(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS - 43 CHAPTER III. MEASURES REGARDING TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC LANDS AND SURVEYS. THE ORDINANCE OF 1784-THE ACT OF 1785 REGARDING WESTERN LARDS AND THE SURVEY THERE OF - SURVEYORS ELECTED - SURVEYORS ELECTED- SQUATTERS AND INTRUDERS ON THE PUBLIC LANDS–TO DISPERSE ATTEMPTS THEM-NAMES OF SQUATTER SETTLERS IN EASTERN OHIO IN 1785-GENERAL BUTLER’S JOURNEY TO THE MIAMI - PREPARATIONS FOR ESTABLISHING A GARRISON AT THE MOUTH OF THE MUSKINGUM-FORT HARMAR BUILT IN 1785-DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT- JOURNAL OF JOSEPH BUELL - INTERESTING GLIMPSES OF MILITARY LIFE AT A FRONTIER POST-THE SURVEY OF THE FIRST SEVEN RANGES-THE WORK BEGUN AND ABANDONED IN 1785 IS RESUMED AND CONTINUED IN 1786 - PARTICULARS AND INCIDENTS OF THE SURVEY FROM THE DIARY OF JOHN MATHEWS- INTERRUPTIONS CAUSED BY THE INDIANS-A VIRGINIA CORN-HUSKING, 1786- SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF MATHEWS -CONGRESS RESERVES THE MORAVIAN TOWNS FOR THE UNITED BRETHREN-THE SALE OF A TRACT TO THE OHIO COMPANY--SYMMES' PURCHASE-THE SURVEY RESUMED UNDER THE ACT OF MAY 18, 1796 - MANNER OF DISPOSING OF PUBLIC LAND- DONATIONS TO EBENEZER ZANE - THE MILITARY LANDS-ESTABLISHMENT OF LAND OFFICES-OTHER LEGISLATION-THE ORDINANCE OF 1787-FULL TEXT OF THE INSTRUMENT. The first measure providing for the establishment and maintenance of government by the United States in the territory northwest of the Ohio River was an ordinance passed by Congress on April 23, 1784. The ordinance was reported by a committee of which Thomas Jefferson was chairman, and contained a clause prohibiting slavery in the territory after the year 1800. This provision, however, was stricken out before the ordinance was finally passed. The only important result accomplished under this first ordinance was the beginning of the survey of the territorial lands. The measure was nominally in force from the time of its enactment until its repeal by the passage of the ordinance of 1787—" The Ordinance of Freedom,"—but in reality it was a dead letter. Jefferson appears to have been most anxious to secure the establishment of government in the West, and thus promote the development of that region, but for a time all his efforts were unavailing. Congress, having purchased from the 44 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. Indians at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, in New York, in 1784, whatever title the Six Nations had to lands in the valley of the Ohio, now sought to provide for the survey and disposal of the same ; and on May 20, 1785, was passed "An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory." This ordinance provided that a surveyor should be appointed from each State, who should take oath before the geographer of the United States for the faithful performance of his duties. The geographer was to have the.direction of the survey, and as soon as they had qualified, the surveyors were to divide the territory into townships six miles square, by lines running north and south, crossed by other lines " at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same impracticable." The pay of the surveyors was fixed at $2 for every mile in length surveyed ; this included the wages of chainmen, markers and all expenses. The first north and south line was to begin on the Ohio River at a point due north from the western termination of a line that had been run at the southern bounbary of Pennsylvania, and the first east and west line was also to begin at the same point. The geographer was instructed to number the townships and fractional parts of townships from south to north, the first township on the river being numbered one and so on progressively ; also to number the ranges in like manner from east to west, the first range west of Pennsylvania and extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie* being range num- *The action of the State of Connecticut, ceding, in 1786, her claims to territory in the West, excepting the Western Reserve, put a atop to the continuation of ber 1. He was also to attend personally to the running of the first east and west line, the fixing of the latitudes of th terminations of the first north and south line, and also that of the mouths of the principal rivers. The surveyors were required carefully to note on their plats all mines, salt springs, mill seats, mountains, water courses, the nature of the soil, etc. Plats of townships were to be divided into lots of one mile square by lines running paralled to the boundary lines. It was also provided that as soon as seven ranges of townships had been surveyed, the geographer should transmit plats.of the same to the Board of Treasury, by whom they were to be recorded in well-bound books, to which the Secretary of War should have access. The secretary was then to take by lot a number of townships and fractional townships, both of those to be sold entire and of those to be sold in lots, such as would be equal to one- seventh part of the whole seven ranges, for the use of officers and soldiers of the Continental army. The Board of Treasury should from time to time cause the remainder to be drawn in the names of the thirteen States. The plan for the sale of lands not distributed to the soldiers of the several States was as follows : The Board of Treasury to transmit to the commissioners of the loan offices of the several States copies of the original plats, with the townships and fractional townships that should have fallen to the several States noted thereon ; notice then to be given by advertisements in newspapers and announcements posted in public places the ranges northwardly to the lake and stopped them at the 41st degree of north latitude, the southern line of the Reserve. TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS - 45 of the proposed sale, which was to be at public vendue, in the following manner: Township or fractional township number 1, range 1, to be sold entire ; number 2, in lots; and thus, in alternate order through the whole of the first range. The same alternation to be obseved in the sale of the second range, though beginning in the reverse order. The third range to be sold in the same the order as the first, and the fourth in the same order as the second, etc. Provided, however, that none of the lands be sold at a less price than one dollar , payable in specie or loan office certificates, reduced to specie value, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States, including interest, besides the expense of the survey, and other charges thereon, which were rated at thirty-six dollars per township ; payment to be made at the time of sale. The United States reserved for future sale four lots, numbers 8, 11, 26 and 29, township, and lot number 16 in each township for the maintenance of schools in said township. Ont-third part of all gold, silver, lead and copper mines were reserved for future disposition by Congress.