372 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
THE REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER IN THE VALLEY
OF THE LITTLE MIAMI.
BY WILLIAM ALBERT GALLOWAY, M.
D., VICE PRESIDENT OHIO
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
In considering The Revolutionary Soldier
in the Valley of
the Little Miami, I am impressed with
the significance of the
territorial enactments which
particularly designated his settle-
ment in this beautiful and fertile
location.
The territory granted by King James I.
to the company
which founded the colony of Virginia was
very extended. The
first charter embraced 100 miles of
coast line, between the 37°
and 49° north latitude, with
all the islands opposite, and within
1OO miles of it, and extending 100 miles
from the coast to the
interior, two subsequent grants elevated
this cession to the dignity
of a territorial empire. The second
grant extended along the
coast line 200 miles north and 200 miles
south of Old Point Com-
fort, a breadth of 400 miles, which was
maintained across the
continent to the Pacific Ocean, and
embracing all lands to the
northwest of the Ohio River. To this
immense territory a third
grant added all islands in the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans within
300 leagues of these coast lines. In the
treaty of peace between
Great Britain and France in 1763 the
Mississippi River became
the western boundary of Virginia. A few
days before the Declar-
ation of Independence, Virginia ceded to
Pennsylvania, North
and South Carolina and Maryland her
rights to the territory now
occupied by these states.
In 1783, by act of her legislature,
Virginia ceded all the com-
monwealth's rights to the territory
northwest of the Ohio River,
except so much of this land as was
located between the head-
waters and courses of the Scioto and
Little Miami Rivers. This
land was specifically reserved for the
legal bounties and rewards
of General George Rogers Clark, his
officers and soldiers. The
commonwealth of Virginia, ever careful
for the compensation of
her Revolutionary defenders, in this act
defined, that this cession
should be "good lands to be laid
off between the Rivers Scioto
and Little Miami." Years
afterwards, when the riches and fer-
The Revolutionary Soldier, Etc. 373
tility of this survey became known, the
Supreme Court of the
United States interpreted that paragraph
to include every acre
between these rivers, from their mouths
to their sources.
We can at this distance of time more
fully realize that this
garden spot in Ohio is indeed "good
lands" and given to soldiers
whose "good valor" deserved
and received the best reward in the
gift of the commonwealth of Virginia.
The valley of the Little Miami, near its
headwaters, was first
seen by a considerable body of
Revolutionary soldiers in 1780.
In this year and in 1782 and 1784
punative expeditions were
organized in Kentucky and sent out
against Old Chillicothe, the
head village of the Shawnee Indians in
the Little Miami Valley.
Two of these expeditions were led by
General George Rogers
Clark, the other by Colonel Bowman. All three expeditions
approached Old Chillicothe from the
south, by routes which
passed near the present site of Xenia.
Imagine with me for a
moment the landscape which greeted the
vision of these soldiers
as they came to the last of the gently
rolling hills which margin
the south of this beautiful valley. Who
can blame them if they
desired to possess this place for their
own homes. Before
them lay a valley which nature had
fashioned and enriched
when in one of her most partial moods.
Bordered on each side
by gently rising hills, covered by
splendid forest trees of every
indigenous hardwood, its fertile acres
rich in growing corn lay
to the south as far as the eye could
see; with sinuous beauty the
waters of the river, now in sight, and
again winding about the
foothills, followed the course of the
valley, until both were lost
to vision in the distance. Halfway
across the valley, closely sur-
rounded by a strong wall of pickets,
stood the barrier to their
possession-Old Chillicothe. This was the
home of Tecumseh,
the greatest western warrior chief, a
statesman, orator, and later
a brigadier general in the English
army. Only one of these
expeditions was successful,, and in the
three, many brave men
lost their lives, but it is not
surprising that those who returned
to Kentucky, at their firesides and
their social gatherings, talked
of the time when they could return and
possess themselves of a
home in this portion of the Virginia
Military Survey, to which
their Revolutionary services entitled
them.
374 Ohio
Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Many of them did return, for to-day we
know of forty-five
of these heroes of the American
Revolution who are peacefully
at rest beneath the warm and generous
soil of Greene county.
