550 - HISTORY OF OHIO. in the drudgery of his profession. He devoted his time to the cultivation of his taste for the sciences, music, and general literature. In 1796 his father died. Harmon Blennerhassett, then twenty-nine years of age, came into full possession of his fortune. Becoming involved in some political difficulties in Ireland, he sold his estate there and removed to England. All his associations were with the highest of the nobility. He soon married Miss Margaret Agnew, daughter of the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle-of-Man. Lord Kingsale and Admiral de Courcey both married sisters of Mr. Blennerhassett. His relatives and family connections were all staunch royalists, looking down upon the demands for popular rights with aristocratic contempt. Mr. Blennerhassett, unfortunately for his worldly peace and prosperity, had imbibed republican principles. This rendered his situation in England, in the high circles in which only he moved, very uncomfortable. He finally concluded to remove to the United States, where he could give utterance to his sentiments, undisturbed by the disdain and reproaches of his friends. Before leaving London he purchased a large library of classical and scientific books, and also an extensive chemical and philosophical apparatus. He also provided himself abundantly with everything which could contribute to the luxurious enjoyment of a home in the new world. Taking ship, he landed with his wife and some attendants in New York in the year 1797. He brought letters which immediately introduced him to the first families in the city. His wealth, rank and culture immediately gave him name and fame, and his society was much courted. He spent several months in New York making inquiries respecting the most attractive portions of the country in which to establish himself. He heard much of the Beautiful River, its forests, its prairies, its rich soil, mild climate and salubrious breezes. And particularly he heard of the luxuriant Eden-like islands which adorned the majestic stream. In the rich autumnal weather of 1797 he crossed the mountains to Pittsburgh. After spending a few weeks there, he took a large, flat-bottomed boat, richly furnished, and floated down the Ohio to Marietta. Here he passed the Winter, making various explorations in search of the most beautiful spot he could find for a permanent residence. Fourteen miles below the mouth of the Muskingum there was a HISTORY OF OHIO - 553 very beautiful island, nearly opposite the settlement of Belpre. This island, which was singularly wild, lovely and romantic in its character, was within the jurisdiction of the State of Virginia. There he could hold slaves, as he could not do in any portion of the Northwestern Territory. It is a little remarkable, that this man who from love of republican principles had encountered great loss, and had become an exile from his native land, should still wish to have the men who worked for him, his property, rather than his hired laborers. This island, as a residence, presented many great attractions. A few acres were free from trees, presenting a natural lawn. He could have flocks and herds without any danger of their straying into the wilderness. The settlement at Belpre was composed chiefly of very intelligent and well educated men. Their society would be instructive and attractive. The drooping branches of the willow laved the waters which flowed gently by the island, and the gigantic elms and sycamores gave grandeur to the scenery, and sheltered it from the ravages of storms. The island, which contained two hundred and ninety-seven acres, was of a peculiar form, from being narrow in the middle and broad at both extremities. Mr. Elijah Backus, of Norwich, Connecticut, purchased both of the islands in the year 1792 for about nine hundred dollars, Virginia currency. In the year 1798 Mr. Blennerhassett purchased. the upper half of the upper island for four thousand five hundred dollars. As there were one hundred and seventy acres in his purchase, this would amount to about twenty-six dollars an acre. About half a mile below the upper end of the island there was a large block-house standing, which had been erected as a place of refuge during the Indian wars. With his wife and one child Mr. Blennerhassett took possession of this house, while he commenced, with a large number of workmen, erecting an elegant mansion, and ornamenting the grounds with the taste he had acquired in familiarity with the splendid estates of England. Very great labor was expended in removing trees and stumps, in smoothing the lawn, and in preparing the grounds for the spacious buildings, and in constructing landings on both sides of the island, for communication with the Virginia and the Ohio shores. Beautiful boats of various sizes were procured, boat houses erected, and ten black servants were purchased, who were trained to skill 554 - HISTORY OF OHIO. in the various employments of watermen, waiters, grooms and gardeners. The outlays upon his buildings and grounds amounted to more than forty thousand dollars in gold, an immense sum in those days. This large amount of money expended among the laborers and farmers of that region, was of immense benefit to them, and gave the most salutary impulse to improvements in roads, buildings and agriculture. Mr. Blennerhassett was mild and gentlemanly in all his intercourse with others, and was con sidered one of the greatest public benefactors who had ever settled west of the Alleghanies. " The island mansion," writes Dr. S. P. Hildreth, " was built with great taste and beauty. No expense was spared in its construction that could add to its usefulness or splendor. It consisted of a main building, fifty-two feet in length, thirty in width, and two stories high. Porticos, forty feet in length, in the form of wings, projected in front, connected with offices, presenting each a face of twenty-six feet, and twenty feet in depth, uniting them with the main building, forming the half of an ellipsis, and making in the whole a front of one hundred and four feet. The left-hand office was occupied for the servant's hall, and the right for the library, philosophical apparatus and study. A handsome lawn of several acres occupied the front ground, while an extended opening was made through the forest trees on the head of the island, affording a view of the river. for several miles above, and bringing the mansion into the notice of descending boats. Nicely graveled walks, with a carriage-way, led from the house to the river, passing through an ornamental gateway with large stone pillars. A fine hedge of native hawthorn bordered the right side of the avenue to the house, while back of it lay the flower-garden, of about two acres, enclosed with neat palings, to which were trained gooseberry bushes, peaches and other varieties of fruit-bearing trees, in the manner of wall fruits. " The garden was planted with flowering shrubs, both exotic and native, but especially abounding in the latter, which the good taste of the occupants had selected from the adjacent forests and planted in thick masses, through which wandered serpentine walks, bordered with flowers, imitating labyrinths. Arbors and grottoes, covered with honey-suckles and eglantines, were placed at convenient intervals, giving the whole a very romantic and beautiful appearance. On the opposite side of the house was a. HISTORY OF OHIO - 555 large kitchen garden, and back of this orchards of peach and apple trees of the choicest varieties, procured from abroad, as well as from the Belpre nurseries. "Lower down on the island was the farm, with about one hundred acres under the nicest cultivation; the luxuriant soil producing the finest crops of grain and grass. For the last three or four years of his residence, a large dairy was added to his other agricultural pursuits, under the management of Thomas Neal, who also superintended the labors of the farm. The garden was conducted by Peter Taylor, a native of Lancashire, England, who was bred to the pursuit, but under the direction of Mr. Blennerhassett, whose fine taste in all that was beautiful, ordered the arranging and laying out the grounds. " The mansion and offices were frame buildings, painted with the purest white, contrasting tastefully with the green foliage of the ornamental shade trees, which surrounded it. An abundance of fine stone for building could have been quarried from the adjacent Virginia shore ; but he preferred a structure of wood, as less liable to be damaged by earthquakes. The finishing and furniture of the apartments were adapted to the use for which they were intended. The hall was a spacious room, its walls painted a somber color, with a beautiful cornice of plaster, bordered with a gilded moulding, running around the lofty ceiling, while its furniture was rich, heavy and grand. The furniture of the drawing-room was in strong contrast with that of the hall—light, airy and elegant, with splended mirrors, gay colored carpets, rich curtains with ornaments to correspond, arranged by his lady with the nicest taste and harmonious effect. A large quantity of massive silver plate ornamented the side-boards, and decorated the tables. The whole establishment was noble, chastened by the pure taste, without that glare of tinsel finery too common among the wealthy." Thus there arose, as by magic, amidst the wilds of the Ohio, one of the most elegant mansions of modern days. All its internal appliances and external surroundings were of the most luxurious character. Mr. Blennerhassett's library contained a large and choice selection of the most valuable books. With native powers of a high order, trained by an accomplished university education, by foreign travel, and by intercourse with the most cultivated men of his day, he well knew how to use that library for his constant profit and for his unceasing delight. 