamation of astonish- ment ' Hugh !' The Americans in expectation of a hopeless con- flict, against overwhelming numbers. Every hand grasped a weapon. 278 Clarices Treatment of the Indians. 1786". " Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance changed to a ferocious sternness and his eye flashed, but otherwise he was unmoved. A hitter smile was perceptible upon his com- pressed lips, as he gazed upon that savage band,, whose hundred eyes were bent fiercely and in horrid exultation upon him as they stood like a pack of wolves at bay thirsting for blood, and ready to rush upon him whenever one bolder than the rest should com- mence the attack. It was one of those moments of indecision when the slightest weight thrown into either scale will make it preponderate ; a moment in which a bold man, conversant vnih. the secret springs of human action, may seize upon the minds of all around him and sway them at his will. Such a man was the intrepid Virginian. He spoke and there was no man bold enough to gainsay him — none that could return the fierce glance of his eye. Raising his arm and waving his hand toward the door, he exclaimed : ' Dogs ! you may go V The Indi- ans hesitated for a moment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council room."* * Hall in Wiley and Putnam's Library. — The original of the above is we presume, the following from the Encyclopaedia Americana : " The Indians came in to the treaty at Fort Washington in the most friendly manner, except the Shawanees, the most conceited and warlike of the aborigines, the first in at a battle, and the last at a treaty. Three hundred of their finest warriors set off in all their paint and feathers, and filed into the council-house. Their number and demeanor, so unusual at an occasion of this sort, was altogether unexpected and suspicious. The United States' stockade mustered seventy men. In the centre of the hall, at a little table, sat the commissary-general Clark, the indefatigable scourge of these very marauders. General Richard Butler and Mr. Parsons. There was also present a Captain Denny, who,. I believe, is still alive, and can attest this story. On the part of the Indians, an old coun- cil-sachem and a war chief took the lead. The latter, a tall, raw-boned fellow, with an impudent and villainous look, made a boisterous and threatening speech, which operated effectually on the passions of the Indians, who set up a prodigious whoop at every pause. He concluded by presenting a black and white wampum, to signify they were prepared for either event, peace or war. Clark exhibited the same unaltered and careless coun- tenance he had shown during the whole scene, his head leaning on his left hand, and his elbow resting upon the table. He raised his little cane, and pushed the sacred wampum oiTthe table, with very little ceremony. Every Indian at the same time started from his seat with one of those sudden, simultaneous, and peculiarly savage sounds, which startle and disconcert the stoutest heart, and can neither be described nor forgotten. At this juncture Clark rose. The scrutinizing eye cowered at his glance. He stamped his foot on the prostrate and insulted sjinbol, and ordered them to leave the hall. They did so, ap- parently involuntarily. They were heard all that night, debating in the bushes near the fort. The raw-boned chief was for war, the old sachem for peace. The latter prevailed, and the next morning they came back and sued for peace." (Notes of an old officer. See Encyclopaidia Americana, iii. 232.) Judge Hall says General Harrison confirmed the tale, but it is a strange matter that neither Marshall nor any of the otlier early historiaas know any thing about it. Is it also, a" mytlit" 1786. Clark^s ahortive Expedition up the Wabash. 279 But the tribes more distant than the Shawanese were in no way- disposed to cease their incursions, and upon the 16th of May the Governor of Virginia was forced to write upon the subject to Con- gress, which at once sent two companies down the Ohio to the Falls, and upon the 30th of June authorized the raising of militia in Kentucky, and the invasion of the country of the mischief- makers under the command of the leading United States officer.* We do not learn that it was nominally under this resolution that General Clark's expedition of the ensuing fall was undertaken; but at any rate this act on the part of Congress justified offensive measures on the part of the Kentuckians when they became neces- sary; and it being thought necessary to act upon the Wabash be- fore winter, a body of a thousand men or more gathered at the Falls, and marched thence toward Vincennes, which place they reached some time in September,! 1786. Here the army remained inactive during nine days, waiting the arrival of their provisions and ammunition, which had been sent down to the mouth of the Wabash in boats, and were delayed by the low water. This stay, so different from Clark's old mode of proceeding, was in opposition to his advice, f and proved fatal to the expedition. The soldiers became restive, and their confidence in the [^General being destroyed, by discovering the fact that his clear mind was too commonly confused and darkened by the influence of ardent spirits, they at last refused obedience ; a body of three hundred turned their faces homeward, and the rest soon followed in their track. Another expedition conducted by Colonel Logan against the Shawanese, who in spite of their treaty had resumed hostilities, terminated very differently from that under the conqueror of Illi- nois, their towns were burned and their crops wasted. It was the gathering of the men of Kentucky for these expedi- tions, which prevented the meeting of the convention that was to have come together in September. So many were absent on military duty that a quorum could not be had, and those who came to the point of assembly, were forced, as a committee merely, to prepare a memorial for the Virginia legislature, setting * Old Journals, iv. 657 to 660. t Butler (p. 151) says in October, but they remained at Vincennes nine days, and yet the meeting after the expedition was abandoned, was on October 8th. (Secret Journals, iv. 311.) I Marshall, i. 250.— Butler, 153. 280 JVegotiaiions with Spain. 1786. forth the causes which made a convention at that time impossible, and asking certain changes in the Act of Separation.* This done, they continued their meetings by adjournment during the remain- der of the year, hoping a quorum might still be gathered ; which was not done, however, until the ensuing January. f Meanwhile, beyond the Alleghanies, events were taking place which produced more excitement in Kentucky than Indian wars, or Acts of Separation even : we refer to the Spanish negotiations, involving the navigation of the Mississippi. In 1780, as we have stated, Spain expressed her determination to claim the control of the great western river: in January, 1781, she attacked the fort of St. Joseph's, and took possession of the north-west in the name of his Catholic Majesty: on the 15th of the next month. Congress, at the instance of the Virginia Delegates, instructed Mr. Jay, then at Madrid, not to insist on the use of the Mississippi by the Ameri- cans, if a treaty could not be effected without giving it up. Through 1782, the court of Madrid labored, not only to induce the United States to give up the stream of the West, but a great part of the West itself, and France backed her pretensions ;:}: and thus matters rested. In July, 1785, Don Diego Gardoqui, ap- peared before Congress as the representative of Spain ;1| on the 20th of the same month, Mr. Jay, the Secretary of foreign affairs, was authorised to negotiate with him ; and in IMay of the year of which we are writing, negotiations begun between them, were brought to the notice of Congress. This was done in consequence of the fact that in these transactions Mr. Jay asked the special guidance of that body, and explained his reasons for doing so at length. § He pointed out the importance of a commercial treaty with Spain, and dwelt upon the two difficulties of making such a treaty ; one of which was the unwillingness of Spain to permit the navigation of the Mississippi, the other, the question of boun- daries. Upon the first point Mr. Jay was, and always had been, opposed to yielding to the Spanish claim ; but that claim was still as strenuously urged as In 1780 ; and the court of Madrid, their ambassador said, would never abandon it. Under these circum- stances, the interests of the whole Union demanding the conclu- sion of the Spanish commercial treaty, while that treaty could apparently be secured only by giving up the right to navigate the * Marshall, i. 251. t Ibid, 253. ^ Secret Journals, iv. 63 to 80. Diplomatic Correspondence. g Old Journals, iv. 544. § Secret Journals, iv. 43. 45. 1786. Dissatisfaction in the West. 281 Mississippi, which was in a manner sacrificing the West, Mr. Jay proposed, as a sort of compromise, to form a treaty with Spain for twenty-five or thirty years, and during that time to yield the right of using the Mississippi below the boundaries of the United States. To this proposition, the sqjLithern members in Congress were vehemently opposed, and an attempt was made by them to take the whole matter out of Mr. Jay's hands, the delegates from Virginia offering a long and able argument in opposition to his scheme ; but the members of the eastern and middle states out- voted the south, and the Secretary was authorised to continue his negotiations, without being bound to insist at all hazards upon the immediate use of the river.* The discussions in Congress relative to the Spanish claims, took place during August, and the rumor of them and of the Secretary's proposal in due time reached the West ; but, as is common, the tale spread by report, differed from the truth, by representing the proposition as much more positive than it really was, and as being made by John Jay, without any sanction of Congress. This story, which circulated during the winter of 1786-7, produced among those who dwelt upon the western waters great indignation ; and prepared the people to antici- pate a contest with Spain, or a union with her, and in either case, action independent of the old Atlantic colonies. And the conduct of Clark, after the failure of the Wabash expedition, was well calculated to cause many to think that the leading minds were already prepared for action. On the 8th of October, a board of field oflficers at Vincennes, determined to garrison that point, to raise supplies by impressment, and to enlist new troops. Under this determination, Spanish property was seized, soldiers were embodied, and steps were taken to hold a peace council with the natives ; all under the direction of General Clark. Soon after this, in December, Thomas Green wrote from Louisville to the Gover- ernor. Council and Legislature of Georgia — which State was involved in the boundary quarrel with Spain — that Spanish pro- perty had been seized in the north-west as a hostile measure, and not merely to procure necessaries for the troops, which Clark afterward declared was the case ; and added that the General was ready to go down the river with " troops suflScient" to take pos- session of the lands in dispute, if Georgia would countenance him. This letter Clark said he never saw, but as he paid equally with * Secret Journals, iv. 81 to 132. 282 Expedition against Spain proposed. 1786. Green to^vards the expenses of the messenger who was to take it to the south, it was natural enough to think him privy to all the plans relative to the disputed territory, whatever they may "have been. And what they were, in some minds at least, may per- haps, be judged by the following extract from a letter, also written from Louisville, professedly to some one in New England, and very probably by Green ; and which was circulated widely in Frankland, Tennessee. It is dated December 4, '86. Our situation is as bad as it possibly can be, therefore every exertion to retrieve our circumstances must be manly, eligible and just. We can raise twenty thousand troops this side the Alleghany and Apalachian Mountains; and the annual increase of them by emigration, from other parts, is from two to four thousand. We have taken all tlie goods belonging to the Spanish merchants of post Vincennes and the Illinois, and are determined they shall not trade up the river, provided they will not let us trade down it. Preparations are now making here (if necessary) to drive the Spaniards from their settlements, at the mouth of the Mississippi. In case we are not countenanced and succored by the United States (if we need it) our allegiance will be thrown off, and some other power applied to. Great Britain stands ready with open arms to receive and support us. They have already offered to open their resources for our supplies. When once re-united to them, " farewell, a long farewell to all your boasted greatness." The province of Canada and the inhabitants of these waters, of themselves, in time, will be able to conquer you. You are as ignorant of this country as Great Britain was of Arnerica. These are hints, if rightly improved, may be of some service; if not, blame yourselves for the neglect.* Wells, Green's messenger, on his way to Georgia, showed his papers to various persons at Danville ; copies were at once taken of them, and inclosed in a letter written on the 22d of December to the executive of Virginia, by fifteen of the leading citizens of Kentucky, among whom was James Wilkinson. In February, 1787, the Council of Virginia acted upon the subject; condemned General Clark's conduct, disavowed the powers assumed by him, ordered the prosecution of the persons concerned in the seizure of property, and laid the matter before Congress. It was presented in detail to that body upon the 13th of April,! and upon the 24th * Secret Journals, iv. 323. + Secret Journals, iv. 30! to 323. 1786. Putnam and Tupper inopose to move west. 283 of that month, it was resolved that the troops of the United States be employed to dispossess the unauthorised intruders who had taken possession of St. Vincents.* All these things naturally tended to excite speculation, inquiry and fear throughout the West ; and though no action was had in reference to the Mississippi question beyond the mountains, until the next spring, we may be sure there was talking and feeling enough in the interval. But in giving the history of 1786, we must not omit those steps which resulted in the formation of the New England Ohio Company, and the founding of the first colony, authorised by gov- ernment, north-west of the Belle Riviere. Congress, by the Resolutions of September 16, 1776, and August 12, 1780, had promised land bounties to the officers and soldiers']of the Revolutionary army, who should continue in the serYice till the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress ; and to the representatives of those who should be slain by the enemy.f In June, 1783, peace having been proclaimed. General Rufus Putnam forwarded to Washington a memorial from certain of those liavins: claims under these Resolutions ; which Washington transmitted to Congress, together with General Putnam's letter. | But as the States claiming the western territory had not then made their final cessions. Congress was forced, on the 29th of October, 1783, to announce their inability to make any appropriation of land.|| From that time, nothing further was done until, upon the 18th of July, 1785, Benjamin Tupper, a Revolutionary officer belonging to Massachusetts, was appointed a surveyor of western lands, in the place of General Putnam, who had been before chosen, but was otherwise engaged. He, in the course of that year, visited the West, going, however, no farther than Pittsburgh, as the Indian troubles prevented surveys. § On his return home, he conferred with his friend, Putnam, as to a renewal of their memorial of 1783, and a removal westward ; which conference resulted in a publication, dated January 10, 1786, in which was proposed the formation of a company to settle the Ohio lands ; and those taking an interest in the plan, were invited to meet in Feb- * Old Journals, iv. 740. t Land Laws, 337. % The letters relating to this petition were sent by Mr. Sparks to the Committee for the Celebration of the Settlement of Ohio, 1S35; and were published by them. I Land Laws, 339. § Nye's Address, Transactions Ohio Historical Society, p. 317. 284 Oldo Company formed. — Cession by Connecticut. 1786. ruary and choose, for each county of Massachusetts, one or more delegates; these delegates were to assemble, on the 1st of March, at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in Boston, there to agree upon a system of association. On the day named, eleven persons appeared at the place agreed upon; and by the 3d of March, the outline of the company was drawn up, and subscriptions under it at once commenced. The leading features of that outline were these : a fund of a million dollars, mainly in continental certificates, was to be raised for the purpose of purchasing lands in the west- ern territory ; there were to be a thousand shares of one thousand dollars each, and upon each share ten dollars in specie were to be paid, for contingent expenses. One year's interest was to be appropriated to the charges of making a settlement and assisting those unable to remove without aid. The owners of every twenty shares were to choose an agent to represent them, and attend to their interests ; and these agents were to choose the Directors.* The plan was approved, and in a year from that time the company was organized ; and, before its organization, the last obstacle to the purposed grant from the United States, was done away by the cession of most of her territorial claims on the part of Connecticut. In October, 1780, soon after the first action of Congress relative to the western lands, that State had passed an Act respecting the cession of her claims to the United States. This, on the 31st of January, 1781, was referred, together with the Resolutions of New York and Virginia, to a Committee. f Various reports were made, and discussions had, relative to the matter, but it was not till May 26, 1786, that the views of the State and the Union could be brought to a coincidence. This being done by a Resolution of Congress, dated upon that day, the delegates of Connecticut, upon the 14th of September, made the deed of cession by which all her claims to the country west of a line, [one hundred and twenty miles beyond the Western boundary of Pennsylvania and parallel thereto, | were given up to the confederation. || * See Nye's Address in Transactions of Ohio Historical Society, Part 2d. Also, an article on Ohio, in North American Review, for October, 1S41 ; vol. liii. 320 to 359 : this article is full of original matter. + Old Journals, iii. 571. 4: Old Journals, iv. 645 to 648. 697. — Land Laws. 103. — Connecticut claimed nothing south of parallel 41 deg., or north of parallel 42 deg. 2m. ]| By this transfer, Connecticut retained both the soil and jurisdiction of what is now known as the Connecticut or Western Reserve. The compromise with her was disap- proved by Washington and others. See Sparks' Washington, ix. 178 and noie. Vir- ginia, in her cession, (see p. 258) had resigned her jurisdiction, and her "reserve" was EQerely of the lands necessary to recompense her soldiers. 1787. We mentioned some pages back, that a minority of the Con- vention called in Kentucky, to meet in September, 1786, was adjourned from time to time until January of this year ; when, at length, a quorum attended. Upon a vote being then taken rela- tive to separation, the feeling was still as before, strongly in favor of it. But scarce had this been ascertained when a second Act upon the subject, passed by Virginia in October, IT 86,* reached the West, and the whole question was again postponed, to be laid before ^ fifth convention, which was to meet in September ; while the time when the laws of Virginia should cease to be of force, was changed to the close of the year 1788. There were many, beyond no doubt, to whom this delay was a source of vexation and anger, but the people of the district generally evinced no such feelings ; the elections took place in August, and the Convention assembled upon the 17th of September, all in perfect harmony and quietness. The vote was again unanimous in favor of separation, and the Act of Virginia was agreed to ; to form a constitution, a sixth convention was to be chosen in the ensuing April, and to complete the work of independence. Congress was to assent to the formation of Kentucky into a state before July 4, 1788. f Nor was the spirit of moderation shown this year by the Ken- tuckians in relation to self-government, confined to that subject; in regard to the vexatious affair of the Spanish claims, there was a like temper manifested. Mr. Jay, as already related, had been authorised by Congress to abandon the right of using the Missis- sippi for a term of years, but not to yield the pretensions of the United States to its navigation, after that period closed. In Octo- ber, 1786, under these instructions, he resumed his negotiations with Don Gardoqui, but without success, as Spain required an • Morehead, 124. t Marshall, i. 253 to 256. 274 to 278. The date « July 4, 1788" is misprinted ««1787" in Marshall, 256. 286 Growing Dissatisfaction in the West. 1787. entire relinquishment of the American claim.* In November of that year, also, Virginia had passed several Resolutions against giving up the use of the river, even for a day, and had instructed her delegates to oppose every attempt of the kind.f When, therefore, the people of Kentucky met at Danville, early in May, 1787, to act in relation to the subject, — having been called together by Messrs. Muter, Innis, Brown and Sebastian, for that purpose,! — they found tliat little or nothing was to be done ; the plan of the Secretary was not likely to succeed, and had been most fully protested against: — the assembly at Danville, having been informed of these things, quietly adjourned. || What connection, if any, existed between this calmer spirit in Kentucky and General Wilkinson's absence, during a part of the year, it is impossible to say ; but it is probable that had not his attention at that time been drawn to the advantages of a trade with New Orleans, he would have exerted during 1787, a much greater influence upon his fellow citizens than he seems to have done. In June, we find him on his way to the south ; nor did he appear in Kentucky again until the following February; and then it was that he commenced those connections with the Spanish govern- ment of Louisiana, which were afterwards brought in question, and by means of which his character became involved in doubts that have never entirely been done away.§ At that period, the feeling expressed in the extract from a letter which we have already quoted on p. .282, that the West would separate from the East, seems to have been growing even among those who, in December, 1786, denounced Green and Clark to the Governor of Virginia. Harry Innis, Attorney-General of the district, and one of those who gave information of the Vincennes proceedings, in July, 1787, writes to the executive of the State, (Virginia,) that he cannot prosecute those guilty of aggressions on the Indians, and adds : " I am decidedly of opinion that this western country will in a few years act for itself, and erect an independent government. "H This opinion w^as based partially upon the failure, on the part of Virginia and the confederation, to protect the frontiers, which, during this whole year, suffered both from the northern and southern Indians; and partly in the uncer- tain state of the navigation question, in respect to which the western men had reason, perhaps, to think that some of the • PccTct Jorirnnls iv. ?97 to 301. + Marshall, i. 261. :f Ibid 259. H Ibid, 267. § Sec post, 17SS and index. % Marshall, i. 270. 1787. First Papers in West. 287 leaders in the Old Dominion were leagued against them. We find, for example, Washington expressing his willingness that the Mississippi should be closed for a time, because, as he thought, its closure would knit the new colonies of the West more closely to the Atlantic States, and lead to the realization of one of his his favorite projects, the opening of lines of internal navigation connecting the Ohio with the Potomac and James River.* In these sentiments both Henry Lee and Richard Henry Lee agreed. f How far these views of the great Virginians were known, we can- not discover; but more or less distinct rumors respecting them, we may presume were prevalent, so that it was by no means strange that the very foremost men of the West wavered in their attach- ment to the powerless, almost worthless confederation. Nor did the prospect of a new government at first help the matter. The view which Patrick Henry and others took of the proposed federal constitution, was the favorite view of the western Virginians ; so that of fourteen representatives from the District of Kentucky, in the convention called in 1788, to deliberate upon that constitution, but three voted in favor of it: one of these three was Humphrey Marshall, the historian. | And this rejection of the instrument under which our Union has since so greatly prospered, was not the result of hasty action, or strong party influence. The first point is proved by the fact that it was made known through the press, to the people of the West, upon the 27th of October, 1789, having been on that day printed in the Kentucky Gazette ;|| That mere party influence did not govern the opponents of the constitution of the United States, is proved, both by the character of the men, and the debates in the convention. We have men- tioned the Kentucky Gazette ; the publication of this paper was commenced in Lexington, in August of this year, by Mr. John Bradford; his press being the second established beyond the mountains, the first having been the Pittsburgh Gazette, which appeared in July, 1786. § While, south of the Ohio, more or less of dissatisfaction with the Federal Union was spreading, — not secretly and in a spirit of * Sparks' Wa'hington ix. 119, 172, 261. For Washington's views on internal'im- provements, see 30. 291, 471, 301. 326. 80, &c. t For Henry Lee's views, see Sparks, ix. 173, note, 205, note , Richard Henry Lee's, Washington's letter to him. Sparks, ix. 261. I Marshall i. 2S7. fl Butler, 166, note. § Marshall, i. 274 — Butler, 163.— Butler's Chronology, 30— The Pittsburgh Gazette vag established by John Scull and Joseph Hal', fvo poor yo'jr.r- moa ; tlic r.-st number appeared July 29. — American Pioneer, i. 305. 288 Dr. Cutler negotiates with Congress for Land. 1787. treason, but openly and as the necessary consequence of free tliouglit and unfettered choice, — the New England associates for settling the northwest, were by degrees reducing their theories to practice. In March 1786, it will be remembered, they began their subscription, on the 8th of that month 1787, a meeting of Agents chose General Parsons, General Putnam, and the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Directors for the Company ; and these Directors appointed Dr. Cutler to go to New York and negotiate with Con- gress for the desired tract of country. On the 5th of July that gentleman reached the temporary Capital of the Union, and then began a scene of management worthy of more degenerate days. Full extracts from Dr. Cutler's Journal showing how things went may be found in the North American Review for October, 1841.* Of these we can give but a few paragraphs. The first relates to the choice of the Muskingum valley as the spot for settlement. July 7. Paid my respects to Dr. Helton and several other gentle- men. Was introduced, by Dr. Ewings and Mr. Rittenhouse, to Mr. Hutchins, Geographer of the United States. Consulted with him where to make our location. Monday, July 9. Waited this morning, very early, on Mr. Hutch- ins. He gave me the fullest information of the western country, from Pennsylvania to the Illinois, and advised me by all means to make our location on the Muskingum, which was decidedly, in his opinion, the best part of the whole western country. Attended the committee before Congress opened, and then spent the remainder of the forenoon wiih Mr. Hutchins. Attended the committee at Congress chamber ; debated on terms, but were so wide apart, there appears little prospect of closing a contract. Called again on Mr. Hutchins. Consulted him further about the place of location. The opinion thus given by Hutchins, who had been long and familiarly acquainted with the West, agreed with that formed by General Parsons who had visited the Ohio valley once at least, if not twice ; the result of his observations will be found in the letter referred to on page 275 and given at length in the article of the North American Review, just quoted. f The other extracts which we take from the Doctor's Journal, refer to the "manoeuvres," as • Vol. liii. 334 to 343. t In 1782 a plan for a eettlement on the Muskingum had been formetl. — See Ante, p. 245,— Note. 1787. -Dr. Cutler negotiates with Congress for Lands, 289 he terms them, by which was effected a contract at least as favor- able to the Union as it was to the Company. Colonel Duer came to me with proposals from a number of the prin- cipal characters in the city, to extend our contract, and take in ano- ther company; but that it should be kept a profound secret. He ex- plained the plan they had concerted and offered me generous conditions if I would accomplish the business for them. The plan struck me agreeably ; Sargent insisted on my undertaking ; and both urged me not to think of giving the matter up so soon. I was convinced it was best for me to hold up the idea of giving up a contract with Congress, and making a contract with some of the States, which I did in the strongest terms, and represented to the committee and to Duer and Sargent the difficulties I saw in the way, and the im- probability of closing a bargain when we were so far separated ; and told them I conceived it not worth while to say any thing further to Congress on the subject. This appeared to have the effect I wished. The committee were mortified and did not seem to know what to say ; but still urged another attempt. I left them in this state, but afterwards explained ray views to Duer and Sargent, who fully approved my plan. Promised Duer to consider his proposals. I spent the evening (closeted) with Colonel Duer, and agreed to pur- chase more land, i^ terms could be obtained, for another company, which will probably forward the negotiation. Saturday, July 21. Several members of Congress called on me early this morning. They discovered much anxiety about a contract, and assured me that Congress, on finding I was determined not to accept their terms, and had proposed leaving the city, had discovered a much more favorable disposition ; and believed, if I renewed my request I might obtain conditions as reasonable as I desired. I was very indifferent and talked much of the advantages of a contract with one of the States. This I found had the desired effect. At length I told them that if Congress would accede to the terms 1 proposed, I would extend the purchase to the tenth township from the Ohio to the Scioto inclusively ; by which Congress would pay more than four millions of the public debt; that our intention was, an actual, large, and immediate settlement, of the most robust and industrious people in America, and that it would be made systematically, which would instantly advance the price of the Federal lands, and prove an important acquisition to Congress. On these terms, I would renew the negotia- tion, if Congress was disposed to take the matter up again. I spent the evening with Mr. Dane and Mr. Miliiken. They in- formed me that Congress had taken up my business again. July 23. My friends had made every exertion, in private conversa- 19 290 Dr. Cutler's JVesotiations. 1787. to" tion to bring over my opponents in Congress. In order to get at some of them so as to work more powerfully on their minds, were obliged to engage three or four persons before we could get at them. In some instances we engaged one person who engaged a second, and he a third, before we could effect our purpose. In these manoeuvres I am much beholden to Colonel Duer and Major Sargent. Having found it impossible to support General Parsons, as a candi- date for Governor, after the interest that General Arthur St. Clair had secured, I embraced this opportunity to declare, that if General Parsons could have the appointment of first judge and Sargent secretary, we should be satisfied ; and that I heartily wished his Excellency General St. Clair might be the Governor; and that I would solicit the Eastern members in his favor. This I found rather pleasing to southern members. I am fully convinced that it was good policy to give up Parsons and openly appear solicitous that St. Clair might be appointed governor. — Several gentlemen have told me that our matters went on much better since St. Clair and his friends had been informed that we had given up Parsons, and that I had solicited the eastern members in favor of his appointment. I immediately went to Sargent and Duer, and we now entered into the true spirit of negotiation with gitjat bodies. Every machine in the city that it was possible to work we now put in motion. Few, Bingham, and Kearney are our principal opposers. Of Few and Bingham there is hope ; but to bring over that stubborn mule of a Kearney, I think is beyond our power. Friday, July 27. I rose very early this morning, and, afier adjusting my baggage for my retnrn, for I was determined to leave New York this day, I set out on a general morning visit, and paid my respects to all the members of Congress in the city, and informed them of my intention to leave the city that day. My expectations of obtaining a contract, I told them, were nearly at an end. I should, however, wait the decision of Congress ; and if the terms I had stated, — and which I conceived to be very advantageous to Congress, considering the circum- stances of that country, — were not acceded to, we must turn our attention to some other part of the country. New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts would sell us lands at half a dollar, and give U3 exclusive privileges beyond what we have asked of Congress. The speculating plan, concerted between the British of Canada, was now well known. The uneasiness of tlie Kentucky people, with respect io the Mississippi, was notorious. A revolt of that country from the Union if a war with Spain took place, was universally acknowledged to be highly probable ; and most certainly a systematic settlement in that 1787. Purchase by Ohio Company. 291 country, conducted by men thoroughly attached to tho federal govern- ment, and composed of young, robust and hardy laborers, who had no idea of any other than the Federal Government, I conceived to be an object worthy of some attention. The perseverance of Dr. Cutler and his friends was rewarded with success, and an Order, dated July 27th,* was obtained, of which he says: By this ordinance we obtained the grant of near five million of acres of land, amounting to three million and a half of dollars; one million and a half of acres for the Ohio Company, and the remainder for a private speculation, in which many of the principal characters of America are concerned. Without connecting this speculation, similar terms and advantages could not have been obtained for the Ohio Company.t Messrs. Cutler and Sargent, the latter of whom the Doctor had associated with himself some days before, at once closed a verbal contract with the Board of Treasury, which was executed in form on the 27th of the following October.