242 -HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

CHAPTER III.

KENTUCKY PIONEERS-COL. BYRD'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THEM-CLARE DESTROYS INDIAN VILLAGES ON LITTLE MIAMI AND MAD RIVER--COL. BRODHEAD'S EXPEDITION-COL. LOCHRY AMBUSHED-WILLIAMSON--CRAWFORD'S DEFEAT AND DEATH-BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS-SKIRMISH AT MOUTH OF MAD RIVER-INDIAN TOWNS, CROPS AND SUPPLIES, DESTROYED AT PIQUA AND LORAMIE -MOUTH OF MAD RIVER SELECTED IN 1782 FOR SETTLEMENT-FORT HARMAR AND FORT FINNEY BUILT--CLARK AND THE SHAWNEES AT FORT FINNEY LOGAN DESTROYS MACKACHEEK TOWNS--VIRGINIA CEDES NORTHWEST TERRITORY TO UNITED STATES-INDIAN TREATIES-UNITED STATES TITLE PERFECTED-LOCATION OF LORAMIE'S STORE AND FORT LORAMIE-STANDING STONE FORKS OF MIAMI.

KENTUCKY PIONEERS.

THE early Kentucky settlers had come to stay, locating in the rich blue grass lands they secured plenty of room, with comfort and abundance for their families. Building their cabins near to each other, they inclosed all in one stockade, or erected block-houses as a refuge for all. Bold, hardy, self-reliant men, joined in common interest for defense, and were ever ready to pursue the savage foe; hunters, farmers, inured to dangers and hardships; brave spirits, with military experience and skill, obliged to think for themselves, they necessarily acquired independence and quick thought and action.

That country was settled without thought of trespassing on the Indian lands north of the Ohio. But the events of the year 1779, and the great emigration to the West in the spring of 1780, were urged upon the tribes, by the British commander at Detroit, as good grounds for open hostilities against the settlers; the savages became restless, and small bands of warriors appeared before the settlements and along the Ohio River, rendering it unsafe for any but armed bodies of men to leave the block-houses.

To plant the corn and other crops, a party would go out, one-half standing guard while the other half worked; in this way, the land was cleared, the cattle were pastured, and all out-of-door work accomplished. From this condition of uneasiness, lest their lands be taken from them, the excitement increased among the Indians; especially was this the case in the Shawnee tribes, who were the most mischievous and blood-thirsty, ever ready for war against the whites. They induced the Wyandots to join them. Gov. Hamilton, of Detroit, organized a force of Canadians and Indians from these two tribes, 600 in all, with Col. Byrd, of the British Army in command; the Indians were led by the Shawnee chieftain. Blackfish. The expedition was to be sent against Ruddell's and Martin's stations, on the Licking River, Kentucky. They came down the Big Miami in batteaux and canoes, bringing with them two (or, as some writers state, six) pieces of artillery. A road was cut for the artillery through the woods from the Ohio River, and, although it took twelve days to make the march, they were undiscovered; a shot from one of the field-pieces was the first intimation the occupants of Ruddell's station had of the presence of the enemy. This was on the 22d of June. 1780. In reply to the demand of Col. Byrd, for the immediate surrender of the stockade, with the garrison and families, Capt. Ruddell refused, unless the prisoners were to be placed under the protection of the British officers. This was agreed to, and the gates were immediately thrown

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open. The Indians at once rushed into the stockade, each one seizing the first person they came to, and claimed them as their own prisoners. Great confusion ensued. Col. Byrd had no control of the savages, husband and wife were separated, and children were taken from their parents; the cabins were then plundered, and the prisoners, loaded with the spoils, marched, with the force, to the attack on Martin's station, where the same scenes were enacted. Small bands of savages had advanced to Byant's station and to Lexington, where they stole many horses and returned to Martin's.

