OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - HISTORY: Chapter 15 (Abbott, John S. C., 1875)
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			Chapter XV
		Border warfare and Emigration

   We do not wish to fill these pages with a detail of the horrors of Indian
warfare. The subject is too painful to dwell upon. Still, we would desire
to give the reader a correct idea of those dark days of terror and of blood.
The following letter describes the fate of hundreds of families on the fron-
tier. It is from the pen of a Baptist clergyman, Mr. John Corbly, who gives
an account of the utter devastation of his own home. The letter is dated
Muddy Creek, Penn., Sept. 1, 1792:
   "The following are the particulars of the destruction of my unfortunate
family, by the savages: On the tenth of May last, being a mile from my 
dwelling house, I set out, with my loving wife and five children, for public
worship. Not suspecting any danger, I walked behind a few rods, with my bible
in my hand, meditating. As I was thus employed, on a sudden I was greatly
alarmed by the frightful shrieksof my dear family before me.
   "I immediately ran to their relief, with all possible speed, vainly hun-
ting for a club as I ran. When within a few yards of them, my poor wife, 
observing me, cried out to me to make my escape. At this instant, an Indian
ran up to shoot me. I had to strip, and by so doing outran. My wife had an
infant in her arms, which the Indians killed and scalped. After which they
struck my wife several times, but not bringing her to the ground, the Indian
who attempted to shoot me, approached her and shot her through the body, 
after which they scalped her.
   "My little son, about six years old, they dispatched by sinking their
hatchets into his brains. My little daughter, four years old, they in like
manner tomahawked and scalped. My eldest daughter attempted an escape, by
concealment, when one of the Indians, who yet remained on the ground, espying
her, ran up to her and, with his tomahawk, knocked her down and scalped her.
But, blessed be God, she still survives, as does her little sister, who the
savages, in like manner, knocked down and scalped. They are mangled to a 
shocking degree, but the doctors think that there are some hopes of their 
recovery.
   "When I supposed the Indians gone, I returned to see what had became of 
my unfortunate family, whom, alas! I found in the condition above described.
No one, my dear friend, can form a true conception of my feelings at this 
moment. A view of the scene, so shocking to humanity, quite overcame me. I
fainted, and was unconsiously borne off by a friend, who at that moment arrived
to my relief. Thus have I given you a faithful though a short narrative of 
the fatal catastrophe, amidst which my life is spared, but for what purpose
the great Jehovah best knows."
   A volume might be filled with similar narratives. Though the chiefs of 
nearly all the tribes, at the close of the revolutionary war, had entered in-
to friendly alliance with the Americans, these awful atrocities were con-
tinually taking place. There was no safety anywhere but in strong military
protection. As treaties were thus found to be of no avail, it was deemed ab-
solutely necessary to have recourse to arms, as the only mode by which the 
settlements and emigrants upon the river could be secured from continual
danger.
   "At length it was perceived that these continued aggressions were promp-
ted and instigated by British traders and agents at Detroit and upon the 
Maumee. The fur trade, in the northwestern territory, was almost wholly con-
trolled by these British traders, who were deeply interested in checking the 
American population across the Ohio, which would sound the knell of approach-
ing dissolution to their monopoly. A state of active hostilities, renewed by
the savages, might yet defer for many years, the advance of white settlements
north of the Ohio, and thus prolong the monopoly of the fur trade. Such were
the views and conclusions of the British agents and traders at Detroit, and
other points south of Lake Erie." (Monette's History of the Valley of the
Mississippi)
   The first dry goods store in Kentucky was opened in Louisville, in the 
Summer of 1784. The united population of the settlements then amounted to
about twenty thousand. Roads were beginning to be opened from the river back
into the interior. The principal settlements were on the Kentucky River, the
Licking, and just above the Falls of the Ohio. The region had been divided 
into three counties, which, early in the Spring of 1784, were recognized as
the District of Kentucky. The district court was invested with the same civil
and criminal jurisdiction with the other courts of Virginia. A log court 
house and a log jail were erected at Harrodsburg. Danville soon became the
central point for all public meetings.
   The emigration into Kentucky now very rapidly increased. More than ten
thousand settlers entered the state during the year. Towns were laid out, 
mills erected, and trade and agriculture began to develop their resources.
