John Hollister & Company John E. Hunt Robert A. Forsyth Louis Beaufit Pierre Menard John King Louis King	$ 7,365 9,929 10,890 700 400 100 56
Total	$29,440

On September 26, 1833, George B. Porter, Thomas J. V. Owen and William Weatherford, United States commissioners, concluded a treaty at Chicago with the confederated tribes of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians. By this treaty the tribes mentioned relinquished all the lands claimed by them bordering on the west shore of Lake Michigan and confirmed the provisions of all prior treaties relating to lands in Ohio. The Chicago treaty is of interest in a History of Toledo and Lucas County, only because of this confirmation, which gave the white race an undisputed title to the former Indian lands in the Maumee Valley. CHAPTER IV EXPLORERS AND TRADERS POPE ALEXANDER'S GRANT TO SPAIN-THE CABOTS-JACQUES CARTIER- CHAMPLAIN AND SANSON-SANSON'S MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES-THE MISSIONARIES-SAINT LUSSON-MARQUETTE AND JOLIET-JOLIET'S MAP OF 1674-SIEUR DE LA SALLE -TRADING POSTS. In May, 1493, the year following the first voyage of Columbus to America, Pope Alexander VI granted to the King and Queen of Spain "all countries inhabited by infidels." The extent of the American Continent was not then known, but as the natives were regarded as "infidels," this papal grant included, in a vague way, all the present State of Ohio. When the news of Columbus' discovery reached the rulers of other European nations, they were not slow in fitting out expeditions to make explorations. In 1496 Henry VII, then King of England, granted to John Cabot and his sons a patent of discovery, trade and possession "to all lands they may discover and lay claim to in the name of the English Crown." Before the close of the century the Cabots explored the Atlantic coast from Labrador to the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay. In 1534 Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, discovered the St. Lawrence River. Seven years later, while on another voyage, he ascended that stream to the site of Quebec and laid claim to the valley in the name of France. On the bank of the river he found an Indian village called "Canada" and gave that name to the country. CHAMPLAIN AND SANSON More than half a century passed after Cartier's claim before any further explorations were made by the French up the St. Lawrence and in the region about the Great Lakes. In 1608 Samuel Champlain founded the City of Quebec. During the following years he explored much of the country along the Ottawa River in Canada and the coast of Lake Huron. Some writers have asserted that Champlain discovered the mouth of the Maumee River as early as 1615, but this is exceedingly doubtful. His map, published in 1632, gives a fairly good representation of the country along the Ottawa Rivet and the coast of Lake Huron, which he calls "Mer Douce." South of Lake Huron are the outlines of a lake (probably intended for Lake Erie), but they are rather indefinite, both as to contour and extent. There is no positive evidence that Champlain was ever on the waters of Lake Erie. One of the oldest maps of the Great Lakes country is that made by Nicolas Sanson. In 1647 he was appointed Royal Geographer of France and came to - 53 - 54 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY America as the official explorer for that nation. He spent several years in his survey of the lake shores and in 1656 published a map covering the district from the lakes eastward to the Atlantic coast. This map is interesting, as well for the errors it contains as for the information it conveys. That portion of it which includes the country about Toledo has been reproduced for this work. It appears to have been one of the principal objects of the royal geographer to show the positions of the various Indian tribes dwelling about the lakes. Most of the names of these tribes, as given by Sanson, are of Huron or Iroquois origin, the termination "ronon" meaning nation or people. The relationship between the ancient and modern name of some of the tribes cannot always be definitely determined. The Erie, Huron and Nipissing are readily distinguished, both by name and location. The Sonontouaer, south of Lake Ontario, were no doubt the Seneca, the most western tribe of the Five Nations. Near the west end of Lake Erie are the Squenquioronons and the Ontarraronons, which may have been some of the Ottawa bands. Farther to the northwest, the Assistaeronons were unquestionably the Mascouten, or Prairie band of the Potawatomi. On the map Lake Huron is called "Karegnondi," Lake St. Clair, "Lac des Saux de Mer," and Lake Michigan, "Lac des Puans." One of the early names for the Winnebago Indians was "Puans," hence the name given to Lake Michigan is equivalent to "Winnebago Lake." In the State of Wisconsin, a few miles to the southwest of the southern point of the Green Bay, there is now a Winnebago Lake, so named for the tribe which once inhabited that section of the country. The Ouhouararonons, on the peninsula between Karegnondi and Lac des Puans, were probably the Fox Indians, before their alliance with the Sac tribe. The tribes on the northern shore of Lake Superior were in all probability the Chippewa and their kinsmen, and the Attiouandarons, on the upper peninsula of Michigan and south of Lake Erie are believed by some writers to have been the ancestors of the great Miami nation. While the map imparts a general idea of. the Great Lakes and their environs, it is defective in many essential particulars, which may easily be detected by comparing it with a modern map. Three parallels of latitude are shown. Of these the forty-fifth is approximately correct, but the fortieth crosses Ohio near the City of Columbus, more than one hundred and twenty-five miles south of where it is shown by Sanson, and the fiftieth is over fifty miles north of the most northern point of Lake Superior. The boundary line of "Virginie" and "Floride"." is miles too far north. THE MISSIONARIES Within three years after Quebec was founded by Champlain, Jesuit missionaries were among the Indians living on the shores of Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. In 1634 Jean Nicollet passed still farther westward to the Fox River Valley, in what is now the State of Wisconsin. Through the visits of the missionaries it was learned that the country abounded in fur-bearing animals, whose skins would command almost fabulous prices in the capitals of Europe. Along the streams and in the marshes of the oak openings, in what is now Lucas County, beaver were plentiful until about