Along the Ohio Trail

8/10/2019 Along the Ohio Trail

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A Short History of Ohio Lands

Along The Ohio T


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Dear Ohioan,

Join your trail guide Simon for a hike through Ohios history!

As you read Along the Ohio Trail, youll learn about what makesour state different from all the others and how we got to wherewe are today. The rst stop on the trail teaches you about Ohiosgeography; some of the things you see every day and whats in theground underneath you.

Next on our journey, youll nd out what Ohio was like in pre-his-toric times and about the rst people to make the land their home.Simons tour continues through a time when Native Americanslived here and when Europeans came to discover the area. Finally,youll learn about the process by which Ohio became the 17thstate in the Union and the events that made Ohio the place you callhome.

I hope you enjoy your adventure in discovering the great state ofOhio!

Sincerely,

Dave YostOhio Auditor of State

Dave Yost Auditor of State


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Along the Ohio TrailTable of Contents

pageOhio Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Prehistoric Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Native Americans, Explorers, and Traders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Ohio Land Claims 1770-1785 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Settling the Ohio Lands 1787-1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Ohio Statehood 1800-1812 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Ohio and the Nation 1800-1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Ohios Lands Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81The Origin of Ohios County Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Additional Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Did you know that Ohio isalmost the same distanceacross as it is up and down(about 200 miles)? Ourstate is shaped in anunusual way. Some peoplethink it looks like a flag waving in the wind.Others say it looks like a heart. The shape is

mostly caused by the Ohio River on the east andsouth and Lake Erie in the north. It is the 35thlargest state in the U.S. Can you look at themap of the U.S. on the introduction pageand tell which 5 states have boundaries thattouch Ohio?

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Hi! Im Simon and Ill be your trail guide as we learnabout the land wecall Ohio.


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IntroductionOhio is the 17th state of the

United States of America. We in Ohio

think of our state as a Midwesternstate. People who live on the east coastof the U.S. describe Ohio as a westernstate, but people who live west of theMississippi River think of Ohio as aneastern state. Residents of Georgia orFlorida say Ohio is a northern state.However, if you lived in Michigan orWisconsin, Ohio would be south of you.

What does all this mean? Onlythat Ohio is a lot of different things

to different people. Long ago theIroquois people named the river thatforms the southern and eastern bound-aries of our state. They called the

river a word that sounded like O-Y-O,meaning great water. WhenEuropeans heard the word O-Y-O,they turned it into the word we usedtoday: Ohio. Soon the entire area northand west of the Ohio River was knownas Ohio Country.

Our state is an important one inthis nation. As you will learn, most ofthe land areas that became states ofthe U.S. were patterned after Ohio.

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Ohio isconsidered

to be amidwesternstate.


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Ohioans have helped form thenation into what it is today. Men and

women from Ohio have been greatleaders from Presidents to peoplewho helped slaves gain theirfreedom, from the first pilots toour nations greatest astronauts.

Ohio is a beautiful state. Ithas hills, valleys, farmlands, rivers,lakes, and forests. Each of the four

seasons brings about a differentbeauty in the Ohio lands. Summersare humid and rainy, which causesgood growth for both farming andforests. Autumn brings strong har-vests and changing leaf colors.Winters are cold, allowing the landto rest in preparation for thecoming spring when fields areplanted and trees blossom with newleaves. The cycle of growth con-tinues year after year as the landproduces the best it has to offer.

Many of the symbols of thestate of Ohio come from the landitself. The state nickname, theBuckeye State, was createdbecause of the plentiful buckeyetrees [see graphic (G)] thatgrow here. The fruit on thesetrees at first has a bumpysurface, but when the outershell is removed, the nut inside

is a deep brown color, with onetan dot. This nut looks like the

eye of a deer (or buck), so thename buckeye was only natural.

The leaves on a buckeye tree aremade of five leaflets, which look likea hand that is spread out and open.The buckeye became the officialstate tree in 1953.

Other state symbols thatcome from the land include:

ladybug (state insect) (A)cardinal (state bird) (B)

trilobite (state fossil) (C)

scarlet carnation(state flower) (D)

deer (state animal) (E)

flint (state mineral) (F)

Not all of Ohios symbols comefrom the land or its natural environ-ment. There are also other symbolsof the state of Ohio that are notobjects of nature. These importantman-made symbols include the State

Flag of Ohio and the Great Seal ofthe State of Ohio.

Ohio Geography

(state insect) (A)

(state bird) (B)

(state fossil) (C)

(state flower) (D)

(state animal) (E)

(state mineral) (F) (buckeye leaf with fruit)(G)


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Glaciers andLand Forms

Geologists (people who study therock history of the earth) believe thatour planet has gone through several verycold weather periods. They call theseperiods ice ages. Ohios last ice ageseems to have ended about 12,000 yearsago. During an ice age, huge glaciers areformed. Glaciers are large bodies of icethat spread over land and sometimesmove slowly down slopes and valleys. As aglacier moves, either by spreading out orby sliding, it also moves some of theearths materials along with it. Very largeglaciers actually can move huge parts ofthe lands surface, flattening hills andforming valleys and ridges. The bigger

the glacier, the more it can change theland over which it moved.Ohios last glacier was like that.

Geologists believe the glacier was formedin the area we now call Canada. Theglacier grew so large that it began to

move, eventually covering about two-thirds of Ohio [see graphic (H)]. Thethickest part of the glacier might havebeen about 8,000 feet thick. Thats

about five times taller than the SearsTower in Chicago (1,454 feet), one of theU.S.s tallest buildings. A glacier thislarge had to weigh millions of tons (and aton is 2,000 pounds!). When somethingthis big moves, it takes a lot of materialwith it, pushing the land like a giganticearthmover [see graphic (I) ] .

Because of this earthmover,Ohios landforms were changed. Somerivers and lakes were filled in with landthat moved with the glaciers. Some areaswere carved out. As the glaciers moved,different materials were picked up in theice. Some of these materials includedsand, gravel, soil, and minerals. Theywere moved from the northern areas

Remains of glacier power canbe seen at the Glacial Grooves

State Memorial on Kelleys Island in Lake Erie. (I)

Graphic (H)


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where the glaciers began to variousplaces in the Ohio region. The surface ofland was changed as the glaciers movedfarther and farther south. These mate-rials were deposited as the glaciersbegan to melt.

These changes in the surface ofOhios land caused five different naturalregions to be formed [see graphic (J) ] .

A mix of soil and rock, called till,covers most of the western half of Ohio

because of the deposits left by glaciers.This area, the Till Plains, is a richfarming region. The soil of this region isdeep and good for growing crops like

corn and soybeans. A large deposit ofmaterial can be found in Logan County,which is also the highest point in Ohio.Campbell Hill is 1549 feet above sealevel. It is interesting to discover thatthe lowest point in Ohio is also in the TillPlains region. Only 455 feet above sealevel, this low point can be found alongthe Ohio River near Cincinnati.

The Lake Plains are found in thenorthwestern part of Ohio and alongLake Erie. These flat plains were formedby glaciers depositing sand and soil nearwhat used to be a much larger lake, LakeMaumee. Because that lake had beenlarger, some of this area remained swamp

Along the Ohio TrailOf course, I wasnt around when the glaciers

were, but I think I can show you how they worked.You could try this experiment (and probably shoulddo it outside). First, freeze some water into alarge, flat shape. Then get a board, bigger than theice, and cover it with pebbles, sand, soil, or anyother material. Lay the board at a slight slant.

Place the glacier at the top of the board. Leave it to melt and moveon its own. What happened to the:

high places? What would a glacier do to hills? lighter materials? heavier materials? low areas on the board? What would a glacier do to valleys? land at the top of the board?

land at the bottom?After doing this experiment, answer this question: In Ohio, which areawould be flatter: the glaciated or unglaciated area?

Graphic (J)


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for a long time. The Black Swamp areawas covered by water much of the timeand thick forests grew there. People didnot settle in this area until the late1800s, when the land was drained andused for farming. Then it became someof the most fertile land in Ohio and theUnited States.

The Allegheny Plateau is actuallymade up of two regions: the glaciated

plateau (the northern and western partwhere the glaciers had been) and theunglaciated plateau (the southern andeastern part where glaciers never

reached). The glaciated part has someproductive farmland. However, theunglaciated part is so hilly and ruggedthat farms cannot be developed easily,except in river valleys. It is an area withhardwood trees, rivers, hills, and valleys.Ohios first settlers lived in this region.

A very small region, known as the

Lexington Plain, is also unglaciated. It isin southern Ohio.

Even today, Ohio is shaped by whatthe glaciers did [see graphic (K)]. The rural(farming) areas of the state lie in theflat regions of the northwest and thehilly regions of the southeast. Diagonallyfrom the southwest corner (nearCincinnati) to thenortheast corner(near Cleveland), Ohiohas many large cities.

Along the Ohio TrailThe buckeye tree wasnt just anordinary tree for early settlers. They

didnt make their houses out of buckeyewood, but they did make other important things.