In the sacking of the two stations, Col. Byrd had complied with the orders of Gov. Hamilton, and, although he had force sufficient to have destroyed all the settlements in Central Kentucky, for some reason he decided to retreat at once to the forks of Licking, where he had left stores and boats; finding that the river was falling, his artillery and stores were at once put aboard and the retreat continued. The Indians, with the ponies, prisoners and plunder, separated from the English and marched to the Ohio River; crossing at the mouth of the Licking, they returned to their villages by the way of the Little Miami Valley. Col. Byrd, with his artillery and troops in the boats, descended the Licking River to the Ohio, and down that stream to the mouth of the Big Miami, hoping to pole up that river to the point where the troops were first embarked. The weather by this time was very hot, and the. spring freshets having run out, the water was too low for the loaded boats to get up much farther than the mouth of Mad River, or, possibly, Honey Creek, from which point the troops marched rapidly to Detroit. The artillery was at first left in the woods, but it is probable that the guns were soon taken up the river, and on to Detroit by the Indians.

Up to the time of this invasion, hostilities by the Kentuckians had been carried on without unity of purpose or action. The policy of all was defense, and each family or settlement managed and fought upon their own hook. A single backwoodsman, armed with rifle and scalping-knife, provided with a poke of parched corn for rations, would start on an expedition of his own, into the Indian country; arriving in the neighborhood of a village, great caution was necessary as he lay in the thicket watching for an opportunity to shoot an Indian, or run off a horse. With the fullest experience in the perils of savage warfare, they were as cautious as they were brave; apt scholars in cunning and sagacity, they were the equals of the warriors in fierce and desperate bravery, and power of endurance, energy, perseverance and skill, gave to the pioneer an advantage over the Indian.

The result of Col. Byrd's expedition was to arouse the settlers to a necessity for better organization; the Government was wholly unable to protect them from invasion, and, realizing the situation, they prepared to take care of them selves, and from that time on the progress of Western settlement was never checked; the courage of the pioneers was equal to all emergencies, and conquered every situation. Acting upon the principle that the best defense against the Indians was to attack them in their villages, and destroy their-crops and supplies, the war after this was made aggressive; the Indians were to be punished; they had forced this change of policy that resulted in the loss of their lands in the valleys of the rivers flowing into the Ohio from its source to the mouth of the Big Miami. The Kentuckians would organize under some leader of repute, who would plan an expedition, give notice of his intention, and appoint a rendezvous where volunteers would assemble; such calls always met with prompt response, the men furnished their own horses, arms, ammunition and rations, and risked their lives in a common cause. The pioneer women managed the farms, crops and cattle, and sometimes defended their cabins from attacks of the savages during the absence of the men.

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CLARK'S EXPEDITION, AUGUST, 1780.

The destruction of Ruddell's and Martin's stations was not passed without retaliation and full punishment. In July, Col. George Rogers Clark came up from the fort, at Louisville, to organize an expedition against the Shawnee towns on the Little Miami and Mad Rivers. The mouth of the Licking River was designated as the point of rendezvous, and within a few days, 1,000 of the bravest Indian fighters had assembled.

Col. Benjamin Logan, Capt. Robert Patterson, Simon Kenton, James Harrod and John Floyd, had commands under Clark. The artillery for the expedition had been brought up from the Ohio Falls. On the 1st day of August, Col. Clark, with his force, crossed the river and built two block-houses on the present site of Cincinnati. Corn and some ammunition were stored there, and several sick men were left as guards. In this way, the expedition was supplied,on their return march. The next day, with every precaution against surprise, they began the march up the Little Miami; on the 6th of August, they arrived at Old Chillicothe (Old-Town, Greene County), and found that the Indians had abandoned and burned the town. The Kentuckians camped for the night, and the next day destroyed several hundred acres of corn and whatever else they found.

On the 8th, the expedition reached Old Piqua, on Mad River, seventeen miles above where Dayton is located. At 2 P. M., the Indians attacked the advance, and a general engagement at once ensued; for three hours the contest was sharp, but the savages were put to flight, the loss on each side being about twenty killed.

The next day was spent in burning the cabins, and destroying the crops of corn and vegetables; it was estimated that 500 acres of corn had been destroyed at the two villages.

Two days after the fight, the Kentuckians started on their return march to the Ohio River, where they were disbanded. The Shawnees did not rebuild their towns, but crossed over to the Big Miami and built a town, which they called Piqua. There were nearly 4,000 in the tribe thus deprived of their homes and provisions, and for nearly two years afterward, their hunters and warriors were kept hunting and fishing to supply their people, and for that length of time Kentucky was relieved of fears of attack from any considerable body of Indians. The Indians ever afterward had greater respect for the ability of the whites to retaliate for injury received.

