Wheeling, in the early part of the month of June, had sent out a force under Colonel Augus McDonald of about four hundred men, who penetrated into the Indian country, as far as the mouth of the Wappatomica, near where Dresden now is, on the Muskingum river. Jonathan Zane, Thomas Nicholson and Taddy Kelly were their pilots. They destroyed the Indian towns along the Muskingum river, exasperated the Indians greatly, killed one Indian, and returned as they came, carrying with them, a few prisoners, which were exchanged in the autumn, at the treaty of Dunmore's camp Charlotte, near Pickaway Plains.

After his campaign was ended, Earl Dunmore soon abandoned his colonial government, and went off to England.

Congress declared us an independent nation 4th July 1776, and in 1778, they sent out a small force under General McIntosh, for the defence of the western frontiers. This force arrived at Pittsburgh, and descended the Ohio, thirty miles, and erected a fort at the mouth of Beaver creek, where Beaver is now, and called it 'FORT MCINTOSH'. This little fort, was well supplied with provisions, and had in it, a six pounder. In the autumn of that year, McIntosh was ordered, by Congress, to penetrate the Indian country and destroy the towns on the Sandusky river. With one thousand men, he attempted to obey his orders, but on reaching the Tuscarawas river, near Zoar he concluded to go no farther, but erect a fort and tarry there. He erected a fort and called it LAWRENS, in honor of the president of Congress.

Provisioning the fort, and leaving colonel John Gibson and one hundred and fifty men in it, to stay there until spring, McIntosh returned to Pittsburgh, with the remainder of his force. This fort was on the bank of the Tuscarawas, in the present county of Tuscarawas, near the canal, three miles north of Galena. The Indians soon learned the existence of this fort, and in January 1779, they approached it, stole the horses, in the night, belonging to the garrison, and taking the bells off them, sent the horses to a distance from the fort, and secreted themselves beside the path which led through the high prairie

grass near the garrison. Having thus secreted themselves, in the high weeds and grass, they rattled the horse bells, at the end of the line of those farthest from the fort, who formed this ambuscade. The stratagem succeeded perfectly: sixteen men, from the fort, were sent out for the horses, and of these, fourteen, were killed by the Indians, the other two, were made prisoners, and but only one of them returned, after the peace, or was ever heard from by his friends.

On the evening of the same day, the Indians, marched slowly, in single file, across the prairie, in full view of our people in fort Lawrens. Dressed and painted, in their best war style they thus marched along, in full view, to the number of eight hundred and forty seven warriors. Having shown themselves, they took their position on a high piece of ground, on the opposite side of the river, south of the now town of Bolivar, and so near the garrison, that they could be heard distinctly, and easily from the fort. This body of Indians continued to invest the fort, during six weeks, at the end of which time, they pretended to go off, but, in reality, divided into small parties, they continued in the vicinity, for the purpose of doing mischief, more effectually, in which, they but too well succeeded. Colonel Gibson and his men, supposing the Indians to be gone off, started off Colonel Clark, of the Pennsylvania line, with some twelve or more invalids, to Fort McIntosh, but being waylaid, the most of them were killed by the Indians, about two miles from the fort. The Colonel and three others, saved their lives, by running to the garrison. A party from the fort, on the same evening, made a sortie and recovered the dead bodies of the invalids, and buried them in front of the gate, at the fort.

Three or four days after this disaster, General McIntosh, with seven hundred men, arrived, bringing provisions. Overjoyed at the sight of this relief, Gibson's command, fired volleys, of firearms in honor of the occasion. The provisions were on packhorses, and these horses taking fright at the firing of the guns, ran off into the woods, and scattered the provisions through the forest and prairies, far and wide all around the fort. Thus it was mostly lost or fell into

the hands of the Indians. After McIntosh arrived, he recovered the bodies, or rather skeletons of those who fell, when the horses were stolen. These bodies had been mangled by wolves and other wild animals. To revenge themselves on the wolves, the men made a pit, put the dead bodies of the soldiers into it, and covered them so as to leave a pit, so slightly covered as not to bear a wolf. On the summit of the pile, they placed a piece of meat. Next morning, they found seven wolves in the pit, which after shooting the wolves, they then covered up and made it the grave of the soldiers and the wolves.

