HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON, OHIO. CHAPTER I. EARLY DISCOVERIES OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT-CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS- OTHER NOTED DISCOVERERS-OUTLINES OF HISTORY -SIR WALTER RALEIGH-THE FIRST COLONY AND CHARTERED RIGHTS OF VIRGINIA-THE COLONY'S GROWTH AND ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION WESTWARD. THE history of every American locality, in its various relations and associations, necessarily dates back to the discovery and occupation of the Continent by the adventurous and enterprising European. One of the great endowments which nature has bestowed upon mankind, is the universal tendency to seek, grasp, and gradually develop such knowledge as contributes to the advancement, welfare and preservation of his own existence. When any great discovery or revelation is necessary for the well-being of man, the means and opportunities are naturally sought, and ultimately produced and made available for the accomplishment of the grand object. Sometimes the development may be sudden, or accidental, but more generally is promoted and advanced to final consummation by slow and progressive degrees. The discovery of America may truly be viewed in this light. The time had arrived in which the existing circumstances made apparant the great advantages to the world such a revelation would afford. The age was one of great intellectual restlessness. What commercial intercourse that then existed among mankind, afforded many blessings to the different regions of the known world. The little oriental traffic that percolated through Mohammedan channels materially enriched those countries of Europe that then monopolized it. The Indies, with the fabled land of Cathay, the mines of Golconda, the golden kingdoms of Cipango and Mango, were themes in which imagination ran riot. Of all the channels of enterprise, maritime discovery was the most tempting, and it was making rapid strides of progress. The compass and astrolabe had been recently adapted to navigation. But the pursuit of exploration had not yet reached a basis of scientific probability, and much absurd fiction was mingled with ascertained fact. The genius who grasped the great problem of maritime discovery, who, by his noble work, opened to civilization a new theatre of action, was a seafarer of the city of Genoa; one of humble condition, but who, through years of scientific research and a life of patient toil, wrought cut the theories which at last he so triumphantly verified. But the first visible development had occurred ages before, when a rude and unlettered sea-ranger had been driven, by adverse winds, across a sea which he had thought to be boundless, to a land whose existence had never entered his imagination. 2—B. & J. CO. Before proceeding to allude further to the great discoveries of Columbus and his successors, we will recount, as far as history affords data, the exploits of those adventurous and ignorant seamen of Northern Europe, who, nearly five hundred years previously, had involuntarily found a continent beyond the wild Atlantic, which was then known as the " Sea of Darkness," and regarded by mariners with extreme dread and superstition. Those hardy people, called Northmen, or Norsemen, were Scandinavians, who then inhabited that portion of Europe embraced in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, and being a brave, adventurous race, accustomed to hardships and possessed with nautical skill, made themselves masters of the northern seas, and became a terror to other nations, more honestly engaged in maritime traffic, by whom they were regarded as pirates and freebooters. Their vessels were a craft of a few tons burthen, rudely equipped, clumsily rigged, always carrying on the prow the image of the head of a dragon or some imaginary monster, and generally commanded by the sons of Jarls, or Earls, who were themselves but retired sea-robbers. The historical chronicles of Iceland, called the Saga, which have been the subject of great research by modern historians, furnish much data and many interesting facts concerning those wild rovers of the sea. Those pirate captains were called Vikings, and they were as severe and tyrannical, over their mariners and fighting men, as they were remorseless in the treatment of their victims. Lawless marauders, as were the Vikings and their followers, they were the best and most adventurous navigators of the -age, as well as fearless and redoubtable warriors. The following lines from "Satanella" most truly represent the boldness of their character : "Rovers, rulers of the sea, Wilder than the wild waves we, Merry men in storm and fight, Danger's true name is delight." As early as the commencement of the ninth century, they had discovered and established colonies, or stations, on the Faroe Islands, whence they made frequent and bloody incursions into Scotland and England, and whence, about that time, a commander named Naddok, on one of his expeditions, penetrated so far north that he sighted the hitherto unknown island. of Iceland. He seems to have been more disgusted than otherwise at its bleak barrenness, for he made no attempt at occupa- tion but after skirting its shores and mountains, called it Snowland, and returned home. Subsequently, "a certain pyrate, whose name was Flokko," (this is the language of the historical chronicles of Iceland) i having heard Naddok's account, set sail for the new country in 865, and being resolved not only to see, but to colonize it he 10 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO. took with him, from Norway, some families, implements, and cattle, for that purpose. This, of course, was not a piratical outfit. The Vikings having no knowledge of the mariner's compass, Flokko took with him three ravens, which had previously received the rite of consecration from the priests of the pagan god Odin. These birds were depended on to give the navigator information in regard to the proximation of land. When a few days out he liberated the first raven, which at once returned in the direction whence the ship had come, and led him to infer that there was no land nearer than the port from which he had sailed. Farther on, the second bird was released, and, after hovering in a confused manner for some time, returned to the vessel. Two days later, upon being again set free, it rose to a great height, and then sped straight to the northwest. The Viking followed the feathered pilot, and soon reached the land of his search. The colony proving a failure, Flokko and his people returned to Norway, perhaps as much disgusted with the country as Naddok had been, for they gave discouraging reports of it, and bestowed upon it the name of Iceland. In the year 874, A. D., the Earl of Ingolf, who had, in some way, incurred the displeasure of his king—Harold the Fair-haired, of Norway—put his family and all his goods on board a ship and fled to Iceland, where he established a colony, which proved a permanent one, and which has now an existence of over one thousand years duration. Not long after the settlement of Iceland, a sailor named Gunnbiorn, upon one occasion, had them is fortuneto be blown off the coast, before an easterly gale, across the narrow sea which separates the island from Greenland, and thrown upon the coast of that inhospitable country. From thence he succeeded in returning to Iceland, bringing glowing accounts of his new discovery. But no colonists went there until 985, when Earl Eric, the Red, himself an outlaw in' Norway, as Ingolf had been, fled his country and migrated to Greenland, from whence he spread such favorable reports, (after the custom of founders of new colonies,) that in the year 989, twenty-five vessels, loaded with families, goods, and cattle, sailed for the new land. Eleven of these ships were unfortunately lost on the passage, but fourteen arrived safely, and by these Greenland was extensively settled, and for many years emigration thence, from Norway and Denmark, was considerable. In the year A. D. 1000, there was a bold young Danish Viking named Biarn, who, returning from a long voyage, learned that, during his absence, his father named Herjulf, had emigrated to Greenland and joined the colony of Red Eric. He immediately set sail thither, without even discharging his cargo, and this hardy Viking ventured upon an unknown and boisterous ocean, in the midst of strong weather, in his rude, tiny vessel, without a compass. A heavy gale blowing from the northeast, amidst a thick fog, he missed his destination, and after being driven for many days before the wind, he came in sight of land which he at once knew was not Greenland, for it was a flat wooded country, with no lofty ice-hills such as he had been told to expect. It is generally supposed, though not certainly known, that the land first seen by Biarn was the coast of Nova Scotia; but whatever it was, there can be no doubt that he and his crew were the first Europeans who ever Saw land belonging to the North American Continent. Little did they comprehend the magnitude or the importance of their discovery. The crew had great desire to go on shore, but the captain refused, and turning his course more towards the north, keeping well out at sea, sailed for two days and nights, after which he again approached the coast, but still found the same low, level shore, thickly timbered, and having no resemblance to the land he sought. Again he stood away on his course for two days, and then for the third time he made land. This he found to be " high and mountainous, with snowy mountains." By sailing close along the shore, he discovered it to be an island, not the haven he wished for, and once more he stood out, and ran before a brisk northwest wind for three days and nights, when at last he saw the rugged coast of Greenland, and soon had the joy of meeting his father, whom he had so long sought. When Biarn related to Earl Eric, and the other colonists, the story of his involuntary voyage to the unknown country, he was censured by them for having failed to explore or land upon it. But his chief desire was to reach the land where his father had made his home, and after that to make regular voyages between Greenland and Norway, in which traffic he hoped to realize much gain. Now that he had reached the place where his father had settled, called Herjulfness, he was too much overjoyed to indulge in any regret for his neglect to explore the lands he had seen, or to feel any wish to return to them for further observation. To the sons of old Eric the Red, however, and particularly to Leif, the eldest of them, the desire to visit and explore the new regions which Biarn had seen, became overpowering, and with Eric's sanction he purchased, in the year 1001, Biarn's ship, and fitted her for the cruise. A crew of thirty-five men were employed, and Biarn himself consented to accompany the expedition. The old Earl himself hid been prevailed upon by his son to command, but as he was riding to the port from whence the vessel was to depart, the horse on which he rode, stumbled and threw the old Viking to the ground. Profoundly superstitious, he saw an omen, which he declared was a warning to him to attempt no more voyages for the discovery of new countries. His son Leif then sailed in command of the vessel, which left her port most auspiciously, and stretched boldly away southwestwardly over the unknown sea. It was the intention of Leif to retrace, as nearly as possible, the vessel's former track, thus to make, first the high rugged island which Biarn had last seen, and from thence to skirt the land until he should reach the other points seen by the bold young navigator. The voyage prospered, and in due time they saw before them the lofty hills, which Biarn at once recognized as those of the island whence he had taken his last departure. It was not intended to stop long here, but the new commander went on shore and made some explorations, which showed him that it was a most forbidding place, the entire space from the sea to the base of the mountain being covered with flat stones, which lay so thickly, that no soil or vegetation appeared among them. With a feeling of disappointment he named the discovery Helluland, from the word hella, which in the Norse dialect, signifies a flat stone. Then he re-embarked, and after a further exploration by water, among the deep bays, harbors, and coves, with which the island was greatly indented, he proceeded on his way to seek the lands which had first greeted the eyes of Biarn—that level wooded country which he had described, and which seemed like a paradise to the imaginations of those rough rovers, whose whole lives had been spent upon the stormy seas, and among the glaciers and wild crags of the barren north. Keeping away to the southwest, he again made land ; this time a fair looking region, covered with trees, to which he gave the name of Markland (or Woodland.) There is little doubt that this was the island now known as Cape Breton. Beyond this he made another landing, finding still the same distinguishing natural features. But his love of adventure and thirst for discovery was not yet quenched, and he again stood bravely on towards the southwest before a brisk northerly wind. After three days and nights, steadily on this course, again came the welcome cry of land, and while waiting for good weather a landing,was made to examine the region. It has never been satisfactorily settled, precisely where this land was, but beyond doubt, was a part of the New England coast, and it is quite generally believed to have been the island of Martha's Vineyard, south of the State of Massachusetts. Leif made a short stay here, then coasted along the shore and proceeded, as the Saga records, "up a river which came through a lake." Here he ordered the vessel to be securely moored, and preparations to be made for winter quarters. Autumn had already made its appearance, but rude houses were speedily built and soon all was Made secure. Among the crew was a man named Tyrker—not one of their own countrymen, but a Southron, from the land of Vineyards—and he, in one of his rambles on shore, found grapes in profusion, growing wild in the woods. The discovery was hailed with great joy by these Northmen, who had never seen grapes in Greenland, Iceland, or Norway. The ripe grapes were freely gathered and eaten by Leif's people, which they found delicious to the taste, and they cured great quantities of them by drying in the sun. Leif was highly elated with the mild climate and the delicious fruit, and in his ectasy he named the country Vinland—the Home of the Vine. Soon, however, the bright days of Indian Summer were gone, and the snow storms and shrill winds of winter came ; but the Viking's crew had seen the deeper snows of Norway, and had felt the sting of the icy gales which roar across the Arctic' Circle, and they could laugh at the rigors of a New England winter. During this season they gathered great store of the different kinds of timber and wood, which grew so profusely in " Vinland," but were scarce and highly prized in, their own country. On the opening of Spring, they loaded their ship with these, and ihen filling their long boat, and all available space on the vessel with dried grapes, they left their winter home and sailed for Greenland. On the homeward voyage, a day or two before HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO - 11 his arrival, Leif rescued and saved a shipwrecked crew, which he brought along to the port of his destination. One of these was a woman, .named Gudrid, wife of the captain of the wrecked vessel, who soon died, and then his widow married Thorstein a brother to Leif, and son of the Earl, Eric the Red. The place where Leif and his followers had passed the winter, and which they had named Vinland, is generally supposed to have been situated on an arm of Narragansett Bay, below the mouth of the Taunton River, and near to the present town of Tiverton, in Rhode Island. And of this land, the explorers brought back to Greenland the most marvelous accounts. It was, they said, a region of almost unbroken summer (it is not strange that they thought it such, considering, how cold and sterile was the land which they called home). And they told how delightful was its location, how great its fertility, and how abundant its rich fruits and rare woods. They indulged to the full, that propensity which is everywhere found in human nature, and which seems to be universal among those who visit remote regions : gross exaggeration of facts relating to the wonders they had seen in their mysterious journeyings If they did not paint these in colors as glowing as those in which the Spanish explorers depicted the golden El Dorado and the Fountain of Youth, it was probably less on account of their stricter adherence to truth, than because they lacked the vivid and gorgeous imaginations of the Southern adventurers. So the wonderful tale went from mouth to mouth. The newly discovered land became known as " Vinland the Good," and its enterprising discoverer received the name of " Leif the Fortunate." Soon the story was carried to Norway and Denmark, from whence, eventually, it was heard of in a dim, vague way, in other parts of. Europe. Soon after Leif's return, he made a journey to Norway, and while there became converted from the Norse paganism to Christianity, and when he again returned to Greenland, he took with him some Christian priests, which act greatly incensed his father—for Red Eric was firm in his pagan faith, and continued unshaken in the worship of the Viking's gods, Odin and Thor, until his death, which occurred soon after. Having now, by his father's death, become the head of the family, Leif unwillingly abandoned the project which he entertained of another voyage to Vinland the Good ; and, indeed, he resolved henceforth to live quietly at home, as his father. had done, and so no more was ever heard of the ocean adventures or exploits of Leif the Fortunate. But his brother Thorvald (who had also embraced the Christian religion through the labors of the Norwegian priests) took up the enterprise, and soon departed, in his brother's ship, for the western land, where he arrived safely after a short and prosperous voyage. Having without difficulty found the houses erected by his brother, he took possession, and there Passed the winter. The next year he pushed his explorations far to the westward, (probably through Long Island Sound), as far as "another lake through which a river flowed to the sea." The explorers were enchanted with the green grass, the groves of great trees, and abundance of vegetable growth which were all so strange to them. They made many landings upon the Islands, and each time their joy and admiration was increased. Thorvald and his men also passed the following winter in the cabins built by Leif, and again, in the spring, made voyages and journeyings to the northward and eastward, passing Cape Cod, and, it is supposed, penetrating up Massachusetts Bay as far as the vicinity of Boston. They had never yet seen any of the natives of the country, until, upon one of their expeditions, they suddenly came upon three boats, made of skins, and set up as tents. Under these were nine savages, asleep, The Viking and his men had the greatest contempt for these beings, and bestowed on them the name of Skraellings, which, in the Norse language, was a term of the bitterest opprobium. In fact, they considered them as no better than wild beasts ; and so, when they found these, sleeping so quietly, and unconsious of danger, they followed the instincts of their Northern nature, and falling at once upon the unoffending natives they slew all but one, who escaped with his life, greatly terrified. As they came to a pleasant point of land, covered with the dark evergreen of fir trees, Thorvald said to his followers " Here, on this cape would I wish to raise my dwelling." He little thought how soon his desire would be realized. The frightened native, who had escaped slaughter by the Northmen, had aroused great numbers of his people, who were then determined to avenge the cruel murder of their companions, and remained hidden until an opportunity should present itself. So, a little further on, at a time when the party of explorers were resting in fancied security, they were surprised by the sound of the terrible war-whoop, and an attack by a great number of the Skraellings. In dismay they fled to their vessel, and raised the wooden shield, behind which they were wont to fight their enemies. From thence they discharged their arrows, and soon the natives retired, but not until one of the white men had been wounded in the side, by a dart from the Skraellings. The wounded man was none other than Thorvald himself; and when he withdrew the dart from the wound, and k new that his hurt was mortal, he told his followers to bear him to the pleasant promontory, and bury him there among the fir trees. " It may be" said he, "that it was a true word which I spike, that I would dwell there for a time; there shall ye bury me, and set crosses at my feet and head, and call the place Krossaness,* forever in all time to come." His men obeyed the dying command of the young sea-king, and left him there, with the Christian cross (the first ever erected on the American Continent) marking the spot where he slept in peace beneath the evergreens. The party was now without a head, and, being entirely disheartened, returned to Greenland. Then, Thorstein, another son of Eric, victualled a vessel and sailed in search of the body of his brother, resolved to bring it back to the family tomb. This was in the year 1005. His company numbered twenty-five men, and he made a most faithful search, but failed to find the point called Krossaness, and so, after a time, returned unsuccessful, and soon after died of scurvy, contracted on the voyage. Thorstein was the last of the sons of Eric who everjourneyed to America, but the blood of the Red Earl would not be still. His daughter, Freydis, sister of Leif, Thorvald and Thorstein, next planned an expedition to the land of vines. She was the wife of Thorvard, the 'captain of a trading ship; and he, with one Thorffinn Karlsefne, a rich merchant of Iceland, fitted out three vessels, with which they sailed in the spring of the year 1007. The wife of Karlsefne, was none other than Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein, she who had been rescued from shipwreck by Leif, on his return voyage from Vinland. Besides Freydis and Gudrid, many other women were taken; as well as cattle, implements, and abundant stores, for it was intended to found a permanent colony. The company numbered more than one hundred persons, with Thorffinn in command, though the woman Freydis, was in reality the master spirit of the enterprise. Their outward voyage was a prosperous one. On arriving at the lands near their destination, they found a huge carcass of a whale which had been stranded high and dry upon the sandy shore, and this was not only a great accession to their commissariat, but was esteemed as most delicious food by those hyperborean epicures. It is not known whether or not they settled at the place Where Leif built his houses; but they found abundance of game and fish, and great trees covered with grapes, while a little way off, were a fields of self-sown wheat," (by which is probably meant the Indian maize). Here they expected to pass a pleasant and unmolested life ; but soon they were visited by the "Skraellings," who were described as "black and ill-favored, with coarse hair on the head, with large eyes and broad cheeks." They seemed to be entirely ignorant of the uses or capabilities of edged implements, and it is told that one of them playfully handling one of the Norse battle axes, apparently ignorant that it was a more formidable weapon than those of their own rude fashioning, dealt to one of his companions a blow which was instantly fatal. These natives, however, offered no violence to the whites, but, after satisfying their curiosity, went away for a time; soon however, returning in great numbers, and wishing to barter valuable skins and furs for red cloth, of which the colonists seem to have had a large quantity, and with which the natives were greatly pleased. Cow's milk was also freely given them by the colonists, and this they appreciated highly. But of a sudden, when all was progressing pleasantly, a bull, belonging to Thorffinn, burst out from among the trees, and with a roaring, which shook the very earth, rushed full upon the poor Skraellings, who, thereupon, fled to their boats in the greatest terror. For a long time they remained away, but after awhile they returned in a great body, and gave battle to the Northmen, who, being vastly outnumbered, fled to the woods, after many had been killed by those natives whom they so * Krossaness, iu the Norse language, signifies Cross Cape, and this place is supposed to be identical with the point now called Point Alderton, in Boston harbor. 12 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO: much despised ; and it is related that they would all have been slaughtered, but that Freydis, seizing a weapon from the body o one of the slain men, rushed upon the savages with great fury, making loud and piercing cries and wild gestures, by which the Saga says : they were as much terrified, as on the former occasion they had been, by the bellowing of the bull. They rushed pell-mell to their boats, fled in dismay, and were seen no more. This attack and its results greatly discouraged the colonists ; who at once demanded of their leader Karlsefne that they should return home without delay. He, being a merchant of wealth and consideration in Iceland, acceded to their wishes, and re-tarried to that country, where he passed the remainder of his days in ease and splendor. But Freydis, being a very bold and ambitious woman, was by no means satisfied with the result. She wished to found a permanent colony, in which herself and her husband Thorvard should be chief personages. Three years later, she had organized another expedition, fitted out in partnership with two brothers—Icelanders—named Helgi and Finnbagi. In 1011, they sailed for the place where Leif had laid his winter quarters ten years before. There they arrived without accident or delay, and found the booths, or houses, still standing, and in tolerable repair. But quietude did not reign there. In fact, peace could nowhere long exist, where lived the fierce and ambitious daughter of the Red Eric. She quarreled with the brothers, Helgi and Finnbagi, and plotted to take their lives; inducing Thorvard also to enter into the infernal conspiracy. Inspired by her malignant counsel, Thorvard persuaded his own followers to join the plot, and together they fell upon the brothers and their company, in their separate quarters, and slew them. Of these unhappy victims, there were five women, whom the male conspirators would gladly have allowed to live, but the tiger spirit of Freydis would not have it so, and finding that her followers refused to do the murder, she killed all with her own hand, disregarding their piteous appeals for mercy. Nothing but disaster and gloom followed this bloody deed, and the long and dreary winter which ensued was filled with remorse and dread for the guilty colonists. So when the spring came again, it was unanimously agreed to abandon the settlement and return to Greenland. When Leif, the Fortunate, was told of his sister's crimes, he debated whether he should visit ajust punishment upon her; but his brotherly feeling prevailed, and he allowed her to escape with her life, but disowned her, and predicted for her remaining years, only woe and execration, which, the chronicle says, was completely fulfilled. This was the last Norse expedition to the American coast, of which there is any account, which seems at all authentic. One Saga has it that the place was visited several times afterward—among these visitors being a priest named Eric, who saw the land in 1321, but of this there is great doubt, and we are left to conclude that the entire period during which the Northmen sailed to, and transiently occupied, the place which they called Vinland, covered a space of less than fifteen years. Why such an enticing field should have been so suddenly abandoned by them, must always be a mystery. Certainly it could not have been through dread of the savage natives, for those ocean freebooters hardly knew fear;. and it could not have been that they thought the country not worth the occupation, for the land seemed limitless in extent, and far richer and more productive than any which they had ever dwelt in. The most reasonable theory is, that the cause lay in the overwhelming troubles which we know came upon Greenland and Iceland soon after, resulting in the total extinguishment of the colonies in the former country, and in the almost complete abandonment of navigation in the northern waters. A frightful disease, known as the Black Death, spread over the countries of Northern Europe, and from thence was com- municated to Iceland and Greenland, resulting almost in depopulation. In the midst of this visitation, the Esquimaux opened unrelenting war on the Greenland settlements, and to add to these horrors, there occurred two successive winters of such extreme severity, that the adjacent seas were blocked with ice of incredible thickness, and forever cut off the settlers from their fellow men. That was the last ever heard of the colony founded by Eric the Red. All knowledge of the country called Greenland, faded away into a shadowy tradition; and it was not until ages afterward, that its re-discovery brought it again to the remembrance of men. It was but natural, therefore, that in the oblivion which settled down on the parent country (as Greenland might properly be called) the veil of forgetfulness should also fall on the half known land, which her sons had discovered. The story is shadowy and incomplete, and might, by many, be regarded as mythical, but for the proofs which exist in clearly cut Runic inscriptions, engraved on the face of rocks near the town of Dighton, in southeastern Massachusetts, which remain there now, as they were found by, the Puritan settlers who came there in 1620, arid give authentic support to the Saga's romantic account of the Northmen's voyages to Vinland. As we have said, the knowledge of the discoveries of Biarn and Leif, slowly spread from Norway to other portions of Europe. In seventy-five years, it had reached Germany, being brought there by a historian called Adam, of Bremen, who had visited Sweden at that time. By most of those who heard these rumors, they were regarded as mere inventions ; but the mind of Columbus—nearly five hundred years later—accepted them as possibilities, to say the least ; aria it is