400 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY matters, disposing of Goods to prisoners in War time is not t Orders we had from the Commandant. I send you the Case, Excuse haste, the Vessel just going away. Since inventory 39 Racoons in a Bundle. The Boat just arrived, but its very hard you'll send me not Invoices, tis not Inventorys but the Invoices I am most in need of. Not one since June last. How can I regulate the price of goods without knowing what they cost. Very considerate Mr. Edgar is I think. Some things I wrote for might have been sent me. I shall have a good Winter—no Flour, Sugar, Rum, Nor Shoes, etc William Arundel was at Lower Sandusky in July, 1779, and assisted at the council held between the Wyandots and the Delawares. He sent a copy of the council proceedings to Captain Lernoult at Detroit. In 1781-2 Mr. Arundel was still at Sandusky and aided the Moravian Missionaries when on their journey to Detroit. In 1782 he was instrumental in saving the life of Thomas Edgerton, who had been captured by the Indians and was about to be burned at the stake. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Lower Sandusky, 14th April 1782 Sir, I was favoured with yours per the Sergeant and with regard to the Horses, will make it known to Mr. Dawson per the first opportunity altho' I have heard they are not to be purchased from S Gerty whose Comrade is the proprietor. The Robideau's has been here the 9th Inst., the Chief Rontondie being then here L. R. sent for him, to spake to him concerning a Bargain made with the Indians of this Village per A Coone and Long House, Alias Shonnonshishe when they came first to the Island. The Bargain as L. R. says they were to plow for the people here a Six per Acre and take in what the Indians had, such as Peltry, Goods, etc., in payment, and that they were to be on the Island and not to be interrupted by any other either with merchandize or Cattle belonging to others, however the People he said did not trouble them, but the Goods we had there was the only objection he had, so that if they would be removed he would plow for them as usual. The Chief made for Answer that no person then in the Village TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 401 had any knowledge of any such Agreement, nor neither could he approve of any such Agreement, as they were paid for their work twas sufficient and whoever made the Bargain done very wrong, and to prevent all dispute (he told them) or jealousy that all who had any property should take it off the Island and go to where they came from. LeVellie the Bearer was Interpreter, who will deliver you the Gold as there's no possibility of getting this Negro Wench or cattle from Mr. Coone. To prevent Gevan's „trading here some time we amicably agreed to throw in and he is gone down on the Lake to trade Sugar & Graise from the Gibcois, etc., not out of the Limits of Sandusky. The inclosed is an account of Sundrys as you'll see per—You'll please put the prices to these articles in the account according to their value with you or should the Major Otherwise chose to return Flour and Pork for it out of the Store, you'll lay the Pork by and send the Flour here per first opportunity I shall send one or maybe both Boats soon loaded for you, when d shall write you more fully, as I have an Answer of a letter to the Major to write. I am Sir Your Humble Servant, W. Arundel. Francis LeVillier was appointed by Girty to take the Moravians to Detroit in 1782. They started March 15, 1782, but spent four weeks at Lower Sandusky, and embarked for Detroit April 14, 1782. A scene in connection with Girty at Lower Sandusky is described in the story of the Girtys. LeVillier was killed in the Crawford expedition on the Upper Sandusky. The foregoing letter is followed by one from William Dawson, as follows: William Dawson to Thomas Williams- Shawney Town, 1st May 1782. Sir, I take this opportunity per Captain McKee of inclosing you Government and Sundry other bills as undermentioned which I hope will meet with due acceptance This day I leave this place for Sanduskey where I shall be glad you may write me the first opportunity if the bills are paid I draw on you for a trifle which is a part belonging to Robins & McCormick which we laid in 402 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY together in partnership in this place and Upper Sanduskey we have no news here at present. I am Sir, Your Very Humble Servant, WILLIAM DAWSON. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Sandusky, 23rd May 1782. Sir, Please receive the boat load of Packs and be so good as let the men have 1/2 gallon Rum. You'll please discharge Allen, deduct. ing four Dollars from his wages. The other two are to have 5 each for the trip. Young Abm said he'd come out in the boat, However you'll please dispatch her immediately if the Commanding Officer should have anything to send out please made the offer, and Le Vellie requests you'll be so good as send him an 8 gallon kegg of Rum. I am Sir, Yours etc., W. ARUNDEL. Arundel & Dawson to Thomas Williams— Sandusky, 24th May 1782. Sir, We have received yours and marked the contents and have drawn on you in favor of Mr. Dawson for 150g. Mr. Dawson arrived here yesterday, he intends to go in with the cattle as soon as he gets all the peltry down here. We have only to Congratulate you on the birth of your Son. Wishing Mrs. Williams a speedy recovery, we are with Compliments, Your Very Humble Servants, A. & DAWSON. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Sandusky, 17th June 1782. Sir, Inclosed you have the late Frans. LeVellie's private accounts, amounting to 1877 . . 8 livres and like wise an account of sundries for the use of Indians as stated in the Account 244 livres, and a small account against Govt. of 19 .. 10 .. 6 furnished as per Do. the wampum was for to save the life of the boy sent in our boat. There is here a cow and three horses belonging to the late TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 403 Le Vellie which I cannot get from the woman he kept, Capt. Caldwell seems to decline having anything to do in regard of getting them from her for reason as he does not chuse to affront any of them, the present times will not admitt of it—Therefore hope you'll be so good as to try and get what pay is coming to him deposited in your hands until such time as these matters can be settled, Inclosed is a small account Mr. LaBute desired I'd send you. In the meantime I shall do all in my power to get the horses and cow from the Indian woman. There's a few things of his I had in the House, was apprized 6 . . 14 .. —but do not send you the bill as it may be I may get the things from her so will send you altogether if possible soon. The account against Govt., he said if the Major would not pay it, he would. I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant, W. ARUNDEL. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Sandusky, 24th June 1782. Sir, I was favored with yours yesterday and as Corbin is here will have that draft settled. I send you the remainder of the damaged Bbls and the ps. of silk as it would not answer for cravattes, there's 18 1/2 pr. Blankets that can be made nothing of here, so you'll please place them to our Credit. I had a notion of sending a Bark Canoe for goods we want and have wrote for per Dr. Harfey but as the vessel has to come out immediately with supplies etc., without which the campaign cannot be carried on Captain McQuarry has promised to Store away for us to the bulk of ten barrels, so you'll be so good as to be as expeditious as possible in completing the order and sending them on board, we want every article with an addition of a barrel of Indian sugar. When the vessel sailed from here there went in her a man of ours P Johnston, he was bought from the Munceys last Fall by Mr. Dawson for 40 and was found in cloaths since to the amount of about 15, so as he was to serve us two years for the getting him away from the Indians, and was sent on board the Vessel by the Commandant here its to be hoped the Major will be so good as to reimburse us the sum expended Whats done in this matter please let us know. Otherwise that the man as he is a Taylor by trade and a good workman be 404 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY --------------- and allowed to work till the sum is paid. If you could send me a few news papers, would be much obliged to you, and as you intimated having had some books in the communication, should the History of the Present War from the Commandant be among them, please send it to me and charge to my account. I have nothing more to add only we have no flour, and am with Compliments to Mrs. Williams, Yours sincerely, WM. ARUNDEL. Please chuse me two pr. good shoes for myself and send the per Capt. McQuarry. William Arundel to Thomas Williams.— Sandusky, 26th June 1782. Sir, The Bearer Mr. Dawson having some matters of consequence of his own to settle which calls to Detroit, The Compy was under the necessity of drawing on you in his favor for 130 N. Y. Cy., which is a balance due him for goods taken in the Partnership when he joined it, and as Govt. by Capt. Caldwell has not allowed cattle and sundry other accounts which will be settled for Before they set off for the Campaign there will be a good sum sent you soon. I together with the Interpreters here have done all in our power to get the horses and cow from the Woman formerly kept by LaVellie but out of our power and there's no quarreling with them, if they were in Dt. they may be taken from them. I nothing more to add for the rest refer to Mr. Dawson and I am, with compliments to Mrs. Williams, Yours, Wm. ARUNDEL. William Dawson to Thomas Williams- Sanduskey, 7th July 1782. Sir, Some small articles omitted in the letter you'll please to send by the same opportunity as the others-1500 gun flints the best for rifles, 1/2 dozen Forks—Please to excuse haste the hurry at present of Capt. Bradt to join Caldwell at the Upper Town of Sandusky is the reason the boats just now going from the Vessel. I am Sir Your Very Humble Servant, WILLIAM DAWSON. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 405 Obediah Robins to Thomas Williams- Sanduskey, 23rd July 1782. Sir, I suppose you have the affair of Mr. Kays to transact. I send you in care of James Howdon twenty-six packs of peltrys, the quality you will see by the inclosed invoice and I think they are of a tolerable good kind for Sanduskey. We should be glad to know whether you will have up a large quantity of Indian goods this summer, and if agreeable to you, I believe we would take our outfits from you this Fall, as you have some connections here and we are connected at the Upper Town and the Shawanoes Town, so that all the Trade from this place would come into your hands. This makes 130 packs we have sent in this summer. Mr. McCormick is on the Campaign with Captain Caldwell. I have no more to trouble you with at present from this Quarter. I remain Sir, Your Most Obedient Humble Servant, OBEDIAH ROBINS. Obediah Robins was a merchant at Detroit in company with George McBeath. He had a house at Lower Sandusky and sheltered the unmarried Moravian men on their journey to Detroit. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Sandusky, 14th Aug. 1782. Sir, Since my last to you of the 10th inst., have nothing to refer only that Lorty is gone round by the Roche de bault and therefore inclosed you the draft so as that he may be obliged to pay it, as he certainly told me that Mr. Askin would certainly answer it. As Mr. Robins is gone and will be soon on his return, must request you to send by him if possible the ribband, ferretting, Silver Works, a pr. scarlet some coarse thread and the shirts with a pr stroud good colour as these articles are really wanting. Please return the inclosed account to Mr. Dufresne and let him know I could not get the man to settle it, as for any other things there is to settle of the old Company with him, that can be done when I go in this fall. Should there be anything else that Mr. Robins can take besides the above mentioned light articles, please send them, but the above preferable to all others. Since I began this letter I find Lorty is on his way for this place so keep the draft till his arrival. 406 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY No news from the Shawaney Country since my last only Indian reports that no army is coming against the Indian Country. I am Sir yours etc., etc., in haste, W. ARUNDEL. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Lower Sandusky, 20th Aug. 1782. Sir, I received from Mr. Dawson the other day a small Horse load Peltry with an order for goods and Silver Works, Sugar, etc. He says there's a great deal of trade at the Chawney Towns; he has not seen the Captains McKee, Caldwell or Elliott since his arrival there as they with 20 rifle men Indian Officers and 100 Indians were gone to Cantuc. Capt. Braat with the rest of the Rangers are at the Chawney Towns, and the others from Cantuc are expected daily, they are in there I suppose by this time he says likewise Capt. Braat told him that Elliott said he'd stand to his bargain. I shall send in a boat as soon as I have got her load of Peltry in the meantime must recommend to you to try and send these things wrote for in a former order if any Vessel for this place as they are wanting together with 100 plain shirts of Linen at 12 or 13d sterling first cost pr. yard—and 1 barrel Powder Double F, as for the news of this place I really think the enemy will come, but if the Commandant gives any assistance, together with the troops and Indians in the Chawney Country, they will certainly be beat; another thing we can soon get out of their way if its thought they are too numerous. I suppose by this time, that our Governor is come up. Now you'll have it in your power to settle everything regarding this Country, which I hope may be done according to your expectation I assure you its worth your while. I am Sir with Compliments to Mrs. Williams, Your Very Humble Servant, W. ARUNDEL. William Dawson to Thomas Williams- Wakatomakey, 27th Aug. 1782. (On the Miami) Sir, Inclosed I send you Captain Bradt's draft on Mr. Askins for Two Hundred and Sixty Six Pounds Nineteen Shillings and a TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 407 Penny N. Y. C. which I hope will meet with due acceptance; I received from Mr. Arundel, Turney's & Lorty's Draft but they are not as yet returned from Ware. Please to send the goods as soon as possible that was ordered last Mr. Arundel & Elliott's bargain is void and of no effect. My Compliments to Mrs. Williams and believe me to be Your very Humble Servant, WILLIAM DAWSON. N. B. Three days ago Capt. Caldwell arrived here from Cantucky, has made a capital stroke killed five field officers, several captains and other officers and privates; killed and taken prisoner 150—on our side only one man killed which is Mr. Labute Eight Indians killed and fourteen wounded. Colonel Clark is expected in this Country in a few days; in 6 days we go to Sanduskey to defend that Post. W. DAWSON. Lieut. John Turney was of the British Rangers and in command at Upper Sandusky in the Crawford campaign. William Arundel to Thomas Williams—. Sandusky, 31st Aug. 1782. Sir I have just received a letter from Mr. Dawson mentioning his having wrote you some time ago, and as Elliott does not stand to his agreement beggs you'd send everything formerly ordered by us, to which please add 4 ps. Good Stroud, extraordinary, 4 doz. Scalping knives, 2 doz. pr. Scissors—The Rangers by Capt. Caldwell's letter will be here in 6 or 7 days, as this party of Indians are arrived from them at whose request I lend the boat and send Jno. Dumford in her, that better care may be taken, and as there is now at Detroit one Hitchcock & Franks from here they will do to man the boat out with the things you have to send us the current price paid here by the trip to Detroit is 5 per man and 2 Gals. Rum for the whole—please send us 4 Ct Flour for which I send Baggs—and give the Charge of the boat to Jno. Dumford, .he's a good lad and can be depended on. Jose begged I would inclose you his Pass so as that you'd be kind enough to grant him another. They have four oars, a sail and paddle marked T W. Poor LeBute was killed in the Battle at Cantuc—very much regretted by all his acquaintances. 