^ By this contract, the vast region bounded south by the Ohio, west by the Scioto, east by the seventh range of townships then surveying, and north by a due west line drawn from the north boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio direct to the Scioto, was sold to the Ohio associates and their secret co-partners, for one dollar per acre, subject to a deduction of one third for bad lands and other contingencies. The whole tract, however, was not paid for, or taken by the Com- pany — even their own portion of a million and a half of acres, and extending west to the eighteenth range of townships, |I was not taken ; and in 1792 the boundaries of the purchase proper were fixed as follows: the Ohio on the south, the seventh range of townships on the east, the sixteenth range on the west, and a line on the north so drawn as to make the gi-ant seven hundred and fifty thousand (750,000) acres, besides reservations ; this grant being the portion which it was originally agTeed the Company might enter into possession of at once. In addition to this, two * On the 23d the Board of Treasury were authorized to contract; on the 26th, Messrs. Cutter and Sargent stated in writing their conditions ; on the 27th Congress referred their letter to the Board to talve order upon. — See Land Laws 262 to 264. — Old Journals, iv. Appendix, 17, 18. t North American Review, voL liii. 343. ^ North American Review, liii. 343. Land Laws, 364. I North American Review, liii, 344, 292 Ordinance of 1784. 1787. hundred and fourteen thousand, two hundred and eighty-five (214,285) acres of land were granted as army bounties, under the the Resolutions of 1779 and 1780; and one hundred thousand (100,000) as bounties to actual settlers; both of the latter tracts being within the original grant of 1787, and adjoining the pur- chase as above defined.* While Dr. Cutler was preparing to press his suit with Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance for the political and social organization of the lands beyond the Ohio. Virginia made her cession March 1, 1784, and during the month following, a plan for the temporary government of the newly acquired territory came under discussion. f On the 19th of April Mr. Spaight, of North Carolina, moved to strike from that plan, which had been reported by Mr. Jefferson, a provision for prohibiting slavery north-west of the Ohio, after the year 1800, — and this motion prevailed. | From that day until the 23d the plan was debated and altered, and then passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina. || By this proposition the territory was to have been divided into States by parallels of latitude and meridian lines ;§ this, it was thought, would have made ten States, which were to have been named as follows, beginning at the north-west corner and going southwardly; — Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illenoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia, and Pelisipia.H Surely the hero of Mount Vernon must have shudder- ed to find himself in such company. But a more serious difficulty existed to this plan than its cata- logue of names — namely, the number of states which it was pro- posed to form, and their boundaries. The root of this evil was in the resolution passed by Congress, October 10th 1780, which fixed the size of the States to be formed from the ceded lands, at one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles square ; and the terms of that resolution had been referred to both by Virginia and Massa- chusetts in their grants, so as to make a further legislation at least by the former, needful to change them . Upon the 7th of July, 1786, this subject was taken up in Congress, and a resolution • Land Laws, 3G4 to 3S8. — North American Review, liii. 344. t Sep in Old Journals, iv. 293, a proposition to organize a western District, made Octo- ber 14.1783. \ Old Journals, iv. 373. llOld Journals, iv. 380. § Old Journals, iv. 379. Land Laws, 347. 5 Sparks' Washington, ix. 48. 1787. Ordinance of 1787. 293 passed in favor of a division of not less than three nor more than five States, which resolution, Virginia, at the close of 1788 assent- ed to.* On the 29th of September, 1786, Congress, having thus changed the plan for dividing the north-western territory into ten States, proceeded again to consider the terms of an ordinance for the government of that region ; and this was taken up from time to time, until July 13th of the year of which we are writing, when it was finally passed, having been somewhat changed just before its passage, at the suggestion of Dr. Cutler. f We give it entire as it is the corner-stone of the constitutions of our north-western states. No. 32. An ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States north- west of the River Ohio. Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one dis- trict, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circum- stances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates, both of resident and non-resident proprietors in the said territory, dying intes- tate, shall descend to, and be distributed among, their children, and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts ; the descendants of a deceased child or grand child, to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them : And where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree ; and, among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the in- testate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parents' share ; and there shall, in no case, be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half-blood ; saving, in all cases, to the widow of the in- testate her third part of the real estate for life, and one-third part of the personal estate ; and this law, relative to descents and dower, shall re- main in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And, until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her, in whom the estate may be, (being of full age,) and attested by three witnesses : and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed, seal- ed, and delivered, by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution there- of duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper magis- trates, courts, and registers, shall be appointed for that purpose ; and *Land Laws, 338. 100. 101. + OJd Journals, iv. 701, &c., 716, &c-, 751, &c. North American Review, liii. 336. 294 . Ordinance of 1787. 1787. personal property may be transferred by delivery ; saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabilanls, and other settlers of the Kaskas- kias, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, tlieir laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid. That there shall be ap- pointed, from time to time, by Congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revo- ked by Congress ; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in 1000 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. There shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years unless sooner revoked ; he shall reside in tbe district, and have a freehold estate therein in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office; it shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the legis- lature, and the public records of the district, and the proceedings of the governor in his Executive department ; and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings, every six months, to the Secretary of Con- gress : There shall also be appointed a court to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law juris- tion, and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate in 500 acres of land while in the exercise of their offices ; and their com- missions shall continue in force during good behavior. The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and pub- lish in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to time ; which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the General Assembly there- in, unless disapproved of by Congress; but, afterwards, the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit. The governor, for the time being, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and commission all officers in the same below the rank of general officers ; all general officers shall be appointed and commis- uiissioned by Congress. Previous to the organization of the General Assembly, the governor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers, in each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same : After the General Assembly shall be or- ganized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers, shall be regulated and defined by the said assembly ; but all magistrates and other civil officers, not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the go- vernor. For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or 1787. Ordinance of 1787. 295 made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal, and civil, the governor shall make proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed, from time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and tovi^nships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the legislature. So soon as there shall be 5000 free male inhabitants of full age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they shall re- ceive authority, with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships to represent them in the General Assembly : Provided, That, for every 500 free male inhabitants, there shall be one representative, and so on progressively with the number of free male inhabitants, shall the right of representation increase, until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five ; after which, the number and proportion of representatives shall be regulated by the legislature : Provided, That no person be eligible or qualified to act as a represen- tative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years ; and, in either case, shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee simple, 200 acres of land within the same: Provided, also, That a freehold in 50 acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative. The representatives thus elected, shall serve for the term of two years ; and, in case of the death of a representative, or removal from office, the governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for the residue of the term. The General Assembly, or Legislature, shall consist of the governor, legislative council, and a house of representatives. The legislative coun- cil shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress ; any three of whom to be a quorum : and the members of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the fol- lowing manner, to wit : As soon as representatives shall be elected, the governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together; and when met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in the district, and each possessed of a freehold in 500 acres of land, and return their names to Congress ; five of whom Congress shall appoint and commis- sion to serve as aforesaid : and, whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council, by death or removal from office, the house of representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress ; one of whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five years, four 296 Ordinance of 1787. 1787. months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the mem- bers of the council, the said house shall nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress; five of whom Con- gress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the council five years, unless sooner removed. And the governor, legislative coun- cil, and house of representatives, shall have authority to make laws in all cases, for the good government of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this ordinance established and declared. And all bills, having passed by a majority in the house, and by a majority in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent; but no bill, or legislative ,act whatever, shall be of any force without his assent. The governor shall have power to convene, prorogue, and dissolve the General Assembly, when, in his opinion, it shall be expedient. The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, and such other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity and of office; the governor before the President of Congress, and all other officers before the governor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house as- sembled in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating but not of voting during this temporary government. And, for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected ; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever hereaf- ter shall be formed in the said territory : to provide also for the estab- lishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest: It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid. That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit : Art. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory. Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature ; and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate; and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall 1787. Ordinance of 1787. 297 be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land ; and, should the public exigencies make it neces- sary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is under- stood and declared, that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona Jide, and without fraud, previously formed. Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians ; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress ; but laws founded in jus- tice and humanity, shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them. Art. 4. The said territory, and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the Articles of Confederation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made : and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be sub- ject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be apportioned on them by Congress according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States ; and the taxes, for paying their proportion, shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those dis- tricts or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any re- gulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona Jide purchasers.* No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States ; and, in no case, shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters lead- ing into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places be- tween the same, shall be common high-ways, and forever free, as well * Act of 25th February, 1811, provides the same in Louisiana; and, also, that lands sold by Congress shall not be taxed for five years after sale — Post, No. 160 — in Mississip- pi, by act of 1st March, 1817, Post, 396, and so of all others. 298 Ordinance of 1787. 1787. to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other Slates thiit may be admitted into the Confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty, therefor. Art, 5. There shall be formed in the said territory, not less than three nor more than five States ; and llie boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in the said territory, shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash rivers ; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vin- cent's due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada ; and, by the said territorial line, to the lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vincent's, to the Ohio ; by the Ohio, by a di- rect line, drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, to the said territorial line. Tlie eastern State shall be bounded by the last men- tioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line : Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And, whenever any of the said States shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government: Provided, the constitution and government so to be formed, shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in these arti- cles ; and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty-thousand. Art. 6. There shall be neitlier slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid. That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and declared null and void. Done, &c.* • Land Laws, p. 356. 1787. Symme.s applies for Land. 299 The passage of this ordinance and the grant to the New Eng- land associates was soon followed by an application to government by John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, for the country between the Miamis.* This gentleman had been led to visit that region by the representations of Benjamin Stites, of Red Stone, (Browns- ville,) who had examined the valleys of the Shawanese soon after the treaty of January 1786. f Symes found them all and more than all they had been represented to be, and upon the 29th of August, 1787, wrote to the President of Congress, asking that the Treasury Board might be empowered to contract with him for the district above named. This petition, on the 2d of October was referred to the board, with power to act, and a contract was concluded the next year. Upon the 18th of the month last named, another ap- plication w^as made by Royal Flint and Joseph Parker, for lands upon the Wabash and Mississippi ; % this was also referred to the Board of Treasury. During this autumn the directors of the company organized in New England were preparing for an actual settlement in the ensu- ing spring, and upon the 23d of November made arangements for a party of forty-seven men, under the superintendance of General Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six boat-builders were to leave the next week; on the 1st of January, 1788, the surveyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hartfort and go westward ; and the remainder to follow as soon as possible. Congress, meantime, upon the 3d of October, had ordered seven hundred troops for the defence of the western settlers, and to pre- vent unauthorized intrusions; and two days later appointed St. Clair governor of the north-western territory. || * Land Laws, 372. See also Burnet's Letters in the Ohio Historical Transactions, p. 335 to 147. + Cincinnati Directory, 1SI9, p. 16. The Historical sketch in this volume was compiled from the statements of the earliest settlers. The Miami country had been entered in. 1785, and some " improvements " made. Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, ii. 33. \ Old Journals, iv. Appendix 19. 1 North American Review, liii. 344. Old Journals, iv. 785. 786. 1788. The two leading causes of disquiet to the western people through 1787, the Indian incursions, and the Spanish possession of the Mississippi did not cease to irritate them during the next year also. ' When Clark took his unauthorized possession of Vincennes, in October, 1786, he had asked the savages of the north-west to meet him in council in November ; they replied that it was to late in the year, and the proposed meeting was postponed till April. Of this meeting Messrs. Marshall, Muter and others, when writing to Vir- ginia, gave information, and suggested that the government should take Clark's place in it. The council of Virginia coincided with the suggestion, and recommended to Congress James Wilkinson, Richard C. Anderson and Isaac Shelby,* as commissioners on be- half of the United States. Congress, however, received notice of Clark's movements too late f for the proposed treaty, and nothing seems to have been done until July 21st, when the superintendant of Indian affairs in the north, or if he could not go, Colonel Har- mar was instructed to proceed to Vincennes, or some other con- venient place, and there hold a council with the Wabash Indians and Shawanese, for the purpose of putting an end to warfare. f Favorable notice was also taken of a council which had been held at the mouth of Detroit river, in December, 1786, by the Iroquois, Wyandots and others, the purpose of which was pacific, and from which an address relative to the Indian troubles had been sent to Congress. This was considered, and upon the 5th of October it was resolved that a treaty should be held early in the year 1788, with these tribes, by the governor of the new territory, who was instructed on the subject on the 26th of the month last mentioned. || At the same time, however, that measures were thus taken to pre- * Secret Journals, iv. 313. 314. 309. 306. t April 12th. Secret Journals, iv. 301. I Old Journals, iv. 761. BLanman's History of Michigan, 149. Old Journals, iv. 762. 763. 786. Secret Journals, i- 276. 1788. Emigrants land at MusJdngwm. 301 serve peace, troops were placed at Venango, Fort Pitt, Fort Mcin- tosh, the Muskingum, the Miami, Vincennes, and Louisville, and the governor of Virginia was requested to have the militia of Ken- tucky in readiness for any emergency.* All these measures, how- ever, produced no results during 1788 ; the Indians were neither over-awed, conquered nor satisfied ; from May until the middle of July they were expected to meet the whites upon the Muskingum,! but the point which had been selected, and where goods had been placed, being at last attacked by the Chippeways,| it was thought best to adjourn the meeting and hold it at fort Harmar, where it was at length held, but not until January, 1789. These Indian uncertainties, however, did not prevent the New England associates from going forward with their operations. During the winter of 1787-8, their men were pressing on over the Alleghanies by the old Indian path which had been opened into Braddock's road, and which has since been followed by the na- tional turnpike from Cumberland westward. Through the dreary winterdays they trudged on, and by April were all gathered on the Yohiogany,|| where boats had been built, and started for the Mus- kingum. On the 7th of April they landed at the spot chosen, and became the founders of Ohio, unless we regard as such the Mora- vian missionaries. As St. Clair, who had been appointed governor the preceding October, had not yet arrived, it became necessary to erect a tem- porary government for their internal security ; for which purpose a set of laws was passed, and published by being nailed to a tree in the village, and Return Jonathan Meigs was appointed to ad- minister them. It is a strong evidence of the good habits of the people of the colony, that during three months, but one difference occurred, and that was compromised. § Indeed a better set of men altogether, could scarce have been selected for the purpose, than Putnam's little band. Washington might well say, "no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has first commenced at the Muskingum. Information, pro- perty, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the • Old Journals, iv. 762. t Until this meeting was held, it was understood that no settlement, strictly speaking, should take place. See the letter of a settler in Imlay, p. 598. (Ed. 1797.) rf Carey's Museum, iv. 203. 1 A list of the forty-eight is given, North American Review, liii. 346. § Western Monthly Magazine, 1833. vol. i. p. 395. 302 Marietta Founded. 1788. settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community."* On the 2d of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, for the purpose of naming the new Ijorn city and its public squares. f As yet the settlement had been merely "The Muskingum, "| but the name Marietta was now formally given it, in honor of Marie Antoniette ; the square upon which the block-houses stood was christened " Campus Martins; the square No. 19, Capitolium ; the square No. 61, Cecilia; and the great road through the covert way. Sacra F*«.|| On the 4th of July an oration was delivered by James M. Var- num,§ who, with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong,11 had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory, on the 16th of October, 1787. Five days later the governor arrived, and the colony began to assume form. The ordinance of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the north-west territory, un- der the first of which the whole power was in the hands of the governor and the three judges, and this form was at once organized upon the governor's arrival. The first law, which was "for regu- lating and establishing the militia," was published upon the 25th of July ; and, the next day, appeared the governor's proclamation, erecting all the country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto river into the county of Washington.** From that time forward, notwithstandinf the doubt yet existing as to the Indians, all at Marietta went on prosperously and pleas- antly. On the 2d of September the first court was held, with be- coming ceremonies. The procession was formed at the Point, (where most of the settlers resided,) in the following order : — 1st, The high Sheriff, with his drawn sword ; 2d, the citizens ; 3d, the officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar ; 4th, the members of the bar; 5lh, the Supreme judges; 6th, the Gov- * Sparks' Washington, ix. 384. t American Pioneer, i. S3. \ Some of the settlers called it the city of Adelplii : Sec a letter dated May 16th, 1788, to the Massachusetts Spy in Imlay (Ed. 1797) p. 595. H Carey's Museum, vol. iv. p. 390, In the fifth volume (March, 17S9) of that periodical, page 284, is an account of the city of Athens, which the Spaniards at this time proposed to build at the mouth of the Missouri. " On the very point" where the rivers joined, was to be Fort Solon ; not for defence, however, " but for the retirement of the governor from the busy scenes of public employment!" § See this oration in Carey's Museum for May, 1789, 453 to 455. " 1! Mr. Armstrong declined serving. John Clevcs Symmes was chosen in his fitead, February 19th, 1788. *• Cliase, vol, i. p. 92. Carey's Musennij ivi 433. 1788. Great Emigration Westward. 303 ernor and clergyman ; 7th, the newly appointed judges of the court of common pleas, generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper. " Thej/^ marched up a path that had been cut and cleared through the forest to Campus Martius Hall, (stockade,) where the whole counter- marched, and the judges, (Putnam and Tupper) took their seats. The clergyman, Rev. Dr. Cutler, then invoked the divine blessmg. The sheriff, colonel Ebenezer Sproat, (one of nature's nobles) proclaimed with his solemn ' O yes,' that a court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice, to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the inno- cent, without respect of persons ; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case.' Although this scene was exhibited thus early in the settlement of the state, few ever equalled it in the dignity and exalted character of its principal participators. Many of them belong to the history of our country, in the darkest as well as the most splendid periods of the rev- olutionary war. To witness this spectacle, a large body of Indians was collected, from the most powerful tribes then occupying the almost en- tire West. They had assembled for the purpose of making a treaty. Whether any of them entered the hall of justice, or what were their impressions we are not told." (American Pioneer, vol. i, p. 165. ) " The progress of the settlement, says a letter from the Muskingum, *' is sufficiently rapid for the first year. We are continually erect- ing houses, but arrivals are faster than we can possibly provide convenient covering. Our first ball was opened about the middle of December, at which were fifteen ladies, as well accomplished in the manners of polite circles as any I have ever seen in the old States. I mention this to show the progi-ess of society in this new world ; where I believe we shall vie with, if not excel, the old States, in every accomplishment necessary to render life agreeable and happy." The emigration westward, even at this time, was very great; the commandant at Fort Harmar reporting four thousand five hun- dred persons as having passed that post between February and June, 1788 ; many of whom would have stopped on the purchase of the Associates, had they been ready to receive them. During the following year, and indeed until the Indians, who, in spite of treaties, had been committing small depredations all the time, stealing horses and sinking boats, went fairly and openly to war, the settlement on the Muskingum gi-ew slowly, but steadily, and to good purpose.* * Th? first Indinn attack on the Mai5!;;ngum settlements v.-.ie on January ?; 1 791 . Sceposd 304 Symmes^ Purchase. 1788. Neither were Symmes and his New Jersey friends idle during this year, though his purchase was far more open to Indian depra- dation than that of the Massachusetts men. His first proposition had been referred, as we have said, to the Board of Treasury, with power to contract, upon the 2nd of October, 1787. Upon the 26th of the next month Symmes issued a pamphlet, addressed "to the respectable public," stating the terms of his contract, and the scheme of sale which he proposed to adopt.* This was, to issue his warrants for not less than a quarter section (a hundred and sixty acres,) which might be located any where, except, of course, upon reservations, and spots previously chosen. No section was to be divided, if the warrant held by the locator would cover the whole. The price was to be sixty cents and two- thirds till May, 1788; then' one dollar till November; and, after that time, was to be regulated by the demand for land. Every locator was bound to begin improvements within two years, or for- feit one-sixth of his purchase to whomsoever would settle thereon and remain seven years. Military bounties might be taken in this as in the purchase of the Associates. For himself Symmes retain- ed one township at the mouth of the Great Miami, at the junction of which stream with the Ohio he proposed to build his great city ; to help the growth of which he offered each alternate lot to any one that would build a house and live therein three years. As Continental certificates were rising, in consequence of the great land purchases then making with them, and as difficulty was apprehended in procuring enough to make his first payment, Symmes was anxious to send forward settlers early, that the true value of his purchase might become known at the east. He had, however, some difficulty in arranging with the Board of Treasury the boundaries of the first portion he was to occupy. f In January, 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an in- terest in Symmes' purchase, and located, among other tracts, the section and fractional section upon which Cincinnati has been built.:}: Retaining one-third of this particular locality, he sold an- other third to Robert Patterson, and the remainder to John Filson; and the three, about August, 1788, agreed to lay out a town on the * Sec Land Laws and post for the terms, and final settlement of Symmes contract. f Manuscript Letters of Symmes. See Burnet's Letters, 136. ^ Many facts relative to the settlement of Cincinnati, we take from the depositions of Denman, Patterson, Ludlow, and others, contained in the report of the chancery trial of City of Cincinnati vs, Joel Williams, in 1807. 1788. Cincinnati laid out. 305 spot, which was designated as being opposite Licking river, to the mouth of which they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington, Kentucky, to be connected with the northern shore by a ferry. Mr. Filson, who had been a schoolmaster, was appointed to name the town; and, in respect to its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed race that were in after days to inhabit there, he named it Losantiville, which, being interpreted, means ville, the town anti, opposite to, os, the mouth, i, of Licking.* This may well put to the blush the Campus Martins of the Marietta scholars, and the Fort Solon of the Spaniards. Meanwhile, in July, Symmes got thirty people and eight four-horse wagons under way for the West. These reached Limestone (now Maysville) in September, where they find Mr. Stites with several persons from Red Stone. But the mind of the chief purchaser was full of trouble. He had not only been obliged to relinquish his first contract, which was expected to embrace two millions of acres, but had failed to conclude one for the single million which he now proposed taking. This arose from a difference between him and the government, he wishing to have the whole Ohio front between the Miamies, w^hile the Board of Treasury wished to con- fine him to twenty miles upon the Ohio. This proposition, how- ever, he would not for a long time agree to, as he had made sales along nearly the whole Ohio shore. f Leaving the bargain in this * Cincinnati Directory, for 1819, p. 18. t It may be as well to give here a sketch of the changes made in Symmes' contract. His first application was for all the country between the Miamies, running up to the north line of the Ohio Company's purchase, extending due west. On the 23d of October, 1787, Congress resolved, that the Board of Treasury be authorized to contract with any one for tracts of not less than a million acres of western lands, the front of which, on the Ohio, Wabash and other rivers, should not exceed one third the depth. On the 15th of May, 17SS, Dayton and Marsh, as Symmes' agents, concluded a contract with the Commissioners of the Treasury for two millions of acres in two equal tracts. In July, Symmes concluded to take only one tract, but differed with the Commissioners on the grounds stated in the text. After much negotiation, upon the 15th of October, 1788, Dayton and Marsh con- cluded a contract with government bearing date May loth, for one million of acres, be- ginning twenty miles up the Ohio from the mouth of the Great Miami, and to run back for quantity between the Miami and a line drawn from the Ohio parallel to the general course of that river. In 1791, Symmes found this would throw his purchase too far back from the Ohio, and applied to Congress to let him have all between the Miamies, running back so as to include a million acres, which that body,' on the 12th of April, 1792, agreed to do. When the lands between the Miamies were surveyed, however, it was found that the tract south of a line drawn from the head of the Little, due west to the Great Miami, would include less than six hundred thousand acres ; but even this Symmes could not pay for, and, when his patent issued upon the 30th of September, 1794, it gave him and hie associates but two hundred and forty-eight thousand five hundred and forty acres, ex- clusive of reservations, which amounted to sixty-three thousand one hundred and forty- 20 306 Troubles of Symmes. 1788. unsettled state, Congress considered itself released from its obliga- tion to sell ; and, but for tbe representations of some of his friends, our adventurer would have lost his bargain, his labor, and his money. Nor was this all. In February, 1788, he had been ap- pointed one of the judges of the North-west Territory, in the place of Mr. Armstrong, who declined serving. This appointment gave offence to some; and others were envious of the great fortune which it was thought he would make. Some of his associates complained of him, also, probably because of his endangering the contract to which they had become parties. With these murmurs and reproaches behind him, he saw before him danger, delay, suf- fering, and, perhaps, ultimate failure and ruin and, although hope- ful by nature, apparently he felt discouraged and sad. However, a visit to his purchase, where he landed upon the 22d of Septem- ber, revived his spirits, and upon his return to Maysville, he wrote to Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, who had become interested with him, that he thought some of the land near the Great Miami "positively worth a silver dollar the acre in its present state." But though this view of the riches now almost within his grasp, somewhat re-assured Symmes' mind, he had still enough to trouble him. The Indians were threatening; in Kentucky, he says, "they are perpetually doing mischief; a man a week, I believe, falls by their hands; but still government gave him little help toward de- fending himself; for, while three hundred men were stationed at Muskingum, he had "but one ensign and seventeen men for the protection and defence of 'the slaughter-house.'" as the Miami valley was called by the dwellers upon the " dark and bloody ground" of "Kentucke." And when Captain Kearny and forty- live soldiers came to Maysville in December, they came without provisions, and but made bad worse. Nor did their coming an- swer any purpose ; for when a little band of settlers were ready to go, under their protection, to the mouth of the Miami, the grand city of Symmes that was to be, the ice stove their boats, their cat- tle were drowned, and their provisions lost, and so the settlement was prevented. But the fertile mind of a man like our adventurer could, even under these circumstances, find comfort in the antici- two acres. This tract was bounded by the Ohio, the two Miamies, and a due east and west line, run so as to comprehend the desired quantity. As Symmes made no farther payments after this time, the rest of his purchase reverted to the United States, who gave those that had bought under Symmes ample pre-emption rights. See Land Laws, pp. 37i-382, et seq and post. 1788. Columbia Settled. 