556 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Skilled also in the sciences, and with a strong taste for chemical studies, and all the correlative branches of natural philosophy, such as astronomy, botany, electricity and galvanism, he had supplied his laboratory extensively with the best apparatus for observation and experimenting which the arts could furnish. Astronomy was a favorite study with this accomplished man. He had one of the best of telescopes, well mounted, with which he pierced the transparent skies of that region, in search of those wonderful revelations of distant suns and firmaments which this grandest of sciences has made known to man. He had also a solar microscope, of the then greatest magnifying power, with which he was accustomed to explore that infinity of minuteness which is the counterpart of the infinity of grandeur. This man of rare accomplishments seems to have been an almost universal genius. His musical taste was exquisite ; he composed many beautiful airs, and played with unusual skill upon several musical instruments, his favorites being the violoncello and the violin. It is said that the spacious hall of his mansion was constructed with special reference to its giving effect to musical sounds. His cultivated guests were charmed with the exquisite tones which there vibrated upon their ears. The correlative sciences of electricity and galvanism engaged a large share of Mr. Blennerhassett's attention. He was constantly making experiments and eliciting new facts in these wonderful branches of modern science. In addition to these scientific accomplishments, he had made such attainments in the classics, that it was said he could repeat the whole of Homer's Iliad in the original Greek. In manners, Mr. Blennerhassett was very courteous, mild and yielding. His virtues were of the amiable character, rather than of the more stubborn. He was easily duped by the intriguing who had sufficient sagacity to discern his weak points. His benevolence was unbounded, and his sympathy with the sick and suffering very intense. Being conscious that in his remote home in the New World he would have little access to skilled medical attendance, he had paid very considerable attention to the study of medicine, and had provided himself with an ample supply of the most approved remedies for all sicknesses. He was ready freely to prescribe for his sick neighbors and to administer to them of his medicines. It is said that one of his neighbors, to whom Mr. Blennerhassett HISTORY OF OHIO - 557 had loaned quite a sum of money, had his house and all his furniture consumed by fire. The enterprising, industrious man was thus reduced to absolute poverty, with a heavy debt hanging over him. Soon after, Mr. Blennerhassett invited the unfortunate man and his wife to dine at his table. After dinner he took his guests into his study, and told him that he would either cancel the debt, or he might let it stand, and he would make him a free gift of an order to the same amount on a store in Marietta. The honorable but unfortunate man preferred to commence his new struggle with adversity, free from all hindrances of pecuniary obligation. He therefore gratefully accepted the cancelling of the debt. Mr. Blennerhassett was very fond of hunting. Quails and other small game abounded on the island. As he was quite nearsighted, his wife frequently accompanied him in these short excursions. Her quick eye would search out the game to which she would direct the attention of her husband. Mr. Blennerhassett was domestic in his tastes, and generally sedentary in his habits. He had no fondness for carousals or any riotous pleasures. But he greatly enjoyed the society of the cultivated guests, who in large numbers were allured to his hospitable mansion. He usually dressed in the old English style. His coat was of blue broadcloth, with gilt buttons. He wore invariably buff-colored or scarlet small clothes and silk stockings. Large silver buckles, highly polished, fastened his shoes. "In this quiet retreat," writes Mr. Hildreth, "insulated and separated from the noise and tumult of the surrounding world, amidst his books, with the company of his accomplished wife and children, he possessed all that seemed necessary for the happiness of man; and yet he lacked one thing, without which no man can be happy—a firm' belief in the overruling providence of God. Voltaire and Rousseau, whose works he studied and admired, had poisoned his mind to the simple truths of the Gospel, and the Bible was a book which he seldom or never consulted. At least this was the fact while he lived on the Island, whatever it might have been after misfortune and want had humbled and sorely tried him." Mrs. Blennerhassett, whose maiden name was Margaret Agnew, was in disposition far more ambitious and aspiring than her husband. It was a great trial to her to have him waste his brilliant powers in obscurity. She had heard him in several of his public 558 - HISTORY OF OHIO. addresses, and often declared that in forensic eloquence he was not surpassed by the ablest orators of the day. Vainly she urged him to enter as an advocate the higher courts of Virginia and Ohio. Mrs. Blennerhassett was in all respects a very accomplished lady. Her figure, tall and commanding, was moulded in the most perfect proportions. Her features, over which was spread a most brilliant complexion, were beautiful. A strong mind, highly cultivated, gave to those features that inimitable grace which intelligence alone can confer. Brown hair, profuse. and glossy, dark blue eyes, and manners both winning and graceful, ever attracted attention to her, even in the most brilliant circles. She was very charitable to the sick and the poor in her neighborhood, often carrying to them those little delicacies which could nowhere else be obtained. She had been brought up by two maiden aunts, who had taken great care to instruct her in all the useful arts of housewifery, which education she found to be of inestimable value in her new home. She invariably dressed like a lady, in the most elegant manner. Her ordinary costume consisted of a turban, folded very full, in the Eastern style. It was of rich silk, sometimes white, which was her favorite color in Summer, but in Winter pink or yellow. A very intelligent lady, who was familiar with society in Washington, and had visited in the courts of Europe, writes : "I have never beheld any one who was equal to Mrs. Blennerhassett in beauty of person, dignity of manners, elegance of dress, and in short all that is lovely and finished in the female person, as she was when queen of the fairy isle." "When she rode on horseback," writes Mr. Hildreth, "her dress was of fine scarlet broadcloth, ornamented with gold buttons; a white beaver hat, on which floated the graceful plumes of the ostrich, of the same color. This was sometimes changed for blue or yellow, with feathers to harmonize. She was a perfect equestrienne; always riding a very spirited horse, with rich trappings, who seemed proud of his burden. She accomplished the ride to Marietta, of fourteen miles, in about two hours; dashing through and under the dark foliage of the forest trees, which then covered the greater part of the distance, reminding one of the gay plumage and rapid flight of some tropical bird winging its way through the woods. "In these journeys she was generally accompanied by Ran- HISTORY OF OHIO - 559 som, a favorite black servant, who followed on horseback, in a neat showy dress, and had to apply both whip and spur to keep, in sight of his mistress. She sometimes come to Marietta by water, in a light canoe, navigated by Moses, another of the colored servants, who was the principal waterman. The shopping visits. were made in this way, as she directed the purchase of groceries and clothing for the family use. The roads were not yet open for wheel carriages. She possessed great personal activity, sometimes choosing to walk that distance instead of riding. "Mrs. Blennerhassett was very domestic in her habits, being not only accomplished in all the arts of housewifery, but being also an excellent seamstress, cutting and making with her own hands much of the clothing of her husband, as well as preparing that of the servants, which was then made by a colored female. At that period, when tailors and mantua-makers were rare in the western wilderness, this was an accomplishment of real value. She being willing to practice these servile acts, when surrounded by all the wealth she could desire, is one of the finest and most remarkable traits in her character, indicating a noble mind, elevated above the influence of that false pride so often seen to attend the high-born and the wealthy. " She was an early riser and when not prevented by indisposition, visited the kitchen by early dawn, and often manipulated the pastry and cakes to be served upon the table for the day. When this service was completed she laid aside her working-dress and attired herself in the habiliments of the lady of the mansion. At table she presided with grace and dignity, and by her cheerful conversation and pleasant address set every one at ease about her, however rustic their manners or unaccustomed they might be to genteel society. "Her mind was as highly cultivated as her person. She was an accomplished Italian and French scholar, and one of the finest readers imaginable. She especially excelled in the plays of Shakspeare, which she rehearsed with all the taste and spirit of a first-rate actor. In history and the English classics she was equally well read, and was often called to decide disputed points in literature under discussion by her husband and some learned. guest. Few women ever lived who combined so many accomplishments and personal attractions. They strongly impressed 560 - HISTORY OF OHIO. not only intellectual and cultivated minds who could appreciate her merits, but also the uneducated and the lower classes. " Such was the home and such the surroundings of Herman Blennerhassett for the first eight years, during which he reigned almost supreme in his little island kingdom. During that time two additional children were born, to cheer his home of opulence and taste. Parties of young people were often invited from Belpre and Marietta to enjoy the hospitalities of this western Eden. Sometimes they rode in long and joyous cavalcade through the woods, but more generally they came down the river in light canoes and row-boats, propelled by the lusty arms of the young men. The rich autumnal season of the year, when the brilliant moon illumined the glorious scene, was generally selected for these excursions. Rapidly the little fleet would descend the stream, arriving at the island in the early twilight. A rich entertainment there awaited them. Then came games, music, songs, and the mazes of the dance. At midnight they would commence their return home, striking the eddies of the majestic stream, now upon the one shore and now upon the other; at one time beneath the shadows of the gigantic forest, and again in the full radiance of that luminary whose rays are so dear to the young and the happy. The shores of the stream, which had so often resounded with the yells of the savage with his war-whoop and his demonical carousings, as he danced around the fires where his captives were put to the torture, now echoed with the merriment which so spontaneously gushes from the hearts of the young and the innocent. It makes even an old man's blood move more swiftly in his veins to contemplate the happiness which those young hearts must have enjoyed in those hours of midnight and moonlight on the La Belle Riviere. Such are the joys of peace. There was then no fear of the bullet or the tomahawk of the lurking savage. What a happy world might this have been if the brotherhood which our Saviour Jesus Christ enjoins had been practiced by its inhabitants! Surely our Heavenly 'Father, who loves to see his children happy, must have looked down complacently