THE DEBT OF THE WEST TO WASHINGTON.
BY ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT.
To us of the central west the memory of
Washington and
his dearest ambitions must be precious
beyond that of any other
American, whether statesman, general or
seer. Under strange
providential guidance the mind and heart
of that first American
was turned toward the territories lying
between the Alleghenies
and the Mississippi and it is to be
doubted if any other portion
of his country received so much of his
attention and study as
this. Washington was the original
expansionist-not for ex-
pansion's sake, truly, but for the
country's sake and duty's. If
Washington was the father of his country
he was in a stronger
and more genuine sense the father of the
west. It was begot-
ten of him. Others might have led the
revolutionary armies
through the valleys as deep and dark as
those through which
Washington passed, and have eventually
fought England to
a similar standstill as did Washington;
at least Gates and Greene
and Putnam would never have surrendered
up the cause of the
colonies. But of the west who knew it as
Washington did?
Who saw its possibilities, realized the
advantages which would
accrue to the colonies from its
possession, understood the part
it might play in the commercial
development of the seaboard
states? Probably no one to a similar
degree.
It is wholly idle to speculate upon what
might have been
unless such speculation aids to help us
realize the price which
was paid for that which is. If ever a
finger was lifted by order
of Providence it was the finger which
fired the first gun of the
French and Indian war in that Allegheny
vale. And yet today
what would the Washington of 1754 be
called-fighting redskins
and foreigners with splendid relish in a
far distant portion of
the country to gain possession of a
pathless wilderness?
Washington had, first, an extraordinary
knowledge of the
west which he championed. Into Lord
Fairfax's wild acres
he went in his teens to earn an honest
doubloon a day. Each
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206
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
step of the young Washington in those
early years was frought
with the weight of destiny itself, and
never has human life showed
more plainly the very hand of God
directing, preparing, guiding.
The years spent with the tripod were of
incalculable value to
the young surveyor, bringing to his
cheeks the brown of the
forest leaves, to his limbs the strength
of the mountain rivers,
and to his heart withal the sweetness of
the songs of moun-
tain birds-for all the University of
Nature which he attended
in the Allegheny mountains saw to it
that her pupil was built
up in a most holy strength, as he had in
him the most holy
faith-strength of limb, of mind, as well
as soul.
Then the young man stepped upon the
stage of history
- not indirectly or obscurely or
undecidedly, but plain to the
world and strong in his conviction of
the right of his cause and
its ultimate triumph. His mission to La
Boeuf for Governor
Dinwiddie marks the young Washington
conspicuously as a
man fully alive to the questions of the
hour and their hidden
meanings. In an unostentatious way he allowed the com-
mander of Fort Venango to imbibe too
freely and rail
with many an oath at English presumption
in hoping to oust
France from the Ohio valley. Oh that we
might know in detail
the young man's experience and feelings
on that one night on
the Allegheny! What an example to young
men is this first
public performance of Washington to do
as much more than
their mere duty as lies in their power!
Washington did far
more than was expected of him, for
besides getting a clear idea
of the genuineness of French hostility,
did he not report the
strategic value of the point of land at
the junction of the
Allegheny and Monongahela, the future
sight of Forts Dupuesne
and Pitt and the present Pittsburg? And
that point of land
has been since Washington's attention
was turned to it, the stra-
tegic military position of the central
west.
As in the first, so in the second act of
the drama of 1750-
60, Washington was the chief figure. He
signed the first
treaty ever drawn up in the central
west, with old Van Braam
and Villiers in a misty rain at Fort
Necessity. When, in quick
succession, the French fortified the spot
Washington's genius
had selected for a British fort, and the
brave but blundering
The Debt of the West to Washington. 207 Braddock came to his grave in the Monongahela forests, Wash- ington was perhaps the most conspicuous personage at the bloody ford and battle field. |
When, then, in 1759, the young Colonel took his bride, Martha Custis, to Mount Vernon, he was well acquainted with the then west, though it might seem that thereafter its destiny and his were to be indifferent to each other. But not so. The days that were passed in his early struggles for fame and fortune |
208 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
were not forgotten. In the quiet of his
farm life the man could
still hear the rippling of the Allegheny
streams and the sough-
ing of those great forests, and many of
his day dreams found
their setting in the rough free land, on
whose Indian trails and
in whose meadow lands he had first touched hands with
fortune. Washington's seven or eight
thousand acres near the
Potomac were not his only landed
possessions. He counted
his estates in far western Pennsylvania,
along the Ohio and the
Great Kanawha. Something of his interest
in and solicitation
for the future of the west must be
attributed to his interest in
his own possessions. But his efforts for
the west benefited
every acre of land and every
insignificant squatter, and no one
can say with a shadow of reason that
Washington's hope for
the west was a selfish hope. But his
personal interest must not
be forgotten by the fair narrator.
Together with his personal
interest must be mentioned the state
pride which Washington had
-and which every healthy, hopeful,
patriotic man should have.
