The History of Warren County, Ohio

Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 2 November 2004

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All through early French history, is the fact especially prominent, that in their explorations and expeditions, they united piety and business. They were zealous in sending out their missionaries, but they were always attended by traders and those who were as skilled in the world's profit and loss, as their companions were in propagating Christianity.

Prior to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock, the Upper Lakes were visited by the French, and records prove that during the first half of the seventeenth century, a vagabondish set, working in the interests of the fur company of New France, understood the geographical position of the lakes and their tributary streams. M. Perrot, an intelligent explorer, made, overtures of peace to the Indian tribes around these bodies of water, and effected a treaty, which, it is claimed, established the right for the French, in the name of their king, to hold the place near St. Mary's Falls. They further assert that the Mississippi was discovered by the French from Lake Superior, but this is not authenticated, and Father Marquette and M. Joliet are accepted as the first who found this large stream, in 1763. The good missionary won his way with his patient and sympathetic nature.

Ohio was, like the other portions of the West, originally in the possession of aborigines or Indians. Of their origin, many suppositions are advanced, but no certainties sustained. From practical evidences, the Mound-Builders were active in Ohio, and here as elsewhere, their work marked retrogression rather than advancement. The territory of Ohio was claimed by the French, and included in that wide tract between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, held by them under the name of Louisiana. Before the year 1750, a French trading-post was established at the mouth of the Wabash, and communication was established between that point and the Maumee, and Canada. Between the years 1678 and 1682, the intrepid LaSalle and Father Hennepin, assisted by Fondi, an Italian, with a small band of followers, inaugurated a series of explorations about the great lakes and the Mississippi, building forts on their way and planting the French priority. In 1680, LaSalle erected a stockade at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, which was a general rendezvous for missionaries, traders and explorers, besides constituting a primitive "stock exchange."

The English colonies were at this time east of the Alleghanies, while the French were establishing themselves west of this range, gaining an entrance north and south, the two portions separated by hostile and barbarous foes. LaSalle's spirit of adventure led him into new fields, but Father Hennepin was detailed to investigate that part of the world now known as the State of Ohio. The records assert that he published a volume containing an account of his observations "in the country between New Mexico and the frozen ocean," in 1684, together with maps of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a plat of the larger streams in Ohio.

About the same time, and to check the advancement of the French, the Ohio Company was formed by the English. This was an outgrowth of the contest between these two nations for the ascendency, whether empire, settlement or individual. After thirty years' peace between these two nations, "King George's War" opened the campaign in 1744, but terminated in 1748, the treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle unfortunately omitting a settlement of any division of claims in America. The English, French and Spanish were the first to enter America, and the right of possession by each monarch or empire was held by right of a first discovery. The only right that England could advance regarding Ohio was that the portion of the Six Nations found in the Ohio Valley had placed some of their lands under British jurisdiction, and that other portions had been purchased at Lancaster, Penn., by means of a treaty with the same nations. All this was strenuously denied and ignored by the French. Thus several conflicting influences swept carnage over fair Ohio. The Indians were allied to one side and the other, and were against each other. The Indians and French would advance against the English, and they, in retaliation, would make a raid into the Indian territory and overcome a French settlement. Whenever they could as well, Indians would take the cause in their own keeping and fight each other. The wide, verdant fields of Ohio were drenched ghastly red under a glowing sun, and the great forests echoed moans from the dying and distressed. The English colonists had partially overcome their deprivation, caused by a struggle for subsistence, and means to guard against the savages—this distress augmented by campaigns against Canada—by their

The Ohio Company obtained a charter under English views, from the British Government, with a grant of 6,000 acres of land on the Ohio.. The English now reverted to the times of the Cabots, and protested that by right they held the entire country between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, bounded by those parallels of latitude defining their Atlantic coast settlements. France claimed the region drained by the Mississippi and tributaries, the great lakes and their tributaries, the area being west of the Alleghanies. Ohio was thus included in the disputed tract.
The Ohio Company was formed in 1748, by a number of Virginians and Londoners, two brothers of George Washington taking conspicuous parts in the movement; Thomas Lee was especially active. When the surveys were begun, the Governor of Canada entered vigorous protests, and indicated his displeasure by a prompt line of posts from Erie to Pittsburgh, named respectively, Presque Isle, Le Boeuf, Vedango, Kittaning and Du Quesne. The latter was begun by the English, captured by the French, and by them completed.