upon these innocent joys, if He could see in the hearts of the favored ones any sincere recognition of His love and His laws. But where now are those youthful sons and daughters, who three-quarters of a century ago made river and forest vocal with their songs? They have all disappeared, HISTORY OF OHIO - 561 like the mists of the river. What a vapor is life ! The only question in relation to them now of importance is, " Did they so live as to secure a welcome to the Paradise of God on high ? " There were frequently parties of the elder and more sedate portion of the community. They were always invited to spend the night, and frequently to remain for two or three days. The wildness of the primeval forest spreading all around, with only here and there a spot indicating that it had been pressed by the foot of man, and the rude log cabins which were then alone to be found, by contrast greatly magnified the elegance and luxury of this truly beautiful mansion with its landscape adornings. There were then in that region no roads, no steamboats, no ferries, no taverns. Every man rode his own horse, or provided himself with a boat. If a family was descending the river, it was necessary to buy or to build a flat-bottomed barge. This was but little more than a raft with protecting sides, put together with. merely strength enough to float during the voyage, When the boat arrived at its destination it was broken up, and the planks or timber of which it was composed were used in constructing the cabin and out-buildings of the emigrant. The only spot between Blennerhassett's Island and Marietta, which showed any signs of civilization, was Belpre, or Beautiful Prairie. There was here a little settlement which had been commenced in the year 1789. It had been of very slow growth, as the Indian wars for a time almost put a stop to emigration. It had now, however, become quite a thriving and attractive little village, having drawn to its fertile acres a population from the eastern states of unusual intelligence and moral worth. Here there were now several well-built houses of hewn timber, with well-cultivated farms and blooming orchards. There were several families who, though living in the most simple and frugal style, would have been ornaments to society in any community. A gentleman who had often visited the mansion during his early youth, when his parents resided in Marietta, writes : " I was but a boy when Mr. and Mrs. Blennerhassett left the island; but I had been a favorite in the family for years, and had passed many of my happiest days in their society. My intimacy in their household is like an oasis in the desert of life. It is one of those green spots in memory's waste which death alone can obliterate." 562 - HISTORY OF OHIO. But Satan entered this Eden, and the ruin on this island was like that which Eden experienced when Adam and Eve joined in the revolt of lost spirits against their Maker. Aaron Burr was one of the most fascinating and one of the most totally unprincipled men who ever trod this globe. Graceful in person, remarkably handsome in features, with very high mental endowments, in possession of conversational eloquence rarely if ever equaled,— he renounced entirely the religion of Jesus and devoted himself to his own personal gratification and aggrandizement, entirely reckless of the ruin and the misery which his selfishness might create. History affords no more impressive illustration of an archangel ruined ; of a man created with the highest endowments, who consecrated those endowments to the work of a fiend. Early in the present century Aaron Burr, disappointed in some of his ambitious plans, and having drawn upon himself the execration of his countrymen for imbuing his hands in the blood of Alexander Hamilton, formed the truly grand conception, and apparently the feasible one, of wresting from Spain the majestic empire of Mexico, and of then wresting from the United States the vast and almost unpeopled solitudes of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. Here he would organize the most magnificent em, wire, in point of territory, salubrity, fertility and variety of clime which has ever existed on this globe. The Alleghanies would be his eastern boundary. The majestic cliffs of the Rocky Mountains would guard his western frontier. On the north would be the great lakes and the frigid zone ; while the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean Sea would open to his southern ports the commerce of the world. This vast realm, in magnitude almost surpassing the wildest dreams of earthly ambition, would abound in the productions of all the zones Rivers of hitherto unknown grandeur, flowing from the north to the south, opened the whole of these almost boundless regions to the riches of internal commerce. Of this empire Aaron Burr was to be— Imperator. Such were the dreams of this extraordinary man. Extravagant as they were, and totally as he failed in their accomplishment, that dream has been more than realized in the wondrous republican empire of the United States. Aaron Burr had heard of Blennerhassett, of his wealth, of his vast influence over the rapidly increasing population of HISTORY OF OHIO - 563 Ohio, and of the surpassing charms of his wife. Could he enlist them in his enterprise, it would be, indeed, a great acquisition. But it was necessary to proceed with the utmost caution. Mr. Blennerhassett was not a man to be easily drawn into a treasonable conspiracy against a government whose institutions he admired, and under whose protection he had found so free and happy a home. In the year i800, Thomas Jefferson was chosen President of the United States, and Aaron Burr, Vice President. This gave him national celebrity. At the next election, in 1804, though Jefferson was continued in office, Burr was superseded. In the Spring of the year 1805, Burr, disappointed and exasperated, visited the Ohio Valley in prosecution of his grand enterprise. The arch intriguer sought no letters of introduction to Blennerhassett, probably wishing it to appear that it was merely by accident that he called at his mansion. Reaching the river he took a boat, and descending the stream, landed at Blennerhassett Island, as if, a passing traveler, he had been lured merely by curiosity, to stop and admire the beautiful grounds. Mr. Blennerhassett, sitting in his study, was informed by his servant that there was a very gentlemanly, well-dressed man, who had just landed from his boat, and was viewing the lawn. He directed the servant to go out and in his master's name invite the gentlemen into the house. Burr declined, with some very courteous apology, but sent in his card. Mr. Blennerhassett upon reading the name, and seeing that it was a former Vice President of the United States who was visiting his grounds, immediately stepped out and insisted upon Mr. Burr's partaking of the hospitality of his mansion. It is said that Satan can apparently transform himself into an angel of light. Burr masked himself in his most resistless fascinations. Both host and hostess were charmed with their guest. His eloquence was extraordinary, his information wonderful, and he manifested all the artlessness and simplicity of a child. Familiar with all the secrets of state, he spoke of the prospects of a war with Spain, and of the ease with which the Mexicans, with a little aid, might throw off the intolerant and tyrannical foreign yoke and establish an independent government like that of the United States. With singular frankness he unfolded to them a very splendid land speculation within the Spanish territory, on 564 - HISTORY OF OHIO, the Red River, in which he was engaged, and showed them how it was certain to bring on the most extaordinary pecuniary results. This was the first step of the arch deceiver. Having taken it, he went on his way. Mr. Blennerhassett, an unsuspecting man, and one who was easily duped, was greatly excited by these grand schemes and revelations. There was nothing in them to disturb in the slightest degree his patriotic devotion to the United States. The next Winter Mr. and Mrs. Blennerhassett spent in New York and Philadelphia. It is not improbable that they were lured there by the hope of having further interviews with Aaron Burr. Some correspondence had, in the meantime, passed between them. In interviews during this Winter it is supposed that they entered into a sort of partnership for land speculation. Blennerhassett agreed, as it afterwards appeared, to co-operate with Burr in the purchase of a very large tract of land within the Spanish Territory, on the Washita River, an important tributary of the Red River. These very rich lands, as they were supposed to be, were situated in the northeast portion of the present State of Louisiana. They could be purchased for a very small sum. Then, by encouraging emigration from Europe, and from the Atlantic States, they could be sold at an enormous profit. All this was plain. But the secret in Burr's mind, probably not yet divulged to Blennerhassett, was, that he could then provoke revolt from Spain, seize Mexico, annex the region of the United States west of the Alleghanies, and establish a splendid empire. This hidden part of the plan was treason. It was adroitly veiled by the projected land speculation. Burr's plans were thus far advancing very prosperously. In the Autumn of that year, 1805, he took his accomplished daughter, Mrs. Theodosia Alston, and made a visit of several days at Blennerhassett Island. Of course but little can be known of the conversations which took place during these long hours of private intercourse. Colonel Burr then returned to Marietta, where he took up his residence, and engaged vigorously in operations for sending a large colony down the Ohio and the Mississippi to his lands on the Washita. He made a contract for building fifteen very large batteaux, in which to transport his settlers and their goods to their remote destination in the Spanish domain. Ten of these flat- HISTORY OF OHIO - 567 bottomed boats were forty feet long, ten feet wide, and two and a-half feet deep. Five of them were fifty feet long. They were so constructed at each end as to be rowed or pushed either up or down the stream. Mr. Blennerhassett's purse was called into requisition in those expensive movements. The boats were to convey the emigrants, with food and all necessary household and farming utensils, with an ample supply of guns and ammunition. It was manifest that these warlike weapons might be needed to repel hostile savages. One of these boats was much larger than the rest, and was fitted up with very considerable elegance. It had a capacious cabin, tastefully decorated with a fire-place and glass windows. This was designed for Mr. Blennerhassett and family, who were to accompany the expedition. This fact has generally been relied upon as evidence that Mr. Blennerhassett had no idea of the treasonable designs which Colonel Burr had formed against the United States. A keel boat was built, sixty feet long, which was loaded with bacon, pork, flour, whisky, and other supplies. Among the provisions were several hundred barrels of kiln-dried corn, ground into flour. Men on long marches were usually supplied with such rations. The Indians had taught us that a soldier might take a sack of this meal upon his back, and that one pint mixed with a little water would afford a day's ration. Much of this corn was raised on the island, and was dried in kilns which Mr. Blennerhassett had constructed for that purpose. The batteaux were calculated to carry five hundred men. Colonel Burr's energy had already engaged nearly that number. The little colony was organized with military precision, for its leader was an accomplished soldier. Each private was to receive the gift of one hundred acres of land. The officers were still more liberally provided for. Each emigrant was required to provide himself only with a good rifle and blanket. The boats were to be ready by the 9th of December, and the expedition was immediately to set out upon its adventurous voyage. 