OASS, LEWIS. 



91 



>f captain. At tlio establishment of pence he 

 reccive<l ,-i ronimi^siuii in the army as major, 

 nnil was assigned to duty under Wayne in the 

 territory northwest of the Ohio River, his fam- 

 ily remaining at Kxeter. During this time young 



I.c\\ is \\.-i-; attending tin- :ie:ideiny in his native 

 town, :;m! lining the Inundations of a substan- 

 tial education. In IT'.' 1 .' the family removed to 

 Wilmington, l>el., where Major Cass was tem- 

 por::rily stationed, and where the subject of 

 this sketch obtained occupation as a teacher. 

 The following year, having decided to locate 

 "Westward, the family travelled thither partly on 

 foot and partly by boat, reaching Marietta, the 

 pioneer settlement of Southern Ohio, in Octo- 

 ber. Major ('ass soon removed to a tract of 

 land granted him by the Government for his 

 military services, situated on the Muskingurn 

 Kivcr, near Zanesville, while Lewis remained at 

 Marietta, engaged in the study of law. In 1802 

 lie was admitted to the bar, being but twenty 

 years of age, and commenced the practice of 

 his profession in Zanesville. His abilities as a 

 jurist and pleader speedily manifested them- 

 selves, built up for him a lucrative business, 

 and gave him a wide-spread reputation in the 

 thinly settled district north of the Ohio. Be- 

 coming well established in his profession, in 

 1806 he married a Virginia lady, and shortly 

 after entered upon his public career by taking a 

 Beat in the Ohio Legislature. Being placed on 

 the committee instituted to inquire into the 

 movements of Colonel Burr, his hand drafted 

 the law which enabled the local authorities to 

 arrest the men and boats engaged in that en- 

 terprise on their passage down the Ohio. He 

 also drew up the address to Mr. Jefferson, em- 

 bodying the views of the Ohio Legislature on 

 the subject. In 1807 Mr. Cass was appointed 

 marshal of the State, a position which he filled 

 until 1813. In the war of 1812 he volunteered 

 to join the forces at Dayton under General 

 Hull, and was named colonel of the Third Ohio 

 Volunteers. Colonel Cass commanded the ad- 

 vanced guard when the army crossed from 

 Detroit into Canada, and drew up the proclama- 

 tion addressed by the general to the inhabitants 

 of that couutry on their arrival in it, and com- 

 manded also the detachment which dislodged 

 the British forces posted at the bridge over the 

 Aux Canards. Shortly afterward Colonel Cass 

 was included in the capitulation which en- 

 sued on the signal defeat of the American army, 

 and after making his report at "Washington, 

 was appointed to the Twenty-seventh regiment 

 of infantry, and after a short interval, promoted 

 to the rank of brigadier-general. He took part 

 in the pursuit of General Proctor, and in the tri- 

 umph at the Moravian Towns. At the close of 

 the campaign he was left in command ot'.M ichigan, 

 with his headquarters at Detroit, a command he 

 exchanged for the post of Civil Governor over 

 the same State in October, 1813. In 1814 he 

 was associated with General Harrison in a com- 

 mission to treat with the Indians, who had been 

 hostile to the United States during the war. 



The number of white inhabitants throughout 

 the Territory was scarcely MX thousand ; no foot 

 of land had been yet sold by the United State*, 

 ami the interior of the Territory was a vat-t 

 \\ililerncs8, affording ambush for forty thou- 

 sand hostile ravages. The Indian proprietorhhip 

 still continued, and settlers could obtain no 

 certain titles to their locations. No surveys 

 had been made, no roads opened inland, and thu 

 barbarous savages, led by their powerful chief- 

 tain Tecumseh, were implacable in their hatred 

 of the whites, and terrible in their atr<> 

 Under these discouraging circumstances Gov- 

 ernor Cass assumed the responsibilities of Gov- 

 ernor, and ex-officio Superintendent of Indian 

 A Hairs, his jurisdiction extending over the 

 whole Territory, and continued in the discharge 

 of these duties for eighteen years. During thin 

 period his management of Indian affairs was 

 conducted with the utmost wisdom and pru- 

 dence. He negotiated twenty-tfro distinct 

 treaties, securing the cession by the various 

 tribes to the United States of the immense re- 

 gions of the Northwest, instituted surveys, con- 

 structed roads, established military works, or- 

 ganized counties and townships, and, in short, 

 created and placed in motion all the machin- 

 ery of legitimate government and internal im- 

 provement and prosperity, of which we arc to- 

 day enjoying the results. In the administration 

 of the extensive financial trusts incident to his 

 position, Governor Cass displayed the most 

 scrupulous honesty, never permitting even the 

 small sum allowed him by the Government foz 

 contingent expenses to be transferred to hig 

 private account until the vouchers had been 

 formally signed and transmitted to "Washington. 

 As yet the Northwestern regions were very 

 imperfectly known, and at his suggestion an 

 expedition was planned in 1820, iu which he 

 himself bore a conspicuous part. Accompanied 

 by the celebrated geologist, Schoolcraft, and 

 six other gentlemen, with the necessary Indian 

 gnides, they left Detroit in three bark canoes, 

 for the exploration of the upper lakes and the 

 head-waters of the Mississippi, and traversed 

 6,000 miles. The results of this and other sub- 

 sequent expeditions were published in the 

 North American Revieio in 1828-'29, and add- 

 ed in no slight degree to the well-earned fame 

 of the author. In 1831, when President Jack- 

 son reconstructed his cabinet, Governor Cass was 

 appointed Secretary of War, and cordially in- 

 dorsed all the distinctive features of that ad- 

 ministration. In the nullification troubles he 

 occupied the high patriotic ground of his chief, 

 and the nullifiers derived no benefit from 

 his presence in the War Department. In 1836 

 Gen. Cass submitted a rather celebrated report 

 to Congress upon our military and naval defences, 

 embracing an elaborate resume of our existing 

 martial resources, both offensive and defen>ive. 

 His recommendations were the erection of a 

 strong chain of coast fortifications, and the build- 

 ing of a powerful navy. Subsequent events 

 have established the wisdom f his suggestions, 



