OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 75B ************************************************************************ 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 75B by Darlene E. Kelley notes by S. Kelly [ ] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-Bits -- Part 75 B. Newpaper Headlines Reported; " Toledo at War! " "Men galloping about--- Guns Readied ! " Wagons being filled and Hurrying Off, and Everyone in Commotion." Confusion Reigns !" April 11th; The Ohio line-runners sized up their precarious situation. One of them wrote from Maumee, " We shall certainly be made prisoners." They knew Michigan was resolved to enforce its right over Toledo. Mid April; Michigan's determination to enforce the Pains and Penalties Act put Governor Lucas into a fighting position, the rumor was carried to Michigan that any further incursion into the disputed territory would be met by force. Ohio was mustering ten thousand volunteers. Rush and Howard reported to the President and to both Governors the measures they considered necessary if Michigan and Ohio were to avoid War. 1. Ohio was to continue running the Harris Line. 2. The residents in the disputed area were temporarily to decide whether they wished to belong to Ohio or Michigan. This would be in effect until Congress made a definate decision at its next session. 3. They suggested that Michigan not enforce the Pains and Penalties Actn or try anyone under its provisions until Congress had a chance tio enact. Mason would not listen. It would make it impossible to carry out his duties as Territorial Governor. The proposal allowed Lucas to extend jurisdiction over an area the Talcott Line had declared belonged to Michigan. As chief executive it was his obligation to defend the Territory against an aggressor. Force was legitimate within the American tradition. Congress had allowed the territorial government to pass the Pains and Penalties Act. As governor he could not interfere with the courts con - cerning those already apprehended under the Pains and Penalties Act; that would be " executive usurpation and tyranny." He was " thwarted by circumstances beyond his control." He would gladly be a peacemaker, but he was governor first. April 25; Lucas stationed forty armed men with the surveying party and gathered a force at Perrysburg. Mason directed the Monroe sheriff and his posse to be on hand to arrest trespassers. He also dispatched a letter to former Michigan Governor, Secretary of War, Lewis Cass, appealing for federal intervention. The undersheriff of Lenawee County William McNair, mustered and armed thirty Adrain citizens as a posse to march with him aganst Lucas' " ten thousand." Late afternoon the Ohio surveyors and their guards ran their line to Phillips Corner [ a small field located fourteen miles south of Adrain, Michigan.) and, because of the approaching Sunday, pitched camp for a day. A spy sent by undersheriff McNair to discover the location of the line-runners spotted them. McNair was pleased to learn the Ohioans were close, for he had the necessary force to arrest them or chase them across the border. April 26; About noon on Sunday the Michigan posse moved in on the surveying party. Thrown into a panic, the line-runners made a quick retreat for the border. A remaining party of nine Ohio guardsmen took shelter in a small log cabin on Phillip's property and barricaded themselves inside. They were promptly surrounded by the posse and commanded to give themselves up. This they did after much delay. But no sooner had they lined up for arrest than their leader started a stampede for the woods. McNair's men fired a volley over the heads of the escaping Ohioans, wounding none but capturing all. They took the prisoners to the Tecumseh jail. Six entered bail, two were released and one was retained for refusing bail on principle. [The first shots of the war had been fired at the so called Battle of Phillips Corner, a term sometimes used to describe the whole of the Toledo War.] April 27; The line-runners arrived in Perrysburg. Despite their rapid nocturnal flight through the southern swamp, they suffered no greater injuries than the loss of coats, trousers, and pride. Lucas moved his forces out of Perrysburg and into the disputed territory. April 29; Mason pointed out to Secretary of State, John Forsyth, that once the Ohioans crossed the Fulton Line, they would be resisted by Michigan. ( the Battle of Phillips Corner had occurred three days earlier.) Of Course, it is one thing to decide to have a war and quite another to find people to fight it. May 1; Mason wrote to Howard and Rush indicating his willingness to let Lucas rerun the Harris Line if Ohio would do nothing to extend jurisdiction over the Toledo area once the project was completed. Mason would also deliver to the Ohio courts any individual Lucas requested. He would make these concessons out of regard for " public sentiment." Lucas refused the peace offer. Secretary of War Cass was infuriated by Lucas' unjustifiable exercise of power, Cass asked Mason to temper