PIONEER BIOGRAPHY. John Reily. JOHN REILY, late of Hamilton, in the State of Ohio, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on the loth day of April, 1763. When he was five or six years of age, his parents removed from Pennsylvania 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. 2 - Pioneer Biography. 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 troop's, 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 John Reily - 3 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 4 - Pioneer Biography. the action, he thought it advisable to secure his army from the hazard of a total defeat, and ordered a retreat, which was effected in good order. This battle, like the preceding, however, was followed by the results of a substantial victory. The effective rank and file of the American troops engaged in this action, rather exceeded twelve hundred men, of which one hundred and thirty were cavalry and artillery. Their loss in killed, wounded, and missing is stated at two hundred and sixty-six; that of the British at two hundred and fifty-eight. The American troops remained in the neighborhood watching the movements of the enemy, intercepting their communication with Charleston, and cutting off their supplies of provisions. On the loth of May, the British troops burnt and destroyed their works and evacuated Camden. Mr. Reily was also with the army. of General Greene when, on the 2 2 d of May, it invested the town of Ninety-six, which the British had fortified. They had one particularly strong work, called the Star, consisting of sixteen salient angles surrounded by a dry ditch, fraise, and abattis. The following night the Americans broke ground within seventy yards of the British works ; but the besieged having mounted their artillery in the star, made, under its protection, a vigorous and successful sally, in which they drove off the advance party of the John Reily - 5 besiegers, put several of them to the bayonet, and carried off their intrenching tools. General Greene continued to invest the place till the 18th of June, when, having learned that Lord Rawdon was approaching with two thousand men, he determined to attempt carrying the works by storm, though they were so strong—a parapet twelve feet high, raised three feet higher with sand bags—that it would have been madness to assault them, unless he should succeed in making a lodgment in one of the curtains of the star redoubt, and at the same time carry the fort on the left. As soon as the mode of proceeding was resolved on, the proper dispositions were made for carrying it into effect. Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, with the legion of infantry and Kirkwood's light infantry, was ordered to assault the works on the left of the town ; while Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, with the first Maryland regiment and the first Virginia, to which Mr. Reily was attached, was to attempt the star redoubt. The lines of the third parallel were manned, and all the artillery opened on the besieged. About noon, the various detachments marched vigorously to the assault. Against the left, Colonel Lee's attack was successful. He forced the works in that quarter and took possessiOn of them. But on the right the resistance was more determined, and Colonel Campbell, though equally brave, was less fortunate. Lieutenants Duval, of Mary- 6 - Pioneer Biography. land, and Selden, of Virginia, led the forlorn hope, and were followed by a party carrying hooks to pull down the sand bags in order to facilitate the lodgment proposed to be made on the curtain. They advanced gallantly into the ditch, but its depth and the highs of the parapet opposed obstructions which could scarcely be surmounted. The commander of the star had lined the parapet with troops armed with bayonets and spears, and the right flank of the assailants were exposed to the galling fire of four field pieces from the block-house in the village. Under these trying circumstances they continued in the ditch nearly three-quarters of an hour, making incessant efforts to accomplish their object In this time, Lieutenants Duval and Selden were both badly wounded, and nearly all the forlorn hope were either killed or disabled. General Greene, in his report, says: " Never was greater bravery exhibited." At length the obstinacy with which the works were defended and the great loss which must attend a further prosecution of the assault, induced its relinquishment, and the remaining troops were recalled from the ditch. To remain longer before Ninety-Six could only endanger the American army ; accordingly, the next day, General Greene raised the siege, crossed the Saluda, and encamped on Little river. In this siege the Amer-can loss in killed and wounded amounted to one hundred and fifty-five men ; that of the British has been John Reily - 7 stated by themselves at eighty-five. On the 12th of July following, the British garrison evacuated their fort and works at Ninety-Six. The last affair of consequence in which Mr. Reily took part was the hard-fought battle of Eutaw Springs, in South Carolina, on the 8th of September, 1781, near the close of the Revolutionary war. Early in the morning of that day the American army moved from their encampment and marched to attack the British forces. Their advance was met two or three miles from their camp, and was soon driven in on the main body, when the whole line became closely engaged. In the course of the action, Colonels Williams and Campbell, with the Virginia troops, were ordered to charge the enemy with trailed arms. These orders were executed with the most determined courage, under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry. The veteran British corps, which had been inured to hard service, received them on the points of their bayonets. For a short time the hostile ranks were intermingled, and the officers fought hand to. hand. In this critical moment, Lee, who had turned the British left flank, charged them in the rear. So fierce a conflict could not be long maintained. The British line was completely broken, and they were driven from the field pursued by the Americans. The company to which Mr. Reily belonged, in the ardor of the pursuit, had advanced farther than they ought to have done, for when they halted they 8 - Pioneer Biography. found the enemy's lines had been filled up, preventing their return, so that they had to make a wide circuit to join their own troops. The day was so distressingly hot that when the company came to a stream on their way back, they rushed into the water up to their knees and dipped the water with their hands to assuage their thirst. There was a large three-story brick house standing on the right of the battle-field which was occupied by some of the British troops, while others placed themselves in an adjoining picketed garden, from both of which positions a most deadly fire was poured upon the Americans, who were exposed to all its fury. Great efforts were made to dislodge them from their strong position but without effect. General Greene withdrew his troops out of the range of their fire, and formed again in the woods. He then collected his wounded, and after leaving a strong picket on the field, retired with his prisoners to the ground from which he had marched in the morning. No nearer position afforded water to refresh his men, who were exhausted with the fatigues of an engagement of four hours duration, on one of the hottest days of the season. The number engaged on each side was about two thousand. The American dead on the field amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven men ; the whole number of their killed, wounded, and missing was five hundred and fifty-five. Among the slain was Colonel John Reily - 9 Campbell, who was killed while leading the Virginia brigade to that bold and decisive charge that broke the British line. The loss of the British army was stated by themselves at six hundred and ninety-three men, of whom only eighty-five were killed on the field. This brilliant affair which covered the American army with glory, and in which Mr. Reily was distinguished for his bravery and good conduct, sO crippled the enemy in the South as to deter them from any further efforts in that quarter. At the expiration of his term of eighteen months when Mr. Reily retired from the service, he received a certificate of honorable discharge under the hand and seal of General George Washington himself. He returned to his home in Virginia, where he remained about two years; when, becoming excited by the favorable accounts of the rich country in the West, in the winter of 1783-'84 being not then twenty-one years of age, he left his paternal home in Virginia, and set out to seek his fortune in the Wilds of Kentucky. He had a brother-in-law, married to his eldest sister, who had emigrated to that state, and was then residing near where the town of Danville now is, in Lincoln county. Here Mr. Reily remained some five or six years, making the house of his brother-in-law his home. A portion of the time he labored on the farm, and, 3 l0 - Pioneer Biography. although he had never learned any trade, being possessed of a mechanical genius, he occasionally worked at carpenter work assisting to build houses in the then new settlement. He also made plows, harrows, and other agricultural implements for the use of the settlers, and during the last year of his residence in Kentucky, he taught an English school. He removed to Columbia in the then North-West Territory, in 1789, where he arrived a few days before Christmas. (18th December.)