HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. CHAPTER I. THE OHIO VALLEY - CLAIMS OF FRANCE, ENGLAND AND SPAIN - M. DE CELERON'S MISSION - BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT - PONTIAC - FORT PITT - THE CONGRESS AT FORT STANWIX - THE SIX NATIONS. WHEN we consider its fertile domain — its extended area its vast resources, and its great natural advantages, exceptional as it is in all these respects, is it any wonder that the red man contested with such pertinacity the possession of the territory embraced within the limits of the Ohio Valley? It is rich in all essentials necessary for the physical welfare and happiness of a mighty population — for the temporal welfare and intellectual and mental development of a race whose Anglo-Saxon origin and character give assurance of their superiority and excellence. It is an empire, which in soil, climate and productiveness combined, is unexcelled by that of any other upon the face of the globe. Its diversified scenery presents a panorama of ever varying beauty and rare diversity, arousing admiration and awakening delight in the spectator. If fully populated and thoroughly tilled its productive capacity would supply the demands of the world. In the unwrought timber which composes her magnificent forests are embryo navies enough to cover with their white wings, the surface of every ocean and sea, under the wide canopy of the heavens. Her hidden and undeveloped wealth of useful 'minerals awaits only the hand of labor and industry to reveal the rich treasures of her mines, inexhaustible in the fullness of their supply. In the comparatively brief space of a century what changes, revolutions and progress have marked what was at its beginning the western frontier of our country! Then it was a fallow -- unbroken and untrodden wilderness — the haunt of the savage and the lair of the beast of prey. Since then science has tunneled its hills and bridged its streams and water courses — steam has traversed the pathless oceans — the remote confines of our country have been bound together with iron links, and over ringing railways the wealth of empires are moved as if by the obedient touch of a magician's wand. The results of the hidden chemistry of nature have been made subservient to the wants and necessities of man. The electric spark flashes intelligence across seas and continents, and the pulse beat of the nations 2-A. 18 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. is heralded from point to point with every passing hour. The art of war has been reduced by human skill and ingenuity to such scientific perfection that its multiplied means and agencies for taking human life have become the surest guarantee of peace. And all these things have transpired within the limits of 100 years. Who can foretell the destiny or the future greatness of this wonderful valley? When the mighty pendulum of the great clock of time in its ceaseless swing, shall have told off on its dial plate the flight of another century, judging from the past, the wildest flight of fancy in the present cannot begin to soar to the heights of that which may prove to be the actual and the real. Under the providence of God the pioneers of this valley were in no small degree the instruments of His purpose in inaugurating the building up in its limits an empire the growth and prosperity of which has been exceptional in the annals of the world. Let us now hastily turn over the leaves of time's volume and hurriedly scan its pages as we re-tread in a brief manner the track of history with reference to the early settlement and progress in civilization of that portion of our country styled the Ohio Valley, and espe cially that portion of it known as the District of West Augusta, in which was originally included the western portion of the state of Pennsylvania and the present state of West Virginia; it being our purpose to give a resume only of the early contentions and disputes,. trials and difficulties which characterized the early history of this section immediately before and (hiring the early years of the present century. The past is always interesting whether crowded into the limits of our own individual lives, or whether its wealth of memories laden the years and fill the period preceding that of our existence. The country bordering on the Mississippi river and its tributaries was originally claimed by England, France .and Spain. The claims of England rested on the discovery by the Cabots of the eastern shores of the United States along which they sailed, which embraced the territory lying between the thirtieth and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, extending westwardly to the Pacific Ocean. It was further based upon a tradition of an Englishman. at one time during a. very early period having crossed, the mountains in Virginia and proceeding westward to the Ohio river, having reached that stream had embarked on a vessel in which he descended that river and the Mississippi as far as its mouth—a fabulous feat which has nothing to recommend it to favor unless it is the ingenuity which gave it birth. The claim of France to her American possessions was based upon the fact that in the year 1524, an Italian mariner (John Verrazzani) , sailing. under the French flag and duly commissioned by the king of France, sailed along the Atlantic coast from the thirty-second to the fiftieth degree of latitude,'landing at different points, marking the points of his visitation by signs indicating the authority of the French king. By him the country was given the name of New France. A second expedition was fitted out by the French in the year 1534, under the command of one Cartier, who sailed up the St. Lawrence river and HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 19 gave the first intelligent description of the country, which he declared to be French territory. In the following year (1535), Cartier returned with several vessels, and made a more extended -tour of the country and founded Montreal. Some years elapsed before any further attempts appear to have been made by the French to extend their possessions, and it was not until the year 1608 that Champlain was sent out with another expedition, on which occasion he founded Quebec and also discovered the beautiful lake which bears his name. After