Ohio History Journal

CORNELIUS SEDAM AND HIS FRIENDS IN

WASHINGTON'S TIME1

BY MRS. EMMA S. BACKUS

Cincinnati, Ohio

 

"The old days were great because the men who moved in them had

mighty qualities."

--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

"Grand old  times, with a grand old father!"

This tribute to the times and the man was penned

by a son of the subject of this sketch, in 1885, when

Matthew Sedam, then residing at Terre Haute, Indiana,

wrote reminiscently to his younger brother, David, at

Cincinnati, recalling early days together on their father's

farm.

Matthew Sedam had then attained the venerable age

of fourscore, but he still remembers certain little hap-

penings in his boyhood days which he brings to mind

in this letter.

"We had lots of fun making cider, shooting, trap-

ping, bull-fighting, horse-raising." (Or does he mean

racing?) The picture he draws of that period is the

free outdoor life of a typical Western ranch, the like of

which is rapidly vanishing from the American scene.

In his letter he mentions "all the old characters,--

the lime man, the village blacksmith, and the rest," and

then, in terms of admiration, recalls his stern parent,

 

1 From letters and documents in the possession of Miss Helen May

Curtis, a great-granddaughter of the subject of the sketch, and other refer-

ences in the works of Cincinnati historians, Charles Theodore Greve, and

Henry and Kate Ford, also from the Journal of Lieutenant Ebenezer Denny.

(28)

• 1
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 29

Cornelius, "under whose military rule no one was exempt

from work; who bossed all hands, no shuffling in the

ranks,--with a place for everything, and everything in

its place."

These habits of discipline and order must have been

implanted in the pioneer, Sedam, when he became a

member of the New Jersey militia at the early age of

sixteen, and these traits persisted throughout his life-

time. In a letter from his comrade-in-arms, Thomas

Mifflin, while the latter was governor of Pennsylvania,

we find a similar reference to Sedam's "firmness of mind,

regularity of living and strength of military habits."

For a description of the appearance of Cornelius,

we are indebted to his friend Howells, then governor of

New Jersey, who draws a pen-picture of Sedam in his

thirties, as "erect in carriage; broad and firmly made;

height five feet eleven or thereabouts; fair-haired and

of good complexion; a soldier and a gentleman."

Something of the dauntless spirit of the pioneer,

Cornelius, must have lived on in the son, Matthew, even

until the advanced age of eighty, judging from a letter

which the latter wrote to his brother, who had just

suffered the misfortune of having his house in Cincin-

nati inundated by the flood of '84. After assuring David

that he shall not come to want, Matthew adds this spir-

ited line of encouragement: "On, Stanley, on! Charge,

Chester, charge!"

Before the retirement of Cornelius Sedam to the

quiet routine of a farmer and family-man on his land

grant on the banks of the Ohio, his earlier life was so

closely identified with important events during the Revo-

lution, both in the East and the West, that we wonder

• 2
 

30       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

why such scant mention is made of him in the histories

of the time. The author has taken some pains to un-

earth the story of his career from various sources in

print and manuscript, in order that the reader may

have a more complete picture of the man than scattered

records afford.

There is a brief notice of him in Charles Theodore

Greve's Centennial History of Cincinnati, following a

record of the list of officers at Fort Washington at the

time Harmar was in command. Sedam's name appears

among them, and Greve makes this comment: "Ensign

Cornelius Sedam became a celebrated character in Cin-

cinnati history. It was from him and his son that the

village of Sedamsville received its name."

This neglect of the man by local historians is perhaps

to be explained by the fact that members of the family

retained letters and papers in their possession with a

view to having them assembled for publication later.

The late Howard Sedam, an Eastern clergyman, col-

lected some important facts concerning the life of his

soldier-forebear at the request of Kate (Sedam) Horne,

formerly of Cincinnati, and later a resident of Paris,

France. The correspondence between these two mem-

bers of the family is now in Miss Curtis' possession,

since the recent death of her aunt in Paris.

In looking over these letters and documents, we find

that in duration of service alone Sedam's military career

is extraordinary. Beginning with his enlistment in 1775

in the state troops of New Jersey, we find him entering

the United States army six years later, after which he

was sent to Fort Harmar, to Fort Finney, and to Fort

Washington, where he participated in St. Clair's march

• 3
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 31

and shared Wayne's victory. He was recalled during the

War of 1812.

