Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/30

 The Five Nations claimed the territory in question by right of conquest, and, though professing friendship to the English, watched them with jealous eyes. In 1684, and again in 1726, that con- federacy made cessions of lands to the English, and these treaties and cessions of lands were regarded as sufficient title by the English, and were insisted on in all subsequent treaties with the Western Nations. The following statements were collected by Col. Charles Whittlesey, which show the principal treaties made with the red men wherein land in Ohio was ceded by them to the whites:

In September, 1726, the Iroquois, or Six Nations, at Albany, ceded all their claims west of Lake Erie and sixty miles in width along the south shore of Lakes Erie and Ontario, from the Cuyahoga to the Oswego River.

In 1744, this same nation made a treaty at Lancaster, Penn., and ceded to the English all their lands "that may be within the colony of Virginia."

In 1752, this nation and other Western tribes made a treaty at Logstown, Penn., wherein they confirmed the Lancaster treaty and consented to the settlements south of the Ohio River.

February 13, 1763, a treaty was made at Paris, France, between the French and English, when Canada and the eastern half of the Mississippi Valley were ceded to the English.

In 1783, all the territory south of the Lakes, and east of the Mississippi, was ceded by England to America — the latter country then obtaining its independence — by which means the country was gained by America.

October 24, 1784, the Six Nations made a treaty, at Fort Stanwix, N. Y., with the Americans, and ceded to them all the country claimed by the tribe, west of Pennsylvania.

In 1785, the Chippewas, Delawares, Ottawas, and Wyandots ceded to the United States, at Fort Mcintosh, at the mouth of the Big Beaver, all their claims east and south of the "Cayahaga," the Portage Path, and the Tuscarawas, to Fort Laurens (Bolivar), thence to Loramie's Fort (in Shelby County); thence along the Portage Path to the St. Mary's River and down it to the "Omee," or Maumee, and along the lake shore to the "Cayahaga."

January 3, 1786, the Shawanees, at Fort Fin- ney, near the mouth of the Great Miami (not owning the land on the Scioto occupied by them), were allotted a tract at the heads of the two Miamis and the Wabash, west of the Chippewas, Delawares and Wyandots.

February 9, 1789, the Iroquois made a treaty at Fort Harmar, wherein they confirmed the Fort Stanwix treaty. At the same time, the Chippewas, Ottawas, Delawares, and Wyandots — to which the Sauks and Pottawatomies assented — confirmed the treaty made at Fort Mcintosh.

Period of war now existed till 1795.

August 3, 1795, Gen. Anthony Wayne, on behalf of the United States, made a treaty with twelve tribes, confirming the boundaries established by the Fort Harmar and Fort Mcintosh treaties, and extended the boundary to Fort Recovery and the mouth of the Kentucky River.

In June, 1796, the Senecas, represented by Brant, ceded to the Connecticut Land Company their rights east of the Cuyahoga.

In 1805, at Fort Industry, on the Maumee, the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Shawanees, Menses, and Pottawatomies relinquished all their lands west of the Cuyahoga, as far west as the western line of the Reserve, and south of the line from Fort Laurens to Loramie's Fort.

July 4, 1807, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyan- dots, and Pottawatomies, at Detroit, ceded all that part of Ohio north of the Maumee River, with part of Michigan.

November 25, 1808, the same tribes with the Shawanees, at Brownstone, Mich., granted the Government a tract of land two miles wide, from the west line of the Reserve to the rapids of the Maumee, for the purpose of a road through the Black Swamp.

September 18, 1815, at Springwells, near Detroit, the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Wyandots, Delawares, Senecas and Miamis, having been engaged in the war of 1812 on the British side, were confined in the grants made at Fort Mcintosh and Greenville in 1785 and 1795.

September 29, 1817, at the rapids of the Maumee, the Wyandots ceded their lands west of the line of 1805, as far as Loramie's and the St. Mary's River and north of the Maumee. The Pottawatomies, Chippewas, and Ottawas ceded the territory west of the Detroit line of 1807, and north of the Maumee.

October 6, 1818, the Miamis, at St. Mary's, made a treaty in which they surrendered the remaining Indian territory in Ohio, north of the Greenville treaty line and west of St. Mary's River.

The numerous treaties of peace with the Western Indians for the delivery of prisoners were —