ALONG THE PATHWAY OF A GREAT STATE
BY A. D. HOSTERMAN
The Great State to Which I Refer Is
Ohio.
Standing the fourth of all the American
states in
wealth and population and third in
manufactures, the
contribution Ohio has made to the
nation in great men,
great movements, great progress, and
leadership, justi-
fies the claim that she is a great state.
It will be interesting briefly to touch
some points
along her pathway.
In the beginning Ohio and the entire
American con-
tinent was "without form, and
void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep." The
earth gradually cooled
and the waters descended upon the solid
portion. This
solid portion became the primordial
bed-rock. It formed
the bottom of the ocean and the barren
land which at
some places rose above it. In that
far-away time what
is now the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys
was a vast shal-
low salt sea. Upon the foundations of
bed-rock was
formed through millions of years by the
action of water
the series of sedimentary strata that
form the super-
structure of the earth's crust in what
is now Ohio.
Through the period of geological
formation there were
elevations and subsidences. What was at
times above
the sea was again submerged and later
elevated until the
entire State became permanent dry land.
At a remote age an island emerged from
the face of
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the deep. It lay partly in the present
states of Indiana
and Kentucky and embraced about
one-eighth of the
State of Ohio, forming the first dry
land within the
state. This formation belongs to the
Ordovician period.
During the Devonian period, the eastern
half of Ohio
was still covered by a vast sea teeming
with sharks and
other fishes, some of immense size.
Fossil remains of a
portion of one of these were found near
Delaware.
At the close of the Devonian period,
rock formations
had built up regularly. The
epicontinental sea had grad-
ually been growing more shallow. The
dense vegetation
of the Carboniferous period now
appeared in all its
grandeur. Immense ferns and heavy
mosses were in
evidence almost everywhere and dense
thickets of cala-
mite rose from the fog-covered marshes
to great heights.
These Carboniferous forests swarmed
with enormous
dragon-flies. Through the thousands of
years that these
later changes were in progress,
vegetable growth accu-
mulated in enormous masses in the
swampy regions of
southeastern Ohio where it was
preserved as it accu-
mulated under the water. After periods
of temporary
subsidences it was covered with silt
and sand and gravel
and ultimately compressed into veins of
coal.
During the Permian period, the
remaining portions
of the State rose out of the marshy
remnant of the inland
sea and Ohio's land formation was
complete. Human
history was still thousands of years away.
Long after Ohio had become permanently
dry land,
a great glacier slowly descended from
the North, extend-
ing to the Ohio River, followed later
by several ice-
sheets, the last epoch of geology.
Great physical changes
of contour now occurred. The vast field
of ice was
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State 625
slowly but powerfully grinding off the
hill tops, wiping
out old river valleys and forming new
ones.
Professor Orton called attention to the
numerous
buried channels near Springfield, one
of which is the
Mad River Valley. The buried channel at
St. Paris is
more than 500 feet deep and illustrates
what a network
of pre-glacial gorges has been closed
up by the ice move-
ments. The glacier swept with a regular
course through
the Maumee and Miami Valleys coming to
an end at the
Ohio River. From its margin around
Cincinnati and
southward, the hills remained
undisturbed, furnishing
a picture of what the contour of Ohio
would have been
but for the glacier. The ice and
glacial periods finally
passed. The extreme frigid and possibly
torrid ages
had been followed by an equable
temperate climate, the
virgin soils "were bringing forth
grass, the herb . . . and
fruit tree yielding fruit after his
kind." The seasons
with days and years as we now know them
followed in
succession.
Man's first occupancy of Ohio was
perhaps before
the close of the glacial period. There
is some evidence
that a primitive race inhabited this
region at that time,
so we are able to speak with a certain
confidence of the
pre-glacial man in Ohio.
How long it was after the glacial
period until Ohio
was certainly occupied by man is a
matter of conjec-
ture. The first people to occupy the
State, who left
records, were called by archaeologists
Mound Builders.
Every evidence shows that Ohio was
their paradise. The
greater part of southern and
south-western Ohio is
thickly dotted with the remains of
their habitations and
memorials. The banks of the majestic
Ohio, and the
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
picturesque and fertile valleys of the
Miamis, the Scioto,
the Muskingum, and lesser tributary
streams, were the
scenes of this people's most numerous,
extensive and con-
tinuous mound building.
In the vicinity of Cincinnati, along
the Ohio River
as far as Portsmouth and Marietta, and
near Athens,
Chillicothe, Circleville, Newark,
Springfield, Dayton,
Miamisburg, Middletown, Hamilton,
Oxford and Eaton,
mounds and other archaeological remains
are particu-
larly numerous. Over 12,000 of these
testimonials, ex-
clusively of earthen material, have so
far been definitely
located. These are in the form of
enclosures on hilltops,
probably forts, walled-in areas in the
valleys and stream
bottoms, sacred enclosures, religious
temples, village
sites, and single mounds of various
sizes and heights.