As a pioneer citizen of Cincinnati, Sedam's later

record shines with an equal lustre, for he colonized the

village of Sedamsville, on the Ohio, about four miles

below the Licking, bringing with him some three hun-

dred soldiers, whose descendants are now peopling the

valley and slopes of the hill above Bold Face Creek.

Like John Cleves Symmes, the first Nicholas Long-

worth and others who came to live in Cincinnati after

the war, Cornelius Sedam was a Jerseyman. We quote

from the manuscript of Howard Sedam, viz:

The records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Raritan, New

Jersey, show that Cornelius R. Sedam was baptized there as an

infant in the year 1760.

Whether Sedam was actually born there is somewhat

uncertain, as reports vary, it being the impression of

another (a member of the family by marriage), that his

natal place was Holland, that he came to America as an

infant, and generally referred to himself as a "Nether-

lander." The name is spelled differently in the printed

record,--sometimes as Suydam, again as Sydam, and

later as Sedam. The simpler spelling was adopted, Miss

Curtis claims, when Cornelius found that his untutored

men had trouble writing his name correctly, and spelled

it phonetically, whereupon he is said to have commented,

"What is good enough for my men is good enough for

me."

The progenitor of the Sedams in this country was

Hendrick Rycker Sedam, "whose remains were buried

in 1791 between the building and the street of the Dutch

• 4
 

32        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

church at Flatbush, Brooklyn, with an inscription in the

Dutch language on the tombstone." (We find this re-

corded, to establish the family connection, in Howard

Sedam's manuscript prepared for Kate (Sedam) Horne,

the aunt of Miss Helen May Curtis:

 

It remains to identify Cornelius R. Sedam, your grand-

father, with the soldier bearing that name who served in the

American Revolution. He (Sedam) enlisted in the militia of the

Province of New Jersey on June twenty-third, 1775. (Making

allowance for his birth a few months before his baptism, 1760,

this would make him about sixteen years of age at the time of his

enlistment.)

His captain was Jacob Ten Eyck, in the township of Bridge-

water, in the county of Somerset, under the command of Colonel

Stephen Hunt. He was private and corporal in the First Bat-

talion; afterwards ensign in Captain Outwater's Company State

troops. He served in the New Jersey militia until their disband-

ment in 1781. This was almost immediately after the cessation

of hostilities by the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He

had already been six years in the service; he then entered the

Regular Army of the United Provinces and was in military service

twenty-one years.

After the disbandment of the New Jersey State troops in

1781, he entered the United States army. The army proper went

into camp at New Windsor, just south of Newburgh; Wash-

ington's headquarters were in the Hasbrouck House at Newburgh.

Baron Von Steuben had his headquarters at the Verplanck House

at Fishkill. In this house the Society of Cincinnati was born;

General Von Steuben was the presiding officer at the first meeting.

Sedam was a member of the General Society, by virtue of being

enrolled in the New Jersey State Society the same year.)

Several years later we find that Sedam left New Jer-

sey and turned his face westward.

In General Butler's account of his trip down the

Ohio in 1785, on his way to Fort Finney, he describes

with lavish praise the fertility and beauty of the country

on both sides of the river around the Licking, and men-

tions "a very fine body of bottom land to a small creek

• 5
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 33

below the Licking." The historian, Greve, assumes that

this was Bold Face Creek, the place which was later to

become the site of Sedam's homestead.

It is in Lieutenant Denny's Journal of the same

period, that we find the first mention of Sedam in the

West.

June fifth, 1787. Captain Smith, with his company; Ensign

Sedam, with part of Mercer's company; Lieutenant Peters, Dr.

Elliot and myself, left Fort Harmar to join the troops at the

Rapids.

June tenth, 1787. In the morning we joined our friends at

the Falls.

 

We read in Fords' History of Hamilton County the

conclusion of this expedition:

General Butler and his commissioners left the fort soon after

the treaty was concluded. The soldiers remained, however, with

Major Finney, Captain Ziegler, Lieutenant Denny, and other well-

known officers in command. St. Patrick's Day was duly cele-

brated by the bold Irish boys of the garrison, with all hands tak-

ing part in such festivities as included the disposal of festive

liquids, and also in the observance of the 4th of July, which fol-

lowed in due course of time.

 

In this same detachment was Captain David Ziegler,

the lifelong friend of Sedam, whom he had, perhaps,

learned to know while the former was in Von Steuben's

company, around Fishkill and Newburgh. Thereafter,

we find the names of Lieutenant Denny, Ensign Sedam

and Captain Ziegler appearing in various accounts of

military affairs in the West.