The first English settlement of which we can find traces was a block-house at Piqua, about the year 1752. It was attacked, and a bitter struggle ensued, resulting in the death of fourteen of the assailants. Those within the garrison suffered severely, many being burned, and the remainder captured and dispatched to Canada.

In 1753, the French and Indian war actively began. It did not extend beyond the American continent until 1756, when the home governments took an interest in its progress beyond encouraging their respective colonists to pursue the war-path to a direful finale for their adversaries. For four years, the French captured and conquered, spreading terror wherever they went, and they followed every Englishman that set his foot on Ohio soil to the death. We may state that these people had not retained their civilized habits, and

A certain Christian, Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, located upon the Muskingum, near Beavertown. Heckewelder consented to become his associate. The Indians receiving them kindly, under conditions that Post should serve as tutor, this missionary began clearing a field for the purpose of planting corn for sustenance. This did not accord with Indian logic. They had stipulated that he teach and he was planting corn, which to them was a signal of the coming of other whites, the building of a fort and encroachments upon the Indians. They referred to the French priests, who were in good physical condition, did not till land, but were in charge of the Great Spirit who provided for them, a conclusive proof to them that when divine work was acceptable to the Great Spirit, priests were somehow sustained by other than the plans which disturbed their great hunting-grounds. However, they allowed him a small space, and he remained with them, preaching and teaching during the summer of 1762, when, accompanied by one of the principal chiefs, he returned to Lancaster, Penn., where a treaty was concluded. On his return to his post, he was met by Heckewelder, who imparted the tidings that friendly Indians had warned him that the war was about to sweep over their section, and destruction awaited them if they remained. The mission was accordingly abandoned. This failure was not so bitter as the English effort to sustain their trading-post in 1749, on the Great Miami, afterward called Laramie's store. It pursued a feeble existence until 1752, when a French raid upon the Twigtwees and English colonists proved fatal.

A European treaty now excluded the French from any rights to make treaties with the Indians, and the English, in their flush of victory after Pitt's succession, assumed the authority over Indians and lands. The savages did not accept the situation with anything resembling the gentle spirit of resignation, and the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, led the several tribes into a general war against the intruders. It was no longer French and English, but Indian and English, the former being instigated and assisted many times by the French, now desperate and unscrupulous in a mad spirit for revenge.
The intention of the Indians was to drive the whites east of the mountains, destroying their numerous strongholds in Pennsylvania and Virginia, if they

When Lord Dunmore made his treaty, the affirmation was made and gained ground that he, being a thorough loyalist, had compromised under such terms as held the Indians British allies against the settlers. Directly following this treaty, was the deliberate murder of a number of Indians, near Wheeling, including the family of the great chief, Logan—which inaugurated retaliating atrocities.

In the year 1781, April 16, the first white child was born within the present limits of Ohio, and was christened Mary Heckewelder, daughter of a Moravian missionary. All the settlers of these Moravian towns on the Muskingum were made prisoners in September of the same year. Heckwelder was transported to Detroit, but English tyranny failed to find any evidence against him or his colaborers, and they were reluctantly released, and returned to their families in Sandusky. Poverty added to their sufferings, and in the forlorn hope of finding a remnant of their property at the old settlements, which might assist in mitigating their necessities, they wearily went thitherward. They began gathering their grain, but the Wyandots attacked them, and many lives were lost. Frontiersmen had also grown jealous of them, and a body of about ninety marched out together, for the fiendish purpose of pillaging, slaughtering and laying waste all Moravian towns and posts. With the wily insidiousness of savages, they went about their diabolical plan. The Moravians were cordial and bade this band welcome, when they reached their towns in the guise of friendship. Williamson, the leader, and the gleaners, were called from the fields, when, to the dismay of these trusting and frank people, they were all bound, and only fifteen out of the marauding band of ninety were in favor of even sparing the lives of these hapless men, women and children. Forty men, twenty-two women and thirty-four children were then cruelly and heartlessly murdered, their sufferings laughed to scorn, and the last sound that fell on their

Col. William Crawford led the expedition, which counted 480 men. Warning had in some manner reached the towns, and the troops found them deserted. But the Indians were incensed, and their wrath had not driven them to hiding-places, but to a preparation to meet their foes. They fought desperately, and Crawford's troops were defeated and scattered, many being captured, and among them Col. Crawford himself. It is hardly probable that Crawford could justly expect much mercy at the hands of his captors. Accounts state that Crawford implored the aid of Girty, and at last secured a promise to use his power to obtain the Colonel's pardon. However, this was of no avail, and it is doubtful whether Girty was disposed to intercede. The prisoners were tortured and put to death, and Crawford's agonies were protracted as long as possible. Dr. Knight managed to disable the Indian who had him in charge, and made his escape to the settlements, where he related the result of the expedition and the tortures of the captured.