All kinds of stock were introduced, and religious teachers, accompanying this
tide of emigration, established churches and schools, and all those benefi-
cient institutions which invariably attend the preaching of the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ.
   Nearly the whole region, north of the Ohio River, was still a wilderness,
inhabitied only by savages. The Shawanese nation consisted of many minor
tribes. They inhabitied a large territory, including the Scioto River in Ohio.
and the Wabash River in Indiana, with the intervening region. It was mainly
from this region that marauding bands were continually crossing the Ohio Ri-
ver into Kentucky, plundering, burning, and scalping. It was resolved in
Kentucky to fit out an expedition to invade their country, and inflict upon
them chastisement which would never be forgotten. There were many of these 
Indians who were innocent. But the blows of the avenger would fall upon the
innocent and the guilty alike.
   The expedition was organized in two mounted parties. One division, of 
eleven hundred riflemen, under the heroic General Clarke, was to rendezvous
at the Falls of the Ohio. He was to march directly across the country, a 
hundred and thirty miles, to Vincennes, on the Wabash. His supplies were to
be forwarded to that place by boats. From that point his troops were to 
ravage the whole Valley of the Upper Wabash as far as Tippecanoe and Eel 
Rivers.
   The other party of seven hundred, under Colonel Logan, were to rendez-
vous at Kenton Station, thence cross the Ohio to the Little Miami, thence,
ascending that stream, they were to sweep with utter desolation the whole
Indian country, from the Scioto to the Great Miami. Such was the general 
plan of the campaign. Great care was taken to conceal from the Indians all
knowledge of their impending doom. It was resolved to make this one of the
most formidable invasions which had ever proceeded from Kentucky, and one
which would strike the most distant tribes with terror.
   Many of the most prominent men in Kentucky volunteered their services as
officers, and there was a general rush of the patriotic young men to the 
ranks. General Logan commenced his march on the first of October, 1786. Ra-
pidly he ascended the valley, a distance of ninety miles, till he reached the
Indian Town of Old Chillicothe. There was quite a number of Indian villages
clustered in that neighborhood. The attack was so sudden and impetuous that
nearly all the inhabitants were slain or taken captive.
   Simon Kenton, of whose suffering our readers have been informed, accom-
plished the expedition as a guide, and was captain of a company of picked
men from his own neighborhood. His energy was tremendous, and he was not
disposed to treat very tenderly even those women who had tortured him with
mercilessness, which even incarnate demons could not have exceeded. The few
savages who escaped the bullet and the sword, fled shrieking to the adjacent
villages. They were hotly pursued, and shot down as though they had been
wolves or bears. All the villages were burned. Everything of value was des-
troyed. The corn crops, on which the savages had mainly relied for food dur-
ing the winter, were committed to the flames. A region a hundred miles in
length, and nearly forty miles in breadth, was laid utterly desolate. The 
numbers of the Indians who were slain is not known. The savages, men, women
and children, who escaped, fled so preciptately that they could save abso-
lutely nothing of their possessions. The avengers did not encumber themselves
with prisoners. It was their object to wreak such terrible vengeance upon
these fiend-like foes, that they would tremble at the thought of ever again
incurring the wrath of the white man. Colonel Logan returned victorious from
his expedition.
   General Clarke was less successful. He crossed the country to Vincennes 
in safety. But the boats had not arrived. Nine large boats had been freighted
with stores and provisions to descend the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, 
and then to ascend that stream to Vincennes. The extremely low state of the 
water retarded the arrival of his supplies. Eleven hundred hungry mouths
consume a vast amount of food. The days came and went, and still no boats
appeared, and no tidings were heard from them. Starvation stared the army in
the face. It became necessary to put the men on half allowance. Many of the
thoughtless became restless and mutinous. At length, after waiting nine days,
the boats arrived. But to their bitter disappointment, through the heat of 
the weather the beef was all spoiled. Sound rations for three days only re-
mained.