A few years later, in General Harmar's list of offi-

cers under him at Fort Washington, June ninth, 1790,

Vol. XLI--3.

• 6
 

34       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

we read, along with Harmar's favorite, Ebenezer Denny,

the name of Ensign Cornelius Sedam.

Denny mentions him again in describing St. Clair's

terrible fiasco in the Wabash country, when those that

remained were making their way back to Fort Wash-

ington, after the slaughter of more than six hundred

men and officers, not to mention three hundred missing

or wounded. "I got Lieutenants Sedam and Morgan

with half a dozen stout men, to fill up the road, and to

move slowly, I halted, myself, until the General came

up." (We read that Captain Ziegler, who was directing

the retreat from where he had been posted under a tree

along the road, kept a cool head through it all, and lit a

pipe to steady his nerves after the carnage!)

Evidently Ensign Sedam gave a good account of

himself in this battle, and it was doubtless upon St.

Clair's recommendation that he was made captain. His

commission, bearing the signatures of President Wash-

ington and Secretary Knox, dated March nineteenth.

1793, states that the promotion became effective from

the 23rd of April of the year before, just a short time

after the Wabash campaign.

Although there is no printed record, to the author's

knowledge, of Sedam's part in the Battle of Fallen Tim-

bers, the fact that he remained in the Western army

for three or four years longer, would bear out the claims

of Howard Sedam that Cornelius fought under Anthony

Wayne in the campaign that resulted in the Peace of

Greenville in 1795.

While at Fort Washington, Sedam must have met,

perhaps for the first time, another young ensign who

was later to become the president of the United States,

• 7
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time          35

William Henry Harrison, who came to  "the   Miami

slaughter-house" a few weeks after St. Clair's defeat.

But it was to David Ziegler,² soldier of fortune, and

veteran of many wars, both in this country and abroad,

that Sedam's heart went out. He formed for this gal-

lant German emigrant a lifelong attachment that per-

sisted long after their swords had rusted in peacetime

pursuits.

About this jolly major, who later became the first

president of the village of Cincinnati, much has been

written to enliven the dull pages of history with his pic-

turesque exploits. One of the best of these stories is

told of the time when the major marshalled his men at

Fort Washington, for the inspection of General Wayne,

when the latter was making his triumphal tour, after the

victory at Fallen Timbers. Ziegler had resigned from

 

2 David Ziegler was born in Heidelberg, where his father kept a wine-

shop frequented by the students of that famous college town on the Neckar.

He had had considerable experience as a soldier in the old country, having

served under Frederick the Great, and against the Turks under Catherine

II of Russia. He came to the New World, tired of wars and fighting, and

settled in Pennsylvania, only to learn that this country was on the eve of a

revolution. He enlisted at once, under Baron Von Steuben; he was with

Washington at Brandywine, Long Island, Monmouth and Bergen Point;

and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, his troops holding the

trenches at that momentous time.

Like his friend Sedam, he accompanied General Harmar to the West,

and was stationed first at Marietta, and afterward at Fort Washington in

Cincinnati. Ziegler saw much Indian service, and was with St. Clair in his

defeat. He resigned from the army in 1792, goaded to the act by the

jealousy of his fellow-officers, but remained in Cincinnati.

We find the following comment in Denny's Journal (Sept. ninth,

1788.)

"Ziegler takes pride in having the handsomest company in the regi-

ment. To do him justice, his company has always been considered the first

in point of discipline and appearance. Four-fifths of his company have been

Germans."

• 8
 

36       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

the regular army and was in charge of a company of the

local militia. Prodding these awkward, raw recruits in

the middle with his sword, as they lined up on parade,

he addressed them: "You are about to meet the gr-reat

general, Anthony Wayne, commander of the Legion.

Be pleased, then, to look gr-reat--, to look like the Devil,

--to look like me!"

Major Ziegler's marriage at Marietta, Feb. 22d,

1789, to Lucy Sheffield, was witnessed by his friend,

Ebenezer Denny, the latter having been persuaded to

act as best man at the ceremony.

Ziegler had been placed in command of the garrison

at Cincinnati when St. Clair left for Philadelphia to

make his report to President Washington, and to ask

for a court of inquiry following the disaster.

In the writings of Howard Sedam, we find reference

to a portrait of Cornelius Sedam, painted evidently at

this period, at the request of a fellow officer, Buell, who

later turned it over to General Scott. Both Scott and

Buell were officers in the Western service at that time,

in and around Fort Washington. What became of this

painting the family does not know.