408 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Should there be no Swan Skin or Pinnaston in our former order please send 4 ps and 1 Duck Shott} 1 Goose Shott} And be so good as let none of the Articles be lacking that has been wrote for either in the present or former orders as now is the time for our business and its to be, hoped we may meet with no interruption from others. I am Sir in haste, yours, W. ARUNDEL. There is here about 700 red (fox) skins which you'll receive as soon as we get a boat load. Be so good as be as expeditious as possible in sending off the boat giving them charge to make no delay—and please send me some wine. Arundel & Dawson to Thomas Williams- Sanduskey, 6th Sept. 1782. Sir, Mr. Dawson arrived here about 12 o'clock today, and we have nothing further to mention only to request you'd be so good as complete order left by him with you, with all dispatch possible and send off the Compy's boat load with the first of the articles that may come to hand, and as the vessel its thought may make another trip the rest can be sent in her, for fear of a mistake or disappointment if we can get hands we will send in a boat load of Peltry soon, so that what may require (torn) the assortmt. (after yr. sending the boat you have there, out) can come in the boat we send in, it may be W. A. may go in the (torn) but that's not certain, therefore must (torn) you'll be so good as send off as soon as possible the boat you have there and (torn) men as went (torn) last fall a la Chasse d'autumn. As for news there's none here, all well and quiet, no signs of an enemy approaching the Indian Country, But however its not my business to say-so, therefore you'd best not let my oppinion be made known to any.—This I can say that if Capt. Caldwell was here, things would go better and more regular than they do. We are, Sir, Your Very Humble Servts, ARUNDEL & DAWSON. Per the first opportunity I'll send you a dozen of fine fowl hens that will lay almost ____ the winter. And what W. A. wrote for in particular for himself begs you'll send him. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 409 To Thos. Williams. William Arundel to Thomas Williams— Lower Sanduskey, 4 Oct. (1782) Sir, I received a letter from Mr. Dawson the other day; he mentioned nothing particular only that he'd be on by return of the Faith and that he advised me to make ready for a decampment as its thought the enemy will be here this Fall, it may be but I don't think so. However that need not hinder his preparations for setting off with the things from Detroit as we can always get out of their way. Robins & McCormick goes in, in a few days for their winter assortment. McCormick with ten or twelve pack horses and Mr. Robins by water, so that the more expeditious Mr. Dawson is the better, we'll want particularly the No. of shirts mented, or linen and trimmings sent instead, and Calicoe, 2 pr. embost flannel handsome pattern for Capt. Elliott. Please send me per the first opportunity should Mr. Dawson be gone before this reaches you, 4 boxes Duck & Goose shot, 2 ps. Russia Sheeting, 1 lb. Brimstone, 1/2 lb. Alum—our salt is almost out. And if the Calico and Linen mentioned in Mr. Dawson's order, shirts should be sent out unmade you'll please to augment the thread in proportion and send cambric for the fine linen. We have here 11 Packs peltry made up and more on the way from the Chawney and U. Town. I cannot get a man to go to the Chawney Towns with Pierre for more Peltry we have there, so that Mr. Dawson will please to observe what losses we are at, at times here for want of hands. Dyon commands (torn) three following ; Makien, Ste. Aubeh (torn) oulouse fils. Be so good as send old Joseph Beaudoin a pass to live on the Island. I long to hear from you to know whether our Governor is coming up or no, he has a great many talks against him here. I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant, Wm. ARUNDEL. Compliments to Mrs. Williams.} Hope she and child well.} Please send me my Watch if mended. 15-VOL. 1 410 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY William Dawson to William Arundel or Thomas Williams— Sandusky, 6th Nov. 1782. Dear Sir, On the arrival of the Windott I received your favour of the 27th of Oct., and sent by Capt. Gibson letters to you and T. W. Esq., which I hope you received safe with 6 Packs Peltry. I came to the Island to take an account of the goods there as I wrote you I should do the first opportunity, which account I inclose you as it was Mr. Williams' desire altho it gave me no little uneasiness, being from home 4 days, to augment my sorrow Capt. Elliott came here in my absence and took every horse I had mustered to go to the Shawney Towns with, as it was to serve his Majesty in taking up the ammunition to that place I shall make free with the King's horses to that place and deliver them to C. Elliott at the same time I can perhaps receive our own. I have sent Indians out of hunting His Majesty's horses to gather them together if possible as I had orders from C. Bradt when he left this I expect to set off in 4 days to build a cabin at the Shawney Towns as I find there is no danger of the Rebles approaching here this season. Taymish Chesne came from Capt. McKee yesterday morning and says there is no account of any further trouble this Fall, every person is gone to their respective homes, Capt. McKee and the Indians that was assembled at the Town of Sanduskey. I have Whittacre here at present to assist me and shall leave him in care of the shop if in case you don't arrive before I leave this, I am very busy in packing up for the Shawney Towns. The big Frenchman is sick, Pere Barrabee is sick, your Humble Servant and Dyon is the only People that are healthy in this house, thank God I have good health. If the other boat is not set off from Detroit before you leave it get McCulping to make my clothes that he said he would not fail to send by the first opportunity you will please to remember to have no connection in Partnership at Upper Sandusky and the Shawney Towns as I have all that I can get that or the most part of it this winter in our own hands. It is expected there will be 2 French traders at or near the Little Island or the Portash River. Please to inquire before you leave the Fort what goods Drullard has is sufficient for the trade there this winter. I have taken Powder and Ball there the time the Windott left this pass ( ?) it is near 12 o'clock this evening I am almost sleepy TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 411 don't forget to send me 4 Galls. Pints and 2 of Wine which is to go to the Shawney Town unopened. W. D. (AWSON) N. B. Please don't forget 2 Pair of Shoes for' me, I am barefooted. Wm. Arundle, Merchant at Detroit or Thomas Williams Esq. The "Portash River" above mentioned is evidently the Portage River, which shows that there were traders on that stream also. William Arundel to Thomas Williams & Co.— Sandusky 3rd December 1782 Gentlemen : Mr. Elliott in the absence of Dawson has taken our two barrels of Salt and four of our Horses with him, which has done us no small damage disorted our goods and we have no salt, so we request of you to send us a barrel out either by Swzore or Baron will bring it as they will come this way this winter if the ice is good or to the Island and Sanduskey. We don't want for neighbour traders now; Uno and Rivet at the Carrying Creek, Gevan has 6 small bales here and is now building a shop, goods he got from Mr. Abbott Baron's brother is here with 100£ worth of goods, said bought from you. All these traders is doing us a great deal of damage. Mr. Dawson is gone for the Shawney Towns, he would have been there some time ago, but the enemy coming to their Frontier towns, hindered him. We would be glad to know if Gov't. would choose to buy any Corn here, we have about 200 bushels corn to spare now and can buy more if we have timely notices, so please enquire of the Major and the highest price he will give per bushel, we buy it at the rate of 2 Bucks per bushel therefore if we can sell it 24/ twill do pretty well. If Gov't may want all our goods here dispose of them, as the Indians has sent a petition for that purpose, they are almost naked. I send in a red cow per the Rangers, they are to have a gallon of rum on delivering her, she has a blaze in her face, please dispose of her, she's a good cow, will calf soon. We send her in now to avoid trouble in the Spring, intending to leave this place, as early in the Spring as possible. Wishing you a pleasant winter, I am Gentlemen, Yours in haste, Wm. ARUNDEL. 412 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY To Thos. Williams & Co. William Arundel to Thomas Williams & Co.— Sanduskey, 11th Jany. 1783. Gentlemen, The Bearer Mr. Revett is going in with a load of meat from his place, and I have agreed with him to bring out the things wrote for, the pack horses were here yesterday from the Chawney Towns, and I was obliged to borrow a ps. Stroud from Gevan to send Mr. Dawson, so that if its possible to send 2 or 3 ps more than mentioned in the last memo., twill be so much the better. We shall want likewise 1 ps. Swan Skin, 12 pr. Corn 21/2 pt. Blankets 7 pr. fine do., 400 needles, 2 of No. 1-1 of No. 2 & 1 of No. 5 & 3 ps. Calico which will be all that will be wanting to assort what we have on hand, otherwise we wont be able to do as well as our neighbours. Please send 4 Gals. Rum and let me know the price as its for Dyon. Whitaker would be obliged to you if you'd please send him the same quantity and charge it to his account, directing the keg for him. He has married a prisoner girl lately, and with the above intends to get her entirely clear from the Indians—Mr. Robins married them. I am. with Compliments to Mrs. Williams, Gentlemen, Your Humble Servant, Wm. ARUNDEL. James Whitaker to Thomas Williams- Sanduskey, 20 May 1783. Sir, I shall be glad you will send me 1 Kegg of Rum 4 gallons, and one of 2 gallons One white Beaver Hat for my Wife, and 2 black beaver hats. 1 lb. Bohea Tea, the tea you sent Mr. Dawson to the Shawney Town received lb. only. The tea please charge Mr. Dawson. I am, Sir, Your Humble Servant, J. WHITAKER. Thomas Williams, Esq., Detroit. Whitaker was a prosperous trader on the Sandusky until his sudden death, it was said by poisoning, in 1804. In the reports of the London Lord's Commissioners for Trade to the American Colonies in 1721, is described the routes used by TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 413 the French in going from the St. Lawrence region to the Mississippi. Arriving at Lake Erie, the report says, in reaching the Mississippi "the (the French) have three different routes. The shortest way by water is up the river Miamis, or Ouamis (Maumee) on the south west of Lake Erie, on which they sail about 150 leagues without interruption, when they find themselves stopped by another landing of about three leagues, which they call a carrying place, because they are generally obliged to carry their canoes over land, in those places to the next river; and where they next embark in a very shallow one called La Riviere de Portage (Wabash tributary) ; hence they row about 40 leagues to the Oubache (Wabash). and from thence about 120 leagues to the river Ohio, into which the Oabache falls as the river Ohio does about 80 leagues lower into the Mississippi, which continues its course about 350 leagues directly to the Bay of Mexico." The second route "pricked down on Hennissens (Hennepins) map" is described as from Lake Erie to the straits of 'Mackinack and Lake Illinois (Michigan) "thence 150 leagues on the lake to fort Miamis, situated on the mouth of the river Chigagoe; from hence came those Indians of the same name, viz : Miamis, who are settled (2,000 strong) on the forementioned river that runs into Erie"—the Maumee. This Lake Michigan Fort Miami appears on Franquelin's map of 1688; and on Popple's map, also an old French map in the British Museum 1718. According to Parkman, the explorer La Salle, in November, 1669, built a fort named Miami "by the river St. Joseph of Lake Michigan on rising ground near its mouth." The Miami Indians in the Maumee River were originally from the Lake Michigan section, and by reason of the association of other events, it may be seen how some historians have made the erroneous statement that Fort Miami on the Maumee was "first established as a post in 1680" whereas it was built by the British, not the French, over one hundred years later. The Lords of Trade further report that "It is likewise much to be lamented that our zeal for propagating of the Christian faith in parts beyond the seas hath not hitherto enlarged the pall cf the British Church amongst those poor infidels (Indians) or in any sort contributed to promote the interest of the state in America; but as it is not so immediately our province to propose anything particular upon this head, we can only wish, that the same may be hereafter put upon better foot." * * * As "they 414 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY (the French) have by means of their missionaries, debauched several of the Indian nations to their interests, your Majesty's subjects along the continent have the utmost danger to apprehend from this new settlement unless timely