By Gary Felumlee

The Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century was essentially an unknown land to most European colonists who lived on the east coast of our nation. It was inhabited by tribal people, and wild animals such as the bear, panther, and wolf. The land contained almost unlimited resources according to fur traders, who along with the Native Americans reaped a harvest of furs that were exported overseas, to France, England, and the Netherlands. There was a great demand for the furs of the beaver and other fur-bearing animals in Europe.

In the 1600s, during the Beaver War, the Iroquois had driven other Native American groups from Ohio, claiming Ohio to be “Iroquois hunting grounds.” The other tribes were driven south and west from the state and the area of present day Muskingum County, Ohio. In 1701, the Iroquois of New York made a treaty, sometimes called the Grand Settlement, with the Algonquin refugee groups (Huron-Wyandot).[1] This allowed for the resettlement of other tribal groups in Ohio. It was over twenty years before Muskingum County was again settled by Native American groups, including the Delaware migrating in from Pennsylvania and the Shawnee from the south.

Tensions between the British and French were ever increasing. War was threatening to break out in Europe and spread to the settlements in America. In 1754, it did. People were taking sides along the borders and Great Lakes. Great Britain, British America and the Iroquois Confederacy were joined by the Wyandot, Cherokee and for a brief time the Mingo. France was joined by New France, the Delaware (Lenape), the Ottawa, Shawnee, Wyandot and several other tribes that were residing in present day Canada.

The French and Indian War went well for the French at first, but by the 1760s their efforts had failed as the British and their allies had more men and supplies. The British gained control of Canada but at a great cost of revenue. The Native Americans found themselves divided and more and more dependent on European trade goods which included not only metal items like kettles but also lead, gunpowder and guns.

After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British on October 7, 1763 issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which established the Appalachian Mountains as the boundary between the British colonies and an Indian Reserve. At the same time, the need for increased production, due to the war, in the cities along the Atlantic Seaboard, was no longer there. In New York City, for example, 1763 brought depression and unrest among its workers, the demand for exports dropped off, the British Crown tightened its grip over colonial trade and the gap between rich and poor yawned ever wider.[2] The British government had just completed a costly war and was looking for ways to pay for it; feeling the colonies should pay their share. At the same time, land speculators wanted to expand their holdings and settlers wanted to build new lives in the West including the Ohio County. Changes were coming fast that would be a revelation to many. The end of one story the beginning of another, the times were changing, choices must be made.

[1] Carskadden, 40.

[2] Rothschild, 129.

Carskadden, Jeff and James Morten. Where the Frolics and War Dances are Held. Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 1997.
Rothschild, Nan A., Amanda Sutphin, H. Arthur Bankoff and Jessica S. MacLean. Buried Beneath the City: An Archaeological History of New York. New York: Columbia University, 2022.