CHAPTER VI THE NORTHWEST WRESTED FROM FRANCE American History Influenced by the Iroquois—Indian Cessions—English Settlers Cross the Mountains—The French Precipitate the War—Pontiac's Conspiracy—Bouquet's Expedition. One of the most influential factors in determining the ultimate triumph of England over France in North America, was the Indian confederacy known as the Six Nations, to which reference has already been made. Both English and French early rec0gnized the importance of conciliating these haughty warriors. In this the former were the more successful. The French, though usually more tactful than the English in dealing with the aborigines, on several occasions made the mistake of provoking the people of the "Long House"—a mistake that all subsequent diplomacy, united to the indefatigable exertions of the missionaries, was unable wholly to rectify. While the Jesuits were giving thanks to God for having at last affected the conversion of these formidable savages, the Iroquois attacked and almost utterly destroyed the friendly Hurons west of the Ottawa. Their incessant forays kept the frontier settlements in a miserable state of uncertainty and suspense that operated as a powerful check to the execution of French plans for obtaining a solid foothold it the West. It was owing chiefly to the Iroquois that Lake Erie was the last of the Great Lakes, and the territory now known as Ohio, the very last portion of the Northwest. to be discovered and explored. After the destruction of the Eries this region was covered by roving bands of Iroquois, and the main body of French immigration was turned aside from the lower lakes to the Ottawa and the Nipissing. Could France have gained the friendship of the Six Nations, her traders, settlers, and garrisons would have filled the West, "and cut up the virgin wilderness into fiefs, while as yet the colonies of England were but a weak and broken line along the shore of the Atlantic." The feudal nature of the then existing French scheme of government—a government of officers, not of laws—is clearly shown in a letter of instructions that Colbert wrote to Frontenac in 1672. "It is well for you to observe that you are always to follow in the government of Canada the forms in use here, and since our kings have long regarded it as good for their service not to convoke the states of the kingdom, in order, perhaps, to abolish insensibly this ancient usage, you on your part should very rarely, or, to speak m0re correctly, never give a corporate form to the inhabitants of Canada. You should even. as the colony strengthens, suppress gradually the office of the syndic who presents AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 51 petitions in the name of the inhabitants; for it is well that each should speak for himself and none for all." "The Iroquois," says Parkman, "retarded the growth of absolutism until liberty was equal to the final struggle, and they influence our national history to this day, since populations formed in the ideas and habits of a feudal monarchy, and controlled by a hierarchy profoundly hostile to freedom of thought would have remained a hindrance and a stumbling block in the way of that majestic experiment of which America is the field." INDIAN CESSIONS. No sooner had New York been wrested from the Dutch than the English settlers who poured into that province to reap the benefits of the fur trade, which had been established on the Upper Hudson and the Mohawk by their predecessors, set themselves to cultivate good feeling and commercial relations with the people of the six tribes, and they succeeded in winning from them many valuable concessions, "some of which they did, and some of which they did not understand." Sometimes the Iroquois permitted New York traders to pass through their country to the lakes. Once on the shore of Lake Erie a few days' paddling brought the traders to the extensive beaver grounds of the lower Michigan peninsula. At a later date it was claimed by the English that a treaty had been made by them with the Iroquois, in 1701, whereby the confederated tribes had ceded to the English king all the lands to which they laid claim north of the Ohio, and reaching to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, but the genuineness of this deed has been doubted. Other extensive concessions, however, were actually made by them to the English. In 1684, the Iroquois at Albany placed themselves under the protection of King Charles and the Duke of York in 1726 they conveyed all their lands in trust to England, to be protected and defended by his majesty to and for the use of the grantors and their heirs." A more important treaty was that made at Lancaster, Pa., in 1744, when the deputies of the Iroquois confirmed to Maryland the lands within that province, and made to Virginia "a deed that covered the West as effectually as the Virginian interpretation of the charter of 1609. Says Hinsdale, "It gave the English their first treaty 'hold upon the West, and it stands in all the statements of the English claim to the country, side by side with the Cabot voyages. Again at Albany, in 1748, the bonds binding the Six Nations and the English together were strengthened, and at the same time the Miamis were brought within the covenant chain. In 1750-54, negotiators were busy with attempts to draw to the English interest the Western tribes. Council fires burned at Logstowri, at Shawneetown, and the Pickawillany, and generally with results favorable to the English." ENGLISH SETTLERS CROSS THE MOUNTAINS. In 1748 there began a general movement of Pennsylvanians and Virginians across the mountains. Kentucky and Tennessee were explored by a Virginian expedition under command of Dr. Thomas Walker. About the same time the Ohio Company was formed for the purpose of speculating in western lands and carrying the trade with the Indians. Adventurous traders and backwoodsmen extended their excursions farther and farther into the Western wilds, and soon the Indian town of Pickawillany, on the upper waters of the Miami, became a great center of English trade and influence. The growing interest in the West was evinced also by the fact that the Colonial authorities in every direction were seeking to obtain Indian titles to Western lands and to bind the Indians to the English by treaties. THE FRENCH PRECIPITATE THE WAR. Céloron de Bienville, who in 1749, was sent by Galissoniere, Governor of Canada, to take possession of the valley of the Ohio and propitiate the Indians, found the valley full of English traders, and the Indians generally well dis- 52 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY posed to the English. The conflict which was to decide "whether French of English ideals and tendencies were to have sway in North America" was now recognized by all to be close at hand. France took the initiative. Early in 1753, before the English Colonial governments had agreed upon any concerted plan of action, the Marquis Duquesne, who had succeeded Galissoniere as Governor of Canada, and who realized the need of prompt action, sent a strong force to seize and hold the northeastern branches of the Ohio. The party constructed two forts, one at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River. This called forth a remonstrance from Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, the messenger being George Washington, who thus makes his first appearance in history. The French officer greets Washington with all the politeness and suavity of his nation, but returns the unsatisfactory reply that he will refer the matter to Ouebec, and in the meantime proposes to hold his ground. This was in December. Early in the following year-1754—a small force of Virginians was sent to seize and fortify the forks of the Ohio—the key to the West. Before the works, which should have been built several years before, could be completed, they were seized and demolished by a large force of French, who had descended the Allegheny, and who proceeded to build a much stronger fort, which they called Fort Dusquesne. "This was an unmistakable act of war, and it precipitated at once the inevitable contest." It is unnecessary here to follow the long struggle through all its shifting scenes. Though the French gained some early successes, the most important being the terrible defeat they inflicted on the headstrong Braddock, July 7, 1755, they were unable long to retain the advantage. In the summer of 1758 the current changed. Though the expedition under command of General John Forbes, undertaken for the capture of Fort Duquesne, received a temporary set-back, in the severe defeat sustained by Grant, who, hurrying