this emigrants from France began to pour into the country and to secure possession of its territory. By adapting themselves to their manners and customs, and by intermarrying with them the French soon gained their good will, then their confidence, and finally the alliance of the natives of the country. From them they received the information that farther on there was a great river which emptied itself into a distant and unknown sea. In 1673 Marquette and Joliet undertook, in company with a few companions, to visit this river and inspect its surrounding. Sailing along Lake Michigan by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, they reached the Mississippi, and proceeded down this river as far as the thirty-third degree of latitude north, and then returned through the Illinois country to the point of their departure in Canada; At the time of this last-mentioned expedition M. de La Salle was the French commandant at Frontenac, a fort which occupied the present site of Kingston. Inspired by the highly-colored report of Marquette, his enthusiastic nature led him courageously to resolve to investigate the newly-discovered country for himself. Hence in the summer of 1679, in company with a priest named Hennepin, and others, he started on his expedition. He disembarked on the present site of Chicago and descended the Illinois river to the present site of Peoria. In the vicinity of this last named place he remained during the winter. In the meantime Father Hennepin was sent to explore the country to the north and west. In the spring La Salle returned to Canada, but subsequently revisited the country, and in the year 1682 sailed down the Mississippi to the gulf and named the country Louisiana in honor of his sovereign, Louis XIV. On his return he established the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, and then again returned to Canada. His ardent love for adventure and his keen enjoyment in discovery and exploration, led him to proceed to France with a view by personal solicitation to interest the authorities in effecting a settlement of the valley of the Mississippi, in which he was partially successful. At the same time he urged the importance of uniting the settlements on the Mississippi with those of Canada by means of a cordon of posts —the attempt to accomplish which was subsequently foiled. With the aid afforded him by the French crown he succeeded in raising an expedition, and sailed in the year 1684 for the mouth of the Mississippi, which he missed as he landed too far to the westward. In his efforts to secure the safety of his little colony and to conduct them to the Illinois he met with innumerable trials and almost insurmountable 20 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. obstacles and hardships, but to which he never for a moment succumbed. It was while thus laboriously striving for the welfare and prosperity of his company that one of his members basely assassinated him. A portion of his party subsequently reached a settlement of French emigrants located on the Arkansas. Those who had been left at St. Bernard, with the exception of a few, were murdered by the Indians, while those who escaped the Indians were afterward carried away by the Spaniards. If priority of discovery was the real test by which the question as to which of the three great European powers held the right to the valley of the Mississippi, then Spain's was equal to either of the others. Probably Ferdinand de Soto, who at the time was governor of the Island of Cuba, was the first white man to see the mouth of the Mississippi. Prior to this time, the Spaniards had visited and named Florida and had made attempts to colonize and settle it, but these had proved abortive. This attempt was renewed by De Soto. He succeeded in penetrating the interior of the country, and had crossed the Mississippi in pushing further on and had reached Red river when sickness arrested and finally death put an end to the plans he had purposed and the ends which he sought to accomplish. His body was committed to the waters of the last named stream so that it might escape the mutilation and indignities which otherwise might have been visited upon it by the savages, to whom his name was a terror and who regarded him as their most implacable foe. Thus the different portions of the continent were claimed by the three great powers of Europe already named by us, basing their claims respectively on discovery, settlement and exploration. The Ohio river formed a natural communication between the French possessions in Canada and the Louisiana country, via Lake Erie. To discover and preserve this communication was to the interests of the French, and hence they were the first to trace out the whole course of this river. As late as the year 1749 the Ohio valley had never been frequented by any but the French. Up to this period the Appalachian chain of mountains had always been looked upon as the western boundary of the English colonies. The English ministry, jealous of the growing influence and trade of France, had for some time coveted the possession of the above communication mentioned. In the year 1749, certain English traders inaugurated a contraband trade on the Ohio and in the territory over which the French claimed to exercise jurisdiction, and surreptitiously endeavored to provoke the Indians to a war with the French. Upon information of the existing state of affairs the French commandant, Count de la Galissoniere deputed M. de Celeron, a young and intrepid French officer, to proceed thither, giving him strict instructions to use no violence against the English intruders, but simply to order them to withdraw, and in case of their refusal so to do, to seize and confiscate their goods. Upon communicating his instructions to the traders they promptly withdrew. At the same time they were charged not to return. It appeared that some of these traders were acting under commissions HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 21 from the governor of Pennsylvania, which they produced for the inspection of the French officer, which confirmed the fact that the English harbored intentions detrimental to the interests of the French. Accordingly the French officer gave them a letter to the governor which he requested them to present to that