They are of various forms, combinations
of circles,
squares and geometrical figures of
great variety. Many
of the works give abundant evidence of engineering
skill. The enclosures are sometimes
perfect circles and
the rectangular works are at times
accurate squares.
Fort Ancient near Lebanon, is the
greatest monument
to the Mound Builders still extant. It
may have been
their national seat of government. It
was surely the
center of a great Mound Builder
population.
Whether the Mound Builders continued in
Ohio in
small numbers through a long period, or
occupied the
State in great numbers for a short
period is not definitely
known.
The three hundred miles of these
gigantic earth-
works, the result of inconceivable
labor, accomplished
without tools, animals or equipment
such as we know,
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would indicate either that the laborers
were many or the
time long for the completion.
There are many theories advanced as to
the origin of
the Mound Builders. Archaeologists now
generally
agree they were the ancestors, how
remote may not be
known, of the historic or
post-Columbian Indians.
There seems no proof that the Mound
Builders were
driven away by a powerful enemy, but
much evidence
that they moved leisurely down the
streams. The earth
structures left by them were found
abandoned, yet com-
pleted and in perfect shape, when
Europeans first reached
the American shores. Ages had evidently
gone by since
the builders had left. Silence and
mystery alone re-
mained.
What the origin of the Mound Builders,
whence they
came, where they went, or when they
occupied the land
is the great American riddle. Their
temples, fortifica-
tions and works give no answer to these
questions.
The limits of this paper will not
permit following
the Ohio Mound Builders farther. Their
course along
the pathway of Ohio is full of
interest. They enriched
the State with a wonderful antiquity
that has long
claimed and will continue to claim the
consideration of
scholars and archaeologists, not only
of America but the
world.
How long Ohio remained without
habitation after
the silent, mysterious departure of the
Mound Builders
is not known. The Red Men found here by
Europeans
had no traditions, much less knowledge,
of the builders
of the mounds, that could throw any
light upon the ob-
scurity of the subject.
In its historic beginning the territory
now known as
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the State of Ohio, belonged to Spain by
right of dis-
covery, supplemented by papal decree.
Rumors of the
beauty and extent of a river called
"Oyo," the Ohio,
early reached the French settlements on
the St. Law-
rence. It remained for LaSalle to be
its discoverer on
a journey begun in 1669, and to
appropriate the Ohio
Valley as the property of the Bourbons.
About 1680 the French established a
trading post
near the mouth of the Maumee River,
probably the first
permanent evidence of French occupancy
of Ohio. The
English claimants were close behind,
for as early as 1686
Colonial Governor Dongan of New York,
on the
strength of the English-Iroquois
treaty, began to issue
licenses to his colonists for trading,
hunting, and dis-
covery in the direction of Ohio.
Intimate contact between the Indians of
the Ohio
country and the whites very naturally
first came with
the advent into their territory of
these French and
English traders--and following closely
after these, the
missionaries. These traders found many
tribes in the
forests.
The favorable living conditions of the
Ohio country
had made it preeminently the Indian's
happy hunting-
ground.
The Shawnee Indians came from west
Florida the
early part of the sixteenth century.
Their territory lay
principally in the valley of the
Scioto. They were a
restless, fearless, aggressive tribe,
one of the best type
of the aborigines of the State. Tecumseh and his
brother, the Prophet, became their
prominent chiefs and
leaders.
The Delawares, coming from lower
Pennsylvania
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and New Jersey, were located on the
Muskingum and
other eastern Ohio streams. This strong
and trouble-
some tribe, during the French and
Indian War and sub-
sequent campaigns, were the Shawnees'
allies, in oppos-
ing the advance of the white settlers
into Ohio.
In the same section along the Ohio
river were the
Mingo tribes, whose illustrious chief
was Logan.
The Miami Indians had their principal
town at the
beginning of the eighteenth century at
Pickawillany,
styled "the Ohio capital of the
western savages," at the
juncture of Loromie Creek and the Great
Miami River
near the present city of Piqua.
The Wyandots, coming from near Quebec
probably
in the fourteenth century, occupied the
greater part of
Northern Ohio--becoming the dominant
tribe between
the Ohio River and the Great Lakes.
They were a brave
and noble people. Tarhe, called the
Crane, one of the
greatest of Ohio chieftains, was of the
Wyandot tribe.
This was about the distribution of the
tribes in Ohio
as the first whites found them. These
various tribes
were resolved to make the Ohio
wilderness the scene of
another attempt at centralization of
savage power sur-
passing all previous efforts, and by
the fall of 1770 they
were busy with plans for an invincible
confederation.