care be taken to prevent its increase." Referring to Father Hennepin's and La Salle's explorations the report says "It must be allowed that they have a great advantage over us (the English) in this particular, to which even the nature of their religion and government do greatly contribute: for their missionaries in blind obedience to their superiors, spend whole years in exploring new countries." CHAPTER XXXVI THE ROYAL NAVY OF THE UPPER LAKES History of British Sea Power On Erie and Sister Lakes From 1763 Until 1796. By M. M. Quaife (Published by Permission) Sea power and land power go hand in hand, a fact never more convincingly demonstrated than in the recent World war. Although Great Britain has ruled the sea for considerably more than 300 years, it remained for a brilliant American scholar, the late Admiral Mahan, to point out to her statesmen the real source and character of their country's power. In recent decades historical workers have devoted much attention to the history of the West and its supposed influence upon our national development. For half a century following the downfall of New France, Great Britain maintained at first an exclusive, later a divided rule over the vast region tributary to the Upper Lakes and the Upper Mississippi. During all this time her naval establishment on the lakes was an important, if not, indeed, an essential, factor in the maintenance of this control, whose death knell was definitely sounded on that autumn day of 1813 when Commodore Perry destroyed the British fleet in the battle of Lake Erie. Despite this importance, no comprehensive study of the subject, so far as I am aware, has ever been made; that such a study would prove both interesting and valuable seems obvious; the present essay pretends to be nothing more than a preliminary sketch, which barely suggests some of the more interesting aspects of the subject. By reason of space limitations it is confined to the period between the French war and the evacuation by the British of their northwestern posts in the year 1796. Back of the British advent upon the Upper Lakes stretches a full century of French activity and domination, but the French, for reasons which may be briefly suggested, never developed a naval establishment here. Despite their long rule over the western country, their sole economic interest was the exploitation of - 415 - 416 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY the fur trade, and the home government, always hard pressed for funds, was exceedingly chary about authorizing expenditures in America. Even the military posts were often "farmed" out to some officer, who bore the burden of maintaining them in return for some trade monopoly which was awarded him. Throughout the entire French regime, moreover, the hostile Iroquois blocked their entrance to the Upper Lakes by way of Lake Ontario and the Niagara portage, and the Ottawa River route to Lake Huron was the great trade route between Montreal and the interior. The vessels employed by them in the conduct of the fur trade were bark canoes and traders' bateaux, and since they were never menaced by a civilized power on the Upper Lakes, they built no larger boats. The only exceptions to this statement apparently, have to do with La Salle's tiny sailing vessel, the Griffin, built and lost in a single season, and a forty-ton vessel on Lake Superior built in the eighteenth century by the Sieur de la Ronde. The British, however, came into the Northwest as military conquerors, who were under urgent need, from the moment of their advent, of an adequate naval establishment. Montreal and Canada were surrendered in September, 1760, and Robert Rogers, the renowned ranger, was immediately dispatched to the West to receive the surrender of Detroit, Mackinac, and the other French posts in this region. His command was the first English military force ever seen on the Upper Lakes. It took possession of Detroit in November, 1760, but not until the following season were the British detachments able to make their way to Mackinac, St. Joseph, and other of the interior posts. Their new-won control of the country was promptly challenged by Pontiac in the Indian war of 1763, and more seriously by the rebellious colonists a dozen years later in the war of 1775-83. Although a naval establishment was always necessary to the maintenance of British control in the Northwest, its need was particularly urgent during the years of the Revolution, and the navy of the Upper Lakes, consequently, attained an importance during these years which it was not again to enjoy until the War of 1812. Even before the appearance of Rogers in the West, the preliminary steps had been taken looking to the beginning of a naval establishment on Lake Erie. In July, 1760, Col. Henry Bouque of the Royal American Regiment was building a blockhouse Presqu' Isle (modern Erie). Here he built a "flatt," which TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 417 probably an open scow fitted with sails, and four bateaux. On September 15 he wrote to General Monckton at Fort Pitt pointing out the need that would be felt the following year for a vessel on Lake Erie, and proposing that the timbers and other materials for its construction be placed in process of preparation at Niagara, so that the ship might be in readiness by early spring. Evidently Bouquet was more alert to apprehend the situation than were some of his superiors, for on June 20, 1761, we find him again urging upon Monckton's attention the utility of a vessel on Lake Erie to serve as a support for the advanced posts. Monckton answered that General Amherst had not yet decided upon the advisability of the measure, since it had been reported that the navigation on Lake Erie was "very dangerous." Unknown to Monckton, however, General Amherst had already dispatched a force of ship carpenters with materials to construct two vessels at Niagara. Navy Island was chosen as the site of the shipyard, and throughout the period covered by our study it remained a principal center of the naval establishment on the Upper Lakes. Some years later a second shipyard was established at Detroit, which became, by reason of the military importance of that place, the chief center of the British naval establishment. The Navy Island shipyard was established several years earlier than the one at Detroit, and at this place were built all of the ships placed upon the Upper Lakes during the first few years of the British regime. To the first two of these vessels a particular interest attaches by reason of the role played by them in the eventful year 1763. Since their story illustrates as well as any the vital part played by the navy in the maintenance of military control over the western country during the British period, we may profitably pause to take account of it. Sir William Johnson, who visited Detroit in the autumn of 1761 to hold a great powwow with the disaffected tribesmen of this region, describes in his diary for July 26 a visit paid by him to Navy Island "whereon the vessel is building for exploring the Lakes Huron and Michigan." The ship, a schooner, was then "in such forwardness as to be ready to launch in about ten days," but work upon it had been stopped in order to construct a boat, pinnance fashion, for Major Gladwin's service. A few weeks later, returning from his Detroit expedition, Johnson found the schooner, which in the meantime had been launched, engaged under Captain Robertson's command in sounding the Niagara near the entrance to 418 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Lake Erie. Johnson dined on board, and reports that the schooner had ninety barrels of provisions, besides twenty-four barrels for Gage's sutler. From other sources we learn that the ship had been named the Huron, that it was armed with six guns, and when loaded drew seven feet of water. Such was the first British naval vessel, and the first decked vessel of any sort, with the exception of La Salle's Griffin; on the Upper Lakes. The second, a sloop, was already under construction. "Called to see Jno. Dies on the island where he is building a sloop," records Johnson on October 5, 1761, "which will not be finished this season he says, as he goes down in a fortnight, his men being sickly." Some time during the season of 1762 the sloop was put into service, and both vessels were at Detroit in May, 1763, when Pontiac opened the famous siege of that year. Almost all readers derive their knowledge of that affair from the magic pages of Parkman. To this circumstance is due the fact that the two ships which bore so essential a part in the defense of Detroit against the savage hordes led by Pontiac have come down in history as the Gladwin and the Beaver. How the great historian was led into this error I do not know. Attention was first called to it by Mr. Howland, two decades ago, who correctly observes that the schooner, misnamed by Parkman the Gladwin, was in fact the Huron. The real name of the sloop, Parkman's so-called Beaver, has remained hidden from the world until the present moment. In John Porteous' manuscript journal of the siege of Detroit, recently added to the Burton Historical Collection, the name stands disclosed, the Michigan. Its charming appropriateness will be instantly apparent, at least to all Detroit readers. From beginning to end of the siege of Detroit the Huron and the Michigan performed so valiant a part as to render it highly probably that but for their aid Detroit would have repeated the general tale of massacre enacted at Mackinac, St. Joseph, Sandusky, and the other western Posts. Upon the tiny navy fell the first blow struck by the followers of Pontiac in all the far-flung struggle. The Upper Lakes were in the beginning unknown seas to the British, and one of the first important tasks to be performed was to explore and chart them for purposes of navigation. Sir William Johnson, it will be recalled, had found Captain Robertson charting the entrance to Niagara in October, 1761. Early in May, 1763, the same officer left Detroit in an open boat, accompanied by a small party, to chart Lake St. Clair and River. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 419 Four days later, while thus engaged, the party was set upon by the Indians and all its members either killed or captured. Included among the slain were Captain Robertson and Sir Robert Davers, and the body of the former was devoured by the savages. Three days after their destruction, Pontiac began his attack upon the fort at Detroit and therewith the war was on. The number of defenders of Detroit at this time has commonly been overstated. John Porteous, a highly intelligent eyewitness, records that there were about seventy officers and soldiers in the little garrison, and twenty "merchants and servants." In preparation for the attack which was known to be impending, Major Gladwin caused the Huron and the Michigan to be anchored immediately in front of.the fort in such position that the guns of one vessel could sweep its eastern, and those of the other its western flank. What the Indians thought of the effectiveness of these allies is best revealed by their action in the opening attack. At dawn of May 10 from behind houses and fences they opened an "incessant" fire on the two vessels, which was maintained for several hours, paying, meanwhile, but slight attention to the fort; "they thought every hour to sink the Vessels," records Porteous, "& then they could easily get the Fort." Each vessel had a crew of six or seven men, the Huron being commanded at this time by Sergeant Miller of the Royal American Regiment, and the Michigan by Nicolas Newman. From this time until the end of the siege, the naval arm was a constant source of annoyance to the red men and a tower of strength to the English. The detailed story may be read in the pages of Parkman and it is our purpose here merely to direct 'attention to the vital part played by the navy in the conflict. Repeatedly, by night attacks and the construction of fire-rafts the Indians endeavored to destroy the two vessels, but all their efforts proved vain ; repeatedly the Huron and the Michigan journeyed from Detroit to Niagara and back, keeping the beleagured garrison in touch with the outside world and bringing needed reenforcements of men and supplies. For lack of such transportation, it is significant to note, the detachment of Lieutenant Cuyler, nearly 100 strong, which was making its way to Detroit in open boats along the north shore of Lake Erie, was cut to pieces by the Indians near the mouth of Detroit River late in May. With the termination of the siege the Huron disappears from recorded history. The tiny vessels of this early period, hastily 420 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY constructed of unseasoned timber, and exposed to the hazards of a navigation on seas largely uncharted, commonly endured but a brief span of existence. La Salle's Griffin, it will be recalled, was lost on her maiden voyage. The Michigan, whose useful career we have been tracing, met her doom on the north shore of ,Lake Erie, August 28, 1763, while returning from Niagara- to Detroit with soldiers and supplies. We have a vivid account of her foundering, written by one of the passengers. For lack of such a record the end to which the Huron came remains unknown. It still remained to conquer the Indian country and reoccupy the posts that had fallen, and the work of building additional ships for the Upper Lakes was promptly undertaken. October 29, 1763, General Amherst wrote to Colonel Bradstreet from New York: "I arrived here on Thursday Morning and gave immediate orders for getting ready the Iron Work for the Schooners that are intended to be built for the Service of Lake Erie, etc. A Sufficiency for one of 60 Tons, with the Rigging will be sent on Saturday next, & Preparation shall be made for two more & sent up as fast as possible. I need not desire you to forward the whole in the best Manner you can." On November 4 a sloop left for Albany carrying the ironwork, cables, anchors, sails, and other necessary materials for the vessels to be built. No narrative remains to tell us how the work of construction was carried out at the Navy Island shipyard, but it must have been prosecuted with vigor for the summer of 1764 saw no less than four vessels in service, the sloop Royal Charlotte, and the schooners Boston, Victory, and Gladwin. It was the busiest period the Navy Island yard ever knew, for no more vessels were constructed by the government until 1772, by which time a shipyard was in operation at Detroit, and all the later ships were turned out there. Jonathan Carver, who sailed on the Gladwin in 1768, described her as a vessel of eighty tons; similar details for her sister vessels are wanting, but they probably did not vary greatly in size. We