Transcript plunging forward into the wilderness

PLUNGING FORWARD
INTO THE WILDERNESS
James R Jacobs, THE BEGINNING OF THE U.S. ARMY 1783-1812
Northwest Ordinance
1787
Into the Wilderness
• I. Settlement of Marietta / Campus Martius
• II. Little Turtle’s War / Cincinnati
• III. Ohio Statehood / a parcel of banditti
US Army established
Henry Knox
• Continental Army militia
• Hostile to standing
armies
• Money
• To protect frontier from
Indians small regular
troops authorized in
1784
THE INDIANS BEING THE PRIOR OCCUPANTS, POSSESS THE RIGHT OF
THE SOIL. IT CANNOT BE TAKEN FROM THEM UNLESS BY THEIR FREE
CONSENT, OR BY THE RIGHT OF CONQUEST IN CASE OF A JUST WAR. TO
DISPOSSESS THEM ON ANY OTHER PRINCIPLE, WOULD BE A GROSS
VIOLATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF NATURE, AND OF THAT
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE WHICH IS THE GLORY OF A NATION.
Society of the Cincinnati - May 1783
The Society is named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who
left his farm to accept a term as Roman Consul and then
served as Magister Populi (with temporary powers similar to
that of a modern era dictator), thereby assuming lawful
dictatorial control of Rome to meet a war emergency. When
the battle was won, he returned power to the Senate and
went back to plowing his fields. The Society's motto reflects
that ethic of selfless service: Omnia relinquit servare
republicam ("He relinquished everything to save the
Republic"). The Society has from the beginning had three
objectives, referred to as the "Immutable Principles": "To
preserve the rights so dearly won; to promote the continuing
union of the states; and to assist members in need, their
widows, and their orphans.“
Arthur St Clair and David Ziegler
As the settlements of the whites shall approach
near to the Indian boundaries established by
treaties, the game will be diminished, and the
lands being valuable to the Indians only as
hunting grounds, they will be willing to sell further
tracts for small considerations. By the expiration,
therefore, of the above period, it is most probable
that the Indians will, by the invariable operation
of the cause s which have hitherto existed in their
intercourse with the whites, be reduced to a very
small number . . . .
Federal Policy, Knox
Fort Harmar - 1785
Josiah Harmar
In 1784, General Josiah Harmar
was sent to the Ohio frontier by
the Continental Congress to
help protect the settlers who
were being harassed by the
Native Americans. In 1785, he
had his troops build Fort
Harmar, a pentagon-shaped
federal fort on the Ohio and
Muskingum Rivers. They were
charged with keeping squatters
from occupying land north and
west of the Ohio River as
agreed to in a previous treaty
with the local Native American
Indians.
One of the most significant achievements of the Congress of the
Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 put the world on
notice not only that the land north of the Ohio River and east of the
Mississippi would be settled but that it would eventually become part
of the United States. Until then this area had been temporarily
forbidden to development.
Increasing numbers of settlers, land speculators & filibusters were
attracted to western lands, such as the Free Republic of Franklin and
“parcels of banditti.” This pressure including the demand from the
Ohio Land Company, soon to obtain vast holdings in the Northwest,
prompted the Congress to pass this Ordinance, admitting new states,
rather than expanding existing states.
The area opened up by the Ordinance was based on lines originally
laid out in 1784 by Thomas Jefferson in his Report of Government for
Western Lands. Above all, the Northwest Ordinance accelerated the
westward expansion of the United States.
Northwest Ordinance
1787
Ohio Company
The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as
the Ohio Company, was a land company which is
today credited with becoming the first nonAmerican Indian group to settle in the presentday state of Ohio. It was formed on March 1,
1786, by General Rufus Putnam, Benjamin
Tupper, Samuel Holden Parsons and Manasseh
Cutler, who had met in Boston, Massachusetts
to discuss the settlement of the territory around
the Ohio River.
Manasseh Cutler
Cutler was sent to New York to negotiate
with the Congress of the Confederation
to help the company secure a claim on
the portion of land they were interested
in. While there, Cutler aligned himself
with William Duer, secretary of the U.S.
Treasury Board. Duer and his associates
formed a steadfast group of New York
speculators determined for the
settlement of the area west of the
Appalachians. At this time, Congress
desperately needed revenue. It was the
economic strain and the pressure from
Duer and Cutler that helped them to
secure the incorporation in the
Northwest Ordinance, for the
government of the Northwest Territory
of the paragraphs which prohibited
slavery and provided for public
education and for the support of the
ministry.