The Indians traced out numerous trails
in all parts
of the region. Some of these are as old
as the human
occupation, often following the high
ground through
which they passed and later becoming
the "ridge roads
of the present time." Along these
aboriginal trails the
native tribes passed from one location
to another,
whether engaged in warfare, the chase,
trade or migra-
tion. Later, together with the
navigable streams, these
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
trails served as the means of entrance
into Ohio for the
white traders and settlers. Their
importance as factors
in the settlement and development of
the State can
hardly be over-estimated.
In time, the trader became a very well
defined insti-
tution with fixed posts where the
trinkets and commodi-
ties of the white man were exchanged
with the Indians
for furs and other products. The year
1745 found these
traders, both English and French, persistently
pushing
their way into the Ohio wilderness.
The Governor-General of Canada, in
order to estab-
lish the French claims of ownership,
sent Captain Bien-
ville de Celeron in 1749 on a historic
mission through
the Ohio country for the purpose of
preempting that ter-
ritory to themselves. Celeron's mission
was most spec-
tacular and dramatic, an ambitious move
to develop
French interests in America. A chain of
forts was
planned and built along the Great Lakes
and down the
valley of the Mississippi. The
settlement of the Ohio
country by 10,000 French peasants was
recommended by
the Governor General.
With a small party of Canadians and
Indians, Cele-
ron took possession of the Ohio Valley
in the name of
the French sovereign and buried leaden
plates bearing
appropriate legends of preemption at
Warren, Pennsyl-
vania, at the juncture of French Creek
with the Ohio,
near the mouth of Wheeling Creek, and
at the mouths of
the Muskingum, the Great Kanawha, the
Scioto and the
Great Miami Rivers.
Companies began to be formed for taking
up land in
Ohio. The Ohio Company, organized by a
number of
Virginia colonists in 1748, was headed
by Thomas Lee
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State 631
and two brothers of George Washington.
The Missis-
sippi Company was another land
development company
projected by Washington and his two
brothers, four
members of the Lee family and others.
The original
articles setting forth its purposes in
the handwriting of
George Washington, are in the
Congressional Library.
The Ohio Company received a royal grant
of one-
half million acres within the limits of
the Virginia colony
on both sides of the Ohio River between
the Mononga-
hela and Kanawha Rivers. The services
of Christopher
Gist, a surveyor and trader, were
secured to examine
and report on the Ohio country and its
inhabitants. He
visited the Indian towns on the
Muskingum and Miami,
carrying valuable presents to the
chieftains. This visit
materially strengthened the cause of
the Colonists and
of the Ohio Company with the Western
Indians. Gist
and his party were the first Englishmen
to travel ex-
tensively through Ohio.
The contest for possession was on,
between the
French and the English. Following
actions and strate-
gies that have become familiar in the
history of the
country in the early contest between
the two nations, the
French, after months of active
preparation to meet the
attack of the English at Fort Duquesne,
finding them-
selves deserted by the Indians, and
knowing themselves
unable to meet the English advance,
suddenly abandoned
the Fort, set it on fire and departed,
leaving the Ohio
Valley in the hands of the English and
bringing an end
to the French sovereignty in the Ohio
country.
A proclamation issued in 1763 by the
King of Eng-
land, setting apart the Northwest
Territory as an Indian
reservation, specified that no white
settlement was to be
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
made therein; that all settlers already
located therein
should at once take their departure,
and that no land
should be purchased from the Indians.
While this proc-
lamation was apparently most generous
to the Indian in
preserving his "happy hunting
ground," the King, read-
ing the handwriting on the wall, had a
deeper design,
namely, to restrict "the growing
power and territory of
the Colonists" and "to
placate the Red men and retain
their friendly alliance with him in
case warfare should
make their cooperation desirable."
This act of the King
was pleasing to Pennsylvania, which was
anxious to keep
the extensive and lucrative fur trade
undisturbed; not so
to Virginia, which claimed the southern
half of Ohio,
insisted on the rights of settlement,
and showed signs of
the spirit of the Revolution which was
so soon to follow.
So, notwithstanding the Quebec Act, as
the King's
proclamation was called, plans for
settlement of the Ohio
country went forward. The Ohio Company
pushed its
program. All this aroused the Indians
and brought on
hostilities between the whites and the
savages.
The battle of Point Pleasant, 1774, on
the Ohio
River, between Chief Cornstalk leading
the Indians who
crossed the Ohio in canoes, and the
Virginians, was the
most extensive, the most bitterly
contested in Indian
warfare and fraught with greatest
potential results. At
the time it occurred, it aroused world-wide
interest. Not
only English papers in the mother
country, but French
and German newspapers on the continent
published ex-
tended articles descriptive of the
battle. It was purely a
frontier encounter. The whites were
Virginia volun-
teers; the savages, the picked fighters
of their tribes, led
by their greatest chieftains. The
significance of the
Along the Pathway of a Great
State 633
battle, however, was manifold and
far-reaching. It was
the last battle fought by the Colonists
while under Brit-
ish rule. It is also authoritatively
maintained that it
was the first battle of the American
Revolution. The
Virginians were fighting against the
Indians, not merely
from retaliatory motives, but in
defiance of the Quebec
Act, as they were planning to invade
the British royal
domain--the Ohio country--then part of
the province of
Quebec, and attack the Ohio Indians who
were the pro-
tected wards of England, and
consequently allies of par-
liamentary power. Their plan was to
settle Ohio, a ter-
ritory they claimed as part of their
colony. Virginia
was contending for colonial rights in
Ohio against the
mother country.