the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. As the Indians were unacquainted with the value of these furs, the French saw an opportunity for a profitable trade with the natives. This is the earliest attempt to map the Great Lakes region. It is the central part of Champlain's map published in 1632. Champlain reached the Great Lakes by way of the Ottawa river and French river into Lake Huron. His ideas of geography were very much distorted. In the above Lac St. Louis is Lake Ontario. Mer Douce is Lake Huron. Grand Lac is Lake Superior. The body of water with three islands above the words a Na-tion-neutre is doubtless intended for Lake Erie with the Maumee River indicated. y the "Neutral Nation" undoubtedly was meant the Miami tribe of Indians which generally pursued an independent course in Indian politics. Champlain was within 125 miles of Toledo's future site as early as 1615, spending many months during the summer and following winter visiting the various tribes of Indians, and it is not beyond resonable conjecture that he came to the south shore of Lake Erie at this time. TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 57 Following the missionaries came the coureurs de bois, a hardy, adventurous class of woodsmen, who kept no records of their wanderings or transactions. They roamed where they pleased, making friends, intermarrying and trading with the Indians, and trapping for furs. In 1665 Claude Allouez, one of the most zealous of the Jesuit fathers, held a council with the chiefs and head men of the leading western tribes at the Chippewa village, on the southern shore of Lake Superior. At this council the Chippewa, Illini, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and certain Sioux tribes were represented. Allouez promised them the protection of the great French father and thus opened the way for an established trade. Three years later Fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon established the mission of St. Mary, the oldest white settlement within the present State of Michigan. SAINT LUSSON The accounts of the country carried to Quebec by the missionaries and coureurs de bois led the Canadian authorities to arrange for a grand council with the western tribes. Nicolas Perrot was sent as the accredited agent of the government to invite the tribes to the council. He was followed by Simon Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson, as subdelegate of M. Talon, the intendant of New France. The council met at St. Mary's mission early in June, 1671. Fourteen tribes were represented and for several days there were "much talk and feasting." On the 14th a cross was erected and St. Lusson took formal possession, in the name of France, of "Lakes Huron and Superior and all countries, rivers, lakes and streams contiguous thereto, both those that have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all their length and breadth, bounded on one side by the seas of the north and west, and on the other by the South Sea." By this proclamation Lake Erie and the country along the Maumee River, being "contiguous thereto," became a part of the territory claimed by France. A year or two before Jesuit priests had visited the Maumee Valley and some of the tribes in that locality were represented in the council at St. Mary's. MARQUETTE AND JOLIET Two names inseparably connected with the history of the Great Lakes country are those of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet. The former, a native of Laon, France, joined the Jesuit Society at the age of seventeen years, came to America in 1666 and soon became one of the most widely known of the Jesuit missionaries. He was one of the founders of St. Mary's mission in 1668; was present at the great Indian council there in June, 1671, and before the close of that year he established the mission of Point St. Ignace, which for many years was considered the key to the great, unexplored West. Joliet was a native of Canada and was educated for the priesthood in the Jesuit College at Quebec. Being fond of adventure he laid aside the black gown of the priest to become an explorer. In 1669, when only twenty-four years old, he went with a party to Lake Superior and on his return made a complete report upon the shorter route to the upper lakes by way of the Ottawa River and Lake Nipissing. He prepared a map of this route, said to be the first, although at least a portion of 58 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY it was known to Champlain nearly fifty years before. In 1671 Joliet accompanied St. Lusson to the Sault Ste. Marie, where he met and formed the acquaintance of Father Marquette. Count de Frontenac succeeded Courcelles as governor of New France in the spring of 1672, and Duchesneau superseded Talon as intendant. The new officials were ambitious for territorial expansion and with them Joliet was given an opportunity to exercise his peculiar talents as topographer. Frontenac selected him and Marquette to find the great river to the westward (the Mississippi), of which reports had been received by the missionaries from the .Indians. On May 13, 1673, the two explorers, accompanied by five voyageurs, left Michilimackinac in two canoes for their long voyage: Passing up the Green Bay and the Fox River, they made the portage to the Wisconsin River, descended that stream, and on June 17, 1673, their frail craft shot out upon the broad bosom of the Mississippi. Turning their canoes down stream they went as far as the mouth of the Arkansas River, when they became convinced that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico instead of the South Sea, as the Pacific Ocean was then known. On their return they ascended the Illinois River and crossed the portage to the Chicago River, down which they went until they reached Lake Michigan. Father Marquette resumed his missionary labors with the Indians occupying the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, while Joliet went on to Quebec to make a report. At the La Chine Rapids his canoe was upset and he lost all his notes, journal, etc. From memory and his previous knowledge of the lakes he prepared a map, which was published in 1674. On Sanson's map several streams are shown emptying into the west end of Lake Erie, but their position indicates that they were located by hearsay, rather than actual survey. Joliet's map shows but one stream, which corresponds closely to the Maumee River. He is credited by some historians as being the first explorer to give to the world any accurate knowledge concerning Lake Erie. Although the source of the Mississippi was not known in 1674, Joliet shows it upon his map, and it must be