have an official "Return" of all the vessels upon the lakes, from 1759 to 1778. It contains numerous errors, but from it we learn that the armament of the Gladwin was 8 swivels, and of the Boston, Victory and Royal Charlotte, 6, 8 and 10, respectively. Upon these vessels devolved during the next few years the task of maintaining communications and transporting military supplies throughout a region a thousand miles in extent, stretching from Niagara by way of Mackinac to Chicago and St. Joseph at the southern extreme of Lake Michigan. The TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 421 official "Return" of 1778 records that two of the four vessels which comprised the naval establishment from 1764 onward were "laid up and burned by accident." This fate is known to have befallen the Boston, which was burned some time prior to November 13, 1768, but there seems to be no record of the burning of the other. The Gladwin and the Royal Charlotte, according to the "Return" continued in service until they decayed. Carver, on the contrary, states that the Gladwin was lost on Lake Erie by reason of her master putting to sea with insufficient ballast. Both ships are known to have been in service as late as the summer of 1770, when General Gage was considering breaking them up and using the materials in the construction of a new vessel. Nothing seems to have been done in the matter this season, but by April, 1771, Gage had arranged with Alexander Grant to build two vessels at Detroit for the King's service, and the commandant here was directed to afford him all possible assistance. "As for the merchants," continues Gage, "they may build what vessels they please, but you will not suffer either Mr. Grant's Artificers or Sailors to be taken from him. * * * I understand there is very good Cedar to be had which Mr. Grant will now use for the King's Vessels, and if you find it necessary you will reserve the cedar and suffer no persons to cut it, but when it is used in the King's Service. "I hope you have received the orders about fitting out the old Vessels for this year's Service." From the official "Return" we learn the identity of the two new vessels, the first ever constructed at Detroit. One was the Hope, the other the Angelica; both were small schooners, carrying an armament of four swivels, and both continued in service many years. From 1771, therefore, dates the establishment of the King's shipyard, which for nearly forty years occupied the waterfront immediately west of what is now Woodward Avenue. From it were turned out all the ships, with but one or two exceptions, added to the King's navy on the Upper Lakes down to the evacuation of Detroit in 1796. In 1772 the Gage and the Dunmore, schooners of much larger size and heavier armament, were added to the fleet. The sloop Felicity, a small boat, was built in 1773, and the schooner Faith and sloop Archangel in 1774. All of these vessels were in service in 1778, at which time two more, the Wyandot and the Ottawa, were under construction at Detroit. 422 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY The importance in peace of this naval force was always great, for it provided practically the only means of communication and transport of supplies between the several western posts. In time of war, however, the importance of a navy becomes accentuated, and to this fact the Revolution afforded no exception. That struggle began on the Atlantic seaboard, and not until George Rogers Clark invaded the Illinois towns in 1778 was the British authority in the Northwest seriously challenged. Thereafter for several years Detroit, as the chief seat of British power in the West, was the center from which the British operations were directed, and the goal of the American desires. The story of these operations has more than once been told, but no writer has perceived the significance of the navy's contribution to them, or accorded to it its due measure of importance. As a matter of fact, the naval force was a constant factor in the British scheme of defense, and without it the royal authority in the West must have collapsed utterly, long before the close of the war. Thus in 1779 Colonel De Peyster at Mackinac urges upon General Haldimand the utility of keeping a vessel in constant service between that post and Detroit. "In the situation we are in at present," he writes, "the Indians are in constant alarm, and are often (so)" much persuaded that Detroit is taken that they are ready to leave their habitations. * * * The commanding officer at Detroit gives me all the intelligence he receives. But to hear often that all is well would be most essential service in the management of Indians." During the summer De Peyster sent Lieutenant Bennett with a combined force of soldiers, traders, and Indians to St. Joseph to ward off a threatened attack from St. Louis, and the Welcome went to the head of the lake to cooperate in the movement. The Indians proved disaffected and Bennett was compelled to withdraw. In October, therefore, Sinclair, who had succeeded to the command at Mackinac, dispatched the Felicity on a cruise around Lake Michigan to gather in all the corn and other provisions to prevent them falling into the hands of the "rebels" (Americans). The autumn before this, Governor Hamilton of Detroit had led an expedition against Clark's force at Vincennes. It proceeded with extreme difficulty, and but for the naval cooperation afforded by Captain Grant it could not have proceeded at all. As far as the Maumee Rapids, above the modern city of Toledo, the army and its supplies were conveyed in vessels, chiefly open boats, under the direction of Captain Grant. The Archangel TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 423 conveyed fourteen tons of supplies to the Rapids, and in addition fifteen large pirogues, each capable of carrying 2,000 to 3,000 pounds, were employed. When, some time later, Hamilton, a prisoner, was on his way to a Virginia dungeon, and Clark in his turn was threatening to march on Detroit, the alarmed British authorities exerted every energy to prepare a warm reception for him, and in this connection Grant ordered all the vessels on the Upper Lakes to return to Detroit as soon as possible, to bear their part in the defense. In 1780 a formidable attack was launched by the British against St. Louis and the Illinois towns. From far and wide the traders and warriors were assembled in several divisions to advance upon St. Louis by as many routes; one party was to cross Wisconsin by the ancient river highway from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, and thence descend the Mississippi; another was to ascend Lake Michigan to Chicago and descend the Illinois River to its destination ; another was to "watch the plains" between the Wabash and the Mississippi; while a covering expedition from Detroit was to descend the Wabash and engage the attention of Clark and the Kentuckians. In the execution this comprehensive program failed dismally, but it is significant to note that the naval force bore an integral part in the operations. Ships were sent to Milwaukee with provisions, and others to Chicago to carry back from thence the prisoners who, it was anticipated, would be taken in the Illinois country. When the assault made on St. Louis was beaten off, one party of the invaders retreated up the Illinois River, hotly pursued, as they thought, by the Americans. At Chicago they found safety aboard the vessels, which carried them, instead of the anticipated cargo of prisoners, back to Mackinac. Again in 1781 Clark was threatening Detroit, and the Faith and Adventure were withdrawn from the transport service between Little Niagara and Fort Erie to be stationed in the Maumee as an outpost of defense against the impending attack. It did not materialize, but the following season came repeated reports of an American advance, and again. Grant was sent to the Maumee with all the boats that could be assembled to meet the American attack. Here he fell ill, but before returning to Detroit he built a blockhouse which, he reported, could be defended by ten men against a hundred. The constant dependence of the detached posts upon the naval establishment is conveniently illustrated in the case of Mackinac. 424 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY De Peyster's representation of the need of a vessel to ply constantly between that place and Detroit has already been noted. Upon another occasion, urging the need of a vessel to be placed at his command for service on Lake Michigan, he stated that with a ship he could send to St. Joseph and receive a return in eight days' time; by canoe such a circuit required a month to perform. "If I had armed vessels," he observes in another report, "I could make them constantly coast Lake Michigan to arm the Indians and prevent the Rebels building boats." With the reverses suffered by Governor Hamilton at Vincennes in 1779 the British began to entertain unpleasant anticipations of the appearance of a "rebel" force before Mackinac, and in November, Sinclair, who had succeeded De Peyster in command of tha place, began the work of erecting a new fortification on the island of Michilamackinac. A year and a half later the new fort, portions of which may still be seen, was ready for occupancy, and the entire military and trading establishment was transferred from its mainland site (where now is Mackinaw City) to the island in the straits. The reasons for this removal are obvious. If the Americans should ever reach Mackinac the mainland fort would fall an easy prey into their hands; but the British, ensconced on the island, could laugh to scorn the utmost efforts of their opponents, who had no shipping on the lakes. To the command of the Upper Lakes by the royal navy during the Revolution, therefore, is due the origin of the present fort and community on Mackinac Island. Both in the erection of the new fort and in the maintenance of its garrison the cooperation of the king's ships was indispensable, and the Welcome, Angelica and Archangel were busily employed between the mainland and the island during the months when the work of construction was progressing. In the Burton Historical Collection is preserved the log book kept by Alexander Harrow, master of the Welcome during this period, which contains many interesting details concerning the work. The naval establishment on the Lakes had developed in response to current needs, rather than in accordance with any preconceived program, and the exigencies of war compelled its thorough reorganization. As, late as the autumn of 1777 we find Governor Carleton of Canada, who had been informed that the vessels on the Upper Lakes were not manned and armed, directing Colonel Bolton at Detroit "that nothing be suffered to navigate the Lakes which is not compleatly mann'd and armed, and TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 425 in the King's Service." "I depend upon your exerting your utmost diligence," he adds, "in seeing that these directions, so important to the Safety of the Upper Posts and the security of the Trade, be strictly and expeditiously carried into execution, in every instance where they have not already been complied with." In consequence of this order, which was evidently intended to convey, in part, a rebuke, the several naval officers at Detroit, together with Governor Hamilton, in conference prepared a report upon the existing establishment, accompanied by recommendations for its improvement. The latter have to do with such matters as establishing rates of pay for officers and crews of the vessels and for carpenters, store keepers, and other members of the naval establishment ashore, filling up the complement and improving the discipline of crews of the several vessels, developing the two existing shipyards at Navy Island and Detroit, etc. With respect to shipyards, the enlargement of the one at Navy Island was recommended, "there being too little Water at the present Wharf to Careen large Vessels at, and it being too small for three Vessels to Winter at." At Detroit the shipyard was to be inclosed, and barracks for officers and men, and a store house and rigging loft were to be built. Among other things, the employment of a naval surgeon was urged, with a "sallary" of 100 pounds sterling per year, besides allowances for lodging, provisions, medicine chest, etc. In this connection we incidentally learn that during the Pontiac war no provision was made for those injured in the service, wounded seamen being "left to shift for themselves." On the general subject of the rates of pay recommended, an interesting observation occurs. Evidently it was feared that these would be regarded as unduly high. In their justification was urged the remoteness of situation and the excessive prices of commodities. A pair of shoes, we are told, cost at Detroit in 1777 twelve shillings sterling; coarse stockings six shillings sterling a pair, check linen three shillings six pence sterling per yard, and "other things proportionately dear." In what light the higher authorities of Canada viewed these recommendations from Detroit is not a matter of record, but on July 1, 1778, two lengthy sets of general orders and regulations governing the naval establishment on the lakes, were issued. By them Samuel Graves was appointed commodore over all the lakes, which were divided into three districts, each of which was to be commanded by a naval officer subject to Graves' general direc- 426 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY tions. Besides the office of commodore, those of controller, paymaster, and commissioner were created, each to supervise, in its particular sphere of authority, the naval establishment on all the lakes. Thus it will be seen that the administration of the naval force on the Upper Lakes (which comprised the third naval district) was intimately related to that on the remaining lakes; for the purposes of the present study, however, the attention is confined to the Upper Lakes alone, with Detroit as the center of the naval establishment. A peculiarity of this inland naval service was its dependence upon the army establishment. Although in 1778 the commander-in-chief of the army in Canada announced as an "invariable rule" that no officer would be commissioned to naval establishment. A peculiarity of this inland naval service upon the ocean, the senior naval officer on each lake was subordinate not merely to his commander-in-chief, but also to the senior army officer serving in the same district. At the same time it was enjoined that land officers should not interfere with the "minutia" of the naval department, and naval officers were prohibited from concerning themselves with the "interior regulations" of the land service. Despite these precautions, friction and clashes