History: Part 7 - Pages 202-240. - CHRISTOPHER GIST'S JOURNALS, 1750-53: William M. Darlington, 1893.
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______________________________________________________________________________________
CHRISTOPHER GIST'S JOURNALS
WITH HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES
AND BIOGRAPHIES OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES
BY
WILLIAM M. DARLINGTON [1815-1889]
PITTSBURGH, J. R. WELDIN & CO.,
1893.
[Part 7.]
[Pages 202-240. Page numbers appear in the text in brackets.]
[Transcription is Verbatim.]
Thomas Cresap.
General James Grant.
Guyasuta.
Treaty of Lancaster.
Ohio company.
______
[202] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF COL. THOMAS CRESAP.
October 31, 1750.‹Colonel Thomas Cresap was
the earliest permanent settler in Western
Maryland. He established himself at Old Town
in 1742 or 3. At the treaty made at Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, with the Six Nations, in June,
1744, the Chief Cannassatego in his speech
said: "We are willing to renounce all right to
Lord Baltimore of all those Lands lying two
miles above the uppermost Fork of Potowmack or
Cohongoruton river near which Thomas Cresap
has a Hunting or Trading Cabin, by a North
line to the bounds of Pennsylvania." ("Treaty
at Lancaster with the Six Nations." "Colonial
Records.")
Cresap's cabin or fort was on or near the site
of an old town of the Shawanese, a portion of
that tribe inhabiting in and about the
northern part of the river Potomac from 1698
to 1728‹9, when they removed to the Ohio and
Allegheny and placed themselves under the
protection of the French. ( "Report of
Assembly, Journals of 1755.") On the map
constructed by William Mayo for Lord Fairfax,
in 1737, the bottom lands on this part of the
Potomac are marked "Old Shawnee fields
deserted. Also on Fry and Jefferson's, and
Scull's maps. Its locality is marked on Dr.
Mitchell's map of 1755 "Shawnee Old Town." In
the Table of Distances to Ohio in 1754,
("Pennsylvania Archives," Vol. II, p. 134.)
the first is "New Store at the mouth of Wills
creek on Potomack to Cressaps fifteen miles."
The name Old Town is yet retained; it is in
Old Town District [203] of Allegheny County,
Maryland, fifteen miles southeast of
Cumberland, on the north side of the Potamac
and opposite to Green Spring station, on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railway.
Colonel Thomas Cresap was a native of Skipton,
in Yorkshire, England. He emigrated to
Maryland about the year 1720, when he was but
fifteen years of age. He first settled at
Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the
Susquehanna River. Lord Baltimore, the
Proprietary of Maryland, claiming to extend
the boundaries of that Province to the
fortieth degree of latitude, Cresap obtained a
Maryland warrant for 500 acres, and about the
year 1731 removed to the locality of his
grant, over twenty miles north of the present
boundary-line between Pennsylvania and
Maryland, at the ferry-landing opposite the
"Blue Rock," about five miles below the
present town of Wrightsville, on the
Susquehanna, in York County.
Cresap's house is marked on Evans' map of
Pennsylvania, 1749. His house was the most
northerly situated of the Maryland claimants,
of whom he was the leader, being a man of
great strength, courage and indomitable
resolution. Violent and bloody collisions
frequently occurred between the Pennsylvanians
and Marylanders. On November 24, 1736,
Cresap's house or fort was surrounded by an
armed company of twenty-three men, headed by
the Sheriff of Lancaster County with a judge's
warrant. ("Pennsylvania Archives.") After a
sharp conflict Cresap's capture was only
effected by burning the house. He was ironed,
taken to Philadelphia and there imprisoned for
near two years. Reprisals by the authorities
of Maryland speedily followed.
This bitter border warfare was allayed by an
order of the King, in Council, May 25, 1738.
The prisoners of both Provinces were released
and a provisional boundary-line established in
1739. ("Pennsylvania Archives.") It continued
to be the subject of protracted [204]
litigation between the Penns and Lord
Baltimore before the High Court of Chancery,
in England. The controversy was conclusively
settled by amicable agreement and the running
of the famous Mason and Dixon's Line, in 1769,
and its completion, in 1784 A full and
complete history of this boundary controversy
would make a large but interesting volume.
(See the printed "Case of Messieurs Penn and
the people of Pennsylvania and the three lower
Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex on
Delaware in relation to a series of Injuries
and Hostilities made upon them, for several
years past, by Thomas Cresap and others by the
Direction and Authority of the Deputy Governor
of Maryland." To be heard before the Honorable
Lords of the Privy Council for Plantation
affairs at the Cockpit, White Hall, on
Thursday 23d February 1737. "Colonial
Records." "Pennsylvania Archives.")
Col. Cresap was by nature well adapted for a
leader in border contests. He seemed as one
"born unto trouble," certainly he never
shunned it. Originally a carpenter, afterwards
a surveyor, planter and Indian trader, as well
as Indian fighter. ("Pennsylvania Archives,"
Vol. 1, pp. 311-52.) He made an excellent map
of the western boundary of Maryland for Lord
Baltimore, which is now in the possession of
the Maryland Historical Society. Soon after
his return from captivity, in Philadelphia, in
1737 or 8, he removed to a tract of land on
the Antietam Creek, in the present Washington
County, Maryland, and engaged in the Indian
trade and failed. He then fixed his residence
at Old Town, or Skipton, as he named it. He
was an agent for the Ohio Company and also a
member of it. (See "Sketch of the Ohio
Company.") This Company made the first English
settlement at Pittsburgh, before Braddock's
war; and it was through their means and
efforts that the first road was made through
the Allegheny Mountains. The war placed Col.
Cresap in a perilous situation, and he removed
his family to Conococheague; he had to fight
his way, being attacked by a [205] party of
Indians. He soon raised a company of
volunteers and marched to attack the Indians;
his son, Thomas, was killed in their first
skirmish. Soon after, peace was made and he
returned to his farm at Old Town.
Col. Cresap's literary attainments were small,
but by industry and application he obtained a
sufficient knowledge of surveying to be
entrusted with the surveyorship of Prince
George's County, and frequently represented
his county in the Legislature. When he was
upwards of eighty he married for the second
time. He had five children‹three sons and two
daughters. His youngest son was Michael, who
was represented by Mr. Jefferson, most
probably unjustly, "as infamous for his many
Indian murders and the massacre of Logan's
family. (See "Biographical Sketch of the Life
of the late Captain Michael Cresap," by
Jacobs.)
______
COPY OF ORIGINAL LETTER FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO GENERAL JOHN GIBSON.
PRESENTED BY GEN. GIBSON'S DAUGHTER TO WM. ROBINSON.
Philadelphia, Dec. 31, 1797.
Sir:
I took the liberty the last summer of writing
to you from hence, making some enquiries on
the subject of Logan's Speech, and the murder
of his family, and you were kind enough in
your answer among other things, to correct the
title of Cresap who is said to have headed the
party, by observing that he was a Capt and not
a Col. I trouble you with a second letter
asking if you could explain to me how Logan
came to call him Col. If you have favored me
with an answer to this it has [206]
miscarried, I therefore trouble you again on
the subject, and as the transaction must have
been familiar to you, I will ask the favor of
you to give me the names and residence, of any
persons now living who you think were of
Cresap's party, or who can prove his
participation in this transaction either by
direct evidence or from circumstances, or who
can otherwise throw light on the fact. A Mr.
