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Lochry's Massacre Site In Riverview Cemetery.

Little Laughery, the creek which flows out of Batesville, is named in honor of Colonel Archibald Lochery, a revolutionary war soldier. Lochery and his battalion of Pennsylvania militiamen were traveling on the Ohio River, proposing to meet up with George Rogers Clark, who was planning an attack on the British garrison at Fort Detroit. The expedition sighted a buffalo standing along the bank of the river, near the mouth of a large creek. They shot it from the river and landed to prepare a meal. Chief Joseph Brant and a band of Indian warriors had been tracking the group of soldiers, and the Indians lost no time in taking advantage of this opportunity. They swept swiftly down upon the unsuspecting militiamen. The battle raged for only a few minutes. About forty of Lochry's men were killed in the conflict, and some others, including Lochry, were executed in its aftermath. The rest were taken as prisoners to Detroit. It was August 23, 1781, and the battle is called "Lochry’s Massacre". A battle of the Revolutionary War had raged for a few minutes at the mouth of Laughery Creek near the banks of the Ohio River, with devastating consequences for the American combatants. The name 'Laughery' was misspelled by a government clerk on the first documents, and the name has remained unchanged. Riverview Cemetery, the approximate location of the battle near Aurora, contains a monument to Lochery and his men, and a list of the soldiers who took part in the battle.

Cincinnati is also an important part of Batesville’s history, as it was one of the major points on the railroad’s route. George Rogers Clark built temporary fortifications on the site in 1780 as part of his extensive operations against Indian tribes fighting for the British in the Revolutionary War. Revolutionary War soldiers received land grants as part of their pay for service, and John Cleves Symmes had received a grant which included this plot of land after the war. In 1788 a group of citizens purchased 740 acres of land from Mr. Symmes for the purpose of laying out a settlement. In 1789 these citizens laid out the town, naming it Losantiville. This name was an anagram formed from the French and Latin words for "city opposite the mouth of the Licking River. The village was renamed Cincinnati, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnatus in 1790.

Northwest Territory

The end of hostilities of the Revolutionary War came in 1781 with the surrender of the British under Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The Northwest Territory was ceded by Great Britain to the newly formed United States by the Treaty of Paris. The territory comprised 265,878 square miles, and would have the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and the eastern section of Minnesota carved out of it. The territory was claimed by the United States as a "spoil of war" on the basis of George Rogers Clark capturing it during the Revolution. The United States provided no government to the territory until the Ordinance of 1787 passed Congress. This ordinance provisions stated, among other things, that at least three and no more than five states would arise in it, there was to be no slavery there, and that once an area reached a free population of 60,000, it could apply for statehood. In July 1800, the Ohio Territory was broken off, and the remainder was called the Indiana Territory. In 1805, the Michigan Territory was broken off, 1809 the Illinois Territory was formed, and the final Territory of Wisconsin was formed in 1836. The Territorial Capitol was the old French town of Vincennes on the Wabash River, and General Arthur St. Clair was the first territorial governor. Clarksville was the first settlement began in the Northwest Territory by United States citizens and was founded in 1784 on the banks of the Ohio River.

At the time the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, ending the Revolutionary War, the new United States took control of the vast Northwest Territory. Various Indian tribes lived here at this time. There was eternal conflict between the Indians, who were defending their land, and the encroaching whites, who wanted the land. The conflict reached a climax on August 20, 1793. A fierce battle between the Indian tribes and forces of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne was fought. This was the "Battle of Fallen Timbers", in which the Indians were defeated. One year later the tribes gathered at Greenville, Ohio to sign the Greenville Treaty. The terms of the treaty gave the United States claim to all land east of a line drawn from the point where the Kentucky River emptied into the Ohio River north to Fort Recovery. The United States agreed to pay the Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes one thousand dollars, and to the Kakapo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw, and Kaskaskia tribes, the amount of five hundred dollars each. The Indians were to receive this each year forever. After the signing of the treaty, the United States agreed to pay the tribes $20,000 initially, with the other payments coming annually. The Greenville Treaty was signed on August 3, 1784 by the various tribes and representatives of the United States government and was "to put an end to a destructive war, to settle all controversies, and to restore harmony and friendly intercourse between the said United States and Indian tribes". General Wayne hoped the treaty would hold "as long as the woods grow and waters run." Payment to the Indians would be in the form of goods which the Indians could use, and would be valued in accordance to what the merchandise or domestic animals were worth in the city the items were purchased.

In 1796 the Land Act was passed by Congress, which provided for the sale of the lands procured from the Indians. The Republic desperately needed the money the sale of these lands would raise. The office of Surveyor General was created by this Act. Israel Ludlow was contracted to survey the Greenville Treaty Line by the first Surveyor General, Rufus Putnam. Mr. Putman began this labor in June 1797, eventually placing a marker post a mile apart along the entire distance of the treaty line. This treaty line now marks the eastern boundary of Ripley County.

Because it was one of the principal towns in the southeastern part of what was to become Indiana, Brookville also plays a part in this saga, as it was the northern terminus of the Napoleon/Brookville Road. Brookville's history begins with the arrival of a Moravian missionary, his wife, and another accompanying missionary on April 24, 1801. They encountered a group of Indian hunters camping at the forks of the Whitewater River. More settlers soon followed, Amos Sutler being the first settler in the town in 1803. Businesses to serve the needs of the settlers began to appear and included a paper mill, gristmill, and bank. Brookville's official plat was recorded in Lawrenceburg on August 8, 1808. A court house was built around 1811. Franklin County, named after Benjamin Franklin, took legal form on February 11, 1811. It became the seventh county formed in the Indiana Territory. The settlement of Brookville grew into a substantial town of 10,000 by 1820. Only Knox County, home of the old territorial capitol Vincennes, was larger.

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