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AND
LETTERS FROM THE FRONTIER
Mary C. Darlington, Editor.
Pittsburgh, J. R. Weldon & Co., 1892.[Page numbers appear in brackets in bold print]
[Transcription is verbatim]
[Footnotes appear in smaller font][200] SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL O'HARA.
(Compiled from books and documents collected by William M. Darlington, and letters now in the possession of Mrs. McKnight and Miss
Matilda W. Denny. M. C. DARLINGTON.)
Illustrations of Gen. & Mrs. O'Hara
THE O'Haras are an ancient Milesian family, settled in County Mayo, in the West of Ireland. The first mention of the family was in 1348. Bishop Murcherd MacMael Moi. 1396, a Bishop of the same diocese. 1409, Bishop Bryan O'Hara. 1485, Archbishop O'Hara. General Sir Charles O'Hara in 17o6 was created a baron and took his title from the castle and demesne of Tyrawley, in County Mayo. His son, General Sir James O'Hara, whose first title was conferred during the life of his father for military services during Queen Anne's reign, was also from the demesne of Kilmaine in that part of Ireland. This district is still wild and savage, the roads are few and almost impassable for ordinary carriages. The O'Haras spread from thence to other parts of Ireland, viz., Tyrone, Donegal, Antrim, etc. James O'Hara had always hanging in the hall of his house the coat-of-arms of the barony of Tyrawley, in recognition of his descent from the ancestors of the barons of the O'Hara family of County Mayo—vert on a pale radiant or, a lion rampant sable. James O'Hara, afterward General O'Hara, emigrated to America about 1772, landed in Philadelphia, and after a short residence there wandered to Western Virginia, where he was engaged as Indian trader by a Philadelphia firm. From December, 1773, to March, 1774, he was in the service of Devereux Smith and [201] Ephraim Douglas, of Pittsburgh, as Indian trader at Kuskusky, an Indian town, near the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango rivers, in what is now Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.
The accounts of the trades with the Indians are kept in bucks' , does' and fawns' skins. Here is a sample of some of the entries:
"Captain Pipe's account, Pea-meet-chease, lives over the creek: Captain Pipe promises to pay this account if the other would not. Deer skins received of his wife, 10s; 1 buck skin, paid Joseph 1s. Deer skins got of Mamalteas, 6s 1d. Remainder of raccoon and foxes got at his camp. Account with the white woman who lives in the smith's shop, Dr. Captain Pipe's brother-in-law. Dr. The little Muncy man who bo't the gun at the Muncy town, 1 pint powder."
After March, 1774, James O'Hara was government agent among the Indians until the commencement of the Revolution. Having been three years ensign in the British army, in the Coldstream Guards, he was thought capable of commanding a company. He raised and equipped a company of volunteers. The equipment of soldiers at that time was their usual dress, hunting shirt, buckskin breeches and the rifle which always hung on the wall ready for use. The equipment supplied them would be little more than ammunition; but in this case boats were supplied, which carried besides the company of volunteers such articles as were of use in trading with the Indians. The fort at Canhawa, now Kanawha, to which they were sent, was erected by the State of Virginia, and was protected and provisioned by the efforts of Captain O'Hara's company until 1779. It had escaped the perspicacity of the Virginia statesmen that the sources of the Indian devastations were Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, then in possession of the British. Major George Rogers Clark represented that if these posts [202] were reduced, a counter-influence would be established over the Indians.