COL. DANIEL BRODHEAD'S EXPEDITION.

In March, 1781, Col. Daniel Brodhead, with 300 troops, started from Wheeling to attack the Delaware towns on the Upper Muskingum; by rapid marches he reached the forks of that river (now Coshocton) before the Indians were aware of his presence in the country. The village at that point was taken and many prisoners of other villages were captured; thirty or forty warriors were tomahawked and scalped, the squaws and younsters were taken to Wheeling and held for exchange. In retaliation for the killing of these Indians, a number of soldiers descending the Ohio were captured and killed near the mouth of the Big Miami. Col. Archibald Lochry, with 106 men, started from Fort Henry (Wheeling) on the 25th of July, in boats, expecting to join Col. George Rogers Clark at the Ohio Falls. August 25, they landed on the Indian shore, below the mouth of the Big Miami, where suddenly, and without warning, they were attacked from the bluffs above, by a large number of Indians; the Colonel and forty-one of his men were killed, and the rest captured, many of whom were afterward killed and scalped. Cruelties of this kind were commit-

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ted by the whites and savages at every opportunity; the war was persecuted on both sides as a war of extermination; there was but little difference in the acts of brutal, malignant revenge, committed by either side.

MORAVIAN MASSACRE.

Greatly exasperated at the continued attacks on the settlements, Col. David Williamson assembled a force of a hundred men in the Mingo bottom, just below the site of Steubenville, for an expedition against the Moravian Indians, in the Tuscarawas Valley. The night of March 3, 1782, Col. Williamson and his force bivouacked within a mile of Gnadenhutten, and marched into the village the next day, taking a number of the peaceable Indians prisoners; on the 7th, the number of captives was increased to ninety-six, and placed under guard in two of the houses; one-half the number were squaws and their youngsters. On the 8th, all of them but two Indian boys, who escaped, were killed and scalped.

Col. Williamson and his men were, even at that time, severely censured for this cold-blooded murder of friendly, Christian Indians.

COL. CRAWFORD'S EXPEDITION.

Soon after the return of Williamson, preparations were made for a second campaign against the Moravian Indians, and the Wyandot towns in the same neighborhood. Four hundred and eighty mounted men mustered at the old Mingo town, on the west side of the Ohio, on the 25th of May, and elected Col. William Crawford as their commander. The troopers and officers boldly announced their battle-cry, no quarter to Indians, buck, squaw or papoose. The Moravian villages were found to be deserted, but on the march the next clay, June 7, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, on the Sandusky plains, a fierce battle was brought on by the Indians, and continued until night. The fight not being renewed the next day, Col. Crawford ordered a retreat. About sundown, however, the Indians fiercely attacked the retreating column, on all sides, excepting on the road leading farther into the Indian country. The troops, by a circuitous route, got out and continued the retreat until the next evening, when they halted for the night.

The Indians scattered, in pursuit of straggling parties, killing all they captured. On the second day of the retreat, Col. Crawford, with a small party, who were in the rear, were attacked; the Colonel and a Dr. Knight were captured. The doctor afterward escaped; but Col. Crawford was burned at the stake, in an oak grove in a low bottom west of the Upper Sandusky, on the east bank of the Tymochtee Creek, eight miles from its mouth. A post, fifteen feet long, was firmly planted; Crawford was stripped naked and beaten by the Indians; a rope was tied to the foot of the post, the Colonel's hands were tied behind him, and the rope was fastened to the ligature between his wrists; the rope was long enough to allow him to walk two or three times around the post, then back again.

Capt. Pipe, the war chief of the Delawares, with about a hundred warriors, squaws and Indian boys, took part in the torture, and the rascally renegade, Simon Girty, also participated in the cruelties. Three large fires were built at intervals around the post; Crawford's ears were cut off; sixty or seventy loads of powder were fired into his body from his neck down; he was punched with the ends of the burning poles, the squaws threw coals and hot ashes on his body, so that he walked on a bed of coals; after about three hours of suffering from this awful torture, he fell from exhaustion, an Indian then scalped him, and an old squaw threw coals on the bleeding wound. After this, he walked round a little more, but when they attempted further torture, he seemed insensible of pain, and soon died. His body was then thrown into the fire and burned to C

248 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

ashes. Such terrible scenes as this justly excited deeper hostility toward the Indians. Few of the prisoners taken by the savages in that campaign escaped similar torture and death.