In 1795 the power of the Shawnee Indians
was broken, and
in 1797 the first settler located
near the site of Old Chillicothe,
now Old Town, three and a half miles
north of Xenia. He came
from Lexington, Kentucky, and brought
with him his entire
family and a generous pioneer equipment.
He was the writer's
great-grandfather, James Galloway.
Fortunately I am able to
give, in his own words, the location of
Old Chillicothe. Among
the court records of Greene county is a
well-preservedrecord of
a trial to quiet title to certain lands
in the Miami Valley. This
court was held on June 5, 1818, before
Josiah Glover, master com-
missioner of the Superior Court of
Greene county, at the resi-
dence of Abner Reid, Oldtown, Ohio,
three miles north of Xenia.
At this trial James Galloway deposed
that he was a member of
the expeditions which came out from
Kentucky against the
Shawnee Indians in 1780 and 1782, and in
answer to the com-
missioner's question as to the exact
location of Old Chillicothe,
he says: "I am now sitting within
the enclosure made by the
pickets." The house, a two-story
brick, in which this court was
held, is still standing near the south
end of the village of Old-
town, 36 rods southwest of the Xenia and
Yellow Springs pike.
This evidence was corroborated by other
witnesses at the trial
who had been members of Clark's and
Bowman's expeditions.
With this certain location of the picket
enclosure within which
the council house of the Shawnees was
located, I am able to estab-
lish the course of an additional and
very interesting historical
event.
In 1834, Simon Kenton, while visiting
his cousin, Orin
North, at Oldtown, gave the course of
his famous "Run of the
Gantlet" as beginning halfway up
the Sexton hill and ending at
the Council House door, across which he
fell exhausted but safe.
Imagine for a moment a half-mile run
between two rows of hostile
Indians, armed with clubs, tomahawks and
hickories, each one
determined to get in a blow on Kenton's
bare body as he ran
through the gantlet at the height of his
speed. Only a powerful
and hardy man like Kenton could possibly
survive, and he d
The Revolutionary Soldier, Etc. 375
dared in 1834 it was the severest trial
of his life. This course
measures 155 rods, almost a half mile,
and lies south from the
location of the Council House.
"All the world loves a lover."
It is the common touch of a
master which "makes the whole world
akin." Romance and con-
quest have often met on common ground in
history; sometimes
one has softened the sting of the other.
Old Chillicothe had its
conquest, and in due time its romance,
also, but unlike the usual
romance, its effects were far-reaching
both in the subsequent
saving of many American lives and in the
possible loss to the
United States of all the territory which
now lies north of the
Canadian line. Among a number of
pleasing and opportune
communications from Colonel Moulton Houk
during the presi-
dency of the Ohio Sons of the American
Revolution was a
valuable and suggestive little brochure
entitled "A Bit of His-
tory." In it he makes reference to
the oratory and humanity
of Tecumseh, the most distinguished man
the Little Miami Valley
has ever produced. The birthplace of
this warrior chief, accord-
ing to his own statements to the
writer's great-grandfather, was
about one mile northeast from Old
Chillicothe, at a big spring
which is now a source of water supply to
the Xenia Water Works.*
Rev. Benjamin Kelly, a white child
prisoner, who was adopted
by the parents of Tecumseh and
consequently was his foster-
brother, and who subsequently became a
Baptist minister, also
gave this location as the birthplace of
Tecumseh. I am aware
that history gives the honor of the
birthplace of this distin-
guished Indian to Piqua, but this honor
can be spared on evidence
to Old Chillicothe by the Great Miami
Valley, for she possesses
New Carlisle, the birthplace and
childhood of the most daring
and distinguished twentieth century
soldier and of Revolutionary
ancestry-General Frederic Funston. In
the family of James
Galloway, who removed from
Kentucky in 1797 and settled
near Old Chillicothe, was an only
daughter-the writer's grand-
mother. She was known then as a girl of
remarkable mind and
personality, both of which she retained
in later life. This pioneer
* The birth place of Tecumseh
is in great dispute. Drake, the historian
of Tecumseh, claims it
was a few miles below Springfield and
within the
present limits of Clark
county.-E. 0. R., Editor.
