128 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Hurrah for our Country! May she ever be
free.
Hurrah for our Patriots! On land or on
sea,
Who gave this Liberty, to you and to me.
We will hold their deeds, and memory
bright,
While the Sun and the Moon give us this
light;
To their principles, we boys will be
true,
And we will live and die, for the Red,
White and Blue.
The speaker of the day was Hon. Henry J.
Booth, who de-
livered the following address:
ADDRESS OF HON. HENRY J. BOOTH.
In the midst of the greatest war that
has ever exposed the vices
and weaknesses of what we call
civilization, we have met to commem-
orate events which were a prelude to
another war, that ended at York-
town four generations ago. As to the
results of the present world-wide
conflict let us not attempt to
speculate, lest our opinions be colored by
our sympathies. But the heritage of the
American Revolution is known
of all men. The supreme outstanding fact
is that in the great family of
nations, for more than a hundred years
our people have enjoyed the
best fruits of civilization to a greater
extent than any other nation. And
now, in the great cataclysm of
destruction and passion in Europe, our
country is the one great neutral, when
enemies arrayed against each other
in the grapple of death are so many, and
neutrals are so few. Hence
when the present war is ended, whether
in victory or through exhaustion,
whether celebrated by triumphal entries
into conquered capitals, or termi-
nated by the mutual withdrawal of
shattered ranks from the blood-
soaked fields of conflict to their
homes, where nearly every house will be
a house of mourning, the influence of
America will be exerted to estab-
lish and maintain a world peace; and
America, more than ever before,
will be an asylum for the oppressed of
all nations.
A state as well as an individual is
endowed with a personality. Its
history may long antedate its birth as a
commonwealth. So it was with
the six states which were carved out of
the Northwest Territory. But,
in one respect at least, more than any
of the others, the history of Ohio
is unique. As a member of the sisterhood
of states its history commenced
in 1803. But much of its most important
history was written before that
time in events which fixed its status
and molded its character.
Among the most important events which
affected the early history
of the territory which we now call Ohio
were the organization of the
First Ohio Company in 1748, although the
grant to that company for six
hundred thousand acres was located on
the northern and southern banks
of the Ohio river, the treaty between
Lord Dunmore and the Indians in
1774, the adoption of the Ordinance of
1787, and the settlements during
colonial times of which the most
conspicuous was the one at Marietta.
Unveiling of the Cresap Tablet. 129
The First Ohio Company was composed
principally of influential men in
Maryland and Virginia, including General
Washington, Colonel Thomas
Cresap and Colonel George Mason. It was
the name of George Mason
which was given to Mason and Dixon's
Line, that for nearly two genera-
tions was the invisible line which
served as the northern boundary of the
slave states. Lord Dunmore's treaty,
concluded twenty-five years later, in
the shade of the giant elm under which
we now stand, on the eve of the
revolution, broke the power of the
Indians in what was then known as the
"Dark and Bloody Ground" north
of the Ohio River. The peace so se-
cured effectually protected Virginia and
the neighboring colonies for a
time at least from attacks in the rear
while they were forming a con-
federacy of the colonies and launching
the war of independence against
their white brethren across the sea.
In 1787 was secured the Magna Charta
which defined the rights of
the few who had already settled, and the
millions yet to come, in the great
Northwest Territory, from which slavery
was permanently excluded. So
fundamental were the rights thus granted
in perpetuity that even yet the
courts of Ohio recognize all provisions
of that great compact, which are
not repugnant to the constitution of the
state, as being still in force,
although granted fifteen years before
Ohio became a state. Prior to the
adoption of that ordinance, which was in
effect a constitution for six
central northern states, a few thousand
adventurous spirits had found
their way as traders and settlers among
the hills bordering the Ohio
River and into the fertile valleys of
the larger streams which flowed into
the Ohio River from both the north and
the south.
Within a few years after the civil
rights of the inhabitants north
of the river were fixed by law, colonies
composed of the best blood of
the states along the seaboard were
organized for the settlement of the
New West. The first and most conspicuous
of these was composed prin-
cipally of men and women of New England,
who settled at Marietta,
which marks the confluence of the
Muskingum and the Ohio. They were
soon followed by others who settled in
eastern, southeastern and southern
Ohio and later by colonists located
farther north and west.