The wood was very easy to work with. People madechairs, benches, cradles, and even bowls from

buckeye wood.The wood from the buckeye tree was

so popular that at one time the species of tree

almost vanished from Ohio. Can you think of other items settlerscould make from the wood they found in Ohio Country?

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Topographical map of Ohio Graphic (K)


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Lakes, Rivers,and Forests

When a glacier moved into an areawhere the ground was soft, it oftenscooped out some land. Then when theice melted, it filled the low area withwater, making a lake. This can happen ona large or small scale. The Great Lakes,the largest surface fresh water systemin the world, were formed this way. LakeErie has been important in Ohio for

transportation, fishing, and recreation.Other smaller lakes in Ohio were alsoformed by glaciers. There are not manydeep lakes in Ohio, and the largest lakesof inland Ohio are all man-made. Theywere made to handle the extra waterthat was needed during Ohios canal era.Now they are mainly used for recreation.

While Ohio is not known for havingmany lakes, it is knownfor its great riversystems [see graphic(L)]. Streams andrivers run for morethan 44,000 miles inthis state. Geologists

know that Ohios riversat one time flowed tothe north, but the gla-ciers blocked them, sothe water forced itsway along new paths.Flowing water is a pow-erful force and can cutthrough land, evenbedrock.

The Ohio River is the primary riverof Ohio. It forms more than 400 milesof the states boundary. At one time,it was a major highway heading west,

carrying canoes and flatboats forNative Americans, explorers, traders,and settlers.

Ohios rivers also provide power andresources. Streams and rivers poweredthe areas mills and later, factories.Cities and towns grew near the riversbecause of this, and because rivers

allowed them to travel and trade.Agriculture was strong in river areas.Drinking water was plentiful, both fromstreams and underground sources, suchas springs. Over the years, pollution ofOhios water has been a problem.Pollution controls have been establishedto clean up Ohios lakes, rivers, andunderground water sources.

Ohios streamsand riversrun for morethan 44,000miles.

Graphic (L)


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Thanks to the rich soil andthe ample water supply, forestshave grown easily in Ohio. For along time, the most plentiful raw

materials were Ohios trees, usedfor timber. Some trees were quitelarge their trunks sometimeswere as much as seven feetacross. Ohio has many differentkinds of trees. The most plentifulones are oak, elm, maple, beech,walnut, and ash trees.

As more settlers andfarmers moved into the OhioCountry, many trees were cutdown. In order not to lose thisimportant resource, today conser-vationists have helped to set asideareas just for forests. These lands areprotected by the government. Many of

these areas are state parks [seegraphic (N)].

Raw MaterialsA raw material is

something found in naturethat can be turned intosomething useful or

valuable. Ohio has many

raw materials. Theprimary ones are rock,

salt, clay, coal andother minerals.

Useful rock canbe found in a quarry, a place

where bedrock is found and iscut into shapes used for building. Some

of this rock can be crushed and used forother purposes. The main rocks in OhioThis map shows the

state parks that are found in Ohioin the year 2000.

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Graphic (M)

Graphic (N)

The result of natural factors working on parentmaterials is that Ohio has a great variety ofspecific soils. This map shows locations of themajor soil regions in Ohio


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are limestone and sandstone. Sand andgravel are plentiful in our state, andthese are used in making highways andconcrete.

Salt is necessary for humans andanimals to live. Early explorers lookedfor salt as they traveled into newareas. In the Ohio Country, they founda good supply. In fact, Licking Countywas named for the salt licks foundthere. A salt lick is a place where saltis deposited (usually by a spring) and

animals come to lick it. Salt was usedfor preserving meat before refrigera-tion was invented. Today salt is stillmined in Ohio, mostly in the north-eastern part of the state.

Ohio is a top producer of clay inthe United States. It is plentiful in theeastern Allegheny region of the state.Pottery, tiles, pipes, bricks, and otherhousehold objects are made of thisclay. Some of the largest potteries inthe world can be found in Ohio.

Minerals used to be plentiful here,too. Iron ore, coal, petroleum, andnatural gas have been important prod-ucts to our state. In the 1800s, Ohiowas one of the most important sourcesof iron in the world, but after mining itfor decades, the iron ore is almostgone. Southern Ohio became developedprimarily because of the iron industry.One town in Lawrence County is evennamed Ironton.

Coal is an important source ofenergy. It is a black rocklike materialthat crumbles easily when hit. Much ofeastern Ohio has coal, found in layers

beneath the grounds surface. Coal isburned, which creates energy. At onetime people heated their homes withcoal and cooked on coal-burning stoves.

Petroleum (oil) and natural gas arealso sources of energy. Today the U.S.imports most of its oil from foreigncountries. In the late 1800s, about half

of all the oil used in the U.S. came fromOhio. Oil fields were established inPerry, Fairfield, Licking, Allen, Hancock,and other counties. Today oil productioncontinues here in Ohio. Natural gas isalso still produced, especially in south-eastern Ohio.

Petroleum oil originates in marine waters. Itforms as the tiny remains of plants settlein sand and mud. Over a very long period oftime the oil accumulates in sand and shale,from which it can be extracted.

Graphic(O)


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Prehistoric OhioOhio lands hold many mysteries.

Some have been solved by scientists whostudy prehistoric areas. Some of Ohiosmysteries may never be solved. We doknow one thing Ohio has been a goodland for many people for a very long time.

Long before the European explorerstraveled into Ohio, people lived here.They are called prehistoric people

because they lived before any recordsabout how they lived were written down.When people arrived, who wrote andrecorded history, the prehistoric periodended. The cutoff date of the prehis-toric period in Ohio is around 1600 A.D.when Europeans began exploring thisregion.

The oldest evidence of people livingin Ohio tells us they were here around13,000 B.C. Anthropologists, scientistswho study ancient people and cultures,have a theory. Many of them believe thatAsian people (from China, for example)over a period of many, many years trav-eled by land from Asia into the present-day state of Alaska. Long ago the twocontinents of Asia and North Americawere connected there. However, the last

glaciers left behind the waterway we nowcall the Bering Strait [see graphic (P)],which separates Asia from Alaska. Asthe people traveled, they moved southand east, migrating into and acrossCanada, America, Central America, andeven into South America. Of course, thistook centuries and several generations.

Bering Strait

Asia

Alaska

Pacific Ocean

Arctic Ocean

Graphic (P)


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PaleoindiansEventually, by around 13,000 B.C.,

some of these people reached the OhioCountry (long before it was ever namedOhio). This was during an Ice Age.

People who lived very long ago are calledPaleoindians. The word paleo means old.Very large animals, like mastodons andmammoths (huge, furry elephant-likeanimals), lived then, too. The Paleoindian

people hunted these and other animals.They probably gathered nuts andberries, too.

How do we know about these peopleif they didnt write? Some other evidencehas been found. Spearpoints and stone toolshave been uncovered

[see graphic (Q)].These were made offlint, a hard rock thathas sharp edges whenit is broken. Ohio wasa good source of flintfor these people. Thenext age after the

last Ice Age is namedthe Stone Age

because of the importance of stones,especially flint, in the peoples lives.

There is evidence that thesehunters lived in caves in the Ohio region.

They did not build homes because theyhad to keep moving, following the animalsthey hunted. Archaeologists, scientistswho dig in the earth to find fossils andrelics of ancient people, found skeletonsof mastodons and other large animals inOhio from this Ice Age. They foundhuman skeletons and flint weapons near

some mastodon skeletons. That tells scien-tists that Paleoindians hunted these hugebeasts. Today their skeletons can be seenin museums such as those in Cleveland andColumbus.

As the glaciers melted and movedfurther north, these large animals becameextinct. None of them survived. ThePaleoindian people disappeared, too. Onlytheir tools and weapons stayed behind inOhio. The land held these fossils untilmodern scientists found them.

During the Ice Age, Paleoindians hunted a variety of big gameanimals including caribou.

Paleoindian spear points come in a varietyof shapes and sizes. Graphic (Q)

Graphic (R)


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This is a selection of spear points and knivesused by Archaic hunters and gatherers.

Archaic PeopleMany centuries passed before

another group of people appeared in theOhio area. Known as the Archaic People,these people were also hunters who hadmigrated from the north and west intothis region. They may have arrived asearly as 7000 B.C. They used flint-tippedspears to hunt smaller animals, such asdeer, bear, and wild birds [see graphic

(S)]. The Archaic People also fished.Archaeologists in Ohio have uncoveredancient piles of shells, showing thatthese people also ate freshwater clams.

The Archaic People were moreadvanced than the Paleoindians. Theymoved in groups instead of as individuals.They lived in small villages near rivers.

They cooked their food, something thePaleoindians did not do. This means theyused fire, an important improvement inthe development of a group of people.Charcoal, which lasts for thousands of

years, was found at their excavatedcampsites, places that were uncovered bydigging away the earth that coveredthem. This proves that the ArchaicPeople had fire. Archaeologists have

found items made of bone, shells, andflint at these excavation sites.