Both the Continental Congress and the
Virginia Leg-
islature realized that great danger
threatened the
western settlements. The Indians in the
Ohio country,
being armed by orders from London and
encouraged by
the British, who hoped through their
aid to hold their
territory and southern boundary line
down to the Ohio
River, were bringing terror to all the
western country.
Thus trans-Alleghany supplies and men were
pre-
vented from aiding the Revolutionists
in the East. With
life on the western border in constant
jeopardy, it was
difficult to induce the pioneer to
enlist in the regular
army to fight a distant king when the
enemy at his
door was threatening his own fireside
and family.
Events fully as potent if not so
spectacular as those
in the East were being and to be
enacted in this western
territory. To check this strategy,
destroy the British
power in the Northwest Territory and
preserve it for the
Colonial Confederacy became the aim of
an heroic young
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Virginian, who now began to loom large
in the Revolu-
tionary picture.
The stage was the Ohio country with its
outraged
frontier homes; the actors, the enraged
frontiersmen
fighting against savages armed with
tomahawks and
scalping knives, aroused and encouraged
by the British
--General Hamilton at Detroit, the
Canadian Governor-
General, and the cabinet in London
marshalling com-
bined English and Indian forces, in the
Ohio forests.
The situation demanded a supreme
effort, vision and
strong far-sighted leadership.
As another has well said, "It was
given to George
Rogers Clark, the 'Washington of the
West' then a
young man of twenty-six, to rescue this
domain, so cov-
eted by England, from the latter's
possession."
Clark's campaigns were well planned and
from the
start showed conspicuous foresight. His
first strategy
was to descend the Ohio and attack the
British fort and
forces at Kaskaskia and then proceed to
Detroit.
The threatened Ohio territory was part
of Virginia.
Governor Patrick Henry and his
counselors approved
Clark's plan, but Virginia was unable
to furnish him
either men or money because all
resources were engaged
in the eastern campaigns. They did give
Clark a com-
mission as colonel, with authority to
raise companies
of fifty men each, to be enrolled from
the frontier coun-
try west of the Blue Ridge "so as
not to weaken the
people of the seacoast region in their
struggle against the
British."
These Virginia backwoodsmen, being
joined by
Simon Kenton, under Clark, carried on
successful cam-
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State 635
paigns against Kaskaskia and Vincennes,
the strong
posts of the British.
The year after these victories, Clark
undertook the
historic campaign against the Shawnee
Indians and
their confederates at the village of
Piqua near Spring-
field. Clark had learned that the
British forces from
Detroit planned joining the Indians at
this point to at-
tack the Americans, and that British
agents in prepara-
tion for the attack were at Piqua
sharpening the In-
dians' tomahawks and getting into shape
other war
equipment. He also learned that to
supply food the In-
dians along Mad River were growing
hundreds of acres
of corn.
On August 8, 1780, with an army of 100
Regulars
and 1,000 Kentucky frontiersmen, Clark
made an attack
on Piqua, completely routing the
Indians and burning
their village after a hard fought
battle lasting many
hours. This battle freed the Ohio River
territory and
Kentucky frontier, from the Indian
menace.
This victory was as important in the
outcome of the
American Revolution as was Yorktown in
the East. It
was the final determining factor with
the American com-
missioners in Paris, in insisting that
the boundary line
between the British and Americans should
be along the
Lakes instead of the Ohio River.
On the George Rogers Clark monument
overlooking
the site of the Battle of Piqua,
appears the following ap-
propriate inscription:
"Here General George Rogers Clark
with his Ken-
tucky soldiers defeated and drove from
this region the
Shawnee Indians August 8, 1780, and
aided to make the
Northwest Territory a part of the
United States."
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Stirring indeed were the events and
encounters all
over the State in the bitterly
contested war between the
British-Indian allies and the
Colonists, and so intimately
interwoven were they with Revolutionary
history, as to
leave no doubt of the great part Ohio
was playing in
making America a free and independent
nation.
Finally the famous Peace Treaty of 1783
was signed
in Paris, making the Lakes the boundary
line between
Canada and the United States instead of
the Ohio River,
as England insisted it should be. In
New England and
the East, the war ended in fact, but in
the trans-Alle-
ghany country it was to continue in a
desultory and san-
guinary way for some thirteen years to
come.
The Government of the United States
went into ef-
fect under the constitution in 1789.
