him with an appearance of unruffled composure. As soon as he had ended, a loud whoop burst from the assembled throng, and they all rushed at once upon the unfortunate Crawford. For several seconds the crowd was so great that Knight could not see what they were doing; but in a short time, they had dispersed sufficiently to give him a view of the colonel.

His ears had been cut off, and the blood was streaming down each side of his face. A terrible scene of torture now commenced. The warriors shot charges of powder into his naked body, commencing with the calves of his legs and continuing to his neck. The boys snatched the burning hickory poles and applied them to his flesh. As fast as he ran round the stake, to avoid one party of tormentors, he was promptly met at every turn by others, with burning poles, red hot irons, and rifles loaded with powder only; so that in a few minutes nearly one hundred charges of powder had been shot into his body, which had become black and blistered in a terrible manner. The squaws would take a quantity of coals and hot ashes and throw them upon his body, so that in a few minutes he had nothing but fire to walk upon. In the extremity of his agony, the unhappy colonel called aloud upon Girty, in tones which rang through Knight's brain with maddening effect-"Girty! Girty!! Shoot me through the heart! Quick!-Quick!! Do not refuse me ! !" "Don't you see I have no gun, colonel ?” replied the monster, bursting into a loud laugh, and then turning to an Indian beside him, he uttered some brutal jests upon the naked and miserable appearance of the prisoner.

The terrible scene had now lasted nearly two hours, and Crawford had become much exhausted. He walked slowly around the stake, spoke in a low tone, and earnestly besought God to look with compassion upon him and pardon his sins. His nerves had lost much of their sensibility and he no longer shrunk from the fire-brands with which they incessantly touched

him. At length he sunk in a fainting fit upon his face and lay motionless. Instantly an Indian sprung upon his back, knelt lightly upon one knee, made a circular incision with his knife upon the crown of his head, and clapping the knife between his teeth, tore the scalp off with both hands! Scarcely had this been done, when a withered hag approached with a board full of burning embers, and poured them upon the crown of his head, now laid bare to the bone! The colonel groaned deeply, arose, and again walked slowly around the stake!! Nature at length could do no more, and at a late hour of the night, death released him from the hand of his cruel tormentors.

He resolved, if

The awful torture which Crawford had undergone, made a deep impression upon the mind of Knight. possible, to make his escape, and this he did in

ful manner, before reaching Shawanee town.

a most wonder

The particulars

Thus

of his last adventure, are omitted for want of room. ended the lamented expedition of Colonel William Crawford; rashly undertaken, injudiciously prosecuted, and terminating with almost unprecedented calamity.

Soon after this, a treaty was concluded with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas, when the United States acquired the title of those tribes to all the land east, west and south of a line drawn from the mouth of Cuyahoga up that river to the Tuscarawas portage, and to the forks of the Tuscarawas above Fort Lawrence; thence to Loramies, thence to the Maumee, and thence with that river to Lake Erie. The territory thus ceded, included about three-fourths of the present state of Ohio. In May, 1785, Congress proceeded to provide by ordinance for the future survey and sale of the public domain in the west. The land was directed to be divided into townships of six miles square, by lines running north and south and intersected by other lines at right angles. These townships

were subdivided into sections, each containing a square mile, or six hundred and forty acres; and each range was to be numbered from south to north, commencing on the Ohio river. The ranges were to be distinguished by progressive numbers westward, the first resting upon the western boundary of Pennsylvania as a base-line.

In 1786, a company, called the "Ohio Company,” was organized in New England, and entered into a contract with Congress for the purchase of a million and a half acres, lying on the Ohio and including the mouth of the Muskingum and the Hockhocking, at the price of one million of dollars. The members of the company were most of them officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army, who proposed to seek in the western wilderness, the means of retrieving their shattered fortunes—or at least, a home and a subsistence. The purchase money they intended to pay in continental certificates, with which many of them had been paid for their military services, and which were then much depreciated in value. The contract was executed in November, 1787. The next year, 1788, the first permanent settlement in Ohio was made at Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum. Congress then proceeded to form the first territorial government, and General Arthur St. Clair, a citizen of Pennsylvania, who had been a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary army, and enjoyed the full confidence of Washington, was appointed governor and commander-in-chief. Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchel Varnum and John Armstrong, were appointed judges; and Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory. The first acts of territorial legislation were passed at Marietta, the only American settlement north-west of the Ohio.

In October, 1788, John Cleves Symmes, in behalf of himself and his associates, contracted with Congress for the purchase of a million of acres of land adjoining the Ohio and between the Great

and Little Miami; but, in consequence of his failure to make due payments, the greater part of this tract afterwards reverted to Congress. Only 248,540 acres became the property of the contractors. Not long after the completion of his contract, Symmes sold the site of Cincinnati to Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, who entered into a contract with Colonel Patterson and Mr. Filson, of Kentucky, for laying out a town. Filson, however, was killed by the Indians before he entitled himself to any proprietary right under the agreement, and his interest in the contract was transferred to Israel Ludlow.

On the 26th of December, 1788, Patterson and Ludlow with a small party, arrived at the site of the projected settlement. In course of the winter, a town was surveyed and laid out by Colonel Ludlow; and the courses of the streets of the future city were marked on the trees of the primeval forest. The name first given to the place was Losantiville-a barbarous compound, intended to signify "a town opposite the mouth of the Licking;" but this name was soon after changed to Cincinnati. The site selected, was extremely beautiful. Seen in the summer, it presented a vast amphitheatre enclosed on all sides by hills, wooded to their summits. The Ohio-la belle riviere of the French-came into the valley from the north-east, and, sweeping gracefully around near its southern border, departed to the south-west. From the south, the Licking brought its moderate tribute just opposite to the selected site; and a little to the west, Mill creek flowed silently from the inland country to its confluence with the Ohio. The unaccustomed luxuriance of the vegetation, and the majestic size of the forest trees, covered with the thickest foliage, with which the wild grapevine was frequently intermingled, astonished and delighted the eye of the eastern emigrant. Even in winter, when the settlement was made, the scene though divested of its summer glories, was far from being unattractive or uninteresting. The

climate, it is true, was inclement; but that very inclemency was a protection against savage incursions. Game of every description abounded in the woods, and the waters teemed with fish. The emigrants, therefore, had little experience of the hardships usually encountered in the first settlement of a wilderness.

On the first of June, 1789, Major Doughty arrived at Cincinnati, with one hundred and forty soldiers. A lot containing fifteen acres, sloping from the upper bank to the river, selected, on which Fort Washington was built.

was

At the general pacification of 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, there were several stipulations upon both sides, which were not complied with. Great Britain had agreed, as speedily as possible, to evacuate all the north-western posts which lay within the boundaries of the United States; while on the other hand, Congress had stipulated that no legal impediments should be thrown in the way, in order to prevent the collection of debts due to British merchants before the de

claration of war. Large importations had been made by American merchants, upon credit, in 1773 and 1774; and as civil intercourse between the two countries had ceased until the return of peace, the British creditors were unable to collect their dues. Upon the final ratification of the treaty, they naturally became desirous of recovering their property, while their debtors, as naturally, were desirous of avoiding payment. But when Congress recommended the payment of all debts to the legislatures, the legislatures determined that it was inexpelient to comply. The British creditor complained to his government; the government remonstrated with Congress upon so flagrant a breach of one of the articles of pacification; Congress appealed to the legislatures; the legislatures were deaf and obstinate, and there the matter rested. When the question was agitated as to the evacuation of the posts, the British in