EDITORIALANA. |
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"LAND BILL" ALLEN. We have been asked for the "facts" concerning "Land Bill" Allen. The facts are sparse and soon stated. The fiction is ample and almost |
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unprecedented. The myths and popularly ac- cepted beliefs concerning Allen's career were sufficient to place him in the distinguished cat- egory of Homer, William Tell and the "Man in the Iron Mask." The curious individual known as "Land Bill" Allen was George Wheaton Allen. He was born in Windham, Conn., May 17, 1809, and died at Columbus, Ohio, Novem- ber 29, 1891, in his eighty-third year. He was, for a generation or more previous to his death, almost universally believed to have been the originator of the idea, the author of and the chief promotor of the Homestead law finally passed by Congress, May 20, 1862, and securing |
to certain qualified citizens the right to enter upon 160 acres of unappro- priated lands at $1.25 an acre and after five years' actual residence to own it. Hence his sobriquet "Land Bill." Many supposed he was in Congress and introduced the act. Many confounded him with congress- man, Senator (1837) and Governor (1873) William Allen of Ohio, who was widely called "Old Bill" Allen, "Rise Up William" Allen and "Fog Horn" Allen. George Wheaton Allen was never in congress, the legislature or any public office great or small. He never had anything to do, in the remotest degree, with the Homestead Act, any of its attempted pre- cursors or subsequent amendments. That he was credited with being its father is one of those historical phenomena that proves the fruitful- ness of fiction and the unreliability of popular rumor. He who skeptically said "Teach me anything but history for that is always false," must have had in mind some such incident as "Land Bill" Allen. His early youth was spent in New England, in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York. His father was a tailor, industrious, thrifty and well to do. George had the benefit of a fair education and served as apprentice in his father's business and later as apprentice in the printer's trade. He came to Ohio in 1829 and first settled in Worthington, north of Columbus. 98 |
Editorialana. 99
A year or two later he moved to the
capital city (Columbus) and started
a notion store in connection with which
he became a peddler and auc-
tioneer, claiming to be the pioneer in
Ohio of that calling. It was prob-
ably about this time (1833) while
engaged as a peripatetic peddler that
he became interested in the land bill
question. On his handsomely
appointed peddler's wagon in conspicuous
letters was painted, "Land
Bill Allen," and "A home for
all." With this vehicle drawn by two
horses he drove throughout the country
into the southern and western
states, crying and selling his wares,
and with the tail end of his wagon
for a "stump" proclaiming and
advocating the land bill scheme. In his
latter years he claimed, and it was
believed by all and probably at last
by himself, that he had expended some
$60,000 in arousing sentiment
for and in trying to get the Homestead
Bill passed; that from a compar-
atively rich man he became a financial wreck
in behalf of his fellow men.
He never had any property of value, as
far as can now be learned, but
true it is that his possessions were
finally reduced to a little cabin in Plain
township (Franklin county, near New
Albany) in which he lived (from
before the war, '61-5) until 1891, when
his home was sold for taxes at
Sheriff's sale. The unfortunate man
became a wanderer, dependent
upon the generosity of friends. Efforts
were made by benevolent people
in various parts of the country for his
relief. Offers of aid came from
Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, even
Oklahoma Territory and the
Pacific coast, and the New England
States. In some instances he was
tendered admission to charitable homes.
These he declined. The remit-
tances were small and of slight avail
and he was finally compelled, a few
months before his death, to seek shelter
in the Franklin county infirmary,
where he died on the date above given.
His death was conspicuously and
pathetically noticed by leading
papers throughout the land. He was
heralded as a hero martyr to the
cause of humanity- "a public
benefactor to whom this country owed
a vast debt of gratitude, which, alas,
was never paid; one who had
contributed loyally to the betterment of
mankind and helped thousands
to secure property and prosperous
homes," etc., etc. His death elicited
sympathetic messages from far and near,
especially from workingmen,
western settlers and labor societies.
The representatives of organized labor
in Columbus with laudable intent met and
arranged for the funeral. They
purchased a lot in Green Lawn Cemetery
for his interment, and on the
day of his funeral (December 2) the
remains, in a casket of black cloth
and silver mountings lay in state from
10 a. m. until 1:30 p. m. in the
rotunda of the capitol building. This
honor awarded the memory of the
deceased is one rarely bestowed; for a
generation but three other instances
are recorded; that of President Lincoln,
of Thomas Jones, the sculptor,
and of J. A. MacGahan, the war
correspondent. The casket of the
deceased was covered with floral
tributes. On the top rested a sheaf
of wheat and a pillow of roses and
chrysanthemums with the words in
purple immortelles, "Home, Sweet
Home." Hundreds passed through
100 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
the rotunda to view the remains. The
funeral services were held in the
First Congregational Church, where
before a large and interested audience
Rev. Washington Gladden delivered an
address in which he paid truthful
but kindly tribute to the deceased. In
that discourse the public were
disabused of the prevalent credence
concerning "Land Bill" Allen. It
is to the statements then made by Dr.
Gladden and a subsequent article
by him in "The Century," as
well as to Mr. Henry C. Filler, formerly
Superintendent Franklin County
Infirmary, that we are mainly indebted for
the sources of this article.
The truth concerning George W. Allen was
a revelation to the general
public, and particularly to the
community in which he had lived and was
personally known. That he was entitled
to the claims he made for
himself concerning the land bill, was
absurd, as any investigation might
have easily established. The idea of the
homestead act originated about
the time of Alien's birth. Many schemes
were bruited abroad, and
indeed proposed in congress, from 1814
to 1828 and then on, involving
the granting under various conditions of
portions of land for cheap or
free settlement. Petitions from various
sections of the country were from
time to time sent to Congress in
advocacy of a homestead law. In 1814
the representative of Franklin county in
Congress was Reverend and
Colonel (he was both) James Kilbourne of
Worthington. A sketch of
this Congressman Kilbourne in Appleton's
Cyclopedia of Biography says:
"The proposition to grant lands in
the northwest territory to actual set-
tlers, originated with him and as
chairman of the select committee he
drew up the bill for that purpose."
This was the first Homestead Act
introduced in Congress. It was nearly
fifty years before any such act
became a law, but Colonel Kilbourne
seems to have been the first to have
presented the plan to the National
Government.
The granting of free homes from and on
the public domain became
a national question in 1852, when the
Free Soil Democracy in their
national convention inserted in their
platform, the demand "that public
lands shall be granted free of cost to
landless settlers," Galusha A.
Grow (Penn.) became the special champion
of the measure in Congress.
When George W. Allen came to Ohio, as
already noted, about 1830,
he settled in Worthington. Colonel
Kilbourne was then in the Ohio
Legislature and it is surmised that
Allen got his homestead idea from
Colonel Kilbourne, and adopted it as his
own, at least that he thought
and talked it until he regarded and
believed it his own, as one
writer says: "He assimilated the
homestead idea until it was flesh of his
flesh and bone of his bone, and it
became very soon the one thing for
which he lived and moved and had his
being." He not only preached it on
his peddling trips, but he wrote letters
to prominent personages, to
Webster, Clay and Calhoun. He printed
tracts and pamphlets and dis-
tributed them right and left.