While the new re-
public was busily engaged in adjusting
its domestic af-
fairs, an Indian confederation was
formed in the region
of the Maumee River, that seriously
challenged the
sovereign power of the new nation in
the Northwest
Territory.
The issue assumed an international
aspect when it
became known that the British were
aiding the Indians,
supplying them with munitions of war, and
the contest
became one between England on the one
hand and the
United States on the other. The Government at
Washington knew that an Indian victory
would expose
the settlements west of the Alleghanies
to the firebrand
and the tomahawk, and afford Great
Britain the oppor-
tunity to recover the territory without
conquest and to
annex it to her Canadian dominion.
Consequently a number of campaigns
against the
Indians were undertaken, several of
which were disas-
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State 637
trous. Finally one under General
Anthony Wayne was
organized by the Government, under
orders from Presi-
dent Washington. General Wayne marched
north from
Fort Washington, Cincinnati, in 1793,
and completely
defeated the Indians in their last
grand stand at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers on the banks
of the Maumee.
This march convinced the Indians that
the United
States was determined to exercise the
powers of sover-
eignty over her own territory. It
demonstrated to the
British that a growing national
consciousness would no
longer countenance the occupation of
American terri-
tory by a foreign power. The treaty of
Greenville, 1795,
followed, and the sovereign power of
the United States
over this territory was never again
seriously challenged.
Commodore Perry's memorable victory
over the
English on Lake Erie in 1813 closed
this period of
Ohio's history. This defeat of the
British was the first
that proud nation ever suffered on the
sea. Perry's la-
conic report of this victory, "We
have met the enemy
and they are ours," has become
historic.
The various marches and campaigns of
this period
through western Ohio are now to become
Ohio's Revo-
lutionary Memorial Trails.
A growing consciousness of the
importance of these
movements and a desire to preserve the
historic spots de-
cided the last Ohio Legislature to pass
the bill creating
The Ohio Revolutionary Memorial
Commission, which
for the past two years has been busily
engaged in locating
the trails of the twenty or more
marches, and preparing
to set up historic markers at the many
places of im-
portance. The plans of the Commission
also contem-
plate, as part of the Ohio Legislative
Act, an appropriate
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
celebration of the Sesqui-Centennial of
the Piqua battle
next fall, to be participated in by
Ohio and the National
Government. This celebration promises
to be one of
the most outstanding of its kind ever
held in the State,
as its importance suggests it should
be.
In 1787 the Continental Congress
perfected the sys-
tem of government for the Northwest
Territory known
as the Ordinance of 1787. General
Arthur St. Clair was
appointed by Congress as the first
governor. With him
were associated three judges, viz.:
Rufus Putnam, John
Cleves Symmes and George Turner. These
four for ten
years exercised executive, legislative
and judicial powers.
These ten years of the Territory's
history were eco-
nomic and industrial rather than
political. It was a
decade of Indian wars, of migration, of
settlement and
development, of home-seeking and
home-building.
Of the immigrants who came into Ohio at
this time
there were two distinct classes
politically,--those who
came from the East and those who came
from the South.
The pioneers from the Federalist
states, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and others, settled in
eastern Ohio, making
the towns of Marietta and Cleveland the
centers of the
Federalist party; while the Cavaliers
or Republicans
from Virginia and Kentucky settled in
central and
western Ohio, making Chillicothe the
center of Repub-
licanism.
The character of Governor St. Clair's
government
was autocratic. Culprits were punished
by fines, the pil-
lory or the stocks, and people were put
into prison or sold
into slavery for debt. Everywhere and
in every case the
will of the Governor was absolute. The
immigrants
from the East were accustomed to the
rigorous regula-
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State 639
tion of lives by law. On the other
hand, the adventure-
some frontiersmen of western Virginia
and Kentucky,
unaccustomed to administrative control,
chafed under
its restrictions. These two types were
to develop two
factions which dominated the political
thought of the
Territory for many years.
The Territory grew rapidly in
population. By 1798
it contained 5,000 free male
inhabitants of full age,
which was the number, according to the
Ordinance of
1787, required for the establishment of
a Territorial
Legislature. Accordingly the first
General Assembly of
the Northwest Territory was called and
met in Cincin-
nati in September, 1799, to inaugurate
representative
government.
It is worth reviewing, and should be a
matter of
pride to every Ohioan, that this first
General Assembly,
that had the responsibility of shaping
the organization
of Ohio, was composed of men of high
character, who
wrought into the fabric of our
Commonwealth advanced
principles of representative
government.
All the organized counties sent their
representatives.
From Washington County came Return
Jonathan Meigs,
later chief justice of Ohio, United
States senator, and
governor; and Paul Fearing, a man of
high standing and
ability.
Hamilton County sent among its
representatives
Judge Burnet and William McMillan,
college graduates
and distinguished lawyers; John Smith,
a Baptist pastor,
and James Findlay, both influential
leaders of their day.