On October 27, 1784, a treaty was concluded at Fort Stanwix, with the sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Tuscaroras, and the Six Nations then ceded to the Colonial Government all claims to the country west of a line defined by the western boundary to the Ohio—thus rendering the Indian claim to a large portion of Ohio lands practically extinct.

Although the French and Indian war was a series of heart-rending events, it was a serious and remarkable school of discipline for the untrained troops which soon engaged in the Revolutionary struggle. On the fields of Ohio, many valuable officers, who earned distinction in the war of independence, learned their first lessons in intrepid valor.

During the Revolution, the colonial troops were engaged east of the mountains, and western settlements and frontier people were left alone to defend themselves and their property against encroachments and attacks.

The Indian tribes again became belligerent, and united with the English against the "Americans." The latter held a line of posts along the Upper Ohio, while the British were stationed in the old French strongholds on the lakes and the Mississippi. The unscrupulous whites and Indians ranged at random between this boundary and the Cuyahoga, thence southerly to the Ohio,

Gen. Clarke's expedition, although chiefly confined to Indiana and Illinois, greatly influenced the settlement of Ohio. His exploits and the resolution of his troops were chiefly instrumental in holding the country west of the Alleghanies, and insuring its possession by the United States during the Revolution. The British had been emphatic, in the Paris treaty, at the time of the settlement of the French and English difficulties, in demanding the Ohio River as the northern boundary of the United States. The American Commissioners relied upon Gen. Clarke's valor and energy in holding the country west of the Alleghanies, which he had conquered, and the British Commissioners were compelled to give their consent, under civil and military measures. In 1783, by the treaty of Paris, at the close of the Revolutionary war, the English relinquished all rights to the fertile territory between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, and the United States held undisputed possession.

January 10, 1786, Gens. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper circulated a pamphlet, proposing the formation of a company for the purpose of settling the Ohio lands, and soliciting the attention and consideration of all those desiring a future home and prosperity. A meeting was also called, to assemble during the following February, and select delegates to represent each county in Massachusetts. These dignitaries should convene during the month of March, at the "Bunch of Grapes " tavern, in Boston, for the purpose of definitely forming the association, and adopting such measures as would benefit all directly interested. The meeting and "convention " followed, and the subscription books were opened. One million dollars, chiefly represented by Continental certificates, was the price of the land. The shares were valued at $1,000 each, and there was a division of a thousand shares. The first payment was to be $10 per share, this money to be set aside for such expenses as might accrue. A year's interest was to be devoted to the establishment of the settlement, and those families who were unable to incur the expense of moving were to be assisted. Those who purchased shares to the number of twenty were entitled to a representation by an agent, who was permitted to vote for Directors. This plan matured and was acted upon during the following year. It may be that the action of Connecticut, in ceding her territorial claims to the General Government, with few exceptions, greatly encouraged this new undertaking. That tract was, until recently, designated the "Western Reserve "—an extent 170 miles from the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and parallel thereto, being reserved.

On October 27, 1787, a contract was made between the Board of the Treasury, for the United States, and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, agents for the Directors of the New England Ohio Company, for the purchase of a tract of land, bounded by the Ohio, and from the mouth of the Scioto to the intersection of the western boundary of the seventh townships, then surveying; thence by said boundary to the northern boundary of the tenth township from

However fertile and attractive Ohio was known to have been, settlement did not gain rapidly after the close of the war with England, although the United States has gained her freedom. It was more than six years after Cornwallis laid down his sword, before a white settlement was formed on the Ohio side of the river. The French and Indian war had incited the English to be jealous of her colonial conquests, and mistrusting their loyalty, they had, so soon as the French claims were annulled, taken measures to crush all colonial claims also, and a royal proclamation rescinded all colonial land grants and charters, holding all the country west of the sources of the Atlantic rivers under the protection and sovereignty of the king of Great Britain, for the use of the Indians. All white persons were forbidden to remain or settle within the prescribed limits. Parliament then attached this tract to Quebec, and the English Government felt assured that the thirteen colonies were restricted and held secure east of the Alleghanies.