He became sincerely and strenuously
imbued with the belief that he
was the "original simon pure"
Homestead author and promotor. He was
Editorialana. 101
self-deluded. It became his monomania.
He was more Simplician than
Charlatan, though a curious mixture of
both.
The Ohio legislature in 1850 enacted the
Homestead Exemption
Law-granting homestead of certain value
or a certain amount of prop-
erty exempt from the reach of creditors.
Allen it was claimed was instru-
mental in securing the passage of this
law, but that is only another of the
Allen myths. There is no evidence that
he had anything to do with it.
Indeed he is not the sort of a character
to have accomplished the things
attributed to him. He lived an aimless
and largely useless life, eking
out a mere subsistence and displaying
abilities and ambitions far too
mediocre to be influential. His auction
rooms in Columbus, which were
located on High street, near Town, were
the reputed scenes of "a good
deal of buffoonery, for our hero was not
a dignified personage. In fact
he was the butt of the wits and
practical jokers of the town. His auctions
were often very farcical performances,
for articles would be run up by the
eager bidders to the most astounding
price, but the man who made the
last bid could never be identified. But
the auctioneer was always good-
natured. He never lost his temper. He
joined in the laugh which was
raised at his expense and went on with
the sale as best he could. Many
stories are told illustrating his
simplicity, his lack of ordinary shrewdness.
the easiness with which he could be
imposed upon, and the uniform
belief is, that nothing could provoke
him to resentment or malice, that
his heart was full of kindness and his
speech always friendly and gracious."
Such was "Land Bill' Allen. He died
friendless and alone, the
ward of his county. At his death no
relatives near or remote could be
found. His wife had died many years
before at New Albany, Franklin
county. He doubtless innocently enjoyed
the attainment and contem-
plation of his pseudo fame. Many men
have had credit for more and
deserved less.
THE NORTHWEST UNDER THREE FLAGS.
Mr. George Moore, of Washington, D. C.,
is the author of an histor-
ical work, recently published by Harper
Brothers, entitled "The North-
west under three flags"
(1635-1798.) It is a most admirable,
accurate
and complete resume of the history of
the occupation and development
of the great Ohio Valley from the
earliest French settlements to the
establishment of the Northwest
Territory, under the famous ordinance
of 1787. Mr. Moore recounts a delightful
and thrilling story of the con-
flicts between the aboriginal
inhabitants and the Latin race (French)
usurpers; then between the French and
English and finally between the
two divisions of the Anglo-Saxon race,
the English and the Americans.
We know of no one book that covers the
movements of these import-
ant events so compactly and clearly as
does the volume of Mr. Moore.
He is a close and careful student. He
has examined in great measure
102 Ohio Arch. and His. Society
Publications.
the original documents, and sources of
information as well as consulted
the leading authors upon the periods of
which he treats. So much does
this work contain that is pertinent to
Ohio that we give space to a brief
digest of his chapters, frequently
quoting his language.
UNDER THE FRENCH FLAG.
Mr. Moore begins with the entrance of
the "Unknown waters of the
broad St. Lawrence," by Jacques
Cartier in 1534, under the patronage
of Francis I, who "viewed with
alarm" as the politicians say, the dis-
coveries the English and Spanish were
making in the new world. Sub-
sequent French voyages and discoveries
are passed over till that of Samuel
Champlain (1603) "the Father of New
France" who was the first white
man to look off across the waters of
Lake Huron. He planted the col-
ony of Quebec (1608), discovered Lake
Champlain, and in 1620 was
appointed by the King (Louis XIII)
Governor of Canada. Then follow
rapidly the western water discoveries
(1618-42) and navigations of
Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and
Superior by Champlain's
associates or successors, as Brule,
Nicolet and Joliet. These were the
early days of the Jesuit Missions and
the straggling and struggling settle-
ments of New France along the great
water ways from the St. Lawrence
to the straits of Mackinac and beyond.
The Indian contested the encroach-
ment of the French, but the intrepid fur
trader and the zealous mis-
sionary were not to be dislodged, though
the war of the savage and the
civilized races was to continue for a
century and a half. "In the year
1643 the entire population of New France
numbered not to exceed three
hundred souls, whereas the four colonies
of Massachusetts, Plymouth,
Connecticut and New Haven banded
together could count a popula-
tion of 24,000." But the adventurous French merchant, like
Radisson
and dauntless missionary like Marquette,
pushed on West while the New
England colonies were growing apace on
the Atlantic coast and the Eng-
lish peltry purchasers were getting
their hold on the region of Hud-
son's Bay. The Hudson Bay Company took
corporate form about 1670
under Charles II, whose cousin Prince
Rupert and associates instituted
the monopoly. New France therefore
occupied the St. Lawrence and
great Lakes territory. But farther west
the pious priest and peltry trader
ventured; across lakes and by portage to
the head waters of the Wiscon-
sin river, down which they floated
"till caught and whirled along by
the on-rushing Mississippi, then
accomplishing a discovery that in the
words of Bancroft 'changed the destinies
of the nations.'" The Mis-
sissippi discovery was by Louis Joliet
in 1673; De Soto, the Spanish
adventurer, had penetrated the southern
interior from Florida, and dis-
covered the mouth of the Mississippi in
1541. Louis Frontenac was ap-
pointed governor general of Canada in
1678. In 1679 La Salle, in the
Griffin, sailed the waters of Lake Erie, bearing "the royal
commission
to establish a line of forts along the
great lakes whereby to hold for trance
Editorialana. 103
all that rich far country." He
looked forward to a chain of forts and
trading posts stretching from Quebec
along the Great Lakes and thence
down the Mississippi to its mouth. In
pursuance of this ambitious aim
La Salle passed through Lake Huron and
Michigan, descended the
Illinois river and the Mississippi to
its mouth, which he reached in 1681;
naming the valley of this river
Louisiana, and claiming it for his sov-
ereign, Louis XIV.
An interesting chapter is devoted to the
founding of the settlement
and fort on the Detroit river by
Cadillac in 1701. This was regarded
by the King of France and
governor-general of Canada, as the strategic
point of the west. It commanded the
water traffic between the lakes, and
was the best point defensive and
offensive for war operations with or
against the Indians. For more than a
century Detroit was the historic
storm center of the northwest.
"The daring enterprise of the
French trader and the devoted heroism
of the French missionary in their
discovery of the Northwest have been
related. Up the rapids of the St.
Lawrence, through the chain of the
vast inland seas, and down the rushing
waters of the Mississippi swept
the tide of French discovery. With the
exception of a strip of land
lying along the Atlantic and extending
scarcely a hundred miles back
into the wilderness, the continent of
North America at the middle of
the eighteenth century belonged to his
most Christian majesty by the well
recognized right of discovery and
occupation. In the court of nations
it mattered nothing that the soil was in
the actual possession not of
Frenchmen but of Indians, and that the
foot of white men had never
trod more than the smallest fraction of
the country over which France
claimed domain. While recognizing the
policy of conciliating the Indians,
France nevertheless, claimed the
exclusive right to acquire from them,
and to dispose of, the land which they
occupied, and to make laws for
the government of the country."
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH COMPETITION.
