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Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. II

©1888

 

WASHINGTON COUNTY

 

Page 777

 

            WASHINGTON COUNTY was formed July 26, 1788, by proclamation of Gov. ST. CLAIR, being the FIRST COUNTY formed within the limits of Ohio.

 

            The surface is generally hilly and broken, excepting the broad strips of alluvial land on the Ohio and Muskingum.  In the middle and western part are extensive tracts of fertile land.  The uplands near the large streams are commonly broken, but well adapted to pasturage.  The principal products are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, dairy produce, fruit and wool.

 

            In its original boundaries were as follows:  “Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga river; thence up the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the forks, at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnese town to Sandusky; thence south to the Scioto river, and thence with that river to the mouth, and thence up the Ohio river to the place of beginning.”

 

            Area about 650 square miles.  In 1887 the acres cultivated were 106,805; in pasture, 137,758; woodland, 81,026; lying waste, 10,562; produced in wheat, 322,846 bushels; rye, 3,415; buckwheat, 643; oats, 216,603; corn, 564,769; broom-corn, 8,475 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 19,776 tons; clover hay, 3,599; potatoes, 120,664 bushels; tobacco, 314,475 lbs.; butter, 681,224; cheese, 4,815; sorghum, 14,032 gallons; maple sugar, 1,043 lbs.; honey, 6,837; eggs, 916,793 dozen; grapes, 22,040 lbs.; wine, 882 gallons; sweet potatoes, 26,439 bushels; apples, 9,726; peaches, 3,946; pears, 926; wool, 445,771 lbs.; milch cows owned, 7,825.  Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888: Coal, 2,432 tons, employing 15 miners.  School census, 1888, 14,140; teachers, 394.  Miles of railroad track, 88.

 

 

 

Page 778.

 

            This county was the first settled in Ohio and under the auspices of the New England Ohio Company.  Its earliest settlers were from New England, the descendants of whom constitute the largest part of its present population.

 

THE ERECTION OF FORT HAMAR.

 

            In the autumn of 1785 a detachment of United States troops, under the command of Maj. John DOUGHTY, commenced the erection and the next year completed Fort Harmer, on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio.  It was named in honor of Col. Josiah HARMAR, to whose regiment Maj. DOUGHTY was attached.  It was the first military post erected by Americans within the limits of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, built in 1778, near the

 

 

FORT HARMAR.

 

 

present Bolivar, Tuscarawas county.  The outlines of the fort formed a regular pentagon, embracing within the area about three-quarters of an acre.  Its walls were formed of large horizontal timbers, and the bastions of large upright timbers, of about fourteen feet in height, fastened to each other by strips of timber tree-nailed into each picket.  In its rear Maj. DOUGHTY laid out fine gardens.  It continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, when they were ordered to Cincinnati.  A company under Captain HASKELL continued to make the fort their head-quarters during the Indian war, sending out occasionally small detachments to assist the colonists at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford, in guarding their garrisons against the Indians.  The barracks and houses not needed for the accommodation of the troops were occupied by the inhabitants living at Marietta, on the opposite side of the Muskingum.

 

            In the autumn of 1787 the directors of the Ohio Company organized in New England, preparatory to a settlement.  Upon the 23d of November they made arrangements for a party of 47 men to set forward under the superintendence of Gen. Rufus PUTNAM; and not long after, in the course of the winter, they started on their toilsome journey.  Some of these, as well as most of those who followed them to the colony, had served in the war of the revolution, either as officers or soldiers, being men who had spent the prime of their lives in the struggle for liberty.

 

 

Page779

 

gathered on the Yohiogany, where boats had been built, and started for the Muskingum.  On the seventh of April they landed at the spot chosen, and became the founders of Ohio, unless we regard as such the Moravian missionaries.

 

            “As ST. CLAIR, who had been appointed governor the preceding October, had not yet arrived, it became necessary to erect a temporary government for their internal security; for which purpose a set of laws was passed, and published by being nailed to a tree in the village, and Return Jonathan MEIGS was appointed to administer them.  It is a strong evidence of the good habits of the people of the colony that during three months but one difference occurred, and that was compromised.  Indeed, a better set of men altogether could scarce have been selected for the purpose than PUTNAM’S little band.  WASHINGTON might well say, ‘no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which was first commenced at the Muskingum.  Information, property and strength, will be its characteristics.  I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.’

