e inmates of all the garrisons to cultivate considerable
fields of Indian corn and other vegetables near the walls of their
defences. Although hazardous in the extreme, it was preferable to
starvation. For a part of that time no provisions could be obtained from
the older settlements above, on the Monongahela and Ohio; sometimes from a
scarcity amongst themselves, and always at great hazard from Indians, who
watched the river for the capture of boats. Another reason was the want of
money; many of the settlers having expended a large share of their funds
in the journey on, and for the purchase of lands, while others had not a
single dollar; so that necessity compelled them to plant their fields. The
war having commenced so soon after their arrival, and at a time when not
expected, as a formal treaty was made with them at Marietta, in January,
1789, which by the way was only a piece of Indian diplomacy, they never
intended to abide by it longer than suited their convenience, and no
stores being laid up for a siege, they were taken entirely unprepared. So
desperate were their circumstances at one period, that serious thoughts of
abandoning the country were entertained by many of the leading men. Under
these circumstances R. J. Meigs, then a young lawyer, was forced to lay
aside the gown, and assume the use of both the sword and plough. It is
true that but little ploughing was done, as much of the corn was then
raised by planting the virgin soil with a hoe, amongst the stumps and logs
of the clearing, after burning off the brush and light stuff. In this way
large crops were invariably produced; so that nearly all the implements
needed were the axe and the hoe. It so happened that Mr. Meigs, whose
residence was in Campus Martius, the garrison on the east side of the
Muskingum river, had planted a field of corn on the west side of that
stream in the vicinity of Fort Harmar. To reach this field the river was
to be crossed near his residence in a canoe, and the space between the
landing and his crop, a distance of about half a mile, to be passed by an
obscure path through a thick wood.

[Illustration: AN INDIAN WARRIOR.]

Early in June, 1792, Mr. Meigs, having completed the labor of the day a
little before night, set out on his return home in company with Joseph
Symonds and a colored boy, which he had brought with him as a servant from
Connecticut. Immediately on leaving the field they entered the forest
through which they had