For two weeks before McIntosh arrived, the garrison had been on short allowance of sour flour and bad meat. Two men had died from eating wild parsnips, and four others nearly shared their fate, but were saved by medical aid. After the arrival of the provisions, forty of the men made themselves sick by eating to excess. Those who had suffered so much, and so long, were now relieved, and marched back to Fort McIntosh. On the second day of their march, great numbers of their friends met them, bringing provisions, and consolation for the sufferers. Major Vernon now took the command of Fort Lawrens, but abandoned it altogether in the autumn of 1779. We find, though, that this fort was occupied again, so far as to hold an Indian treaty here, in the winter of 1785. And the same winter George R. Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, commissioners, held a treaty at Fort McIntosh, 21st January, 1785, which was ratified 2d June, 1785, as the journal of the old congress shows, unless it be expunged by order of the United States senate.

There was a campaign against the Indians, in 1782, in the spring, only six years before the first settlement at Marietta. This expedition was commanded by Colonel Williamson. In 1772 the Moravian missionaries established a missionary sta tion on the upper part of the Muskingum river. They built several villages, and induced many christian Indians to settle in the now counties of Tuscarawas and Coshocton. These

christian Indians, were finally, either all murdered, or driven away by Colonel Williamson and his party, in 1782. Another expedition immediately afterwards started from Wheeling under Colonel Crawford; it pressed forward to Upper Sandusky, was finally defeated; Crawford was taken prisoner and burnt to death at the stake, within the now limits of the county which bears his name. Those who wish for a full account of this last expedition, in all its horrors of detail, may consult Doddridge's notes, Heckewelder's narrative, Loskiel's Moravian missions, or any similar publication, relative to that period. For ourselves, we wish a moment's respite, from Indian warfare, and to say, in conclusion, that there was one expedition after another, year after year, from about Wheeling, and along the Ohio river, above that point, into the Indian country, from the year 1774, up to 1782-3. All these expeditions were unauthorized by law, they began wrong, were badly conducted, and ended in nothing beneficial to the white settlements. These expeditions were undertaken at the expense of individuals, without the aid of the nation or of any state authority. There was no good discipline among these militia, who suffered dreadfully, on their painful marches, without a sufficiency of food, raiment, or of arms and ammunition. They exasperated, but did not conquer the enemy. The Indians managed their affairs pretty much in the same way until the nation finally put an end to the whole business under General Wayne. For the honor of human nature would that these things had never been. Having related briefly indeed what was going forward in the eastern half, of what is now Ohio, ever since the French were expelled from the country, in 1763, up to 1782 or 3, which was the last of those fatal efforts to establish our dominion over the Indian nations, during that period; we now descend the Ohio river to ascertain what had been doing in that part of Kentucky, adjacent to us.

In 1754, James McBride had traversed some part of Kentucky. His flattering account of the country, when he returned home, induced Daniel Boon, thirteen years afterwards to visit the same country, in company with McBride

and others The whole company were slain by the Indians, except Boon, who returned to North Carolina in 1771. - Eight years afterwards, Boon, accompanied by his family and forty men, from Powel's valley in North Carolina, traversed the wilderness and finally settled on Kentucky river, at a place which they named Boonsborough.

Immediately after the declaration of Independence, Connecticut set up a claim, to what is now New Connecticut, in common parlance; that is, the north part of Ohio, above latitude 41° north. Virginia claimed Ohio below that line, as being within the limits of her charter. The United States claimed all the territory within our limits, as having been conquered by common exertions and common treasure, which congress wanted with which to pay off the national debt. In the meantime, Virginia passed an act, forbidding any one to settle on this territory, until this dispute should be settled. Congress contended that all the territory which belonged to the British crown, had passed of right into the possession of the whole nation, as a sovereign. Virginia contended, that to deprive any one state of any portion of its territory, was to dissolve the whole Union. Having thus had the best of the argument, with true Virginia liberality, she consented to give away, the whole sovereignty to the nation, of all the lands which lay northwest of Ohio river, on condition, that Virginia should retain the right of soil of all the country between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers. With this land, Virginia intended to reward her soldiers of the revolutionary war. But Virginia required other states to do the same, by their soldiers. This subject at that day, greatly agitated the public mind, but, finally Virginia by a formal deed, relinquished all her right and title, to all the country northwest of the Ohio river, except as before excepted. Thus congress became the peaceable owner of all this vast region of country.

Congress had an eye, to this country, as a fund with which, to discharge the national debt of gratitude to our able defenders, in the war of the revolution; to those who were the national creditors, for money borrowed of them, or others claim