HISTORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY, CHAPTER I. FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT IN OHIO MADE ON THE MAUMEE RIVER, IN 1680. THE first efforts made by Europeans, or their descendants, to settle the territory now forming the jurisdiction of Ohio, were undertaken by the French, in the Maumee Valley, and in the year 1680. It was deemed prudent by those who sought even, temporary domicile among the savages, whether the object was trade, agriculture, or missionary labor, to first secure safety against surprise and attack by the construction of military defences. The enterprising and fearless discoverer, La Salle, erected, in the autumn of the year mentioned, a stockade at the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's rivers, on the ground now occupied by Fort Wayne, and retained possession of it about one month. During the year 1679, the Count de Frontenac, Governor of Canada, urged upon the French monarch the importance of erecting forts and trading posts in the Western country, along the chain of great lakes. Though no assistance came from the profligate King, Frontenac, who was a man of great energy and spirit, sent out a number of trading parties, with authority to erect stores or posts, and to take possession of all the country visited, in the name of the government of France. "One of these parties found their way to the Miami or Maumee river, and in 1680, built a small stockade just below the site of Maumee City. This was an important trading point for several years, and in 1694 was under the command of Sieur. Courthemanche ; - 2 - 10 - First White Settlement but was finally abandoned for a more eligible location at the head of the Maumee river, near where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. On the very spot where the fort of Maumee stood), the British, in 1794-, erected Fort Miami." This statement is made upon the authority of the late A. T. Goodman, Esq., Secretary of the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society, who obtained the data upon which it is based, from French records, at Montreal and Quebec, and papers at Albany and Harrisburg. Hence the occupation of the Maumee ante-dated that sought to be established on the Detroit; the first effort at French settlement being made on the last named river in 1683. In 1701, de la Motte Cadillac laid the foundations of Fort Pontchartrain on the Detroit, which embraced the whole strait from Lake Erie to Lake Huron. The first grants of land at Detroit, i. e., Fort Pontchartrain, were made in 1707. Cadillac was not only founder of Detroit, but Governor of Louisiana. The town, as we have noticed, was founded subsequent to the settlements on the Maumee river; yet, according to the statement of Judge Burnet, it was the most ancient on the Upper Lakes ; and was the capital of Upper Canada until it fell into the hands of the United States. In 1689, the Count de Frontenac was again commissioned Governor of Canada. The following year (1690), War broke out between England and France, and the King of the French, in a letter to Frontenac, expressed " great desire for the maintenance of French posts in the West." In 1695, Captain Nichols Perrot built a trading station "at the west end of Lake Erie." This continued for two years, when the Miamis plundered the place, seized Perrot, and were on the point of "roasting him alive," when he was saved by the Outagamis. The exact location of Perrot's station can not now be determined. During the year 1695, a very bloody war occurred between the Iroquois and Miamis, in which the latter nation suffered severely, as did the French traders in the Ohio and Illinois country. We find the Governor of Canada complaining that the Iroquois "roasted all the French prisoners" that came into their hands. It is probable that English traders first began to establish themselves for permanent operations in the West in 1698-99. Early in the year 1700, M. de Longueuil held a grand Council at Detroit, with the Outaouais, Hurons, Pouteouatamis and Mississagues. In his speech to them he said : " The Englishmen hath reddened the sea In the Maumee Valley - 11 with my blood ; he has also causelessly stained with it a great many other countries. My hatchet has not stirred. But now that he hath pushed me to the wall by so many relapses, I must perish or avenge on him all the blood he has drawn from my veins. It is neither to Montreal nor his territory that I direct your first steps against him. It is in your own immediate vicinity, where he, for several years, hath quietly made his way with his goods. It is to the White river and to the Beautiful river, (Ohio,) that I expect you will immediately march in quest of him, and when you destroy him, you will seize and divide all his goods among you. Set out