* May 27, 1785, Congress chose the following surveyors : Nathaniel Adams, New Hampshire ; Rufus Putnam, Massachusetts; Caleb Harris, Rhode Island; William Morris, New York ; Adam Hoops, Pennsylvania ; James Simpson, Maryland ; Alexander Parker, Virginia; Absalom Tatum, North Car- * Salt springs and lead mines were reserved by subsequent laws; we; but the reservation of gold, silver and copper was discontinued. By acts of 1796 and 1800, four central sections in each township, including section 16 (the school section), were reserved in lieu of those here designated. The reservation of section 29 for religious purposes was confined to the purchases of the Ohio Company and John Cleves Symmes.— Land Laws for Ohio. olina ; William Tate, 'South Cordina ; and July 18th, Isaac Sherman, Connecticut. General Rufus Putnam being then engaged in surveying lands in Maine for the State of Massachusetts, General Benjamin Tupper was appointed in his stead. Caleb Harris and Nathaniel Adams having resigned, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat and Winthrop Sargent were chosen in their places. Hunters and squatter settlers had penetrated the country now forming the eastern part of Ohio as early as the Revolution—a feW even earlier. To the salt-springs in the proment county of Trumbull white hunters had resorted as early as 1754, and salt v(as made these by Pennsylvanians some twenty years later. From the old settlement of Wheeling and its vicinity a number of adventurers crossed the river from time to time and erected cabins. A number who came out with General McIntosh to Fort Laurens in 1778 as axemen, scouts, hunters, etc., are supposed to have remained and built homes on several of the branches of the Ohio and the Muskingum. After the treaty of Fort McIntosh, it was feared that there would be such a rush of squatters into that portion of the territory bordering on Pennsylvania and Virginia that evil results Would ensue, and accordingly measures were taken both to drive out the intruders already there and prevent the entrance of others. June 15, 1785, Congress ordered the following proclamation published and circulated in the territory : " Whereas, it has been represented to the United States in Congress assembled that several disorderly persons have crossed the Ohio and. settled upon their unappropriated lands ; and whereas, it is their intention, as soon as it 46 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. shall be surveyed, to open offices for the sale of a considerable part thereof, in such proportions and under such other regulations as may suit the convenience of all the citizens of the United States, and others who may wish to become purchasers of the same ; and as such conduct tends to defeat the object they have in view, is in direct opposition to the ordinances and resolutions of Congress, and is highly disrespectful to the Federal authority, they have therefore thought fit, and do hereby issue this proclamation, forbidding all such unwarrantable intrusions, and enjoining all those who have settled thereon to depart with their families and effects without loss of time, as they shall answer the same at their peril." The intrusion was confined principally to the territory now forming the counties of Columbiana, Jefferson, Stark, Carroll, Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey and Monroe, and the names of the intruders in 1785 were as follows: Thomas Tilton, Jacob Light, John Nixon, James Williams, Henry Cassill, Jesse Edgerton, John Nowles, Nathaniel Parremore, John Tilton, Jesse Parremore, John Fitzpatrick, Jacob Clark, Daniel Menser, John Custer, Zephaniah Dunn, James Noyes, John McDonald, Thomas McDonald, Henry Froggs,  John Castleman, Wiland Hoagland, James Clark, Michael Rawlins, Adam House, Thomas Dawson, Thomas Johnson, William Miff,  Hanamet Davis, Solomon Delong, William Wallace, Charles Ward, Joseph Reburn, Frederick Lamb, Jonathan Mapins, John Higdon, William Mann, George Atchinson, William Kerr, Haines Piley, Daniel Duff, Walter Cain, Joseph Ross, James Watson, Charles Chambers, Albertus Bailey, Robert Hill, Archibald Harbson, James Paul, William Bailey William McNees, Jonas Amspoker, John Platt, Nicholas Decker, Benjamin Reed, Joseph Goddard, William Carpenter, Henry Conrad, John Goddard, George Reno, Daniel Mathews. John Buchanan, The first attempt to drive out the squatters northwest of the Ohio was made in October, 1779, when Captain Clarke, of a Pennsylvania, regiment, with sixty soldiers, was sent to Wheeling by Colonel Brodhead, then in command of Fort Pitt, with orders to cross the river and apprehend some of the principal trespassers and destroy their huts. Captain Clarke did not succeed in finding any of the trespassers, but destroyed several huts and reported that several improvements had been made all the way from the Muskingum* to Fort McIntosh and thirty miles up some of the branches. In 1785 Colonel Harmar, commandant at Fort McIntosh, sent out troops to dispossess the squatter settlers whose names are given above. The squatters actually banded together to resist the %United States troops ; but a compromise was affected, whereby they were allowed to prepare temporary habitations on the Virginia side before leaving their homes in the Territory. They then retired from the Ohio country, but subsequently many of them returned; and their descendants are now numerous in Eastern Ohio and in the valleys of the Tuscarawas and the Muskingum. In the fall of the same year General Richard Butler passed down the Ohio on his way to the Little Miami, where a treaty-meeting was to be held with the Indians. From his published diary of his journey it appears that many squatter bettlers still continued to reside * The Tuscarawas, anciently called the Muskingum. TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS - 47  north of the Ohio, notwithstanding the proclamation of Congress and their own promises to vacate. On October 1, 1785, General Butler passed the mouth of Yellow Creek and found considerable improvements on both sides of the Ohio River. Five miles below Yellow Creek ease Penniman, a squatter, on the north side of the river, whom he warned off; also one Pry, his neighbor. General Butler states that he " told him as well as the others that Congress was determined to put all of the people off of the lands, and that none would be allowed to settle but the purchasers, and that these and these only would be protected; that troops would be down next ho have orders to destroy every house and improvement on the north side of the river, and that garrisons will be placed at Muskingum and elsewhere, and that if any person or persons attempted to oppose Government they may depend on being treated with the greatest rigor." Passing on to the Mingo towns, he found several white settlers among whom a man named Ross appeared to be the