The Twelve Mile Square Reservation, also called the Twelve Mile Square Reserve, was a tract of land in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

ceded by Indians to the United States of America in the

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples ...

in 1795. This particular area of land immediately surrounding Fort Miami was considered to be of strategic importance by the United States government representatives. It was subsequently surveyed in a manner different from surrounding land, and lots sold, or granted, to settlers.

History

In 1680, Frontenac, the French Governor of Canada, established Fort Miami on the west bank of the Maumee River. It was the first fortification in Ohio built by non-indigenous people. The fort was used as a trading post for a short time, then abandoned. During the Northwest Indian War the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rebuilt Fort Miami to assist the Indians fighting the Americans. The Americans won the

Battle of Fallen Timbers The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United State ...

nearby in 1794. As a result of the battle, the Treaty of Greenville was signed, which ceded much of southern and eastern Ohio to the United States. In addition, Article 3 ceded a number of other tracts, including #8: "One piece twelve miles square, at the British fort on the Miami of the Lake, at the foot of the rapids." - Text of Treaty of Greenville

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

At that time, the Maumee river was called the Miami of the lake, and the foot of the rapids are today between the towns Maumee and Perrysburg. In 1795,

Jay's Treaty The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...

led to the fort being abandoned in 1796.

Survey and settlement

While the French and British occupied the region, many white people settled near the fort. The United States wished to give legal title to these people, and sell the rest of the tract. To accomplish this, on March 3, 1805, Congress arranged for a special indiscriminate location survey for the reserve. Deputy surveyor Elias Glover subdivided the tract into four townships of six miles (10 km) square each in 1805, with the southwest township being number one, the northwest number two, the northeast number three, and the southeast number four. The tract has no ranges, and is an original survey, unrelated to later 1821

Congress Lands The Congress Lands was a group of land tracts in Ohio that made land available for sale to members of the general public through land offices in various cities, and through the General Land Office. It consisted of three groups of surveys: *Ohio Ri ...

surveys that surround the reserve, known as

North and East of First Principal Meridian North and East of the First Principal Meridian is a survey and land description in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Ohio. Survey In 1812, Congress authorized the Surveyor General to survey the northern and western border of Ohio “as soon ...

. In 1807,

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directed that every person in the actual possession of any tract of land, in his own right, and settled, occupied and improved by him prior to the first day of July, 1796, or by some other person under whom he claimed the right to its occupancy or possession, should be confirmed in his title as an estate of inheritance in fee simple, and be entitled to a

land patent A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...

for it. Each township was subdivided into 36 sections numbered

boustrophedon Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...

ically, as established by the Act of May 18, 1796. Under the Act of 1816, Joseph Wampler surveyed the riverfront into long lots of about each, numbered 1 to 93, and officially called "River Tracts". - Text of Act of April 27, 1816

The private claims of the British and French era settlers were surveyed in 1817 by deputy surveyor S. Carpenter. The partial sections left after the River Tracts were called "Fractional Sections". The Act of 1816 set aside section 16 of each township as

School Lands The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not have ...

for benefit of schools in each township. These sections were eventually sold. Town lots in Perrysburg were also laid out in 1816, providing less than two sections of land in lots less than each. Land sales were through the Wooster Land Office in the Canton Land District.

Modern times

The tract encompasses portions of

Wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

and Lucas counties, including Perrysburg, Maumee, and south suburban

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. The corners of the Reservationcorners determined from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

topographic maps a
terraserver
/ref> are at (NW of the intersection of Dorr and Crissey roads, forming part of the boundary with Spencer and Springfield townships), (NE of the MLK Bridge within the Maumee River), (the intersection of Tracy and Dowling roads, forming the SE corner of Perrysburg Township), (NE of the intersection of Neowash and Noward roads in Waterville Township).

Notes

References

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External links