The result of the war between the colonies and England did not constitute an Indian treaty. Although England signed over her title and right, the savages held the land and ignored all white agreements, one way or the other. Whenever an attempt at settlement was undertaken, Indian depredations proved disastrous. The tribes were encouraged by the English fur traders, and the English commandant at Detroit incited them to destroy all Americans who attempted to usurp the rights of red men.
Added to this serious difficulty was the unsettled debate regarding State claims, which rendered a title precarious. A treaty, signed at Fort McIntosh, previous to the war, and authenticated, shows that during the conflict the Delawares and Wyandots occupied the Indian and British frontier, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, from the Cuyahoga to the Maumee, and from the lake to the sources of its tributaries. Later, these two tribes ceded to the United States "the neutral ground," by warranty deed, and by quit-claim, the territory south and west of the described tract, set apart for their use.

By special measures, the grant of Congress in the matter of the Ohio Company extended to nearly 5,000,000 acres, valued at $3,500,000. The original Ohio Company obtained 1,500,000 acres, the remaining being reserved by individuals, for private speculation.

The same year, Congress appointed Arthur St. Clair, Governor, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary, of the Territory.

Fort Harmar had previously been built, at the mouth of the Muskingum, and in 1788, a New England colony attempted the "Muskingum settlement," on the opposite side, which was afterward named Marietta. In July, 1788, the Territorial officers were received in this village, and there established the first form of civil government, as set forth in the Ordinance of 1787. Three United States Judges were appointed, .and Courts of Common Pleas, Probate and Justice were established.

Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawnees, informed the Frenchman that the Indians doubted the sincerity of the Americans. The new settlement on the Ohio was a proof that the whites intended to crowd further and further, until the Indians were again and again robbed of their just right. He then emphatically asserted that unless the north side of the river was kept free from these inroads there could be no terms of peace with the Shawnees, and many other tribes.

Blue Jacket was unusually intelligent and sagacious, and expressed himself eloquently. He was persistent in his determination to engage in the war of extermination, should the white settlements continue north of the Ohio.

These overtures were continued, but they failed in producing any arrangement that permitted the whites to locate north of the Ohio.

Congress called upon Kentucky and Pennsylvania to lend the aid of their militia. Gen. Harmar was instructed to destroy the Miami villages at the head of the Maumee. Late in the fall of 1790, he executed this order.

The Indians had stored a large quantity of provisions, in expectation of a campaign, and this dependence was devastated. Without authority, and with undue carelessness, he divided his army and attempted to achieve other victories. He more than lost what he had gained. Two raids upon the Wabash Indians, thereafter, proved successful, but the campaign under Gov. St. Clair was not calculated to establish peace or obtain power, and was deemed but little less than a failure.

The year 1792 was a series of skirmishes, so far as a settlement was concerned, but 1793 succeeded well enough to convene a meeting of United States Commissioners and representatives of the hostile tribes, at the rapids of the Maumee. It is highly probable that a satisfactory treaty might have been arranged, had it not been for the intervention and malicious influence of the

It was evident that a severe struggle must ensue, and Capt. Wayne, in 1792, appointed to the command of the Western army, was called upon to conduct the campaign. He exhibited his wisdom in the beginning, by preparing his men in military discipline and fully equipping them before marching to meet a savage foe in a wilderness. Various causes detained the army, and it was not until the fall of 1793, that the force marched from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) to begin the battle.

It was already late in the season, and, before any progress had been made, the army went into winter quarters at Greenville, on a branch of the Big Miami.

In the mean time, the Ohio Company had not matured its practical "settlement plan," although a generous grant had been obtained. In 1792, they received a clear title to 750,000 acres of land, for which the full price had previously been paid, in Continental currency. Congress set aside 214,285 acres as army bounties, and 100,000 acres to actual settlers. The two latter appropriations joined that of the Ohio Company.

There had been numerous conventions, discussions and other fruitless attempts to somehow form a plan for the government of the Northwest Territory, but it was not until July 13, 1787, that an ordinance was passed, and that was the result of Dr. Cutler's efforts. Every State sustained its measures.

This ordinance was the foundation of the constitution of the future State of Ohio, and indeed, permeates the entire Northwestern creed.