Some of the Archaic People buriedtheir dead in gravel hills left by the gla-ciers. These hills are called kames. Thisgroup of Archaic People are known asGlacial Kame Indians.

The Archaic People occupied thisarea for more than 6,000 years. Theydisappeared around 1000 B.C.

Archaic people began to trade for things they could not find in their own back yard. Copperis not found in Ohio, so the Archaic Indians traded with the people who lived around LakeSuperior to get it.

Graphic (S)

Graphic (T)


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The AdenaAround 900 B.C., the Woodland

Period began. It lasted for more than

2,000 years, until about 1200 A.D.Scientists divide this time into the Early,Middle, and Late Woodland Periods.

The people who lived in the Ohioregion during the Early Woodland Periodare called the Adena. They got theirname when archaeologists found theirremains near Adena, the Thomas

Worthington Estate, in Ross County. TheAdena lived in Ohio for about 1,000

years, mostly in the southern river valleysof the state.

The Adena did something thatearlier people did not. They built burialmounds. These are hills in which theirdead were buried, along with some of

their possessions. Thousands of Adena

mounds have been found in Ohio. Some

are large, and some are small. The largestone is in Montgomery County. It is theMiamisburg Mound, which is sixty-eightfeet high, nearly as tall as a seven-storybuilding. The mound covers three acresof land. Today you can visit many prehis-toric mounds across Ohio.

The Adena mounds help us to know a

lot about the people themselves. Objects

Along the Ohio TrailHow would you feel if you went without a name for

about 3,000 years? Thats what happened with the Adenapeople. No one knew about them until 1902, whenarchaeologists found a tomb made of logs in a mound in RossCounty, Ohio. Inside was a very, very old skeleton and some

weapons and ornaments. Other skeletons and artifacts ofthe same period have been found in Ohios valleys, too. Noone knew who these people were.

An estate called Adena had been formed almost 100 years earlier, in1803 when Ohio became a state. This estate belonged to a man namedThomas Worthington, who lived in Ross County, near Chillicothe. He named hisestate Adena, which means beautiful city in Hebrew. Because of thearchaeological discovery in 1902, these ancient people were named the Adena.

Heres a bit of trivia for you: Look at the Great Seal of the State ofOhio. The scene on the seal is a view from this same estate Adena, in RossCounty[see graphic (U)].

Graphic (U)


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Hopewell100 B.C. 500 A.D.This carving of aHopewell shamandressed as a bearwas discoveredwithin a mound atthe NewarkEarthworks.

called artifacts have been found in themounds. Some carvings show us how theAdena looked and what they wore. Wealso know that they lived in villages and

did not move often. These people werenot only hunters and gatherers, but alsofarmers. They built circular homes andlodges. Adena artifacts tell us that theyused copper, but copper is not common toOhio. That means the Adena probablytraded flint for copper. We also knowthey were traders because Adena arti-

facts have been found as far away asVermont and Wisconsin.

Burial mounds are not the onlymounds the Adena built. They also builteffigy mounds. An effigy is an object

of some kind that is made to look likesomeone or something. These effigymounds were not used for burying thedead. Instead, these mounds were shaped

to look like something. Perhaps they werepart of the Adenas religious ceremonies.The most famous Adena effigy mound isthe Great Serpent Mound [see graphic (BB)page 16], found in Adams County. Thismound is 5 feet high and 1,330 feet long.It is shaped like a big snake getting readyto swallow an egg. You can see the whole

mound by climbing an observation towerand looking down at it.

No one knows why, but the Adenaand their culture disappeared between100 A.D. and 300 A.D.

This is an artists reconstruction of a typical village of the Adenaculture. Graphic (V)

Graphic (W)


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The HopewellAnother group of hunters, gath-

erers, and farmers lived in Ohio about2,000 years ago. The Hopewell peoplewere here from about 100 B.C. to 600A.D. Like the Adena, they lived mostly inthe southern Ohio river valleys. TheHopewell were named for Captain M. C.Hopewell, the person on whose land theirremains were first uncovered. TheHopewell farm was in Ross County, Ohio,the same county where the Adenaremains were first found.

The Hopewell people spread fartherthan the Adena had. Some of theirremains have been found in the lands ofnorthern Ohio, too. They made beautifulartifacts, different from the Adenas.That is one way that archaeologists knowthe Adena and Hopewell were two dif-ferent people, even though at one timethey both lived near each other. The

Hopewell traded these artifacts, flint,and stone used for making pipes. Weknow that they traded as far away asFlorida and the Atlantic coast. Someitems found in Hopewell sites, placeswhere archaeologists dig for artifacts,include bear claws and a special rockcalled obsidian from the Rocky Mountainarea. Obsidian is a very hard rock thatcomes from volcanoes.

The Hopewell changed the look ofOhios land in some places. They builtmounds and walls made of earth in geo-metric shapes: circles, rectangles, andoctagons. These shapes were so well donethat scientists believe the Hopewell hadsurveying skills. They may have been thefirst surveyors in Ohio. Surveying is animportant skill when studying land.Surveyors are people who use math tochart the earths surface and to markboundary lines. They measure the land so

Along the Ohio TrailTake a look at this town. Would you be

surprised to find out that it is called Circleville?

The Hopewell built two circle-shaped mounds, onewithin the other. When the town was established,the leaders decided not todisturb the mounds. Twoof the main streets in OldCircleville Village werenamed Circle Alley andCircle Street. Today the

city of Circleville is themain city in PickawayCounty.


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plans can be carried out for buildingthings. To create their geometric earth-works, the Hopewell would have usedmeasuring skills like this.

The most famous earthwork of theHopewell is Fort Ancient [see graphic (Y)]in Warren County. Wall-like structureslike this one were probably built for reli-gious ceremonies, not really as forts forprotection. The walls of Fort Ancient are3.5 miles long and surround more than100 acres. Within its walls are burial

mounds, stone walkways, and moon-shaped mounds. It was the largest pre-historic construction in the U.S. You canvisit this site today. Other Hopewellsites can be found in Newark, Marietta,Portsmouth, and Hamilton County.

Although the Hopewell were anadvanced people, their culture disap-peared, too, around 600 A.D. They werethe last advanced people to live in theOhio region until the Europeans beganto arrive in the 1600s.

The Fort AncientsThe Fort Ancient people did not

build Fort Ancient. As you have alreadyread, the Hopewell did. However, theFort Ancients are named after thisgrand earthwork because they lived inthe Fort Ancient region beginning in1000 A.D., after the Hopewell haddisappeared. The Fort Ancient culture

was similar to that of the people inMexico, like the Aztecs and Mayans.Possibly some natives migrated fromthere to the Ohio region. Evidence of theFort Ancients shows that they were goneby the mid-1600s. Most anthropologistsbelieve that the Fort Ancients mayhave been the ancestors of theShawnee people.

The walls of Fort Ancient, as seen from thesouth. It is located in Warren County, Ohio.

Woodhenge, Stubbs Earthworks, WarrenCounty, Ohio (based on excavationsconducted by Dr. Frank Cowan and thestaff of the Cincinnati Museum Centerduring the summers of 1998 and 1999). The Hopewell Site, Ross County, Ohio.

Graphic (Y)

Graphic (X) Graphic (Z)

Graphics x, y and z: Copyright 1999. Reprinted with permission from the University of Cincinnati/CERHAS. All rights reserved.


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The WhittleseyPeople

The last group of prehis-toric people to live in the Ohioarea are called the Whittleseypeople. They were named forCharles Whittlesey, a geologistand archaeologist who studiedprehistoric sites in northernOhio. That is where the remainsof these people were found.

They lived in northern Ohioabout the same time as the FortAncients lived in southern Ohio.

By the time the Europeanexplorers arrived in the OhioCountry, almost no people livedhere. The end of the prehistoricperiod is marked by the arrival

of these explorers. From thispoint, written records were

Along the Ohio TrailDo you wonder how these ancient people

moved from place to place? First of all, noneof them had horses. Horses did not arrive in

America until the Europeans came. They brought the animals overwith them so they could move about easily in the new land.

There were two main sources of transportation: walking andcanoeing. Natives walked as they hunted and moved their villages.To travel greater distances over lakes and rivers, they builtcanoes from young trees and branches. These frames werecovered with bark and any cracks were filled with sticky resinfrom pine trees. Canoes helped the natives trade with otherpeople far away. They were able to move heavy loads and manyobjects this way.

Paleoindian13,000 to 7000 B.C.

Archaic8000 to 500 B.C.

Woodland800 B.C. to A.D.1200

Adena Culture800 B.C. to A.D. 100

Hopewell Culture100 B.C. to A.D. 400

Late Woodland Culture A.D. 600 - 1200

Late Prehistoric A.D. 1000 to 1650

Fort Ancient culture A.D. 1000 to 1650

Whittlesey People A.D. 1000 to 1650

Graphic (AA)


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available and history could berecorded.

The prehistoric people ofOhio did not destroy the land.They lived and died here, butdid not cut down, burn, or clearmany trees. Other than themounds they built, these peopleleft the Ohio lands unchanged.