Martin (Luther Martin, Attorney-General of
Maryland, married a daughter Captain Cresap.)
of Baltimore has questioned the whole
transaction, suggesting Logan's Speech to be
not genuine, and denying that either Col or
Capt Cresap had any hand in the murder of his
family. I do not intend to enter into any
newspaper contest with Mr Martin; but in the
first republication of the notes on Virginia
to correct the Statement where it is wrong and
support it where it is right.
My distance from the place where witnesses of
the transactions reside is so great, that it
will be a lengthy and imperfect operation in
my hands. Any aid you can give me in it will
be most thankfully received. I avail myself
with great pleasure of every occasion of
recalling myself to your recollection, and of
assuring you of the sentiments of esteem and
attachment with which I am
dear Sir, your most obedt and
humble Servt
TH. JEFFERSON.
______
[207] GENERAL JAMES GRANT, OF BALLINDALLOCH.
An extensive landed estate, with a castle and
village, at the confluence of the Avon and
Spey, Parish of Inveravon, Banffshire,
Highlands of Scotland, where a large district
of the present counties of Elgin and
Banff‹ancient Morayshire‹ was long known as
the country of the Grants or people of
Strathspey, one of the most ancient Highland
clans. The chiefs and most of the clansmen
were Whigs, and supporters of the House of
Hanover, in opposition to the Stuarts. After
studying law James Grant entered the army in
1741, as Ensign, at the age of twenty-two, and
became Captain in the 1st Battalion, 1st Royal
Scots, October 24, 1744. In 1747 he was
appointed aid to General James St. Clair,
Ambassador to the Courts of Vienna and Turin.
David Hume, the historian, was Secretary to
the Embassy. Captain Grant served in the wars
in the Netherlands.
In January, 1757, he was commissioned Major of
the new 77th Regiment, 1st Battalion, known as
Montgomery Highlanders, commanded by
Lieutenent-Colonel Archibald Montgomery,
afterwards Earl of Eglintown. They were
ordered to America, and sailed from Cork,
Ireland, and arrived at Halifax, America, in
August. ("Pennsylvania Gazette." "Scot's
Magazine.") Sailed for Charleston, South
Carolina, arriving there September 29th,
having been ordered there with a portion of
the Royal Americans, in apprehension of an
attack by the French, from the West Indies. In
1758 the regiment arrived at Philadelphia from
Charleston, South Carolina, and [208] encamped
beyond the new barracks. A few days afterwards
they were reviewed by General Forbes, in the
presence of a great number of people, who were
highly gratified by the display, the fine
military appearance of the troops and the
novelty of their dress. General Forbes, in
command of the Southern Department, was
engaged in assembling an army in Philadelphia,
intended for the capture of Fort Du Quesne.
1758.‹In September, Major Grant was sent with
eight hundred men to reconnoitre the fort.
Dividing his force, to draw the enemy into an
ambuscade, he was himself surprised and
defeated, with a loss of a third of his party
killed, wounded and missing. Grant and
nineteen officers were captured. (See letter
in "Fort Pitt.") He became Lieutenant-Colonel
of the 40th Foot in 1760, and was appointed
Governor of East Florida. In 1761 he was
despatched by General Amherst, with a force of
thirteen hundred Regulars, against the Indians
of Carolina. (Cherokees.)
Grant succeeded to the family estate on the
death of his nephew, Major William Grant. In
1772 he became Brevet-Colonel; in 1773 he was
returned to Parliament for Wickburghs, and at
the general election of the year after for
Sutherlandshire. In December, 1775, he was
appointed Colonel of the 55th Foot. In 1776
Grant went as a Brigadier to America, with the
reinforcement under General Howe. He commanded
two British brigades at the battle of Long
Island, was employed by Lord Howe on special
services in New Jersey, accompanied the army
to Philadelphia, and commanded the 1st and 2d
Brigades of British at the battles of
Brandywine and Germantown. (Letters of Grant.)
In May, 1778, he was sent with a strong force
to cut off Lafayette, but was unsuccessful. He
commanded the force [209] sent from New York
to the West Indies, which captured St. Lucia
in December, 1778, and defended the island
against an attempt to recapture it, made by a
French force under the Count d'Estaing.
Grant became a Major-General in 1777,
Lieutenant-General in 1782, General, in 1796.
He was transferred from the 55th to the 11th
Foot, in 1791, and was Governor, in
succession, of Dumbarton and Stirling Castles.
He was noted for his love of good living and
became immensely corpulent.
He died at Ballindalloch, April 13, 1806, in
his eighty-sixth year. Having no descendants
his estate went to his grandnephew, George
Macpherson, who assumed the surname of Grant.
(Anderson's "Scottish Nation.")
______
[210] GUYASUTA (KIASUTHA.)
A SENECA chief, one of the Indians who
accompanied Washington from Logstown to
Venango and LeBoeuf as a guard in 1753,
mentioned by Washington as the young hunter
and by Gist as a "young warrior." After the
defeat of Braddock the Indians generally went
over to the French.
Guyasuta with a party of twenty Senecas
visited Montreal with Joncaire, the
interpreter. At the castle of Montreal the
Indians were received in the council chamber
with much ceremony by the Governor of Canada,
the Marquis de Vaudreuil, and council.
Guyasuta, chief and orator of the Senecas,
addressed Vaudreuil. They remained all winter
in the neighborhood, it being too late to
return home. He was with the Indians when
they, with the French, defeated Grant, in
1758.
Guyasuta, two other chiefs and sixteen
warriors of the Six Nations, a large number of
Delawares, Shawanese and Wyandots assembled at
Pittsburgh in July, and held a conference
lasting a week with George Croghan, Sir
William Johnson's Deputy Indian Agent, Colonel
Hugh Mercer, commandant, and the officers of
Fort Pitt. Most of the Indians had been allied
to The French, and this was their first treaty
with the English subsequent the capture of
Fort Du Quesne, in November preceding.
In August, 1762, at the conference with the
western Indians at Lancaster, Thomas King, in
behalf of the chiefs of the Six Nations in his
speech before the council said: "We want a
little lad that lives among you; he is
Kiasuta's [211] (Guyasuta) son. The father
ordered that he should live at Philadelphia,
in order to learn English, to be an
interpreter. We think by this time he has
learned it, and we now think it time for him
to come home. His relations that are present,
desire that he may now go home with them." On
August 27th, the Governor replied: "The little
boy, Kiasuta's son, is, I hope, on his way
here, having sent for him to Philadelphia."
At a treaty held at Fort Pitt in May, 1768,
Keyashuta (Guyasuta) rose with a copy of the
"Treaty of 1764 with Col. Bradstreet" in his
hand, and addressing the commissioners said:
"By this treaty we agreed that you had a right
to build forts and trading-houses where you
pleased, and to travel the road of peace from
the sun rising to the sun setting. At that
treaty the Shawanese and Delawares were with
me, and know all this well, and I am surprised
they should speak to you as they did
yesterday." He had been present at this treaty
with fifteen warriors, and was one of the
orators; Turtle Heart, Custaloga, and Beaver
were the others. He desired the several
nations "to be strong in complying with their
engagements, that they might wipe away the
reproach of their former breach of faith, and
convince their brothers the English that they
could speak the truth," adding that he would
conduct the army to the place appointed for
receiving the prisoners.
