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7. One gallon of oats

8. Half a pint of whisky, with sugar
9. One quart of strong beer

$4.00
8 00
4.00

The currency, Continental money, continued to diminish in value until 1787, when the charge for dinner was fixed by the court at twenty dollars; breakfast and supper at fifteen dollars.*

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At the close of the American war, Kentucky and Ohio exhibited great prosperity. "About the first of June, emigrants began to arrive by hundreds, and spread like a flood of fertilizing water over the whole country. Merchandise from Philadelphia and Baltimore, transported in wagons across the mountains, by way of Ligonier and Cumberland, to Pittsburgh and Brownsville, and thence boated down the Ohio, in keel-boats and arks, to Limestone and the falls, began to arrive in the new settlements. The same summer Kentucky was greeted with the first dry-goods store, opened in Louisville by Daniel Broadhead, from Brownsville, on the Monongahela. The second store was not opened until the following year, when Colonel James Wilkinson, of Maryland, also from Brownsville, opened the first drygoods store in Lexington.

"The population of all the settlements, up to the year 1783, exceeded twelve thousand souls. This number was greatly augmented by the daily arrivals during the succeeding summer; and the spring of 1784 found the entire number increased to more than twenty, and soon, thirty thousand souls.""

In the few last years of the eighteenth century, the whole western country was agitated and convulsed by party influences, many of which were hostile to the United States Government. Kentucky, in particular, experienced such perplexing difficulties by her remoteness from the seat of government of Virginia, from which it occupied three months for the orders of her governors to reach her, and by the obstructions to her navigation and commerce imposed by the Spanish authorities at New Orleans, she appeared ripe for some outbreak of a serious character. Informed of this dissatisfaction, the British and Spanish governments opened immediately their intrigues for the purpose of bringing all the West under the jurisdiction of Louisiana or of Canada. The French, too, were striving to throw down a force upon lower Louisiana, sufficient for its conquest and restoration to their arms. Never was there a more perilous period in the history of any country-more trying to patriotism-more dangerous to social order. Five distinet western parties are recorded at this period.

"1. In favor of forming a separate and independent Republic, under no special obligation of union, except such as might be most advantageous.

"2. In favor of entering into commercial arrangements with Spain, and of annexing Kentucky to Louisiana, with all the advantages offered.

"3. Opposed to any Spanish connection, and in favor of forcing the free navigation of the Mississippi by the arms of the United States, with the invasion of Louisiana and West Florida.

"4. In favor of soliciting France to claim a retrocession of Louisiana, and to extend her protection to Kentucky.

Monette's Val. Miss., Vol. II., p. 112.

+ Ibid., p. 143.

PITTSBURGH-CINCINNATI-NASHVILLE.

53

5. The strongest party, however, was in favor of a separation from Virginia, and admission into the Federal Union as a free and independent State, leaving it to the general government to regulate the Mississippi question with Spain.'

Pittsburgh, the great coal and iron city of the Valley, was simple Fort Pitt in 1783, an insignificant settlement. In 1786 the "Gazette" was published in its midst, the first newspaper west of the mountains. The town began a rapid growth and opened its commerce with New Orleans. It became a store-house for the western posts, and a depot for the western army. Western Pennsylvania had become an important region. Her superabundant corn descended the Mississippi in whisky. Horses, cattle and stock also descended, castings, cutlery for agriculture, &c. Everything went on encouragingly until an excise duty upon whisky, manufactured principally in the West, aroused the keenest sensibilities and hostilities of this region.

In 1787 Congress established a territorial government, including all possessions of the United States north-west of the Ohio river. The first court of justice in this region was convened in 1788. The ceremonies of opening this Court, are thus given by Dr. Monette, and are amusing enough:

A procession was formed on the point near the residence of the citizens; the sheriff, with a drawn sword, in advance, followed by the citizens, officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar, the members of the bar, the judges of the Supreme Court, the governor and a clergyman, with the judges of the newly organized Court of Common Pleas, in the order they are named.

Arriving at the hall of the Campus Martius, the whole procession was countermarched into it, and the judges Putnam and Tupper took their seats on the bench; the audience was seated, and, after the divine benediction was invoked by the Rev. Dr. Cutler, the high sheriff, Ebenezer Sproat, advanced to the door, and proclaimed aloud, "Oyes! Oyes! a court is opened for the administration of evenhanded justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case."

In 1790 the name of Cincinnati began first to be heard. It became "a centre of fashion and refinement;" frame houses began to appear, and in the course of the summer forty log cabins were added to the town. The site of the town remained a forest, partly leveled, with stumps and logs still evident.