admitted that he made a "shrewd guess," to say the least of it. He gives the river the name of Colbert, in honor of Jean Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of marine and finance, and the legend declares that it discharges into the Gulf of Mexico. He also shows the Ohio River, with the legend (translated) : "River by which Sieur de La Salle descended in going to Mexico." The Illinois River he calls the "River de la Divine." SIEUR DE LA SALLE Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was born at Rouen, France, in 1643, and came to Canada about 1667. Through his brother, Abbe Jean Cavelier, of the Sulpitian order at Montreal, he received a grant of land near. the La Chine Rapids on the St. Lawrence River. From Governor Courcelles he obtained letters patent to make explorations in the western part of New France. In the spring of 1669 he sold his seigneury, bought four canoes and hired fourteen men to accompany him on his first voyage of discovery. On July 6, 1669, with this little company and two Sulpitian priests—Dollier de Casson and Brehan de Gallinee—he left Montreal. At the west end of Lake Ontario he met Louis Joliet, from whom he obtained information of the upper lakes, and decided to alter his course. The two Sulpitians then left him and continued their way up the north shore of Lake Erie. La Salle TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 61 crossed that lake. and reached the Ohio River, which he descended to the rapids, where the City of Louisville, Kentucky, is now situated. If La Salle kept a diary or journal of his voyage it was lost, and it is not certain what route he took to reach the Ohio. Most of the accounts say that he was guided by an Indian from Lake Erie to a branch of the Ohio (believed to be the Allegheny River). Slocum, in his "History of the Maumee Valley," and a few other writers have attempted to show that he went up the Maumee, crossed over to the Wabash River and descended that stream to the Ohio, but this theory is hardly tenable. Practically all accounts of the voyage state that he descended the Ohio to the rapids. If he had gone by way of the Maumee and Wabash he would have struck the Ohio more than one hundred and fifty miles below the falls. In 1671 La Salle conducted an expedition around the lakes to the mouth of the Chicago River and crossed the portage to the Illinois, but went no farther. Two years later, under orders from Governor Frontenac, he built Fort Frontenac, on the site of the present City of Kingston. In 1674 he went to France and received a grant of land at Fort Frontenac, as well as authority to explore the western part of New France. The "Griffon"—the first sailing vessel on the Great Lakes—was built by La Salle early in 1679. As soon as it was completed he took a small company of men and sailed around to the Green Bay. There the "Griffon" took on a cargo of furs and started on the return voyage, while La Salle went on to the Illinois country, his object being to find the Mississippi and explore it to its mouth. When near the present City of Peoria, Illinois, he learned that the "Griffon" had been lost. Leaving his lieutenant, Henri de Tonti, in command, he returned to Front Frontenac for supplies.. While at Fort Frontenac he wrote : "There is at the end of Lake Erie, ten leagues below the strait (the Detroit River), a river by which we could shorten the way to the Illinois very much. It is navigable to canoes to within two leagues of the route now in use." The river referred to could have been no other than the Maumee. This is believed to have been the first mention of that river in history. Waggoner's "History of Toledo" says : "In considering the date of the first settlement of a country, we must at the outset determine what constitutes a 'settlement.' If adventures for discovery, trade, missionary labor, or other temporary purposes, be such, it is probable that the earliest settlers of Ohio were parties sent out in 1680 by Count de Frontenac, then the French Governor of Canada, for the purpose of erecting posts or stores for occupancy and trade. One of these parties at that time built a small stockade just below where South Toledo (Maumee City) now stands. . . . This was an important point of trade for several years, and was finally abandoned for the more desirable location at the head of the Maumee River, where Fort Wayne now stands." Some authorities have credited La Salle with being the leader of the party that established the post on the Maumee, mentioned by Waggoner, but this is by no means substantiated. La Salle was busy at Fort Frontenac, making his preparations for his final and successful expedition to the Mississippi. In the spring of 1681 he met Tonti at Michilimackinac (now Mackinaw). Without going into all the details concerning this expedition, it is only necessary to say that he reached the mouth of the great river on April 8, 1682, and the next day took formal possession of all the country drained by it and its tributaries, giving the country the name of Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV, then King of France. By this proclama- 62 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY tion all that part of Ohio drained by streams flowing into the Ohio River became French domain. La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac and later in the year 1682 wrote : "I could no longer go to the Illinois but by the Lakes Huron and Illinois (Michigan), as the other routes I have discovered by the head of Lake Erie and the southern coast of the same have become too dangerous by frequent encounters with the Iroquois, who are always on that shore." TRADING POSTS Soon after La Salle's expedition of 1682, the Canadian authorities took steps to establish trading posts at convenient points in the Indian country and to protect them by a chain of forts extending from the lakes to the lower Mississippi Valley. Unfortunately, the records of many of the minor posts have not been preserved and it is impossible to give much of their history. In 1686 Nicolas Perrot led a party of twenty men up the Maumee to its source, where he found the Indian village of Kiskakon. He made terms of peace with the occupants of the village and established a trading post, to which he gave the name of Fort Miami, after the tribe which inhabited that part of the country. Some confusion has resulted over the name "Fort Miami," as there were at least three early posts thus known. La Salle built a Fort Miami on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, near the mouth of the St. Joseph River, in 1680. The post established the same year near the foot of the Maumee Rapids was also known by that name, and Perrot's post at the head of the Maumee was the third so distinguished. The Fort Miami at the source of the Maumee was greatly improved and strengthened in 1697 by Captain de Vincennes, who a little later went on down the Wabash and built the posts of Ouiatenon and Vincennes. In 1693 Nicolas Perrot established a trading post at the west end of Lake Erie. Slocum states that in 1700 a French post was built within the limits of the City of Toledo. The writer has been unable to learn anything concerning the history of these posts. Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701. That place became the great center of the Indian trade and the posts at the west end of Lake Erie and on the site of Toledo were abandoned. On May 2, 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was chartered by the English Crown. It was supposed to operate in the region around the bay from which it derived its name, but within a few years its agents were competing with the French in the district about the Great Lakes. By 1715 they were among the Indians on the Maumee and Wabash rivers and in other parts of what is now the State of Ohio. This competition finally culminated in the French and Indian war, the history of which is given in the next chapter. CHAPTER V FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR CONFLICTING CLAIMS-ENGLISH TRESPASSES-THE OHIO COMPAN Y-CELORON'S EXPEDITION-WASHINGTON 'S MISSION-FRANCE DECLARES WAR-BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT-WILLIAM PITT'S POLICY-BRITISH VICTORIES-END OF THE WAR- SUCCEEDING EVENTS-LORD DUN MORE'S WAR. In the East the conflict between France and England about the middle of the Eighteenth Century took the name of the "French and Indian War," for the reason that the Indian tribes of that section were supplied with arms and ammunition by the French and incited to attack the English settlements. The British retaliated by arming the Iroquois and allied tribes and inducing them to make war on the French posts in the West. Upon the restoration of peace the western people referred to the struggle as the "Seven Years' War," but historians generally have adopted the eastern name. CONFLICTING CLAIMS As stated at the close of the preceding chapter, the causes of the war grew out of rival claims to territory and competition in the fur trade. The grant of Pope Alexander to Spain in 1493 was strengthened to some extent by the expedition of Hernando de Soto (1540-42) into the interior and the discovery of the Mississippi River. Based upon the discoveries made by the Cabots, England claimed practically all the central part of North America. The charter granted by the crown to the Plymouth Company in 1620 included "all the land between the fortieth and f ortyeighth parallels of north latitude from sea to sea." This grant embraced more than half of the present State of Ohio. Under the proclamation of St. Lusson in 1671, France claimed all the country around the Great Lakes, and under that of La Salle in April, 1682, all the territory tributary to the Mississippi River became a part of the French possessions. Spain's claim to the interior was never strongly asserted and it was not long until European nations acknowledged that France possessed the better title, based upon the discovery of La Salle. Titles to land, based upon this "right of discovery," became the subject of litigation, much of which was unsettled at the time the United States Government .came into existence. Concerning this right, Chief Justice John Marshall, in the case of Johnson vs. McIntosh, said : "On the discovery of this immense continent, the great, nations of Europe were eager to appropriate to themselves so much of it as they could respectively acquire. The potentates of the Old World found no difficulty in convincing themselves that - 65 - 66 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY they made ample compensation to the inhabitants of the New, by bestowing on them civilization and Christianity, in exchange for unlimited independence. But, as they were all in pursuit of nearly the same object, it was necessary, in order to avoid conflicting settlements and consequent war with each other, to establish a principle, which all should acknowledge as law by which the right of acquisition, which they all asserted, should be regulated as among themselves. This principle was, that discovery gave title to the government whose subjects, or by whose authority, it was made, against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession. Those relations which were to exist between the discoverer and the natives, were to be regulated by themselves. The rights thus acquired being exclusive, no other power could interpose between them." However perfect the theory may have been, the principle mentioned by Chief Justice Marshall did not always work in practice. Louisiana, as claimed by La Salle, extended to the summit of the Alleghany Mountains. On the other hand, the English Colony of Virginia, organized under the grant "from sea to sea," claimed the country northwest of the Ohio River. Neither the English King, the Cabots nor the grantees knew the extent from sea to sea, while the French had actually discovered and were in possession of the Mississippi River. It is therefore not surprising that these overlapping claims, in course of time, gave rise to controversy as to which nation was the rightful owner of the territory. ENGLISH TRESPASSES Between the years 1700 and 1730 conditions were aggravated by what the French considered the trespasses of the agents and employes of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1745 colonists from Pennsylvania built Fort Sanduski, at the northwest point of the Sandusky Bay. This is said to have been the first post erected for military purposes within the limits of the present State of Ohio. At the suggestion of the Shawnee Indians, the English built a stockade on Loramie Creek (where Loramie's store was later established), in the spring of 1747. This stockade was erected for the accommodation of the Miami Indians who had deserted the French interest and their own village of Kiskakon at the head of the Maumee River. It was named Pickawillany and it soon became a trading post and important trail center. In the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company, the building of Fort Sanduski and the establishment of a trading post at Pickawillany, the French saw that the English were bent on contesting the claim to the Ohio country. Relations became still further strained in the fall of 1748 by the organization of THE OHIO COMPANY This company was organized