efully
remembered. He, with his two or three hundred Kentuckians, marched
through that country, as Senator Daniel described, and subdued the
British. Virginia is entitled to the honor of having this son;
but it was George Rogers Clark who gave the United States its title
to the northwest. The Indians, however, had possession, and how
was their title to be disposed of? A treaty was made at Fort
Harmar, and plans were adopted to get possession of the Indian
land. The Indians always claimed they were cheated in the treaty,
defining the boundary line between them and the white men. Therefore,
Indian wars came on. St. Clair was defeated by the British and
Indians combined. The British were always at the back of every
hostile movement that has been made in the history of our country.
In Judge Burnett's "Notes of the Northwest Territory" there is a
full account of how white men, step by step, gained possession of
this territory.

The Indian tribes made bold and aggressive efforts to hold Ohio.
They defeated in succession the armies of St. Clair and Harmar,
but were compelled to yield to the invincible force of General
Wayne and his army. It is painful and pathetic to follow the futile
efforts of the Indians to hold the northwest, their favorite hunting
grounds. They were told that only a little land was wanted for
some poor white settlers to keep them from starving. They were
offered $50,000 in money, and $50,000 annually for twenty years,
for the southern part of Ohio. The council adjourned until the
next day. When it convened an old chief said that "Great Spirit"
had appeared to them and told them a way in which all their troubles
could be ended. "Let our Great Father give to the few poor white
settlers among us the money you offer to us and let them go back
from whence they came and be rich and happy." Colonel Wayne could
not answer this logic, and the Indians were compelled to submit to
their fate and ceded one-half of Ohio. In concluding I said:

"In the history of Ohio we have passed through three or four stages.
First was the struggle with the Indians. This generation has not
realized it, but I have lived long enough to know something about
it in the northern part of Ohio. I saw the last Indian tribe leave
the soil of Ohio in 1843, the Wyandotte Nation. There was but the
feeble remnant of the most powerful tribe in the world. The next
period was the clearing of log cabins. Every homestead was a l