of authority between the land and naval officers were of somewhat frequent occurrence. An illustration of such friction occurred in the summer of 1780 when Governor Sinclair arrested Alexander Harrow, captain of the Welcome, at Mackinac for supposed insubordination, keeping him in confinement at the fort for several weeks. This same summer Norman McKay, master of the Felicity, which was then at Mackinac subject to Sinclair's orders, complained to his naval superior that he had nothing to do but ply between the mainland fort and the island "sometimes with one letter, and at other times (carrying) one man from the one post to the other, and other times loading hay." Such employment did not suit the valiant skipper, and he asked to be ordered down to Detroit or relieved of his command. Yet Sinclair was obsessed with the idea that he needed a still larger naval force at Mackinac, and his representations on the subject to General Haldimand induced the latter to order Captain Grant, the immediate commander of the naval vessels of the Upper Lakes, to place two of them, the Hope and the Welcome, at Sinclair's disposal. Against this order Grant submitted a spirited protest, setting forth its interference with the transport service on the lakes and the inutility of stationing the vessels at Mackinac. "I can stake my veracity and twenty-one years' TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 427 knowledge of the Lakes to His Excellency," added the naval commander, "that the sloop Welcome answers all the end (need) of a vessel of War at Mackinac as the Great Fleet of England would —particularly as the Channel is open for all our Vessels to run there, whenever there is occasion." It was the peculiar fortune of the navy of the Upper Lakes that until the War of 1812 it never faced a civilized opponent. Aside from the attacks made by Pontiac on the Detroit River in the summer of 1763, therefore, its historian can record no tale of combats waged or victories won. Possibly for this reason historical writers have overlooked its importance and ignored its story. That importance, in the years prior to 1796, it is the purpose of the present article to suggest. THE IRON SHIP Mr. Quaife has also written the story of "The Iron Ship," a second craft named the Michigan, from which is taken the following, in connection with his foregoing article on "The Royal Navy of The Upper Lakes" : In the harbor of Erie, Pennsylvania, rides a small side-wheel steamer. By comparison the modern freighter, or even the modern passenger ship of the Upper Lakes, appears a veritable giant. Yet to the obsolete hulk of the ancient "Iron Ship" clings a wealth of historic associations. Although the Iron Ship was launched in 1844, her story properly begins with the War of 1812. In that war the decisive factor, so far as the western country was concerned (as has been said), was the naval control of the Upper Lakes. At first this rested with Great Britain, and as a consequence Detroit and all the western country passed under British control. In the autumn of 1813, however, Commodore Perry annihilated the British naval power on the lakes, and Michigan and the adjoining region once more passed under American control. In this posture of affairs, the Treaty of Ghent was concluded late in 1814, restoring peace between the two countries on the basis of a return to the status which had existed prior to the war. Before the war, Great Britain had maintained a small naval force on the Upper Lakes and the United States a still smaller one. The war had afforded a demonstration of the vital importance to each government of naval control of the lakes, and the return of peace brought with it the prospect that both nations would engage in a race for naval and military supremacy on the Great Lakes. In fact, Great Britain was already concert- 428 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY ing measures for the restoration of the power which had vanished before the gunfire of Commodore Perry's fleet, when in 1815 James Monroe, a sincere lover of peace, initiated the movement for an international agreement which has now endured for well over a century, and has proved one of the happiest ever consummated by rival nations. He instructed John Quincy Adams, then our ambassador to Great Britain, to propose to that government a mutual limitation of naval forces to be maintained on the lakes; President Madison, he stated, was willing to confine this force on each side to a certain moderate number of armed vessels, "the smaller the number the more agreeable to him." He was even willing to abstain altogether from an armed force on the lakes, save what might be necessitated by the needs of the revenue service. The distinction here noted between vessels armed for the revenue service, and vessels belonging to the naval establishment is important, for it has been maintained in all further discussions of the subject down to the present time. Thus it is no violation of the spirit of the ancient convention that in recent years the United States has placed armed boats on the lakes to repress illegal violations of her liquor laws; rather, the exertion of such force as might be necessary to this end was expressly contemplated by the officials who negotiated the original agreement. As to this, the British government was at first distinctly cool toward the American proposal; but at length, in 1817, a diplomatic convention was agreed upon to the effect that in future each nation should limit its naval force on Lake Ontario, on Lake Champlain, and on the Upper Lakes, respectively, to one vessel of 100 tons burden or less, armed with one eighteen-pound cannon. Either government might terminate the agreement on giving six months' notice of its intention; save such notice, it was of indefinite tenure. Therewith was begun, along our Canadian border, the policy of substituting honor and good faith for forts and warships as a means of national defense and protection. Although not without periods of stress, the new policy has persisted until the present time, and our 3,000-odd-mile Canadian border affords the world's most conspicuous example of international disarmament and good will. The creation of the Iron Ship, as well as the more interesting incidents in her long history, arose from certain of the strains upon the disarmament to which we have alluded. The first of these assumed threatening significance approxi- TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 429 mately two decades after the signing of the Convention of 1817. In the later '30s there was profound dissatisfaction on the part of certain elements in Canada with the existing government—a dissatisfaction which supplied the groundwork for overt rebellion. This situation need not have concerned the United States had it not been for the fact that certain sympathizers with the discontented element, from the safe vantage point of American border cities launched armed invasions of Canada with the intent of fostering rebellion and overthrowing the established government. Such an invasion, for example, was launched from Detroit in 1837 and came to its unhappy end in the disastrous battle of Windsor. Undoubtedly it was the duty of the American government to prevent the use of our soil for such purposes as the invaders made of it, but the authorities lacked either the power or the zeal to fulfill this duty. It followed as a consequence that the British government proceeded to equip itself for defense, and in this connection placed on the lakes a number of armed vessels. This was in plain contravention of the Convention of 1817 between the two countries, but the right of self-defense is paramount and the American government for a long time seemed willing to acquiesce in the British contention that the armament was justified by existing conditions, accompanied as it was by the direct assurance that as soon as these conditions were improved the British armed force would be reduced. But 1838 and 1839 witnessed the sending of large bodies of fresh troops to Canada, and American public opinion at length took alarm over the evidences of superior British military preparedness along the international border. Congress which for a quarter of a century had been content to leave the matter of border defense to the discretion of the Executive, now began to manifest a new and lively interest in the subject. The upshot was the passage of the fortification bill of 1841 authorizing the President to construct such armed vessels on the northwestern lakes as he might think proper. In pursuance of this authority the Secretary of the Navy initiated steps for the construction of an iron steamer for service on the Upper Lakes, and the side-wheel bark Michigan was the resultant answer to the British armament of the late '30s. The Michigan was built in sections at Pittsburgh in the years 1842-44. The sections were then transported overland to Erie (the Presque Isle of the French period), where they were assem- 430 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY bled and the vessel formally launched in the summer of 1844. The new ship was of 498-tons burden, with an armament of two 8-inch guns and four 32-pound carronades. Obviously her existence was in plain defiance of the Convention of 1817, the only excuse for which was succinctly given by Senator Allen of Ohio on August 3, 1841, when he stated in debate that he understood the .British had two armed steamers on Lake Erie and "he thought armed steamers were necessary to watch armed steamers." Although the Executive branch of the government never permitted itself to indulge in like plain speaking, it seems apparent that it was willing to give the British government visible demonstration of the American determination not to be outclassed in the matter of naval armament on the lakes. The latter, in turn, kept a watchful eye upon the situation, and before the vessel was completed the British ambassador at Washington, noticing recent advertisements for armament far in excess of the restrictions of the Convention of 1817, asked of Secretary of State Calhoun an explanation of the intentions of the American government respecting the fulfillment of that agreement. By way of reply, Calhoun transmitted a report from the Secretary of the Navy affirming that at the time the building of the Michigan was undertaken the British armament on the lakes far exceeded the existing agreement, and that this condition still continued. Thus diplomatic exchanges and disputes attended the birth of the Michigan as they were to attend her subsequent active career. She is further distinguished as being the first iron ship ever built for the American navy, and as the first iron vessel of any kind on the Upper Lakes. Hence for a generation (until iron had superseded wood in the construction of vessels generally) her unique and sufficient designation in common parlance was simply "the Iron Ship", or "the Iron Steamer." Happily our disputes with Great Britain were confined to the realm of diplomacy, and until the Civil war (presently to be noted) the Michigan's chief activities were of a peaceful and beneficent nature. Year after year she cruised the lakes, her home station being much of the time at Detroit, frequently bringing relief to vessels in distress, and serving at all times as a recruiting ship for the naval service (at Toledo and elsewhere). On the roll of her officers are the names of many men who subsequently distinguished themselves by daring deeds in distant cor ners of the earth. * * * TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 431 Perhaps the most interesting activity of the Michigan prior to the Civil war was that connected with the Kingdom of God on Earth which James J. Strang established in 1850 on the Beaver Islands of Lake Michigan. We have space only briefly to advert to the fact that Strang, claiming to be the divinely appointed successor to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, who was slain by an Illinois mob in 1844, succeeded in attracting several thousand followers to the Beaver Islands, which God was supposed to have set aside for their inheritance, and there established a kingdom, based on divine revelation, whose limits were eventually to embrace the entire earth. The whole story of Strang's Kingdom of God on Earth is as bizarre as any in American annals. Here it must suffice to note that for several years the unregenerate gentiles of the surrounding region maintained a state of virtual civil war with the Saints of the Islands, ending in their overthrow and banishment in 1856. As always under such circumstances, rumor and hatred combined to magnify many fold the misdeeds of the Saints, who even yet in this section of Michigan are firmly believed to have been a crew of industrious pirates and cut-throats. In the early summer of 1851 President Fillmore, having listened to' the dreadful stories of the regime King Strang had set up within the borders of his own governmental domain, placed the Michigan at the disposal of the U. S. District Attorney in Detroit to strengthen his hand in bringing the arch criminals to justice and reestablishing the sovereignty of the United States over the islands of Lake Michigan. A presidential election was approaching, and the existing mass of conflicting religious and economic interests was further complicated by the injection into it of partisan political motives. Equipped for desperate battle, District Attorney Bates was conveyed by the Iron Ship to the Beavers, where the King and his rebellious cohorts meekly surrendered themselves into official custody and were carried to Detroit for trial on numerous grave charges of misconduct. "I have just returned from the Kingdom of God with the Prophet of the Lord and the Saints in limbo," triumphantly reported Attorney Bates on the arrival of the Michigan at Detroit with her cargo. The unique character of the accused combined with the widspread advertising which had been accorded their supposed saintly misdeeds to make the case a cause celebre in local annals, and the public interest in the trial was heightened by the deplorable fact that it was prostituted to serve the partisan ends of the presidential campaign which was 432 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY then being waged. The outcome proved a sickening fiasco to the District Attorney, and a corresponding triumph to the accused. The only thing proved against them was the fact that they were Mormons, and the jury, all but two of whose members were their political enemies, promptly acquitted them. But legal acquittal brought no cessation of trouble for the kingdom, and the civil warfare went on until in the summer of 1856 the Michigan played a regrettable part in its downfall. By this time the King had estranged some of his supporters, and