Part 776

"On the eve of the Revolution, in 1774, the frontiersmen had planted themselves firmly among the Alleghanies. Directly west of them lay the untenanted wilderness, traversed only by the war parties of the red men, and the hunting parties of both reds and whites. No settlers had yet penetrated it, and until they did so there could be within its borders no chance of race warfare. … But in the southwest and the northwest alike, the area of settlement already touched the home lands of the tribes. … It was in the northwest that the danger of collision was most imminent; for there the whites and Indians had wronged one another for a generation, and their interests were, at the time, clashing more directly than ever. Much the greater part of the western frontier was held or claimed by Virginia, whose royal governor was, at the time, Lord Dunmore. {2396} … The short but fierce and eventful struggle that now broke out was fought wholly by Virginians, and was generally known by the name of Lord Dunmore's war. Virginia, under her charter, claimed that her boundaries ran across to the South Seas, to the Pacific Ocean. The king of Britain had graciously granted her the right to take so much of the continent as lay within these lines, provided she could win it from the Indians, French, and Spaniards. … A number of grants had been made with the like large liberality, and it was found that they sometimes conflicted with one another. The consequence was that while the boundaries were well marked near the coast, where they separated Virginia from the long-settled regions of Maryland and North Carolina, they became exceeding vague and indefinite the moment they touched the mountains. Even at the south this produced confusion, … but at the north the effect was still more confusing, and nearly resulted in bringing about an inter-colonial war between Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Virginians claimed all of extreme western Pennsylvania, especially Fort Pitt and the valley of the Monongahela, and, in 1774, proceeded boldly to exercise jurisdiction therein. Indeed a strong party among the settlers favored the Virginian claim. … The interests of the Virginians and Pennsylvanians not only conflicted in respect to the ownership of the land, but also in respect to the policy to be pursued regarding the Indians. The former were armed colonists, whose interest it was to get actual possession of the soil; whereas in Pennsylvania the Indian trade was very important and lucrative. … The interests of the white trader from Pennsylvania and of the white settler from Virginia were so far from being identical that they were usually diametrically opposite. The northwestern Indians had been nominally at peace with the whites for ten years, since the close of Bouquet's campaign. … Each of the ten years of nominal peace saw plenty of bloodshed. Recently they had been seriously alarmed by the tendency of the whites to encroach on the great hunting-grounds south of the Ohio. … The cession by the Iroquois of the same hunting-grounds, at the treaty of Fort Stanwix [see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1765-1768], while it gave the whites a colorable title, merely angered the northwestern Indians. Half a century earlier they would hardly have dared dispute the power of the Six Nations to do what they chose with any land that could be reached by their war parties; but in 1774 they felt quite able to hold their own against their old oppressors. … The savages grew continually more hostile, and in the fall of 1773 their attacks became so frequent that it was evident a general outbreak was at hand. … The Shawnees were the leaders in all these outrages; but the outlaw bands, such as the Mingos and Cherokees, were as bad, and parties of Wyandots and Delawares, as well as of the various Miami and Wabash tribes, joined them. Thus the spring of 1774 opened with everything ripe for an explosion. … The borderers were anxious for a war; and Lord Dunmore was not inclined to baulk them. … Unfortunately the first stroke fell on friendly