William Smith letter to Arthur St. Clair

This letter written by William Smith to Arthur St. Clair (then magistrate for the area around Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) describes the actions of Dr. John Connolly (the royal governor of Virginia's agent in Pennsylvania) and his seizure of Fort Pitt and recruitment of a garrison to invade the Ohio Country during Lord Dunmore's War. The letter measures 7" by 13" (19 by 33 cm) and is part of a larger collection of Arthur St. Clair letters that is owned by the State Library of Ohio and on permanent deposit at the Ohio History Connection. Lord Dunmore's War was caused primarily by a boundary dispute between the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania over the western territories in what is now Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio and some minor skirmishes between American Indian tribes, mostly Shawnee, and settlers around the Ohio River. In response John Murray, Lord Dunmore (the royal governor of Virginia) sent his agents Dr. John Connolly and George Croghan to Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) to garrison forces and defend the frontier in January of 1774. There were several battles leading up to the Battle of Point Pleasant (West Virginia), where the American Indians were decisively defeated. Lord Dunmore pursued them over the Ohio River and headed for present day Chillicothe, the Shawnee capital. There, Dunmore and the American Indians signed the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, which opened up the western lands to European settlement. Chief Logan of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe, protesting the treaty, sent a moving speech to the assembly, stating that all of his family had been killed in the war, and "who is left to mourn for Logan, not one." Arthur St. Clair (1734-1818) was governor of the Northwest Territory and administrator of Indian affairs for the western territories from 1787 to 1802. St. Clair led an army against the American Indians, who threatened war after their land was given to the U. S. government without their authorization, in November 1791