Editorialana. 467
stimulation of his firm assurance that
all is well here below and all will
be better in the world beyond. His life
was above reproach, his career
an inspiration. None knew him but to
love him, none named him but to
praise.
No organization with which he was
connected seemed to give
him greater pleasure than the
Archaeological and Historical Society.
Its field of investigation, its province
of collecting and preserving the
records of the past and its work of
storing the same for future gen-
erations of students, particularly
appealed to his intellectual activities
and his fondness for knowledge of what
has been, what is and what may
be. In the pantheon of those who have
been most potent in the origin
and growth of this Society-the memory of
no one will be more per-
manent or more revered than that of
Roeliff Brinkerhoff.
SITE OF FORT GOWER.
An interesting and informing volume
could be written on Little
Journeys to Historic Sites in Ohio, and
it is one of the dreams of the
Editor of the Quarterly to some
day put forth such a volume. Mean-
while, as time permits such "little
journeys" are being made. It was
on a brilliant day last August (1911)
that the Editor "tripped" to what
in some respects is one of the most
historic sites in Ohio. Many articles
have been penned and published on the
pioneer forts of Ohio. No
state in the Northwest Territory can
boast of as many stockades in
the early days as can the Buckeye
commonwealth. Romantic, dramatic
and patriotic are the records of many of
them. The French fort of
1745 at the mouth of the Sandusky, the
scene of Nicholas' conspiracy;
the stockade defense at Loramie's on the
Pickawillany, the scene of
the prelude of the contest between the
French and the British for the
Northwest Territory; the first fort
built by the Americans, in the
American Revolution, the famous Fort
Laurens near the present site
of Bolivar; Fort Stephenson (Fremont) on
the Sandusky, the scene of
the siege of Croghan's little band
attacked by Proctor and his British
veterans aided by Tecumseh and his horde
of western savages, in the
War of 1812; there are few stories in
warfare equal to it for display of
bravery and patriotism. But the fort
least known to general history
-for it is not mentioned by any of the
leading historians-and yet
most significant in western annals, for
an event connected therewith,
is Fort Gower at the mouth of the
Hocking, or Hockhocking, as it was
once called from the Indian name
"Hockin-hockin."
It was the year 1774 in the month of
June that the English Parlia-
ment passed the detested Quebec Act-an
affirmation of the previous
so-called Quebec Act of 1763. This act
of 1774, provided a government
for the Province of Quebec, embracing
the territorial domain west
and north of the Ohio River-known later
as the Northwest Territory.
468 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
This arbitrary and oppressive
jurisdiction covered the scattered western
traders' posts and more firmly than ever
excluded any control over it or
interest in it by the sea-board
colonies. Settlements from the American
colonies were forbidden in this
territory. The Pennsylvanians did not so
seriously protest at this Quebec Act as
the Pennsylvanians desired that
the Indians be left in undisputed and undisturbed
possession of the trans-
Ohio empire, to the end that the fur
trade, extensive and lucrative
to the Quaker provincials, might be
undiminished. But with the Vir-
ginians it was different. They claimed,
by right of their charter, that
a large part of the Ohio country
belonged to Virginia. They claimed
the right to invade the Ohio country and
make settlements therein. This
is not the place to enter upon a
discussion of the motives and pur-
poses of Dunmore's War-so-called-which
followed on the heels of
the Quebec Act. Suffice it to say, Lord Dunmore, the royal
governor
of Virginia, decided upon a hostile
expedition across the Ohio, the
main ostensible purpose being to
chastise the Ohio Indians for their
aggressive incursions across the Ohio
River. We cannot follow the
details of this so-called war. They will
be found in an article by the
writer in the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society Quar
terly for October, 1902. Dunmore raised
an army of some three thousand
Virginia soldiers. This force was
divided into two divisions, fifteen hun-
dred of the contingent were placed under
General Andrew Lewis, and
following down the Kanawha reached Point
Pleasant October 6th, where
four days later the battle was fought in
which Cornstalk, the head
of the Shawnee Confederacy, with over a
thousand Indian braves,
was defeated and driven back across the
Ohio. Lewis then, in accord-
ance with instructions received from
Lord Dunmore, crossed the Ohio
and began his march to the Pickaway
Plains, there to unite with Dun-
more's division which was encamped on
Sippo Creek. It is the Ohio
invasion of Dunmore's troops that has to
do with Fort Gower. While
Andrew Lewis was pursuing the course
mapped out for him by Dun-
more, the latter had rendezvoused his
division at Pittsburg, whence he
embarked on the Ohio in a flotilla of a
hundred canoes, besides keel boats
and pirogues, with George Rogers Clark,
Michael Cresap, Simon Girty
and Simon Kenton-then known as Simon
Butler-as scouts and guides.
The army moved down the river until it
reached the mouth of the
Hocking, at which point the soldiers
left the flotilla and built a stockade
which Dunmore called Fort Gower, after
Earl Gower, a personal friend
of Dunmore in the British House of
Lords. Leaving a garrison of one
hundred men to guard the fort, on
October 11th, with White Eyes.
the Delaware chief as an extra guide,
Dunmore began his march up
the Hocking Valley, which he followed by
way of the present sites of
Athens and Logan, thence he struck a
little south of west to the Pick-
away Plains, finally establishing his
camp, called Charlotte, on the north
bank of the Sippo. Here took place the
famous conference between the
Editorialana. 469
Virginia general and Cornstalk and his
accompanying chiefs, the Mingo
Logan refusing to participate. The
treaty of Charlotte was the result.