forward too rapidly with the vanguard of Scotch Highlanders, had left his support behind, the object of the expedition was fully attained. On the advance of the main army, the French evacuated the fort and fled. Forbes, who had conducted the campaign while incapacitated from illness to such an extent that he had to be carried most of the time in a litter, took possession of the fort and called the spot Pittsburg, after the great English minister. Placing an officer in command, he left for Philadelphia; where he died in March of the following year, contented in his last hours to know that, in spite of his feebleness, he had been able to restore the red flag to the Great Valley. The capture of Niagara by General Prideaux and Sir William Johnson, in 1759, secured the victory of Forbes, and Fort Pitt was safe. Quebec fell in September of the same year, and the end came a year later at Montreal, when after some desultory operations, .Vaudreuil, commander of the remaining French forces, surrendered to General Amherst. By the terms of his capitulation not only Montreal, but Canada and all its dependencies came into possession of the British Crown. The treaty of Utrecht, 1763, left the French substantially nothing of their vast empire in America east of the Mississippi, save the town of New Orleans and a small strip of land at the mouth of the Great River. PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY. The defeat of Braddock in the early part of the war, let loose swarms of bloodthirsty savages against the frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania, who kept up their murderous raids, with but few intermissions, for many years thereafter. They seem to have had some provocation in the numerous unauthorized frontier settlements made by vagrant and vicious whites, who debauched them with rum while cheating them out of their lands and destroying their hunting grounds. The Indians who were not parties to the treaty of 1763, felt that they had far more to fear from the English than from the French. The news that France had ceded so large a part of North America. including the Indian lands, to Great Britain, drove them to desperation. Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, one of the AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 55 strongest and most influential of the western tribes, organized a formidable conspiracy against the whites, in which he was joined by the Ojibways, the Pottawattamies, and to a certain extent by some other tribes. In May, 1763, a simultaneous attack was made upon all the forts and frontier settlements from Pennsylvania to Lake Superior. The settlers, unprepared, were everywhere slaughtered in great numbers; two thousand are said to have been killed along the borders outside the armed posts. Every white man was driven from the upper Ohio and its tributaries, all the posts along the river were destroyed, and the savage foe even swept through unguarded passes of the mountains. Some of the smaller forts were also taken and their garrisons massacred. BOUQUET'S EXPEDITION. When the extent of the calamity became known, a military force of regulars and provincials was organized to relieve the garrisons and subdue the Indians. It was placed under charge of Colonel Henry Bouquet, a man of high character and ability, Who had taken an important part in the war and in some of the events leading up to it. Though delayed -and harrassed by the Pennsylvania authorities, who had raised a force for the borders, but refused to place it under his control, he at last started with about 1,500 men. He first encountered the enemy at Bushy Run., twenty-six miles from Fort Pitt, and gained some advantages, thougth at the loss of about sixty men. On the next day the battle was renewed, and ended in the utter rout of the Indians, who proved to he a mixed force of Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots and Mingoes. By the 11th of August Bouquet, who had lost altogether men-, reached Fort Pitt, which had successfully stood a siege of five days. All the other forts in the West, except that at Detroit, had been either captured by the enemy or abandoned. Bouquet's victory had for a time a quieting effect upon the Indians, though during the autumn small parties continued to commit depredations along the Virginia frontier. It was known that the Indians had been supplied with ammunition by the French, who thus sought to thwart the English and gain the friendship of the savages, with the view of establishing settlements beyond the Mississippi. The next year General Thomas Gage, who had succeeded General Amherst in the command of the English forces in America, planned a campaign against the Indians, putting Colonel Bouquet in charge of all the regular forces in Philadelphia and south of it. These, accompanied by militia, were to be pushed into the Mississippi region, while another expedition, under Colonel Bradstreet, was to make a western advance in the direction of Sandusky. Bradstreet was deluded by the Shawnees and Delawares into making a worthless treaty, a scheme devised by them to escape punishment. This treaty they had no intention of honoring, the Delawares, after signing it, continuing to ravage the frontiers. Bradstreet, however, relieved the weary garrison at Detroit, and sent forward detachments to take possession of Mackinac, the Sault, and Green Bay. Bouquet, a man of very different caliber, after losing some time, owing to the apathy of the local authorities, pushed at last into the wilderness to "force peace of his own imposing which should relieve the regions east and south of the Ohio of the tribes, and preserve the navigation of the Ohio itself. He had advanced into the Muskingum Valley, when on the 17th of November, the Indians about thought it wise to sue for peace." Bouquet would make no terms until every prisoner among them was surrendered. "I give you," said lie, "twelve days from this date to deliver into my hands at Wakatamake all the prisoners in your possession, without any exception—Englishmen, Frenchmen, women, and children, whether adopted into your tribes, married, or living amongst you under any denomination and pretense whatsoever—together with all negroes. And you are to furnish said prisoners with clothing and provisions, and horses to carry them to Fort Pitt. When you have fully complied with these conditions, you shall then know on what terms you may obtain the peace 56 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY you sue for." It took the Indians nearly a month to collect the prisoners, who numbered eighty-one males and 125 women and children. The scene at the camp on the arrival of these unfortunates is thus described in the account of Bouquet's expedition (Ohio History Series) : "In the camp were to be seen fathers and mothers recognizing and clasping their long lost babes, husbands changing around the necks of their newly recovered.. wives, sisters and brothers unexpectedly meeting together after long separation, scarce able to speak the same language, or for some time to be sure that they were children of the same parents. In all these interviews joy and rapture inexpressible were seen, while feelings of very different nature were painted in the looks of others flying from place to place in eager inquiries after relatives not found ; trembling to receive an answer to their questions ; distracted with doubts, hopes and fears, on obtaining no account of those they sought for, or stiffened into living monuments of horror and woe on learning their unhappy fate. "The Indians, too, as if wholly forgetting their usual savageness, bore a capital part in heightening the most affecting scene. They delivered up their beloved captives with the utmost reluctance, shed torrents of tears over them, recommending them to the care and protection of the commanding officer. Their regard to them continued all the time they remained in camp. They visited them from day to day, and brought them what corn, skins and horses and other matters they had bestowed on them while in their families, accompanied with other presents, and with all the marks of the most sincere and tender affection. Nay, they did not stop here, but, when the army marched, some of the Indians solicited and obtained leave to accompany their former captives all the way to Fort Pitt, and employed themselves in hunting and bringing provisions for them on the road. A voting Mingoe carried this still further, and gave an instance of love which would make a figure even in romance. A young woman of Virginia was among the captives. for whom he had formed so strong an attachment as to call her his