The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-01-16
A BRILLIANT CONQUEST.
How the Original States Ac-
quired the Ohio Valley.
Interesting and Concise Account of q
Most Remarkable and Successful
Campaign The Brave and
erOic Leader Long
Since Forgotten.

The cruel warfare waged by Brant
md Butler, so damaging to the New
York frontier settlements and SO fatal
to the Six Nations, was part of a desul-
tory conflict which ragged at intervals
from north to south along our whole
western border, and resulted in the to-
tai overthrow of British authority be-
yOnd the Alleghenies.
The vast region between these noun
tains and the Mississippi rivera ter
ritory more than twice as large as the
German Empire-was at that time al
most an unbroken wilderness. A few
British posts at Natchez, Kaskaskia
and Cahokia, on the Mississippi river,
at Eincennes, on the Wabash and at
Detroit suficed to represent the sover-
eighty Of George III, and to exercise
adoubtful control over the wild tribes
that roamed through these primeval
solitudes.
When the thirteen colonies declared
themselves independent of the British
crown, the ownership of this Western
territory was for the moment left I'M
decided. Portions of it were claimed
By Massachusetts, Connecticut, Yir-
glnia North Carolina and Georgia, on
the strength of the old charters which
had granted to these colonies lands
stretching westward to the Pacific
ocean. Little respect, however, was
pala 70 the quaint terminology of such
charters, framed in an age when al
most nothing was known of American
geography, and it was virtually left for
circumstances to determine to whom
she western country should belong.
u was now very fortunate for the
united States that the policy of Pitt
ana the generalship OF Washington
had wrested this all-important terri
tory from the French. For to conouer
rom the British enemy so remote a
region was easy, but to have sought to
oD'ain it from a power with which we
were forming an alliance would have
been difficult indeed.
Inc commanding approach to this
sefrlsory was by the town and fortress
q Q, flttsburgh, the gateway of the
vest from which, through the Ohio
flyer and its tributary streams. an
army might penetrate with ease to aoy |
pafs K OF the vast Mississippi Valley. |
Inc possession of this gateway had for |
solie years been a subject of dispute |
oetWeen Pennsylvania and Virginia.
= - ICY the question was amicably set
s,s0 !, IN favor of Pennsylvania, but, for
sae present, Virginia. which had the
u .9agest arm, kept its hold upon this
- Virginia its possession was a
!. s''s'er Of Importance, for her popula-
.1on had already begun to overflow its
a0untaln ! barriers, and pressing down
.as ONO Valley, had made the begin
Aass Of the State of Kentucky.
virginia and North Carolina. living
I. assaer westward than any of the other
= S'stes, were naturally the first to
! aad colonies across the Allegheuies.
,Aorely before the beginning of the
var Daniel Boone had explored the
Aeu'acky river, and Virginia surveyors
90 e. gone down the Ohio as far as the
lle Of Louisville.
eonhicts ensued with the Indians. so
s.ce ana deadly that this region was
~ known as the Dark and Bloody
~, .,0aaa. The massacre of the whole
s'ally = Of the friendly sachem, Logan.
= as me pathetic speech of the be-
!. .'sea I, chieftain have afforded favor (
Z shene of romance. /
= l775 Richard Henderson. Of North
sa' 'a'Oaaa' purchased from the Chero-
~ : me tract between the Kentucky
- ssn cumberland rivers, and. at the /,
aass s time, Boonesborough and Har-
loag ~sosg were founded by Daniel
'ssae :. and James Harrod. AS a party I
s,as. ..s.e bold backwoodsmen were en- {
= ssag near the sources of the south
u. ~ ! q q the Licking, they heard the l
Y sae victory which pshered in !