(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) HISTORY OF UPPER OHIO BALLEY - 17 HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. JUDGE G. L. CRANMER, Wheeling, W. Va. CHAPTER I. THE OHIO VALLEY — CLAIMS OF FRANCE, ENGLAND AND SPAIN — M. DE CELERON'S MISSION — BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT — PONTIAC — FORT PITT — THE CONGRESS AT FORT STANWIX — THE SIX NATIONS. WHEN we consider its fertile domain — its extended area — its vast resources, and its great natural advantages, exceptional as it is in all these respects, is it any wonder that the red man contested with such pertinacity the possession of the territory embraced within the limits of the Ohio Valley? It is rich in all essentials necessary for the physical welfare and happiness of a mighty population — for the temporal welfare and intellectual and mental development of a race whose Anglo-Saxon origin and character give assurance of their superiority and excellence. It is an empire, which in soil, climate and productiveness combined, is unexcelled by that of any other upon the face of the globe. Its diversified scenery presents a panorama of ever varying beauty and rare diversity, arousing admiration and awakening delight in the spectator. If fully populated and thoroughly tilled its productive capacity would supply the demands of the world. In the unwrought timber which composes her magnificent forests are embryo navies enough to cover with their white wings the surface of every ocean and sea under the white canopy of the heavens. Her hidden and undeveloped wealth of useful minerals awaits only the hand of labor and industry to reveal the rich treasures of her mines, inexhaustible in the fullness of their supply. In the comparatively brief space of a century what changes, revolutions and progress have marked what was at its beginning the western frontier of our country! Then it was_ a fallow. un- 2—A. 18 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. broken and untrodden wilderness — the haunt of the savage and the lair of the beast of prey. Since then science has tunneled its hills and bridged its streams and water courses  steam has traversed the pathless ocean the remote confines of our country have been bound together with iron links, and over ringing railways the wealth of empires are moved as if by the obedient touch of a magician's wand. The results of the hidden chemistry of nature have been made subservient to the wants and necessities of man. The electric spark flashes intelligence across seas and continents, and the pulse beat of the nations is heralded from point to point with every passing hour. The art of war has been reduced by human skill and ingenuity to such scientific perfection that its multiplied means and agencies for taking human life have become the surest guarantee of peace. And all these things have transpired within the limits of 100 years. Who can foretell the destiny or the future greatness of this wonderful valley? When the mighty pendulum of the great clock of Time in its ceaseless swing, shall have told off on its dial plate the flight of another century, judging from the past, the wildest flight of fancy in the present cannot begin to soar to the heights of that which may prove to be the actual and the real. Under the providence of God the pioneers of this valley were in no small degree the instruments of His purpose in inaugurating the building up in its limits an empire the growth and prosperity of which has been exceptional in the annals of the world. Let us now hastily turn over the leaves of Time's volume and hurriedly scan its pages as we re-tread in a brief manner the track of history with reference to the early settlement and progress in civilization of that portion of our country styled the Ohio valley, and especially that portion of it known as the district of West Augusta, in which was originally included the western portion of the state of Pennsylvania and the present state of West Virginia; it being our purpose to give a resume only of the contentions and disputes, trials and difficulties which characterized the early history of this section immediately before and during the early years of the present century. The past is always interesting whether crowded into the limits of our own individual lives, or whether its wealth of memories laden the years and fill the period preceding. that of our existence. The country bordering on the Mississippi river and its tributaries was originally claimed by England, France and Spain. The claims of England rested on the discovery by the Cabots of the eastern shores of the United States along which they sailed, which embraced the territory lying between the thirtieth and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, extending westwardly to the Pacific ocean. It was further based upon a tradition of an HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 19 Englishman at one time during a very early period having crossed the mountains in Virginia and proceeding westward to the Ohio river, having reached that stream had embarked on a vessel in which he descended that river and the Mississippi as far as its mouth —a fabulous feat which has nothing to recommend it to favor unless it is the ingenuity which gave it birth. The claim of France to her American possessions was based upon the facto that in the year 1524, an Italian mariner (John Verrazzani), sailing under the French flag