PREFACE.

HE history of states and empires is composed of

THE

little more than the collected accounts of individuals and families, but generally those only are mentioned who have been famous in war, or conspicuous in important official stations. It too often happens, that many men, eminently distinguished for talents, and for the possession and exercise of every manly and social virtue, and who have rendered the most essential services to society, at different times and in various capacities, in private life have been suffered to sink into their graves unwept, unhonored, and unsung," except, perhaps, in a short obituary notice, no sooner read than forgotten, by all but the immediate relatives of the deceased.

The generation of hardy men, who first settled the western country, who encountered the perils of Indian warfare and wrested the beautiful country we now enjoy in peace, from the possession of the savages; who encountered and endured all the dangers and privations of a frontier life, have now nearly all passed away. (xiii)

These men should not be forgotten, who subdued the dense forest and made the wilderness to blossom as the rose; who, rifle in hand, cleared up the broad acres, which now yield to their descendants bountiful harvests of golden grain, to gladden the heart and swell the fortunes of their favored sons. The story of their sufferings and achievements should not be allowed to sink into oblivion.

To preserve the names and record the services of a few of the early residents of Butler county, in the State of Ohio, is the object of the following short biographical sketches.

The writer, though not one of the earliest pioneers of the West, was intimately acquainted with a great number of them, from whom he learned many of the incidents relating to the early settlement of the country. With most of the persons, whose lives he has attempted to sketch, he had a long and familiar acquaintance, and with many of them he has had an extensive correspondence. He has, also, availed himself of much information derived from their surviving relatives, and others who were contemporary with them.

J. MCB.

PIONEER BIOGRAPHY.

John Reily.

OHN REILY, late of Hamilton, in the State of

Jo

Ohio, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on the 10th day of April, 1763. When he was five or

six years of age, his parents removed from Pennsyl

vania with their family, and settled on a farm near Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia.

This part of Virginia was then a frontier settlement. The Indians were hostile and made frequent incursions. into the settlements of that State and Pennsylvania, situated in the valley between the Blue Ridge and the North Mountain, for the purpose of murder and devastation. The families then residing in that section were under the necessity of congregating in blockhouses, or forts, for security against these attacks of the savages.

In October, 1774, a severe battle was fought at the mouth of the Great Kanawha river, between the Virginia troops, under the command of General Andrew Lewis, and the Indians under the direction of the cele

*See Appendix B.

brated chief, Cornstalk. During this time, the Reily family were residing, for security, in a small fort near Staunton. Mr. Reily frequently mentioned this circumstance, which was strongly impressed on his

memory.

He remained with his father until the year 1780, when, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Revolutionary Army, and served eighteen months in the Southern Department under Major-General Nathaniel Greene, who had, on the 22d of October in that year, been appointed to the command of that Department, including Virginia and Maryland, by General Washington, in pursuance of a resolution of Congress.

The campaign in South Carolina and Georgia, the following year, was uncommonly active. The importance of the object, the perseverance with which it was pursued, the talents of the commanding general, the carnage and sufferings of the troops, and the accumulated miseries of the inhabitants, give to the contest in these states a degree of interest seldom bestowed on military transactions in which greater numbers have been employed.

The first battle in which Mr. Reily participated was that of Guilford Court-House, fought on the 15th of March, 1781. The British force amounted to two thousand four hundred regular troops, of whom one-fourth were killed or wounded. The Americans numbered four thousand four hundred, all but about one thousand

three hundred of whom were raw militia or newly-enlisted and but half-equipped regulars. Their loss was about four hundred and fifty killed and wounded and eight hundred missing, with several cannon captured by the enemy. Cornwallis rightly claimed a victory, but as Fox said in the House of Commons, "Another such victory would ruin the British army." A few days later, the British retreated in haste, closely pursued and continually harrassed by General Greene.

The second battle in which Mr. Reily was engaged was that of Camden. The American army under General Greene was encamped about a mile from that town, then in the possession of the British. On the morning of the 25th of April, 1781, Lord Rawdon, the British commander, made an attack on the American troops with his whole force. The contest was severe and bloody. At one time a portion of the British force was so closely pressed that they were retiring from the field, and General Greene anticipated the complete rout of the British army; but his brilliant prospects were blasted, and victory was snatched from his grasp by one of those incidents against which military prudence can make no provision. Through some misunderstanding of orders a part of the army lost their formation, were a long time in recovering from their confusion, and meantime suffered from the fire of the British. Perceiving this sudden reverse of fortune, and knowing that he could not hope with his second line to restore