Tennessee, which has become so important as to be second only in the value of its products to any State in the Union, had but a slender beginning. Even before the Revolution a few straggling parties from North Carolina had reached its limits; and it was not before 1778 that the jurisdiction of that State was extended regularly over it. The fame of this western region of the old North State, invited emigration from the East in flocks. "There is a charm in the virgin earth and the primeval forests of the West, which perfectly bewilders the mind of the emigrant from old and dense settlements." Nashville, so called in honor of the distinguished General Nash, was laid out in 1784. It was soon created into a State, and increased with extraordinary rapidity. "Tennessee has not inaptly been called the mother of States. From her bosom has issued more colonies for the peopling of the great Valley of the Mississippi than from any one Ibid., p. 247.

* Monette's Val. Miss., Vol. II., p. 184.

State in the American Union. Her emigrant citizens have formed a very important portion of the population of Alabama, of the northern half of Mississippi, and of Florida. They have also formed the principal portion of the early population of the States of Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas."

The twelfth chapter of the second volume of the " Valley of the Mississippi," traces the progress of Ohio from its infancy to its present proud stature and importance. We mark the gradual progress of population up the valleys of the Scioto and the Miamee on the western reserve, on the Maumee and the Wabash, the Illinois country, and the origin and growth of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chillicothe, Detroit, Marietta, etc. The picture which is drawn of the famous seat of Blannerhasset, will have a lively interest with all of our readers.

Among the emigrants to the North-western Territory during this year was Herman Blannerhasset, an accomplished gentleman and a man of fortune, from Ireland. Driven from his native country by political difficulties, he sought an asylum on the bosom of the beautiful Ohio. He purchased from Colonel Devoll, of Virginia, the island in that river, one mile below the mouth of the Little Kenhawa, and soon afterward commenced his improvements. As this has become classic ground in Ohio, it is worthy of a more detailed notice. Before the year 1801 had closed, Mr. Blannerhasset had erected a splendid mansion on the upper end of the island, and had surrounded it with fine pleasure-grounds, gardens, and orchards of choice fruit. His study was furnished with a large and well-selected library, an extensive philosophical apparatus, and everything which taste and learning could desire. A fine scholar, and well versed in languages, he spent much of his time in study, when not engaged in social intercourse with his intelligent neighbors from Belpre and Marietta. So tenacious was his memory, that he is said to have been able to repeat some of the books of Homer by rote in the original Greek. His wife was accomplished in all the acquirements of female elegance and learning: music, painting, drawing, and dancing were her amusements, and the social converse of cultivated minds and festive amusements of the young beguiled the happy hours. Surrounded with everything that could make existence desirable and happy, and cheered by a rising and brilliant family, his seat was almost a terrestrial paradise, as described by Wirt, until the acquaintance of Aaron Burr blasted every hope and ruined every source of enjoyment. This former paradise is now faintly commemorated in the solitary and desolate spot remaining of "Blannerhasset's Island." The mansion was consumed by fire in 1810, and since then every vestige of improvement has disappeared.*

The history of the territories of Mississippi and Orleans, the regions of Texas, and the North-west territory, extending to the Mississippi, present the concluding incidents of our sketch of the Mississippi Valley. We shall necessarily be brief upon these.

The Mississippi Territory.-This included the country surrendered by the Spanish authorities lying north of 31° latitude, and was organized in 1798. The Chattahoochy was its eastern, and the Mississippi its western limit. The first code of laws was adopted in 1801 and 1802. The first newspaper, established in 1802 by Colonel Andrew Marschalk, was the "Natchez Gazette," and was continued by him for forty years, under different names.

"Among the incidents in the early history of the Mississippi Territory, was the violent death of the notorious robber, Mason. This fearless bandit had become the terror of the routes from New Orleans and Natchez through the Indian nations. After the organization of the territorial government, and the opening of roads through the wil

* Monette's Val. Miss., Vol. II., p. 324.

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derness to Tennessee, the return of traders, supercargoes and boatmen, to the northern settlements with the proceeds of their voyage, was on foot and on horseback, in parties for mutual protection, through the Indian nations; and often rich treasures of specie were packed on mules and horses over these long and toilsome journeys. Nor was it a matter of surprise, in a dreary wilderness, that bandits should infest such a route. It was in the year 1802, when all travel and intercourse from New Orleans and the Mississippi Territory was necessarily by way of this solitary trace, or by the slow-ascending barge and keel, that Mason made his appearance in the Mississippi Territory.

"Long accustomed to robbery and murder upon the Lower Ohio, during the Spanish dominion on the Mississippi, and pressed by the rapid approach of the American population, he deserted the Cave in the Rock,' on the Ohio, and began to infest the great Natchez Trace, where the rich proceeds of the river trade were the tempting prize, and where he soon became the terror of every peaceful traveler, through the wilderness. Associated with him were his two sons, and a few other desperate miscreants; and the name of Mason and his band was known and dreaded from the morasses of the southern frontier to the silent shades of the Tennessee river. The outrages of Mason became more frequent and sanguinary. One day found him marauding on the banks of the Pearl, against the life and fortune of the trader; and before pursuit was organized, the hunter, attracted by the descending sweep of the solitary vulture, learned the story of another robbery and murder on the remote shores of the Mississippi. Their depredations became at last so frequent and daring, that the people of the territory were driven to adopt measures for their apprehension. But such was the knowledge of the wilderness possessed by the wily bandit, and such his untiring vigilance and activity, that for a time he battled every effort for his capture.