What Knox wrote:
• But if it should be decided, on an abstract
view of the question, to be just, to remove by
force the Wabash Indians from the territory
they occupy, the finances of the United States
would not at present admit of the operation.
Rufus Putnam
Putnam led a group of
Revolutionary veterans to
settle the land in 1788. These
American Pioneers to the
Northwest Territory arrived at
the confluence of the Ohio and
Muskingum rivers, on April 7,
1788, and established
Marietta, Ohio as the first
permanent American
settlement in the Northwest
Territory. Putnam went on to
serve as a Supreme Court
judge for the Northwest
Territory.
Ohio Land Grants
Marietta
VIDEO BREAK
John Cleves Symmes, a New Jersey Congressman, created a company with several of his
friends to buy land between the Great Miami and Little Miami Rivers. This land came to be
known as the Symmes Purchase, also the Miami Purchase. In 1788, Symmes and his
associates requested land from Congress, purchasing about 330,000 acres. They paid about
sixty-seven cents per acre. They were required to follow the same basic rules as the Ohio
Company of Associates. Land had to be set aside for a school, for religion, and for the
government's use. In addition, a large piece of land was also to be set aside for a university.
Symmes ignored this requirement.
A few German men, Major Benjamin Steitz, Matthias Denmann, Israel Ludlow and Robert
Patterson arrived in Ohio as the first German settlers in the area. In 1787, US Geographer
Thomas Hutchins had ordered Ludlow to report to judge John Cleves Symmes to survey
Symmes’ land. In 1788, Ludlow traveled to the Northwest Territory to survey the Symmes
Purchase.
Ludlow was their first surveyor and was the surveyor who laid out the east-west base line for
this survey. He located this base line at a point six miles north of the southern-most point in
the Symmes Purchase.
On December 28, 1788, a second group of men landed and founded this new town. This new
town would be called Losantiville: a composite of words meaning “city across from the
mouth of the Licking River.” The “L” was for the Licking River, “os” was Latin for its mouth,
“anti” was Greek for opposite, and “ville” was French for city.
Arthur St. Clair
Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed
governor of the Northwest Territory by
vote of Congress on October 5, 1787; he
filled the office until November 22, 1802.
When St. Clair arrived at Losantiville
[Cincinnati] the settlement consisted of
two small hewed log houses and several
cabins. Maj. Doughty, under orders from
Gen. Josiah Harmar, was engaged with a
small military force in finishing the
construction of Fort Washington. The
population of the rude village, exclusive
of the military, probably did not exceed
one hundred and fifty. Three days after
Gen. Harmar took up his quarters at Fort
Washington, on January 1, 1790,
Governor St. Clair was received with due
ceremony by the troops and citizens of
Losantiville..
Fort Washington
Fort Washington
In 1789, Fort Washington was
built to protect early settlements
located in the Northwest
Territory. The fort was located
within modern-day downtown
Cincinnati, Ohio and used to
protect settlers of that city in its
early years. Gen. Josiah Harmar
described it as "one of the most
solid substantial wooden
fortresses. . .of any in the
Western Territory." The
stockade's walls were two stories
high with blockhouses located at
each corner. The fort was named
in honor of President George
Washington.
Knox, June 15, 1789
By the best and latest information, it appears that, on the
Wabash and its communications, there are from 1500 to 2000
warriors. An expedition against them, with the view of
extirpating them, or destroying their towns, could not be
undertaken with a probability of success, with less than an army
of 2,500 men. The regular troops of the United States on the
frontiers, are less than six hundred; of that number, not more
than four hundred could be collected from the posts for the
purpose of the expedition. To raise, pay, feed, arm, and equip
1900 additional men, with their necessary officers for six
months, and to provide every thing in the hospital and
quartermaster's line, would require the sum of 200,000 dollars; a
sum far exceeding the ability of the United States to advance,
consistently with a due regard to other indispensable objects.
Into the wilderness
In 1790, Harmar was sent on
expeditions against Native
Americans and remaining
British in the Northwest
Territory. After a few initial
military successes, his force of
Federal troops was defeated
by a tribal coalition led by
Little Turtle, in an engagement
known as the "Harmar's
defeat", "Battle of the
Maumee", Battle of
Kekionga", or "Battle of the
Miami Towns".