Ross County was represented by three
distinguished
Virginians who became outstanding
leaders, Edward
Tiffin, Thomas Worthington and Samuel
Findlay.
640 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Adams County sent Joseph Darlinton and
Nathaniel
Massie, both able men.
Jefferson County aided in shaping the
course of leg-
islation through David Vance and James
Pritchard. To
these and a comparatively few other men
was committed
the future of the great State of Ohio.
The intellect and leadership of this
group in this
creative period early made an impress
on the State and
the young Nation. Of this remarkable
group, special
mention should be made of Edward Tiffin
and Thomas
Worthington. The work of Tiffin in the
development
of Ohio has not been excelled in her
history. As speaker
of the House of the first General
Assembly, Tiffin aided
in administering the first rebuke to
slavery in the Terri-
tory, and later assisted as United
States Senator in giv-
ing it its death blow. Worthington, as
United States
senator from Ohio, introduced into
American politics the
policy of internal improvements being
jointly federal
and state projects. He was the first to
advocate East and
West highways, and transportation by
canals where
practical. These progressive ideas of
Worthington en-
tered into and became important
elements of our national
and state policy.
During the summer of 1801, agitation
over the ques-
tion of statehood began. After days of
dissension in
Congress, the Ohio Enabling Act was
passed on April 9,
1802, and on November 1 of the same
year the Con-
stitutional Convention met at
Chillicothe, and selected
Edward Tiffin as president. Under the
Constitution
adopted by this Assembly, slavery was
prohibited; no
hereditary privileges were allowed;
electors were to be
white; state boundaries were fixed;
schools for equal
Along the Pathway of a Great
State 641
participation of poor children, and
incorporation of lit-
erary societies, were provided.
An act providing for the extension of
the authority
of the United States to the State of
Ohio was passed by
Congress and approved by the President
February 19,
1803, but federal officers for the
judicial district of Ohio
were not appointed until March 1, 1803,
and state offi-
cers were not inaugurated until two
days later. Edward
Tiffin, Anti-Federalist, was elected
Ohio's first governor.
Ohio was now an organized state, the
first carved
out of the Northwest Territory. Into
the new state
strong vigorous men, many of them
leading citizens in
their native sections, were coming from
the East and
South to seek homes--often to restore
fortunes lost dur-
ing the Revolution--the New Englanders
settling at
Marietta and on the lands of the Ohio
Company; Vir-
ginians between the Little Miami and
Scioto Rivers;
New Jersey groups locating on the
Symmes tract be-
tween the Big and Little Miami rivers;
Pennsylvanians
selecting the Seven Ranges tract;
Connecticut and New
York colonists, the Western Reserve.
Among these settlers many educated men
came from
New England's noted colleges with the
Bible in one hand
and a school-book in the other. They
built their log
cabins and erected schoolhouses and
churches. Fre-
quently the schoolhouse became an
academy and later a
college. Thus the first generation of
Ohio state pioneers,
possessing a wonderful capacity for
development and
self government, planted their ideals;
and in this new
Ohio, the early proclaimed land of free
schools, free wor-
ship, and free discussion, the ideas
and blood of the
Puritan intermingled with the ideas and
blood of the
Vol. XL--41.
642 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Cavalier. No better blood was ever
given to found a
state.
Ryan calls this the heroic age of Ohio;
the period of
felling the forests; tilling the soil;
subduing the Indians;
repelling a foreign invader;
establishing popular gov-
ernment; creating many centers of
common interest and
building a fine, resolute, independent
citizenship, capable
of thinking, acting and originating,
who rapidly laid
deep and strong the foundation of the
State.
It was the far-seeing General Assembly
of 1820 that
inaugurated by law the Ohio plan of
internal improve-
ments, also the state educational
system.
Building of canals was inaugurated and
in less than
fifty years after Ohio became a State,
she had approxi-
mately 1023 miles of state and private
canals. For
thirty years these water-ways were the
great controlling
factors in increasing commerce,
manufacturing and pop-
ulation. Through their influence villages
became cities,
farming was made profitable and the
trade and resources
of the world were opened to Ohio,
converting her into a
state of great wealth and prosperity.
Alfred Kelley, the first canal
commissioner of Ohio,
now scarcely remembered, accomplished
as much for the
material prosperity of the State as any
other man in her
history.
The Ohio Common School law, as finally
perfected
and passed in February 1826, was the
greatest educa-
tional work in the history of the
State. The policy and
system commenced by Ephraim Cutler in
1819, revised
and agitated in 1821 by Caleb Atwater,
was made a fact
by Nathaniel Guilford in 1825. To these
three men and
to Samuel Lewis, Ohio's first state
school superinten-
Along the Pathway of a Great
State 643
dent, who supplemented their work, Ohio
owes the be-
ginning of her wonderful school system,
which chal-
lenges the admiration of the nation.