It was thus that the heart of our
country was established in the
Central West comprising the states which
were carved out of the great
Northwest Territory. It is not in any spirit
of egotism that the men of
today pay tribute to their forbears who
commenced to write history for
us, on the soil of what is now Ohio,
more than a hundred and fifty years
ago.
The organization, development, growth
and prosperity of colonies,
far more than the history of states,
depend upon their natural leaders.
Those who are resolute, brave and strong
become by common consent
leaders in every great emergency,
whether in repelling force with force in
the acquisition or defense of new
territory, or in the settlement and devel-
opment of large areas of fertile soil so
acquired. Land is the ultimate
Vol. XXVI-9
130 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
source of all wealth. Therefore, whether
on the rocky shores of Massa-
chusetts, in the fertile valleys of
Virginia, in the more fertile valleys of
Ohio and in the prairie states farther
west, and on every other continent
as well as on this, the acquisition of
land, by those we call civilized from
those we call savage, has been the
potent cause of that ceaseless aggres-
sion to which neither precept nor
practice has yet placed a limit.
On land so acquired stands the little
cabin in which Lincoln was
born. now enclosed by a grateful people
in a magnificent granite memo-
rial building near Hodgenville,
Kentuckyy. So Washington's forbears
obtained their plantations east of the
Alleghenies. So Washington himself
acquired extensive tracts of land in
Western Pennsylvania. To this policy
the early settlers were indebted for the
site of every cabin, every church
and every school. As the result of the
inevitable race conflict between
the indigenous race which held the land
and those who wished to im-
prove it, one hundred million American
people are now enjoying peace
and plenty. The passing of the Indians
east of the Mississippi is pathetic
beyond words; but the problem of their
benevolent assimilation has never
yet been satisfactorily solved.
Sometimes it is quite as interesting and
instructive to read history
backward as to attempt to trace it
chronologically from cause to effect.
That method may furnish the better
perspective. A picture so drawn
may be more true to life. That is also
the quicker way when the facts
are not disputed. But what romantic
incident has ever been embodied
in history without challenge? What important event has been accepted
from first to last as first told? What
chapter of history has run the
gauntlet for the last time? Who knows?
The details of history are frequently
obscured by the inherent de-
fects of human testimony. At best
history is largely hearsay. As to
such testimony it is a rule of court,
that its probative force is subject to
the criticism, that statements are often
thoughtlessly made, imperfectly
heard, inaccurately remembered, and
carelessly detailed. If the historian
is too near to the events described he
fails to see their proportions and
their relationship to each other. If he
be too far away he finds that the
details have faded into the
uncertainties of mere tradition. Indeed, the
personal observations of honest and
intelligent men are not always re-
liable. This is illustrated by a story
told of Sir Walter Raleigh. It
relates to an incident which occurred
when, after losing the favor of
Queen Elizabeth, he was confined as a
prisoner in the Tower of London.
Quess Bess did not like her
distinguished courtier so well then as she
did when he threw his cloak on a muddy
pathway so that the Queen
could pass over it dryshod. If you have
ever visited the Tower you
must have observed that its thick stone
walls are pierced by high win-
dows, so narrow, however, that while a
prisoner could readily see what
occurred in the courtyard below, he
could not escape. While held a
prisoner there, so the story goes, Sir
Walter occupied his time writing a
history of England and her colonies. One
day, while looking down from
Unveiling of the Cresap Tablet. 131
his window, he saw something unusual
which especially attracted his
attention. Shortly afterwards a friend
called to see him and narrated
the incident as he observed it while
passing through the courtyard. Soon
another friend called and detailed the
incident as he saw it. Each of the
three had an entirely different version
of the affair from that narrated
by both of the others. Thereupon Raleigh
exclaimed, "If I cannot be-
lieve what my own eyes have seen, how
can I expect my countrymen to
believe events as narrated by me, many
of which I did not see?" So he
threw his manuscript into the fire.