certain of these concocted a plot to murder him. It is not to be supposed that the commander of a United States naval vessel was cognizant of the plot, yet the conduct of the captain of the Michigan still awaits satisfactory explanation. The Iron Ship came into the harbor of Saint James and cast anchor immediately in front of the store of the principal plotter. The pilot of the ship was sent ashore with a message summoning the King on board. As he stepped upon the dock to comply, two of the conspirators who had been lying in concealment behind a pile of cordwood came up behind him and opened fire at arm's length. He fell to the ground, fatally wounded, after which the murderers again shot him and, raining blows upon him with their clubbed pistols, ran on board the ship and demanded protection from the followers of the fallen monarch. Although Saint James was a county seat, and the sheriff of the county demanded the custody of the murderers, the captain of the Michigan carried them away to Mackinac, where they were promptly set at liberty and lionized by the populace for the murder they had committed. The gathering of the gentile mob and the expulsion of the Saints from the Beavers followed in due course upon this assassination of their king. Less questionable and more interesting by far was the role played by the Michigan during the years of the Civil war. Along our unguarded lake frontier lay many prosperous cities, which might be harassed by Confederate agents operating from the safe vantage ground of nearby Canada. Canadian officials were lukewarm or indifferent about enforcing the neutrality laws, and certain enterprising Confederates sensed a golden opportunity for setting a back-fire along the Great Lakes frontier which would bring home to the northern people the horrors of warfare and divert their obnoxious energies from the task of southern invasion to that of home defense. To checkmate such designs, on all the Upper Lakes was but a TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 433 single armed vessel, the Iron Ship. In Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, and on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie were thousands of Confederate prisoners, and the plotters contemplated procuring the soldiery needed to raze the lake cities by procuring their release. It was the Johnson's Island Plot which more directly concerned the Michigan, and to this we will confine our attention. The island, almost a mile long, lies in the mouth of Sandusky Bay. In 1861 the government leased it, appropriate buildings were erected, and it was utilized as a prison for Confederate officers. The number in confinement varied from time to time, but in September, 1864, when the plot came to a head, there were some 2,700. They were guarded by an Ohio infantry regiment many of whose members had been withdrawn from active service by reason of wounds or physical disability. More important to our story than these guards, off the island lay the Michigan. Her armament had been heavily increased since the war began, and her battery of fifteen guns included one sixty-eight, six thirty, six twenty-five and two twelve-pounders. It was the hope of the plotters to gain possession of the Michigan, and capture the island with her; then having burned Sandusky and Cleveland the prisoners would liberate in turn the thousands of Confederate soldiers confined in. Columbus and therewith be equipped with an army for such further activities as circumstances might render feasible. Evidently the success of the whole enterprise hinged upon the capture of the Iron Ship. The Confederate government had sent Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior under President Buchanan, to Canada charged with a commission to make what trouble he could for the United States in that quarter. Thompson engaged in this service Capt. Charles H. Cole, who professed to be a Confederate naval officer but who seems rather to have been a professional adventurer. Equipped with money supplied by Thompson, Cole came to Sandusky in the summer of 1864 in the guise of a Pennsylvania oil man, opened a bank account, and dispensed a somewhat generous hospitality, with a view to ingratiating himself with the military authorities. In after years he related a lurid tale of his achievements; in particular he claimed he had corrupted certain members of the Michigan's crew. All his efforts came to naught, however, with his arrest, and it seems probable he actually accomplished much less than he afterward pretended to have done. The really important actor in the entire plot was another 434 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY man whom Thompson had engaged, John Yates Beall. Beall was a Virginian who had served under Stonewall Jackson, but being wounded early in the war had made his way first to Iowa and later to Canada. There he had asked Thompson for the command of a privateer on Lake Huron, but had received instead an assignment to cooperate with Cole in the taking of the Michigan. Another adventurer who engaged in the plot was a young Scotch-man who later won widespread fame as a war correspondent, Bennett G. Burley. A small steamer, the Philo Parsons, then plied between Detroit and Sandusky. On Monday morning, September 19, 1864, Burley went aboard this boat, then about to depart for Sandusky. At Sandwich three more men, one of them Beall, came aboard; while at Amherstburg sixteen roughly dressed men, equipped with one old trunk, took passage. The newcomers had no ostensible relations with Burley and Beall, and were assumed to be returning Americans who had run away from the draft. About four o'clock in the afternoon, when the steamer was within a dozen miles of Sandusky, Beall and Burley and their two companions suddenly covered the officers with revolvers and, announcing that they were Confederates, took possession of the ship. The Amherstburg passengers now disclosed themselves as their associates, and their trunk proved to be filled with hatchets and revolvers with which they armed themselves. At Middle Bass Island, where they stopped to wood the Philo Parsons, another small steamer, the Island Queen, was seized. The two vessels left the island lashed together, but after a few miles the Island Queen was scuttled and turned adrift. The outcome of the enterprise was wholly dependent upon Cole's success in corrupting or drugging the crew of the Michigan; but even before the plotters boarded the Philo Parsons, Colonel Hill at Detroit had sent the commander of the Michigan a warning of the impending attack. That officer promptly sent a boat crew ashore to seize Cole, while all Monday night the Michigan lay cleared for action, with guns shotted, steam up, and officers and men at their quarters. Had the Parsons actually put in an appearance she would have been blown out of the water in short order. Much to Beall's disgust, however, his men, belatedly perceiving the impossibility of capturing a warship with pistols and hatchets, mutinied. All but Burley and two others refused to proceed with the mad enterprise, and Beall was compelled to yield. The Parsons was turned back toward De- TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 435 troit, therefore, and on reaching Sandwich the Confederates, having scuttled the vessel, landed and disappeared. Bean was later seized at Niagara Falls, condemned to death as a spy, and hanged at Governor's Island in New York harbor. Cole after some months' imprisonment was released on habeas corpus proceedings, there being insufficient evidence to convict him. Burley was brought back from Canada through extradition proceedings on the prosaic charge of robbery and assault. The jury disagreed, however, and before the second trial could be held, the prisoner took French leave and departed upon a career of worldwide adventure. Of all the plotters, Bean was the only one who was punished by the government. The Michigan took an active part in repressing the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1868, but for the rest her story is chiefly one of peaceful lake surveys, and of service as a training ship for the naval militia. With the passing years the old ship grew ever more obsolete, of course, and from time to time proposals were made to replace her with a vessel of more modern design. In the early '90s the people of Chicago, intent on having a warship on exhibition at their World's Fair, petitioned Congress to replace the "antiquated" Iron Ship with a new one, but nothing came of this, and dynamic Chicago was compelled to content herself with an imitation battleship built of brick on the lake front. Some years after the Spanish War the government planned to bestow the name, Michigan, upon a new battleship that was being built. In 1905, therefore, the name, Wolverine, was given to the Iron Ship, the new name, like the old, attesting the intimate association of the vessel with Michigan. The Wolverine continued in service many years longer as a training ship for the naval militia. A few years ago she was retired from this service and condemned to be sold for what she might bring. But the people of Erie, Pennsylvania, who from an early period have manifested a deep interest in the United States navy, asked that the vessel be given to that city for preservation as an historic memorial. The request was granted, and so the ancient Iron Ship, after three-quarters of a century of continuous service, has found a permanent anchorage in the port whence so many of her officers were drawn. Her story is more interesting, her wealth of human associations greater, than that of any other vessel that rides our inland seas. CHAPTER XXXVII PROGRESS OF EVENTS IN THE NORTHWEST INFLUX OF SETTLERS-AMERICAN-INDIAN-BRITISH SITUATION-THE JAY TREATY-BRITISH FINALLY SURRENDER FORTS-GENERAL WILKINSON SUPERSEDES WAYNE-DESIGNS OF THE SPANISH AND BRITISHWAYNE COUNTY ESTABLISHED-COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DETROIT AND OHIO-RIVER-THE WESTERN RESERVE AND FIRE LANDS. Peace between the white man and the savage, so far as the aborigine was concerned, was generally a matter of expediency. Some of the tribes whose head chiefs attached their mark of approval to the Greenville Treaty, however, possessed a genuine friendliness for the Americans, while others joined with their brethren in the agreement from a matter of policy and enforced self interests. There was much suffering among the Indians of the Sandusky and Maumee region, especially among those gathered at the lower Swan Creek section, during the winter of 17941795, by reason of their corn and other crops being destroyed by Wayne. They had expected protection at the Battle of Fallen Timbers from the British at Fort Miami and now the latter, unprepared to aid such a large force, left them at the creek in almost a starving condition.' There was much sickness among them, the few animals they had left mostly died for want of care and food, or were eaten, including their dogs. Little wonder then that they turned to the American commander for peace and aid. With Wayne's treaty concluded, there was a greater influx of settlers from the East, the narrowing of the prescribed limits to the hunting grounds of the Indians was naturally a great irritation, and the British were ever ready to take advantage of any situation prejudicial to American interests. Another treaty, however, which aided the Americans at this juncture was concluded between the United States and Spain, October 27, 1795, which established territorial limits between the two sections, concerned the surrender of Spanish forts to the United States, the subject of navigation and a declaration of the renewal of friendliness. This agreement allayed the agitation - 436 - TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 437 for a new government in the West and harmonized the differences existing between the East and West. The Americans garrisoned military posts in the Maumee and Sandusky regions and near-by territory in the early part of 1796 were as follows: Forts Wayne, Defiance, and Sandusky, with Miami yet held by the British; also Forts Recovery, Loramies, Head of the Auglaize, Adams, Jefferson and Greenville. The posts recommended in March of that year to be still maintained were : Wayne, Defiance, Recovery, Adams, Head of Auglaize, Miami, Michilimackinac and Detroit—the latter, besides Miami, being still in the hands of the British. In January, 1796, General Wayne delegated the command of the Northwestern Army to Gen. James Wilkinson with headquarters at Greenville, and visited the national government. at Philadelphia in regard to the situation in the Northwest. In June, 1796, a British and Indian council was planned to be held adjacent to Fort Miami to establish closer relations against the Americans. Colonel Hamtramck came down the Maumee from Fort Wayne with an escort of troops to keep in touch with the Indian-British movements, while General Wilkinson extended an invitation to several chiefs to visit him at Greenville. Regarding the British-Indian council, Colonel Hamtramck wrote to General Wilkinson as follows, from Fort Deposit at Roche de Boeuf, above present Waterville on the Maumee : "Camp Deposit, June 8, 1796. "Sir : I arrived at this place the day before yesterday and have been waiting the result of the Indian council at the Miami fort. It would appear that they are divided in their opinions. White Cap the principal Shawnee chief wants to alarm the Indians, but I am in hopes he will not succeed. Blue Jacket is with me, and says that he will remain until your arrival. Yesterday same of their chiefs and young men were with me, and assured me of their good intentions towards us. How far this can be depended upon time will determine. * * * "J. F. Hamtramck." It was on account of the growing enmity towards Great Britain by reason of her policy of fermenting Indian hostility towards the United States, and also by reason of the British refusal to surrender certain of the lake posts to this country as agreed by the peace treaty of 1783, that President Washington had appointed John Jay, at the time chief justice of the Supreme Court, 438 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY to attempt to come to some further specific agreement. Negotiations were in progress over the seas at the very time Wayne was marching down the Maumee against the Indians. On the part of England, Lord Grenville finally signed the "Jay Treaty" November 19, 1794, and the document was presented to the United States Senate for ratification, June 8, 1795. Its terms when they became known were not in accordance with the republican radicals' sentiment in America. In consequence the feeling against England heightened in intensity and public meetings of indignation were held. A few even went so far as to demand Washington's