376 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
was himself a man of splendid mind and
character and reflected his
personality not only on his children and
associates, but also very
broadly on the early history of Greene
county. It is not sur-
prising, then, that Tecumseh, who
frequently returned to his
birthplace, should have formed a fast
friendship with James
Galloway and have been his guest at all
times when in this
vicinity. As the daughter, Rebecca, grew
to young womanhood
this chief fell under the charm of her
personality and the power
of her mind and in that valley, amid all
the beauty of
forest and stream that nature can lavish
on one landscape,
he learned that "'Tis better to
have loved and lost than never
to have loved at all." In Colonel
Houk's little brochure he
quotes from Tecumseh's eloquent speech
before General Har-
rison, and records the fact that
although he arrived late at the
battle of Fort Meigs on May 4, 1812, he
stopped the massacre
of Kentucky prisoners, who had been
captured and turned over
to the Indians for slaughter, and he
upbraided General Proctor
for permitting it. The use of excellent
English, which distin-
guished Tecumseh's eloquent war and
peace orations, reflected
the careful teaching of Rebecca
Galloway. She read much to
him from the few books in her father's
possession, corrected his
idioms of speech and helped him enlarge
his vocabulary in Eng-
lish. She read to him from the Bible and
taught him the white
man's belief in religion and future
destiny, but the most signal
service this girl performed to humanity
was to instill in Tecum-
seh, with every power of her artful
character, the fact that the
massacre of prisoners after surrender,
and helpless women and
children after capture, was against
every law and sentiment of
humanity. History records that he
accepted and maintained this
high ground in the years which preceded
his death at the battle
of the River Thames. I leave the reader
to infer how much love
may have done in this case for humanity.
In speculating on
the results of the disasters to the
American forces in 1812 after
Tecumseh and his forces had joined the
English, I have been
impressed with the thought that love,
ever powerful in the affairs
of men, may in this case have helped to
set the Canadian boundary
as far south as it is to-day. Had this
chieftain's love for the
paleface girl been successful he would
never have gained the
The Revolutionary Soldier, Etc. 377
star of a brigadier general in the
British army; he would not
have led 2,000 warriors against Fort Meigs, and in the absence
of his leadership and powerful
personality in the events of
1812-13 it would not have been possible for a Canadian historian
to record that: "No one can fully
calculate the inestimable value
of those devoted redmen, led on by brave
Tecumseh, during the
struggle of 1812, but for them it
is probable we should not now
have a Canada."
The Virginia Military Survey was a
post-bellum contribu-
tion to the war spirit of the
Anglo-Saxon race. We are fond
of calling ourselves a race of peace,
and our peace is indeed pro-
found in its progress and material
advancements, but our mile-
stones in history are marked by war. It
is after its wars that
the Anglo-Saxon race presses forward
with irresistible force to
occupy new territory and extend free
institutions. The Revolu-
tionary soldier in the Little Miami
Valley was one movement
only in the evolution of the race's
history. There he tarried, but
only for a day. With the war of 1860 his
descendants and suc-
cessors overflowed into Kansas and the
great West, carrying
with them the characteristic liberty and
progressive spirit which
was their historical heritage. The War
of 1898 is drawing to a
close and history stands waiting to
repeat itself. "Westward
the star of Empire has ever taken its
course" for this irresistible
race. It is our manifest destiny, we
cannot escape. It is our
hereditary command since the days of
Sargon; we cannot dis-
obey. We have expanded so long we cannot stop. We have
advanced the flag so often, we do not
now know how to pull it
down. Mountains and oceans, deserts and
plains are no obstacle
to this advance; it is the hand of the
master from which there is
no escape. The Valley of the Little
Miami, beautiful, fertile,
inviting, offered scarcely a momentary
rest to an advance which
seems never to grow weary.
Let us not forget that we of the present
generation are the
beneficiaries of all this patriotic past
and the trustees of its glor-
ious and unfolding future, and may we
ever execute this trus-
teeship like true sons of honorable
Revolutionary sires.