We do not hear of Cornelius again until we find him

back in his old haunts in New Jersey and in Philadelphia,

soliciting letters of introduction from his former com-

rades-in-arms, with the intention of making a trip to the

West Indies as a merchant mariner. He has resigned

from the army and is planning to purchase two ships

with a cargo of powder, though evidently not entirely

pleased with his proposed partner in the deal, as the fol-

lowing letter reveals:

• 9
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 37

 

To Cornelius Sedam, Dear Sir:

"Your polite note just received. It truly astounded me that

you should have any such opinion of me. If you feel yourself

perfectly safe, and you think there is no danger of your health,

and in every respect perfectly agreed to take the trip to Guada-

loupe, I will do this.

"I have an offer of a very good schooner, about the size of

Captain Collinges, and likewise a fast-sailing ship of about two

hundred tons. Captain Sibbald says both will sail equal to any-

thing he ever saw. These vessels I shall purchase. Will take

care to get good, agreeable captains, have them away in a very

few days, with two hundred barrells powder in each.

"The captains will agree with them that if they deliver the

cargo in Guadaloupe, and return to Philadelphia, to have one

thousand dollars more than their pay, and assist you in every way

in the business.

"Will place both the vessels in your name, get all the papers

that can be wished from the French minister for you on these

terms. Say I will charge you with one-half the cargoes, say pow-

der at 7/6 and other articles as we may purchase them, the ex-

penses of the voyage to be equally divided between us in case of

profit which I do contemplate to be handsome pay, 1 1/2 Dolls.

per lb. If it should not be agreeable to your expectations, will

allow you commission on 40000 lbs. powder, 7/6, 40000 Dolls.

On the other cargo says 8000 Dolls, for covering 48,000.

"Commission at 10%, clear of charges, is 4800 Dolls. certain.

But I do contemplate a profit for you on out and home cargo,

if it should only bring 15/ per lb., of at least twenty-eight to

thirty-five thousand Dolls.

Your friend

JOSEPH D. MILLER.

The British have in agitation to attack Guadaloupe as soon

as hurricane season is over. Can you call and see me this evening?

During the late summer of 1796 our captain con-

tinues to busy himself with preparations for the journey

to the West Indies. Perhaps he has opportunity to talk

with the distinguished statesman, Alexander Hamilton,

who has just resigned from Washington's cabinet as

secretary of the treasury.

In Miss Curtis' collection of family papers, are in-

• 10
 

38        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

teresting letters from several distinguished men of that

time who knew Sedam as "a soldier and a gentleman"

and from whom he had requested letters for use in his

travels.

There is a brief one from his former commander,

Josiah Harmar, who had declined to accompany St.

Clair on his ill-fated expedition, when he discovered how

poorly equipped was his army for war against the

savage. The letter is dated September, 1796.

The bearer, Captain Cornelius Rycker Sedam of the Amer-

ican army, has served under my command for several years to the

Westward. I do certify that he is an officer of distinguished

merit, that he has conducted himself with honor and reputation.

and that he deserves well of his country.

JOSIAH HARMAR--PHILADELPHIA.

In a similar vein is a letter from the governor of

New Jersey.

Sir:

Yours of August nineteenth, 1796, is duly rec'd, intimating

your design of going to Europe, and that your friends, among

whom you are but just in ranking me, have written letters. I

have to regret that I cannot be of service to you, sir, for want of

being known in Europe, but I add with pleasure whatever I can

contribute, to assure all whom it may concern that whatever con-

fidence they may repose in the integrity and honor of my friend

and fellow-soldier, Captain Sedam, it can never, in my opinion,

disappoint them. I am perfectly aware of the caution that be-

comes me, as a private gentleman, and as the Governor of the

State of New Jersey, but I do not hesitate to attest that from an

intimate knowledge of you, in all the relations of a citizen, a sol-

dier and a gentleman, and that from early life I have found you,

and you have ever been considered as worthy of the confidence

and respect of all good men.

Accept, sir, my affectionate wishes for your success and

safety, and rest assured that I take an interest in your happiness

abroad, and your safe return.

I am, sir,

Your friend and very humble servant

TRENTON, AUGUST 20, 1796.          R. P. HOWELLS.

