Er. 38.]

EXPEDITION OF WASHINGTON TO THE OHIO.

ners, his liberal patronage of the arts, and, above all, by his zealous intercession for their rights. Washington himself testifies that he was inclined "to render every just and reasonable service to the people whom he governed." A statue to his memory was decreed by the House of Burgesses, to be erected in the area of the capitol. It is still to be seen, though in a mutilated condition, in Williamsburg, the old seat of government, and a county in Virginia continues to bear his honored name.

CHAPTER XXXI.

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money of the late sale, and they talked of exacting the deficiency from the white men who came to settle in what had been their huntinggrounds. Traders, squatters, and other adventurers into the wilderness, were occasionally murdered, and further troubles were apprehended.

Washington had for a companion in this expedition his friend and neighbor, Dr. Craik, and it was with strong community of feeling they looked forward peaceably to revisit the scenes of their military experience. They set out on the 5th of October, with three negro attendants, two belonging to Washington, and one to the doctor. The whole party was mounted, and there was a led horse for the baggage.

After twelve days' travelling they arrived at Fort Pitt (late Fort Duquesne). It was garrisoned by two companies of royal Irish, commanded by a Captain Edmonson. A hamlet of about twenty log-houses, inhabited by Indian traders, had sprung up within three hundred yards of the fort, and was called "the town." It was the embryo city of Pittsburg, now so populous. At one of the houses, a tolerable frontier inn, they took up their quarters; but during their brief sojourn, they were entertain

Here at dinner Washington met his old acquaintance, George Croghan, who had figured in so many capacities, and experienced so many vicissitudes on the frontier. He was now Colonel Croghan, deputy-agent to Sir William John

In the midst of these popular turmoils, Washington was induced, by public as well as private considerations, to make another expedition to the Ohio. He was one of the Virginia Board of Commissioners, appointed, at the close of the late war, to settle the military accounts of the colony. Among the claims which came before the board, were those of the officers and soldiers who had engaged to serve until peace, under the proclamation of Governor Dinwiddie, holding forth a bounty of two hundred thousand acres of land, to be apportioned among themed with great hospitality at the fort. according to rank. Those claims were yet unsatisfied, for governments, like individuals, are slow to pay off in peaceful times the debts incurred while in the fighting mood. Washington became the champion of those claims, and an opportunity now presented itself for their liq-son, and had his residence-or seat, as Washinguidation. The Six Nations, by a treaty in 1768, had ceded to the British crown, in consideration of a sum of money, all the lands sessed by them south of the Ohio. Land offices would soon be opened for the sale of them. Squatters and speculators were already preparing to swarm in, set up their marks on the choicest spots, and establish what were called pre-emption rights. Washington determined at once to visit the lands thus ceded; affix his mark on such tracts as he should select, and apply for a grant from government in behalf of the "soldier's claim."

pos

The expedition would be attended with some degree of danger. The frontier was yet in an uneasy state. It is true some time had elapsed since the war of Pontiac, but some of the Indian tribes were almost ready to resume the | hatchet. The Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes, complained that the Six Nations had not given them their full share of the consideration

ton terms it-on the banks of the Allegany River, about four miles from the fort.

Croghan had experienced troubles and dangers during the Pontiac war, both from white man and savage. At one time, while he was convoying presents from Sir William to the Delawares and Shawnees, his caravan was set upon and plundered by a band of backwoodsmen of Pennsylvania-men resembling Indians in garb and habits, and fully as lawless. At another time, when encamped at the mouth of the Wabash with some of his Indian allies, a band of Kickapoos, supposing the latter to be Cherokees, their deadly enemies, rushed forth from the woods with horrid yells, shot down several of his companions, and wounded himself. It must be added, that no white men could have made more ample apologies than did the Kickapoos, when they discovered that they had fired upon friends.

Another of Croghan's perils was from the re

120

VOYAGE DOWN THE OHIO-ADVENTURES ALONG THE RIVER.

