OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 75A ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 March 7, 2006 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio Tid-Bits - part 75 A. by Darlene E. Kelley notes by S. Kelly [ ] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-Bits - Part 75 A. The Toledo War. The most bizarre war in American history was the Toledo War fought in 1835. It was lead by Michigan's feisty 22 year old Territorial Governor, Stevens T. Mason and his small 250 person group of volunteers. They had gone to defend their territory from an Ohio take-over. It all started from a Northwest ordinance of 1787, which established an east-west line drawn from the southern tip of Lake Michigan across the base of the peninsula. The orginal line was drawn using maps that showed the line intersecting Lake Erie north of the Maumee River. This was a territorial " line of scrimmage " that Ohioans recognized when their constitution was drafted in 1803. When the Michigan Territory was created in 1805, suveyors realized the tip of Lake Michigan was actually further south and included the area that would later become Toledo. This revelation had the Ohioans in Congress sceaming " Offsides!" They immediately campaigned to have the northern line accepted as the official border. In 1817, U.S. Surveyor General, and the former Ohio Governor, Edward Tiffin, sent William Harris out to survey the line according to Ohio's constitution. The Michigan Territorial Governor, Lewis Cass, went to President James Monroe to protest the call. John A. Fulton was called into the fray to make another survey of the disputed claim in accordance with the Northwest Ordinance. It was not surprising that the two surveys resulted in two lines eight miles apart at the Indiana border, with a total of 488 square miles in between. Although Ohio still claimed the Toledo Strip as its own, the squabbling momentarily ceased and Michigan quietly assumed jurisdiction over the area. In 1832, Michigan Territorial Council petitioned Congress for an enabling act which would permit Michigan to call a constitutional convention. Congress refused the request because of the unresolved boundry dispute between Michigan and Ohio. Congress passed a law providing for a third survey of the Ordinance Line to be completed December 31, 1835. Andrew Talcott, captain of the U.S. Army Engineers was commissioned to undertake the project, and the actual survey was made by Lieutenants Washington Hood and Robert E. Lee. [ It is worth noting that Eastern capitalists had invested heavily in Port Lawrence real estate mistakenly guessing that the area would enjoy commercial success due to the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal, hoping that it would terminate in Toledo instead of Maumee, thus keeping their holdings in wealthy and established Ohio. Michigan capitalists wanted Port Lawrence in their State. Two sizeable railroad projects were being initiated in Michigan and due to terminate in the Toledo area. ] Events that followed are; 1834-- In May, Congress turned down Michigan's petition for Statehood. June; The Talbot survey was reported to Congress. The Talbot Line practically coincided with the Fulton Line, thereby supporting Michigan's claims to Toledo. Late June; Congress enlarged Michigan's Territory to encompass Wisconsin , Minnesota, Iowa, and the eastern parts of North and South Dakota. July; Stevens Thomson Mason, age 23, became Acting Governor. He called a special session of the Michigan's Legislature to expedite Michigan's admission into the Union. November; Mason stressed the importance of retaining the Toledo Strip. He wanted Congress to create the Wisconsin Territory and return Michigan to its natural boundries. Mason wanted the Michigan legislature to press for Statehood after that. 1835 -- January; Michigan Territorial Legislature called for a constitutional convention on the second Monday in May, 1835, per Mason's request to gain Statehood. February 6; At the request of Gov. Robert Lucas, Ohio lawmakers passed a law extending the jurisdiction of their state over the disputed area. February 12; The Michigan territorial legislature responded. If Ohio would extend its control in the Toledo region, then Michigan would make it a criminal offense to do so. They passed the Plains and Penalties Act which fixed a fine up to a $1,000 and/or up to five years imprisonment at hard labor. Mason appointed Brigadier-General Joseph Brown of the Third U.S. Brigade to be ready to strike against any Ohio trespasser. March; Ohio passed a resolution confirming its belief in the Harris Line which had given Ohio the Toledo area. The Ohio legislature provided for a rerunning of the line to settle the controversy once and for all. Three commissioners, Uri Seely, Jonathon Taylor, and John Patterson, were to begin this project by April 1. Lucas called out the Ohio