forthwith. You shall want for nothing that you require for the extirpation of this scum. If the English escape you on, the Beautiful river, (Ohio,) you will find them a little farther off with his brother, the Flat- Head." In answer to a message of the White river Indians, M. de Longueuil said : "Wait not till the English strike first ; commence by binding and pillaging all the English who come to your parts, and the Beautiful river, (Ohio); divide the goods among you, and bring the men here to Detroit." During the year 1700, the Iroquois, after years of hostility, made a treaty with the French, by which their missionaries and traders were allowed in all parts of the West. About this time a party of factors from Detroit built a small Post on the Maumee, where Toledo now stands. In 1703, the English invited the Hurons and Miamis to locate near the Senecas, on Lake Erie, assuring them of protection against the French. The proposition was rejected. During the year 1705, Sieur de Joncaire visited the Seneca Indians, and Sieur de Vincennes the Miamis, on business of the Governor. of Canada, and found English traders with each nation. In 1707, M. de Cadillac, commandant at Detroit, marched with a small force against the Miamis, and soon forced them to terms. Two years later (1709), Cadillac advocated the building of a ship canal from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. In 1712, Sieur de Vincennes paid .a second visit to the Miamis. The French post at Detroit was besieged by the Pouteouatamis and Saguenays, who made war on the Indian. allies of the French, massacreing nearly one thousand men, women and children of the Outagamis and Maskoutins. As early as 1714, Governor Alexander Spotswood, of Virginia, a man of foresight and energy, saw the advantage to be gained by an 12 - First White Settlement early settlement of the Ohio country. He had been appointed Gov.. ernor in 1710, an office which he filled with great ability for twelve years. During the year 1714, he explored the country across the Blue Ridge to the Ohio, and became enamored with the surroundings. If, was not, however, until the year 1716, that he communicated to th Legislature a plan for a company to settle the lands on the Ohio, river. The Legislature viewed the matter favorably, and the papers: were sent to the English Ministry for approval. They were held for a long time, and finally the plan was rejected. The exact cause was never known, but was supposed to have been fear on the part of the Ministry, that the planting of colonies to the westward would give offence to the French. Notwithstanding this disheartening refusal, the matter was not entirely dropped. From time to time, pamphlets were printed, and letters published, urging upon the English Government the necessity of pushing its possessions westward. There were plenty of capitalists ready to risk their money in the purchase of lands and building up of settlements, but the Ministry were weak and timid, and would give no encouragement whatever. In 1714, Captain de La Forest showed to the French Government the importance of maintaining Detroit, and keeping possession of Lake Erie and its environs. The French monarch had more fore- sight than England's King, and spent vast sums of money in extending his possessions. In 1715, a party of Englishmen from North Carolina constructed three posts on the south side of the Ohio, and its branches. The French having obtained control of the Ohio Indians, th English in 1716 sent agents among them with speeches and presents,, and endeavored to form an alliance, but were unsuccessful. The same year seventeen Frenchmen were killed while on their way from the Illinois country to Detroit. In a letter, addressed about this: time by M. de Ramezay and M. Begon, to the Governor, of Canada, they requested the French Government to build a post at Niagara, on the ground that " this post would deter the Mississague and Amicoue Indians from going to the Iroquois to trade, when passing from the neighborhood of Lake Erie." A stockade was built by the French at Vincennes, but soon abandoned. During the year 1720, French traders were active along the Ohio. Sieur de Joncaire reported that he had seen "a fountain near the .head waters of the Ohio, the water of which is like oil, and tasted like iron." Further north, he reported. another fours taro of the same In the Maumee Valley - 13 kind. "The savages," he says, "make use of the water to appease all manner of pains." In 1722, a treaty was made at Albany, New York, between the Iroquois and English, by which the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains were acknowledged to belong to the Iroquois by reason of their conquests from the Eries, Conoys, Tongorias, &c. In 1725, Baron de Longueuil was made Governor of Canada, and soon after