known that he made a journey to Iceland for the purpose of determining how far they were true. We do not know to what extent he received them as substantiating the theories which he had deduced from his scientific investigations —whether they made him more firm in his determination to solve the great problem which was the idea of his life—but whether they did or not, can never bedim the surpassing lustre of his achievements, or cause us to give any name but that of Christopher Columbus, the honor of First Discoverer of the land we live in. To render a proper appreciation of the magnitude of his great undertaking, and the innumerable obstacles and difficulties" with which it would necessarily be associated at that unlettered age of the world, we cannot do better than to give the following SKETCH OF COLUMBUS. Christopher Columbus was torn in Genoa, Italy, about the year 1435, and died .at Valladolid, Spain, May 20, 1506. He was the eldest son of Domenico Colombo, after the custom of the time he Latinized his name into Columbus. In one of his letters, he says that his ancestors, like himself, followed the. seas. By some means he received a good education, though it was at a time when many of the nobles could. not write. At this period the Genose were striving with the Venetians for the mastery of the sea, maritime. service was the readiest avenue to wealth and power, and his predictions in that direction were encouraged by his father. In 1449, he entered the marine service of his native country, in which twenty years were passed afloat, but no continuous record of his career was preserved. In the year 1470, he found his way to Lisbon, capital of Portugal, where he remained for fourteen years, supporting himself by drawing charts, and making occasional voyages. Not long after he became a resident of Lisbon, he married the daughter of Bartolommes di Palestrello, distinguished. Italian navigator in the service of the King. The lady's father died a short time after the marriage. Columbus received the deceased navigator's papers and journals, (a valuable legacy for one whose mind .was already engrossed with the idea of maritime discov- ery) and resided for a tithe on his wife's small estate at Porto Santo, one of the Madeira islands. Here he was informed of a piece of curiously carved wood being washed ashore in a westerly gale ; of a carved paddle being picked up 450 leagues west of Portugal ; that canes of tropical growth had been washed on the Madeiras, huge pines on the Azores, and that even two drowned men, of appearance unlike Europeans, had been found on the shore of the island of Flores—all of which had evidently came from the west. These all tended to corroborate and establish in his mind any views he had previously entertained. In 1477, he made a voyage to Iceland, and the sea beyond, which he was astonished to find not frozen. But it is not known that his mind had conceived an idea beyond the discovery of a western passage to Asia, that he even expected to discover new continent, or that he knew he had done ,so. His expecta- tion was, in sailing west, to reach the Indies. Geographical knowledge was very limited and indefinite at that age of the world. The text book of the time, the Imago Mundi, advanced the idea that the sea extends between Spain and the Indiesquoe principia Orientis et Occidentis sent prope, cum mare parpum ea separet ex altera parte terroe. Columbus did not originate the supposition that land lay to the westward, but his matured views were, that the earth is spherical ; that Asia extended to :a parallel now indicated by about 180̊ E. from Greenwich, and that ,a navigable (man only intervened between Europe and Asia HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO - 13 which was not more than one-third of the earth's circumference. History records that he first applied for aid to make his great voyage of discovery, to his native republic of Genoa, and was refused. Thence to the King. of Portugal, who remitted the subject to his special committee of maritime affairs, and likewise to his privy council. These, after many delays, reported. against the project, and Columbus, wearied and disgusted, having spent nearly ten years in fruitless efforts, in 1484, went to Spain. Here he finally succeeded, after numerous attempts and failures, and long, perplexing delays, in getting the atten- tion of Ferdinand and Isabella, and again was his. stupendous project referred to a council of learned men, mostly ecclesiastics, under the presidency of the Queen's Confessor. Seven years more of valuable time was uselessly spent ; the conference, instead of making prompt investigation on 'scientific grounds, controverted the project on scriptural texts ; and it was not until 1491, after many renewed applications, that the learned commission reported, and then pronounced it " vain and impossible, and not becoming great princes to engage in on such slender grounds as had been adduced." During this long period of hope deferred, Columbus must have been possessed with remarkable perseverance, and no one without the most patient temperament could have sustained himself with such undiminished confidence. The report of the committee in 1491 was a death-blow to his hopes, and he meditated laying his hopes before Charles VIII. of France. But some friends of Palos, a town where dwelt the most experienced and enterprising mariners of Spain, interceded at the opportune moment, proffered assistance, and aided in again getting the attention of the King and Queen. One of those who espoused, his cause was an experienced navigator named Alonzo Pinzon, who not only offered to advance money, but to command a ship. At length, through the offer of the Queen herself to render the desired aid, at her own expense, an agreement was entered into with Ferdinand and Isabella. The document was signed April 17, 1492, and in three months thereafter the expedition, consisting of three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina, with full crews and provisions for one year, was ready to sail. In officers and men there were, in all, 120 souls. On Friday morning, August 3, 1492, the little expedition set. sail. It is .unnecessary, in this connection, to trace the incidents of the voyage. At 2 o'clock A. M. of Friday, October 12, 1492, after a prolonged and uncertain voyage of 71 days, the signal gun was fired announcing the discovery of land. Rodring Triana, a sailor of the Pinta, was the first who saw the new world. At sunrise the boats were rowed to the shore, and Columbus, bearing the royal standard of Castile, was the first to step upon the beach of one of the Islands of the West Indies. All knelt down, kissing the ground with tears and thanks to God. Returning to Spain on the 15th day of March, 1493, he was received with great honors, and subsequently made his second, third and fourth voyages. It was on the third voyage that he approached and landed at several places bordering on the Mexican gulf, but he never knew that he had discovered a great continent. His last expeditions were all deprived of complete success by the dissensions, quarrels, and mutinies that occurred among his adventurous followers; he suffered many indignities, and was the victim of malice, misrepresentation, and ingratitude. A conspiracy against him on his third voyage resulted in his being sent back to Spain in chains. From his last voyage he returned sick, and being 70 years old, broken in body, he died without having received redress for his wrongs or recognition for the great service he had rendered mankind. He was deprived of the honor of associating his name with that of the new found world, and not until after his death was his valuable life appreciated. OTHER EARLY DISCOVERERS-OUTLINES OF HISTORY. On the 5th day of March, 1496, John Cabot (Giovanni Cabota, a Venitian), and his three sons obtained a patent from Henry VII., King of England, authorizing them to search for islands, provinces, or regions in the eastern; western or northern seas. Under this charter in May, 1497, he embarked in a single vessel, accompanied by his son Sebastian, sailed west, as he said, 700 leagues, and on June 24 following, came upon land which he reported to have been a part of a continent. He sailed along the coast for about 300 leagues,: landed at several places, and planted the banners of England and. Venice. He returned to Bristol in August of the same year, and his discoveries are said to have attracted the admiration of the city and the favor of the. English king. But for reasons that can only be conjectured, he did not make another voyage, and the. place and time of his death are unknown. He was more of a practical navigator than a scholar, and it is evident that he did not have a proper-conception of the nature and importance of his discoveries. Sebastian Cabot, who had been associated with his father's expedition of the year previous, led forth, in May, 1498, two ships, and a company of English volunteers, on a voyage in search of a short western passage to China and Japan. He sailed so far to the north, that in the early part of July, the light of day was almost continuous. Finding the sea full of icebergs, he turned more to the south, and arrived at land which is generally supposed to have been Newfoundland. Pursuing his search, he reached the main land of North America, landed in many places, and saw natives clad in skins of beasts. He coasted along the shore as far south as Florida; but his object had been to find a passage to the rich continent of 'Asia, and though he had discovered an immense territory under a temperate sky, his voyage was considered a failure. A navigator named Vasco da Gama had reached India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, and filled the world with his fame. From this cause, the discoveries of the Cabots were considered of little value. Though spoken of in English annals as " Sebastian Cabot, the great seaman," he does not seem to have possessed sufficient learning and powers of description to impress upon the leading minds of the old world, that the new one, which he had discovered, was of such vast importance to the ultimate welfare of mankind. Amerigo Vespucci (Americus Vespucius), an Italian navigator, obtained the glory of associating his name with that of the new found world. He came of a noble but not wealthy family, and received a finished education. Later in life he was engaged in Commerce at Seville. He was in that city when Columbus returned from his first voyage, and became enamored with a career of nautical adventure by occasionally meeting with the latter and listening to his accounts of his new discoveries. He subsequently entered the service of the King of Portugal, and sailed on his first voyage in the year 1499. The expedition reached the coast of Brazil and other points of the South American continent, and he subsequently made other successful voyages of discovery. Being a man of literary attainments, 'he was enabled to write descriptions of his discoveries in such a manner as to attract special attention from the learned men of Europe, and in this particular possessed great advantage over his predecessors and cotemporaries. One of his narratives was published at Strasbourg in 1505, under the title of Americus Vesputius de Orbe Antarctico per Regem Portugallice pridem inventa. His vivid and glowing accounts were highly interesting, and being the earliest published description of the new world, was called by his name, Amerigo, or America: Pinzon, a. companion of Columbus on his first voyage, discovered the mouth of the Amazon, in the year 1500. In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish cavalier, fitted out a little squadron at his own cost, put to sea from Porto. Rico, and directed his course to the unexplored west. On the 27th of March, Easter Sunday, called in Spanish, Pasqua Florida, of March,, Easter Sunday, called in Spanish, Pasqua Florida, the Feast of Flowers, he came in sight of a region which he named Florida. The Spaniards boldly pushed their explorations around the entire coast of the Mexican Gulf and the South American Continent, and in 1521 sent out the memorable expedition which, resulted in the conquest of Mexico. In 1524, the French nation sent out an expedition under the, command of Giovanni Verazzano, a Florentine. After a stormy voyage of fifty days, he reached the main land of North America, in latitude 34̊. He traced the coast southward for fifty leagues, and then, returning, sailed northward as far as Nova Scotia. He entered and explored the harbors now known as New York and Newport, gathered knowledge concerning the products and inhabitants of the region, and claimed for the French King, the whole country along the shores of which he had ranged, under the name of New France. On his return to Europe he prepared a written account of his voyages, which contains the earliest description extant of the eastern border of what is now the United States. Ten years later, in 1534, the French dispatched Jacques Cartier to explore and colonize the new world, and he made the coast of Newfoundland in twenty days. He sailed up the. St. Lawrence, made extensive discoveries, and made persistent attempts at colonization ; but sickness, scarcity, and severe weather long defeated all efforts to plant a permanent. French colony in America. In 1539, Hernando de Soto set sail with his expedition of 600 men for exploration and conquest. He traversed the vast, wilderness from the Florida coast to the Mississippi river, and 14 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO. after two years of hardships and misfortune, met his death and was consigned to the bosom of the mighty stream he had discovered. In 1562 and 1564, the Huguenots, French Protestants, planted their feeble colonies in Florida. In 1564, the Spaniard, Pedro Menendez, made his expedition to Florida, destroyed the Huguenot colony, and laid the foundation of St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States. In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained a patent from Elizabeth, Queen of England, to plant a colony in North America. He led his expedition to Newfoundland, but failed to establish a colony. About the year 1580, Sir Francis Drake accomplished his celebrated voyage around the globe. This was an event highly auspicious to mercantile enterprise, and stimulated the English in their plans and attempts at colonization. In 1584, the famous Sir Walter Raleigh, a step-brother of Gilbert, renewed the effort to found an English colony in America, and as the planting of the first European settlement on Virginia soil belongs to his genius and enterprise, we herewith present a sketch of his life. SKETCH OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Sir Walter Raleigh was born at Hayes, Devonshire, in the year 1552, and was the son of an English gentleman of ancient family. At the age of sixteen he was sent to Oxford, where he appears to have been distinguished in his collegiate studies, but possessing the disposition of an adventurer, which characterized his varied career throughout his whole life. When at the University barely a year, he volunteered and joined a body of troops sent by Queen Elizabeth to assist the Huguenots of France. After serving about five years under Admiral Coligni, he proceeded to the Netherlands, and fought under the prince of Orange against the Spaniards. His return to