• 11
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 39

Howells adds the following postscript:

That there are in France very many official signatures, and

by comparison you may identify this; for which you may apply

to the offices where certificates of residents are lodged. In Hol-

land I am unknown, and almost in England, but I wish, if any-

thing should direct your route to Wales near an ancient castle

called Caerfilly, I think in *Glenmoreganshire, you would inquire

if any of my name live there. I know nor care but little about

heraldry, but my great-grandfather's name was Howell Harry,

my grandfather Reynold Howell, and my grandmother's Mary

George. Mrs. Henfry, my friend's wife, with his family, lives at

Workton, I think, fifteen or twenty miles from Sheffield, who

would be happy to hear of his being in good health, and in good

hopes of seeing her soon. Adieu!

Her two sons live in Trenton under my care, and are both

well.

If, by accident, the within recommendations should fall into

other hands than are intended, let it be remembered that Captain

Sedam is five feet eleven inches high or thereabouts, broad and

firmly made, fair-haired and of good complexion, erect in car-

riage, and about thirty two or three years of age, to the best of

my recollection.

R. P. HOWELLS.

Another letter dated August thirtieth, the same year,

comes from the Adjutant General's office at New Bruns-

wick, New Jersey, from a fellow-officer in the Masonic

order of which Sedam was a member:

Being informed of Captain Sedam's intention of leaving the

United States, it gives me pleasure to recommend him to the

notice of those who esteem a brave soldier, a good officer and a

worthy man. Having served with the captain in the late Amer-

ican army, where I held the rank of Colonel of the First Regi-

ment of Dragoons, and now holding that of General and Com-

mander of the Cavalry of New Jersey, and Adjutant General of

the Militia, has given me a knowledge of the Captain's military

merits and the satisfaction of thus introducing him to nations

and individuals as a man of honor, convinced that in this char-

acter he cannot, in any part of the world, want the aid of friends.

* Glamorganshire.

• 12
 

40          Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

I shall only add that Captain Sedam has served in Washing-

ton Lodge No. 12, which I have the honor to be master of, as a

deacon, and which gives me also the opportunity of recommending

him to the attention of all lodges and Masons as a worthy and

deserving brother.

(Signed) M. T. H. WHITE.

Among the most prominent of his endorsers in the

East was Timothy Pickering, one time secretary of war,

later secretary of state, succeeding Randolph to that of-

fice.   His brief, but unqualified praise of Sedam  is

embodied in the following paragraph:

I certify that Cornelius R. Sedam was an officer in the army

of the United States during the Revolutionary War. His known

bravery and merit procured him a place as captain in the present

army of the United States, in which he continued to serve with

reputation until the late reduction of a part of the army, when he

chose to retire as a man of honor, and an attentive, prudent officer,

deservedly esteemed.

(Signed) TIMOTHY PICKERING,

Late Secretary of War.,

PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST TWENTY-FIFTH, 1796.

3 Timothy Pickering was born in 1745 at Salem, Mass. He was a

graduate of Harvard, and admitted to the bar, but was more interested in

war than in legal matters. During the Revolution he was commander of

the Essex Regiment of seven hundred men; he joined Washington's army

at Morristown in 1777, after which he was made adjutant-general. He

served at Brandywine, Germantown and Yorktown.

Pickering was prominent as one of the organizers of West Point,

and personally directed the building of three frigates, one of which was the

famed Constitution. He was first secretary of war, and later secretary of

state, from which office he was removed by President Adams in 1800 for

his leaning to Hamilton. In his retort to Mr. Adams' charges, in which he

called attention to the fact that all offices he had held had come to him un-

solicited, he replied:  "Yet Mr. Adams says 'Pickering was ambitious!

Under the simple appearance of a bald head and straight hair and under

profession of profound Republicanism, he conceals an ardent ambition, en-

vious of every superior, and impatient of obscurity.'" (When one reflects

that before Adams made this accusation, Pickering had already held many

high offices, the word "obscurity" seems most inappropriate!)

In later years, President Washington employed Pickering as an In-

dian agent; he was a great favorite with the tribes.

• 13
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time   41

Sedam, however, was not destined to carry out his

plan for the voyage to the West Indies.        After all this

stir and preparation for his departure, we find no record

that he ever left the States, during the time that inter-

vened between his retirement from the army and his

final removal to the banks of the Ohio.

Perhaps it was that letter from      his friend, Thomas

Mifflin, then governor of Pennsylvania, who wrote to

him on September thirteenth, 1796, upon learning of

his intention to leave the country, advising him against

the venture:

I have heard that you have resigned your commission as cap-

tain in the army of the United States, and of your intention to

make a voyage to the West Indies.