The Kentucky settlements were not exempt from savage attacks; in May occurred the attack on Estill's station, and subsequent defeat of Capt. James Estill, at Little Mountain, by a war party, of twenty-five Wyandots.

In July, the British officers at Detroit organized a Canadian force, as part of an expedition against the Kentucky settlements; war parties of the Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis and Delawares, were assembled at old Chillicothe, and joining the expedition, swelled its numbers to 600. Col. McGee, of the British Army, was in command, with Simon Girty as aid. August 14, Bryant's station, on the Elkhorn, five miles northeast of Lexington, was besieged by this force. A re-enforcement arrived from. Lexington on the 15th, and the Indian losses being heavy, the savages withdrew that night. The Kentuckians receiving re-enforcements that increased their force to 100 or 180 men, started in pursuit on the 18th, and were drawn into ambush at the Blue Licks on the 19th; in the fight that ensued the whites lost sixty killed and seven captured.

CLARK'S SECOND EXPEDITION.

As soon as Col. George Rogers Clark, then at Louisville. learned of the disaster, he determined to organize a force large enough to punish the tribes to the north so severely that they would not soon be in condition to leave their villages for aggressive warfare. Col. Clark came up the Ohio with 500 men and went into camp at the mouth of Licking River, where lie was soon joined by an equal number from the settlements around Lexington. The expedition was organized with Col. Benjamin Logan in command of one wing, and Col. John Floyd in command of the other.

By the last of September, Cal. Clark crossed the Ohio and moved up Mill Creek and the Big Miami, meeting no enemy until halted on the banks of Mad River by a small band of Indians stationed to dispute the crossing. A lively little fight ensued, in regular Indian bushwhacking style, near the mouth of Mad River. The dusky warriors were greatly outnumbered and forced to retreat through the bushes.

The victorious frontiersmen bivouacked on the spot. It occurred on the 9th of November, 1782, and, although scarcely of sufficient importance to be called a battle, because of the small number engaged and the short time it lasted, it is mentioned here as a skirmish, occurring within the present limits of the city of Dayton.

The march from Mad River was up the east side of the Miami, to the ford about four miles below the Piqua villages. A short time after crossing at that point, they met a party of Indians and squaws on horseback, on the trail leading from Greenville to Piqua. The Indians escaped into the woods, leaving their squaws and a captive woman, Mrs. McFall, in the hands of the whites, who took them on to the Piqua towns. Mrs. McFall returned with the Kentuckians, and was safely sent to her home.

The Indians were alarmed and hastily abandoned Piqua. A detachment of troopers was ordered forward to destroy the Indian village and trading post at Loramie's; crops were cut down, and a large quantity of grain and the plunder at the store, were burned, the detachment returning to Piqua the next morning.

The destruction of the Shawnee towns was completed by burning everything found about Upper and Lower Piqua. The Indians had made no resistance, except to fire from the bushes, upon any stragglers they could waylay. In this way, two men who were out looking for their horses, were mortally wounded; one of them died, and was buried at the ford just below Piqua; the

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other, Capt. Virgin McCracken, lived until the expedition returned to the Ohio, where he died and was buried.

Although but five Indians had been killed, the destruction of the towns, crops and supplies, had such an effect that the settlers south of the Ohio River were never again disturbed by a formidable invasion. On the 20th of November, the Kentuckians forded Mad River on the return march, and the point was discussed and marked as a good site for a settlement, wood, water and stone being abundant. The beauty of the landscape, the broad, rich bottoms, the many fine mill sites, were all attractive points to these frontiersmen, and some of them lived to enjoy the blessings that day coveted. Some of the most noted, the most daring of Western adventurers, were in that expedition such as the commander, Col. George Rogers Clark, Cols. Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Benjamin Logan, Robert Patterson and John Floyd; Capts. McCracken, Barbee, Green Clay and James Galloway.