Various causes conspired to distort the
history of our colonial he-
roes, whose activities were devoted to
subduing the forest and in com-
bating enemies at home, as well as in
repelling enemies from abroad,
and not in writing diaries.
Captain Michael Cresap made history but
did not write it. There-
fore, much that pertained to important
events in which he played a lead-
ing role were for a time lost in the
mists of the almost forgotten past
until they were rescued from oblivion by
the patient and persistent re-
search of members of the Cresap family and
by them restored to their
proper place in well authenticated
history.
Colonel Thomas Cresap, the founder of
the American family of that
name, was born in Yorkshire, England, in
1702; emigrated to the new
world at the age of fifteen; first
settled in Maryland on the Susque-
hanna, near what is now Havre de Grace;
became a surveyor; espoused
the cause of Lord Baltimore; surveyed
the line between Maryland and
Pennsylvania; shortly afterwards moved
to what is now called Old Town
in Western Maryland; acquired fourteen
hundred acres of land, and be-
came an Indian trader; was one of the
members of the First Ohio Com-
pany, which made the first English
settlement at Pittsburg; surveyed the
road from Cumberland to Pittsburg, over
which General Braddock's
army marched to its defeat; was colonel
of the Provincials from 1730
to 1770; in October, 1765, when the
Provincial Assembly adopted resolu-
tions against the Stamp Act, organized
the Sons of Liberty; was the
host of General Washington while on a
trip to visit the Ohio country;
took an active part in the border wars
with the Indians; was active in
making the most effective preparations
for the war of independence; was
a delegate to the first convention of
the Province of Maryland, which
met at Annapolis, June 22, 1774, and
proposed the first Continental Con-
gress; in the year 1775 served as a
member of the Committee of Obser-
vation of his county, to assist in
carrying out the plans of the new Con-
gress, and in raising money to buy arms
and ammunition; at the ad-
vanced age of 90 years made a business
trip to Nova Scotia; and died
in 1808 full of years and honors, at the
great age of 106 years.
Condensing a statement of Mrs. Mary
Louise Stevenson, one of his
descendants, and now the official
historian of the Cresap family:
132 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
"Colonel Cresap's voice has echoed
in the halls of Congress
through his descendants. On the Judge's
Bench, from legal forums,
and in Legislative Assemblies in most of
our states, including Ohio,
his descendants have served with the
hereditary wisdom for which
he was so esteemed in the Assemblies of
the Province and State of
Maryland. From that time to this on land
and sea they have proved
worthy of the example of the American
founder of the Cresap fam-
ily, in the war of 1812, in Sherman's
march to the sea, with Grant at
Vicksburg, Shiloh and Appomattox, at San
Juan Hill in Cuba and at
Manila, -where his children's children
to the seventh generation
have fought for "Old Glory,"
and supported the cause which he
loved and for which he suffered, the
cause of liberty, loyalty and
country."
Colonel Thomas Cresap had five children,
three sons, Daniel,
Thomas and Michael, and two daughters,
Sarah and Elizabeth, whose
descendants have been; and are, as
prominent and influential as they are
numerous. Michael Cresap, in whose honor
an appropriate historic me-
morial has been unveiled here today, was
the youngest and most dis-
tinguished son of Colonel Thomas Cresap.
He was born June 29, 1742,
in Allegheny County, Maryland. He was
sent to school in Baltimore,
but, finding his work uncongenial, he
left school without leave or license
and walked home, a distance of 140
miles. But the Colonel promptly gave
the truant Michael a severe flogging and
compelled him to walk back to
school, where he remained until his
studies were finished.
Soon after leaving school he married a
Miss Whitehead, of Phil-
adelphia, and the young pair, described
as being a little more than chil-
dren, established a modest home in the
mountains on or near the Colonel's
plantation.
All three of the sons were actively
engaged in Indian warfare, mak-
ing common cause with their father,
whose home, protected by a stockade,
was always a rallying point for all the
settlers in his neighborhood.
Daniel, a farmer, was twice married, and
the father of eleven chil-
dren. Thomas, the second son, while yet
a young man, was killed in a
battle with the Indians at the west foot
of Savage Mountain. He and
the Indian who shot him fired at each
other at the same instant, and both
fell dead. He was survived by a widow
and one child, Charity, of whom
the Cresaps of this state, in Fairfield,
Licking and Franklin Counties, are
lineal descendants.