On November 9, Col. Bouquet, attended by most
of the principal officers, went to the
conference-house. The Senecas and Delawares
were first treated with. Kiashuta and ten
warriors represented the former; Custaloga and
twenty warriors the latter. Kiashuta addressed
the conference and was answered by Col.
Bouquet. In Washington's "Tour to the Ohio in
1770": "When encamped opposite the mouth of
the Great Hockhocking we found Kiasutha and
his hunting party encamped. Here we were under
a necessity of paying our [212] compliments,
as this person was one of the Six Nation
chiefs and the head of those upon this River.
In the person of Kiashuta I found an old
acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that
went with me to the French in 1753."
May, 1774.‹A meeting was held at Col.
Croghan's house, Ligonier, at which were
present Guyasutha, White Mingo and the Six
Nation Deputies. Guyasutha was one of the orators.
July, 1776, he was present at a conference at
Fort Pitt and was one of the orators. He was
in command of one of the parties of Indians
that in July, 1782, made the attack on
Hannastown and burned it.
THE SPEECH OF GUYASUTA,
AN ANCIENT CHIEF OF THE SENECA NATION ON THE
BORDERS OF PENNSYLVANIA, AS GIVEN IN CHARGE BY
HIM TO ONE OF THE SACHEMS OF THAT NATION IN
THE YEAR 1790, TO BE DELIVERED TO THE FRIENDS
OF PHILADELPHIA.
BROTHERS: The Sons of my beloved Brother Onas.
(Penn.) When I was young and strong our
country was full of game, which the Good
Spirit sent for us to live upon. The lands
which belonged to us were extended far beyond
where we hunted. I and the people of my nation
had enough to eat and always something to give
to our friends when they entered our cabins;
and we rejoiced when they received it from us;
hunting was then not tiresome, it was
diversion; it was a pleasure.
Brothers: When your fathers asked land from my
nation, we gave it to them, for we had more
than enough. Guyasuta was amongst the first of
the people to say, "Give land to our brother
Onas for he wants it," and he has always been
a friend to Onas and to his children.
[213] Brothers: Your fathers saw Guyasuta when
he was young; when he had not even thought of
old age or weakness; but you are too far off
to see him, now he is grown old. He is very
old and feeble, and he wonders at his own
shadow, it is become so little. He has no
children to take care of him, and the game is
driven away by the white people; so that the
young men must hunt all day long to find game
for themselves to eat; they have nothing left
for Guyasuta; and it is not Guyasuta only who
is become old and feeble, there yet remain
about thirty men of your old friends, who,
unable to provide for themselves or to help
one another, are become poor and are hungry
and naked.
Brothers: Guyasuta sends you a belt which he
received long ago from your fathers, and a
writing which he received but as yesterday
from one of you. By these you will remember
him and the old friends of your fathers in
this nation. Look on this belt and this
writing, and if you remember the old friends
of your fathers, consider their former
friendship and their present distress; and if
the Good Spirit shall put it in your hearts to
comfort them in their old age, do not
disregard his council. We are men and
therefore need only tell you that we are old
and feeble and hungry and naked; and that we
have no other friends but you, the children of
our beloved brother Onas.
______
[214] THE TESTIMONY OF SIMON GIRTY.
To Colonel George Morgan.
On or about the 9th of November last I was
sent by General Hand to Connewago, a Seneca
Town on the Allegany River, with a friendly
Message to the Six Nations. I arrived there
the 14th of November and after executing my
orders waited there till the 24th of the
Month. During my stay there, Conengayote or
the White Mingo, returned from Niagara with a
Horse load of Goods, which he told me he had
purchased for Horses he had stole from near
Ligonier in Pennsylvania about the month of
___ last, at which time he and his Party
killed four Men. On or about the 23 (?)d of
November Co, co, caw, can, keteda or the
Flying Crow, with twenty five Warriors of the
Senecas of the Turtle Tribe, among whom were
Joneowentashaun and Coneotahanck or the Leaf,
(War Chief) arrived at Connewago with two
scalps, and a Woman they had taken Prisoner
about fifteen days before from near Ligonier
aforesaid. On conversing with her and with the
Indians, I was informed that the Indians had
killed and scalped her Husband, Forbes, and
had beat out the brains of their only Child
against a Tree in the Road.
Kushgwehgo or Full Face, and twenty seven
others of the Senecas of the Eagle Tribe, had
been to war against the people of Pennsylvania
East of the Alleghany Mountain (I understood
in Bedford County); they were out eighteen
days when I arrived at the Town; they were
daily expected back [215] when I came away.
Two Prisoners the Senecas had taken from
Pennsylvania they had put to death in one of
their Upper Towns.
Old Keyashuta (Guyasuta) is now among our
warmest Enemies. He and the others say they
have been deceived or treated ill at Fort
Pitt, and that the Americans intend to cheat
them of their Lands, for which reason they
have now determined to join the King of
England's Troops agreeable to the repeated
Invitations of Col. Butler and the Commanding
Officer at Niagara &c, who have on that
condition promised to supply them and their
women and children with every necessary;
wherefore they were determined to exert
themselves in committing Hostilities against
the Frontier inhabitants early in the Spring,
with all their Abilities and this I am
persuaded they will do unless Keyenguatah,
(General Schuyler's great Friend, who fought
on the side of the English at Fort Schuyler
should alter his conduct and order them to sit
still; for they have agreed to be directed by
him and so have all the Six Nations. The
Indians had not heard of General Burgoyne's
defeat or of his Army's being made Prisoners,
nor would they believe me when I informed them
thereof. Keyashuta informed me that a Party of
seventy two, consisting of Indians and twenty
five Whitemen from Detroit, and some Delaware
and Munsies from Guyohoga had been to war
against the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania (I
understand north of Ligonier) and had taken
two Scalps at a Fort near Connemaugh, where
they lost the Commanding Officer who was
killed from the Fort. Joneowentashaun told me
the English had lately erected a Store House
at Guyahoga, to supply all the Indians in that
Neighbourhood with every necessary to enable
them to commit Hostilities against the
Frontier Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and
Virginia.
The Indians after consulting together,
informed me that I [216] must go with them to
Niagara, to which I pretended to consent, and
finding that to be their resolution I made my
Escape and arrived here the 27th of November.
In the presence of
JOHN BOREMAN.
SIMON GIRTY
(His X mark.)
PITTSBURGH, January 17th, 1778
The Chief Guyasuta's interest in the farm,
(The residence of the family of William M.
Darlington. M. C. D.) now in O'Hara township,
was purchased by General O'Hara. In a
letter-book of General O'Hara's, mention is
made of provision sent to Guyasuta, who seems
to have lived continuously at that farm during
his last years, and was buried there in the
Indian Mound, by General O'Hara. The name is
spelled in many ways‹Kayashuta, Guyashutha,
Guashota, Kia-shuta, Keyashuta, Kiyashuta,
Kiasolo.
Mr. Craig writes in the "Olden Time": "We
recollect him well, have often seen him about
our father's house, he being still within our
memory, a stout active man." There is a
picture of his grave in "Fort Pitt."
[Image]
From "FORT PITT AND LETTERS FROM THE FRONTIER,"
By Mary Carson Darlington,
Pittsburgh, J. R. Weldin & Co., 1892.