In the year 1498, more than a third of a
century before Jacques Car-
tier's little vessel ploughed her way up
the broad St. Lawrence, the
Cabots (John and Sebastian, under Henry
VII) discovered the continent
of North America and sailed as far as
Virginia.
"Acting under their charter to
discover countries then unknown to
Christian people, and to take possession
of them in the name of the King
of England, these bold adventurers laid
the foundation of the English
title to the Atlantic coast. It was not
until the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, however, that France and
England followed up their dis-
coveries, and began to perfect their
respective titles by actual occupa-
tion of the regions discovered by their
venturesome navigators."
In 1585 the picturesque Sir Walter
Raleigh got permission from
Queen Elizabeth for his Captain Richard
Grenville to found an English
104 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. |
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Editorialana. 105
colony on Roanoke Island, in the present
state of North Carolina, "the
first English settlement established on
the continent of North America."
This colony was abortive. In 1607 the
Jamestown (Va.) colony became
the first permanent English settlement
in America. Under its charter
of 1609 this company "became
possessed in absolute property of the
lands extending along the sea coast two
hundred miles north and the
same distance south from Old Point
Comfort, and into the land through-
out from sea to sea." Again in 1620
came the time honored Pilgrims
under the charter of the Plymouth
Company, to which had been con-
veyed "all the lands between the
fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of
North latitude." In course of time
the special charters of these colonies
were either annuled or surrendered, and
the title to the lands reverted
to the crown, to be disposed of from
time to time as his majesty might
see fit, in creating colonies along the
Atlantic.
"These early grants of land,
stretching from the known Atlantic
back through unknown regions to the
illusive South Sea dreamed of by
adventurers through the ages, comprised
within their infinite parallels
all the Northwest save only the upper
two-thirds of the present states of
Michigan and Wisconsin. The lines of
Virginia included the lower half
of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois;
Connecticut, by virtue of her charter,
claimed the upper half of that
territory; and Massachusetts likewise ob-
tained the shadow of a title to the
southern half of Wisconsin and of
the lower peninsula of Michigan.
However, it was not until the treaty
of 1763 brought these regions within the
actual possession of the British
crown that the claims of Connecticut and
Massachusetts could be made
even upon paper. New York, too, had
unsubstantial claims to the Ohio
country, based on the conquests of its
allies, the Iroquois."
Virginia seemed to be the center that
attracted the most enterpris-
ing English colonists, and to have sent
forth the ventursome settlers into
the northwest. Virginia was on the
frontier lines of westward pioneer
emigration.
FIRST OHIO COMPANY.
The year 1748 found George Washington
making surveys in the
Shenandoah Valley, and obtaining his
first experience of border life and
border people. "In this year 1748,
while the rich lands of the garden of
Virginia were being laid off and
populated, the enterprising men of the
colony put their heads together to
secure the territory beyond the Alle-
ghanies, but still within the chartered
limits of the province. The prime
mover in the scheme was Thomas Lee, the
president of his majesty's
Virginia council, and with him were
associated, among others, Lawrence
and Augustine Washington, half brothers
of George. The London part-
ner was Thomas Hanbury, a merchant of
wealth and influence. Taking
the name of the
106 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
OHIO COMPANY,
the associates presented to the king a
petition for half a million
acres of land on the south side of the
Ohio river, between
the Monongahela and the Kanawha rivers,
with the privilege of
selecting a portion of the lands on
north side. Two hundred
thousand acres were to be taken up at
once; one hundred families
were to be seated within seven years,
and a fort was to be built as a
protection against hostile Indians. The
king readily assented to a pro-
position which promised an effective and
inexpensive means of occupy-
ing the Ohio Valley, which was claimed
by the French by right of dis-
covery and occupation. These claims France
was just then in a mood
to make good." "Before the
company's agent could take the field, France
had decided upon her course of action.
While the French government,
either at home or in Canada, could do
little to prevent individual Eng-
lish traders from wandering at will
through the forest towns, the forma-
tion of the Ohio Company under royal
sanction, proposing as it did to
carve a half million acres out of what
the French regarded as their
domain, was not a matter to be tossed to
and fro like a shuttlecock between
the Cabinet at Versailles and the
Cabinet at St. James."
CELORON DE BIENVILLE.
The French proceeded to take the only
course open to them. They
occupied the Ohio Valley in force.
Preliminary to more active military
operations, the Chevalier Celoron de
Bienville, at the command of Galis-
soniere, commander in chief of New
France, was sent to take personal
possession of the Ohio. Celoron with a
band of more than two hundred
French officers and Canadian soldiers
and boatmen, proceeded "along the
shores of the fitful Lake Erie, and the
flotilla of twenty-three birch bark
canoes skimmed its rapid way during the
summer of 1749. Striking across
the country to Lake Chautauqua, the barks
were launched on that water
and thence a path was found to the
headwaters of the Allegheny river.
Floating down the Ohio the fleet stopped
now to treat with the Indians,
and to tack upon some tree or again to
bury at the mouth of some trib-
utary a head plate inscribed with the
flower-de-luce, and bearing a legend
to the effect that thus the French
renewed their possession of the Ohio
river, and of all those rivers that flow
into it, as far as their sources, the
same as was enjoyed or ought to have been
enjoyed by the preceding
kings of France," etc. Dropping
into slang, this tin plate posting was the
"lead pipe cinch" of the
Gauls.
From the Ohio the party of occupation
made its way up the Miami
to Lake Erie and thence to Quebec. In
many Indian villages Celoron
found English traders. These he sent
back to the colonies with warnings
not to again trespass upon French
territory.
Editorialana. 107 |
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108 Ohio
Arch. and His. Society Publications.
CHRISTOPHER GIST.
Nothing daunted by the theatrical
expedition of Celeron, the Ohio
Company, in September, 1750, called from
his home on the Yadkin that
shrewd and hardy pioneer, Christopher
Gist. No better selection could
have been made. Gist's instructions
directed him "to go out as soon as
possible to the westward of the great
mountains, in order to search out
and discover the lands upon the Ohio
River and other adjoining branches
of the Mississippi down as low as the
Great Falls thereof." He was to
observe the ways and passes from the
mountains, the width and depth of
the rivers, what nations of Indians
inhabited the lands, whom they
traded with and of what they dealt. In
particular he was to mark all the
good level lands so that they might be
easily found, for it was the pur-
pose of the Ohio Company to go all the
way down to the Mississippi, if
need be, in order not to take mean broken
land. Gist set out from
Colonel Cresap's on the Potomac in
Maryland and followed the old Indian
path up the Juniata. He was twenty-one
days reaching the Seneca Village
of Logstown on the Ohio, eighteen miles
below Pittsburgh. At Beaver
Creek Gist fell in with Barney Curran,
an Ohio Company trader, and
together they crossed the country to the
Muskingum, where they found an
Indian town of a hundred families over
which was flying the English flag
raised there by George Croghan, who
welcomed Gist. Gist then pro-
ceeded to the Scioto Creek, where they
came to a Delaware Village, and
at the mouth of which they found the
Shawnees. Gist, accompanied by
Croghan, then turned north and after a
journey of one hundred and fifty
miles, came to the town of Tawightwi,
afterwards known as Piqua on the
Miami, in the present Ohio county of
Miami. It was then the capital
of the powerful western confederacy, the
strongest Indian town in that
part of the continent. Gist proceeded
down the Scioto and then down the
Ohio nearly to the present site of
Louisville, whence he returned home
through the valley of Cuttawa, or
Kentucky. In June, 1752, the Indians
met Gist and the Virginian Commissioners
at Logstown, and in spite of
the French intrigues made a treaty
whereby the Ohio Company was
allowed to make settlements south of the
Ohio and to build a fort at the
forks of that river. Thus far the
project of the Ohio Company had fair
prospects. The Indians were well
disposed to the English, and colonial
traders overrun the entire country from
the very gates of Montreal to the
Mississippi, but the French were not
idle, and Celoron, now command-
ant at Detroit, in 1752, was ordered to
drive the English traders from
the Miami Villages and thus to realize
his occupation of the Ohio country
in 1749. Meanwhile Duquesne, one of the
most distinguished French
generals in the war then waging in the
colonies between the French and
the English, prepared to cut off the
English from the Ohio country, and
early in the spring of 1753, with a
mixed force of English troops, Cana-
dians and Indians, numbering not far
from 1500, set out from Montreal
Editorialana. 109
and in due time reached the harbor of
Lake Erie, then known as Presqu
Isle, now known as Erie. There he built
a post, then advancing they
built another at La Bouef Creek and a
third at Venango on the Allegheny.
GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE OF VIRGINIA.
Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, who had
become a member of the
Ohio Company, was not slow to see that
the plans of the corporation would
come to nothing if once the French were
allowed to reach the Ohio.
He resolved to send a messenger to
ascertain the force of the French and
to deliver to their commanding officer
the demand of Virginia that all
French troops be withdrawn from the
country included within the char-
tered limits of that colony. The
messenger selected for this delicate and
arduous task was Major George
Washington, then a sedate youth of
twenty-one, who had held the position of
Adjutant General in the Vir-
ginia malitia since he was nineteen.
Washington left Mt. Vernon, secured
the services of Christopher Gist and
proceeded to Logstown, where they
met the Half King of the Six Nations,
who had previously told the
French that they had no business in that
country. As between the
French and the English, the Indians
might well side with the former,
(says Mr. Moore); because the French
never contemplated the posses-
sion and cultivation of the lands, but
merely the establishment of trading
stations. The French proposed to trade
with the Indians, the English
colonies proposed to dispossess them.
Eventually the English policy
came to be but a continuation of the
French, while the policy of the
colonists was either to acquire by
purchase or by force and to bring under
cultivation of the lands that formed the
hunting grounds of the Indians.
It may be admitted that the French
policy was more just to the Indian;
but the Scotch-Irish, the Germans, the
Swiss and the other people of
Europe, escaping the intolerable
conditions of the Old World, could not
be stopped in their rush to make homes
for themselves in the fertile
wilderness of America. Moreover, there
was much truth in the reply
of the French commander to the Half
King, that the land did not belong
to the Indians, for the French had taken
possession of the Ohio while
the present tribes were dwelling
elsewhere. The Indians (then inhab-
itating that section) had come there
since the French discoveries and
claims. The tribes were at war with one
another. "To maintain the
richest lands on earth as a game
preserve for a few savages, when
hundreds of thousands of civilized
beings were seeking homes and
liberty might be theoretical justice,
but certainly was not consistent
with the strongest impulse of human
nature." On December 4th, (1753),
Washington and his party, attended by
the Half King and other chiefs,
reached Venango, an old Indian town near
the junction of French Creek
and the Allegheny. Here were more
parleyings between the Virginians,
the French and the Indians. Washington's
journal of this expedition to
the Ohio being sent to the Lords of
Trade and by them published in
110 Ohio Arch. and His. Society
Publications.
England, aroused the nation to a sense
of the peril in which English terri-
tory was placed by the advance of the
French. The immediate result was
an order from the Lords of Trade
addressed to the governors of the colo--
nies to meet and consult and take united
action against the encroachments
of the French and to renew their
covenant with the Six Nations. Governor
Dinwiddie at the same time put Virginia
under war footing, and shortly
the war was well on, the details of
which we cannot follow, though
interesting. This order of the London
Lords of Trade to the colonies to
unite was an unwitting suggestion of
their power in union, and Benjamin
Franklin, at the convention in Albany,
presented a well worked out plan
for the definite union of the colonies
under a governor to be appointed
by the crown. And now (February, 1755)
General Edward Braddock
appeared on the Potomac, as the
commander in chief of His Majesty's
forces in America, and marched with his
army towards Fort Duquesne,
which he arrogantly asserted he would
easily take and drive the French
back to Montreal.
BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT.
The result is school boy history; how
the French, Canadians and
Indians, a motely mixture under the
command of De Beaujeu, met and
ignominiously defeated Braddock, who,
happily for his fame, found a
brave death amid disgraceful defeat.
Braddock's failure was the begin-
ning of the fame of Washington, who
fought by his side in that memor-
able encounter. The defeat of Braddock
brought down upon the defen-
sive settlers the stealthy raids of the
relentless savages who with fire and
scalping knife would drive the frontier
back to the Atlantic. Throughout
the Indian towns of the Ohio were
distributed the captive wives and
children of the murdered backwoodsmen.
UNDER THE ENGLISH FLAG.
Then followed the expeditions of Johnson
and Shirley which were
scarcely more fortunate than that of
Braddock. Desperate was now
becoming the situation for the English
power in America, and in Europe
matters were still worse. But the tide
finally turned; the Anglo-Saxon
was to win. Wolfe's brave victory at
Quebec, followed by the capitula-
tion of Montreal (September, 1760) gave
with it the dominion of the
Northwest from the St. Lawrence to the
Mississippi; the transfer of power
in the Northwest from the French to the
English flag. But far away
from the scene of hostilities, the
little French colony at Detroit stolidly
continued on its accustomed way
regardless of coming changes. In the
recesses of the Northwest the French,
aided by the Indians, still disputed
the territory with the invading English.
Editorialana. 111
CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC.
Mr. Moore then devotes an interesting
chapter to the Pontiac con-
spiracy and war. Pontiac, a North
American Indian chief of the Ottawa
tribe, was the staunchest ally of the
French. In 1762, he formed a coal-
ition of many western tribes, which, at
his instigation, attacked various
English garrisons and western
settlements. He besieged Detroit without
success in 1763, the same year that the
treaty of peace was signed at
Paris between the English and the
French, which treaty closed the Seven
Years War, or the French and Indian War,
as it was known in British
America. The result of this war to
England was the cession by France
of her American possessions to the English nation. Canada became
an English possession, the province of
Quebec was created, and a
military rule of eleven years followed,
when in 1774, the Quebec Act
was passed, extending the Quebec
province to the Ohio and Mississippi.
