HAMILTON COUNTY
Page 738
(By courtesy of Publishers of the New
England Magazine.)
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
Page 739
Hamilton was the established in the Northwestern Territory.
It was formed January 2, 1790, by proclamation of Governor St CLAIR named from Gen.
Alexander HAMILTON. Its original boundaries were thus defined: Beginning on the
Ohio river, at the confluence of the little Miami, and down the said Ohio to
the mouth of the Big Miami; and up said Miami to the standing stone forks or
branch of said river and thence with a line to be drawn due cast to the Little
Miami, and down said Little Miami river to the place of
beginning.’’ The surface is generally rolling; the lands clay, and
in the valleys deep alluvion, with a substratum of sand. Its agriculture
includes a great variety of fruits and vegetables for the Cincinnati market.
Area about 400 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated
were 68,458; in pasture, 19,468; woodland, 10,774; lying waste, 5,619; produced
in wheat, 163,251 bushels; rye, 34,390; buckwheat, 110; oats, 116,500; barley;
34,390; corn, 468,501; broom corn, 2,345 pounds brush; meadow hay, 16,573 tons;
clover hay, 3,915; potatoes 190,398 bushels; tobacco, 25,460 pounds;
butter,7,413; cheese, 9,950; sorghum, 15 gallons; maple syrup, 454; honey,
7,413 pounds; eggs, 327,650 dozen; grapes, 235,235 pounds; wine, 3,091 gallons;
Sweet potatoes 11,314 bushels; apples, 1,910; peaches, 2,327; pears 1,195;
wool, 9,405 pounds; milch cows owned, 9,714; milk, 3,779,048 gallons. School
census, 1888, 99,049; teachers, 1,031; miles of railroad track, 545.
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
|
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Anderson, |
2,311 |
4,154 |
|
Miami, |
2,189 |
2,317 |
Colerain, |
2,272 |
3,722 |
|
Mill Creek, |
6,249 |
11,286 |
Columbia, |
3,022 |
5,306 |
|
Spencer, |
|
996 |
Crosby, |
1,875 |
1,043 |
|
Springfield, |
3,092 |
7,975 |
Cincinnati (city), |
46,382 |
355,139 |
|
Storrs, |
740 |
|
Delhi, |
1,466 |
4,738 |
|
Sycamore, |
3,207 |
6,369 |
Fulton, |
1,505 |
|
|
Symmes, |
1,033 |
1,626 |
Green, |
2,939 |
4,851 |
|
Whitewater, |
1,883 |
1,575 |
Harrison, |
|
2,277 |
|
|
|
|
Population of Hamilton, in 1820, was 31,764; 1830, 52,380;
1840, 80,165; 1860, 216,410; 1880; 313,374; of whom 191,509 were born in Ohio;
10,586; Kentucky; 6,468; Indiana; 4,362; New York; 4,185; Pennsylvania; 2,361;
Virginia; 53,252; German Empire; 16,991; Ireland; 4,099; England and Wales;
1,787, France; 1,308, British America; 796, Scotland. Census, 1890, 374,573.
Before
the war much attention was given to the cultivation of vineyards upon the hills
of the Ohio for the manufacture of wine, and it promised to be a great business
when the change in climate resulted disastrously.
Page740
Antiquities.
The Great Dam at
Cincinnati in the Ice Age.
The country in the vicinity of Cincinnati owes its
unsurpassed beauty to the operations of Nature during the glacial era. It was
the ice movements that gave it those fine terraces along the valleys and
graceful contours of formation on summits of the hills that were so attractive
to the pioneers. Here it was that great ice movement from the north ended. As
has been remarked, “Those where the days of the beautiful lake rather
than the beautiful river.”
No single cause has done more to diversify the surface of
the country, to add the attractiveness of the scenery and to furnish the key by
which the conditions of the Ice Age can be reproduced to the mind’s eye
than glacial dam. To them we own the present existence of nearly all the
waterfalls in North America, as well as nearly all the lakes.
A glacial dam across the Ohio river is suppose to have
existed at the site of Cincinnati during the Ice Age, and the evidence
supporting the theory is so full and conclusive that its existence can almost
be assumed as an absolute certainty.
The evidences of the former existence of this dam and the
lake caused thereby were first discovered and the attention of the scientific
world attracted thereto, in the summer of 1882, by Prof. Frederick
Wright’s recently published volume, “The Ice Age in North
America,” a work scientific, but plain to the commonest understanding,
intensely interesting and in inestimably valuable contribution to the sum of
knowledge.
“The ice came down through the
trough of the Ohio, and meeting with an obstruction crossed it so as to
completely choke the channel, and form a glacial dam high enough to raise the
level of the water five hundred and fifty feet—this being the height of
the water shed to the south. The consequences following are interesting to
trace.
“The bottom of the Ohio river at
Cincinnati is 447 feet above the sea-level. A dam of 553 feet would raise the
water in its rear to a height of 1,000 feet above the tide. This would produce
a long narrow lake, of the width of the eroded trough of the Ohio, submerge the
site of Pittsburg to a depth of 300 feet, and make slack-water up the
Monongahela nearly to nearly to Grafton, W. Va., and up the Allegheny as far as
Oil City. All the tributaries of the Ohio would likewise be filled to
this level with the back-water. The length of this slack-water in the main
valley, to its termination up either the Allegheny or the Monongahela, was not
far from one thousand miles. The conditions were also peculiar in this, that
all the northern tributaries head within the southern margin of the ice-front,
which lay at varying distances to the north. Down these northern tributaries
there must have poured during the summer months immense torrents of water to
strand bowlder-laden icebergs on the summits of such high hills as were lower
than the level of the dam.”
“Prof. E. W. Claypole, in an article
read before the Geological Society of Edinburgh, and published in their
“Transactions,’’ has given a very vivid description of the
scenes connected with the final breaking away of the ice-barrier at Cincinnati.
He estimates that the body of water held in check by the dam occupied 20,000
square miles, and during the summer months, when the ice most rapidly melting
away, it was supplied with water at a rate that would be equivalent to a
rainfall of 160 feet in a year. This conclusion he arrives at by estimating
that feet of ice would annually melt from the portion of the State which was
glaciated, which is about twice the extent of the glaciated portion. Ten feet
over the glaciated portion is equal to twenty feet of water the unglaciated. To
this must be added an equal amount from the area farther back whose drainage
was then into the upper Ohio. This makes forty feet per year water so
contributed to this lake-basin. Furthermore, this supply would all be furnished
in the six months of warm weather and to a large degree in the daytime, which
gives the rate above mentioned.
The breaking away of the barrier to such
body of water is no simple affair. As this writer remarks:
“The Ohio of to-day in flood is a terrible danger to the
valley, but the Ohio then must have been a much more formidable river to the
dwellers on its banks. The muddy waters rolled along, fed by innumerable rills
of glacier-milk, and often charged with ice and stones. The first warm days of
spring were the harbinger of the coming flood, which grew swifter and deeper as
the summer came, and only subsided as the falling temperature of autumn locked
up with frost the glacier fountains. The ancient Ohio river system was in its
higher part a multitude of
Page 741
From Wright’s Ice Age in North
America; by courtesy of D. Appleton & Co. Publishers;
________________________________________________________________________
Page 742
glacial torrents rushing off the
ice-sheet, carrying all before them, waxing strong beneath the rising sun, till
in the afternoon the roar of the waters and their stony burden reached its
maximum, as the sun slowly sank again diminished, and gradually died away
during the night, reaching its minimum at sunrise.