34 CHAPTER XXX. THE DEVASTATED ISLAND. COLONEL BURR'S ADDRESSES ALARMING RUMORS- EFFORTS OF THE GOVERNMENT - SAD NEWS RECEIVED AT THE ISLAND CONDUCT OF THE SOLDIERS- MR. BUTNAM'S KINDNESS-FINAL DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS ON THE ISLAND-COLONEL PHELPS AND HIS PARTY - EFFECTS OF WHISKY - MRS. BLENNERHASSETT REJOINS HER HUSBAND COLONEL BURR AND MR. BLENNERHASSETT ARRESTED FOR TREASON - COLONEL BURR ESCAPES- BLENNERHASSETT ACQUITTED, AND AGAIN ARRESTED - MRS. BLENNERHASSETT'S LETTER - ON THE PLANTATION - POEM - CONTINUED DISAPPOINTMENTS -DEATH OF MR. BLENNERHASSETT - MRS. BLENNERHASSETT RETURNS TO THE UNITED STATES, AND PETITIONS CONGRESS - HER POVERTY HER DEATH. WHILE THE boats were being built, Colonel Burr visited many of the settlements in those remote regions, to engage enterprising and hardy young men as recruits. There was something peculiarly fascinating to a romantic mind in the expedition. To float down unknown streams, of almost fabulous grandeur, for one or two Thousand miles, then to ascend a stream, fringed with almost the luxuriance and bloom of the tropics, and to go in strength which ,disarmed fear, presented remarkable allurements to sanguine youth. Colonel Burr addressed the young men, not only of Marietta, Belpre, and other points on the same river, but went to Chillicothe, and to Lexington,. Kentucky. He told them that President Jefferson, who was exceedingly popular throughout the West, was fully informed of the objects of the expedition, and that they met with his cordial approval. Confidentially, as it were, he informed them, that though the enterprise was entirely a peaceful one, to take possession of the immense grant, which had been purchased of Baron Bastrop, still there was great probability that a war might ere long- break out between the United States and HISTORY OF OHIO - 569 Spain ; that the Mexicans were very anxious to throw off the Spanish yoke ; that the moment war was declared Congress would send a large army to Mexico, around whose banners the inhabitants would enthusiastically rally. Thus Mexico would be wrested from Spain, almost without a struggle. Then his little band of five hundred sturdy pioneers would have the moulding of a majestic empire, on the foundations of democratic equality, and might enrich themselves almost beyond the dreams of romance. These were undoubtedly the views which imbued the minds of the emigrants generally, and which duped and bewildered the imagination of Blennerhassett. Still, rumors began to be circulated that the intriguing Aaron Burr was plotting some mischief against the United States. During the months of September and October Colonel Burr had caused to be inserted in the Marietta Gazette a series of able articles advocating the secession of the western states from those east of the Alleghanies. These articles appeared over the signature of Querist. They were replied to in convincing logic, sternly condemning these views, by a writer over the signature of Regulus. The sympathies of the community were manifestly with Regulus. His articles were extensively copied and read. They directed the attention of the whole country to the armed expedition which Colonel Burr was preparing for the invasion of Mexico. President Jefferson became alarmed. He knew Aaron Burr thoroughly, and was well aware of his ambition and his powers of intrigue. In November he sent out a secret agent, Mr. John Graham, who was connected with one of the offices in Washington, to report respecting the proceedings of Burr at Marietta and at Blennerhassett Island. At the same time he solicited the aid of the Governor of Ohio, to suppress the military expedition, by seizing the boats. There was peace between the United States and Spain, and Jefferson considered the invasion of Mexico with such an armed force as totally unjustifiable. Mr. Graham had several interviews with Mr. Blennerhassett, and was assured by him that since there was no probability of war between Spain and the United States, Mr. Burr had entirely relinquished the plan of invading Mexico, and thought only of the establishment of a peaceful colony on the banks of the Washita. In the meantime, rumor, with her thousand tongues, was busy inextricably blending truth with falsehood. It was said that 870 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Colonel Burr and his associates were plotting treason on the western waters ; that they were organizing an army to capture New Orleans, rob the banks, seize the artillery, and set up a new government west of the Alleghanies. It was known that Colonel Burr hated President Jefferson ; that he had done everything in his power to heap abuse upon him, and to thrust him from the presidential chair. The guileless Blennerhassett was considered an accomplice of Burr, and necessarily shared in the detestation which the arch-conspirator had brought against himself. The Ohio Legislature passed an act to suppress all armed expeditions, and to seize all boats and provisions engaged in such unlawful enterprises. The Governor was authorized to call out the militia, to arrest any boats on the Ohio River engaged in Burr's expedition, to confiscate the boats and cargo, and to hold the crew for trial, by imprisonment or under bail of fifty thousand dollars. The militia were called out; the boats on the Muskingum were seized; a six-pounder was placed on the banks of the river at. Marietta, to arrest and examine every boat descending the river. Sentries were placed to watch the stream by day and by night. On the sixth of December, just before these energetic orders from the governor were issued, a Mr. Tyler, from New York, one of Mr. Burr's agents, landed at Blennerhassett Island with about thirty men, in four boats, which had been fitted out from the settlements above. Mr. Blennerhassett had that day gone to Marietta to superintend the departure of the boats from the Muskingum. He there heard of the act of the Assembly. Much troubled in mind, and with no disposition to enter into a conflict with the constituted authorities, he returned to the island, quite disposed to relinquish the whole enterprise, and patiently to bear his heavy \losses. But Mrs. Blennerhassett was a very ambitious woman. She had entered into the grand enterprise with all the enthusiasm of her nature. She was fully aware of the high intellectual endowments of her husband, and her wifely pride was roused to see him occupy posts of influence worthy of his abilities. Mr. Tyler also united with Mrs. Blennerhassett in remonstrances against any abandonment of the undertaking at this late hour. Had Mr. Blennerhassett followed the dictates of his own judgment, he would have been saved from one of the most dreadful tragedies which ever befel a family on earth. Three days after this he received the alarming intelligence that HISTORY OF OHIO - 573 the Wood County Militia would that very night, under its commander, Colonel Phelps, land upon the island, seize the boats, arrest him and all the men there, and probably, in their exasperation, burn his house. Not a moment was to be lost. There was no knowing what outrages these lawless men might inflict upon a family whom they denounced as traitors. It was stated that the men who had volunteered for the attack upon the island were of the lowest and most desperate class in the community. Mr. Blennerhassett and the men, well armed with rifles, immediately embarked on board the boats. The Ohio, between the island and the Great Kanawha, is very circuitous, making the distance by water double of that by land. Colonel Phelps, upon arriving at the island and finding that the objects of his search had escaped, immediately went with a part of his force on horseback down the river on the Kentucky shore to Point Pleasant, there to arrest the boats when they should reach that spot. In the meantime Mrs. Blennerhassett, with great intrepidity, remained at home with her children. It was hoped that their presence would operate as some restraint upon the brutal soldiery, and might preserve her home and its precious contents from destruction. — But the soldiers, taking advantage of the absence of their commander, behaved like savages. Their order extended only to the arrest of Mr. Blennerhassett and the armed men they might find with the boats. But they immediately took possession of the house, rioted through all its elegant apartments, seized upon all the family stores, became drunk with the wine and whisky they found in the cellar, compelled the negroes to cook for them, burned the fences for bon-fires, and committed outrages which would have disgraced any band of savages. One of the drunken wretches fired a rifle bullet through the ceiling of the large hall, the ball passing through the chamber near where Mrs. Blennerhassett was sitting with her children. Thus passed seven days of horror. At length, on the 17th, a gentleman from Belpre, Mr. A. W. Putnam, a warm friend of the family, ventured upon the island to render such assistance• as might be in his power to the heroic woman. He succeeded in providing her with a boat, in which she stored a few articles of furniture, and some of her husband's choicest books. Mr. Putnam furnished her from Belpre with some provisions, as all of her own had been consumed or de- 574 - HISTORY OF OHIO. stroyed by the soldiers. Taking her two little sons, Harmon and Dominick, with her, the one six and the other eight years old, she pursued her way down the Ohio to join her husband. It was a cold winter's day. The river was filled with floating ice; the boat, Lastily prepared, was far from comfortable. The cabin was open and cold and cheerless. She and her children suffered severely. A few heroic young men from Belpre accompanied her in these hours of terrible adversity. With tearful eyes, as