This shows an artists view of a typical LatePrehistoric village of central and southern Ohio.You can see the ruins of older villages whichwere abandoned when the nutrients in thegarden soils became used up.

One of the few effigy mounds in Ohio, Serpent Mound is the largest and finest serpenteffigy in the United States. Nearly a quarter of a mile long, Serpent Mound apparentlyrepresents an uncoiling serpent. Serpent Mound lies on a plateau overlooking the valley ofBrush Creek. Nearby conical mounds contained burials and implements characteristic of theprehistoric Adena people (800 B.C.-A.D. 100).

This is an artists idea of whatthe Hopewell people looked like.

Graphic (BB)

Graphic (CC)Graphic (DD)


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Native Americans,Explorers, and

TradersSo many changes came with thearrival of the European explorers and

traders. Before they landed on theshores of America and moved inland intothe Ohio region, no one owned the land.The Native Americans who had lived anddied here had no concept of land owner-ship. They believed that the land belonged

to everyone. It was a sacred thing tothem. These early people respected theland and the creatures that lived on it.That is why the Ohio region was sounchanged for such a long time. Theirearthworks remind Ohioans of a timewhen the people belonged to the land.

That would change in the 1600s and

1700s. As more people, invaders fromEurope, came into Ohio Country [seegraphic (EE)], the race began to claim landfor king and country. The new people sawthe land as an object to be owned andcontrolled. Remember: The Ohio Countrywas a large area that stretched fromwestern Pennsylvania all the way westtoward present-day Illinois, north to LakeErie, and south to the Ohio River.

Native Americansin Ohio

Because we have written recordsabout the Native Americans in Ohioafter 1600, they are called historictribes. Most of what we know about themwas written by the French and Englishwho explored, trapped, traded, or settledin the Ohio Country during the 1600s and1700s. These white men had a lot ofcontact with the natives in the area,mostly because of the trading betweenthe groups. The Ohio Country was a richland that provided food, furs, salt, andother natural resources to both thenatives and the Europeans.

No historic native tribes settled inthe Ohio region until the early 1700s, butthis land was a great hunting ground formany tribes. They hunted and gathered

food, but did not build settlements here.The land stayed as it had been for cen-turies because no permanent changeswere made to create settlements forthese people. No one knows why nativesdid not settle in Ohio during this period,but it is likely that the strong Iroquoisgroup from the New York area kept this

region from being inhabited. TheIroquois were warlike people who fought

Graphic (EE)

Graphic (II)


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Along the Ohio TrailHow Natives Used Ohios Land

The native hunters, gatherers, and farmers of the Ohio

Country knew how to use the land wisely. When they hunted, theyused as much of each animal as possible. Very littlewent to waste. Deer was a chief source of meat, butit was also important for clothing. Even shoes weremade of deerskin. Natives also rubbed deer fat ontheir skin to keep the mosquitoes from biting! Otheranimals that were hunted were bears, rabbits, groundhogs, foxes, and wild turkeys.

Remember the salt licks in the first section?Women of the tribes went to salt licks, springs ofsalty water, and gathered the water they needed. They boiled thiswater until only the salt remained. Then they rubbed the salt intothe fresh meat they had. The salt preserved the meat so it wouldnot decay or spoil. Have you ever eaten beef jerky? This is meatpreserved by drying.

Trees were used for making homes. Wigwams and longhouseswere built from Ohio timber. Also, honey and syrup were gatheredfrom trees. Bees made hives in hollow trees and natives scooped outthe honey with their bare hands! The sap of maple trees was usedto make syrup. We still eat honey and maple syrup today.

Farmers planted corn, beans, pumpkins, gourds, and tobacco fortheir own use and for trading. They gathered apples, berries, andwild cherries, too.

Most natives believed that the wind, water, and land had aspirit. The people celebrated nature by having ceremonies to thankthe spirits for the harvest or to ask forsuccess in planting and hunting. Theyplayed drums and flutes made fromnatural objects like gourds andreeds.

The natives did not believethey owned the land. Instead,they were grateful to the land forproviding so well for them.

page 18


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with other tribes and drove them fromtheir lands.

The Wyandots were a native groupthat had been pushed out of their home-

land of Ontario, Canada, by the Iroquois.The Wyandot tribe is also called theHuron (the French name for them). Theyarrived and settled in the northern partof the Ohio Country, mostly near theSandusky area. They established thetown of Coshocton. Today WyandotCounty, Wyandot Creek, and several

townships named Wyandot carry theirname.

The Miami tribe came in fromanother direction: west. Originally fromthe Wisconsin region, they werepressured to move south and east byother tribes. The Miami settled in the

eastern Indiana and western Ohioregions by the 1740s. They had tradedwith the French for many years, andmuch of what we know of them today

comes from diaries of Frenchmissionaries. The name Miami is firstrecorded as the name of a fort (FortMiami) built in 1685, near present-dayFort Wayne, Indiana. The chief village ofthe Miami in the Ohio Country was calledPickawillany. Today the city of Piqua isnear there. Eventually the Miami people

sold the claims to their land in Ohio andmoved further west into Indiana, Kansas,and Oklahoma. Three Ohio rivers havebeen named after this tribe: the GreatMiami, the Little Miami, and the Maumee(which was originally called the Miami ofthe Lake). Miamisburg and Miami County,

Along the Ohio TrailT ecumseh was one of the greatest Native American leaders of

the Ohio Country. He was born of the Shawnee tribe in 1768. Thelegend of his birth says that the night he was born a comet, orshooting star, streaked across the sky. His parents, ChiefPucksinwah and Methotasa, named him Tecumseh, meaning pantherpassing across. Stories were told about how he had special powers,the ability to have great knowledge.

Tecumseh was a very wise leader. He traveled from tribe to tribein the territories of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsintrying to form a united nation of tribes. He believed that this larger

group could keep the white man from taking over theseregions. This great leader was killed in 1813 during a battlebetween the British and Americans.

Only one white man was allowed to draw his portrait.This is the only picture made of Tecumseh while he wasliving. You can find lots of interesting information about himin your school and local library.


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of course, are alsonamed for them.

The Shawnee werea proud, strong tribe of

people. No one is surewhere they came from,but there is goodevidence that theirancestors were the FortAncient peoplementioned earlier. Weknow that many settled

in Ohio fromPennsylvania, but somemay also have come fromsome southern regions.In fact, the nameShawnee means peoplefrom the south. Theyconsidered Kentuckysland to be sacred andnever settled there.Hunting was allowed, butno permanent residence.When Europeans startedto build settlementsthere, the Shawnee werevery angry so they oftenraided those villages.Just across the OhioRiver, the Shawneeestablished settlementsnear present-dayPortsmouth and upwardsinto the Scioto Valley

area. Their centralmeeting place was calleda chillicothe, from

Less is known aboutthe Shawnee chief,

Blue Jacket, than about anyother Native American who

played an important rolein Ohios history.

The Shawnee leader,Cornstalk, was born inwestern Pennsylvania

about 1720. His Indian namewas Holokeska.

Little Turtle, war chief ofthe Miamis, defeated Josiah

Harmar (1790) andArthur St. Clair (1791).

By 1770, Logan had movedhis family to Ohio. Hehad also become a leaderof the Mingo people.

It is believed that theOttawa chief, Pontiac,was born in northwest

Ohio about 1720.

Tarhe was a memberof the Porcupine clan of

the Ohio Hurons. Ohio Huronswere also called Wyandots.Tarhe was often referred

to as the Crane.

By his early twentiesTecumseh had become

a Shawnee leader.He & his brother, The

Prophet, had a dream ofa unified Indian nation.

The Prophet was born asLalawitheka in March 1778 atOld Piqua on the Mad River

near present-day Springfield,Ohio. His father was an

important Shawnee war chief.

Blue Jacket

Cornstalk

Little Turtle

Logan

Pontiac

The Prophet

Tarhe

Tecumseh

Graphic (FF)


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page 21

which the city gets its name. Tecumsehwas born during one of their meetingsto discuss the problems with the whitemen. He would become one of their

greatest leaders. The Shawnee andMiami tribes became allies to try tokeep the white men from taking theirland, but after the Shawnee leaderTecumseh was killed, the tribeweakened. They gave up all of the Ohiolands and moved into Missouri,eventually joining many other tribes in

the Indian Territory of Oklahoma.Many of the tribes that would

eventually make a home in Ohiostarted out in the eastern part ofAmerica. Some Europeans lived inharmony with the natives, especiallyin Pennsylvania, but as more and moreEuropeans arrived, the native tribeswere pushed further west. That is

how the Delaware came to inhabitan eastern part of the Ohio Country.

Besides the Wyandot, Miami,Shawnee, and Delaware, a few other

tribes migrated to the Ohio Country,too. They include the Mingo (a namethat included Senecas, Cayugas andother Iroquois), Ottawa, Chippewa(Ojibwa), Kickapoo, Potawatomi, andCherokee tribes. Even with all ofthese different people coming andgoing, questions about who owned

the land did not come up until theEuropean explorers discovered andclaimed parts of the New World,including the Ohio Country. As you willsee, the conflicts between the Frenchand British are about who owned andcontrolled the land. Used by bothsides, the native tribes found them-selves involved in these conflicts, too.