“But with the steady amelioration of
the climate, more violent and sudden floods ensued. The increasing heat of
summer compelled the retreat of the ice from the Kentucky shore, where
Covington and Newport now lie, and so lowered its, surface that it fell below
the previous out-flow point. The waters then took their course over the dam,
instead of passing, as formerly, up the Licking and down the Kentucky river
valleys. The spectacle of a great ice-cascade, or of long ice-rapids, was then
exhibited at Cincinnati. This cataract or these rapids must have been several
hundred feet high. Down these cliffs or this slope the water dashed, melting
its own channel, and breaking up the foundations of its own dam. With the
depression of the dam the level of the lake also fell. Possibly the change was
gradual, and the dam and the lake went gently down together. Possibly, but not
probably, this was the ease. Far more likely is it that the inciting was rapid,
and that it sapped the strength of the dam faster than it lowered the water.
This will be more probable if we consider the immense area to be drained. The
catastrophe was then inevitable—the dam broke, and all the accumulated
water of Lake Ohio was poured through the gap. Days or even weeks must have
passed before it was all gone but at last its bed was dry. The upper Ohio
valley was free from water, and Lake Ohio had passed away.
But the whole tale is not yet told. Not
once only did these tremendous floods occur. In the ensuing winter the dam was
repaired by the advancing ice, relieved from the melting effects of the sun and
of the floods. Year after year was this conflict repeated. How often we cannot
tell. But there came at last a summer when the Cincinnati dam was broken for
the last time when the winter with its snow and ice failed to renew it, when
the channel remained permanently clear, and Lake Ohio had disappeared for-ever
from the geography of North America.
How many years or ages this conflict between
the lake and the dam continued it is quite impossible to say, but the quantity
of wreckage found in the valley of the lower Ohio, and even in that of the
Mississippi, below their point of junction, is sufficient to convince us that
it was no short time. ‘The Age of Great Floods’ formed a striking
episode in the story of the ‘Retreat of the Ice.’ Long afterwards
much the valley have borne the marks of these disastrous torrents, far
surpassing in intensity anything now known on earth. The great flood of 1855,
when the ice-laden water slowly rose seventy-three feet above low-water mark,
will long be remembered by Cincinnati and her inhabitants. But that flood,
terrible as it was, sinks into insignificance beside the furious torrents
caused by the sudden, even though partial, breach of an ice-dam hundreds of
feet in height, and the discharge of a body of water held behind it, and
forming a lake of 20,000 square miles in extent.
“To the human dwellers in the Ohio
valley—for we have reason to believe that the valley was in that day
tenanted by man—these floods must have proved disastrous in the extreme.
It is scarcely likely that they were often forecast. The whole population of
the bottom lands must have been repeatedly swept away; and it is far from being
unlikely that in these and other similar catastrophes in different parts of the
world, which characterized certain stages in the Glacial era, will be found the
far-off basis on which rest those traditions of a flood that are found among
almost all savage nations, especially in the north temperate
zone.’’
Madisonville, eight miles northeast of Cincinnati (in a
cross valley about five-miles in length, (connecting Mill creek with the Little
Miami back of Avondale, Walnut Hills and the observatory), is an extremely
interesting region, as connected with the glacial period. This valley, or
depression, is generally level, from one to two miles wide, and about 200 feet
above the low water-mark in the Ohio, and from 200 to 300 feet below the
adjacent hills. It is occupied by a deposit of gravel, sand and loam, belonging
to the glacial—terrace epoch. In the article, “Glacial Man in
Ohio,” by Prof. Wright, in Vol. 1., page 93, is given a map of this
region. The article also speaks of the discoveries of Dr. C. L. Metz of two
palæolithic implements, which prove that man lived in Ohio before the
close of the glacial period, say from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago before which
there were no Niagara Falls and no Lake Erie.
The first implement was found at Madisonville by him, in
1885, while digging a cistern. ‘‘In making the excavation for this
he penetrate the loam eight feet before reaching the gravel, and then near the
surface of the gravel this implement was found. There is no chance for it to
have been covered by any slide, for the plain is extensive and level-topped,
and there had evidently been no previous disturbance of the gravel.”
“It is not smoothed, but simply rudely chipped
Page 743
pointed weapon about three inches long.” The other
palæolithic was found by Dr. Metz, in the spring of 1887, in an
excavation in a similar deposit near Loveland, some thirty feet below the
surface, and near where some mastodon bones had previously been found. It was
an oblong stone about six inches long, four and a half inches wide, which had
here been chipped all around to an edge. Similar discovers have since been made
in Tuscarawas county.
Dr. Metz has favored us with the following articles upon
discoveries in the mounds and earthworks of the lost race which inhabited this
region after the glacial era. They are all upon the surface, being built upon
the summits of the glacial-terraces or upon the present flood plains.
THE PREHISTORIC
MOMUMENTS OF HAMILTON COUNTY.
The territory comprising Hamilton county
appears to have been one of the great centres of the aboriginal inhabitants.
This is evidenced by the great number of earthworks, mounds and extensive
burial places found throughout the county.
Mounds and Earthworks.—The mounds and the earthworks are
found most numerous in the valleys of the Little and Great Miami, and in the
region between the Little Miami and Ohio rivers. Of the mounds, 437 have been
observed in the county, the largest of which is located on the Levi MARTIN
estate, about one mile east of the village of Newtown. The dimensions of this
mound from actual measurements are as follows: Circumference at base, 625 feet
width at base, 150 feet; length at base, 250 feet; perpendicular height, 40
feet.
Earth Enclosures. —Of the earthworks, or enclosures, fifteen in number have
been located, the principal ones being the “Fortified Hill” near
the mouth of the great Miami river, figured and describes by Squire and Davis
in their “Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley “[see Plate
IX., No. 2, Vol I., Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge], and the very
interesting earth-works located on the lands of Mr. Michael Turner, near the
junction of the East Fork and Little Miami river in Anderson township, and
which the writer takes the liberty to designate as the “Whittlesey and
Turner group of works.” This group of works was first described by T. C.
