The first step to be taken was the establishment of a great military center somewhere on the Ohio river, and the insistent appeals of the settlers in the Miami purchase, pointed to that locality as the proper place. Judge Symmes, who so eloquently voiced these cries for help, desired and expected that when a sufficient military force was ordered to the scene of danger it would be located at North Bend, as a matter of course. To meet his wishes was no doubt the desire and intention of the military authorities in those plans which were slowly maturing for the defense of the whole region, by the construction of an imposing and sufficient fortification. All previous defenses had proved inadequate. A considerable fortress had been erected at Columbia (one link in a chain of such defenses scattered all the way from Pittsburgh to Louisville, at such points as Marietta, Maysville, etc.), and one had been built at the mouth of the Big Miami in 1785-1786. But all were too small and too remote to meet the needs of the population centering about the region "opposite the mouth of the Licking.”

Let it be remembered now that the advance guard of the army which was slowly being assembled came down the river with Symmes on the 29th of January, 1789, under command of Captain Kearsey; that he had gone off down the river to Louisville; that Ensign Luce had deserted North Bend for Cincinnati and had actually begun to construct some sort of works for the defense of that rapidly growing town. About his actual achievements little is now known except that they were so inadequate as to cause their abandonment in favor of the final plans for a first-class fortification.

Lieutenant Drury.

It was to carry out these plans that during July and August of 1789 several competent officers of the United States army (Lieutenant Drury, Captain Strang, Lieutenant Kingsbury, Ensign Hartshorn, Captain Ferguson and Lieutenant Pratt) left Fort Harmar and went down the river to Losantiville. The man who had been selected to lead and to manage the enterprise was Major Doughty, the designer and constructor of Fort Harmar, under whose guns the city of Marietta had been so safely founded. At this time he was next in command to General Harmar himself and was regarded as a most patriotic and capable officer. The preliminary investigations for a proper site had eliminated North Bend and also Columbia, the latter because of a flood in the river, which the soldiers saw. All signs pointed to the predestined spot, "opposite the Licking" and here, at last the constructive agents assembled and the actual work began.

By the 20th of August, 1789, they had located the site on a point of land high enough to be above the floods of the river, whose extraordinary rises had already begun to be significant features in the life of the people who lined its banks. This site lay upon a spot immediately east of the land platted for the town, and on the second or upper of the two levels which nature had apparently graded for the purposes to which they now were being set apart. It was about four hundred and fifty feet back of the river and eighty or ninety feet above it (between Broadway and Ludlow), and contained about fifteen acres of ground, the locality being marked at present by a worthy monument.

It was the purpose of the government that this fortification should not only be impregnable against Indian attacks, but ample enough to contain a number of soldiers adequate to the protection of the whole region and dignified enough also

to be the headquarters of General Harmar, commander-in-chief of all the scattered forces.

The day when the first tree was cut to clear a space for the new fort was one of great rejoicing for the struggling and timid community. The delighted pioneers did not need to be told that their protection was soon to become complete, for the work was evidently being laid out on a large and, for that time, magnificent scale. In fact, it rapidly grew into an affair of no inconsiderable magnitude, and, one might almost say, of beauty, for it was constructed upon truly artistic lines. It would be a waste of time to describe it minutely, as the accompanying picture will give a far more accurate impression to the average reader than the most detailed and eloquent verbal account could possibly do. Let it suffice to say that it consisted of two principal parts, the fortification itself, constructed of hewn logs and capable of accommodating fifteen hundred soldiers, and adjoining this, the artificer's yard, where the mechanical operations of the garrison were performed.

The front and sides were whitewashed, and just outside, at the eastern end, the officers located and cultivated beautiful gardens, so that the whole affair was according to general testimony both "handsome and imposing," and General Harmar, when he arrived, expressed himself as delighted with the situation and the prospects.

It was not, however, for "ornamental" purposes that this fortress was constructed. Its mission was warlike, and its garrisons were expected to protect the people who were pouring down the Ohio river and settling its shores, even though it cost the extermination of the Indian race.