"Treachery, at last, however, effected what stratagem, enterprise, and courage had in vain attempted. A citizen of great respectability, passing with his sons through the wilderness, was plundered by the bandits. Their lives were, however, spared, and they returned to the settlement. Public feeling was now excited, and the governor of the territory found it necessary to act. Governor Claiborne accordingly offered a liberal reward for the robber, Mason, dead or alive! The proclamation was widely distributed, and a copy of it reached Mason himself, who indulged in much merriment on the occasion. Two of his band, however, tempted by the large reward, concerted a plan by which they might obtain it. An opportunity soon occurred; and while Mason, in company with the two conspirators, was counting out some ill-gotten plunder, a tomahawk was buried in his brain. His head was severed from his body and borne in triumph to Washington, then the seat of the territorial government.

The head of Mason was recognized by many, and identified by all who read the proclamation, as the head entirely corresponded with the description given of certain scars and peculiar marks. Some delay, however, occurred in paying over the reward, owing to the slender state of the treasury. Meantime, a great assemblage from all the adjacent country had taken place, to view the grim and ghastly head of the robber chief. They were not less inspired with curiosity

to see and converse with the individual whose prowess had delivered the country from so great a scourge. Among those spectators were the two young men, who, unfortunately for these traitors, recognized them as companions of Mason in the robbery of their father.

"It is unnecessary to say that treachery met its just reward, and that justice was also satisfied. The reward was not only withheld, but the robbers were imprisoned, and, on the full evidence of their guilt, condemned and executed at Greenville, Jefferson county.

"The band of Mason, being thus deprived of their leader and two of his most efficient men, dispersed, and fled the country. Thus terminated the terrors which had infested the route through the Indian nations, known to travelers as the Natchez and Nashville Trace.'"* In 1803, when the surrender of Louisiana to the United States was expected, men of all grades, professions and pursuits, flocked to Mississippi, with the intention of descending, at the first opportunity, to New Orleans., Natchez became a place of much importance. It was

a large village, consisting chiefly of small, wooden buildings, of one story, distributed over an irregular, undulating surface, with but little regard to system or cleanliness.†

The following extract from the deposition of William Eaton, is all that we can give in relation to the designs of the celebrated Aaron Burr, so famous in the memory of the West.

He now laid open his project of revolutionizing the western country, separating it from the Union, establishing a monarchy there, of which he was to be the sovereign, New Orleans to be his capital; organizing a force on the waters of the Mississippi, and extending conquest to Mexico. I suggested a number of impediments to his scheme, such as the republican habits of the citizens of that country, and their affection toward our present administration of government; the want of funds; the resistance he would meet from the regular army of the United States on those frontiers; and the opposition of Miranda in case he should succeed to republicanize the Mexicans.

Mr. Burr talked of the establishment of an independent government west of the Alleghany, as a matter of inherent constitutional right of the people; a change which would eventually take place, and for the operation of which the present crisis was peculiarly favorable. There was, said he, no energy in the government to be dreaded, and the divisions of political opinions throughout the Union, was a circumstance of which we should profit. There were very many enterprising men among us who aspired to something beyond the dull pursuits of civil life, and who would volunteer in this enterprise; and the vast territory belonging to the United States, which, offered to adventurers, and the mines of Mexico, would bring strength to his standard from all quarters. I listened to the exposition of Colonel Burr's views with seeming acquiescence. Every interview convinced me more and more that he had organized a deep-laid plot of treason in the West, in the accomplishment of which he felt fully confident; till at length I discovered that his ambition was not bounded by the waters of the Mississippi and Mexico, but that he meditated overthrowing the present government of our country. He said if he could gain over the marine corps, and secure the naval commanders, Truxton, Preble, Decatur, and others, he would turn Congress neck and heels out of doors; assassinate the President; seize on the treasury and the navy, and declare himself the protector of an energetic government. The honorable trust of corrupting the marine corps, and of sounding Commodore Preble and Captain Decatur, Colonel Burr proposed confiding to me. Shocked at this proposition, I dropped the mask, and exclaimed against his views. He talked of the degraded

* Monette's Val. Miss., vol. II., pp. 531, 532, 533.

"Cotton Re

↑ Dr. Monette notices a curious currency in Mississippi at this time. ceipts," negotiable by law, as bills of exchange or money. They represented so much cotton deposited in public gins for cleaning, as the farmers were generally too poor to have private gins of their own.

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