by Lawrence and Augustus Washington, John Hanbury, Thomas Lee, George Fairfax, Col. Thomas Cressap and some others, "all of his Majesty's Colony of Virginia," for the purpose of planting a settlement on the Ohio River. They petitioned the King "to grant them, and such others as they shall admit as their associates, 500,000 acres of land betwixt Romanettes and Buffalo's Creek on the south side of the River Aligane (Allegheny), otherwise the Ohio, and betwixt the two creeks and the Yellow Creek on the north side of the TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 67 river, or in such other parts of the west of said (Alleghany) mountains as shall be adjudged most proper by the petitioners," etc. The petition was granted, on condition that 200,000 acres should be taken up at once, that 100 families should be "seated" within seven years, and that a fort should be built by the company for the protection of the settlers. A charter, giving the company the right to select land on either side of the Ohio River, was issued early in the year 1749. Immediately upon receipt of the charter, the company selected a large tract on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers, and another tract on the north side, in what are now Columbiana and Jefferson counties in Ohio. CELORON'S EXPEDITION About the time the charter was issued to the Ohio Company, Comte de la Gallissoniere, governor of Canada, aware of what was going on, sent Capt. Pierre de Celoron to take formal possession of the country along the Ohio River. Celoron left Montreal June 15, 1749, with 25 canoes, 34 regular soldiers, 180 Canadians and 30 Indians. He was supplied with lead plates, with means to appropriately letter them, which he intended to bury at important points to indicate occupancy of the territory for France, and in addition, had something of the nature of sheet iron plates emblazoned with the arms of France to be nailed on trees at the same points. He proceeded by river and the Great Lakes and through Chautauqua Creek and Lake Chautauqua to the Allegheny River at the confluence of the Conewango where he buried his first plate. The first plate prepared for this purpose, however, was stolen by Indians from his lieutenant. The Indians were greatly mystified by the lettering and caused the plate to be sent to Sir William Johnson at his home on the Mohawk. The latter used the mystification of the Indians, playing upon their superstitions, to assist in securing the allegiance to the English of the Five Nations in the anticipated war with France, and sent the plate to Gov. Clinton, who, in turn, sent it to England. The Celoron expedition proceeded rapidly down the Allegheny, burying a second plate a few miles north of the site of Pittsburgh, floating thence down the Ohio, to deposit a third plate near the mouth of Wheeling Creek, and reaching, on the 15th of August, the mouth of the Muskingum where a fourth plate was buried. The mouth of the Great Kanawha was made the location of the fifth plate. The fourth and fifth plates were subsequently discovered, the first in 1798 by boys bathing in the Muskingum River and the fifth in 1846, also found by a boy. The expedition reached the mouth of the Great Miami on the Ohio, August 30. Here on the next day the last plate was buried, according to Celoron's journal. The expedition then started northward up the Miami and by portage northwestward to the Indian village of Kiskakon on the site of the city of Ft. Wayne. This place was reached September 25. Twenty-two French were found in the fort, which had been built two years before, occupying eight miserable huts and all sick with the fever. Both Celoron and his chaplain, Father Bonnecamps, kept elaborate journals of their expedition, the latter being provided with instruments to determine the latitude and longitude of places of interest which he care fully noted. The party divided at Kiskakon, one division descending the Maumee, or, as the journals call it, the Miami, the Great Miami being designated as the Riviere de la Roche. Eight days were occupied in descending the Maumee and at the mouth, 68 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY October 5, the Indians had to be left for a short time because of a drunken debauch. Speaking of the trip from the head of the Maumee to Detroit, the following is a translation from Father Bonnecamps' journal : "The Miami River caused us no less embarrassment than Riviere a la Roche had done. At almost every instant we were stopped by beds of flat stones, over which it was necessary to drag our pirogues by main force. I will say, however, that at intervals were found beautiful reaches of smooth water, but they were few and short. In the last six leagues, the river is broad (and deep), and seems to herald the grandeur of the lake into which it discharges its waters. At 6 leagues above Lake Erie, I took the altitude, which was found to be 42̊ 0'. "We entered the lake on the 5th of October. On entering it, there is to the left the bay- of Onanguisse, which is said to be very deep. Soon after, one encounters to the right, the Isles aux Serpents. On the 6th, we arrived at the Detroit River, where we found canoes and provisions for our return." Father Bonnecamps also prepared a map of the trip, locating the points of interest with remarkable fidelity. His delineation of the course of the Maumee River is very accurate, considering the circumstances. On his map the "bay of Onanguisse" is shown as an extensive inlet, extending several miles due north from about the location of Turtle Island. This is either a decided inaccuracy or there has been an extensive filling up of the west end of Lake Erie since 1749. By the "Isles aux Serpents" he refers, according to the map, to the Sister Islands, the location of which he notes with fair accuracy. He notes the mouth of the River Raisin as being north of the Bay of Onanguisse, and also that of the Huron River, which he calls the "River of the Swans." In this map the course and meanderings of the Allegheny and the Ohio rivers are well delineated, as well as the general lines of Lake Erie. This is the earliest definite record of white men on the lower Maumee, although there are traditions of French presence more than a century earlier. The colonial authorities of Virginia then sent Christopher Gist and George Croghan, with a supply of rum, blankets, etc., to the Ohio country to conciliate the Indians and demonstrate to them that the English were their best friends. Several times the English had been accused of inciting the savages to attack the French posts. The mission of Gist and Croghan was therefore regarded by the French