The most important Indian center in the great Northwest Territory was Ke ki on ga, where
Fort Wayne now stands. It had a most commanding location where the St. Joseph and the
St. Marys rivers unite to form the Maumee. Here the Indians of many tribes were wont to
gather and the earliest white traders established trading posts with the Indians. Kekionga
was a Miami Indian name but had in its make-up contributions from both the Ottawa and
Delaware Indian languages. Maumee is but a variation of the name Miami. Formerly it was
called the Miami of the Lakes. Because two other rivers in Ohio were already called Miami,
the name was somewhat changed. This indicates the predominance of the Miami Indians
at Kekionga for generations. To them it was the glorious gateway to the west and
commanded many trade routes. From it Indian trails led off in all directions to other Indian
centers. Two of these trails were important portages the over which trade was carried
from the three rivers at Kekionga to other rivers. The best known of these was the portage
from Kekionga southwest to Little River where there was a continuous water route down
the Wabash to the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Mississippi Valley. Next in importance was
the Eel River portage, which led northwest to the headwaters of Eel River, or to where
navigation on that river was possible. Because Eel River, the Kenapocomoco, furnished a
trade route to the west, because its forests abounded in fur-bearing animals and because
on that river lived the greatest of all Indian chiefs, the Eel River trail and portage were
known to all the Indians and to the traders and travelers at Kekionga. This trail was all the
more important because it was also the trail to important places farther on, the Miami
settlements on the St. Joseph River in Michigan and the settlement where Chicago now
stands.
Harmar’s defeat
With the creation of the Northwest
Territory in 1787 Americans
divided the land north of the Ohio
River for settlement. Violence
escalated and Native Americans
formed the Western Confederacy
with the goal of keeping the Ohio
River as a boundary between
Indian lands and the United States.
Little Turtle emerged as one of the
leaders of this confederacy, which
included Shawnees under Blue
Jacket and Delawares under
Buckongahelas. The war which
followed has no generally accepted
name, but was once known as
"Little Turtle's War".
Little Turtle
Battle of the Pumpkin Fields
With high casualties from
skirmishes, General Harmar
determined that he could no longer
mount an offensive. The
approaching winter further
threatened his command, as militia
deserted and horses starved. The
force reached Fort Washington 3
November 1790.
It was the worst defeat of the U.S.
forces by Native Americans until
that time, and would only be
surpassed by St. Clair's Defeat and
the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The
defeat established Little Turtle as a
war hero, and encouraged the
Indians in the Northwest Territory
to resist the United States.
In 1791, St. Clair succeeded Harmar as
the senior general of the United States
Army. He personally led a punitive
expedition comprising of two Regular
Army regiments and some militia. This
force advanced to the location of Indian
settlements on the Wabash River, but on
November 4 they were routed in battle
by a tribal confederation led by Miami
Chief Little Turtle, Shawnee chief Blue
Jacket and Simon Girty. More than 600
soldiers and scores of women and
children were killed in the battle, called
St. Clair's Defeat, the "Columbia
Massacre," or the "Battle of the
Wabash". It was the greatest defeat of
the American army by Native Americans
in history with some 623 American
soldiers killed in action as opposed to
about 50 enemy dead. After this debacle,
he resigned from the army at the request
of President Washington, but continued
to serve as Governor of the Northwest
Territory.
Ludlow Station
In Northside just east of Hamilton, where Israel Ludlow had built his
blockhouse. St. Clair’s first stop on his campaign.
Cumminsville
The courses through Cumminsville of the two early military roads, which have become
historic and form the bases of travel and traffic routes of the present day, are of
interest. One, the most westerly of three well-defined trails, was traversed by St. Claris
army when it left Ludlow's Station on its way to the ill-fated field of the east branch of
the Wabash (1791). The expedition moved along the hills to the west of Millcreek
Valley almost exactly on what was afterward made into the "Mount Pleasant and
Hamilton Turnpike." and where are now a large part of Cumminsville, College Hill, and
the village of Mount Healthy, thence to the Miami River, where St. Clair built Fort
Hamilton. The portion of this road passing through Cumminsville will at once be
recognized as the present Hamilton Avenue. This road is frequently referred to in local
history as "St. Clair's Trace" or "St. Clair's Trail."
•
The second road, and the one of greatest importance in the growth of the town, was
that taken by "Mad Anthony" Wayne in 1793. It followed the general course of an old
trace running along the MillCreek Valley, which had but recently (1792) opened as the
"great road" from Cincinnati to White's Station (now Carthage). This was later known
as the "Carthage Road." and occupied almost identically the course of the present
Spring Grove Avenue. This is frequently alluded to as "Wayne's Trace" or "Wayne's
Trail."
Fort Hamilton
• Fort Hamilton was
established in September
1791 by General Arthur St.