    The hostile towns which the troops were on the march to attack, were still
at a distance of two hundred miles. General Clarke urged an immediate and 
rapid advance. Many of the soldiers mutinied. They said that they were willing
to encounter the savages, but they could not make war against famine. Three 
hundred of the men, with several officers of high rank, mounted their horses
and departed for their homes. General Clarke, with the remainder of his troops,
advanced towards the Indian town, living upon very meager rations. After a 
march of several days, they reached the region which the savages had inha-
bited, and not a solitary Indian was to be found. Through the delay the sav-
ages had been apprised of the formidable preparations which had been made
against them, and taking with them all their valuables, had dispersed, in 
small bands, far and wide, through the wilderness. Nothing was left for the
invaders. Such are the vicissitudes of war.
   General Clarke and his men, half-starved, worked their way back to the 
Falls, covered with shame and confusion at the unmerited disgrace of their
arms. The unfortunate general never recovered from the blow. He sunk into
profound melancholy, and at length died, aged and poor, having been supported, 
the latter years of his life, by a pension from the State of Virginia, of 
four hundred dollars a year.
   This unsuccessful invasion of the country of the fierce and vindictive
Shawanese, upon the Wabash, only exasperated the warriors. They immediately
recommenced, with more vigor then ever, active hostilities along the whole
line of the Kentucky frontier. During the Winter and ensuing Spring they were 
continually crossing the Ohio River, and were assailing all the exposed
settlements and farm-houses, even far into the interior of Kentucky. The 
peril became so great that the feebler settlements had to be abandoned, and 
the pioneers gathered around the forts and other fortified stations.
   Simon Kenton, who had such grievous wrongs to avenge, assembled three 
hundred mounted riflemen, in the Autumn of 1787, and ravaged the country of
the Scioto Valley, shooting the Indians burning their dwellings, and destroy-
ing their crops. After a successful raid of ten days he returned, without 
the loss of a man. These ravages, instead of subduing the tribes, caused a
general combination of them against the whites. Special efforts were made to
attack the boats descending the river. The wily Indian, from his ambush on 
the river bank, would seek to strike, with his rifle bullets, any one who 
incautiously exposed his person above the bulwarks. If the boat touched the
shore for fire-wood, the lurking savage was watching, with the hope of ob-
taining plunder and scalps.
   While parties thus waylaid the river banks, others were incessant in their
roaming incursions through the settlements, waylaying every path, ambuscading
every neighborhood, lurking as invisibly as the wolf, near every residence,
watching every family spring, enscounced in every corn-field, and near every
cross-road, patiently waiting whole days and nights for the approaching 
victim.
   These parties were nearly all Ohio Indians, from the Scioto, the Great and
Little Miami, and their tributaries. The following brief narrative of events
during four months - from the first of May to the first of August - will show
the vigor with which the Indians pursued their work of plunder and death:
   In the County of Jefferson, ten person were killed, and ten wounded, and
twenty horses stolen. In Lincoln County, two were killed two wounded, and 
twenty-five horses stolen. In Madison County, one was killed, two wounded, 
and ten horses stolen. In Bourbon County, two were wounded and fifteen hor-
ses stolen. In Mason County, two were killed, and forty-one horses stolen.
In Woodland County, several horses had been stolen, and one boy killed.
   The whole frontier region was kept in constant alarm. This state of things
continued until checked by the severity of Winter. The same predatory war-
fare was carried on against the western counties of Virginia and Pennsylva-
nia. The deadly assaults were spread over three hundred miles and exposed
frontier.
   Between the year 1783 and 1790, the Indians killed, wounded and took cap-
tive fifteen hundred men, women and children, besides destroying property
to the amount of fifty thousand dollars.
   By the Treaty of Paris - so called because it was formed in that city - 
Great Britain renounced all claim to territory south of the Great Lakes and 
east of the Mississippi. The British Government made a great effort to have
the Ohio River the northern boundary of the United States, instead of the 
line of the lakes; but Mr. Adams and Mr. Jay were inflexible in their demand
that the lakes should be the boundary.
  It will be remembered that the chiefs of four Indian tribes, the Wyandots,
Delawares, Ottawas, and Chippewas, in a council held at Fort McIntosh, in 
the western part of Pennsylvania, in January, 1785, had ceded to the United
States a large extent of land in that portion of the Northwestern Territory
now known as Ohio. In the Fall of that year the United States took formal
possession of these lands by sending a detachment of troops from Fort McIn-
tosh to rear a block-house, and commence a settlement on the point of land 
where the Muskingum River enters the Ohio.