The English home government decided, as
one of the results of their new
acquisition, "that within their
respective colonies, governors and councils
might dispose of the crown lands to
settlers, but no governor or com-
mander in chief should presume, upon any
pretense whatever, to grant
warrants of survey or pass patents for
lands beyond the bounds of their
respective governments, and until the
King's pleasure should be further
known, the lands beyond the heads or
sources of any of the rivers which
fall into the Atlantic, were especially
reserved to the Indian tribes for
hunting grounds. The valley of the Ohio
and the country about the
Great Lakes was not open to settlement
or to purchase without special
leave and license, and all other persons
who had either wilfully or inad-
vertently seated themselves upon any
land within the prohibited zone
between the Allegheny and the southern
limits of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany's territory, were warned to remove
themselves from such settle-
ments. In order to put a stop to the
'great frauds and abuses that had
been committed in purchasing lands from
the Indians to the great preju-
dice of our interests and to the great
dissatisfaction of the Indians, and to
convince the Indians of the justice and
determined resolution to remove
all reasonable cause of discontent,' no
private purchases of Indian lands
within the colonies were to be allowed,
but all such Indian lands must
first be purchased by the
representatives of the crown from the Indians in
open assembly. Trade with the Indians
was to be free and open to all
British subjects, but every trader was
to be required to take out a license
and to give security to observe such
regulations as might be made for
the regulation of such trade. Fugitives
from justice found within the
Indian lands were to be seized and
returned to the settlements for trial."
"Such was the first charter of the
northwest, if charter is the correct
word to apply to an instrument that
created a forest preserve and pro-
vided merely for the apprehension and
deportation of rogues and tres-
passers."
112 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
To the new provinces was held out the
hope that in time they might
grow into the status of colonies each
with their popular assembly
instead of an appointive council, and
within their borders English law
was to prevail, but the northwest was to
be treated simply as the roaming
place of savages. While the partition of
North America was engaging the
attention of the three great nations of
Europe, the people of the colonies
were eager to occupy the new regions won
by their valor. The members
of the Ohio Company, whose enterprise
had been rudely checked by the
French occupation of lands patented to
them, at once set about estab-
lishing their rights. To this end,
Colonel Thomas Cresap made over-
tures to the chivalric
HENRY BOUQUET,
the British commander at Fort Pitt. He
wished also to enlist Bouquet
in the enterprise of the Ohio Company.
Bouquet pointed out that the
British engaged not to settle the lands
beyond the Allegheny and that
no settlements on the Ohio could be
permitted until the consent of the
Indians could be procured, and Bouquet
further issued at Fort Pitt
(October 30, 1761) a proclamation in
which, after referring to the
treaty which preserved as an Indian
hunting ground country to the
west of the Alleghenies, he forbade
either settlements or hunting in the
western country unless by special
permission of the commander-in-chief
or by the governor of one of the
provinces. As might be expected, Bou-
quet's proclamation gave rising
uneasiness in Virginia, as it seemed to
obstruct the resettling of lands which
had been taken up by patent under
his majesty and from which the settlers
had been driven back by the
late war. Bouquet was bound to keep the
"vagabonds and outlaws,"
as he called them, out of the Indian
territory, claiming that this was not
only in accordance with the treaty, but
for the express purpose of quieting
the Ohio Indians by confirming to them
the right to occupy their lands
north of that river, and Bouquet was
justified in using all means in his
power to compel the observance of the
contract, but the task was beyond
the ability of any commander. Meanwhile,
the Indians throughout the
Northwest had become aroused at the
encroachments of the whites and
were prepared to defend their country
against the invaders. Indeed they
besieged and secured several of the
forts occupied by the English, and
an encounter took place between the
English troops under Bouquet and
the Indians at Bushy Run, which made
Bouquet the hero of the fron-
tiersmen and brought to his standard
innumerable volunteers for an
expedition to the Ohio towns. In
October, 1764, Bouquet's military
expedition set out from Logstown.
Turning to the west, his little army
entered the Indian country, a region of
trackless forests, filled with
unknown numbers of the subtlest savages
east of the Mississippi. Mr.
Moore then gives a detailed account of
Bouquet's expedition to the Mus-
kingum and his encounters with the
Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa,
Chippewa and Wyandotte Indians and his
return to Fort Pitt. Bouquet's
expedition was followed by the voyage of
discovery of
Editorialana. 113
GEORGE CROGHAN
to the Illinois country in the summer of
1765. Croghan's mission to the
Illinois having paved the way for the
peaceful occupation of the British,
Captain James Sterling and a hundred
Highlanders descended the Ohio;
and five years after the surrender of
Detroit, on October 10, 1765, St.
Ange de Bellevive, commander of the
French at Fort Chartres, had
the mournful honor and secret relief of
hauling down the last French
flag in the Northwest. Then follows the
disputes and conflicting claims
of the Six Nations in the east and the
other Indian tribes of the west
for the title or right to the lands
between the Allegheny and the Ohio.
FORT STANWIX COUNCIL.
Finally in September, 1768, a great
council was held at Fort Stanwix,
on the present site of Rome, New York.
There the representatives of
the English government and the various
Indian tribes came to an agree-
ment that for six thousand dollars in
money and goods, the Indian title
to Kentucky, West Virginia and the
western portion of Pennsylvania
should be transferred to the English
crown. Thus the way opened for a
new colony beyond the Alleghenies. But
the Indians occupying portions of
the ceded lands were reluctant to yield
possession and border conflicts
ensued, particularly along the Virginia
and Kentucky frontier.
DUNMORE'S WAR.
A considerable number of Virginians had
settled along the Ohio
below Fort Pitt, thereby encroaching on
the lands of the Delawares and
Shawnees. Dispute also arose between
Pennsylvania and Virginia as to
their dividing line. The Indian border
war finally burst forth in 1774,
when Governor Dunmore of Virginia placed
himself at the head of a body
of troops and with General Andrew Lewis
in subordinate command,
proceeded to the banks of the Kanawha
near Point Pleasant, where they
with eleven hundred men, met the allied
Indians led by the Shawnee
Chief Cornstalk. After a desperate
all-day battle, one-fifth of the whites
were either killed or wounded, while the
Indians withdrew with a loss
of about forty killed. Eager to follow
up his dearly bought victory,
General Lewis crossed the Ohio and
marched his army to the Pickaway
Plains whither he had been summoned by
Lord Dunmore. Lewis de-
manded a peace treaty. The great Mingo
chief, Logan, refused to enter
the council and when Lord Dunmore
summoned him, he sent as a reply
that famous speech which has been the
model for each subsequent gen-
eration of school boys. Cornstalk's
counsel prevailed and the Indians
submitted to peace.
Vol. X-8
114 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
QUEBEC BILL.