In December, 1777, Major Clark submitted to the executive of Virginia a plan for the reduction of these posts. January 2, 1778, he received orders from Patrick Henry, to raise seven companies of soldiers, to consist of fifty men, officered in the usual manner and armed properly, and with this force to attack the British posts at Kaskaskia. He set out as soon as possible on the enterprise. On arriving at the Kanawha River, he was joined by Captain O'Hara's company, then on its way to the Ozark. General Clark was successful and took possession of the town of Kaskaskia, which was situated on the river of that name, seven miles from its junction with the Mississippi. Also Vincennes on the Wabash River. This fort was called by the English Fort Sackville. The name Vincennes was derived from Francois Morgan de Vincennes, who was commandant at the post in 1735. The march to Vincennes was long, the season inclement, the road passed through an untrodden wilderness. He could only muster one hundred and thirty men; but inspiring this handful with his own heroic spirits he resolved to strike the enemy in the citadel of his strength. For days his route lay through the drowned lands of Illinois. One plain, called Horse-shoe Plain, about four miles long, was covered with water breast-high. The men, holding their rifles above their heads, plunged in among the floating ice and reached the high land beyond safely. In a few days after the surrender an amazing number of savages flocked into the towns to treat for peace, and soon the enlisted companies returned to their former stations. The inhabitants were mostly French. Speaking French with fluency and understanding some of the Indian dialects, Captain O'Hara must have been of great service to General Clark. Letters from General Clark show the strong friendship be- [203] tween them for many years after. In 1779, Captain O'Hara's company, having had the greater part of the soldiers killed by the Indians while hunting about Canhawa and other parts of the country, was reduced to twenty-nine, which was too small a garrison to answer any purpose, or protect the inhabitants living in the vicinity of that post. The fort was evacuated and the garrison, cattle and horses removed to Pittsburgh. The few men surviving were annexed to the Ninth Virginia Regiment, by General Brodhead, December 13, 1779. Captain O'Hara was sent to headquarters with letters from General Brodhead to General Washington, and to James Wilkinson, asking for a supply of clothing for the soldiers. Captain O'Hara was then made commissary for the General Hospital and stationed at Carlisle. The following letter was written by Captain O'Hara to Devereux Smith, Esq.:
PITTSBURGH, April 8, 1777.
Dear Sir:—I arrived here yesterday from the Indian country, and must say that I have great reason to suspect that numbers of the savages are determined to annoy our frontier as much as they dare. On the 2d day of this month, as I was preparing to start with my horses from the Moravian town, there were three runners arrived from Tuscarawas, about thirteen short miles off, with intelligence that there were a party of eighteen, consisting of fifteen Mingoes, two Shawnees and one Wiandot at that place, on their way to war, and that they intended to come for the ministers and other white people who live with the Moravians, upon which all the white people of the upper town fled that night to the principal Delaware town; however I stayed till next morning and got two of the Moravian Indians to go meet the warriors and find out, if possible, what they intended to do. We got for answer that they looked on themselves as free men, that they had no king nor [204] chief, therefore would do as they pleased, and that in the first place they would visit the neighborhood of Fort Pitt; they then set off from Tuscarawas, and as I knew that I certainly must have fallen in with them, if following my course. I thought best to send my horses by the Delawares and came home, myself and man, by way of the Mingoes town on the Ohio. I was informed by good authority, that a party of sixty-four, who had gone some time ago to the Kentucky, have returned to Pluggin's town, they have brought only one prisoner, and have lost a Shawnee man; they have again held a council of war, and seventy have turned out to visit the Big River. The Muncies have in general turned off from the Delawares, and are much inclined to listen to the Mingoes. The Shawnees are divided, about one half of them have joined the Mingoes, the Wiandots seem more inclined for peace.
I have nothing further material to communicate at present but that I have lost one of your buckles. Please make my best compliments to Mrs. Smith, and Miss Polly, and the rest of your family.
I am, sir, your humble servant,
JAMES O'HARA.The following account was written by John Heckwelder, the Moravian: On seeing the death of General O'Hara announced in the public papers, the following occurrence, respecting him, was brought to my recollection:
Some time after the commencement of the revolutionary war, when the northern Indians were beginning to make inroads on the people living on the east side of the Ohio River, this gentleman, having come out the upper Moravian town on the Muskingum, on business, and there taken lodgings with a respectable and decent family of Indians in the village, I had one evening scarcely laid down to sleep, when I was [205] suddenly roused from my bed by an Indian runner (or messenger), who in the night had been sent to me nine miles, with the following verbal message:
"My friend: See that our friend O'Hara, now at your town, be immediately taken off to the settlement of the white people, avoiding all paths leading to that river. Fail not in taking my advice, for there is no time to lose, and hear my son further on the subject."