England was at a time when the people's minds , were filled with projects for exploring and colonizing the new world. His half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had just obtained a liberal patent from Queen Elizabeth for establishing a colony in America. With designs of promoting fisheries in Newfoundland, Sir Humphrey fitted out his expedition in 1579, and enlisted Raleigh in the scheme of colonization. The expedition was a failure, and the next year Raleigh distinguished himself in Ireland in the struggle to put down the rebellion of the Desmonds. It was shortly after his return to England, at this time, that he met the queen, as she was walking one day, when he spread his mantle over a wet place in the path for her to tread upon it, and so attracted her by his gallantry, that she at once admitted him to her court and loaded him with honors. The queen employed him to attend the French ambassador Simier, on his return to France, and afterward to escort the duke of Anjou to Antwerp. In her favor, however, Raleigh had a powerful rival in the person of the accomplished earl of Essex, and many are the romantic stories related of the assiduity with which the two courtiers endeavored to supplant each other. But such an inactive life being so contrary to Sir Walter's inclination and love for adventure, he soon became tired, and made use of his influence to promote a second expedition to America. Under Sir Humphrey Gilbert's patent a second expedition was undertaken in 1583, and five vessels sailed under his command for Plymouth on the 11th of June of that year. By an accident Raleigh was not permitted to join the expedition in person, and Gilbert, with four of his vessels, reached New-foundlani, of which he took possession, in accordance with the terms of his charter. The finest ship of the fleet had turned back when only two days out ; another was abandoned at Newfoundland; a third was lost with nearly one hundred men; and Gilbert himself went down with one of the remaining two, in a violent storm on the voyage home. Raleigh, so far from being intimidated by the melancholy fate of his relative, or disheartened by the unprofitable and disastrous termination of most of the voyages to America, undertook during the very next year an expedition to the coast of North America. Obtaining from Elizabeth an ample patent, and the title of lord proprietor over an extensive region, he fitted out two vessels under the command of experienced navigators, and abandoning the idea of further efforts at the cold north, with its barren snows, its storms, and certain evils, he directed that his sails should be set for the sunny south, where he was sure to find a fertile soil and a delightful climate. This expedition reached Ocracoke inlet, on the shore of the present state of North Carolina, on the 13th of July, 1584, and after being hospitably entertained by the savages on Roanoke island, and exploring Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, returned to England in September. The glowing description given by the adventurers, on their return, of the beauty of the country, the fertility of the soil, and mildness of the climate, so delighted the queen, that she named the country Virginia as a memorial of her unmarried state of life. She also conferred upon Raleigh the honor of knighthood. Now being a member of parliament for Devonshire, Raleigh obtained a bill confirming his patent, raised a company of colonists, and in 1585 sent out under command of Sir Rich:In.-1 Grenville a fleet of seven vessels with one hundred and eight emigrants. The colony landed at Roanoke island about the first of July, and Ralph Lane was appointed by Raleigh its governor. Grenville soon afterward returned to England with the fleet, capturing a Spanish prize on his way. During this time Raleigh had been appointed Seneschal of the duchies of Devon and Cornwall and lord warden of the stannaries, con- tinued to grow in Elizabeth's favor at her court, but his haughty carriage and peculiar characteristics, made him exceedingly unpopular among the multitude. In 1586 two parties were sent out by Raleigh with reinforcements and supplies for the colonists in Virginia, but they found the settlements abandoned. Sir Francis Drake had stopped on his return from his expedition against the Spaniards in South America, and the desponding colonists, becoming disheartened, had begged to be taken back to England. This little colony, during its sojourn, had mingled freely with the Indians, and had acquired the native fondness for tobacco, and learned to believe that it possessed powerful medicinal virtues. Upon their return to England, they introduced the use of the weed with such success that it gradually became a favorite luxury, and was eventually adopted as such throughout the world. Banishing visions of gold and silver mines, in the pursuit of which so many of the early American colonies were unsuccessful, Raleigh now determined to found an agricultural state, and in April, 1587, sent out a considerable body of emigrants with their wives and families to make a settlement on Chesapeake bay. He granted them a charter of incorporation, and appointed a municipal government for "the city of Raleigh," intrusting the administration to John White, with eleven assistants. They founded their city not on the bay, but on the site of the former settlement at Roanoke Island, and when the ship returned they sent White back to expedite reinforcements. But the reinforcements never came, and two ships which Raleigh dispatched fell into the hands of a French man-of-war in search for prizes. Raleigh's financial condition now became somewhat precarious—he had expended 40,000 pounds in his attempts at colonization—The English public were engrossed in other matters —the colonists all perished in some manner that has always remained a mystery—and in 1589 he formed under his patent a company of "merchants and adventurers" to continue his enter rises. In the meantime he had been engaged in assisting the preparations for resisting the threatened Spanish invasion, and when the great armada appeared in the channel, he rigorously attacked the rear in a vessel of his own, annoying it by. quick and unexpected movements, in which he displayed valor and genius. During the same year he was in Drake's expedition to restore Dom Antonio to the throne of Portugal, and before his return captured some Spanish vessels intended for a fresh invasion of England. When he returned to Elizabeth's court, he was again loaded with favors. With a desire for shattering the power of Spain in the West Indies, and inflicting another blow at that nation, he collected, mostly at his own expense, a fleet of thirteen vessels, with which he sailed and succeeded in capturing, with the assistance of Frobisher, the largest Spanish prize that had ever been brought into an English port. Soon after this, in 1591, he gave great offence to the queen by his connection with and marriage of one of her maids of honor, and was imprisoned for two months and banished from her court in disgrace. Raleigh then planned an expedition to Guiana in the hope of discovering the golden region of El Dorado. He set sail in 1595 with five ships, and returned the same year, after exploring a considerable extent of country about the Orinoco and destroying the Spanish settlement of San Jose. In the following year he co-operated in the English expedition for the capture of Cadiz and was wounded. His only reward was a restoration to the queen's favor. In 1597 he sailed under Essex against the Azores, quarreled with his commander, and returned to find the partial failure of HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO - 15 the expedition ascribed by the public to his misconduct. The court; however, judged differently. He had obtained a grant of the manor of herborne in Dorsetshire, which he magnificently embellished, was sent with Lord Cabham on a joint embassay to the Netherlands in 1600, and on his return was made governor of Jersey. In the execution of Essex, which occurred soon after, Raleigh was generally accused of having an agency. This added greatly to the public odium with which he was regarded, and the death of Elizabeth in 1603 proved a final blow to his fortunes. On the accession of James, Elizabeth's successor to the throne, Raleigh was stripped of his preferments, forbidden the royal presence, and subsequently arrested on a charge of conspiring to place Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne. In this emergency he made an attempt, said by some historians to be a feigned one, to commit suicide, declaring his belief that he was doomed to fall a victim to the designs of his enemies. He was convicted on the slightest evidence, but was reprieved and sent to the tower, and his estates were taken from him. He passed thirteen years in confinement, during which time he wrote his "History of the World," from the creation of the world to the fall of the Macedonian empire, a work that is now conceded to be superior in style and matter to the English historical publications that had preceded it. At last a change in the English ministry afforded Raleigh an opportunity to contrive a plan for his release, and he was accordingly liberated in March, 1615, but not pardoned. As he had made known his intention of another voyage to Guiana, it has been supposed that the king had an eye to the possible profits. Obtaining from James a commission as admiral of the fleet, with the remnant of his own and his wife's property he managed to fit out a fleet of fourteen ships. He set sail and reached Guiana with the loss of two vessels in November 1617. An expedition of 250 men in boats was sent up the Orinoco and landed at the Spanish settlement of St. Thomas, and in defiance of the king's peaceable instructions, killed the governor and set fire to the town. Raleigh's eldest son was killed in the action. 'Unable either to advance or maintain their position, they retreated in haste to the ships, a Spanish fleet hovering near them, which had been informed of their intended movements. The leader of this unfortunate party committed suicide; many of the sailors mutinied; the ships scattered; and Raleigh returned to England and landed at Plymouth in July, 1618, completely broken in fortune and reputation. He was immediately arrested, and failing in an attempt to escape to France, was committed to the tower. The Spanish embassador demanded his punishment and the king was not reluctant to grant it. The judges deciding that, being still under judgment of death pronounced in 1603, he could not be tried again, it was resolved to execute the former sentence. From the moment that his fate became certain, the fortitude which had failed on his arrest returned. When he stepped upon the scaffold he asked for the axe, and feeling the edge observed with a smile: "This is sharp medicine, but it is a cure for all diseases." Raleigh was a man of imposing person, dauntless courage, extensive knowledge, and varied accomplishments. FIRST COLONY OF VIRGINIA-CHARTERED RIGHTS OF THE COLONISTS. The chartered rights of the people of this region of the Ohio Valley are deduced from charters granted by the reigning King of England, to the colony of Virginia. We have seen in the foregoing sketch of Sir Walter Raleigh, that in 1584 he obtained letters patent for discovering unknown countries, by virtue of which he took possession of that part of America which received the name of Virginia, in honor of England's virgin queen, and that the attempts of 1584, 1585, 1586, 1587, 1588 and 1590 to found and protect a colony had all met with reverses. We will proceed to give a brief outline of the history of the colony of Virginia from the first successful attempt at settlement. The accession of James I to the crown of England threw out of employment many of the brave spirits who had served under Elizabeth, and left them the choice of transplanting their energies in the new world as the only means of acquiring wealth and distinction. Bartholomew Gosnold was one of these. He solicited aid for many years and at length drew around him in an enterprise the famous Capt. Smith and others. After much exertion to enlist the interest of men of wealth and distinction, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, Sir John Popham, lord chief-justice of England, and Richard Hacklyt, one of the assignees of Raleigh, to join in a new scheme for American colonization. The efforts of these distinguished individuals speedily raised a company and procured a charter from King James, which was issued in 1606. By virtue of his prerogative, the king divided the colony of Virginia into two districts; the southern district being called the London company, and the northern, the Plymouth company. The charter to the London company, represented by the gentlemen named, and others embraced all the lands in Virginia from Point Comfort, along the sea-coast, to the northward two hundred miles, and from the same point, along the sea-coast, to the southward two hundred miles, and all the space from this precinct on the sea-coast up into the land, west and northwest, from sea to sea, and the islands within one hundred miles of it. On the 19th of December, 1606, one hundred and nine years subsequent to the discovery of the North American continent by Cabot, three small vessels whose joint tonnage amounted to only one hundred and sixty tons burden, sailed for the coast of Virginia with a colony of one hundred and five men, under the command of Capt. Newport, After a long and perilous voyage, they arrived in the Chesapeake, April 26th, 1607. They finally reached the mouth of a large and beautiful river, which they named after their sovereign, James, and fifty miles from its mouth they selected a spot for a settlement which they, called Jamestown. History has recorded the invaluable services of Captain John Smith, in the management of this little colony, and the trials and difficulties he surmounted. There could not, perhaps, be a company more unfitted for the duty which it had to perform, than that which now commenced the foundation of the British empire in America. The colonists were in a wilderness, surrounded by savages, without a fortification to repel their incursions, possessed of a scanty supply of provisions, without means of planting, and without a habitation to protect them from the weather, save such as they might themselves erect ; yet in the whole company there were but four carpenters and twelve laborers, to fifty-four gentlemen. After a stay of six weeks, Newport prepared to depart, and sailed on the 15th of June, leaving one hundred men in Virginia. The condition of the men thus left was the most melancholy that can well be imagined. They consisted, for the most part, of men entirely unused to labor or hardship, who were doomed to encounter every kind of difficulty, in the midst of summer, in a hot and sickly climate. In ten days from the departure of Newport, ,scarce ten men could stand, from sickness and weakness. The control of affairs soon fell to Smith, who, by, his example and his skill in managing men, speedily reduced affairs to order, induced the men to work, and provided comfortable habitations. Newport, soon after his return, was again dispatched, in company, with another vessel, commanded by Francis Nelson, furnished with all things necessary for the colonists. Before the arrival of this supply, Smith