Along the Ohio TrailOhio offered a lot of wildlife to the traders and settlers. All they needed of

furs, meat, and other materials could be found without much trouble. Ohio wasnt just a natural paradise. Some dangers existed around most every tree or bush.

Wild animals were just that wild! Livestock were attacked by bears, wolves,

and wildcats. Rattlesnakes and copperheads, some of the most poisonous snakes inthe world, lived in great numbers in Ohio Country. The Indians even had a beliefthat the plentiful raccoons of the winter changed into snakes during the summer.

Even with all that danger, the natives found a way to live in peace with theland. They used roots, plants, and tree bark to make medicine forhealing their wounds or sicknesses, and their medicines

worked better and were safer thanthe ones that were brought in

later by the Europeans.


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The French inOhio Country

When Jacques Cartier, a Frenchexplorer, found and named the St.Lawrence River in 1534, it was just amatter of time before the French trav-eled up that river into the Great Lakesand finally to the Ohio Country.Explorers like Cartier found much morethan land as they explored. They metmany native people and discovered the

riches of this land especially the fursthat were so plentiful.In the early 1600s, the French had

worked out an arrangement with thenatives, especially in the Canadianregions. Explorers had moved on, buttraders had moved in. They built tradingposts where the French exchanged

European products (like guns) for furs. InEurope,Americanfurs werehighlydesired.They madehats, coats,

and otherobjectsfrom thefur ofbears,beavers,otters,raccoons,

foxes, muskrats, and minks, all of whichthrived in the Ohio area.

The Iroquois did their best to keepthe French out of the Ohio Country. Even

so, some explorers did reach the OhioRiver. Robert La Salle is thought to havebeen the first white man to see theupper Ohio River, but some historiansdisagree with that claim. The Frenchclaimed much of the Ohio Valley becauseof La Salles expedition. Many trappersand traders came

Map shows native areas and white towns around 1760.

One of theplates claimingFrenchownership ofthe OhioCountry thatwas buried byCeleron on hisexpedition in1748.

Graphic (GG)

Graphic (HH)


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here, too, after hearing La Sallesdescription of the area.

The French leaders decided to buildforts to protect their claims. However,none of these forts were actually built inthe Ohio region. They were mostly inPennsylvania, Canada, Illinois, and Indiana.The French never had a strong place inthe Ohio Country, even though they hadclaimed all of Ohio for France.

The British inOhio Country

The French moved into the Ohioregion from the north (Canada), but theBritish came from the east where theyhad already established strong settle-ments. One main difference between theFrench and British was that the Frenchmainly wanted to use the land for whatthey could get out of it products for

Along the Ohio TrailHave you planted a lead plate lately? Lead is a metal that is softand easily carved. The French carved official declarations into platesmade of lead [see graphic (GG) page 22]. They used these 11-inch x 17-inchplates to declare that the French owned the land of Ohio Country.

When the French found out that the British were trading withthe natives in this area, they warned the British to leave the Frenchterritory. Of course, the British kept on trading. They had workedout a good arrangement with the natives, and the tribes preferredBritish goods to the French goods.

As the argument over the land and trading continued, aFrenchman named Celeron DeBienville was sent to the Ohio River areato try to get the natives to change their minds, and to bury the leadplates along the riverbanks. The French leaders felt that thesedeclarations of ownership would secure the French claims to theland. Near each buried plate, Celeron fastened a thin metal plate to a

tree. This small plate stated that a formal claim had been plantednearby.Altogether, six lead plates were buried. Two have been found.

One was found near Marietta, Ohio, by two boys who were swimming.The story says that they melted part ofthe plate to make homemade bullets.

For all his work, Celeron wascompletely unsuccessful. The natives

still traded with the British and theFrench had almost no

presence in Ohio Country.


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trading. The British, however, alsowanted to settle on the land, to make ittheir own.

The British had a big advantageover the French. The Iroquois tribesbecame allies with the British, but theBritish needed to have the Ohio tribes

join the alliance. They sent three traders Conrad Weiser, George Croghan, andAndrew Montour to meet with repre-sentatives of the Miami, Shawnee,Delaware, Wyandot, and other tribes.This meeting was held at Logstown,Pennsylvania, on the Ohio River in 1748.After trading many gifts, the nativesagreed to trade with the British.Another large group of Native Americanswas on the side of the British, andagainst the French.

Land DisputesLead to War

Long before the French and Britishcame to America, they were at war witheach other. In Europe, they had beenenemies for hundreds of years. So it wasno surprise when they competed fortrade and land in the New World.

As more forts were built near theOhio Country, it was clear that warfarethere between the French and British

was just around the corner. In 1753, as alast effort to ask the French to leavethe area, George Washington, a well-known surveyor, was sent from Virginiato warn them to leave their forts atonce.

Washington took Christopher Gistwith him as he set out on his assignment

to warn the French. Gist wrote about theentire trip. The French at Fort Le Boeuf,

on the upper Ohio(Allegheny) River,received Washingtonand treated him well.The commander ofthe fort agreed to

send the message tothe French leaders inCanada, but toldWashington thatBritish traders wouldstill be taken pris-oner if they tradedin the Ohio Country.

One thing wasclear: the OhioCountry was going to

page 24

Graphic (II)


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page 25

belong only to the French or the British not both, and only a war would decidewho had the right to claim the area. Thatwar is known as the French and Indian

War.The next year, 1754, the French

and their Indian allies captured a Britishfort and renamed it Fort Duquesne, afterthe governor-general of New France. TheFrench use of the fort was effective,

and the Ohio Valley was no longer open tothe British.

George Washington then led a smallarmy to the area, was defeated and

quickly established Fort Necessity. Agroup of French and Indians attackedthe fort before it was completely built,and Washington was forced to surrender.He and his troops were allowed to returnto Virginia.

Along the Ohio TrailNatives in Ohio at the beginning of theFrench and Indian War could see that theFrench were getting stronger in Ohio Country,so they became dependent on the French fortrading and protection. Shawnee, Delaware, andWyandot warriors fought for the French near

Fort Duquesne.The French encouraged the native warriorsto attack isolated British settlements furthereast. Many men, women, and children were killed

or captured by Ohios natives on behalf of the French. Not allcaptives were hurt, though. Young people were usually treated

well and were even adopted into the tribe. Native familiestook care of them and taught them their ways.

Mary Campbell was one ofthese captives. She was takenfrom her home by theDelaware and was adoptedinto a native family. Seven years later, she was

returned to her family inPennsylvania.


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The Treaty ofParis 1763 and

the Quebec ActThe war ended in 1759 when the

British, who had been very successful intaking forts in the Ohio and MississippiValleys, took the key French fort atQuebec in Canada. The French were com-pletely defeated. France and Englandcontinued fighting in Europe, so the warwas not officially over by treaty until1763. The Treaty of Paris of 1763 stated

that the French gave up all land rights inNorth America.King George of England declared in

the Quebec Act that the Ohio Valley andGreat Lakes region belonged to thenatives as their hunting grounds. None ofthis land was to be settled or purchased.Clearly, the British were trying to work

with the native tribes in peace in orderto preserve the valuable fur trade.

Native AmericanUprisings

Although the British won control ofthe Ohio Country, land battles betweenthe British colonial settlers and NativeAmericans continued. Even though theking of England had set a boundary(called The Proclamation Line) telling hispeople not to settle in the Ohio Country,settlers came anyway. The natives sawthe British as invaders because theywanted to own the land.

British settlers were in dangerfrom Native American attacks. BecauseEngland had spent so much moneyfighting the French and Indian War, theking decided the country could not

afford to send many soldiers into thewilderness to protect the settlers. Atone time generous to the natives, theBritish stopped giving them gifts.Trading slowed down. The Ohio nativesfound their supplies of gunpowder andammunition were running out. Withoutthese, they could not hunt for food.

Their very existence was being affected.Understandably, the natives becameafraid and angry.

Before European Trading After European Trading(items they could make) (items they must buy or trade for)

spears, bows and arrows guns and gunpowderstone tomahawks iron hatchets

animal skins woven cloth, woolclothing, wampum glass beadsmoccasins alcohol


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A native chief named Pontiacdecided to organize a large group ofnatives, a nation of Native Americans, topush the British back over the

Appalachian Mountains and out of theOhio Country. For months, groups of war-riors attacked British posts, includingFort Sandusky. British troops moved intothis territory to stop the nativesattacks. Eventually peace was establishedwith the Ohio tribes. England wanted torenew trade with Ohios native tribes,

knowing there was money to be made.Treaty of

Fort StanwixIn 1768 the Iroquois Nations and

the Ohio natives signed a treaty with theBritish. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix setaside land (in reserve) for these Native

Americans in the Ohio Country, as well asin parts of Pennsylvania and New York.The word reservation comes fromreserved lands.

