Cutler Visits Marietta.

In the summer of 1788 Dr. Manasseh Cutler visited the colony he had helped to found, and kept a diary of his journey.  His trip through Pennsylvania was marked merely by such incidents as were common at that time on every journey in the United States away from the larger towns.  He travelled with various companions, stopping at taverns and private houses; and both guests and hosts were fond of trying their skill with the rifle, either at a mark or at squirrels.  In mid-August he reached Coxe’s fort, on the Ohio, and came for the first time to the frontier proper.  Here he embarked on a big flat boat, with on board forty-eight souls all told, besides cattle.  They drifted and paddled down stream, and on the evening of the second day reached the Muskingum.  Here and there along the Virginian shore the boat passed settlements, with grain fields and orchards; the houses were sometimes squalid cabins, and sometimes roomy, comfortable buildings.  When he reached the newly built town he was greeted by General Putnam, who invited Cutler to share the marquee in which he lived; and that afternoon he drank tea with another New England general, one of the original founders.

The next three weeks he passed very comfortably with his friends, taking part in the various social entertainments, walking through the woods, and visiting one or two camps of friendly Indians with all the curiosity of a pleasure-tourist.  He greatly admired the large cornfields, proof of the industry of the settlers.  Some of the cabins were already comfortable; and many families of women and children had come out to join their husbands and fathers.

    St. Clair Made Governor.

The newly appointed Governor of the territory, Arthur St. Clair, had reached the place in July, and formally assumed his task of government.  Both Governor St. Clair and General Harmar were men of the old Federalist school, utterly unlike the ordinary borderers; and even in the wilderness they strove to keep a certain stateliness and formality in their surroundings.  They speedily grew to feel at home with the New England leaders, who were gentlemen of much the same type as themselves, and had but little more in common with the ordinary frontier folk.  Dr. Cutler frequently dined with one or other of them.  After dining with the Governor at Fort Harmar, he pronounced it in his diary a “genteel dinner”; and he dwelt on the grapes, the beautiful garden, and the good looks of Mrs. Harmar.  Sometimes the leading citizens gave a dinner to “His Excellency,” as Dr. Cutler was careful to style the Governor, and to “General Harmar and his Lady.”  On such occasions the visitors were rowed from the fort to the town in a twelve-oared barge with an awning; the drilled crew rowed well, while a sergeant stood in the stern to steer.  On each oar blade was painted the word “Congress”; all the regular army men were devout believers in the Union.  The dinners were handsomely served, with punch and wine; and at one Dr. Cutler records that fifty-five gentlemen sat down, together with three ladies.  The fort itself was a square, with block-houses, curtains, barracks, and artillery.