as another effort on the part of the English to win over the Indians and gain possession of the country. WASHINGTON'S MISSION On June 21, 1752, the post at Pickawillany was captured and destroyed by the French, but the first open rupture between the two nations did not come until the following year. The Ohio Company had commenced a fort at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, where the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now stands, but in 1753 it was captured by the French before it was completed and the name was changed to Fort Du Quesne. The same year the French began building a line of forts from the Ohio River to the lakes, to prevent the English TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 69 from extending their settlements west of the mountains. The territory upon which some of these forts were located was claimed by Virginia. Governor Dinwiddie, of that colony, after consultation with Governor Clinton, of New York, sent a special messenger to the commandant at Fort Du Quesne, to demand an explanation for the armed invasion of English territory while the two nations were supposed to be at peace. George Washington, "just turned twenty-one," was selected as the messenger to carry the remonstrance to Fort Du Quesne. One of the principal reasons for his being chosen was that he understood land surveying and he was instructed not only to bear the protest against the French trespass, but also to survey and locate the lands of the Ohio Company. He was courteously received at Fort Du Quesne, though the only explanation the commandant would offer was that the Ohio Valley had been generally recognized as French territory since 1682. Nor would he permit Washington to make any surveys northwest of the Ohio River. Washington then went on up the Allegheny River to Fort Le Boeuf, where he met with a similar reception. Rebuffed at every point, he then moved over to the Monongahela River, where with his handful of colonial troops, he began the construction of a fort, but was driven out by a detachment of French troops. Fort Du Quesne was then made a strong post by the French, who before the close of the year had a chain of some sixty forts (mostly blockhouses) between Quebec and New Orleans. FRANCE DECLARES WAR In 1754 Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was again sent into the disputed territory. This time he was furnished a detachment of troops and was instructed "to complete the fort already commenced by the Ohio Company at the forks of the Ohio, and to kill, capture or drive out all who attempted to interfere with the English posts." When news of this movement reached Paris, France formally declared war against Great Britain. At the time of King George's war, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia fell into the hands of the English, but the French inhabitants, called Acadians, were permitted to remain in possession of their homes. Immediately after the declaration of war by France in 1754, the English ordered the expulsion of the Acadians from the two provinces, except such as would take the oath of allegiance to Great Britain. About seven thousand Acadians were thus driven from their homes. A few of the exiles found refuge in the French settlements of Canada and about the Great Lakes, but by far the greater portion of them went to the French settlements in Louisiana. The expulsion of the Acadians was made the subject of Longfellow's poem, "Evangeline." BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT Fort Du Quesne's position at the head of the Ohio River made it a post of great strategic importance. The British saw that whichever side held this fort would hold the key to the Ohio Valley, and against it the first active campaign was directed. In the spring of 1755 Gen. Edward Braddock, one of the best English military commanders, was placed at the head of a large force of regulars and colonial mili- 70 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY tia for the capture of the fort. His army was the largest military force which, up to that time had ever crossed the Alleghany Mountains. Braddock moved forward with "pomp and circumstance," his colors flying, bands playing, men marching in solid column, according to the established tactics of the British army. His every movement was observed by Indian spies and inf ormation promptly borne to the commandant at Fort Du Quesne. George Washington, now promoted to colonel and in command of the Virginia troops, who was well acquainted with the Indian methods of warfare, tried to explain to General Braddock the danger of an ambush. He asked permission to place his Virginians in front and send out scouts to guard against a surprise, but all his suggestions were spurned. "High times, high times," exclaimed the pompous general, "when a young buckskin presumes to teach a British officer how to fight." Washington's worst fears were realized. While marching through a narrow valley a few miles east of the fort, where the Town of Braddock is now located, the savages opened fire from all sides, accompanied by the most blood-curdling yells. At the first volley the British regulars, brave enough men under ordinary circumstances, but unused to fighting with an unseen foe, were thrown into confusion and General Braddock was killed. Washington then took command, rallied the army as best he could, covered the retreat with his Virginians and saved the supply train. There is a tradition that General Braddock's body was buried in the road and the wagons and artillery were driven over the grave to prevent its discovery and desecration by the savages. Ottawa and Wyandot Indians from the vicinity of Toledo assisted in the defeat of General Braddock. WILLIAM PITT'S POLICY Little activity was displayed by either side during the year 1756. General Montcalm arrived in Quebec in May and on the 14th of August captured Fort Ontario, at Oswego, New York. This was the most important military event of the year. Early in 1757 the British Government adopted the vigorous policy, proposed by William Pitt, of sending efficient commanders with large forces of troops to America. General Amherst was sent against the forts. on Lake Champlain ; General Wolfe was ordered to lay siege to Quebec ; General Prideaux was directed to effect the capture of the fort at Niagara, if possible, and before the close of the year Louisburg was taken by Amherst and Wolfe. On October 15, 1758, Major Grant, with a small British force, made an attack on Fort Du Quesne, but was repulsed with considerable loss in killed and wounded. General Forbes was then sent against the fort with a larger force