307 pation of what was to come. In the words of Return Jonathan Meigs, the first Ohio poet ^xit\\ whom we have any acquaintance, " To him glad Fancy brightest prospects shows. Rejoicing Nature all around him glows ; Where late the savage, hid in ambush, lay, Or roamed the uncultured valleys for his prey, Her hardy gifts rough Industry extends. The groves bow down, the lofty forest bends ; And see the spires of towns and cities rise, And domes and temples swell unto the skies."* But alas! so far as his pet city was concerned, "glad Fancy" proved but a gay deceiver; for there came "an amazing high freshet," and " the Point," as it was, and still is called, was fif- teen feet under water. But, before Symmes left Maysville, which was upon the 29th of January, 1789, two settlements had been made within his pur- chase. The first was by Mr. Stites, the original projector, of the whole plan ; who, with other Redstone people, had located them- selves at the mouth of the Little Miami, where the Indians had been led by the great fertility of the soil to make a partial clearing. To this point, on the 18th of November, 1788, came twenty-six persons, who built a block-house, named their town Columbia, and prepared for a winter of want and hard fighting, f But they were agreeably disappointed ; the Indians came to them, and though the whites answered, as Symmes says, " in a blackguarding manner," the savages sued for peace. One, at whom a rifle wyks presented, took off his cap, trailed his gun, and held out his right hand, by- which pacific gestures he induced the Americans to consent to their entrance into the block-houses. In a few days this good understanding ripened into intimacy, the "hunters frequently taking shelter for the night in the Indian camps ; " and the red men and squaws "spending whole days and nights" at Columbia, "regaling themselves with whiskey." This friendly demeanor on the part of the Indians was owing to the kind and just conduct of Symmes himself; who, during the preceding September, when ex- amining the country about the Great Miami, had prevented some Kentuckians, who were in his company, from injuring a band of * A poem delivered at Marietta, July 4th, 1789, slightly altered. t Cincinnati Directory for 1819, and Symmes' Letters. The land at this point was so fertile that from nine acres were raised nine hundred and sixty-three bushels of Indian •com. 308 CindnnaH Settled. 1788. the savages that came within their power; which proceeding, he says, "the Kentuckians thought unpardonable." The Columbia setdement was, however, like that proposed at the Point, upon land that was under water during the high rise in January, 1789. "But one house escaped the deluge." The soldiers were driven from the ground-floor of the block-house mto the loft, and from the loft into the solitary boat which the ice had spared them. This flood deserves to be commemorated in an epic ; for, while it demonstrated the dangers to which the three chosen spots of all Ohio, Marietta Columbia, and the Point, must be ever exposed, it also proved the safety, and led to the rapid settlement of Losantiville. The great recommendation of the spot upon which Denman and his comrades proposed to build their "Mosaic" town, as it has been called, appears to have been the fact that it lay opposite the Licking ; the terms of Denman's purchase having been, that his warrants were to be located, as nearly as possible, over against the mouth of that river ; though the advantage of the noble and high plain at that point could not have escaped any eye. But the freshet of 1789 placed its superiority over other points more strongly in view than any thing else could have done. We have said that Filson was killed in September, or early in October, 1788. As nothing had been paid upon his third of the plat of Losantiville, his heirs made no claim upon it, and it was transferred to Israel Ludlow, who had been Symmes' surveyor. This gentleman, with Colonel Patterson, one of the other proprie- tors, and well known in the Indian wars, with about fourteen others, left Maysville upon the 24th of December, 1788, " to form a station and lay off a town opposite Licking." The river was filled with ice "from shore to shore ; " but, says Symmes, in May, 1789, "perseverance triumphing over difficulty, they landed safe on a most delightful high bank of the Ohio, where they founded the town of Losantiville, which populates considerably." It is a curious fact, and one of many in western history, that may well tend to shake our faith in the learned discussions as to dates and localities with which scholars now and then amuse the world, that the date of the settlement of Cincinnati is unknown, even though we have the testimony of the very men that made the set- tlement. Judge Symmes says in one of his letters, "On the 24th of December, 1788, Colonel Patterson, of Lexington, who is con- cerned with Mr. Denman in the section at the mouth of Licking 1788. Trade opened with JVew Orleans. 309 river, sailed from Limestone," &c. Some, supposing it would take about two days to make the voyage, have dated the being of the Queen City of the West from December 26th. This is but guess-work, however ; for, as the river was full of ice, it might have taken ten days to have gone the sixty-five miles from Mays- ville to the Licking. But, in the case in chancery to which we have referred, we have the evidence of Patterson and Ludlow, that they landed opposite the Licking "in the month of January, » 1789 ; " while William McMillan testifies that he " was one of those who formed the settlement of Cincinnati on the 28th day of De- cember, 1788." As we know of nothing more conclusive on the subject than these statements, we must leave this question in the same darkness that we find it. The, settlers of Losantiville built a few log huts and block- houses, and proceeded to lay out the town ; though they placfed their dwellings in the most exposed situation, yet, says S^-mmes, they " suffered nothing from the freshet." South of the Ohio, during this year, matters were in scarce as good a train as upon the " Lidian" side of the river. The savages continued to annoy the settlers, and the settlers to retaliate upon the savages, as Judge Symmes' letters have already shown. But a more formidable source of trouble to the district than any attack the red men were capable of making, was the growing disposition to cut loose from the Atlantic colonies, and either by treaty or warfare obtain the use of the Mississippi from Spain. We have already mentioned Wilkinson's trip to New Orleans, in June, 1787;* but as that voyage was the beginning of the long and mys- terious Spanish intrigue with the citizens of the west, it seems - worth while to quote part of a paper, believed to be by Daniel Clark, the younger, whose uncle of the same name was the agent and partner! of Wilkinson, in New Orleans, and who was fully acquainted with the government officers of Louisiana. | About the period of which we are now speaking, in the middle of the year 1787, the foundation of an intercourse with Kentucky and the set- tlements on the Ohio was laid, which daily increases. Previous to that lime, all those who ventured on the Mississippi had their property seized * Ante, p. 286. t Wilkinson says the partnership was formed for him without his knowledge or consent- (Memoirs, ii. 113.) J American State Papers, xx. 704. 310 Trade opened with JVew Orleans. 1788, by the first commanding ofiicer whom they met, and little or no com- munication was kept up between the countries. Now and then, an em- igrant who wislied to selde in Natchez, by dint of entreaty, and solicitation of friends who had interests in New Orleans, procured permission to re- move there with his family, slaves, cattle, furniture and farming utensils;. but was allowed to bring no other property, except cash. An unex- pected incident, however, changed the face of things, and was produc- tive of a new line of conduct. The arrival of a boat, belonging to Gen- eral Wilkinson, loaded with tobacco and other productions of Kentucky, is announced in town, and a guard was immediately sent on board of it.. The general's name had hindered this being done at Natchez, as the commandant was fearful that such a step might be displeasing to his superiors, who might wish to show some respect to the property of a general ofncer ; at any rate, the boat was proceeding to Orleans, and they would then resolve on what measures they ought to pursue, and put in execution. The government, not much disposed to show any mark of respect or forbearance towards the general's property, he not having at that time arrived, was about proceeding in the usual way of confiscation, when a merchant in Orleans, who had considerable influ- ence there, and who was formerly acquainted with the general, repre- sented to the governor that the measures taken by the Intendant would very probably give rise to disagreeable events ; that the people of Kentucky were already exasperated at the conduct of the Spaniards in seizing on the property of all those who navigated the Mississippi; and, if this system was pursued, they would very probably, in spite of Con- gress and the Executive of the United States, take upon themselves to obtain the navigation of the river by force, wliich they were well able to do ; a measuie for some time before much dreaded by this government, which had no force to resist them, if such a plan was put in execution. Hints were likewise given that Wilkinson was a very popular vnan, who could influence the whole of that country ; and probably that his send- ing a boat before him, with a wish that she might be seized, was but a snare at his return to influence the minds of the people, and, having brought them to the point he wished, induce them to appoint him their leader, and then like a torrent, spread over the country, and carry fire and desolation from one end of the province to the other. Governor Miro, a weak man, unacquainted with the American Gov- ernment, ignorant even of the position of Kentucky with respect to his own province, but alarmed at the very idea of an irruption of Kentucky men, whom he feared without knowing their strength, communicated his wishes to the Intendant that the guard might be removed from the boat, which was accordingly done ; and a Mr. Patterson, who was the agent of the general, was permitted to take charge of the property on board, and to sell it free of duty. The general, on his arrival in Or- 1788. Wilkinson obtains Privileges from Spanish Officers. 311 leans, some time after, was informed of tlje obligation he lay under to the merchant who had impressed the government with such an idea of his importance and influence at home, waited on him, and, in concert with him, formed a plan for their future operations. In his interview with the governor, that he might not seem to derogate from the charac- ter given of him by appearing concerned in so trifling a business as a boat-load of tobacco, hams, and butter, he gave him to understand that the property belonged to many citizens of Kentucky, who, availing themselves of his return to the Atlantic Stales, by way of Orleans, wish- ed to make a trial of the temper of this government, as he, on his ar- rival, might inform his own what steps had been pursued under his eye, that adequate measures might be afterwards taken to procure satisfaction. He acknowledged with gratitude the attention and respect manifested by the governor towards himself in the favor shown to his agent ; but at the same time mentioned that he would not wish the governor to expose himself to the anger of his court by refraining from seizing on the boat and cargo, as it was but a trifle, if such were the positive orders from court, and that he had not a power to relax them according to circum- stances. Convinced by this discourse that the general rather wished for an opportunity of embroiling afl^airs than sought to avoid it, the gov- ernor became more alarmed. For two or three years before, particu- larly since the arrival of the commissioners from Georgia, who had come to Natchez to claim that country, he had been fearful of an invasion at every annual rise of the waters, and the news of a few boats being seen was enough to alarm the whole province. He revolved in his mind what measures he ought to pursue (consistent with the orders he had from home to permit the free navigation of the river) in order to keep the Kentucky people quiet ; and, in his succeeding interviews with Wilkinson, having procured more knowledge than he had hitherto acquired of their character, population, strength, and dispositions, he thought he could do nothing better than hold out a bait to Wilkinson to use his influence in restraining the people from an invasion of this province till he could give advice to his court, and require further in- structions. This was the point to which the parties wished to bring him ; and, being informed that in Kentucky two or three crops were on hand, for which, if an immediate vent was not to be found, the people could not be kept within bounds, he made Wilkinson the ofller of a per- mission to import, on his own account, to New Orleans, free of duty, all the productions of Kentucky, thinking by this means to conciliate the good-will of the people, without yielding the point of navigation, as the commerce carried on would appear the effect of an indulgence to an individual, which could be withdrawn at pleasure. On consultation with his friends, who well knew what further concessions Wilkinson would extort from the fears of the Spaniards, by the promise of his good 312 Kentucky not made a State. 1788. offices in preaching peace, harmony, and good understanding with this government, until arrangements were macie between Spain and America, he was advised to insist that the governor should insure him a market for all the flour and tobacco he might send, as, in the event of an unfor- tunate shipment, he would be ruined whilst endeavoring to do a service to Louisiana. This was accepted. Flour was always wanted in New Orleans, and the king of Spain had given orders to purchase more to- bacco for the supply of his manufactories at home than Louisiana at that time produced, and which was paid for at about $9.50 per cwt. In Kentucky it costs but $2, and the profit was immense. In conse- quence, the general had appointed his friend Daniel Clark his agent here, returned by way of Charleston in a vessel, with a particular per- mission to go to the United States, even at the very moment of Gardo- qui's information ; and, on his arrival in Kentucky, bought up all the produce he could collect, which he shipped and disposed of as before mentioned ; and for some time all the trade for the Ohio was carried on in his name, a line from him sufficing to ensure the owner of the boat every privilege and protection he could desire.* Whatever Wilkinson's views may have been, (and we should never forget that there was no treachery or treason against the United States in leaving the old colonies and forming an alliance with Spain at that period, — ) such a reception as he had met with at New Orleans, was surely calculated to make him and his friends feel that by either intimidation, or alliance, the free trade they wished might be had from Spain, could the Act of Independence but be finally made binding by the consent of Congress, which was to be given before July 5th, 1788. It is not to be doubted that this agreement on the part of the Union was looked for as a matter of course almost; — Kentucky had spoken her wishes over and over again, and Virginia had acquiesced in them. When John Brown, therefore, — who in December 1787, had been sent as the first Western representative to Congress, brought the sub- ject of admitting Kentucky as a Federal State before that body upon the 29th of February,! it was hoped the matter would soon be disposed of. But such was not the case ; from February to May, from May to June, from June to July, the admission of the District was debated, and at length the whole subject, on the 3d of July, was referred to the new government about to be * Sec American State Papers, xx. p. 707. — Clark's memoir is said by Wilkinson to be substantially correct. (Memoirs, ii. 110.) + Old Journals, iv. 811, 819, 828, 829, 830. 1788. Offers of Spain to Kentucky. 313 organized, and once more the Pioneers found themselves thwarted, and self-direction withheld. On the 28th of July the sixth Convention met at Danville to proceed with the business of Convention-making, when news reached them* that their coming together was all to no purpose, as the Legislature of the Union had not given the necessary sanc- tion to the act of Virginia. This news amazed and shocked them, and being accompanied or followed by intimations from Mr. Brown that Spain would make easy terms with the West, were the West once her own mistress, we surely cannot wonder that the leaders of the "Independence" party were disposed to act with decision and show a spirit of self-reliance. Wilkinson, on the one hand, could speak of his vast profits and the friendly temper of the southwestern rulers, while Brown wrote home such senti- ments as these, — The eastern states would not, nor do 1 think they ever will assent to the admission of the district into the union, as an independent State, unless Vermont, or the province of Maine, is brought forward at the same time. The change which has taken place in the general govern- ment is made the ostensible objection to the measure ; but, the jealousy of the growing importance of the western country, and an unwilling- ness to add a vote to the southern interest, are the real causes of opposi- tion. The question which the district will now have to determine upon, will be — whether, or not, it will be more expedient to continue the con- nexion with the state of Virginia, or to declare their independence and proceed to frame a constitution of government? In private conferences which I have had Avith Mr. Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, at this place, I have been assured by him in the most explicit terms, that if Kentucky will declare her independence, and empower some proper person to negotiate with him, that he has au- thority, and will engage to open the navigation of the Mississippi, for the exportation of their produce, on terms of mutual advantage. But that this privilege never can be extended to them while part of the * The difficulty of communicating news to the West may be judged of by the follow- ing extract from a letter by John Brown to Judge Muter. "An answer to your favor of the 16th of March was together with several other letters, put into the hands of one of General Harmar's officers, who set out in May last for the Ohio, and who promised to forward them to the district ; but I fear they have miscarried, as I was a few days ago informed that his orders had been countermanded, and that he had been sent to the garrison at West Point. Indeed I have found it almost impracticable to transmit a letter to Kentucky, as there is scarce any communication between this place and that country. A post is now established from this place to Fort Pitt, to set out once in two weeks, after the 20th instant; this will render the communication easy and certain." — (Marshall, i. 304.) 314 A seventh Convention called. 1788. United Slates, by reason of commercial treaties existing between tbat court and other powers of Europe. As there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of this declaration, I have thought proper to communicate it to a few confidential friends in the district, wiih his permission, not doubting but that they will make a prudent use of the information — which is in part confirmed by des- patches yesterday received by Congress, from Mr. Carmichal, our minis- ter at that court, the contents of which I am not at liberty to disclose.* But even under the excitement produced by sucli prospects offered from abroad, and such treatment at the hands of their fel- low-citizens, the members of the July Convention took no hasty or mischievous steps. Finding their own powers legally at an end in consequence of the course pursued by Congress, they deter- mined to adjourn, and in doing so advised the calling of a seventh Convention to meet in the following November, and continue in existence until January, 1790, with full power To take such measures for obtaining admission of the district, as a separate and independent member of the United States of America ; and the navigation of the Mississippi as may appear most conducive to those important purposes : and also to form a constitution of government for the district, and oi'ganize the same when they shall judge it necessary ; or to do and accomplish whatsoever, on a consideration of the state of the district, may in their opinion promote its interests.! These terms, although they contain nothing necessarily imply- ing a separation from Virginia against her wish, or directly autho- rizing the coming Convention to treat with Spain, were still sup- posed to have been used for the purpose of enabling or even inviting that body to take any steps, however much against the letter of the law; and as Mr. Brown's letters showed that strong temptations were held out to the people of the District to declare themselves independent and then enter into negotiations with Spain, George Muter, Chief Justice of the District, on the 15th of October, published a letter in the Kentucky Gazette, calling atten- tion to the fact that a separation without legal leave from the parent State would be treason against that State, and a violation of the Federal Constitution then just formed. This letter and the efforts of the party who favored strict adhe- * See Marshall's History of Kentucky, i. p. 305. t See Marshall's History of Kentucky, i. p. 290. 1788. Connolly in Kentucky. 315 rence to legal proceedings, were not in vain. Tlie elections took place, and on the 4th of November the Convention met; the con- test at once began, but the two parties being happily balanced, both in and out of the Convention, the greatest caution was observed by both, and all excess prevented. An address to the people of the District was proposed by Wilkinson, the purpose of which was doubtless to procure instructions as to the contested points of illegal independence and negotiation with Spain, — but the plan of issuing such a paper was afterwards dropped, Congress was memorialized respecting the Mississippi, Virginia was again asked for an act of separation, and the Convention quietly ad- journed until the 1st Monday of the following August.* It is not improbable that one tranquilizing influence was the contradiction, by members of Congress, of the report that the navigation of the Mississippi was to be relinquished by the United States. This contradiction had been authorized on the 16th of September. f It was during the autumn of this same year of trouble and intrigue, that there appeared again in Kentucky, John Connolly, formerly of Pittsburgh, of whom we last heard as organizing an expedition to attack the frontiers in 1781. | Of his purposes and movements nothing of consequence can be added, we believe, to the follow- ing statement sent by Colonel Thomas Marshall, to General Wash- ington, in the month of February, 1789. About this time, (November 17S8,) arrived from Canada the famous Doctor (now Colonel) Connolly ; his ostensible business was to inquire after, and repossess himself of, some lands he formerly held at the Falls of Ohio ; II but I believe his real business was to sound the disposition of the leading men of this district respecting this Spanish business. He knew that both Colonel Muter and myself had given it all the oppo- sition in Convention we were able to do, and before he left the district, paid us a visit, though neither of us had the honor of the least acquaint- ance with him. He was introduced by Colonel John Campbell, § formerly a prisoner taken by the Indians, and confined in Canada, who previously informed us of the proposition he was about to make. He (Connolly) presently entered upon his subject, urged the great importance the navigation of * * See Marshall, i. 2SS to 341.— Marshall gives all the papers.— Butler 162 to 181— SH to 523. — Carey's Museum, April 17S9, p. 331 to 333. t Secret Journals, iv. 449 to 454. % See Ante, p. 228. 11 See Ante, pp. 152, Note. 229. § His old co-purchaser of the land at the Falls,. 316 Statement of Colonel Thomas Marshall. 1788. the Mississippi must be of to the inhabitants of the western waters, showed the absolute necessity of our possessing it, and concluded with assurances that were we disposed to assert our right respecting that navigation, Lord Dorchester* was cordially disposed to give us powerful assistance, that his Lordship had (I think he said) four thousand British troops in Canada besides two regiments at Detroit, and could furnish us with arms, ammunition, clothing, and money ; that, with this assistance, we might possess ourselves of New Orleans, fortify the Balize at the mouth of the river, and keep possession in spite of the utmost efforts of Spain to the contrary. He made very confident professions of Lord Dorchester's wishes to cultivate the most friendly intercourse with the people of this country, and of his own desire to become serviceable to us, and with so much seeming sincerity, that had I not before been acquainted with his character as a man of intrigue and artful address, I should in all probability have given him my confidence. I told him that the minds of the people of this country were so strongly prejudiced against the British, not only from circumstances attending the late war, but from a persuasion that the Indians were at this time stimulated by them against us, and that so long as those sava- ges continued to commit such horrid cruelties on our defenceless fron- tiers, and were received as friends and allies by the British at Detroit, it would be impossible for them to be convinced of the sincerity of Lord Dorchester's offers, let his professions be ever so strong ; and that, if his Lordship would have us believe him really disposed to be our friend, he must begin by showing his disapprobation of the ravages of the Indians. He admitted of the justice of my observation, and said he had urged the same to his Lordship before he left Canada. He denied that the Indians are stimulated against us by the British, and says Lord Dor- chester observed that the Indians are free and independent nations, and have a right to make peace or war as they think fit, and that he could not with propriety interfere. He promised, however, on his return to Canada to repeat his arguments to his Lordship on the subject, and hopes, he says, to succeed. At taking his leave he begged very po- litely the favor of our correspondence ; we both promised him, provi- ded he would begin it, and devise a means of carrying it on. He did not tell me that he was authorized by Lord Dorchester to make us these offers in his name, nor did I ask him ; but General Scott informs me that he told him that his Lordshij? had authorized him to use his name in this business.! * Formerly Sir Guy Carlton. t See Butler, 520. — Colonel George Morgan at Burr's trial in 1S07, stated that Mr. Vigo, of VincenneSj was, as he believed, concerned with Connolly. (American State Papers, xx. 503.) 1789. Treaty with the Iroquois and other tribes oj" Indians. 317 Colonel George Morgan, during this year, was induced to remove for a time to the Spanish territories west of the Missis- sippi, and remained at New Madrid between one and two months; thence he went to New Orleans.* 1789. Preparations, as we have stated, had been made early in 1788=, for a treaty with the Indians, and during the whole autumn, the representatives of the Indian tribes were lingering about the Mus- kingum settlement: but it was not till January 9th of this year that the natives were brought to agree to distinct terms. On that day, one treaty was made with the Iroquois,f confirming the pre- vious one of October, 1784 at Fort Stanwix ; and another with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippeways, Pottawatimas and Sacs, confirming and extending the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, made in January, 1785. | Of the additions, we quote the following: Art. 4. It is agreed between the said United States and the said nations, that the individuals of said nations shall be at liberty to hunt within the territory ceded to the United States, without hindrance or molestation, so long as they demean themselves peaceably, and offer no injury or annoyance to any of the subjects or citizens of the said Uni- ted States. Art. 7. Trade shall be opened with the said nations, and they do hereby respectively engage to afford protection to the persons and pro- perty of such as may be duly licensed to reside among them for the purposes of trade, and to their agents, factors, and servants ; but no person shall be permitted to reside at their towns, or at their hunting * American State Papers, xx. 504. — Dr. Hildreth, (American Pioneer,' i. 128,) saya he founded New Madrid. — See also Flint's Ten Years Recollections; account of New Madrid. t Collection of Indian Treaties. Land Laws, 123. ^ Land Laws, 149. — See also Carey's Museum for April, 1789, p. 415. 318 Treaties of Fort Harmar. 1789. camps, as a trader, who is not furnished with a license for that purpose, under the hand and seal of the Governor of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, for the time being, or under the hand and seal of one of his deputies for the management of Indian Affairs ; to the end that they may not be imposed upon in their traffic. And if any person or persons shall intrude themselves without such license, they promise to apprehend him or them, and to bring them to the said Gover- nor, or one of his deputies, for the purpose beforementioned, to be dealt with according to law; and that they may bedefended against persons who might attempt to forge such licenses, they further engage to give information to the said Governor, or one of his deputies, of the names of all traders residing among them, from time to time, and at least once in every year. Art. 8. Should any nation of Indians meditate a war against the United States, or either of them, and the same shall come to the know- ledge of the beforementioned nations, or either of them, they do hereby engage to give immediate notice thereof to the Governor, or, in his absence, to the officer commanding the troops of the United States at the nearest post. And should any nation, with hostile intentions against the United Slates, or either of them, attempt to pass through their country, they will endeavor to prevent the same, and, in like manner, give information of such attempt to the said Governor or commanding officer, as soon as possible, that all causes of mistrust and suspicion may be avoided between them and the United Slates : in like manner, the United States shall give notice to the said Indian nations, of any harm that may be meditated against them, or either of thern, that shall come to their knowledge : and do all in their power to hinder and prevent the same, that the friendship between them may be uninterrupted.* But these treaties, if meant in good faith by those who made them, were not respected, f and the year of which we now write 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 peace- able 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 * See Land Laws, p. 152. + See post for a full discussion of these points. — Carey's Museum, April, 1789, p. 416. ^ Marshall, i. 348. 354. — American State Papers, vol. v. 84, 85. — Carey's Museum, :«,!ay, 17S9, p. 504. 60S. J Genera! Knox. American State Papcrsj v. 13. 1789. Troubles with the Indians. 319 place, it was by no means clear that an attack by the forces of the government upon the Wabash tribes, could be justified : — Says Washington : I would have it observed forcibly, that a war with the Wabash Indians ought to be avoided by all means consistently with the security of the frontier inhabitants, the security of the troops, and the national dignity. In the exercise of the present indiscriminate hostilities, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to say that a war without further measures would be just on the part of the United Stales. But, if, after mani- festing clearly to the Indians the disposition of the General Government for the preservation of peace, and the extension of a just protection to the said Indians, they should continue their incursions, the United Slates will be constrained to punish them with severity.* But how to punish them was a difficult question, again, even supposing punishment necessary. Says General Knox : By the best and latest information it appears that, en the Wabash and its communications, there are from fifteen hundred to two thousand war- riors. An expedition against them, with a view of extirpating them, or destroying their towns, could not be undertaken with a probability of success, with less than an army of two thousand five hundred men. The regular troops of the United States on the frontiers are less than six hundred : of that number not more than four hundred could be collected from the posts for the purpose of the expedition. To raise, pay, feed, arm, and equip one thousand nine hundred additional men, with the necessary officers, for six months, and to provide every thing in the hospital and quartermaster's line, would require the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, a sum far exceeding the ability of the United States to advance, consistently with a due regard to other indispensable objects.t Such, however, were the representations of the Governor of the new territory,!: and of the people of Kentucky, || that Congress, upon the 29th of September, empowered the President to call out the militia to protect the frontiers, and he, on the 6th of October, authorised Governor St. Clair to draw 1500 men from the western counties of Virginia and Pennsylvania, if absolutely necessary; ordering him, however, to ascertain, if possible, the real disposi- * American State Papers, v. 97, f Ibid. v. 13, ^ Ibid, v. 84 to 93. H Ibid, V. 84 to 93. Judge Innis (p. 88) says that in seven years, 1500 persons, 20,000 horses, and 15,000 pounds worth of property had been destroyed and talten away away by the savages. 320 Muskingum Settlements spread. 1789. lion of the Wabash and IlUnois Indians.* In order to do this, speeches to them were prepared, and a messenger sent among them, of whose observations we shall have occasion to take notice under the year 1790. Kentucky, especially, felt aggrieved this year by the withdrawal of the Virginia scouts and rangers, who had hitherto helped to protect her. This was done in July by the Governor, in conse- quence of a letter from the federal executive, stating that national troops would thenceforward be stationed upon the western streams. The Governor communicated this letter to the Kentucky conven- tion held in July, and that body at once authorised a remonstrance against the measure, representing the inadequacy of the federal troops, few and scattered as they were, to protect the country, and stating the amount of injury received from the savages since the first of May. t Nor was the old Separation sore healed yet. Upon the 29th of December, 1788, Virginia had passed her third Act to make Ken- tucky independent ; but as this law made the District liable for a part of the state debt, and also reserved a certain control over the lands set apart as army bounties, to the Old Dominion, — it was by no means popular; and when, upon the 20th of July, the Eighth Convention came together at Danville, it was only to resolve upon a memorial requesting that the obnoxious clauses of the late law might be repealed. This, in December, was agreed to by the parent State, but new proceedings throughout were at the same time ordered, and a ninth Convention directed to meet in the fol- lowing July+ North of the Ohio, during this year there was less trouble from the Indians than south of it, especially in the Muskingum country. There all prospered : the Reverend Daniel Story, under a resolu- tion of the directors of the Ohio Company, passed in March, 1788, in the spring of this year came westward as a teacher of youth and a preacher of the Gospel. || By November, nine associations, comprising two hundred and fifty persons, had been formed for the purpose of settling different points within the purchase ; and by the close of 1790, eight settlements had been made ; two at Belpre, (belle prairie,) one at Newbury, one at Wolf Creek, § one at Duck * American State Papers, v. 97. 