Day, Esq., in a paper en-titled “The Antiquities of the Miami
Valley,” Cincinnati Chronicle, November, 1839, and subsequently, in 1850,
were surveyed and described by Col. Charles Whittlesey in Vol. III., Article 7,
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Of this work, Mr. Day says: “The
site of this stupendous fortification, if we may so call it, is a few rods to
the right of the road leading from Newtown to Milford, and about midway between
them. It is situated on a ridge of land that juts out from the third bottom of
the Little Miami, and reaches within 300 yards of its bed. From the top of the
ridge to low water-mark is probably 100 feet. It terminates with quite a sharp
point, and its sides are very abrupt, bearing evident marks of having once been
swept by some stream of water, probably the Miami. It forms an extremity of an
immense bend, curving into what is now called the third bottom, but which is
evidently of alluvial formation. Its probable height is forty feet, and its
length about a quarter of a mile be-fore it expands out and forms the third
alluvial bottom. About 150 yards from the extreme point of this ridge, the
ancient workmen ‘having cut a ditch directly through it, it is thirty
feet in depth, its length, a semi-circular curve, is 500 feet, and its width at
the top is eighty feet, having a level base of forty feet. At the time of its
formation it was probably cut to the base of the ridge, but the washing of the
rains has filled it up to its present height. Forty feet from the western side
of the ditch is placed the low circular wall of the fort, which describes in
its circumference an area of about four acres. The wall is probably three feet
in mean height, and is composed of clay occasionally mixed with small fiat
river stone. It keeps at an exact distance from the top of the ditch, but
approaches nearer to the edge of the ridge. The form of the fort is a perfect
circle, and is 200 yards in diameter. Its western side is defended with a
ditch, cut through in the same manner as the one on the eastern side. Its width
and depth is the same, but its length is greater by 200 feet, as the ridge is
that much wider than where the other is cut through. The wall of this fort
keeps exactly the same distance from the top of this ditch as of the other,
viz: forty feet. Its curve is exactly the opposite of that of the other, so as
to form two segments of a circle. At the southeastern side of the fort there is
an opening in the wall thirty-six yards wide, and opposite this opening is one
of the most marked features of this wonderful monument. A causeway extends out
from the ridge about 300 feet in length, 100 feet in width, with a gradual
descent to the alluvial bottom at its base. The material of its construction is
evidently a portion of the earth excavated from the ditches... “To defend
this entrance they raised a mound of earth seven feet high, forty wide and
seventy-five long. It is placed about 100 feet from the mouth of the cause-way,
and is so situated that its garrison could sweep it to its base.” The
mound above referred to was explored by the writer under the auspices of Prof.
F. W. Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and
Ethnology, Cambridge, Mass.,
Page 744
and we quote from their Sixteenth Annual
Report: “The large mound provide a most interesting structure, unlike
anything heretofore discovered. It contained a small central tumulus,
surrounded, carefully built stone-wall and covered in by a platform of Stones,
over which was a mass of clay. On this wall were two depressions in each of
which a body had been laid, and outside the wall In the surrounding clay were
found several skeletons, one of them lying upon a platform of stones. With these
skeletons were found a copper celt, ornaments made of copper and shell, and
large sea-shells. With each of three of the skeletons was a pair of the
spool-shaped ear ornaments of copper, and in every instance these ornaments
were found one on either side near the skull.”
Large, Earth Enclosure. —From the base of the graded way
heretofore described extend two embankments forming the segments of an oblong
oval, enclosing an area of about 10 acres. These embankments extend in an
easterly direction, gradually approaching each other until the opening or
gateway, 150 feet in width, remains. To protect this gateway a mound is erected
just within the opening, having a diameter at base of 125 feet and a
perpendicular height of seven feet. Within the above enclosure are fourteen
mounds and one large circular embankment, having a diameter of 300 feet and a
gateway to the south sixty feet wide. Near the northern side of this circular
enclosure was a small mound covering a stone cist containing a human skeleton.
Altar Mounds.—On the southern side of the oval
was a group of eight mounds. Several of these mounds contained
“Altars” or basings of burnt clay, on two of which there were
thousands of objects of interest, which are described as follows by Prof. Putnam
in his report Two of these altars, each about four feet square, were cut out
and brought to the museum. Among the objects from the altars are numerous
ornaments and carvings unlike any-thing we have had before.
“One altar contained about two
bushels of ornaments made of stone, copper, mica. shells, the canine teeth of
bears and other animals, and thousands of pearls (50,000 have been counted and
sorted from the mass). Nearly all of these objects are perforated in various
ways for suspension. Several of the copper ornaments are covered with native
silver, which had been hammered out into thin sheets and folded over the
copper. Among these are a bracelet and a bead, and several of the spool-shaped
ear ornaments.
“Gold in Mound,—One small copper pendent seems to
have been covered with a thin sheet of gold, a portion of which still adheres
to the copper, while other bits of it were found in the mass of material. This
is the first time that native gold has been found in the mounds, although
hundreds have been explored. The ornaments cut out of copper and mica are very
interesting, and embrace many forms. Among them is a sheet of mica.
Several ornaments of this material
resemble the heads of animals whose features are emphasized by a red color,
while others are the form of circles and bands. Many of the copper ornaments
are large and of peculiar shape; others are scrolls, scalloped circles, oval
pendants and other forms. There are about thirty of the singular spool-shaped
objects or ear-rings made of copper. Three large sheets of mica were on this
altar, and several finely-chipped points of obsidian, chalcedony and chert were
in the mass of materials.
“There were several pendants cut
from a micaceous schist and of a unique of work. There are also portions
of a circular piece of bone, over the surface of which are incised figures, and
flat pieces of shell similarly carved. Several masses of native copper were on
the altar.
Meteoric Iron and Terra-Cotta Figurines.—But by far the most important
things found on this altar were the several masses of meteoric iron and the
ornaments made from this metal. One of these is half of a spool-shaped object
like those made of copper, with which it was associated. Another ear-ornament
of copper is covered with a thin plating of the iron in the smile manner its
others were covered with silver. “Three of the masses of iron have been
more or less hammered into bars, as if for the purpose of making some ornament
or implement, another is apparently in the natural shape in which it was found.”
“On another altar in another mound of the group were several terra-cotta
figurines of character heretofore unknown from the mounds.
“Unfortunately these objects as well
as others found on the altars have been more or less burnt, and many of them appear
to have been purposely broken before they were placed on the altars.
Many pieces of these images have been
united, and it is my hope that we shall succeed in nearly restoring some of
them.
“Enough has already been made out to
show the peculiar method of wearing the hair; the singular head-dress and large
button-like ear-ornaments shown by those human figures are of particular
interest. On the same altar with the figurines were two remarkable dishes
carved from stone in the form of animals; with these was a serpent cut out of
mica, On the altar were several hundred quartz pebbles from the river, and
nearly 300 astragali of deer and elk. As but two of these bones could lie
obtained from a single animal, and as theme were but one or two fragments of
other bones, there must have been some special and important reason for
collecting so large a number of these particular bones.
“A fine-made bracelet made of copper amid covered with
silver and several other ornaments of copper, a few pearls and shells and other
ornaments were also on this altar.’’ Near the last group of
earth-works are two parallel ways or embankments, 100 feet apart and extending
one-half mile in length north-westwardly across the lands of Mr. Gano MARTIN.”
Page745
Small Earth Enclosures.—Of the smaller earth enclosures,
the one in the Stites Grove, near Plainville, is in the best state of
preservation, inner ditch, across which in a causeway leading to an opening in
the embankment to the southeast. Numerous ancient burial places are found in
the county, and the mortuary customs are varied, indicating that the territory
has been occupied by various tribes at different periods. We find the stonecist
burials, burials under flat stones, burials in stone circles, burials in the
drift gravel beds, burials in pits in the horizontal and also in the sitting
position, original moved burials, intrusive mound burials and evidences of
cremation.
Ancient Cemetery, Near Madisonville, O.—The most extensive and interesting
of the ancient burial places is the one known as the pre-historic cemetery,
near Madisonville, Ohio, which has become noted for its singular ash-pits as
well as for the skeletons buried in or at the bottom of the leaf-mould covering
the pits. One thousand and sixty-five skeletons, 700 ash-pits, upwards of 300
earthen vases, numerous implements of bone, horn, shell, copper and stone have
been found.