   Major John Doughty was entrusted with the command of this expedition. He
gave to the fort which he constructed the name of "Harmar", in honor of the
colonel of the regiment to which he belonged. The outline of the fort formed
a pentagon, and was built of large timbers, laid horizontally, and enclosing
an area of about three-quarters of an acre. Some fine gardens were laid out,
in the rear of the works. The fort was on the western side of the Muskingum
River, and contained barracks sufficiently capacious to accomodate the sol-
diers, and also several families of settlers. This was the first military
post of the United States in Ohio, if we except a small fort, called Laurens,
built in 1778, on the Tuscarawas.
   The United States Government was very desirous of securing peace with the
Indians. There was nothing to be gained by war. A council of the Shawanese
chiefs was assembled at the mouth of the Great Miami, the latter part of 
January, 1786. Three distinguished gentlemen of the United States attended
as commissioners. In the contract here entered into, which was known as the
Treaty of the Great Miami, the Shawanese chiefs acknowledged the United States
to be the sole and absolute sovereign of all the territory heretofore re-
linquished to them, by their chiefs, in the Treaty of January 14, 1785. The 
chiefs also agreed to abstain from all hostilities to surrender three hos-
tages for the faithful delivery of all the captives they held, to punish
such of their young men as should be guilty of murder or robbery against the
whites, and to give notice to the United States officers of any incursions
they suspected of being in contemplation against the frontiers.
   The United States agreed to take the Shawanese under their protection, to
allot to them, as their hunting grounds, the territory generally lying west
of the Great Miami, and to prevent all intrusion of white settlements into
their regions.
   Notwithstanding these treaties, hostile incursions still continued. The
British Government had been very desirous of retaining the country between
the Great Lakes and the Ohio. Defeated in this, the British traers and agents
in Canada sought to prolong their influence over the Northwestern Indians, 
and their lucrative trade with them, by instigating them to that cruel war-
fare which would tend to arrest the advance of the American settlements.
   "Detroit had long been an important central depot for the British fur
traders, with the Northwestern Indians. It was an important place of bus-
iness, and many Scotch and English capitalists had large investments in the
lucrative trade with the natives. To comply with the treaty stipulations 
would incommode these important personages, by interrupting their trade, and
restricting their influence over the savage tribes south and west of the 
lakes. A state of hostilities between the Indians and the American people of
the West would be a sufficient guarantee to them that, for a time, they
should be free from interruption. Hence they wished to arrest the advance of
emigration across the Ohio River." (The Valley of the Mississippi, by John
W. Monette, M. D., Vol. II., p. 226.)
   The vast territory lying north and west of the Ohio River, was claimed,
by virtue of original charters from the King of England, by the States of
Massachusettes, Connecticut, New York and Virginia. Upon the peace which
followed the Revolution, each of these states consented to relinquish its
claims to the general government, with the exception of reservations by
Connecticut and Virginia. These two states, embarrassed by the expenses of
the war, retained a portion of the territory for the purpose of paying their
debts to the revolutionary soldiers.
   The region thus granted to Connecticut, by Congress, and which was called
the Western Reserve, consisted of the country lying north of the 41st degree
of latitude, and extending from the western boundary of the State of Penn-
syvania to the Sandusky and Seneca Counties. This region, bounded on the 
north by the lakes, was about fifty miles in breadth, and one hundred and
twenty miles from east to west.
   Virginia retained the lands lying between the Scioto and the Little Miami.
This section was called "The Virginia Military District." The remainder of 
the vast, and as yet almost unknown, region of the Northwest was to be or-
ganized into states, so soon as the population should be sufficient. These
cessions being completed, the United States Government, in the year 1787, 
established a territorial government over the whole, and as yet uninhabited,
region, extending west to the Mississippi River.
   In this ordinance of territorial organization, we find it stated that no
man shall be arrested for his mode of worship or his religious sentiments;
that the utmost good faith shall be observed towards the Indians; that their
lands shall never be taken from them without their consent, unless in just 
and lawful war; and that there shall be formed in the said territory not less
than three nor more than five states. There was also the all-important pro-
vision introduced:
   "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said terri-
tory, 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 reclaimed, and conveyed to
the person claiming his or her labor in service as aforesaid."
