Fort Finney was a fort built in October 1785 at the mouth of the

Great Miami River The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee language, Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nat ...

near the modern city of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and named for Major Walter Finney who built the fort. The site was chosen to be midway between Falls of the Ohio and Limestone ( Maysville), two early settlements on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. Earlier,

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

had commissioned Generals

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot military officer on the American frontier, nort ...

, Richard Butler and Samuel Parsons to make a peace treaty with the

Shawnee Indians The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

, and a fort was needed to secure the territory. A company under Major Finney was dispatched in fall, 1785 from Fort Pitt to build the fort. The fort was abandoned sometime before the

Symmes Purchase The Symmes Purchase, also known as the Miami Purchase, was an area of land totaling roughly in what is now Hamilton, Butler, and Warren counties of southwestern Ohio, purchased by Judge John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey in 1788 from the Contine ...

in 1788. Today, the site is the coal yard of the Miami Fort Power Station.

Treaty of Fort Finney

The Treaty of Fort Finney, also known as the Treaty at the Mouth of the Great Miami, was signed on January 31, 1786, at Fort Finney between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

leaders after the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

and ceded parts of the

Ohio country The Ohio Country (Ohio Territory, Ohio Valley) was a name used for a loosely defined region of colonial North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of Lake Erie. Control of the territory and the region's fur trade was disputed i ...

to the United States. The treaty was reluctantly signed by the Shawnees and later renounced by other Shawnee leaders. The

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native Americans in the United States, Native American na ...

soon followed. Image:George Rogers Clark.jpg, Treaty signer General George Rogers Clark Image:Shawnee lang.png, Shawnee distribution around 1755

External links

"Treaty of Fort Finney (1786)"

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

. ''Ohio History Central: An Online Encyclopedia of Ohio History'', 2005. *http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=447 *http://www.graphicenterprises.net/html/shawnee_lookout_05.html *http://www.graphicenterprises.net/html/shawnee_lookout_06.html 1786 in the United States Northwest Indian War Shawnee history Fort Finney Fort Finney Fort Finney 1785 establishments in the United States {{Treaty-stub

Treaty of Fort Finney

See also

External links