The fact was, that eleven warriors from Sandusky were far advanced on their way to take or murder O'Hara, who at break of day would be at this place for the purpose. I immediately sent for this gentleman and told him that I would furnish him with a conductor, on whom he might depend, and having sent for Anthony (otherwise called Luke Holland), informed him of the circumstances, and requested his services. He (the Indian) first wished to know, whether my friend placed confidence in him and trusted to his fidelity, which question being answered by O'Hara himself, and to his full satisfaction, he replied: "Well, our lives cannot be separated! We must stand or fall together! But take courage, for no enemy shall discover us!" The Indian then took Mr. O'Hara through the woods, and arriving within a short distance of the Ohio River, pointed out to him a hiding place, until he, by strolling up and down the river, should discover white people on the opposite shore; when finally observing a house, where two white men were cleaning out a canoe for use, he hurried back to bring on his friend, who, when near the spot, advised his Indian conductor to hide himself, knowing those people to be bad men, he feared they might kill him for his services. The Indian finally seeing his friend safe across the river, returned and made report thereof. The young Indian, who had been the bearer of the message from his father to me, had immediately returned on seeing [206] O'Hara off, in order to play a further deception on the war party, for the purpose of preventing them even from going to our town, fearing, that if there, and not finding their object, they might probably hunt up his track, and finding this, pursue him. He indeed effected his purpose so completely, that while they were looking for him in one direction, his conductor was taking him off in another. The father of the young lad, who was the principal cause that O'Hara's life had been saved, had long been admired by all who knew him for his philanthropy, on account of which the traders had given him the name of "The Gentleman." Otherwise this Indian was not in connection with the Christian Indian Society, though a friend to them. He lived with his family retired and in a decent manner. While I feel a delight in offering to the relatives and friends of the deceased this true and faithful picture of Indian fidelity, I regret that on necessarily having had to recur to the names "Anthony" and "Luke Holland," I am drawn from scenes of pleasure to crimes of the blackest hue. The very Indian just named, who at that time joyfully reported to me his having conducted his friend out of danger to a place of safety, some years after approached me with the doleful news that every one of his children (all minors) together with his hoary-headed parents, had been murdered by the white people at Gnadenhutten on the Muskingum.
JOHN HECKWELDER.
1780, Captain O'Hara was appointed Commissary of the General Hospital and was stationed at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
1781, he received the appointment of Assistant Quartermaster.
The winter of 1779 and ‘8o set in with unusual severity. Supplies for the troops could not be supplied in sufficient quantities, all the channels of transportation were closed. But the most serious cause of distress was the derangement [207] of the currency, which left Congress almost without power to assist the commissary department. The distress consequent thereto caused the revolt of the Pennsylvania line in 1781. After that trouble was ended, General Greene was put in command in the Southern army and Wayne was ordered to join it.Captain O'Hara, Assistant Quartermaster, used every means to provide for the campaign. Warehouses were rented in Carlisle and Philadelphia for the storing of provisions and means of transportation procured. Of the history of his efforts for this purpose there remains now in the possession of his descendants but one small memorandum book; in that can be traced his journey with the army, and a record of provisions procured by himself and his assistant, Mr. Elliot. Names of places are given which correspond with the most noted places of the Southern campaign. Charleston and almost all of South Carolina had been conquered by Lord Cornwallis. The British army was preparing for an invasion of North Carolina. An engagement between Tarleton and Morgan took place at the Cowpens, January 17, 1781. The British were defeated. Tarleton marched through North Carolina to the banks of the Dan, where there was another engagement. From there the British army pursued Morgan and crossed the Yadkin. General Greene made his escape from North Carolina. Cornwallis returned to Hillsborough; General Greene receiving intelligence of this again crossed the Dan and returned to North Carolina. From want of provisions the British retired. Greene advanced, crossed the Haw, and posted himself between Troublesome creek and Reedy Fork.
On the 15th of March began the battle of Guilford Court House. It was one of the severest of the war. Although the Americans were repulsed and the British remained masters of the field, they were too much shattered to follow up [208] the victory. General Greene retreated to Reedy Fork Creek. After this General Greene re-entered South Carolina and attacked Lord Rawdon at Camden; he was defeated, and retreating crossed the Wateree and took a strong position for offensive and defensive operations. At Eutaw Springs was the next battle. Both sides claimed the victory. It was the last battle of any note which took place in South Carolina.
These and other places are mentioned in this memorandum book, showing that active personal attention was given to his duties in his department. He continued with the army until July, 1783, when having seen the last of the Pennsylvania troops embarked on board the transport, he travelled himself to Philadelphia with General Wayne. After settling the affairs of his office he returned to Pittsburgh, accompanied by his newly-wedded wife in a wagon, the only means of transport. She was Mary, the daughter of a Scottish gentleman, William Carson; although the house that received her was only built of logs, she took with her all the luxuries that could be transported. The carpets astonished the western country people. They expressed their astonishment that Mrs. O'Hara should spread coverlets on the floor, and hesitated to walk on them. The house stood near the Allegheny River, above Fort Pitt, in what was called the officers' orchard.