101, 102. t Marsliall, 1. 952. — American State Papers, v. 84, &c. t Ibid, 342. 350.— Butler, 187. U American Pioneer, i. 86. § Here was built the first mill in Ohio. (American Pioneer, ii. 99. and plate.) 1789. Fort Washington founded. 321 Creek, one at the mouth of Meigs Creek, one at Anderson's Bottom, and one at Big Bottom.* Between the Miamies, there was more alarm at this period, but no great amount of actual danger. Upon the 15th of June, news reached Judge Symmes that the Wabash Indians threatened his settlements, and as yet he had received no troops for their defence, except nineteen from the Falls, f Before July, however, Major Doughty arrived at the " Slaughter House," and com- menced the building of Fort Washington on the site of Losanti- ville. In relation to the choice of that spot, rather than the one where Symmes proposed to found his great city, Judge Burnet tells the following story : Through the influence of the judge, (Symmes,) the detachment sent by General 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 detachment was examining the neighborhood, to select the most eligible spot for a garrison, he became enamored with a beautiful black-eyed female, who happened 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 would 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 contended, very strenuously, that it was the most suitable spot in the Miami country ; and protested against the removal. The arguments of the judge, however, 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 agreed, that he would defer a decision, till he had explored the ground, at and near Cincinnati ; and that, if he found it to be less eligible than the Bend, he would return and erect the garrison at the latter place. The visit was quickly made, and resulted in a con- viction, 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 importance. It settled the question at once, whether Symmes or Cincinnati, was to be the great commercial town * Harris' Tour, 191, 192. •f Symmes' Letters in Cist's Cincinnati, 231. 229. 219. 21 322 Reason for placing the Fort at Cincinnati. 1789. of the Miami purchase. This anecdote was communicated by Judge Symmes, and is unquestionably authentic. As soon as the troops re- moved to Cincinnati, and established the garrison, the settlers at the Bend, tlien more numerous than those at Cincinnati, began to remove ; and in two or three y^rs, the Bend was literally deserted, and the idea of establishing a town at that point, was entirely abandoned. Thus, we see, what great results are sometimes produced, by trivial circumstances. The beauty of a female, transferred the commercial emporium of Ohio, from the place where it was commenced, to the place where it now is. Had the black-eyed beauty remained at the Bend, the garrison would have been erected there, population, capital, and business would have centered there, and our city must have been now of comparatively small importance.* We suspect the influence of this bright-eyed beauty upon the fate of Cincinnati, is over estimated, however. Upon the 14th of June, before Fort Washington was commenced, and when the only soldiers in the purchase were at North Bend, Symmes writes to Dayton: It is expected, that on the arrival of governor St. Clair, this purchase will be organized into a county : it is therefore of some moment which town shall be made the county town. Losantivilie, at present, bids the fairest ; it is a most excellent site for a large town, and is at present the most central of any of the inhabited towns ; but if Southbend might be finished and occupied, that would be exacdy in the centre, and probably would take tlie lead of the present villages until the city can be made somewhat considerable. This is really a matter of importance to the proprietors, but can only be achieved by their exertions and encourage- ments. The lands back of Southbend are not very much broken, after you ascend the first hill, and will afford rich supplies for a county town A few troops stationed at Southbend will eHect the settlement of this new village in a very short time.t The truth is, that neither the proposed city on the Miami, North Bend or South Bend, could compete, in point of natural advan- tages, with the plain on which Cincinnati has since arisen ; and had Fort Washington been built elsewhere, after the close of the Indian war, nature would have ensured the rapid growth of that point where even the ancient and mysterious dwellers along the Ohio had reared the earthen walls of one of their vastest temples. f * Transactions Historical Society, Ohio, p. 17. t Cisfs Cincinnati, p. 230. X See Transactions of Ohio Historical Society, part ii. vol. i. 35. — Drake's Picture of Ciuciooatij 202. 1790-9^. Indian Wars. 323 We have referred to Wilkinson's voyage to New Orleans, in 1787; in January of this year, (1789,) he fitted out twenty-five large boats, some of them can-ying three pounders and all of them swivels, manned by 150 men, and loaded with tobacco, flour, and provisions, with which he set sail for the south; — and his lead was soon followed by others.* Among the adventurers was Col- onel Armstrong of the Cumberland settlements, who sent down six boats, manned by thirty men ; these were stopped at Natchez, and the goods being there sold without permission, an oflficer and fifty soldiers were sent by the Spanish commander to arrest the transgressors. They, meanwhile, had returned within the lines of the United States and refused to be arrested ; this led to a con- test, in which, as a cotemporary letter states, five Spaniards were killed and twelve wounded, f 1790 t© 1790. TThe most important and interesting events connected with the West, from the commencement of 1790 to the close of 1795, were those growing out of the Indian wars. In order to present them in one unbroken and intelligible story, we shall abandon for a time our division by single years, and relate the events of the six referred to as composing one period. But to render the events of that period distinct, we must recal to our readers some matters that happened long before. And in the first place, we would remind them that the French made no large purchases from the western Indians ; so that the treaty of Paris, in 1763, transferred to England only small grants about the various forts, Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, &c. Then followed Pontiac's war and defeat ; and then the grant by the Iroquois at Fort Stanwix, in 1768, of the land south of the Ohio ; * Letter in Carey's Museum for February, 1789. p. 209. 313.— Wilkinson's Memoirs, II. 113. + Carey's Museum, April, 1789, p. 417. 324 Mode of acquiring Indian lands. 1790-95. and even this grant, it will be remembered, was not respected by those who actually hunted on the grounds transferred.* Next came the war of 1774, Dunmore's war, which terminated without any transfer of the Indian possessions to the whites ; and when, at the close of the Revolution,^ in 1783, Britain made over her western claims to the United States, she made over nothing more than she had received from France, save the title of the Six Nations and the southern savages to a portion of the territory south of the Ohio : as against the Miamis, western Delawares, Shawa- anese, Wyandots or Hurons, and the tribes still farther north and west, she transferred nothing. But this, apparently, was not the view taken by the Congress of the time ; and they, conceiving that they had, under the treaty with England, a full right to all the lands thereby ceded, and regarding the Indian title as forfeited by the hostilities of the Revolution, proceeded, not to buy the lands of the savages, but to grant them peace, and dictate their own terms as to boundaries.! In October, 1784, the United States acquired in this way whatever title the Iroquois possessed to the western country, both north and south of the Ohio, by the second treaty of Fort Stanwix ; a treaty openly and fairly made, but one the validity of which many of the Iroquois always disputed. The ground of their objection appears to have been, that the treaty was with a part only of the Indiaji nations, whereas the wish of the natives was, that every act of the States with them, should be as with a confederacy, embracing all the tribes bordering upon the great lakes. Our readers may remember that the instructions given the Indian commissioners in October, 1783, proA'ided for one convention with all the tribes ;| and that this provision was changed in the following March for one, by which as many sepa- rate conventions were to be had, if possible, as there were separate tribes. |1 In pursuance of this last plan, the commission- ers, in October, 1784, refused to listen to the proposal which is said then to have been made for one general congress of the northern tribes,§ and in opposition to Brant, Red Jacket and other influential chiefs of the Iroquois, concluded the treaty of Fort * Ante, pp. no, 121. t See in proof, the Report to Congress of October 15, 17S3, (Old Journals, iv. 294;) the instructions to the Indian commissioners, October luth, 17S3, (Secret Journals, i. 257 ;) the various treaties of 1784, 'S5, and '86 {anir) ; General Knox's Report of June 15, 1789, (American State Papers, v. 13); and the distinct acknowledgment of the commie- sioners in 1793, (American State Papers, v. 353.) t Ante p. 259. B A nte p. 260. ^ See post- 1790-95. Indian objections to treaties. 325 Stanwix. Then came the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, in January, 1785, with the " Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa nations" — open to the objections above recited, but the vaUdity of which, so far as we know, was never disputed, at least by the Wyandots and Delawares ; although the general council of north- western Indians, representing sixteen tribes,* asserted in 1793, that the treaties of Fort Stanwix, Fort Mcintosh and Fort Finney, (mouth of Great Miami) were not only held with separate tribes, but were obtained by intimidation, the red-men having been asked to make treaties of peace, and forced to make cessions of territory. f The third treaty made by the United States was with the Shawanese at Fort Finney, in January, 1786 ; which it will be remembered the Wabash tribes refused to attend. The fourth and fifth, which were acts of confirmation, were made at Fort Harmar, in 1789, one with the Six Nations, and the other with the Wyandots and their associates, namely, the Delawares, Otta- was, Chippeways, Pottawamies, and Sacs. This last, fifth treaty, the confederated nations of the lakes especially refused to acknow- ledge as binding: their council using in relation to it, in 1793, these words: Brothers: A general council of all the Indian confederacy was held, as you well know, in the fall of ihe year 1788, at this place ; and that general council was invited by your commissioner Governor St. Clair, to meet him for the purpose of holding a treaty, with regard to the lands mentioned by you to have been ceded by the treaties of Fort Stanwix and Fort Mcintosh. Brothers : We are in possession of the speeches and letters which passed on that occasion, between tliose deputed by the confederate In- dians, and Governor St. Clair, the commissioner of the United States. These papers prove that your said commissioner, in the beginning of the year 1789, after having been informed by the general council, of the preceding fall, that no bargain or sale of any part of these Indian lands would be considered as valid or binding, unless agreed to by a general council, nevertheless persisted in collecting together a few chiefs of two or three nations only, and with them held a treaty for the cession of an immense country, in which they were no more interested, than as a branch of the general confederacy, and who were in no manner au- thorized to make any grant or cession whatever. Brothers : How then was it possible for you to expect to enjoy peace, and quietly to hold these lands, when your commissioner was informed, * American State Papers, v. 357. f Ibid, v, 356, 326 Treaty of Fort Harmar^ 1790-95.. long before he held the treaty of Fort Hatmar, that the consent of a general council was absolutely necessary to convey any part of these lands to the United States.* And in 1795, at Greenville, Massas, a Chippewa chieftain, whc- signed the treaty at Fort Harmar, said : Elder Brother : When you yesterday read to us the treaty of Mus- kingum, I understood you clearly : at that treaty we had not good inter- preters, and we were left partly unacquainted with many particulars of it. I was surprised when I heard your voice, through a good interpre- ter, say that we had received presents and compensation for those lands which were thereby ceded. I tell you, now, that we, the three fires^ never were informed of it. If our uncles, the Wyandots, and grandfathers, the Delawares, have received such presents, they have kept them to themselves. I always thought that we, the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottawattamies, were the true owners of those lands, but now I find that new masters have undertaken to dispose of them ; so that, at this day, we do not know to whom they, of right belong. We never re- ceived any compensation for them. I don't know how it is, but ever since that treaty we have become objects of pity, and our fires have been retiring from this country. Now, elder brother, you see we are objects of compassion ; and have pity on our weakness and misfortunes ; and, since you have purchased these lands, we cede them to you : they are yours.t The Wyandots, however, acknowledged even the transfer made on the Muskingum to be binding: "Brother," said Tarke, who signed foremost among the representatives of that tribe at Green- ville, and who had also signed at Fort Harmar, — You have proposed to us to build our good work on the treaty of Muskingum : that treaty I have always considered as formed upon the fairest principles. You took pity on us Indians. You did not do as our fathers the British agreed you should. You might by tliat agree- ment have taken all our lands ; but you pitied us, and let us hold part. I always looked upon that treaty to be binding upon the United States and U3 Indians.!" The truth in reference to this treaty of Fort Harmar seems tO' have been, that the confederated nations, as a whole, did not sanction it, and in their council of 17S8 could not agree one with * American State Papers, v. p. 356. t American State Papers, v. p»570^ I American State Papers, v. p. 571. 1790-95. Indian relations in 1789. 327 another in relation to it. " I have still my doubts," says Brant, before the council met — I have still my doubts whether we will join or not, some being no ways inclined for peaceable methods. The Hiirons, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawattimies, and Delawares, will join with us in trying lenient steps, and having a boundary line fixed ; and, rather than enter headlong into a destructive war, will give up a small part of their country. On the other hand, the Shawanese, Miamis and Kickapoos, who are now so much addicted to horse-stealing, that it will be a diffi- cult task to break them of it, as that kind of business is their best har- vest, will of course declare for war, and not giving up any of their country, which, I am afraid, will be the means of our separating. They are, I believe, determined not to attend the treaty with the Americans. Still I hope for the best. As the major part of the nations are of our opinions, tlie rest may be brought to, as nothing shall be wanting on my part to convince them of iheir error.* Le Gris, the great chief of the Miamies, in April, 1790, said tog Gamelin,! that the Muskingum treaty was not made by chiefs or delegates,! but by young men acting without authority, although Tarke, the head of the Wyandots, signed and sanctioned it, as well as Captain Pipe of the Delawares, while Brant himself was present. || Thus then stood the relations of the Indians and the United States in 1789. Transfers of territory had been made by the Iro- quois, the Wyandots, the Delawares and the Shawanese, which were open to scarce any objection; but the Chippeways, Ottawas, Kickapoos, Weas, Piankeshaws, Potawatimies, Eel River Indi- ans, Kaskaskias, and above all the Miamies, § were not bound by any existing agreement to yield the lands north of the Ohio. If their tale is true, the confederated tribes had forbidden the treaty of Fort Harmar, and had warned Governor St. Clair that it would not be binding on the confederates.U They wished the Ohio to be a perpetual boundary between the white and red men of the West, and would not sell a rod of the region north of it. So strong was this feeling that their young men, they said, could * Stone, ii. 278. f See post as to Gamelin's mission. ^ American State Papers, v. 94. || Stone, ii. 281. § All of these appeared at the Treaty of Greenville. T When this confederacy was formed ve do not learn ; its existence is first seen by its council of November, 1786, whose address, referred to p. 300, may be found American State papers, v. 8. 328 Grounds of United States claims. 1790-95. not be restrained from warfare upon the invading Long Knives, and thence resulted the unceasing attacks upon the frontier sta- tions and the emigrants. It was not, therefore, without reason, that Washington expressed a doubt as to the justness of an offensive war upon the tribes of the Wabash and Maumee ;* and had the treaty of Fort Harmar been the sole ground whereon the United States could have claimed of the Indians the Northw^est Territory, it may be doubted whether right would have justified the steps taken in 1790, '91, and '94: but the truth was, that before that treaty, the Iroquois, Delawares, Wyandots, and Shawanese had yielded the south of Ohio, the ground on which they had long dwelt; and neither the sale to Putnam and his associates, nor that to Symmes, was intended to reach one foot beyond the lands ceded. Of this we have proof in the third article of the ordinance of 1787, passed the day before the proposition to sell to the Ohio Company was for the first time debated ; which article declares that the lands of the Indians shall never be taken from them without their consent. It appears to us, therefore, that the United States were fully justified in taking possession of the northwest shore of the Belle Riviere, and that without reference to the treaty at Fort Harmar, which we will allow to have been, if the Indians spoke truly, (and they were not contradicted by the United States commissioners,) morally worthless. But it also appears to us, that in taking those steps in 1790 and 1791, which we have presently to relate, the federal government acted unwisely; and that it should then, at the outset, have done what it did in 1793, after St. Clair's terrible defeat, — namely, it should have sent commissioners of the Jiighest character to the lake tribes, and in the presence of the British^ learnt their causes of complaint, and offered fair terms of compromise. That such a step was wise and just, the government acknowledged by its after-action ; and surely none can question the position that it was more likely to have been effective before the savages had twice defeated the armies of the confederacy than afterward. The full bearing of these remarks wnll be best seen, however, when the 'whole tale is told, and to that we now proceed. In June, 1789, Major Doughty, with a hundred and forty men, began the building of Fort Washington at Cincinnati. Upon the 29th of December, General Harmar himself came down with three * See ante p. 319. 1790 — 95. Gamelinh mission. 329 hundred additional troops.* On the 1st or 2d of January,! 1790, St. Clair arrived at Losantiville,| changed its name to Cincinnati, in honor of the society so called, and organized Hamilton county.|| On the 8th of that month, he was at Fort Steuben, § (Jeffersonville opposite Louisville,) whence he proceeded to Kaskaskia, where he remained until the 11th of June, when, having learned from Major Hamtramck, commanding at Vincennes, the hostile feeling of the Wabash and Maumee tribes, he started for Fort Washing- ton, which point he reached upon the 13th of July. The feeling alluded to had been ascertained in the following manner. Washington having desired that great pains should be taken to learn the real sentiments of the northwestern Indians, Gov- w ernor St. Clair instructed Major Hamtramck at Vincennes, (Fort Knox,) to send some experienced person to ascertain the -^{jws and feelings of the Miamis and their confederates. The person chosen was Anthony Gamelin, who, on the fifth of April, pro- ceeded upon his mission. The Piankeshaws, Kickapoos, and Ouitenons, (Ouias or Weas,) all referred him to their elder breth- ren, the Miamis, so that he had to journey on to the point where the Miamis, Chaouanons,1I (Shawnees) and Delawares resided ; upon the 23d of April he reached that point and upon the 24th assembled the savages. I gave to each nation, he says, two branches of wampum, and began the speeches, before the French and English traders, being invited by the chiefs to be present, having told them myself I would be glad to have them present, having nothing to say against any body. After the speech, I showed them the treaty concluded at Muskingum, [Fort Har-/ mar,] between his excellency Governor St. Clair and sundry nations, which displeased them. I told them that the purpose of this present time was not to submit them to any condition, but to offer them the * Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, ii. 124. t American Pioneer, ii. 148. — Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, ii. 124. I Losantiville (sometimes called Losantibnrgh, American Pioneer, ii. 400) was properly tlie name of Filson's plat; [antep. 305.) Ludlow's, which was not exactly the same, was not named until St. Clair, in January, 1790, called it Cincinnati, but meanwhile went by the old name. (Transactions Ohio Historical Society, part second, vol. i. 33. — Symmea' MS. Letters. — Also Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 9.) 5 As to bounds of county, &c. see Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 241. § American Pioneer, ii. 220. In Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, this post is called Fort Finney ; in Imlay, (p. 34, note,) Fort Fejfjfing; in the map of the Falls, same vol. Fort Fenny. f The old French orthography used by Charlevoix and all others. 330 Gamelin's Journal. 1790-95. peace, which made disappear their pleasure. The great chief told me that he was pleased with the speech ; that he would soon give me an answer. In a private discourse with the great chief, he told me not to mind what the Shawanees would tell me, having a bad heart, and being the perlurbators of all the nations. He said the Miamies had a bad name, on account of mischief done on the River Ohio ; but he told me it was not occasioned by his young men, but by the Shawanese ; his young men going out only for to hunt. The 25th of April, Blue Jacket, chief warrior of the Shawanese, in- vited me to go to his house, and told me, " My friend, by the name and consent of the Shawanese and Delawares I will speak to you. We are all sensible of your speech, and pleased with it: but, after consultation, we cannot give an answer without hearing from our father at Detroit; and we are determined to give you back the two branches of wampum, and to send you to Detroit to see and hear the chief, or to stay here twenty nights for to receive liis answer. From all quarters we receive speeches from the Americans, and not one is alike. We suppose that they intend to deceive us. Then take back your branches of wampum." The 26lh, five Pottawattamies arrived here with two negro men, which they sold to English traders. The next day I went to the great chief of the Miamies, called Le Gris. His chief warrior was present. I told him howl had been served by the Shawanese. He answered me that he had heard of it: tliat the said nations had behaved contrary to his intentions. He desired me not to mind those strangers, and that he would soon give me a positive answer. The 28ih April, the great chief desired me to call at the French tra- der's and receive his answer. " Don't take bad," said he, '* of what I am to tell you. You may go back when you please. We cannot give you a positive answer. We must send your speeches to all our neigh- bors, and to the lake nations. We cannot give a definitive answer without consulting the commandant at Detroit." And he desired me to render him the two branches of wampum refused by the Shawanese ; also, a copy of speeches in writing. He promised me that, in thirty nights, he would send an answer to Post Vincennes, by a young man of each nation. He was well pleased with the speeches, and said to be worthy of attention, and should be communicated to all their confede- rates, having resolved among them not to do any thing without an unani- mous consent. I agreed to his requisitions, and rendered him the two branches of wampum, and a copy of the speech. Afterwards, he told me that the Five Nations, so called, or Iroquois, were training some- thing ; that five of them, and three Wyandots, were in this village with branches of wampum. He could not tell me presently their purpose; but he said I would know of it very soon. The same day. Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawanees, invited me to 1790-95. Gamelin's Journal. 331 his house for supper; and, before the other chiefs, told me that, after another deliberation, they thought necessary that I sliould go myself to Detroit, for to see the commandant, who would get all his children assembled for to hear my speech. I told them I would not answer them in the night : that I was not ashamed to speak before the sun. The 29th April I got them all assembled. I told them that I was not to go to Detroit : that the speeches were directed to the nations of the river Wabash and the Miami ; and that, for to prove the sincerity of the speech, and the heart of Governor St. Clair, I have willingly given a copy of the speeches, to be shown to the commandant of Detroit : and, according to a letter wrote by the commandant of Detroit to the Miamies, Shawanese, and Delawares, mentioning to you to be peaceable with the Americans, I would go to him very willingly, if it was in my directions, being sensible of his sentiments. I told them 1 had nothing to say to the commandant ; neither him to me. You must immediately resolve, if you intend to take me to Detroit, or else I am to go back as soon as possible. Blue Jacket got up and told me, "My friend, we are well pleased with what you say. Our intention is not to force you to go to Detroit: it is only a proposal, thinking it for the best. Our answer is the same as the Miamies. We will send, in thirty nights, a full and positive answer, by a young man of each nation, by writing to Post Vincennes." In the evening. Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawanese, having taken me to supper with him, told me, in a private manner, that the Shawanee nation was in doubt of the sincerity of the Big Knives, so called, having been already deceived by them. That they had first destroyed their lands, put out their fire, and sent away their young men, being a hunting, without a mouthful of meat : also, had taken away their women ; wherefore, many of them would, with great deal of pain, forget these affronts. Moreover, that some other nations were appre- hending that offers of peace would, may be, tend to take away, by degrees, their lands ; and would serve them as they did before : a cer- tain pioof that they intend to encroach on our lands, is their new settle- ment on the Ohio. If they don't keep this side fof the Ohio] clear, it will never be a proper reconcilement with the nations Shawanese, Iro- quois, Wyandots, and, perhaps many others. Le Oris, chief of the Miamies, asked me, in a private discourse, what chief had made a treaty with the Americans at Muskingum, [Fort Harmar.] I answered him that their names were mentioned in the treaty. He told me he had heard of it some time ago ; but they are not chiefs, neither delegates, who made that treaty : they are only young men, who without authority and instructions from their chiefs, have concluded that treaty, which will not be approved. They went to the treaty clandestinely, and they intend to make mention of it in the next council to be held.* * American State Papers, v. p. 93. 332 Jgency of Britain. 1790-95. On the 8th of May, Gamelin returned to Fort Knox, and on the 11th merchants from the Upper Wabash arrived, bringing news that parties from the north had joined the Wabash savages ; that the whole together had ah'eady gone to war upon the Americans ; and that three days after Gamelin left the Miamis, an American captive had been burned in their village :* all which things so plainly foretold trouble on the frontier, that St. Clair, as we have stated, hastened to Fort Washington to concert with General Harmar a campaign into the country of the hostile tribes. Before we proceed with the history of Harmar's campaign, however, it seems proper to give in one view all that w^e know relative to the agency of the British in keeping up Indian hostility after the peace of 1783. Most of the tribes, as our readers have seen, adhered to Eng- land during the Revolutionary struggle. When the war ceased, however, England made no provision for them, and transferred the Northwest to the United States, without any stipulation as to the rights of the natives. The United States, regarding the lands of the hostile tribes as conquered and forfeited, proceeded to give peace to the savages, and to grant them portions of their own lands. This produced discontent, and led to the formation of the confederacy headed by Brant. f To assist the purposes of this union, it was very desirable that the British should still hold the posts along the lakes, and supply the red men with all needful things. The forts they claimed a right to hold, because the Ame- ricans disregarded the treaty of 1783 ; the trade with the Indians, even though the latter might be at war with the United States, they regarded as perfectly fair and just. Having thus a sort of legal right to the position they occupied, the British did, undoubt- edly and purposely, aid and abet the Indians hostile to the United States. In 1785, after the formation of his confederacy. Brant w^ent to England, and his arrival was thus announced in the London prints : This extraordinary personage is said to have presided at the late grand Congress of confederate chiefs of the Indian nations in America, and to be by them appointed to the conduct and chief command in the war which they now meditate against the United States of America. He took his departure for England immediately as that assembly broke up; * American State Papers, v. 87 f Hecke welder's Narrative, 379. Stone's Life of Brant, ii. 247. 248. 1790-95. Brands Movements. 333 and it is conjectured that his embassy to the British Court is of great importance. This country owes much to the services of Colonel Brant during the late war in America. He was educated at Philadelphia ; is a very shrewd, intelligent person, possesses great courage and abilities as a warrior, and is inviolably attached to the British nation.* On the 4th of January, 1786, he visited Lord Sidney, the Colo- nial Secretary, and after plainly and boldly stating the trouble of the Indians at the forgetfulness of Britain — the encroachments of the Americans — and their fear of serious consequences, i. e. war, he closed with these words : This we shall avoid to the utmost of our power, as dearly as we love our lands. But should it, contrary to our wishes, happen, we desire to know whether we are to be considered as His Majesty's faithful allies, and have that support and countenance such as old and true friends expect.! The English minister returned a perfectly non-committal answer ; and when the Mohawk chieftain, upon his return, met the confed- erated natives in November, 1786, he could give them no distinct assurances of aid from England. But while all definite promises were avoided, men situated as John Johnson, the Indian superintendent, did not hesitate to write to him — Do not suffer an idea to hold a place in your mind, that it will be for your interests lo sit still and see the Americans attempt the posts. It is for your sakes chiefly, if not entirely, that we hold them. If you be- come indiff'erent about them, they may perhaps be given up ; what secu- rity would you then have ? You would be left at the mercy of a people whose blood calls idoud for revenge ; whereas, by supporting them, you encourage us to hold them, and encourage the new settlements, already considerable, and every day increasing by numbers coming in, who find they cant live in the States. Many thousands are preparing to come in. This increase of his majesty's subjects will serve as a protection for you, should the subjects of the vStales, by endeavoring to make farther encroachments on you, disturb your quiet. J This letter was written in March, 1787 ; and two months after- wards. Major Matthews, who had been in the suite of the Gover- nor of Canada, Lord Dorchester, after being appointed to com- * Sione, ii. 249. t Ibid, 254. |Ibi(l, ii. 268. 334 British Views. 1790-95. mand at Detroit, speaks still more explicitly, and in the Governor's name also, "His Lordship was sorry to learn," he says — Tliat while the Indians were soliciciting his assistance in their prepara- tions for war, some of the Six Nations had sent deputies to Albany to treat with the Americans, who, it is said, have made a treaty with them, granting permission to make roads for the purpose of coming to Nia- gara ; but that, notwithstanding these things, the Indians should have their presents, as they are marks of the King's approbation of their former conduct. In future his lordship wishes them to act as is best for Iheir interest; he cannot begin a war with the Americans, because some of their people encroach and make depredations upon parts of the In- dian countiy ; but they must see it is his lordship's intention to defend the posts ; and that while these are preserved, the Indians must find great security therefrom, and consequently the Americans greater diffi- culty in taking possession of their lands ; but should they once become masters of the posts, they will surround the Indians, and accomplish their purpose with little trouble. From a consideration of all which, it therefore remains with the Indians to decide what is most for their own interest, and to let his lordship know their determination, that he may take his measures accordingly ; but, whatever their resolution is, it should be taken as by one and the same people, by which means they will be respected and becon.e strong ; but if they divide, and act one part against the other, they will become weak, and help to destroy each other. This is the substance of what his lordship desired me to tell you, and I request you will give his sentiments that mature considera- tion which their justice, generosity, and desire to promote the welfare and happiness of the Indians, must appear to all the world to merit. In your letter to me, you seem apprehensive that the English are not very anxious about the defence of the posts. You will soon be satisfied that they have nothing more at heart, provided that it continues to be the wish of the Indians, and that they remain firm in doing their part of the business, by preventing the Americans from coming into their country, and consequently from marching to the posts. On the other hand, if the Indians think it more for their interest that the Americans should have possession of the posts, and be established in their country, they ought to declare it, that the English need no longer be put to the vast and un- necessary expense and inconvenience of keeping posts, the chief object of which is to protect their Indian allies, and the loyalists who have suf- fered with them. It is well known that no encroachments ever have or ever will be made by the English upon the lands or property of the In- dians in consequence of possessing the posts, how far that will be the case if ever the Americans get into them, may very easily be imagined, 1790-95. British Agents urge Indians to War. 335 from their hostile perseverance, even without that advantnge, in driving the Indians off their lands and taking possession of them.