Young Michael, son of Colonel Thomas,
soon after his marriage,
was established in business by his
father as a trader. Of his life for
the first few years after his marriage
we know but little. Abandoning
his business as a trader near the old
home, like Washington and many
others at that time, he became
interested in the rich bottom lands of the
Ohio Valley in Western Pennsylvania, and
later much farther down that
stream. About 1770 he took measures to
secure title to several hundred
Unveiling of the Cresap Tablet. 133
acres of land above Pittsburg by the
customary method then known as
"a tomahawk improvement." That was accomplished by girdling a few
trees and blazing others as evidence of possession and
ownership. It is
said that "in order that his act
and intention might not be misconstrued,"
he built a house of hewed logs with a
shingle roof nailed on, which is
believed to have been the first building
of that kind in that part of our
great domain west of the mountains.
During this period he was carrying on
his business as a frontier
trader and at the same time locating and
improving land for himself and
for others farther down the Ohio, below
Wheeling and finally as far west
as the mouth of the Scioto. For his last
expedition of this kind he left
Maryland early in the spring of 1774
with laborers employed to improve
the farms he located.
Of Captain Cresap's plans and purposes
we may adopt the estimate
of an author who made a careful study of
conditions during that critical
period, and expressed his views as
follows:
"He was there neither as a
speculator nor a land jobber, as
many of the emigrants of those days were
unjustly stigmatized.
His purpose was peaceful settlement, and
he is no more to be blamed
for his manly progress into the
wilderness in the quest of land,
than were Washington and many other
distinguished Americans of
those days who possessed themselves of
property in the prolific val-
leys of the west."
Hostile demonstrations and actual
conflicts between the pioneers and
the Indians, fomented by influences
which were not fully appreciated at
the time, and for which neither side was
responsible, became so frequent
and so alarming that the work of
peaceful settlement along both sides
of the Ohio River was perforce soon
practically abandoned, and the axe
and the surveyor's compass were
exchanged for the rifle.
In 1774 a state of actual warfare
existed. It was not a mere war
of races, but a prelude to a greater
war, the seven years' conflict between
men of the same race, the colonist and
the Briton. That phase of the
conflict which developed along the Ohio
and its tributaries in the spring
and early summer of 1774, and terminated
by a treaty on this spot a few
months later, has sometimes been called
"Cresap's War." If by that it
is meant that Captain Cresap instigated
the conflict, the phase is obviously
a misnomer. If it is used to imply that
Cresap led or directed certain
attacks which were exploited as excuses
for bloody reprisals, it is no less
a distortion of the verities of history.
But the history which some men
make is not always the history which
other men write.
Did Cresap's self interest lie on the
side of peace or of war? Did
he enlist an army for the invasion of
the Ohio country, or employ and
equip men to locate, survey and settle
plantations in its fertile valleys?
If they were enlisted to fight for the
Province, why were they not paid
134 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
by the Province? When nearly a hundred
white men, hunters and emi-
grants, believing that the Indians were
determined to make war, knowing
Cresap's experience in Indian warefare
farther east, as well as his in-
trepidity, his intelligence and his
skill in organization and leadership, in
the early spring of 1774 decided to
attack an Indian town called Horse-
Head Bottom on the Scioto River not far
from its junction with the
Ohio, and besought him to act as their
leader, who was it that counseled
peace, dissuaded them from their
purpose, and induced them to retire to
Wheeling? Captain Cresap. Who was it a
few days later that refused to
attend a conference with the Indian
Chief Kilbuck, lest he might be
tempted to kill that notorious
scalp-lifter who had lain in wait to kill his
father, Colonel Cresap? Michael Cresap,
the son. Who was it late in
April of that year that refused to
attack the Camp of Logan composed of
two or three men and a few women and
children? Captain Cresap.
