06/20/2026
The Ohio-Michigan Boundary War:
"When Ohio was organized into a Territory in 1800, the western boundary was a “line beginning on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River; thence running to Fort Recovery; thence north until it intersects the territorial line between the United States and Canada.”
There was much trouble about the northern boundary line. The enabling act under which Ohio was admitted into the Union bounded the proposed State on the north “by an east and west line drawn through the southern extremity of Take Michigan,” and extending easterly “until it shall intersect Lake Erie.” The ordinance of 1787 represented Bake Michigan far north of its real position, and its size and location had not been ascertained as late as 1812. It was found that the proposed line would pass from five to eight miles south of Lake Erie. Ohio maintained that it was the manifest intention of Congress to make the southern shore of Lake Erie her northern boundary, while Michigan claimed jurisdiction over the lake shore to the Pennsylvania line. Several lines were afterwards surveyed, none of which suited both States. In 1833, a party beginning a “ permanent” survey was attacked by Michigan settlers, who sent them away badly beaten. In the same year the governors of both States occupied the disputed territory with small armies. Federal commissioners arrived about this time, and induced the belligerent governors to retire with their men and await the addition of Congress. In 1836, Congress decided in favor of Ohio, but gave Michigan what is now her Upper Peninsula. Ohio got what she was contending for — the excellent harbor on the Maumee, where Toledo now stands."
-A. W. West, A Short History of Ohio
Join my Patreon or Substack for my original content: https://www.patreon.com/c/OhioFrontierHistory1
https://ohiofrontierhistory1.substack.com/