Clair at the start of his
campaign agains hostile
Indian tribes during the
Northwest Territory Indian
War. The post was located
on the east bank of the
Miami River in the present
day town of Hamilton, Ohio
and was one of a line of
forts established to protect
supply and communications
lines.
Road-building slowed the advance of St. Clair's poorly equipped, inexperienced
and untrained army of about 2,300 men. It took three days to cut an 18-mile
road through the wilderness from Ludlow Station to Fort Hamilton. After
leaving the fort Oct. 4, 1791, the army moved only about 80 miles in 30 days.
The forest, according to a captain, included "white oaks from four to six feet
through and from 50 to 70 or 80 feet high" and "white ash from two to four
feet through and very tall." Other obstacles included thick underbrush, swampy
low land and many streams and ravines.
In Butler County, the army's 1791 route followed present Dixie Highway (Ohio
4) north to about the site of Symmes Road in Fairfield. The 1791 course
continued northwest to the site of Fort Hamilton (around present High Street
and Monument Avenue) on the east bank of the Great Miami River.
In 1791, after crossing the river, St. Clair's troops followed a route west along
present Main Street (Ohio 177 and Ohio 129), then north on what became
Eaton Avenue and Eaton Road, proceeding west of present Seven Mile,
Collinsville and Somerville.
St. Clair’s Opponents
I am induced to give my sentiments thus freely on the advantages to be
expected from this plan of Colonization, because it would connect our
Governments with the frontiers, extend our Settlements progressively, and plant
a brave, a hardy and respectable Race of People, as our advanced Post, who
would be always ready and willing (in case of hostility) to combat the Savages,
and check their incursions. A Settlement formed by such Men would give
security to our frontiers, the very name of it would awe the Indians, and more
than probably prevent the murder of many innocent families, which frequently,
in their usual mode of extending our Settlements and Encroachments on the
hunting grounds of the Natives, fall the hapless Victims to savage barbarity.
Besides the emoluments which might be derived from the Peltry Trade at our
Factories, if such should be established; the appearance of so formidable a
Settlement in the vicinity of their Towns (to say nothing of the barrier it would
form against our other Neighbours) would be the most likely means to enable us
to purchase upon equitable terms of the Aborigines their right of preoccupancy;
and to induce them to relinquish our Territories, and to remove into the
illimitable regions of the West.
Washington to Congress, June 17, 1783.
Army strategy
In an article for the American
Enterprise Institute, “Toward
A Global Cavalry,” Thomas
Donnelly argues the U.S.
Military today is “Like the
cavalry of the Old West….” He
says, “the realignment of our
network of overseas bases into
a system of frontier stockades
is necessary to win a long-term
struggle against an amorphous
enemy across the arc of
instability.”
Sister in law, Lisa at McWhorter cabin
Jackson’s Mill, WV
Peter Waggoner &Tecumseh
Legionville
In October 1792, General
Anthony Wayne scoured the • Comnr
Ohio River for a suitable place
to winter and train the army
and get them away from the
distractions of the city.
Twenty-Two miles from
Pittsburgh on the western
bank of the Ohio and near the
modern town of Baden,
Pennsylvania, Wayne founded
the first formal United States
military basic training facility. .
Cornplanter:
stay south & east of Ohio River.
Mad Anthony
Wayne's new army, the Legion of the United States, marched
north from Fort Washington in 1793, building a line of forts along
the way. Wayne commanded more than 4,600 men, with some
Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians serving as scouts. Fort Recovery
was built on the 1791 site where General Arthur St. Clair suffered
a major defeat.
On July 29, 1794, led again by Little Turtle, Blue Jacket and Simon
Girty, Indians launched a night attack against Fort Recovery. The
attack was repulsed by the American soldiers with twenty two
soldiers lost in the battle. The Indians losses were forty dead and
twenty wounded. This defeat discouraged the Indian tribes and
led to a split in their confederation and a leadership change with
Little Turtle seeing the futility of their efforts against a well trained
and supported force. Blue Jacket took up the lead.
Fort Recovery
Battle of Fallen Timbers
Blue Jacket's army took a defensive stand along the
Maumee River in present-day Maumee, and not far from
Toledo, where a stand of trees ("fallen timbers") had been
blown down by a tornado. They reckoned the trees gave
them cover and hindered the advance of the army. Nearby
was Fort Miami, a British outpost where the Indian
confederacy received provisions. The Indian army, about
1,500 strong, consisted of Blue Jacket's Shawnees and
Buckongahelas's Delawares, Miamis, Wyandots, Ojibwas,
Ottawas, Potawatomis, Mingos, and some Canadian militia.