Throughout his strenuous career Captain
Cresap displayed the essen-
tial qualities of the successful
soldier, not only in actual battle and in his
memorable march to Boston, but also in
recruiting only the best men,
and in personally looking after their
equipment, health and training. Like
all soldiers born to command, no details
were too small to receive his
constant personal attention. For
instance, it is recorded of him by one
of his soldiers, Abraham Thomas, that,
in what is known as "The Wo-
kotamica Campaign," in the early
summer of 1774, when four hundred
frontiersmen left Wheeling to attack the
Indians in their villages at
Wokotamica, "on the waters of the
Muskingum," on the night before the
battle:
"Captain Cresap was up the whole
night among his men, going
the rounds and cautioning them to keep
their arms in condition for
a morning attack which he confidently
expected."
Young Thomas describes his own
enlistment and his determination
to enter the service as follows:
"The collected force consisted of
four hundred men. I was
often at their encampment; and against
the positive injunctions of
my parents could not resist my
inclination to join them. At this
time I was 18 years of age, owned my own
rifle and accoutrements
and had long been familiar with the use
of them. Escaping, I made
the best possible provision I could from
my own resources and has-
tened to enter as a volunteer under old
Mike, then Captain Cresap."
The naivete with which this youngster
refers to the difference be-
tween his own age and that of the
gallant young captain under whom
he served becomes all the more
impressive when we are reminded that
the man he describs as "old Mike,
then Captain Cresap," was only 32
years of age. Possibly he meant that
Captain Cresap was a veteran in
the service compared with less efficient
officers, of greater age, including
Unveiling of the Cresap Tablet. 135
Colonel Angus MacDonald, the ranking
officer in that little army. But
it seems more probable that his artless
description but illustrates the
fact that in 1774, as well as in 1916,
to a boy of 18 a man of 32 was as
he is today an old, old man,
notwithstanding the fact that nearly all of
the officers now in general command in
Europe are considerably more
than 60 years of age.
Always and everywhere Captain Cresap's
men loved him and re-
spected him. He seems to have been the
most popular young officer in
the service, whether in recruiting men
to fight the Indians or to fight the
British. Therefore, when he called for
volunteers there was always a
surplus of those who wished to join his
command, to be assigned against
their wish to other officers less
popular than himself. He was a strict
disciplinarian, but not a martinet. His
sense of discipline was inherited
from his father and confirmed by his own
experience.
The Captain mentioned in the memorial
unveiled today is some-
times referred to as Captain Michael
Cresap, Sr., because there were
other Cresaps in Dunmore's army. The
Captain Michael Cresap whose
life we now commemorate, commanded a
company in the famous in-
vasion of Ohio, known as Lord Dunmore's
War, which terminated in
the historic treaty between the white
men and the Indians on this spot
on the 19th day of October, 1774, almost
exactly 142 years ago today.
With Captain Cresap, and serving in his
command, were his three
nephews, sons of his brother Daniel,
viz.: Daniel Cresap, Jr., who be-
came a Colonel in the Revolutionary War,
and Michael Cresap, Jr., and
Joseph Cresap, both of whom became
lieutenants. The army of invasion
was composed of two divisions, one under
the command of Lord Dun-
more, which reached here shortly before
the treaty was signed, and the
other commanded by Colonel Andrew Lewis,
who fought a bloody but
decisive battle with the Indians at
Point Pleasant, West Virginia, on the
10th of October, but did not join
Dunmore's division until the 24th of
that month, too late to attend the
conference at which the terms of the
treaty were agreed upon. Having already
expressed my own views con-
cerning the results of the treaty and
the battle at Point Pleasant, I take
the liberty of quoting the following
lines concerning that great battle
from Theodore Roosevelt's "Winning
of the West":
"The battle of Point Pleasant was
the most extensive, the most
bitterly contested, and fought with the
most potent results of any
Indian battle in American history."
After the close of the Dunmore War
Captain Cresap returned to
Maryland and spent the latter part of
the fall and following winter with
his family; but early in the following
spring he hired another band of
young men and repaired again to the Ohio
country to finish the work
which had been interrupted the year
before. On this trip he stopped on
the Kentucky side of the river, where he
made some improvements. Be-
136 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ing ill, however, he soon left his
workmen and departed for his home
on the other side of the mountains in
order to rest and recover his
health. But before he had crossed the
Alleghenies he was met by a
friend bearing a message that the
Committee of Safety at Frederick,
Maryland, had appointed him as the first
of two captains selected and
commissioned to recruit and command the
two Rifle Companies required
of Maryland by a resolution of the
Continental Congress. The Com-
mittee of Safety demanded the most
experienced officers and the very
best men who could be secured, "as
well from affection to the service
as for the honor of the Province."