   And now companies began to be organized upon the Atlantic sea-board for
the establishment of colonists in this northwestern territory. The Ohio
Company sent agents to Congress to purchase a large extent of land between
the Muskingum and the Hocking Rivers, bounded on the east by the Ohio; for 
in that region the river line runs nearly north and south.
   The Ohio Company was formed of officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary
army. They had resolved to move West to retrieve their exhausted fortunes.
Many of them held large claims upon the Government, the payment of which they
could obtain only in land. The purchase was made at one dollar an acre, pay-
able in land scrip, or any other evidences of debt for revolutionary services.
The purchase, including the mouths of the Muskingum and the Hocking Rivers, 
embraced one and two million acres.
   Soon after this John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, purchased six thousand
acres, between the Great and Little Miami. His northern border was the Ohio
River. For this land he paid sixty-six cents an acre. In the Autumn of 1787,
General Rufus Putman, a son of General Israel Putnam, of revolutionary re-
nown, set out with a party of forty-seven persons, mainly from New England,
to commence a colony at the mouth of the Muskingum, on the eastern bank, 
opposite Fort Harmar.
   For nearly eight weeks this band of emigrants toiled painfully along
through the rugged and almost pathless defiles of the Allegheny Mountains. 
The course they took was what was called Braddock's Road. It was the same 
route which was subsequently adopted by the national turnpike from Cumber-
land westward. At length they reached what was called Simrel's Ferry, on the 
Yohiogany, one of the tributaries of the Allegheny River. Here the severity
of the Winter detained them for some time.
   They built at this place a large covered barge, which they named the May-
flower, in remembrance of their pilgrim ancestors. It was bullet-proof, so
as to defy the rifles of the Indians. It is said that the boat was well adap-
ted to transport the families and their effects to their ultimate destination,
and to serve as a floating residence, while more permanent ones were being
erected on the land.
   The latter part of March, 1788, the Mayflower, freighted with its precious
colony, commenced its voyage, to float down the Yohiogany, the Allegheny, and
the Ohio, to the mouth of the Muskingum. On the 7th of April the emigrants
took possession of their purchase. Better materials for a colony were pro-
bably never before brought together. The colonists were generally men of 
science and refinement, and of high moral worth. For their internal security
they framed a simple code of laws, which were published by being nailed to a 
tree. It is a remarkable proof of the moral habits of the people that for
three months there was but a single infraction of these laws. General Wash-
ington pays the following tribute to the character of these pioneers:
   "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as 
that which was commenced at the Muskingum. Information, prosperity and strength
will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there 
never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community."
   The ordinance which organized the Territorial Government was placed in 
the hands of a governor and three judges.
   There was a dribbling rain, accompanied with fog, as the Mayflower drifted
by the mouth of the Muskingum. The colonists did not perceive that they had 
reached their destination until the massive white-washed walls of Fort Har-
mar loomed up upon them through the mist, upon the right bank of the stream.
They immediately entered the river, where they found pleasant accomodations
for their boat. In the meantime the rain had ceased, the fog was dispersed, 
and the sun shone forth in all its glory. A scene of surpassing loveliness
was opened before them. It was one of the most serene and balmy of spring
mornings. The very air they breathed was exhilarating. The meadows were green
with verdure; the forest luxuriant with foliage. Birds filled the air; and
all were alike delighted with their new home which they had found.
   The garrison at Fort Harmar gave them a very warm welcome, while its 
strong walls promised them security against any hostile attacks. It will be
remembered that the Americans were nominally at peace with all the tribes.
The outrages which were perpetrated were the deeds of vagabonds who perhaps
could be no more controlled than can thieves or murderers be restrained
under more civilized governments. There were seventy Indians at the fort, 
engaged in traffic. Their chief came forward with the greatest cordiality to
welcome the strangers. All was peace, prosperity and happiness. Joy inspired
the industry of these fortunate pioneers.
   General Putnam had a spendid marquee, which was soon pitched on the green
sward. Boards were landed and temporary huts rose as by magic. Streets were
laid out for a rapidly growing city, judiciously retaining extensive portions
for public squares. Scattered around the beautiful delta formed by the junc-
tion of the Muskingum with the Ohio, there were many very remarkable military
remains. These must have been reared by some unknown people, who possessed
the land long before the present tribes of Indians. The savages had no tra-
dition even of their origin. These interesting relics were carefully pre-
served.