The "war" was over and
Dunmore, breaking camp on October 31st,
proceeded on his return march to the
Ohio. He reached Fort Gower
on the 5th of November. Here the
soldiers learned, for the first time,
of the action taken by the first
Continental Congress, which had assem-
bled at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774.
The officers of the army
thereupon held a meeting and passed
resolutions which we here insert in
full from the American Archives, 4th
Series, Vol. 1, p. 962:
"GENTLEMEN:-Having now concluded
the campaign, by the assist-
ance of Providence, with honor and
advantage to the colony and our-
selves, it only remains that we should
give our country the strongest
assurance that we are ready, at all
times, to the utmost of our power,
to maintain and defend her just rights
and privileges. We have lived
about three months in the woods without
any intelligence from Boston,
or from the delegates at Philadelphia.
It is possible, from the groundless
reports of designing men, that our
countrymen may be jealous of the use
such a body would make of arms in their
hands at this critical juncture.
That we are a respectable body is
certain, when it is considered that we
can live weeks without bread or salt;
that we can sleep in the open air
without any covering but that of the
canopy of heaven; and that our
men can march and shoot with any in the
known world. Blessed with
these talents, let us solemnly engage to
one another, and our country in
particular, that we will use them to no
purpose but for the honor and
advantage of America in general, and of
Virginia in particular. It
behooves us then, for the satisfaction
of our country, that we should
give them our real sentiments, by way of
resolves, at this very alarming
crisis.
"Whereupon the meeting made choice
of a committee to draw up
and prepare resolves for their
consideration, who immediately with-
drew, and after some time spent therein,
reported that they had agreed
to and prepared the following resolves,
which were read, maturely con-
sidered and, agreed to, nemine
contradicente, by the meeting, and on
dered to be published in the Virginia
Gazette:
"Resolved, That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to His
Majesty, King George the Third, whilst
His Majesty delights to reign
over a brave and free people; that we
will, at the expense of life, and
everything dear and valuable, exert
ourselves in support of his crown,
and the dignity of the British Empire.
But as the love of liberty, and
attachment to the real interests and
just rights of America outweigh
every other consideration, we resolve
that we will exert every power
within us for the defense of American
liberty, and for the support of
her just rights and privileges; not in
any precipitate, riotous or tumul-
tuous manner, but when regularly called
forth by the unanimous voice
of our countrymen.
470 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
"Resolved, That we entertain the greatest respect for His
Excellency.
the Right Honorable Lord Dunmore, who
commanded the expedition
against the Shawnese; and who, we are
confident, underwent the great
fatigue of this singular campaign from
no other motive than the true
interest of this country.
"Signed by order and in behalf of
the whole corps.
"BENJAMIN ASHBY, Clerk."
These resolutions were virtually a
Declaration of Independence on
Ohio soil, by Virginian backwoodsmen,
six months before the shot was
fired at Concord that was "heard
'round the world," and more than a year
and a half before the Liberty Bell of
Independence Hall pealed forth
the freedom of the Colonies. Is there a
spot in Ohio or in the North-
west so deserving of a monument as this
historic site of Fort Gower?
Hockingport, to-day, is indeed an
"out of the way" place. It is on no
highway of travel, either of steam or
electric conveyance. It can only be
reached by ferry across the Ohio from
the almost houseless Harris
Station in West Virginia or by a drive
or auto whisk from the little
station of Coolville on the
south-western division of the B. & O. The
drive from Coolville, a distance of some
six miles, is through a most
picturesque country of hill, dale and
river, for the route lies along the
north bank of the Hocking river. It was
early on the August morning
that we pulled into the little cluster
of houses that the inmates designate
as Hockingport. The Ohio at this point
takes a plunge due south.
which the Hockhocking, or Hocking, as it
is generally known, enters the
Ohio by a curve from the west. The exact
location of the almost for
gotten stockade enclosure, as determined
by the best traditionary lone
obtainable, "on the spot," by
the present writer, was upon the east or
north side of the Hocking, on the
elevated bank of the Ohio, from
which its garrison could overlook the
broad, placid sweep of the
majestic river, which is here flanked on
the Virginia side by a chain
of graceful hills, the tip land of a
spur of the Alleghany range. Our
pilot, a scholarly gentleman of many
years residence in the town, led
us into the midst of a field covered
with tall corn stalks and pointed
out a few heavy stones, which, it is
verily believed, were portions of the
magazine receptacle of the fort. The
palisaded earthworks, long since
ploughed away, lay on the outskirts of
the present burg, a little sleepy
hamlet of only a score and a half
scattered dwellings, in which abide
some six score inhabitants, who live the
simple life "far away from the
madding crowd's ignoble
strife." Surely Hockingport awaits
a just
renown, when it shall be the mecca of
historical students, for within its
precincts assembled the Virginia
frontiersmen who, of all the Colonists,
were the first to declare their
willingness, if called upon, to unsheathe
their swords "for the defense of
American liberty."