The Ash-pits are discovered after twelve to
twenty-four inches of the leaf-mould has been removed and the hard pan or clay is
reached, when the pit is discovered by a circular discoloration or black spot.
There ash-pits as they have been well named, are circular excavations in the
hard pan of the plateau, from there to four feet in diameter and from four to
seven feet deep. The contents themselves are of peculiar interest, and the
purpose for which they were made is still a mystery. The average pit may be
said to be filled with ashes in more or less defined layers. Some of the layers
near the top seem to be mixed with the surrounding gravel to a greater or less
extent; but generally, after removing the contents of the upper third of the
pit, a mass of fine gray ashes is found, which is formed a few inches over two
feet in thickness.
Sometimes this mass of ashes contains thin
strata of charcoals, sand or gravel. Throughout the mass of ashes and sand,
from the top of the pit to the bottom, are bones of fishes, reptiles, birds and
mammals. With the bones are the shells of several species of unionidae. These
are also found in these pits large pieces of pottery, also a large number of
implements made of bones of deer, and elk antlers have been found. Those made
of elk antlers are in most cases adapted from digging or agriculture purposes,
and often so large and so well made as to prove that they are effective
implements. Among other objects made of bone are beads, small whistles, or
bird-calls, made form hollow bone of birds, also flat and cylindrical pieces
with “tally” notches and marks cuts upon them, short round pieces
of antler carefully cut and polished together, with arrow points drills
scarpers and other chipped instruments of stone. A few polished celts and
several rough hammer stones have been found in the pits.
Corn-Pit.—A number of objects copper,
particularly beads, have been taken from these pits, as have also several pipes
of various shapes cut out of stone. One pit discovered August 26, 1879, known
as the “corn-pit,” is of peculiar interest. The dept of this pit
was six feet, its diameter three feet. The layers or strata from above
downwards were:
1st, Leaf-mould 24 inches; 2d, Gravel and
clay 15 inches; 3d, Ashes containing animal remains, pottery shards, unio
shells 10 inches; 4th Bark, twigs and matting 4 inches; 5th Carbonized shell
corn 4 inches; 6th, Layer of twigs, matting and corn leaves 2 inches; 7th,
Carbonized corn in ear 6 inches; 8th, Boulders covering the bottom of the pit 6
inches.
Immediately along-side of this pit was
another the same depth, 3 feet 7 inches in diameter; containing leaf-mold, 24
inches; ashes with animal remains, fragments of pottery, shells, etc., 4 feet.
The bottom layer of all the pits was
invariable ashes, and in the ashes were found, in good state of preservation,
bone implements, representing fish hooks, fish spears, bone and horn digging
tools, bone beads, solid cylinders of bone two to three inches in length,
one-fourth to one-half inch in diameter, bone awls, needles, fifes, grooved
ones, cut pieces of antler of deer and elk, copper beads, perforated unios,
together with numerous animals remains; of these many were identified as
belonging to the deer, elk, bear, buffalo, raccoon, opossum, mink, woodchuck,
beaver, various species of birds and water fowls, turkey, fish, together with
various species of unio shell.
Pottery.—The skeletons were buried in the horizontal
position, and are generally found at a depth of from eighteen inches to three
feet; with the skeletons have been found a number of vessels of pottery; the
most common of these are small cooking-pots with pointed bottoms and four
handles. Most of the vessels are simply cord-marked, but some are found
ornamental within the incised lines, or with circular indentations. Several
have been obtained on which were small and rudely made medallion figures
representing the human face.
Lizard Ornamentation.—On one pot a similarly formed head is on the edge so as to
face the inside of the vessel. One vessel lent to the Smithsonian Institute has
luted ornates representing the human face on either side between the handles. A
half dozen small vessels have a very interesting form of decoration; these are
known as lizard or salamander pots. On some of these vessels the salamander,
which is fairly modeled, is on the surface of the broad, flat handles on
opposite sides, on others these ornaments are places between the handles. And
on one they from the handles. In all, the head of the salamander is on the edge
or lip of the vessel, and in one or two is carried a little to the inside. A
few other forms of vessels are represented by single specimens. Such are an
ordinary pot attached to a hollow stand a few inches high, two vessels
Page 745
joined together, one above the other, the
upper without a bottom, the two having eight handles, and a flat, long dish
with two handles and a flat, long dish with two handles at each end.
The pre-historic cemetery, near
Madisonville, occupies an area of about fifteen acres covered with vast forest
trees. Many of the skeletons and pits are found beneath the roots of large oak,
walnut or maple trees.
Mardelles or Dug-outs.—In the county are two of the
circular excavations designated as “mardelles” have been found. The
best preserved of this class of works is the one situated on the lands of the
John TURNER estate, two miles northeast of the village of Newtown.
This pit has a diameter of sixty feet at
the top, depth in the centre twelve feet; six feet from the edge of the pit is
a well-marked embankment conforming to the circular edge of the pit. The
embankment is two feet high, eight feet wide at the base, and is interrupted by
a gate-way or opening fifteen feet wide at the east. There are many interesting
objects in the county that warrant a detailed description, we can, however, but
briefly call attention to the terraced hill at Red Bank and the old road-way in
Section 11, Columbia Township.
The hill at Red Bank, just north from the
railway station, has an elevation of about 300 feet, and is terraced on its
eastern and southern slopes. The terraces are five in number, and are
undoubtedly the work of human hands. This hill is surmounted by a small mound.
The ancient road-way in Section 11, Columbia Township, near Madisonville, is
cut along the face of the steep hill extending from the creek in a
south-westwardly direction to the top of the hill ending near the DARLING
homestead. The road-way is upward of 1,600 feet in length, having an average
width of twenty-five feet, and is overgrown with large forest trees.
Implements of Preglacial Men.—Evidences of preglacial men having
existed in Ohio have been given by the finding of rudely chipped pointed
implements Madisonville and at Loveland in the glacial deposits as before
stated. The discovery of the altar mounds in the Little Miami Valley similar to
those discovered and explored by Squire and Davis in the Scioto Valley, near
Chillicothe, would indicate that the territory that is now known as Ross and
Hamilton counties was once the great centre of the pre-historic population of
Southern Ohio.
THE FIRST
SETTLEMENTS.
Hamilton county was the second settled in Ohio. Washington,
the first, has its first settlement at Marietta, April 7, 1788. The
country between the Great and Little Miamis had been the scene of so many
fierce conflicts between Kentuckians and Indians in there raids to and fro that
it was termed the “Miami Slaughter House,” In June, 1788 and the
period of the Revolutionary war, Captain BYRD, in command of 600 British and
Indians with artillery from Detroit, came down the Big Miami and ascended the
Licking opposite Cincinnati on his noted expedition into Kentucky, when he
destroyed several stations and did great mischief. And in the August following
Gen. Rogers CLARK, with his Kentuckians, took up his line of march from the
site of Cincinnati for the Shawnee towns on Little Miami and Mad rivers, which
he destroyed. On this campaign he erected two blockhouses on the north side of
the Ohio. These were the first structured known to have been built on the site
of the city.