and duly commissioned king the ing of France, sailed along the Atlantic coast from the thirty-second to the fiftieth degree of latitude, landing at different points, marking the points of his visitation by signs indicating the authority of the French king. By him the country was given the name New France. A second expedition was fitted out by the French in the year 1534, under the command of one Cartier, who sailed up the St. Lawrence river and gave the first intelligent description of the country, which he declared to be French territory. In the following year (1535), Cartier returned with several vessels, and made a more extended tour of the country, and founded Montreal. Some years elapsed before any further attempts appear to have been made by the French to extend their possessions, and it was not until the year 16o8 that Champlain was sent out with another expedition, on which occasion he founded Quebec, and also discovered the beautiful lake which bears his name. After this emigrants from France began to pour into the country and to  secure possession of its territory. By adapting themselves to their manners and customs, and by intermarrying with them, the French soon gained their good will, then their confidence, and finally the alliance of the natives of the country. From them they received the information that farther on there was a great river which emptied itself into a distant and unknown sea. In 1667 Marquette and Joliet undertook, in company with a few companions, to visit this river and inspect its surroundings. Sailing along Lake Michigan by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, they reached the Mississippi, and proceeded down this river as far as the thirty-third degree of latitude north, and then returned through the Illinois country to the point of their departure in Canada. At the time of this last-mentioned expedition M. de La Salle was the French commandant at Frontenac, a fort which occupied the present site of Kingston. Inspired by the highly colored report of Marquette, his enthusiastic nature led him courageously to resolve to investigate the newly-discovered country for himself. Hence, in the summer of 1679, in company with a priest named Hennepin, and others, he started on his expedition. He disembarked on the present site of Chicago and 20 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. descended the Illinois river to the present site of Peoria. In the vicinity of this last named place he remained during the winter. In the meantime Father Hennepin was sent to explore the country to the north and west. In the spring La Salle returned to Canada, but subsequently re-visited the country, and in the year 1682 sailed down the Mississippi to the gulf and named the country Louisiana in honor of his sovereign, Louis XIV. On his return he established the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, and then again returned to Canada. His ardent love for adventure and his keen enjoyment in discovery and exploration, led him to proceed to France with a view by personal solicitation to interest the authorities in effecting a settlement of the valley of the Mississippi, in which he was partially successful. At the same time he urged the importance of uniting the settlements on the Mississippi with those of Canada by means of a cordon of posts —the attempt to accomplish which was subsequently foiled. With the aid afforded him by the French crown he succeeded in raising an expedition, and sailed in the year 1684. for the mouth of the Mississippi, which he missed, as he landed too far to the westward. In his efforts to secure the safety of his little colony and to conduct them to the Illinois he met with innumerable trials and almost insurmountable obstacles and hardships, but to which he never for a moment succumbed. It was while thus laboriously striving for the welfare and prosperity of his company that one of his members basely assassinated him. A portion of his party subsequently reached a settlement of French emigrants located on the Arkansas. Those who had been left at St. Bernard, with the exception of a few, were murdered by the Indians, while those who escaped the Indians were afterward carried away by the Spaniards. If priority of discovery was the real test by which the question as to which of the three great European powers held the right to the valley of the Mississippi, then Spain's was equal to either of the others. Probably Ferdinand de Soto, who at the time was governor of the Island of Cuba, was the first white man to see the mouth of the Mississippi. Prior to this time, the Spaniards had visited and named Florida and had made attempts to colonize and settle it, but these had proved abortive. This attempt was renewed by De Soto. He succeeded in penetrating the interior of the country, and had crossed the Mississippi in pushing further on, and had reached Red river when sickness arrested and finally death put an end to the plans he had purposed and the ends which he sought to accomplish. His body was committed to the waters of the last named stream so that it might escape the mutilation and indignities which otherwise might have been visited upon it by the savages, to whom his name was a terror and who regarded him as their most implacable foe. Thus the different HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 21 portions of the continent were claimed by the three great powers of Europe already named