By the Act of Congress, passed April 13, 1782, "All officers in the late General Hospitals, who were inhabitants of or belonged to this State at the time of entering into service, and who became supernumerary by the arrangement of October, 1780, or resigned before 10th April, 1780, and were not otherwise provided for by law, are entitled to the depreciation of their pay. I am, therefore, of opinion, that Mr. O'Hara is within the meaning of the Act, and that the account is properly passed."
WM. BRADFORD, JUN.
Philadelphia, Sept. 10, 1786.
When peace was concluded with Great Britain, a portion of their Indian auxiliaries refused to bury the hatchet, but continued their depredations upon the settlements bordering on the Ohio. From 1783 to 1790, it was estimated that fifteen hundred men, women and children had been slain or taken captive by the Indians.
Captain O'Hara took the contract for furnishing provisions for the Western army, then under the command of General Harmar.
PHILADELPHIA, August 28, 1784.
CAPTAIN JAMES O'HARA.
Sir:—Your having assisted the Continental Commissioners in procuring the Indian goods so much to their satisfaction, has induced the Indian Commissioners on the part of this State to request your assistance in obtaining and safe-packing the goods to be provided by them. Enclosed you have a list of such as are wanted, and must beg you will lose no time in furnishing the several articles therein specified, in order that they may be sent, if possible, with the goods of the continent. The list should have been furnished sooner had we been sooner authorized. The Treaty at Fort Stanwix will be held the 20th of September next, so that it will require your utmost exertions, as many of the articles must be made here. A second treaty will be held at Cuyahoga, on the bank of Lake Erie on the 20th of November next, so that the articles in the list No. 1 will be equally divided, the one-half only immediately for the first treaty, by which means you will have sufficient time to make up such articles as shall be required for the second. As the State means to convince the natives that she can and will furnish the best assortment of goods, we must beg you will be careful to answer her good intentions in these particulars. Sundry little articles, agreeable to list No. 2, [210] will be wanted for the accommodation of the Commissioners, who beg you will give yourself the additional trouble of furnishing the same, and having them carefully put up, marked, and sent on with the goods. When they are ready to be shipped you will be pleased to call upon Captain Joseph Stiles, the keeper of the magazine, who will deliver you ten quarter casks of powder for the first treaty, ten other quarter casks will be ready for the second, and likewise delivered you.
We are, sir, your humble servants,
SAMUEL ATLEE,
FRANCIS JOHNSTON.P. S.—Captain Stiles will also furnish you with three horseman's and one soldier's tent.
Another letter of the same purport was written to Captain James O'Hara, by Francis Johnston, Commissioner, and Colonel Josiah Harmar.
FORT McINTOSH, (Beaver.) February 15, 1785.
Sir:—On the 21st of December I proceeded from Fort Pitt with five men for this post in a large boat, heavy laden with flour, rum, soap, candles, plank, etc., for the use of the troops under your command, and that night was driven on a fish dam by the ice, where we stuck fast until the night of the 22d, when, after our broadside was beat in, and no prospect of relief, two of the men nearly frozen to death, we were obliged to cast over-board twelve thousand weight of flour, five hundred weight of bread and biscuit, with a considerable quantity of other vegetables were lost, yet we did not get to shore till the 23d, and then in that distressed condition which the melancholy situation of Corporal Shaw (now present) evinces.
[211] As these losses of provision may probably be considered under the fifth article of my contract with the Secretary in the War Office, and you being acquainted with the circumstances, I shall esteem it a particular favor if you will please to furnish me with the necessary certificate thereof, and oblige,
Sir, your most humble servant,
JAMES O'HARA.I do hereby certify that the above statement of facts relative to the loss of the contractor's boat and cargo is just and true, agreeable to the best information that can be collected.
Given under my hand at Fort McIntosh, Feb. 16, 1785.