the boat floated away, she cast a lingering look upon her beloved island, which she was destined never to visit again. The soldiers kept possession of it for several days after her de parture. They seemed to riot in wanton destruction. The cattle were turned into the garden; the shrubbery and flowers were trampled down and ruined; the orchards of choice fruit trees, just coming into bearing, were either girdled or cut down. A few days had transformed this loveliest spot, perhaps, on the continent of North America into a scene of utter desolation and ruin. And these atrocities were perpetrated, not by savages, but by white men; by citizens of the United States, who had been commissioned as the executors of salutary law. We may here mention. that one or two years after this the dilapidated mansion took fire, and with all its remaining furniture, books, and apparatus, was laid in ashes. Thus this vision of loveliness passed away forever. But let us return to Colonel Phelps. Rapidly he descended with his mounted band to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, there to await the arrival of the boats which bore Mr. Blennerhassett and his friends. Reaching this point in the evening, he encamped his riotous crew upon the banks of the river to watch through the night. It was very cold, and the men built immense fires, not only for warmth, but to throw the light across the stream, so that the boats might not pass unseen in the darkness. The men were well provided with whisky, and the first part of the night was passed in riotous orgies. But towards morning, stupefied with drink, and drowsy from watching, they all fell soundly asleep. As the boats came in sight of the fires, the occupants were well aware of their significance, and abstaining from the slightest noise, the four boats drifted by, on the silent current, without awaking the drunken sleepers. Having escaped this peril the boats floated rapidly on to their appointed rendezvous, at the mouth of the Cumberland River. HISTORY OF OHIO - 575 Mrs. Blennerhassett, with her children, commenced her voyage a week after the departure of her husband. Upon arriving at the mouth of the Cumberland River, where she hoped to find him, she learned, to her disappointment, that his little flotilla had proceeded out of the Ohio into the rapid waters of the Mississippi, and had probably by that time reached Bayou Pierre, in the Mississippi territory. She followed after him. Winter soon set in with great severity. Soon after the boat in which she was embarked left, the Ohio River was entirely frozen over, and was not again navigable until the last of February. Early in January she overtook her husband near Natchez, and she and her children were surrendered to his care by her gallant conductors. The whole country was now aroused into a general cry of indignation against Burr and his confederates. Burr was consequently compelled to abandon the enterprise as hopeless. He assembled his followers, about one hundred and thirty in number, thanked them for their adherence to his cause, but stated that circumstances which he could not have anticipated or controlled had frustrated all his plans, and that the enterprise must be entirely abandoned. Many of those who had embarked in the expedition were left to shift for themselves one thousand or fifteen hundred miles from their homes. Some time in January, Colonel Burr and Mr. Blennerhassett were both arrested and brought be fore the United States Court at Natchez on the charge of treason, and were put under bonds to appear in February. Colonel Burr forfeited his bond. Mr. Blennerhassett appeared, but as no proof whatever of any treasonable design could be brought against him, he was acquitted. Soon after Burr hired three men to row him about twenty miles up the river to a point where he was landed in the night. Here he laid aside his nice suit of broadcloth and his beaver hat, and dressed himself in the coarse garb of a boatman, with a slouched, soiled, white wool cap. The disguise was so effectual that his most intimate friends could not have recognized him. He then started to cross the country through the wilderness. He was, however, arrested on the Tombigbee River, and carried to Richmond for trial on two indictments, one for treason and the other for misdemeanor. The trial was long and tedious. But he was acquitted of both charges, as there was no evidence found sufficient to convict him. 576 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Mr. Blennerhassett, after his trial and acquittal by the United States Court at Natchez, supposed himself safe from all further annoyance from the laws. He therefore started to visit his desolated island, intending to dispose of the remainder of his property there, and to return and take a plantation in the vicinity of Natchez. His wife and family were left behind. Upon reaching Lexington he was very strangely, it would seem unwarrantably, again arrested on a charge of treason, and was for several days confined in the common jail. He employed Henry Clay as his counsel. This distinguished jurist was very indignant that his client should be exposed to these unjust proceedings. He exclaimed : " Mr. Blennerhassett has already been tried and acquitted. Where is the justice in again arresting him for the same supposed offense ? " But the government was unrelenting. Somebody must be punished. With much parade he was conducted to Richmond for trial. There he met Aaron Burr. The ruined man manifested much magnanimity in not uttering a single word of reproach to one who had proved the destroyer of all his prosperity and happiness. Indeed, it is not probable that either he or Mrs. Blennerhassett had seen anything in the plans of Colonel Burr which was in the slightest degree criminal. Mrs. Blennerhassett, hearing of her husband's arrest, wrote the following touching letter to him, dated Natchez, August 3, 1807 : " My Dearest Love : " After having experienced the greatest disappointment in not hearing from you for two mails, I at length heard of your arrest, which afflicts and mortifies me because it was an arrest. I think that had you of your own accord gone to Richmond and solicited a trial, it would have accorded better with your pride, and you would have escaped the unhappiness of missing my letters, which I wrote every week to Marietta. " God knows what you may feel and suffer on our account before this reaches you, to inform you of our health and welfare in every particular. And knowing this, I trust and feel that your mind will rise superior to every inconvenience that your present situation may subject you to ; despising, as I do, the paltry malice of the up-start agents of the government. Let no solicitude whatever for us damp your spirits. We have many friends here, who HISTORY OF OHIO - 579 do the utmost in their power to counteract any disagreeable sensation occasioned me by your absence. " I shall live in the hope of hearing from you by the next mail; and entreat you not to let any disagreeable feelings on account of our separation enervate your mind at this time. Remember that all here will read with great interest anything concerning you. But still do not trust too much to yourself. Consider your want of practice at the bar, and do not spare the fee of a lawyer. "Apprise Colonel Burr of my warmest acknowledgments for his own and Mrs. Alston's kind remembrance, and tell him to assure her she has inspired me with a warmth of attachment which can never diminish. I wish him to urge her to write to me. "God bless you, prays your " MARGARET BLENNERHASSETT." The second arrest of Mr. Blennerhassett was so totally unjustifiable that he was never brought to trial. He was bound over in the sum of three thousand dollars to appear at Chillicothe, Ohio, to answer to the charge of " having prepared an armed force whose destination was the Spanish Territory." He did not appear, and no notice was taken of it. He soon returned to Natchez, and with the remains of his fortune purchased a plantation of a thousand acres in Claiborne County, Mississippi, about seven miles from Fort Gibson. This he worked with about thirty slaves, of whom the energetic Mrs. Blennerhassett was superintendent. Cotton was high and found a ready market. Prospects brightened. He wrote to a friend, " In five years, with thirty hands, I can clear sixty thousand dollars." Mrs. Blennerhassett rose at early dawn, mounted her horse, and rode over the large plantation, visiting every field, and giving minute directions to the overseer as to the work to be accomplished during the day. All the operations of the plantation were controlled by her judicious decisions. Here they lived for ten years, enjoying the society of the neighboring planters. Mr. Blennerhassett, having but little taste for business, devoted himself to his literary and scientific pursuits, in which he found much enjoyment, but no pecuniary profit. But again days of darkness lowered over them. The war with England came with the cruel embargo. All commerce was stopped, cotton became nearly valueless. The profits of the plantation hardly met its running expenses. Mr. 580 - HISTORY OF OHIO. Blennerhassett, quite disheartened, and being greatly cramped by endorsements for Colonel Burr, amounting to thirty thousand dollars, sold out, and moved to Montreal. One of his intimate friends of former days was then governor of the province, and had invited him to come, with the promise of an appointment to a seat on the bench for which he was well qualified. But misfortune seemed still to pursue him. He had scarcely reached Montreal ere his friend, the governor, was removed from office and all his hopes were frustrated. His friends urged him to return to England with the assurance of a lucrative post from government. But political expectations are proverbially uncertain. He repaired to England and took up his residence with a maiden sister at Bath. No governmental office was open to him. While at Montreal, when blighted hopes and prospects of poverty were thickening around them, Mrs. Blennerhassett wrote her beautiful poem, entitled " The Deserted Isle." It was the out-gushing of her heart in lamentation over the once happy home upon the island now lost forever. We give a few of the stanzas : THE DESERTED ISLE. Like mournful echo from the silent tomb, That pines away upon the midnight air, While the pale moon breaks out with fitful gloom, Fond memory turns with sad, but welcome care, To scenes of desolation and despair, Once bright with all that beauty could bestow, That peace could shed, or youthful fancy know. To thee, fair isle, reverts the pleasing dream ; Again thou risest in thy green attire, Fresh as at first thy blooming graces seem ; Thy groves, thy fields, their wonted sweets respire Again thou'rt all my heart could e're desire. O why, dear isle, art thou not still my own ? Thy charms could then for all my griefs atone. For many blissful moments