by us, basing their claims respectively on discovery, settlement and exploration. The Ohio river formed a natural communication between the French possessions in Canada and the Louisiana country, via Lake Erie. T9 discover and preserve this communication was to the interests of the French, and hence they were the first to trace out the whole course of this river. As late as the year 1749 the Ohio valley had never been frequented by any but the French. Up to this period the Appalachian chain of mountains had always been looked upon as the western boundary of the English colonies. The English ministry, jealous of the growing influence and trade of France, had for some time coveted the possession of the above communication mentioned. In the year 1749, certain English traders inaugurated a contraband trade on the Ohio, and in the territory over which the French claimed to exercise jurisdiction, and surreptitiously endeavored to provoke the Indians to a war with the French. Upon information of the existing state of affairs the French commandant, Count de la Galissoniere deputed M. de Celeron, a young and intrepid French officer, to proceed thither, giving him strict instructions to use no violence against the English intruders, but simply to order them to withdraw, and in case of their refusal so to do, to seize and confiscate their goods. Upon communicating his instructions to the traders they promptly withdrew. At the same time they were charged not to return. It appeared that some of these traders were acting under commissions from the governor of Pennsylvania, which they produced for the inspection of the French officer, which confirmed the fact that the English harbored intentions detrimental to the interests of the French. Accordingly the French officer gave them a letter to the governor which he requested them to present to that digni tary. This letter was couched in courteous terms and informed the governor as to what had transpired, and respectfully requested him not to grant any more commissions in the future, but also to compel a cessation of the contraband trade which was carried on by his countrymen in the territory of New France. But no sooner had M. de Celeron completed his mission and was on his return journey after burying leaden plates and erecting wooden crosses at the mouths of the principal streams emptying into the Ohio, thus signifying the jurisdiction of the French crown over the Ohio and the adjacent territory, than the English traders returned in great numbers. Under one pretext or another, and by dint of false representations, several of the Indian tribes, at the instance of the English, were induced to take up arms against the French, having been supplied with these, together with ammunition, by the English. Hence, in the 22 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. following year, 1750, the Marquis de la Jonquiere, who in the fall of 1749 had succeeded the Count de la Galissoniere as governor general and commandant of New France, again sent out another and different force with a repetition of the same orders previously given to M. de Celeron, deprecating the use of any violence toward the English and to intimidate such of the Indian tribes as had revolted. Their forbearance toward the English was in the highest degree commendable, but was not properly appreciated. To prevent, if possible, the continuance of contraband trade, four of the most objectionable and obstinate of the traders were seized, and notwithstanding the kind and forbearing treatment of the French, they disregarded in a defiant manner the warning they had received. These four were carried to Canada. Upon personally investigating their cases, they acknowledged to the Marquis de la Jonquiere, that the governor of Pennsylvania had sent arms and ammunition, as well as presents to the Indians to excite them to war. Thereupon the marquis sent them as prisoners to France where they were retained as prisoners for some time. After an interval of time they applied to the English ambassador at the court of France, and solicited his intercession in their behalf that they might be released, but made no complaint of the justice of their arrest and imprisonment. As a personal favor to the English ambassador, his request was granted and they were discharged. The forbearance of the French toward the Indians on the Ohio instead of having the effect of pacifying them seemed only to embolden them. Apprehensions of a united and general revolt became prevalent. The English encouraged them in their purpose and made promises of aid and protection. Detachments of French troops sent out in 1751 did no more than the detachments which had been previously sent out. But they discovered and reported the fact that preparations for a concerted attack on the part of the Indians against the colonies was imminent. The governor of Canada, convinced of the threatened danger, made preparations to send a superior force to keep them in check, but before completing them he sickened and died. He was succeeded by the Marquis du Quesne. The condition of affairs in the colony prompted him to take immediate steps to carry out the execution of the designs of his predecessor. The forces raised were placed under the command of M. de St. Pierre. Establishing a block house in the vicinity of Lake Erie, he remained there during the winter of 1753-4. During the time he was here he received a letter from the governor