JOSIAH HARMAR,
Lt.-Col. Com. 1st Am. Reg.The contract made by Captain O'Hara included provisioning and clothing the armies then in the field, and supplying the forts, Oswego, Niagara, Presqu' isle, Fort le Boeuf, Greenville, Washington, Fort Wayne, Fort McIntosh, Defiance, Detroit, Michillimacknac, Franklin, Miamis, Massac, Chickasaw Bluffs, Knox, Rapids of Ohio, Hamilton, Kaskaskias, Natchez, etc. To understand the difficulty of this undertaking, it must be remembered that this war was against the Indians, the most ruthless of enemies, assisted by the lately conquered British army and American Tories, and that during this time occurred the disastrous defeats of Generals Harmar and St. Clair. General O'Hara was not only contractor for furnishing all necessaries for these armies, but he was also appointed to act as Quartermaster and Treasurer for payments to the soldiers pro tem. His accounts were kept with the utmost exactness, as will be proven by the following certificate:
[212] TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
REGISTER'S OFFICE, March 6, 1792.These are to certify that James O'Hara, Esq., late Contractor for supplying the army with Provisions, and who occasionally acted as Quartermaster of the troops and agent for the supply of Indian goods, is not charged with any moneys on the treasury books. That he has from time to time settled his accounts in a regular manner at the Treasury, and has given general satisfaction to the Treasury officers with whom he settled said account.
(Signed) JOSEPH NOURSE,
Register.WAR DEPARTMENT, May 21, 1792.
Sir:—I have the honor to transmit you, enclosed, your commission as Quartermaster-General of the Army of the United States.
The Secretary of War requests that you will please to purchase a bat-horse (Pack-horse.) for Brigadier-General Putnam, who is about setting out for Fort Washington (Cincinnati.) on special business. The horse will be left at Pittsburgh, under care of Major Craig, subject to your order; a saddle and bridle will also be wanted.
I am with great respect, your humble servant,
Jo. STAGG, JR.,
Chief Clerk of the War Department
To JAMES O'HARA, ESQ., QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL.
The defeat of General Harmar, in 1790, carried dismay throughout all our western settlements, and inspired the Indians with courage. A new army was raised and placed [213] under the command of Major-General St. Clair. On the 4th of November, 1791, he suffered a total defeat near the Miami villages by the Indians and their confederates, the English. The whole country was thrown into consternation. Petitions were sent from posts on the frontier to the officers of the government for protection. One was sent from Pittsburgh, December, 1791, representing the defenceless situation of the town, should it be attacked by the Indians. This petition was signed and addressed to Governor Mifflin by James O'Hara, John Irwin, John Wilkins, Jr., A. Tannehill, John McMasters, William Turnbull.
December 26, 1791, orders were sent through Governor Mifflin by H. Knox, Secretary of War, to Major Craig, to construct immediately a block-house at Fort Pitt, and to surround it with palisades, so as to contain about 100 men. Two companies, with the necessary officers, were ordered to the fort, and the lieutenants of Westmoreland, Allegheny and Washington were authorized to employ scouts or patrols at the expense of the general government. The scouts were to be the best of hunters and woodsmen. In 1792 General Wayne received the appointment of Commander-in-Chief, and the western army was reorganized. It was called the Legion of the United States. Anxious to conciliate the Indians, he called a council twenty-two miles below Pittsburgh, which he called Legionville. The Indians insisted that they should be the undisturbed possessors of all the land north and west of the Ohio River. In 1793, when the United States Commissioners proposed another council, General Wayne playfully expressed a wish to be present with 2,500 of his commissioners in company, with not a single Quaker among them.
On the 10th of October, 1794, General Wayne wrote from the Miami villages, that owing to the unfortunate death of [214] Mr. Robert Elliot, the acting contractor, who was killed by the savages, the affairs of that department were deranged and famine threatened, and General O'Hara must at once proceed to Fort Washington, visiting all the forts on the way, taking an invoice of the stores belonging to the contractors at each place, and of the means of transport, forwarding to the Miami village as great a supply of flour, salt and cattle as every means of transport in his own department as well as that of the contractors will permit. For which purpose the General-in-chief ordered a detachment of dragoons and riflemen, under the command of Captain Gibson, as far as Greenville to escort the convoy. General O'Hara also received orders that if there should be any deficiency in the contractors stores, he should supply the deficiency.
