André Michaux's Travels into Kentucky, 1793-96; François André Michaux's Travels West of Alleghany Mountains, 1802; Thaddeus Mason Harris's Journal of a Tour Northwest of Alleghany Mountains, 1803.

[1] General Rufus Putnam (born in Massachusetts, 1738) served in the French and Indian War, and later with distinction in the Revolution. He is best known to history as the superintendent of the Ohio Company and the founder of the soldier-colony at Marietta. Self-educated, and rising to prominence by force of will and character, his accomplishments in engineering and surveying, and his services to Western development, were valuable. Washington appointed him surveyor-general for the United States (1793), which position he held for ten years, when removed as a Federalist by Jefferson. His interests during all the later years of his life were bound up with those of Ohio and the Marietta settlement. At his death (1824) he was (with the exception of Lafayette) the last surviving general officer of the Revolutionary army.—​Ed.

[2] Beckford. History of Jamaica, vol. i. p. 191.—​Harris.

[3] Harris travelled westward by the Pennsylvania State Road, the great thoroughfare to the Western country. It was completed about 1785, and passed west from Carlisle through Shippensburg, Strasburg, and Bedford. Beyond Bedford the road forked, and Harris took the lower, or Glade Road. Michaux had gone out the preceding year by the northern branch, also reaching Carlisle by a different route. For a more detailed description than Michaux gives, see Cuming, Sketches of a Tour of the Western Country (Pittsburg, 1810), which will be republished as vol. iv of the present series.—​Ed.

[4] Harris is mistaken in his derivation of the term “Burnt Cabins.” Little Meadows is nearly a hundred miles west of this place. Burnt Cabins took its name from the dispossession of the settlers by the Pennsylvania authorities in 1750. About ten years previous, groups of Scotch-Irish had begun to push over the Susquehanna into the attractive basin of the Juniata, which was still unpurchased Indian territory. The aborigines were so incensed that a deputation went to Philadelphia to protest, and an Indian war appeared imminent. The government sent out a commission headed by Secretary Peters, and including George Croghan and Conrad Weiser as members, to drive off the intruders and burn their cabins. The official report is found in Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 440-449. The settlers themselves aided in the work, and Peters remarked, “It may be proper to add, that the Cabbins or Log Houses which were burnt were of no considerable Value, being such as the Country People erect in a Day or two, and cost only the Charge of an Entertainment [i.e., a log-rolling].” An Indian war was thus averted. The locality has retained its name of Burnt Cabins to the present day.—​Ed.

[5] This is a misprint for Bedford County, in which East and West Providence townships are situated.—​Ed.

[6] See Gen. Braddock’s letter to Sir T. Robinson, June 5th, 1755.—​Harris.

[7] Harris’s allusions to the various roads are confusing and misleading. The road (Pennsylvania State) which he left to the north, passing through Ligonier and Greensburg, followed in the main the route cut (1758) for Forbes’s army. Braddock’s Road lay much to the south of this, going out from Fort Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac. The question of the availability of these two roads was a point at issue during Forbes’s campaign. See Hulbert, Historic Highways of America (Cleveland, 1903), vols. iv, v. Harris took neither Forbes’s Road, nor Braddock’s (later the line of the Cumberland National Road), but what was locally known as the “Old Glade Road,” a branch of Forbes’s Road, leaving the latter four miles beyond Bedford, and crossing to the Youghiogheny through Somerset and Mount Pleasant.—​Ed.

[8] The Old Glade Road, also locally known as the Jones’s Mill Road, received legislative appropriations during the early part of the nineteenth century, and was quite as popular as its northern rival, the State Road. It crossed the Youghiogheny at what is now known as West Newton, Westmoreland County. The term Budd’s Ferry is found upon a map of 1792; but in the early part of the century it was usually spoken of as Robbstown, from the name of the first proprietor. The road is now known as the “Wellersburg and West Newton plank.”—​Ed.

[9] Letter to Sir T. Robinson, June 5, 1755.—​Harris.

[10] The Youghiogheny is said to owe its name to the Kanawha Indians, and to signify “four streams;” that is, the three branches—​Laurel Hill Creek, the northern; Castleman’s River, the middle, or southeast fork; and the South fork—​unite to form the fourth or main stream of the river. The point of intersection was appropriately named Turkey’s Foot, and at the site is the present town of Confluence, Somerset County.—​Ed.