Indians." Dunmore's agent or lieutenant in the country, one Dr. Conolly, issued an open letter in April which was received by the backwoodsmen as a declaration and authorization of war. One band of these, led by a Maryland borderer, Michael Cresap, proceeded to hostilities at once by ambushing and shooting down some friendly Shawnees who were engaged in trade. This same party then set out to attack the camp of the famous chief Logan, whose family and followers were then dwelling at Yellow Creek, some 50 miles away. Logan was "an Iroquois warrior, who lived at that time away from the bulk of his people, but who was a man of note … among the outlying parties of Senecas and Mingos, and the fragments of broken tribes that dwelt along the upper Ohio. … He was greatly liked and respected by all the white hunters and frontiersmen whose friendship and respect were worth having; they admired him for his dexterity and prowess, and they loved him for his straightforward honesty, and his noble loyalty to his friends." Cresap's party, after going some miles toward Logan's camp, "began to feel ashamed of their mission; calling a halt, they discussed the fact that the camp they were preparing to attack consisted exclusively of friendly Indians, and mainly of women and children; and forthwith abandoned their proposed trip and returned home. … But Logan's people did not profit by Cresap's change of heart. On the last day of April a small party of men, women, and children, including almost all of Logan's kin, left his camp and crossed the river to visit Greathouse [another borderer, of a more brutal type], as had been their custom; for he made a trade of selling rum to the savages, though Cresap had notified him to stop. The whole party were plied with liquor, and became helplessly drunk, in which condition Greathouse and his associated criminals fell on and massacred them, nine souls in all. … At once the frontier was in a blaze, and the Indians girded themselves for revenge. … They confused the two massacres, attributing both to Cresap, whom they well knew as a warrior. … Soon all the back country was involved in the unspeakable horrors of a bloody Indian war," which lasted, however, only till the following October. Governor Dunmore, during the summer, collected some 3,000 men, one division of which he led personally to Fort Pitt and thence down the Ohio, accomplishing nothing of importance. The other division, composed exclusively of backwoodsmen, under General Andrew Lewis, marched to the mouth of the Kanawha River, and there, at Point Pleasant, the cape of land jutting out between the Ohio and the Kanawha, they fought, on the 10th of October, a great battle with the Indians which practically ended the war. This is sometimes called the battle of Point Pleasant, and sometimes the battle of the Great Kanawha. "It was the most closely contested of any battle ever fought with the northwestern Indians; and it was the only victory gained over a large body of them by a force but slightly superior in numbers. … Its results were most important. It kept the northwestern tribes quiet for the first two years of the Revolutionary struggle; and above all it rendered possible the settlement of Kentucky, and therefore the winning of the West. Had it not been for Lord Dunmore's War, it is more than likely that when the colonies achieved their freedom they would have found their western boundary fixed at the Alleghany Mountains." {2397} For some time after peace had been made with the other chiefs Logan would not join in it. When he did yield a sullen assent, Lord Dunmore "was obliged to communicate with him through a messenger, a frontier veteran named John Gibson. … To this messenger Logan was willing to talk. Taking him aside, he suddenly addressed him in a speech that will always retain its place as perhaps the finest outburst of savage eloquence of which we have any authentic record. The messenger took it down in writing, translating it literally." The authenticity of this famous speech of Logan has been much questioned, but apparently with no good ground.