The British policy of maintaining the
Northwest as an Indian hunt-
ing ground was a failure, moreover, even
such law abiding citizens as
Washington never took seriously the
proclamation of 1763, as prohibit-
ing settlements beyond the mountains,
but steadfastly maintained that the
Ohio country was within the chartered
limits of Virginia. In the treaty
of 1763 Great Britain acknowledged a limit
to the western extension of
her sea board colonies, by accepting the
Mississippi river as the boun-
dary of her American possessions. The
Atlantic colonies acceded to this
curtailment of their western limits; but
when by the King's proclamation
which followed, the colonies found
themselves confined to the seaward
slope of the Appalachians, their western
extension made crown territory
to be given over to the uses of the
Indians, there were signs of discon-
tent. To keep the opposition within
bounds and once more to apply a
territorial check, the Quebec Bill in
1774 was passed by Parliament, by
which the Northwest territory was
partially taken from the colonies and
placed under the jurisdiction of the
crown with certain obnoxious features
of control. Under the provision of the
act Detroit was made the capital
of the territory northwest of the Ohio,
and civil officers were selected
according to the spoils system then at
its height in England. This Que-
bec Act was one of the factors that
caused the Revolution. In spite of
petitions to repeal it, it continued in
operation until 1791, when a new
government was given to Quebec and
Canada was divided into Upper
and Lower Canada. Then follows the
American Revolution, which it is
not the province of Mr. Moore to follow
in detail. He confines himself
to the events in and effecting the
Northwest, and the part played by the
Indians and the frontiersmen who were
prominent, like the Girtys,
(Simon, James and George), and McKee and
others. In the Revolu-
tion Virginia took the lead, which she
had always taken in the western
region and her expedition under
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK,
rendered it easier for the American
Commissioners, who negotiated the
treaty of 1782, to include this ample
domain within its American Union.
Clark saw that so long as the British
held Detroit, Kaskaskia, Vincennes
and the commanding forts, so long would
England be able to keep up
an effective warfare along the rear of
the colonies. Under instructions
of Governor Patrick Henry, of Virginia,
George Rogers Clark raised an
armament of some two hundred volunteers
and woodsmen, and in May,
1778, started on his famous campaign,
which took his party amid many
perils and adventures through the
northwest. He took from the English
Kaskaskia and Vincennes, relieved
Cahokia and invaded the country of
the Shawnees and defeated the Miamis. It
was the conquest of Illinois
Editorialana. 115
for the colonists. To his wise valor and
military genius was due more
than to any other the securing of the
Northwest to the new republic.
Clark's capture of Vincennes and the
Illinois posts paralyzed the Eng-
lish efforts to carry on an offensive
campaign on the frontier of the United
States and confined their efforts to
petty warfare in the shape of Indian
raids against the Ohio and Kentucky
settlements.
SPAIN'S CLAIMS.
Spain takes a hand in the affairs of
this period. In 1779 she declared
war against England and seized the
English posts of Natchez, Baton
Rouge and Mobile; and these stations,
together with St. Louis, gave
Spain practically the control of the
Mississippi Valley. The records of
the Americans during these events are
not free from stain, as must be
acknowledged in the massacre of the
Moravian Indians at Gnadenhutten
by the soldiers of Colonel David
Williamson in 1782. The warlike torture
and death of Colonel William Crawford by
the Indians, near Upper
Sandusky, in the same year, was one of
the savage retaliations, not with-
out some justification.
The end of the American Revolution
(1783) did not settle all the
difficulties of the situation in the
northwest. England had neglected to
provide for her Indian allies, who had
devoted themselves to her cause.
England refused to surrender the
northwestern posts according to the
terms of peace. She insisted on holding
the posts to protect her fur trade
with the Indians, and as a guarantee to
secure the claims of the Loyalists
who were to be indemnified for their
losses. By the retention of these
frontier posts, England forced the
United States into Indian wars that
continued even to the close of the war
of 1812. Moreover, the Indians
regarded the country between the Ohio
and the Great Lakes as their own
territory, within which no European
power had rights. Neither France
nor England, they claimed, had ever
acquired title, hence they could
pass none.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
No one appreciated this situation better
than President Washington,
who was himself a large owner of Ohio
lands, but whose concern for the
expansion and strengthening of the
nation was of such a character as
to make his personal interests not a
bias, but simply a means of knowl-
edge. More closely than any other man
then living he had been identified
with the beginnings of western
conquests. As a young man he had played
a large part in wresting the northwest
from France; and now in his
maturer years he was to direct those
forces which were forever to bind
that territory to the United States.
116 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
The result of the American Revolution
gave the great northwest to
the United States, but at once opened
many conflicting claims between the
states as to respective rights to the
newly acquired territory. For be it
remembered the original states had
charters for the land as far west as
it might go. It was now proposed that
the various states yield to the new
national government these western claims;
which the government might
sell for the common good and out of
which new states might be created.
This cession on the part of the various
states followed, and the great
territory of the northwest was
government domain subject to later dis-
position.
UNDER THE AMERICAN FLAG.
"How the French discovered and
possessed the Northwest; how
England wrested New France from her
ancient enemy; how George
Rogers Clark made partial conquest of
the territory for Virginia; how
the treaty-makers won extensive
boundaries for the new nation; and
how at the instance of Maryland, the
claimant state, and especially Vir-
ginia, by the most marked instance of a
large and generous self-denial,'
made cession of their lands to the
general government-all these things
have been told. It now remains to
discover how this vast empire larger
than any country in Europe save Russia,
was to be governed and peopled.
For the most part this immense region
was an unbroken wilderness;
but tales of the richness of its
alluvial soil, and its accessibility by means
of noble streams and great inland seas,
had caught the ear of people
made restless by the possibilities
opened up by a magnificent peace at-
tained after a prolonged and wasting
war."
On July 13, 1787, Congress passed the
famous ordinance establish-
ing the Northwest Territory and its
government.
"On the very day that Virginia made
cession of her claims, Thomas
Jefferson came forward in Congress with
a plan for the government of the
ceded territory. There were still three
obstacles in the way of exercising
jurisdiction: First, there were
controversies with Spain as to the west-
ern boundary and the navigation of the
Mississippi. Second, England
still held military possession of the
frontiers; and third, the ceded ter-
ritory was occupied by numerous hostile
tribes of Indians. With the
exception of the reservations made as to
territory by Virginia, and as to
both territory and jurisdiction by
Connecticut, the United States suc-
ceeded alike to the jurisdiction and to
the title to unoccupied lands. That
is to say, the power to grant vacant
lands within the ceded territory, a
power that had formerly resided in the
crown, or the proprietary gov-
ernments created by the crown, now
passed, by reason of the state ces-
sion, into the possession of the
government of the United States; and to
the general government belonged the
exclusive right to extinguish, either
Editorialana. 117
by purchase or by conquest, the Indian
title of occupancy. It is import-
ant to remember this fact, as it is the
key to the otherwise perplexing
subject of Northwestern affairs."
It is not necessary to recite the well
known history and nature of the
1787 ordinance.
THE (SECOND) OHIO COMPANY.
The first Ohio Company organized in
1749, as we have seen, never
came to fruition in its plans. Its
schemes and efforts were lost in the
current of events with which it
unsuccessfully struggled.
The war of the Revolution ended, Rufus
Putnam returned to the little
Rutland, Massachusetts, farm-house, that
today stands as a memorial of
him, there to scheme and plan the
building, not of fortifications, but of
a state-"A new state west of the
Ohio," as Timothy Pickering puts it.
In 1783 Putnam sent to Washington a
petition to Congress signed by
228 officers, who prayed for the
location and survey of the Western lands;
and the next year Washington writes his
old friend that he has tried in
vain to have Congress take action.