You are most certainly the best judge of your own business,

but as a friend I cannot but regret that you have commenced at

so advanced a season the execution of your commercial schemes.

The firmness of your mind, and the strength of your military

habits, will, no doubt, make you despise all dangers of sea and

climate, and the regularity of your life, in case of sickness, will

give you the best chance of recovery.

Still I shall be anxious for your return from a scene of dis-

ease and carnage that must give infinite distress to a mind like

yours, and if I am not mistaken, will soon induce you to return to

your native country, in despite of the very sanguine calculations

you may have made of the profits of your voyage.

With a sincere wish that your views may not prove illusive,

I am, affectionately,

THOMAS MIFFLIN 4--PHILADELPHIA.

 

4 Thomas Mifflin, a Philadelphia Quaker, was aide-de-camp to General

Washington at Boston, in 1775. Shortly afterward he was made adjutant

general, and later major-general, which position he held until the end of the

war. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782, and as pres-

ident of that body, received the resignation of General Washington as Com-

mander-in-Chief of the Army.

In 1790 he was elected governor of Pennsylvania, which office he held

for two terms, until 1799.

• 14
 

42       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

There is no record to show what influenced Sedam

to change his plans, nor where he spent the interval fol-

lowing his retirement from active service in the army.

Three years later we find him farming on a 640-acre

tract of the Symmes Purchase, located in what was then

known as South Bend Township (later Delhi Township)

on either side of Bold Face Creek, and up the slopes of

Price Hill.

Miss Curtis informs us that land warrants in the

way of bounties, and also by purchase, were held by

Cornelius Sedam as early as 1793, and she assumes

that the farm on the creek was one of them. Another

grant of one thousand acres owned by Sedam was lo-

cated between the Miami and the Scioto, near Chilli-

cothe, the deed being duly recorded December sixth,

1797. For some reason this tract never came into the

possession of his heirs, whereas the section on the Ohio

River, a few miles below Fort Washington, remained in

the family for several generations, having been divided

at his death between his four sons.

Various houses known as "the Sedam home" were

built on this site around Bold Face Creek. The first

was the original farm-house occupied by Cornelius, Sr.,

which stood not far from the river, in the center of the

lower part of the estate. This was demolished when the

site was acquired by the late Charles Fleischmann, who

started a distillery and yeast-plant there which became,

with the passing of the years one of the largest enter-

prises in the country. Another house built of stone,

erected by the pioneer Sedam, stood further up the river;

this section of the farm was included in Storrs Town-

• 15
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 43

ship, and became the domicile of "Squire Henry" Sedam.

It was known first as the "Sylvan House," and later as

the "Manhattan." At the other end of the farm down the

river lived another son, David, whose mansion was

known as "Riverside," from which the surrounding vil-

lage takes its name.

The four sons, Cornelius, Henry, David and Mat-

thew, were the result of Sedam's marriage in 1799 to a

daughter of Matthew Winton, a pioneer settler of Cin-

cinnati, for whom the suburb of Winton Place was

named. Following the early death of Sedam's first wife,⁵

a young daughter, Eliza, went to live with the Wintons,

by whom she was legally adopted. The boys were

brought up under their father's guidance on the farm,

with a private tutor to supervise their education.

At that time Matthew Winton owned an inn on Front

street, opposite Deacon Wade's house, not far from the

"Green Tree Tavern." The "Green Tree" was kept by

Isaac Anderson, a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War.

At the corner of the street at Sycamore Cove, was the

popular hostelry of Griffin Yeatman, whose son Henry

lived down the river in Sedam's neighborhood. Yeat-

man's place was known as "The Sign of the Square and

Compass." The Supreme Court held its sessions there,

and at one time a company of Thespians gave a series

of performances in the stable of the Inn, devoting the

proceeds to the project of starting a public library.

Sedam's sons had varying careers. Cornelius, who

inherited the homestead, became a boat-captain; it is re-

 

5 By his second marriage, to Nancy Haynes, Sedam had three daugh-

ters, Jane, Nancy, and Maria.

• 16
 

44       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

corded that he made the trip from New Orleans to Cin-

cinnati in record-breaking time,--six days and eighteen

hours. His boat was called the Duke of Orleans, and

was later burned at the shore in front of his father's

house on the Ohio.

Henry Sedam, usually referred to as "Squire

Henry," was well-known in and around Cincinnati for

his eccentric decisions in administering the affairs of

Storrs Township. Much has been printed about this

affable squire in earlier records, to provide merriment

for the reader, but we refrain from repeating these

amusing stories, for want of space.