Washington was a Virginian of Virginians
and in view of the
vast interests which his native state
had in the west (granted
by ancient charter) his state pride and
ambition must have
had large appreciable influence in his
contemplation of western
affairs. Prior to the Revolution it may
be said that Washing-
ton's interest in the west was largely a
personal interest. He
visited it at various times in his own
and in the interest of others.
And after the Revolution his interest
may be said to have broad-
ened- proportionately with the
broadening importance of the
central west to the nation whose best
interests were ever nearest
his patriotic heart. Early in the 80s
Washington's correspon-
dence shows that his attention was
devoted as never before to
the commercial aspect of the central
west. As we read those
letters how strangely do the problems of
transportation, for
instance, seem to us of this day. How
the sight of a single fast
freight speeding from Chicago to
Pittsburg would have knocked
the bottom out of the fondest theories
of the great and wise men
who were at the nation's helm in those
days! It is well known
how great transportation companies
struggle to get and hold
certain strategic acres of land only
wide enough, it may be,
for a single railway track. Can anyone
believe that any por-
The Debt of the West to Washington. 209 tion of this central west between the Allegheny and Mississippi; covered with swamps and primeval forests, could have been so greatly prized a century and a quarter ago? Yet this was |
true. It was not the river front at Cincinnati, or the lake shore at Cleveland or Chicago. These spots then could have been bought for the shortest songs-and what was in that day con- sidered of priceless value could today be bought for $30 an |
210
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
acre. I refer to the portages between
the head waters of the
streams which flow into the lakes and
those which flow into
the Ohio-between the Cuyahoga and the
Muskingum, the Scioto
and the Sandusky, the Maumee and the
Wabash, etc. So all-
important were these strips of land in
the eyes of our forefathers,
that by the famous Ordinance of 1787
they were voted by con-
gress "common highways and forever
free". Some of these
I have found; of some of them I have
detailed descriptions given
by aged men, who remember them when they
were only zig-zag
Indian trails. But this was one of
Washington's most deter-
mined ambitions, that the head waters of
the Virginia rivers
and the head waters of the Oho rivers,
both north and south,
should be surveyed and made ready for
the century when the
west should pour its riches toward the
Atlantic seaboard. "The
navigation of the Ohio." he wrote
in 1784 to General Harrison,
"being well known, they will have
less to do in examination
of it; but, nevertheless, let the
courses and distances be taken
to the mouth of the Muskingum and up
that river to the carry-
ing place of the Cuyahoga; down the
Cuyahoga to Lake Erie,
and thence to Detroit. Let them do the
same with Big Bea-
ver creek and with the Scioto. In a
word, let the waters east
and west of the Ohio which invite our
notice by their proxim-
ity, and by the ease with which land
transportation may be had
between them and the lakes on the one
side, and the rivers
Potomac and James on the other, be
explored, accurately de-
lineated and a correct and corrected map
of the whole be pre-
sented to the public. * * * The object
in my estimation
is of vast commercial and political
importance." These words
were written little over a century ago,
but were they the plans
for the canals from the Nile to the site
of the pyramids they
could hardly seem more antiquated! And
nevertheless they
cannot but seem precious to us of the
central west, for they portray
the anxious, serious heart of the man,
and his honest, high am-
bitions for things which seemed to many
about him to be the
idlest dreaming.
Had Washington not held far different
views from many
of his contemporaries, it is a moral
certainty that the central
west would, at the close of the
Revolutionary war, have been
The Debt of the West to
Washington. 211
divided up among European powers, who
for so long had been
sending emissaries to Kentucky and the
Mississippi valley to
alienate the border settlements from the
contemplated union with
the colonies. England was ready at any
moment to urge Joseph
Brant into Pontiac's old role of
attemptingto arouse the old north-
west, and she defiantly kept her flag
floating over Sandusky
and Detroit and Fort Miami for twenty
years after Cornwallis'
bands played "The world's turned
upside down" at Yorktown.
The world looked for a partition of our
west among the powers
in 1780 as confidently as the partition
of the great hulk China
is expected by many today. And indeed we
escaped such mon-
trous catastrophe by a narrower margin
than is commonly known.
Spanish agents among high Kentuckians
were looked upon with
favor, and their plan of joining
Kentucky to Spain (who then
held all the trans-Mississippi realm)
was not without advantages
which the struggling, bankrupt, jealous
colonies, one "nation
today, thirteen tomorrow," could
not possibly offer.
