Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-10-27
Ohio's First Capital.

Chillicothe is classic ground. 1t was
here that the first State northwest of the
Ohio was ushered into organic being;
and upon the heights of Cemetery Hill
repose the mortal remains of four fa-
nous men who have been its Chief Ex-
ecutives. Two historic houses. rich in
associations which recall the bravest of
pioneers, men who were among the
founders of the State, stand stately and
sentinel-like upon high plateau over
looking the old town. The academy,
which was the alma mater of genera
tion of men who have grown gray since
they passed over its threshold, is still a
place Of learning for the youth of the
town. Famous Ohio statesmen, men
who have made their mark in high
places, have been school-boys here Not
far away, in a quiet strset. is plain
old house which is pointed out as the
birthplace of the wife of an Ohio Presil
dent, and scattered through the town
are several humble places which have
been the homes of men whose names
were widely known in literature. poll
tics. and law.
Chillicothe is charmingly environed.
The broad valley through which the
Scioto flows seutbward to the Ohio is
bordsred by high bluff banks upon the
west, and by chain of mountain-like
hills upon the east, the highest of which
lifts its tiInbered crest six hundred feet
above the river which washes its base.
The lover of the beautiful can here find
elements of the rugged, wild, and pic
turesque in preeipitOus heights and
rocky formations; or if he more admire
the gentler aspects of nature, his eve
may be guided along the far-sweeping
slopes of green pasture-land, or from
the crest of the valley wall he may let
his vision wander from one fair feature
of the landscape to another, through an
infinite variety of form and wealth of
color, to the dim blue hills miles away.
or the valley fading to the horizon. This
valley was the centre CT densest pOpula--
tion of the prehistoric race, and perhaps
the seat of empire, for nowhere else do
memorial mounds exist in such numbers
as upon its bottoms and uplands; no
where else do 50 many defensive works
appear, or such a number and variety of
sacred enclosures. The Indians, too, re-
garded this as favored land, and it was
undoubtedly for centuries the abode of
either the Delaware or ShawneSe nation.
The river was the war-way down which
the braves of these tribes tioated silent
ly and stealthily to strike their inplaca-
BILE enemy the Creeks, and in later wears
the isolated stations of the whites in
Kentucky. Logan, the Mlngo, whose
pathetic eloquence and sad story have
stirred the hearts of so many modern
sympathiZers with his woe, delivered the
impassiOned speet h upon which his fame
rests, before Lord Dunmure's interure-
ter, only a few miles north of the site of
Chillicothe, and his name has been hon
ored, not by the rearing of any memo
rial, but by its application to the grand |
est of natures monuments upon the
Scioto-Mount Logan. The country is
rich in legend of the dusky race, and
history has preserved the annals of
many a battle and skirmish in which
the Indian sought to preserve fayorite |
hunting ground from the eHcroachments
of his pale-paced brother. r-yeI ..
Virginia. it is notable fact, was thed
second one of the original colonies to |
cede to the United States its claim upon |
the territory northwest of the Ohio, do |
ing so in 1854, preceded only By New
York, while Connecticut was the latest. |
similar measure in
1856, "the last tardy and reluctant sacri-
fice of State pretensions to the common
good" Virginia's act of cession contain
cd clause. reserving upon certain con-
ditions tract Of land lying north of the
Ohio, and between the Scieto and Little |
Miami rivers, for the payment Of the
bounty awards due her Revolutionary
soldiers of the Continental line. This
known as the Virginia Mil
tary District. was almost entirely set
led by families from the Old Dominion,
md thus Virginia was formed in the
gorth-uestern Territory. Chillicothe
oon a<tsT u was founded became the