______
[217] TREATY OF LANCASTER.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, on October
14, 1736, by Thomas Penn, Governor and
Proprietary of Pennsylvania, James Logan, the
President, and members of the Provincial
Council, with the Chiefs of the Six Nations,
the Indians requested that a letter be written
to the Governors of Maryland and Virginia,
requesting compensation for their lands
claimed by right of conquest, and upon which
the white settlers had intruded, along the
Cohongoronto or Potomac, and west of the great
Allegheny mountain ridge, on the frontiers of
Virginia; that being the boundary claimed by
the Indians as agreed, upon with Governor
Spotswood in 1722. ("New York Colonial
History.") This demand was renewed, and
pressed by the Indians at the treaty held at
the same city in 1742; Canassetego, the great
chief of the Onondagas, saying that if not
compensated for their lands, they would take
payment themselves.
The threatening attitude of the powerful Six
Nations or Iroquois, the war with France, and
the necessity of conciliating the Indians,
occasioned the famous Treaty of Lancaster in
1744, between the Confederated Tribes and the
Provinces of Virginia, Maryland and
Pennsylvania. ("Colonial Records." Colden's
"Twelve Nations.")
Thomas Lee and Colonel William Beverly were
the Commissioners of Virginia; Edmund Jenings,
Philip Thomas, Col. Robert King, and Col.
Robert Colville, of Maryland. Governor Thomas,
of Pennsylvania, presided. (Thomas Lee was
Judge of the Supreme Court, and Councillor of
State; [218] William Beverly, Lieutenant of
the county of Orange). (Virginia State
Papers.) There was a warm discussion, and on
the part of the Indians at least, a great
display of eloquence.
The Virginia Commissioners said to the Chiefs
: "Tell us what Nations of Indians you
conquered any lands from in Virginia, how long
it is since and what Possession you have had;
and if it does appear, that there is any land
on the Borders of Virginia that the Six
Nations have a Right to we are willing to make
you satisfaction." The Chief, Tachanoontia,
proudly answered: "We have the Right of
Conquest, a Right too dearly purchased and
which cost us too much Blood to give up
without any reason at all as you say we have
done at Albany. All the World knows we
conquered the several Nations living on the
Susquehannah, Cohongoronto (Potomac) and on
the back of the great Mountains in Virginia.
They feel the effects of our conquests, being
now a part of our Nation and their lands at
our disposal." He admitted that the Virginia
Colonists had conquered a certain tribe he
named and "drove back the Tuscaroras and on
that account a right to some part of Virginia;
but," he continued, "as to what lies beyond
the mountains we conquered the Nations
residing there; and that land if the
Virginians ever get a good right to it, it
must be by us."
Commissioners replied, "that the great King
holds Virginia by right of Conquest, and the
bounds of that Conquest to the westward is the
great Sea." "Though great things are well
remembered among us," said the Indians, "yet
we don't remember that we were ever conquered
by the Great King, or, that we have been
employed by that Great King to conquer others,
if it was so, it is beyond our memory."
After much feasting, drinking, and bestowal of
presents by the whites, the Indians agreed to
release their claim to what [219] is now
Western Maryland, to Lord Baltimore, "as far
as two miles above the uppermost Fork of the
Potomac or Cohongoronto river near which
Thomas Cresap has a Hunting or Trading Cabin,
(at Old Town, fourteen miles east of
Cumberland), in consideration of £300 payable
in goods. With the Commissioners of Virginia
they agreed for £200 in gold, and goods to
value of £200 more, to "immediately make a
Deed recognizing King's right to all the Lands
that are or shall be by His Majesty's
appointment in the Colony of Virginia,"
together with a written promise of further
remuneration as settlements increased
westward. ("Treaty of Lancaster," printed by
Franklin, 1744.) With the Governor of
Pennsylvania they confirmed former treaties
and received a present of goods to the value
of £300 The deeds were signed and the money
paid and the merchandise delivered. ("Treaty
of Lancaster," printed by Franklin, 1744.)
It was not until the year 1768 that the Six
Nations, by the Treaty at Fort Stanwix,
relinquished all their rights to the country
on the east and south side of the Ohio River,
from the Cherokee River (Tennessee), to
Kittanning, above Fort Pitt, and also east of
a specified line described in the deed,
continued to Wood Creek, near Fort Stanwix, in
consideration of the sum of £10,460. 7. 6.
sterling. At the same time it was agreed that
no old claims under the treaties of Lancaster,
and Logstown should be allowed. ("New York
Colonial History.") It was after the Treaty of
Lancaster that large tracts of land were
granted to the Ohio Company.
______
[220] OHIO COMPANY.
EXTRACT OF LETTER FROM COL. BURWELL, PRESIDENT
OF THE COUNCIL AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF
VIRGINIA, AND OTHER LETTERS TO THE BOARD OF TRADE.
(MSS. from Record Office, London.)
August 21, 175 1.‹Notwithstanding the Grants
of the Kings of England, France or Spain, the
Property of these uninhabited Parts of the
World must be founded upon prior Occupancy
according to the Law of Nature; and it is the
seating and cultivating the soil and not the
bare travelling through a Territory that
constitutes Right; and it will be politic and
highly for the Interest of the Crown to
encourage the seating the Lands Westward as
soon as possible to prevent the French; which
I Hope will be accomplished as the Freedom and
Liberty of our Government will so much sooner
invite into the British Colonies, Foreigners.
We have not been able to prevail with the
northern Indians to come to Fredericksburg to
accept of his Majesty's Present, and the
Reason they offer is, the immense Distance and
the Death of several of their Great Men, which
they attribute to the Journeys they have taken
to the Places where Conferences have been
held, but they acquaint us at the same Time
that they will meet any persons the Government
think proper to send to Log's Town, a Place
not far from our back Inhabitants, where they
frequently hold their Councils; this I
communicated [221] to his Majesty's Council,
who with myself approved of it, and this Fall
I shall send a Messenger to acquaint them that
I purpose next May to send Commissioners to
meet them at the Place they desire; and at the
Conference I shall endeavour to obtain a
confirmation of the Grant of the Lands made to
his Majesty at the Treaty of Lancaster, in
Order to give the Company an Opportunity of
surveying the large Tract of Land his Majesty
was pleased to grant to them. I shall at the
same Time, make a remonstrance to them of the
inhuman treatment they have shewn to some of
our back Inhabitants, by robbing and
plundering their houses, and last June because
a poor woman would not with patience see her
House robbed of every thing in it, they in a
most horrible Manner murdered her. These
outrages have been committed upon our shewing
too much lenity to them, and will be a means
of drawing upon ourselves much more ill
Treatment if not properly resented, and
therefore in as mild Terms as is consistent
with the nature of the thing I shall insist
that the offenders be given up to Justice.
______
FROM COL. LEE.
(MSS. from Record Office, London. Letter from
Col. Lee, President of the Council and
Commander-in-Chief of Virginia.)
WILLIAMSBURG, June 12, 1750.
