The Civil War Started at Belpre, Ohio…Almost

       July 10, 1845, 2:00 am. It was pitch black on the Ohio River; a crescent moon had set in the west at midnight. A boat with 6 escaping slaves – 3 adults and 3 children - from the Harwood Plantation in Wood County Virginia had pushed off from Parkersburg, towards Ohio near Belpre. The plan was set up by an itinerant preacher named Romaine. Only the sloshing of oars working through the water broke the silence. Six members of the Underground Railroad ("UGGR"), waited on the Ohio side to guide them north to freedom.

     Also waiting on that dark Ohio shore were 16 armed men from Wood County. They'd been tipped off. The UGGR men helped the escapees ashore. Then the Wood County men burst out of hiding. In the confusion one slave, preacher Romaine, and two UGGR men escaped. All others were captured. The slaves were returned to Harwoods. Recaptured slaves might endure flogging, harsher duty, wearing of collars or shackles, or be "sold down the river” to worse conditions in the Deep South.

     The captured Ohioans were jailed in Wood County without access to their own attorneys. Bail was denied; no Virginia resident was willing sign a bail bond. Prominent Mariettans Nahum Ward, William P. Cutler, and Anselm T. Nye offered to guarantee a bond; that was disallowed.

     Newspaper coverage and word of mouth spread the story. The Richmond Enquirer expressed alarm that … "nests of Abolitionists" in western Virginia counties "have deliver(ed) anti-slavery lectures, without molestation..." warning that Abolitionists' "mischievous and fanatical schemes," … will place lives of Virginia citizens in "imminent peril." The Cleveland Weekly Leader opined that this was a "plot laid in Virginia to entrap men in Ohio.”

     Ohio Governor Mordecai Bartley conferred with William P. Cutler, Washington County’s Ohio House member. Bartley wanted to send 100 militia to extract the prisoners by force. Cutler counseled holding off. There was verbal jousting between the governors. Virginia Governor McDowell lectured Ohio Governor Bartley about the Fugitive Slave Laws. Bartley fired back, “I tell you plainly, Sir, with proper respect and due deliberation, that Ohio will not submit to such wrongs,” and that its citizens may “resort to violence.”

     Tensions remained high. Numerous Ohio groups met to consider measures to free the jailed Ohio men. In Parkersburg, guards were posted at the point, expecting an armed attack from Ohio. One night a guard heard a bustling noise at river’s edge. Word spread that abolitionists from Ohio had landed and were forcing their way into town. The Captain assembled the guards and as noise got closer gave the command: FIRE! The “enemy” was the town bull, so full of bullet holes that it could not be tanned.

     On September 2 the defendants were “perp-walked” to the Wood County Court. They pleaded not guilty. Bail was again refused. The jury trial showed that the justice system was working after all. The jury found the men guilty IF the site of their capture was determined to be in Virginia. The state boundary location became the key to the verdict. It seems counterintuitive to some, but the Ohio River has always been in the state of Virginia. The exact boundary location on the Ohio side could be debated since the river level is constantly changing.

     The boundary question was placed before a Virginia Court of Appeals in December 1845. Congressman Samuel F. Vinton argued that the boundary was the mean low water mark of the river, placing the men in Ohio, not Virginia. The judges deadlocked on the issue; further action was deferred to the next session in June 1846.

     On January 10, the men were granted bail and released. The case was never taken up; maybe the Virginia legal authorities tired of the controversy. Armed conflict was averted this time. Sixteen years later the Civil War was on for real, though western Virginia stayed pro-union, and in 1863 became West Virginia.

 

Griffin Greene, a Man in Perpetual Motion

      What else could a Marietta pioneer possibly accomplish who (a) built a perpetual motion machine, (b) Raised the sunken British frigate FLORA, (c) designed a unique floating water-powered mill in the Ohio River, and (d) helped build the Farmers Castle enclosure at Belpre? A LOT more, as you’ll see.

     Griffin Greene was born in Warwick, Rhode Island in 1749. Not much of his childhood years are recorded. He had little formal schooling; perhaps a reflection that manual, practical skills were considered by some as more important than “book learning.” The Rhode Island Greene family tradition was manufacturing and business ventures. In his twenties, he and his cousin Jacob built or inherited an iron forge. It thrived during the Revolutionary War making war materials. He was close to another cousin, General Nathanael Greene, namesake of Marietta's Greene Street and one of Washington's most dependable senior officers. General Greene was Quartermaster General of the Continental Army. Griffin Greene served for a while as an assistant quartermaster, under Nathanael. Griffin himself was an engineering genius. Some innovative accomplishments mentioned below are prime examples.

     SALVAGING THE FLORA: He invested in a company that salvaged sunken ships during the Revolutionary War. He oversaw the salvage in 1780 of the British frigate FLORA which had been scuttled to keep it from the Americans. The boat was sunk in shallow water near Newport RI harbor. Here was the plan. Step 1 - A diver using a primitive diving bell plugged holes in the hull. Step 2 – Griffin designed and built a huge pump, reportedly inspired by the French Encyclopédie, powered by horses on a flatboat walking in circles. Imagine seeing horses walking in circles on a boat in the ocean. That pump removed an incredible 144,000 gallons per hour. The FLORA was raised in just 6 hours. British loyalists watching nearby "could hardly believe their eyes" as the FLORA emerged. Raising FLORA was a success but operating her for profit was not. Griffin sailed FLORA in 1783-84 to France and sold her at a loss. While in Europe, he observed a floating water-powered mill in Holland. Keep that thought.

Model of French frigate LaVESTALE ca 1790s, formerly HMS FLORA that Griffin Greene salvaged. From Facebook page Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg

     In 1788 Griffin Greene moved his family to Marietta, Ohio, seeking new opportunities. Soon he added a new activity to his engineering-oriented life: government service. He was appointed justice of the peace and judge of the county court. After moving to Belpre, Griffin regularly went to court sessions in Marietta, rowing in a canoe. Later he served as postmaster and customs collector. Not bad for a guy with little formal education and no legal training.

     FLOATING WATER POWERED MILL. A water powered grist mill was crucial for the early settlers to grind corn and other grains into flour or meal for cooking. Rotary hand mills were slow and very laborious. The floating mill that Griffin Greene saw in Holland? That inspired him to design one for use in the Ohio River near Belpre. Jonathan Devol actually built it. Here’s the set-up: two flat boats, one larger than the other, are connected by planks of wood. The water wheel is in the middle, powered by the river current. The larger boat houses the machinery and workers. The smaller boat is merely a pontoon to support the wheel. The whole structure is anchored to shore. The floating mill has advantages compared to a fixed mill on a river or stream bank: it automatically adjusts to the water level, does not require a dam or sluice gates, can be positioned where water flow is optimal. This was the first such mill in America.

Diagram of floating water powered mill, from water level (top) and overhead (bottom). Building and machinery is on the left, water wheel in the middle, and floating pontoon on the right.

     PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE. Griffin became obsessed with building such a machine. He was living in Belpre at the time and helped build the Farmer’s Castle protective enclosure for the community in 1791. Joseph Barker’s Recollections (spelling as written): “Griffin Green,… one of our engenious, interprising,& useful citizens… constructed a Machine of considerable size &  expence: it consisted of three Arms about twelve feet long, (weighted) with Lead at each end, & erected Virtically.” Hard to visualize. The machine did run “with the steadiness of a nice timepiece” for several hours…but inevitably it quit. The device stopped, but Griffin Greene never did.