* A short account of this settlement may not be out of place here. Major Benjamin Stites, of Redstone, Penn., on the Monongahela river, had contracted with Judge John Cleves Symmes for the purchase of a tract of land to contain ten thousand acres, at the mouth of the Little Miami river. He descended the Ohio river with a company of eighteen or twenty men, and landed at the mouth of the Little Miami on the 18th of November, 1788. They immediately commenced the erection of a block-house for the protection of the settlers, just below the mouth of the river. A part of the number stood guard while the rest worked upon their building, which in a few days was sufficiently prepared for their reception. Three other block-houses were soon afterward erected near the first, forming a square stockade fort which they named Fort Miami. A * For extract of Mr. Reily's Journal, see Appendix C. John Reily - 11 town was laid out a short distance below the garrison, to which the settlers gave the name of Columbia, and log cabins were built without delay for the accommodation of the several families.* Little, however, could be done beyond supplying present sustenance for the party from the woods. Wild game was abundant, but the breadstuffs which they took with them were soon exhausted, and supplies of corn and salt were only to be obtained at a distance and in small quantities. Various roots of indigenous plants were used as articles of food. The women and children would go from Columbia to Turkey-bottom, one and a half miles above the mouth of the Little Miami to scratch up the bulbous roots of the bear-grass, which, when mashed, boiled and dried, were pounded into a kind of flour which served as a tolerable substitute for wheat and corn flour. * Among the first settlers of Columbia were, Benjamin Stites, the original proprietor, William Goforth, John S. Gano, Elijah Kills, James Baily, Capt. James Flinn, his father, a very old man, and two brothers, Luke Foster, Gabriel Foster, Aaron Mercer, Zephu Ball, _____ Newell, Benjamin Davis, David Davis and his son Samuel, David Jennings and his sons Levi and Henry, James Carpenter, James Seward, Ezekiel Lamed, Jonathan Pitman, John Webb, John Morris, Ichabod B. Miller, Daniel Griffin, ____ Wickerham, ____ Wickerham. John Hardin, James Matthews, Hugh Dunn, Patrick Moore, William Moore, John Manning, Jonathan Ross, Cornelius Hurley, Joseph Grose, John McCulloch, Edmund Buxton, Jonas Bowman, John Phillips, and Benj. F. Randolph. 12 - Pioneer Biography. When the spring of 1789 opened, the situation of the settlers promised to improve. In Turkey-bottom a tract of about six hundred and forty acres was already cleared when the settlers arrived, the Indians having cultivated it for a long series of years. Nothing could surpass the fertility of the soil, which was as mellow as an ash-heap. Major Stites leased the ground to the settlers. The men worked in divisions, one half keeping guard with their rifles while the others worked, changing their employment morning and afternoon. Benjamin Randolph planted one acre of corn on this ground, which he had not time to hoe, being obliged to leave the settlement for New Jersey. When he returned in the fall he found one hundred bushels of corn ready:: for husking.* Among the early settlers of Columbia was Mr. James Seward from New Jersey, who had a family of small boys. On the loth of September, 1789, two of his sons were out a short distance from the village, when some Indians came upon them, tomahawked and scalped one of the boys and took the other prisoner. He was never heard of afterward. Mr. Seward, about the year 179o, settled on a farm on the Great Miami river, about three miles *Mr. Randolph settled in Hamilton soon after the town was laid out, and cultivated land in the prairie below the town. He afterward settled on a farm on the road between Hamilton and Middletown, where he spent the remainder of his days. John Reily - 13 below Hamilton, where he lived until his decease. He lies buried on the south line of the tract of land which he owned, next to the Walker farm. One of his sons, Daniel, lived many years in Hamilton, and kept a tavern in the southern part of the town. Some years ago, he removed to Illinois, and is since deceased. In November, 1789, a flood occurred in the Ohio river of such magnitude as to overflow the lower part of Columbia. It rose to such a hight as at first to drive the soldiers in one of the block-houses into the upper story, and then out by the gable window into a boat, in which they crossed the river to the hills on the Kentucky side. Only one of the houses in Columbia remained out of water. The site of Fort Miami, at the mouth of the Little Miami, has since been entirely washed away by the encroachment of the Ohio. The first settlers of Columbia suffered considerably before the crops of their second year produced food. They had often to subsist on corn pounded into hominy or ground in a hand-mill. There were no other mills in the country at the time. The first mill in Hamilton county was constructed by Mr. W. Coleman, father of Jesse Coleman, by making fast two flat-boats, side by side, near together, in the Ohio river, the water-wheel was placed between them and propelled by the current of the river. The mill-stones with the grain and meal were in one boat, and the machinery in the other. This answered a temporary pur- 14 - Pioneer Biography. pose, until mills were built on the Little Miami river. On the loth of January, 1791, the settlers of Columbia were alarmed by an express which arrived from Cincinnati, with intelligence that an attack had been made on Dunlap's station at Colerain, * by a large body of Indians. The information had been brought to Cincinnati by some persons who were out in the woods hunting in the neighborhood of Colerain, and were sufficiently near the fort to hear the firing when it commenced in the morning, and judging that the garrison was attacked, they immediately returned to raise the alarm. A company of volunteers was very soon raised in Columbia, Mr. Reily among the number, armed with rifles and mounted. They formed under the command of Lieutenant Luke Foster, and marched to Cincinnati in the night where they joined Captain Alexander Truman, with thirty-eight regular soldiers from the garrison at Fort Washington, and thirty-three volunteer citizens under Lieutenant Scott Traverse, all mounted. They started for the relief of the station before daylight next morning. Two nights previous it had rained and frozen, and afterward snowed so that the ground was covered six or seven inches deep. John Reily and Patrick- Moore (afterward of Butler county, but deceased many years ago), who both rode white horses, * For account of Dunlap's Station, see Appendix D. John Reily - 15 were directed to proceed a short distance in advance of the main body, as a picket guard or spies, to give notice if the enemy should appear. Samuel Davis, for many years a resident of Nine-mile, Wayne township, Butler county, but now deceased, was one of the volunteers from Cincinnati on that occasion. When the party had advanced about six miles from Cincinnati, they met John S. Wallace and William Wiseman, who had left the station during the night, to inform the garrison at Fort Washington of their situation. Between ten and eleven o'clock the party arrived at the top of the hills overlooking the plain on which Dunlap's Station was situated, when it was discovered that the Indians had abandoned the siege and retired. On arriving at the fort they learned that the garrison, although in imminent danger, had sustained but little injury. On the first fire, the Indians shot into a building called the mill, where the hand-mill was kept for grinding the corn of the neighboring settlers and the garrison. It stood on a line with and near the blockhouse, and being neither chunked nor daubed the Indians shot between the logs, by which means they killed one man and wounded another. The body of Abner Hunt,* who had been taken prisoner by the Indians a few days previous, was found near the fort, shockingly *A respectable citizen of New Jersey, who came out with Judge Symmes as a surveyor. 