266 Virginia military lands surveyed. 1784. for the security of the settlements in the wilderness. Upon the 27th of that month it met, nor was it long before the idea became prominent that Kentucky must ask to be severed from Virginia, and left to her own guidance and control. But as no such conception was general, when the delegates to this first convention were chosen, they deemed it best to appoint a second, to meet during the next May, at which was specially to be considered the topic most interesting to those who were called on to think and vote-a complete separation from the parent state; — political independence. It was during 1784, also, that the military claimants of land, under the laws of Virginia, began their locations. All the territory between the Green and Cumberland rivers, excepting that granted to Henderson & Co., was to be appropriated to soldiers of the parent state; and when that was exhausted, the lands north of the Ohio, between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers. In 1783, the Continental Line had chosen Colonel Richard C. Anderson principal surveyor on their behalf, and on the 17th of December in that year, concluded with him a contract, under which, upon the 20th of the following July, he opened his office near Louisville; and entries at once began. The first entry north of the Ohio, however, was not made until August 1, 1787.† Two subjects which in order of time belong to this year, we defer, the one to 1787, the other to 1785: the former is the measure adopted by Congress for the government of the new territory; the latter the first treaty with the Indians relative to the West. Marshall, i. 190 to 195. + McDonald's Sketches, 22 to 24. He gives the contract. Also letter of W. M. Anderson. (American Pioneer, i. 438.) The number of soldiers in the Virginia Continental Line proved to be 1124. (American State Papers, xviii. 535.) In speaking of Pittsburgh, we referred to the passage of Arthur Lee through that place late in 1784, to attend a council with the Indians at Fort McIntosh. Upon the 22d of the previous October, this gentleman, in connection with Richard Butler and Oliver Wolcott, had met the hostile tribes of the Iroquois,* at Fort Stanwix, and had there concluded a treaty of peace, among the articles of which was the following: ART. 3. A line shall be drawn, beginning at the mouth of a creek, about four miles east of Niagara, called Oyonwayea, or Johnston's Landing Place, upon the lake, named by the Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario; from thence southerly, in a direction always four miles east of the carrying path, between Lake Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron, or Buffalo Creek, or Lake Erie; thence south, to the north boundary of the State of Pennsylvania; thence west, to the end of the said north boundary; thence south, along the west boundary of the said State, to the river Ohio; the said line, from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations; so that the Six Nations shall, and do, yield to the United States, all claims to the country west of the said boundary; and then they shall be secured in the peaceful possession of the lands they inhabit, east and north of the same, reserving only six miles square, round the fort of Oswego, to the United States, for the support of the same.t The old indefinite claim of the great northern confederacy to the west, being thus extinguished, Mr. Lee, together with Richard Butler and George Rogers Clark, proceeded to treat with the Western Indians themselves at Fort McIntosh, upon the 21st of January, 1785. The nations represented were the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippeways, and Ottoways; and among the represen Of the Six tribes, the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas, and Cayugas, had joined England; the Oneidas, and Tuscaroras had not. † See Land Laws, p. 122. 268 Provisions of the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. * 1785. tatives, it is said, was the celebrated war chief of the Delawares, Buckongahelas. The most important provisions of the treaty agreed up were the seven following, ART. 3. The boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware nations, shall begin at the mouth of the river Cayahoga, and run thence, up the said river, to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; then, down the said branch, to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence, [Laurens;] then, westerly, to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French in one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two; then, along the said portage, to the Great Miami or Ome River, and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence, along the south shore of Lake Erie, to the mouth of Cayahoga, where it began. ART. 4. The United States allot all the lands contained within the said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, to live and to hunt on, and to such of the Ottowa nation as now live thereon; saving and reserving, for the establishment of trading posts, six miles square at the mouth of Miami or Ome River, and the same at the portage on that branch of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the Lake of Sandusky where the fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on each side of the lower rapids of Sandusky River; which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall be to the use, and under the Government of the United States. ART. 5. If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to the United States in the preceding article, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him as they please. ART. 6. The Indians who sign this treaty, as well in behalf of all their tribes as of themselves, do acknowledge the lands east, south, and west, of the lines described in the third article so far as the said Indians formerly claimed the same, to belong to the United States; and none of their tribes shall presume to settle upon the same, or any part of it. ART. 7. The post of Detroit with a district beginning at the mouth of the River Rosine, on the west end of Lake Erie, and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said river, thence, northerly, and *So says Dawson, (life of Harrison, 82, note,) and Thatcher and Butler follow him; but the name of the Chief does not appear in the proceedings.