Chapter Four

The Struggle for Ohio

The Beautiful Country

The six historic Ohio Indian tribes love Ohio.

The French who live in Canada want Ohio for the fur trade.

The colonists along the Atlantic Coast want more land to farm. Virginians wanted to set up plantations in Ohio.

French and Indian War

The French built Fort Duquesne at the headwaters (Pittsburgh) of the Ohio River to protect the fur trade.

The Virginians convinced the other colonies to join them in fighting for Ohio.

The Governor of Virginia sent George Washington and some soldiers to tell the French that Ohio belonged to Virginia.

A Terrible War

French and Indians attacked settlements in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. They scalped their victims.

The American colonists attacked Indian villages throughout Ohio. Even women and children were killed.

Soldiers came from Great Britain to help the colonists.

First Treaty of Paris

France gave all its land in North America to Great Britain.

Pontiac wanted the French back. He united the six tribes in a revolt. (Pontiac’s Revolt)

British will not let the American colonists settle Ohio.

Proclamation of 1763. The colonists were not allowed to cross an imaginary line down the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. Ohio should remain Indian hunting grounds not farms.

American Revolution

Great Britain wanted control of the colonies. Tea, glass, lead, and paper were all taxed. The colonies declared their independence. They

called themselves the United States of America. The Indians sided with Great Britain. Logan’s Lament Gnaddenhutten Massacre.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

After eight years of fighting, the British signed a peace treaty recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation.

They gave the US all the land south of Canada and north of Florida to the Mississippi River.

Ohio now belonged to the Americans.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

All the land north of the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi was called the Northwest Territory. Parts of the territory could become states in three stages.

First, a governor and three judges would run the territory.

Then, when 5,000 free men lived there, the territory could set up a legislature. Slavery would be outlawed.

When 60,000 free people lived in the territory, it could become a state.

The Ohio Indian Wars

Two American armies were sent to defeat the Indians.

The Indians defeated Generals Harmar and St. Clair.

General “Mad Anthony” Wayne defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Little Turtle and Anthony Wayne sign the Treaty of Greeneville.

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