[1770.

to place, as game abounds or decreases, and often extending their migrations two or three hundred miles down the stream. The women were as dexterous as the men in the management of the canoe, but were generally engaged in the domestic labors of the lodge while their husbands were abroad hunting.

doubtable Pontiac himself. That chieftain had | ing-camps along the river; shifting from place heard of his being on a mission to win off, by dint of presents, the other sachems of the conspiracy, and declared, significantly, that he had a large kettle boiling, in which he intended to seethe the ambassador. It was fortunate for Croghan that he did not meet with the formida- | ble chieftain while in this exasperated mood. He subsequently encountered him when Pontiac's spirits were broken by reverses. They smoked the pipe of peace together, and the colonel claimed the credit of having, by his diplomacy, persuaded the sachem to bury the hatchet.

On the day following the repast at the fort, Washington visited Croghan at his abode on the Allegany River, where he found several of the chiefs of the Six Nations assembled. One of them, the White Mingo by name, made him a speech, accompanied, as usual, by a belt of wampum. Some of his companions, he said, remembered to have seen him in 1753, when he came on his embassy to the French commander; most of them had heard of him. They had now come to welcome him to their country. They wished the people of Virginia | to consider them as friends and brothers, linked together in one chain, and requested him to inform the governor of their desire to live in peace and harmony with the white men. As to certain unhappy differences which had taken place between them on the frontiers, they were all made up, and, they hoped, forgotten.

Washington accepted the "speech belt," and made a suitable reply, assuring the chiefs that nothing was more desired by the people of Virginia than to live with them on terms of the strictest friendship.

Washington's propensities as a sportsman had here full play. Deer were continually to be seen coming down to the water's edge to drink, or browsing along the shore; there were innumerable flocks of wild turkeys, and streaming flights of ducks and geese; so that as the voyagers floated along, they were enabled to load their canoe with game. At night they encamped on the river bank, lit their fire, and made a sumptuous hunter's repast. Washington always relished this wild-wood life; and the present had that spice of danger in it, which has a peculiar charm for adventurous minds. The great object of his expedition, however, is evinced in his constant notes on the features and character of the country; the quality of the soil as indicated by the nature of the trees, and the level tracts fitted for settlements.

About seventy-five miles below Pittsburg, the voyagers landed at a Mingo town, which they found in a stir of warlike preparation— sixty of the warriors being about to set off on a foray into the Cherokee country against the Catawbas.

Here the voyagers were brought to a pause by a report that two white men, traders, had been murdered about thirty-eight miles further down the river. Reports of the kind were not to be treated lightly. Indian faith was uncertain along the frontier, and white men were At Pittsburg the travellers left their horses, often shot down in the wilderness for plunder and embarked in a large canoe, to make a voy- or revenge. On the following day the report age down the Ohio as far as the Great Kana- moderated. Only one man was said to have wha. Colonel Croghan engaged two Indians for been killed, and that not by Indians; so Washtheir service, and an interpreter named John ington determined to continue forward until he Nicholson. The colonel and some of the officers could obtain correct information in the matter. of the garrison accompanied them as far as On the 24th, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Logstown, the scene of Washington's early dip- the voyagers arrived at Captema Creek, at the lomacy, and his first interview with the half-mouth of which the trader was said to have king. Here they breakfasted together; after which they separated, the colonel and his companions cheering the voyagers from the shore, as the canoe was borne off by the current of the beautiful Ohio.

It was now the hunting season, when the Indians leave their towns, set off with their families, and lead a roving life in cabins and hunt

been killed. As all was quiet and no one to be seen, they agreed to encamp, while Nicholson, the interpreter, and one of the Indians, repaired to a village a few miles up the creek to inquire about the murder. They found but two old women at the village. The men were all absent, hunting. The interpreter returned to camp in the evening, bringing the truth of the mur

KIASHUTA'S HUNTING CAMP-A CHARMED LIFE.

LORD DUNMORE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.

Br.41.]

GUARDIANSHIP OF JOHN PARKE CUSTIS-EARLY TRAVEL.

