the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Prominent among these movements was the organization of the Ohio Company, the settlement of the Upper Ohio, and several others of an aggressive character, the most important of which was the sending of a regiment of British soldiers into the Ohio Valley, where they took post at the mouth of the Monongahela. When the French authorities heard of this movement on the part of the English, the home government authorized the governor-general of Canada to remonstrate against the aggressive invasion of French territory, and a summons was accordingly addressed to the English commander. The following is an extract: "Sir-Nothing can surprise me more than to see you attempt a settlement upon the lands of the king, my master, which obliges me now, sir, to send you this gentleman, Chevalier Le Mercier, captain of the artillery of Canada, to know of you, sir, by virtue of what authority you are come to fortify yourself within the dominions of the king, my master. This action seems so contrary to the last treaty of peace, at Aix-laChapelle, between his most Christian majesty and the King of Great Britain, that I do not know to whom to impute such an usurpation, as it is uncontested that the lands situated along the beautiful river belong to his most Christian majesty. (See De Hass, page 61.) "Your obedient servant, "CONTRECOEUR, Captain of French Marine." In the year 1749, as a preliminary step in taking formal possession of the Ohio and its tributaries, the Marquis de la Galisoniere, governorgeneral of Canada, determined to place along the "Oyo," or La Belle Riviere, a number of leaden plates suitably inscribed, asserting the claims of France to the lands on both sides of the river, even to the source of its tributaries. The command of the expedition whose duty it was to deposit those plates was given to Captain Bienville de Celeron, and consisted of eight subaltern officers, six cadets, an armorer, twenty soldiers, one hundred and eighty Canadians, and fifty-five Indians-two hundred and seventy in all. The expedition left Montreal on the 15th of June, 1749, and on the 29th reached the La Belle Riviere at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers, where the first plate was buried. The expedition then descended the river, depositing plates at the mouths of the principal tributaries, and on the 18th of August reached the mouth of the Chinodashichetha (Great Kanawha), and on the point between the two rivers the fifth plate was buried. It was found in 1846 by a son of Mr. John Beale, of Mason county, West Virginia, afterwards of Kentucky, and removed from the spot in which it had remained for a period of ninety-seven years. The following is a translation of the inscription on the plate. We have compared it with that made recently VIRGINIA MECHANICS' INSTITUTE RICHMOND VISAR by Professor O. S. Marshall, from the original copy-plate now preserved in the archives of the Departement de la Marine, in Paris, and find them to agree in every particular. TRANSLATION. "In the year 1749, reign of Louis XV., King of France, we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galisoniere, commandant-general of New France, to re-establish tranquillity in some Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate at the mouth of the river Chinodashichetha, the 18th of August, near the river Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possessions, which we have taken of the said river Ohio, and of all those which fall into it, and of all the land on both sides, as far as to the sources of said rivers, the same as were enjoyed, or ought to have been enjoyed, by the preceding kings of France, and that they have maintained it by their arms and treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle." From the mouth of the Great Kanawha the voyage was continued down the Ohio, and on the 30th day of August the expedition reached the mouth of the Riviere a la Roche (Great Miami), and the voyage on the Ohio ended. The following is an extract from Celeron's journal, now deposited in the archives at Paris, as translated by Marshall: "Buried on the point formed by the intersection of the right bank of the Ohio with the left bank of the Rock river, the sixth and last plate, August 31, 1749." This plate has never been found. After journeying up the Miami some distance, the detachment began its homeward march, and reached Montreal on the 10th day of November. In the same year George II., who regarded the British possessions as personal property, granted to a corporation known as "The Ohio Company," a title to five hundred thousand acres of land, to be located in the Ohio Valley. The company was composed of twelve gentlemen, all residents of Virginia and Maryland, except a Mr. Hanbury, of London. This land was to be located partly south of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Great Kanawha rivers, and partly north of the Ohio. In 1750 Christopher Gist was sent out by the company for the purpose of exploring and locating these tracts of land in the west. He traversed the country beyond the Ohio, and returned by way of the Kanawha, making thorough exploration of the country east of that river. This was the first exploration made by the English in the Kanawha Valley, and Gist the first Englishman who reached the mouth of the Kanawha. His journal is now in the library of the Historical Society of Massachusetts. Thus it will be seen that the two great rival powers beyond the Atlantic were each determined to hold possession of the great valley, and