though he and his offspring were in poverty, and the children of his relative, who had deceived and plundered him, were living in affluence, on the spoils of his fortune, he told Mr. Burnet in one of their last conversations, that he would not exchange situations with them for the wealth of the world. "I am," said he, "blessed with health-I have a quiet conscience-I can sleep calmly, and am contented."

Gov. Vance, of Ohio, was a warm personal friend of the unfortunate, but highly meritorious pioneer; and had succeeded in getting a bill through the House of Representatives, granting him a pension, at two successive sessions, before Mr. B. became a member of the Senate. When these friends of Kenton met at Washington City, in 1828, they determined to make another effort, in his behalf. Gen. Vance undertook to renew the application in the House, and get a bill passed at as early a period in the session, as was possible; and Mr. B. engaged to give it a zealous support in the Senate. Mr. Vance redeemed his pledge, and carried the bill through the House. It came to the Senate late in the session, and was referred to the appropriate committee. Mr. B. advocated it before the committee at their room, and was so fortunate as to satisfy them, that it was just, and to induce them to report it back, with their opinion, that it ought to pass.

When it came on the calendar, there was such a long list of orders standing before it, and having preference, that there was no hope of getting it taken up during the session, unless those preceding it, were postponed by the Senate. A motion was made for that purpose by Mr. B. which fortunately succeeded. The bill was then taken up, as in Committee of the Whole, and it was insisted, that the case did not come within the provisions of any of the pension laws, on the statute book, and the strict constructionists opposed it on that ground. They alledged, that it would form a dangerous precedent, if it should be passed.

Their opposition, however, was overcome, by a full exhi

bition of the services and sufferings of the applicant. It was shown, that his life had been a succession of exposure and privation in defending the frontier settlements, from the desperate battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774, to the last victory of Harrison, on the Thames. The friends of the measure, contended that if Kenton's case should become a precedent, it could not be a dangerous one, because it was sui generis, and without a parallel; but that if there were other cases of equal heroism and suffering, they would form a new class, as meritorious as any of those, which had been provided for by law.

During the discussion, the feelings of Gen. Smith, of Baltimore, became warmly enlisted. He made a brief appeal to the humanity and justice of the Senate, in favor of the bill, in which he declared very emphatically, that if there was not a law for the relief of such heroes as Kenton, there ought to be one; but whether or not, he would give him a pension. The bill passed, by a large majority, and as it referred back to the date of the first application, and directed the pension to be paid from that time, it gave him an ample support for the remnant of his life.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Mr. John Reily.-Serves in the Army of the South during the Revolution.His claim to the gratitude of the country.-Removes to the North-western Territory.-View of the Territory.-Pioneer life.-Sketch of the services of Mr. Reily in the West.-His uprightness and integrity,.-Neglect of the pioneers to preserve accurate records.-The ill consequences.

MR. JOHN REILY, one of the small band who assembled under Major Stites, in the fall of 1788, to commence the settlement of Columbia, was not only a Western pioneer, but had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, from an early period after its commencement to its final close. He enlisted in North Carolina, his native State, and was afterwards ordered to join the army of the South, under Gen. Green, in which he continued to serve during the three exhausting campaigns which ensued, and until the splendid victory over the British at the Eutaw Springs had covered the army with glory. That brilliant affair, in which Mr. Reily was distinguished by his bravery and good conduct, was near the close of the Revolutionary struggle, and so crippled the enemy in the South as to deter them from any further efforts in that quarter.

Every body who knows Mr. Reily personally, must have remarked the diffidence with which he refers to himself, and with what reluctance he speaks of the transactions of his life; especially those which were attended with personal danger and privation, or were productive of beneficial results to the community or to individuals. It has often been remarked, that when his attention has been called by a question, or otherwise, to some interesting event of his life,

for the purpose of eliciting information, he has manifested much embarrassment, resulting from an unwillingness to become the herald of his own fame; hence it is, in part, that his friends have not learned more of the interesting incidents of his long and useful life.

Nothing is wanting but a correct biographical sketch of him to place his name with the names of those who in all time to come, ought to be remembered as patriots and devoted friends to their country. Services like his, which commenced in the most gloomy period of the Revolution, while he was yet a minor, and were performed in a part of the country in which the army was exposed to incessant toil and suffering, in an unhealthy climate, cannot be valued too highly, or repeated too frequently. It is now but very seldom that persons are met with who were engaged in the movements and events of the great struggle which made our country independent. The mass of them, probably ninety-nine in a hundred, have been gathered to their fathers; and the few who remain, with here and there an exception, are compelled by the debility of age to withdraw from active life. There are, however, some yet living who at the Declaration of Independence had acquired enough of the strength of manhood to grapple with the enemy.

That Mr. Reily was of that number, appears from the records of the War-office, and the certificate of an honorable discharge under the hand and seal of Washington.— The writer was not one of the adventurers who commenced the occupancy of the Miami valley, in 1788, though he soon followed, and became one of their number before much progress had been made in the accomplishment of their great object.

When Mr. Reily selected the North-western Territory as his permanent home, it wore the rich, beautiful garb which nature had given it, neither disturbed nor marred by the hand of art. Its great fertility was seen in the exuberance and variety of its productions. Its forests and natural

meadows, filled with game of the finest varieties, seemed to have no limits. Its only inhabitants were the aborigines, whose ancestors had owned and occupied it during a long succession of ages. This they learned from tradition. They knew that the country was theirs, and that the white man was an intruder-nor did they doubt for a moment their ability to maintain their rights. Hence their intercourse with the pioneers, in the first instance, was of a friendly character. At that period of their history they were comparatively a moral people—if they professed friendship they were kind and faithful; but if otherwise they were ferocious and cruel.

At first it was not difficult to win their confidence, and, that point gained, the pioneers felt themselves safe. This security, however, continued but for a very short time. The British government, which was then withholding from the United States the forts of Maumee, Detroit, and Mackinaw, in violation of the treaty of 1783, saw the efforts the Americans were making to settle and improve the North-western Territory, and were alarmed at the power and influence which they would obtain over the Indians by the completion of that plan. They saw, also, as a matter of course, that it would soon compel them to relinquish the posts and retire within their own territory, and they determined, if practicable, to defeat it.

The most effectual way of accomplishing that object was to poison the minds of the Indians, which they did through the instrumentality of their agents, by telling them that the people of the United States were their natural enemies— that they were about to seize their lands and drive them beyond the Lakes, and that their only chance for safety was to crush the American project in its commencement. These appeals produced the desired effect, and the consequence was that when the pioneers were beginning to gain the confidence and friendship of the natives, their progress