16 - Pioneer Biography. mangled and stripped naked, his head scalped, his brains beaten out, and two war clubs laid across his breast. He, in company with John S. Wallace, John Sloan, and a Mr. Cunningham, had been exploring the country on the west side of the Great Miami river. On the night of the 7th of January they encamped on the river bank a short distance above Colerain. Next morning, after roasting their venison and taking breakfast, they set out to explore the Miami Bottoms near where the town of Venice, Butler county, now is. They had not proceeded from their camp more than a hundred yards when they were beset by the savages, in the rear, who fired a volley of eight or ten guns. Cunningham was killed on the spot ; Hunt, being thrown from his horse, was made prisoner; Sloan, although shot through the body, kept on his horse and escaped, Hunt's loose horse following him. Wallace was on foot at the time, and took to the woods pursued by two Indians, but owing to his uncommon activity he out-ran them. During his flight he was twice shot at but without effect; his leggins loosened as he ran, and at the moment of the first shot they tripped him and he fell. The Indians supposing him struck by the bullet, raised their shout wah ! hoo ! calculating to a certainty on getting his scalp, but Wallace hastily tied his leggins and resumed his flight. In about two miles he overtook Sloan with Hunt's horse following him, which he caught and mounted. The Indians had ceased their pursuit. John Reily - 17 Sloan complained of faintness from his wound, and by the advice of Wallace thrust a part of his shirt into the bullet hole to stop the flow of blood. Crossing the Miami they directed their course toward Cincinnati, but at length they halted and held a consultation, the result of which was a determination to go back to the station and apprise the garrison of the presence of the Indians in the neighborhood, and put them on their guard. When they arrived there, Sloan was very weak and faint, and his wound began to bleed afresh. Lieutenant Kingsbury, who commanded at the station, with true soldierly hospitality, surrendered his narrow quarters for the accommodation of the wounded man. The next day a party of five or six men, accompanied by Wallace, went out in search of the body of Cunningham, which they found tomahawked and scalped. They buried it where they found it, and returned to the station. Before sunrise on the morning of the l0th of January, just as the women were milking the cows in the fort, the Indians made their appearance before it and fired a vOlley, wounding a soldier named Mc\Ticker. Every man in the fort was immediately posted to the best advantage by the commander, and the fire returned. A parley was then held at the request of the Indians, and Abner Hunt, whom they had taken prisoner as before mentioned, was brought forward securely bound, with his arms pinioned behind him, by an Indian, or as some 4 18 - Pioneer Biography. say, the notorious Simon Girty, the leader of the party, holding him by the rope. Mounting him on a stump within speaking distance of the garrison, he was compelled to demand and urge the surrender of the place, which, in the hope of saving his own life, he did in the most pressing terms, promising that if it were done, life and property would be held sacred. Not a single individual in the fort, however, would agree to a surrender. Lieutenant Kingsbury took an elevated position where he could overlook the pickets, and promptly rejected all their propositions, telling them that he had dispatched a messenger to Judge Symmes, who would soon be up to their relief, with the whole settlement on the Ohio. He failed, however, to impose on them. They replied that it was a lie, as they knew Judge Symmes was then in New Jersey; and informed him that they had five hundred warriors, and would soon be joined by three hundred more, and that if an immediate surrender was not made, they would all be massacred and the station burned. Lieutenant Kingsbury replied that he would not surrender if he were surrounded by five hundred devils, and immediately leaped from his position into the fort. The Indians fired at him, and a ball struck off the white plume he wore in his hat. The prisoner Hunt was cruelly tortured and killed within sight of the garrison. The station was completely invested by the Indians, and the attack was most violent. They commenced John Reily - 19 like men certain of victory, and for some time the garrison was in great danger. The Indians fired, as usual, from behind stumps, trees, and logs, and set fire to a quantity of brush-wood that had been collected by the settlers, and then rushing in with burning brands attempted to fire the cabins and pickets. The vigilance and close firing of the besieged, however, prevented the accomplishment of this object. One Indian was killed just as he reached the buildings. In the night they threw blazing arrows from their bows, against the stockade, and upon the roofs of the buildings, with the intention of firing them, but in this they were also unsuccessful. The garrison, well knowing that their lives depended upon it, met them at every point. The attack was continued, without intermission, during the whOle of the day and the succeeding night, and until nine O'clock in the morning of the 11th, when the Indians, despairing of success and perhaps apprehensive of the arrival of reinforcements from Cincinnati, raised the siege, and retreated in two parties, one to the right and the other to the left, as was afterward discovered by their tracks. The whole strength of the garrison was eighteen soldiers and eight or ten of the settlers capable of bearing arms ; the entire number in the fort, including women and children, not counting the soldiers, did not exceed thirty souls. The Indians were estimated, by those in the fort, at from three to five hundred, led by the infa- 20 - Pioneer Biography. mous renegade, Simon Girty, as was ascertained seven years after, on the return of a white man who had been taken prisoner near the station a few days before the attack. The little garrison, although but a handful compared with the host by which they were assailed, displayed great bravery, in some instances amounting to rashness. During the incessant fire from both sides, they frequently, for a moment, exposed their persons above the tops of the pickets, mocking the savages and daring them to come on. Women, as well as men, used every expedient in their power to provoke and irritate the enemy. They exhibited the caps of the soldiers above the pickets, as marks to be shot at. According to their own accounts, they conducted themselves with great folly as well as bravery, though their apparent confidence may have induced the Indians to raise the siege the sooner. When the garrison was in danger of falling short Of bullets, the women melted down all their pewter plates and spoons to keep up the supply. John S. Wallace, who, as was said above, had made his escape from the Indians a few days previous, was still in the fort, and at night volunteered to pass through the enemy's lines to Cincinnati to obtain aid from General Harmar, at Fort Washington. At ten o'clock he made an attempt, but the place was so closely invested that he could not make his escape. The river side of the fort suggested itself as the place for another trial, as John Reily - 