wife. Against all remonstrances and warnings of the imminent danger to which he exposed himself by approaching the frontiers, he persisted in following her at the risk of being- killed by the surviving relations of many unfortunate persons who had been captured or scalped by those of his nation." Among the forest exiles was one who had given birth to an offspring supposed to be the first white child born in what is now the State of Ohio. Roving imposed his terms, Bouquet broke up his camp and marched to Fort Pitt, which he reached on the 28th of December. When subsequently congratulated by Sir William Johnson on his success, he remarked, "Nothing but penetrating into their country could have done it." CHAPTER VII THE TRANSITION PERIOD---FROM WAR TO WAR English Jealousy of the Colonies—Lord Dunmore's War - Frontier Characters — First White Man's House in Ohio—Military Expeditions to the West—Martial Law—George III Forbids Western Settlement. Owing to a growing jealousy of the colonies, the policy of the home government in regard to the settlements west of the mountains was shifting and inconsistent. In 1769 the Ohio Company, whose purposes had been thwarted by the war, was absorbed in a scheme in which Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin and others were interested, to establish a western colony on the south side of the Ohio River. It was opposed by Lord Hillsborough, president of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, who affirmed that the great object of the North American colonies was to "improve and extend the commerce, navigation and manufactures of England." Shore colonies he approved because they fulfilled this condition; inland colonies he condemned because they would not fulfill it. It was his opinion that the king should take every means to check the progress of the western settlements, and should not make grants of land that would have an immediate tendency to encourage them." These utterances called forth such a crushing reply from Franklin that the Walpole petition was granted, and Lord Hillsborough, resigned in disgust. His opinions, however, were shared by many in England. who saw in the growing strength of the colonies a future menace to the commercial interests of Great Britain. Some were even in favor of restoring Canada to the French in exchange for the island of Gaudeloupe, with the idea that a French establishment in Canada would serve to hold the colonies in check. For the present the western frontier continued to be a wilder-. ness inhabited chiefly by wandering Indian tribes, and the almost equally savage white traders, whom Franklin described in a letter to George Whitefield in 1756, as "the most vicious and abandoned wretches of our nation." These men, regardless alike of honor, conscience, or even common prudence, and eager only for gain and the gratification of their lawless instincts, were responsible for many of the Indian uprisings which for so long afflicted the western settlements. In shuddering over the horrid cruelties inflicted by the Indians upon their prisoners, it should be remembered that their acts were often the result of almost equally fiendish excesses on the part of white ruffians, some of them clothed with authority which they were wholly unfit to exercise. LORD DUNMORE'S WAR. Thus, to glance briefly ahead of the story, Lord Dunmore's War, in 1774, which caused 58 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY the murder of many settlers along the Virginia frontier, as well as a great slaughter in battle of both whites and Indians. was directly provoked by the wanton murder of some peaceful Indians, with their families, by Captain Cresap. commander at Fort Fincastle. In this detestable act he was imitated by one Daniel Greathouse, who, at the head of a bloody gang of ruffians, treacherously slaughtered a party of Indians encamped near the mouth of Yellow Creek, having first taken the precaution to make them intoxicated. Among the victims were the entire kin of Chief Logan, of the Cayugas, who, from an influential advocate of peace, was thus converted into a determined enemy of the whites in Virginia. Bald Eagle, another friend of the pale faces, while alone in the woods near the Monongahela, was murdered by three white men, who "placed the lifeless body of the native in a sitting position in his canoe and sent it adrift down the stream." The war which followed, and which was participated in by several tribes, was brought to an end after the Indians had been defeated in a great battle by Lord Dunmore, who was more than suspected of having instigated it. He made a treaty with the Indians in which they acknowledged the Ohio River as the boundary between the white mails territories and their own hunting grounds. FRONTIER CHARACTERS. Among the interesting personages of the period of the French war and for some years both previous and subsequent to it. were the adventurous scouts and frontiersmen, Christopher Gist, George Croghan and Andrew Montour, all of whom were employed at various times, and„ indeed, for most of the time. by the Colonial governments or the great trading companies. to negotiate with the Indians. These three men took a large part in shaping the history of those eventful years. Gist had accompanied Washington on his mission to the commander of the French troops on the upper Ohio just previous to the breaking out of the war, and on a subsequent expedition. He was also employed by the Ohio Company to make explorations and treat with the Indians. He kept a journal in which he described the country through which he passed on his various missions, and his descriptions, and the maps which he drew of the course of the Ohio and of the surrounding country, were reproduced in the leading London journals of the day, as the most accurate source of information obtainable of the valley of that river.. George Croghan, who was employed by the Pennsylvania government in transactions with the Indians, and who was "the idol of the Scotch-Irish settlers," had spent some years in trading along the shore of Lake Erie. and in acquiring the Indian tongue. He was a man of great tact and thoroughly understood how to deal with the Indians. His services were of the utmost value in counteracting French influence with the savages. For some years the deputy of Sir William Johnson, he was sent by the latter to England, after Bouquet's expedition. to advise with the government upon Indian matters, and his recommendations had a direct influence on shaping the policy embodied in the treaty made at Fort Stanwix with the Iroquois four years later. Andrew Montour, perhaps the most picturesque character of the three, was the son of Big Tree, an Oneida chief, by a French half-breed mother. When Gist, in the latter part of the year 1750, was sent out by the Ohio Company to survey the country along the Ohio take note of the tribes on the way, and search for good lands, he overtook Croghan and Montour at the Muskingum River. The latter, who was on the war path against the Catawba Indians, who some years before had slain his father, was painted like a savage. and with his clothes decked out with tinkling spangles. He was regarded by the Indians as a chief, and was a valuable aid to Croghan in his negotiations with them. His services also were in request by Washington during the early opera tions of the war. FIRST WHITE MAN'S HOUSE IN OHIO. Another useful intermediary between the Colonial government and the Indians was AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 59 Christian Frederick Post, "an honest and fearless Moravian." who had married among the savages, and was thoroughly familiar with their customs. In 1761 he built himself a cabin on Tuscarawas Creek. Stark County, "which." says Winsor, "was probably the first white man's house in the wilds of Ohio." MILITARY EXPEDITIONS TO THE WEST. From 1760 to 1764 the English made several military expeditions into the lake country, one of which—that under Colonel Bradstreet —has been already noticed. That under Major Rogers, in the autumn of 1760, took possession of Detroit. Major Rogers is said to have had an interview with Pontiac, the famous chief of the Ottawas, who, with some haughtiness, demanded to know by what authority the English had invaded his country. Another expedition, under command of Major Wilkins, was shipwrecked on Lake Erie in December. 