reported that, "the English have built two houses and some stores on a small stream which flows into the Wabash, where they trade with the Miamis and Ouyatanons." During the year 1726, the country from the Cuyahoga in Ohio, to Oswego in New York, was placed by the Iroquois under the protection of the English. In 1728, the Marquis de Beauharnois, then Governor of Canada, recommended the erection of a fort on the south shore of Lake Erie, to serve as winter quarters for two sloops he proposed to build on that lake. " By this means," he writes, "the English would be prevented from sending loaded canoes with brandy and merchandise to the head of Lake Erie." The King declined building the fort, or paying for the construction of sloops. In 1729, Joshua Gee, of London, printed a pamphlet urging the planting of English colonies in Western America. The following year (1730), Governor Keith urged upon the Ministry the advantages of securing British dominion west of the mountains. During the year 1731, Sieur de Joncaire, by direction of the Governor of Canada, visted the Shawanese, who had located on the Ohio and its branches—for the purpose of securing their friendship and alliance. In 1736, Vincennes was destroyed by the savages. The French now claimed to have 16,403 warriors, and 82,000 souls under their control in the West. During the year 1739, M. de Longueuil left Detroit, crossed the Ohio country, and discovered Bigbone Lick, in Kentucky. De Longueuil constructed a road from Detroit to the Ohio river, which crossed the Maumee at the foot of the rapids, and was thereafter used by the Canadians. In 1742, a number of herdsmen from Detroit settled. at Vincennes. John Howard, an English traveler, crossed the mountains from Virginia, descended the Ohio in a canoe, and was taken prisoner by the French, roan the Mississippi. 14 - Plot of Nicholas. In 1743, Peter Charties, a Frenchman living in Philadelphia, undertook, by a mission among the Ohio Shawanese, to engage them in war with the Six Nations. For this he was severely reprimanded by the Governor of Pennsylvania, and becoming alarmed, fled to Canada, where he was appointed Captain in the French service. He secured an alliance of the Shawanese with the French. The same year the Detroit French sent goods and presents to a party of Senecas, Onondagas, and others of the Iroquois, then recently settled on the White river. In return for these favors, the Indians promised to drive off all English traders from the Ohio. In 1744, Commissioners of the Colony of Pennsylvania made a treaty at Lancaster, Pa., with representatives of the six nations, by which the latter "recognized the King's right to all lands beyond the mountains." Encouraged by this, the English formed several settlements and magazines along the Ohio, but were driven off, almost immediately, by Detroit Indians. Hearing of their location on the White river, (Indiana,) M. de Longueuil sent thirty-five picked warriors of the Outaouais, to kill and plunder them, which was accomplished. Peter Charties, with one hundred Shawanese, ambuscaded two English traders on the Allegheny, near the Ohio, and seized their property, valued at sixteen hundred pounds. The traders were sent to Canada. During the year 1745, a dispute arose with the Senecas, in which several of the latter were killed, but no general warfare followed. PLOT OF NICHOLAS TO EXTERMINATE THE FRENCH POWER IN THE WEST. This year, the Miamis entered into the conspiracy of Nicholas, the distinguished Huron chief, who resided at " Sandosket," on the bay of that name. A plot was formed for a general extermination of the French power in the West. Seventeen tribes joined in this move. ment. In July, the Miamis danced the Calumet at Detroit, yet soon after seized Fort Miami, took eight Frenchmen, and destroyed the buildings. This tribe had removed from the Detroit river to lands on the north side of Sandusky bay. They were a powerful body of men; active, energetic, and unscrupulous. They had in some manner been offended by the French at Detroit, which affords the reason of their change of habitation, Nicholas, their principal Plot of Nicholas - 15 chief, was a wily fellow, full of savage cunning, whose enmity, when once aroused, was greatly to be feared.  