As the troops were descending the hill to the level below (where Cincinnati now stands), Capt. McCracken, who, suffering from the wound in his arm, was being carried on a litter stretched between two horses, suggested that fifty years afterward the survivors should meet and talk over the affairs of that campaign, and the dangers and hardships of their experience. A few moments afterward, Capt McCracken died, and was buried in the earthwork that had been thrown up around the block-house two years before.

To carry out the suggestion of the dying soldier, Col. Floyd proposed a resolution that fifty years from November 4, 1782 (the day that the expedition was organized at the mouth of the Licking), the survivors should meet again at that place to celebrate the anniversary. It was carried with a hurrah, and the force soon afterward recrossed into Kentucky and scattered to their homes. Fifty years later, nearly all of them were dead. Simon Kenton and James Galloway joined in an address to the survivors, to meet in Covington, Ky., on the 3d of November, 1832 (the 4th being Sunday), to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the expedition. The meeting was held, but there were very few present, Kenton himself being sick, and Galloway, for some reason being unable to attend.

THE SITUATION IN THE REST AFTER 1785.

At the conclusion of peace between Great Britain and the American colonies, in 1783, quiet prevailed in all the settlements along the Ohio River. The Indians north of the Miami Valley were occupied building cabins and reconstructing their villages, cultivating their farms, hunting and fishing, to supply their people with meat. This condition of affairs continued until in 1785, they again became restless and troublesome to the whites.

The refusal on the part of England to surrender to the United States the forts lying south of the great lakes, encouraged the savages in the hope that they might yet have their old ally, to aid in preventing settlements on their lands. Then in the Kentucky settlements, there was no friendly feeling for the savages; almost every family had suffered from their terrible cruelties. This situation, however, did not check the steady increase in emigration to the West. There were one or two feeble efforts to locate at points along the Indian shore of the Ohio, but the rifle balls of the savages made the parties glad to escape to the Kentucky side.

The treaty made at Fort McIntosh, January 21, 1785, gave to the Government control of all the lands in Southeastern Ohio, yet every precaution was taken to prevent settlements being located there, from the fear that it would provoke hostilities with the Indians a state of affairs that the Government desired to avoid.

250 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

A detachment of United States troops, in command of Maj. John Doughty, in the fall of 1785, built Fort Harmar, on the right bank of the Muskingum River at its junction with the Ohio. It was the first military post located within the present boundaries of the State of Ohio, except Fort Laurens, erected at the Tuscarawas portage in 1.778. A battalion of troops was stationed at Fort Harmar to protect boats from attacks of the savages, and to warn settlers against locating north of the Ohio.

During the following winter (1785-S6), a company of troops from the fort floated down the Ohio in flatboats to a point just below the mouth of the Big Miami (North Bend), where they built Fort Finney, so named for one of the Captains of the regiment. The detachment soon after the treaty descended to the falls. The fort was not regarded as any position of special advantage or strength, but was rather intended to be used as a station for detachments passing up and down the river between Fort Harmar and the Ohio Falls, but such parties usually camped on the Kentucky side, as being less liable to be surprised by the savages. It was also constructed as one of a chain of stations to prevent the whites attempting settlements on the Indian side of the Ohio River. It was built with log houses at the angles, facing inwardly to an open space of possibly an acre, in the center of which was a log block-house; between the cor nor log houses, a stockade of closely-planted posts was set, thus forming a square inclosure for defense. It was located near where the great war trail from the north crossed the Ohio River. Timber was cleared away within rifle range of the fort, and a few acres were planted with corn and vegetables, for the use of the garrison.

By resolution of Congress, Gen. George Rogers Clark, Col. Richard Butler and Samuel H. Parsons, as Commissioners for the Government, were directed :o make a treaty of peace with the Indians located north of the Mad River, and also with the Wabash tribes. A meeting for this purpose was held at Fort Finney, January 31, 1786, where, after a stormy session of several days, in which nothing but the cool head and firm determination of Gen. Clark could control, a treaty was made that gave the territory in both the Miami Valleys to the United States.