of Virginia commanding him to withdraw his forces. The English had already passed their boundary, and with army had entered the territory of New France. In the spring of the year 1754 M. de Contrecour in command of between 500 and 600 red men advanced toward the HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 23 Ohio, and between the Ohio and French creek found- a small force under the command of Capt. Trent, entrenched in a small fort.which they had built. Contrecour summoned them to depart out of the territory of New France. They at once obeyed and evacuated their fort. At the same time they requested the French commander to give them provisions, of which they stood greatly in need. He granted them a full supply and destroyed their fort. ,At the time of this occurrence Capt. Contrecour continued his march to the Ohio. In the spring of 1754 the Virginians had commenced the erection of a fort at the junction of Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, which was in an unfinished condition. In obedience to the summons to surrender, Ensign Ward, who was in command, and whose force consisted of about forty men, evacuated the fort, as his force, compared to that of his antagonist, was but a handful, the French numbering nearly 1,000, composed of French and Indians. The French at once proceeded to complete and fortify the post, which they called Fort Du Quesne, after the then French governor of Canada. The full details of the surrender having been laid before Gov. Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, he proceeded to take prompt measures to repel the French. A regiment was raised, and the command given to Col. Fry, with George Washington as lieutenant colonel, and marching to a place called the Great Meadows, near the Youghiogheny river, they surprised a party of French aad Indians and Jumonville, the commanding officer, was killed. In the meantime, while on the march, Fry had died, and the command of the regiment devolved upon Washington. Pressing forward, they had reached a small fort called Fort Necessity, where he was awaiting the arrival of additional troops preparatory to continuing their march to Fort Du Quesne, which they intended to attack and capture if possible. While delaying here a French force under the command of M . de Villiers appeared, and was fired upon by a portion of the force which was without the fort, when they hastily retreated to the shelter of the fort. The firing was kept up for some time, and was quite rapid, but Washington finding that it was useless to prolong the siege, and to avoid an assault which would have proved successful, accepted the proposal of the French to surrender, and the capitulation was agreed upon. These events are considered as the first overt acts which precipitated what is known as the French and Indian war, which covered the period between 1754 and 1758. Great Britain now determined to put a stop to what they considered the encroachments and aggressions of the French in their possessions, and accordingly at the beginning of the year 1755, the French held complete control of the Ohio valley. The contest for its possession was not to be long delayed, for soon an army would pene- 24 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. trate the wilderness under the command of one of the bravest, most thoroughly disciplined and determined officers in the British service. But he was haughty, obstinate, presumptuous and difficult of access. Such is the character of Major General Edward Braddock, as portrayed by his contemporaries, who had been appointed as the leader of the forces, numbering about 2,300 men. Gen. Braddock never for a moment contemplated defeat in his projects, as both he and the commander of the fleet were much exercised as to the treatment they would extend to the French, who they had not the least doubt that they would capture. The idea that these latter could cope successfully with his well disciplined English troops was to him in the highest degree regarded as preposterous. And yet but a few days were to elapse when the self-confident general himself would surrender to insatiate Death. The flower of his army, like their general, would succumb to the same inevitable conqueror, and defeat be inscribed upon their banner. It is not our purpose to give a detailed account of this unfortunate affair so familiar to all readers of history, but suffice it to say that had it not been for the coolness and courage displayed by Washington on this occasion, the whole army would have been cut off and destroyed. From this time until the year 1764, the Indians, under Pontiac, carried on a ruthless and devastating warfare. The distress which prevailed on the frontiers was unparalleled before or since. The defeat of Braddock had caused the settlers to abandon their cabins and flee for safety to the older settled portions of the country, and in the whole valley of the Ohio scarcely a single white person was to be found. Outside of this limit the Indians emboldened by the terrible rout of Braddock's forces, indulged the terrible ferocity of their natures wherever victims could be found on whom to expend their fury. Families who had neglected by flight to procure their security were inhumanly butchered in cold blood, and in their wild carnival of slaughter they spared neither sex nor age. They laid siege successfully to a number of forts, which were reduced by force or stratagem. They passed