21 there were apparently no Indians on the west side of the river. Fortunately, the night was very dark, and about three o'clock in the morning, Mr. Wallace, and a soldier named William Wiseman,* got into a canoe and silently paddled across. They drew up the canoe on the opposite bank and concealed it among the bushes that it might not be discovered by the Indians, and then silently and swiftly made their way through the woods down the river bottom for a couple of miles, where they attempted to cross through the floating ice. The water proving too deep, they pursued their course down the river a mile or more, when they effected a crossing near where the town of New Baltimore now is, and striking through the woods for Cincinnati, they met the before-mentioned party from that place and Columbia, going to their relief; and returned with them to the station. A portion of the soldiers remained there to assist in strengthening the fortifications, the party to which Mr. Riley belonged returning to Columbia that evening. Colonel John S. Wallace, who volunteered his services to make the hazardous attempt to leave the fort, afterward resided in Cincinnati, much respected as an amiable and worthy citizen, and holding several offices Of honor and trust, at the time of his death, being * This account differs very materially from that given by Mr. Wiseman. See Appendix E. 22 - Pioneer Biography. auditor of Hamilton county. He died at his desk in the office. Mr. Wiseman, the soldier who accompanied him, was living, when last heard from, in the vicinity of Lancaster, Ohio. The Indians were continually prowling around the settlement at Columbia, and it was with difficulty that horses could be kept. The halter chains were sometimes passed between the logs of the cabins and fastened to strong hooks on the inside; but neither this precaution nor securing them with hobbles could always save them from the savages. On one occasion, a fine mare with her colt had been left in the rear of a house in a small enclosure. During the night the mare was taken off by the Indians, who led her by a stout buffalo tug. The night was dark, and they did not notice the colt, which sprang over the fence and made such a noise in galloping after them, that they, supposing themselves pursued, let the mare go lest she should impede their escape. The family knew nothing of the affair till morning, when the buffalo tug told the night's adventure. At another time, a few families, who had settled on the hillside near where Colonel Spencer afterward resided,* had hung out their clothing to dry. Early in the evening a party of Indians made a descent and * Then called Morristown, from John Morris, the most prominent individual of the settlement. John Reily - 23 carried off every piece. So noiseless were their movements, that the loss was not discovered till the family were about to retire for the night. Pursuit was made early in the morning, and the trail followed for several miles, when they came to the camp of the Indians, which they had deserted on the approach of the settlers, abandoning all their plunder to effect their escape. The clothing was recovered uninjured, except some cOverlets which had been raveled out to make belts. Luke Foster was one of the early settlers at Columbia. He had been appointed a lieutenant by Governor St. Clair. In 1789, General Harmar sent Captains Strong and Kersey from Fort Washington to Columbia, to procure corn for the soldiers. They applied to James Flinn, but he refused to sell to the army, alleging that the previous year, while residing at Belleville, below Marietta, he had furnished corn for the supply of the troops at Fort Harmar, and had never been paid fOr it, in consequence of the removal to some other station of the officer who made the purchase. Captain Strong stated that if they could not get corn the garrisOn must retreat or starve, as they had been on half rations for nine ,days, and their supply was nearly exhausted. Mr. Foster, on hearing this statement, immediately offered to lend the garrison one hundred bushels to be returned the next season. How poorly these frontier posts were provisioned, may be inferred from the fact that Mr. Foster the next season had to 24 - Pioneer Biography. ride to Cincinnati six times to get nineteen bushels of his corn. He gave the following account of this crop, which enabled him to relieve the garrison at Fort Washington. He had run out of seed corn, and the only person who could supply him happened to be out of corn-meal. Mr. Foster having a small quantity of that article, exchanged thirteen pint cups of corn-meal for the same quantity of corn, and with it planted two acres and a half in Turkey-bottom. The crop was put in late, and the season was dry; yet, such was the fertility and condition of the soil, that turning up the earth on the hills kept it moist and gave him an excellent crop.* There is one circumstance, relating to these early times, often repeated by Mr. Reily, which may be worthy of mention. Mr. Jonas Bowman lived in the cabin, lowest down the Ohio in the settlement, which stood at some distance from any other house. On the 4th of March, 1791, Mr. Reily and Mr. Bowman * Mr. Foster afterward settled on a farm in Springfield township, Hamilton county, about two miles south of Springdale, where he spent the remainder of his days. He was one of the first Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held many years. Enfeebled by age, he lost his hearing, and on the 28th of August, 1851, was killed by a gravel-train while walking on the track of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, which passed through his farm. He was eighty-eight years of age at the time of this accident. During his residence at Columbia, a warm friendship commenced between him and Mr. Reily, which only terminated by the death of the Judge. John Reily - 25 crossed the Ohio and went up the Licking to hunt wild turkeys, which were there very abundant. In the evening they returned with their game. The night was dark and the weather cold ; as the house was neither chunked nor daubed, large fires were kept up, which illuminated the whole house, and could be seen a considerable distance through the apertures between the logs. That night two or three Indians entered the settlement on a plundering expedition, and as Bowman's house was detached, aided by the light of the large fire, they advanced pretty near it and fired between the logs. Mrs. Bowman, who was sitting by the fire, suckling her child at the time, with great presence of mind, the moment the report of the gun was heard, seized a bucket of water which stood on a bench close by, and threw it on the fire, extinguishing the light in a moment, and preventing the inmates of the house from being seen. Mr. Bowman sprang for his rifle, rushed out of the house, and fired, but without effect, after the retreating Indians. On examination, Mrs. Bowman found a flattened bullet inside the bosom of her dress. The ball had, doubtless, struck and glanced from a log of the cabin as it passed through one of the chunks, thereby deadening its force. No other house was attacked that night ; but fearing that a large body of Indians might be in the neighborhood, ready to attack the settlement in the morning, an express was immediately dispatched to Cincinnati for 5 26 - Pioneer Biography. aid from the fort. Major Strong, of the regular army, with twenty-five soldiers and about the same number of volunteers; Thomas Irwin, late of Butler county, then of Cincinnati, was among the latter, started and reached Columbia before daylight. When it became light enough, Captains Flinn and Kilby, John Reily, Thomas Irwin, and six or eight other mounted men, turned out and scoured the roads for several miles round, but discovered no signs of Indians except the two who made the attack on Bowman's house. The party returned to Fort Washington in the evening. Some of the descendants of Mr. Bowman afterward lived in Middletown, Butler County, Ohio. The settlers were so constantly exposed to the incursions of the Indians that their safety was secured only by being ready at a moment's warning to resist an attack. It was as natural and customary for them to carry their rifles to their cornfields and potato-patches as their hoes and other implements of husbandry ; and when they assembled on the Sabbath to engage in worship, whether