   On the second of July, the streets of the city having been laid out with 
great regularity, the associates all met to give a name to their new home.
These Revolutionary officers and soldiers were not unmindful of our nation's
obligation to France, in achieving its Independence. They therefore named 
their infant town Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the unhappy Queen
of Louis XVI.
   A square was also set apart for the construction of a very important fort, 
which was designed to be so strong that no Indian bands would think of assailing
it. On the fourth of July they had a great celebration, with the usual oration, 
the roar of cannon from Fort Harmar, and all the usual accompaniments of pu-
blic joy. Their happiness was much increased by the arrival, two days before, 
of forty persons, many of them heads of families, from Worchester, Massachu-
setts. These emigrants had spent nine weeks on their journey. They came in
large four-horse wagons, sheltered with canvas covering from the wind and 
rain. Their journey had been taken in a mild season of the year, and in it
they had encountered no disasters. Every night they formed their regular
encampment, which, with its busy scenes and glaring fires, presented a very
attractive spectacle. Their canvas-top wagons formed as it were a village of
movable tents. When they reached Wheeling, on the Ohio, about eighty miles
above their point of destination, they procured a large Kentucky flat-boat, 
sufficiently capacious to contain all the colonists with their personal
effects. In two days the current floated them down to the mouth of the Mus-
kingum, and they moored their craft by the side of the Mayflower.
   The men composing this colony, as we have mentioned, were well adapted to 
lay the foundations of a powerful state. One of their first objects was to 
make provision for the education of their children, and for the support of
public worship. The Worchester colonists brought with them a young minister, 
Rev. Daniel Story. He was a man of fervent piety and of fine abilities.
   On the ninth of July, the Governor, General Arthur St. Clair, arrived. He
immediately formed his executive council, and organized the government. The 
whole country north of the Ohio River, between the Muskingum and the Hockhock-
ing Rivers, was designated as the County of Washington, and Marietta was, of 
course, the seat of justice. As there were many indications that difficulties
might eventually arise with the Indians, it was deemed expedient to push 
forward as rapidly as possible the construction of their fort, to which they
gave the appropriate, classical name of Campus Martius. It will be remembered
that while Marietta was on the eastern bank of the Muskingum, Fort Harmar, 
erected by the government, was on the western side of the stream. Should the
citizens by compelled by an attack from the Indians to flee for protection
across the river to Fort Harmar, they would have to abandon their dwellings 
and their property to the savages. Therefore Campus Martius became to them 
a necessity. This very important fortress, which subsequently proved so use-
ful in a civil and military point of view, demands more special mention.
   It was constructed under the superintendence of General Rufus Putnam, and 
was admirably adapted to the purposes for which it was reared. It consisted 
in fact of an immense structure whose walls were dwelling houses, forming
a square whose sides were one hundred and eighty feet in length. Each corner
was protected by a strong, projecting block-house, surmounted by a sentry
box. These block houses were two stories high, the lower story being
twenty feet square, and the upper story twenty-four. These corner houses pro-
jected six feet, so that from the port-holes they could rake the sides with 
musketry, should any foe approach. The walls of the dwelling houses were
constructed of solid timber, bullet-proof, and hewn so as to fit closely
together. Each dwelling house occupied a space of fifteen by thirty feet.
They would all accomodate about fifty families. Indeed, in time of the Indian
war, three hundred persons took refuge in them.
   These dwelling house walls enclosed an area, or court-yard, one hundred
and fifty-four feet square, which was often used as a parade ground. In the
center there was a well which would afford an unfailing supply of water in
case of siege. Port-holes were cut through for musketry, and two pieces of
artillery were mounted - the one on the northeast and the other on the south-
west bastion. These bastions were erected on the corner of each block-house.
They stood on four stout timbers, were built of think plank, and were a little
above the lower story. Along the whole breadth of the block-houses, there was
a row of palisades, sloping outwards and resting on stout rails. In addition
to this, there was at a distance of twenty feet from the houses a row of very
strong and large pickets, planted firmly in the earth and about twelve feet
high. And as a still further precaution, at a short distance from the pick-
ets there was a range of abattis, constructed of strong branches of trees 
planted thickly together, sharpened and pointed outwards so as to render it
almost impossible for an enemy without cannon to reach even the outer pali-
sades.