* These assurances on the part of the British, and the delay of Congress in replying to the address of the confederated nations, dated December, 1786, led to the general council of 17S8 ; but the divisions in that body, added to the uncertain support of the English government, at length caused Brant for a time to give up his interest in the efforts of the western natives, among whom the Miamies thenceforth took the lead ; although, as our extracts from Gamelin's journal show, a true spirit of union did not, even in 1790, prevail among the various tribes. f At that time, however, the British influence over the Miamis and their fellows, was in no degree lessened, as is plain from the entire reference of their affairs, when Gamelin went to them, to the commandant at Detroit. Nor can we wonder at the hold possessed over the red men by the English, when such wretches as McKee, Elliott and Girty,| were the go-betweens, the channels of intercourse. " You invite us," said one of the war-chiefs to Gamelin, " to stop our young men. "It is impossible to do it, being constantly encouraged by the British." We confess, said another, that we accepted the axe, but it is by the reproach we continually receive from the English and other nations, * See Stone ii. 271. + See also Stone ii. 290, note. Some of the Delawares and Miamies so far quarrelled that the former left for the Mississippi. I Girty we have already spoken of. — Alexander McKee, (sometimes written McKay and McGee) was an Indian agent before the Revolution. Major Rogers, in 1760, sent a Mr. McGee from Detroit to the Shawanese town on the Ohio, to receive the French sta- tioned there, (Journal, 229) : this may have been McKee In 1773, the Rev. D. Jones found Alexander McKee living about three miles from Paint Creek, Ohio, among the Shawanese. (See his journal in Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 262.) On the 29th of February, 1776, Colonel Butler, the refugee hero of Wyoming and Indian Agent for Eng- land, wrote to McKee, then residing as Indian agent at Fort Pitt, to come to Niagara ; in consequence of which the committee of Western Augusta obliged him to bind himself to have nothing to do with the Indians on account of Great Britain ; and this parole Con- gress accepted. (American Archives, fourth series, v. 818. 820. 1692. — Old Journals, ii. 67.) In 1778, however, he left Pittsburgh, with Simon Girty, Matthew Elliott and others, to join the British. (Heckewelder's Narrative, 170.) He became a colonel, and was a leader among the northwest Indians from that time till his death. He had stores at the falls of the Maumee. (See American State Papers, v. 243. 351. Some of his letters were taken at Proctor's defeat in 1813. (See Armstrong's Notices, i. appendix No. 2, 188. — Brown's History of War of 1812, ii. appendix.) Matthew Elliott had been a trader ; in 1776 he was taken by the British and joined them, for which he received a captain's commission. In 1790-95 he lived at the mouth of Detroit river, and carried on trade and farming. (See Heckwelder's Narrative, 147, 170.) 336 Bntish supply Indians. 1790-95. which received the axe first, calling us women ; at the present time, they invite our young men to war ; as to the old people, they are wish- ing for peace.* Every peaceful message from the officers of the crown was stopped on its way to the excited children of the forest ; but every word of a hostile character, exaggerated and added to.f * American State Papers, v. 93. t It is hard to say how far the British agents aided the savages in 1790 and 1791. The following is from a certificate by Thos. Rhea, taken by the Indians in May, 17Sl,and who escaped in June. He is stated to have been untrustworthy, (American State Papers, V. 198.) but his account is in part confirmed by other evidence. " At this place, the the Miami, were Colonels Brant and McKee, with his son Thomas; and Captains Bunbury and Silvie, of the British troops. These officers, kc. were all encamped on the south side of the Miami, or Ottawa river, at the rapids above lake Erie, about eighteen miles ; they had clever houses, built chiefly by the Pottawati- mies and other Indians; in these they had stores of goods, with arms, ammunition, and provision, which they issued to the Indians in great abundance, viz : corn, pork, peas, &c. The Indians came to this place in parties of one, two, three, four, and five hundred at a time, from different quarters, and received from iMr. McKee and the Indian officers, clothing, arms, ammunition, provision, &c. and set out immediately for the upper Miami towns, where they understood the forces of the United States were bending their course, [Scott's expedition,] and in order to supply the Indians from other quarters collected there. Pirogues, loaded with the above mentioned articles, were sent up the Miami river, wrought by French Canadians. About the last of May, Captain Silvie purchased me from the Indians, and I staid with him at this place till the 4th of June, (the king's birth day,) when I was sent to Detroit. Previous to leaving the Miami river, I saw one Mr. Dick, who, with his wife, was taken prisoner near Pittsburgh, in the Spring — I believe, by the Wyandotts. Mr. McKee was about purchasing Mr. Dick from the Indians, but found it difficult. Mrs. Dick was separated from him, and left at a village at some distance from this place. I also saw a young boy, named Brittle, (Brickell, proba- bly, see his narrative, Am. Pioneer, i. 43,) who was taken in the spring, from near a mill, (Capt. O'Hara's,) near Pittsburgh, his hair was cut, and he was dressed and armed for war; cxmld not get speaking to him. About the 5th June, in the Detroit river, I met from sixty to one hundred canoes, in three parties, containing a large party of Indians, who appeared to be very wild and uncivilized; they were dressed chiefly in buffalo and other skin blankets, with otter skin and other fur breech cloths, armed with bows, and arrows, and spears ; they had no guns, and seemed to set no store by them, or know little of their use, nor had they any inclination to receive them, though offered to them. They said they were three moons on their way. The other Indians called them Mannitoos. About this time there was a field day of the troops at Detroit, which I think is from five to six hundred in number; the next day a field day of the French militia took place, and one hundred and fifly of the Canadians, with some others, turned out volunteers to join the Indians, and were to set off the 8th for the Miami village, with their own horses, afler being plentifully supplied with arms and ammunition, clothing, and provision, &c. to fit them for the march. While I was at the Miami or Ottawa river, as they call it, I had mentioned to Colonel McKee, and the other ofiicers, that I had seen Colonel Procter, on his way to Fort Franklin ; that I understood that he was on his way to the the Miami, or Sandusky, with some of the Scnccas, and that he expected the Cornplanter would accompany him, in order to settle matters with the hostile nations ; and that he expected to get shipping at Fort Erie, to bring him and these people to the Miami, or Sandusky, &c. That the officers, in their conversation with each other, said, if they were 1790-95. Preparations for Harmar^s Campaign. 337 At the time of Gamelin's mission, the spring of 1790, before any act of hostility on the part of the United States had made reconciliation impossible, and before the success of the savages had made their demands such as could not be granted, we cannot but think it would have been true wisdom to have sent to the northern tribes, not an Indian trader, but such a representation as was sent three years later.* Such, however, was not the course pursued. Governor St. Clair, under the acts of Congi'ess passed the previous year,t on the 15th of July, called upon Virginia for 1,000, and upon Pennsylvania for 500 militia. Of these, 300 were to meet at Fort Steuben (Jeffersonville) to aid the troops from Fort Knox (Vincennes) against the Weas and Kickapoos of the Wabash ; 700 were to gather at Fort Washington, (Cincinnati;) and 500 just below Wheeling; the two latter bodies being intend- ed to march with the Federal troops, from Fort Washington, under General Harmar, against the towns at the junction of the St. Mary and St. Joseph. | The Kentucky militia men began to come in at Fort Washington about the middle of September, the 15th at Fort Erie, he should get no shipping there, &c. That the Mohawks and other Indians, that could speak English, declare that if he (meaning Colonel Procter,) or any other Yankee messenger, came there, they should never carry messages back. This was fre- quently expressed by the Indians; and Simon Girty, and a certain Patt Hill, declared Procter should not return, if he had a hundred Senecas with him ; and many other such threats were used, and every movement, appearance, and declaration, seemed hostile to the United States. And I understood that Colonel McKee, and the other officers, intended only to stay at the Miami till they had furnished the war parties of Indians with the necessaries mentioned above, to fit them for war, and then would return to Detroit. That Elliott had returned to Detroit, and Simon Girty, and that Girty declared he would go and join the Indians, and that Captain Elliott told him he was going the next day, with a boat load of goods for the Indians, and that Girty might have a passage with him. That on the 7th of June, the ship Dunmore sailed for Fort Erie, in which I got a pas- sage. We arrived there in four days. About the 12th of June I saw taken into this vessel, a number of cannon, eighteen pounders, with other military stores, and better than two companies of artillery troops, destined, as I understood, for Detroit and the upper posts ; some of the artillery-men had to remain behind, for want of room in the vessel. I have just recollected that, while I was at the Ottawa river, I saw a party of warriors come in with the arms, accoutrements, clothing, &c. of a sergeant, corporal, and, they said, twelve men, whom they had killed in some of the lower posts on the Ohio; that a man of the Indian department offered me a coat, which had a number of bullet and other holes in it, and was all bloody, which I refused to take, and Colonel McKee then ordered me clothes out of the Indian store." (Am. State Papers, v. ]96.) * It may be said Colonel Procter in 1791, was in danger of assassination. (Rhea's account. American State Papers, v. 196. See above,) but that was after Harmar's attack. t See Ante, p. 319. :J American State Papers, v. 94, 92. 22 338 StaU of the Kentucky Troops. 1790-95. being the day named. — Of their fitness for service we may judge by Major Ferguson's evidence. They were very ill equipped, being almost destitute of camp kettles •-95. Movements of Genet. 421 shall not at this time enter into any discussion of its merits and defects. A second subject to be noticed is the attempt of the agents of the French minister in the United States, to enlist the citizens of Kentucky in an attack upon the dominions of Spain in the south- west. We cannot, and need not, do more than refer to the state of feeling prevalent in America, in relation to France, from 1792 to 1795, On the 21st of January, 1793, the French had taken the life of their monarch, and upon the l8th of May, M. Genet, "was presented to Washington as the representative of the new republic of France.* This man brought with him open instruc- tions, in which the United States were spoken of as naturally neu- tral in the contest between France and united Holland, Spain and England ; and secret instructions, the purpose of which was to induce the Government, and if that could not be done, the People, of the American republic, to make common cause with the foun- ders of the dynasty of the guillotine. f In pursuance of this plan. Genet began a system of operations, the tendency of which was, to involve the People of the United States in a war with the enemies of France, without any regard to the views of the federal government ;f and knowing very well the old bitterness of the frontier-men in relation to the navigation of the Mississippi, he formed the plan of embodying a band of troops beyond the Alleg- hanies for the conquest of Louisiana. Early in November, 1793, four persons were sent westward to raise troops and issue commis- sions in the name of the French republic. || They moved openly .and boldly, secure in the strong democratic feelings of the inha- bitants of the region drained by the great river which Spain controlled ; and so far succeeded as to persuade even the political founder of Kentucky, George Rogers Clark, to become a Major General in the armies of France, and Commander-in-chief of the revolutionary forces on the Mississippi. § Nor did the French emissaries much mistake the temper of the people of the West,11 * Pitkin's United States, ii. 359. + Pitkin's U. States, ii. 360. — Marshall's Washington, v. 410. — See a pamphlet by Genet, givins: his instrnctions and the correspondence between the federal government and him- ■self, published in Philadelphia, 1793. :j: See the correspondence between Jefferson and Genet. American State Papers, 141 to 188. II See documents, American State Papers, i. 454 to 460. § Clark's proposals are in Warshall, ii. 103. 1! See American State Papers, i. 454 to 460, and Marshall's Kentucky, ii. 99 to 101, as to icorrespondence of Governor Shelby and his course in relation to Genet. — Also Butler'B Kentucky, 224 to 234, and 524 to 531. 422 Addresses of the Democratic Society. 1790-95. as will be evident from the following extracts, the first of which is from an address " to the inhabitants of the United States west of the Alleghany and Appalachian mountains," dated December 13th, 1793; the other from a remonstrance to the President and Congress of the United States of America, which is without date, but was prepared about the same time as the first paper. December 13, 1793. Fellow-citizens :— The Democratic Society of Kentucky having had under consideration the measures necessary to obtain the exercise of your rights to the free navigation of the Mississippi, have determined to address you upon that important topic. In so doing they think that they only use the undoubted right of citizens to consult for their com- mon welfare. This measure is not dictated by party or faction ; it is the consequence of unavoidable necessity. It has become so from the neglect shewn by the General Government, to obtain for those of the citizens of the United States who are interested therein the navigation of that river. ***** * *- Experience, fellow-citizens, has shown us that the General Govern- ment is unwilling that we should obtain the navigation of the river Mississippi. A local policy appears to have an undue weight in the councils of the Union. It seems to be the object of that policy to prevent the population of this country, which would draw from the eastern states their industrious citizens. This conclusion inevitably fol- lows from a consideration of the measures taken to prevent the purchase and settlement of the lands bordering on the Mississippi. Among those measures, the unconstitutional interference which rescinded sales, by one of the States, to private individuals, makes a strildng object. And perhaps the fear of a successful rivalship, in every article of their exports, may have its weight. But, if they are not unwilling to do us justice, they are at least regardless of our rights and welfare. We have found prayers and supplications of eo avail, and should we continue to load the table of Congress with memorials, from a part only of the western country, it is too probable that they would meet with a fate similar to those which have been formerly presented. Let us, then, all unite our endeavors in the common cause. Let all join in a firm and manly remonstrance to the President and Congress of the United States,. stating our just and undoubted right to the navigation of the Mississippi^ remonstrating against the conduct of government with regard to that right, which must have been occasioned by local policy or neglect, and demanding of them speedy and effectual exertions for its attainment. We cannot doubt that you will cordially and unanimously join in this measure. It can hardly be necessary to remind you that considerable q,uantities of beef, pork, flour, hemp, tobacco, (fee, the produce of this 1790-95. Addresses of the Democratic Society. 423 country, remain on hand for want of purchasers, or are sold at inade- quate prices. Much greater quantities might be raised if the inhabi- tants were encouraged by the certain sale which the free navigation of the Mississippi would afford. An additional increase of those articles, and a greater variety of produce and manufactures, would be supplied, by means of the encouragement, which the attainment of that great object would give to emigration. But it is not only your own rights which you are to regard : remember that your posterity have a claim to your exertions to obtain and secure that right. Let not your memory be stigmatised with a neglect of duty. Let not history record that the inhabitants of this beautiful country lost a most invaluable right, and half the benefits bestowed upon it by a bountiful Providence, through your neglect and supineness. The present crisis is favorable. Spain is engaged in a war v/hich requires all her forces. If the present golden opportunity be suffered to pass without advantage, and she shall have concluded a peace with France, we must then contend against her undivided strength. But what may be the event of the proposed application is still uncer- tain. We ought, therefore to be still upon our guard, and watchful to seize the first favorable opportunity to gain our object. In order to this, our union should be as perfect and lasting as possible. We propose that societies should be formed, in convenient districts, in every part of the western country, who shall preserve a correspondence upon this and every other subject of a general concern. By means of these societies we shall be enabled speedily to know what may be the result of our endeavors, to consult upon such further measures as may be necessary to preserve union, and, finally, by these means, to secure success. Remember that it is a common cause which ought to unite us, that cause is indubitably just, that ourselves and posterity are interested, that the crisis is favorable, and that it is only by union that the object can be achieved. The obstacles are great, and so ought to be our efforts. Adverse fortune may attend us, but it shall never dispirit us. We may for a while exhaust our wealth and strength, but until the all important object is procured, we pledge ourselves to you, and let us all pledge ourselves to each other, that our perseverance and our friendship will be inexhaustible. JOHN BRECKENRIDGE, Chairman. Test : — Thomas Todd, ? pi i Thomas Bodley, 5 ^^^'^^^• To the President and Congress of the United States of America. The remonstrance of the subscribers, citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, showeth : — That your remonstrants, and the other inhabitants of the United States, west of the Allegany and Apalachian mountains, are entitled, by 424 Addresses of the Democratic Society. 1790-95. nature and stipulation, to the free and undisturbed navigation of the river Mississippi ; and that, from the year 1783 to this day, they have been prevented uniformly, by the Spanish king, from exercising that right. Your remonstrants have observed, with concern, that the General Government, whose duty it was to have preserved that right, have used no effectual measures for its attainment; that even their tardy and inef- fectual negotiations have been veiled with the most mysterious secrecy ; that that secrecy is a violation of the political rights of the citizen, as it declares that the people are unfit to be entrusted with important facts relative to their rights, and that their servants may retain from them the knowledge of those facts. Eight years are surely sufficient for the dis- cussion of the most doubtful and disputable claim. The right to the navigation of the Mississippi admits neither of doubt nor dispute. Your remonstrants, therefore, conceive that the negotiations on that sub- ject have been unnecessarily lengthy, and they expect that it be de- manded categorically of the Spanish king whether he will acknowledge the right of the citizens of the United States to the free and uninter- rupted navigation of the River Mississippi^ and cause all obstructions, interruption, and hindrance to the exercise of that right, in future, to be withdrawn and avoided; that immediate answer thereto be required, and that such answer be the final period of all negotiations upon this subject. Your remonstrants further represent, that the encroachment of the Spaniards upon the territory of the United States, is a striking and melancholy proof of the situation to which our country will be reduced, if a tame policy should still continue to direct our councils. Your remonstrants join their voice to that of their fellow-citizens in the Atlantic Stales, calling for satisfaction for the injuries and insults offered to America; and. they expect such satisfaction shall extend to every injury and insult done or offered to any part of America, by Great Britain and Spain ; and as the detention of the posts, and the interrup- tion to the navigation of the Mississippi, are injuries and insults of the greatest atrocity, and of the longest duration, they require the most par- ticular attention to those subjects.* But the government had taken measures to prevent the proposed movements from being carried into effect. The Governor of Ken- tucky, Isaac Shelby ; Governor St. Clair ; and General Wayne, were all written to : and, by the preparation of troops, the renewal of Fort Massac, t the dissemination of just views among the people, and the request made of the French government that Genet should be recalled, the plans of that mischief-maker and his * American State Papers, xx. 929, 930. t See American Pioneer, ii. 220. — See on the whole subject, Marshall ii. 96 to 122. 1790-95. Genefs plans defeated. 425 agents were effectually defeated : the rulers of France disowned his acts — he was ordered back to Europe — and in May 1794 his western emissary was forced to write to the Democratic Society of Lexington in these words : — To the Democratic Society of Lexington. Citizens :— Events, unforeseen, the effects of causes which it is un- necessary here to develope, have stopped the march of two thousand brave Kentuckians, who, strong in their courage, in the justice of their rights, their cause, the general assent of their fellow-citizens, and con- vinced of the brotherly dispositions of the Louisianians, waited only for their orders to go, by the strength of their arms, take from the Spaniards the despotic usurpers of the empire of the Mississippi, ensure to their country the navigation of it, break the chains of the Americans, and their brethren the French, hoist up the flag of liberty in the name of the French republic, and lay the foundation of the prosperity and happiness of two nations situated so, and destined by nature to be but one, the most happy in the universe. ******** Accept, citizens, the farewell, not the last, of a brother who is deter- mined to sacrifice every thing in his power for the liberty of his country, and the prosperity of the generous inhabitants of Kentucky. Salut en la patrie, AUGUSTS LACHAISE.* A third topic relative to Kentucky, which we have now to notice as connected with the period we are treating of, is the Spanish] intrigue with Wilkinson, Sebastian, Innis, and Nicholas. * American State Papers, xx. 931. — This letter was followed by a meeting in Lexington, which denounced Washington and all who supported him, especially Jay. It also pro- posed a convention for the indefinite purpose of deliberating on the steps expedient to secure the just rights of the people : the proposition produced no result. — See Butler's Kentucky, 234. — Up to April, 1794, there were preparations still going on ; John S. Gano of Cincinnati, on the 8th or 9th of that month, passed through Lexington ; he found the Genet plan generally liked, cannon casting, ammunition subscribed, and heard of boats building at the Falls. It had been previously dropped for a time from want of funds. — See American State Papers, i. 459, 460. Notwithstanding Genet's defeat, M. Adet, the minister of France in 1796, appears to have sent emissaries into the West in the spring of that year, to renew the process of exciting disaffection to the Union- They were General CoUot and M. Warin. Informa- tion of the plan having been communicated to the executive, an agent was sent afler the Frenchmen to watch them, and counteract their purposes. This person saw Collot at Pittsburgh, and learned his plans; he was to visit Kentucky, Fort Washington, the Southwest, Vincennes, Kaskaskia and St. Louis ; he carried strong letters to Wilkinson, and relied especially on Sebastian. The government appears to have brought the whole plot to nought in silence. — (See the memoranda of Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of Treasury ; the letter of the agent employed; &c. &c. in George Gibbs' "Memoirs of the Administra- tions of Washington and John Adams. New York, 1846." Vol. i. 350 to 356.) 426 Charges against Wilkinson. 1790-95. In 1787, General Wilkinson had made his first trip to New Orleans ; in February, 1788, he returned to Kentucky , and the following year again visited the south, with which he continued to hold continued intercourse until 1791, when he began to take part in the Indian wars of the northwest. During this period, his operations were, to appearance, merely commercial, and the utmost reach of his plans, the formation of a kind of mercantile treaty with the Spanish pro\dnces, by which the navigation of the Mis- sissippi might be secured as a privilege, if not a right. We cannot enter into an examination of the mass of evidence brought forward in later times, (from 1807 to 1811,) to sustain the charge brought against Wilkinson of having received a pension from the Spanish government, in return for which he was to play the traitor to his country and effect a disunion of the States. In 1808, he was brought before a court of enquiry, and entirely acquitted of the charge ; and again, in 1811, he was tried before a court martial, and every particle of evidence that could be found by his most inveterate enemies, without regard to legal formalities, which the accused dispensed with, was gathered to overwhelm him ; but he was declared innocent by the court of every charge preferred against him. Nor does our own examination of the evidence lead us to doubt the correctness of the decision in his favor ; the chief witnesses who criminated him were of the worst character, and most ^^ndictive tempers,* and not a circumstance was fairly, clearly proved that could not be explained by the avowed mercan- tile relations which he succeeded in establishing with^the Spanish governors at New Orleans. Those governors may, very probably, have hoped to see his business connections turn into political ones, but there is no cause to think they ever did so.f * Depositions of George Mather and Wm. Wickoff, jr. in Wilkinson's Memoirs, ii. 103, 104. — Deposition of A. Ellicott, American State Papprs, xsi. S9. (I2th interrogation.) t The evidence in relation to Wilkinson is in American State Papers, xx, 704 to 713, 936 to 939 ; xxi. 79 to 127; in report of the committee of the House of Representatives, Washington, 1811 ; in " Proofs of the Corruption of General James Wilkinson, by Daniel Clark." See also appendix to Wilkinson's Memoirs, ii. — also his argument to the Court Martial, Memoirs, ii. 41 to 268. A letter in Dillon's Indiana, i. 412, from WUkinson to Captain Buntin, is worthy of notice, as a proof in favor of Wilkinson's intentions in 1797. For charges against him, see Memoirs, ii. 35 to 40. For sentence of Court of Inquiry, do. pp. 12. 13. For do Court Martial, do. pp. 565 to 576. The charges before the Court Martial and its sentence, are also in Niles' Register, i. 469 to 474. 1799-95. Sehasiian^s Intrigues. 427 Among the plans of the Spanish officials in Louisiana was one of encouraging emigration thither from the United States, and this had been fully disclosed to Wilkinson,* who furnished a list of probable emigrants, and interested himself generally in the matter. Among the persons recommended by him to Governor Miro, was Benjamin Sebastian, a lawyer of Kentucky, and in September, 1789, the Governor wrote to Sebastian relative to the proposed measure.! In that letter, the wish of Spain to establish friendly relations with the Ohio settlers was named, and an offer of certain commercial privileges held out. The communication thus opened with Sebastian w^as probably continued ; and when the Baron de Carondelet succeeded General Miro, he wrote to him in July, 1795, the following letter: New Orleans, July 16, 1795. Sir : — The confidence reposed in you by my predecessor. Brigadier General Miro, and your former correspondence with him, have induced me to make a communication to you highly interesting to the country in which you live and to Louisiana. His Majesty, being willing to open the navigation of the Mississippi to the people of the western country, and being also desirous to establish certain regulations, reciprocally beneficial to the commerce of both countries, has ordered me to proceed on the business, and to effect, in a way the most satisfactory to the people of the western country, his benevolent design. I have, therefore, made this communication to you, in expectation that you will procure agents to be chosen and fully empowered by the people of your country to negotiate with Colonel Gayoso on the subject, at New Madrid, whom I shall send there in October next, properly authorized for that purpose, with directions to continue in that place, or its vicinity, until the arrival of your agents. 1 am, by information, well acquainted with the character of some of the most respectable inhabitants of Kentucky, particulary of Innis, Nicholas, and Murray, to whom I wish you to communicate the pur- port of this address ; and, should you and those gentlemen think the object of it as important as I do, you will doubtless accede, without hesitation, to the proposition I have made of sending a delegation of your countrymen, sufficiently authorized to treat on a subject which so deeply involves the interest of both our countries. I remain, with every esteem and regard, sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, THE BARON OF CARONDELET.J * Memoirs, ii. 1 12. t See his letter, American State Papers, xx. 706. X American State Papers, xx. 926. 428 Power's Letter to Sebastian. 1790-95. Innis, Nicholas and Murray were consulted, and the result was a visit by Sebastian, first to New Madrid, where he conferred with Gayoso, and then to New Orleans, where he met the Baron him- self. Before, however, terms were agreed on, news came that the Federal Government had concluded a treaty with Spain, covering the whole subject, and the messenger, in 1796, returned to Ken- tucky.* During the summer of the next year, 1797, Thomas Power came to Kentucky from Louisiana, and sent Sebastian the following communication, which he in turn communicated to Innis and Nicholas, who sent through Sebastian a reply which we also give. His excellency, the Baron of Carondelet, commander-in-cbief and governor of his Catholic Majesty's provinces of West Florida, and Louisiana, having communications of importance, embracing the inte- rests of said provinces, and at the same time deeply affecting those of Kentucky, and the western country in general, to make to its inhabi- tants through the medium of the influential characters in this country, and judging it, in the present uncertain and critical attitude of politics, highly imprudent and dangerous to lay them on paper, has expressly commissioned and authorized me to submit the following proposals to the consideration of Messrs. S., N,, L, and M.,t and also of such other gentlemen, as may be pointed out by them, and to receive from them their sentiments and determination on the subject. 1. The above mentioned gentlemen are immediately to exeit all their influence in impressing on the minds of the inhabitants of the western country, a conviction of the necessity of their withdrawing and separa- ting themselves from the Federal Union, and forming an independent government, wholly unconnected with that of the Atlantic States. To prepare and dispose the people for such an event, it will be necessary that the most popular and eloquent writers in this State should, in well- timed publications, expose, in the most striking point of view, the incon- veniences and disadvantages, that a longer connexion with, and depen- dence on the Atlantic States, must inevitably draw upon them, and the great and innumerable difficulties in which they will probably be en- tangled if they do not speedily recede from the Union : the benefits they will certainly reap from a secession, ought to be pointed out in the most forcible and powerful manner ; and the danger of permitting the federal troops to take possession of the posts on the Mississippi ; and thus forming a- cordon of fortified places around them, must be particularly expatiated upon. In consideration of gentlemen's devoting their time * Deposition of Innis. (American State Papers, xx. 925 to 927.) t Sebastian, Nicholas, Innis, and Murray. 1790-95. Project of Spain to dismember the Union. 429 and talents to this object, his excellency the Baron of Carondelet, will appropriate the sum of one hundred thousand dollars to their use, which shall be paid in drafts on the royal treasury at New Orleans ; or if more convenient, shall be conveyed at the expense of his Catholic Majesty, into this country, and held at their disposal. Moreover, should such persons as shall be instrumental in promoting the views of his Catholic Majesty, hold any public employment, and in consequence of taking an active part in endeavoring to effect a secession, shall lose their employ- ment — a compensation equal at least to the emoluments of their office, shall be made to them, by his Catholic Majesty, let their efforts be crowned with success, or terminate in disappoinment. 2. Immediately after the declaration of independence. Fort Massac should be taken possession of by the troops of the new government, which shall be furnished by his Catholic Majesty without loss of time, together with twenty fieldpieces, with their carriages, and every neces- sary appendage, including powder, ball, &c., together with a number of small arms and ammunition, sufficient to equip the troops that it shall be judged expedient to raise. The whole to be transported at his ex- pense, to the already named fort Massac. His Catholic Majesty will further supply the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the raising and maintaining the said troops, which sum shall also be conveyed to and delivered at Fort Massac. 