It is said that when he received the
message, instead of being elated,
Captain Cresap seemed to be depressed,
as if he had a presentiment that
the service required of him was his
death warrant. He told the mes-
senger that he was in bad health and
that his affairs were in a deranged
condition, but that, nevertheless, as
the Committee had selected him, and
as he understood from the messenger that
his father had pledged himself
that his son would accept the employment,
he would go, let the conse-
quences be what they might. His friend
was directed to proceed to the
west side of the mountains and call upon
his old friends for recruits.
This was done and in a short time young
frontiersmen appeared at his
residence in Old Town, who are described
as "about 22 as fine fellows
as ever handled a rifle, and most, if
not all of them, completely equipped."
These young men had already marched
nearly one hundred miles, after
receiving the message to join the
standard of their former captain. This
was in June, 1775.
The result of his efforts to recruit his
Company of Riflemen and
report to Washington with his company as
soon as possible was that
within about sixty days from the date of
his commission he was march-
ing at the head of a company of more
than 130 men from the mountains
and the backwoods, the pick of their
class.
I take the liberty in quoting, from a
letter written about that time,
apparently by some one in Frederick,
Maryland, a description of Cresap's
Riflemen and of a test of their skill in
marksmanship:
"Yesterday the company were
supplied with a small quantity
of powder from the magazine, which
wanted airing and was not in
good order for rifles; in the evening,
however, they were drawn
out to show the gentlemen of the town
their dexterity at shooting.
A clapboard with a mark the size of a
dollar was put up; they began
to fire off-hand, and the bystanders
were surprised, few shots being
made that were not close to or in the
paper. When they had shot
for a short time this way, some lay on
their backs, some on their
breast or side, others ran twenty or
thirty steps, and firing, appeared
to be equally certain of the mark. With
this performance the com-
pany were more than satisfied when a
young man took up the board
in his hand, not by the end but by the
side, and holding it up, his
Unveiling of the Cresap Tablet. 137
brother walked to the distance and very
coolly shot into the white;
laying down his rifle, he took the board
and holding it as it was
held before, the second brother shot as
the first had done. By this
exercise I was more astonished than
pleased. But will you believe
me when I tell you that one of the men
took the board, placing it
between his legs, stood with his back to
a tree, while another drove
the center ?"
This remarkable body of men, not surpassed
if equalled in its per-
sonnel by any other body of troops
during the Revolution, furnished their
own accoutrements. Starting promptly on their long journey
they
marched from Frederick, Maryland, to
Boston, Massachusetts, through
a country, for the most part sparsely
settled and much of it as wild as
when the first white man trod the soil
of the new world, subsisting on
parched corn and such game as they could
procure on the way, 550 miles
in 22 days, an average of 25 miles per
day, and, as the report comes to
us, without the loss of a single man, a
feat rarely if ever surpassed in
ancient or modern warfare.
The difference between Cresap's
volunteer riflemen in 1775 and
some of the New York troops recently
sent to the Mexican border is well
illustrated by the public complaints of
the latter, that the government did
not promptly furnish them the latest
thing in modern arms, or transpor-
tation in Pullman parlor cars from their
homes to their destination, that
they were not provided with the luxuries
of the table, that some of their
uniforms did not fit, and that they were
compelled, on their arrival, to
remove the sage brush and cactus from
their camp sites. The contrast
is further emphasized by the following
description by an eye witness of
the Maryland troops under the command of
Captain Cresap:
"I have had the happiness of seeing
Captain Michael Cresap
marching at the head of a formidable
company of upwards of 130
men from the mountains and backwoods,
painted like Indians, armed
with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in
hunting shirts and moccasins,
and though some of them had traveled
near eight hundred miles
from the banks of the Ohio, they seemed
to walk light and easy,
and not with less spirit than the first
hour of their march. Health
and vigor, after what they had
undergone, declared them to be inti-
mate with hardship and familiar with
danger. Joy and satisfaction
were visible in the crowd that met them.