   All the ground beyond within rifle shot was cleared of everything which
could afford an assailing foe protection. A very substantial wharf was built
on the shore of the river near the fort where the Mayflower, a fine cedar
barge for twelve rowers, and quite a number of light canoes were moored. Thus
was commenced the first regular town by white men within the present State 
of Ohio. This was but eighty-six years ago. The state now contains a popu-
lation approaching three millions. During the Summer and Autumn, emigrants
were fast enough for their accomodations. All were busy. Peace, health and
prosperity smiled upon the infant settlement. The laws were obeyed. The Gos-
pel was preached. The Sabbath was revered, and a high tone of morals pre-
vailed. Gamblers and inebriates avoided a place where there was no room for 
the gratification of their degrading and ruinous tastes. Fields were plowed, 
seed was sown, and gardens bloomed.
   The first civil court ever held in the Northwestern Territory was convened
on the second day of September, 1788, in the great hall of the Campus Martius.
The important event was attended with appropriate and imposing ceremonies. A
procession was formed at the little village, now rapidly rising, at a short
distance from the fort. The sheriff, with a drawn sword, took the lead. He was
followed by the citizens, the officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar, the 
members of the bar, the judges of the Supreme Court, the Governor, and a 
venerable clergyman, Rev. Dr. Cutler, and the judges of the newly organized
Court of Common Pleas. When the procession reached the Campus Martius, it 
was countermarched so that the newly appointed judges, Rufus Putnam and Gen-
eral Tuper, entered the hall first, followed by the Governor and Rev. Dr.
Cutler.
   The judges took their seats upon the bench. The audience reverently filled
the room. The divine benediction was invoked by Dr. Cutler. Then the sheriff, 
Ebenezer Sproat, arose, and, probably ignorant of the French signification
of the words, oyer, oyer, (hear, hear), cried out as has become the invariable
custom, "O yes! O yes! a court is open for the administration of even-handed
justice to the poor and to the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without
respect of persons; none to be punished without trial by their peers, and in 
pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case."
   There was a large encampment of Indians near by. Hundreds of these un-
tutored children of the forest and the prairie witnessed these ceremonies, 
with probably a very faint conception of their significance.
   During the Autumn and the Winter, new colonists were still constantly
arriving, and early in the following Spring it was thought best to commence
some new settlements. About twelve miles below Marietta, there was a beau-
tiful meadow, holding out very attractive promist to the husbandman. On the
eleventh of April, 1789, General Putnam, with a number of families, descended
the river to this spot and commenced a settlement, which they called Belpre.
But the menaces from the Indians were such that they deemed it prudent first
to erect a block-house, where they could find refuge in case of an attack.
This was called "The Farmer's Castle." Soon after, another party commenced a 
settlement ten miles still farther down the river, and called their little
station Newburg. Other settlements were made along the banks of the Muskingum
River, where the rich lands promised easy tillage and abundant harvests.
   Many of these settlers encountered pretty severe privations. One of them
communicates the following facts in reference to the inconveniences of their
forest homes:
   "The inhabitants had among them but few of what we consider the necessaries
and conveniences of life. Brittle ware, such as earthen and glass, were 
wholly unknown, and but little of the manufacturers of steel and iron, both
of which were exceedingly dear. Iron and salt were procured in exchange for
ginseng and peltries, and carried on horses from Fort Cumberland or Chambers-
burg. It was no uncommon thing for the garrison to be wholly without salt for
months, subsisting on fresh meat, milk and vegetables, and bread made of corn 
pounded in a mortar. They did not yet indulge in the luxury of the hand-mill.
   "There had been an opinion, founded upon the information of the Indians, 
that there were salt springs in the neighborhood. Shortly after Wayne's
victory in 1794, and after the inhabitants had left the garrison and gone to
their farms, a white man who had long been a prisoner of the Indians, was
released and returned to the settlements. He stopped at Olive Green and there
gave an account of the salt springs and directions for finding them. A party
was immediately formed, of whom George Ewing, a lad of seventeen, was one, who, 
after an absence of seven or eight days, returned, to the great joy of the 
inhabitants, with about a gallon though a very small one, was made there that
season for the use of the frontier settlement.