My Lords:
I have lately received a letter from the
Governor of New York dated the 8th of April,
proposing my prevailing with the Catawbas, an
Indian Nation bordering on the Carolinas, to
meet the Six Nations at Albany to confirm the
peace Governor Sir William Gooch made between
them, which has been broke by both Parties,
and further the French are [222] at this time
assiduous in their Endeavours to incite the
several Nations that are dependent on, and
friends to the English, to a war with one
another, and make large presents to the
Indians on the Ohio. I have accounts from
other hands that the French have endeavoured
to persuade those Indians to drive the English
Traders from thence, which being refused, the
French threaten to treat them as enemys, so
that the Mohocks expect a war with their
Father Onantio; as they call the Governor of
Quebec. ("Céleron's Expedition.") I have
received His Majesty's present for the Indians
of the Six Nations, and several of their
Tribes on the Ohio, and have taken the best
methods I could think of, to bring those
Nations to Fredericksburg in their Colony, and
I have invited the Catawbas to meet them, to
make a peace personally, which has never been
done yet, and is the reason that it has been
of no effect. When the Indians hearts and Eyes
are Open, on receiving the King's present, I
hope to secure their affections to the British
Interest in General, and persuade them to be
friends, and faithful subjects to His Majesty,
and as this is the antientiest and most
central Colony, it will save an expence by
having future treatys here, especially, when
the business to be transacted relates to the
affairs of this Colony."
______
EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF MR. JOSHUA FRY TO HON. LEWIS BURWELL.
In the year 1609 a new charter was obtained
(for Virginia) in which all the Lands,
Countries and Territories were granted in that
part of America called Virginia, from the Cape
or Point Comfort, two hundred miles Northward,
and two hundred miles southward along the
sea-coast; and all that space and [223]
circuit of land, lying from the seacoast of
the Precinct aforesaid up into the main Land
throughout from sea to sea west and north
west, and also all the Islands lying within
one hundred miles along the coast of both seas.
The French claimed the Lands along the
Mississippi. Monsieur de la Sale was the first
Frenchman, that discovered the Mississippi,
who in the year 1682, with Monsieur de Tonti
and others from Montreal travelled through the
Nation of the Iroquois, called now the Six
Nations, to a nation of Indians named
Illinois, living on an east Branch of
Mississippi, of the same name with the Nation,
but he called it Seigne bay. On this river he
built a Fort, which he named Lewis, according
this to Tousels account, but Hennepin calls it
Crevecoeur.
Monsieur de la Sale went down this river to
the Mississippi and down it to the mouth,
which he found to be in the Bay of Mexico. He
then returned by Canada to France, and
obtained from the King ships and men in the
year 1684 to discover the Mouth of the
Mississippi by sea, but he missed it, and
landed on the Continent to the south west.
From thence he made some journeys into the
country to look for the river, but was
murdered by some of his own men without
finding it. In the year 1742 one John Howard
received a commission from our Governor to
make discoveries westward, and with four or
five others set out from the branches of James
river, and came to the New river. There they
made a Boat with Buffaloes Hides, and went
down, till they found the river impassable on
account of Falls. Leaving it they travelled
south westerly a considerable way to another
river, which proved to be a south branch of
the New river, for they made another boat and
went down to that river, and with it to the
Allegany (Ohio.) river.
Howard and his men proceeded down this river a
long way, by their reckoning above eight
hundred miles, to the Mississippi, and went
down it a great way till they were surprised
[224] by about ninety men, French, Indians and
Negroes; were made Prisoners and carried to
New Orleans. They set out from the branches of
the James river March the 16th, came to
Allegany May the 6th, to Mississippi June the
7th and were taken July the 2d. In all this
time and large tract of country they had seen
nobody till they were taken, but about fifteen
Indians in several Companies and they too were
chiefly if not all of the Northern Nations.
John Peter Salley, one of the men who went
with Howard, mentions in his Journal three
French Towns on an Island in the Mississippi
above the mouth of the Owabache.
Howard and his men had been confined a long
time at New Orleans, when after the French War
broke out he and one or two of them were
shipped for France, but on the Voyage were
taken by an English Ship, and carried to
London. The rest of them made their escape out
of prison, and through great difficulties got
to South Carolina, and thence to Virginia.
The first Peace the Colony of Virginia made
with the Indians was at Albany by Col. Coursey
in the year 1677, which after some breach made
by the Indians was renewed in the year 1679 by
Col. Kendal, and again in 1684 by Lord Howard,
Governor of Virginia. This peace was soon
broken and renewed by Col. William Byrd and
Col. Edmond Jennings in the year 1685. When we
began to take up Lands and settle beyond the
Blue Ridge, the Six Nations grew uneasy; the
Indians claimed the Land as theirs. This
brought on the Treaty of Lancaster in the year 1744.
OHIO COMPANY.
(Copied from the Mercer Papers, which belonged
to the Ohio Company.)
In 1748 John Hanbury, a Merchant of London,
Thomas Lee, President of the Council of
Virginia, with a number of others, mostly
prominent Virginians, formed the "Ohio
Company." [225] The King granted them two
hundred thousand Acres of Land, to be taken on
the South side of the river Allegheny,
otherwise the Ohio, between the Kiskiminites
Creek and Buffalo Creek, and between Yellow
Creek and Cross Creek, on the North side; or
in such other part of the Country west of the
Allegheny Mountains as they should think
proper, on Condition that they should settle
one hundred families thereon within seven
years, and erect and maintain a Fort. On
compliance therewith, the Company was to
become entitled to Three hundred thousand
Acres more, adjoining the first grant.
The Company bought and sent out a large Cargo
of goods from England in 1749-50, and built a
Store House opposite the mouth of Wills Creek,
now Cumberland Maryland, from which place to
Turkey Foot, or the Three forks of the
Youghioghany, they had a road opened in 1751.
In 1750 they employed Christopher Gist to
explore and examine the Country west of the
Mountains. He was a Native of Maryland, like
his Father Richard, a Surveyor. A man of
excellent character, energetic, fearless and a
thorough woodsman.
______
OHIO COMPANY. ‹SECOND PETITION.
MEMBERS OF THE OHIO COMPANY.
Arthur Dobbs, Esq'r Ex'rs of Law'e Washington
John Hanbury Angus'ne Washington
Samuel Smith Richard Lee
James Wardrop Nath'el Chapman
Capel Hanbury Jacob Giles
Robert Dinwiddie, Esq'r Thomas Cresap
The Exec. of Thomas Lee late John Mercer
President & Governor of Virginia
2 shares James Scott
John Taylor, Esq Robert Carter
Prestly Thornton, Esq George Mason
[226] TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.
The Humble Petition of the Ohio Company
Sheweth,
That your Petitioners upon Intimation given by
several Nations of Indians residing near the
Ohio and other Branches of Mississippi and
near the Lakes westward of Virginia, that were
desirous of trading with your Majesty's
Subjects and quitting the ffrench; and knowing
the value of those Rich Countrys which were
given up and acknowledged to be your Majesty's
undoubted right by the Six Nations, who are
Lawfull Lords of all these Lands by Conquest
from other Indian Nations, at the treaty of
Lancaster on the 2nd day of July 1744. Your
petitioners being sensible of the vast
consequence of securing those Countrys from
the ffrench, did in the year 1748, form
themselves into a Company to Trade with the
Indians and to make settlements upon the Ohio
or Alleghany River, by the name of the Ohio
Company. That the Company in the beginning of
the year 1749 Petitioned your Majesty, wherein
they set forth the vast Advantage it would be
to Britain and the Colonys to anticipate the
French by taking possession of that Country
Southward of the Lakes, to which the French
had no Right, nor had then taken possession,
except a small Block house Fort among the Six
Nations, below the falls of Niagara, they
having deserted Le Detroit fort Northward of
Erie Lakes, during the War and retired to
Canada.