Late in the same year a party of English traders from Pennsylvania visited the village of Nicholas, and were received with marked attention. Nicholas had become an implacable enemy of the French, and was therefore ready to make a treaty of amity and good will 1 with the English. He accordingly permitted the erection of a large block house at his principal town on the bay, and suffered the traders to remain and dispose of their stock of goods. Once located, the English established themselves at the place, and, according to French accounts, acquired great influence with Nicholas and his tribe. This influence was always exercised to the injury of the French. On the 23d of June, 1747, five Frenchmen, with peltries, arrived at the Sandusky town from White river, a small stream falling into the Wabash nearly opposite the present town of Mt. Carmel, Illinois. These Frenchmen, being wholly unaware of the- presence of English among the Hurons, were unsuspicious of danger, and counted upon the hospitality and friendship of the Indians. Their presence, however, inspired anything but tokens of good will. Nicholas was greatly irritated at the audacity of the French in coming into his towns without his consent. The English traders, noticing this feeling, urged the chief to seize the Frenchmen and their peltries. This was accomplished on the afternoon of the day of their arrival. The fate of the poor Frenchmen was soon determined. Nicholas condemned them to death, and they were tomahawked in cold blood. Their stock of peltries was disposed of to the English, and by them sold to a party of Seneca Indians. The news of these outrages created much feeling among the French at Detroit, and especially so among the traders in the Ohio country. As soon as the Sandusky murders came to the information of the Governor of Canada, he ordered M. de Longueuil, command, ant at Detroit, to send a messenger to Nicholas demanding the surrender of the murderers of the five Frenchmen. The demand was not complied with. Three other messengers in turn followed, but were met with the same refusal. M. de Longueuil then sent a peremptory demand, requiring the surrender of the murderers, to be disposed of according to his pleasure; that the Hurons must ally themselves at once with the French, or the latter will become their irreconcilable enemies; that the French were disposed to look upon the recent murders as acts of irresponsible parties, and not of the 16 - French Village at Fort Wayne. Huron tribe, and that all English traders must leave the Indian towns forthwith. The answer returned to these propositions amounted to a defiance, and preparations were made for an expedition against Sandusky. The crafty Nicholas was not less active than the French. He formed a great conspiracy for the capture of Detroit and the upper French posts, and the massacre of the white, inhabitants. How long this conspiracy had been brewing, we have no information, We know that by August, 1747, the Iroquois, Hurons, Outaouagas, Abenaquis, Pons, Ouabash, Sauteurs, Outaouas, Mississagues, Foxes, Sioux, Sacs, Sarastaus, Loups, Pouteouatamis, Chaonenons and Miamis had entered into a grand league, having for its object extermination of French dominion and authority in the West. Every nation of Indians, excepting those in the Illinois country, entered into the plan with zeal and alacrity. Offensive operations were to commence at once. A party of Detroit Hurons were to sleep in the fort and houses at Detroit, as they had often done before, and each was to kill the people where he lodged. The day set for this massacre was one of the holidays of Pentecost. A band of Pouteauatamis were commissioned to destroy the French mission and villages on Bois Blanc Island ; the Miamis, to seize the French traders in their country; the Iroquois, to destroy the French village at the junction of the Miami and St. Joseph; the Foxes, to destroy the village at Green Bay; the Sioux, Sacs and Sarastaus to reduce Michillimacinac ; while the other tribes were to destroy the French trading posts in their respective countries, seize the traders, and put them to death. This great conspiracy, so skillfully planned and arranged, woul have been attended with a frightful loss of life, and the utter annihilation of French power, but for its accidental yet timely discovery. It seems that a party of Detroit Hurons had struck before the other tribes were ready, by the murder of a Frenchman in the forest a few leagues from Detroit. This act was unauthorized by the Huron chiefs, who had made their arrangements for occupying the houses at Detroit, and were only waiting for the appointed time to strike the fatal blow. So fearful were the chiefs that their object would be detected since the murder, that a council was held in one of the houses, which had been obtained for the purpose, to determine whether any change of operations was necessary. While they were in council, one of their squaws, going into the garret of the Plot of Nicholas Defeated - 17 house in search of Indian corn, overheard the details of the conspiracy. She at once hastened to a Jesuit priest, and revealed the plans of the savages. The priest lost no time in communicating with M. de Longueuil, the French commandant, who ordered out the troops, aroused the people, and gave the Indians to understand that their plans had been discovered, and