in a log cabin or under a tree, it was with loaded rifles at their sides. Indeed, they were required by law to do so. On the 2d day of July, 1791, the governor and judges of the territory passed " an act to alter and amend the militia laws," the second section of which is as follows : John Reily - 27 " SECTION 2. And be it enacted, That whenever persons enrolled in the militia of this territory shall assemble at any place for public worship, every such person shall arm and equip himself, according to law in the same manner as if he were marching to engage the enemy, and on default he shall be fined as the law directs in cases of default when ordered for guard or other ordinary military duty, one half of which fine shall be for the benefit and use of the informant, and the other half for the use of the county ; and the justices of the peace in each and every of the counties shall have jurisdiction herein. And on complaint being made on oath to any one of the aforesaid justices of the peace, of any person belonging to the militia appearing at such place of worship without his arms, ammunition, and accoutrements or any article of them directed by law, such justice of the peace shall issue his warrant directed to one of the constables of the county, commanding him to levy such fine upon the goods and chattels of such defaulter, and the same goods and chattels the constable shall advertize in some public place in the township or village for the space of five days, and if such fine be not paid within the five days, such constable shall proceed to sell so much of the same effects, at public vendue, for ready money, as will answer and pay the fine, and also fifty cents costs, which costs shall be one third to the use of the justice of the peace, and two thirds thereof to the use of the constable, and the constable shall return the overplus (if any to the defaulter." * In the month of December, 1784, Elder David Jones, † a Baptist preacher from Pennsylvania, visited Columbia, and in one of the block-houses of Fort *Laws of the North-West Territory, printed at Philadelphia in 1792, page 67. † See Appendix F. 28 - Pioneer Biography. Miami, delivered the first sermon preached in the Miami country. During that winter, John Mason,* a Baptist preacher from Kentucky, and David Rice, † a Presbyterian minister, also from Kentucky, visited Columbia and preached in the fort. In March, 179), Elder Stephen Gano, ‡ an eminent Baptist minister of Providence, Rhode Island, visited Columbia and preached several times. On the last Saturday in March he organized a church, ¶ consisting of nine members, viz : Benjamin Davis, Mary Davis, Isaac Ferris, Elizabeth Ferris, John S. Gano, Thomas C. Wade, John Ferris, Mary Ferris, Mrs. Meeks, and an aged lady whose name is not recollected. Isaac Ferris was appointed deacon, and John S. Gano clerk. After the church was organized, Elijah Stites, Rhoda Stites, and Sarah Ferris were received for baptism. On the next day (Sunday), Mr. Gano preached at the house of Major William Goforth, and baptized the above named three in the Ohio river. Doctor Gano was earnestly solicited to remain and take pastoral charge of the church, but he declined. In the early part of the summer of 179o, Elder John Smith, also a Baptist, came to the settlement and preached to the general satisfaction of the people. He received an unanimous call to become the pastor of the church, which he * See Appendix G. ‡ See Appendix I. † See Appendix H. ¶ See Appendix J. John Reily - 29 accepted. He went home to settle his business, expecting to return in October following. He did not return, however, until the ensuing spring. During his absence Daniel Clark, a licensed minister from Pennsylvania, arrived at Columbia and preached to the congregation until Mr. Smith's return. Rev. John Smith was a man whose personal appearance was noble and commanding, and who was possessed of very popular manners and a remarkably fascinating address. He continued to preach for them several years, when he became a successful aspirant for political advancement. He was elected and served as a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of the State of Ohio, and was afterward one of the senatOrs from Ohio in the Congress of the United States. Finally he was charged with having connection with the treasonable movements of Aaron Burr in 1805 and 1806, and resigned his seat in the Senate. * In February, 1792, the congregation resolved to build a house of worship, which was to be thirty-six feet long by thirty feet wide, with galleries. It was not completed until late in the year 1793. † On September 23, 1793, * See Appendix K. † With the exception of the churches of the Moravian Missionaries, built at their settlements at Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhuetten in 1772, and destroyed in 1781-2, this was the first house of worship built in Ohio. An engraving of it in its dilapidated and deserted condition is given in 30 - Pioneer Biography. Elder John Gano,* a venerable Baptist minister, visited Columbia and preached to a large and attentive congregation in a beautiful grove of elms near the village (the meeting house not being yet completed). After the sermon, Mr. Gano, in connection with the pastor, Mr. Smith, ordained Daniel Clark † to the gospel ministry in a solemn and impressive manner. This was the first ordination in the Miami country.1790, On the 21st of June, 179o, Mr. Reily opened an English school at Columbia, the first taught in the place, or, indeed, in the whole Miami country, which he continued as long as he resided there. In 1791, Francis Dunlevy, afterward presiding judge of the court of common pleas, came to Columbia from Kentucky, and joined Mr. Reily in his school, the former taking the classical department, the latter the English. Here commenced a warm and confidential friendship between these old pioneers, which was terminated only by the death of the Judge, which took place at Lebanon on the 5th of November, 1839, in his seventy-eighth year. ‡ In the month of January, 1792, General James Wilkinson, who then commanded at Fort Washington, made a call for volunteers to accompany an expedition the American Pioneer, vol. 1, page 4.z. It was taken down in 1835. In the adjoining graveyard the remains of many of the early settlers were buried. * See Appendix L. † See Appendix M. ‡ See Appendix N. John Reily - 31 which he was about to send to the scene of St. Clair's defeat for the purpose of burying the dead that had been left on the field on the disastrous 4th of November previous, and for bringing away valuable property reported to be still remaining at the place. In response to this call a company of volunteers was formed at Columbia (John Reily among the number), under the command of Captain (afterward General) John S. Gano. One at North Bend, under command of Captain Brice Virgin (who afterward resided at Princton, Butler county, where he died), and one at Cincinnati, where they all assembled. Some of the volunteers came in mounted on their own horses, many, however, were on foot, and were to be supplied with horses belonging to the government. These were kept across the river where Newport now is, and the Ohio being frozen, but not strong enough oppOsite Cincinnati to bear the horses, and yet too strong to enable them to force a channel, they were obliged to take the horses up the river above the mouth of the Little Miami, and cross there where the ice was strong enough to permit them to cross in safety. The volunteers, when all assembled, numbered somewhat more than one hundred and fifty men, all mounted. They were joined by two hundred regular soldiers from Fort Washington. William Henry Harrison, afterward President of the United States, was an ensign in one of the companies of regulars. The expedition set out on 32 - Pioneer Biography. the 25th of January, General James Wilkinson commanding. There was a very heavy snow on the ground, which had increased the day before to two feet in depth, so they were obliged to take sleds along to carry their provisions and baggage. The first night they encamped on the hill near the present sight of Farmer's College at College Hill. The next day they arrived at Fort Hamilton, where they remained one day and two nights perfecting their organization. * John S. Gano was here chosen Major. The ensuing day, the 28th, they crossed