miltia to be on hand, if need be, when the three commisioners arrived at Perrysburg on April 1,-- April fools day. Mason was worried. John Thomson Mason, Governor Mason's father and former secretary of Michigan Territory, advised his son to be slow to act and let Ohio be the aggressor. Mason took his advice and wrote General Brown to hold off on any display of force, In reference to Lucas, his three Ohio commissioners and their guard. Mason wrote, " Let him get on our soil, arrest him, strike the blood at once, disgrace him and his state, and end the controversy." However, at the same time Mason wrote the General, he also ordered three additional units of the Michigan Militia into readiness. Lucas was an enemy and President Andrew Jackson showed no sign he had any intention of interfering. Mason received a letter from the U.S. Secretary of State, John Forsyth stating that Congress might use its prerogatives over a territory to force a compromise with Ohio, if Michigan refused to bend on the Plains and Penalties Act. This so distressed Mason that he asked Jackson to remove him as Governor if neither the President nor his adminstration coul support him in the boundary controversy. Mason thought Michigan was protecting itself against a law of Ohio empowering Ohio commisioneers, under the protection of the Ohio Governor, to rerun an Ohio boundary in Michigan Territory. If Michigan could not act, who could ? Governor Lucas has every intention of proceeding with the rerunning of the Harris Line, but he is anxious that it be done peacefully. He encouraged President Jackson to appoint a commission to arbitrate the dispute. March 23; Mason dispatched Senator John Norvell to talk with the President. Mason was also upset by some inhabitants in the disputed area who wanted to belong to Ohio because of interest in the Toledo canal. Norvell would press for presidential action. March 24; President Jackson appointed Benjamin C. Howard of Baltimore, and Richard Rush of Philadelphia to serve on a commission to arbitrate the disbute. March 31; Lucas and the Ohio line-runners set out for Perrysburg. April 1; Michigan held elections for township officials in the disputed area. April 2; Lucas and the Ohio line-runners arrive in Perrysburg. April 3; Rush and Howard ( President Jackson's commissioners ) reached Toledo. Both Ohio and Michigan had already created a situation for war. April 4; Michigan residents proceeded to the polls to elect delegates for the constitutional convention in May. April 5; Writing from Monroe, Howard indicated that all signs pointed to Governor Lucas' determination to carry out his designs. " He is very firm in his character." he noted. " And though doing what nine tenths of the nation will hereafter pronounce wrong, yet will listen to no argument upon the point, because he says that his State has decidied upon it and it is his duty to exercise her laws." April 6; Ohio held elections in the disputed area. April 8; The Monroe County sheriff and posse moved into Toledo and began arresting violators of the Pians and Penalties Act. The most publicized incident took place in the night. The Monroe contingent, numbering some thirty five to forty persons, entered into Major Benjamin F. Stickney's house and drove his two guests, George McKay and N. Goodsell, out of their beds, having first attempted to gouge out McKay's eyes and having throttled Stickney's daughter for sounding the alarm. They then carried the two to Monroe: had a mock trial; and released them on bail two days later. The alleged crime being interferance with the arrest of Toledoans loyal to Ohio. One witness wrote " We were driven from out homes for acting under the authority of Ohio; our houses broken open in the dead of night; citizens taken prisoners; bound hand and foot, and tied to fiery horses, gagged that they may not alarm the rest of the citizens; the females too in the same house are treated with violence being held and prevented from going to alarm the neighbors; and all this for saying to an individual, he need not obey the laws of Michigan. After the assault of April 8. two or three hundred Michigan horseman, armed with guns and bayonets, moved into the city and dishonored the Ohio flag by dragging it through the streets of Toledo on the tail of a horse. Benjamin F. Stickney wrote, soon after the outrage; " There cannot be a doubt that the generous Ohioans will turn out en masse to protect their northern border and restrain the savage barbarity of the hordes of the north." [ Note; Major Stickney was regarded as an ardent Ohio Patriot by the people of Ohio and as an overly verbose hypocrite by the people of Michigan. ] The outbreak of hostilities forced the Ohio officeholders elected on the sixth to make a fast retreat; likewise the Ohio line-makers, who were unarmed and unprotected. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ to be continued in Part 75 B.