Galley," as she was called by the builders, was afterwards named the "Mayflower." She was forty-five feet long and twelve feet wide, with an estimated burthen of fifty

tons. Her bows were raking or curved like a galley, strongly timbered, and covered with a deck roof. She was intended to run up stream as well as down; but was found to be rather unwieldy, and only used a few times on voyages of this kind. As the galley would not carry all the men, in addition to a large quantity of provision for the future support of the company, a flat boat and three canoes were added to the flotilla. After several stoppages by the way, the pioneers of the new settlement came in sight of Kerr's island, a little after sunrise. It was a cloudy, rainy morning, and as they neared the foot of the island, Captain Devoll observed to General Putnam, "I think it time to take an observation; we must be near the mouth of the Muskingum." In a few minutes they came in sight of Fort Harmer, which was seated just opposite to the junction of that river with the Ohio. The banks of this stream were thickly clothed with large sycamore trees, whose lofty tops and pendant branches leaning over the shores, obscured the outlet so much, that a boat in the middle of the Ohio, in a cloudy day, might pass without observing it at all. Before this mistake could be corrected, they had floated too far to gain the upper point, and were forced to land a short distance below the fort. With the aid of ropes and some soldiers from the garrison, sent to their assistance by the commander, the boat was towed back and crossed the Muskingum a little above the mouth, landing at the upper point about noon, on the 7th day of April, 1788. They immediately commenced landing the boards brought from Buffalo, for the erection of temporary huts, and setting up General Putnam's large marquee. Under the broad roof of this hempen house, he resided and transacted the business of the colony for several months, until the block-houses

of Campus Martius, as their new garrison was called, were finished..

The following list embraces the names of the pioneers who first landed at the mouth of the Muskingum, the 7th day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight:

General Rufus Putnam, superintendent of the settlement and surveys.

Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, Colonel R. J. Meigs, Major Anselm Tupper, and Mr. John Mathews, surveyors.

Major Haffield White, steward and quarter master. Captain Jonathan Devoll, Captain Josiah Munroe, Captain Daniel Davis, Captain Jethro Putnam, Captain William Gray, Captain Ezekiel Cooper, Peregrine Foster, Esq., Jarvis Cutler, Samuel Cushing, Oliver Dodge, Isaac Dodge, Samuel Felshaw, Hezekiah Flint, Hezekiah Flint, jr., Amos Porter, Josiah Whitridge, John Gardner, Benjamin Griswold, Elizur Kirtland, Theophilus Leonard, Joseph Lincoln, William Miller, Jabez Barlow, Daniel Bushnell, Ebenezer Corey, Phinehas Coburn, Allen Putnam, David Wallace, Joseph Wells, Gilbert Devoll, jr., Israel Danton, Jonas Davis, Earl Sproat, Josiah White, Allen Devoll, Henry Maxon, William Maxon, William Moulton, Edmond Moulton, Simeon Martin, Benjamin Shaw, Peletiah White, amounting to forty-eight persons.

N. B. Colonel Meigs did not arrive until the 12th of April.

CHAPTER IX.

Indians welcome the pioneers to the shores of Muskingum.-Early vegetation. -Surveyors commence work.-Letter of one of the settlers.-Reasons for selecting the mouth of Muskingum for a settlement.-Letter of General Parsons.-Thomas Hutchins.- Description of lands. - Topography.-Salt licks. -Crops of corn. -Plan of the city.-Ancient works reserved. First meeting of the agents and directors of the Ohio company, at the mouth of Muskingum.- New city named Marietta.- Reasons for it.-Classical names for the earth works. --Police officers and regulations for the government of the settlement. Fourth of July.-General Varnum delivers oration.-Governor St. Clair arrives.- Addresses the citizens.- Commission.- Names of judges.-Laws promulgated.— Titles of courts.-Excellence of the laws.