But it was an unsatisfactory meeting. The tribes invited did not attend, except a representation from the Shawnees, who came with a war-party, and, as it was afterward believed, to murder the Commissioners and their escort; at least, they came to dictate terms to the United States. The Commissioners, without appearing to notice the threatened treachery, opened the council in due form, by lighting the pipe of peace, and, after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the assembled chiefs. Col. Clark, so thoroughly acquainted with the savage character, did not doubt that their intentions were to murder all the whites at the council, yet, with an air of command, he arose to explain to them the purposes for which the council had been appointed. In reply to his statement that the United States had no wish for war, and that, if the tribes desired peace they could have it on liberal terms, an old chief threw upon the table two belts of wampum of different colors, the one for war, the other for peace. We come, he said, to offer you two pieces of wampum: you know their significance; you can take which you like; then, turning on his heel, the chief sat down. The Commissioners felt the crisis. Clark, without changing his countenance, pushed the wampums on the floor; the savages jumped to their feet, and Clark, pointing to the door, said: " Dogs, you may go." The Indians rushed madly out, and were heard all night debating what course they should adopt; and in the morning sued for peace.

During the summer, the Indians still being troublesome, an expedition was fitted out to operate under Gen. Clark against the Wabash towns, and one under

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Col. Ben Logan, to move against the Indian villages at the head-waters of Mad River. This force of Kentuckians marched up the Ohio to Limestone (Maysville), where they crossed, continuing their route across the country to the Mackacheek towns, which were captured with many prisoners.

The force was here divided, the brigade under Col. Robert Patterson taking one direction, and that under Col. Thomas Kennedy another, to attack and destroy neighboring villages. The devastation of that section was complete. The Indians, with their squaws and what plunder they could quickly gather up, were driven beyond the Scioto, where they were in a starving condition for a year. The result of the expedition was the destruction of eight large towns, killing, wounding and capturing many Indians, and the destruction of crops and supplies of grain, pumpkins, beans, meat, and whatever came in their way. The losses of our troops were trifling, and they brought, away many horses and quantities of plunder.

One wing of this little army was composed of pioneers from about Lexington, and Bryant's Station, Ky.-men who had been with Clark in his march against these same Indian towns four years previous. They remembered the fine country they had seen around the mouth of the Mad River, and desired to again examine it with a view to locate when a favorable time should come.

The march was down the Mad River Valley to its mouth, where, as in 1782, they found a small body of Indians in camp, who, after a skirmish, were driven up the Miami bottoms. Among them was Tecumseh, then only seventeen years old. This was his first battle, although he had been under fire six years before, when Clark destroyed the Shawnee town farther up Mad River. This was the second battle on what was to be the future site of Dayton. At night the Kentuckians stopped the pursuit and returned to camp, where they remained two or three days, being well supplied with forage and provisions from the supplies captured at Mackacheek. They took advantage of this halt to examine the rich bottom land surrounding them. The march was resumed down the Great Miami as far as Hamilton, thence down Mill Creek to the present site of Cincinnati, where they forded the river and returned to their homes. Reports of the fertile soil of the Miami country were carried back home by the troops, and projects for colonies to settle the new country were discussed in all the settlements.

THE UNITED STATES TITLE.

Representatives of the Colony of Virginia had made the treaty with the Indians, and had purchased from them the territory lying west of that colony to the Mississippi River. The title of Virginia to the territory lying northwest of the Ohio River was more in the nature of a claim than a right, and was not based upon any cession of the Indian tribes who owned and possessed it; however, the colony made the claim, and after the Declaration of Independence the colonial authorities seem to have recognized the claim. The territory now within the State of Kentucky was included within the county of Fincastle, Virginia; the lands northwest of the Ohio River were included within the boundaries of Botetourt County, of the same State.

December 6, 1776, the House of Burgesses, of Virginia, erected the county of Kentucky, and to more effectually established civil government northwest of the Ohio River, Illinois County was formed in October, 1778. The county was bounded on the east by Pennsylvania, on the southeast and south by the Ohio River, on the west by the Mississippi River and on the north by the great lakes. John Todd was appointed County Lieutenant and Civii Commander of Illinois County. He was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, August 19, 1782, and was succeeded by Timothy de Montbrun. Civil government was more in name than in reality, however, as there was neither necessity nor opportunity for

252 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

the exercise of authority by the officers appointed by the State of Virginia. The General Assembly in 1783, passed an act authorizing the Virginia delegates, in Congress, to convey to the United States all the right of that State, to the territory northwest of the Ohio River. By the above authority, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, Representatives of the State, did convey to the United States, for the benefit of the States, all right, title and claim to the territory above described, and on the same day, March 1, 1784, a resolution was passed formally accepting the cession.