dignitary. This letter was couched in courteous terms and informed the governor as to what had transpired, and respectfully requested him not to grant any more commissions in the future, but also to compel a cessation of the contraband trade which was carried on by his countrymen in the territory of New France. But no sooner had M. de Celeron completed his mission and was on his return journey after burying leaden plates and erecting wooden crosses at the mouths of the principal streams emptying into the Ohio, thus signifying the jurisdiction of the French crown over the Ohio and the adjacent territory, than the English traders returned in great numbers. Under one pretext or another, and by dint of false representations, several of the Indian tribes, at the instance of the English, were induced to take up arms against the French, having been supplied with these, together with ammunition, by the English. Hence, in the following year, 175o, the Marquis de la Jonquiere, who, in the fall of 1749 had succeeded the Count de la Galissoniere as governor general and commandant of New France, again sent out another and different force with a repetition of the same orders previously given to M. de Celeron, deprecating the use of any violence toward the English and to intimidate such of the Indian tribes as had revolted. Their forbearance toward the English was in the highest degree commendable, but was not properly appreciated. To prevent, if possible, the continuance of contraband trade, four of the most objectionable and obstinate of the traders were seized, and notwithstanding the kind and forbearing treatment of the French, they disregarded in a defiant manner the warning they had received. These four were carried to Canada. Upon personally investigating their cases, they acknowledged to the Marquis de la Jonquiere, that the governor of Pennsylvania had sent arms and ammunition, as well as presents, to the Indians to excite them to war. Thereupon the marquis sent them as prisoners to France where they were retained as prisoners for some time. After an interval of time they applied to the English ambassador at the court of France, and solicited his intercession in their behalf that they might be released, but made no complaint of the justice of their arrest and imprisonment. As a personal favor to the English ambassador, his request was granted and they were discharged. The forbearance of the French towards the Indians on the Ohio instead of having the effect of pacifying them seemed only to embolden them. Apprehensions of a united and general revolt became prevalent. The English encouraged them in their purpose and made promises of aid and protection. Detachments of French troops sent out in 1751 did no more than the detachments which had been previously sent out. But they discovered and reported the fact that preparations for a concerted attack on the part of the Indians against 22 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. the colonies was imminent. The governor of Canada, convinced of the threatened danger, made preparations to send a superior force to keep them in check, but before completing them he sickened and died. He was succeeded by the Marquis du Quesne. The condition of affairs in the colony prompted him to take immediate steps to carry out the execution of the designs of his predecessor. The forces raised were placed under the command of M. de St. Pierre. Establishing a block house in the vicinity of Lake Erie, he remained there during the winter of 1753-4. During the time he was here he received a letter from the governor of Virginia commanding him to withdraw his forces. The English had already passed their boundary, and with an army had entered the territory of New France. In the spring of the year 1754 M. de Contrecour in command of between 500 and 600 red men advanced toward the Ohio, and between the Ohio and French creek found a small force under the command of Capt. Trent, entrenched in a small fort which they had built. Contrecour summoned them to depart out of the territory of New France. They at once obeyed and evacuated their fort. At the same time they requested the French commander to give them provisions, of which they stood greatly in need. He granted them a full supply and destroyed their fort. At the time of this occurrence Capt. Contrecour continued his march to the Ohio. In the spring of 1754 the Virginians had commenced the erection of a fort at the junction of Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, which was in an unfinished condition. In obedience to the summons to surrender, Ensign Ward, who was in command, and whose force consisted of about forty men, evacuated the fort, as his force, compared to that of his antagonist, was but a handful, the French numbering nearly i,000, composed of French and Indians. The French at once proceeded to complete and fortify the post, which they called Fort Du Quesne, after the then French governor of Canada. The full details of the surrender having been laid before Gov. Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, he proceeded to take prompt measures to repel the French. A regiment was raised, and the command given to Col. Fry, with George Washington as lieutenant colonel, and marching to a place called the Great-Meadows, near the Youghiogheny river, they surprised a.. party of French and Indians and Jumonville, the commanding officer, was killed. In the meantime, while on the march, Fry had died, and the command of the regiment devolved upon Washington. Pressing forward, they had reached a small fort called Fort Necessity, where he was awaiting the arrival of additional troops preparatory to continuing their march to Fort Du Quesne, which they intended to attack and capture if possible. While delaying here a French force under the command of M. de Villiers appeared, and was fired upon by a portion of- the force which was without the fort, when they hastily retreated to the shelter of the fort. The firing was kept up for sometime, and was quite rapid, but Washington finding that it was useless to prolong the siege, and to avoid an assault which would have proved successful, accepted the HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY - 23 proposal of the French to surrender, and the capitulation was agreed upon. These events are