July 26, 1794, headquarters (Southwest branch of the Miami.) Greenville, General O'Hara wrote to Major Craig that a Potawatomie, who was in the action of the 30th of June, at Grand Glaize, was captured and being examined says, that by every account of the Delawares from Roche de Bout, the British have from fifteen to twenty pieces of cannon at that place; that the British called upon all the Indian Nations to bring on all their warriors, and that they would bring more British soldiers than they could bring warriors. This was one moon before the action at Fort Recovery. The Indians having prepared for war, told the British to raise their strong arm and come on; their answer was to proceed and go on before and they would wait with their strong arms to strike the Americans; that the Great Man of Canada ordered them to go and take the fort, overset General Wayne's army, and roll them into the Ohio. He could not tell the number of Indians killed before Fort Recovery; the Indians carried off all their dead, except a few that lay too [215] near the fort. Some of the wounded were carried off on horseback, and some by water. General O'Hara adds, "that the present prospects of supporting the Quartermaster's Department with general approbation are very flattering. The Legion and auxiliaries are in good spirits and well supplied, and you may be perfectly assured that we shall be in possession of Grand Glaize and Roche de Bout before the 15th of next month."
"July 27th.—The General beats to-morrow instead of the Reveille. The whole army is ready to move in the most complete order at sunrise, and you may expect to be informed of an end being put to the business of war in this quarter and of Simcoes (Governor of Canada.) retrograde or defeat by my next letter.
"JAMES O'HARA, Q. M. G."
After the successful termination of General Wayne's campaign General O'Hara wished to resign his office as Quartermaster-General, but the resignation was not accepted until May, 1796, when he was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Wilkins. He continued in the service of the government as contractor for supplying the Western army until 1802. It was during the time of Wayne's campaign that there occurred the revolt against government officials, called the "Whiskey Insurrection." The rioters had burned the country house of General Neville, and had assembled before General Abraham Kirkpatrick's house for the same purpose. H. H. Brackenridge addressed the mob and appealed to them in a manner which they could not resist. He showed them that it would be impossible to burn the house of Kirkpatrick without at the same time burning that of General O'Hara, which was close by, both built of wood; that they knew General [216] O'Hara was from home with General Wayne, fighting the Indians; to destroy his property under such circumstances would be an act for which they would never forgive themselves. If the house must be destroyed, let it be pulled down, not burned. The crowd dispersed.
In the spring of 1796 General O'Hara built a saw-mill in Allegheny and made arrangements with Major Isaac Craig for the erection of glassworks. Mr. Eichbaum was engaged to erect the works. It was a very difficult and expensive undertaking. They made their own pots. Some of the clay was brought from Germany; all had to be brought from Philadelphia in wagons. Thirty thousand dollars were expended before the first bottle was made. After that the furnaces were reconstructed and the manufactory became very profitable. After the partnership with Major Craig was dissolved he carried on the business alone. In 1805 he built the ship "General Butler." On March 4th it lay in the stream at Pittsburgh, ready to weigh anchor the moment the water answered. She was to go down the river with a cargo of glass for intermediate ports, take a cargo of cotton at Natchez for Liverpool, and to return to Philadelphia or New Orleans with goods for either of these markets. She was commanded by Captain Samuel Lake. The General's eldest son, William Carson O'Hara, was supercargo. General John Wilkins was owner of one-fourth of the ship and cargo.
Strict orders were given by General O'Hara and General Wilkins to Captain Lake that he would not suffer on board any stores, wares or articles of any kind that could possibly be conceived to be contraband of war, nor attempt to touch at any prohibition port. The ship was insured in Philadelphia for $10,000 by Joseph Carson; it was valued at $14,000. The cargo was to be insured in Liverpool. On account of the war Captain Lake was authorized to sell it in Liverpool. "We [217] do not wish to sell at any considerable loss, but being engaged in building another and desirous to encourage shipbuilding at place, we are willing to sell this without profit." It was not sold. May 3, 1807, the "General Butler" again sailed from New Orleans for Greenock with a cargo of cotton. October 3, 1807, the ship was captured by a Spanish schooner within sixty miles of Havanna and taken into Vera Cruz.
Several other vessels were built by O'Hara and Wilkins for the river trade. One other, the "Betsey," traded between Baltimore and the West Indies. It was consigned to John Holmes, a merchant in Baltimore. He never rendered any account or answered letters addressed to him by General O'Hara. It was not known what became of the vessels during the owner's life.