would be discomfited. With great alacrity messengers were despatched to the forts and trading posts, which put the people on their guard, and caused them to retire to places of safety. All tile settlers in the vicinity of Detroit were notified to enter the fort. The post of Miami was abandoned, and relief asked for from Quebec. When the Hurons at Detroit. found they had been detected, they sullenly withdrew, the commandant being unwilling to open actual hostilities by detaining them. Soon after this the Indian operations began, though confined to a small scale, on account of the vigilance of M. de Longueuil in apprising his countrymen of their danger. The latter part of August, 1747, a number of Frenchmen were killed at Chibarnani ; eight traders were seized in the Miami country; a man named Martineau was killed near Detroit; the Sauteurs attacked a convoy of French canoes on Lake St. Clair, captured one and plundered the goods; the Outaowas killed a number of French traders residing in their country; the Foxes murdered several traders at Green Bay ; a French trader was killed on the Miami; a party of Hurons attacked the inhabitants of Bois Blanc Island, and wounded three men. Five of the Hurons were captured, taken to Detroit, and heavily ironed. One was soon after killed by the people, and another committed suicide. Other murders were committed, and trading houses destroyed, but the conspiracy had been pretty effectually broken up by its timely discovery. Soon after hostilities had commenced, numbers of those who had entered the league deserted it, and craved the pardon and favor of the French. First among these were the Outaowas and Pon teowatamis, the latter having agreed to destroy the Lois Blanc villages. Thus weakened, the plans and efforts of Nicholas were in a measure paralyzed. On the 22d of September, a large number of boats, containing one hundred and fifty regular soldiers, arrived at Detroit from Montreal. Upon hearing of this, Nicholas abandoned all his plans, and was ready to make peace on the best terms he could obtain. He knew that certain destruction awaited his villages, unless pardon was - 2 - 18 - Nicholas abandons Sandusky Bay obtained; for the French commandant was already meditating punishment for him and his people, for the murder of the live traders the June previous. During the summer, two chiefs of the Detroit Hurons, Sastaredzy and Taychatin, had visited Detroit on a professed mission of friendship. They were seized and sent to Quebec to answer for the murders committed by the Sandusky Hurons. Sastaredzy died at Quebec on the 4th of August; Taychatin was released when peace was made. Nicholas secured the pardon of himself and the Sandusky Hurons, upon the most favorable terms—that of maintaining peace in the future. The French abandoned their demand for the murderers of the five traders, and. made no conditions as to the Indian trade with the English. Even during the winter that followed, 1747-8, Nicholas received at the Sandusky villages, on two occasions, a party of Englishmen from Philadelphia, and allowed his people to trade with them.. Soon after this, Nicholas received belts and other tokens of friendship from the English. These things came to the ear of M. de Longueuil, and he lost no time in asking instructions from Quebec. On the 14th of January, 1748, Nicholas sent fourteen of his warriors to Detroit to ask for the release of the three remaining Indians captured at Bois Blanc Island. M. 4e Longueuil, wishing to secure Nicholas as an ally, granted his request, and the prisoners were released. In February, 1748, French soldiers rebuilt and again occupied the post on the Miami. The same month, La Joncaire, Governor of Canada, ordered M. de Longueuil to give Nicholas notice that no English traders would be allowed among his people, or in the Western country; and if any were found, they should receive notice to quit, forthwith. Agreeable to these instructions, a French office was sent to Sandusky, who notified Nicholas of the wishes of the Governor of Canada. Finding several English at the towns, the officer commanded them to leave the country, which they promised to do. Finding himself deserted by nearly all of his allies, his power for mischief gone, and the activity and determination of the French to suffer encroachments from the English no longer, Nicholas finally resolved to abandon his towns on Sandusky Bay and seek a home farther west. On the 7th of April, 1748, he destroyed the villages And Removes West - 19 and fort, and on the following day, at the head of one hundred and nineteen warriors, and their families, left for the White river in Indiana. Soon after he moved with his people to the Illinois country, locating on the Ohio, near the Indiana line, where he died, in the fall of 1748. The stern, unyielding