Ohio Statehood Day!

March 1st is Ohio Statehood Day when Ohio became the 17th state in 1803. Happy 210th!

Or did Ohio become a state February 19th, 1803?

Maybe it was it August 7th...1953?

We tend to think of these older historical events as neat and tidy occasions where gentlemen in white wigs have orderly civil debates and sign documents with fancy quill pens by candlelight. The US was a brand new country and everyone had the same goals...right? Not really. The State of Ohio was formed by a power struggle between two political parties.

at a crossroad

In the early 1800s, the esteemed Arthur St. Clair, a Revolutionary War Veteran, and Federalist Party member was the Governor of the NW Territory appointed by his friend George Washington. He even named Cincinnati. Arthur did have that little mishap where he led 3/4 of the US Army to their deaths but even that was forgiven and he remained the NW Territory Governor under Washington. In the late 1700s there were two parties vying for power and by 1800 Democratic-Republican Party had gained control of the House, Senate, and Presidency from the Federalists. Some of the key differences between these two parties are summed up nicely here.

St. Clair proposed new state boundaries for the territory that essentially divided it in two and would prevent Ohio from becoming a state at that time since it did not meet the population criteria for statehood.

the man who busted Arthur

Why did he do this? He wanted to remain the Governor and keep his Federalist party in control of the area by creating two new states instead of one. Many of Ohio's new leaders were members of the opposing Democratic-Republican party...and so was the new US president Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson was, of course, was eager to add Ohio as the 17th US State to increase his party's control. So, the 7th US Congress rejected St. Clair's plan and in April 1802 passed the Enabling Act which put Ohio on the fast track to becoming a state by new rules that favored the Democratic-Republican Party.

When Ohio's new Constitutional Convention met in Chillicothe St. Clair angrily denounced the Enabling Act. Word got back to Jefferson and the President promptly fired Art and appointed Charles William Byrd as Governor. You can probably guess that the new guy was also a Democratic-Republican.

all St. Clair got was a rock

With St. Clair out of the way, the new State Constitution was passed in November 1802. On February 19th, 1803 the President and Congress approved it and on March 1st, 1803, the Ohio General Assembly met for the first time. March 1st became known as Ohio Statehood Day. Edward Tiffin was elected governor of the state of Ohio on March 3, 1803. I'll bet you can guess Tiffin's party affiliation.

The only thing is, there was a problem. In 1953 (yes nineteen) it was discovered that due to a technicality, Congress did not formally declare Ohio a US State. Eventually, that was resolved and they backdated statehood to March 1st, 1803. More on that here.

What happened to St. Clair? He rode off into the sunset with his gout. It turned out he had loaned much of his fortune to the cash-strapped US government while serving as Governor for 14 years and Congress never paid him back. As a result of all this, one of America's original military and political leaders, a once powerful man, died disgraced, penniless and forgotten in 1818 at his home in PA.

Isn't politics fun?

Great Scot, it's St. Clair's Birthday!

Mr. President Governor
Major General Arthur St. Clair 

Today is the 275th (possibly 276th or 278th) birthday of my favorite US frontier General, Arthur St. Clair (pronounced "Sinclair" if you didn't know). He's one of those forgotten founding fathers that played a huge part in the shaping of the US and Ohio...but one teeny little incident sealed his legacy.

Art was born in Scotland on March 23rd, 1737... or 1736 or 1734. No one really knows the exact year.  Bad records and a calendar change kind of messed that up and makes it very confusing.

He served for the British in the French & Indian War (1754-1763) and then later as a General for the Americans in the Revolutionary War until 1778 when he was court-martialed for his loss at the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777 and served the rest of the war as an aide to General Washington. Well, that was the end of St. Clair, right? Not quite.

Eaton, OH - Fort named for Art while he was the Gov

After the war, in 1787 he was elected as the 15th President of the Continental Congress which enacted the Northwest Ordinance and created the Northwest Territory, encompassing present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. The Northwest Ordinance served as the blueprint for the upcoming the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. After his term as President of Congress, he was then appointed Governor of the Northwest Territory by President Washington.

As Governor in 1790, he gave the settlement Losantiville its new name, Cincinnati named after a club of veteran's that honored Washington called The Society of Cincinnati which he was a member of. People in Cincinnati sort of know him for this but we haven't gotten to the oopsy part yet.

Losantiville OH - a nice plaque on a rock in Clifton 

While he was Governor, President Washington, who still thought highly of his military capabilities, called him up for service to end the ongoing hostilities with the Native Americans in the NW Territory. St. Clair underestimated the enemy, was poorly prepared and had a force of demoralized men by the time the battle had even begun. This resulted in the 1791 St. Clair's Defeat*, a resounding Native American win where in just three hours, one-quarter of the *entire* US Army was wiped out with over 600 men killed and over 200 wounded out of 1400 under his command. By comparison, the Indian Confederacy under the Miami Little Turtle's command lost 21 men out of 1000. Oops. This was the greatest disaster in American military history and as you've probably guessed, this is what he ended up being most known for. That was the end, right? Well not quite. He was forced to resign from the Army by the President but stayed on as Governor. Go figure.

He played the game of politics for another decade or so but it turned out that the new President Jefferson didn't care for Art too much and fired him in 1802 over political differences. His firing led to Ohio to becoming a state in 1803.