1763. owing to a sudden storm, and seventy men and three officers perished. UNLAWFUL SETTLEMENTS SUPPRESSED. The vagrant whites who at the close of the war, under the pretence of hunting. were making unlawful settlements which had a tendency to provoke the Indians. met with a determined enemy in Colonel Bouquet. who was in command at Fort Pitt. Besides removing interlopers from the Monongahela, he issued a proclamation "prohibiting all settlements beyond the mountains without the permission of the general or of the governors of the provinces." under the penalty of martial law. This called forth. a protest from Governor Fauquier, but Bouquet was supported by Amherst. who, however, cautioned his subordinate to be discreet, "for no room must he given to the colonies to complain of the military power." GEORGE III FORBIDS WESTERN SETTLEMENTS. In December, 1761, the Colonial governors received orders forbidding them to make any grants of land in disregard of Indian rights. On October, 1763. King George III, in a proclamation, with the concurrence of his council and in disregard of the sea-to-sea charters, established as crown lands to be held "for the use of the Indians, for the present, and until our further pleasure is known," all the vast region between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi. wherever in the north, its source might be. The governors 0f the Atlantic colonies were "restrained from allotting any lands beyond the sources of the divers which fell into the Atlantic Ocean, or upon any lands reserved to the Indians, and not having been ceded to, or purchased by. the king." All private persons were forbidden. to buy land of the Indians, such right of purchase being reserved to the crown. This proclamation caused much discontent to a large and growing party in the colonies, who regarded it as a "tyrannous check on the inevitable expansion of the race, and as an adoption by the home government of what was recognized as the French system. By the conservative adherents of the crown it was looked upon as a necessary protection of the rights of the Indians. It was probably the king's purpose to confine the colonies as much as possible to the coast, within easy reach of the British trade, and to keep the population under the restraint' of the seaboard authorities. As a means of pacifying the Indians, it came, as has been seen, too late. That it was equally ineffective in restraining white emigration is shown. in the fact that, on a reliable estimate, from 1765 to 1768 some thirty thousand whites crossed over and settled beyond the mountains. CHAPTER VIII EXPEDITION OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK Clark's Project—Capture of Forts Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes—The British Try to Recover the Forts—Project Against Detroit Abandoned—Disappearance of the French Population—The British Retain the Northwestern Forts After the Treaty of Paris. With one important exception there were no events of any historical significance during the Revolutionary period. Great Britain was fully occupied in the endeavor to conquer her rebellious subjects, and the demands upon the resources of the colonies in the arduous and protracted struggle were too great to allow any attention to be given to schemes of Western colonization. The exception to which reference has been made was the capture of the British military posts in the west by George Rogers Clark. Clark was a Virginian who had made his home in Kentucky. With a farsighted sagacity, which had in. it something of statesmanship, he conceived and executed the plan which subsequently furnished the American commissioners entrusted with the negotiation of the treaty of 1783, at Paris, with their strong-est argument in support of the claim of the United States to territory west of the Ohio. It is probable that Clark did n0t himself fully realize its far-reaching consequences. His immediate purpose was to put a stop to the persistent Indian attacks on the outer settlements, which he reasoned could be most effectually done by destroying the British posts whence the savages obtained supplies, ammunition, and oftentimes leadership. One person,. however, appreciated the full significance of Clark's plan, as will be seen by the following extract from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to Clark before the issue of the campaign was known in Virginia : "Much solicitude will be felt for the issue of your expedition to the Wabash ; it will at least delay their expedition to the frontier-settlement, and if successful have an important bearing ultimately in establishing our northwestern boundary." CAPTURE OF FORTS KASKASKIA, CAHOKIA AND VINCENNES. In 1777 Clark sent out scouts to spy out the country, secure information in regard to the forts, and ascertain the sentiment of the French inhabitants of the villages. Having received a favorable report. he went to Williamsburg-, then the capital of Virginia, where he obtained authority from Governor Patrick Henry to enlist a militia force of seven companies of men to act under his command. The object of the expedition was kept as secret as possible. Private instructions were given Clark by the Governor, in accordance with which he was to attack the post of Kaskaskia. Supplies were to be obtained at Fort Pitt. The secrecy which he was obliged to maintain made the work of recruiting- his command one of great AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 63 difficulty, and he found obstructions thrown in his way by many leading men on the frontier, "which prevented the enlistment of as many men as had been contemplated, and led to frequent desertions." At last, on June 26, 1778, with a small command, not exceeding two hundred men, he left the Falls of the Ohio, and descended the river in boats to Fort Massac, forty miles from its mouth. Thence he marched to Kaskaskia, which fell into his hands, as did Cahokia soon after, without the loss of a single life. Vincennes surrendered "to a mere proclamation when there was not an American soldier within 100 miles of the place." For this. easy victory Clark was largely indebted to Father Gibault, who, representing the sentiment of the French population, entered into his plans with great warmth and energy, and afforded him all the assistance in his power. Here, although in possession of the country. Clark was placed in an embarrassing position, owing to the desire of his men to return home, their term of enlistment having expired. It was necessary to hold the conquered territory, or all would be lost. After much persuation he prevailed upon 800 of the men to reenlist for eight months, and then filled up his companies with recruits from the villages, at the same time sending an urgent request to Virginia for reinforcements. The good effect of his expedition was already seen in the conduct of the Indian tribes, some ten or twelve of which within five weeks sent representatives to sue for peace. Clark completed his conquests on the Wabash by capturing the post of Ouiatenon, and also showed great ability in outwitting the English and counteracting their influence with the savages. THE BRITISH TRY TO RECOVER THE FORTS. "And now. says Hinsdale, from whom this narrative has been condensed, "Clark began really to feel the difficulties of his situation. Destitute of money, poorly supplied, commanding a small and widely scattered force, he had to meet and circumvent an active enemy who was determined to regain what he had lost. Governor Hamilton projected a grand campaign against the French towns that had been captured and the small force that held them. The feeble issue was the capture, in December, 1778, of Vincennes, which was occupied by but two Americans. Clark, who was in the Illinois at the time of this disaster, at once put his little force in motion for the Wabash, knowing, he says, that if he did not take Hamilton, Hamilton would take him; and, February 25, 1779, at the end of a march of two hundred and fifty miles, that ranks in peril and hardship with Arnold's winter march to Canada, he again captured the town, the fort, the governor, and his whole command. Hamilton was sent to Virginia a prisoner of war, where he was found guilty of treating American prisoners with cruelty. and of offering the Indians premiums for scalps but none for prisoners." PROJECT AGAINST DETROIT ABANDONED. Clark was very anxious to attempt the capture of Detroit, as being by far the most important of the British posts, but he had to abandon the enterprise owing to the lack Of sufficient resources. The project was several times considered by Congress, and also by the Virginia State authorities, but was as often abandoned for the same reason. Detroit, therefore, to Clark's great chagrin, remained in the hands of the British till the end of the war, and, in fact, till 1796. As it was. Clark won and held the Illinois and the Wabash in the name of