With this glimpse of Washington's
ambitions for the com-
mercial advancement of the central west,
let us notice his subse-
quent interest in the military
operations for its subjugation,
an item which even the farseeing
Washington had not fully
anticipated. At the time of Crawford's
campaign, Washington
was fully in favor of the advance toward
Sandusky, and it was
through his influence or suggestion that
the command was
given to his old friend of Revolutionary
days, Colonel William
Crawford. True, Crawford was duly
elected by the men he
led, but his presence in the expedition
was due to Washington's
influence. When the immortal Ordinance
was under discus-
sion Washington's attitude was strong in
its favor, and it incor-
porated, as has already been shown, his
idea of the value of
the portages between the rivers as the
future routes of com-
merce. During the long and bitter war
with the western In-
dians, 1790-5, Washington had a clearer
vision than the most of
his advisers, and with better judgment
and knowledge sought to
gain the ends best for the nation. His
"search for a man" was
nearly as pathetic as was Lincoln's in
another century, but,
despite the intense opposition of
Kentucky with its seventy thous-
and inhabitants, he placed Mad Anthony
Wayne in command,
212 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
who, in the tall grass and felled trees
of Fallen Timbers, justi-
fied his choice, as Appomattox justified
Lincoln's. After
the campaign of 1791 under Harmar and
the terrible defeat of
the brave St. Clair, Washington was the
hope of the west. To
him the nation looked with that same
confidence shown in the
darker and more desperate days of the
Revolution. He bore the
the brunt of criticism and carried on
his great heart the sorrows
of the bleeding frontier. No one knew
better than he the real
meaning of the situation. No one saw
with clearer eyes the
despicable affiliation of British
interests with Indian in the last
hope of limiting the territories of the
upstart colonies to the land
east of the mountains. And, while Jay
was heroically working
for the treaty which at once quenched
the dreams of certain
British leaders in America, Washington
wrote him the whole
situation, as follows: "All the
difficulties we encounter with the
Indians, their hostilities, the murder
of helpless women and chil-
dren along all our frontiers result from
the conduct of the agents
of Great Britain in this country."
Truly Washington was in a special sense
the father of this
central west. It is idle to speculate on
what might have been its
history had it not been championed from
the earliest day by
this great farseeing man in whom the
people of the nation, as
a people, believed and trusted as
perhaps no leader in history,
with the possible exception of William
the Silent, has ever been
trusted by his countrymen. Many of
Washington's plans seem
strange to us of today, just in
proportion as the times and the cus-
toms of his day are strange to our eyes.
But his eye was clear, he
saw greater possibilities than many of
his advisors, his great
heart warmed toward the new west, which
in his day was sound-
ing with axes ringing a pioneer's
welcome to a new land. In
his heart of hearts Washington was led
to believe in and foresee
the dispensation of Providence which has
become the wonder of
our time. And this belief appeared not
in theorizing alone.
What could he do toward creating right
conceptions concerning
the future of the Mississippi Basin,
Washington did; and if he
had not so done and so believed it is
sure that the progress of
these great empires between the
Allegheny and the Mississippi
The Debt of the West to
Washington. 213
and the Great Lakes and the Blue Ridge
would not have been
what it has.
Has this been sufficiently realized?
Have we remembered
and appreciated our debt to Washington?
And when our united
appreciation of the fact influences
these imperial commonwealths
to put on record in lasting form the
gratitude which should be felt,
let the monument rise tall and stately
from whatever site may
seem appropriate, but let it show at the
summit the young man
Washington, as he was when he came to
know the west best.
Clothe him in the ranger's costume that
he first wore on the In-
dian trails of the Ohio valley. Place in
his hand the old time
musket he bore to Fort La Boeuf, or
carried in his canoe
down the Ohio to the Great Kanawha. That
is the WASHING-
TON OF THE WEST-the fearless, dutiful, thoughtful youth, who
came from his mother's knee to the west
that gave him a fame
which he never could outgrow.
THE DEBT OF THE WEST TO WASHINGTON.
BY ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT.
To us of the central west the memory of
Washington and
his dearest ambitions must be precious
beyond that of any other
American, whether statesman, general or
seer. Under strange
providential guidance the mind and heart
of that first American
was turned toward the territories lying
between the Alleghenies
and the Mississippi and it is to be
doubted if any other portion
of his country received so much of his
attention and study as
this. Washington was the original
expansionist-not for ex-
pansion's sake, truly, but for the
country's sake and duty's. If
Washington was the father of his country
he was in a stronger
and more genuine sense the father of the
west. It was begot-
ten of him. Others might have led the
revolutionary armies
through the valleys as deep and dark as
those through which
Washington passed, and have eventually
fought England to
a similar standstill as did Washington;
at least Gates and Greene
and Putnam would never have surrendered
up the cause of the
colonies. But of the west who knew it as
Washington did?
Who saw its possibilities, realized the
advantages which would
accrue to the colonies from its
possession, understood the part
it might play in the commercial
development of the seaboard
states? Probably no one to a similar
degree.
It is wholly idle to speculate upon what
might have been
unless such speculation aids to help us
realize the price which
was paid for that which is. If ever a
finger was lifted by order
of Providence it was the finger which
fired the first gun of the
French and Indian war in that Allegheny
vale. And yet today
what would the Washington of 1754 be
called-fighting redskins
and foreigners with splendid relish in a
far distant portion of
the country to gain possession of a
pathless wilderness?
Washington had, first, an extraordinary
knowledge of the
west which he championed. Into Lord
Fairfax's wild acres
he went in his teens to earn an honest
doubloon a day. Each
(205)