in 1802. In 1803, the first General Assembly of the State met in the house, and held their sessions there until 1810. The sessions of 1810-11 and 1811-12 were held at Zanesville, and from there removed back to Chillicothe and held in this house until 1816, when Columbus became the permanent capital of the State."*

The General Assembly, in 1893, elected the first State officers, as follows: Michael Baldwin, speaker of the house of representatives; Nathaniel Massie, speaker of the senate; William Creighton, Jr., secretary of state; Col. Thomas Gibson, auditor; William McFarland, treasurer; Return J. Meigs, Jr., Samuel Huntington, and William Sprigg, judges of the supreme court; Francis Dunlary, Wyllys Silliman, and Calvin Pease, judges of the district courts.

In 1810, the Indians, who since the treaty of peace at Greenville had been peaceable, influenced by the British, whose intention it was to prevent the further extension of the settlements, again commenced their aggressions upon the inhabitants, and in 1811 General Harrison, then governor of the Indian territory, marched againstthe Indians upon the Wabash. The Indians were under the command of a brother of the celebrated Tecumseh, called "the Prophet." The battle of Tippecanoe followed, in what is now Cass county, Indiana, and the Indians were defeated.

In 1812, war was declared between the United States and Great Britain. The chief causes of this war were the impressment of American seamen, the capture of Amer

*American Pioneer, and Howe's Hist. Col.

ican vessels, and the enforcement of illegal blockades by the English government.

On the 12th of July, 1812, General Hull, in command. at Detroit, surrendered to the British under General Brock. General Harrison soon after sent General Winchester into Michigan at the head of a thousand men, with a view to the recapture of Detroit. January 19, 1813, Winchester was attacked at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, by the British General Proctor, with a force of two thousand British and Indians. Winchester was taken prisoner, and his entire detachment surrendered, Proctor assuring them that he would protect them from the savages. He, however, withdrew his troops to Malden, leaving his prisoners to be massacred by the Indians.

Though for a time defeat, disaster and disgrace was the fate of our forces, victory at last perched upon our banners.

On the 2d of August, 1813, Col. Croghan made a most gallant defense at Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky, against an overwhelming force of British and Indians.

On the 10th of September of the same year, Commodore Perry defeated the British at the battle of Lake Erie; and on the 5th of October, General Harrison defeated the British and Indians at the battle of the Thames. At this battle, the renowned chief Tecumseh was in command of the Indian warriors, and fought with wonderful courage and desperation. After the British had fled, Tecumseh, with his Indian warriors, engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with Colonel Johnson and his force of mounted Kentuckians, but soon fell pierced by a pistol ball. It is said that during the latter years of his life, "he was almost inces

santly engaged either in council or at the head of his warlike bands," and that "he sank at last on the field of his glory, with tomahawk in hand and the cry of battle upon his lips.

"Like monumental bronze, unchanged his look,

A soul which pity touch'd, but never shook;
Train'd from his tree-rock'd cradle to his bier,
The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook;
Unchanging, fearing but the shame of fear,
A stoic of the woods, a man without a tear."

Immediately after the battle of the Thames, the British surrendered Detroit to the Americans, but retained the possession of Mackinac, in Michigan, until December 24, 1814, when negotiations for peace were concluded.

Questions-In what year was the seat of government removed from Cincinnati to Chillicothe? What is said of the old state house? Of the Constitutional Convention? Of the meetings of the General Assembly from 1803 to 1816? Name the officers elected by the first General Assembly of the State. What is said with reference to the Indians in 1810 and 1811? With what foreign nation did the United States engage in war, in 1812? State some of the chief causes of the war of 1812. When and to whom did General Hull surrender Detroit? State the particulars and result of General Winchester's campaign. What is said of General Crogan? When, by whom, and with what result was the battle of Lake Erie fought? Battle of the Thames? What is 'said of Tecumseh? When was peace declared?

CHAPTER IX.

COMMERCE AND FINANCE FROM 1814 TO 1820-BANKS AND

BANKING-INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-EARLY LEGISLATION

CONCERNING EDUCATION.

From the date of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, commercial intercourse was renewed, and excessive importations of foreign goods were made. The population of the State increased rapidly, and numerous banks were chartered which supplied an abundant circulating medium. Speculations naturally run to extravagant excesses, and many of the banks soon found themselves unable to redeem their paper.

In 1816, branches of the bank of the United States were established at Cincinnati and Chillicothe.

It is said that "these branches issued notes to a considerable amount, and the presence of this convertable paper, doubtless tended to hasten the depreciation of the State currency. By receiving the notes of the State banks, also, until large quantities had been accumulated, and then calling on them to redeem their paper, the branch banks effectually tested the solvency of these institutions. Few could endure the ordeal.

"The notes of nearly all the local banks continued to sink lower and lower in the scale of depreciation, and the paper of several became absolutely worthless."*

*Chase's Hist. Sketch of Ohio, 42.

Many of the people were disposed to attribute their financial difficulties to the operations of the Bank of the United States, and in 1819 the General Assembly passed an act imposing an annual tax of fifty thousand dollars on each branch of the national bank established in the State. The banks refused to pay this tax and the collecting officer of the State entered the branch bank at Chillicothe, levied the tax upon specie and bank notes and deposited the proceeds in the State treasury at Columbus, that city having been established as the seat of the State government in 1816.

The right of the State to tax banks created by act of Congress was immediately tested in the United States circuit court.

The case was finally taken to the supreme court of the United States, where a decision was rendered against the State.

In 1824 in pursuance of an act of the General Assembly, two lines of canal were located; one extending from the mouth of the Scioto to Coshocton and thence by one of three different routes to the lake, and another from Cincinnati to the foot of the rapids of the Maumee.

In 1825 a board of canal commissioners was authorized to commence the construction of canals from the mouth of the Scioto to the lake, and on so much of the Miami and Maumee line as lay between Cincinnati and Dayton.

The canal from the Ohio to the lake was called the Ohio canal; that from Cincinnati to Dayton, the Miami canal. These with other works of internal improvement. subsequently constructed by the State, have had much to do in developing our resources.