_T. Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, volume 1, chapters 8-9. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11941_

ALSO IN: _J. H. Perkins, Annals of the West, chapter 5._

_J. G. M. Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee, page 112._

_V. A. Lewis, History of West Virginia, chapter 9._

_J. R. Gilmore (E. Kirke), The Rear-guard of the Revolution, chapter 4._

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1774. Embraced in the Province of Quebec.

See CANADA: A. D. 1763-1774.

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1778-1779. Conquest of the Northwest from the British by the Virginia General Clark, and its annexation to the Kentucky District of Virginia.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1778-1779 CLARK'S CONQUEST.

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1781-1786. Conflicting territorial claims of Virginia, New York and Connecticut. Their cession to the United States, except the Western Reserve of Connecticut.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786.

OHIO: (Valley): A: D. 1784. Included in the proposed States of Metropotamia, Washington, Saratoga and Pelisipia.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1784.

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1786-1788. The Ohio Company of Revolutionary soldiers and their settlement at Marietta.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1786-1788.

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1786-1796. Western Reserve of Connecticut. Founding of Cleveland.

In September, 1786, Connecticut ceded to Congress the western territory which she claimed under her charter (see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786; and PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1753-1799), reserving, however, from the cession a tract "bounded north by the line of 42° 2', or, rather, the international line, east by the western boundary of Pennsylvania, south by the 41st parallel, and west by a line parallel with the eastern boundary and distant from it 120 miles—supposed, at the time, to be equal in extent to the Susquehanna tract given to Pennsylvania, 1782. … This territory Connecticut was said 'to reserve,' and it soon came to be called 'The Connecticut Western Reserve,' 'The Western Reserve,' etc. … On May 11, 1792, the General Assembly quit-claimed to the inhabitants of several Connecticut towns who had lost property in consequence of the incursions into the State made by the British troops in the Revolution, or their legal representatives when they were dead, and to their heirs and assigns, forever, 500,000 acres lying across the western end of the reserve, bounded north by the lake shore. … The total number of sufferers, as reported, was 1,870, and the aggregate losses, £161,548, 11s., 6½. The grant was of the soil only. These lands are known in Connecticut history as 'The Sufferers' Lands,' in Ohio history as 'The Fire Lands.' In 1796 the Sufferers were incorporated in Connecticut, and in 1803 in Ohio, under the title 'The Proprietors of the Half-million Acres of Land lying south of Lake Erie.' … In May, 1793, the Connecticut Assembly offered the remaining part of the Reserve for sale." In September, 1795, the whole tract was sold, without surveyor measurement, for $1,200,000, and the Connecticut School Fund, which amounts to something more than two millions of dollars, consists wholly of the proceeds of that sale, with capitalized interest. "The purchasers of the Reserve, most of them belonging to Connecticut, but some to Massachusetts and New York, were men desirous of trying their fortunes in Western lands. Oliver Phelps, perhaps the greatest land-speculator of the time, was at their head. September 5, 1795, they adopted articles of agreement and association, constituting themselves the Connecticut Land Company. The company was never incorporated, but was what is called to-day a 'syndicate.'" In the spring of 1796 the company sent out a party of surveyors, in charge of its agent, General Moses Cleaveland, who reached "the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, July 22d, from which day there have always been white men on the site of the city that takes its name from him." In 1830 the spelling of the name of the infant city was changed from Cleaveland to Cleveland by the printer of its first newspaper, who found that the superfluous "a" made a heading too long for his form, and therefore dropped it out.

_B. A. Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, chapter 19, with foot-notes._

ALSO IN: _C. Whittlesey, Early History of Cleveland, page 145, and after._

_H. Rice, Pioneers of the Western Reserve, chapters 6-7._

_R. King, Ohio, chapters 7-8._

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1787. The Ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory. Perpetual exclusion of Slavery.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1787.

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1788. The founding of Cincinnati.

See CINCINNATI: A. D. 1788.

OHIO: (Valley): A. D. 1790-1795. Indian war. Disastrous expeditions of Harmar and St. Clair, and Wayne's decisive victory. The Greenville Treaty.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1790-1795.

OHIO: (Territory and State): A. D. 1800-1802. Organized as a separate Territory and admitted to the Union as a State.

See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1788-1802.

OHIO: A. D. 1812-1813. Harrison's campaign for the recovery of Detroit. Winchester's defeat. Perry's naval victory.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812-1813.

OHIO: A. D. 1835. Settlement of Boundary dispute with Michigan.

See MICHIGAN: A. D. 1836.

OHIO: A. D. 1863. John Morgan's Rebel Raid.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY: KENTUCKY).

OHIO: End--------

OHOD, Battle of.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST; A. D. 609-632.

OJIBWAS, OR CHIPPEWAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: OJIBWAS; also, ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

OKLAHOMA, The opening of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1889-1890.

OL., OR OLYMP.

See OLYMPIADS.

OLAF II., King of Denmark, A. D. 1086-1095.

Olaf III., King of Denmark, 1376-

{2398}

1387; and VII. of Norway, 1380-1387.

Olaf III. (Tryggveson), King of Norway, 995-1000.

Olaf IV. (called The Saint), King of Norway, 1000-1030.

Olaf V., King of Norway, 1069-1093.

Olaf VI., King of Norway, 1103-1116.