The Reasons for securing the same being
mentioned at large in their said former
Petition, and in which they prayed that your
Majesty would give orders or Instructions to
your Governor of Virginia, to make out to your
Petitioners five hundred thousand Acres
betwixt Romanittoe and Buffaloe Creeks on the
South side of the Allegany or Ohio River, and
between the two Creeks and Yellow Creek on the
North side [227] of that River, upon the Terms
and with the Allowance therein mentioned to
which they beg leave to Refer.
That your Petitioners in pursuance of the said
Petition, obtained an order from your Majesty
to your Lieutenant Governor of Virginia dated
March the 18th 1749, to make them a grant or
Grants of Two hundred thousand Acres of Land
between Romanetto and Buffaloe Creeks, on the
south side of the Ohio, and betwixt the two
creeks and Yellow Creek on the North Side
thereof, or in such part to the Westward of
the great Mountains as the Company should
think proper for making settlements and
extending their trade with the Indians, with a
Promise if they did not erect a Fort in the
said Land, and maintain a sufficient Garrison
therein and seat at their proper Expense a
hundred families therein in seven years, the
said grants should be void. And as soon as
these terms were accomplished, he was ordered
to make out a further Grant or Grants of three
hundred thousand Acres, under like Conditions,
Restrictions and allowances as the first
200,000 Acres, adjoining thereto and within
these limits. These orders were delivered to
the Honourable William Nelson on the 12th of
July following (1749) and upon producing them
before the Governor and Council, they made an
entry in the Council Books, that the said
Company should have leave given them to take
up and survey 200,000 Acres within the Place
mentioned in your Majestys said Instructions
and Order. That your Petitioners upon their
entry in the Council Books, sent to Great
Britain for a Cargo of Goods to begin their
Trade, and purchased Lands upon the Potomack
River, being the most convenient place to
erect Store Houses, and in September following
(1749) employed Gentlemen to discover the
Lands beyond the Mountains, to know where to
place their surveys. But they not having made
any considerable progress, the Company in
September 1750 agreed to give Mr. Christopher
[228] Gist £150 certain, and such further
handsome allowance as his service should
deserve, for searching and discovering the
Lands upon the Ohio and its several Branches
as low as the falls on the Ohio, with proper
Instructions. He accordingly set out October
1750 and did not return until May 1751, after
a tour of 1200 Miles in which he visited many
towns and found them all desirous of entering
into strict friendship and Trade with your
Majestys Subjects.
That your Petitioners at their General Meeting
in May 1751, judging it necessary for their
Trade and passage to the Ohio, to have a Grant
of some Land belonging to Maryland and
Pennsylvania, wrote to Mr. Hanbury to apply
for the same to the Proprietors, and laid out
and opened a wagon road thirty feet wide from
their Store house at Wills Creek, to the three
branches on Ganyangaine River computed to be
near Eighty Miles; and applied to the
President and Masters of William and Mary
College for a Commission to a Surveyor to lay
out the Lands, as they pretend they had a
right to do, proposing to begin the survey
after receiving Mr. Gists Report.
Your Petitioners finding by the said Gists
journal that he had only observed the Lands on
the North side of the Ohio, and finding that
the Indians were unwilling that they should
then settle on the Miami River, or on the
north side of the Ohio, and the Land lying too
much exposed and at too great a distance, They
employed the said Gist to go out a second time
to view and examine the land between Mohongaly
and the Big Conhaway, Wood or New River on the
south East side of the Ohio, which employed
him from the 4th of November 1751 to the March
following 1752; but he could not finish his
Plan and report before October 1752, at which
time the company gave in a Petition to the
Governor and Council, praying leave to survey
and take up their first 200,000 Acres between
Romanettoes, otherwise Kiskominettos Creek,
and the fork of [229] the Ohio and the great
Conhaway otherwise New River, otherwise Woods
river, on the south side of the river Ohio in
several Surveys. The Governor and Council
having not thought fit to comply with the
prayer of the said Petition, to allow your
Petitioners to survey their Lands in different
Tracts as would best accomodate the settlers
and secure their frontiers from attacks, the
President and Masters of the College also
refusing to give out a Commission to a
Surveyor; and the late Governor and Council
having made out large Grants to private
persons Land-gobbers, to the amount of near
1,400,000 Acres. Immediately, even the same
day, after your Majestys Instructions for
making out your Petitioners Grant and Surveys,
became publicly known where the Lands were not
properly described or Limited, nor Surveyed,
by which means their several Grants might have
interfered with the Lands discovered and
chosen by the Company, your Petitioners now
laid under difficultys in surveying and
letting their Lands and Erecting the fort,
tho' your Petitioners have been at very great
Expence and are willing to be at a much
greater, to secure those valuable Countrys and
the Indian Trade. That your Petitioners
apprehend from these instructions, and the
Delay and Expence attending Surveys, and from
the suits that may be commenced upon account
of the Grants made out to other Persons since
the Instructions given by your Majesty to
grant to your Petitioners the Land mentioned
in the said instructions which may occasion
longer Delays. The Company may be prevented
from fulfilling their Covenant of settling the
Lands and Compleating their Fort in the time
specified by the said Contract. And as
boundaries to large Grants are much more
natural and easy to be ascertained by having
Rivers for their Limits, and streight Lines or
Mountains to connect them from River to River,
and at much less Expence and delay in fixing
them, Therefore your [230] petitioners pray,
that upon Condition your Petitioners shall
enlarge their settlements and seat 300
families, instead of one hundred by their
former Contract, and in consideration of their
erecting two forts, one at Chartiers Creek and
the other at the Fork where the great Conhaway
enters the Ohio and maintain them at their own
expence, That your Majesty will be graciously
pleased to enlarge their Grant under the same
Exemption of Rights and Quit Rents as in the
former Instructions, and to fix the Bounds
without any further delay or Survey, from
Romanettos or Kiskomenetto Creek on the South
East side of the Ohio, to the Fork at the
entrance of great Conhaway River; and from
thence along the North side of the said
Conhaway River to the Entrance of Green Briar
River, and from thence in a streight Line or
Lines along the Mountains to the South East
Spring of Mohangaly River; and from thence
Northward along the Mountains to the North
East springs of Romametto or Kiskominetto
Creek, or till a West Line from the Mountains
intersect this said Spring and along it to its
entrance into the Ohio; which will prevent all
Disputes or Delays about the Limitts which are
necessary to be immediately determined, as the
season is advancing to procure foreign
Protestants and other of your Majestys
subjects to go on with the settlement, and to
provide materials to erect the second Fort at
the mouth of the great Conhaway River, (the
Fort on Chartiers Creek being now building) in
order to prevent the Intrusions and
incroachments of the Indians in the French
aliance and secure our settlements upon the
Ohio; which if not immediately put in
Execution before they get permission may be
highly detrimental to the Colonys and occasion
a great future Expence to Britain.
And your Petitioners will ever pray etc.
The Lords of the Committee referred the
petition to the Lords Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations to consider thereof and Report
their Opinion thereupon to the committee.
[231] The Petition was granted by King and
Council. At a meeting of the Company held at
Stafford Court House, some of the Members
resigned and George Mason was received. They
advised Mr. Hanbury of the proceedings of the
meeting, and desired him to offer the Duke of
Bedford a share, if he chose to be concerned,
upon the terms of the Association. As Mr.