 

            “On the second of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, for the purpose of naming the new-born city and its public squares.  As the settlement had been merely ‘The Muskingum,’ the name Marietta was now formally given to it, in honor of Marie Antoinette.

 

            “On the fourth of July an oration was delivered by James M. VARNUM, who, with S. H. PARSONS and John ARMSTRONG, had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory, on the 16^th of October, 1787.  Five days later the governor arrived and the colony began to assume form.  The ordinance of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the northwest territory, under the first of which the whole power was in the hands of the governor and three judges, and this form was at once organized upon the governor’s arrival.  The first law, which was ‘for regulating and establishing the militia,’ was published upon the 25th of July; and the next day appeared the governor’s proclamation, erecting all the country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto river into the county of Washington.

 

            “From that time forward, notwithstanding the doubt yet existing as to the Indians, all at Marietta went on prosperously and pleasantly.  On the second of September, the first court was held, with becoming ceremonies,” which was the first civil court ever convened in the territory northwest of the Ohio.

 

                “The procession was formed at the Point (where most of the settlers resided), in the following order:—1st.  The high sheriff, with his drawn sword; 2d, the citizens; 3d, the officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar; 4th, the members of the bar; 5th, the supreme judges; 6th, the governor and clergyman; 7th, the newly appointed judges of the court of common pleas, Generals Rufus PUTNAM and Benj. TUPPER.

 

                “They marched up a path that had been cut and cleared through the forest to Campus Martius Hall (stockade), where the whole counter-marched, and the judges (PUTNAM and TUPPER) took their seats.  The clergyman, Rev. Dr. CUTLER, then invoked the divine blessing.  The sheriff, Col. Ebenezer SPROAT (one of nature’s nobles), proclaimed with his solemn ‘O yes,’ that a court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case.  Although this scene was exhibited thus early in the settlement of the State, few ever equalled it in the dignity and exalted character of its principal participators.  Many of them belong to the history of our country, in the darkest as well as most splendid periods of the revolutionary war.  To witness this spectacle, a large body of Indians was collected, from the most powerful tribes then occupying the almost entire west.  They had assembled for the purpose of making a treaty.  Whether any of them entered the hall of justice, or what were their impressions, we are not told.”

 

 

Page 780

 

 

                                   

Page 781

 

States.  I mention this to show the progress of society in this new world; where, I believe, we shall vie with, if not excel, the old States, in every accomplishment necessary to render life agreeable and happy."

 

CAMPUS MARTIUS.

 

                Soon after the landing, preparations were made to build the stockaded fort, Campus Martius, to which allusion has already been made; and although it was begun in the course of that year, it was not entirely completed with palisades and outworks, or bastions, until the winter of 1791.

 

                The walls formed a regular parallelogram, the sides of which were 180 feet each.  At each corner was erected a strong block-house, surmounted by a tower and sentry box.  These houses were 20 feet square below and 24 feet above, and projected 6 feet beyond the curtains, or main walls of the fort.  The intermediate curtains were built up with dwelling-houses, made of wood, whip-sawed into timbers four inches thick, and of the requisite width and length.  These were laid up with similar to the structure of log-houses, with the ends nicely dove-tailed or fitted together so as to make a neat finish.  The whole were two stories high and covered with good shingle roofs.  Convenient chimneys were erected of bricks, for cooking and warming the rooms.  A number of the dwelling houses were built and owned by private individuals, who had families.  In the west and south fronts were strong gateways; and over that, in the centre of the front looking to the Muskingum river, was a belfry.  The chamber underneath was occupied by the Hon. Winthrop SARGENT, as an office, he being secretary to the governor of the N. W. Territory, General ST. CLAIR, and performing the duties of governor in this absence.  This room projected over the gateway, like a block-house, and was intended for the protection of the gate beneath in time of an assault.

 

                At the outer corner of each block-house was erected a bastion, standing on four stout timbers.  The floor of the bastion was a little above the lower story of the block-house.  They were square, and built up with thick planks to the height of a man’s head, so that when he looked over he stepped on a narrow platform, or “banquet,” running round the sides of the bulwark.  Port-holes were made for musketry, as well as for artillery, a single piece of which was mounted in the southwest and northeast bastions.  In these the sentries were regularly posted every night, as more convenient of access than the towers; a door leading into them from the upper story of the block-houses.  The lower room of the southwest block-house was occupied for a guard-house.  Running from corner to corner of the block-houses was a row of palisades, sloping outwards, and resting on stout rails.  Twenty feet in advance of these was a row of very strong and large pickets, set upright in the earth.