David Ziegler Sedam was named after his father's

bosom friend and comrade, the jolly soldier of fortune

from Heidelberg who became the first president of the

village of Cincinnati, before its incorporation in 1819.

David6 was the owner of the mansion known as

"Riverside," where he lived the life of a country gentle-

man, bringing up his young family with strict regard

for their religious duties, as his father had done, whose

home was known as a haven of refuge for itinerant

preachers in that day. The house David built is still

standing, though the contours are considerably changed

from the original, a large porch having been removed,

and other alterations made in recent years, after it

passed into the hands of the present owner.

The family is in possession of a handsome miniature

of David Sedam, reproduced here by permission of Miss

Curtis.

Matthew Sedam, the writer of the letter from which

 

6 Miss Curtis' grandfather.

• 17
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 45 we quote in our opening page, sold his share of the farm on Bold Face Creek, and went to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he acquired considerable real estate during his

lifetime. He lived to a ripe old age, writing in this same letter regretfully of his approaching end, expressing the wish that he might have "a new lease on life for a thou- sand years, renewable forever!"

• 18
 

46         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

He recounts an amusing incident of their early days

together in this letter to his brother, David, which con-

firms the opinion of those friends who testified to

Sedam's "firmness of mind and strength of military

habits,"--habits which he continued to exercise in his

later life as a farmer. We quote the paragraph:

Our man Friday said one day that he would not work

Father ordered his men to roll the man in a blanket and put him

in the hot sun on the porch for a good sweat. And he went to

work!

Existence on the farm at Bold Face Creek was evi-

dently not "all work and no play," despite the strict dis-

cipline of the elder Sedam, for Matthew mentions fondly

a spring-house near the river, designated as "the bower,"

where it was customary to imbibe cool draughts of

"sangaree" (spiced wine) during the hours of recrea-

tion. Apparently there was lyrical inspiration in that

drink, for Matthew recalls a line from a song composed

by Jeremiah Reeder,⁷ a neighbor:

Won't you come to the bower?

. . . . . . . . .

We wonder if the Eastern banker, Gorham Worth,

who has written so entertainingly of his travels in the

West during those early days, and particularly of his

stay in Cincinnati, ever found his way to Sedam's bower

 

7 Jeremiah Reeder lived near Sedam on what was known as "the min-

isterial section" of the township at Anderson's Ferry, another neighbor

being the well-known Squire Cullom, at Cullom's Riffle, the best fishing-

point on the Ohio shore in that region. The meeting-house built by the

former, and known as Reeder's Hall, is still standing. Julius Fleischmann,

a former mayor of Cincinnati, and his sister, Mrs. Christian R. Holmes,

attended dancing-school at Reeder's Hall, as children, when Miss Curtis

was in the class.

• 19
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 47

on the banks of the Ohio, to sip a cooling glass with our

retired veteran, Cornelius, the farmer?

It was Gorham Worth who expressed himself in

such extravagant terms concerning the hospitality of

Cincinnatians, after attending a dinner at the home of

David Kilgour: "Talk of the backwoods!" said I to

myself, after dining with Mr. Kilgour. "By the beard

of Jupiter, I have never seen anything east of the moun-

tains to be compared to the luxuries of that table! The

costly dinner service, -- the splendid cut glass, -- the

sumptuous dinner itself! Talk to me no more of the

backwoods; these people live in the style of princes! I

did not, however, like my friend St. Clair, after a great

dinner at Findlay's mistake my longitude in the dark,

and walk off the bank into the river. But I marched

off most heroically, over the stones and through the pud-

dles, repeating to myself at every step: 'Talk to me no

more about the backwoods; talk to me no more about the

backwoods!'"

We might go on to mention a score of other noted

figures in the society of that clay, men like General Find-

lay, of whom Worth writes in his Recollections "an

honester man indeed never lived." And Ethan Stone,

whose name appears with affectionate mention in

Sedam's will, a lawyer noted for his sterling qualities

and outstanding public spirit. But space does not per-

mit.

Sedam was not occupied only with affairs on the

farm, to the exclusion of other interests and matters of

public welfare, for shortly after he settled in South Bend

Township, we find him "drilling three hundred men in

his company" now settled in the village he had founded,

• 20
 

48        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

at the mouth of Bold Face Creek. In the fall of 1801,

General St. Clair appointed Sedam      lieutenant-colonel

commandant of the Hamilton County militia.