leader, whom he warned to leave. On the next day General Butler called at the settlement of Charles Morris, who had rebuilt his house after the agent of the Government had pulled it down. Here he "found one Walter Kean, who seemed but a middling character, and rather of a dissentious cast ; warned all of these off, and requested they would inform their neighbors, which they promised to do." Colonel James Monroe, member of Congress for Virginia, who accompanied Butler on this journey, also addressed the settlers and advised them to leave ; his words had weight when the General "informed them of his character." They next called at the home of Captain Hoglan, another whose cabin had been pulled down and rebuilt ; he acknowledged the impropriety of his conduct, and appeared very submissive. October 4, General Butler directed one corporal and three soldiers to stay at Wheeling until a boat should be sent to them from Fort McIntosh. He wrote to Colonel Harmar for three other men to join these as an escort to the Miami, and requested that Major Doughty be ordered to pull down every house, on his way to the Muskingum, that he found on the north side of the Ohio. On the 8th, he noted that there was "good improvement on the north side," nearly opposite the Mouth of the Little Kanawha. He also found a settlement on the first island below the Little Hockhocking (Hocking) and others further down on the north side of the Ohio. The people on the island appeared very reasonable ; among them were " several women, who appeared clean and decently dressed." One object of General Butler's journey was the selection of a point for the establishment of a militiry post to protect the frontier inhabitants, prevent the intrusion of squatters on the lands of the United States and afford security to the surveyors. Before leaving Fort McIntosh he had prepared and left with Colonel Harmar, the commandant, a paper in which he expressed the opinion that at the mouth of the Muskingum was an eligible site for the proposed fort. On October 8, his journal says : " Sent Lieutenant Doyle and some men to burn the houses of the settlers on the north side and put up proclamations. Went on very well to the mouth of the Muskingum and found it Iow. - I went on shore to examine the ground most 48 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. proper to establish a post on ; find it too low, but the most eligible point is on the Ohio side. Wrote to Major Doughty and recommended this place with my opinion of the kind of work most proper. Left the letter, which contained other remarks on the fort, fixed to a locust tree." A few days later General Butler met a man ascending the Ohio, and instructed him to take the letter from the tree and carry it to Major Doughty. Shortly afterward a detachment of troops under the command of Major Doughty arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum and began the construction of the fortificationt which, in honor of the commandant at Fort McIntosh, was named Fort Harman Hildreth says of it : " This fort was erected on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio, by a detachment of United 'States troops under the command of Major John Doughty, in the autumn of the year 1785, but was not completed until the following year. The position was judiciously chosen, as it commanded not only the mouth of the Muskingum, but swept the waters of the Ohio, from a curve in the river, for a considerable distance both above and below the fort. It was the first military post built within the limits of the present State of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, which was built in 1778. The fort stood on what is called the second bottom, being elevated above the ordinary floods of the Ohio, while between it and the banks of the river was a lower or first bottom, depressed about six feet, to which the descent was by a natural slope. This regular or natural glacis was continued for a quarter of a mile up the Muskingum and for a considerable distance below on the Ohio, adding greatly to the unrivaled beauty of the spot. "The outlines of the fort formed a regular pentagon, and the area embraced within its walls was about three- fourths of an acre. The curtains or main walls of the fort were constructed of large timbers placed horizontally to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, and were one hundred and twenty feet in length, as was recently ascertained by measurement, as the outlines of two of the bastions can still (1848) be traced in the earth. The bastions were constructed of large timbers set upright in the ground, fourteen feet in height, fastened together by strips of timber tree, nailed into each picket. The outlines of these were also pentagonal ; the fifth side, or that opening into the area of the fort, being occupied by blockhouses used as quarters for the officers. "The barracks or dwellings for the private soldiers were built along the sides of the curtains with their roofs sloping inward. They were divided into four rooms of thirty feet each, with convenient fireplaces, and afforded ample space for a regiment of men. The officers' houses were made of hewed logs two stories high, two rooms on a floor, with chimneys oft each end. The large house in the southeast bastion was used for a storehouse. From the roof of the bastion which stood in the curtain facing the Ohio there arose a square tower, like a cupola, surmounted by a flagstaff, in which was stationed the sentinel. The room beneath was the guardhouse. An arsenal, built of timber and covered with earth, stood in the area of the fort near the guardhouse and answered as a magazine or bomb-proof for their powder. .The main gate was next the river, with a sally- 49 - TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS. port on the side toward the hills which arise abruptly from the level ground at the distance of a quarter of a mile. “Near the center of the fort was a well for he supply of the garrison in case of a siege, though for ordinary purposes water was brought from the river. In the rear and to the left of the fort, and on the ground which had supplied the materials for building, Major Doughty had laid out fine gardens. These were cultivated by the soldiers, and in the virgin soil of the rich alluvions produced an abundant crop of culinary vegetables for the use of the garrison. To the bravery and pride of a soldier the major added a refined taste for horticulture. Peaches were planted as he soon as the ground was cleared, and in the second or third year produced fruit. A variety of his originating is still cultivated in Marietta and known as the Doughty peach." Fort Harmar continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, when they were ordered to Fort Washington. During the Indian war the barracks and houses of the fort were chiefly occupied by the Ohio Company's settlers, only a small detachment of National troops being