there I've known ; Too many hopes have there met their decay, Too many feelings now forever gone, To wish that thou wouldst ere again display The joyful coloring of thy prime array. Buried with thee, let them remain a blot ; With thee, their sweets, their bitterness forgot. HISTORY OF OHIO - 581 And oh ! that I could wholly wipe away The mem'ry of the ills that work'd thy fall ; The mem'ry of that all-eventful day, When I returned and found my own fair hall Held by the infuriate populace in thrall, My own fireside blockaded by a band That once found food and shelter at my hand. My children ! (oh ! a mother's pangs forbear, Nor strike again that arrow through my soul,) Clasping the ruffians in suppliant prayer, To free their mother from unjust control ; While with false crimes, and imprecations foul, The wretches, vilest refuse of the earth, Mock jurisdiction held, around my hearth. Sweet isle ! methinks I see thy bosom torn, Again behold the ruthless rabble throng, That wrought destruction, taste must ever mourn. Alas ! I see thee now, shall see thee long, Yet ne'er shall bitter feelings urge the wrong, That to a mob would give the censure due, To those that arm'd the plunder-greedy crew. In England Mr. Blennerhassett encountered a double disappointment. He hoped for office, but obtained none ; he hoped to recover an interest he held in an estate he had owned in Ireland, but failed. In greatly straitened circumstances he removed to the Island of Guernsey, where he died a world-weary, heart-broken man, in the year 1831, in the sixty-third year of his age. His widow, with her children, was reduced to extreme want. Ten years after his death she returned to America with one of her sons, both in feeble health, to petition Congress for remuneration for the destruction of her property by the Wood County Militia in December, 1806. The petition she sent to Congress was a very appropriate and pathetic document. " Your memorialist," she wrote, "does not desire to exaggerate the conduct of the said armed men, or the injuries done by them, but she can truly say that before their visit the residence of her family had been noted for its elegance and high state of improvement ; and that they left it in a state of comparative ruin and waste. Being apparently under no subordination, they indulged in continued drunkenness and riot, offering 382 - HISTORY OF OHIO. many indignities to your memorialist, and treating her domestics with violence. These outrages were committed upon an unoffending and defenseless family in the absence of their natural protector, your memorialist's husband being then away from his home. In answer to such remonstrances as she ventured to make against the consumption, waste, and destruction of his property, she was told by those who assumed to have the command, that they held the property for the United States by order of the President, and were privileged to use it, and should use it, as they pleased. It is with pain that your memorialist reverts to events which, in their consequences, have reduced a once happy family from affluence and comfort to comparative want and wretchedness, which blighted the prospects of her children, and made herself, in the decline of life, a wanderer on the face of the earth." This memorial was transmitted to Henry Clay, then in the Senate of the United States. It was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Emmet, son of a distinguished lawyer and orator of that name. In his letter Mr. Emmet writes : " Mrs. Blennerhassett is now in this city, residing in very humble circumstances, bestowing her cares upon a son, who, by long poverty and sickness, is reduced to utter imbecility, both of mind and body, unable to assist her or to provide for his own wants. In her present destitute situation, the smallest amount of relief would be thankfully received by her. Her condition is one of absolute want, and she has but a short time left to enjoy any better fortune in this world." Mr. Clay had formerly been well acquainted with the family, and it will be remembered that he was Mr. Blennerhassett's .attorney, when so unjustly arrested in Lexington, Kentucky. He presented the memorial to the Senate in touching words, which moved all hearts. It was referred to the Committee on Claims. Mr. William Woodbridge, the chairman, reported very strongly in favor of granting the petitioner's request. In his report he entered into a detailed account of what is called " The Burr Conspiracy," and of Mr. Blennerhassett's undeniable innocence. " Under these circumstances," he said, " to deny the petition of the memorialist, would be unworthy of any wise or just nation that is disposed to respect most of all its own honor." While the subject was thus under consideration, Mrs. Blennerhassett passed away from all the sorrows of time into that HISTORY OF OHIO - 585 sleep which knows no earthly waking. The question was dropped in Congress, not again to be revived. Mrs. Blennerhassett, whose early days had been surrounded by wealth and splendor, who had moved, one of the most brilliant and accomplished of ladies, in the very highest circles of rank and culture known on earth, who, with a sympathetic heart, had ministered abundantly to the wants of the poor and the friendless, was herself indebted to the hand of charity for nursing in her last sickness, and for the expenses of her burial. A benevolent association of Irish females in New York tenderly watched over her in her last sad hours, and bore her to the peaceful grave. Such is life ! If there be no other world than this, surely existence, in thousands of cases, cannot be deemed a blessing. But Christianity throws radiance even into the gloom of the sepulchre. It says to every disciple of Jesus, " There the wicked shall cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest," CHAPTER XXXI. TECUMSEH AND THE PROPHET. THE EARLY DAYS OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON — HIS NOBLE CHARACTER AND HIS LOVE OF ADVENTURE — ENLISTS IN THE ARMY— STATIONED AT FORT WASHINGTON HIS EXECUTIVE ABILITY — HIS TEMPERANCE— RAPID PROMOTION — THE TERRITORY OF INDIANA — WRONGS INFLICTED UPON THE INDIANS — TESTIMONY OF GOVERNOR HARRISON — HIS MAGNANIMITY — TECUMSEH AND HIS BROTHER — THEIR BIRTH AND CHARACTER — THEIR REPUTED DESIGNS —THEIR AVOWED PLAN—REMARKABLE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PROPHET — STATESMANSHIP OF TECUMSEH. AMONG THE most distinguished men whose lives are interwoven with the great events which have transpired in the Northwestern Territory, William Henry Harrison stands prominent. He was born at Berkeley, on the James River, in Virginia, on the 9th of February, 1773. His father was wealthy, and a man of commanding influence in his day. He was an intimate friend of Washington, and one of the influential members of the Continental Congress. Benjamin Harrison was a very portly, good-natured, jovial man. In the Congress of 1775, he was the rival of John Hancock for Speaker. Harrison resigned at once, and Hancock was chosen. Seeing Hancock modestly hesitate a little to take the chair, he with characteristic playfulness, seized him in his muscular arms, as though Hancock had been a mere child, and bore him to the seat of honor. Then turning around, his honest face beaming with fun, he said to his amused associates: " Gentlemen, we will show Mother Britain how little we care for her, by making for our President a Massachusetts man, whom she has excluded from pardon by a public proclamation." He was twice chosen Governor of Virginia. His son enjoyed all the advantages which wealth, education and cultivated society HISTORY OF OHIO - 587 could then give. He graduated with honor at Hampden Sidney College, and studied medicine at Philadelphia under Dr Rush. Washington was then President of the United States. The Indi- ans were committing fearful ravages on our northwestern frontier. General St. Clair had been sent to erect Fort Washington on the far-distant waters of the unexplored Ohio. Young Harrison, probably influenced both by a natural love of adventure and also by sympathy for the sufferings of emigrant families, though then but nineteen years of age, enlisted in the army. Just before Harrison received from Washington his commission as ensign, General St. Clair encountered his terrible defeat near the head-waters of the Wabash. This awful catastrophe had spread consternation throughout the whole frontier. The Indians, flushed with victory and supplied with arms and ammunition by the British authorities in Canada, were roving with the tomahawk and the torch in all directions. The storms of Winter were beginning to wail through the treetops and to sweep the bleak prairies. Young Harrison in physical organization was frail; but he was endued with that indomitable will which often triumphs over bodily weakness. The heroic young man crossed the Alleghanies on foot. Upon reaching Pittsburgh he took a boat and floated down the forest-fringed Ohio till he reached the point where the log structure, called Fort Washington, appeared upon the river banks, surrounded by stumps in an opening which the ax had made in the dense wood. The first duty assigned to him was to take charge of a train of pack-horses bound to Fort Hamilton, about twenty-five miles north of Fort Washington, on the east banks of the Great Miami. St. Clair had built a stockade there at the commencement of his disastrous campaign, for the deposit of provisions and ammunition, and as one of the connecting links between Fort Washington and a line of fortresses which he hoped to construct to the mouth of the Maumee where it enters Lake Erie. It was an arduous undertaking. The wilderness was almost pathless. Nearly every mile afforded facilities for ambuscades. The forest was filled with fierce and able warriors. Their runners were watching every movement of the whites. A veteran frontiersman, inured to the hardships and the perils of life in the wilderness and battles with the savages, as he looked upon the slender, 588 - HISTORY OF OHIO. beardless boy at the close of the service which he admirably performed, said : ' I should as soon have thought of putting my wife into the service as this boy ; but I have been out with him, and find that those smooth cheeks are on a wise head, and that that slight frame is almost as tough as my own weather-beaten carcass:' Intemperance was at that time the great vice, not only of the army, but of nearly all of the frontier settlements. Some men seem born with instincts of nobility. It is difficult to account for the fact that young Harrison should have adopted the principle of total abstinence. Whisky was regarded as quite an essential to military life. It was deemed needful to strengthen the soldier on his weary march, and above all to inspire him with courage and energies for the battle. And yet this noble boy resisted all enticements to drain the intoxicating cup. Thus he was enabled to endure