Before resorting to this drastic and revolting extreme, the government, in accordance with the merciful purpose of Washington, determined to exhaust every possible means to settle the antagonisms of the two races without war; and so sent Major Hamtrank, the commandant at Vincennes, an able and efficient officer, to see if the Indians on the Wabash and Miami were willing to come to some peaceful agreement. A single careless phrase in the invitation to hold a council for this purpose is generally supposed to have defeated the project. Without foreseeing the effect of the words upon the minds of the sensitive savages, the blunt soldier told the Indians to "accept the offers or reject them, as they pleased," an expression which roused their high spirits to resentment, and they drove the messengers out of their villages in a rage. After this failure another effort was made through Antoine Gamelin, a French trader whom they loved; but the Indians informed him that the Americans had not kept their faith and had done nothing but "send them speeches (proposals and promises), no two of which were alike," so that they were determined never to repose their confidence in them any more. Scarcely had this discouraging report come back before the rumors of a general uprising began to echo along the whole frontier. War parties were formed and moved stealthily toward the Ohio; the erection of Fort Washington in Cincinnati having stirred them to a frenzy of antagonism.

The news of these movements roused Governor St. Clair to the greatest activity. Dropping all other affairs he hastened from St. Louis to arrange for the first serious campaign against these savage opponents of the occupation of the Ohio valley.

Harmar's Campaign.

At Cincinnati he met General Harmar, just promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and they immediately organized two separate forces one under the command of Major Hamtrank and the other under that of General Harmar himself. The first moved up the Wabash, but was unable to carry out the plan for the conquest of the region through which it flowed, for lack of sufficient soldiers and equipments. The second began immediately to assemble at Fort Washington, and was expected to contain fifteen hundred militia from Pennsylvania and Kentucky (at that time a part of Virginia). General St. Clair himself, aroused by the exigencies of the situation, hurried east on a flying trip to make all the necessary arrangements with the central government, while Harmar remained at Fort Washington to organize and discipline the troops.

By the 26th of September, 1790, preparations were far enough advanced to warrant the beginning of the enterprise, and with drums beating and colors flying, the little army of one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three soldiers disappeared (a part on the 26th and a part on the 29th) into the vast and somber wilderness that surrounded the village on its northern side. Their route lay along an Indian trail, which was afterwards known as "Harmar's Trace." It ran up Main street and through Mount Auburn along its central avenue; and then down Reading road through Avondale. Swiftly and safely the soldiers made their way to the neighborhood of Chillicothe, and reports began to come in at this point that the Indians were flying before them. On this account General Harmar detached Colonel Hardin with six hundred light troops, with orders to hasten toward the Indian villages on the Miami, the goal of his movements. It was a difficult and dangerous march through a hostile country and over trails, that were rough and ill-defined; but the courageous soldiers pushed grimly forward through the solemn forests, determined to conquer or to die.

The Indian villages lay at the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary, one hundred and seventy-two miles from Cincinnati and (to the disappointment of the more youthful of the invaders) were found to have been deserted.

In their vexation they burned the villages to the ground and destroyed the crops, thus seriously crippling the power of their enemies by cutting off their base of supplies. The principal design of the enterprise had been accomplished, but so bloodless a campaign did not satisfy the more daring spirits, who insisted upon some sort of fighting. To this childish clamor Colonel Hardin foolishly yielded, and a conflict was precipitated in which the vain glorious militia were so panic-stricken that the Indians repelled the attack with what proved to be a crushing blow.

They were not, however, in any condition to follow up their victory, and it was good luck rather than good soldiership that prevented the disaster from becoming fatal.

The humiliated and badly shattered columns reassembled themselves when the fighting was over and hastened back to Cincinnati, apologizing as best they could for their disgrace, and making as much as they were able of the fact that, at any rate, they had burned the villages and destroyed the revenues of the Indians.

In this brief campaign many incidents transpired which are full of romantic interest and reveal a personal valor of the highest type. In what chapter of