3. The northern boundary of his Catholic Majesty's provinces of East and West Florida shall be designated by a line commencing on the Mississippi at the mouth of the river Yazoo, extending due east to the River Confederation, or Tombigbee : provided that all his Catholic Ma- jesty's forts, posts, and settlements on the Confederation or Tombigbee are included in the south side of such a line, but should any of his Majesty's forts, posts, or settlements fall to the north of said line, then the northern boundary of his Majesty's provinces of East and West Florida, shall be designated by a line beginning at the same point on the Mississippi, and drawn in such a direction as to meet the River Con- federation, or Tombigbee, six miles to the north of the most northern Spanish post, fort, or settlement on the said river. All the lands north of that line shall be considered as constituting a part of the territory of the new government, saving that small tract of land at the Chickasaw Bluffs, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi ceded to his Majesty by the Chickasaw nation in a formal treaty concluded on the spot in the year 1795, between his excellency Senor Don Manuel Gayoso de Le- mos, governor of Natchez, and Augleakabee and some other Chickasaw chiefs ; which tract of land his Majesty reserves for himself. The eastern boundary of the Floridas shall be hereafter regulated. 4. His Catholic Majesty will, in case the Indian nations south of the Ohio, should declare war or commit hostilities against the new govern- 430 Project of Spain to dismember ike Union. 1790-95. ment, not only join and assist it in repelling its enemies, but if said government shall at any future time esteem it useful to reduce said In- dian nations, extend its dominion over them, and compel them to submit themselves to its constitution and laws, his Majesty will heartily concur and co-operate witli the new government in the most effectual manner in attaining this desirable end. 5. His Catholic Majesty will not either directly or indirectly inter- fere in the framing of the constitution or laws which the new govern- ment shall think fit to adopt ; nor will he at any time, by any means whatever, attempt to lessen the independence of the said government, or endeavor to acquire an undue influence in it, but will, in the manner that shall hereafter be stipulated by treaty, defend and support it in preserving its independence. The preceding proposals, are the outlines of a provisional treaty, which his excellency the Baron of Carondelet is desirous of entering into with the inhabitants of the western country, the moment they shall be in a situation to treat for themselves. Should they not meet entirely with your approbation, and should you wish to make any alterations in, or additions to them, I shall on my return, if you think proper to com- municate them to me, lay them before his excellency, who is animated with a sincere and ardent desire to foster this promising and rising infant country, and at the same time, promote and fortify the interests of his beneficent and royal master, in securing by a generous and disinterest- ed conduct, the gratitude of a just, sensible, and enlightened people. The important and unexpected events that have taken place in Europe since the ratification of the treaty concluded on the 27th of October, 1795, between his Catholic Majesty and the United States of America, having convulsed the general system of politics in that quarter of the globe, and wherever its influence is extended, causing a collision of interests between nations formerly living in the most perfect union and harmony, and directing the political views of some States towards ob- jects the most remote from their former pursuits, but none being so com- pletely unhinged and disjointed as the cabinet of Spain, it may be con- fidently asserted, without incurring the reproach of presumption, that his Catholic Majesty will not carry the above-mentioned treaty into execution ; nevertheless the thorough knowledge I have of the disposi- tion of the Spanish Government justifies me in saying that, so far from its being his Majesty's wish to exclude the inhabitants of this western country from the free navigation of the Mississippi, or withhold from them any of the benefits stipulated for them by tlie treaty, it is positively his intention, so soon as they shall put it in his power to treat with them, by declaring themselves independent of the Federal Goverraent, and establishing one of their own, to grant them privileges far' more extensive, give them a decided preference over the Adantic States in his commercial connexions with them, and place them in a situation in- 1790-95. Reply of Innis and JVicholas. 431 finitely more advantageous, in every point of view, than that in which they would find themselves were the treaty to be carried into eflect. THOMAS POWER. REPLY. Sir : — We have seen the communication made by you to Mr. Sebas- tian. In answer thereto, we declare unequivocally, that we will not be concerned either directly or indirectly, in any attempt that may be made to separate the western country from the United States. That whatever part we may at any time be induced to take in the politics of our country, that her welfare will be our only inducement, and that we will never receive any pecuniary, or any other reward, for any personal exertions made by us, to promote that welfare. The free navigation of the Mississippi must always be the favorite object of the inhabitants of the western country ; they cannot be con- tented without it; and will not be deprived of it longer than necessity shall compel them to submit to its being withheld from them. We flatter ourselves that every thing will be set right, by the govern- ments of the two nations ; but if this should not be the case, it appears to us that it must be the policy of Spain to encourage by every possible means, the free intercourse with the inhabitants of the western country, as this will be the most efiicient means to conciliate their good will, and to obtain without hazard, and at reduced prices, those supplies which are indispensably necessary to the Spanish Government and its subjects.* Whether Sebastian signed this reply, is not known; but upon proof that he had for years afterwards received two thousand dol- lars annually as a pension from Spain for services rendered,! it was unanimously adjudged by the House of Representatives in Kentucky, on the 6th of December, 1806, that he had been guilty, while holding the place of Judge of the Court of Appeals, of car- rying on a criminal intercourse with the agents of the Spanish Government, and disgracing his country for pay 4 Before this decision, however, Sebastian had resigned his place, and thence- forward was lost to the councils of the State. || * American State Papers, ss. 928, 929. — In August, 1796, Spain allied herself with France. In December, France quarrelled with the United States, so that Spain at the time of Power's visit in 1797, was still holding the posts east of the Mississippi, which, by the treaty of 1795, were to be given up, and was in a half hostile attitude towards the United States. t Testimony of Thomas Bullitt, Charles Wilkins, &c. (American State Papers, xx. 924.) I See entire documents, American State Papers, xx. 922 to 934. — Vote of the House. Do. 933. Also, the account in Marshall, ii. 377 to 384. II See Hall's Sketches, ii. 28 to 35. The writer appears to refer entirely to the transac- tions of 1795-6, and to be unaware of the propositions made in 1797. The best argument in Sebastian's favor is that put so well by Wilkinson in his own defence; (Memoirs, ii. 65. 66.) viz: — no evidence was offered to show that he ever did any thing to favor disunion j he never earned his pay. 432 Factions in the United States. 1790-95. We have so far said nothing of those political parties which divided the United States during the administration of Washing- ton ; for though it is not to be doubted that the contests of those parties gave Genet cause to trust in his plans of conquest, and supported the hopes of Sebastian and his Spanish employers, yet their operations were not directly dependent upon the factions which rent the country. We have now, however, to speak of an event that derived its importance from its real or supposed con- nection with those factions, and which it seems proper to introduce by a brief sketch of their origin and character; we refer to the popular movement in western Pennsylvania, growing out of the excise on domestic spirits; commonly known as the whiskey in- surrection. When the united colonies of Great Britain had won their independence, and the rule of George the 3d over them ended, the question, of course, arose as to the nature of the gov- ernment which was to succeed. Two fears prevailed among the people of the freed Provinces. On the one hand a tendency to monarchy and ultimate tyranny, was dreaded : it was thought that a foreign despot had been warred with in vain, if by the erection of a strong central or Federal power the foundations of domestic despotism were laid instead ; the sovereignty of the several States, balancing one another, and each easily controlled by the voice of the people was, with this party of thinkers, to be the security of the freedom that had been achieved. In Europe, republicanism had been overthrown by the centralizing process which had sub- stituted the great monarchies for the Feudal system, and the Ital- ian and Flemish commonwealths ; and in America the danger, it was thought, would be of too great a concentration of power in the hands of a central Federal sovereignty.* While these views prevailed among one portion of the American people, another por- tion dreaded the excess of popular democratic passions, tending constantly to anarchy. To this party a strong central power seem- ed essential, not only for financial and commercial purposes, but also to restrain the inevitable disposition of popular governments to the abandonment of all law, all reverence, and all social unity. History and reflection, in short, showed men on the one side, that * Governor Harrison, of Virginia, said even of the Constitution, as adopted, that it "must sooner or later establish a tyranny not inferior to the triumvirate or centumviri of Rome." See his letter, Sparks' Washington, ix. 267, note. George Mason also said of it, that it would cause the Government to "commence in a moderate aristocracy," and would finally " produce a monarchy, or a corrupt oppressive aristocracy." See his paper. Sparks' Washington, ix. 547. See also Elliott's Debates, ii. 52. 213. Wasliington's own 1790-95. Federal and Anti-Federal Views. 433 human rulers are readily converted into despots ; on the other, that human subjects were impatient of even wholesome control, and readily converted into licentious, selfish anarchists.* When at length the business sufferings of the country, and the worthlessness of the old confederacy, led to the formation of the present constitu- tion, the two bodies of whom we have spoken, were forced to compromise, t and while the strong Executive, and complete cen- tralization of Hamilton, Jay and Adams had to be abandoned by them and their friends, the complete independence of the States, and the corresponding nullity of Congress, which Patrick Henry, Mason, and Harrison preferred, had also to begiven up, or greater evils follow. In this same spirit of compromise upon which our constitution rested, Washington framed his cabinet, and directed his administration, and it seemed possible that in time the bitter- ness of feeling which had shown itself before and during the dis- cussion of the great Bond of Union, would die away. But the difficulties of the first administration were enormous, such as no man but Washington could have met with success, and even he could not secure the unanimity he wished for.| Among those diflRculties none were greater than the payment of the public debt, and the arrangement of a proper system of finance. The party which dreaded anarchy, which favored a strong central rule, an efficient Federal Government, — the Federalists, feeling that the whole country, as such, had contracted debts, felt bound in honor and honesty to do every thing to procure their payment ; it also felt that the future stability and power of the Federal Government viewsonthepointreferredtoin the text, may be found in the same volume, pp. 11. 167.187. 203. 211. 258 : in a letter to Doctor Gordon, in the North American Review, vol. xxv. p. 254. (October, 1827.) For the views, of Hamilton, see North American Review, xxv. 266. Journal of Convention at Phil- adelphia, May 14, 1787, p. 130. Jay, " Sparks' Washington, ix. 510. North American Review, xxv. 263. Henry, " Sparks' Washington, ix. 266, note Elliott's Debates, ii. 64. 71. 139. 147, &c. Madison, " Sparks' Washington, ix. 516. North American Review, xxv. 264. Jefferson, " Sparks' Washington, x. 518 to 526. North American Review, xxv. 267 to 269. Jefferson's Writings, ii. 449. Knox, " North American Review, xxv. 264. * See Washington's opinions relative to the wickedness of the popular leaders. Sparks' Washington, ix. 156. 167. 210. t Jefferson rightly called the constitution " an accommodation of interests." Jefferson's Works, ii. 449. \ See Sparks' Washington, x. 515 to 526. 28 434 Federal and Anti-Federal Views. 1790-95. depended greatly upon the establishment of its credit at the outset of its career. The dreaders of centralization, the anti-Federalists, on the other hand, favoring State sovereignty, and wishing but a slight national union, neither desired the creation of a national credit, nor felt the obligation of a national debt in the same degree as their opponents, and feared the creation of a moneyed aristocracy by speculations in the public stocks. When, therefore, Mr. Ham- ilton, upon whom it devolved, as Secretary of the Treasury, to offer a plan for liquidating the debts of the confederation, attempt- ed the solution of the financial problem, he was certain to dis- please one party or the other. In generalities compromises had been found possible, but in details they were not readily admitted. Hamilton, moreover, was one of the most extreme friends of cen- tralization, and any measure emanating from him was sure to be resisted. When he brought forward his celebrated series of financial measures, accordingly, the whole strength of the two divisions of which we have been speaking, appeared for and against his plans. And it is to be noted, that the question w^as not a mere question of Finance ; it involved the vital principles for and against which the Federal and Anti-federal parties were struggling. The former actually hoped by means of the Funding and Bank systems, to found a class whose interests would so bind them to the Government as to give it permanency,* w^hile their opponents actually anticipated the formation of a moneyed aristo- cracy, which would overthrow the power and liberties of the peo- ple ; they felt they were " sold to stock-holders," and like the Roman debtors condemned to slavery, f In the West the opponents of the Central Government Avere nu- merous. Its formation had been resisted, and its measures were almost all unpopular. The Indian War was a cause of complaint, because Harmar and St. Clair had been defeated ;J the army was a cause of complaint, because it was the beginning of a system of standing armies. The funding system was hated because of its injustice, inasmuch as it aided speculation, and because it would lead to the growth of a favored class ; the western posts were held * See letter of Oliver Wolcott, dated March 27, 1790, in Gibbs i. 43. t Address of Democratic Club of Wythe county, Virginia, dated July 4, 1794 ; it is in the Boston Independent Chronicle of August, 11th, 1794. Jefferson's letter to Washington. (Sparks' Washington, x. 519-521.) \ In the Democratic newspapers of the time, the Funding system, the Excise, the Bank, and the Indian war are all equally condemned. See, for example, a series of letters on Hamilton's financial measures in the Independent Chronicle of Boston, July, August and September, 1794. '1790-95. First Steps in Opposition to the Excise. 435 by England, the Mississippi closed by Spain, and the frontier ravaged by the savages, and against all the Federal Government did what? Nothing.* So said the leaders of popular feeling. It ^ was not strange, therefore, that the people of western Pennsylvania, especially those of foreign birth and descent, should object to the payment of the most unpopular kind cf tax for the support of a government which they disliked and had no faith in. Unable readily to reach a market with their produce, they concentrated it into whiskey,! and upon this, while all other agricultural wealth was untouched, the hated tax gatherer was sent to lay his excise. Nor was it the producer only who complained ; the consumers also felt aggrieved by the duty laid upon domestic spirits, for they were the common drink of the nation ;f the star of temperance had not then arisen. It was in December, 1790, that General Hamilton advised the excise on spirits ;1| upon the 3d of the ensuing March the law W' as passed ;§ and instantly the spirit of opposition showed itself. At first this opposition was confined to efforts to discourage persons from holding offices connected with the excise ; next asso- ciations were formed of those who were ready to "forbear" com- pliance with the law ; H but as men talked with one another, and the excise became more and more identified with the tyranny of Federalism, stronger demonstrations were inevitable, and upon the 27th of July, 1791, a meeting was called at Brownsville, (Red- -''-^ stone,) to consider the growing troubles of the western district of Pennsylvania.** This meeting, which was attended by influential and able men, agreed to a gathering of representatives from the five counties included in the fourth survey under the law in ques- tion, ff to be held at Washington, upon the 23d of August. The gathering took place, and we extract from Hamilton's report, of August, 1794, the following sentence in relation to it : *The abandonment of the works at Presquile (see ante) excited the western Pennsyl- vanians especially. t American Pioneer, ii. 215. A horse could carry only four bushels of rye, but the 'whiskey made from twenty-four. I Such was the language of the Pittsburg meeting of August, 1792. H American State Papers, vii. 64. § American State Papers, vii. 110. f American State Papers, xx. 107. ** American State Papers, xx. 107. t+ These counties were Washington, Alleghany, Westmoreland, Fayette and Bedford. (Letter of George Clymer, supervisor of the District in Gibbs, i. 148. See American ^tatePapers, vii. 110.) 436 Infiammatory Resolutions. 1790-95, This meeting passed some intern.ediale resolutions, whicli were af- terwards printed in the Pittsburgh Gazette, containing a strong censure on the law, declaring that any person who had accepted or might accepi an office under Congress, in order to carry it into effect, should be con- sidered as inimical to the interests of the country; and recommending to the citizens of Washington county to treat every person who had accepted, or might thereafter accept, any such office, with contempt, and absolutely to refuse all kind of communication or intercourse with the officers, and to withhold from them all aid, support, or comfort. Not content with this vindictive proscription of those who might esteem it their duty, in the capacity of officers, to aid in the execution of the constitutional laws of the land, the meeting proceeded to accumu- late topics of crimination of tlie Governmont, though foreign to each other; authorizing by this zeal for censure a suspicion that they were actuated not merely by the dislike of a particular law, but by a disposi- tion to render the Government itself unpopular and odious. This meeting, in further prosecution of their plan, deputed three of their members to meet delegates from the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, and Alleghany, on the first Tuesday of September following, for the purpose of expressing the sense of the people of those counties in address to the Legislature of the United States upon the subject of the excise law and other grievances.* Here, for the first time, the connection of the antagonism to the Excise, with other topics, was brought forward, and a political character given to the movement, by a general assault upon the measures of the Federal Government.! This assault assumed a yet more distinctive character at a subsequent meeting of delegates held at Pittsburg, upon the 7th of September ; at which the sala- ries of the Federal officers ; the interest paid upon the national debt ; the want of distinction between the original holders of that debt and those who had bought it at a discount; and the creation of a United States Bank were all denounced in common with the tax on whiskey.! At these meetings all was conducted vAi\\ pro- priety ; and the resolutions adopted gave no direct countenance to violence; but when did the leaders of a community, its legislators, judges and clergy, — ever express, in any manner, however quiet, their utter disregard of law,|| without a corresponding expression by the masses, if uneducated, in acts of violence ? It was not * American State Papers, xx. 107. f American State Papers, xx. 107. % American State Papers, xx. 107. jThe resolution to give no aid of any kind to the excise officers, involved treachery to that law wliich requires us to assist in defending life and property against illegal force. 1790-95. Violence Begins. 437 strange, therefore, that upon the day previous to the meeting last named, the collector for the counties of Alleghany and Washington was attacked: A party of men, armed and disguised, waylaid him at a place on Pigeon Creek, in Washington county, seized, tarred and feathered him, cut off his hair, and deprived him of his horse, obliging him to travel on foot a considerable distance in that mortifying and painful situation. The case was brought before the district court of Pennsylvania, out of which processes issued against John Robertson, John Hamilton, and Thomas McComb, three of the persons concerned in the outrage. The serving of these processes was confided by the then marshal, Clement Biddle, to his deputy, Joseph Fox, who, in the month of Oc- tober, went into Alleghany county for the purpose of serving them. The appearances and circumstances which Mr. Fox observed himself in the course of his journey, and learned afterwards upon his arrival at Pittsburgh, had the effect of deterring him from the service of the pro- cesses, and unfortunately led to adopt the injudicious and fruitless expedient of sending them to the parties by a private messenger, under cover. The deputy's report to the marshal states a number of particulars, evincing a considerable fermentation in the part of the country to which he was sent, and inducing a belief, on his part, that he could not with safety have executed the processes. The marshal, transmitting this report to the district attorney, makes the following observations upon it : "I am sorry to add that he (the deputy) found the people, in general, in the western part of the State, and particularly beyond the Alleghany Mountains, in such a ferment on account of the act of Congress for laying a duty on distilled spirits, and so much opposed to the execution of the said act, and from a variety of threats to himself personally, (al- though he took the utmost precaution to conceal his errand,) that he was not only convinced of the impossibility of serving the process, but that any attempt to effect it would have occasioned the most violent opposi- tion from the greater part of the inhabitants ; and he declares that, if he had attempted it, he believes he should not have returned alive. I spared no expense nor pains to have the process of the court execu- ted, and have not the least doubt that my deputy would have accomplish- ed it, if it could have been done." The reality of the danger to the deputy was countenanced by the opinion of General Neville, the inspector of the revenue, a man who before had given, and since has given, numerous proofs of a steady and firm temper ; and what followed is a further confirmation of it. The person who had been sent with the processes was seized, whip- ped, tarred, and feathered ; and, after having his money and horse taken 438 Farther Excesses. 1790-95». from him, was blindfolded and tied in the woods ; in which condition he remained for five hours.* These intemperate expressions of their feelings by word and deed, startled the government, and puzzled its executive officers : it was determined, however, to await the influence of time, thought, information, and leniency, and to attempt by a reconsideration of the law at the earliest possible moment, to do away any real cause of complaint which might exist. f But popular fury once aroused is not soon allayed ; the worst passions of the same people whO' sent out the murderers of the Moravian Indians in 1782^ had been, excited, and excess followed excess. Some time in October, 1791, an unhappy man, of the name of Wil- son, a stranger in the county, and manifestly disordered in his intellects, imagining himself to be a collector of the revenue, or invested with some trust in relation to it, was so unlucky as to make inquiries con- cerning distillers who had entered their stills, giving out that he was to travel through the United States, to ascertain and report to Congress the number of stills, &c. This man was pursued by a party in disguise ; taken out of his bed ; carried about five miles back, to a smith's shop ; stripped of his clothes, which were afterwards burnt; and, having been himself inhumanly burnt in several places with a heated iron, was tarred and feathered, and about day-light dismissed, naked, wounded, and otherwise in a very suffering condition. These particulars are com- municated in a letter from the inspector of the revenue, of the 17lh of November, who declares that he had then himself seen the unfortunate maniac, the abuse of whom, as he expressed it, exceeded description, and was sufficient to make human nature shudder. The affair is the more extraordinary, as persons of weight and consideration in that county are understood to have been actors in it, and as the symptoms of insanity were, during the whole time of inflicting the punishment, ap- parent; the unhappy sufferer displaying the heroic fortitude of a man who conceived himself to be a martyr to the discharge of some impor- tant duty. Not long after, a person of the name of Roseberry underwent the humiliating punishment of tarring and feathering with some aggrava- tions, for having in conversation hazarded the very natural and just, but unpalatable remark, that the inhabitants of that county could not reason- ably expect protection from a Government whose laws they so strenu- ously opposed. The audacity of the perpetrators of these excesses was so great, that an armed banditti ventured to seize and carry off two persons who were * American State Papers, xx. 107. t American State Papers, xx. 108. 1790-95. Pittsburgh Meeting of Mgust 21stj 1192. 439 witnesses against the rioters in the case of ¥/ilson, in order to prevent their giving testimony of the riot in a court then sitting, or about to sit.* Notwithstanding the course of the western people, the Federal Government, during the session of 1791 and '92 proceeded in the discussion of the obnoxious statute ; and upon the 8th of May, 17921 passed an amendatory act, making such changes as were calculated to allay the angry feelings that had been excited, ex- cept in so far as they were connected with political animosities, and which in most districts produced the intended result. But in western Pennsylvania opposition continued unabated, and it was announced that the inspectors who, by the new law were to be ap- pointed for all the counties, should not be allowed to open their offices : nor was this a mere threat ; no buildings could be obtained for the use of the United States ; and when, at length, in Washing- ton, one Captain Faulkner dared to agree that a building of his should be occupied by the inspector, he was waylaid by a mob, a knife drawn upon him, and was threatened with scalping, loss of property by fire, and other injuries, if he did not revoke his agree- ment ; so that upon the 20th of August, under the influence of fear, he did actually break his contract, and upon the next day adver- tised what he had done in the Pittsburg paper.f On the day of this advertisement, in the same town in which it appeared, a meeting was held, headed by members of the State Legislature, II judges, clergymen, and other leading characters. This meeting entered into resolutions not less exceptionable than those of its predecessors. The preamble suggests that a tax on spiritu- ous liquors is unjust in itself and oppressive upon the poor ; that inter- nal taxes upon consumption must, in the end, destroy the liberties of every country in which they are introduced ; that the law in question, from certain local circumstances, wliich are specified, would bring immediate distress and ruin upon the western country ; and concludes with the senti- ment, that they think it tlieir duty to persist in remonstrances to Congress, and in every other legal measure that may obstruct the operation of the law. The resolutions then proceed, first, to appoint a committee to prepare and cause to be presented to Congress, an address, stating objections to • American State Papers, sx. 108. + See Hamilton's report upon the objections to the Excise ; made March 5th, 1792. American State Papers, vii. 150. :j: American State Papers, xx. 108. II Albert Gallatin was secretary of this meeting. The chairman of the committee was David Bradford, who was the leader in the more violent scenes throughout. For his views, see a letter from him in the United States Gazette, of September 9, 1794 ; also in Bracken- ridge, i. 38. See also, Clymer's letter in Gibbs i. 248. 440 Measures adopted by Government. 1790-95. the law, and praying for its repeal : secondly, to appoint committees of correspondence for Washington, Fayette, and Alleghany, charged to correspond together, and with such committees as should be appointed for the same purpose in the county of Westmoreland, or with any com- mittees of a similar nature that might be appointed in other parts of the United Slates; and, also, if found necessary, to call together either general meetings of the people in their respective counties, or confe- rences of the several committees ; and lastly, to declare that they will in future consider those who hold offices lor the collection of the duty as unworthy of their friendship ; that they will have no intercourse nor dealings with them, will withdraw from them every assistance, withhold all the comforts of life which depend upon those duties that as men and fellow-citizens we owe to each other, and will upon all occasions treat them with contempt ; earnestly recommending it to the people at large to follow the same line of conduct towards them.* When notice of this meeting, and of the means used to intimi- date Faulkner, was given to the government,! Washington issued a proclamation, dated September 15th ; the supervisor of the dis- trict was sent to the seat of trouble to learn the true state of facts, and to collect evidence;! while the Attorney-general was instruc- ted to enquire into the legality of the proceedings of the Pittsburgh meeting, with a view to the indictment of the leaders. || Mr. Randolph, however, felt so much doubt as to the character of the meeting of August 21, that no prosecutions on that score were instituted ; and in serving process upon two persons said to have been among the assailants of Faulkner, either an error was made, or the accusation proved to be false, which caused that matter also to be dropped by the government. § It was then proposed to attempt a gradual suppression of the resistance to the law, by adopting these measures: 1st, the prosecution of all distillers who were not licensed, when it could be done with certainty of success, and without exciting violence ; 2nd, the seizure of all illegal spirits on their way to market, when it could be done without leading to outbreaks ; 3rd, by care that only spirits which had paid duty were bought for the use of the army. The influence of these measures was in part lost in consequence of the introduction of the whiskey * American State Papers, xx. 108. tSee Sparks' Washington, x. 291. 526 to 533. ^ See his letter on the subject, Gibbs, i. 148. He found Washington the worst county. H Sparks' Washington, x. 305. § American State Papers, xx. 109 — Marshall's Washington, v. 365. — Findley, in his his- tory of the Insurrection, p. 71, says the accusation was false, and the evidence perjured* 1790-95. Action of the Democratic Societies. 441 that paid no tax into the Northwestern Territory, over which some of the laws relative to the matter did not extend ; but still their effect was decided : in November, 1792, Wolcott wrote that the opposition was confined to a small part of Pennsylvania, and would soon cease;* and through the whole of 1793, — although the Col- lector for Fayette county was obliged by force to give up his books and papers, and to promise a resignation ; while the Inspec- tor of Alleghany was burnt in effigy before the magistrates, and no notice of the act taken by them ; and although when warrants were issued for the rioters in the former case, the Sheriff" of the county refused to execute them, — yet obedience to the excise became more and more general, and many of the leading distillers, yielding to the suggestions of pecuniary interest, for the first time entered their stills, and abandoned the party of Bradford and his coadju- tors, f This abandonment, the political antagonists of the law by no means relished ; still even they might have been subdued but for the introduction, at that very juncture, of Mr. Genet's famous system of Democratic Societies, which, like the Jacobin Club of Paris, were to be a power above the government. Genet reached the United States, April 8th ; on the I8th of May, he was pre- sented to the President ; and by the 30th of that month the Democratic Society of Philadelphia was organized. | By means of this, its affiliated bodies, and other societies based upon it, or suggested by it, the French minister, his friends and imitators, waged their war upon the adminisiration, and gave new energy to every man who, on any ground, was dissatisfied with the laws of his country. Among those dissatisfied, the enemies of the excise were of course to be numbered ; and there can be little or no doubt that to the agency of societies formed in the disaffected districts, after the plan of those founded by Genet, the renewed and exces- sive hostility of the western people to the tax upon spirits is to be ascribed. II The proper Democratic Societies, when the crisis came, disapproved of the violence committed, § and so did Gallatin * Gibbsj i. 83. t American State Papers, xx. 40. :j: Marshall's Washington, v. 426, note. y See Sparks' Washington, x. 429, 437, &c. The disposition to ascribe the insurrec- tion directly to Genet's Societies, was natural enough in Washington and his friends ; but we think the evidence referred to on page 444, and in the note below, disproves the suspicion of any design, on the part of the proper Democratic Societies, to produce anarchy or separation of the Union. § U. S. Gazette, August 26, September 1, September 6,&c., 1794. — Boston Independent Chronicle, August 18, 1794, October 6, 1794. 442 Fartlier Outrages in 1794. 