Muskingum River, and contained barracks sufficiently capacious to accommodate the soldiers, and also several families of settlers. This was the first military post of the United States in Ohio, if we except a small fort, called Laurens, built in 1778, on the Tus carawas. The United States Government was very desirous of securing peace with the Indians. There was nothing to be gained by war. A council of the Shawanese chiefs was assembled at the mouth of the Great Miami, the latter part of January, 1786. Three distinguished gentlemen of the United States attended as commissioners. In the contract here entered into, which was known as the Treaty of the Great Miami, the Shawanese chiefs acknowledged the United States to be the sole and absolute sovereign of all the territory heretofore relinquished to them, by their chiefs, in the Treaty of January 14, 1785. The chiefs also agreed to abstain from all hostilities, to surrender three hostages for the faithful delivery of all the captives they held, to punish such of their young men as should be guilty of murder or robbery against the whites, and to give notice to the United States officers of any incursions they suspected of being in contemplation against the frontiers. The United States agreed to take the Shawanese under their protection, to allot to them, as their hunting grounds, the territory generally lying west of the Great Miami, and to prevent all intrusion of white settlements into their regions. Notwithstanding these treaties, hostile incursions still continued. The British Government had been very desirous of retaining the country between the Great Lakes and the Ohio. Defeated in this, the British traders and agents in Canada sought to prolong their influence over the Northwestern Indians, and their lucrative trade with them, by instigating them to that cruel warfare which would tend to arrest the advance of the American settlements. "Detroit had long been an important central depot for the British fur traders, with the Northwestern Indians. It was an important place of business, and many Scotch and English capitalists had large investments in the lucrative trade with the natives. To comply with the treaty stipulations would incommode these important personages, by interrupting their trade, and restricting their influence over the savage tribes south and west of the lakes. A state of hostilities between the Indians and the American people of the West would be a sufficient guarantee to them that, for a time, they should be free from interruption. Hence they wished to arrest the advance of emigration across the Ohio River."* The vast territory lying north and west of the Ohio River, was claimed, by virtue of original charters from the King of England, by the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Virginia. Upon the peace which followed the Revolution, each of these states consented to relinquish its claims to the general government, with the exception of reservations by Connecticut and Virginia. These two states, embarassed by the expenses of the war, retained a portion of the territory for the purpose of paying their debts to the revolutionary soldiers. The region thus granted to Connecticut, by Congress, and which was called the Western Reserve, consisted of the country lying north of the 41st degree of latitude, and extending from the western boundary of the State of Pennsylvania to the Sandusky River; or rather to the western borders of Sandusky and Seneca Counties. This region, bounded on the north by the lakes, was about fifty miles in breath, and one hundred and twenty miles from east to west. Virginia retained the lands lying between the Scioto and the Little Miami. This section was called "The Virginia Military District." The remainder of the vast, and as yet almost unknown, region of the Northwest was to be organized into states, so soon as the population should be sufficient. These cessions being completed, the United States Government, in the year 1787, established a territorial government over the whole, and as yet uninhabited, region, extending west to the Mississippi River. In this ordinance of territorial organization, we find it stated that no man shall be arrested for his mode of worship or his religious sentiments; that the utmost good faith shall be observed towards the Indians; that their lands shall never be taken from them without their consent, unless in just and lawful war; and that there shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five states. There was also the all-important provision introduced: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; provided, always, that * The Valley of the Mississippi, by John W. Monette, M.D., Vol. II., p. 226. any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed, in any of the original states, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor in service as aforesaid." And now companies began to be organized upon the Atlantic sea-board for the establishment of colonies in this northwestern territory. The Ohio Company sent agents to Congress to purchase a large extent of land between the Muskingum and the Hocking Rivers, bounded on the east by the Ohio; for in that region the river line runs nearly north and south. The Ohio Company was formed of officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army. They had resolved to move West to retrieve their exhausted fortunes. Many of them held large claims upon the Government, the payment of which they could obtain only in land. The purchase was made at one dollar an acre, payable in land scrip, or any other evidences of debt for revolutionary services. The purchase, including the mouths of the Muskingum and the Hocking Rivers, embraced between one and two million acres. Soon after this John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, purchased six thousand acres, between the Great and Little Miami. His northern border was the Ohio River. For this land he paid sixtysix cents an acre. In the Autumn of 1787, General Rufus Put-nam, a son of General Israel Putnam, of revolutionary renown, set out with a party of forty-seven persons, mainly from New England, to commence a colony at the mouth of the Muskingum, on the eastern bank, opposite Fort Harmar. For nearly eight weeks this band of emigrants toiled painfully along through the rugged and almost pathless defiles of the Alleghany Mountains. The course they took was what was called. Braddock's Road. It was the same route which was subsequently adopted by the national turnpike from Cumberland westward. At length they reached what was called Simrel's Ferry, on the Yohiogany, one of the tributaries of the Alleghany River. Here the severity of the Winter detained them for some time. They built at this place a large covered barge, which they named the Mayflower, in remembrance of their pilgrim ancestors. was bullet-proof, so as to defy the rifles of the Indians. It is said. that the boat was well adapted to transport the families and their effects to their ultimate destination, and to serve as a floating resi dence, while more permanent ones were being erected on the land. The latter part of March, 1788, the Mayflower, freighted with its precious colony, commenced its voyage, to float down the Yohiogany, the Alleghany, and the Ohio, to the mouth of the Muskingum. On the 7th of April the emigrants took possession of their purchase. Better materials for a colony were probably never before brought together. The colonists were generally men of science and refinement, and of high moral worth. For their internal security they framed a simple code of laws, which were published by being nailed to a tree. It is a remarkable proof of the moral habits of the people that for three months there was but a single infraction of these laws. General Washington pays the following tribute to the character of these pioneers: "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which was commenced at the Muskingum. Information, prosperity and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community." The ordinance which organized the Territorial Government was placed in the hands of a governor and three judges. There was a drizzling rain, accompanied with fog, as the Mayflower drifted by the mouth of the Muskingum. The colonists did not perceive that they had reached their destination until the massive white-washed walls of Fort Harmar loomed up upon them through the mist, upon the right bank of the stream. They immediately entered the river, where they found pleasant accomodations for their boat. In the meantime the rain had ceased, the fog was dispersed, and the sun shone forth in all its glory. A scene of surpassing loveliness was opened before them. It was one of the most serene and balmy of spring mornings. The very air they breathed was exhilarating. The meadows were green with verdure; the forest luxuriant with foliage. Birds filled the air; and all were alike delighted with their new home which they had found. The garrison at Fort Harmar gave them a very warm welcome, while its strong walls promised them security against any hostile attacks. It will be remembered that the Americans were nominally at peace with all the tribes. The outrages which were perpetrated were the deeds of vagabonds who perhaps could be no |