Had Lord North been
present, and been assured that the brave
leader could raise thousands
of such like to defend his country, what
think you, would not the
hatchet and the block have intruded on
his mind?"
Ridpath, the historian, after referring
to the arrival during the sum-
mer of 1775 of the troops which were
hurried to Washington's assistance
in the east, as being "the first
gleam of better hopes," and as "a begin-
138 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
ning towards making the army really
continental," pays them the follow-
ing well merited compliment:
"These were ten companies of
riflemen from the mountain
regions of Pennsylvania, Maryland and
Virginia, so dreaded by the
British that the latter outlawed them,
by a proclamation that no one
of them
captured should be treated as a prisoner of war. The
Riflemen soon gained prisoners enough so
that the British never
dared to carry out the threat."
Soon after he reported for duty at the
head of his famous Sons of
liberty, Captain Cresap was commissioned
by General Washington
as a colonel and detailed on some
mission to New York City, where
within a few days he died, a martyr to
his country, leaving a widow and
five children. As said by Mr. Frank
Tallmadge, a loyal and enthusiastic
Cresap, in an address delivered on this
spot four years ago:
"He was buried with military honors
in Trinity Churchyard.
When you are walking down Broadway, go
in the open gate and
turn to your right. Just opposite the
north transept door you will
find this hero's grave next to the walk,
and if your experience should
be like all of mine, you will find fresh
flowers upon the monument."
Captain Cresap's career may not have
been so picturesque as that
of General Custer, but Cresap's men were
never led into an ambuscade.
His death was not tragic like that of
Major Andre, who fell a victim
to Benedict Arnold's perfidy, but Cresap
never betrayed his country. He
did not leave to his descendants the
lustre of battles won during the Rev-
olutionary War, like Captain, afterwards
General, Henry Lee, "Light
Foot Harry," or Captain, afterwards
General, Daniel Morgan, who was
recruiting his Company of Riflemen in
Virginia while Captain Cresap
was performing a similar service in
Maryland, and many others who
entered the service with less prospect
of great achievement than the first
Captain of the Maryland Rifles. Nor could
he acquire post-bellum fame
in civil life like General Rufus Putnam
and others of the fifty-two officers
of the Revolutionary armies who won fame
as founders of the Marietta
Colonoy in 1788. If the arbiter of human
destinies had prolonged Cap-
tain Cresap's life and smiled on his
ambition, he might well have organ-
ized a colony from the best blood of
Virginia and Maryland for settle-
ment beyond the Beautiful River, for his
heart was in Ohio. But with
Captain Cresap, like many other young
heroes who so promptly answered
their country's call with the laconic
phrase, ad sum, I am here, the path
of glory led to an early grave. How
appropriate it is, then, that repre-
sentatives of his family, under the
auspices of the Archaeological and
Historical Society on Ohio soil in the
shadow of the historic Logan Elm,
now dedicate to the memory of Captain
Michael Cresap a monument as
Unveiling of the Cresap Tablet. 139
simple as his life and as rugged as his
character. And it is equally
appropriate that we dedicate at the same
time a fitting memorial to those
historic characters, among whom Captain
Cresap was so conspicuous,
whose sacrifices secured to the people
of six great states those funda-
mental rights which did not come to our
country as a whole until gen-
erations afterwards by the gage of civil
war.
On this spot and under the shadow of
this historic and time honored
tree it might be expected that I say
something of the famous Indian
Chief, Logan, whose simple burst of
native eloquence, traditionally
uttered near where we now stand, has
placed his name in the fore rank
of aboriginal orators, but time does not
permit and I assume you are
all familiar with that story as your
chairman has at length related it in
Randall and Ryan's "History of
Ohio."
But in closing, permit me to say a few
words, speaking not by the
book, but as I feel at the moment,
concerning another great represent-
tive of his race, Chief Cornstalk, who
for many years and until his
death, was the master spirit of the
great Indian Confederacy of the Ohio
country. Of the three Indian
Confederacies whose domains extended
from New York to the Gulf the Ohio
Confederacy was the strongest.