Though some settlers disagreedwith both of these official statements,overall the Quebec Act and Treaty ofFort Stanwix were followed.

Ohio Land Claims1770-1785

When the British signed the Treatyof Fort Stanwix in 1768, they did so withthe thought of keeping peace with theIndian tribes. The treaty was supposedto reserve land and provide huntinggrounds in the Ohio Country for theIndians living there, as well as estab-lishing boundaries for settlers. However,land companies wanted to establish set-

tlements on these lands. Some lands wereeven to have been granted (given) to menwho served in the French and IndianWar, as payment for their militaryservice. Native Indians watched the set-tlers carefully, fearing the tribes wouldonce again be moved out or worse.

One settler group was different,

though. Some Christian missionaries werewelcomed into Ohio. In the 1750s, agroup of Moravians (the Christian mis-sionaries) began scouting the land nearthe Tuscarawas and Muskingum Rivers.By 1772, new missions had been estab-lished there. Moravian leaders and their

Along the Ohio TrailThe treaty guaranteed that these lands would not be disturbed by white

settlers, but the white man did not keep his word. As settlers continued to move intothe land reserved for the natives, the attacks on their settlements continued, too.

White men killed natives, too. One native leader, Chief Logan,reported that his entire family had been killed by white men for noreason.

Chief Logan gave a famous speech about this. He explained that hewas on the warpath until he had fulfilled his revenge: to get one scalpfor each member of his family who had been killed. When he took thelast scalp, later Chief Logan turned back to peace.


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Ohio Country during theAmerican RevolutionThe American Revolution was fought

mostly in the East, but the Ohio Countryplayed its part, too. The British encouragedthe Indians in the frontier areas to attack theAmerican settlers. Henry Hamilton, the Britishcommander at Detroit, even gave the Indiansrewards for bringing him the scalps ofAmericans. He was nicknamed the Hair Buyer.Together the British and Indians raided fron-

tier settlements and took many Americans asprisoners of war. The Americans knew theyneeded to send someone into the Ohio Country(which was really part of Virginia at the time)to protect their people. One of the mostimportant leaders in the Ohio region wasGeorge Rogers Clark, who won victories overthe British soldiers and their Indian allies.

Although Clarks victories were in modernIllinois and Indiana, they helped American colo-nials secure the Ohio Country.

Along the OhioTrail

The NativeAmericanIndians in Ohiowere notsavages, like some oldbooks and movies showthem to be. Theyrespected life, land, andnature, but they knewthey needed to protecttheir lifestyle when set-tlers threatened to takeover Ohio. The Indians,

just like any race orculture, were mostlygood people. Therewere good Indiansand there were badIndians. The same wastrue with the settlers.

Good settlers weremen like Simon Kentonand Daniel Boone. Evenwhen these men took uparms against the Indians,as stories go, theyfought with fairness andhonor. Though enemies,each side respected theother. In fact, both ofthese men were friendsof several tribes atvarious times in theirlives.

Graphic (KK)


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Along the Ohio TrailSimon thats my name. It is also the name of two men who

were important in Ohio history during the American Revolution:Simon Girty and Simon Kenton. These two Simons, however, wereon opposite sides of the war.

Simon Girty was raised by Native Americans after his homein Pennsylvania was raided when he was 15. He was taken intoOhio Country and he learned about the ways of the Indians.When he was freed, Simon Girty helped the British as an inter-

preter because he could speak the languages of the Indian tribes.Simon Kenton was from Virginia, but moved into the Kentucky

region when he was 15. The Shawnee Indians and Simon Kentonrespected each other. During the war, Simon Kenton worked forthe American side.

Today, Simon Girty is seen as atraitor for working with and defendingthe British. Simon Kenton, however,is considered an American pioneer

and hero. He founded the city ofSpringfield, and the city of Kenton

in Ohio and KentonCounty in Kentucky

are both namedfor him. Today you

can visit SimonKentons grave inUrbana, Ohio,in ChampaignCounty.

SIMONKENTON

served theAmericanArmy during

LordDunmoresWar and

during theBattle of

FallenTimbers

where he isremembered

for hisbravery.

SIMONGIRTY was a

skilled

woodsmanwho was alsofluent in

many Indianlanguages.

He washated among

the whitesettlers

because heencouragedIndians to

attacksettlers.


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The MoravianMassacre

As the American Revolution wascoming to a close in 1781, the British and

their Native American allies decided tomove the Moravian Indians away fromthe Tuscarawas region. Their new homewas to be shared with the Wyandot tribenear the Sandusky River. The Moraviansand their Indian followers were dis-trusted because they were pacifists, notinvolved in the war. The white Moravian

leaders were taken away by the Britishand were tried as spies.

In 1782, some of the ChristianDelaware Indians were allowed to returnto their old home in order to gather foodfrom their fields. At the same time,David Williamson and 100 men weremoving into the area to punish nativeIndians for attacking some settlers inwestern Pennsylvania. Williamson and his

men saw the peaceful Delaware Indiansgathering corn, beans, and other cropsfrom the fields at Gnadenhutten. TheDelaware Indians trusted the white set-tlers, so they easily did what they were

told. The soldiers made the Indiansgather in the church and kneel. ThenWilliamson and his men murdered thesepeaceful people and set the church onfire. Two boys escaped and ran to warnthe other villages. Today there is avillage at Schoenbrunn and a museum atGnadenhutten set up for visitors to markthese places in Ohio history [see graphic(LL)].

Hearing about this violence madeother Indian tribes angry. They reactedstrongly and attacked colonist settle-ments. The British encouraged theseattacks. In June 1782, Indians of theOhio Country had surrounded a group ofAmerican soldiers under the command of

Colonel WilliamCrawford, a friendof GeorgeWashington. Manymen were killed andColonel Crawford

was executed inrevenge for theattack onGnadenhutten,although Crawfordhad nothing to dowith that attack.Today Crawford

County is namedfor him.

The Moravian church founded Schoenbrunn (beautifulspring) in 1772 as a mission to the Delaware Indians. Thesettlement grew to include sixty dwellings and more than300 inhabitants who drew up Ohios first civil code and builtits first Christian church and schoolhouse. Graphic (LL)


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page 32

Colonial Land ClaimsThe Treaty of Paris 1783 ended the

war and gave the new United States ter-ritory to the Mississippi River. West ofthe Mississippi, however, the land wasclaimed by Spain.

Before and after the war, four ofthe new states Virginia, Connecticut,Massachusetts, and New York claimedland in the Ohio Country and beyond.That is because the land that had beengranted to them while they were stillBritish colonies described their westernboundaries to be as far west as landextends.

One of the first problems the newUnited States government had to solvewas to establish clear boundaries forthese new states.

A new way of thinking was needed:to think of America as a nation insteadof thirteen separate state governments.During the American Revolution, acongressional committee had come upwith the idea that the colonies all cede,or give up, their western lands to thenew Central Government. Eventually four

new states let go of their claims in theNorthwest Territory New York in1781, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts in1785, and Connecticut in 1786 and 1800

[See Settling the Ohio Lands 1787-1800, page 42].

The Northwest Territory [seegraphic (MM) page 33] was the property ofthe new central government of theUnited States of America with somespecial conditions. Virginia had given upthe most by ceding its claims nearly

two-thirds of the Ohio Valley. In return,Virginia was allowed to keep about 4.2million acres of Ohio land between theLittle Miami and Scioto Rivers. This landwas called the Virginia Military District,because the land was to be given toVirginia soldiers who fought in theAmerican Revolution. Connecticut wasalso allowed to keep a tract of land innortheastern Ohio. It was about 3 millionacres and was called the ConnecticutWestern Reserve. Today Case WesternReserve University and Western ReserveAcademy are named for this land grant.


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Native AmericanLand Claims

With the American Revolution overand a new treaty in place, the nativeIndians in the Northwest Territory hadbeen practically forgotten. The QuebecAct had promised them land, but theTreaty of Paris 1783 did not evenmention these natives. The British gaveland to the new American nation thatthey had already agreed to give to the

native Indian tribes. Now it was up to thenew American government to createtreaties with the Indians.

Three treaties were signed thatreserved lands for the native Indians.

The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784)settled an agreement with the Iroquoisof New York. In Ohio, the Treaty of FortMcIntosh (1785) and the Treaty of Fort

Finney (1786) were made with northernOhio tribes and with the Shawnee insouthwestern Ohio. No white settlementswould be allowed on the lands reservedfor these tribes. The Ohio tribesrejected all of these treaties. TheBritish continued to interfere in the areaand kept problems stirred up between

the tribes and the new nation, hoping theAmericans would not be able to hold onto the territory.

The Northwest Territory included the land north of the Ohio River and east of theMississippi River.Graphic (MM)


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The Public LandAct of 1785

When the American Revolution wasover, the new government had no money but it had land. To pay soldiers fortheir service, the government gave asoldier a land warrant as payment. Awarrant is a claim (ownership), in thiscase to a certain number of acres in thewestern territory. These warrants dif-fered according to how long a man served

in the military and what his rank was. Ifthe soldier died in the war, then hisfamily received the warrant for his land.The warrants in the Virginia MilitaryDistrict (VMD) were for areas from 100acres to 15,000 acres.