1789, General O'Hara was elected Presidential elector and cast his vote for General Washington. He assisted General Wilkins and others in building the First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, and gave the handsome chandelier which ornamented and illuminated the building, until it was torn down and replaced by the present edifice. 1802-4, he was a candidate for election to Congress and was defeated by Lucas, a Democrat. During the time of his contract for supplying the northwest army with provisions he ascertained that salt from the Onondaga works in New York could be furnished in Pittsburgh cheaper than from Baltimore. He packed his flour and provisions in barrels suitable for salt. These barrels were reserved in his contract. Vessels were built on the lakes and river for its transportation and the salt sold for $4 a bushel.
1804, General O'Hara was appointed a director of the branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, established that year in Pittsburgh. 1811, he entered into partnership with John Henry Hopkins—afterwards Bishop of Vermont—in an iron [218] works at Ligonier. It was a failure. Among other noble qualities, Mr. Hopkins possessed the rare one of acknowledging and being grateful for a pecuniary obligation.
General O'Hara at various times made extensive purchases of property in Allegheny County and elsewhere. The first tract of land he purchased was in 1773, nineteenth day of November, being a plantation and tract of land containing four hundred acres, situated on Coalpit Run. His mercantile knowledge was acquired in 1770 and 1771 in a counting-house in Liverpool. The exactness of his accounts with government is proved by the following certificate:
BOARD OF TREASURY, July 19, 1786.
I certify that there is due to Mr. James O'Hara, from the Commissioners of the Board of Treasury, for sundry warrants by him endorsed and delivered this day to the Treasurer of the United States, the sum of Three Thousand Dollars: for the amount of which I am accountable agreeably to a receipt given to me by Mr. James O'Hara of this date.
WILLIAM DUER,
Secretary of the Board of Treasury.Other certificates of the same kind have been preserved by his family. His compeers were men whose talents have never been excelled in this community, viz.: James Ross, Hugh Henry Brackenridge, W. Forward, Judge Baldwin, etc.
Letters from many officers of the army prove their esteem and confidence in him. To some he was allied by marriage. General Febiger was his brother-in-law. His son James married the daughter of Pressley Neville, who was also the granddaughter of General Daniel Morgan, of whom it was said, "Served everywhere, surrendered nowhere, served to the end of the war." His daughter, Elizabeth Febiger [219] O'Hara, married the son of Major Denny, and soon after his death his daughter Mary married the son of Major Croghan. General George Rogers Clark was a brother-in-law of Major Croghan. During his residence in Pittsburgh he was noted for his hospitality. To his house all were welcome, from the countryman who came in for rest or refreshment, to his guests of honor, Louis Philippe, General Moreau, and his friends, the French officers. At that time the higher classes in Ireland sent their sons to France for their education. It is probable that it was thus he acquired his perfect knowledge of French.
James O'Hara died December 21, 1819, in the 67th year of his age. Mary O'Hara died April 8, 1834, aged 73. William Carson, James and Charles died s. p. d., before their father. The only descendants of his name are James O'Hara and his son Richard W. O'Hara, descendants of Richard Butler O'Hara.
* * * * * *
NOTES BY GENERAL O'HARA.
From the mouth of Tennessee to Fort Masac 12 Miles
From Fort Masac to the mouth of Ohio 36 Miles
From the mouth of the Ohio to Fort Jefferson 6 Miles
From the mouth of the Ohio to Iron Bank 14 Miles
From the mouth of the Ohio to Chalk Bank 7 Miles
From the mouth of the Ohio to Chickasaw River 25 Miles
From the mouth of the Ohio to New Mexico 50 Miles
From Fort Jefferson to Masac, by land 18 Miles
From Fort Jefferson to the mouth of Tennessee 24 Miles
Raystown, Bedford.
Fort Burd, Redstone Old Fort.
Fort Franklin, Venango County, near mouth of French Creek.
Fort Harmar, right bank of Muskingum, opposite Marietta, built
1785 by Major Doughty.
Le Boeuf, on the south or west fork of French Creek.
Fort Ligonier, east side of Loyalhanna Creek, Westmoreland County,
erected 1757 or 1758.
Fort McIntosh, built by General Lachlan McIntosh 1778. Beaver.
DuQuesne. Pittsburgh. Fort Pitt.
Presqu' Isle, erected 1756, on Lake Erie, about 30 miles above Buffalo
Fort.
Fort Reed, erected 1773, near Hannas Town.
Fort Washington, Cincinnati.
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