[11] The name of these falls in the Youghiogheny River probably signifies “beautiful cascade.” At present the total descent is thirty-six feet, and the direct fall sixteen. The cascade is utilized for water-power at the present Falls City, Fayette County. For sketch of Rittenhouse, see Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 51.—​Ed.

[12] For note on Elizabethtown, see F. A. Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 162.—​Ed.

[13] Partly from a little pamphlet, published at Pittsburg, called “The Ohio Navigator,” with such other remarks as my own observation and inquiries could supply.—​Harris.

[14] For the early history of Morgantown, see F. A. Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 162.—​Ed.

[15] Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia.—​Harris.

[16] The citation from Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia ends with the word “seasons.” Jefferson does, however, discuss the portage from the Cheat to the Potomac, which he says “will be from 15 to 40 miles, according to the trouble which shall be taken to approach the two navigations.” A canal connecting these two water-systems was a favorite project of both Jefferson and Washington; the latter at one time estimated that it would not need to exceed twenty miles in length.—​Ed.

[17] New Geneva was originally laid out by Albert Gallatin, who came to America in 1780, and four years later bought a farm at the junction of George’s Creek with the Monongahela. The name of the town was given in honor of its founder’s birthplace, and through his influence a number of Swiss emigrants settled at this place. The glass works were established by Gallatin (1795) in conjunction with two German partners, the Kramers brothers. Gallatin’s country house near New Geneva was entitled “Friendship Hill,” and thereat he entertained Lafayette on his last visit to America.—​Ed.

[18] This is not to be confused with Greensburg, the county-seat for Westmoreland. Greensburg (now Greensboro), here mentioned, is on the Monongahela in Greene County, nearly opposite New Geneva, and was laid out by Gallatin’s friend and compatriot, Badollet.—​Ed.

[19] For the early history of Brownsville, and the erection of Fort Burd, see F. A. Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 159; also, Thwaites, On the Storied Ohio.—​Ed.

[20] Many sailing vessels were built upon the Monongahela from 1810-11. In the latter year the first steamboat was launched at Pittsburg, and sailing vessels were soon superseded.—​Ed.

[21] The site of Braddock’s field is now occupied by the manufacturing town which takes its name from the unfortunate British general. See Thwaites, On the Storied Ohio.—​Ed.

[22] Loskiel’s History of Moravian missions in America.—​Harris.

[23] For the early history of Presqu’ Isle, and the road built thence by the French expedition of 1753, see Croghan’s Journals, vol. i of this series, p. 101, note 62.—​Ed.

[24] For the history of Fort Le Boeuf, see Croghan’s Journals, vol. i of this series, p. 102, note 65.—​Ed.

[25] Meadville was the earliest settlement in northwest Pennsylvania, west of the Allegheny River. About 1788 a party came out from Wyoming Valley, led by David Mead, who afterwards was judge and major-general of militia for the district. The settlement was almost exterminated during the Indian wars, and its inhabitants obliged to take refuge at Fort Franklin. Nevertheless, Meadville was laid out as a town in 1793. It is the seat of Allegheny College, founded in 1815.—​Ed.

[26] The word freshet, says the late Dr. Belknap, means a river swollen by rain or melted snow, in the interior country, rising above its usual level, spreading over the adjacent low lands, and rushing with an accelerated current to the sea.—​Hist. of New Hampshire, v. 3. preface.—​Harris.

[27] For a brief notice of Fort Duquesne, see F. A. Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 156, note 20.—​Ed.

[28] For the two Pittsburg newspapers, see F. A. Michaux’s Travels, ante p. 157, note 21. The glass works were built by General James O’Hara.—​Ed.

[29] For a sketch of Fort Fayette, see Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 32.—​Ed.

[30] Grant’s Hill is so named from the defeat (Sept. 11, 1758) of a detachment of Highlanders under Major Grant by a party of French and Indians from Fort Duquesne. Grant, who had been sent out by Bouquet, commanding the van of Forbes’s army, to reconnoitre, incautiously approached too near the enemies’ stronghold, was surrounded, and driven back with many losses.—​Ed.

[31] Canonsburg was named for its first settler, Colonel John Canon, who took up the land under a Virginia warrant in 1773. Colonel Canon was a man of note in Western Pennsylvania—​justice of the peace, commander of the militia, and representative in the assembly.