Hanbury had wrote us that we were obliged to
his Grace for his Assistance in obtaining his
Majesty's Instruction, and his declaration of
the advantage he conceived it would be of to
Great Britain and this colony, for that
notwithstanding we expected a great deal of
interested opposition and should think
ourselves happy in having such a patron at the
head of the Company. They then agreed with H.
Parker for the carriage of all their goods
from the falls of Potomack to their general
factory on the River Ohio, and authorized Col.
Cresap to have a road opened to those places.
They desired the Ohio Indians might be invited
to a Treaty, and an Interpreter might be
employed by Virginia, and Mr. Parker their
factor be put in the commission of the Peace
for Augusta County. George Mason was appointed
Treasurer.
______
INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO CHRISTOPHER GIST BY THE
OHIO COMPANY, APRIL 28th, 1752.
Whereas the Governor has been pleased to grant
you a commission empowering and requiring you
to go as an agent for the Ohio Company to the
Indian Treaty to be held at Logs Town on the
16th day of May next. You are therefore
desired to acquaint the chiefs of the several
nations of Indians there assembled, that his
Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant
unto the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie Esq'r, Governor
of Virginia, and to several other gentlemen in
Great Britain and [232] America, by the name
of the Ohio Company, a large quantity of Land
on the river Ohio and the Branches thereof,
thereby to enable and to encourage the said
company and all his Majesties subjects, to
make settlement and carry on an extensive
Trade and commerce with their Brethren the
Indians, and to supply them with Goods at a
more easy rate than they have hitherto bought
them. And considering the necessities of his
children the Six Nations, and the other
Indians to the Westward of the English
settlements, and the hardship they labor under
for want of a due supply of Goods and to
remove the same as much as possible, his
Majesty has been pleased to have a clause
inserted in the said Companies Grant obliging
them to carry on a trade and commerce with
their Brethren the Indians, and has granted
them many privileges and immunities in
consideration of their carrying on the said
trade, and supplying the Indians with Goods;
that the said Company have accordingly begun
the Trade and imported large quantities of
goods, but have found the expence and Risque
of carrying out the Goods without assistance
from the Inhabitants, not having any place of
safety by the way to lodge them at, or
opportunity of getting provisions for their
people, so great that they cannot afford to
sell their Goods at so easy a rate as they
would willingly do; nor are they at such a
distance able to supply their Brethren the
Indians at all times when they are in want.
For which reason the company find it
absolutely necessary, immediately to cultivate
and settle the Land his Majesty has been
pleased to grant them, which to be sure they
have an indisputable right to do. As our
Brethren the Six Nations sold all the Land to
the Westward of Virginia at the Treaty of
Lancaster to their Father the King of Great
Britain, and he has been graciously pleased to
grant a large quantity thereof to the said
Ohio Company, yet, being informed that the Six
Nations have given their Friends the Delawares
leave to hunt [233] upon the said Lands, and
that they still hunt upon part thereof
themselves, and as the settlements made by the
English upon the said land may make the Game
scarce, or at least drive it further back, the
said Company therefore to prevent any
difference or misunderstanding, which might
possibly happen between them and their
Brethren the Indians touching the said Lands,
are willing to make them some further
satisfaction for the same and to purchase of
them the Land on the east side of the river
Ohio and Allagany as low as the great Canhaway
providing the same can be done at a reasonable
Rate; and our Brethren the Six Nations and
their Allies will promise and engage their
Friendship and protection to all his Majesties
subjects settling on the said Lands. When this
is done the Company can safely venture to
build Factories and Store Houses upon the
river Ohio, and send out large Cargoes of
Goods which they cannot otherwise do, and to
convince our Brethren the Indians how desirous
we are of living in strict Friendship and
becoming one people with them, You are hereby
empowered and required to acquaint and promise
our Brethren, in the name and on behalf of the
said Company, that if any of them incline to
take land and live among the English, they
shall have any of the said company's Land upon
the same Terms and conditions as the white
people have, and enjoy the same privileges
which they do as far as is in the Company's
power to grant.
And that you may be the better able to
acquaint our Brethren the Indians with these
our proposals you are to apply to Andrew
Montour the interpreter for his assistance
therein, and the Company hereby undertake and
promse to make him satisfaction for the
trouble he shall be at. If our Brethren the
Six Nations approve our proposals the Company
will pay them whatever sum you agree with them
for, and if they want any particular sort of
Goods, you are to desire them to give [234]
you an account of said Goods and the Company
will immediately send for them to England, and
when they arrive will carry them to what ever
place you agree to deliver them at.
If our Brethren the Indians do not approve
these proposals and do refuse their protection
and assistance to the subjects of their Father
the King of Great Britain, you are forthwith
to make a return thereof to the said Ohio
Company, that they may inform his Majesty
thereof.
You are to apply to Col. Cresap for what
Wampum you have occasion of on the Companys
account for which you are to give him a
receipt. You are to apply to him for one of
the Companies Horses to ride out to the
Loggstown.
As soon as the Treaty is over, you are to make
an exact return of all your proceedings to the
Company.
Given under my hand in behalf of the said Ohio
Company the 28th day of April 1752.
GEORGE MASON Treasurer
______
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN CHRISTOPHER GIST.
(From Records and Minutes of the Ohio Company.)
Upon your arrival at the Treaty if you find
that the commissioners do not make a general
Agreement with the Indians on behalf of
Virginia for the settlement of the Land upon
the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi, or
that in such agreement there are any doubtful
or ambiguous expressions which may be
prejudicial to the Ohio Company, you are then
to endeavour to make purchase of the Lands to
the Eastward of the Ohio River and Allagany,
and procure the Friendship and protection of
the Indians in settling the said Lands upon
the best terms you can for a quantity of Goods.
[235] You arc to agree with them to deliver
the said goods at the most convenient place
you can, if possible at the Forks of the
Mohongaly, if the Indians give you a list of
Goods which they desire to be sent for in
return for their Lands, you are to enquire and
to find out as near as you can the usual price
of such Goods among the Indians, that we may
be as near the sum you agree with them for as
possible.
You are to engage Andrew Montour the
Interpreter in the Company's Interest and get
him to assist you in making a purchase of the
Indians, and as the Company have great
dependance and confidence in the said Andrew
Montour, they hereby not only promise to make
him satisfaction for the trouble, but if he
can make an advantageous bargain for them with
the Indians, they will in return for his good
offices, let him have a handsome settlement
upon their land without paying any purchase
money, upon the same Terms which the said
Company themselves hold the Land, and without
any other consideration than the King's Quit rents.
If you can obtain a Deed or other written
agreement from the Indians, it must be taken
in the names of the Honb'le Robert Dinwiddie
Esq'r, Governor of Virginia, John Hanbury
Esqr. of the City of London, Merch't, Capel
Hanbury of the said city of London Merch't,
John Tayloe, Presly Thornton, Philip Ludwell
Lee, Thomas Lee, Richard Lee, Guwin Corbin,
John Mercer, George Mason, Lawrence
Washington, Augustus Washington, Nathaniel
Chapman Esquires and James Scott Clerk, all of
the Colony of Virginia. James Wardrop, Jacob
Giles and Thomas Cresap esqrs of the province
of Maryland and their Associates, members of
the Ohio Company; in the said agreement or
Deed You are to mention the Bounds of the Land
as expressly as possible, that no dispute may
arise hereafter. And we would have the Indians
clearly understand what Land they sell us,
that they may have [236] no occasion to
complain of any Fraud or underhand dealings,
as is often the custom with them. The said
Ohio Company do hereby agree and oblige
themselves to make you satisfaction for the
Trouble and expence you shall be at in
Transacting their affairs at the said Treaty,
pursuant to the Instructions by them given to
you. Given under my hand in behalf of the Ohio
Company this 28th day of April 1752.