conduct of M. de Longueuil toward most of the tribes who had been engaged in the conspiracy, produced the desired effect. By the 1st of May, 1748, the power of the league had been utterly annihilated, and nearly every nation forced to sue for peace. This result was not produced by the sword. The withholding of supplies, the prohibition of traders, the reduction of the savages to want not only of provisions but of powder and ball, did much toward humbling their desire for war. In June, a proclamation was issued by the Governor of Canada, granting pardon to all the tribes engaged in the conspiracy, excepting the Mississagues and Sauteurs. Those nations had committed offences which could not be overlooked without punishment. These exceptions were afterwards withdrawn, and peace was established in the Northwest. The French, however, for several years, looked with distrust upon the " rebels," as they were called. The Detroit Hurons were sulky, and not inclined to carry the yoke the French placed upon their shoulders. They had formerly enjoyed every privilege ; no obstructions being placed in their way. Now they were subjected to military rule. In the general orders of the post at Detroit, June 2d, 1748, we find the following: "Should any Huron, or other rebel, be so daring as to enter the fort without a pass, through sheer bravado, 'twould be proper to arrest him and put him to death on the spot." Similar orders were issued 'at all French posts in the Northwest. These harsh, but necessary measures, had their lessons, and the Indians became as quiet and peaceable as ever. Thus ended the conspiracy of Nicholas. The Miamis were fully in the plot, and performed the part assigned them by the capture and destruction of Port Miami, as it was then known, at the confluence of the St. Joseph's and St. Mary's rivers. In 1746, the Marquis de Vaudreuil advocated the erection of a French post at the Falls of the Ohio. ' At this time the English were operating between the mouth of the Cuyahoga and "Sandosket." The celebrated George Croghan had a house at the Cuyahoga, and did an extensive business with the tribes along the lake. 20 - Fort Miami Rebuilt. When the conspiracy of Nicholas had been crushed, Fort Miami was rebuilt and occupied by the French under Sieur Dubuisson. In May, 1748, Captain de Celeron left Montreal for Detroit, with convoy of arms, ammunition, goods and provisions. The Govern of Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weisser to Logstown with a large sup ply of presents, to secure the friendship of the Ohio Indians. this time the French were considering the practicability of buildin a fort " on Lake Erie, below Detroit," when a treaty of peace wad signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. By the terms of this treaty, Commissioners were to be appointed to run a boundary line between th French and English possessions in America, but nothing seems have been done in the premises. On the 3d of October, 1748, Go ernor Clinton, of New York, addressed a communication to th Duke of Bedford. The following is an extract : " I am informe that all the numerous nations to the westward of the English colonies are exceedingly dissatisfied with the French; that they ha killed several of the French traders, and had blocked up the small forts the French had amongst them, and killed several of their soldiers. This was owing to the English selling goods more than one-half cheaper than the French did, and by the French endeavoring to hinder the Indians from trading with the English." This refers to the conspiracy of Nicholas. In October, 1748, Count de La Galissonniere wrote to M. de Lo gueuil, commandant at Detroit, that " though we be at peace, ever attempt of the English to settle at River a la Roche (Maumee White river, and Ohio river, or any of their tributaries, must be resisted by force." Not long after this a party under Captain Celeron, forced the English to leave Sandosket and the Cuyahoga. During this year (1748), a treaty was made with the Twigtwee or Miamis, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by which they allied them selves to the English, and agreed to protect such traders as might b sent among them. The same year, Thomas Lee, who was connected with the provisional government of Virginia, formed a design of effecting a settlement on the wild lands west of the Allegheny Mountains. His plans were cordially approved by the Executive Council of Virginia. Lee associated himself with twelve Virginians, the " Ohio Land Company." The following year (1749), they obtained from King George II. a grant of five hundred thousand acres of George Washington, and a Mr. Banbury, of London, and formed among whom. were Lawrence and Augustine Washington, brothers   De Celeron's Expedition - 21 of land situated on both sides