The
beautiful country between the Miamis had been so infested by the Indians, that
it was avoided by the whites, and its settlement might have been procrastinated
for years, but for the discovery and enterprise of Major Benjamin STITES, a
trader from New Jersey. In the summer of 1786, SITTES happened to be at
Washington, just back of Limestone, now Maysville, where he headed a party of
Kentuckians in pursuit of some Indians who had stolen some horses. They
followed for some days; the latter escaped, but STITES gained by it a view of
the rich valleys of the Great and Little Miami as far up as the site of Xenia.
With this knowledge, and charmed by the beauty of the country, he hurried back
to New Jersey, and revealed his discovery to Judge John Cleves SYMMES, of
Trenton, at that time a member or Congress and a man of great influence. This
result was the formation of a company of twenty-four gentlemen of the State,
similar to that of the Ohio Company, as proprietors of the proposed purchase.
Among these were General Jonathan DAYTON, Elias BOUDINOT, and Dr. WITHERSPOON,
as well as SYMMES and STITES. SYMMES, in August of next year, 1787, petitioned
Congress for a grant of the land, but before the bargain was closed he made
arrangements with STITES to sell him 10,000 acres of the best land.
Page 747
SETTLEMENT OF
COLUMBIA.
Under the contract with SYMMES, STITES, with a party of
eighteen or twenty, landed on the 18th of November, 1788, and laid out the
village of Columbia below the mouth of the Little Miami; it is now within the
limits of the city, five miles east of Fountain Square.
The settlers were superior men. Among them
were Col. SPENCER, Major GANO, Judge GOFORTH, Francis DUNLAVY, Major KIBBERY,
Rev. John SMITH, Judge FOSTER, Columbus BROWN, Mr. HUBBELL, Capt. FLINN, Jacob
WHITE and John RILEY, and for several years the settlement was the most
populous and successful.
Two or three blockhouses era first erected
for the protection of the women and children, and then log-cabins for the
families. The boats in which they had come from Maysville, then Limestone,
where broken up and used from the doors, floors, etc., to these rude buildings.
They had at that time no trouble from the Indians, which arose from the fact
that they were then gathered at Fort Harmar to make a treaty with the whites.
Wild game was plenty, but their breadstuffs and salt soon gave out, and as a
substitute they occasionally used various roots, taken from native plant, the
bear grass especially when the spring of 1789 opened their prospects grew
brighter. The fine bottoms on the Little Miami had long been cultivated by the
savages, and were found mellow as ash heaps. The men worked in divisions,
one-half keeping guard with their rifles while the other worked, changing their
employments morning and afternoon.
Turkey Bottom, on the Little Miami, one
and a half miles above Columbia, was a clearing in area of a square mile, for a
long while, and supplied both Columbia and the garrison at Fort Washington at
Cincinnati with corn for a season. From nine acres of Turkey Bottom, the
tradition goes, the enormous crop of 963 bushels were gathered the very first
season.
Before this the women and children from
Columbia early visited Turkey Bottom to scratch up the bulbous roots of the
bear grass. There they boiled, washed, dried on smooth boards, and finally
pounded into a species of flour, which served as a tolerable substitute for
making various baking operations. Many of the families subsisted for a time
entirely on the roots of the bear grass; and there was great suffering for
provisions until they could grow corn.
Settlement of
Cincinnati.
The facts connected with the settlement of Cincinnati are
these; In the winter of 1787-1788 Matthias DENMAN, of Springfield, New Jersey,
purchased of John Clees SYMMES, a tract of land comprising 740 acres, now but a
small part of the city, his object being to form a station, lay out a town on
the Ohio side opposite the mouth of the Licking river, and establish a ferry,
garrison at Detroit here crossed the Ohio, and here was the usual avenue by
which savages from the north had invaded Kentucky. DENMAN paid five shillings
per acre in Continental scrip, or about fifteen pence per acre in specie, or
less that $125 in specie for the entire plot.
DENMAN the next summer associates with him two gentlemen of
Lexington, Ky., each having one-third interest, Col. Robert PATTERSON and John
FILSON. The first was a gallant soldier of the Indian wars, and John FILSON, a
school-master and surveyor, and author of various works upon the West, of which
he had been an explorer, one of the “the Discover, Settlement and Present
State of Kentucky,” published in 1784; also a map of the same. FILSON was
to survey the site and lay it out into lots, thirty in-lots of half an acre and
thirty out-lots for four acres to be given thirty settlers of their paying
$1.50 for deed and survey. He called the proposed town Losantiville, a name
formed by him from the Latin “os” mouth, the Greek,
“anti,” opposite, and the French “ville,” city, from
its position opposite the mouth of the Licking river. And this name is retained
until the advent of Gov. ST. CLAIR, January 2, 1790, who, being a member of the
old Revolutionary army Society of Cincinnatus, expressed a desire the name
should be changed to Cincinnati, when his wish was complied with.
Preliminary Exploration.—In September, 1788, a large party, embracing SYMMES,
STITIES, DENMAN, PATTERSON, FILSON, LUDLOW with others, in all about sixty men,
left Limestone to visit the new Miami Purchase of SYMMES. They landed at the
mouth of the Great Miami, and explored the country from some distance back from
that and North Bend, at which point SYMMES then decided to make a settlement.
The party surveyed
Page 748
the distance between the two Miamis,
following the meanders of the Ohio, and returned to Limestone.
On this trip FILSON became separated from
his companions while in the rear of North Bend and was never heard of, having
doubtless been killed by the Indians, a fate of which he always seemed to have
a presentiment. Israel LUDLOW, who had intended to act as surveyor for SYMMES,
now accepted FILSON’S interest, and assumed his duties in laying out
Losantiville.
Landing at Cincinnati.—On the 24th of December, 1788
DENMAN and PATTERSON, with twenty-six others, left Limestone in a boat to found
Losantiville. After much difficulty and danger from floating ice in the river,
they arrived at the spot on or about the 28th, the exact being in dispute. The
precise spot of their landing was an inlet at the foot of Sycamore street,
later known as Yeatman’s Cove.
LUDLOW laid out the town. On the 7th of
January ensuing the settlers by lottery decided on their choice of donation
lots, the same being given to each in fee simple on condition: 1. Raising two
crops successively, and not less than an acre for each crop. 2. Building within
two years a house equal to twenty-five feet square, one and half stories high,
with brick, stone or clay chimney, each to stand in front of their lots. The
following is a list of the settlers who so agreed, thirty in number: Samuel
BLACKBORN, Sylvester WHITE, Joseph THRONTON, John VANCE, James DUMONT, — FUTON, Elijah MARTIN, Isaac VAN
METER, Thomas GISSEL, David MCCLEVER, — DAVIDSON, Matthew
CAMPBELL, James MONSON, James, MCCONNELL, Noah BADGELY, James CARPENTER, Samuel
MOONEY, James CAMPBELL, Isaac FREEMAN, Scott TRAVERSE, Benjamin DUMONT,
Jesse STWWART, Henry BECHTLE, Richard STEWARD, Luther KITCHNELL, Ephraim
KIBBEY, Henry LIDNSEY, John PORTER, Daniel SHOEMAKER, Joel WILLIAMS.
The thirty in-lots in general terms
comprised the space back from the standing between Main street and Broadway,
and there was the town began.