OLBIA.

See BORYSTHENES.

OLD CATHOLIC MOVEMENT, The.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1869-1870.

OLD COLONY, The.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1623-1629.

OLD DOMINION, The.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1650-1660.

OLD IRONSIDES.

This name was popularly given to the "Constitution," the most famous of the American frigates in the War of 1812-14 with Great Britain.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812-1813; and 1814.

OLD LEAGUE OF HIGH GERMANY, The.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1332-1460.

OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN, The.

See ASSASSINS.

OLD POINT COMFORT: Origin of its Name.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1606-1607.

OLD SARUM: Start--------

OLD SARUM: Origin.

See SORBIODUNUM.

OLD SARUM: A Rotten Borough.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1830.

OLD SARUM: End--------

OLD SOUTH CHURCH, The founding of the.

See BOSTON: A. D. 1657-1669.

OLD STYLE.

See CALENDAR, GREGORIAN.

OLDENBURG: The duchy annexed to France by Napoleon.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1810 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).

OLERON, The Laws of.

"The famous maritime laws of Oleron (which is an island adjacent to the coast of France) are usually ascribed to Richard I, though none of the many writers, who have had occasion to mention them, have been able to find any contemporary authority, or even any antient satisfactory warrant for affixing his name to them. They consist of forty-seven short regulations for average, salvage, wreck, &c. copied from the antient Rhodian maritime laws, or perhaps more immediately from those of Barcelona."

_D. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, volume 1, page 358._

OLIGARCHY.

See ARISTOCRACY.

OLISIPO.

The ancient name of Lisbon.

See PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.

OLIVA, Treaty of (1660).

See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1640-1688; and SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1644-1697.

OLIVETANS, The.

"The Order of Olivetans, or Brethren of St. Mary of Mount Olivet, … was founded in 1313, by John Tolomei of Siena, a distinguished professor of philosophy in his native city, in gratitude for the miraculous restoration of his sight. In company with a few companions, he established himself in a solitary olive-orchard, near Siena, obtained the approbation of John XXII. for his congregation, and, at the command of the latter, adopted the Rule of St. Benedict."

_J. Alzog, Manual of Universal Church History, volume 3, page 149._

OLLAMHS.

The Bards (see FILI) of the ancient Irish.

OLMUTZ, Abortive siege of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1758.

OLNEY, Treaty of.

A treaty between Edmund Ironsides and Canute, or Cnut, dividing the English kingdom between them, A. D. 1016. The conference was held on an island in the Severn, called Olney.

OLPÆ, Battle of.

A victory won, in the Peloponnesian War (B. C. 426-5) by the Acarnanians and Messenians, under the Athenian general Demosthenes, over the Peloponnesians and Ambraciotes, on the shore of the Ambracian gulf.

_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 4, chapter 2._

OLUSTEE, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: FLORIDA).

OLYBRIUS, Roman Emperor (Western), A. D. 472.

OLYMPIA, Battle of (B. C. 365).

See GREECE: B. C. 371-362.

OLYMPIADS, The Era of the.

"The Era of the Olympiads, so called from its having originated from the Olympic games, which occurred every fifth year at Olympia, a city in Elis, is the most ancient and celebrated method of computing time. It was first instituted in the 776th year before the birth of our Saviour, and consisted of a revolution of four years. The first year of Jesus Christ is usually considered to correspond with the first year of the 195th olympiad; but as the years of the olympiads commenced at the full moon next after the summer solstice, i. e., about the first of July, … it must be understood that it corresponds only with the six last months of the 195th olympiad. … Each year of an olympiad was luni–solar, and contained 12 or 13 months, the names of which varied in the different states of Greece. The months consisted of 30 and 29 days alternately; and the short year consequently contained 354 days, while the intercalary year had 384. The computation by olympiads … ceased after the 364th olympiad, in the year of Christ 440."

_Sir H. Nicolas, Chronology of History, pages 1-2._

OLYMPIC GAMES.