impeachment for his lack of Americanism and Justice Jay was burned in effigy in the cities along the Atlantic Coast. Through all the turmoil Washington displayed his poise and statesmanship and the agreement was ratified June 18th, fifteen days after the signing of the Greenville Treaty. It adjusted the disputed boundary lines, provided for the collection of the British debts, cleared up the question of American-European trade in the West Indies, and provided that "His Majesty will withdraw all his troops and garrisons from all posts and places within the boundary lines assigned by the treaty of peace to the United States (1783) . This evacuation shall take place on or before June 1, 1796." On March 1, 1796, the treaty was proclaimed a law by the President. On May 27th General Wilkinson sent Captain Schaumberg, his aide, to Detroit to demand of the British Colonel England the evacuation of Fort Miami on the lower Maumee, Fort Lernoult at Detroit, and Fort Michilimackinac. Under the plea that he had received no orders from his superior officer to make such surrender, the demand was refused. There was still no movement on the part of the British to give up the posts they yet held on June 1, whereupon General Wayne in consultation with the War Department, decided to make one further demand. To carry out this resolution, Captain Lewis was dispatched from Philadelphia to Lord Dorchester with the proper formalities. Lord Dorchester provided Lewis with the orders to be handed to the British commanders of Forts Miami, Lernoult, Michilimackinac, Niagara and Oswego, ordering them to vacate these posts to "such officer belonging to the forces of the United States as shall produce this authority to you for that purpose; who shall precede the troops destined to garrison it by one day, in order that he may have time to view the nature and condition of the works and buildings." Captain Lewis handed TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 439 the orders for evacuation of Forts Niagara and Oswego to Captain Bruff at Albany, and the orders for the surrender of the other forts were given to General Wayne at Philadelphia. Wayne immediately dispatched the orders to General Wilkinson at Greenville, who thereupon forwarded them to Colonel Hamtramck at Fort Deposit. The latter officer proceeded down the Maumee to Fort Miami without delay and sent to General Wilkinson the following report: "Fort Miami, July 11, 1796. "Sir: On the 7th instant two small vessels arrived from Detroit in which I sent a detachment of artillery and infantry, consisting of sixty-five men, together with a number of cannon with ammunition, &c., &c., the whole under the command of Captain Porter. On the 9th a sloop arrived from Detroit at Swan Creek, purchased by Captain Henry De Butts, which carries fifty tons, and which is now loaded with flour, quartermaster's stores and troops. That, together with eleven batteaux which I have, will be sufficient to take all the troops I have with me, leaving the remainder of our stores deposited at this place, which was evacuated on this day, and where I have left Captain Marschalk and Lieutenant Shauklin with fifty-two men, infantry, and a corporal and six of artillery, that is, including the garrison at the head of the Rapids (Fort Deposit). I have endowed Fort Miami with one month's provision for both the troops and the Shawanese. The latter, you recollect, you promised subsistence until the crops were ripe. The number of the Shawanese is about one hundred and eighty, besides twenty-six or thirty Ottawas. I shall embark in two hours, with all the troops, for Detroit. * * * "J. F. Hamtramck." "Detroit, July 17, 1796. "Sir: I have the pleasure to inform you of the arrival of the troops under my command at this place which was evacuated on the 11th instant and taken possession of by a detachment of sixty-five men commanded by Captain Moses Porter, whom I had detached from the foot of the Rapids (Maumee) for that purpose. Myself and the troops arrived on the 13th instant. "J. F. Hamtramck. "To Major-General Wilkinson." The British in the meantime, before their evacuation, had built a fort at Malden, below Detroit, and on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, below where is now Amherstburg. 440 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Naturally a reader who has followed this story from the beginning of the American Revolution and the struggle of the young Republic for Independence, from 1774 down to the present, and also from reading the treaty of Paris (1783) and now the Jay Treaty effective in 1796, would expect here to be written the finis of a great American peace. However, such is not the story of this western country, and this narrative must cover a period of eighteen more years before such an ending can be recorded. It is of course impossible to tell what history might record concerning the United States had England at once carried out the terms agreed upon at the treaty of Paris, 1783. Possibly internal complications might have been more serious on the uncharted sea of freedom than were the thirteen years more of struggle up to Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers. There is no question that much blood was shed in the meantime that England was responsible for. Had that country at that juncture adopted the proper attitude in her conduct towards the Indian, and aided in the betterment of their condition instead of inciting them to American ravages and murder, untold good might have been accomplished and thousands of American lives spared—more than were lost east of the Alleghenies during the entire Revolution, not considering the great loss of property. But England's policy of expansion and acquisition of territory and her desire to hold to the last all that had been acquired, caused the hope for some international event to take place which might give her the repossession of the American colonies, or at least the territory west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River. As has been repeated, this was shown by their tenacity in holding the forts upon the American border, the building of Fort Miami on the lower Maumee (a stronghold within American territory) and their continued efforts to federate the Indian tribes and turn them against the United States. No statement that the British Home Office was not fully informed and in touch with the situation in. America will ever be credited as an excuse for what took place. The facts were the American policy was directed from the Home Office in London. General Wayne after the Philadelphia conference and the arrangement for the evacuation of the forts by the British, arrived at Detroit by way of Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.) August 13, 1796, where he was joyfully acclaimed even by the large concourse of Indians. On November 17th he embarked again for home on a sloop, was seized with a serious attack of the gout and TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 441 died at now Erie, Pa., December 15, 1796, near his fifty-second birthday. Gen. James Wilkinson, who had been serving as commander during Wayne's absence, was now his successor as general-in-chief of the United States army in the West. The Jay Treaty brought on a disturbance from a source not anticipated. The document was considered by France as the suspension of the American-French treaty of 1778, and they made an offensive and defensive alliance with Spain, August 19, 1796, which led to some French and Spanish complications with this country not necessary to give here in detail, but which revived the question of a western confederacy among a few Kentuckians, and a Spanish emissary was sent there to "advocate the interests of Spain in the Mississippi basin." Further, instead of the Spanish forts along the Mississippi being surrendered to the United States according to agreement, it was reported that some three hundred Spaniards were building a strong, new post at St. Louis and that a large party of Delaware Indians, bearing the Spanish colors, were on their way to join that garrison. Thomas Power, the versatile Irishman who could talk English, French and Spanish, and who had been in the Kentucky and Ohio settlements to spread Spanish propaganda in the interests of that country in the Mississippi Valley, in August, 1797, also visited the Maumee region on a mission to General Wilkinson and other prominent men at Detroit. He was joined there by Victor de Collot and M. Warin, representatives of France, who from observations made maps of the watercourses and geography of this region. This Detroit visit caused General Wilkinson to write a letter to Capt. Robert Buntin, the American commander at Vincennes, dated September 4, the above year, in which Wilkinson said that he had received a communication from Baron de Carondolet, the Spanish governor general of Louisiana, giving "a variety of frivolous reasons for not delivering the (Mississippi) posts and begs that no more (American) troops be sent down the Mississippi." General Wilkinson, however, demanded of Carondolet that the Spanish posts be surrendered, and considering Powers' presence in Detroit undesirable, the general put him in care of Captain Schaumberg and sent him to New Madrid "by the most direct route." It was feared too that Great Britain had her eye on the Spanish colony and planned an invasion by way of the Maumee or the Illinois River. For civil purposes, on August 15, 1796, Winthrop Sargent, 16—VOL. 1 442 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY secretary of the Northwest Territory, proclaimed at Detroit the establishment of the County of Wayne, which included all of present Ohio north of the Greenville Treaty line and east to the Cuyahoga River, a large part of now Michigan and a small strip of Indiana north of Fort Wayne. Thereby the Maumee and Sandusky valleys were for the first time brought under the jurisdiction of the United States. Before then, excepting the American forts, this territory had been under the nominal jurisdiction of Kent County, Canada, organized in 1792. Governor St. Clair's promulgation of laws for the Northwest Territory did not then affect this section, which was "Indian lands." With the long sought for occupation of Detroit by Americans, close communication as possible was necessary between that place and Fort Washington or Cincinnati. To effect that purpose, relays of horses were kept at the stations of Miami ( Maumee), Defiance, St. Marys and Greenville. In this connection, Maj. John Wilson, assistant quartermaster at Fort Miami, under the date of September 16, 1796, received a letter from J. Wilkins, Jr., quartermaster-general at Detroit, saying, "I send over by Ogden two horses which are to remain at Fort Miami to serve as a relief for expresses; when expresses are coming to this place (Detroit) they are to leave the horses they bring, with you, and come on with fresh horses. You will take the greatest care of the horses and have them well fed and attended to." Not only was this route used for military purposes, but after the organization of Wayne County, until Ohio became a state, there was considerable business to pass between the two sections and lawyers from Cincinnati, as told by Judge Barnet in his "Notes," traveled the route in attending the General Court at Detroit. The first postal route between Cincinnati and Detroit was inaugurated March 3, 1801. For some two years, however, the mail was carried by a military express, until post offices on the northern section were established. The Territory of the Mississippi was formed by Congress, April 7, 1798, and Winthrop Sargent was made its governor. William Henry Harrison was selected secretary of the Northwest Territory to fill the vacancy caused by Sargent's transfer. Before proceeding with the progress of the civil organization of the Northwest, however, it is well to call attention to what is known as the Western Reserve. When Connecticut by its act of May 11, 1786, ceded to the United States its claims in the Northwest Territory, it reserved TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 443 a strip bounded on the north by forty-two degrees and two minutes north latitude, on the east by the Pennsylvania state line, on the south by the forty-first degree parallel and on the west by a meridian line 120 miles west of the boundary line of Pennsylvania. This tract was known as the "Connecticut Western Reserve." On May 11, 1792, the General Assembly of Connecticut quit-claimed to the inhabitants of the several Connecticut towns whose property had been burned by the British during the Revolution, 500,000 acres lying across the western end of the Reserve, bounded on the north by the shore of Lake Erie. These lands are known in the West as the "Fire Lands." In 1796 the property sufferers were incorporated in Connecticut and in 1803 in Ohio, and the lands on being surveyed were distributed in proportion to each sufferer's loss. The survey showed that the total reservation, including Kelleys Island and the several Bass Islands in Lake Erie, contained 3,366,921 acres, more than the entire state of Connecticut, but this amount was later reduced somewhat by another survey. The lands of the Connecticut Land Company were drawn by the purchasers in four separate drawings, 1798, 1802, 1807, and 1809. After the last draft the company was dissolved. A rather peculiar fact connected with all Ohio land company organizations and purchases, such as the Ohio Company, the Scioto Company, the Symmes Purchase in the Cincinnati-Dayton region, the French Colony and finally the Connecticut Land Company, was that they never resulted in the financial successes anticipated and all were attended with many difficulties and disappointments. However, they served their purposes in the development and settlement of Ohio. On July 10, 1800, Governor St. Clair issued a proclamation, constituting the 'entire Western Reserve, including the Fire Lands, as a county, which was named Trumbull in honor of the then governor of Connecticut, Jonathan Trumbull. This cut off a section of Wayne County west from the Cuyahoga. It is plain to see where the people in this "New Connecticut" came from, as they named their settlements Norwalk, New London, New Haven, East Haven, Greenwich, Ridgefield, Danbury, Fairfield, Milan, Plymouth, New Salem, Berlin Heights, etc. CHAPTER XXXVIII BEGINNING OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE-CINCINNATI SEAT OF GOVERNMENT- INDIANA TERRITORY FORMED-LOUISIANA PURCHASE-CHILLICOTHE MADE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL-MOVE FOR STATEHOOD-FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION-OHIO BECOMES A STATE-IMPORTANT INDIAN TREATIES-LAND OFFICES ESTABLISHED. The passage of the Ordinance of 1787 creating the Northwest Territory, the