Virginia. and of the United States, thus enabling the American commissioners "to plead Intl possidetis in reference to much of the country beyond the Ohio." "It would not be easy," says Hinsdale, "to find in our history a case of an officer accomplishing results that were so great and far-reaching with so small a force." DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FRENCH POPULATION. It is worthy of note that Clark's success was due largely to the spirit in which he was received and aided by the French settlers beyond the Ohio. In thus assisting him they were actuated by their ancient feeling of antipathy 64 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY to the British, and by a desire to see the work of 1763 apparently undone; yet in reality they were aiding to perfect it. The French alliance of 1778 "made them think they were again opposing the old enemy." "But * * * the welcome which they gave the Americans did not arrest their fate or retard their decline. The breath of Anglo-American civilization seemed almost as fatal to them as to the Indians themselves. Louisiana and the fur lands continued to draw away their strength and scarcely a trace of them can be found in Northwestern life today. Champlain laid the foundation of the British province of Quebec; the State of Louisiana is the child of the French colony; but the habitants of the Northwest seem as effectually lost in the past as the Mound Builders." THE BRITISH RETAIN NORTHWESTERN POSTS AFTER THE TREATY OF PARIS. It was the Clark conquest, together with the colonial titles, that enabled the United States to wrest the Northwestern territory from Great Britain. Possession was reluctantly yielded, and for some time England, in the hope that the young republic would prove a failure, refused to surrender the military posts in the territory that remained in her hands at the close of the war, alleging as .an excuse the non-fulfilment on the part of the United States of certain stipulations of the treaty of peace. For thirteen years after the conclusion of the treaty British garrisons continued to occupy Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Mackinaw, and a number of minor posts, and a. British force even invaded territory that England did not hold at the close of the war and built Fort Miami at the rapids of the Maumee. It was at these forts that the Indians found aid and encouragement in their attacks on the settlements. This state of things was finally brought to an end by General Wayne, who pursued the Indians up to the very guns of Miami, and, in 1795, negotiated with them the treaty of Greenville. The Jay treaty by which England bound herself to surrender the forts which she .should have yielded in 1783 had been negotiated the year before. "On July II, 1796, a detachment from Wayne's army raised the Stars and Stripes above the stockade and village of Detroit, where the French and British colors had successively waved, and this act completed the tardy transfer of the old Northwest to the United States." The war of 1812, with Hull's surrender of Detroit. revived for a time British hopes of recovering the Northwest; and not until the signing of the treaty of Ghent was the destiny of the territory fully assured. CHAPTER IX STATE CESSIONS A New Phase of the Land Question—Maryland's Proposal—National Ownership Proposed by Rhode Island—Delay in Ratifying the Articles—Claims of the Indiana and Other Companies—New York Makes the First Cession—Conditional Cessions—Unconditioned Cessions Urged by Congress—Triumph of the National Idea. The demands upon the resources of the colonies for carrying on the Revolutionary war, caused the western land question to assume a new and complicated phase, which led ultimately, through State cessions, to the nationalization of the entire Western territory. This was in the nature of a contest between those states which laid claim to Western lands by virtue of their colonial charters and those which had no such claim. The latter included New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware, which were confined to the Atlantic plain, and Pennsylvania, which now had a definite western boundary just beyond the Forks of the Ohio. On October 14., 1777, the following rule was adopted by Congress and became a part of the Articles of Confederation : "All charges of war and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury which shall be supplied by the several States. in proportion to the value of all land within each State granted to, or surveyed for, any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled shall from time to time direct and appoint." MARYLAND'S PROPOSAL. The land issue was first raised on the following day, when the proposition was submitted by Maryland "That the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the Mississippi or the South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained into separate and independent States, from time to time, as the numbers and circumstances of the people thereof may require." This was the first proposition that Congress should exercise sovereign jurisdiction over the Western country, and was a plain proposition to nationalize the lands. It met with immediate opposition from the claimant States, who on October 27th caused to he inserted in the Articles a clause to the effect that the United States in Congress assembled 66 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY should be "the last resort, on appeal, in all disputes and differences between two or more States concerning boundaries, jurisdiction or any other cause whatever," and further declared that "No State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States." Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and N0rth Carolina, voted for the amendment; New Hampshire voted against it; New Jersey and South Carolina were divided; Maryland and Georgia were not present or did not vote, and Connecticut was not counted, as but one member was present. NATIONAL OWNERSHIP PROPOSED BY RHODE ISLAND. When a month later Congress sent a circular letter to the several States requesting the ratification of the Articles, a number of amendments were proposed, some of which related to the land question. Maryland revived her proposition of the year before, though in a slightly modified form, and was supported by Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, all non-claimant States. The claimant States in general, with New Hampshire, voted against it; New York was divided, with North Carolina and Georgia not present or not voting. Rhode Island submitted an amendment providing for the national ownership of all lands within the States, the property of which before the war was vested in the Crown of Great Britain, the jurisdiction to remain with the States to which such lands severally belonged. This was lost by a vote of nine to one. New jersey proposed that Congress should have power to dispose of all vacant and unpatented lands, commonly called Crown lands for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the war, with the same provision as to jurisdiction as in the case of Rhode Island. Though all these amendments were voted down, it was apparent that "the opposition to the land claims of the claimant States was broadening and deepening." DELAY IN RATIFYING THE ARTICLES. There was a delay on the part of several States in ratifying the Articles. Delaware wished Congress to assign moderate limits to those States claiming to the Mississippi, and also declared that the western lands ought to be "common estate to be granted out on terms beneficial to the United States," since they had been, or must be, gained by the blood and treasure of all. She finally, however, ratified the Articles, as did also New Jersey and Georgia, being willing to trust to the wisdom of future deliberations for "such alterations and amendments as experience might show to be expedient and just." Maryland still held back, basing her opposition on the ground that it was contrary to every principle of equity and good policy "that Maryland or any other State entering into the Confederation should be burdened with heavy expenses for the subduing and guaranteeing of immense tracts of country, if she is not in any way to be benefitted thereby. She held out for the right of Congress to fix the western limits of the States claiming to the Mississippi river, and also for a national claim to the lands lying to the westward of the frontiers thus fixed, besides protesting against the exclusive claim set up by some States to the whole western country without any solid foundation. which she declared, would, if persisted in, "prove