Great Britain had relinquished her rights to the territory, and the State of Virginia had transferred her authority to the United States, thus clearing the way for negotiation between the Government and the Indian tribes who were in possession and in whom rested the title.

INDIAN TREATIES.

By the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded between the Six Nations of New York and three Commissioners of the United States, October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of that confederacy to a considerable part of the Ohio Valley was extinguished.

Three months later, January 21, 1785, at Fort McIntosh, George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, on behalf of the United States, met the chiefs of the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa tribes, and established the following as the boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware Nations (the Ottawa and Chippewa chieftains, whose tribes were located around Detroit and along Lake Huron, were present merely to give assent to whatever treaty was made). The line began at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, thence up that river to the portage; thence across to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum River; thence down the said branch to the forks at the crossing-place above Fort Laurens; thence westwardly in a direct line to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French from the English in 1752; thence along said portage to the Miami of the Lake. or Ome River (Maumee), and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to the place of beginning.

FORT LORAMIE.

Fort Loramie was built by the French, in 1752, on the ground occupied by the English trading station and stockade, built by the English traders and Indians, in 1749, and taken from them by the French in the year first mentioned. The fort stood about two miles north of the Indian boundary line, on the west side of Loramie Creek, and about two miles north of the mouth of that branch on which the fort stood which was taken by the French in 1752. In the point formed by that branch and Loramie Creek, a stone was planted to mark the point at which the direction of the boundary line running west„ from a point on the Tuscarawas, opposite the mouth of Sandy Creek, changed from west by south west, to north by northwest. That stone stood about two miles south of old Fort Loramie and the trading-station, and, for a time, Loramie Creek was known as the Standing Stone Fork of the Miami. The Indian boundary line crossed Loramie Creek at that stone. Fort Loramie stood: North Latitude, 40° 16'; West Longitude, 7° 15'. From Fort Loramie to Fort Recovery the distance was twenty-one miles; from Fort Loramie to Fort St. Mary's, twelve miles; from Fort Loramie across the portage to the Auglaize, sixteen miles; from Fort Loramie southeast to Sidney, sixteen miles. These points and distances are clearly shown in the early maps and records, and the locations made definite by the Indian treaties of 1784, 1785, 1786, 1789 and 1795, and in the early laws of the Territory and State.

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. - 253

At the treaty held at Fort Finney, at the mouth of the Big Miami, the 31st of January, 1786, the boundary line was extended from the Standing Stone, nearly due west to the Wabash River; this extended line crossed the branch of Loramie Creek about five miles west of the Standing Stone. By this treaty the claim of the Shawnee tribes to the Miami and Scioto Valleys was relinquished. The treaty held at Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789, gave the assent of the Sacs, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottowatomies, Delawares and Wyandots, to the boundary as established in the treaty with the Shawnees; the line north from the Standing Stone was changed to run a little west of north to the St. Mary's River, instead of to the Auglaize, as described in the treaty of Fort McIntosh.

At the treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795, made by Gen. Anthony Wayne and the Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Chippewa, El River, Wea, Piankashaw, Kickapoo and Kaskaskia tribes, the stipulations of former treaties were ratified, and the boundary line was extended in a westerly course from the Standing Stone to Fort Recovery; thence southwesterly in a direct line to a point on the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. The reservations of small tracts of lands, at different points within the Indian lands, were confirmed to the United States. One of these reservations was a tract six miles square, at Fort Loramie. The southern bound ary of the tract was the Indian boundary line. The Indian titles to lands in Ohio north of this boundary line were purchased by the Government by subsequent treaties. The Western Reserve tract by treaty at Fort Industry (Toledo) in 1805. The lands west of Richland and Huron Counties, north of the boundary line, to the western boundary of Ohio, in 1818. The last of the lands be longing to the Delawares was purchased in 1829. The Wyandot chiefs sold the last of their lands in 1842, and the next year the last of the Indians moved from Ohio to the West.