considered as the first overt acts which precipitated what is known as the French and Indian war, which covered the period between 1754 and 1758. Great Britain now determined to put a stop to what they considered the encroachments and aggressions of the French in their possessions, and accordingly at the beginning of the year 1755 the French held complete control of the Ohio Valley. The contest for its possession was not to be long delayed, for soon an army would penetrate the wilderness under the command of one of the bravest, most thoroughly disciplined and determined officers in the British service. But he was haughty, obstinate, presumptuous and difficult of access. Such is the character of Major General Edward Braddock, as portrayed by his cotemporaries, who had been appointed as the leader of the forces, numbering about 2,300 men. Gen. Braddock never for a moment contemplated defeat in his projects, as both he and the commander of the fleet were much exercised as to the treatment they would extend to the French, who they had not the least doubt that they would capture. The idea that these latter could cope successfully with his well disciplined English troops was to him in the highest degree regarded as preposterous. And yet but a few weeks were to elapse when the self-confident general himself would surrender to insatiate Death. The flower of his army like their general, would succumb to the same inevitable conqueror, and defeat be inscribed upon their banner. It is not our purpose to give a detailed account of this unfortunate affair so familiar to all readers of history, but suffice it to say that had it not been for the coolness and courage displayed by Washington on this occasion, the whole army would have been cut off and destroyed. From this time until the year 1764, the Indians under Pontiac, carried on a ruthless and devastating warfare. The distress which prevailed on the frontiers was unparalleled before or since. The defeat of Braddock had caused the settlers to abandon their cabins and flee for safety to the older settled portions of the country, and in the whole valley of the Ohio scarcely a single white person was to be found. Outside of this limit the Indians emboldened by the terrible rout of Braddock's forces, indulged the terrible ferocity of their natures wherever victims could be found on whom to expend their fury. Families who had neglected by flight to procure their security were inhumanly butchered in cold blood, and in their wild carnival of slaughter they spared neither sex nor age. They laid siege successfully to a number of forts, which were reduced by force or stratagem. They passed beyond the mountains and carried devastation and death as far as Bedford, Winchester and Fort Cumberland. But this condition of affairs was finally arrested by the decisive victory won by the skill and prowess of Col. Bouquet, at Brushy Run, in Westmoreland county, Penn., August, 1763, which struck such terror to the savages as to cause them temporarily to withdraw into the interior. 24 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. From this time the prestige of the great chief Pontiac was eclipsed; his followers became disheartened and sued for peace. The reader will please pardon us if we occupy a small portion of his time in briefly referring to the career and character of the chieftain we have just named. Pontiac was an Ottawa chief whom the English first became acquainted with when a small force of their army was for the first time sent to take formal possession of the country in the vicinity of the upper lakes. On being informed of the approach of the English he collected his warriors together and set out to meet them. He indignantly demanded of them why they dared to trespass upon his territory, and haughtily insisted on being informed as to what their business was there. He was answered that they came on a friendly errand to assure peace with his nation, and to cultivate acquaintance. Pontiac replied: " I take my stand in the path you are following and here I will remain until morning," giving them to understand that they could not proceed further without his full permission. After a time and after due deliberation he permitted them to proceed, and with his followers accompanied them to Detroit, from whence he sent runners to the surrounding tribes urging them, as he had, to become friendly towards the English. For some time he was true to the whites and was their faithful friend, but afterward became their inveterate enemy. Drake, in his history of the Indians, speaks of his great executive ability as exceeding even those of Metacomet or Tecumseh. He proceeds to say: " In his war of 1763, which is justly denominated Pontiac's war, he appointed a commissary, and began to make and issue bills of credit, all of which he afterward carefully redeemed. He made his bills on notes of bark, on which was drawn the figure of the commodity he wanted, and another was the insignia or arms of his nation. He had also with great sagacity, urged upon his people the necessity of dispensing altogether with European commodities, to have no intercourse with any whites, and to depend entirely upon their ancient modes of procuring sustenance." After the reduction of Canada, comparative peace reigned along the frontiers. The French being driven out of the country, the English commenced the erection of forts at the most available points commanding the lakes and rivers. Rightly apprehending that the English, if not checked, or if an attempt to do so was not.promptly made, would soon spread themselves over the whole country, the savages realized that a mighty effort must be made to prevent their advance. A confederacy was therefore formed among the Shawnees, the tribes in the Ohio and its adjacent waters, the object of which was to attack at the same time all of the English posts and settlements on the frontiers. Their plan was skillfully formed after the most mature deliberation. The Ohio valley as well as the frontiers of Pennsylvania were raided by scalping parties carrying death and devastation wherever they penetrated. The remote outposts were assailed, and out of eleven forts three only escaped capture:— Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt alone remaining in the hands of the whites. The moving spirit