The name adopted for the proposed town was Losanteville, which had been manufactured by a pedantic foreigner, whose name, fortunately, has been forgotten. It was formed, as he said, from the words Le os ante ville, which he rendered "the village opposite the mouth." Logicians may decide whether the words might not be rendered more correctly, the mouth before the village. Be that as it may, the settlement then formed was immediately designated by the name adopted for the projected town-though the town itself never was laid out, for reasons which will be explained hereafter. Yet, from the facts stated, a very general belief has prevailed that the original name of the town of Cincinnati was Losanteville, and that through the influence of Governor St. Clair and others, that name was abandoned, and the name of Cincinnati substituted. This impression, though a natural one, under the circumstances of the case, was nevertheless incorrect.

It is impossible to say what influence operated on the minds of the proprietors, to induce them to adopt the name of Cincinnati, in preference to the one previously proposed. Judge Symmes, being on the spot, might have advised it; but it is not probable that Governor St. Clair had any agency in it, as he was at the time negotiating a treaty with the north-western Indians, at Marietta, between which place and Cincinnati, there was then but very little intercourse. The truth may be gathered from the facts of the case, which are these.

Matthias Denman, of Springfield, New Jersey, had purchased the fraction of land on the bank of the Ohio, and the entire section adjoining it on the north, which, on the survey of Symmes' grant should be found to lie opposite the mouth of Licking river. In the summer of 1788, he came out to the west to see the lands he had purchased, and to examine the country. On his return to Limestone, he met among others, Colonel Patterson, of Lexington, and a surveyor by the name of Filson. Denman communicated

to them his intention of laying out a town on his land, opposite Licking; and, after some conversation, agreed to take them in as partners, each paying a third of the purchase-money; and, on the further condition, that Colonel Patterson should exert his influence to obtain settlers, and that Filson, in the ensuing spring, should survey the town, stake off the lots, and superintend the sale. They also agreed on the plan of the town, and to call it Losanteville. This being done, Patterson and Filson, with a party of settlers, proceeded to the ground, where they arrived late in December. In the course of the winter, before any attempt had been made to lay out the town, Filson went on an exploring expedition, with Judge Symmes, and others, who had it in contemplation to become purchasers, and settle in the country. After the party had proceeded some thirty or forty miles into the wilderness, Filson, for some cause not now known, left them, for the purpose of returning to the settlements on the Ohio; and in that attempt, was murdered by the Indians. This terminated his contract with Denman, as no part of the consideration had been paid, and his personal services, in surveying the town, and superintending the sale of the lots, had become impracticable.

Mr. Denman, being yet at Limestone, entered into another contract with Colonel Patterson and Israel Ludlow, by which Ludlow was to perform the same services as were to have been rendered by the unfortunate Filson, had he lived to execute his contract. A new plan of a town was then made, differing, in many important respects, from the former, particularly as to the public square, the commons, and the names of the streets. The whimsical name which had been adopted for the town to be laid out under the first contract, was repudiated, and Cincinnati selected, as the name of the town, to be laid out under the new contract. Late in the succeeding fall, Colonel Ludlow commenced a survey of the town which has since become the Queen City of the West. He first laid off the lots, which, by pre

vious agreement, were to be disposed of as donations to volunteer settlers, and completed the survey at his leisure. A misapprehension has prevailed, as appears from some recent publications, in regard to the price paid by the proprietors for the land on which the city stands. The original purchase by Mr. Denman, included a section and a fractional section, containing about eight hundred acres; for which he paid five shillings per acre, in Continental Certificates, which were then worth, in specie, five shillings on the pound-so that the specie price per acre was fifteen pence. That sum multiplied by the number of acres, will give the original cost of the plat of Cincinnati.

