Ohio History Journal

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OHIO IN McGUFFEY'S TIME*

OHIO IN McGUFFEY'S TIME*

 

By GEORGE W. RIGHTMIRE

 

Indians--Wayne's Treaty, 1795

The Ohio of McGuffey's time was very new; it began in

1788 at Marietta, and the next year at Cincinnati, but little prog-

ress was possible until Territorial issues were settled with the

Indians--not only the Indians, but the British, who held many

posts long after the Treaty of 1783, in violation thereof, and

exerted a strong influence over the northwest country.

After suffering two severe defeats from the Indians in this

Territory, the United States Government sent a strong force

under Anthony Wayne, and the Indians were routed at Fallen

Timbers in 1794. At the same time John Jay was treating with

England for the evacuation of these posts on the frontier, and

when Wayne made the Treaty of Greenville with the Indians the

next year, British aid was gone, the Indians stood alone, defeated,

and the treaty cleared the present State of Ohio of Indians south

of a line connecting Fort Recovery and East Liverpool.

 

Early Settlements--Cultural Centers

This free and peaceful area included all the rivers emptying

into the Ohio practically to their northern watershed. Over thirty

thousand square miles of virgin forest and rich agricultural lands

became available for the wave of settlers which had been impeded

by Indian hostility, and squatter, surveyor, speculator, and bona

fide pioneer came with questing eye and giant strides to exploit

the new lands.

Marietta became the center of New England culture, and

just how effective was this influence in southeastern Ohio may be

read in Wayne Jordan's careful, many-angled analysis in the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly of March, 1940.

 

* Address before the Columbus McGuffey Society at its Annual Meeting, March

26, 1940.

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