of the Ohio, but principally on the Virginia side between the Monongahela and Kanawha. During the year 1749, Captain de Celeron conducted an expedition into the Ohio country, to formally take possession of the territory, in the name of the King of the French. He' buried leaden plates along the Ohio river, visited the interior of the country, held conferences with the Indian tribes, and faithfully performed the duties of his mission. In August, Captain Celeron discovered an English trading colony at an old Shawanese town on the Ohio, near the Muskingum. The traders were permitted to leave, on their promise never to return. From that place Celeron wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania: " To warn him that if any English traders should thereafter make their appearance on the Ohio river, they would be treated without any delicacy." During this year, also, many interesting events took place. In August, Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, sent George Croghan to the Ohio Indians with a message, informing them that war had ceased between the French and English, and to inquire the reason of Captain Celeron's march through their country. We have noticed a treaty of amity and friendship made in 1748 between the English and Twigtwees. Desirous of maintaining and preserving the relations established, the colony of Pennsylvania, in the Fall of 1750, lent its aid to the planting of a company of traders among its new allies. Late in that year a party of twenty-five persons from Eastern Pennsylvania, built a station on the Great Miami, at the mouth of what is now known as Loramie's Creek, sixteen miles northwest of Sidney, Shelby county. It was called Pickawillany, after a distinguished chief of the Twigtwees. Before Spring, a block house and several stores and dwellings were erected. The place prospered, the traders did a flourishing business, and success had seemingly attended the efforts of the Pennsylvanians, when an Occasion happened which gave umbrage to the French. In the Summer of 1751, three or four French soldiers, who had deserted, delivered themselves to the English at Pickawillany. The Twigtwees, who had long suffered from the French and their Indian allies, wanted the three deserters delivered to them for purposes of revenge.- The English would not consent to this, but were obliged, in order to save their lives, to send them to an English post on the 22 - Fort Pickawillany. Muskingum, where they were delivered to George Croghan. When the French heard that deserters from their service were received and protected at Pickawillany, the Governor of Canada determined upon the destruction of that post. A force under Sieur de Joncaire, was sent, but was obliged to return to Detroit from difficulties met with in the wilderness. In May, 1752, another party left Detroit on the same mission. The French and their allies numbered about two hundred and fifty men. On the 21st of June, at early morn, they reached Pickawillany, and at once began the attack. A skirmish took place, in which one Englishman and fourteen Twigtwees were killed. The place, after some further resistance, was surrendered. and a general plunder of the houses followed. Some of the huts were razed to the ground; the fort, or block house was left standing. The English traders were sent to Canada, but tradition says few of them reached there. The Twigtwee King, " Old Britain," was killed and eaten in the presence of his conquered people. In the following year the Governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia sent presents and messages of condolence to the Twigtwee nation. Recurring to the order of years, we are brought back to 1750. During that year, English traders were a second time expelled from the Cuyahoga. A party of French from Detroit built Fort Junandat, on the east bank of the Sandusky river, near the hay. Fort Chartres was also rebuilt. About this time Luke Arowin, of Pennsvlvania, Joseph Fortener, of New Jersey, and Thomas Borke, traders, were captured near Fort Janandat. John Pathen, an English trader, was arrested near Fort Miami. All of these were sent to Canada, thence to France. The Governor of Canada, upon learning the facts, wrote to the Governor of New York, complaining that "the English; far from confining themselves within the limits of the King of Great Britain's possessions, not satisfied with multiplying., themselves more and more on Rock river with having houses and open stores there, have, more than that, proceeded within sight of Detroit, even unto the Fort of the Miamis." rSoon after, the Governor urged upon the French Ministry the great importance, and the benefits to be derived from holding the Ohio and its tributaries. Desiring to put an end to the influence of the English, sundry rewards were offered for the scalps