123

past had been in very declining health. Early | travel. A correspondence ensued between him in the present summer, symptoms indicated a rapid change for the worse. Washington was absent from home at the time. On his return to Mount Vernon, he found her in the last stage of consumption.

Though not a man given to bursts of sensibility, he is said on the present occasion to have evinced the deepest affliction; kneeling by her bedside, and pouring out earnest prayers for her recovery. She expired on the 19th of June, in the seventeenth year of her age. This, of coarse, put an end to Washington's intention of accompanying Lord Dunmore to the frontier; he remained at home to console Mrs. Washington in her affliction,-furnishing his lordship, however, with travelling hints and directions, and recommending proper guides. And here we will take occasion to give a few brief particulars of domestic affairs at Mount Vernon.

For a long time previous to the death of Miss Custis, her mother, despairing of her recovery, had centred her hopes in her son, John Parke Custis. This rendered Washington's guardianship of him a delicate and difficult task. He was lively, susceptible, and impulsive; had an independent fortune in his own right, and an indulgent mother, ever ready to plead in his behalf against wholesome discipline. He had been placed under the care and instruction of an Episcopal clergyman at Annapolis, but was occasionally at home, mounting his horse, and taking a part, while yet a boy, in the fox-hunts at Mount Vernon. His education had consequently been irregular and imperfect, and not such as Washington would have enforced had he possessed over him the absolute authority of a father. Shortly after the return of the latter from his tour to the

and the young lady's father, Benedict Calvert, Esq. The match was a satisfactory one to all parties, but it was agreed that it was expedient for the youth to pass a year or two previously at college. Washington accordingly accompanied him to New York, and placed him under the care of the Rev. Dr. Cooper, president of King's (now Columbia) College, to pursue his studies in that institution. All this occurred before the death of his sister. Within a year after that melancholy event, he became impatient for a union with the object of his choice. His mother, now more indulgent than ever to this, her only child, yielded her consent, and Washington no longer made opposition.

"It has been against my wishes," writes the latter to President Cooper, "that he should quit college in order that he may soon enter into a new scene of life, which I think he would be much fitter for some years hence than now. But having his own inclination, the desires of his mother, and the acquiescence of almost all his relatives to encounter, I did not care, as he is the last of the family, to push my opposition too far; I have, therefore, submitted to a kind of necessity."

The marriage was celebrated on the 3d of February, 1774, before the bridegroom was twenty-one years of age.

NOTE.

We are induced to subjoin extracts of two letters from Washington relative to young Custis. The first gives his objections to premature travel; the second to premature matrimony. Both are worthy of consideration in this country, where our young people have such a general disposition to " "'go ahead."

To the Rev. Jonathan Boucher (the tutor of young Custis).

**** “I cannot help giving it as my opinion, Ohio, he was concerned to find that there. was that his education, however advanced it may be for a an idea entertained of sending the lad abroad, youth of his age, is by no means ripe enough for a though but little more than sixteen years of travelling tour; not that I think his becoming a mere age, to travel under the care of his clerical scholar is a desirable education for a gentleman, but I tutor. Through his judicious interference, the conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which all other knowledge is to be built, and in travelling he travelling scheme was postponed, and it was is to become acquainted with men and things, rather resolved to give the young gentleman's mind than books. At present, however well versed he may the benefit of a little preparatory home culture. be in the principles of the Latin language (which is Little more than a year elapsed before the not to be wondered at, as he began the study of it as sallying impulses of the youth had taken a new soon as he could speak), he is unacquainted with sevdirection. He was in love; what was more, eral of the classic authors that might be useful to him. he was engaged to the object of his passion, which I do not pretend to judge of; and he knows He is ignorant of Greek, the advantages of learning and on the high road to matrimony. nothing of French, which is absolutely necessary to Washington now opposed himself to prema-him as a traveller. He has little or no acquaintance ture marriage as he had done to premature with arithmetic, and is totally ignorant of the mathe