They were routed.
On August 3, 1795, a treaty at Fort Greenville (Greenville, Ohio) was signed
between general Anthony Wayne and several Indian tribes led by Little Turtle.
Under this new treaty, the United States received about two-thirds of presentday Ohio.
A boundary line was established to mark this new territory. Beginning at the
mouth of the Cuyahoga River on Lake Erie, it ran up the river to the portage with
Tuscarawas River and down the Tuscarawas River, to a crossing about one mile
above Fort Laurens. From this crossing, the line ran southwesterly to Fort
Loramie, then northwesterly to Fort Recovery, then in another southwesterly
direction to the Ohio River, across from the mouth of the Kentucky River.
In January 1797, General Rufus Putnam, the first surveyor general, hired Isreal
Ludlow to survey this new boundary line. On July 9, Ludlow began surveying the
boundary line from the crossing north of Fort Laurens to Fort Loramie. On
August 3, 1799, Ludlow began surveying the boundary from Fort Loramie to Fort
Recovery.
A few days later, on August 8, Ludlow began surveying the boundary from Fort
Recovery to the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.
Little Turtle at Greenville
The prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere to be
seen in this region. It is well known to all my brothers
present that my forefathers kindled the first fire at
Detroit; from thence he extended his line to the
headwaters of the Scioto; from thence to its mouth; from
thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash and
from thence to Lake Michigan. I have now informed you
of the boundaries of the Miami nation where the Great
Spirit placed my forefathers a long time ago and charged
him not to sell or part with his lands but to preserve them
to his posterity. This charge has now been handed down
to me.
STATEHOOD
As an organic act, the ordinance created a civil government in the territory
under the direct jurisdiction of the Congress. The ordinance was thus the
prototype for the subsequent organic acts that created organized territories
during the westward expansion of the United States. It specifically provided
for the appointment by Congress of a Territorial Governor with a three-year
term, a Territorial Secretary with a four-year term, and three Judges, with no
set limit to their term. As soon as there was a population of 5,000 "free
male inhabitants of full age", they could form a general assembly for a
legislature. In 1789, the U.S. Congress made minor changes, such that the
President, with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, had the power to
appoint and remove the Governor and officers of the territory instead of
Congress. The Territorial Secretary was authorized to act for the Governor, if
he died, was absent, was removed, or resigned from office.
Northwest Ordinance 1787
EDWARD TIFFIN
The state of Ohio was organized in 1803
after a bitter struggle between the party of
Arthur St. Clair, territorial governor, and the
"Chillicothe Junto," which favored
immediate statehood for the section east of
the mouth of the Great Miami River. The
leader of the latter group was Edward Tiffin,
who was elected the first governor of the
new state.
He was elected governor almost without
opposition in 1803 and again in 1805. During
his second term he received a
commendatory letter from President
Jefferson for his efficiency in foiling Aaron
Burr's expedition.
The Burr conspiracy early in the 19th century was a suspected treasonous cabal
of planters, politicians, and army officers led by former U.S. Vice President
Aaron Burr and Gen. James Wilkinson. According to accusations against him,
Burr’s goal was to create an independent nation in the center of North America
and/or the Southwest and parts of Mexico.
On February 19, 1803, President Jefferson signed an act of Congress
that approved Ohio's boundaries and constitution. However, Congress
had never passed a resolution formally admitting Ohio as the 17th
state. The current custom of Congress declaring an official date of
statehood did not begin until 1812, with Louisiana's admission as the
18th state. Although no formal resolution of admission was required,
when the oversight was discovered in 1953, Ohio congressman George
H. Bender introduced a bill in Congress to admit Ohio to the Union
retroactive to March 1, 1803. At a special session at the old state
capital in Chillicothe, the Ohio state legislature approved a new
petition for statehood that was delivered to Washington, D.C. on
horseback. On August 7, 1953 (the year of Ohio's 150th anniversary),
President Eisenhower signed an act that officially declared March 1,
1803 the date of Ohio's admittance into the Union.
Statehood
DAVID ZIEGLER
Johann David Ziegler was
born in Heidelberg,
Germany. Becoming a
soldier, he fought in the
Seven Years' War under
Frederick the Great. He
served in the army of Russia
during the Russo-Turkish
War (1768–1774), resigning
his commission in 1774 on
the demobilization of the
Russian army.
1802 & 1803 Cincinnati’s
1st Mayor
WHAT WOULD LITTLE TURTLE THINK?