there. Joseph Buell, a native of Connecticut, who was afterward a settler at Marietta, in the service of the United States in the Northwest from 1785 to 1788, and kept a diary which affords many interesting glimpses of pioneer and military life at that period. His journal may be found in the seventh chapter of Hildreth's. " Pioneer History.” From it we learn that the treatment of private soldiers was so rigorous as to be almost despotic. They were frequently punished by flogging, sometimes receiving two hundred lashes. The chief offenses were drunkenness. and desertion. The men were idle, dissolute and depraved. As their wages were but three dollars a month, it is not surprising that few industrious, sober men were to be found among them. Buell left West Point, N. Y., November 20, 1785, in one of the companies which had been ordered to the Western frontier. Major Wyllis, who shortly after became commandant at Fort McIntosh, commanded the troops. They arrived at Fort McIntosh on the 26th of December. Shortly afterward three men deserted, were captured, And shot by order of Major Wyllis, without even the formality of a court-martial. Buell describes the act as the most inhuman he ever saw. On the 12th of March, 1786, Buell writes that Generals Parsons and Butler arrived from the treaty- meeting at the Miami. On the 3d of April Major Wyllis and Captain Hamtramck with his company went down the river to disperse the frontier settlers on the right bank of the Ohio. May 4th, Captain Zeigler and Captain Strong embarked with their companies for the Muskingum. (Buell was orderly sergeant in Captain Strong's company.) They arrived on the 8th, and two days later Captain Zeigler and his company departed for the Miami, and Captain Strong's company moved into the garrison. In the month of June, Major Fish arrived from New York, and on the return of Major Wyllis from the Miami, arrested him for shooting the three men at Fort McIntosh without trial. Subsequently he was tried by a court- martial at Fort Pitt and acquitted. Durino; the same month news was re- 50 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. ceived of murders by the Indians in the vicinity of the Miami, and at Fish Creek, thirty miles from Fort Harman. On the 4th of July Buell made this significant entry : " The great day of American Independence was commemorated by the discharge of thirteen guns; after which the troops were served with extra rations of liquor and allowed to get as drunk as they pleased." During the summer and fall Indians were frequently seen in the neighborhood of the garrison, and the troops were constantly expecting an attack. The savages, however, did nothing more serious than to steal some of the officers' horses. The soldiers were kept a great part of the time on short rations. Provisions were exceedingly scarce, and though hunters were employed to bring in all the game they could, there was frequently a lack of sufficient food. An Indian known as Captain Tunis frequently visited the garrison, and was on friendly terms with the soldiers, often warning them of hostile warriors being in the vicinity. In August a portion of the troops, under the command of Captain Hart, left for Wheeling to escort and protect the surveyors of the seven ranges. November 25, "Captains Hart's and McCurd's companies came in from the survey of the seven ranges. They had a cold, wearisome time—their clothes and shoes worn. out, and some of their feet badly frozen." The beginning of the year 1787 was without important incident at the garrison. On the 15th of March a sergeant and a, party of men was sent out to assist some inhabitants (probably from Fish or Grave Creek) to move their families and settle near the fort. In the latter part of the same month, some of the hunters brought in a buffalo that was eighteen hands high and weighed a thousand pounds. April 1st the In, dians came within twelve miles of th garrison, killed an old man and took young boy prisoner. April 9th, a party was sent out to bring in the hunters of the garrison, then fifty miles up the Muskingum, on account of rumored hostility of th Indians. April 17th Major Hamtramck arrived and took command of the post. Ma 6th thirteen boats passed down the tire; loaded with families, cattle, goods, etc., bound for Kentucky ; and on the nex day twenty-one boats passed, on the' way to the lower country, having on board five hundred and nine persons, with wagons, goods, etc. The entry for May 21st is as follows : " This even ing I sent a young man, who cooked fo me, to Kerr's Island (so called fro Hamilton Kerr, a noted scout, wh settled there early in the year 1787), about half a mile above the fort, aft some milk He was seen to jump into the river near the shore when about third of a mile from the garrison. W supposed some of the people were play ing in the water. He did not ret that evening, which led me to fear h had lost his canoe. In the morning party was sent after him. They covered fresh signs of Indians and foun his hat. They followed the trail, b did not find them. We afterward heard that they killed and scalped him. Th Indians were a party of Ottawas." On the 26th of May, Buell, with the rest of Captain Strong's company, embarked for the Falls of the Ohio, and did not return to Fort Harmer until the 21st of the following November. The remainder of his journal contains little that would interest our readers 51 - TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS. While the events recorded by Buell in his were transpiring the survey of the seven ranges of townships, as order by Congress in the ordinance of 1785, was in progress, under the direction of Captain Thomas Hutchins, geographer of the United States. The surveyors proceeded to the Ohio River, at the place designated in the ordinance, in the fall of 1785 and made a beginning of the survey. General Butler, on his way to the Miami, met the surveyors at the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and dined with them on the 30th of September. They were then apprehensive of trouble from the Indians, who, dissatisfied with the provisions of the treaty of Fort McIntosh, were strongly opposed to the survey. Their hostile attitude soon caused the abandonment of the work. In January, 1786, a treaty was held at Fort Finney, which promised to secure peace, and in the following summer the survey was resumed. A very full account of the progress of the work is afforded by the journal of John Mathews, also published in Hildreth’s history along with Buell's diary. Mathews was a young man from New Braintree, Mass., the nephew of General Rufus Putnam. He came to the western country, led by a desire of adventure, with the hope of obtaining employment in the survey, in which he was successful. He was afterward one of the Ohio Company's surveyors, and a pioneer of Muskingum County, where he settled in 1796. Mathews arrived at Pittsburgh July 29, 1786, and, finding