 

                Gateways through these admitted the inmates of the garrison.  A few feet beyond the outer palisades was placed a row of abatis made from the tops and branches of trees, sharpened and pointing outwards, so that it would have been very difficult for an enemy to have penetrated even within their outworks.  The dwelling houses occupied a space from 15 to 30 feet each, and were sufficient for the accommodation of forty or fifty families, and did actually contain from 200 to 300 persons, men, women and children, during the Indian war.

 

                Before the Indians commenced hostilities, the block-houses were occupied as follows:--the southwest one by the family of Gov. ST. CLAIR; the northwest one for public worship and holding of courts.  The southeast block-house was occupied by private families; and the northeast as an office for the accommodation of the directors of the company.  The area within the walls was 144 feet square, and afforded a fine parade-ground.  In the centre was a well, 80 feet in depth, for the supply of water to the inhabitants in case of a siege.  A large sun-dial stood for many years in the square, placed on a handsome post, and gave note of the march of time.  It is still preserved as a relic of the old garrison.

 

                After the war commenced, a regular military corps was organized, and a guard constantly kept night and day.  The whole establishment formed a very strong work, and reflected great credit on the head that planned it.  It was in a manner impregnable to the attacks of Indians, and none but a regular army with cannon could have reduced it.  It is true, that the heights across the Muskingum commanded and looked down upon the defences of the fort; but there was no enemy in a condition to take possession of this advantage.

 

 

Page 782.

 

Muskingum river.  The appearance of the fort from without was grand and imposing; at a little distance resembling one of the military palaces or castles of the feudal ages.  Between the outer palisades and the river were laid out neat gardens for the use of Gov. ST. CLAIR and his secretary, with the officers of the company.

 

                Opposite the fort, on the shore of the river, was built a substantial timber wharf, at which was moored a fine cedar barge for twelve rowers, built by Capt. Jonathan DEVOLL, for Gen. PUTNAM; a number of pirogues, and the light canoes of the country; and last, not least, “the May-Flower,” or “Adventure Galley,” in which the first detachment of colonists were transported from the shores of the Yohiogany to the banks of the Muskingum.  In these, especially the canoes, during the war, most of the communications were carried on between the settlements of the company and the more remote towns above on the Ohio river.  Travelling by land was very hazardous to any but the rangers of spies.  There were no roads nor bridges across the creeks, and for many years after the war had ceased the travelling was nearly all done by canoes on the rivers.

 

            The names of the first forty-eight settlers at MARIETTA are, General Rufus PUTNAM, superintendent of the colony; Colonels Ebenezer SPROAT, Return J. MEIGS, and Major Anselm TUPPER and John MATHEWS, surveyors; Major Haffield WHITE, steward and quartermaster; Captains Jonathan DEVOL, Josiah MUNRO, Daniel DAVIS, Peregrine FOSTER, Jethro PUTNAM, William GRAY and Ezekiel COOPER; Jabez BARLOW, Daniel BUSHNELL, Phineas COBURN, Ebenezer CORY, Samuel CUSHING, Jervis CUTLER, Israel DANTON, Jonas DAVIS, Allen DEVOL, Gilbert DEVOL, Jr., Isaac DODGE, Oliver DODGE, Samuel FELSHAW, Hezekiah FLINT, Hezekiah FLINT, Jr., John GARDNER, Benjamin GRISWOLD, Elizur KIRTLAND, Theophilus LEARNED, Joseph LINCOLN, Simeon MARTIN, William MASON, Henry MAXON, William MILLER, Edmund MOULTON, William MOULTON, Amos PORTER, Allen PUTNAM, Benjamin SHAW, Earl SPROAT, David WALLIS, Joseph WELLS, Josiah WHITE, Peletiah WHITE, Josiah WHITRIDGE.

 

                Other settlers who came the first season to Marietta, as far as recollected, were as follows:

 

                Of the agents, were Winthrop SARGEANT, secretary of the territory, Judges PARSONS and VARNUM of the settlers, Capt. DANA, Joseph BARKER, Col. BATTELLE, Major TYLER, Dr. TRUE, Capt. LUNT, the BRIDGES, Thomas CORY, Andrew M’CLURE, Thomas LORD, Wm. GRIDLEY, MOODY, RUSSELS, DEAVENS, OAKES, WRIGHT, CLOUGH, GREEN, SHIPMAN, DORRANCE, the MAXONS, WELLS, etc.  The first boat of families arrived on the 19th of August, in the same season, consisting of Gen. TUPPER’S, Col. Ichabod NYE’S, Col. CUSHING’S, Major COBURN’S, and Major GOODALE’S.