toils and privations beneath which the stoutest men sank into the grave. He was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and was attached to General Wayne's army in that brilliant campaign which effaced the disgrace which our flag had endured in the terrible discomfiture of St. Clair's catastrophe. It was in the Spring of the year 1792, that Wayne's Legion, as his army was called, consisting of about three thousand men, floated down the Ohio to Fort Washington. Here Lieutenant Harrison joined the legion. His mature and soldierly qualities immediately commanded attenand respect. In the great battle at the junction of the Auglaise and Maumee Rivers, which we have already described, and where the Indians were hopelessly routed, Lieutenant Harrison greatly signalized himself. His conduct elicited from his commanding officer the following warm commendation : " Lieutenant Harrison was in the foremost front of the hottest battle. His person was exposed from the commencement to the close of the action. Wherever duty called he hastened, regardless of danger, and by his efforts and example contributed as much to secure the fortunes of the day as any other officer subordinate to the commander-in-chief." He was now promoted to a captaincy, and was placed in command of Fort Washington. He married about this time a daughter of John Cleaves Symmes, the energetic founder of the Miami HISTORY OF OHIO - 591 settlements. After peace was restored with the Indians, Captain Harrison in 1797, being then twenty-four years of age, was appointed Secretary of the Northwestern Territory, and Lieutenant Governor, General St. Clair being then Governor of all that region. The very unwise law at that time was that the United States government would not sell any tracts of land in the Northwestern Territories in quantities less than four thousand acres. This threw land into the hands of speculators, who formed companies, purchased immense regions, and then charged such prices as they pleased. Captain Harrison, though violently opposed by the powerful capitalists, succeeded in obtaining such a modification of this law that Congress consented to sell the land in alternate sections of six hundred and forty and three hundred and twenty acres. Thus a few neighbors who wished to emigrate could unite together and purchase their farms at government prices. The Northwestern Territory was entitled to send one delegate to Congress. Captain Harrison filled that office. The Eastern Territory, embracing mainly the region now constituting the State of Ohio, was designated as the " Territory Northwest of the Ohio." The Western region was called the " Indiana Territory." Captain Harrison, at twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by John Adams, then President of the United States, as Governor of the Indiana Territory, and soon after as Governor also of Upper Louisiana. In point of territory his realm was larger than that of almost any other sovereigns on the surface of the globe. He was also appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This invested him with almost dictatorial powers. Young as he was, he discharged these duties with such distinguished ability that he was three times re-appointed to these offices twice by Thomas Jefferson and once by James Madison. These almost boundless regions were then occupied almost exclusively by roving tribes of savages and by wild beasts. There were but three white settlements in that wilderness expanse of thousands of unsurveyed, unexplored square miles. One of these little hamlets of a few log huts was on the Ohio River, nearly opposite Louisville ; one at Vincennes, on the Wabash and the third a small trading post of the French. During Captain Harrison's very efficient administration he 35 592 - HISTORY OF OHIO. effected thirteen treaties with the Indians, by which he transferred to the United States the undisputed title of sixty million acres of land. He had ample opportunities to enrich himself. But his integrity was such that he never held one single acre by a title emanating from himself. We have had occasion, in this history, often to speak of the outrages, of every conceivable kind, which the Indians endured from those lawless, vagabond white men, who are ever found prowling along the verge of civilization. Fiends could not have been more demoniac in their conduct. There was no power in Congress to prevent these atrocities, and thousands of good men bitterly deplored them. The savages were thus often goaded into war And while we could scarcely blame them, it became a painful necessity to shoot them down in their ferocious massacres as we would ravaging wolves and bears. In a communication which Governor Harrison made to the United States Government in July, 1801, he wrote : " All these injuries the Indians have hitherto borne with astonishing patience. But, though they discover no disposition to make war upon the United States, I am confident that most of the tribes would eagerly seize any favorable opportunity for that purpose. And should the United States be at war with any European nations, who are known to the Indians, there would probably be a combination of more than nine-tenths of the northern tribes against us, unless some means are made use of to conciliate them." Thomas Jefferson, when occupying the Presidential chair, humanely did everything in his power to protect the Indians, and to induce them to cultivate the soil, and strengthen themselves by all the arts of civilized life. In the year 1804 Governor Harrison obtained from the Indians the cession of all their vast .hunting grounds, excepting from the Illinois River to the Mississippi. Even into these regions emigration was now beginning to flow. A territorial legislature was organized. Governor Harrison, intelligent, courteous and unswervingly upright in every action, won universal respect and confidence. He was by nature not only inflexibly just, but he was endowed with great amiability and kindliness of heart. His knowledge of human nature, and his tact in dealing with all diversities of character, were quite remarkable. HISTORY OF OHIO - 593 " His magnanimous devotion to the public interest was such that he several times appointed decided political opponents to offices of trust, which he deemed them eminently fitted to fill. He was so cautious to avoid the appearance of evil, that he would not keep the public money on hand, but always made his payments by drafts upon Washington. It is said that no man ever disbursed so large an amount of public treasure with so little difficulty in adjusting his accounts. " For twelve years Mr. Harrison was Governor of the Territory of Indiana. A wealthy foreigner by the name of McIntosh accused him of having defrauded the Indians in the treaty of Fort Wayne. The governor demanded investigation in a court of justice. Not only was he triumphantly acquitted, but the jury brought in a verdict against McIntosh for damages to the amount of four thousand dollars. Governor Harrison, having thus obtained the perfect vindication of his character, distributed one third of the sum to the orphan children of those who had died in battle, and restored the remainder to McIntosh himself." * When the governor entered upon his responsible office he took up his residence at the old military post of Vincennes Few men could have resisted the temptations which were presented Governor Harrison to accumulate a fortune through the facilities which his office gave him. The proprietor of the land upon which the City of St. Louis now stands offered him nearly half of the whole township if he would merely contribute his influence to building up the settlement. But Governor Harrison declined the proposal. So nice was his sense of honor that he could not consent to take advantage of his official situation to promote his private advantage. In a very few years that property was worth millions, and the governor might have been in the enjoyment of great wealth without defrauding an individual of a dollar. There was in the vicinity of Cincinnati a large tract of very valuable land, which in the early settlement of the country had been sold for quite a trifling sum under an execution against the original proprietor. Subsequently, when the property had become of immense value, it was ascertained that through some defect in the proceedings of the court the sale was not valid This being the case it was found that the legal title was vested in Mrs. Harrison and one other individual. But Mr. Harrison at once decided * Abbott's Lives of the Presidents. 594 - HISTORY OF OHIO. that the mistake or ignorance of the lawyer could not in equity entitle Mrs. Harrison to hold the property. He obtained the consent of the co-heir, and immediately relinquished the whole property to the purchasers. Such transactions are not so common in this world as not to be remarkable. About the year 1806 two very remarkable Indians of the Shawanese tribe became very prominent. They were twin brothers. One was called Tecumseh, or the Crouching Panther. The other was Ollivachica, or the Prophet. Tecumseh, from his abilities as BIRTH-PLACE OF TECUMSEH. a warrior and a statesman, would probably have attained eminence in any nation on the globe. He had long regarded with dread the encroachments which the white men were making on the hunting-grounds of his fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was an orator of great renown, and a religious teacher. The Indians generally regarded him as endowed with supernatural powers. These savages, who have obtained world-wide renown, were born on the banks of the Scioto, near Chillicothe. It is said that HISTORY OF OHIO - 595 from his earliest years Tecumseh gave evidence of the very remarkable character which he subsequently developed. He had a high reputation for integrity. His word was inviolable. And, most remarkable of all, he was a temperate man, never indulging in intoxicating drinks. In all his domestic relations he was a man of singular purity. He was entirely devoted to the interests of his countrymen, and, in the Indian wars, obtained great celebrity as one of the bravest, and most sagacious of the warriors. He led in many of the terrible inroads which the savages made into the territory of Kentucky. And no one could boast of having plundered more houses, or of having intercepted more boats on the Ohio River, than he. When pursued by overpowering numbers he retreated far away to the banks of the Wabash, and there remained in security until the storm of war had exhausted itself. Then, just as the settlers were returning to the plow, he would swoop down upon them like the desolating hurricane. Though often immense amounts of booty were thus obtained, his pride of character was such that he would seldom allow any portion of it to be appropriated to his own use. The love of gain, with the common Indian, was the crowning motive. But Tecumseh foresaw the annihilation of his race by the inroads of the pale-faces with their superior civilization. It is said by the white men that it was his high and all absorbing ambition to avert that dreadful doom by the extermination of the invaders. He possessed all the qualifications of a successful military chieftain, and was apparently born to command. The two brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, according to the account as generally received, about the year 1804, conceived the project of uniting all of the western Indians in a confederacy, to make a simultaneous attack upon all the frontier settlements, so that soldiers could not be sent from one to the aid of another. The Prophet very shrewdly decided to bring in the element of religious belief to inspire their followers to enthusiastic action. He became, in reality, a sort of Mahomet with the Indians. The foresight and true wisdom he displayed in adapting his religious system to the accomplishment of the object he and his brother had in view, must be regarded as one of the most remarkable events in the history of man. It would seem that he must have heard of the religion of Jesus, and that he must have appreciated in a striking degree its wonderous efficacy as a motive power. 