that the surveyors had already proceeded down the Ohio to Little Beaver Creek, immediately started to overtake them, accompanied by Colonel Sherman: On the 31st they arrived at the camp of the surveyors, on the eastern bank of the Ohio, and found them awaiting the arrival of troops from Mingo (Fort Steuben*) to act as their escort in the survey. The troops arrived on the 5th of August, and from the middle of. that month to the first of September, Mathews was employed under Adam Hoops, of Pennsylvania, in the survey of the second range. On the 7th of September he started with General Tupper to assist in the survey of the seventh range. On Sunday, the 17th, he records a visit made to an Indian camp on Sandy Creek. The Indians, eight in number, and including both men and women, were returning from Fort McIntosh to their town. " They had rum with them, and had had a drunken frolic the night before, but they appeared decent and friendly." The next day General Tupper began his range, locating his camp on " Nine Shilling Creek " (Nimishillen). Here an express came to them from Major Hamtramck's camp at Little Beaver, bringing the word that the Shawnees were preparing to make an attack on the surveyors. Deeming it unsafe to proceed further, they suspended work and retreated toward Little Beaver. On the 21st they met Major Hamtramck and his command advancing to meet them, and all returned to Hamtramck's station. Early in October it was determined to continue the survey, the troops of Major Hamtramck acting as their guard. On the 11th they crossed the Ohio one mile below the old Mingo town, and started west on Crawford's trail, which they followed until the 13th. * This garrison stood on Mingo Bottom, so called from its baying been occupied by Mingo Indians. Its site was that of the present city of Steuben-iille. The fort was abandoned in 1787, the troops being sent to Fort Harmar. 52 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. On the 30th of October, at their camp in the fifth range, they discovered that all the packhorses of the escort except one had been stolen by the Indians. Captain Hart, commanding the troops, at once set about erecting a blockhouse. From the 1st to the 7th of November the party to which Mathews belonged were on what is now the south boundary of the seventh township in the third range of the United States Military District. Mathews. and Major Sargent then started down Wheeling Creek, .crossed the Ohio, and stopped at Colonel Zane's. They there found Captain Hutchins, and in his company Mathews started for Esquire McMahan's sixteen miles above. On the 9th he was at the house of William Greathouse, on the Virginia side. The next day he listened to a sermon delivered by a Methodist preacher, and on the 10th witnessed exercises of a far differ. ent charaCter, as will be seen by the following entry : " Saturday, November 11th. Being disappointed in my expectation of teaching a school this winter, I went to Harman Greathouse, the father of my friend William. Here I found a number of the neighbors seated in social glee around a heap of coin. The inspiring juice of rye had enlivened their imaginations, and given their tongues such an exact balance that they moved with the greatest alacrity, amid scenes of boxing, wrestling, hunting, etc. At dusk of evening the corn was finished, and the company retired to the house, whese many of them took such hearty draughts of the generous liquor as quite deprived them of the use of their limbs. Some quarreled, some sang, and others laughed ; while the whole displayed, a scene more diverting than edifying. At ten o'clock all that could walk went home, but left three or four round the fire, hugging the whisky bottle and arguing very obstinately on religion; at which I left them and went to bed." The surveying party disbanded for the winter early in December, and most of its members left for their Easters homes. Mathews, however, remained at the home of the Greathouses and pursued his studies. In February he went to Fort Steuben, at the request of Major Hamtramck, to take charge o the commissary department. February 10, 1787, Captain Martin and Mr. Lu low left the fort for the woods to continue and complete the survey of the ranges and were soon after followed by other surveyors. On the 8th of May three surveyors returned to the fort, having received information of Indian outrages at Fish Creek, on the 25th of April, when three persons were killed and three taken prisoners. On the 11th a family was attacked about fifteen miles from the fort ; one man and two children were killed, a woman wounded, and two children taken prisoners. In June Mathews was at Wheeling, opposite which the surveyors were then encamped, awaiting the arrival of troops to act as their escort. The troops came from Fort Harmer on 6th, and two days later, the surveyors started for their work. About this time other Indian outrages were reposted in the vicinity of Wheeling. In August Mathews visited Fort Harmar and subsequently he again assisted the surveyors. In February, 1788, having been appointed one of the Ohio. Company's surveyors, he joined the advance party of New Englanders en route for the west at Sumril’s Ferry, on the 53 - TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS. Youghiogheny river, and on the 7th of April he arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum with the rest of the pioneers composing the first colony in Ohio. We have devoted thus much space to Mathews’ diary not because it contains much of load interest, but because it shows the condition of the Ohio wilderness one hundred years ago, and affords pees of life on the borders of civilization that from them the reader can, in imagination at least, picture what were the hardships and perils which the surveyors and adventurers of that day had to encounter. By a provision of the ordinance of May 20, 1785, it was ordained that “the towns of Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrunn and Salem, on the Muskingum (Tuscarawas), and so much of the lands adjoining to the said towns, with the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be reserved for the sole use of the Christian Indians who were formerly settled there, or the remains of that society, as may, in the judgment of the geographer, be sufficient for them to cultivate." The construction is involved, but the meaning is apparent. By a resolution passed July 27, 1787, Congress declared that tracts of land surrounding the towns mentioned, acounting in the whole to ten thousand acres, should be reserved and held in trust by the Moravians, or United Bretren, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, “for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity," and for the uses specified in the ordinance. The first sale of a tract of public lands of the United States to an association was made October 27, 1787, when the Board of Treasury agreed with