Besides her public
schools she has more universities and
colleges than any
other state in America, making her an
educational
leader.
I have suggested along Ohio's pathway
some points
of interest both in the historic and
pre-historic periods.
She had a wonderful beginning as a
State.
It would require volumes to record even
in brief
form all that Ohio now possesses in
material resources
and development.
Today Ohio is the third state of the
Union in man-
ufactures, iron and steel manufacturing
standing first
among the industries.
In appraising Ohio's development, it is
only neces-
sary to remember that the State has a
greater number
of prosperous industrial communities
than any similar
area in America.
Ohio is and will continue to be one of
the most im-
portant mineral states in the Union.
She has for a cen-
tury held the position as one of the
great coal-producing
regions of the world. Her clays and
shales make her
the center of the ceramic industry of
the United States.
In natural resources the State has,
besides coals and
clays, water, wood, iron, oil, natural
gas, and thousands
of acres of fertile land, making it
possible to feed her
people from her own soil.
Ohio's industrial importance goes hand
in hand with
her commanding commerce and
agriculture. She was
one of the first states to begin
railway construction.
Practically every great
transcontinental line of America
644
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
passes through the State. A network of
trolley, auto-
bus and truck lines covers Ohio. These
together with
the rivers and lakes are sources of
immense wealth to
the State. Her surface and location are
such that the
commercial air-lines of the future must
traverse her
borders.
But remarkable as is Ohio's position in
her natural
resources, her industries and physical
aspects, her great-
est asset is her manhood and womanhood.
On the State Capitol grounds in
Columbus, stands a
beautiful monument inscribed "Our
Jewels." Around
the central shaft appear in striking
poses, seven of Ohio's
great men--Grant, Sherman, Sheridan,
Stanton, Chase,
Garfield, Hayes--all actors in the
greatest crisis of our
nation. This monument in a striking way suggests
Ohio's pride in her distinguished sons.
Three of this
group were Presidents of the United
States: Grant, our
greatest soldier, who in the Civil War as
commander-in-
chief of the Northern Army saved the
Union; Garfield,
the teacher, scholar and brilliant
orator; Hayes, whose
courageous stand when President, on a
policy of pacifi-
cation, sound money and resumption of
specie payment,
entitled him to a place in the highest
statesmanship of
the Nation; William T. Sherman, leading
the great con-
solidated armies of the west from
victory to victory,
ending the war; and Philip H. Sheridan,
acknowledged
as the first cavalry general of the
Continent, foremost in
enforcing the surrender of Lee.
The other two of the "Jewel
group" meant as much
to Ohio as did the presidents or the
warriors.
Edwin M. Stanton, as President
Lincoln's secretary
of war, is classed as the greatest
executive of that period.
Along the Pathway of a Great
State 645
The great Salmon P. Chase, as secretary
of the treasury,
successfully administered the finances
of the Govern-
ment during the trying Civil War
period,--carrying the
Nation and its armies through financial
expenditures
without a parallel, with a security and
public confidence
without precedent in the world's
military history.
These seven great Ohioans are only
representative of
scores and hundreds of Ohio's sons who
have won un-
dying fame and made great contributions
to their State
and the Nation by their achievements.
Besides the three presidents in the
group, Ohio has
given to the Nation five other
distinguished presidents
entitling her to share with Virginia
the honor of the
"Mother of Presidents."
In the roll of the commanders in the
Civil War, Ohio
leads all the States of the Union. All
the great military
divisions were at one time or another
led by Ohio gen-
erals.
Jay Cooke, an eminent Ohio banker, as
adviser to
Secretary Chase, was familiarly called
the "Robert Mor-
ris of the Rebellion." The war
finances were so ably
managed that a Southern leader of the
Rebellion asserted
the Treasury Department of the Union
and not the War
Department, had defeated the South.
In the later conflicts Ohio also made
great contribu-
tions. It is Springfield's pride to
recall the great part
played by our distinguished citizen,
General J. Warren
Keifer along with others in the
Spanish-American War.
As Whitelaw Reid well said, "It
seems right that the
history of such services and such
devotion of Ohio's
sons, in the whole magnificent offering
to the nation's
causes, should be specially
preserved." As George
646
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Rogers Clark, on Ohio soil, saved the
Northwest Terri-
tory to the nation, so Ohio in a very
large sense pre-
served the Union. Whatever the cause,
there is no ques-
tion of the inherent capacity and
natural and acquired
ability which have enabled Ohio to give
to the Nation
many great and useful men during the
present century.
It is not only true in the furnishing
of presidents of the
nation and great military leaders but
in every sphere of
advancing civilization the Ohio man is
found the world
over. She has produced a great galaxy
of men and
women--national and international
leaders--in prac-
tically every field of endeavor.
In invention Ohio holds an unrivaled
position. She
points with great pride to Charles F.