ruinous to the interests of Maryland and 0ther States similarly situated, and in process of time be the means of subverting the confederacy." The manner in which these results would be brought about was thus described : "Virginia, by selling on the most moderate terms a small proportion of the lands in question, would draw into her treasury vast sums of money and in proportion to the sums arising from such sales. would be enabled to lessen her taxes. Lands comparatively cheap and taxes comparatively low, with the lands and taxes of an adjacent State, would quickly drain the State thus disadvantageously circumstanced of its most AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 67 useful inhabitants ; its wealth and its consequence in the scale of the confederated States would sink of course. A claim so injurious to more than one-half, if not to the Whole of the United States, ought to be supported by the clearest evidence of the right. Yet what evidence 0f that right have been produced? What arguments alleged in support either of the evidence or the right ? None that we have heard of deserving a serious refutation." CLAIMS OF THE INDIANA AND OTHER COMPANIES. This description evidences the somewhat exaggerated estimate of the value of wild lands then prevalent both with Congress and the States. Such lands in the long run have not been found a source of revenue by the government. As Maryland persisted in her refusal to ratify the Articles of Confederation unless they were amended in accordance with the spirit of her proposition of 1777, the machinery for filling the treasury and recruiting the army could not be set in motion and a condition ensued which threatened serious injury to the national cause. In May, 1779, Virginia, in disregard of the growing sentiment in favor of endowing the United States with the western lands, opened a land office and made preparations to sell lands in the western territory claimed by her. This proceeding, however, was interrupted by a memorial signed by George Morgan and presented to Congress on behalf of certain persons who claimed title by virtue of a grant received from the Six Nations, at the Fort Stanwix Congress, of a tract of land on the south side of the Ohio river between the southern limit of Pennsylvania and the little Kanawha river. This tract, called Indiana, as included within the bounds of a larger tract called Vandalia, was, they asserted, separated by the King in Council from the domain which Virginia claimed over it, and was not subject to the jurisdiction of Virginia or of any particular State, but of the United States. Hence the memorialists prayed Congress to take such 'action as should arrest the sale of lands until the rights of the owners of the tract called Vandalia could be ascertained, and the sovereignty of the United States and the just rights of individuals supported. Another mem0rial, signed by William Trent, on behalf of Thomas Walpole and his associates in the Grand Company was presented at the same time. After some opposition on the part of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia and both Carolinas, both memorials were referred to a committee. The committee was also instructed to inquire into the question of the jurisdiction of Congress over this matter, the right of such jurisdiction having been denied by Virginia. On October 29th the committee reported that they "could not find any such distinction between the question of the jurisdiction of Congress and the merits of the cause as to recommend any decision upon the first separately from the last." Maryland then offered another resolution against the apportionment of vacant lands during- the continuance of the war. This was voted against only by Virginia and North Carolina, New York being undecided. In December Virginia addressed a remonstrance to Congress, protesting against the action of that body in hearing the petitions from the Indiana and Vandalia companies, as being a matter outside the jurisdiction of that body, and asserting the rights of the claimant States to the lands described in their respective charters. She also called attention to the fact that She had already enacted a law to prevent further settlements on the northwest bank of the Ohio river. In addition, she declared herself willing to furnish lands northwest of the Ohio to the troops of the Continental establishment of such of the States as had not unappropriated lands for that purpose. "Indeed it was clear that a denial of the Western titles on the ground that the western lands belonged to the Crown, tended to subvert the very foundation on which Congress instructed its foreign representatives to stand while contending with England, France, and Spain for a westward extension 68 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY to the Mississippi." Thus Congress wisely kept clear of the Maryland doctrine and eventually worked out a solution of the Western question on the principle of compromise and concession." NEW YORK MAKES THE FIRST CESSION. New York led the way, in January, 1780, to a practical solution of the difficult question, by authorizing its delegates in Congress to limit and restrict its boundaries in the western parts by such lines and in such manner as they should judge to be expedient "with respect either to the jurisdiction, or right of soil or both; (2) that the territory so ceded shall be and inure for the use and benefit of such of the United States as shall become members of the Federal alliance of the said States, and for no other use or purpose whatever; (3) that such of the lands so ceded, as shall remain within the jurisdiction of the State, shall be surveyed, laid out, and disposed of only as Congress may direct." This act, which was thought by Prof. Adams to be the direct result of Maryland's influence, was the first of the State cessions and immediately changed the whole situation. A committee to whom all .the documents in the case had been referred, on September 6, 1780, submitted a report in which they declared that they had considered it "unnecessary to examine into the merits 0r policy of the instructions or declaration of the general assembly of Maryland, or of the remonstrance of the general assembly of Virginia, as they involve questions a discussion of which was declined, on mature consideration, when the articles of confederation were debated ; nor in the opinion of the committee, can such questions be now revived with any prospect of conciliation. That it appears more advisable to press upon those States which can remove the embarrassments respecting the western country, a liberal surrender of a portion of their territorial claims, since they cannot be preserved entire with0ut endangering the stability of the general confederacy ; to remind them how in dispensably necessary it is to establish the federal union on a fixed and permanent basis, and on principles acceptable to all its respective members ; how essential to public credit and confidence, to the support of the army, to the vigor of our councils, and success of our measures, to our tranquility at home, our reputation abroad, to our very existence as a free, sovereign, and independent people; that they are fully persuaded the wisdom of the respective legislatures will lead them to a full and impartial consideration of a subject so interesting to the United States, and so necessary to the happy establishment of the federal union ; that they are confirmed in these expectations by a review of the before-mentioned act of the legislature of New York, submitted to their consideration; that this act is expressly calculated to accelerate the federal alliance by removing, as far as depends on that State, the impediment arising from the western country, and for that purpose to yield up a portion of territorial claim for the general benefit ; "Resolved, That copies of the several papers referred to the committee be transmitted, with a copy of the report, to the legislatures of the several States ; and that it be earnestly recommended to those States who have claims to the western country to pass such laws, and give their delegates in Congress such powers, as may effectually remove the only obstacle to a final ratificati0n of the articles of confederation; and that the legislature 0f Maryland be earnestly requested to authorize their delegates in Congress to subscribe to the Articles." "This report," says Hinsdale, "was agreed to without call of the roll. Its adoption marks a memorable clay in the history of the land controversy. No other document extant shows so clearly the wise policy that Congress adopted. That policy was neither to affirm nor