GEORGE MASON, Treas'r.
If Col Cresap has not agreed with any person
to clear a Road for the Company, you are with
the advice and assistance of Col. Cresap to
agree with the proper Indians, who are best
acquainted with the ways, immediately to cut a
road from Wills Creek to the Fork of Mohongaly
at the cheapest Rate you can for Goods, and
this you may mention publicly to the Indians
at the Loggs Town or not as you see occasion.
GEORGE MASON, Treas'r.
At a meeting of the Committee of the Ohio
Company at Stratford in Westmoreland County,
the 25th of July, 1753, and continued to the
26th and 27th of the same month:
"Resolved that tis absolutely necessary that
the Company should immediately erect a Fort
for the security and protection of their
Settlement on a hill just below Shurtees
(Chartiers.) Creek upon the south east side of
the river Ohio; that the walls of the said
Fort shall be twelve feet high, to be built of
sawed or hewen logs, and to enclose a piece of
ground ninety feet square, besides the four
Bastions at the corners of sixteen feet square
each, with houses in the middle for stores,
Magazines &c. according to a plan entered in
the Company's Books. That Col. Cresap, Capt.
Trent, and Mr. Gist, be appointed and
authorized on behalf of the Company to agree
with labourers, Carpenters and other workmen,
to build and complete the [237] same as soon
as possible and employ hunters to supply them
with Provisions, and agree with some honest
industrious man to overlook the workmen and
labourers as Overseer, and that they be
supplied with flour, salt and all other
necessaries at the Companys expence. That all
the Land upon the hill on which the said Fort
is to be built be appropriated to the use of
the said Fort, and that two hundred acres of
land exclusive of streets be layed off for a
town convenient and adjoining to the said Fort
lands, in squares of two acres each, every
square to be divided into four lots so that
every Lot may front two streets, if the ground
will so admit, and that all the streets be of
convenient width, that twenty of the best and
most convenient squares be reserved and set
apart for the Company's own use, and one
square to build a School on for the education
of Indian children and such other uses as the
Company shall think proper and that all the
rest of the lots be disposed of."
Mr. George Mason having informed the Committee
that he has written to Mr. Hanbury for twenty
swivel guns and other arms and ammunition for
the use of the Fort
"Resolved that the committee do approve of the
same and that the said arms and ammunition as
soon as they arrive be delivered to Captain
Trent the Company's Factor in order to be sent
out to Shurtees Creek."
At a Meeting of the Committee of the Ohio
Company, November 2d, 1753,
"Agreed and Ordered that each member of the
Company pay to Mr. George Mason their
Treasurer, the sum of twenty pounds current
money for building and finishing the Fort at
Shurtees Creek, Grubing and clearing the road
from the Company's store at Wills Creek to the
Mohongaly, which are to be finished with the
utmost dispatch and for such other purposes as
shall be directed by the Company."
[238] The proposed fort was not built. There
was some doubt to whom the Forks of the Ohio
belonged‹by Consent of the Penns, Governor
Dinwiddie sent Captain Trent's Company to
build a Fort there. The Fort was commenced
under the direction of Ensign Ward. On the
17th of April, 1754, Captain Contrec¦ur
descended the Allegheny with a considerable
force of French and Indians and summoned Ward
to surrender his unfinished work. Resistance
was out of the question, he surrendered.
Contrec¦ur finished the Fort and called it Duquesne.
July 9, 1755.‹Gen. Braddock was defeated by
the French and Indians under the command of
Captain Beaujeu. Beaujeu was killed and
Captain Dumas was the Commander from the time
of Beaujeu's death to the latter part of the
following year, 1756 or early in 1757, when he
was transferred to Canada, and served in the
operations against Fort William Henry.
Montcalm mentioned him in his dispatches as
"an officer of great distinction." His merits
were fully recognized by the French Governor.
He was Major of Brigade at the Siege of
Quebec, and after his return to France in 1761
was appointed Governor of the Mauritius and
Isle of Bourbon. (Garneau, Histoire du Canada.)
General Grant was defeated by the French and
Indians before Fort Duquesne, October, 1758.
November, 1758, General Forbes' army advanced
and found the Fort in flames. The French
escaped by the river.
Fort Duquesne having been destroyed it was
determined to erect a small work, to be
occupied by two hundred men.
A small square stockade, with a bastion at
each angle, was erected on the bank of the
Monongahela between Liberty and West Streets.
Col. Mercer was left in command.
Fort Pitt was built in 1759-60. Its eastern
boundary [239] extended nearly to the present
Third (formerly Marbury) and West Streets. The
Fort had two powder magazines under ground,
built with heavy timber and covered with
tarred cloth and earth. One of them was
brought to light near the corner of Liberty
and Marbury or Third Street in 1855, when
excavations were made for the Depot of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
In 1763 Fort Pitt was invested by the Indians
while Captain Ecuyer was in command. January
5, 1769, a warrant was issued for a survey of
the Manor of Pittsburgh, which was made on the
27th of March. Fort Pitt was kept up until
1772, after which a Corporal and a few men
only were continued at the Fort. (See Fort
Pitt.)
October, Major Charles Edmonstone, Commander
of the Fort, sold to Alexander Ross and
William Thompson, all the pickets, brick,
stones, timber and iron in the buildings,
walls and redoubts of the Fort. After several
houses had been built of the material the sale
was set aside. 1773, Richard Penn advised a
small garrison to be kept at Fort Pitt as a
protection from the Indians. Its demolition
had been ordered by General Gage. The boundary
between Virginia and Pennsylvania not having
been settled, in 1774 John Conolly, by orders
of Lord Dunmore, took possession of the ruins.
1781, General Irvine, in a letter to
Washington, speaks of Fort Pitt as a heap of
ruins and that at best it was a bad situation
for defence. He recommends the mouth of
Chartiers Creek (Shurtees) for a Post. The
redoubt built by Bouquet still remains.
(Letter of General Irvine.)
1781, Col. John Conolly, who formerly lived
upon the Ohio, and was arrested in 1775, after
his exchange proceeded to Quebec, and proposed
"with all the refugees he can collect at [240]
New York, he is to join Sir John Johnson in
Canada, and they are to proceed with their
united forces to attack Fort Pitt."
NOTE.‹The Redoubt built by Bouquet is now
owned by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the
"Daughters of the American Revolution"; it
having been recently given to them by Mrs.
Schenley, the granddaughter of General James
O'Hara, from whom she inherited it. A large
portion of the ground formerly occupied by
Fort Pitt was bequeathed by General O'Hara to
his daughter Mary Carson O'Hara, who married,
after her father's death, William Croghan,
Esq., son of Major William Croghan of
Kentucky. Major Croghan was a cousin of George
Croghan, who took so prominent a part in
Indian affairs.
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