had established a regular intercourse with the Indians and bought their provisions at moderate prices. These with the aid of the abundance of wild fowl, fish and game, had enabled the little colony to subsist comfortably. The greater part of the summer of 1606, Smith spent in exploring the Chesapeake and its tributary waters. He returned to Jamestown in September to find that but little had been done by the colony during his absence and a whole summer, which was a season of plenty, had been wasted in idleness. The company had been forced to depose the President for outrageous conduct. Smith was now elected to that position and his energetic conduct speedily brought affairs into good order. Soon after his election, Newport again arrived from England, and after a short stay, returned with a cargo of pitch, tar, boards, ashes, and such other articles as the colonists, under the exertions of Smith, had been enabled to procure. From the departure of the ship until the next arrival, in 1609, the men were only preserved from perishing by the most active and unremitting exertions of Captain Smith, the detail of whose conduct in his intercourse with the savages, and his management of the ill-assorted, disorderly, turbulant spirits under his control, is one of the most interesting stories in history, and proves him to have been a man of extraordinary abilities. Although the fond anticipations of the Virginia company had been entirely disappointed, a spirit seems to have prevailed which was rather disposed to surmount all difficulties by 16 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO. increased exertion, than to succumb to the accumulated misfortunes which had already been encountered. The company seemed to have perceived their error in expecting a sudden acquisition of wealth from their American possessions, and the defects in the government established by their charter. To remedy these evils, a new charter was obtained May 23, 1609, in which many individuals and corporate bodies were included, of great wealth, power and reputation. By the new charter, the power which had been reserved by the king, was now transferred to the company itself, which was to have the power of choosing the supreme council in England and of legislating in all cases for the colony. The powers of the governor were enlarged from those of a mere president of the council; to supreme and absolute civil and military control, the instructions and regulations of the supreme council being his only guide or check. Lord Delaware received the appointment of governor for life under the new charter. The condition of the public mind favored colonization; swarms of people desired to be transported, and the adventurers with cheerful alacrity contributed free-will offerings. The widely diffused enthusiasm soon enabled the company to dispatch a fleet of nine vessels, containing more than five hundred emigrants. Newport was made admiral, and was joint commissioner with Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers to administer the affairs of the colony until the arrival of the governor. When near the coast of Virginia they-encountered a violent storm which destroyed one small vessel and drove the Sea Venture, in which were the commissioners, so far to sea that she stranded on the rocks of the Bermudas. Seven ships arrived in safety. Soon after this, Smith, who had been disabled by a wound, and seeing that there was not sufficient surgical skill in the colony to restore him, determined to depart for England. When Smith returned to England, he left a colony of about five hundred persons well supplied with arms, provisions, and goods for traffic with the Indians and provided with a fort, church, storehouse, sixty dwellings and a good stock of domestic animals. The savages were in a good state of subjection, and readily yielded at a reasonable price whatever they could spare. All things were in such a condition that prudent management might have ensured the most brilliant success, but the wildest confusion and anarchy prevailed. The new president was so ill that he could not attend to business, and twenty others endeavored to hold the reins of government. When the savages found that Smith was gone, they speedily attacked and broke up the establishments at Powhatan and Nansemond, driving in the remnant of men their butcheries left, to subsist upon the rapidly wasting provisions of Jamestown. Ratcliffe with a vessel and thirty men attempting to trade with Powhatan, was by his carelessness cut off, and he himself with all his company perished except two, who were saved by the humanity of Pocahontas. West, with a crew of thirty, escaped in a ship to become pirates. The miserable company now left without control or authority, and composed with a few exceptions of "gentlemen, tradesmen, serving men, libertines, and such like, ten times more fit to spoil a commonwealth, than to begin one, or but help to maintain one," now gave free rein to all their evil dispositions. Each one sought only to gratify his passions or preserve his own life, without regard to the wants or sufferings of the rest. There was no union, no concert, no harmony. Vice stalked abroad in her naked deformity, and her handmaids, misery and famine, followed in her train. The savages attacked and slew the whites upon every occasion, and forming a systematic plan to starve the remainder, they would supply no further provisions; after they had bought every disposable article at the fort, even to most of their arms, at such a price as they chose to exact. The corn was speedily consumed; next followed the domestic animals, poultry, hogs, goats, sheep, and finally the horses; all were consumed, even to their skins. The only resource was in roots, acorns, berries, and such other unwholesome stuff as could be found; nay, so pinching was the hunger, that savages who had been slain and buried were disinterred to be consumed, and even some of the whites who had perished were used to preserve life by the rest. Of nearly five hundred that Smith left, in six months only sixty emaciated beings remained alive; and these were without the possibility of support for longer than ten days. This terrible state of affairs and misery of the colonists was the natural result of their misconduct. But it was not the destiny of human affairs that the efforts to promote and establish civilization in the new world should be entirely abandoned, and so much labor and suffering be useless to mankind. Human endurance, skill and energy at times seems to be equal to all emergencies. GROWTH OF THE COLONIES AND ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION WESTWARD. It is not our purpose to prolong the details of the many trials and difficulties encountered by the first colonists of Virginia. In 1610, at a very critical period of its existence, Lord Delaware arrived with three ships, having on board a number of new settlers and everything requisite for defence or cultivation. Being fully competent to his station, he at once took charge of affairs, and by careful and tender nursing once more restored the colony to vigor and gave it a promising appearance. For a long period the colonists of Virginia had undergone this varied experience of misery and suffering, but at length, becoming stronger by degrees, their foothold on the soil of the new world became permanent. Soon thereafter they began to increase in numbers, wealth and prosperity. Their success induced the formation of other colonies, and soon drew the attention of all Europe. New England, New York, and Maryland became permanently settled, and eventually William Penn obtained his charter (1681) and laid the foundation for a 'powerful and wealthy commonwealth. The tobacco trade, which had so suddenly developed throughout the world, at once created a demand for the article, and its production attracted the attention and energies of the early colonists of Virginia. This proved a means of amassing wealth to a degree almost hitherto unknown, and soon it had the effect to rapidly increase the strength and importance of the colony. Competence promptly followed industry; a feeble colony grew to a great and powerful agricultural province; along with prosperity advanced the principles of republican liberty, the inhabitants became proverbial for hospitality, and where once had been misery and suffering, ensued scenes of human happiness and welfare. On the 24th of July, 1621, the colony of Virginia established a form of government, subject to the approval of the "General Quarter Court of the Company in England." To this was added the proviso that no order of the Council in England should bind the colony unless ratified in the General Assembly of Virginia. Thus early in our country's history was introduced those principles of republicanism, which eventually secured to us our present form of government. The king and the Company, however, quarreled, and he suspended their powers by the proclamation of July 15, 1624. King James I. having died on the 27th March, 1625, Charles I. took the government into his own hands. He made extensive grants of plantations in a high state of cultivation, and also woodlands, in the colony of Virginia, to his particular friends, Lord Baltimore and Lord Fairfax, to the former of whom he even granted the separate and sole right of jurisdiction and government. Charles I. having been deposed by Oliver Cromwell in 1650, and assuming the title of Protector, he considered himself as standing in the place of the deposed king, and as having succeeded to all the kingly powers, without as well as within the realm, and therefore assumed control over the American colonies. Virginia, however, had expressed herself as opposed to Cromwell and his parliament, and invited Charles II. (the son of the deceased king), who was then an exile in Breda, Flanders, to come into Virginia and become their king, but on the eve of embarking, in 1660, he was recalled to the throne of England, on the 29th of May, of the same year. After Charles II. had ascended the throne, and desirous of giving a substantial proof of the profound respect he entertained for the loyalty of Virginia, he caused her coat-of-arms to be quartered with those of England, Ireland and Scotland, as an independent member of the empire. Hence the origin of the term Old Dominion. It also derived this term from the fact that it was the first of the English settlements in the limits of the British colonies. As the first colonists gained their permanent foothold, the march of civilization westward steadily advanced step by step. The growth, necessarily slow in the beginning, became more rapid as numbers increased; and the second generation, being a race of hardy pioneers, made the power of the colony felt in all directions. Gradually they penetrated the quiet wilderness, established military posts at important points, and steadily pressed forward with actual settlements farther into the depths of the interior. The beautiful forests, abounding with game and fowl, disappeared before the encroachments of advancing civilization at a rate without a parallel in the world's history, and the existence of the once proud race who flourished in all the splendor and pomp of their original state, eventually became a theme of the misty past. HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO - 17 Within the lapse of a century and a half from the time of the establishment of the first English colony in Virginia, the first whites had penetrated the Ohio valley, and were making preparation for the settlement of the region, whose history is about to be recorded in these pages. In the fresh paths of moccasined feet trod the brogans of the pioneers, and hardly was the sky clear from the smoke of the wigwam, ere it was clouded again by the chimney of the settler's cabin. As the weird chant and savage war whoop of the red man died away amid the magnificent forest, the sound of the axe and the peaceful voice of busy husbandry arose in the air. Hunting grounds became fruitful farms, and soon villages, schools, churches, and colleges sprang up along the streams and hill sides, so long sacred to the original tribes. CHAPTER II THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE-INDIAN NATIONS-THE IROQUOIS SUPREMACY-RAPID DECLINE OF THE TRIBES IN VIRGINIA-NATIONS IDENTIFIED 'WITH THE OHIO VALLEY-SUMMARY. THEN Columbus first discovered land, on his great experimental voyage westward, he believed that it belonged to India. He therefore called the inhabitants " Indians " and the same name was given to those who were subsequently found upon the continent. When the first Europeans set foot upon the soil of North America, the original people were found throughout all that .vast region south of Labrador, and between the Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi river. Though they were divided and subdivided into many tribes, and speaking a variety of dialects, the traditions of all the nations occupying that portion of the country as far south as the Roanoke and Ohio rivers, traced their origin back to two great primitive branches, known as the Lenni Lenape and Mengwe. These two great groups of nations were called by the Europeans, the Delawares and the Iroquois. The Lenni Lenape, or Lenape, received the name of Delawares from the English, and the Mengwe were given the appellation of Iroquois by the French. Among their derivative nations, the Lenape were also known as the Wapanachki, and this name was variously corrupted by Europeans into Openaki, Openagi, Abenaquis, Apenakis, and Abenaskis. The Mengwe were also called Mingoes; this last corruption, orginating among ignorant white men, was from them adopted by Delawares who applied it as a reproach to their Menqwe neighbors between whom and themselves ill, feeling, and sometimes great animoisty existed. By some writers, and particularly Mr. Bancroft, nearly all the nations included under the heads of Mengwe and Lenape, or Iroquois and Delawares, are called the Algonquin nations. The powerful confederacy which the English found in Virginia, under the able and potent leadership of the famous Powhatan, spoke. the Algonquin language, and were doubtless a branch of the Lenape. Having raised himself from the rank of a chieftain to the command of thirty tribes, the power of this Indian confederacy may rightly be attributed to the great native talent and ambition of the monarch who held imperial sway over it. The dominion of Powhatan had the tribes of the eastern shore as its dependencies, and included all the villages west of the Chesapeake, from the most southern tributaries of James river to the Patuxent. But after his death, in 1618, the power of the little empire began to decline, and in the days of his brother Opechancanough, was entirely broken. After what is known as the insurrection of Bacon, the confederacy disappears from history. Considerable variety of opinion is expressed by leading authors concerning the classification of the various Indian nations, their respective origin, and some important features of their history. Bancroft, Parkman Schoolcraft, Clinton, Colden, Gallatin, Heckwelder, Loskiel, McIntosh. and others, so frequently differ on the various branches of the subject, that the modern compiler finds considerable difficulty in arranging and harmonizing a complete and systematic account of the aborigines, and consequently many items of interest concerning them are clouded in mystery. 