firmness with moderation. Mason had more to gain by suspending the Pains and Penalties Act than by pressing his right to enforce it. Jackson's paramount desire was to see the dispute settled amicably, quickly and, if at all possible, by the two governors themselves. May 2; Quiet returned to the border with the disbanding of the Ohio volunteer army. Monroe, Michigan was full of " bustle " and much more excitement in getting ready for the impending war. The Michigan Sentinel of Monroe reminded citizens " mustn't take lightly the prospect of civil war in which brother takes up arms against brother." Mid May; The Michigan Constitutional Convention met in Detroit. June 11; The Secretary of State warned Governor Lucas that if he renewed the running of the line without regard for the feelings of Michigan, he would create a crisis demanding presidential interference. Ohio's response was unsettlng. In a special session of the legislature, the delegates passed a number of laws enforcing the states jurisdiction over the Toledo area. 4. A law provided three to seven years hard labor for anyone guilty of the " forcible abduction of citizens of Ohio." 5. A new county, to be named after the Ohio Governor, was to be formed from the disputed territory with Toledo as the temporary seat of Justice. 6. The legislature appropriated three hundred thousand dollars to impliment these statutes and empowered Governor Lucas to borrow three hundred thousand more if he found it necessary. 7. The lawmakers directed the court of common pleas to hold session there the first Monday in September. [ Sept 7th ] Lucas appointed a three-man delegation to meet with the President; William Allen, Noah H. Swayne and David T. Disney. Jackson acceded that Michigan discontinue proceedings and prosecutions under the Pains and Penalties Act, that Ohio be given complete freedom to run the Harris Line, and that neither side forcibly oppose the official jurisdiction of the other in the disputed area. Mason could not bear the suggestion that Toledo come under the concurrent jurisdiction of Ohio and Michigan. Michigan was fighting the war on the principle that the ordinance of 1787 gave Michigan both complete possession of the disputed area and complete authority to govern it. This authority was derived from Congress. July 12 ish; Fighting broke out on the border. The deputy sheriff of Monroe County, Joseph Wood, was commissioned to arrest Two Stickney of Toledo. [ Son of Major Benjamin Stickney, younger brother of One Stickney, as the Major called his two sons, as they were both named Benjamin after him. ] for allegedly having resisted two Michigan officers by force. Stickney Two notified Wood that the day he set foot in Toledo his life would be in danger. July 16th; The deputy Sheriff attempted to carry out his commission. Stickney stabbed him in the left side with a dirk, saying " Damn you, you have got it." Wood was taken to the nearest inn for treatment and subsequently recovered. Meanwhile fifty to seventy-five leading Toledo citizens, including Goodsell and McKay ( former guests of Major Benjamin Stickney), gathered to pledge resistance against any further Michigan arrests, " as long as they have a drop of blood left." Upon being informed of these developments, Mason immediately ordered the Monroe posse of about two hundred men into Toledo to arrest Two Stickney. When the Toledoans sighted the armed force, a large number fled across the Maumee River, some paddling their way to the other side on logs. Once safely out of the posse's reach, they gave vent to their anger by firing on the intruders. Fonts of type of the Toledo Gazzette were " thrown into confusion." In the midst of this uproar Two Stickney escaped. The posse arrested three or four Ohio sympathizers, including McKay and Major Stickney. The Major, on the way to the Monroe jail was forcibly held on a horse by having his legs tied under the animal's body. July 18th; Mason asked Lucas to allow extradition to Michigan of Two Stickney, a request the Ohio Governor refused on grounds the stabbing had taken place on Ohio soil. The Two Stickney episode removed the border controversy one step father from an amicable settlement. The decision of Governor Lucas to hold out on Mason confirmed the Michigan legislature in its support of Mason. July 22; Secretary of State Forsyth in a letter to Cass regretted that Mason had submitted the controversy to the Legislature. The matter could be resolved simply by the Governor himself. David Disney had said that Lucas was willing to abide by Jackson's rcommendations. Aug 3rd; General Brown informed Mason he had it on good authority that Lucas was raising an armed force " of some magnitude " in Toledo to protect the court to be held there the first Monday in Septemeber. Aug 16th; Cass wrote that Forsyth had threatened Mason's removal from office if the President's recommendations were not followed. Aug 17th; Mason appeared before the Legislative Council in defense of his position against Ohio. He could permit the rerunning of the boundary and suspend the Pains