(Seal) TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES NORTH-

WEST OF THE OHIO

Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Territory,

to Cornelius R. Sedam, Esquire,

Greetings:

Reposing special trust and confidence in your loyalty, cour-

age and good conduct, I have appointed you lieutenant-colonel

commandant of the regiment of the militia of the county of Ham-

ilton, and you are hereby appointed accordingly.

You are therefore carefully and diligently to perform the

duty of Lieutenant-colonel commandant, and in leading, ordering

and exercising in arms the said regiment, both inferior officers

and soldiers, and to keep them in good order and discipline, and

they are hereby commanded to obey you as their lieutenant-colonel

commandant, and you yourself are to observe and follow such

orders and instructions as you shall from time to time receive

from me and others, your superior officers.

Given under my hand and the seal of the Territory, at Cin-

cinnati in the county of Hamilton, the fifth of October, year of

our Lord, 1801, and of the independence of the United States, the

twenty-sixth.

A. ST. CLAIR.

In the records of Howard Sedam, we find the state-

ment that Sedam was recalled to the army in the War of

1812, but the author has not been able to confirm this.

To come back to "the bower," as Jeremiah Reeder

would have us do. The grapes which provided refresh-

ment to the thirsty in the cool shade of that vine-covered

spring-house on the banks of the Ohio, grew on the hill-

side that adjoined one of the numerous vineyards be-

longing to the first Nicholas Longworth.     Miss Curtis

tells us that this gentleman presented her great-grand-

father with the stocks he planted there, and that the two

• 21
 

Cornelius Sedam and His Friends in Washington's Time 49

men were close friends; that Sedam had remonstrated

with Longworth when the latter decided to purchase the

hill-site which is now Eden Park, as he was certain no

one would care to climb to such a high point! Sedam

evidently believed, like Judge Symmes, that the metrop-

olis of the West would grow around old North Bend, or

at some point on the river-bank between the two Miamis.

But the floods and the fates conspired against this hope,

and the ambitious home-seekers followed Longworth

over Mount Adams, and to the hilltops that circle Cin-

cinnati.

To the bower came others whose fame still lingers

since that earlier time. A certain young ensign, later

the hero of Tippecanoe, must have stopped there often

with his father-in-law, Judge Symmes, as they rode from

North Bend to Cincinnati, where the judge had his land-

office. He it was, of whom General Jackson spoke some

years later, when as his boat passed Harrison's tomb at

North Bend, he remarked: "Give him two salutes for

his generalship, but damn his politics !"

Certainly no more welcome guest ever crossed Cor-

nelius' doorsill than the old campaigner, Major David

Ziegler, who, since quitting the army in 1792, had taken

up his residence on Front street in Cincinnati, where he

conducted a dry-goods store opposite Yeatman's tavern.

We find him advertising in the Western Spy that he has

"just received a new supply of fine brocade vests from

Philadelphia, fit for gentlemen and Republicans." (!)

Ziegler was evidently most particular about the quality

of his own attire, for we find him described as presiding

over "the Select Council" in a suit of purple velvet, with

ruffled shirt, silver buckles on his shoes, a cocked hat on

Vol. XLI--4.

• 22
 

50       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

his powdered hair, and the gold badge of the Society of

Cincinnati adorning his coat-lapel. The first president

must have presented an elegant picture of the times, as

he walked arm in arm with his friend, Martin Baum,

the banker, along Front street, or sat in the spring-house

with his other comrade, Cornelius Sedam, recalling their

campaigns together, drinking a toast to the old days

when Washington was still in the saddle.

Gone is the bower in the old spring-house, and the

homestead at Bold Face Creek; the "iron horse" of our

industrial age ploughs its way through fields once planted

and tilled by this soldier-farmer whose career we have

set down in these pages. Even the tombstone on which

Sedam's death (May ninth, 1823) is recorded, has had

to yield to the necessities of trade, and some years ago

was removed with his remains to the family burying-

place at Spring Grove.

But the flavor of Sedam's life, his service to his

country, in war and peace, still lingers. We ponder over

the fullness and richness of his days, as the soldier

under Washington, Harmar and St. Clair, and the colo-

nizer who, with John Cleves Symmes, did much to settle

the land between the two Miamis, at old North Bend.

Sedam saw the war through; he helped to make "the

Miami slaughter-house" a safe place for the home-

seekers that came after; he fought and labored with the

great men of his time to win and hold the old Northwest.

• 23