CHAPTER II. CONFLICTING CLAIMS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. THE RETURN of Squire BOONE-THE EMIGRATING COMPANYCLAIMS OF THE FRENCH EXPEDITIONS FROM CANADA MISSION OF CHRISTOPHER GIST- PECULIAR FESTIVALSCONFLICT AT THE MIAMI- HEROIC FEAT OF GEORGE WASH-HIS EARLY DAYS-JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILEXTRACTS FROM WASHINGTON'S JOURNAL-LORD WASHINGTON COMMISSIONED AS MAJOR INGTON PERILOUS UNDERTAKING - MELANCHOLY ADVENTURE. HIS AFTER THE lapse of three months, early in August, Squire Boone returned, and found his brother safe and alone in his solitude. But Daniel Boone declares, that during the absence of Squire, he had not experienced one hour of loneliness. The charms of the wilderness to him were such, that in the brightness of the sunniest day, and in the gloom of the darkest night, he was alike serene and happy. He was never over-excited by joy, or depressed by sadness; even the perpetual howling of the wolves, in the forest, afforded him a kind of pensive pleasure. Squire Boone succeeded in bringing with him, over the mountains, two pack-horses. They were an invaluable, but perilous acquisition to the pioneers. They brought an ample supply of the necessaries for camp life. But the sagacious Indians could, without difficulty, follow their trail, and the animals could not easily be concealed. Still eight months passed away, and no In, dians approached them. Mounting their horses, they explored the region, far and wide, until they became very thoroughly ac quainted with the country, the flow of the rivers, the sweep of the mountains, and the fertile, treeless meadows, or prairies, which were all prepared by nature, for the plow and the hoe. Thus they employed themselves during the lovely autumn, and the mild winter, seldom sleeping two nights in the same place. It seems as though a special providence must have protected them from encountering any of the Indian bands ever running over those hunting fields. Daniel Boone having become thoroughly conversant with this southern portion of the great valley, and appreciating its value to future generations, set out with his brother, in March, 1771, on his return home. The journey of a few weeks brought him to the Yadkin, where he found his wife and family in safety. The labors of his elder sons, with their rifles, and the cultivation of a few fertile acres, amply supplied the wants of the household. A company was soon formed, incited by the representations of Daniel Boone, to emigrate to those realms, beyond the mountains, of marvelous fertility and beauty. This is not the place to enter into the details of this expedition intimately, as its fate was subsequently connected with the settlements in that northern portion of the great valley which is now called Ohio. These emigrants, after a series of wonderful adventures, established a settlement in the southern portion of the great valley, at a place now called Booneville, Kentucky. We must now retrace a little the path of time. While these scenes were transpiring south of the Ohio River, the French were enjoying the almost undisturbed possession of all the vast territory north of that majestic stream. They had established military posts, around which flourishing settlements were springing up, at Detroit, Peoria, Kaskaskia, and Vincennes. To render their title. still more valid, the Governor of Canada had sent surveyors, with a guard of three hundred soldiers, to plant leaden plates, containing inscriptions of the claims of France, at the mouths of all the principal rivers flowing into the Ohio. Captain Celeron, who led the expedition, was also instructed, should he meet with any English traders among the Indians, to warn them off, as trespassers on the territory of France. The English traders, in pursuit of furs, were, at this time, penetrating the country in various directions, and they had established quite an important trading house on the banks of the Great Miami River. And, in the meantime, the King of England had granted to several English companies the whole coast of North America, between the Spanish possessions in the south and the French possessions in the north. The language of these grants declared, that their territory should extend "up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and northwest." In 1748, a company was formed in Virginia, entitled the "Ohio Land Company." The object was to survey the lands and establish English colonies beyond the Alleghanies. They sent an agent to explore the region, and to direct particular attention to that portion of it which is now included within the limits of Ohio. This agent, Christopher Gist, traveling through leagues of almost unbroken forest, crossed the Muskingum and Scioto Rivers, and was kindly received in a large village of Shawnee Indians, on the banks of the Ohio, a few miles below the mouth of the Scioto River. Here he witnessed a very singular spectacle, which is worthy of record as illustrative of barbarian customs. It was announced that there was to be a great festival, of three days, continuance, first of fasting, then of feasting and dancing. At the close of the festival, all the married women were at liberty to choose their husbands anew. We are not informed whether the young girls were permitted at that time to select their companions, or what rights a man had to reject a woman whom he might not fancy. After an abundant feast and great merry-making, the women were all assembled in front of one of their largest wigwams, called the Council House. The men then, gaily plumed and decorated, danced before them, performing the intricate mazes of their barbarian cotillions, with loud shoutings and the clangor of their rude instruments. It was in the night. The whole wild-like spectacle was brilliantly illuminated by the blaze of their fires. The women eagerly watched their movements. When any man drew near whom any woman fancied, she seized a part of his garment and joined him in the dance. Thus the festival continued until all the women had selected their partners, when the new marriages were all solemnized together. One's curiosity is somewhat excited to know what would be the fate of the man whom no woman fancied. And again, how would the difficulty be settled should half a dozen women, at the same moment, pounce upon some gay cavalier. An infirm dame of fifty years might, perchance, grasp the garment of some lithe young warrior of twenty. There is probably now some large town of wealth and culture near the spot where these curious barbaric betrothals and nuptials took place, only a little more than one hundred years ago. What would probably be the result were the dance now some night renewed, were each woman to enjoy the privilege of remaining with her present husband, or selecting a new partner. If we may judge by the frequency of divorces, in these modern times, probably some remarkable changes would take place. Mr. Gist then continued his journey more than a hundred miles farther west, through an almost unbroken forest, to the Miami River. Here there was another numerous tribe of Indians, called the Miamis. It was not far from the mouth of this stream that the English had established their most important trading post. Retracing his steps to the Scioto, Mr. Gist took a birch canoe, and descended the river to the Falls of the Ohio. The French, hearing that the British traders had established 'hemselves on the Miami, sent a detachment of soldiers, with a pretty strong force of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to destroy the settlement. The Miami warriors took the part of their friends, the English. There was a hard fight. The Miamis were overpowered; the block-house was demolished, and the traders were carried prisoners to Canada. Of course, the English were greatly enraged. But the French, with their many garrisons scattered through the wilderness, were far too strong, in the Great Valley, for the English to attempt to cope with them there. There was a small English trading post at a place called Logstown, on the north bank of the Ohio, seventeen miles below Pittsburgh. Some English commissioners were sent there to meet the chiefs of several adjacent tribes. Here they obtained the ratification of a treaty, into which they had previously entered, for the cession to the English of a large tract of land in Ohio. They also made arrangements to construct a fort at the mouth of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, whose united floods form the upper waters of the Ohio. The Monongahela flows from the south a distance of three hundred miles, furnishing more than two hundred miles of boat navigation. It is nearly four hundred yards in width at its mouth. The Alleghany comes down from the north a distance of nearly four hundred miles, also affording boat navigation through regions three hundred miles in extent. It contributes its flood, equally abundant with that of the Monongahela, for the formation of the |