Appointed one of the surveyors of
the Northwestern lands, Putnam sent
General Tupper in his stead; and
on the return of the latter from
Pittsburg, the two spent a long Jan-
uary night in framing a call to officers
and soldiers of the war, and all
other good citizens of Massachusetts who
desired to find new homes on
the Ohio. On March 4, 1786, the Ohio
Company was formed at the
"Bunch of Grapes" tavern in
Boston; and Putnam, Reverend Manassah
Cutler, and General Samuel H. Parsons
were made the directors. The
winter was spent in perfecting the plan;
then Parsons was sent to New
York to secure a grant of lands and the
passage of an act for a govern-
ment. He failed. Putnam now turned to
his fellow-director, Cutler.
On July 27 Cutler found himself the
possessor of a grant of five million
acres of land, one-half for the Ohio
Company, and one-half for a private
speculation which became known as the
Scioto Purchase.
While the officers of the new territory
were virtually settled upon at
this time, it was not until October 5
that Congress elected Arthur St.
Clair governor; James M. Varnum, Samuel
Holden Parsons, and John
Armstrong, judges; and Winthrop Sargent,
secretary; subsequently John
Cleves Symmes took the place of Mr.
Armstrong, who declined the
appointment.
On August 29, Dr. Cutler met the
directors and agents of the Ohio
Company at the "Bunch of
Grapes" tavern to report that he had made
a contract with the Board of Treasury
for a million dollars' "worth of
lands at a net price of seventy-five
cents an acre; that the lands were to
be located on the Ohio, between the
Seven Ranges platted under the
direction of Congress and the Virginia
lands, that lands had been re-
served by the government for school and
university purposes, according
to the Massachusetts plan; and that
bounty lands might be located within
the tract. The next day the plat of a
city on the Muskingum was settled
118 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
upon, and proposals for saw mill and
corn mill sites were invited from
prospective settlers. So it happened
that the future State of Ohio was
planned in a Boston tavern.
On April 1, 1788, the Ohio Company
embarked at Youghiogheny.
The flotilla consisted of the forty-five
ton galley Adventure, afterwards
appropriately rechristened the Mayflower;
the Adelphia, a three-ton ferry,
and three log canoes. A week's journey
down the river Ohio brought them
to their landing place, known as
Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum
and on the eastern side of that stream
at its junction with the Ohio. First
to greet them was the famous Captain
Pipe, a Delaware Indian, and with
him came the garrison from Fort Harmar
to give a continental welcome
to the home makers. On the morning of
the 9th of July following, the
boom of a boat's gun woke the echoes
between the forest lined banks
of the broad Ohio in honor of the arrival
at the capital of the Governor
of the Northwest Territory, General
Arthur St. Clair. He was accom-
panied by other leading officials of the
New Northwestern territorial
government.
CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST POSTS.
The Indians of the Northwest of Ohio and
Illinois (to be) disputed
the ingress of the white man. The
expedition and failure of General
Josiah Harmar; the brief campaign and
defeat of General Arthur St.
Clair are events not glorious in western
annals and are soon told. Mr.
Moore's book closes with the campaign of
the brave and brilliant General
Anthony Wayne who was chosen by
Washington to retrieve the misfor-
tunes of Harmar and St. Clair. The story
of Wayne's movements and
achievements has been often told. The
result of the victory of Fallen
Timbers (near Toledo) was the treaty of
Greenville. There Wayne
was visited by the various chiefs to
whom he explained that the United
States had conquered Great Britain, and
were entitled to the possession of
the Lake posts; that the new American
government was anxious to make
peace with the Indians; to protect them
in the possession of abundant
hunting grounds which would be
apportioned to them, and to compen-
sate them for the lands needed by the
white settlers. The Indians finally
acceded and the Greenville Treaty was
accomplished. Though this treaty
yielded to the Americans the territory
mainly of the Northwest, portions
of the tribes subsequently sought the
aid of the Canadian English to
regain their hunting grounds, or assist
them in the desperate but impos-
sible effort to stay the westward tide
of American civilization. But these
efforts were futile, and the culmination
of the war of 1812 forever sealed
the fate of England in the new territory
and took away the last hope of
the Redman that he might again possess
the Ohio Valley.
Editorialana. 119
BLENNERHASSET REDIVIVUS.
The Century for July (1901)
contains an article by Therese Blenner-
hassett Adams on "The True Story of
Harman Blennerhassett." The
author very briefly recites the history
of the Blennerhassetts who built
that magnificent mansion on the historic
island in the Ohio near Belpre
in the year 1798.* The article is
valuable historically as authentically
stating that the main, if not sole cause
of the departure from Ireland
and emigration to America of the
Blennerhassets, was their social
ostracization, owing to the fact that
the wife of Harman Blennerhassett
was his niece.
"Early in 1796 Harman
Blennerhassett, then thirty-one years old,
married in England Miss Margaret Agnew,
daughter of Captain Robert
Agnew of Howlish, County Durham, a young
lady of eighteen. Her
father was lieutenant governor of the
Isle of Man, and a son of General
James Agnew of American Revolutionary
fame." The mother of Mar-
garet Agnew was Catherine, one of the
sisters of Harman Blenner-
hassett. For this cause she (Margaret)
was disinherited. The young
lady was absent at school; her uncle
(Harman) was sent to take her
home; instead of doing so he married
her. He was thirty-one. The fam-
ilies on both sides-the Agnews and the
Blennerhassets, forever after-
wards turned their backs upon the
eloping couple. Harman broke the
entail established by his father Conway
Blennerhassett, and sold his
share of the estate to Thomas Mullin,
afterward Lord Ventry. He re-
ceived $160,000 in money. Besides this
he was the recipient of an
income of $6600 and more, which belonged
to the entailed estate as
a separate portion, which could not be
transferred and the use of which
he had until death.
The connection of Blennerhassett with
the Burr expedition is not dis-
cussed at any length. It is only
admitted that Blennerhassett became
heavily involved financially in the
schemes of Burr. "Blennerhassett's
reason" says the author, "for
joining Burr was not that of adventure,
but to remove himself farther from those
who knew him. He had family
friends who respected him through the
position he occupied in his own
country. Among those who knew the sad
story of his life, there were
not many on this side of the water, but
the dread was with him always
that the truth would become known to his
children."
Therese Blennerhassett Adams repudiates
the generally promulgated
account of the extreme poverty and
desolate "taking off" of both Harman
and Margaret Blennerhassett. "The
abject-poverty tales of Blennerhas-
sett and his family serve well the
purpose of romance but not of fact,
because they are untrue."
Blennerhassett was well cared for till his death,
which occurred at Port Pierre, Island of
Guernsey, February 2, 1831.
Margaret died June 16, 1842, in her
sixty-fourth year "in the house
she herself rented and paid for" at
75 Greenwich Street, New York.
See Volume I, page 127, Publications
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society.
120 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
A DREAM OF EMPIRE.
