Thursday, August 31, 2017
Robert E. Lee's Michigan Connection
By Brandon Hall
(Email Him At WestMIPolitics@Gmail.com)
Did you know that Robert E. Lee played a key role in the Michigan/Ohio border fight when he was a Lieutenant in the US Army?
The dispute over Toledo led to Michigan receiving the Upper Peninsula...
Check out this excerpt from the Chicago Tribune:
"It all began in 1755, when mapmaker John Mitchell misplaced Lake Michigan. When the Northwest Territory was created in 1787, the line that divided what eventually would become the states of Ohio and Michigan was drawn through the southern tip of Lake Michigan. But Mitchell`s map, on which the line was based, placed the tip of the lake farther north than it actually was. That line hit the west shore of Lake Erie north of the Maumee River and Toledo.
When Ohio petitioned for statehood in 1802, it selected the 1787 line as its northern boundary. But an old trapper appeared at the Ohio constitutional convention and told the delegates the map was wrong. A line drawn through the southern tip of Lake Michigan actually would fall south of the Maumee River, leaving Toledo in Michigan and depriving Ohio of an important natural harbor. The delegates hurriedly attached a proviso to the state constitution providing that if the line was south of the river it would be redrawn, placing it to the north.
Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803, but Congress decided not to rule on the boundary question. Congress let matters ride until 1817, when two surveys produced different lines, one placing Toledo in Ohio and one in Michigan territory.
The disputed 468 square miles running between the Indiana border and Lake Erie was called the Toledo Strip.
Nobody cared much about the strip, which contained 80 families living in a quagmire noted as a breeding place for fevers and chills, until the early 1830s, when some developers realized that Toledo stood a chance of becoming a terminal for two railroads and the Wabash and Erie Canal.
Suddenly the swampy strip became a valuable piece of real estate. Michigan territory`s ``Boy Governor,`` 24-year-old Stevens T. Mason, and Ohio`s Gov. Robert Lucas squared off.
A new survey conducted by an army lieutenant named Robert E. Lee supported the Michigan line. President Andrew Jackson was said to privately side with Michigan, but he wanted Ohio`s electoral votes in the coming election.
As the situation grew more heated, Lucas sent a survey party to post signs along the Ohio version of the border. Mason sent in troops.
On April 26, 1835, the first skirmish of the Ohio-Michigan War took place when the Michigan militia collided with the Ohio surveying party.
The militia opened fire. The Ohioans took to their heels. Nobody was hurt.
Flushed by victory, Mason ordered his deputies to arrest an Ohioan, Maj. Benjamin Franklin Stickney. That action was to draw the first--and last--blood.
The major was the great-grandnephew of his famous namesake and he shared his forebear`s penchant for eccentricity. He had two sons, and they were named One Stickney and Two Stickney, according to the order of their birth.
On July 16, 1835, Joseph Wood, a deputy sheriff from Monroe County, Michigan, saw Benjamin Franklin Stickney and son Two in the swamps of the strip. Heeding Mason`s orders, Wood tried to arrest them. As Wood placed the heavy hand of the law on Two Stickney`s shoulder, the youth drew a knife and shouted, ``Damn you, sir, you have got it.``
With that, Two stabbed the deputy. The Stickneys then galloped to safety across the Ohio border. Wood, whose injuries were superficial, repaired to a tavern.
Throughout the rest of the summer of 1835, the Michigan militia threatened Ohioans in the strip.
Then Jackson pulled the rug from under Michigan by removing Mason as the territorial governor. Not one to miss an opportunity, Lucas devised a plan that would bring the Ohio-Michigan War to a close.
On Sept. 7, 1835, Toledo`s judges and court officials, escorted by a 20-man armed guard, sneaked into the city before dawn and convened the first Common Pleas Court of a newly formed Lucas County, Ohio. They named three commissioners for their new county, established Toledo as the county seat and adjourned to a tavern to drink an early morning toast to their accomplishment.
Lucas County eventually was recognized as part of Ohio. Congress offered Michigan the Upper Peninsula as compensation.
When Michigan gained statehood in 1837, Mason was elected its first governor."
Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.
The major was the great-grandnephew of his famous namesake and he shared his forebear`s penchant for eccentricity. He had two sons, and they were named One Stickney and Two Stickney, according to the order of their birth.
On July 16, 1835, Joseph Wood, a deputy sheriff from Monroe County, Michigan, saw Benjamin Franklin Stickney and son Two in the swamps of the strip. Heeding Mason`s orders, Wood tried to arrest them. As Wood placed the heavy hand of the law on Two Stickney`s shoulder, the youth drew a knife and shouted, ``Damn you, sir, you have got it.``
With that, Two stabbed the deputy. The Stickneys then galloped to safety across the Ohio border. Wood, whose injuries were superficial, repaired to a tavern.
Throughout the rest of the summer of 1835, the Michigan militia threatened Ohioans in the strip.
Then Jackson pulled the rug from under Michigan by removing Mason as the territorial governor. Not one to miss an opportunity, Lucas devised a plan that would bring the Ohio-Michigan War to a close.
On Sept. 7, 1835, Toledo`s judges and court officials, escorted by a 20-man armed guard, sneaked into the city before dawn and convened the first Common Pleas Court of a newly formed Lucas County, Ohio. They named three commissioners for their new county, established Toledo as the county seat and adjourned to a tavern to drink an early morning toast to their accomplishment.
Lucas County eventually was recognized as part of Ohio. Congress offered Michigan the Upper Peninsula as compensation.
When Michigan gained statehood in 1837, Mason was elected its first governor."
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