the agents of the Ohio Company to sell to the latter a million and a half acres, lying on the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. The lands known as the Ohio Company's purchase, were to be surveyed by the company within seven years without expense to the government, and laid off into, townships, fractional parts of townships, and lots, as provided in the ordinance of 1785. The history of this purchase will be found in another chapter. In May, 1788, a contract was made between the Board of Treasury and John Cleves Symmes for a tract lying on the Ohio River between the Great and Little Miami Rivers. The unsettled state of Indian affairs in the territory from 1788 until the establishment of peace in 1795 prevented the government from continuing the surveys of congressional lands, and there was but little further legislation in relation to the same during this period. By an act of Congress of March 3, 1785, the President was authorized and empowered to cause twenty-four thousand acres to be surveyed, which were to be granted under certain regulations to the French settlers at dallipolis. A donation, small in itself, but important in its relation to the history of the Muskingum Valley, was made to Ebenezer Zane, of Wheeling, in accordance with the provisions of an act passed May 17, 1796. This act provided that there should be granted to Zane " three tracts of land, not exceeding one mile square each, one on the Muskingum, one on Hockhocking River, and one other on the north bank of Scioto River, and in such situations as shall best promote the utility of a road to be opened by him on the most eligible route between -Wheeling and Limestone (Maysville, Ky.), to be ap- 54 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. proved by the President of the United States or such other person as he shall appoint for that purpose." Besides opening the road, Zane was required to maintain ferries across the rivers during the pleasure of Congress. These tracts were located where the cities of Zanesville and Lancaster now stand, and on the Scioto opposite Chillicothe. For assisting him in opening the road Ebenezer Zane gave to his brother Jonathan and John McIntire the tract on the Muskingum, and they in 1799 laid out the village of Westbourn, now the city of Zanesville. May 18, 1796, Congress passed an act providing for the survey and sale of the lands northwest of the Ohio, the substance of which will be given further on. This was followed by the act of June 1, 1796, establishing the United States Military District, the boundaries of which were as follows : Beginning at the northwest corner of the seven ranges of townships, and running thence fifty miles due south, along the western boundary of the seventh range ; thence due west to the main branch of the Scioto River ; thence up the main branch of that river to the place where the Indian boundary line crosses the same (northwestern part of Delaware County); thence along the said boundary line to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum River at the crossing- place above Fort Laurens ; thence up that stream to the point where a line run due west from the place of beginning will intersect said river ; thence along the line so run to the place of beginning. The act provided that this tract should be surveyed into townships five miles square ; the lands to be granted for military services to the holders of registered warrants. One section pro- vided that so much of the tract as should remain unlocated on the 1st of January, 1800, should be released from the reservation and be at the free disposition of the United States. March 2, 1799, this section was repealed and the time extended to January 1, 1802, The time was extended afterward by various acts and amendments passed at different dates between 1802 and 1825. The act of May 18, 1796, provided that a surveyor-general should be appointed ; that he should engage a sufficient number of skillful surveyors as his deputies, whom he should cause, " with. out delay, to survey and mark the unascertained outlines of the lands lying northwest of the River Ohio and above the mouth of the River Kentucky, in which the titles of the Indian tribes have been extinguished." Such part of the lands as had not already been con, veyed by letters patent, or divided according to the terms of the or dinance of 1785, or which had not already been appropriated for satisfying military land bounties, and which might not be so appropriated by Congress during that session, was to be surveyed into ranges, to ships and sections—the manner of the survey to be very nearly according to the rules of the act of 1785, already given. Salt springs were to be reserved; with the sections in which they were found, and also the four central sections of each township, for the future disposal of the United States. One-half of the townships, taken alternately, were to be subdivided into thirty-six sections, each containing six hundred and forty acres. Section 4 provided that whenever seven ranges of townships had been surveyed, and the plats transmitted to the 55 - TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS. Secretary of the Treasury, the lands should be offered for sale at public vendue, under the direction of the governor or secretary of the Territory and the surveyor-general, in sections ; lands below the Great Miami to be sold at Cincinnati, and those between the Scioto and the seven ranges, and north of the Ohio Company purchase, at Pittsburgh. The townships remaining undivided were to be offered for sale in like manner at the seat of government of the under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in tracts of one-quarter of a township, excluding the four central sections and the other reserves before mentioned. It was further provided that none of the lands to be offered for sale under this act should be sold at a price less than two dollars per acre. The time of the sale was to be advertised in the newspapers of the different States and Territories, and the sales at the different places must not commence within less than a month of each other. Immediately after the passage of this act the Secretary of the Treasury was to advertise for sale the lands which remained unsold in the seven ranges, including the lands drawn for the army by the Secretary of War, also those land before sold but not paid for. The townships which, by the ordinance of 1785, were to be sold entire, should be sold at Philadelphia in quarter-townships, the four central sections being reserved; the townships to be sold in sections were to be sold in Pittsburgh. The highest bidder for any tract was required to deposit one-twentieth of the purchase money at the time of sale, and to pay one-half of the sum bid within thirty days ; this being done he was entitled credit of one year on the balance, patents to be issued on the final payment being made. Any purchaser