 

                In the spring of 1789 settlements were pushed out to Belpre, Waterford, and Duck creek, where they began to clear and plant the land, build houses and stockades.  Among the first settlers at WATERFORD were Benjamin CONVERS, Gilbert DEVOL, sen., Phineas COBURN, Wm. GRAY, Col. Robert OLIVER, Major Haffield WHITE, Andrew STORY, Samuel CUSHING, John DODGE, Allen and Gideon DEVOL, George, William, and David WILSON, Joshua SPRAGUE, with his sons William and Jonathan, Capt. D. DAVIS, Phineas COBURN, Andrew WEBSTER, Eben AYRES, Dr. FARLEY, David BROWN, A. KELLY, James and Daniel CONVERS.

 

                At Belpre (the French for “beautiful meadow”) were three stockades, the upper, lower, and middle; the last of which was called “farmer’s castle,” which stood on the banks of the Ohio, nearly, if not quite, opposite the beautiful island, since known as “Blannerhasset’s,” the scene of “BURR’S conspiracy.”  Among the persons at the upper were Capt. DANA, Capt. STONE, Col. BENT, Wm. BROWNING, Judge FOSTER, John ROWSE, Mr. KEPPEL, Israel STONE.  At farmer’s castle were Col. CUSHING, Major HASKEL, Aaron Waldo PUTNAM, Col. FISHER, Mr. SPARHAWK, and it is believed George and Israel PUTNAM, jr.  At the lower were Major GOODALE, Col. RICE, Esq. PIERCE, Judge Israel LORING, Deacon MILES, Major BRADFORD, and Mr. Goodenow.  In the summer of 1789 Col. Ichabod NYE and some others built a block-house at Newberry, below Belpre.  Mr. NYE sold his lot there to Aaron N. CLOUGH, who, with Stephen GUTHRIE, Jos. LEAVINS, Joel OAKES, Eleazer CURTIS, Mr. DENHAM, J. LITTLETON, and a Mr. BROWN, were located at that place during the subsequent Indian war.

 

 

Page 783

 

FARMER’S CASTLE (BELPRE), 1791.

 

Belpre, 12 miles below Marietta, was the next place settled after it.  The garrison was under military discipline, and religious services and schools were at once established.  Over two hundred men, women and children lived in Farmer’s Castle and the Goodale and Stone’s garrison, two smaller defences on either side of the castle

 

 

            NYE’s Reminiscences.—During the Indian war, which soon succeeded the first settlements, the inhabitants suffered much for the necessaries of life.  Although some of the settlers were killed, and others carried into captivity, yet the massacre at Big Bottom (see Morgan County) was the most alarming event.  The escape of the settlers from greater suffering from this source was owing to the strong fortifications erected, and the admirable judgment and foresight they displayed in taking precautions against danger.  Among the incidents connected with the troubles with the Indians, to which we have barely space to allude, was the

 

 

FORT FRYE, WATERFORD, 1792.

 

 

Page 784

 

J. Meigs, into Fort Harmar, by his fleetness of foot while pursued by the enemy.  On the other hand retaliation was in a measure inflicted upon the Indians, and among those most active in this duty was Hamilton CARR, a man eminently distinguished as an Indian hunter and spy.

 

            During the war a stockade was erected near the mouth of Olive Green creek, above Waterford, which became the frontier garrison, and had in it about seven or eight men and boys able to bear arms, called Fort Frye.  Just before Wayne’s victory, Aug. 4, 1794, they lost one man, a Mr. Abel SHERMAN, who went into the woods incautiously, and was killed by the Indians.  A tombstone with a scalped head rudely carved upon it marks the spot where he lies.

 

                Among the inmates of this garrison was Geo. EWING, Esq., father of the Hon. Thos. EWING.  His fortune and history were similar to that of many of the revolutionary officers who emigrated to the West at that early day.  He inherited a handsome patrimony and sold it, investing the proceeds in bonds and mortgages, and entered the continental army as a subaltern officer in 1775, he being then but little over twenty-one years of age.  He continued to serve with a few short intermissions, during the war.  When the bonds fell due, they were paid in continental money, with, proving worthless, reduced him to poverty.  In 1785 he migrated to the West, and remained on the Virginia side of the Ohio until 1792, when he crossed over and settled at Olive Green.