1790-95. and many others ; but, however much they may have disliked an appeal to force, even from the outset, their measures, their extra- vagancies, and political fanaticism, were calculated to result in violence and nothing else. Through 1793, as we have said, the law seemed gaining, but with the next January the demon was loosed again. William Richmond, who had given information against some of the rioters, in the affair of Wilson, had his barn burnt, with all the grain and hay which it contained ; and the same thing happened to Robert Shawhan, a distiller, who had been among the first to comply with the law, and who had always spoken favorably of it ; but in neither of these instances, (which happened in the county of Alleghany) though the pre- sumptions were violent, was any positive proof obtained. The inspector of the revenue, in a letter of the 27th of February, writes that he had received information that persons, living near the dividing line of Alleghany and Washington, had thrown out threats of tarring and feathering one William Cochran, a complying distiller, and of burning his distillery ; and that it had also been given out that in three weeks there would not be a house standing in Alleghany county of any person who had complied with the laws ; in consequence of which, he had been induced to pay a visit to several leading individuals in that quarter, as well to ascertain the truth of the information as to endeavor to avert the attempt to execute such threats. It appeared afterwards, that, on his return home, he had been pursued by a collection of disorderly persons, threatening, as they went along, vengeance against him. On their way, these men called at the house of James Kiddoe, who had recently complied with the laws, broke into his sUU-house, fired several balls under his still, and scattered fire over and about the house. In May and June new violences were committed. James Kiddoe, the person above mentioned, and William Cochran, another complying dis- tiller, met with repeated injury to their property. Kiddoe had parts of his grist-mill at different times carried away ; and Cochran suffered more material injuries. His still was destroyed; his saw-mill was rendered useless, by the taking away of the saw ; and his grist-mill so injured as to require to be repaired, at considerable expense. At the last visit a note in writing was left, requiring him to publish what he had suffered in the Pittsburgh Gazette, on pain of another visit, in which he is threatened, in figurative but intelligible terms, with the destruction of his property by fire. Thus adding to the profligacy of doing wanton injuries to a fellow-citizen the tyranny of compelling him be the publisher of his wrongs. June being the month for receiving annual entries of stills, endeavors 1790-95. Offenders to he Tned at Philadelphia. 44S were used to open offices in Westmoreland and Washington, where it it had been hitherto found impracticable- With much pains and diffi- culty, places were procured for the purpose. That in Westmoreland was repeatedly attacked in the night by armed men, who frequently fired upon it ; but, according to a report which has been made to this Department, it was defended with so much courage and perseverance by John Wells, an auxiliary officer, and Philip Ragan, the owner of the house, as to have been maintained during the remainder of the month. That in Washington, after repeated attempts, was suppressed. The first attempt was confined to pulling down the sign of the office, and threats of future destruction ; the second efi'ected the object in the fol- lowing mode : About twelve persons, armed and painted black, in the night of the 6th of June, broke into the house of John Lynn, where the office was kept, and, after having treacherously seduced him to come down stairs, and put himself in their power, by a promise of safety to himself and his house, they seized and tied him ; threatened to hang him ; took him to a retired spot in a neighboring wood, and, there, after cutting off his hair, tarring and feathering him, swore him never again to allow the use of his house for an office, never to disclose their names, and never again to have any sort of agency in aid of the excise : having done which, they bound him naked to a tree, and left him in that situa- tion till morning, when he succeeded in extricating himself. Not con- tent with this, the malcontents, some days after, made him another visit, pulled down part of his house, and piit him in a situation to be obiged to become an exile from his own home, and to find an asylum else- where.* Even these acts, however, were followed by nothing on the part of the government more stringent than the institution, in the June following, of several suits against the rioters, and also against the non-complying distillers ; to serve process in which the Marshal of the United States himself visited the w-est. This led to the catastrophe. These suits were in the United States Court, which sat east of the mountains, where the accused must of course be tried. But the seizure of offenders to be tried out of their own neighborhood, was opposed to the feelings of the Americans, and to the principles of that English law upon which they had relied through the discussions which preceded the Revolution. The federal government, it was said, in taking men to Philadelphia,! * American State Papers, xx. 110. + The writs were there returnable, in the District Court of the United States. (Findley^ 74.) There was needless excitement caused by this, as the United States Courts had been authorised to sit near the troubled district, and the State Courts to try revenue cases. (Findley, 73.) 444 Mob gather about Jieville's House. 1790-95. to be tried for alledged misdemeanors, was doing what the British did in carrying Americans beyond the sea. Then was shown, as we conceive, the power of those societies to which we have referred. ' In February, 1794, a society had been formed at Mingo creek, consisting of the militia of that neighborhood, the same per- sons who led in all future excesses.* In April a second associa- tion of the same character, and a regular Democratic Club, were formed in the troublesome district. In the latter, nothing was done in relation to the excise, so far as is known,! but in the two first-named bodies, there is reason to believe that the worst spirit of the French clubs was naturalized ; the Excise and the Govern- ment thoroughly canvassed ; and rebellion, disunion and blood- shed, sooner or later made familiar to the minds of all.:}: It may be readily understood that under such circumstances, great excitement was likely to prevail upon slight provocation. Notwithstanding, the Marshal was suffered to serve his writs unresisted, until, when he went with the last process in his hands, he unwisely took with him the Inspector of the county, General John Neville, a man once very popular, but who had been, as men considered, bought up by the Government, and had hence become exceedingly hateful to the populace. || After serving this process, the Marshal and Inspector were followed by a crowd, and a gun was fired, though without doing any injury. § The Marshal returned to Pittsburgh and the Inspector to his own house, but it being noised abroad that both were at General Neville's, a number of militia-men who were gathered under the United States law, agreed the next morning to pay the Inspec- tor a visit. For some time, Neville had been looking for an attack, knowing his unpopularity', and had armed his negroes and barricaded his windows.H An attack upon his house, with a view to a destruction of his papers, had probably been in contempla- tion, and those who gathered on the morning of the 16th of July, were determined, we presume, to carry the proposed destruction * Brackenridge's Incidents, pp. 25. 148. + Findley, 166 — Brackenridge, iii. 25. % See the accounts given by Brackenridge of the murderous spirit which filled the ignorant and excited country people. II Neville had been an opposer of a State Excise, which had previously existed : (see Brackenridge iii. p. 1, &c. :) he had taken the place of Inspector, with the statement that he did not care what people thought ; — he should have an independent salary of six hundred ; he was understood to mean pounds, but really meant dollars, (Findley, 79.) § Brackenridge, i. 6. 5 American State Papers, ix. 110, 111. — Findley and Brackenridge. 1790-95. J^eville's house destroyed. 445 into effect. When General Neville discovered the party on that morning around his door, he asked their business, and upon receiving evasive replies, proceeded at once to treat them as ene- mies ; shut his door again, and opened a fire, by which six of his supposed assailants were wounded, one of them mortally.* This, of course, added greatly to the anger and excitement previously existing; news of the bloodshed were diffused through the Mingo creek neighborhood, and before nightfall, steps were taken to avenge the sufferers. What followed, we will give in the words of General Hamilton, adding afterwards some particulars gathered from Findley and Brackenridge. Apprehending that the business would not terminate here, he [[Neville] made application by letter to the judges, generals of militia, and sheriff of the county, for protection. A reply to his application, from John Wilkins, jun., and John Gibson, magistrates and militia officers, inform- ed him that the laws could not be executed, so as to afford him the pro- tection to which he was entitled, owing to the too general combination of the people in that part of Pennsylvania to oppose the revenue law ; adding, that they would take every step in their power to bring the rioters to justice, and would be glad to receive information of the indi- viduals concerned in the attack upon his house, that prosecutions might be commenced against them; and expressing their sorrow that should Xhe posse comitatus of the county be ordered out in support of the civil authority, very few could be gotten that were not of the party of the rioters. The day following the insurgents reassembled with a considerable augmentation of numbers, amounting, as has been computed, to at least five hundred ; and on the 17th of July renewed their attack upon the house of the inspector, who, in the interval, had taken the precaution of calling to his aid a small detachment from the garrison, of Fort Pitt, which, at the time of the attack, consisted of eleven men, who had been joined by Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, a friend and connexion of the inspector. There being scarcely a prospect of effectual defence against so large a body as then appeared, and as the inspector had every thing to appre- hend for his person, if taken, it was judged advisable that he should withdraw from the house to a place of concealment ; Major Kirkpatrick generously agreeing to remain with the eleven men, in the intention, if * Findley, 84. — Brackenridge, i. 6. — The report of the Pennsylvania commissioners, (United States Gazette, August 30th,) in relation to the attack on Neville's house, agreed with the accounts of Brackenridge and Findley, in the main. Both differ from Hamil- ton's, which is doubtless imperfect. 446 McFarlane Killed. 1790-95, practicable, to make a capitulation in favor of the property ; if not, to defend it as long as possible. A parley took place under cover of a flag, vphich was sent by the in- surgents to the house to demand that the inspector should come forth, renounce his office, and stipulate never again to accept an office under the same laws. To this it was replied that the inspector had left the house upon their first approach, and that the place to which he had retired was unknown. They then declared that they must have whatever related to his office. They were answered that they might send persons, not ex- ceeding six, to search the house, and take away whatever papers they could find appertaining to the office. But not satisfied with this, they insisted, unconditionally, that the armed men who were in the house for its defence should march out and ground their arms, which Major Kirkpatrick peremptorily refused ; considering it and representing it to them as a proof of a design to destroy the property. This refusal put an end to the parley. A brisk firing then ensued between the insurgents and those in the house, which, it is said, lasted for near an hour, till the assailants, ha- ving set fire to the neighboring and adjacent buildings, eight in number, the intenseness of the heat, and the danger of an immediate communica- tion of the fire to the house, obliged Major Kirkpatrick and his small party to come out and surrender themselves. In the course of the firing one of the insurgents was killed and several wounded, and three of the persons in the house were also wounded. The person killed, is understood to have been the leader of the party, of the name of James McFarlane, then a major in the militia, formerly a lieutenant in the Pennsylvania line. The dwelling-house, after the surrender, shared the fate of the other buildings, the whole of which were consumed to the ground. The loss of property to the inspector, upon this occasion, is estimated, and as it is believed with great moderation, at not less than three thousand pounds. The marshal, Colonel Presly Neville, and several others, were taken by the insurgents going to the inspector's house. All, except the mar- shal and Colonel Neville, soon made their escape ; but these were car- ried off some distance from the place where the affray had happened, and detained till one or two o'clock the next morning. In the course of their detention, the marshal in particular sufl'ered very severe and hu- miliating treatment, and was frequently in imminent danger of his life. Several of the party frequently presented their pieces at him with every appearance of a design to assassinate, from which they were with diffi- culty restrained by the efforts of a few more humane and more prudent. Nor could he obtain safety nor liberty, but upon the condition of a promise, guarantied by Colonel Neville, that he would serve no other process on the west side of the Alleghany Mountain. The alternate 1790-95. Attack on Mville. 447 being immediate death, extorted from the marshal a compliance with this condition, notwithstanding the just sense of official dignity, and the firmness of character which were witnessed by his conduct throughout the trying scenes he had experienced. The insurgents, on the 18th, sent a deputation of two of their num- ber (one a justice of the peace) to Pittsburgh, to require of the marshal a surrender of the process in his possession, intimating that his compli- ance would satisfy the people, and add to his safety ; and also to demand of General Neville, in peremptory terms, the resignation of his office ; threatening, in case of refusal, to attack the place and take him by force; demands which both these officers did not hesitate to reject, as alike incompatible with their honor and their duty. As it was well ascertained that no protection was to be expected from the magistrates or inhabitants of Pittsburgh, it became necessary to the safety, both of the inspector and the marshal, to quit that place ; and, as it was known that all the usual routes to Philadelphia were beset by the insurgents, they concluded to descend the Ohio, and proceed, by a cir- cuitous route, to the seat of Government; which they began to put in execution on the night of the 19th of July.* The following points, which are of great importance, do not appear in the above narrative. First, it seems the attack was so deliberate that a committee of three was chosen to superintend it, who sat upon an elevation, and directed the various movements.! Second, it seems that the object aimed at was the destruction of official papers, and not property or life.| Third, McFarlane, the commander of the rebels, was shot dead, when he exposed him- self in consequence of a call from the house to cease firing ; this w^as regarded as intentional murder on the part of the defenders. || Fourth, there is doubt as to the burning having been authorised by the committee of attack. § The attack upon Neville's house was an outrage of so violent a character, and the feeling that caused it was of so mixed a nature that further movements were of necessity, to be expected. Those who thought themselves justified, as the early actors in the Revolution had been, would of course go forward ; those who anticipated the vengeance of the laws, thought it safer to press on and make the rebellion formidable, than to stop and so be unable * American State Papers, xx. 112, + Findlay, 86, 87.--Brackenridge i. 18. | Same authorities. II Findlay, 87. — Brackenridge, i. 19. § Findlay. p. 88, says it was unauthorised See in American Pioneer, ii. 207, an account of Neville and the attack on his house. 448 United States Mail robbed by Bradford. 1790-95. to hope for terms from the government :* the depraved looked for phinder, the depressed for a chance to rise, the ambitious had the gi-eat men of France in view before them, and the cowardly fol- lowed what they dared not try to withstand. These various feelings showed themselves at a meeting held July 23d at Mingo creek, the particulars of which are given by Brackenridge,t who attended, in a vivid and clear narrative. The masses were half-mad, filled with true Parisian fury, and drove their apparent leaders powerless before them. At this gathering a general convention to meet on the 14th of August, at Parkinson's ferry, now Williamsport, upon the Monongahela,| was agreed on; but the more violent meanwhile determined upon steps that would entirely close the way to reconciliation with the Government : || these were 1st, the robbery of the mail, by which they expected to learn who were their chief opponents ; next, the expulsion from the country of the persons thus made known ; and lastly, the seiz- ure of the United States arms and ammunition at Pittsburgh. § The leading man in these desperate acts was David Bradford, an attorney and politician of some eminence. The first step was suc- cessfully taken on the 26th of July, and General John Gibson, Colonel Presly Neville son of General John Neville, and three others were found to have written letters in relation to the late proceedings. U This being known, the people of Pittsburgh were requested by the Jacobins of the country to expel these persons forthwith, and such was the fear of the citizens that the order was obeyed, though unwillingly.** But the third project succeeded less perfectly. In order to effect it a meeting of the masses had been called for August 1st at Braddock's field; this call was made in the form usual for militia musters, and all were notified to come * Brackenridge tells us this was the case with Bradford himself. t Brackcnridge's Incidents of the Insurrection of 1794. — vol. i. 30. — Findley, 91. I American Pioneer, ii. 65. H Findley, 93 to 95. — Brackenridge, i. 52, &c. § Findley, 102.— Brackenridge, i. 56.— iii. 148. *J Brackenridge, i.39. ** Findley, 93, &c. — Brackenridge, i. 45, 52. — United States Gazette, August 8th, and August 21st, 1794. In the Boston Independent Chronicle of August 18th, the proceed- ings of the Pittsburgh meeting are given at length. It is in accordance with the terror of the times that General Gibson, one of the accused, presided at the meeting which on the 31st of July, sent away the three letter-writers who were least known. — (Edward Day, James Brison, and Abraham Kirkpatrick :) a few days after, August 4, his own and Col. Neville's expulsion was agreed on. The meeting of July 31 was in session when a com- mittee from Washington county brought in the news of the intercepted letters. 1790-95. Plan to attack the United States Arsenal. 449 armed and equipped. Brackenridge was again present, though in fear and trembling. Terror, indeed, appears to have ruled as per- fectly as beyond the Atlantic. The Pittsburgh representatives had gone to the conference from fear of being thought lukewarm in the rebel cause, and finding themselves suspected passed the day in fear. The object of the gathering, an attack upon the United States arsenal, had been divulged to few, and upon farther consul- tation was abandoned. But it was determined to march to Pitts- burgh at any rate, for the purpose of intimidating the disaffected, robbing a few houses, and burning a few stores. The women of the country had gathered to see the sack of the city at the Fork — and it was with difficulty that the conflagration and robbery were prevented ; the leaders in general opposed the excesses of their followers ; the brother of the murdered McFarlane protected the property of Major Kirkpatrick, and as others who were most inter- ested in the insurrection, showed equal vigor in the prevention of violence, the march to Pittsburgh resulted in nothing worse than the burning of a few barns and sheds.* When a knowledge of the attack on Neville's house and the subsequent proceedings reached the Federal Government, it was thought to be time to take decided steps. On the 5th of August, Hamilton laid the whole matter before the President; Judge Wilson of the supreme court having on the 4th certified the western counties to be in a state of insurrection ; f and upon the 7th, Washington issued his Proclamation giving notice that every means in his power would be used to put down the rebellion. As it was his wish, however, and also that of Governor Mifflin of Pennsylvania,! that no pains should be spared to prevent a recourse to arms, Commissioners were appointed, three by the United States and two by the State, || to visit the West, and try to procure an abandonment of the insur- rection without bloodshed. § When these messengers reached * Brackenridge, i. 66, &c. t American State Papers, xx. 85, 106, &c. ^ See the correspondence of Governor Mifflin and Randolph. — American State Papers, XX. 97 to 106. II The United States Commissioners were, — (James Ross, a Senator in Congress, very popular in vsrestern Pennsylvania. /Jasper Veates, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. \ William Bradford, Attorney General of the United States. Those of Pennsylvania v^ere, — t Thomas McKean, Chief Justice of the State. (William Irvine, Representative in Congress. § See their instructions. American State Papers, xx. 86. 29 450 Meeting of the Committee of Conference. 1790-95. the neighborhood of Pittsburgh the meeting at Parkinson's ferry was in session,* and Gallatin and others were trying to prevent matters from becoming worse than they already were.f This meeting, upon receiving notice of the approach of the Commis- sioners, agreed to send a committee of conference! to treat with them ; and at the same time named a standing committee, one from each township, making sixty in number, to whom the former were to report, and who were authorized to call a new meeting of deputies or recall the old ones, in order to accept or reject the terms offered on the part of Government. On the 21st of August the Commissioners and Committee of conference met, and after some discussion agreed upon terms, which the representatives of the insurgents thought their constituents would do well to accept. They were then submitted to the standing committee, but in that body so much fear and mutual distrust prevailed, as to lead to a mere recommendation to the people to accept the terms offered, by a vote of 34 to 23, while the committee themselves failed to give the pledges which had been required of them. This state of things and the knowledge of the fact that even the recommenda- tion was obtained only by shielding the voters through a vote by ballot, proved to the agents for Government that little was yet done towards tranquilizing the country. || All the committee-men and leaders were in dread of popular violence, and after various letters had passed, and a second committee of conference had agreed that it would be wise to adopt the terms offered by the Government, § the question was referred to the people themselves who were to sign their names to pledges prepared for the purpose ; by which pledges they bound themselves to obey the law and help * The full proceedings of the meeting at Parkinson's ferry may be found in the Boston Independent Chronicle, of September 1st. t See United States Gazette of September 9th. ^ The Conferees were from Westmoreland, Alleghany, Fayette, and Washington, and Ohio county, Virginia ; three from each. The correspondence of the Virginia Delegates may serve to show how illiterate they were, although with them were Gallatin, Bracken- ridge and others of equal education. (American State Papers, volume xx, 93.) For another specimen of the literary ignorance prevalent among the common people, see Brackenridge, i. 77 — Note. See in reference to the Conferees, &c.. United States Gazette, August 22d. II See American State Papers, xx. 87 to 97. — United States Gazette, September 6, where the reasons which governed the conferees are given. — Brackenridge i. 117. A full report by the Pennsylvania Commissioners is in the Boston Independent Chronicle, for September 22. § American State Papers, xx. 95. 1790-95. Call for the Militia by the President. 451 its operation, or if unwilling to do this they were to refuse dis- tinctly to sign any such promise. This trial of popular sentiment was to take place on the 11th of September, in the presence of persons who had been at the Parkinson ferry meeting, or of magis- trates; and the result of the vote was to be by them certified to the Commissioners. It would have been well to have given a longer time that the good disposition of the leaders might have had an opportunity of spreading among the people, but as the President in his proclamation had required a dispersion by the 1st of September, it was thought impossible to wait. On the 11th a vote was taken, but very imperfect and unsatisfactory.* In some portions of the country men openly refused obedience to the law; in some they were silent ; in some they merely voted by ballot for and against submission ; and upon the whole gave so little proof of a disposition to support the legal officers that the judges of the vote did not feel willing to give certificates that offices of inspec- tion could be safely established in the several counties, and the Commissioners were forced to return to Philadelphia without hav- ing accomplished their objects. f On the 24th of September they reported their proceedings and failure to the President; who, upon the 25th, called the militia of Pennsylvania, | New Jersey, Mary- land, and Virginia, into the field under the command of Henry Lee, Governor of the State last named. || Washington himself visited the troops and met some deputations from the western counties, § but was unable to accompany the army to Pittsburgh, w^hither, how^ever, General Hamilton went to represent the Execu- tive. II No resistance was oflTered to the army, although the soldiers in many cases showed a spirit as bad as that of the rebels, and most needless cruelty was in some cases practiced.** Bradford, and a few of the most prominent friends of violence fled to the * American State Papers, xx. 96-89. — United States Gazette, September 22 and 26. — Findley, 130. — Boston Independent Chronicle, October 2. t American State Papers, xx^ 90. — United States Gazette. September 5th and 6th. % Josiah Harmar was Adjutant General to the militia of Pennsylvania. (United States Gazette, September 12th3 &c., &c.) 11 American State Papers, xx. 97. — Sparks' Washington, x. 439. § Sparks' Washington, x. 441, note. — ^Findley the historian of the insurrection was the deputy referred to ; see in his history an account of his mission, &c. f See parts of his journal in Sparks' Washington, x. 450, note. ** American Pioneer, i. 213. — Brackenridge, ii. 79, &c. 452 Ending of the Whiskey Riots. 1790-95, Spanish provinces of the southwest.* To prevent a renewal of the insurrection and secure obedience to the law an armed force under General Morgan remained through the winter west of the mountains.! Thus, at a cost of 669^992. 34 dollars,| the whiskey riots were ended. || But there is reason to think the money was well spent ; and that the insurrection was a wholesome eruption. It served several good purposes ; it alarmed the wiser portion of the Democratic party, ■who saw how much of Jacobin fury lay hidden in the American people ; it proved to the wiser part of the friends of the Administra- tion that the societies they so much hated, even if they originated the evil feelings prevalent in the west, would not countenance the riotous acts that followed ; the unruly portion of the western people w^as awed by the energy of the Executive, and to those who loved order the readiness of the militia to march to the sup- port of the Government was evidence of a much better disposition than most had hoped to find,§ In addition to these advantages, we may name the activity of business caused by the expenditure of so large a sum in the west, and the increase of frontier popula- tion from the ranks of the army.H Turning to the region north of the Ohio, we have to notice, Ist^ the settlement of Galliopolis, commonly called Gallipolis. In May or June, 1788, Joel Barlow left this country for Europe, " authorized to dispose of a very large body of land" in the west.** In 1790, this gentleman distributed proposals in Paris, for the sale of lands, at five shillings per acre, which promised, says Volney, *' a climate healthy and delightful ; scarcely such a thing as frost in winter ; a river called by way of eminence, * The Beautiful,' abounding in fish of an enormous size; magnificent forests of a tree from which sugar flows, and a shrub which yields candles ; * Brackenridge and Findley. — Marshall's Washington, v. 5S9. In 1S06 Bradford was at Baton Rouge ; see testimony of John Morgan, American State Papers, xx. 501. t American State Papers, xx. 112. \ American State Papers, vii. 661. \ See Washington's speech of November 19th, in Sparks, xii. 44 to 52. ^ Sparks' Washington, x. 446. 454. xii. 50. Among those who deserve to be remem- bered in connection with the whiskey riots, is Judge Addison, whose support of the law ■was marked and temperate : see his charge to the Grand Jury of Alleghany county, on the 1st of September ; it is in the United States Gazette of September 13th. The Jury did not, probably dared not, respond to its views. See a letter by Brackenridge in United States Gazette, September 29th. % American Pioneer, ii. 214. *• Sparks' Washington, vol. ix, p. 386. 1790-95, Settlement of Galliopolis. 453 renison in abundance ; without foxes, wolves, lions or tigers ; no taxes to pay ; no military enrolments ; no quarters to find for sol- diers. Purchasers became numerous, individuals and whole fam- ilies disposed of their property; and, in the course of 1791, some embarked at Havre, others at Bordeaux, Nantes, or Rochelle," each with his title-deed in his pocket.* Five hundred settlers, among whom were not a few carvers and gilders to his Majesty, coachmakers, friseurs, and peruke-makers, f and other artizans and artistes equally well fitted for a backwoods life, arrived in the United States in 1791-92 ; and, acting without concert, travelling without knowledge of the language, customs or roads, they at last managed to reach the spot designated for their residence, after ex- pending nearly or quite, the whole proceeds of their sales in France. They reached the spot designated, but it was only to learn, that the persons whose title-deeds they held did not own one foot of land, and that they had parted with all their worldly goods merely to reach a wilderness, which they knew not how to cultivate, in the midst of a people, of whose speech and ways they knew nothing, and at the very moment when the Indians were carrying destruction to every white man's hearth. Without food, without land, with little money, no experience, and with want and danger closing around them, they were in a position that none but French- men could be in without despair. Who brought them to this pass ? Volney says, the Scioto Com- pany which had bought of the Ohio Company ; Mr. Hall says in his Letters from the West (p. 137,) a company who had obtained a grant from the United States; and, in his Statistics of the West (p. 164,) the Scioto Company, which was formed from or by the Ohio Company, as a subordinate. Barlow, he says, was sent to Europe by the Ohio Company; and by them the lands in question were conveyed to the Scioto Company. Kilbourn says, "the Sci- oto Land Company, which intended to buy of Congress all the tract between the western boundary of the Ohio Company's pur- chase and the Scioto, directed the French settlers to Gallipolis, supposing it to be west of the Ohio Company's purchase, though it proved not to be." The Company, he tells us, failed to make * View of the climate and soil of the United States, &c. The sugar-tree was the maple, and the wax-bearing myrtl« the shrub that yielded candles, f Brackenridge's Recollections, p. 42. 454 Suffeiings of Galliopolis Settlers. 1790-95> their payments, and the whole proposed purchase remained with government.* The truth undoubtedly is, that those for whom Barlow acted, were the persons referred to by Doctor Cutler,! who joined with the Ohio Company in their purchase to the extent of three and one- half millions of acres ; among whom, he says, were many of the principal characters of America. These characters, however, never paid for their lands, and could give no title to the emigrants they had allured across tlie ocean. Their excuse was that their agents had de- ceived them, I but it was a plea good neither in morals or law. Who those agents were, and how far they were guilty, and how far the company was so, are points wdiich seem to be still involved in doubt. But, whatever doubt there may be as to the causes of the suffer- ing, there can be none as to the sufferers. The poor gilders, and carvers, and peruke-makers, who had followed a jack-a-lantern into the literally howding wilderness, found that their lives de- pended upon their labor. They must clear the ground build their houses, and till their fields. Now the spot upon which they had been located by the Scioto Company was covered in part w'ith those immense button-wood or Sycamore trees, which are so fre- quent along the rivers of the west, and to remove which is no small undertaking even for the American woodman. The coach- makers were wholly at a loss ; but at last, hoping to conquer by a coup-de-main, they tied ropes to the branches, and while one dozen pulled at them with might and main, another dozen went at the trunk with axes, hatchets, and every variety of edged tool, and by dint of perseverance and cheerfulness at length overcome the monster ; though not without some hair-breadth escapes ; for when a mighty tree, that had been hacked on all sides, fell, it required a Frenchman's heels to avoid the sweep of the wide-spread branches. But, when they had felled the vast vegetable, they were little bet- ter oif than before ; for they could not move or burn it. At last a good idea came to their aid ; and while some chopped off the limbs, others dug, by the side of the trunk, a great grave, into which, with many a heave, they rolled their fallen enemy. Their houses they did not build in the usual straggling American * Kilbourn's Gazcteer, 1831. t See ante, p. 289. This appears to be demonstrated by the fact that Colonel Ducr, who applied to Dr. Cutler " to take in another company," did, as the agent of the Scioto Com- pany, receive the French and send them to Galliopolis. (American State Papers, xvi.30.) i M. Meulette, one of the settlers, in American Pioneer, ii. 185. 1790-95. Settlements in Virginia Reserve. 455 style, but made two rows or blocks of log cabins, each cabin being about sixteen feet square ; while at one end was a larger room, which was used as a council-chamber and ball-room. In the way of cultivation they did little. The land was not theirs, and they had no motive to improve it; and, moreover, their coming was in the midst of the Indian war. Here and there a little vegetable garden was formed ; but their main supply of food they were forced to buy from boats on the river, by w^hich means their remaining funds were sadly broken in upon. Five of their number were taken prisoner by the Indians ; food became scarce ; in the fall, a marsh behind the town sent up miasmata that pro- duced fevers ; then winter came, and, despite Mr. Barlow's promise, brought frost in plenty ; and, by and by, they heard from beyond seas of the carnage that was desolating the fire-sides they had left. Never were men in a more mournful situation ; but still, twice in the week, the whole colony came together, and to the sound of the violin danced off hunger and care. The savage scout that had been lurking all day in the thicket, listened to the strange music, and, hastening to his fellows, told them, that the whites would be upon them, for he had seen them at their war dance ; and the careful Connecticut man, as he guided his broad-horn in the shadow of the Virginia shore, wondered what mischief "the red varmint" were at next ; or, if he knew the sound of the fiddle, shook his head, as he thought of the whiskey that must have been used to produce all that merriment. But French vivacity, though it could v/ork wonders, could not pay for land. Some of the Gallipolis settlers went to Detroit, others to Kaskaskia ; a few bought their lands of the Ohio Compa- ny, who treated them with great liberality ; and, in 1795, Con- gress, being informed of the circumstances, granted to the sufferers twenty-four thousand acres of land opposite Little Sandy River, to which, in 1798, twelve hundred acres more were added ; which tract has been since known as French Grant. The influence of this settlement upon the State was unimportant ; but it forms a curious little episode in Ohio history, and affords a strange example of national character.