and Penalties Act. He could not recognize that Ohio had equal claim to the disputed territory. Especially since Lucas had mustered a force with the avowed purpose " of murdering our citizens." The Legislature stood firm behind Mason and chided the President. Aug 24th; The Michigan Democrats nominated Mason for their gubernatorial candidate under a new state constitution. Aug 25th; Mason ordered up either a force of 200 volunteers or, if that was possible, the territorial militia. Aug 29th; President Jackson removed Mason as Michigan's acting Governor. September; Mason's first replacement, Judge Charles Shuler of Pennsylvania, refused the assignment. This left the Territory without official leadership during Sept, although Mason continued to function as governor in all but formal title. Jackson's appointment of John S. ( Little jack ) Horner o Virginia was never fully received by the Michigan citizens. Shortly after Horner's tenure of office began, the people of Michigan elected Mason and Horner, who was to work quietly to ease tensions between Ohio and Michigan and then forced his attention on the western portion of the Michigan Territory that was not included in the State. Horner became Secretary of the newly-formed Wisconsin Territory in July 1836, leaving Michigan to Mason's leadership. The September incident amounted to the ability of Buckeye brain to outwit Michigan muscle. Michigan was ready to meet the enemy. Consisting of about two hundred fifty farmers and townfolk, the contingent sported broom handles for weapons and feathers in their hats for military insigna. The march to Toledo took four days. Sept 6; The Michigan troops pitched camp at Mullhollen's about eight miles from Toledo. They expected to meet Lucas' force the next day. Lucas ordered court to be held before daybreak. Sept 7; Lucas' adjutant general, accompanied by twenty armed men, left Maumee at one o'clock in the morning with the judges and court officials. two hours later, in an old schoolhouse, they conducted the business of officially opening court and making the necessary appointments. These brief proceedings were written down on bits of paper and then deposited in the clerk's bell-shaped hat. The court and its escorts adjourned to a tavern to celebrate. Word came that they had been spotted by the enemy. The group made haste for the Maumee. On the run they discovered that they had been given a false alarm and the clerk had lost the hat. Two guards made their way back in the dark and retrieved the hat. After joining their companions and firing two salvos, the whole company returned to Maumee at six o'clock rejoicing in having deceived Michigan. Mason's forces arrived hours later on foot, horseback, and in boats. No Ohio soldiers were in sight. They stayed on three days and then were ordered back to Monroe for review by the Governor, unaware that Lucas had outwitted them. With the disbanding of the Ohio troops, Mason was forced to order his soldiers back to their farms and villages. late Fall; The Territory proceeded to act as if it were a state. Michigan elected Mason as Governor and called the legislature into session. They elected John Norvell and Lucas Lyon as U.S. Senators and Isaac Crary as representative. December; Congress refused to sat the three Michigan representatives, granting them only the previlege of observers. 1936 -- Jan 18; Norvell and Crary wrote a letter to Mason pointing out that their hopes for rapid admission into the Union had disappeared. They were certain that Statehood rested on the resolution of the boundary issue, was locked in the judiciary committee of both houses of Congress. March; When the bills were reported out of committee, it was generally acknowledged that to enter the Union, Michigan would have to cede the Toledo Strip in exchange for the western two-thirds (2/3 ) of the Upper Peninsula. June; Congress reveiwed the commitee reports. June 15; Congress passed an act admitting Michigan into the Union once it surrendered the Toledo Strip for the Upper Peninsula. July 25th; The Michigan legislature put out a call for delegates to decide whether Michigan would accept or reject the Act of June 15th. Governor Mason ordered another survey. the results cnfirmed the Fulton Line. At the end of September, four days' deliberation, the delegates tured down the congressional proposal by 28 to 21. By the end of October, the second Council of assent ( dubbed the " Frost Bitten Convention " by its opponents ) , had become a reality. December 14; After two days of debates, the Act of June 15 was submitted. December 27; President Jackson reported the action to Congress. 1837 Jan 6; The Senate passed the admission of Michigan as a state in the Union. It was not until 1915 the official survey of the line was finished and the governors shook hands over the border. Editors note +++ [ In February 22, 1973, The United States Supreme Court sides with Ohio on a dispute over the eastern boundary of the Toledo Strip within Lake Erie. ] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-bits continued in part 76.