Ar the time of the landing of the first settlers, Captain Pipes, a principal chief of the Delawares, with about seventy of his tribe, men, women and children, were encamped at the mouth of the river. They had come in a few days before, for the purpose of trading their peltries with the settlers, at the garrison of Fort Harmer. They received the new comers very graciously, shaking hands with them, and saying they were welcome to the shores of the Muskingum, on the heads of which stream they resided.

The contrast in the appearance of vegetation between the region they had left three or four days before, where patches of snows still lingered in the hollows, and that of the bottoms on the Ohio, at their new home, was very striking, and was a theme of remark for many years after. The pea vines, and buffalo clover, with various other plants, were nearly knee high, and afforded a rich pasture for their hungry horses. The trees had commenced putting forth their foliage, the birds warbled a welcome song from their

branches, and all nature smiled at the approach of the strangers.

On the 9th of April, two days after the landing of the pioneers, Colonel Sproat and Mr. Mathews, with thirteen men, were sent out by the superintendent to survey the eight acre lots for the company. They were commenced thus early for the convenience of the new settlers, who were expected on immediately, and would commence clearing them for cultivation. They were located on the bottom lands, a few miles above the new city, both on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. The people not engaged in surveying were occupied in cutting down the trees, and erecting log houses, for the shelter of the provisions, and dwellings for themselves. By the 12th of the month, they had cleared about four acres of land, at the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio.

The settlers seemed much delighted with their new home, and spoke highly in its praise, as appears by one of their letters, of May 18th, addressed to a citizen of Worcester, Massachusetts, and dated at "Adelphi," as the new city was called; and retained this name until the 2d of July, when the directors changed it to Marietta. He says:

"This country, for fertility of soil and pleasantness of situation, not only exceeds my expectations, but exceeds any part of America, or Europe, I ever was in. The climate is exceedingly healthy; not a man sick since we have been here. We have started twenty buffaloes in a drove. Deer are as plenty as sheep with you. Beaver and otter are abundant. I have known one man to catch twenty or thirty of them in two or three nights. Turkies are innumerable; they come within a few rods of us in the fields. We have already planted a field of one hundred and fifty acres in corn." Another writer of July 9th says, "the corn has grown nine inches in twenty-four hours, for two or three days past."

Much has been said and written as to the wisdom of the

Ohio company, in selecting their purchase as they did, in the hilly and broken region of country on the borders of the Ohio river, at and below the mouth of the Muskingum, when they might have chosen a more level and fertile region.

Some circumstances then existed, which influenced them in the matter, that have since been done away. One was the danger of hostility from the Indian tribes, few of whom lived within a hundred miles of their purchase, and were therefore the less to be dreaded. Another was the proximity of Fort Harmer, garrisoned by a battalion of United States troops, whose walls might protect them in a time of danger, and serve as a check to the daring of the savages. General Parsons, one of the directors of the Ohio company, had visited the country bordering the Ohio river, in the year 1785, as low down as the mouth of the Big Miami, in the capacity of a commissioner to treat with the Shawanese Indians. From that place, dated Fort Finney, December 20th, 1785, he wrote to Captain F. Hart, of Fort Harmer, as follows: "Since I left the Muskingum, I have been as far as the falls of Ohio, one hundred and fifty miles below this place. From the Muskingum to the falls, the lands preserve a great uniformity in appearance and quality. The first place that drew my attention for a settlement, after I passed your post, was the Great Kenawha, in latitude thirty-nine degrees, about one hundred and twelve miles below you. This is a fine river, navigable about eighty miles, which will bring us within one hundred miles of the Virginia settlements. The lands on the Indian shore are preferable to those on the Kenawha. The next place for settlements is this spot. The Miami is a large fine river, on which the Shawanees, and other nations, live. The lands are very fine." He concludes by saying, "I have seen no place since I left you, that pleases me so well for a settlement, as Muskingum.

Doctor Cutler, who negotiated the purchase, before