beyond the mountains and carried devastation and death as far as Bedford, Winchester and Fort Cumberland. But this condition of affairs was finally arrested by the decisive victory won by the skill and prowess of Col. Bouquet, at Brushy Run, in Westmoreland county, Penn., August; 1763, which struck such terror to the savages as to cause them temporarily to withdraw into the interior. From this time the prestige of the great chief Pontiac was eclipsed; his followers became disheartened and sued for peace. The reader will please pardon us if we occupy a small portion of his time in briefly referring to the career and character of the chieftain we have just named. Pontiac was an Qttawa chief HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 25 whom the English first became acquainted with when a small force of their army was for the first time sent to take formal possession of the country in the vicinity of the upper lakes. Qn being informed of the approach of the English he collected his warriors together and set out to meet them. He indignantly demanded of them why they dared to trespass upon his territory, and haughtily insisted on being informed as to what their business was there. He was answered that they came on a friendly errand to assure peace with his nation, and to cultivate acquaintance. Pontiac replied: " I take my stand in the path you are following and here I will remain until morning," giving them to understand that they could not proceed further without his full permission. After .a time and after due deliberation he permitted them to proceed, and with his followers accompanied them to Detroit, from whence he sent runners to the surrounding tribes urging them, as he had, to become friendly toward the English. For some time he was true to the whites and was their faithful friend, but afterward became their inveterate enemy. Drake, in his history of the Indians, speaks of his great executive ability as exceeding even that of Metacomet or Tecumseh. He proceeds to say: " In his war of 1763, which is justly denominated Pontiac's war, he appointed a commissary, and began to make and issue bills of credit, all of which he afterward carefully redeemed. He made his bills on notes of bark, on which was drawn the figure of the commodity he wanted, and another was the insignia or arms of his nation. He had also with great sagacity, urged upon his people the necessity of dispensing altogether with European commodities, to have no intercourse with any whites, and to depend entirely upon their ancient modes of procuring sustenance." After the reduction of Canada, comparative peace reigned along the frontiers. The French being driven out of the country, the English commenced the erection of forts at the most available points commanding the lakes and rivers. Rightly apprehending that the English, if not checked, or if an attempt to do so was not promptly made, would soon spread themselves over the whole country, the savages realized that a mighty effort must be made to prevent their advance. A confederacy was therefore formed among the Shawnees, the tribes in the Ohio and its adjacent waters, the object of which was to attack at the same time all of the English posts and settlements on the frontiers. Their plan was skillfully formed after the most mature deliberation. The Ohio valley, as well as the frontiers of Pennsylvania, were raided by scalping parties carrying death and devastation wherever they penetrated. The remote outposts were assailed, and out of eleven forts three only escaped capture— Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt alone remaining in the hands of the whites. 26 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. The moving spirit in this rising was Pontiac, and he commanded in person the united forces which attempted the capture of Detroit through stratagem. The success with which the savages' met emboldened them to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, while it struck terror to the hearts of the settlers by reason of the barbarity practiced by the savages. The English commandant determined to take the most active measures to arrest this tide of blood and desolation. Accordingly he dispatched Col. Henry Bouquet, a soldier who had seen much service, both in Europe and this country, during the French war. At the time he was stationed at Philadelphia, from which place he marched with a force of about 500 men, and as already stated, after a fierce and hotly contested fight at Brushy Run, he pushed on with his force to the Ohio valley, and in due time arrived at Fort Pitt. Here he was reinforced, and now with a force of 1,500 men he took up his line of march on the third day of October, against the Indian towns on the Muskingum, which he reached near the forks of that river without opposition, and there dictated terms of peace to them. Hutchins, in his Historical Account of Bouquet's Expedition, says: " Immediately after the peace was concluded with the Indians, the king made him brigadier general and commandant of the troops in all of the southern colonies of British America. He died in Pensacola in 1767, lamented by his friends, and regretted universally." Having somewhat anticipated our narrative, we propose to return and take up the thread of it so far as it is connected with the evacuation of Fort Du Quesne by the French and the erection of Fort Pitt. In November, 1758, the French, learning of the approach of