Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/69

 HISTORY OF OHIO.

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��they controlled the Mississippi River, they allowed an American officer ( Capt. Willing) to descend the river in January, 1778, with a party of fifty men, and ravage the British shore from Manchez Bayou to Natchez.

On the 8th of May, 1779, Spain declared war against Great Britain; and, on the 8th of July, the people of Louisiana were allowed to take a part in the war. Accordingly, Gralvez collected a force of 1,400 men, and, on the 7th of September, took Fort Manchac. By the 21st of September, he had taken Baton Rouge and Natchez. Eight vessels were captured by the Spaniards on the Mississippi and on the lakes. In 1780 Mobile fell ; in March, 1781, Pensacola, the chief British post in West Florida, succumbed after a long siege, and, on the 9th of May, all West Florida was surrendered to Spain.

This war, or the war on the Atlantic Coast, did not immediately affect Upper Louisiana. Great Britain, however, attempted to capture St. Louis. Though the commander was strongly suspected of being bribed by the English, yet the place stood the siege from the combined force of Indians and Canadians, and the assailants were dispersed. This was done during the summer of 1680, and in the autumn, a company of Spanish and French resi- dents, under La Balme, went on an expedition against Detroit. They marched as far north as the British trading-post Ke-ki-ong-a, at the head of the Maumee River, but being surprised in the night, and the commander slain, the expedition was defeated, having done but little.

Spain may have had personal interests in aiding the Americans. She was now in control of the Mis- sissippi River, the natural outlet of the Northwest, and, in 1780, began the troubles relative to the navigation of that stream. The claims of Spain were considered very unjust by the Continental Congress, and, while deliberating over the question, Virginia, who was jealously alive to her Western interests, and who yet held jurisdiction over Ken- tucky, sent through Jefferson, the Governor, Gen. George Rogers Clarke, to erect a fort below the mouth of the Ohio. This proceeding was rather unwarrantable, especially as the fort was built in the country of the Chickasaws, who had thus far been true friends to the Americans, and who looked upon the fort as an innovation on their territory. It was completed and occupied but a short time, Clarke being recalled.

Virginia, in 1780, did a very important thing; namely, establishing an institution for higher edu-

��cation. The Old Dominion confiscated the lands of "Robert McKenzie, Henry Collins and Alex- ander McKee, Biitons, eight thousand acres," and invested the proceeds of the sale in a public semi- nary. Transylvania University now lives, a monu- ment to that spirit.

AVhile Clarke was building Fort Jefferson, a force of British and Indians, under command of Capt. Bryd, came down from Canada and attacked the Kentucky settlements, getting into the country be- fore any one was aware. The winter before had Ijeen one of unusual severity, and game was ex ceedingly scarce, hence the army was not prepared to conduct a campaign. After the capture of Rud- dle's Station, at the south fork of the Licking, Bryd abandoned any further attempts to reduce the set- tlements, except capturing Martin's Station, and returned to Detroit.

This expedition gave an additional motive for the chastisement of the Indians, and Clarke, on his return from Fort Jefferson, went on an expedition against the Miami Indians. He destroyed their towns at Loramie's store, near the present city of Sydney, Ohio, and at Piqua, humbling the natives. While on the way, a part of the army remained on the north bank of the Ohio, and erected two block-houses on the present site of Cincinnati.

The exploits of Clarke and his men so effectually chastised the Indians, that, for a time, the West was safe. During this period of quiet, the meas- ures which led to the cession of Western lands to the General Government, began to assume a defi- nite form. All the colonies claiming Western lands were willing to cede them to the Government, save Virginia, which colony wanted a large scope of Southern country southeast of the Ohio, as far as South Carolina. All recognized the justice of all Western lands becoming public property, and thereby aiding in extinguishing the debts caused by the war of the Revolution, now about to close. As Virginia held a somewhat different view, the cession was not made until 1788.

The subject, however, could not be allowed to rest. The war of the Revolution was now drawing to a close ; victory on the part of the colonies was apparent, and the Western lands must be a part of the public domain. Subsequent events brought about the desired cession, though several events transpired before the plan of cession was consum- mated.

Before the close of 1780, the Legislature of Virginia passed an act, establishing the "town of Louisville," and confiscated the lands of John

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