3—B. & J. cos. When the whites first became acquainted with these aborigines, they possessed many curious and interesting legends and traditions. In reference to their origin, there was a tradition 'among the Lenape, that many centuries previous, their ancestors dwelt in the wilds of the extreme western part of the continent. That after a long dwelling there, they began moving in the direction of the rising sun, and, in the course of time,, arrived on the banks of a great river, to which they gave the name of Namoesi Sipu, or River of Fish (Mississippi). Here they first met the Mengwe, who had also migrated from a country far to the north and west, and had reached the Mississippi at a point farther north. After stopping awhile the spies of the Lenape discovered that the country on the east of the great river was inhabited by a powerful people called " Tallagawe". or "Allegewi," from whom, some writers allege, may have sprung the names of the Allegheny river and mountains. The pre-historic race commonly known as the "Mound Builders," which at one time occupied the greater portion of the Mississippi Valley, are generally supposed to be the people referred to in this tradition. In the transmitted story that mysterious people were represented as living in large cities, situated along the principal streams and surrounded by fortifications. Desiring to proceed farther eastward, the Lenape asked permission of the Allegewi to cross the river and settle in their vicinity. This request was not granted, but the Lenape were eventually told they could cross the river and proceed eastward to a country beyond the Allegewi, when they accepted the proposition and commenced crossing. As soon as the Allegewi saw the great numbers of the Lenape, they became alarmed, and fell upon those who had crossed over, destroying them, and warning the others not to attempt a further passage. The Lenape then sought the assistance of the Mengwe, and an alliance was entered into, the two nations agreeing to conquer and divide the country. A long and bloody war followed, lasting through many years, and in which there was great slaughter on both, sides. The Allegewi fought valiantly and obstinately for their country, but at length the united nations prevailed—the Allegewi were conquered—and the last remnant of them were driven far to the southward. The conquerors took possession of the lands and divided it between them—the Mengwe taking the country around the great lakes, and the Lenape choosing the region lying to the south and along the Ohio river and its tributaries. They lived here many ages, as peaceful neighbors, but gradually moved along in an eastward direction. The hunters of the Lenape finally crossed the mountains and discovered the waters of the Susquehanna and the Delaware, and the great bays into which they flowed. They explored the country beyond the Delaware (now New Jersey)—called it the Scheyichbi country, and upon reaching the banks of the beautiful Hudson, they named it Mohicannittuck. After extensively exploring all this vast region, and several month's absence, they returned to their country and communicated everything they had seen; describing the new discovery as a land abounding in game, fish, fowl, and fruits, and destitute of inhabitants. Soon they proceeded to occupy this country, and subsequently established themselves upon the four great rivers of the Atlantic slope—the Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac. They made the Delaware the centre of their possessions, and named it Whittuck (river of the Lenape). They were finally divided into three great bodies, the larger portion settling along the Atlantic and the eastern slope of the Allegheny mountains, another along the eastern bank of the Mississippi, and a third continued to dwell on the west side of that river. The Atlantic branch became subdivided into three tribes : the Turtle or Unamis ; the Turkey or Unalachtgo, and the Wolf or Minsi. The two former inhabited the coast from the Hudson to the Potomac, and the latter, called by the English Muncey or Muncie, and by the French Loupe, being the most warlike tribe, dwelt in the interior, adjacent to the Mengwe, and forming a barrier between them and their people. They extended from Minisink. on the Delaware, where they had their council-seat, to the Hudson, on the east, occupied the valleys of the Delaware and Susquehanna, and were scattered as far west as the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio. The Mengwe, like their neighbors, also gradually moved eastward, occupying the shores of the great lakes, and establishing themselves over all that country from Lake Erie to the Hudson, and from the headwaters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna, and Delaware rivers, northward to Lake Ontario and even across the St. Lawrence; thus really embracing nearly all of the state of New York, a portion of Canada, and northwestern Pennsyl- vania. This they figuratively styled their " long council house," within which, the place of kindling the grand council fire, was 18 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO. the Onondaga valley, where delegates from all the tribes met in solemn deliberation. They existed as a confederation of tribes, and were usually known in. English annals as the Five Nations. This alliance was composed of the Mohawks,* Senecas, † Cayugas,‡ Onondagas,§ and Oneidas. ¶ They called themselves the Ho-de-no-saw-ne, or People of the Long House; implying that they were one family, sheltered by the same roof. In the course of time a bitter enmity had arisen between the Mengwe and the Lenape, and this confederation was formed for mutual protection and defence against their hostile neighbors. They dated the formation of this league only a few years previous to the time when the white man first landed upon their shores. In 1712, the Tuscaroras, having been driven by the white settlers from their hunting grounds in the Carolinas, were received into the Iroquois confederacy, which from that time became what was known as the Six Nations, and are reckoned the most powerful and celebrated of all the Indian nations of North America. Each nation was sub-divided into eight tribes, which bore the names of Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, and Hawk; and at the formation of the league these names were retained and all their laws and customs made with reference to this division into tribes. They appear to have lived up to the requirements of the confederation, in good faith and mutual accord. The Mowawks occupied the country nearest the Hudson river, and were considered as holding the post of honor, the guarding of the eastern entrance to the "long house." The highest chief of that nation was also the leading war chief of the confederacy. The Senecas, who were the most numerous, and possessed of the highest degree of warlike spirit and military energy, defended the western portion of the "house," while the Cayugas were guardians over the frontier of the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys. The grand council fire was under the watch of the Onondagas, to whom also belonged the office of chief Sachem (or highest chief magistrate of the league). The land of the Oneidas lay farther towards the north on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. At the grand council-house at Onondaga, all business relating to the confederation was transacted, and their deliberations were marked with good judgment and ability. The Iroquois council has been compared to the Wittenagamott of the Saxons, and Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York, spoke of them as the "Romans of America." We have observed that in the process of time the Lenape and the Mengwe became bitter enemies. THE IROQUOIS SUPREMACY OVER THE DELAWARES AND OTHER NATIONS. Different causes are assigned for the final conflict and sanguinary war which ensued between the Iroquois and Delawares. Jealousy and animosity had long existed, frequent contests had occurred, and a constant strife was kept alive between the two great nations. When the disturbing elements finally culminated in that long and bloody struggle, the superior advantages the Iroquois, or Five Nations, possessed over their opposing neighbors is greatly to be attributed to the deliberations of the grand council at the "Long House." The result was the final subjugation of the Delawares. Hence when the Europeans began the settlement of Virginia, and Pennsylvania, this nation was found occupying a subordinate position to that of their abler and more powerful rivals. Their complete subjugation was celebrated at Albany, New York, in 1617, in presence of the Dutch, whom the Delawares charged with aiding and abetting the treachery of their ancient enemies. After this period it was the custom of the Iroquois to send a chief into the interior of Pennsylvania to rule over the Delawares and other tribes in that region. Among these was the great Cayuaga chief Shikellimus, the father of Logan, who dwelt at Shamokin, a large Indian village near the junction of the North and West Branch of the Susquehanna. This memorable chief is said to have governed those tribes with ability and integrity for a great many years, and enjoyed great respect from the whites. In regard to the supremacy of the Iroquois over the Delawares and other nations, it is said that on the part of the former, that *Mohawks—" the fire-striking people"—they being the first to procure fire-arms from the Dutch, the term arising from their fiint-locks striking sparks of fire. † Seneca.—"Mountaineers"—becausa they inhabited the hilly or mountainous parts of the Iroquois domain. ‡ Cayugas—from the lake Queugue, on the shores of which they lived. § Onondagas from Onondago, signifying "the hill-top," their principal town being set on a ¶ Oneidas—" the pipe makers" a name given them because they were most ingenious in making atone tobacco pipes. the feeling towards their vassals was one of haughty superiority. There is no recorded instance where unmeasured insult and stinging contempt, were more wantonly and publicly .heaped on a cowed and humiliated people, than on the occasion of a treaty held in Philadelphia, in 1742, where Connossatego, an old Iroquois chief, having been requested, by the Governor, to attend (really for the purpose of forcing the Delawares to yield up the rich lands of the Minisink), arose in council, where whites and Delawares and Iroquois were convened, and in the name of all the deputies of his confederacy, said to the Governor, that the Delawares had been an unruly people, and altogether in the wrong, and that they should be removed from their lands; and then, turning most superciliously towards the abashed Delawares, he said: "You deserve to be taken by the hair of your heads, and shaken till you recover your senses and become sober. We have seen a deed, signed by nine of your chiefs over fifty years ago, for this very land. But how came you to take it upon yourselves to sell lands at all? We conquered you, we made women of you. You know you are women, and can no more sell lands than women. Nor is it fit that you should have power to sell lands, since you would abuse it. You have had clothes, meat, and drink, by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again, like children as you are. What makes you sell lands in the dark? Did you ever tell us you had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even to the value of a pipe-shank, from you for it ? This is acting in the dark—very different from the conduct which our Six Nations observe in the sales of land. But we find you are none of our blood; you act a dishonest part in this, as in other matters. Your ears are ever open to slanderous reports about your brethren. For all these reasons we charge you to remove instantly ! We don't give you liberty to think about it. You are women! Take the advice of a wise man and remove instantly! You may return to the other side of the river where you came from, but we do not know whether, considering how you have demeaned yourselves, you will be permitted to live there, or whether you have not already swallowed that land down your throats, as well as the land on this side. You may go either to Wyoming or Shamokin, and then we shall have you under our eye, and can see how you behave. Don't deliberate, but go, and take this belt of wampum." He then forbade them ever again to interfere in any matters between white man and Indian, or ever, under any pretext, to pretend to sell lands, and, as they (the Iroquois,) he said, had some business of importance to transact with the Englishmen, he commanded them to immediately leave the council, like women and children as they were. Upon the occasion above referred to—the Indian treaty at Philadelphia, in 1742—when the Iroquios chief, Connossatego, commanded the Delawares instantly to leave the council-house, where their presence would no longer be tolerated, the outraged and insulted red men were completely crest-fallen and crushed, but they had no choice except to obey. They at once left the presence of the Iroquois, and returned to their homes on the beautiful Lenape Wihittuck - now their homes no longer—and prepared to bid them adieu forever. We may imagine the agony of hatred—more bitter than gall, and yet wholly impotent—with which they thought of the haughty .tyranny of the Iroquois, and the cupidity and double-dealing of the white man, as they took up their sad march towards the land of their banishment, in the valley of the Susquehanna. Those lands were already occupied by the Shawnees, but they, being also under tribute to the Mengwe, dared not protest against the new occupancy, so they "moved along," and made room for the Delawares, some of whom pitched their lodges at Wyoming, while some passed on to the West Branch, and others even crossed the Alleghenies. We do not find that in the then middle colonies, the Five Nations had ventured so far in their hostile conduct towards the Delawares as they had done to the Mohicans, though the alliance between the Dutch and the Five Nations, and afterwards between the English and the latter, was much against both, and, indeed, more against the Delawares than the Mohicans. Yet by turning to treaties and councils held with these nations between the years 1740 and 1760, we find much insolent language which the Iroquois were, we will say, permitted, but which the people concerned say were "bid or hired to make, against the Delawares, for the purpose of stopping their mouths, preventing them from stating their complaints and grievances, and asking redress from the colonial government." The result of such high-toned language as that which was made use of to the Delawares, by the Six Nations, in 1742, and at other times afterwards, might easily have been foretold. HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO - 19 For although now these defenceless people had to submit to such gross insults, instead of seeing their grievances redressed, yet they were not ignorant of the manner in which they might one day take revenge, the door to the French, who were enemies to the English, being always open to them, they had but to go "on one side " (as they expressed themselves) to be out of the way of the Iroquois, and they could obtain from the possessors of Canada and Louisiana all that they wanted, fire-arms, hatchets, scalping-knives, ammunition, etc. They