The North Bend settlement was the third within the SYMMES Purchase, and was made under the
immediate care of Judge SYMMES. He called it North Bend because it is the most
northerly bend on the Ohio west of the Kanawha. The Judge with his party of
adventurers left Limestone January 29, 1789, only about a month after that of
DENMAN at Cincinnati, and two months after that of STITES at Columbia. The
history of this with other connecting historical items we extracted from
Burnet’s Notes:
The party, on their passage down the
river, were obstructed, delayed and exposed to imminent danger from floating
ice, which covered the river. They, however, reached the Bend, the place of
their destination, in safety, early in February. The first object of the Judge
was to found a city at that place, which had received the name of North Bend,
from the fact that it was the most northern bend in the Ohio river below the
mouth of the Great Kanawhia.
The water-craft used in descending the
Ohio, in those primitive times, were flat-boats mode of green oak plank,
fastened by wooden pins to a frame of timber, and caulked with tow, or any
other pliant substance that could be procured. Boats similarly constructed on
the northern waters were then called arks, but on the western rivers they were
denominated Kentucky boats. The materials of which they were composed were
found to be of great utility in the construction of temporary buildings for
safety, and for protection from the inclemency of the weather, after they had
arrived at their destination.
At the earnest solicitation of the Judge,
General HARMAR sent Captain KEARSEY with forty-eight rank and file, to protect
the improvements just commencing in the Miami country. This detachment reached
Limestone in December, 1788, and in a few days after, Captain KEARSEY sent a
part of his command in advance, as a guard to protect the pioneers under Major
STITES, at the Little Miami, where they arrived soon after. Mr. SYMMES and his
party, accompanied by Captain KEARSEY, landed at Columbia, on their passage
down the river, and the detachment previously sent to that place joined their
company. They then proceeded to the Bend, and landed about the first or second
of February. When they left Limestone, it was the purpose of Captain KEARSEY to
occupy the fort built at the mouth of the Miami, by a detachment of United
States troops, who afterwards descended the river to the falls.
That purpose was defeated by the flood in
the river, which had spread over the low grounds and tendered it difficult to
reach the fort. Captain KEARSEY, however, was anxious to make the attempt, but
the Judge would not consent to it; he was, of course, much disappointed, and
greatly displeased. When he set out on the expedition, expecting to find a fort
ready built to receive him, he did not provide the implements necessary to
construct one. Thus disappointed and displeased, he resolved that he would not
build a new work, but would leave the Bend and join the garrison at Louisville.
In pursuance of that resolution, he embarked early in March, and
descended the river with his command. The Judge immediately wrote to Major
WILLIS, commandant of the garrison at the Falls, complaining of the conduct of
Captain KEARSEY, representing the exposed situation of the Miami settlement,
stating the indications of hostility manifested by the Indians, and requesting
a guard to be sent to the Bend. This request
Page 749
was promptly granted, and before the close
of the month, Ensign LUCE arrived with seventeen or eighteen soldiers, which,
for the time, removed the apprehensions of the pioneers at that place. It was
not long, however, before the Indians made an attack on them, in which they
killed one soldier, and wounded four or five other persons, including Major J.
R. MILLS, an emigrant from Elizabethtown, New Jersey, who was a surveyor, and
an intelligent and highly respected citizen. Although he recovered from his
wounds, he felt their disabling effects to the day of his death.
SYMMES CITY LAID OUT—The surface of
the ground where the Judge and his party had landed was above the reach of the
water, and sufficiently level to admit of a convenient settlement. He therefore
deter-mined, for the immediate accommodation of his party, to lay out a village
at that place, and to suspend, for the present, the execution of his purpose,
as to the city, of which he had given notice, until satisfactory information
could be obtained in regard to the comparative advantages of different places
in the vicinity. The determination, however of laying out such a city, was not
abandoned, but was executed in the succeeding year on a magnificent scale. It
included the village, and extended from the Ohio across the peninsula to the
Miami river. This city, which was certainly a beautiful one, on paper, was
called Symmes, and for a time was a subject of conversation and of criticism
but it soon ceased to be remembered—even its name was forgotten, and the
settlement continued to be called North Bend. Since then, that village has been
distinguished as the residence and the home of the soldier and statesman,
William Henry HARRISON, whose remains now repose in a humble vault on one of
its beautiful hills.
In conformity with a stipulation made at
Limestone, every individual belonging to the party received a donation lot,
which he was required to improve, as the condition of obtaining a title. As the
number of these adventurers increased in consequence of the protection afforded
by the military, the Judge was induced to lay out another village, six or seven
miles higher up the river, which he called South Bend, where he disposed of
some donation lots; but that project failed. And in a few years the village was
deserted and converted into a farm.
Indian
Interviews. —During
these transactions, the Judge was visited by a number of Indians from a camp in
the neighborhood of Stites’ settlement. One of them, a Shawnee chief, had
many complaints to make of frauds practiced on them by white traders, who
fortunately had no connection with the pioneers. After several conversations,
and some small presents, he professed to be satisfied with the explanation he
had received, and gave assurances that the Indians would trade with the white
men as friends.
In one of their interviews, the Judge told
him he had been commissioned and sent out to their country, by the thirteen
fires, in the sprit of friendship and kindness and that he was instructed to
treat them as friends and brothers. In proof of this he showed them the flag of
the Union, with its stars and stripes and also his commission, having the great
seal of the United States attached to it exhibiting the American eagle, with
the olive branches in one claw, emblematical of peace, and the instrument of
war and death in the other. He explained the meaning of those symbols to their
satisfaction, though at first the chief seemed to think they were not very
striking emblems either of peace or friendship but before be departed from the
Bend, he gave assurances of the most friendly character. Yet, when they left
their camp to return to their towns, they carried off a number of horses
belonging to the Columbia settlement, to compensate for the injuries done them
by wandering traders, who had no part or lot with the pioneers. These
depredations having been repeated, a party was sent out in pursuit, who
followed the trail of the Indians a considerable distance, when they discovered
fresh signs, and sent Captain FLINN, one of their party, in advance, to
reconnoitre. He had not proceeded far before he was surprised, taken prisoner,
and carried to the Indian camp. Not liking the movements he saw going on which
seemed to indicate personal violence, in regard to himself, and having great confidence
in his activity and strength, at a favorable moment he sprang from the camp,
made his escape, and joined his party. The Indians, fearing an ambuscade, did
not pursue. The party possessed themselves of several horses belonging to the
Indians, and returned to Columbia. In a few days, the Indians brought in
Captain FLINN’S rifle, and begged Major STITES to re-store their
horses—alleging that they were innocent of the depredations laid to their
charge. After some further explanations, the matter was amicably settled, and
the horses were given up.
The three principal settlements of the
Miami country, although they had one general object, and were threatened by one
common danger, yet there existed a strong spirit of rivalry between
them—each feeling a pride in the prosperity of the little colony to which
be belonged. That spirit produced a strong influence on the feelings of the
pioneers of the different villages, and produced an esprit du corps, scarcely
to be expected under circumstances so critical and dangerous as those which
threatened them. At first it was a matter of doubt which of the rivals,
Columbia, Cincinnati or North Bend, would eventually become the chief seat of
business.
That, however, lasted but a short time. The garrison having been
established at Cincinnati made it the headquarters and the depot of the army.
In addition to this, as soon as the county courts of the territory were
organized, it was made the seat of justice of Hamilton county. These advantages
convinced everybody that it was destined to become the emporium of the Miami
country.