to deny, nor even to discuss, whether Congress had jurisdiction over the wild lands, but to ask for cessions and to trust to the logic of events to work out the issue. The appeal made to Maryland was one that she could not well refuse to heed. And then, that nothing but selfish interest might stand in the way of the other AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 69 claimant States following the example of New York, Congress adopted, October T0th, this further resolution : "Resolved, That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, by any particular State, pursuant to the recommendation of Congress of the sixth day of September last, shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled or formed into distinct Republican States, which shall become members of the federal union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other States : That each state which shall be so formed shall have a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred or more than one hundred and fifty miles square, as near thereto as circumstances will admit : That the necessary and reasonable expenses which any particular State shall have incurred since the commencement of the present war, in. subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts and garrisons within and for the defence, or in acquiring any part of the territory that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, shall be reimbursed ; "That the said lands shall be granted or settled at such times and under such regulations as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled, or by any nine or more of them." The papers sent to the claimant States under the resolution of September 6th called forth early responses. On October l0th, by a legislative act, Connecticut offered to cede lands within her charter limits, west of the Susquehanna purchase and east of the Mississippi, on condition that the State retain the jurisdiction, the quantity of land so ceded to be "in just proportion of what shall be ceded and relinquished by the other States claiming and holding vacant lands as aforesaid," etc. Virginia responded in January, 1781, by making conditional cessions of lands northwest of the Ohio, which action, though it left some things undecided, was followed, on February. 2d. by the ratification of the Articles of Confederation on the part of Maryland. The prin- - 4 - cipal condition. insisted upon by Virginia was a guarantee of her remaining territory by the United States. This met with opposition from New York, who thought it unjust that she should be asked to guarantee the reserved territories of other states while receiving no guarantee of those which she had herself reserved, and it was some time before this matter was satisfactorily adjusted. UNCONDITIONAL CESSIONS URGED BY CONGRESS. Committees were appointed by Congress early in 1781 to deal with all difficult questions arising out of the land issue, and as these questions were many and complicated, they will not here be considered in detail. The committee reported in November, 1781, and among other things, their reports strongly urged Massachusetts and Connecticut to make an immediate release of all their claims and pretensions to Western territory without condition or reservation. Virginia's cession was not accepted, by reason of the guarantee demanded, the validity of her claim being denied. She was also recommended to make an unconditional cession of all her claim to Western lands. This report was never acted upon as a whole, and soon the land issue became complicated with other subjects, as the national finances. TRIUMPH OF THE NATIONAL IDEA. It would occupy too much space to follow the gradual growth of the national idea through all its phases to its culmination in the final and unconditional cessions of their territoriesby the claimant States to the national government. This result was gradually reached by a series of partial concessions and adjustments as the only final solution of the much-vexed question. Connecticut was the last to relinquish her claims. On September 14, 1786, she ceded to Congress all her "right, title, interest, jurisdiction, and claim to the lands northwest of the Ohio, excepting the Connecticut Western Reserve." Of this tract jurisdictional claim was not ceded to the United States until May 30, 1800. As long as the confederation lasted the 70 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY lands were not and could not be fully nationalized, as the Articles gave Congress no resources except such as came from the States. Accordingly the deeds made to the United States stipulated that the lands and their proceeds should be distributed among all the States in the Union ; and this was the principle upon which the land act of 1785 was based. When the Constitution went into effect it fully nationalized the public domain. CHAPTER X SALE OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Division into Townships—The Parsons Purchase—The Fire Lands—The Act of 1795— Sales to the Connecticut Land Company. By the cession of September, 1786, Connecticut yielded all her claims south of the 41st degree of north latitude, and west of a line 120 miles from the west line of Pennsylvania. She had left the Western Reserve, which had thus been shorn of its original extension to the Mississippi River. Even to this her title was questionable and was not admitted anywhere outside of Connecticut. To strengthen it she resolved upon immediate occupancy, and soon after the cession, offered for sale all that portion of her reserved territories lying west of Pennsylvania, and east of the Cuyahoga and the portage path leading from that river to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum. It was provided that the territory should be divided as nearly as possible into townships of six miles square ; that six tiers of townships should be laid out parallel with the west line of Pennsylvania ; that they range of townships next to that State should be designated as the first tier, and so on to the west in numerical order. It was provided also that the townships should be numbered fr0m north to south, No. of each tier beginning at Lake Erie. A committee of three persons was appointed to make sale. The land was to be sold at not less than three shillings an acre, which was about equal to fifty cents of 0ur present money. The price of a township was put at twenty-seven dollars in specie. It was provided that in each township 500 acres of good land were to be reserved for the support of the Gospel ministry, and 500 acres more for the support of schools in each town forever ; and 240 acres were to be granted in fee simple to the first Gospel minister who should settle in such town. The general assembly agreed to guarantee the preservation of peace and good order among the settlers. At the next term of the Assembly, held at Hartford in May, 1787, some changes were made in the Resolutions, whereby it was provided that the townships should be numbered from south to north, instead of in the reverse order, as at first proposed; also that the Governor of the State should execute a patent of any town bought to the purchaser, on presentation of the necessary certificates from the committee, the same to be countersigned by the secretary and registered in his office. The committee were further authorized to lay out one or more tiers east of the Cuyahoga, in addition to the six tiers authorized by the former resolution. THE PARSONS PURCHASE. General Samuel H. Parsons 0f Middletown, Connecticut, was the only purchaser of lands 72 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY in the Reserve until the sale to the Connecticut Land Company in 1795. His patent was executed February 10, 1788, the lands he purchased being known later as the Salt Springs Tract, General Parsons, who had previously explored the country, selected this tract on account of the existence thereon of saline springs, where the manufacture of salt had long been carried on in a crude way by the Indians and white traders, The salt was obtained by boiling the water in kettles ; but so small was the proportion of salt in the water and so slow the process of manufacture by the crude methods employed, that the price of the commercial article for a long time was over six dollars per bushel. Alth0ugh the lines of the tract were not yet run out, General Parsons proceeded to make sale and to deed various undivided parts of it to different individuals. "This patent," says Joseph Perkins, in an historical sketch of the Connecticut Land Company (Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley, Vol, I, 1876), "was recorded