The seat of its power was in what was
then known, and is still known,
as the Pickaway Plains. That region
included the fertile low grounds
and surrounding hills a few miles
northwest of this beautiful park. In
that neighborhood were located a number
of Indian villages. In a sense
that was the capital of the Ohio
Confederacy. It was the home of Chief
Cornstalk and his noted sister, known as
the Grenadier Squaw. It was
the rendezvous for representatives of a
large region extending both east
and west, and perhaps also south, of
what is now embraced within Ohio,
for the purpose of discussing tribal
relations, and the momentous ques-
tions of peace or war with the whites.
Of the chiefs who met there Cornstalk
was the greatest warrior.
As an Indian diplomat he had no equal.
He was the most conspicuous
representative of the race during his
generation. No Indian chieftain
at any time has had a greater or more
loyal following. None has ever
commanded such universal admiration from
his contemporaries among
the white race. He was a man who knew
not fear, was just to all ac-
cording to his lights, generous to his
friends, indomitable in war, but
faithful to every compact whether of war
or of peace.
Consonant with the spirit of this
occasion there is another man who
deserves mention at the same time and in
the same connection. Captain
Michael Cresap also was courageous,
intrepid, resourceful, a natural
leader of men, just, generous, not
implacable towards his enemies. They
were worthy counterparts of each other
and splendid representatives of
the races from which they sprung.
This Society, numbering many
representatives of the Cresap family,
will doubtless meet in this beautiful
grove many times in the future,
under the spreading branches of this surviving monarch
of the forest,
140 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
to commemorate the historic events which culminated in the most im-
portant treaty ever made between the red
man and the white man. On
the monument which you dedicate today
there is one space that is not
yet occupied by any memorial. Permit me
to suggest that on some future
occasion when the Society meets here an
appropriate tablet be placed
on this granite monument to commemorate
the respect and admiration
to which Chief Cornstalk is entitled
from the members of the present
race who have succeeded to the domains
of the race which has departed.
The name Chief Cornstalk deserves a
place on the same monument
which now bears a memorial to Captain
Cresap. The life of each was
sacrificed for the race from which he
sprung. They were friends. On
the memorable return trip of Dunmore's
army, from Camp Charlotte to
Point Pleasant, Captain Cresap and Chief
Cornstalk and his son, Ellin-
ispsico, it is said, occupied the same
tent. Having gone to another
sphere let us hope that their spirits
have met in a compact of mutual
confidence, admiration and friendship
which shall bless them as they
dwell together in peace and amity
forevermore.
* *
* *
At the close of Mr. Booth's address,
Mrs. Anna Cresap
Bibb, of Kansas City, Mo., who was the
donor of the tablet to
the memory of Captain Michael Cresap,
Sr., in behalf of the
Cresap descendants who were present,
read the following tribute:
To the Trustees of the Ohio State
Historical and Archaeological Society.
GENTLEMEN-You are the directors of an
organization of which every
Patriot of the Great State of Ohio is
justly proud, for the noble work
which you have done for twenty-five
years, and will continue to do in the
future.
We, the Cresap descendants, of Maryland,
Virginia, Ohio, the Great
West, and the representatives of other
States, greet you:
We come to you with thankful and
appreciative hearts, for the
privilege you have accorded us, of
placing this Tablet, in this beautiful
and historic Park, to the memory of
Captain Michael Cresap, Sr., a Co-
lonial and Revolutionary hero of Ohio,
Maryland, and Virginia, who was
first, last, and always, a friend of
humanity.
Who stood for just what your noble
Society stands for, American
valor, patriotism, and loyalty to
American ideals, principles and heroes.
We thank you that you inaugurated the
ceremonies as the old patriot
would have wished, by prayer and the
raising of the Flag of many stars,
whose hues were all born in heaven.
We, the Cresaps, are proud of this your
splendid organization, and
its history. We are proud of its
preservation of the records of the Red
Men as well as of our pioneers. We are
proud of your careful conser-