Jefferson College, to which Harris refers, owes its beginnings to Colonel Canon, who in 1791 donated the lot and advanced money for building the first structure. After long years of rivalry, Jefferson College was finally consolidated (1869) with that of Washington, at the town of that name, under the joint title of Washington and Jefferson College. Canonsburgh Academy occupies the former college buildings.—​Ed.

[32] The town of Washington, when laid out in 1780, was entitled Bassett Town. The name was changed when it was chosen as the seat of Washington County.—​Ed.

[33] Alexandria, or West Alexander, was laid out by Robert Humphreys in 1796. Humphreys, who had been a Revolutionary soldier, serving under Lafayette, took up the land on a Virginia military certificate, and named the town in honor of his wife, whose maiden name was Martha Alexander.—​Ed.

[34] Little Wheeling Creek.—​Harris.

[35] This was the house of Moses Shepherd, son of Colonel David Shepherd, one of the most prominent of the pioneer officers of Western Virginia. The latter came West in 1773, and built a blockhouse and fort at the junction of Big and Little Wheeling Creeks, where the village of Elm Grove is now situated. Colonel Shepherd was county-lieutenant during the Indian wars, assisted at both sieges of Wheeling, joined Brodhead’s expedition, and was of great use in protecting the frontier. The house mentioned by Harris is said to be still standing.—​Ed.

[36] For the early history of Wheeling, see Michaux’s Travels, ante, p. 33, note 15. There were two routes from Pittsburg to Wheeling; one more direct, but rougher, passing through West Liberty, was taken by the younger Michaux (q. v.) the year previous; the stage route, by way of Canonsburg, Washington, and Alexandria was that chosen by Harris.—​Ed.

[37] Fish Creek was on the “Warrior Branch,” a great Indian highway leading from the Ohio into Tennessee. The locality is interesting for its connection with the early life of George Rogers Clark, who explored the neighborhood as early as 1772, and passed the succeeding winter in a log cabin about a mile above Fish Creek. Clark was a leader among the young men on the frontier, and held a school for them at the cabin of his friend Yates Conwell, built directly at the mouth of Fish Creek. The two years passed here were valuable in the experience thus gained of frontier life, which made his later career so marked a success.—​Ed.

[38] Michaux says (ante, p. 177) that the inhabitants of Marietta were the first to conduct an exchange with the West Indies by means of vessels built at their own docks.—​Ed.

[39] Judge Joseph Gilman was a native of New Hampshire, where he had served as chairman of the committee of safety during the troubled times of the Revolution. He was one of the Ohio associates and removed to Marietta in 1789. Governor St. Clair appointed him probate judge, judge of the court of common pleas, etc., until (1796) he was chosen one of the three judges of the territory, an office which he filled acceptably until the organization of the state of Ohio (1803), when he again became a local justice. Judge Gilman died at Marietta in 1806 at the age of seventy.

His collaborator, Judge Dudley Woodbridge, was a Connecticut man, graduate of Yale College, and educated for the bar. The Revolution interrupted his legal studies, which he later resumed, and after removal to Ohio he was one of the first justices of the new state. His son, William, became prominent in politics, and was governor of Michigan.—​Ed.

[40] Joseph Tomlinson was the son of a Scotch-Irish emigrant who had settled in Maryland, where the former was born in 1745. He explored this region as early as 1770, but made a permanent location in 1772. The first town that Tomlinson attempted to establish (1795), he named Elizabethtown for his wife. It was later merged in Moundsville, West Virginia, of which Tomlinson was also proprietor and founder.—​Ed.

[41] The Biggs family was an important one in the pioneer annals of Western Virginia. The father migrated from Maryland, and about 1770 settled on Short Creek above Wheeling. There were six sons noted as Indian fighters of whom General Benjamin Biggs was best known, having served in Lord Dunmore’s War and that of the Revolution, and acting as brigadier-general of Ohio County militia during the later Indian wars. His papers form part of the Draper Manuscripts Collection, belonging to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Probably the Colonel Biggs mentioned by Harris was Joseph, he having bought one of the first lots in Elizabeth (now Moundsville).