and on November 28th the French evacuated the post, after destroying the stores and burning some of the buildings. The English rebuilt the fort and gave it the name of Fort Pitt. The year 1759 saw the English arms victorious at almost every point. General Amherst captured the forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. On July 24th General Prideaux captured or dispersed a reinforcement of 1,200 men sent from Detroit to the relief of Fort Niagara, and the next day that post capitulated. The surrender of Niagara broke the French line of communication with the posts at Presque Isle, Venango and Le Boeuf. These forts were then demolished and the garrisons retired to Detroit. On the 13th of September TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 71 Quebec, the stronghold of the French was surrendered, leaving Montreal as the only eastern post of consequence in the hands of the French. Early in the year 1760 three divisions of the British army moved by different routes toward Montreal, sweeping everything before them, and on September 8th Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of New France, surrendered Montreal and all its dependencies to the British. Pitt's policy had proved successful. END OF THE WAR Although practically all the French posts were surrendered to the British by the fall of 1760, the war was not officially ended until about two years later. By the preliminary Treaty of Fontainebleau, which was concluded on November 3, 1762, France ceded to Great Britain the entire Dominion of Canada, the posts about the Great Lakes, and that part of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi River, except the City and Island of New Orleans. This preliminary treaty was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, and the two nations were again at peace, after a controversy which had kept their American colonies in a state of war and turmoil for almost a decade. By these treaties the Maumee Valley and the site of Toledo became a part of Great Britain's colonial possessions. SUCCEEDING EVENTS The territory comprising the State of Ohio figured prominently in the events of the decade following the French and Indian war. Detroit, Fort Pitt and several other surrendered posts were occupied by the English in the fall of 1760. In May, 1763, three months after the final treaty of peace, came the Pontiac war, in which a number of the posts were destroyed. Thus the victors in the French and Indian war were prevented from taking peaceable possession of the country. By the royal proclamation of October 7, 1763, the territory acquired from France was divided as follows : Canada was designated as the Province of Quebec ; that portion south of the thirty-first parallel of north latitude was divided into East and West Florida ; the western boundaries of the colonies along the Atlantic coast were restricted to the sources of the streams flowing into that ocean ; the interior, bounded by the Great Lakes, the Alleghany Mountains, the thirty-first parallel and the Mississippi River, was allotted to the Indians. Had the Indians peaceably accepted this reservation, the settlement of Ohio might have been delayed for years. But in the spring of 1764 they began a series of forays into the western settlements and two military expeditions were sent against them. One, commanded by Col. John Bradstreet, went by water along the south shore of Lake Erie, and the other, under Col. Henry Bouquet, marched from Fort Pitt into the interior of Ohio. Both expeditions were successful, Bradstreet and Bouquet making treaties of peace with the tribes that had been causing annoyance. It appears that the white people were equally dissatisfied with the king's proclamation. The colonists who served in the French and Indian war naturally expected, in the event that the British arms were successful, they would be permitted to occupy the conquered territory. Between the years 1763 and 1774 various plans were proposed for the settlement of the country northwest of the Ohio. The Ohio 72 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY Company renewed its claims under its charter of 1749; the Virginia volunteers, who had been promised bounties of land for their services, grew persistent in their demands ; in 1769 George Washington and a company of associates petitioned the king for a grant of 2,500,000 acres and the next year Washington crossed the Ohio to locate the lands ; the issue of individual land warrants was advocated, but nothing came of any of these schemes. LORD DUNMORE'S WAR In the spring of 1774 the king, "to appease the discontent of the Virginians," gave to the people of that colony a grant of land on the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, "for services in the late war with France." Col. Angus McDonald was sent to survey the tract, preparatory to opening it for settlement, but he was driven off by the Indians. On June 22, 1774, the English Parliament passed what was known as the Quebec Act, annexing Ohio to the Province of Quebec. James Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was at that time governor of Virginia. Although a Tory, he was loyal to the interests of the colony. While acknowledging allegiance to the crown, he was "eager on all occasions to champion the cause of Virginia." As the Quebec Act nullified Virginia's claim to the western lands, it was not approved by the governor. The Indians were showing signs of hostility and Dunmore ordered Colonel McDonald to raise a regiment and march into the Indian country. McDonald moved up the Muskingum River and destroyed the Shawnee town of Wapatomica (near the present City of Zanesville) and laid waste the cornfields, after which he returned to Wheeling. Later in the year two expeditions marched against the Indians—one commanded by Governor Dunmore in person and the other by Gen. Andrew Lewis. The latter won a decisive victory at the battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774, and then pushed on to join Dunmore at Pickaway Plains. Soon after the junction was effected, Dunmore concluded a treaty with the Indians, by which they gave up all claims to lands south of the Ohio and agreed not to molest the canoes of the white traders on that river. This affair is known as "Lord Dunmore's War." When the army reached the Ohio River on the homeward march, resolutions were adopted expressing dissatisfaction with the Quebec Act ; declaring the respect of the soldiers for Lord Dunmore and their allegiance to the king ; "But as the love of liberty and the attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh every other consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power