a formidable army under Gen. Forbes, became alarmed, and as they had been deserted by most of their allies, they determined to abandon their fort. Before doing so, however, they placed the torch to all their buildings and a slow match to their magazine, whereupon the whole party took to boats and descended the Qhio. Qn the 25th of November, 1758, the English took possession of the blackened and defaced ruins of the fortress. With the fall of this post the struggle began between the French and English for the possession of the Qhio valley. The war between these two powers was concluded by the treaty of Fontainebleau, in November, 1762. The banner of St. George now floated over what had hitherto been called Fort Du Quesne, but which the unanimous voice of those present named Fort Pitt, in honor of the able and eloquent premier of England, William Pitt. Bancroft, in giving an account of this capture, uses the following language: " Long as the Monangahela and Allegheny shall flow to form the Ohio, long as the English tongue shall be the language of freedom in the boundless valleys which their HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 27 waters traverse, his name shall stand inscribed upon the gateway of the west." Comparative quiet prevailed along the borders for some years after the treaty to which we have referred was entered into between Col. Bouquet and the Indians. A fixed and determinate boundary line was now desired, both by the English and the Indians. In the beginning of the year 1766, a proposition was made by Gov. Franklin, of New Jersey, to the superintendent of Indian affairs, Sir William Johnson, that they should purchase a large body of lands situated south of the Qhio river, with the intention of filling them with English settlers. In this enterprise it was stipulated that Gov. Moore, Gen. Gage, Gov. Franklin and Sir William Johnston, were to be joint and equal partners. The Five Nations, subsequently styled the Six Nations, after the admission of the Tuscarawas into their confederacy, claimed all this territory by right of conquest. The proposition having been approved by those interested, Gov. Franklin at once communicated with his father, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who was then in London, to secure his influence and efforts in behalf of the contemplated enterprise, at the same time requesting him to obtain a grant from the government. But the crown had made a previous grant of the same territory to the Qhio company and, moreover, they appear to have had some misgivings for a season as to the propriety of establishing a colony so far inland. But their scruples were finally overcome and the company was formed under the name of the " Walpole Company," into which the Oho company was merged about the year 1770, to which the royal sanction was given in the year 1772. The outbreak of the revolution destroyed both of these grants. In the year 1768; under the authority of the British cabinet, a congress was appointed to meet at Fort Stanwix, to be composed of the governors of the several colonies and the Indians composing the Six Nations. In the latter part of September, of this last named year, twenty batteaus arrived at the fort laden with presents for the Indians, and were accompanied by Gov. Franklin, of New Jersey, George Croghan and others. The day following, Gov. Penn and the commissioners of Pennsylvania arrived, the commissioners of Virginia already being on the spot. The Indian traders were also represented at being congress. These traders, during the war known as Pontiac's, hadl been robbed of their goods, and these representatives possessed a power of attorney authorizing them to seize upon and appropriate lands under a clause contained in the treaty of 1765. It was the beginning of October before any great number of Indians assembled, and the delay was causing a scarcity of provisions. Hence messengers were dispatched to hasten the gath- 28 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. ering of the Indians. It was not until the latter part of the month that the congress was formally opened. A still further delay was occasioned of several days, owing to the indulgence of the Indians in a pow-wow or talk, so that it was not until the first days of November before they were ready to report a boundary line. This line began at the mouth of the Tennessee river, and followed the Ohio and Allegheny to Kittanning, thence it continued in a direct line to the nearest bank of the west branch of the Susquehanna river, and followed that stream through the Alleghenys, passing by way of Burnett's hills in the eastern branch of the Susquehanna and Delaware, into New York, with its northern terminus at the confluence of the Canada and Woods rivers. As the Six Nations claimed the title to the territory south of the Ohio river by right of conquest, they were emphatic in their refusal to recognize any boundary whatever, unless their claim was acknowledged. Besides the deed to the territory indicated they gave three other deeds at the same time— one to William Trent, representing the Indian traders as before mentioned, for an indemnity lying between the Kanawha and Monongahela rivers, embracing the greater portion of the present state of West Virginia, another to the proprietors of Pennsylvania, for the Wyoming tract of land, and a third to George Croghan- for previous grants, and about 1,300 acres of land on the Allegheny