Describing specific pieces of landwas not easy. The boundaries

were unclear because no con-sistent method had beenestablished for markingtracts of land. Areas of landare called parcels. Mostparcels were only describedas a certain amount of land(a number of acres) in a

general region.Members of the new

Congress knew that the landparcels in the western terri-tories needed to bedescribed more precisely.Congress passed the PublicLand Act of 1785. They rec-ommended that land bemarked in areas shaped like

squares. The Earths surface is round andnot flat, so parcels would not be per-fectly square, but they could be close.

The land in the Northwest

Territory was to be surveyed and dividedinto tracts of land six miles square (6miles x 6 miles), called townships. Theneach township would be divided into 36sections, each being 1 mile x 1 milesquare. Each township and each sectionwas assigned a number so it could beidentified. One square mile was equal to

640 acres of land. Land would be sold for$1 an acre or $640 a section. Within eachtownship one section was to be saved, notsold, in order to provide money to supportnew schools. In many townships, this wasSection 16 [see graphic (NN)], near thecenter of the township. This system of

Congress reserved section 16 near the middle of eachtownship for the use of public schools.Graphic (NN)


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measuring and marking land for public useis known as the federal survey system. Itwas first used in eastern Ohio in an area

just west of the Ohio River. This survey

was called the Seven Ranges.Other Ohio surveys soon followed.

One of them set the Ohio-Indiana stateline, called the First Principal Meridian.The main latitude line to intersect, orcross, that longitude line was set at the41N Latitude. Once these two lines were

established, surveyors began to setboundaries and describe the land in rela-tion to them. Permanent markers (usuallymetal stakes and pins in the ground)

would be laid, and boundaries could beproven. This system of surveying land wascarried into many other American lands,too, as the country grew. Grids were notalways established in 6-mile x 6-mile sec-tions, but the rectangular system was imi-tated because it worked so well.

Along the Ohio TrailA surveyor is someone who takes measurements

of the land and sets markers to show boundary lines.He or she cannot use things like rivers, trees,

rocks, or other land forms to do this becausethey change over time. Instead, a surveyoruses the surface of the Earth.

The Earths surface is described by usingtwo sets of lines: longitude lines (which run

north and south) and latitude lines (which run westand east). These lines make a kind of grid over the Earths surface, likean invisible "net" that hugs the planet.

The central longitude line (marked as 0 Longitude) is called thePrime Meridian and runs through Greenwich, England. Longitude linesthat run nearly parallel to the west of the meridian are measured as Wand those that run nearly parallel to the east of the meridian aremeasured as E.

The central latitude line (marked as 0 Latitude) is called theEquator and runs around the world through South America and Africaprimarily. Latitude lines that run parallel to the north of the equatorare measured as N and those that run parallel to the south of theEquator are measured as S.

A single, tiny spot on the earth can be measured using these lines.That spot can be named and recorded as the place where a latitude line

and a longitude line cross. For instance, Columbus, Ohio, is 40NLatitude, 8330W Longitude. Always name the latitude line first,longitude line second.


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The Role ofGovernment

Without a central government, deci-sions about land ownership could not haveeasily been made. Americans wanted toown property. Good records needed to beestablished and maintained so any dis-putes about land claims could be settled.By creating the Public Land Act of 1785,the government made a way for people toown land and to know exactly what land

they owned. Today you can still see theeffects of this important act when youlook at a land deed for most parcels ofland in Ohio.

However, the new government hadmore work to do. After establishing themethod of surveying and mapping theNorthwest Territory, Congress next

needed to set up ways to govern that ter-

ritory and make a way for new states to

be created.

Measuring from the meridian (the north-south line) and the base line (the east-west line),surveyors laid out ranges which were north-south rows of townships (from east to west ofthe meridian), and townships (from north to south of the base line). Each townshipconsisting of thirty-six square miles was divided into 36 sections of one square mile each.Surveyors numbered the units of land in order to provide accurate identification of ranges,townships, sections and subdivisions within a section.

Bounty Land Warrantsfor Veterans of the

American Revolution Acreage by Rank*

Major General . . . . . .1100 acresBrigadier . . . . . . . . . . .850 acresColonel . . . . . . . . . . . .500 acresLieutenant Colonel . . .450 acresMajor . . . . . . . . . . . . . .400 acresCaptain . . . . . . . . . . . .300 acresLieutenant . . . . . . . . . .200 acresEnsign . . . . . . . . . . . . .150 acresNon-Commissioned . . .100 acres

Soldier . . . . . . . . . . . .100 acresSurgeon . . . . . . . . . . .400 acresSurgeons Mate . . . . . .300 acres

*Source: William Donohue Ellis, TheOrdinance of 1787: The Nation Begins,Dayton, Ohio: Landfall Press, 1987, p. 28

Graphic (OO)


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The NorthwestOrdinance of 1787Establishing government in the

Northwest Territory was important to thenew nation for many reasons. First, thefrontier had to be strong enough to with-stand any attempt by England, France, orSpain to retake the land for themselves.Americas organized territories needed tohave organized fighting units, or militia, forprotection. British troops were still closeby, and they werent sure the new govern-ment would really last. The British wantedto control the land to help their Ohio Indianallies. The new American nation would haveto prove it was strong enough to keep theterritories that the Treaty of Paris hadgiven it.

The new government also had some

serious financial problems. Organizing newterritories so land could be easily sold gavethe leaders a way to raise money for thenational treasury. Similarly, soldiers whowere getting more and more upset aboutnot being paid for their service during thewar could be given land. War leaders, likeGeorge Washington, were especially con-

cerned about these angry soldiers. Hewanted them to be rewarded for their sac-rifices during the war. Free land and a newbeginning were all the government couldafford to give them.

Finally, establishing new territorieswould be a way to strengthen a federal gov-ernment that seemed to be getting weaker

all the time. The thirteen states (formerly

colonies) were squabbling with each other.They acted as if they were separate littlecountries. This could not continue if theUnited States of America was to survive.The states and federal government neededto work together to grow a new nation.

As you have read in the previoussection, parts of the western territorywere ceded to the federal government bythe states that had claimed the land.Therefore, the Northwest Territorybecame public domain, meaning it was owned

by the people of the United States throughtheir federal government. As public domain,this territory would be governed by theCongress. The Congress would decide thebest way to divide the land, to settle theland, and to govern the land. The federalsurvey system (36-square-mile grid) wasadopted as the method of surveying and

charting public domain lands.

Each section contained 640 acres. A sectionwas divided into 160-acre quarters. More

surveying divided the quarters into farmsand town lots. Graphic (PP)


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The Importance ofthe Northwest

OrdinanceIt is said that the threegreatest documents in Americanhistory are the Declaration ofIndependence, the Constitution, andthe Northwest Ordinance of 1787.In fact, much of the Constitutioncame about as a direct result ofwritings in the NorthwestOrdinance. The Bill of Rights (thefirst 10 amendments of theConstitution) actually had its begin-ning in the six articles of theNorthwest Ordinance.

The survey of Northwest Ohio used the Ohio-Indiana state line as a First PrincipalMeridian. The 41st parallel of north latitude became an intersecting, east-west base lineused in surveying.

Graphic (QQ)


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Some of these similarities include: freedom of religion trial by jury no cruel or unusual punishment freedom from slavery or involuntary

servitude

New states would come into thenation easily because of the ordinance.Ohio would be the first to come fromthe Northwest Territory. Later, fourmore would come from this territory(Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and

Wisconsin). One of the most importanteffects of the ordinance was that eachnew state would enter the nation com-pletely equal to the older states. Neverbefore in the history of the world hadthis been done. The NorthwestOrdinance became a strengthening forcein the forming and growth of this nation.

The Northwest Ordinance stated someimportant ideas and rights. Here are

some examples:

Ownership of the land was passed downto the owners descendants. Somepeople died before their land warrantswere used. The ordinance made a wayfor a veterans family to keep the landthat was promised to him.

Governors would govern the territory;first by being appointed by Congress;then by being elected when enoughpeople lived there. Today, each of the50 states has a governor as its execu-tive leader.

A secretary would keep track of alllegal records for the territory andwould send copies to the Congress. ASecretary of State is an importantoffice that remains in effect for allstates today.

Judges would be appointed to settledisputes between residents in the ter-ritory. This made sure that everyAmericans rights would be protectedno matter where they lived.

Eventually a legislature would beelected for the region. The state legis-lature is the lawmaking part of thestate government. Once the NorthwestTerritory had at least 5,000 free males

Along the Ohio TrailWho wrote the Declaration of Independence? Mostly Thomas Jefferson, of

course.The Northwest Ordinance did not have one author. It didnt even have a

dozen. Over time, this document had the input of many men as it was written andrewritten and passed through committee after committee until it took its finalform.