did so, and removed to the Ohio country, whither they were followed by others, from time to time, and by the time the French war broke' out they were in perfect readiness, and join- ing the enemies of Great Britain, they murdered great numbers of the defenceless inhabitants of the border, laid the whole frontier waste, and spread terror and misery far and wide, by the outrages they committed. RAPID DECLINE OF THE TRIBES IN VIRGINIA. When the first Europeans came to the western continent, they found the Aborigines complete monarch's of the forest, and maintaining a more comfortable existence than any other of the savage nations of the globe; but they did not long survive the encroachments of civilization. The corruptions and vices of the whites soon crossed the threshold of their primitive simplicity, the happiness of their normal state changed to misery, and they began to fade away from the approach of their multiplying neighbors. As settlements were'made and forests cleared away, game became scarce; the means of sustenance became a problem which the untutored savage could not solve, and the once powerful tribes and nations of Virginia grew weaker, and either disappeared step by step into the interior, or totally vanished from existence. In a summary account, given in Beverly's History of Virginia, of the Indians as they existed in the territory of the province about the year 1700, the following statement is made: "The Indians of Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge, are almost wasted, but such towns or people as retain their names and live in bodies, are hereunder set down; all which together cannot raise five hundred fighting men. They live poorly, and much in fear of the neighboring Indians. Each' town, by the articles of peace, 1677, pays three. Indian arrows for their land, and twenty beaver-skins for protection, every year." NATIONS IDENTIFIED WITH THE OHIO VALLEY. Some indefinite knowledge of the Indian nations who traversed the valley of the Ohio, and were the occupants of the great Northwest territory, can be traced as far back as the year 1650. An attempt at inquiry into the mysteries anterior to that period would necessarily involve problems of the science of ethnology that are aside from the purpose of these pages. Even for a century subsequent to that period much that has been written is based upon mere tradition. About the year 1650, the Iroquois nations, having become powerful and arrogant by their system of confederation, invaded the territory of the Hurons, or Wyandots, whose ancient seats were on the eastern shore of the lake which bears their name. The Hurons were driven with great slaughter to the Manitouline islands of the lake, and their enraged enemies expelled them from point to point until they were forced to take shelter in the territory of the head-waters of the Mississippi. The once powerful Eries, living south of the lake which perpetuates their name, next met a still worse fate from the hands of the victorious Iroquois; and of all the sanguinary conflicts among the savages, of which we have any account, probably none were so desperate and so bloody as that between these nations. It resulted in the complete extermination of the former in the year 1655. The confederated nations stormed the Erie strongholds, overpowered the desperate defenders, and with the ferocity of tigers, butchered them without mercy. The greater part of the nation was involved in the massacre, and the remnant was incorporated with the conquerors, or with other tribes, to which they fled for refuge. A tribe known as the Andastes, who dwelt in portions of the valley of. the Allegheny, shared the same fate, but their final dispersion was not accomplished until the year 1672. Many other western tribes—those of Hudson's Bay, of the distant Missouri, and the far south, were not removed from the attacks of the Iroquois confederacy. We are told .by Colden, in. his history of the Five Nations, that "their conquests extended from New York to Carolina, and from New England to the Mississippi." Another author has said that "at the commencement of the eighteenth century, the territory now Ohio was derelict, except as the indomitable confederates of the north made it a trail for further hostilities, or roamed its hunting grounds." In Hildreth's Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley the following language is used: " Year after year the savage and warlike inhabitants of the north invaded the country of the more peaceable and quiet tribes of the south. Fleets of canoes, built on the head waters of the Ohio, and manned with the fierce warriors of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, annually floated down this quiet stream, carrying death and destruction to the inhabitants who lived along its borders. All the fatigue and trouble of marching long distances by land was thus avoided; while the river afforded them a constant magazine of food in the multitude of fishes which filled its waters. The canoe supplied to the Indian the place of the horse and wagon to the white man, in transporting the munitions of war. These they could moor to the shore, and leave under a guard, while the main body made incursions against tribes and villages, living at one or more day's march in the interior. If defeated, their canoes afforded a safe and ready mode of securing a retreat, far more certain than it could be by land. When invading a country, they could travel by night as well as by day, and thus fall upon. the inhabitants very unexpectedly; while in approaching by land, they could hardly fail of being discovered by some of the young hunters in time to give at least some notice of their approach. The battles thus fought along the shores .of the Ohio, could they have been recorded, would fill many volumes." But the once proud and arrogant Iroquois were not able to maintain a complete and lasting supremacy over so vast a region, and between the years 1700 and 1750, the great North West Territory again became occupied by different tribes of savages, which, the active warfare of their former conquerors having measurably ceased, took possession of a whole region as weeds become occupants of a neglected field. Some of them may have sprung from the surviving members of the tribes that had been overcome and dispersed by the Iroquois. From this, however, must be excepted the region immediately adjacent to the Ohio river. This beautiful region, comprising a belt of country from forty to sixty miles in width, on both sides of the river, from near the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela to the mouth of the Big Miami, seems to have been appropriated by the various tribes almost exclusively as hunting grounds. Perhaps the previous invasions of Iroquois, may have deterred the tribes who dwelt in the interior from occupying the borders of the river, and this may account for the fact that the first white visitors to this part of the Ohio valley, found no villages upon its banks, or fields of corn in its rich, alluvial bottoms. The river teemed with fish, the valleys, and hillsides abounded in animals of the chase, thus bountifully affording that which was needed for the well being of savage life; but the fires that were kindled along its shores were those of 'the warrior or the hunter. Prior to the year 1740, the English knew but little of the Ohio valley, and prior to that time the French explorers seem to be the only ones who had any knowledge of the vast region now known as the Central West. The first visitors to this locality mention but one Indian village on the borders of the river in the region of the Pan Handle, of West Virginia, or the counties of Belmont and Jefferson, Ohio. When the French descended the river in 1749, under the command of De Celoron, they found many villages along the Allegheny, but the. only ones they speak of on the banks of the Ohio, before reaching the mouth of the Miami, was what was known subsequently as " Logstown," about seventeen miles below Pittsburgh, and the village near the mouth of the Scioto. In the former they found Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnese, Ottawas, and others; in the latter were dwelling Iroquois, Shawanese, Delawares, and Miamis, Indians from the Sault St. Louis, Lake of the Two Mountains, and representatives from nearly all the nations of the "upper country." This would indicate that these various nations were at that period living in comparative peace, and that the borders of the Ohio were appropriated as a common hunting ground, from which circumstance the region so profusely abounded in game. Washington, in 1753, found Tanacharison, the Half-King of the Iroquois, at Logstown, and a portion of this nation settled in the rich bottom on the Ohio, below Steubenville, now known as Mingo Junction, which place was designated for many years after this period as the Mingo Town and Mingo Bottom. The name Mingo was the popular one applied to the Iroquois nations in this vicinity, and is still preserved as a favorite one to designate the locality of the ancient village. 20 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO. The Senecas, we have observed,were the most numerous, warlike and powerful of the Iroquois nations. They dwelt at the western door, and were expected to defend the territory of the confederacy against the entrance of the enemies from the direction of the setting sun. The principal region they occupied extended over western New York and north-western Pennsylvania, but they were also spread along the Allegheny, a short distance down the Ohio, and had a capital in the Tuscarawas valley. They were the dwellers at the Mingo town in Jefferson county, above mentioned. When Logan, who was a Cayuga, came to the Ohio valley, it is not definitely known that he dwelt at the Mingo town. In 1772 he was located with his relatives and others of his nation near the mouth of the Big Beaver. Their lodgment at the mouth of Yellow creek in the spring of 1774, is generally conceded to have been a hunting camp. When the Delawares were compelled to move westward from the encroachments of European civilization, they became occupants of portions of the territory now embraced within the limits of the State of Ohio. Their principal settlements were on the Muskingum river, where they flourished for a time, and about the year 1750 became a powerful tribe, asserting a possession over nearly one-half of the State. The other tribes prominent within the limits of Ohio at that period, were the Wyandots, Shawanese, Ottawas and Miamis. These nations were all more or less identified with the history of the Ohio valley. As before stated, they occupied this region as a common hunting ground, and were generally united in the bloody wars against the early settlers. The Wyandots, or Hurons, were doubtless descended from the undestroyed remnant of the once powerful tribe of that name, which, half a century before, had been driven off by the Iroquois. Freed froth the vindictive pursuit of their ancient enemies, this tribe returned to their old hunting grounds, and by the middle of the eighteenth century their right was undisputed to a great portion of the northern part of the State. The Shawanese, written also Shawanoese, Shawneese, Shawnoes, etc., by the English, and by the French Chauanons, are the most prominently identified, of all the tribes, with the early events of this immediate region. In regard to their history, there is much conflicting testimony. They were a people, who according to the best information to be obtained, had been at an anterior period, expelled from the south by stronger tribes, migrated northward, and the main body settled in the interior of the territory now embraced in the State of Ohio. A portion of them traveling eastward as far as the country adjoining the Delawares, whom they called their grand-fathers, had been permitted to erect their lodges there, but were, like the Lenape, held in a state of subjection by the Iroquois. They are said by the French to have come from the valley of the Cumberland river; by others, from Florida, where they dwelt on the banks of the Suwanee river, hence their name. The conflicting testimony, relative to these Bedouins of the American wilderness, is thus stated by Gallatin, in his "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes." He adopts " Shawnoes" as the orthography of the word, and conjectures that this nation separated at an early day from the other Lenape tribes, and established themselves south of the Ohio, in what is now the State of Kentucky; that having been driven away from that territory, probably by the Chickasaws and Cherokees, sonic portion found their way, during the first half of the seventeenth century as far east as the country of Susquehannocks, a kindred Lenape tribe; that the main body of the nation, invited by the Miamis and the Andastes, crossed the Ohio, occupied the country on and adjacent to the Scioto, and joined in the war against the Five Nations; and that, after their final defeat, and that of their allies, in the year 1672, they were again dispersed in several directions: A considerable portion made about that time a forcible settlement on the head waters of the rivers of Carolina; and these, after having been driven away by the Catawbas, found, as others had already done, an asylum in different parts of the Creek country. Another portion joined their brethren in Pennsylvania; and some may have remained in the vicinity of the Scioto and Sandusky. Those in Pennsylvania, who seem to have been the most considerable part of the nation, were not entirely subjugated and reduced to the humiliating state of women by the Six Nations. But they held their lands on the Susquehanna only as tenants at will, and were always obliged to acknowledge a kind of sovereignty or superiority in their landlords. They appear to have been more early and unanimous than the Delawares in their determination to return to the country north of the Ohio. This they effected under the auspices of the Wyandots, and on the invitation of the French, during .the years 1740-55. They occupied there the Scioto country, extending to Sandusky, and west-wardly towards the Great Miami, and they have also left there the names of two of their tribes, to wit : Chillicothe and Piqua. Those who were settled among the Creeks joined them; and the nation was once more reunited. Mr. Johnston, the Indian agent, says that this southern nation lived on the Shawnee river, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, and is supposed to derive its name from them; and that they returned thence about the year 1755, to the vicinity of Sandusky, under the conduct of a chief called Black Hoof. It has been reported that Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, were sons of a Creek woman married during that migration to a Shawanee. During the forty following years, the Shawanese were in an almost perpetual state of war with America, either as British colonies or as independent States. They were among the most active allies of the French during the seven years' war; and, after the conquest of Canada, continued, in concert with the Delawares, hostilities which were only terminated after the successful campaign of General Boquet. The first permanent settlements of the Americans beyond the Allegheny mountains, in the vicinity of the Ohio, were commenced in the year 1769, and were soon followed by a war