it became evident that the final struggle for territorial supremacy in America was near at hand. The English, acting upon the principle of action that "They should take who have the power," and the French upon nearly a similar one, that "They should keep who can," were both resting from an eight years' war, under the truce secured by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, while their commissioners were trying to outwit each other in the matter of the disputed lands in the west. (Smollett's George II., chapter 8.) But the calm was similar to that which precedes the storm. The cloud of war which had for a time disappeared from Europe was now hanging over the wilds of North America. Here was to be heard the clash of arms, the "Forward, march," the daily reveille, the battle cry, the strains of martial music-sounds so strange beneath the dark shades of an American forest. The storm burst with all its fury, and continued to rage for six long years-years characterized by acts of the most savage cruelty known to the annals of warfare; years in which the two leading nations of the world employed against each other the ruthless savages, whose bloodthirsty dispositions incited them to deeds too horrible to contemplate-deeds the record of which will ever remain as the darkest blots upon the pages of the history of these nations. But the struggle ended, and the world knows the result. The dominion and power of France have disappeared, and no traces of her lost sovereignty exist save in the few names she has left on the prominent streams and landmarks of the country, and in the leaden plates which, inscribed in her language, still lie buried on the banks of the beautiful river. Her temporary occupation of the country, the voyages of her navigators, and the discoveries of her discoverers, live only on the pages of history and in her archives, where she has carefully preserved them. Thus the Ohio Valley, together with all of South-western Virginia, passed from under the dominion of France to that of the Island Empire. But another title to the valley was yet to be abrogated, that of the original owners-the Indians, who, for perhaps a thousand years, had roamed over its hills and vales in pursuit of game; who had made it their principal thoroughfare in their missions of blood and rapine ever since the Anglo-Saxon set foot on these shores and had began his march in pursuit of the empire star. This title was yet to cost the lives of many hundreds of those sturdy pioneers who had braved the perils of the wilderness. Over its entire extent was to be heard the frightful war-whoop of the savage, and night was to be made lurid by the flames of burning homes. Then, to record an account of these scenes will next be our province. INDIAN WARS ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER. In presenting an outline of the annals of the settlement of the western frontier, we must remember that a dreary uniformity of incident marks all the story of the primitive settlements in every part of our country, from Plymouth to Jamestown, and from the northern lakes to the Mexican gulf, and that to enter into a narration of individual efforts and sufferings, and less important triumphs and defeats, would only render our chronicles a confused mass of rencounters of the rifle and tomahawk, of burnings, murders, captivities and reprisals, which confound by their number and weary by their monotony and resemblance. A few more prominent events only can be selected as samples of the many others. A few names only, from the long catalogue of pioneers, can be mentioned. The memory of the hundreds necessarily omitted lives where they would have wished it to live-in the winter evening's recital, in the rustic mountain ballad, and in the rude but interesting tradition of border warfare. The first white woman who saw the Kanawha river was MRS. HANNAH DENNIS. In the summer of 1761 a war party of Shawnee Indians penetrated the settlements on James river, murdered many of the settlers and carried a number of others into captivity, among the latter Mrs. Dennis. She, with about twenty others, was carried to the towns north of the Ohio, and upon arriving there the captives were separated by their captors, and it was decided Mrs. Dennis should live at the Chillicothe towns, where she remained more than two years, during which time she learned their language, painted herself, and in many respects conformed to their manners and customs. She devoted herself to the sick, and was highly esteemed by the Indians as one skilled in the art of curing disease. Having discovered that they were very superstitious and believed in necromancy, she professed witchcraft and affected to be a prophetess. Notwithstanding this, Mrs. Dennis was always determined to effect her escape when a favorable opportunity should present itself, and having so long remained with them, apparently well satisfied, they ceased to entertain any suspicions of such a design. In June, 1763, she left the Chillicothe towns, ostensibly to procure herbs for medicinal purposes, but really to make her escape. As she did not return that night her intention was suspected, and early next morning several warriors were sent in pursuit of her. In order to leave as little trail as possible, she had crossed the Scioto river three times, and was just getting over the fourth time, forty miles below the towns, when she was discovered by her pursuers. They fired at her across the river without effect, but in endeavoring to make rapid flight she cut one of her feet upon a sharp stone. |