within us for the defense of American liberty, and for the support of her just rights and privileges—not in any precipitate, riotous, or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen." Here was an exhibition of that spirit which brought on the Revolutionary war and in less than two years found expression in the Declaration of Independence. CHAPTER VI THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION-BEGINNING OF THE WAR-IN THE OHIO COUNTRY- GEORGE ROGERS CLARK-CAPTURE OF BRITISH POSTS IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY-FATHER GIBAULT-HAMILTON RECAPTURES VINCENNES-COL. FRANCIS VIGO -CLARK ASSUMES THE OFFENSIVE- CAPTAIN HELM'S EXPLOIT- PLANS AGAINST DETROIT-CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION--END OF THE WAR. Practically every schoolboy in the United States, who has commenced the study of his country's history, has some knowledge of the British oppression, which finally caused thirteen of the English colonies in America to revolt. Taxes, often burdensome, were levied by the English Government, and at the same time the colonists were denied a representative in Parliament. "Taxation without representation" therefore became a burning issue with the sturdy pioneers, who were struggling to build up states in the New World, and who felt they deserved better treatment from the mother country. Among the acts of oppression that caused the most complaint on the part of the colonists were : 1. The Stamp Act of 1765, which provided that all legal documents, of whatever nature, unless written upon paper bearing a stamp authorized by the act, should be null and void. 2. The tax on tea, which resulted in several hundred chests of that luxury being emptied into the waters of Boston Harbor by a little band of patriots disguised as Indians. 3. The enactment of the Boston Port Bill by Parliament, transferring the shipping of that city to Salem as a punishment for permitting the destruction of the tea. 4. The quartering of British soldiers upon the colonists in time of peace. BEGINNING OF THE WAR For ten years or more before the actual beginning of hostilities, companies of "Minute Men"— that is, men ready to report for military duty upon a minute's notice—had been quietly organized in all the colonies, and stores of ammunition had been Secretly collected, to be ready for any emergency. The colonists were divided into two parties. On the one hand were the loyalists, or tories, who indorsed every act of the English Parliament and the royal colonial governors, and on the other were the patriots, who resisted the Stamp Act and other unjust legislation until such time as the colonies were given representation in the Parliament. Of the latter, John Hancock, James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, of Massachusetts ; Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania; Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, of Virginia, were among the most distinguished leaders. Late in the evening of April 18, 1775, a detachment of British troops, com- - 73 - 74 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY manded by a Major Pitcairn, marched out of Boston for the purpose of capturing or destroying a store of military supplies at Lexington, about eleven miles northwest of the city. Paul Revere rode through the towns, giving the alarm and calling the Minute Men to arms. The result was that when Major Pitcairn arrived at Lexington early on the morning of the 19th, he found a body of Minute Men drawn up in battle array on the village green ready to receive him. That day was fought the battle of Lexington, which marked the beginning of the eight years' war for independence. IN THE OHIO COUNTRY The Revolution began more than forty years before Toledo came into existence, and when the only white inhabitants of the present State of Ohio were a few transient and nomadic fur traders. The British military posts of Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinac (now Mackinaw) were then the only permanent establishments upon the western frontier. On November 9, 1775, Capt. Henry Hamilton, of the British army, with the title of lieutenant-governor, arrived at Detroit and that post was made the base for the distribution of presents to the Indians to secure their allegiance and cooperation. Hamilton's principal duties were to induce the Indian tribes to make war on the "rebels" (every settler was a "rebel" in the eyes of the lieutenant-governor), and to equip them with arms, ammunition, etc., for the war path. Large numbers of savages from most of the western tribes repaired to Detroit to share in the goods which their great English father was so lavishly bestowing upon his red children. To entertain these painted warriors, oxen were roasted whole, and while "fire-water" was passed to them with one hand, guns, tomahawks and scalping knives were passed to them with the other. Among the tories and pacifists in the colonies were many who were opposed to the war. To escape military service on one side or the other, these persons removed with their families into the Ohio Valley. Although a majority of them were friendly to the English cause, the immigration was seized upon by the British agents as an argument to the natives that their hunting grounds were destined to become the property of the pale-faces. By this line of argument they won a number of the Ohio chiefs to the English standard. War parties fitted out at Detroit were sent against the straggling settlements and returned bringing prisoners and scalps. The prisoners were generally sent to Niagara, Quebec or Montreal ; the scalps were "formally received, counted and recorded." It is not certain that a fixed price was paid for these scalps, but those who brought them were liberally rewarded and Hamilton a year or two later became known as the "Hair Buyer General." Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, assisted Hamilton in inciting the Indians to "dig up the hatchet." He employed Dr. John Connolly, of Pittsburgh, as agent to visit the Ohio tribes and urge them to fight on the side of the British. Late in the year 1775 Connolly started for the Indian country, accompanied by Dr. John Smythe. and Allen Cameron. Near Hagerstown, Maryland, the three men were captured. Papers concealed in Connolly's saddle revealed the fact that he had been commis-sioned as colonel by Governor Dunmore to raise a regiment of tories in the western country, rendezvous at Detroit, and from that point march against Virginia. Cam-eron and Smythe were soon released, but Connolly was held a prisoner at Baltimore until the war was practically over.