—He did, however, sign the treaty of the Great Miami, in January 1786, as a witness.-(Dillon, i. 432, 440. Indian Treaties, Washington, 1837.) Did not he there meet Clark and not at Fort McIntosh ! 1785. Ordinance relative to Western Lands. 269 always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the Lake St. Clair, shall be also reserved to the sole use of the United States. ART. 8. In the same manner, the post at Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the use of the United States. ART. 9. If any Indian or Indians shall commit a robbery or murder on any citizen of the United States, the tribe to which such offenders may belong, shall be bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States. Thus were the first steps taken for securing to the United States the Indian titles to the vast realm beyond the Ohio; and a few months later the legislation was commenced, that was to determine the mode of its disposal, and the plan of its settlements. In April of the previous year Congress had adopted certain resolutions in relation to the number and size of the States to be formed from the Western Territory, and sketched the great features of an Ordinance for its organization, but as all these things were afterwards modified in 1787, we have deferred the subject of that organization to the last named year. But though the details of the government of the West were not as yet settled, Congress, upon the 20th of May, 1785,† passed an ordinance relative to surveys which determined a plan for the division of the ceded lands, and the main principles of which still remain in force. This was not done, however, until Massachusetts, as well as New York and Virginia, had ceded her claims to the Union; which she did upon the 19th of April in this year, the Act authorizing the cession having been passed upon the 13th of the previous November. + By the ordinance above referred to, the territory purchased of the Indians was to be divided into townships, six miles square,|| by north and south lines crossed at right angles by others: the first north and south line to begin on the Ohio at a point due north of the western termination of the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and the first east and west line to begin at the same point See Land Laws, p. 148. There was an ordinance reported May 28, 1784, (Old Journals, iv. 416;) a second, April 26th, 1785, (Old Journals, iv. 507 :) that of May 20th differed in several respects, Old Journals, iv. 500 to 504. Land Laws, 102. By the first ordinance these were to have been ten miles, and by the second seven miles square.-See Journals. 270 Settlements northwest of the Ohio forbidden. 1785. and extend throughout the territory. The ranges of townships thus formed were to be numbered from the Pennsylvania line westward; the townships themselves from the Ohio northward. Each township was to be subdivided into thirty-six parts or sections, each, of course, one mile square. When seven ranges of townships had been thus surveyed, the Geographer was to make a return of them to the Board of Treasury, who were to take therefrom one-seventh part, by lot, for the use of the late Continental army; and so of every seven ranges as surveyed and returned: the remaining six-sevenths were to be drawn for by the several States, in the proportion of the last requisition made on them; and they were to make public sale thereof in the following manner: range 1st, township 1st, was to be sold entire, township 2d in sections, and so on alternately; while in range 2d, township 1st, was to be sold in sections, and township 2d entire, retaining throughout both as to the ranges and townships the principle of alternation. The price was to be at least one dollar per acre in specie, "loan office certificates reduced to specie value," or "certificates of liquidated debts of the United States." Five sections in each township were to be reserved, four for the United States and one for schools. All sales thus made by the States were to be returned to the Board of Treasury. This ordinance also gave the mode for dividing, among the Continental soldiers, the lands set apart to them; reserved three townships for Canadian refugees; secured to the Moravian Indians their rights; and excluded from sale the territory between the Little Miami and Scioto, in accordance with the provisions made by Virginia in her deed of cession in favor of her own troops. Many points in this law were afterwards changed, but its great features remained. It had been anticipated that so soon as the treaty of Fort McIntosh was known, settlers and speculators would cross the Ohio, and to prevent the evil which it was foreseen would follow any general movement of the kind the Indian Commissioners were authorized in June, to issue a Proclamation commanding all persons northwest of the river to leave without loss of time, or stay at their peril, and announcing the intention of government as soon as possible to sell the soil as fast as surveyed. The peril to be * Land Laws, 349 to 354.-Old Journals, iv. 520 to 522. + Land Laws, 354.-Old Journals iv. 538. |