Joseph Biggs took part as a boy in the siege of Fort Henry, at Wheeling; defended a besieged blockhouse in Ohio, opposite Wheeling, in 1791; and finally died in Ohio about 1833. He claimed to have been in seventeen Indian fights in and about the neighborhood of Wheeling.—​Ed.

[42] This singular marking-stone is now deposited in Mr. Turell’s Cabinet of Curiosities in Boston.—​Harris.

[43] George Millar had one of the first potteries of this region at Wheeling, and served as mayor of the town (1806-7).—​Ed.

[44] For recent study of Indian mounds, consult Smithsonian Institution Report, 1891 (Washington, 1893); also American Bureau of Ethnology, Twelfth Annual Report (Washington, 1894).—​Ed.

[45] Harris returned from Wheeling by a road which followed the route later taken by the National or Cumberland Road from Wheeling to Uniontown, in Fayette County. See Searight, The Old Pike: A History of the National Road (Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 1894) for the building and continuation of this road, as well as the Congressional debates thereon.

The town of Donegala has vanished from the map; it was probably at or near the present Claysville, in Donegal Township, Washington County.—​Ed.

[46] Judge Alexander Addison was a Scotchman who first entered the ministry; afterwards studying for the bar, he became the first law judge in western Pennsylvania. His opposition to the Whiskey Rebellion, and prosecution of its leaders, and his strong Federalist attitude, made him many enemies among the Western settlers, at whose instance he was impeached and removed from the bench in 1802. Addison was succeeded by Judge Samuel Roberts, who had been born and educated in Philadelphia. Admitted to the bar in 1793, he was a successful lawyer when placed upon the bench (1803), where he remained until his death in 1820.—​Ed.

[47] The site of Uniontown was first occupied in 1767 by two Scotch-Irishmen, who were bought out by Henry Beeson, whose blacksmith forge and mill early attracted settlers. A blockhouse was built here in 1774, and two years later a town was laid out, known as Beesontown. This did not flourish until after the Revolution, when the present name of Uniontown gradually came into use. The place was incorporated in 1796, and made the seat of Fayette County.—​Ed.

[48] Connellsville, at the head of navigation of the Youghiogheny, was settled by sons-in-law of Colonel William Crawford, for one of whom the town was named, when laid out in 1793. It prospered because of its mills and navigation interests, and in 1806 was incorporated as a borough.—​Ed.

[49] Fort Cumberland was built the winter before Braddock’s campaign, by the independent companies sent out from New York and North Carolina to support Washington in his advance toward the forks of the Ohio. The first title was Fort Mount Pleasant, soon changed in honor of the commander of the British army. The fort was garrisoned until the close of the French wars in 1765, and never again re-occupied save for a few days during the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). For a detailed history of this place, see Lowdermilk, History of Cumberland (Washington, 1878).—​Ed.

[50] For the early history of Chambersburg, see Post’s Journals, vol. i of this series, p. 238, note 77. Harris returned east by the southern route, or Chambersburg pike, which branched from the main route some twelve miles east of Bedford, passed through the central part of Franklin and Adams counties, and through York to Wright’s Ferry on the Susquehanna.—​Ed.

[51] This is now known as New Oxford, a town in Adams County; it was laid out by a German, Henry Kuhns, in 1792.—​Ed.

[52] This territory was largely a German settlement, and few towns were desired. Abbottstown was laid out by a pioneer of that name, as early as 1753, but not incorporated until 1835.—​Ed.

[53] Those places where the best entertainment for travellers is furnished, are distinguished by this mark.¶—​Harris.

[54] At this place guests are regaled with a repast of fine trout.—​Harris.

[55] From Bedford to Baltimore 143 miles, and to Pittsburg 111 miles.—​Harris.

[56] The southernmost road is called the Glade road, and is considered as the best except after heavy rains; the northernmost is called the Old or Forbes’s road, and goes by Fort Ligonier. These roads unite twenty-eight miles on this side of Pittsburg.—​Harris.

[57] The whole distance from Boston to Wheeling, the road we went, is 817 miles, and from Philadelphia 472 miles.—​Harris.

[58] See the preceding Journal.—​Harris.

[59] Neat chambers, clean beds, and soft pillows; sweet water, and assiduous attendance.—​Harris.

[60] From Bedford our direction has been north to the amount of more than a degree.—​Harris.

[61] At this place I was so unfortunate as to break my Thermometer.—​Harris.