were the foremost men of all the states,
the Revolutionary stock that won independence, who carried their
love of liberty and the principles and instincts of their localities
to a soil more fertile than any of the old states, and with natural
resources, climate and facilities for settlement and civilization
as favorable as any within their reach. The limits of this sketch
will not permit details of the progress of this migration. The
first difficulty it encountered was the toilsome way to the promised
land. All roads, such as they were, crossed the Alleghany Mountains,
or followed the longer route by the lakes. A voyage now easily
made in a day then occupied sixty days on foot or on horseback,
and every article of civilized life had to be transported with
painful labor over rude paths and roads, relieved sometimes by
barges and canoes on creeks and rivers.

When the first pioneers reached their destination, their land was
already occupied. Every part of Ohio was then in the possession
of Indians. The war they had maintained with the pioneers of
Kentucky only prepared them for the desperate struggle with new
invaders. The first settlement of the New England colony was made
in Marietta, April, 1788. From that day to the close of the war
with Great Britain in 1815 there were hostilities in some part of
Ohio with the Indians. There is not a county in Ohio that was not
at some time the scene of a battle with the Indians, or a skirmish,
or a massacre.

The interesting "Historical Collections," recently published by
Henry Howe, give many details of this local warfare. But, aside
from the danger that lurked at all times over the cabin of the
pioneer, there were more regular battles with the Indians fought
on the soil of Ohio than in any other state of the Union. The
defeat of General Harmer with 1,300 men, in 1790, in two battles
in the Scioto valley, laid open to predatory warfare all the
settlements in Ohio, and some in Kentucky. Every attempt at
negotiations was defeated by British interference.

In the following year, 1791, a force of over 2,000 men was organized
at Cincinnati under General St. Clair, and marched against the
Indians at the head waters of the Maumee. While encamped they were
attacked by the Indians and ignominiously defeated, losing a large
number of officers and men. They retreated in disorder, abandoning
their baggage and artillery, and throwing away their arms and
accoutrements. The lo