Benjamin of Ohio: A Story of the Settlement of Marietta — John Shaqi
Benjamin of Ohio: A Story of the Settlement of MariettaOtis, James
History
Benjamin of Ohio: A Story of the Settlement of Marietta
Otis, James
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ohio; Marietta (Ohio); Northwest, Old -- History
Among other things, he told us of the enormous fields of corn which
had been planted, described to us the cabins our people had built,
which were little more than low huts covered in with walnut bark, and
declared that the houses and the corn seemed to grow at the same time,
although the corn speedily overshadowed the small dwellings, for it
grew so tall that one had to stand on tiptoes to break off an ear,
while in Massachusetts it was often necessary for a farmer to stoop.
[Illustration: Ohio Cornfields.]
"One could as easily be lost in a cornfield on a cloudy day as in a
cedar swamp," Parson Cutler said, and then went on to tell how much
like a forest were these fields, where the green grain grew above one's
head with leaves so huge as to shut out all rays of light from one
furrow to another.
He rather dampened the ardor of some of the women when he said that the
surveyors were forced to do their work under the protection of a guard
of armed men, for fear of prowling Indians, and the children looked
at each other in alarm as he told of one of the settlers who had been
bitten, when asleep, by a copperhead snake.
THE GOVERNOR AND JUDGES
We heard also from Parson Cutler that General Arthur St. Clair had
been appointed governor of the Ohio district. He was a citizen of
Pennsylvania, had been a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary
army, and president of Congress, in addition to which he stood high
in the confidence of Washington. Samuel H. Parsons of Connecticut,
and James M. Varnum of Massachusetts, both of whom were directors in
the Ohio Company, and John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey had been made
judges, with Winthrop Sargent of New Hampshire as secretary of the
territory.
The judges arrived at Marietta in June, and on the 9th of July,
Governor St. Clair joined them. He was escorted by a detachment of
troops under Major Doughty, who had gone up to Pittsburgh from Fort
Harmar some days before to meet him, and was received with military
honors and a salute.
[Illustration: Governor greeted with rounds from fieldpiece.]
One of the soldiers afterward told me that when the governor landed he
was greeted with thirteen rounds from a fieldpiece. When he approached
the garrison, the music played a salute, the troops paraded and
presented their arms, and he was also welcomed by a clap of thunder
and a heavy shower of rain as he entered the fort. It seemed to
this soldier a very pleasant way of receiving the governor of a new
territory.
As might have been expected, Parson Cutler was enthusiastic in his
praise of our town of Marietta, and he read to us that which General
Washington himself had written, which was this:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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