paying in full at the time the first moiety was due should be entitled to a deduction of ten per cent. The compensation of the surveyor- general was fixed at $2,000 per annum, and the expense of the survey was limited to three dollars per mile for each mile surveyed. The fees for each certificate were as follows: For a tract of a quarter of a township, $20 ; for a section, $6, and for each patent the same sums. An act passed May 10, 1800, changed and repealed several of the provisions of the foregoing law. Four land-offices were established in the Northw'est Territory : At Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Marietta* and Steubenville. The townships west of the Muskingum which, by the act of 1796, were directed to be sold in quarter-townships, were to be subdivided into half-sections; and all townships east of the Muskingum and all intersected by that river which had not before been subdivided were required to be run and marked in sections. The lands thus subdivided were ordered to be offered for sale in sections and half-sections at the respective landofficeg at specified dates, the sales to continue for three weeks and no more. *The Marietta office was required to attend to the sales of land east of the sixteenth range, south of the United States military lands and south of a line drawn due west from the northwest corner of the first township of the second range to the military lands. By act of March 3, 18011, the Marietta office was abolished and all unappropriated lands within the military tract west of the eleventh range within said tract were attached to the Chillicothe district ; and all lands within said eleventh range and east of it, and all lands north of the Ohio Company's purchase, west of the seven first ranges and east of the Chillicothe district, were required to be offered for sale at Zaneerille under the dfrecticn of a register of the land and receiver of public moneys to be appointed for that purpose. 56 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COMITY, OHIO. The sale at Marietta was to begin on the first Monday in May, 1801. All lands remaining unsold at the closing of the public sales could be sold at private sale by the register. No lands to be sold either privately or publicly at less than two dollars per acre. The terms as to payment and the amount of fees were also modified. The subsequent acts in relation to public lands were so Multifarious that it would be tedious to chronicle them ; therefore, having shown how public lands could be acquired in the beginning, we will drop the subject. Allusion has been made in the beginning of this chapter to the first ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory. Another and far superior measure was enacted on the 13th of July, 1787, which is known in history as the Ordinance of Freedom, and was the fundamental law from the time of its enactment until the Territory ceased to exist. The text of the ordinance is as follows; "An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. “Be it ordained by the Unita States in, Co»greee aseembled : That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. "Be it ordained by the authority aforeecrid That the estates both of resident and non-resident proprietors in the said territory dying intestate shall descend to and be distributed among their children and the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts; the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them ; and where there shall be no children or descendants then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have in equal parts among them their deceased parent's share ; and there shall in no case be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving, in all cases, to the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life and one-third part of the personal .estate; and this law relative to descents and dowers shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age) and attested by three witnesses, and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed sealed and delivered by the person (being of full age) in whom the estate ma be, and attested by two witnesses ; pr vided such wills be duly proved and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates, courts and registers shall be appointed for that purpose, and personal property may be tranferred by delivery; saving, however; to the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, St. Vincents and the neighboring villages who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them relative to the descent and conveyance of property. "Be it ordained by the authority afore- 57 - TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS. Said: That there shall be appointed from time to time by Congress a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for three years unless sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein in one thousand acres of land while in the exercise of his office. “There shall be appointed from time to time a secretary, whose commission shall continue in force for four years unless sooner revoked ; he shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein five hundred acres of land while in the exercise of his office; it shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the legislature and the public records of the district and the proceedings of the governor in his executive department, and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months to the Secretary of Congress. There shall also be appointed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of whop to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate in five hundred acres of land while in the exercise of their offices ; and their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior. “The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original States criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to time; which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the general assembly therein, unless disapproved by Congress; but afterward the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall think fit. "The governor, for the time being, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and commission all officers in the same below the rank of general officers. All general officers shall be appointed and commissioned by Congress. " Previous to the organization of the general assembly the governor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers in each county or township as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the general assembly shall be organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall be regulated and defined by the said assembly ; but all magistrates and other civil officers, not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the governor. "For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal and civil, the governor shall make proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed, from time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished into counties and townships—subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the legislature. "So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants of full age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they shall receive authority, with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships to represent them in the general assembly : Provided, That for every five hundred free male inhabitants there shall be one representative, 58 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. and so on progressively; with the number of free male inhabitants shall the right of representation increase, until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five ; after which the number and proportion of representatives shall. be regulated by the legislature : Provided, That no person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years; and in either ease shall likewise hold in his own right in fee simple two hundred acres of land within the same : Provided, also, That a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years' residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative. “The representatives thus elected shall serve for the term of two years; and in the case of the death of a representative, or removal from office, the governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which he was a member to elect another in his stead to serve for the residue of the term. "The general assembly, or legislature, shall consist of the governor, legislative council and a house of representatives. The legislative council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress, any three of whom to be a quorum ; and the members of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to wit : As soon as representatives shall be elected, the governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together, and when met they shall nominate ten perso residents of the district, and each sessed of a freehold in five hund acres of land, and return their nam to Congress, five of whom Con shall appoint and commission to sere as aforesaid ; and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council by death removal from office, the house of rep sentatives shall nominate two persona, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress, one of whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of the council, the said house shall nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the council five years unless sooner removed. And the governor, legislative council and house of representatives shall have authority to make laws in all cases for the government of the district not repugnant to the principles and articles in this ordinance established Lind declared. And all bills, having passed by a majority in the house, and by a majority in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent; but no bill or legislative act whatever shall be of any force without his assent. The governor shall have power to convene, prorogue and die solve the general assembly when in his opinion it shall be expedient. "The governor, judges, legislative council and such other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity and of office—the governor before the President of Congress, and all other TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC LANDS - 59 officers before the governor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house, assembled in one room, shall have authority by joint ballot to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting, during this temporary government. “And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be established in the said territory ; to provide also for the establishment of States and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal Councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interests: “Be it ordained astd declared by the authority aforesaid: That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable unless by common consent, to wit : “Article 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments in the said territory. “Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable unless for capital offenses where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgement of hispeers, or the law of the land ; and should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property it is understood and declared that no laws ought ever to be made or have force in the said territory that shall in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide and without fraud, previously formed. "ART. 3. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent ; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress ; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them and for preserving peace and friendihip with them. "ART. 4. The said territory and the States which may be formed therein shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of confederation and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the 60 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the inhabitants. of other States ; and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied•by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts or new States shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States ; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabisants of the said territory as to citizens of the United States and those of any other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor. " ART. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five States ; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established, as follows, to wit ; The western State in the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and Wabash Rivers ; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincen due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada ; and by the said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash, from Post Vincenta to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, to the said territorial. line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, 'Pennsylvania, and the said ter, ritorial line : Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any, of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original: States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government Provided, The constitution and government so to be formed shall be republi, can and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles ; and so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period and when there may be a less number 61 - THE OHIO COMPANY. of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand. “ART. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted : Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any of tilt original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."