 

            From the communication of one of the early settlers at Olive Green we annex some facts respecting their privations and the discovery of a salt well.

 

            The inhabitants had among them but few of what we consider the necessaries and conveniences of life.  Brittle wares, such as earthen and glass, were wholly unknown, and but little of the manufactures of steel and iron, both of which were exceedingly dear.  Iron and salt were procured in exchange for ginseng and peltry, and carried on pack horses from Ft. Cumberland or Chambersburg.  It was no uncommon thing for the garrison to be wholly without salt for months, subsisting upon fresh meat, milk and vegetables, and bread made of corn pounded in a mortar—they did not yet indulge in the luxury of the hand-mill.

 

                There had been an opinion, founded upon the information of the Indians, that there were salt springs in the neighborhood, but the spot was carefully concealed.  Shortly after Wayne’s victory, in 1794, and after the inhabitants had left the garrison and gone to their farms, a white man, who had been long a prisoner with the Indians, was released and returned to the settlements.  He stopped at Olive Green, and there gave an account of the salt springs, and directions for finding them.  A party was immediately formed (of whom George EWING, Jr., then a lad of 17, was one), who, after an absence of seven or eight days, returned, to the great joy of the inhabitants, with about a gallon of salt, which they had made in their camp kettle.  This was, as I think, in August, 1795.  A supply, though a very small one, was made there that season for the use of the frontier settlement.

 

                Whether this salt spring was earlier known to the whites I am unable to say.  It may have been so to spies and explorers, and perhaps to the early missionaries; but this was the first discovery which was made available to the people.

 

 

Page 785

 

business was very thriving.  Com. Abm. WHIPPLE, a veteran of the revolution, conducted the one first built, the St. Clair, to the ocean.—Old Edition.

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

MARIETTA COLLEGE

 

                At that time Marietta was made “a port of clearance,” from which vessels could receive regular papers for a foreign country.  “This circumstance was the cause of a curious incident, which took place in the year 1806 or 1807.  A ship, built at Marietta, cleared from that port with a cargo of pork, flour, etc., for New Orleans.  From thence she sailed to England with a load of cotton, and being chartered to take a cargo to St. Petersburg, the Americans being at that time carriers for half the world, reached that port in safety.  Her papers were examined by a naval officer, and dating from the port of Marietta, Ohio, she was seized upon the plea of their being a forgery, as no such port was known in the civilized world.  With considerable difficulty the captain procured a map of the United States, and pointing with his finger to the mouth of the Mississippi, traced the course of that stream to the mouth of the Ohio; from thence he led the astonished and admiring naval officer along the devious track of the latter river to the port of Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum, from whence he had taken his departure.  This explanation was entirely satisfactory, and the American was dismissed with every token of regard and respect.

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

MARIETTA, FROM THE WEST VIRGINIA SHORE

 

 

 

Page 786

 

gospel.  The institution ranks high among others of the kind, and its officers of instruction are such as to merit the confidence of the enlightened patrons of thorough education.  A new college edifice has lately been reared, and from the indications given, the prospects of the institution for a generous patronage are highly auspicious.  The catalogue for 1846-7 gives the whole number of students at 177, of whom 60 were undergraduates, and 117 in the preparatory academy.  The officers are Henry SMITH, M. A., president; John KENDRICK, M. A., J. Ward ANDREWS, M. A., and Hiram BINGHAM, M. A., professors; Samuel MAXWELL, M. A., principal of the academy, and Geo. A. ROSSETER, M. A., tutor.—Old Edition.

 

            The first president was Rev. Dr. Joel H. LINDSEY, from 1835 to 1846; then Rev. Dr. Henry SMITH, until 1855.  He was succeeded by Rev. Dr. J. W. ANDREWS, who held the office until 1885, when Hon. John EATON succeeded him.

 

            From its beginning the college has been doing a beneficent work.  The following copy of a letter from the late Rev. Dr. ANDREWS, ex-president, the Henry HOWE is in point:

 

                                                MARIETTA COLLEGE, O., June 4, 1887.

                Dear Sir:  At the request of President EATON, the following names of some of the more eminent of the graduates of Marietta College are sent to you.  As your request had reference to what the college has accomplished, the list includes a few who are not now living.

                JOSEPH PERKINS, Esq., late of Cleveland, an eminent citizen and