596 - HISTORY OF OHIO. A large council was assembled, probably of the leading chiefs and warriors of very many tribes. The Prophet addressed them in those rare strains of eloquence, ever at his command, which moved all their hearts as the forest leaves are swayed by the wind. He first very forcibly described the degeneracy and corruption into which the Indians had fallen since their intercourse with the white men. Like a temperance lecturer, he depicted the fearful woes which the fire-water of the white men had brought to all their tribes; the new diseases which had been introduced; the desolating wars, destroying all their habits of industry, often laying their pleasant homes in ashes, and driving their women and children miserably to perish of starvation in the woods. Pathetically he described the immense extent of their hunting grounds, which had already been wrested from them by the palefaces, and showed clearly that the invaders were every year growing stronger, while the Indians were growing weaker. He contrasted the long, peaceful and happy lives of their forefathers with the tumult, terrors and wars with which their homes had been desolated since the white man came among them. This historic narrative was enlivened with anecdotes of particular transactions of duplicity, fraud and outrage, on the part of the whites, which roused those savage natures to the highest pitch of indignation. Having thus shown the evils which they were enduring, he then turned to the remedy. He said that he had received a commission from the Great Spirit to extricate his red children from the utter ruin with which they were menaced. In proof of the authority with which he was thus invested, he affirmed his ability to perform wondrous miracles, and in fact did perform some feats which his hearers regarded as supernatural. He then declared that the Great Spirit demanded, first of all, a radical reform in the manners and morals of his red children. They were commanded to abandon entirely and forever all use of intoxicating drinks. They were no longer to use any articles of clothing brought to them by the whites, but were to dress in furs and skins, as their ancestors had done before them. Stealing, quarreling with one another, and all impurity and immorality of conduct whatever, were strictiy forbidden. And especially they were prohibited from engaging in any wars with each other. The red men were enjoined to remember that the Great Spirit was the HISTORY OF OHIO - 597 common father of all the Indians, and they were ever bound to regard each other as brothers. That such a system of faith and practice should have originated in the mind, and have been clearly enunciated from the lips of a savage warrior,, far away in pathless wilds, is wonderful indeed. With enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter the Hermit, in his endeavor to rouse all Europe in a crusade against the infidel Turk, these two brothers threaded the ,almost boundless wilderness, going from tribe to tribe, for two or three years, in efforts, it is said, to organize a resistless coalition for the extermination of the whites. Their journeyings led them over thousands of miles, and they visited remote and almost unknown tribes, even to the banks of the Mississippi. No toil, sufferings, discouragements, chilled their ardor. They probably wrought themselves up to the full conviction that they were truly commissioned by the Great Spirit. The Prophet, with his brother, occasionally held protracted meetings, which lasted for several days. The Indians came to these gatherings from great distances. They had prayers and exhortations and pledges of fidelity in the great conflict for which they were preparing. Though the measures of Tecumseh and the Prophet in organizing this formidable conspiracy had been conducted with as much secrecy as possible, still rumors of their movements reached the ears of Governor Harrison, whose headquarters, it will be remembered, were at the little hamlet of huts called Vincennes, on the Wabash River. There were also many indications that the British authorities in Canada were encouraging the hostile movement with advice and promises of future cooperation. Governor Harrison, therefore, during the year 1807, sent a message of inquiry and remonstrance to the Shawanese chiefs. This message was couched in very severe terms. The Prophet dictated to the governor's messenger the following reply : "Father : I am very sorry that you listen to the advice of bad birds. You have accused me of having correspondence with the British; and of sending for the Indians `to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the Great Spirit, but the words of the devil.' Father : These impeachments I deny— they are not true. I never have had a word with the British. I have never sent for 598 - HISTORY OF OHIO, any Indians. They came here of their own accord to hear the words of the Great Spirit. Father : I wish you would not listen any more to the voice of bad birds. You may rest assured that it is the least of our idea to make disturbance. We will rather stop such proceedings than encourage them." It will be observed that here the Prophet emphatically denies that he had any design to rouse the tribes to another war. He asserted then, and continued to assert, that his plan of saving the Indians from extermination did not consist in the annihilation of the whites, which he knew to be impossible, but that he wished to save the Indians in their rapid downward career through intemperance and all its corresponding vices by reforming their morals, uniting them among themselves, and encouraging industry. It is undeniable that the white men would often get a few chiefs of a tribe together, supply them freely with whisky, bribe them, and then enter into a treaty with them for the cession of lands to which these chiefs had no claim. This had been done repeatedly. One of the leading objects of Tecumseh and the Prophet, as they declared, was to have the chiefs of all the tribes agree that no more of their hunting grounds should be surrendered to the whites but by the consent of all the tribes. This certainly, in their then condition, was very wise, and worthy of the intelligence of these remarkable men. On the other hand, the attempt to organize all the small tribes at immense distances, to send their few hundred warriors against the well-known power of the Americans, was a very foolish plan, and unworthy of the sagacity which these men displayed. It ought, also, in historic fairness, to be stated that all the record we have of these events comes to us through the white men. The Indians have had no chance to tell their story. There are many indications that the narrative which has descended to us respecting the designs of Tecumseh and his brother, has not been given in entire impartiality. Tippecanoe River is one of the most important tributaries of the Wabash. It takes its rise in the extreme northern portion of the present State of Indiana. Upon the upper waters of this stream, about one hundred miles northwest from Fort Wayne, which stood at the junction of the St. Mary's and the St. Joseph's Rivers, the Prophet had selected his place of residence. It was a region which probably no white man's foot had ever trodden. The HISTORY OF OHIO - 599 little Indian village, constructed there contained only about one hundred and thirty souls. But prominent Indians, from distant parts, were continually visiting the Prophet to confer with him. In July of this year 1808, the Prophet went to Vincennes, on a pacific message to the governor. This remote hamlet, in the wilderness, was at the distance of several hundred miles from Tippecanoe, in a southwest direction, on the eastern banks of the Wabash. B. B. Thatcher writes, in his interesting life of Tecumseh : "Long conferences and conversations ensued, but it could not be ascertained that his politics were particularly British. His denial of being under any such influence was strong and apparently candid. He said that his sole object was to reclaim the Indians from the bad habits which they had contracted, and to cause them to live in peace and friendship with all mankind; and that he was particularly appointed to that office by the Great Spirit. He frequently, in the presence of the governor, harangued his followers, and his constant theme was the evils arising from war, and from the immoderate use of ardent spirits." The Prophet came with a large number of followers. His power over them was such that no persuasions of the whites could induce one of them to touch a drop of intoxicating drink. As the Prophet was about to leave Vincennes, there was a general council held, and in the following remarkable farewell speech the Indian orator addressed the governor: " Father, it is three years since I began that system of religion which I now practice. The white people and some of the Indians were opposed to me. But I had no other intention but to introduce among the Indians those good principles of religion which the white people profess. I was spoken badly of by the white people, who reproached me with misleading the Indians. But I defy them to say that I did anything amiss. " Father, I was told that you intended to hang me. When I heard this I intended to remember it, and to tell my father the truth when I went to see him. I heard that my father had declared that the whole land between Vincennes and Fort Wayne was the property of the Seventeen Fires.* I also heard, my * There were then seventeen states in the Union, which the Indians designated as the Seventeen Council Fires. The territory which the governor was said thus to claim amounted to the whole of the State of Indiana.