Warriors of our people who may join you in the It would seem from White Eyes remarks that ignoring campaign promises on the part of the Wise Brethren in Congress is not a matter of recent growth. The reduction of Detroit, the expedition referred to by White Eyes, was a pet project of Gen. McIntosh and one warmly endorsed by both the Pennsylvania and Virginia authorities, but the difficulties encountered in securing an adequate army and supplies therefor for a march of 300 miles through a hostile and sparsely cultivated country forced its abandonment as later it was abandoned when fathered by Thomas Jefferson and George Rodgers Clark. Had Clark succeeded in raising an army and the needed supplies, Gibson would have been second in command as his release for that service was personally solicited by Jefferson from Baron Steuben, with whom Gibson was hastening along the south bank of the James to intercept Benedict Arnold, who had already burned Richmond. Gibson succeeded Col. Broadhead in command of the Western Department in 1780 and was himself succeeded in the fall of 1781 by Brig. Gen. Irvine. He served to the end of the war and was promoted to the rank of Brig. General by Congressional resolution Sept. 30th. 1783. Yorktown surrendered and the Treaty of Paris accomplished Gibson beat his sword into a bung starter and returned to his trade at Pittsburgh which in a few years grew to enormous proportions as witness the following from the Pittsburgh Gazette, Aug. 20th. 1786. From the 6th. of July last to the 10th. inst. (a 3173 summer deer skins 94 bear skins 15 wild cat skins 74 fall deer skins There was no money in the country; the money of the United States was worthless and that of the states of Pennsylvania and Virginia but little better. "Pieces of Eight"— the Spanish milled dollar, had long since disappeared. Trade was by barter and if the hunter and trapper did not take the whole value of his "catch" in supplies he was given a certificate in writing by the Trader acknowledging the number and kind of skins received which certificate passed current as a medium of exchange. Army Quartermasters bought supplies and paid for them with certificates expressed in terms of skins instead of money, as witness the following countersigned by Gibson when in command at Ft. Laurens, Ohio (Bolivar, Ohio). I do certify that I am indebted to the bearer, Cap- Samuel Sample, The above is due him for pork for the use of the Jno. Gibson, Col. It has been surmissed that the use of the term "wildcat", as applied to various kinds of precarious promotion and financing, had its origin with this use of skins as money, and there is not much question that our present slang word "buck," meaning a dollar, had a similar origin. In 1910 the Bank of Pittsburgh celebrated its centennial anniversary as the earliest established bank west of the Alleghany mountains, forgetting or ignoring the fact that in 1784 at "Falls of Ohio"-Louisville, Ky.—in a house boat, high and dry on the banks of the river where it had been left by a receding flood, and fastened to a stump with a rope, one John Sanders established a bank, or "Keep," as he called it, as witness the following certificate of deposit: Know all men by these presents, that Daniel Boone skin and i have took from them VI shillings for the John Sanders Apparently Banker Sanders understood "bank interest" as well as any of his successors. He had however none of the modern aids to banking; no compulsory reserves; no Bank Examiner to throw out collateral or call for new or better endorsers and incidentally no Federal Reserve Bank to which he could pass the "buck", but it is not recorded that he ever failed to promptly meet all his obligations. Gibson with Gen. Richard Butler as fellow Commissioner in behalf of Pennsylvania purchased from the Six Nations their title to the "Erie Triangle"-the triangular country jutting into Lake Erie surrounding the City of Erie. He was a member of the convention which framed the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 and on Aug. 17th. 1791 became one of the Lay Judges of the Courts of Allegheny County. This was the court presided over as Law Judge by the famous Alexander Addison whose controversy with J. B. C. Lucas led to the former's impeachment, trial and conviction before the Senate of Pennsylvania. Lucas afterward removed to St. Louis, Mo., and was appointed Judge of the United District Court. The site of Judge Lucas' old home is now the site of the Carnegie Library and one block from St. Louis' "Congested District". When Judge Lucas built he was warned he was too far out; that the Indians would have his scalp within three months. Quietly pursuing his trade, but ever loyal to the Government he had helped to establish, the Whiskey Insurrection found Gibson in disfavor with those who led that abortive attempt to destroy that which had cost so much to confirm and he was expelled the country. Pittsburgh, Aug. 4 1794. This is to certify to all whom it may concern that moreland and Allegheny Counties assembled at James Clow, Bradford's flight to the French possessions at the mouth of the Mississippi and the collapse of the Insurrection found Gibson again a trader until 1800 when he was appointed by President Jefferson Secretary of the newly formed Territory of Indiana, in which capacity he remained until Indiana was admitted as a state in 1816. He arrived at Vincennes, the Territorial capital, in July, 1800, and was Acting Governor until the arrival in January, 1801, of William Henry Harrison. Indiana at that time embraced all of the present states of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. Vincennes, the capital, was a long established French town with a newspaper and an academy and was the home of many French of Education and refinement. The Territory boasted only about 5000 whites but was inhabited by numerous and warlike tribes of Indians at the head of which was the renowned Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet and Medicine Man Pemsquatawah. Gen. Harrison's frequent and prolonged absences from the capital fighting Indians was the occasion of Gibson being often called upon as Acting Governor. He was now over sixty years of age and his fighting days were over. This did not prevent him from taking an active part in all negotiations with the Indians and he was present during the famous interview between Tecumseh and Harrison. When the Indian Chief angrily interrupted Harrison and turned, to harangue his assembled warriors, Gibson who alone understood Tecumseh's sinister words, ordered up the guard and prevented a massacre. Similarly he was enabled at 72 years of age to relieve Capt. (afterward President) Zachary Taylor beleaguered at Ft. Harrison. Gibson County, Indiana, is named in his honor. |