in conformity to a provision in the original resolution authorizing a sale in the Secretary's office in Connecticut, It will be seen also from the same resolves, that the State of Connecticut claimed an exclusive jurisdiction: over this territory, as it is also a matter of history that immediately after, in the year 1788, the Governor of the Northwestern territory originated the county of Washington, and embraced all this territory within the limits of that county. "The United States having thus set up a claim to the territory, General Parsons caused his patent to be recorded in the Recorder's office, that county, as did likewise many of the subsequent purchasers from him of several parcels of that tract. Still, as it was a doubtful question whether this territory was in fact in Washington County legally at any time, most, but not all of these deeds, were again recorded in Trumbull County, after its organization, and the United States had acquired unquestionable jurisdiction. In the year 1798, Jefferson County was carved out, a part of Washington County, and this territory embraced within its limits, and it so continued until the organization of Trumbull County. During this period two deeds of land in this tract were there recorded which have never been recorded in Trumbull County. No taxes were ever effectually imposed on any lands within the Connecticut Reserve until after the organization of Trumbull County, although there were some inhabitants in the territory before that period, yet they were left in a state of nature so far as civil government was concerned by the State of Connecticut, and but once were they disturbed by the United States, when the authorities of Jefferson County sent Zenas Kimberly into this county to inquire into the situation of things with a view of taxation, As the people did not acknowledge the jurisdiction of the United States they beset him with laughter and ridicule until he left them, and no further effort was made to interfere with them until the question of jurisdiction was afterwards settled, and the county became an undoubted part of the northwest territory," General Parsons was made one of the first three judges of the Northwest territory and subsequently became chief justice. He was drowned at Beaver Falls in November, 1789, while on his way from Marietta, where he made his home, to conclude a treaty of peace with the Indians on the Reserve, "His heirs, either on account of inability or lack of confidence in the speculation, failed to make the back payments, so that the patent, with all the deeds based upon it, was returned to the State." THE "FIRE LANDS." The British Army having wholly or partially destroyed several towns and villages in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War, a petition was sent to the legislature in 1791 by a large number of the inhabitants of Fairfield and Norfolk, praying for compensation for their losses thus sustained. "The legislature," says Whittlesey, "in their session in May, 1792, took up the report of their committee and released to the sufferers then alive whose names appeared on the list made, and where any were then dead, to their legal representatives and to their heirs and assigns forever, five hundred AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 73 thousand acres of land, then belonging to the State, lying west of the State of Pennsylvania, bounding northerly on the shore of Lake Erie, beginning at the west line of said lands and extending eastward to a line running northerly and southerly parallel to the east line of the tract belonging to the State, and extending the whole width of the land, and easterly so far as to make the quantity of five hundred thousand acres, to be divided among them in proportion to their several losses, to which grant was appended the names of all the original sufferers and the sum of their several losses. This grant, it may be observed, included none of the islands within the limits of the claim of Connecticut in Lake Erie and north of the western part of the reserve." The land thus granted was known as the "Fire Lands," owing to the fact that most of the petitioners had suffered the destruction of their property by fire. It embraced all of Huron and Erie counties and the township of Ruggles in Ashland County. SALES TO THE CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY, The victory of Wayne at the battle of the Fallen Timber had given a new impulse to western emigration, which for some years previously had been 'held in check by the fear of Indian outbreaks. The fever of land speculation was raging all over New England, and the State of Connecticut now resolved to put the balance of her reserved lands upon the market. The resolution directing their sale was passed by the General Assembly at Hartford in May, 1795, and read as follows : "Resolved, by this Assembly that a committee be appointed to receive any proposals that may be made by any person or persons, whether inhabitants of the United States or others, for the purchase of the lands belonging to this State, lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania as claimed by said State, and the said committee are hereby fully authorized and empowered in the name and behalf of this State, to negotiate with any such person or persons on the subject of any such proposals. And also to form and complete any contract or contracts for the sale of said lands, and to make and execute under their hand and seals, to the purchaser or purchasers, a deed or deeds duly authenticated, quitting on behalf of this State, all right, title, and interest, juridicial and territorial, in and to the said lands, to him or them and to his or their heirs, forever. That before the executing of such deed or deeds, the purchaser or purchasers shall give their personal note or bond, payable to the treasurer of this State, for the purchase money, carrying an interest of six per centum payable annually, to commence from the date thereof, or from such future period not exceeding two years from the date, as circumstances in the agreement of the committee may require, and as may be agreed on between them and the said purchaser or purchasers with good and sufficient sureties, inhabitants of this State, or with a sufficient deposit of bank or other .stock of the United States or of the particular States, which. note or bond shall be taken payable at a period not more remote than five years from the date, or, if by annual installments, so that the last installment be payable within ten years from the date, either in specie or in six per cent, three per cent, or deferred stock of the United States, at the discretion of the committee. That if the committee shall find that it will he most beneficial to the State or its citizens to form several contracts for the sale of said lands, they shall not consummate any of the said lands apart by themselves while the others lie in a train of negotiation only, but all the contracts which taken together shall comprise the whole quantity of the said lands shall be consummated together, and the purchasers shall hold their respective parts or proportions as tenants in common of the whole tract or territory, and not in severalty. That said committee, in whatever manner they shall find it best to sell the said lands,, whether by an entire contract or by several contracts, shall in no case be at liberty to sell the whole quantity for a principal sum less than one million of dollars in specie, or if day of payment be given, for a sum of less value than one million of dollars in specie with interest at six per cent per annum from the time of such sale." The committee appointed by the Assembly 74 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY to negotiate the sale consisted of John Treadwell, James Wadsworth, Marvin Wait, William Edmonds, Thomas Grosvenor, Aaron Austin, Elijah Hubbard and Sylvester Gilbert, one man from each of the eight counties of the State. It will be observed that the State did not guarantee a clear title to any purchaser, but merely offered a quit claim deed. This, however, did not deter Connecticut people, who believed in the validity of their State's claim, from purchasing the land, and the rage for land speculation was such that other purchasers were soon found, Sales were made to the aggregate amount of twelve hundred thousand dollars, the members of the committee entering into separate contracts with the individual purchasers, though in a few instances two or three of the purchasers associated together and took their deeds jointly, The names of the individuals with the amount of their contracts were as follows :