The third party of adventurers to the Miami Purchase, were under the immediate care and direction of Judge Symmes. They left Limestone on the 29th of January, 1789, and on their passage down the river, were obstructed, delayed, and exposed to imminent danger from floating ice, which covered the river. They, however, reached the Bend, the place of their destination, in safety, early in February. The first object of the Judge was to found a city at that place, which had received the name of North Bend, from the fact that it was the most northern bend in the Ohio river below the mouth of the Great Kanawha.

The water-craft used in descending the Ohio, in those primitive times, were flat-boats, made of green oak plank, fastened by wooden pins to a frame of timber, and caulked with tow, or any other pliant substance that could be procured. Boats similarly constructed on the northern waters, were then called arks, but on the western rivers, they were denominated Kentucky boats. The materials of which they were composed, were found to be of great utility in the construction of temporary buildings for safety, and for protection from the inclemency of the weather, after they had arrived at their destination.

At the earnest solicitation of the Judge, General Harmar sent Captain Kearsey with forty-eight rank and file, to pro

tect the improvements just commencing in the Miami country. This detachment reached Limestone in December, 1788, and in a few days after, Captain Kearsey sent a part of his command in advance, as a guard to protect the pioneers under Major Stites, at the Little Miami, where they arrived soon after. Mr. Symmes and his party, accompanied by Captain Kearsey, landed at Columbia, on their passage down the river, and the detachment previously sent to that place joined their company. They then proceeded to the Bend, and landed about the first or second of February. When they left Limestone it was the purpose of Captain Kearsey to occupy the fort built at the mouth of the Miami, by a detachment of United States' troops, who afterwards descended the river to the Falls.

That purpose was defeated by the flood in the river, which had spread over the low grounds and rendered it difficult to reach the fort. Captain Kearsey, however, was anxious to make the attempt, but the Judge would not consent to it; he was of course much disappointed, and greatly displeased. When he set out on the expedition, expecting to find a fort ready built to receive him, he did not provide the implements necessary to construct one. Thus disappointed and displeased, he resolved that he would not attempt to construct a new work, but would leave the Bend and join the garrison at Louisville.

In pursuance of that resolution, he embarked early in March, and descended the river with his command. The Judge immediately wrote to Major Willis, commandant of the garrison at the Falls, complaining of the conduct of Captain Kearsey, representing the exposed situation of the Miami settlement, stating the indications of hostility manifested by the Indians, and requesting a guard to be sent to the Bend. This request was promptly granted, and before the close of the month, Ensign Luce arrived with seventeen or eighteen soldiers, which, for the time, removed the apprehensions of the pioneers at that place. It was not long,

however, before the Indians made an attack on them, in which they killed one soldier, and wounded four or five other persons, including Major J. R. Mills, an emigrant from Elizabethtown, New Jersey, who was a surveyor, and an intelligent and highly respected citizen. Although he recovered from his wounds, he felt their disabling effects to the day of his death.

The surface of the ground where the Judge and his party had landed, was above the reach of the water, and sufficiently level to admit of a convenient settlement. He therefore determined, for the immediate accommodation of his party, to lay out a village at that place, and to suspend, for the present, the execution of his purpose, as to the city, of which he had given notice, until satisfactory information could be obtained in regard to the comparative advantages of different places in the vicinity. The determination, however, of laying out such a city, was not abandoned, but was executed in the succeeding year on a magnificent scale. It included the village, and extended from the Ohio across the peninsula to the Miami river. This city, which was certainly a beautiful one, on paper, was called Symmes, and for a time was a subject of conversation and of criticism; but it soon ceased to be remembered-even its name was forgotten, and the settlement continued to be called North Bend. Since then, that village has been distinguished as the residence and the home of the soldier and statesman, William Henry Harrison, whose remains now repose in a humble vault on one of its beautiful hills.

In conformity with a stipulation made at Limestone, every individual belonging to the party received a donation lot, which he was required to improve, as the condition of obtaining a title. As the number of these adventurers increased in consequence of the protection afforded by the military, the Judge was induced to lay out another village, six or seven miles higher up the river, which he called