Copyright © 2017 John F. Oyler
September 21, 2017
President Monroe in
the Chartiers Valley
It has been our opinion that the only visit of a sitting
President to the Chartiers Valley was the trip President Ulysses S. Grant and
his wife took to Washington, Pa. to visit relatives of Mrs. Grant. Recently I
learned that I was grossly mistaken and that President James Monroe had indeed
visited Canonsburg on September 5, 1817 and then gone on to Pittsburgh.
It turns out there is a monograph by a gentleman named S.
Putnam Waldo, entitled “The Tour of James Monroe, President
of the United States, through the Northern and Eastern States”, which describes
a remarkable trip Monroe took during the first year of his incumbency. He left
Washington early in June 1817, travelled up the East Coast through New England then through upstate New York to Buffalo.
At that point he
boarded a sailing vessel and traversed Lake Erie to Detroit. He then came back
through Ohio, visiting Lancaster, Delaware, Columbus, Pickaway County,
Circleville, and Chillicothe before arriving at Zanesville on Friday, August
29. A week later he arrived in
Canonsburg where he was met by a company of mounted militia and escorted to
Emory’s Tavern for refreshments.
Following the
repast a reception was held where he met the President of Jefferson College,
students of that institution, and other local citizens. At that time Jefferson
was by far the largest college in the state and one of the largest in the young
nation. Monroe praised it as the center of literature in the West. The militia
then accompanied him on the Black Horse Trail to the Allegheny County Line
where he was met by Allegheny County officials who went with him on to
Pittsburgh.
During this long
trip the President travelled on horseback and by coach. We presume he came to
Canonsburg from Washington, Pa. although the monograph is silent regarding his
activities during the previous week. It appears that the author relied heavily
on direct quotations from local newspapers; apparently none were available
between Zanesville and Canonsburg.
It is intriguing
to imagine Monroe’s trip down the Black Horse Trail from Canonsburg into
Pittsburgh. He certainly would have been curious about Morganza, Colonel George
Morgan’s plantation. The Colonel had died in 1810, but Monroe would have been
well informed about Aaron Burr’s visit to Morganza in 1805 and his attempt to
recruit Morgan for his scheme to set up an empire in Louisiana. Morgan reported
this incident to President Jefferson and testified as a witness in Burr’s
treason trial.
If the President
inquired about local residents when they reached the county line, one presumes
the Boyces, Fawctts, and Lesnetts would have been mentioned. As the trail
descended from the ridge toward Chartiers Creek, someone would have pointed out
the Wingfield Mills complex and the small Hastings community. Assuming he was
travelling by coach, they would have stopped at Harriotts’ Inn briefly before
continuing on to “the Bridge” over Chartiers Creek and Colonel Noble’s
storehouse there. His escorts would have pointed out Noble’s Trace leading west
to Noblestown and east to the Youghiogheny River.
The next landmark
would have been Woodville Plantation, by now the estate of Christopher Cowan.
Monroe would have been quite familiar with the Whiskey Rebellion although he
was in France as our Ambassador when it occurred. I am sure he would have asked
to have someone point out to him the location of Bower Hill, before the rebels
burned it down.
After passing St.
Luke’s Church the Trail slowly climbs Greentree Hill before winding its way
down to what we now call the Old Stone Tavern. In 1817 it might have been
Elliot’s Tavern or Coates’ Inn; at any rate it was a major watering hole for
travellers heading into Pittsburgh on the Black Horse Trail. It too had already
seen a lot of history by the time President Monroe passed by.
The more I read
about Monroe, the more obvious it becomes that he is the most under-appreciated
of the Founding Fathers. The fact that he chose to visit the West during his
first year in office and get a feel for his constituency is especially
impressive. One wonders where he went during the week between Zanesville and
Canonsburg – probably Cambridge, Ohio, Wheeling, and Washington.
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