river. It is on this treaty rests the title by purchase to Kentucky, Western Virginia and Pennsylvania. Permit us here in passing to refer briefly to that wonderful organization known in history as the Confederacy of the Six Nations, an organization which cannot fail to challenge the admiration and scrutiny of the antiquarian and student as being one of the most unique and remarkable established by an Indian race in North America, if we except the ancient Aztec dynasty. The original tribes composing this confederacy were the Mohawks, the Onondagas, the Senecas, the Oneidas and Cayugas, and some time subsequent to the formation of the confederacy a sixth tribe was admitted, the Tuscarawas. The last, however, were not admitted to membership on an equal footing with the others, but occupied a subordinate position. The Six Nations extended the exercise of their authority and jurisdiction over a large portion of the territory of our country, embracing under. their legislative control what are lnow the states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, a portion of Michigan, and a portion of the Canadas. Their dignity and importance was in the order in which we have named the tribes which composed their Nation. Like the tribe of Judah which always occupied the fore front of the Lord's hosts, the Mohawks occupied the first and most prominent place in the council and the field. HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 29 At the time of the Saxon occupation of the great Ohio valley, the Six Nations dominated all the other tribes, none dared to withstand them in battle, or if they did, proved unsuccessful in coping with them, much less were they successful in opposing them in the execution of their plans and purposes. Tradition, itself now almost lost in the mists of obscurity, tells of a tribe of superior intelligence, but few in numbers, which was located in a portion of what is. now Marshall county, in the state of West Virginia, which by some unfortunate circumstance called down upon their devoted heads the ire of these powerful nations, who in the madness of their rage exterminated the last soul of them, razed their village and destroyed every last vestige of them as a tribe so completely that even their name has been obliterated from the memory of mankind. Simultaneously, while one of the tribes of the Nation would attack the red men of New England, another would attack their brothers dwelling on the banks of the Tennessee, while another would carry death to the savages dwelling on the shores of the Mississippi. They were swift in execution, indomitable in energy and unyielding in fortitude. They claimed lordship over a territory extending from the Canadas to the distant Mississippi, and from the Appalachian chain of mountains to an indefinite line westward, But with the advent of the Saxon race their power gradually diminished, their prestige waned and their glory departed, and to-day the vanished remnants of their race have left behind them only a fast fading memory, which in the whirlpool and excitement of a utilitarian age, we fear, will be wholly submerged, or if it survives at all, will live only in the character of a myth. The country immediately bordering on the waters of the upper Ohio was not inhabited by the Indians unless at some exceptional points, and these very few in number; but their tribal towns and villages were for the greater part at a remove of some distance west of that river. As, for instance, the Shawnees dwelt in the territory embraced in the central portion of the present state of Ohio, extending westward into the present state of Indiana. The Delawares lived adjacent to these on the Muskingum and the Cuyahoga, and the two tribes not infrequently united their forces and co-operated together both in war and council. The Qttawas inhabited the country lying to the northwest in the vicinity of the chain of the great lakes. There were a number of other tribes, not quite so prominent as the foregoing, such as the Chippewas, Wyandots, Pottawatomies and Miamis and in the same district of country, others of still less note, all of whom contributed more or less to the disturbance and annoyance of the first settlers on the Ohio and its tributary streams. The Six Nations were located in the northeast along the shores of the Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers. That por- 30 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. tion of western Virginia known as the Panhandle was never the abode of the Indians. In their raids to the Monongahela and Cheat rivers to the eastward their trail was through this portion of the present state of West Virginia. Moreover, West Virginia was their hunting ground — a favorite resort where the choicest game was found in abundance — the elk, deer, bear, wild turkey and smaller specimens. It is no wonder that they looked with a jealous eye upon the encroachments of the whites upon this portion of their do-main and that they resented it by attempting to drive the aggressors away. Nor was the emigration which in 1769-70 began to set in, calculated to lessen their apprehensions, as it had now spread to the banks of the Ohio river. Hence, a feeling of restlessness and feverish uneasiness began to be manifested which increased in intensity during the succeeding years, and finally having gathered head it burst forth in its fiercest fury, carrying with it death, destruction and desolation.