of traders found on French territory. Pickawillawy Destroyed - 23 A number of Philadelphia and Lancaster traders explored the Ohio to the Illinois country, and on their return furnished valuable information to Lewis Evans for his map of the Western country. The English this year made their way into the Venango country, and on Beaver Creek, while the French established trading posts on the Huron, at its mouth, and at " Ogontz," on the site of Sandusky city. In 1752, Christopher Gist was appointed surveyor of the Ohio Company, and at his suggestion a trading post was established during the Fall of that year, at a point somewhat east of Pickawillany, which had been destroyed by the French during the Summer. It did not continue long; for the traders, learning of an intended visit from the French, hastily gathered up their goods and proceeded eastward. The site of this post can not now be determined. FURTHER REGARDING POST " PICKAWILLANY," AND ITS DESTRUCTION IN 1752. [In 1870-71, the late Mr. A. T. Goodman, then Secretary of the Western Reserve Historical Society, at Cleveland, was successful, through Hon. John Lothrop Motley, Minister at the Court of St. James, in obtaining certain valuable historical pipers relating to the British trading post Pickawillany, which was attacked and destroyed by the French in 1752. An analysis of these papers was made by Mr. Goodman, and published in 1871, by Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati, in a volume entitled, "Journal of 'Captain Trent." The writer avails himself of the material points embraced in this volume, as the principal of them belong to the history of the Maumee Valley.] For many years prior to the advent of Indian. traders in the West, the Miamis had a village on the west side of the Great Miami river, at the mouth of what afterward became known as Loramie's Creek. That point was visited by the Coureurs des Bois, or Canadian voyagers, who traveled under the direction of the traders, at an early day, and had become a place of note long previous to the alliance of the Miamis with the English. From the latter, it received the name of "Tawixtwi town," until the building of a stockade, when it was called Pickawillany, though in some accounts we find the name " Picktawn" applied to it. 24 - Pickawillany Destroyed. English traders dealt with the Miamis at an early period, even while the latter were fully pledged to French interests. The Pennsylvania factors seem to have been special favorites, for they sold their goods at half the price asked by the Coureurs des Bois. This was a matter of importance to the Indians, and, doubtless, had much to do with the subsequent friendly alliance with the English. During the Summer of 1749, M. de Celeron visited the Tawixtwi town, but found no traders there, they having had timely notice of his coming, and .departed with their goods and chattels. The Miami warriors were in force at the time of Celeron's visit, and that officer did no injury. On the contrary, he treated them with kindness and attention. Presents were given, and the usual speeches made, but the Indians withstood his arts and artifices, and remained friendly to the English. While the English traders felt safe in the hands of the Miamis, they were in constant fear of the French. Occasionally an unfortunate trader became a victim. The dread of such a fate was increased by the fact that the Ottawas were known to " kill, roast and eat" their English captives. The Miamis shared this feeling, as several of their best warriors had fallen into the enemy's hands. The need of a strong post was felt, which would afford better protection than the ordinary houses of the traders. It was some time, however before the Indians would allow the erection of such a structure. In Pennsylvania, licenses to trade with the Indians were granted by the Governor, upon the recommendation of the justices of the counties in which the applicant resided. The traders' goods were, carried on pack-horses, along the old Indian trails, which led to all the principal towns and villages. The articles of traffic on the part of the whites were fire-arms, gunpowder, lead, ball, knives, flints,' hatchets, rings, rum, tobacco, medals, blades, leather, cooking utensils. shirts, and other articles of wearing apparel ; pipes, paint, etc. Some of the traders would run regular " caravans " of fifteen or twenty horses, making several trips during the year. It is impossible to give any definite account of the extent of this traffic, but it must have amounted to great value. 1 Having obtained permission from the Indians, the English, in the Fall of 1750, began the erection of a stockade, as a place of protection, in case of sudden attack, both for their persons and property. When the main building was completed, it was surrounded with a 1