appointment of General St. Clair as governor, the selection of the three territorial judges and the promulgation of a limited number of laws for the territorial government, has already been set forth. Representative government in the territory began with the meeting of the First General Assembly at Cincinnati, September 16, 1799. For ten years the government had been in the hands of the governor and the judges, who had exercised the legislative, executive and judicial powers as the ordinance provided. The governor was the commander-in-chief of the military, appointed magistrates and other civil officers and was the chief executive in law enforcement. The laws, civil and criminal, were made by the governor and judges, or a majority of them; the judges formed a court with common law jurisdiction and constituted the territory's judicial power. There was at times friction between Governor St. Clair and the judges as to their various rights and powers, but as for the people, they were well satisfied with the administration of affairs and the character of the laws they had no voice in making. Now came the government by the people as provided for when the territory contained "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age." Taking notice of this fact, Governor St. Clair on October 29, 1798, issued a proclamation to the qualified voters, ordering that an election be held for territorial representatives on the third Monday in December, 1798. Only the owners of fifty acres or more of land were permitted to vote at the election and only freeholders of 200 acres were eligible to the office of representative. The Ordinance also made provision for a council of five members corresponding to a senate, to be selected by Congress, out of a list - 444 - TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 445 of ten names submitted by the Territorial House of Representatives. As the Congress of the confederation went out of existence automatically upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, these appointments were made by President Adams. The first election was held in accordance with the governor's proclamation but owing to irregularities another election was held January 14, 1799. Representatives from Wayne County, of which the Maumee and Sandusky valleys were a part, chosen at the election held at Detroit, were Solomon Sibley, Jacob Visgar and Charles F. Chabert de Joncaire, all of Detroit or that neighborhood. As the constituency of the officials lived in a territory comprising over 250,000 square miles, over twice the area of Great Britain and Ireland, and greater than France, it took time to determine the election results. And while the governor's proclamation called for the convening of the Legislature on January 22nd, the meeting did not take place until the 4th of February. From Kaskaskia on the Mississippi was some four hundred miles, and from Vincennes on the Wabash and from Michigan, the travel on horseback through deep forests, broken only by Indian trails, was a task not to be taken lightly. The first duty of the Territorial Assembly was the nomination of ten persons out of which the Legislative Council was to be named. These ten names were reported to Governor St. Clair, who in turn transmitted them to the Federal secretary of state and from the list President Adams selected for a term of five years—James Findlay and Jacob Burnet of Cincinnati, Hamilton County; Henry Vanderburgh of Vincennes, Knox County; Robert Oliver of Marietta, Washington County; and David Vance of Vanceville, Jefferson County. Each possessed a freehold of 500 acres of land. An adjournment was then taken until September 16th following. There being no quorum present on September 16th, it was not until the 24th, eight days later, that the two houses were organized. Henry Vanderburgh of Vincennes was chosen as president of the Council and Edward Tiffin of Chillicothe was unanimously elected speaker of the House of Representatives. "Cincinnati, the seat of government of the territory, was then a struggling and unprepossessing village. With the river at its feet, it was surrounded by the dense and impenetrable forests of the Miami country." On October 3rd William Henry Harrison was selected by the Legislature as the first representative to Congress from the territory .and upon his resignation as secretary of the terri- 446 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY tory, that position was filled by the appointment of Charles Wil Liam Byrd, whose selection was confirmed by the Council or Senate December 31, 1799. Slow communication between the various outlying sections of such a vast and new country, much of which was remote from officers of the law, made the maintenance of order and good government a difficult problem in the far removed districts. The situation was brought to the attention of Congress, and a committee of investigation on March 3, 1800, reported that in five years in three western counties of the territory, there had been but one court to which complaints had been reported against criminal offenders; and that the immunity which law breakers experienced attracted "as to an asylum the most vile and abandoned criminals, and at the same time deters useful and virtuous persons from making settlements in such society." The evil was greatly remedied by the act of Congress passed May 7, 1800, providing for the establishment on the 4th of July following of the Territory of Indiana; the boundaries of which were "that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River which lies to the westward of a line beginning at the Ohio opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada." The section west of this line was to constitute the territory of Indiana and the part east thereof was Ohio territory. This movement reduced the size of Wayne County about one-half. To administer the affairs of such a region as that of Indiana required a man of ability and versed in Indian affairs, and the governorship fell to William Henry Harrison. While Governor St. Clair, despite much opposition, received a reappointment, his jurisdiction now applied to the Ohio section. Vincennes was made the seat of government of the Indiana Territory and that for the Ohio section was changed from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. The second session of the First Territorial Assembly was held at Chillicothe, November 3, 1800. Four land offices were established in the Ohio division—Marietta, Chillicothe, Cincinnati and Steubenville. The dawn of the nineteenth century brought many important events to the Northwest and history was rapid in the making. Even after the forts of this region were taken over by the Americans and the British had built Fort Malden and retired to the Canadian side of the Detroit River and the established boundary line, they continued in their official capacity to invade American TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 447 territory and to attempt to influence the Indians in their interests. But one by one the problems that came up were courageously met by the United States Government and the various Spanish, French and Indian intrigues inaugurated were dispelled. A new treaty was made with France, September 30, 1800, which averted threatened war with that nation, and the ambitions of Spain to gain a permanent western foothold were defeated, by her secretly ceding Louisiana back to France after a thirty-eight years' possession. The climax came with the purchase of that vast domain by the United States April 30, 1803, under the Jefferson administration, which put a quietus on Napoleon's idea of a New France, opened up American navigation on the Mississippi and put a finality to local and foreign agitation for a Western Republic. Greater stability to western affairs followed and with a population in the Ohio territory, including what is now Eastern Michigan, of 45,365, the agitation began for the formation of a new state. After Congress had designated Chillicothe as the seat of territorial government, the first capitol building was erected there, in which the first session of the Second Territorial Assembly was convened November 23rd, 1801. Solomon Sibley was the member of the Council or Senate from Wayne County in place of Judge Vanderburgh, whose residence was in the territory of Indiana. Jonathan Schiefflin, George McDougall and Charles F. Chabert Joncaire were the members of the House of Representatives. Joncaire and Schiefflin had previously been most active in the interests of the British. Edward Tiffin was elected speaker of the House and Robert Oliver president of the Council. The controversy between Governor St. Clair, a Federalist, and the leaders for statehood, which proposition the governor opposed, caused St. Clair to prorogue the legislative session on January 23rd, 1802, to meet in Cincinnati the following November. This act greatly incensed the citizens of Chillicothe, and the mobbing of the governor was averted by the prompt action of Representative Schiefflin of Detroit, who displayed a brace of pistols in such a threatening manner that the attack was quelled and the mob dispersed. With the finding that the Ohio territory contained a population of sixty thousand or more people, as provided by the Ordinance of 1787, and a Congressional committee appointed for the purpose, on March 4, 1802, reporting favorably their investigation, Congress on April 30 voted the call for a Constitutional Convention to meet November 1, 1802, to frame a constitution for a 448 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY new state on the lines now existing. The act provided that all male residents in the Ohio division of the territory who had resided therein one year and paid their taxes, were eligible to vote for members of the convention. There was to be a representative for every 1,200 inhabitants of each county. The election was held the second Tuesday in October (1802 ) and of the thirty-five members elected, Wayne County was excluded from the enabling act because it mostly lay outside the territory to be included in the new state; Detroit being its seat of government. It therefore had no representative in the convention. The members of the convention to determine whether there should be a new state government and to frame a constitution, as stated, met at Chillicothe and effected their organization November 1, by the selection of Edward Tiffin president and Judge Thomas Scott of Chillicothe secretary. After the credentials of the members were passed upon and the rules of procedure adopted, the question whether "it be or be not expedient at the time to form a constitution and state government" was carried in the affirmative by a vote of thirty-two to one, the one negative vote being that of Ephriam Cutler of Washington County, a radical Federalist. After due deliberation upon each of the eight articles of the constitution, it was completed, passed and signed November 29, 1802, and Ohio was admitted to the Union as a state, February 19, 1803; the fourth under the general Federal Constitution and the seventeenth state in number. Pursuant to the provisions of the new constitution the election of a governor and members of the General Assembly took place January 11, 1803, at which Edward Tiffin was elected Ohio's first governor. The first session of the Ohio legislature opened March 1, 1803 at Chillicothe, which place was designated by the constitution as the capital until the year 1808. Nathaniel Massie was elected president of the Senate and Michael Baldwin speaker of the House of Representatives. The executive and judicial officers of the state, as provided also by the constitution, were selected by joint ballot of the Senate and House. For Judges of the Supreme Court, Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., Samuel Huntington and William Spriggs were chosen, as were three Associate Judges for each county. Thomas Worthington and John Smith were elected the first United States Senators. Jeremiah Morrow was elected June 21, 1803, as Ohio's one and first member of Congress. With the beginning of Ohio as a state, Detroit was the residence of most of the white settlers of Wayne County, although TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 449 along the Maumee and Sandusky there were traders and a few who considered the watercourses where they were located as their permanent home. All were enumerated to total the required number to make Ohio eligible to statehood, but as said Wayne County was given neither representation in the constitutional convention nor vote on the constitution. As a matter of fact the constitution was never submitted to the people for ratification. Northwestern Ohio, north of the Greenville Treaty line, and known as Indian lands, never had representation or voice in the government until after the organization of the various northwestern Ohio counties April 20, 1820. Automatically the Ohio portion of the Maumee and most of the Sandusky valleys reverted to Hamilton County for its civil government, after the organization of Ohio as a state, and when Green and Montgomery counties were organized May 1, 1803, their jurisdiction might be said to extend northward to the state line. On account of its remoteness, these counties exercised little if any control over this region which remained Indian lands until the treaties of 1817, and were subject to the United States governmental authorities at Detroit and Fort Wayne. The Indian situation in the Maumee and Sandusky country, together with the various treaties, including that at Fort Industry in 1805, has already been given. The Indians after the Treaty of Greenville, with some exceptions, were comparatively contented with their governmental annuities, with what they received for their furs and peltries, and the fruits of their hunting and trapping. They derived also considerable benefit from the gifts of the white settlers in their wanderings among them and had little regard for the rights of property; not considering as theft the appropriation of small articles that they found around the cabins of the pioneers. An important treaty outside of the Ohio section, was that negotiated by Governor Harrison, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Indiana Territory, begun at Vincennes September 17, 1802 and completed at Fort Wayne June 7, 1803. By this agreement the Miami, Eel River, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw, Pottawotamie and Wea tribes, ceded to the United States the lands about Vincennes which had previously been released by the other Indian tribes. Further treaties were made for lands in the Illinois country, between the Wabash and the Ohio and the release of Indiana lands by still other tribes. Thus the Northwest Territory was being prepared for statehood and settlement. On