Page 750
Privations of the Settlers.—A large number of the original
adventurers to the Miami purchase had exhausted their means by paying for their
land, and removing their families to the country. Others were wholly destitute
of property, and came out as volunteers, under the expectation of obtaining,
gratuitously, such small tracts of land as might be forfeited by the
purchasers, under Judge SYMMES, for not making the improvements required by the
conditions stipulated in the terms of sale and settlement of Miami lands,
published by the Judge, in 1787. The class of adventurers first named was
comparatively numerous, and had come out under an expectation of taking
immediate possession of their lands, and of commencing the cultivation of then
for subsistence. Their situation, therefore, was distressing. To go out into
the wilderness to till the soil appeared to be certain death; to remain in the
settlements threatened them with starvation. The best provided of the pioneers
found it difficult to obtain subsistence; and, of course, the class now spoken
of were not far from total destitution. They depended on game, fish, and such
products of the earth as could be raised on small patches of ground in the immediate
vicinity of the settlements.
Occasionally, small lots of provision were
brought down the river by emigrants, and sometimes were transported on
pack-horses, from Lexington, at a heavy expense, and not without danger. But
supplies, thus procured, were beyond the reach of those destitute persons now
referred to.
Stations Established.—Having endured these privations as
long as they could be borne, the more resolute of them determined to brave the
consequences of moving on to their lands. To accomplish the object with the
least exposure, those whose lands were in the same neighborhood united as one
family; and on that principle, a number of associations were formed, amounting
to a dozen or more who went out resolved to maintain their positions.
Each party erected a strong block-house,
near to which their cabins were put up, and the whole was enclosed by strong
log pickets. This being done, they commenced clearing their lands, and
preparing for planting their crops. During the day, while they were at work,
one person was placed as a sentinel, to warn them of approaching danger. At
sun-set they retired to the block-house and their cabins, taking everything of
value within the pickets. In this manner they proceeded front day to day, and
week to week, till their improvements were sufficiently extensive to support
their families. During this time, they depended for subsistence on wild game,
obtained at some hazard, more than on the scanty supplies they were able to
procure from the settlements on the river.
In a short time these stations gave
protection and food to a large number of destitute families. After they were
established, the Indians became less annoying to the settlements on the Ohio,
as part of their time was employed in watching the stations. The former,
however, did not escape, but endured their share of the fruits of savage
hostility. In fact, no place or situation was exempt from danger. The safety of
the pioneer depended on his means of defense, and on perpetual vigilance.
The Indians viewed those stations with
great jealousy, as they had the appearance of permanent military
establishments, intended to retain possession of their country. In that view
they were correct and it was fortunate for the settlers that the Indians wanted
either the skill or the means of demolishing them.
The truth of the matter is, their great
error consisted in permitting those works to be constructed at all. They might
have prevented it with great ease, but they appeared not to be aware of the
serious consequences which were to result, until it was too late to act with
effect. Several attacks were, however, made at different, times, with an
apparent determination to destroy them; but they failed in every instance. The
assault made on the station erected by Captain Jacob WHITE, a pioneer of much
energy and enterprise, at the third crossing of Mill creek from Cincinnati, on
the old Hamilton road was resolute and daring but it was gallantly met and
successfully repelled. During the attack, which was in the night, Captain WHITE
add killed a warrior, who fell so near the block-house, that his companions
could not remove his body. The next morning it was brought in, and judging from
his stature, as reported by the inmates, he might have claimed descent from a
race of giants. On examining the ground in the vicinity of the block-house, the
appearances of blood indicated that the assailants had suffered severely.
DUNLAP’S STATION ATTACKED —In the winter of 1790-1, an attack
was made, with a strong party, amounting, probably, to four or five hundred, on
Dunlap’s station, at Colerain. The block-house at that place was occupied
by a small number of United States troops, commanded by Col. KINGSBURY, then a
subaltern in the army. The fort was furnished with a piece of artillery, which
was an object of terror to the Indians yet that did not deter them from an
attempt to effect their purpose. Time attack was violent, and for some time the
station was in imminent danger.
The savages were led by the notorious
Simon GIRTY, and outnumbered the garrison, at least, ten to one. The works were
entirely of wood, and the only obstacle between the assailants and the assailed
was a picket of logs, that might have been demolished, with a loss not
exceeding, probably, twenty or thirty lives. The garrison displayed unusual
gallantry—they frequently exposed their persons above the pickets to
insult and provoke the assailants; and judging from the facts reported, they
conducted with as much folly as bravery.
Col. John WALLACE, of Cincinnati, one of the earliest arid bravest
of the pioneers, and
Page 751
was amiable as he was brave, was in the
fort when the attack was made. Although the works were completely surrounded by
the enemy, the colonel volunteered his services to go to Cincinnati for a reinforcement.
The fort stood on the east bank of the Big Miami. Late in the night he was
conveyed across the river in a canoe, and landed on the opposite shore. Having
passed down some miles below the fort, he swam the river, and directed his
course for Cincinnati. On his way down, the next day, he met a body of men from
that place and from Columbia, proceeding to Colerain. They had been in-formed
of the attack, by persons hunting in the neighborhood, who were sufficiently
near the fort to hear the firing when it began.
He joined the party, and led them to the
station by the same route lie had traveled from it; but before they arrived,
the Indians had taken their departure. It was afterwards ascertained that Mr.
Abner HUNT a respect-able citizen of New Jersey, who was on a surveying tour in
the neighborhood of Colerain, at the time of the attack, was killed before he
could reach the fort. His body was afterward found, shockingly mangled.
The Indians tied HUNT to a sapling, within
sight of the garrison, who distinctly heard his screams and built a large fire
so near as to scorch him inflicting the most acute pain then, as his flesh,
from the action of the fire and the frequent application of live coals, became
less sensible making deep incisions in his limbs as if to renew his sensibility
of pain; answering his cries for water, to allay the extreme thirst caused by
burning, by fresh tortures; and, finally, when, exhausted and fainting, death
seemed approaching to release the wretched prisoner, terminating his sufferings
by applying flaming brands to his naked bowels.’"
EARLY BEGINNINGS
OF CINCINNATI.
Soon as the settlers of Cincinnati landed (December, 1788)
they commenced erecting three or four cabins, the first of which was built on Front,
east of and near Main street. The lower table of land was then covered with
sycamore and maple trees, and the upper with beech and oak. Through this dense
forest the streets were laid out, their corners being marked upon the trees.
This survey extended from Eastern row, now Broadway, to Western row, now
Central Avenue, and from the river as far north as to Northern row, now Seventh
street.
Fort Washington was
built in the fall of 1789 by Major DOUGHTY, the commander of a body of troops
sent by Gen. HARMAR from Fort Harmar with discretionary power to locate a fort
in the Miami country. The site selected was a little east of Broadway just
outside of the village limits, and where Third street now crosses it. The fort
was a solid, substantial fortress of hewn timber about 180 feet square with
block-houses at the four angles and two stories high. Fifteen acres were then
reserved there by government. It was the most important and extensive military
work then in time Territories, and figured largely in the Indian wars of the
period. Gen. HARMAR arrived and took command late in December, its garrison
then comprising seventy men.