with the Shawanese, called Lord Dunmore's war, which ended in 1774, after they had been repulsed in a severe engagement, under the command of their great chief Corn-Stalk, at the mouth of the Kanawha, and the 'Virginians had penetrated into their country. They took a most active part against America, both during the. war of Independence, and in the Indian war which followed, and which was terminated in 1795 at Greenville. They lost, by that treaty, nearly the whole territory which they held from the Wyandots; and a part of them, under the guidance of Tecumseh, again joined the English standard during the war of 1812. The Shawanese produced a number of chiefs who figured prominently throughout the annals of Indian history. Conspicuous among them was their famous, king, Corn-Stalk, whose history is so closely identified with the early events of the Ohio valley, but pre-eminent in the list of noted chieftains, as a bold and active warrior, was the celebrated Tecumseh, who was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, about the year 1770, and killed in the battle of the Thames, Canada West, October 5th, 1813. We add to the foregoing the following in reference to the Shawanese, taken from Heckwelder's account of the Indian nations: " The history of these people is here given, principally from the relations of old Indians of the Mohican* tribe, who say that they formerly inhabited the southern country, Savannah, in Georgia, and the Floridas. They were a restless people, delighting in wars, in which they were constantly engaged with some of the neighboring nations. At last their neighbors, tired of being continually harrassed by them, formed a league for their destruction. The Shawanos finding themselves thus dangerously situated, asked to be permitted to leave the country, which was granted them, and they fled immediately to the Ohio. Here their main body settled, and sent messengers to their elder brother, the Mohicans, requesting them to intercede for them with their grandfather, the Lenni Lenape, that he might take them under his protection. This the Mohicans willingly did, and even sent a body of their own people to conduct their younger brother into the country of the Delawares. The Shawanos finding themselves safe under the protection of their grandfather, did not choose to proceed farther to the eastward, but many of them remained on the Ohio, some of whom settled even as high up that river as the long island, above which the French afterwards built Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. Those who proceeded farther, were accompanied by their chief, named Gachgawatschiqua, and settled principally at and above the forks of the Delaware, some few between that and the conflu- ence of Delaware and Schuylkill, and some even on the spot where Philadelphia now stands; others were conducted by the Mohicans into their own country, where they intermarried with them and became one people. When those settled near the Delaware had multiplied, they returned to Wyoming, on the Susquehanna, where they resided for a great number of years. "In the meanwhile, those who had remained on the Ohio increased in numbers, and in process of time began again to be troublesome to their neighbors. At last they crossed the Allegheny mountains, and falling upon the camps of the Lenape on Juniata river, they committed several murders and went off with their plunder. It was soon discovered who were the aggressors; but the "Lenape had now assumed the station of `the woman, and could not engage in wars. They could only apply for protection to the Five Nations, which they did, expecting that they would immediately pursue the offenders and inflict * The Shawanese call the Mohicans their elder brothers. HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO - 21 an exemplary punishment upon them, but the Five Nations found means to evade the demand for the present. They told the Delawares that the season was too far advanced to commence a war; that it was better to put off their intended expedition until the ensuing spring; that in the meantime both nations should put themselves in readiness, and keep their preparations secret, and that as soon as the season should open, they would march off separately and meet together at an appointed time and place on the Allegheny, then push on together for the Shawanee towns below the confluence of that river and the Monongahela, where they could fall together unawares on the aggressors and punish them. The Iroquois promised, as usual, that they would place themselves in the front of the battle, so the Delawares would have nothing to do but to look on and see how bravely their protectors would fight for them, and if they were not satisfied with that, they might take their revenge themselves. "Agreeably to this plan, the Lenape remained quiet till the spring) when, with a body of their most valiant men, they marched to the appointed spot; but how great was their surprise when their pretended champions did not make their appearance ? They suspected treachery, and were not mistaken; for having immediately marched forward to the Shawanee towns, bent on taking an exemplary revenge, they had the disappointment to see on their arrival their enemies pushing off as fast as they could down. the Ohio river in their canoes. Some of them were flying by land, as probably they had not a sufficient number of canoes to convey their whole number; these they pursued and attacked, beat them severely, and took several prisoners. Here they had a striking instance of the treachery of the Mengwe, who had warned the Shawanos of their approach. Some time after this, the Shawanos who resided on the north branch of the Susquehanna began to draw off by degrees, first to the west branch of that river and the Juniata, and then to the Ohio; so that at the commencement of the French war in 1755, they had all, except a few families, with whom was their chief Paxnos, retired to the Ohio, where they joined their countrymen in the war against the English.* " Peace was made in 1763, between Great Britain and France ; but the restless spirit of the Shawanos did not permit them to remain quiet; they commenced war † against their southern neighbors, the Cherokees, who, while in pursuit of the aggressors, would sometimes, through mistake, fall upon the Lenape, who resided in the same country with the Shawanos, through whom they also became involved in a war with that nation, which lasted some time. The Mengwe being then also at war with the Cherokees, and frequently returning with their prisoners and scalps through their country, the warlike spirit was kept alive among all, until at length, in 1768, the Cherokees sought a renewal of the friendship formerly existing between them and their grandfather the Lenape, which being effected, they, by their mediation, also brought a peace between them and the Five Nations. "The Shawanese not being disposed to continue the war with the Cherokees by themselves, and having been reprimanded by their grandfather, for being the instigators of all these troubles, willingly submitted to the dictates of the Lenape, and from that time remained at peace with all the nations until the year 1774, when they were involved in a war with the people of Virginia, occasioned by some murders which were committed on Logan's family connections and others by white people. In this instance it cannot, I think, be said that they were the aggressors, yet their thirst for revenge was so great, and the injured Menqwe at their side called out so loudly for revenge, that they with great spirit engaged in a war with the Virginians, Which, however, was of short duration, as they were opposed with an equal degree of courage, and after a severe battle * While these people lived at Wyoming and its vicinity, they were frequently visited by missionaries of the Society of the United Brethren, who knowing them to be the most depraved and ferocious tribe of all the Indian nations they had heard of, sought to establish a friendship with them, so as not to be interrupted in their journeys from one Indian Mission to another, Count Zinzendorff being at that time in the country, went in 1742 with some other missionaries to visit them at Wyoming, staid with them twenty days, and endeavored to impress the gospel truths upon their minds ; but these hardened people suspecting his views, and believing that he wanted to purchase their land, on which it was reported there were mines of silver, conspired to murder him, and would have effected their purpose, but that Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter, arrived fortunately in time to prevent it. (Loskiel, part II., ch. 1.) Notwithstanding this, the brethren frequently visited them, and Shekellemus, a chief of great influence, having become their friend (Loskiel, ibid, ch. 8), they could now travel with greater safety. He died at Shamokin in 1719; the Brethren were. however, fortunate enough to obtain the friendship of Paxnos, or Paxinos, another chief of the Shawanos, who gave them full proof of it by sending his suns to escort one of them to Bethlehem from Shamokin, where he was in the most perilous situation, the war having just broke out. (Loskiel, ibid, ch. 12.) † Leskiel, part I., ch. 10. between the two rivals, at or near the mouth of the great Kanawha, and the destruction of many of their towns by the Virginians, the Shawanese were brought to make peace once more; which did not last long, as they joined the British against the American people, some time after the commencement of the revolution, and remained our enemies after that time, never establishing a firm peace with us, until the memorable treaty which took place in 1795, after the decisive defeat of the Indian nations by the late General Wayne. " The Shawanese lost many of their men during these can-tests ; but they were in a manner replaced by individuals of other nations joining them. Thus, during the revolutionary war, about one hundred turbulent Cherokees, who could not be brought by their own nation to be at peace with the American people, and were on that account driven out of their country, came over to the Shawanese, while others from the Five Nations joined them, or became their neighbors. "The Shawanese are considered to be good warriors and hunters. They are courageous, high spirited and manly, and more careful in providing a supply of ammunition to keep in reserve for an emergency, than any other nation that I have heard of. Their language is more easily learned than that of the Lenape, and has a great affinity to the Mohican, Chippewa, and other kindred languages. They generally place the accent on the last syllable." The Ottawas, (or as they were called by the early white settlers, the Tawas), about the period of 1750, dwelt in the valleys of the Sandusky and Maumee rivers, and, together with the Wyandots, occupied north-western Ohio, and extended over considerable portions of the State of Michigan. The name of this tribe was either derived from, or communicated to the Canadian river, on whose banks they lived until driven westward by the power and fury of the Iroquois. Taking refuge among the Pottawatamies and Ojibwas, the western shore of Lake Huron, and the northern portion of the Michigan peninsula, became, for a time, an asylum for the fugitive Ottawas. This nation has been distinguished in the page's of history, through the agency of the grand old Indian monarch, Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawas. Pontiac was one of the most famous chiefs known in Indian' annals, and was pre-eminently endowed with all the attributes for a great leader among the tribes. The event known in history as Pontiac's Conspiracy, of 1763, in which the western tribes were concentrated in a grand simultaneous attack against all the English garrisons of the frontier, was a scheme worthy the genius of a Napoleon. Pontiac obtained a controlling influence over the Ojibwas and Pottawatomies, and made their confederacy with the Ottawas the basis of his combination against the English. It has, been remarked that, among the Ottawas alone, the heavenly bodies were an object of veneration—the Sun ranking as their Supreme Deity. This tribe, whose mythology was more complicated than usual with the Indians, were accustomed to keep a regular festival to celebrate the beneficence of the Sun; on which occasion the luminary was told that this service was in return for the good hunting he had procured for his people, and as an encouragement to persevere in his friendly cares. They were also observed to erect an idol in the middle of their town, and sacrifice to it; but such ceremonies were by no means general. On first witnessing Christian worship, the only idea suggested by it was that of asking some temporal good, which was either granted or refused. Bancroft states that the word "Ottawa" signifies "trader," and was probably applied by the Hurons from the fact that the tribe was principally settled on and in the vicinity of an island in the Ottawa river, where they exacted a tribute from all the Indians and canoes going to, or coming from the country of the Hurons. It is observed by a Jesuit father, Le Jeune, that although the Hurons were ten times as numerous, they submitted to that imposition; which seems to prove that the right of sovereignty over the Ottawa river was generally recognized. After their expulsion from this aboriginal custom house, the memory of their island home seems to have been preserved; for during the last century they sought and were suffered to take possession of the islands of Lake Erie and the peninsula of Sandusky, where their fishing and trapping parties were found by the French traders about the year 1750. Such, then, were the occupants of the valley of the Ohio in the middle of the eighteenth century, and such, at least, approximately, were the limits of their homes and haunts. During the half century that followed, while the white men were building up a civil society in the East, and events were slowly drifting toward the collision and war, which resulted in Ameri- can independence, the possessory rights of these savages were 22 - HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO. but little disturbed in Ohio. Here they roamed, and hunted, and made love or war at their pleasure, little conscious of their approaching troubles and doom. It is no part of the purpose of this narrative to treat in detail of the history of this period, of the intrigues and wars of the French and English for the possession of this Western country, and of the fitful and treacherous alliances of the Indians now with one side and now with the other. Our aim is merely to call attention to the character of the Indian tribes that occupied the country ; this being cursorily accomplished, we pass to events more nearly connected with our subject. SUMMARY OF INDIAN NATIONS. The following list of Indian nations, and their places of abode, was compiled by Col. George Croghan, who was a deputy Indian agent, an explorer of the Ohio valley and the country adjacent, and conspicuously identified with the events of this region from 1750 to 1770. It is taken from a report made by him as deputy Indian agent to the English government in 1765 : A LIST OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS AND TRIBES OF INDIANS IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NORTH AMERICA, WITH THE NUMBER OF THEIR FIGHTING MEN.