Brush, who back
in the early 'seventies invented the
are electric light, the
first electric light system in the
world; to Thomas Alva
Edison's greatest invention, the
incandescent electric
lamp, which has brought light into dark
places and
turned night into day the world over;
to Charles M. Hall,
who discovered and patented the process
of obtaining
pure aluminum from clays.
The Wright Brothers, Orville and
Wilbur, our
neighbors, were the first to solve the
problem of aviation
and open the highways of the air to
navigation.
These great Ohioans have added untold
wealth to
the Nation and have made contributions
to mankind, out
of their nourishings in Ohio, that have
indebted the
world and all future generations to
them.
No less of a leader has Ohio been in
cultural devel-
opment. As early as 1796 a public
library was estab-
lished at Belpre, near Marietta, from
its first settlement
the center of an educated, cultured
class of people from
Along the Pathway of a Great
State 647
New England. Cincinnati's first library
opened in 1802
and the famous "Coonskin
Library" in Athens County
began circulating its precious volumes
in the backwoods
in 1804. The first chartered public
library in the State
was the one at Dayton.
It may be said truly that Ohio is a
vital member of
the National Republic of letters. In
every field of in-
tellectual endeavor, the literary men
and women from
every section of the State have
furnished a most com-
mendable contribution of noteworthy
literary effort.
Among journalists who wielded an
influence not only
in Ohio but the nation, should be
mentioned Murat
Halstead and Whitelaw Reid.
In the realms of science, Dr. Jared P.
Kirtland,
naturalist, honored by Agassiz; William
S. Sullivant,
botanist and bryologist of
international fame, and
Ormsby M. Mitchel, the astronomer, may
be mentioned
among the many who have brought
distinction to their
State.
Many outstanding treatises in law and
medicine have
been contributed by the learned men of
these professions
in Ohio--Judges Timothy Walker, Charles
H. Scribner,
Joseph R. Swan and others, among the
lawyers; Doctors
Daniel Drake, George Mendenhall, George
W. Crile, and
others among the doctors, who have
gained national and
international reputations.
Among a great host of preachers and
divines who
attained leading positions in the
religious thought of
America, are Lyman Beecher,* John Henry
Barrows,*
Isaac M. Wise,* Washington Gladden,*
Charles F.
Thwing,* David Swing and Frank W.
Gunsaulus.
* These and others named on this page
were not born in Ohio. [Ed.]
648 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
While great financiers, captains of
industry like Mar-
cus A. Hanna, James Gamble and Eliam E.
Barney are
not included in the Ohio
"Jewel" monument group, who
is there that would not agree that
these and thousands
of other great organizers, have been
the real forces bind-
ing together the remarkable sheaf of
great men during
the State's history? But why try to
enumerate all the
great ones ?
Among many important movements for
world bet-
terment that originated in Ohio may be
named the
Woman's Temperance Crusade, which began
in Hills-
boro in 1873. It promptly spread to
other cities, includ-
ing Springfield, under the leadership
of "Mother"
Stewart. This led late in the following
year to the or-
ganization in Cleveland, Ohio, of the
National Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, which has
grown into the
largest society for women in the world.
The Anti-Saloon League was organized in
Oberlin
in 1894. Whatever we may think of its
policies we must
recognize that the League has been an
active influence
in combating the saloon evil not only
in Ohio but
throughout the Nation. The Community
Chest idea for
organized charities started in Elyria,
as well as the In-
ternational Crippled Children's
Movement. Civil Serv-
ice Reform began in Ohio--George H.
Pendleton, one of
our leading statesmen was its first
eminent advocate.
The Good Roads Movement is also an Ohio
idea, Martin
Dodge being the first exponent.
Ohio men and movements, during the
entire state-
hood period, have been at the forefront
in the Nation's
life. A study of her resources,
location and pioneers
makes the reasons not far to seek.
Along the Pathway of a Great State 649 Murat Halstead once said: "In addition to the heroic qualities of the immigrants who possessed Ohio, there seemed to be influences of soil and climate, of air and waters, of the fruitful woods and living streams; and there was by the mighty magic of creation in the brains and blood, the tissue and sinew of men, and the grace and faith of women, that yielded growth in manhood and womanhood in a race equal to the founding of a mighty State." Is it any wonder Ohio has occupied the center of the stage in the great majority of dramas that have been enacted in our national history, calling forth from Chauncey M. Depew the facetious remark: "Some men are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them, and some are born in Ohio." The pathway widens. Marching forward on it are the future presidents, great generals, inventors, scien- tists, financiers, educators, executives, literary and pro- fessional men and women, scores upon scores of Ohio's jewels. Conscious of her wonderful and varied re- sources, both in nature and men; proud of her marvel- ous past and confident of her future greatness, with the pathway filled with this mighty moving concourse, who would presume to foretell the progress of our great State in another century? |
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