the Miami, with their horses and baggage, on the ice, about where the Junction railroad now crosses the river. They took the old trace opened by General St. Clair, and that night encamped at Seven-Mile creek. The second day afterward they reached Fort Jefferson, then the outside post, which was under the charge of Captain Shaylor. At this place General Wilkinson issued an order, announcing that, in consequence of the depth of the snow, and the severity of the weather, he would abandon one object of the expedition, which was to destroy an Indian town on a branch of the Wabash, fifteen miles * The company to which Mr. Reily belonged bivouacked in " Sycamore Grove " below the Fort, the first night. They slept before burning log-heaps, their saddles serving for pillows. In the night, Mr. Reily, unawares, got his head off his saddle on the ground. Attempting to rise in the morning, his cue—the universal mode of wearing the hair at that day—was frozen fast to the ground, and held him down until relieved by a comrade. John Reily - 33 below St. Clair's battle-ground ; directing the return of the regular soldiers, who were on foot, to Fort Washington, as they would not be needed, and stating that he would proceed with the mounted volunteers and the public sleds to the battle-ground for the purpose of bringing away such artillery and other property as might be recovered. The next day they continued their march, and encamped within eight miles of their destination. On the ensuing day, at eleven o'clock, they arrived at the field of the disasterous defeat, and encamped where St. Clair's artillery had stood, with a view of beating down the snow to facilitate their finding the object of their search—cannon and corpses. On their last day's march, when within four miles of the field of battle, where the pursuit had ceased, the scene, even though covered with snow, was most melancholy. The bodies of the slain lay strewed along the road and in the woods on each side. Many of them had been dragged from under the snow and mutilated by wild beasts. One of the party counted seventy-eight bodies between the point where the pursuit terminated and the battle-field. No doubt there were many more who, finding themselves disabled, crawled to a distance out of sight of the road and there perished. The great body of the slain were within an area of forty acres. The snow being deep the bodies could be discovered only by the elevation of the snow where 6 34 - Pioneer Biography. they lay. They had been scalped and stripped of all their clothing that was of any value. Scarcely any could be identified as their bodies were blackened by frost and exposure, although there were few signs of decay, the winter having been unusually early and severe. Major Gano and others supposed one corpse to be that of General Richard Butler, and even entertained little doubt as to his identity. It lay in a group of the slain where evidently had been the thickest of the carnage. Having dug a large pit, a work of much labor, as they were poorly supplied with spades and other implements, they proceeded to collect and bury the frozen bodies. Probably not more than one half, however, were interred, as they worked at it only on the day of their arrival. They were so numerous, however, that when all piled together and covered with earth, it raised quite a mound. Here, in the silent gloom of the beech woods, reposes many a heart which once beat warm to every impulse of honor and noble feeling which elevates our race. May they rest in peace. They found that the artillery, with the exception of one six-pounder, had been dismounted and carried off or secreted, and some of the carriages had been burned. After encamping on the ground nearly two days and two nights the party returned to Cincinnati, taking with them the field piece above mentioned, two uninjured gun carriages, the irons of the carriages that were John Reily - 35 burnt, and a few muskets. Many of the volunteers were badly frost-bitten on the march. Mr. Reily said the snow was so deep that in moving about it gave them great annoyance by getting in at the top of their leggings. On the Ohio river, between Columbia and Cincinnati, in those days, scarcely a tree had been cut down on either side of the river between the mouth of Deer creek at Cincinnati and Crawfish below Columbia, a distance of more than four miles. The sand-bar now seen on the Kentucky side, opposite the old Sportsman's Hall, was then a small island with a sufficient depth of water in the channel between it and the Kentucky shore for the passage of boats. The upper and lower parts of the island were bare, but the center, about four acres, was covered with cotton-wood trees, fringed with willows almost to the water's edge. On the north bank of the river, extending about two miles from Columbia, the hills are very steep, when for some distance the ascent becomes more gradual. They were entirely covered with a heavy growth of timber, and from about opposite to the island down to Deer creek, the bank was lined with a thick growth of willows through which in many places it was difficult to penetrate. Between the willows and the water, at ordinary stages, was a broad, stony beach, with here and there a tuft of willows. These willow thickets afforded a secure ambush from which the Indians could watch the 36 - Pioneer Biography. river for unprotected boats. On the bank of the river near the present line of the Little Miami railroad, was a narrow road connecting the two settlements, just wide enough for the passage of a wagon, which, winding around the point of the hill above Deer creek, descended northwardly to the creek, and after crossing ascended in a southern direction the western bank, continued along where Symmes street now is until near the intersection of Lawrence street, where it parted to the right and left of Fort Washington and entered the town. About a year after Mr. Reily came to Columbia, Colonel Spencer, who commanded a regiment in the revolutionary war, emigrated from New Jersey and settled there with his family, building a house near the fort on the hill. One of his sons, Oliver M. Spencer, a lad of eleven years of age, on the 3rd of July, J792, went down to Fort Washington with some other members of the family to witness the celebration of the Fourth. He remained at Cincinnati until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th, when he went on board of a canoe lying in front of the fort, in which Jacob Light, Mrs. Mary Coleman, a Mr. Clayton, and a soldier of the garrison were about going to Columbia. The canoe was small and unsteady, hardly fit to carry such a load. When they had proceeded a few rods above the mouth of Deer creek, the soldier, who was much intoxicated, nearly upset the canoe, and finally fell overboard. He reached the shore, however, and sat down on the bank. John Reily - 37 Young Spencer, who could not swim, became uneasy at the unsteadiness of the canoe, and at his own request was set on shore. He walked up the beach keeping opposite the canoe and conversing with the party. Mr. Light propelled the boat with a pole, keeping her close in shore. Mr. Clayton sat in the stern with a paddle, which he used sometimes as an oar and sometimes as a rudder. Mrs. Coleman, a woman about fifty years of age, sat in the middle. When they had proceeded about a mile up the river, Mr. Clayton, looking back, discovered the drunken soldier staggering along the shore, and remarked that he would be good bait for Indians. Just then two rifle shots were fired from the willows. Mr. Clayton was struck and fell out of the bOat on the shore side. Mr. Light was wounded by a ball, which glanced from his pole, and sprang into the river on the other side. The Indians now rushed to the edge of the water, one of them seized Clayton, who was struggling in the water, dragged him ashore, then tomahawked and scalped him, and held up the scalp in fiendish exultation. The other Indian made a prisoner of Spencer. Mr. Light, although wounded in the left arm, struck out boldly with his right for the Kentucky shore, and Mrs. Coleman, who preferred being drowned to falling into the hands of the Indians, jumped overboard, and, buoyed up by her clothes, floated down the river. The Indians would have reloaded and fired at them, but 38 - Pioneer Biography. the report of their rifles had brought some persons to the