In January, 1790, Gen. Arthur ST. CLAIR, then governor of
the Northwest Territory, arrived at Cincinnati to organize the county of
Hamilton. In the succeeding fall Gen. HARMAR marched from Fort Washington on
his expedition against the Indians of the Northwest. In the following year
(1791) the unfortunate army of ST CLAIR marched from the same place. On his
return, ST. CLAIR gave Major ZEIGLER the command of Fort Washington and
repaired to Philadelphia, soon after the latter was succeeded by Col.
WILKINSON. This year Cincinnati had little increase in its population. About
one-half of the inhabitants were attached to the army of ST. CLAIR, and many
killed in the defeat.
In
1792 about fifty persons were added by immigration to the population of
Cincinnati, and a house of worship erected. In the spring following the troops
which had been recruited for WAYNE’S army landed at Cincinnati and
encamped on the bank of the river, between the village of Cincinnati and Mill
creek. To that encampment Wayne gave the name of “Hobson’s
Choice,” it being the only suitable place for that object. This was just
west of Central avenue. Here he remained several months, constantly drilling
his troops, and then moved on to a spot now in Darke county, where he erected
Fort Greenville. In the fall, after the army had left, the small-pox broke out
in the garrison at Fort Washington, and spread with so much malignity that
nearly one-third of the soldiers and citizens fell victims. In July, 1794, the
army left Fort Greenville, and on the
Page 752
20th of August defeated the enemy at the battle of
“the Fallen Timbers,” in what is now Lucas county, a few miles
above Toledo. Judge BURNET thus de-scribes Cincinnati, at about this period.
Prior to the treaty of Greenville, which established a
permanent peace between the United States and the Indians but few improvements
had been made of any description, and scarcely one of a permanent character. In
Cincinnati, Fort Washington was the most remarkable object. That rude but
highly interesting structure stood between Third and Fourth streets produced,
east of Eastern row, now Broadway, which was then a two-pole alley, and was the
eastern boundary of the town, as originally laid out. It was composed of a
number of strongly built, hewed-log-cabins, a story and a half high, calculated
for soldiers’ barracks. Some of them, more conveniently arranged and
better finished, were intended for officers’ quarters. They were so
placed as to form a hollow square of about an acre of ground with a strong
block-house at each angle. It was built of large logs, cut from the ground on
which it stood, which was a tract of fifteen acres, reserved by Congress in the
law of 1792 for the accommodation of the garrison.
The artificers’ yard was and appendage to the fort
and stood on the bank of the river immediately in front. It contained about two
acres of ground, enclosed by small contiguous buildings, occupied as work-shops
and quarters for laborers. Within the enclosure there was a large two-story
frame-house, familiarly called the “yellow-house,” built for the
accommodation of the quartermaster-general, which was the most commodious and
best finished edifice in Cincinnati.
On the north side of Fourth street, immediately behind the
fort, Colonel SARGENT, secretary of the territory, had a convenient frame-house
and a spacious garden, cultivated with care and taste. On the east side of the
fort, Dr. ALLISON, the surgeon-general of the army, had a plain frame dwelling
in the centre of a large lot, cultivated as a garden and fruitery, which was
called Peach Grove.
The Presbyterian church, an interesting edifice, stood on
Main street in front of the spacious brick building now occupied by the first
Presbyterian congregation. It was a substantial frame building about forty feet
by thirty, enclosed with clapboards, but neither lathed, plastered nor ceiled.
The floor was of boat plank, resting on wooden blocks. In that humble edifice
the pioneers and their families assembled statedly for public worship; and
during, the continuance of the war, they always attended with loaded rifles by
their sides. That building was after-wards neatly finished, and some years
subsequently [1814] was sold and removed to Vine street, where it now [1847]
remains the property of Judge BURKE.
On the north side of Fourth street, opposite where St.
Paul’s Church now stands, there stood a frame school-house, enclosed, but
unfinished, in which the children of the village were instructed. On the north
side of the public square there was a strong log-building erected and occupied
as a jail. A room in the tavern of George AVERY, near the frog-pond, at the
corner of Main and Fifth streets, had been rented for the accommodation of the
courts; and as the penitentiary system had not been adopted, and Cincinnati was
a seat of justice, it was ornamented with a pillory, stocks and whipping-post,
and occasionally with a gallows. These were all the structures of a public
character then in the place. Add to these the cabins and other temporary
buildings for the shelter of the inhabitants, and it will complete the schedule
of the improvements of Cincinnati at the time of the treaty of Greenville. The
only vestige of them now remaining is the church of the pioneers. With that
exception, and probably two or three frame buildings which have been repaired,
improved and preserved, every edifice in the city has been erected since the
ratification of that treaty. The stations of defense scattered through the
Miami Valley were all temporary, and have long since gone to decay or been
demolished.
It may
assist the reader in forming something like a correct idea of the appear-
Page 753
ance of Cincinnati, and of what it actually was at that
time, to know that at the intersection of Main and Fifth streets, now the
centre of business and tasteful improvement, there was a pond of water full of
alder bushes, from which the frogs serenaded the neighborhood during the summer
and fall, and which rendered it necessary to construct a causeway of logs to
pass it. That morass remained in its natural state with its alders and its
frogs, several years after Mr. B. became a resident of the place, the
population of which, including the garrison and followers of the army, was
about six hundred. The fort was then commanded by William H. HARRISON, a
captain in the army, but afterwards President of the United States. In 1797, General
WILKINGSON, the commander-in-chief of the army, made it his head-quarters for a
few months, but did not apparently interfere with the command of Captain
HARRISON, which continued till his resignation in 1798.
During time period now spoken of, the settlements of the
territory, including
Drawn
by Henry Howe in Winter of
1846-1847.
THE FIRST CHURCH IN CINCINNATI.
[The engraving represents the first
Presbyterian Church as it appeared in February, 1847. In the following spring
it was taken down and the materials used for the construction of several
dwellings in the western part of Cincinnati then called Texas. The greater
proportion of the timber was found to be perfectly sound. The site was on Vine
street just above where now is the Arcade. In 1791 a number of the inhabitants
formed themselves into a company to escort the Rev. James KEMPER from beyond
the Kentucky river to Cincinnati; and, after his arrival, a subscription was
set on foot to build this church, which was erected in 1792. This subscription
paper is still in existence, and bears date January 16, 1792. Among its signers
were General WILKINSON, Captains FORD, PETERS and SHAYLOR, of the regular
service, Dr. ALLISON, surgeon to ST. CLAIR and WAYNE, Winthrop SARGEANT,
Captain Robert ELLIOT and others, principally citizens, to the number of 106.]
Cincinnati, contained but few individuals, and still fewer
families, who had been accustomed to mingle in the circles of polished society.
That fact put it in the power of the military to give character to the manners
and customs of the people. Such a school, it must be admitted, was by no means
calculated to make the most favorable impression on the morals and sobriety of
any community, as was abundantly proved by the result.
Idleness, drinking and gambling prevailed in the army to a greater extent than it has done at any subsequent period. This may be attributed to the fact that they had been several years in the wilderness, cut off from all society but their own, with but few comforts or conveniences at hand, and no amusements but such as their own ingenuity could invent. Libraries were not to be found—men of literary minds or polished manners were rarely met with; and they had long been deprived of the advantage of modest, accomplished female society, which always produces a salutary influence on the feelings and moral habits of men.