One of the most successful additions to
the list of historical novels
of the day is "A Dream of Empire or
the House of Blennerhassett,"
by William Henry Venable, author of
"A History of the United States,"
etc. Mr. Venable is a resident of
Cincinnati, a literateur and scholar well
known throughout the country. His little
volume published by Dodd,
Mead and Company is a most entertaining
narrative of the Blennerhassets
in America; their residence on the
island in the Ohio, the Burr Expedi-
tion, the pathetic and tragic
termination of the romantic and strange
career of Harman Blennerhassett and his
beautiful and fascinating wife
Margaret. Mr. Venable has accomplished
his purpose admirably. He has
told the story of his subject clearly
and most interestingly. He has
adhered closely to the historical events
and yet has infused enough of
poetic and dramatic imagination to add a
"fictional charm" so to speak to
the cold truth upon which his work is
based. His delineations of the
characters of both Harman and Margaret
Blennerhassett, of Aaron Burr
and General Wilkinson are splendid
literary portraitures-natural and
well sustained. The humorous character
of Plutarch Byle is an exquisite
creation of an amusing and original
personage who delightfully relieves
the reader of tedium or danger of
weariness over the continuation of cal-
amities that befall the leading dramatis
personae. Mr. Venable chose a
most fitting theme for his historical
taste and literary ability. One can
get no better idea of the people and
incidents of the Blennerhassett episode
than by reading Professor Venable's
little volume. It has the atmos-
phere and rehabilitated environment of
the times in which it is located.
EARLY HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY.
Professor J. D. Simkins, Superintendent
Public Schools, St. Marys,
Ohio, is the producer of a little volume
with the above title. Professor
Simkins has done a good thing. His book
is accurate, reliable, concise,
packed with well settled information and
put so as to be valuable to the
general reader and useful as a text book
for the student. It presents
just the sort of material, in just the
right manner, that our young people
ought to get. Professor Simkins goes
back a good ways into the dim
and misty past "before man came
into the world." He tells briefly of the
"shell people," the "Cave
men," the "Mound Builders"; "prehistoric
Indians;" the different stone ages,
polished, rough and tough; gives
us much concerning the life and pursuits
of the Indians and a most
excellent and extended description of
the various Indian tribes, particu-
larly the Miamis, Wyandots and Shawnees,
that inhabited Auglaize
county. This part of Mr. Simkins' work
is of interest to any student of
Ohio or of the Indian people. The author
also presents in chronological
Edilorialana. 121
order the numerous and important
historical events that transpired in
his county. The little book is
illustrated and has a large folding map
of the territory which it treats.
Auglaize county was a sort of geogra-
phical and historical pivotal point in
Ohio. It was the chief gate way
for Indians and whites between Lake Erie
and the Ohio river for sixty-
five years (1749-1814). "The reader
should remember that the Maumee
rises in the southern part of our county
(Auglaize) south of Wapakoneta
and flows north into Lake Erie and that
the Great Miami rises a few miles
further east and flows south into the
Ohio. The source of the St. Mary
is really the source of the Maumee.
Boats can ply on the Miami from
our county to the Ohio and on the Maumee
from here to Lake Erie."
With only a few miles of portage there
was water passage from the Erie
to the Ohio.
OHIO EDUCATIONAL MONTHLY.
The Ohio Educational Monthly in
its number for July, 1901, cele-
brates the fiftieth anniversary of that
publication. The burden of half a
century rests gracefully upon this time
honored and highly esteemed
monthly. No publication in our state has
ever exerted such a stimulating,
wise and wide influence in favor of all that
is best and most progressive
in popular education. It has been an
informing incentive to thousands of
teachers, who have profited by its
pages. It has had a distinguished line
of editors and an innumerable host of
illustrious contributors, and to-day
it represents the best thought, methods
and tendencies of our splendid
state school system. We congratulate the
Educational Monthly on its
semi-centennial birth year. It has the
maturity of longevity without the
slightest symptom of antiquity. It is
anything but archaic. It was never
so youthful in spirit or so forceful in
effort as now, under the editorship
and proprietorship of Hon. O. T. Corson.
The July number in question
is of course unusually interesting. It
recites the history of the Monthly;
contains articles by many of the former
editors and writers. Not the
least of its valuable features is the
department of "Current History"
conducted by Professor F. B. Pearson; a
concise statement or commen-
tary on the leading world events of the
day. The Monthly is evidently
sharing the proverbial "prosperity
of the day," for it is enabled to begin
the new half century at the reduced
price of one dollar per annum.
OHIO SOCIETY S. A. R.
The anniversary of the battles of
Concord and Lexington was fit-
tingly observed by the Ohio Society of
the Sons of the Revolution at
Columbus, Ohio, on April 19, 1901. At
the business session in the
afternoon at the Chittenden Hotel, the
reports of the various committees
were read, showing the year to have been
the most prosperous in the
history of the Society. The membership
during the year had increased
122 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
from 507 to 592. A committee was
appointed to make arrangements for
the erection of small monuments, with
appropriate inscriptions, at the
graves of the 3004 soldiers of the
American Revolution who are buried
in Ohio, and whose resting places have
never been designated in such
a way as to tell of their connection
with the great struggle for liberty.
Congress in a recent session made an
adequate appropriation for the mark-
ing of the graves of all soldiers of the
American Revolution and the
committee appointed by the Ohio Society
was instructed to confer with the
proper United States officials and carry
out, as far as possible, the inten-
tion of the congressional appropriation.
A committee was also appointed to
present a petition on behalf of the
Society to the next state legislature
asking for the enactment of a statute
forbidding the use of the American Flag
for advertising purposes, or
any manner which tends to deprive it of
its patriotic significance.
The following officers were elected to
serve for the ensuing year.
President, E. O. Randall, Columbus; Vice
Presidents, Millard F. Ander-
son, Akron; Dr. Edward Cass, Dresden;
Hon. Edward Kibler, Newark;
Dr. William A. Galloway, Xenia; Mr.
Thomas F. Whittlesey, Toledo;
Secretary, Major Robert Mason Davidson,
Newark; Treasurer, Mr.
Stimpson G. Harvey, Toledo; Registrar,
Col. Wm. L. Curry, Columbus;
Historian, Dr. Lucius C. Herrick,
Columbus; Chaplain, Rev. Julius W.
Atwood, Columbus; Board of Managers,
Col. Moulton Houk, Judge
James H. Anderson, Mr. John Thomas, Mr.
Gideon C. Wilson, Rev.
Wilson R. Parsons, Mr. William H.
Hunter, Dr. O. W. Aldrich.
In the evening the Society held an
elaborate banquet in the rooms
of the Columbus Club. Mr. Randall acted
as toastmaster and the fol-
lowing program of toasts and responses
was observed: Welcome Address,
Kenneth D. Wood; Response, Col. W. A.
Taylor; "The Soldiers of '61
to '66," Governor George K. Nash;
"Our Navy," Hon. Charles J.
Scroggs; "Our Army from 1776 to
1901", Gen. Thomas N. Anderson;
"Lexington and Concord," Judge
Tod B. Galloway; "The Little Red
School House," Pres. W. O.
Thompson; "Fort Washington," Col. John
W. Harper; "The Heroes of the
Revolution, The Builders of the Buck-
eye State," Orlando W. Aldrich:
"The Revolutionary Soldiers in the
Valley of Little Miami," Dr.
William A. Galloway; "How Nearly We
Escaped Being the Gallic Race," Dr.
Edward Cass; "Our Flag," D. W.
Locke.
The Society decided to hold its next
annual meeting at Columbus,
April 19, 1902.