Kentucky shore, and fearing to create further alarm, they decamped in haste with their young prisoner. Mr. Light, seeing them retreat and finding that in his wounded condition he could not cross the river, turned and reached the Ohio shore. He fell from exhaustion as soon as he landed, but soon revived and proceeded to Fort Washington. The most remarkable circumstance connected with the transaction was the manner of Mrs. Coleman's escape. Her underclothing spread out on the surface of the water and prevented her from sinking, while she floated down with the current. At length finding herself nearing the shore, she made use of her hands as paddles and landed just above the mouth of Deer creek, having floated more than a mile. She crossed the creek at the mouth, holding on to the willows which overhung its banks. The water then flowed in a narrow channel that might be cleared by a spring from one bank to the other. Reaching the fort she went to the house of Captain Thorp, at the artificer's yard, with whose lady she was acquainted, obtained a change of clothing, and rested a day or two. Her son, Mr. Jesse Coleman, who formerly lived near Montgomery, Hamilton county, was old enough at the time to have the circumstance well fixed in his memory. He stated that he had often heard his mother speak of this adventure, and she always described it as above, although it has been frequently stated that she floated John Reily - 39 four miles, and was taken up opposite Cincinnati. Mrs. Coleman died in 1839 in Versailles, Indiana, at the very advanced age of ninety years. Oliver M. Spencer, after his capture, was taken to Detroit, where, about a year afterward, he was ransomed and returned to his friends. He subsequently wrote a narrative of his captivity, which was published in 1834. He settled in Cincinnati, became a preacher of the gospel in the Methodist Episcopal church, was cashier of the Miami Exporting Company for many years, and held many other offices of trust and responsibility. He died at Cincinnati on the 31st day of May, 1838. In 1791, Mr. Reily had purchased a tract of land about seven miles from Cincinnati, in Hamilton county, in the same quarter section on a part of which the town Of Carthage has been laid out. In 1793 he gave up his interest in the school at Columbia, to his friend Mr. Dunlevy, and associated himself with a Mr. Prior, who owned land adjoining his, for the purpose of carrying On their improvements jointly, and for the better protection of each other. Their land being entirely in timber, they spent the first week in making a small clearing and building a rough shanty, and the second in digging a well. They then continued clearing their land. Their horses were stolen by the Indians ; but, not discouraged, they procured others, and continued their improvements. After some time, Mr. Prior, in company with two other men, 40 - Pioneer Biography. engaged to make a trip from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, with provisions on pack-horses, the usual mode of transportation in those days. On their way they encamped on a branch of Pleasant Run, four miles south of Hamilton, on land afterward owned by the late Aaron L. Schenck. The trace then traveled passed about a quarter of a mile east of the Schenck homestead In the morning they were attacked by the Indian and Mr. Prior was killed. Mr. Reily, left alone, and no doubt finding his experiment at pioneer farming not so pleasant as he anticipated, abandoned his improvements, returned to Columbia, and resumed teaching, which he continued till the following April (1794), when he went to Cincinnati and found employment in the office of General John S. Gano, then clerk of the court of Hamilton county. In this situation he continued till 1799, acting as deputy for General Gano, and conducting a large portion of the business of the office. The neat and systematic manner in which he arranged and preserved the papers relating to the business of the court, was a frequent subject of remark among the attorneys who practiced at the bar of that county. The ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, passed July 13th, 1787, provided that as soon as there should be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, John Reily - 41 they should receive authority, with time and place, to elect representatives to a general assembly, who, with a council appointed by the president of the United States, should have authority to make laws for the government of the territory. Previous to this, the legislative power was vested in the governor and judges, who had authority to adopt and publish such laws of the original states as best suited the circumstances of the people of the territory.* In 1798, an enumeration was made, from which it appeared that there were more than the requisite number of free white males in the territory, and they were entitled to enter on the second stage of territorial government. This being certified to the Governor, Arthur St. Clair, he issued a proclamation calling on the people to elect representatives to the first general assembly. The representatives elected in pursuance of this proclamation, held their first session at Cincinnati, on the 16th of September, 1799. Mr. Reily was elected clerk, in which capacity he served until their adjournment on the 19th of December following. After the close of the first session of the territorial legislature, congress passed a law removing the seat of government from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. Accordingly, on Monday, November 3d, 1800, the members assembled at Chillicothe and commenced their second session. Mr. Reily *See Appendix O. 42 - Pioneer Biography. was re-elected clerk. They adjourned on the 9th of December. The third and last session of the territorial legislature, being the first of the second term, was held at Chillicothe, November 23d, 1801, in conformity with the proclamation of the governor. Mr. Reily was again elected clerk, and served until their adjournment on January 23d, 1802. During the time that he held this office, he strictly devoted his whole time and attention to its duties, and acquired the respect and good will of the members ; the neat and careful manner in which he kept their journal and performed all his duties, was generally noticed and appreciated. The town of Cincinnati had a charter granted by the legislature, and approved by the governor, January 1, 1802,* by which the government of the town was invested in a president, recorder, and seven trustees. By section 10 of this act, the following persons were appointed to fill the various offices till the general election could be held, on the first Monday of April: David Zeigler, president ; Jacob Burnet, recorder ; William Ramsey, David E. Wade, Charles Avery, John Reily, William Stanley, Samuel Dick, and William Ruffen, trustees; Joseph Prince, assessor; Abraham Cary, collector, and James Smith, town marshal. * Laws of Northwest Territory, Vol. III, p. 194. John Reily - 43 At the first election Mr. Reily was elected clerk and collector. On the i3th of February, 1802, a number of citizens of Cincinnati met at Yeatman's tavern, for the purpose of promoting the establishment of a public library in the town.* The subscription bears date the 15th of that month, and the company went into operation on the 6th of March. There were twenty-five subscribers, and thirty-four shares of the stock. John Reily took one share. At the time of Mr. Reily's decease, Jacob Burnet was the only member of that association left. He is since deceased, so that none of these pioneers in the cause of literature are now living. The congress of the United States passed "An act giving a right of pre-emption to certain persons who had contracted with John Cleves Symmes, or his associates, for land lying between the Miami rivers, in the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio," which was approved March 3d, 1801. † This law enacted that any person who, before the 1st of January, 1800, had contracted in writing with John Cleves Symmes, or any of his associates, or made payment to them of money for the purchase of any land between the Miami rivers, within the limits of a certain survey which had previously been made by Israel Ludlow, and not within the tract for which Symmes had received his *See Appendix P. † Laws of the United States, Vol. V, p. 281. 