Toledo OH - Tom & Art at a crossroad

St. Clair was kind of like the comeback kid but he never really recovered from that last one. Once a very wealthy man, he died penniless at the age of 82 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on August 31, 1818.


Maybe today everyone can raise a glass of whiskey and toast the words of Stuart Rankin, "if it's not Scottish, it's craaaapp!!"






*For more about St. Clair's Defeat, I highly recommend the 2011 book Wabash 1791: St Clair's Defeat by John Winkler.

Related Gehio links: 
Gehio: The Ballad of St Clair
Gehio: WKRP in Losantiville
Gehio: a visit to Chalahgawtha
Gehio: The Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Ballad of St Clair

Today is the anniversary of the death of my favorite US frontier general, Arthur St. Clair (which is pronounced "Sinclair").
Art, once an important man, died alone and penniless August 31st, 1818 at his home in Greensburg Pennsylvania.
I like the old guy because he was so bad at being a frontier general and he also gave Cincinnati it's new name. If the US had more generals like him in the late 18th Century then maybe the Indians would have had a longer stay in Ohio. Maybe. And if it wasn't for him then we would have had WKRP in Losantiville. Maybe.

Arthur St Clair and Thomas Jefferson at a crossroad

You see, Artie was known for disliking the name Losantiville and re-naming it Cincinnati in 1790 after the name of the club he presided over while he was Governor of the NW Territory.

A short time later, November 4th, 1791 he suffered the worst military defeat in the history of US and American Indian warfare known as "St Clair's Defeat", sometimes referred to The Battle of the Wabash in 1791 near present-day Fort Recovery OH. This was three times worse than the more infamous Custer's Last Stand in 1876.
By this time Little Turtles' Pan-Indian Confederation had already defeated US forces led by General Harmar in 1790 and tensions were rising in the Ohio country. President Washington ordered Arthur St Clair to raise an army and finish what Harmar had failed. On November 4th, 1791, St Clair was camped and preparing for his assault when the combined forces of the Miami Chief Little Turtle, the Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket, and the Lenape Chief Buckongahelas struck first and caught the US forces by surprise. Major General Richard Butler was mortally wounded here. Supposedly, St. Clair who already had a horse shot out from under him, was in such poor health with gout during this battle that he had to be carried in a litter between two horses at one point yelling "where's my hasenpfeffer!"** while 3/4 of his army was being slaughtered and the rest were running for their lives rather after 2 hours of fighting. Even St Clair later referred to it as a "flight". Many fell back to nearby Fort Jefferson to the south with the Indians following for several miles. Forces evenly matched in the number of men at 1000 each, St Clair had a casualty rate of 952 vs. Little Turtle's 61.
Arthur was ultimately forced to resign from the military by President Washington but he remained as Governor. The resulting loss to the US boosted the morale and security of Little Turtle's Confederation for a few more years until Mad Anthony Wayne's successful win at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.

**he didn't really yell that but in my potential movie version he does

Why did such an important man die penniless and not so important? These are great questions! Washington was a good friend but his successor Thomas Jefferson was not and Tom fired him as Governor over a dispute on the boundaries of the future State of Ohio. He was very wealthy at one point but had made generous loans to various individuals and organizations including the US Government while he was Governor of the NW Territory. The US never bothered to pay him back because they didn't really have any money either. Some things don't change.

<< I've never been to the grave of Arthur St. Clair but I did stumble upon the grave of his grandson Arthur St. Clair III while looking for a geocache in Greendale Indiana.

A couple of folksingers named Bob Gibson and Bob Camp recorded a song in 1961 called "St. Clair's Defeat". You can listen to it and read the lyrics here.

Related Gehio links: 
Gehio: Great Scot, it's St. Clair's Birthday!
Gehio: WKRP in Losantiville
Gehio: a visit to Chalahgawtha
Gehio: The Battle of Fallen Timbers

Happy 58th Birthday to our 49th State...Ohio!

We've been led to believe that Ohio was the 17th US State and the 1st State admitted to the Union under new rules set up in our blossoming country on March 1st, 1803.
It's a lie.
In 1953, while people were preparing for the 150th birthday shindig, laughing to I Love Lucy and enjoying the sweet sounds of Ohio native Dean Martin's hit song, "That's Amore", it was discovered that in 1803 President Jefferson signed off on the borders and State Constitution. Congress, however, didn't formally declare Ohio a US State. Essentially the right paperwork was not done. Oops!

No one was even sure if Ohio's laws were even valid now. So everyone got to work, rolled up their sleeves, took a break from racial segregation and bringing suspected communists to the Loyalty Review Board and they united as one to solve this important problem.
I'm just kidding. No one really took a break from McCarthyism or segregation. This was 1953 and that would go on for a while in the "good ol' days".

Ohio's first statehouse, sort of

They did solve the problem of this low hanging fruit. To remedy this odd situation, the Ohio General Assembly (that technically wasn't even legal when you think about it) approved a new petition for statehood in the old 1803 capital of Chillicothe. Then, in the spirit of 1803 delivered it on horseback (yes really) to Washington DC where Congress then formally declared Ohio a state and President Ike signed it on August 7th, 1953. What about those 150 years? Never fear my dear Ohioans, they made it retroactive to March 1st, 1803.