* During this period, however, other settlements had been taking place in Ohio, which, in their influence upon the destinies of the State were deeply felt ; we mean that of the Virginia Reserve be- * See the communication of Mr. Meulette referred to above. We liave something from oral communications. Also American Pioneer, i. 94. 95. American State Papers, xvi. 29. 456 Contract of J^athaniel Massie and others. 1790-95. tween the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, that of the Connecticut Reserve, and that of Dayton. In 1787, the reserved lands of the Old Dominion, north of the Ohio, were examined, and in August of that year, entries were commenced.* Against the validity of these entries. Congress, in 1788, entered their protest, f This protest, which was practically a prohibition of settlement, was withdrawn in 1790. As soon as this was done, it became an object to have surveys made in the reserved region, but as this was an undertaking of great danger in consequence of the Indian wars, high prices in land or money had to be paid the surveyors.| The person who took the lead in this gainful but unsafe enterprise, was Nathaniel Massie, then twenty- seven years old. He had been for six years or more in the west, and had prepared himself in Colonel Anderson's office for the de- tails of his business. Thus prepared, in December, 1790, he en- tered into the following contract with certain persons therein named. Articles of agreement between Nathaniel Massie, of one part, and the several persons that have hereunto subscribed of the other part, wit- nesseth that the subscribers hereof doth oblige themselves to settle in the town laid off, on the northwest side of the Ohio, opposite to the lower part of the Two Islands ; and make said town, or the neighborhood, on the northwest side of the Ohio, their permanent seat of residence for two years from the date hereof; no subscriber shall absent himself more than two months at a time, and during such absence furnish a strong able-bodied man sufficient to bear arms at least equal to himself; no sub- scriber shall absent himself the time above mentioned in case of actual danger, nor shall such absence be but once a year ; no subscriber shall absent himself in case of actual danger, or if absent shall return imme- diately. Each of the subscribers doth oblige themselves to comply with the rules and regulations that shall be agreed on by a majority thereof for the support of the settlement. In consideration whereof, Nathaniel Massie doth bind and oblige himself, his heirs, &c., to make over and convey to such of the subscribers that comply with the above mentioned conditions, at the expiration of two years, a good and sufficient title unto one in-lot in said town, containing five poles in front and eleven back, one out-lot of four acres convenient to said town, in the bottom, which the said Massie is to put them in immediate possession of, also one hundred acres of • McDonald's Sketches, 26. American Pioneer, i. 438. + Old Journals, iv. 836. Passed July 17th. ^ From one-fourth to one-half the lands surveyed, or ten pounds, Virginia currency, per thousand acres, beside chain-men's expenses. (McDonald, 28.) 1790-95. Connecticut sells her Reserve. 457 land, which the said Massie has shown to a part of the subscribers ; the conveyance to be made to each of the subscribers, their heirs or assigns. In witness whereof, each of the parties have hereunto set their hands and seals, this 1st day of December, 1790.* The town thus laid off was situated some twelve miles above Mays- ville, and was called Manchester ; it is still known to the voyager on the Ohio. From this point Massie and his companions made sur- veying expeditions through the perilous years from 1791 to 1796, but, though often distressed and in danger, they were never weari- ed nor afraid ; and at length, with Wayne's treaty all danger of importance was at an end.f Connecticut, as we have stated, had,|: in 1786 resigned her claims to w^estern lands, with the exception of a reserved tract ex- tending one hundred and twenty miles beyond Pennsylvania. Of this tract, so far as the Indian title was extinguished, a survey was ordered in October, 1786, and an office opened for its disposal; part was sold, and in 1792, half a milion of acres were given to those citizens of Connecticut, who had lost property by the acts of the British troops, during the Revolutionary War, at New London, New Haven and elsewhere ; these lands are known as the Fire- lands and the "Sufferers' lands, "|1 and lie in the western part of the Reserve. In May, 1795, the Legislature of Connecticut au- thorised a committee to take steps for the disposal of the remainder of their western domain ; this committee made advertisement ac- cordingly, and before autumn had disposed of it to fifty-six persons, forming the Connecticut Land Company, for one million two hun- dred thousand dollars, and upon the 5th or the 9th of September, quit-claimed to the purchasers the whole title of the State, territo- rial and juridical. § These purchasers, on the same day conveyed the three millions of acres transferred to them by the State, to John Morgan, John Caldwell, and Jonathan Bruce, in trust; and upon the quit-claim deeds of those trustees, the titles to all real estate in the Western Reserve, of necessity rest. Surveys were commenced in 1796, and by the close of 1797, all the lands east of the Cuya- • American Pioneer i. 72. + McDonald's Sketch of Generd Massie. t p. 284. I American State Papers, v. 696. § For the title of Connecticut and the above facts, see American State Papers, xvi. 94 to 98, and American Pioneer, ii. 24. 458 Settlement of Dayton. 1790-95. lioga were divided into townships five miles square. The agent of the Connecticut Land Company was General Moses Cleveland, and in honor of him the leading city of the Reserve, in 1796, received its name. That township and five others were retained for private sale, and the remainder were disposed of by a lottery, the first drawing in which took place in February, 1798.* Wayne's treaty also led at once to the foundation of Dayton, and the peopling of that fertile region. The original proposition by Symmes had been for the purchase of two millions of acres between the Miamies ; this was changed very shortly to a contract for one million, — extending from the great Miami eastwardly twenty miles ; but the contractor being unable to pay for all he wished, in 1792, a patent was issued for 248,540 acres. But although his tract was by contract limited toward the east, and greatly curtailed in its extent toward the north by his failure to pay the whole amount due. Judge Symmes had not hesitated to sell lands lying between the eastern boundary of his purchase and the Little Miami, and even after his patent issued continued to dispose of an imaginary right in those north of the quantity patented. The first irregularitj-, the sale of lands along the Little Miami, was cured by the act of Congress in 1792, which authorized the extension of his purchase from one river to the other ; but the sales of territory north of the tract transferred to him by Congress, were so entirely unauthor- ized in the view of the Government, that in 1796 it refused to recognize them as valid, and those who had become purchasers beyond the patent line, were at the mercy of the Federal rulers, until an act was procured in their favor in 1799, by which pre- emption rights were secured to them.f Among those who were thus left in suspense during three years, were the settlers through- out the region of which Dayton forms the centre. Seventeen days after Wayne's treaty, St. Clair, Wilkinson, Jon- athan Dayton and Israel Ludlow contracted with Symmes for the seventh and eighth ranges between Mad river and the Little Miami. Three settlements were to be made, one at the mouth of Mad river, one on the Little Miami, in the seventh range, and another on the Mad river. On the 21st of September, 1795, Daniel C. Cooper started to survey and mark out a road in the purchase, and John Dunlap to run its boundaries, which was done before the 4th of *See American Pioneer, ii. 23, &c. t See for the full particulars of Symmes' contract, American State Papers, xvi. 75. 104. 127- 1790-95. Vanous Land Speculations. 45& October. Upon tlie 4th of November, Mr. Ludlow laid off the town of Dayton, which was disposed of by lottery.* From 1790 to 1795, the Governor and Judges of the North- West Territory published sixty four statutes. Thirty-four of these were adopted at Cincinnati, during June, July and August of the last named year, and were intended to form a pretty complete body of statutory provisions: they are known as the Maxwell Code, from the name of the publisher, but were passed by Governor St. Clair and Judges Symmes and Turner. Among them was that which provided that the common law of England and all statutes in aid thereof made previous to the fourth year of James the 1st, should be in full force within the territory. Of the system, as a whole, Mr Chase says, that with many imperfections, "it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever had one so good."t Just after the conclusion of Wayne's treaty, a speculation in Michigan of the most gigantic .kind was undertaken by certain astute Yankees, named Robert Randall, Charles Whitney, Israel Jones, Ebenezer Allen, &c., who, in connection with varions per- sons in and about Detroit proposed to buy of the Indians eighteen or twenty million acres, lying on lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, the pre-emption right of which they hoped to obtain from the United States, by giving members of Congress an interest in the investment. Some of the members who were approached, how- ever, revealed the plan, and Randall, the principal conspirator having been reprimanded, the whole speculation disappeared. J Another enterprise, equally gigantic, but far less objectionable, dates from the 20th of February, 1795 ; we refer to the North American Land Company, which was formed in Philadelphia un- der the management of Robert Morris, John Nicholson and James Greenleaf. This Company owned vast tracts in various States, which, under an agreement bearing date as above, were offered to the public. II But we have hitherto taken no notice of the provisions of Jay's treaty,§ in so far as it concerned the west; nor have we mentioned *_See B. Van Cleves' Memoranda, American Pioneer, ii. 294. 295. t Sketch of History of Ohio, p. 27. For the laws from 1790 to 1795, see Chase's Statutes, i. 103 to 204. \ See papers and evidence, American State Papers, xx. 125 to 133. II Observations on the North American Land Company, London, 1796. Imlay (Ed> 1797) p. 572. § For tlie dates in respect to Jay's treaty, see note, p. 415. 460 Jafs Treaty. 1790-95. the negotiations with Spain which secured the use of the Mississip- pi. To these we may now turn. The portion of Mr. Jay's treaty with which we are concerned, is the second article, and that is as follows : Art. 2. His Majesty will withdraw all his troops and garrisons from all posts and places within the boundary lines assigned by the treaty of peace to the United States. This evacuation shall take place on or before the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety- six, and all the proper measures shall be taken in the interval by concert between the government of the United States and His Majesty's Gover- nor general in America, for settling the previous arrangements which may be necessary respecting the delivery of the said posts : the United States, in the mean time, at their discretion, extending their settlements to any part within the said boundary line, except within the precincts or jurisdiction of any of the said posts. All settlers and traders within the precincts or jurisdiction of the said posts, shall continue to enjoy, unmolested, all their property, of every kind, and shall be protected therein. They shall be at full liberty to remain there, or to remove with all or any part of their effects ; and it shall also be free to them to sell their lands, houses or effects, or retain the property thereof, at their discretion ; such of them as shall continue to reside within the said boundary lines shall not be compelled to become citizens of the United States, or to take any oath of allegiance to the government thereof; but they shall be at full liberty so to do if they think proper, and they shall make and declare their election within one year after the evacuation aforesaid. And all persons who shall continue there after the expiration of the said year, without having declared their intention of remaining subjects of His Britannic Majesty, shall be considered as having elected to become citizens of the United States.* Turning to the negotiation with Spain, we find, that in Novem- ber, 1794, Thomas Pinckney was despatched to treat with the court of Madrid, in relation to boundaries, to the Mississippi, and to general trade. Many reams of paper had been spoiled by pre- vious"raessengers, Jay, Carmichael and Short, to little purpose, and it was a matter of three months' farther correspondence, to mature the treaty of October 27th, 1795. This treaty, signed by plain Thomas Pinckney, " a citizen of the United States, and their envoy extraordinary to His Catholic Majesty," on the one part, and on the other by "the most Excellent Lord Don Manuel de • American State Papers, i, 520. — For the treaty and correspondence entire, see Am. State Papers i, 470 to 525. 1790-95. Treaty mth Spain. 461 Godoy and Alvarez de Faria, Rios, Sanchez, Zarzosa, Prince de la Paz, Duke de la Alcudia, Lord of the Soto de Roma and of the State of Albala, Grandee of Spain of the first class, Perpetual Regi- dor of the city of Santiago, Knight of the illustrious order of the Golden Fleece and Great Cross of the royal and distinguished Spanish order of Charles III., Commander of Valencia del Ventoso Rivera, and Aceuchal in that of Santiago, Knight and Great Cross of the religious order of St. John, Counsellor of State, First Secre- tary of State and Despatcho, Secretary to the Queen, Superintend- ent General of the Ports and highways, Protector of the Royal Academy of the noble Arts and of the Royal Societies of Natural History, Botany, Chemistry, and Astronomy, Gentleman of the King's chamber in employment. Captain General of his armies, Inspector and Major of the Royal Corps of Body Guards, &c., &c., &c.,"* contains, among other provisions, the following, once deeply interesting to the West. Art 4. It is likewise agreed that the western boundary of the United States, which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana^ is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said States to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth, from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States, unless he should extend this privi- lege to the subjects of other powers by special convention. And in consequence of the stipulations contained in the fourth article. His Catholic Majesty will permit the citizens of the United States, for the space of three years from this time, to deposit their merchandise and effects in the port of New Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any other duty than a fair price for the hire of the stores ; and his Majesty promises either to continue this permission, if he finds, during that time, that it is not prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or, if he should not agree to continue it there, he will assign to them, on another part of the banks of the Mississippi, an equivalent establishment.t This, being approved, closed the Mississippi sore, and defeated the plans of Sebastian. | * The after history of this man of many titles is a lesson worth the study of all those in power: see his memoirs translated, London, 1836; also an article in Westminster Re- view, for April, 1836. •f American State Papers, i. 547. 549. For treaty, see American State Papers, i. 546 to 549. — For Pinckney's Correspondence, do. 533 to 546. — ^For that of Jay, Carmichael and Short, do. 131. 248 to 278. 328. 433 to 446. ;t Ante, p. 428. 1796. Tlie great event of this year was the final transfer of the north- ern posts from Britain to the United States, under Jay's treaty. This was to have taken place on or before the 1st of June,* but owing to the late period at which the House of Representatives, after their memorable debate upon the treaty, passed the necessary appropriations, it was July before the American Government felt itself justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in regard to Detroit and the other frontier forts. f When at last called upon to give them up the British at once did so, and Wayne transferred his head-quarters to the neighborhood of the Lakes, — where a county named from him was established, including the northwest of Ohio, the northeast of Indiana, and the whole of Michigan. | — Meanwhile the treaty with Spain was likely to become ineffectual in consequence of the alliance of Spain and France upon the 19th of August, and the diflficulties which at the same time arose be- tween the latter power and the United States. 1| Spain took ad- vantage of the new position of affairs to refuse the delivery of the posts on the Mississippi as had been stipulated, § and proceeded, as we have already related, to tempt the honesty of leading west- ern politicians.^ During this year settlements went on rapidly in the West. Early in the year Nathaniel Massie, of whom we have already spoken, took steps to found a town upon the Scioto on a portion of the lands which he had entered. This town he named, when surveyed, Chillicothe.** * See treaty. Ante, p. 460, t Washington's speech, American State Papers, i. 30. I Chase's Sketch, 27. II Pitkins' History United States, ii. 4S4. — American State Papers, i. 559 to 760. § Adams' speed), American State Papers, i. 44. Documents, do. ii. 20 itc, 66 - cennes; they were protested against by Tecumthe in the follow- ing year. In 1809 the western part of the Indiana Territory, long known as " the Illinois," was made a separate Territory wuth the name of the great Indian nation which had once lived there. | On the 17th of February the Legislature of Ohio passed the charter of the Miami University. With regard to this institution * Dawson, 130. t American State Papers, v, 760, to 763. Dawson, 135 to 137. \ Brown's Illinois, 272.— Land Laws, 563. 510 Hostile inientlons of Tecumtlie. 1810. a question at once arose, whether it should be within Symmes' Purchase, as it had been originally intended it should be, and as the charter required ; or placed upon the lands with which it was endowed, — which lands it had been found necessary to select out of the Purchase, as has been already related.* The Legislature decided that the University should be upon the lands which had been appropriated to its support in the township of Oxford,! and there accordingly it was placed. 1810. During this year (he hostile intentions of Tecumthe and his fol- lowers toward the United States, were placed beyond a doubt. The exciting causes were — the purchase at Fort Wayne in 1809, which the Shawanese denounced as illegal and unjust; and British influence. And here, as in 1790 to 1795, it is almost impossible to learn what really was the amount of British influence, and whence it proceeded ; whether from the agents merely, or from higher authority. On the one hand we have many assertions like the following: — Fort Wayne, August 7, 1818. Since wrhing you on the 25th ultimo, about one hundred men of the Saukies have returned from the British agent, who supplied them libe- rally with every thing they stood in want of. The party received 47 rifles, and a number of fusils, with plenty of powder and lead. This is sending firebrands into the Mississippi country, inasmuch as it will draw numbers of our Indians to the British side, in the hope of being treated with the same liberality. JOHN JOHNSON, Indian Agent. Vincennes, September 17, 1811. states that almost every Indian from the country above this had been, or were then gone to Maiden, on a visit to the British agent. We shall probably gain our destined point at the moment of their return. If then the British agents are really endeavoring to instigate the Indians • Ante, p. 488. + Burnet's letters, 165, 156, — American Pioneer, i. 269. 1810. Assistance given the Indians by England. 511 to make war upon us, we shall be in their neighborliood at the very mo- ment when the impressions which have been made against us are most active in the minds of the savages. succeeded in getting the chiefs together at Fort Wayne, though he found them all preparing to go to Maiden. The result of the council discovered that the whole tribes (including the Weas and Eel Rivers, for they are all Miamies,) were about equally divided in favor of the Prophet, and the United States. Lapousier the Wea chief, whom I before mentioned to you as being seduced by the Prophet, was repeated- ly asked by what land it was that he was determined to defend with his blood ; whether it was that which was ceded by the late treaty or not, but he would give no answer. reports that all the Indians of the Wabash have been, or now are, an a visit to the British agents at Maiden. He had never known one-fourth as many goods given to the Indians as they are now distribu- ting. He examined the share of one man (not a chief,) and found that he had received an elegant rifle, 25 pounds of powder, 50 pounds of lead, 3 blankets, 3 trouds of cloth, 10 shirts and several other articles. He says every Indian is furnished with a gun (either rifle or fusil) and an abundance of ammunition. A trader of this country was lately in the king's stores at Maiden, and was told that the quantity of goods for the Indian department, which had been sent out this year, exceeded that of common years by 20,000 pounds sterling. It is impossible to ascribe this profusion to any other motive than that of instigating the Indians to take up the tomahawk. It cannot be to secure their trade; for all the peltry collected on the waters of the Wabash in one year, if sold in the London market, would not pay the freight of the goods which have been given to the Indians.* On the other hand we know that Sir James Craig, the Governor of Canada, wrote on the 25th of November 1810 to Mr. Morier, the British Minister at Washington, authorizing him to inform the United States Government that the northern savages were medi- tating hostilities ; f we know also that in the following March Sir James wrote to Lord Liverpool in relation to the Indians, and spoke of the information he had given the Americans, and that his conduct was approved;! we have farther the repeated denial by the English Minister at Washington of any influence having been exerted over the frontier tribes adverse to the States, by the authority, or with the knowledge of the English Ministry or the * American State Papers, v. 799. 801 to 804. t American State Papers, iii. 453. — Gaston in Congress j quoted by Dawson, 175. ^ American State Papers, iii. 462. 512 Council at which Tecumthe declares himself. 1810. Governor of Canada.* These things, we think, must lead us to acquit the rulers of Great Britain, but they do not show who, nor how high in authority the functionaries were who tried, as Tecum- the told Harrison, to set the red men, as dogs, upon the whites, f But however we may think the evil influence originated, cer- tain it is that the determination was taken by "the successor of Pontiac," to unite all the western tribes in hostility to the United States, in case that Power would not give up the lands bought at Fort Wayne, and undertake to recognize the principle, that no purchases should be thereafter made unless from a Council repre- senting all the tribes united as one nation. By various acts the feelings of Tecumthe became more and more evident, but in August, he having visited Vincennes to see the Governor, a council was held at which, and at a subsequent interview, the real position of affairs was clearly ascertained — of that council we give the account contained in Mr. Drake's life of the Great Chieftain. Governor Harrison had made arrangements for holding the council on the portico of his own house, which had been fitted up with seats for the occasion. Here, on the morning of the fifteenth, he awaited the arrival of the chief, being attended by the judges of the Supreme Court, some officers of the army, a sergeant and twelve men, from Fort Knox, and a large number of citizens. At the appointed hour Tecuniseh, sup- ported by forty of his principal warriors, made his appearance, the re- mainder of his followers being encamped in the village and its environs. When the chief had approached within thirty or forty yards of the house, he suddenly stopped, as if awaiting some advances from the governor. An interpreter was sent requesting him and his followers to take seats on the ponico. To this Tecumseh objected — he did not think the place a suitable one for holding the conference, but preferred that it should take place in a grove of trees — to which he pointed — standing a short distance from the house. The governor said he had no objection to the grove, except that there were no seats in in it for their accommodation. Tecumseh replied, that constituted no objection to the grove, the earth being the most suitable place for the Indians, who loved to repose upon the bosom of their mother. The governor yielded the point, and the benches and chairs having been removed to the spot, the conference was begun, the Indians being seated on the grass. Tecumseh opened the meeting by stating, at length, his objections to the Treaty of Fort Wayne, made by Governor Harrison in the previous year; and in the course of his speech, boldly avowed the principle of • American State Papers, 453. iii. 453,462. -f Dawson, 159. ] 1810. Tecumthe meets Harrison in Council. 513 his party lo be, that of resistance to every cession of land, unless made by all the tribes, who, he contended, formed but one nation. He ad- mitted that he had threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the treaty of Fort Wayne ; and that it was his fixed determination not to permit the village chiefs, in future, to manage their affairs, but to place the power with which they had been heretofore invested, in the hands of the war chiefs. The Americans, he said, had driven the Indians from the sea coast, and would soon push them into the lakes ; and, while he disclaim- ed all intention of making war upon the United States, he declared it to be his unalterable resolution lo take a stand, and resolutely oppose the further intrusion of the whites upon the Indian lands. He concluded, by making a brief but impassioned recital of ihe various wrongs and aggressions inflicted by the white men upon the Indians, from the com- mencement of the revolutionary war down to the period of that council; all of which was calculated to arouse and inflame the minds of such of his followers as were present. To him the Governor replied, and having taken his seat, the interpre- ter commenced explaining the speech to Tecumseh, who, after listening to a portion of it, sprung to his feet and began to speak with great ve- hemence of manner. The governor was surprised at his violent gestures, but as he did not understand him, thought he was making some explanation, and suffered his attention to be drawn towards Winnemac, a friendly Indian lying on the grass before him, who was renewing the priming of his pistol, which he had kept concealed from the other Indians, but in full view of the governor. His attention, however, was again directed towards Tecum- seh, by hearing General Gibson, who was intimately acquainted with the Shawanoe language, say to Lieutenant Jennings, " those fellows intend mischief; you had belter bring up the guard." Ai that moment, the followers of Tecumseh seized their tomahawks and war clubs, and sprung upon their feet, their eyes turned upon the governor. As soon as he could disengage himself from the arm chair in which he sat, he rose, drew a small sword which he had by his side, and stood on the defensive. Captain G. R. Floyd, of the army, who stood near him, drew a dirk, and the chief Winnemac cocked his pistol. The citizens present were more numerous than the Indians, but were unarmed; some of them procured clubs and brick-bats, and also slood on the defensive. The Rev. Mr. Winans, of the Methodist church, ran to the governor's house, got a gun, and posted himself at the door to defend the family. During this singular scene, no one spoke, until the guard came running up, and appearing to be in the act of firing, the governor ordered them not to do so. He then demanded of the interpreter, an explanation of what had happened, who replied thai Tecumseh had interrupted him, 33 514 Harrison prepares for Indian hostilities . 1811. declaring that all the governor had said was false ; and that he and the Seventeen Fires had cheated and imposed on the Indians.* The governor then told Tecumseh that he was a bad man, and that he would hold no further communication with him ; that as he had come to Vincennes under the protection of a council-fire, he might return in safety, but that he must immediately leave the village. Here the coun- cil terminated.! The now undoubted purposes of the Brothers being of a char- acter necessarily leading to war, Governor Harrison proceeded to strengthen himself for the contest by preparing the militia, and posting the regular troops that were with him, under Captains Posey and Cross at Vincennes. J 1811. During the first half of this year, while the difficulties with Eng- land made a war with her every day more probable, nothing took place to render a contest with the Indians any the less certain. In June Harrison sent to the Shawanese leaders a message bidding them beware of hostilities. || To this Tecumthe gave a brief re- ply, promising the Governor a visit. This visit he paid in July, accompanied by three hundred followers; — but as the Americans were prepared and determined, nothing resulted from the meeting; and the Chief proceeded to the South, as it was believed, to enlist the Creeks in his cause. § Harrison, meanwhile, had taken steps to increase his regular troops,1I and had received the promise of strong reinforcements, with orders, however, to be very backward in employing them** unless in case of absolute need. Under these circumstances his plan as given to the Secretary of War upon the 1st of August was to again warn the Indians to obey the treaty of Greenville, but at * Dawson's Historical Narrative. t Drake's Life of Teciimscli, 125. ^ Dawson, 139, 160, 170, 17.?. II Dawson, 180. § Dawson, 179 to 187. — Drake, 134 to 145. The mother of Tecumthe was a Creek. i! Dawson, 179. ** Dawson, 190 to 192. 1811. Building of Fort Harrison. 515 the same time to prepare to break up the Prophet's establishment, if necessary.* Messages were sent out as proposed, and deputations from the natives followed, f promising peace and compliance, but the Gov- ernor, having received his reinforcements, commenced his pro- posed progress. On the 5th of October he was on the Wabash sixty or sixty-five miles above Vincennes, at w^hich point he built .,, "Fort Harrison."! Here one of his sentinels was fired upon, and news were received from the friendly Delawares which made the hostile purposes of the Prophet plain. |1 The Governor then determined to move directly upon Tippecanoe, still offering peace, however. Upon the 31st of October he was near the mouth of / the Vermillion river, where he built a block house for the protec- tion of his boats, and a place of deposite for his heavy baggage ; § from that point he advanced without interruption into the imme- diate vicinity of the Prophet's town, where he was met by ambas- sadors; he told them he had no hostile intentions in case the In- dians were true to existing treaties, and made preparations to encamp. In a few moments the man who had been with me before matle his appearance. I informed him that my object for the present was to pro- cure a good piece of ground to encamp on, where we could get wood and water; he informed me that there was a creek, to the northwest which he thought would suit our purpose. I immediately despatched two officers to examine it, and they reported that the situation was ex- cellent.. I then took leave of the chief, and a mutual promise was again made for a suspension of hostilities until we could have an interview ou the following day. I found the ground destined for the encampment not altogether such as I could wish it — it was indeed admirably calcula- ted for the encampment of regular troops, that vvere opposed to regu- lars, but it afforded great facility to the approach of savages. It was a piece of dry oak land, rising about ten feet above the level of a marshy prairie in front (towards the Indian town) and nearly twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear, through which and near to this bank ran a small stream clothed with willows, and brushwood. Towards the left flank this bench of high land widened considerably, but became gradually narrower in the opposite direction, and at the distance of one * Dawson, 192. f Dawson, 196. ^ Dawson, 197. — Dawson says 65 miles from Vincennes ; Perkins in Lis History of the War of 1S12 (p. 94) says 60 miles. !1 Dawson, 197, 198, 199, § Dawson, 203. — Official account, American State Papers, v. 776. 516 Battle of Tippecanoe. 1811. hundred and fifty yards from the right flank, terminated in an abrupt point. The two columns of infantry occupied the front and rear of this ground at the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from each other on the left, and something more than half that distance on tlie right flank — these flanks were filled up, the first by two companies of mounted riflemen amounting to about one hundred and twenty men, under the command of Major-General Wells, of the Kentucky militia, who served as a major; the other by Spencer's company of mounted riflemen, which amounted to eighty men. The front line was composed of one battalion of United States' infantry under the command of Major Floyd, flanked on the right by two companies of mililia, and on the left by one company. The rear line was composed of a battalion of United States' troops under the command of Captain Baen, acting as major, and four companies of militia infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Decker. The regular troops of this line joined the mounted riflemen under Gene- ral Wells on the left flank, and Colonel Decker's battalion formed an angle with Spencer's company on the left. Two troops of Dragoons, amounting to in the aggregate about sixty men, were encamped in the rear of the left flank, and Captain Parke's troop, which was larger than the other two, in the rear of the front line. Our order of encampment varied little from that above described, excepting when some peculiarity of the ground made it necessary. For a night attack the order of encampment was the order of battle, and each man slept immediately opposite to his post in the line. In the for- mation of my troops I used a single rank, or what is called Indian file — because in Indian warfare, where there is no shock to resist, one rank is ne