44 - Pioneer Biography. patent, should be entitled to a preference in becoming purchasers from the United States at the price of two dollars per acre. The president was required to appoint two persons, who, with the receiver of public moneys at Cincinnati, were to form a commission to hear and determine all such claims. President Jefferson appointed John Reily and William Goforth. Mr. Reily acted as clerk of this board, made a map of the country where the claims lay, prepared the report on the claims adjudicated, and entered those allowed on the map and the record. On the 1st of May, 1802,* another act was passed extending the provisions of the former act another year. Mr. Reily and Doctor John Sellman were appointed commissioners under this act—James Findlay, the receiver of public moneys, being the other member, by virtue of his office. In 1802, the congress of the United States passed "An act to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory north-west of the river Ohio, to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes," which was approved 30th of April. † The law fixed the boundaries of the state, and authorized the citizens * Laws of the United States, Vol. VI, p. 139. † Laws of the United States, Vol. VI, p. John Reily - 45 within its limits to elect representatives to a convention to form a constitution. The election was held on the second Tuesday of October following, in accordance with the statute, and the convention met at Chillicothe on the first Monday of November. Mr. Reily was elected one of the representatives of Hamilton county, and though he did not take much part in the debates, yet his industry and strict attention to business, and the confidence placed by his fellow members, in his judgment and experience, gave him a very perceptible influence in the convention. The convention continued in session twenty-nine days, adjourning on the 29th of November, having formed the first constitution of the state, which met with the appr0bation of the people, and under which they lived and prospered till 1851, when the new constitution was adopted. Mr. Reily moved to Hamilton in 1803, and resided there until the time of his death. The appearance of Hamilton was then far different from what it is at present. The fort had been dismantled and abandoned but a few years previously. Many of the pickets which formed its enclosure were still standing, and when they had been broken off or taken up, the outline of the fort could easily be traced. A few of the buildings of the garrison yet remained standing. The fort was opposite the place where the bridge 0ver the Miami river has since been built, extending from Hydraulic street to the site of the United Pres- 46 - Pioneer Biography. byterian church, and from the river as far east as the ground on which the Universalist church is built. The ground east of the fort extending as far as Second street, including the public square and High street, had been occupied as a burying-ground for the garrison, and numerous rude grave-stones and graves were dotted over the surface. A natural terrace, eight or ten feet high, ran along the west side of Front street, separating the upper from the lower plane. When this bank was excavated in grading High street, several skeletons were taken up entire, and many human bones disinterred, which were all removed and buried. Many more, doubtless, lie in this space. As late as 1812 a paling enclosing a single grave stood in the middle of High street opposite Hamilton Hotel, but was removed that year. The upper part of the town, north of Dayton street, was a beautiful natural prairie, and all the rest of the ground from near Front street to where the canal now is (except the partially-cleared grave-yard), was covered with a growth of scrub-oaks and black-jacks, with an almost impenetrable undergrowth of hazel bushes and wild vines. The town of Hamilton was laid out by Israel Ludlow on the 17th of December, 1794. It was first called Fairfield, but the name Hamilton, previously given to the fort, was afterward adopted. The space between Hydraulic street and Basin street and between Front John Reily - 47 street and the Miami river was not laid out into lots till 1817. The inhabitants of Hamilton, when Mr. Reily went there, were few in number, and composed chiefly of soldiers and other persons who had been attached to Wayne's army, and had remained there when that army was disbanded at the close of the campaign. These persons lacking energy and enterprise, spoiled for pioneer work, by military camp life, and in many cases dissipated and immoral, were not the class of citizens best calculated to promote the rapid improvement of the place. Few houses had been erected. A two-story frame house stood near where the west end of the recently-removed market-house was. It was the old home erected by General Wilkinson for the accommodation of the officers of his army. In this house William McClellan kept a tavern. Above it, extending from near the river to the east line of the pickets, was a row of stables built of round hickory logs with the bark peeled off which were originally used for the horses of the officers and the cavalry, and afterward as stables for the tavern. The artificers' shops stood further to the north, near where the hydraulic race now is. The magazine stood in the south angle of the garrison, and some other dilapidated buildings were in and around the locality of the fort. There was a well of excellent water, which is still in use, a few feet west of the buildings erected by Mr. 48 - Pioneer Biography. John W. Sohn, over which there was then a large wheel for drawing water. John Torrence kept a tavern at the corner of Dayton and Water streets, in the home now owned and formerly occupied by Henry S. Earhart. Mr. Torrence died in 1807, but his widow continued the business—even for years after she became the wife of John Wingate. She was the daughter of Captain Robert Benham, whose adventures are frequently mentioned in the early history of the county, and a sister of Joseph S. Benham, formerly a prominent lawyer of Hamilton.* On the lot opposite, on the north side of the street, was a log-house which, built by Darius C. Orcut, and then occupied as a boarding-house by Mrs. Griffin, a sister of the late Abner Enoch. It is a portion of the house in which William Murray afterward kept a tavern. It stood until 1854, when it was pulled down to accommodate the works of the Hydraulic Company. Isaac Stanley afterward kept a tavern with the sign of a Black Horse, on Front street, in an old log-house, in the upper part of the town. When he was elected *Previous to 1824, Mr. Benham removed from Hamilton to Cincinnati, where he continued the practice of his profession. He was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. On the occasion of the visit of General the Marquis de Lafayette to Ohio in 1825, Mr. Benham made the reception speech on behalf of the city authorities. John Reily - 49 justice of the peace, he kept his office in the bar-room, and there dispensed justice and whisky for several years. John Sutherland kept a store in a house on the east side of Front street, between Dayton and Hydraulic streets, and carried on an extensive trade with the Indians. In the upper part of the town were several cabins in which lived James Heaton, Isaac Wiles, George Harlan, William Herbert, and George Snyder, John Wingate commenced a store in a log-house where the Irish Roman Catholic church now stands, where he failed in 1806. Thomas and Joseph Hough continued the business, and after the death of the former it was successfully occupied by Hough and Blair, and Kelsey and Smith, for the same purpose. Nearly opposite, on the south side of the street, lived Thomas McCullough and Doctor Jacob Lewis. In the south part of the town resided John Greene, Azarias Thorn, Barney McCarrOn, Benjamin Davis, Ludlow Pierson, and perhaps others not now recollected. On the west bank of the Miami river was a solitary log-house, occupied by Archibald Talbert, who kept a tavern and the ferry.* The town of Rossville † was * This house is still standing at the end of the Suspension Bridge, and immediately opposite the Straub House, on Main street, in the first ward of the city of Hamilton. † What was formerly the separate town of Rossville has for many years constituted the first ward of the city of Hamilton. 8