All of the writers were careful of one thing: that they didnt write anythingthat sounded like something the British would have written. They replaced thewords colony and colonial (though the Northwest area was certainly a colony ofthe new government) with territory and territorial.

We still use that language today. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the VirginIslands are U.S. territories not colonies and we have many others. Allbut 20 of our 50 states were territories before becoming states.The exceptions are the 13 colonies, California, Kentucky, Maine,Texas, Vermont, Tennessee and West Virginia.


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over the age of 21 living there, a leg-islative council was formed and a houseof representatives could be elected.

The governor would be the commander-in-chief of the militia.

The governor would appoint (choose)sheriffs to protect the citizens. Ohiostill has sheriffs in most counties, butthey are now elected rather thanappointed.

The governor would arrange for surveysof the land as needed.

A constitution was the last of threesteps needed for a territory to become a

state. (The first was the appointment ofa governor, secretary, and three judges;the second was the forming of a house ofrepresentatives.) A constitution could bedrawn up (written) once a region had60,000 inhabitants. After revisions andfinal approval of its constitution, the ter-ritory could apply to the federal govern-ment for statehood. Any states cominginto the nation would be on equal footingwith the original states (some of the

leaders of the original states were notespecially happy about this part). Moststate constitutions are similar to eachother. The Northwest Ordinance tells

how a state will be governed and whatrights the citizens can enjoy:

Civil and religious freedoms were to beprotected. Civil rights (rights as citi-zens of the United States) and reli-gious rights (freedom to worshiphowever one wants) are among the mostimportant parts of the ordinance.

Every person would have rightsin court.

Waterways leading to the MississippiRiver and St. Lawrence Seaway wouldbe forever free of taxation.

Provisions were made for no fewer thanthree and no more than five states inthe Northwest Territory. As we know,five states were created from thisterritory.

Slavery was prohibited. The ordinancestated, There shall be neither slaverynor involuntary servitude in saidterritory. Nearly 100 years later,after the Civil War, the ThirteenthAmendment to the United States

Along the Ohio TrailCan you see how the ideas in the Northwest Ordinance have

affected Ohio?Who is the governing leader of Ohio today?

Do we have a state legislature?

Who represents your area?

Does your county have a sheriff?

On what side was Ohio during the Civil War?

Why?


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Settling theOhio Lands1787-1800

One of the most helpful effects ofthe Northwest Ordinance of 1787 wasthat the government finally had clearcontrol over the settlement of theNorthwest Territory, especially in theOhio region. Congress had tried to keepillegal settlers out, but more and moresquatters, people who claimed land

merely by living on it, moved into OhioCountry. Lands that had been reservedfor natives were being settled, too,causing tension between settlers, natives,and the gov-ernment.

Congresswas concerned

that westwardsettlement wasquickly gettingout of control.Forts werebuilt and mili-tary action byU.S. troopswas taken tomove thesquatters out.Sometimestheir homeswere evenburned down.The squattersmoved backand rebuilt

their cabins. Clearly, this territory wasgoing to be settled one way or another.By enacting the Northwest Ordinance,Congress finally had a method that would

make expansion into the territoryorderly and measurable.

The lands of Ohio were the first tofall under the provisions of this ordi-nance. Ohio became the practice area forestablishing settlements, and problemswere worked out. Territories that weresettled next benefited from the trials

and errors of settling Ohio first. Eachtract of land in Ohio Country has its ownsurvey and settlement story [see graphic(RR)].

Graphic (RR)


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The VirginiaMilitary DistrictAfter Virginia gave up its claims to

the largest portion of the NorthwestTerritory, the state was allowed to keepone portion of land. This land wasbetween the Little Miami River (on thewest), the Ohio River (on the south), andthe Scioto River (on the east and north).The map on this page, graphic (SS)

shows this as the Virginia MilitaryDistrict (VMD). As you have learned, thisland was used as payment to militaryveterans from Virginia for their service

during the American Revolution. Theselands had been surveyed under an oldmethod, not under the Public Lands Actthat used the federal survey system.The descriptions of each property wereoften unclear and even unfair.

In order to actually claim landissued by a Virginia military warrant,

the following steps had to befollowed in order:

1. The veteran had to send thewarrant (paper) to the personwho was responsible for thesurveying of the VMD.2. Next a deputy surveyorwould write a general descrip-tion of the land (called anentry).3. The deputy surveyor wouldrun an actual survey.4. Once the survey wasaccepted, the warrant was sentto the federal government.5 The federal governmentwould issue a U.S. patent forthat parcel of land. A patent isan official document that givesthe right to own the land to aspecific person or organization.

Graphic (SS)


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By following these steps, recordscould be kept of land parcels. The menwho did the surveys were usually givenpart of the parcel (20% or more) or

they were paid cash as payment fortheir services. Many surveyors grew richby selling off the many land parcels theywere given.

George Washington himself had aVirginia military warrant for 23,333acres in the VMD. He did not followthrough on this. At one point he had land

in Clermont and Hamilton counties sur-veyed, but these lands were never issueda patent in Washingtons name.

The first settlement in the VirginiaMilitary District was atManchester, just northof the Ohio River. Nextthe Chillicothe area wassurveyed and becamethe population center ofthe VMD. Of course,many of these VMD set-tlers were from Virginia.Although they wereallowed to have slaves inVirginia, they could notbring them into the newterritory. That provisionin the NorthwestOrdinance held firm, andOhio would ever be afree state.

After many years and manysurveys, Virginia ceded to the federalgovernment any land in the VirginiaMilitary District that had not been

patented or claimed. In 1871 Congressceded this land to the state of Ohio.The next year Ohio set this land asideas an endowment (something that pro-vides income or support for an organiza-tion) for The Ohio State University. Theuniversity was able to sell these lands inorder to raise money for its ongoing

growth and development in Columbus andcentral Ohio.

Map of a section oftwelve miles of

Scioto Valley with itsancient monuments.

Constructed by E.G. Sguier in 1847.

Graphic (TT)

CHILLICOTHE


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The Seven RangesAs you can see on the map on page

46, graphic (UU), the Seven Ranges arelocated on the eastern boundary of Ohio.This area was the very first tract sur-veyed using the federal survey systemunder the Public Land Act of 1785. Thearea could not be divided into smallersections until the western boundary ofPennsylvania (called the Geographers

Line) was established. In 1785, ThomasHutchins, the Surveyor General of theUnited States, set it at about 80 31West Longitude (Now this is theboundary between Pennsylvania and WestVirginia. North of that, the boundary

between Pennsylvania and Ohio was sur-veyed and set later.).

Next he marked the point where

the Geographers Line touched the northbank of the Ohio River. Called the Pointof Beginning, this would be his startingpoint for surveying the area. The line ranwest, 42 miles from the Point of Begin-ning (which is now in East Liverpool). Arange is a vertical (up and down) row oftownships. Each range was six miles wide,

so seven ranges made up 42 miles. Thatis where the name Seven Ranges camefrom.

Even after four ranges had beensurveyed, not much of this area had beensold. Congress was concerned about the

Along the Ohio TrailOne of the key men to settle the Virginia Military District

was Nathaniel Massie. He was a surveyor and a land developer. Aland developer is someone who plans out how an area of land canbe developed to benefit the people living there. In 1790 he chose

a site near the Ohio River and got nineteenother men involved in settling this area.

He gave each of them lots (small sectionsof land) in exchange for being part of hisnew settlement. This was the firstofficial settlement in the Virginia Military

District. Called Massies Station at thetime, today this town is known asManchester, Ohio.

Massie also surveyed and helped

settle the Chillicothe region, northeastof Manchester.


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slow sales because it needed money forthe national treasury. What Congressneeded was to find a group of busi-nessmen land developers and investors

who were interested in buying largeareas of land in the Northwest Territory.Fortunately, that is exactly what hap-pened.

Before 1796, each section of atownship had to be numbered like TABLEA, starting in the lower right-handcorner. Numbering moved up. Then a new

row (called a range) would continue beingnumbered from the bottom and up.

Today, in 29 states a legal descrip-tion of a parcel of land must still containthe numbers of the range, township,section, and part of section, and theoriginal land survey name.

The only properties to use this num-bering system were the Seven Ranges,the Between the Miami Rivers Survey,and the Symmes Purchase Survey. In

1796 thenumberingmethodchanged.

The Ohio CompanyThe Ohio Company of Associates

was formed in Massachusetts in 1786.Led by General Rufus Putnam, ReverendManasseh Cutler, Major WinthropSargent, Captain Thomas Cushing, andColonel John Brooks, this group offeredto buy land from Congress at just theright time. They wanted to start newlives in the new territory after theAmerican Revolution.

Manasseh Cutler and WinthropSargent met with a congressional com-mittee to discuss the purchase. Cutlerpersuaded the committee to sell a verylarge tract of land to the Ohio Company.The deal was to buy 1,500,000 acres bymaking a down payment of $500,000 andpaying the rest of the money (another

Documents

Along the Ohio Trail