Editing Chillicothe, Ohio (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2024}}
[[File:Postcard21000SoldiersCreateImageofPresidentWilsonCampShermanOH1918-commons.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Image of President [[Woodrow Wilson]] created by 21,000 standing soldiers at [[Camp Sherman, Ohio|Camp Sherman]] in Chillicothe, 1918]]

The region around Chillicothe was the center of the ancient [[Hopewell tradition]], which flourished from 200 BC until 500 AD.  This Amerindian culture had trade routes extending to the [[Rocky Mountains]].  They built [[earthen]] [[mound]]s for ceremonial and burial purposes throughout the Scioto and [[Ohio River]] valleys.

Later [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] who inhabited the area through the time of European contact included [[Shawnees]]. Present-day Chillicothe is the most recent of seven locations in Ohio that bore the name, because it was applied to the main town wherever the [[Chalahgawtha|Chalakatha]] settled. Other population centers named Chillicothe in Ohio at one time<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Chillicothe,_Ohio|title=Ohio History Central, "Chillicothe, Ohio"|access-date=April 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429023706/http://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Chillicothe,_Ohio|archive-date=April 29, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> include: one located at present-day [[Piqua, Ohio|Piqua]], in [[Miami County, Ohio|Miami County]]; one located south of present-day [[Circleville, Ohio|Circleville]], [[Pickaway County, Ohio|Pickaway County]], on the [[Scioto River]]; a third about {{Convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} north of [[Xenia, Ohio|Xenia]] in [[Greene County, Ohio]]; a fourth at present-day [[Frankfort, Ohio|Frankfort]], Ross County, on [[Paint Creek (Scioto River)|Paint Creek]]; and a fifth also located in Ross County, at [[Hopetown, Ohio|Hopetown]], three miles north of modern Chillicothe.

In 1758 a settlement was established at this site by Shawnee Indians who had abandoned their village of [[Lower Shawneetown]] in November of that year.<ref name = "Hanna">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCYMAAAAYAAJ |title=Charles Augustus Hanna, ''The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 1'', Putnam's sons, 1911 |isbn=9780598504005 |access-date=October 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705044034/http://books.google.com/books?id=SCYMAAAAYAAJ&vq |archive-date=July 5, 2014 |url-status=live |last1=Hanna |first1=Charles Augustus |year=1911 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's sons }}</ref> A group of Shawnees from [[Logstown]] also joined them.<ref name = "Seaver">[https://archive.org/details/anarrativelifem00seavgoog James Everett Seaver, Charles Delamater Vail ''A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison: The White Woman of the Genesee,'' American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 1918.]</ref>

After the [[Treaty of Greenville]] in 1795 forced the Native Americans from most of Ohio, European settlers came to the area.  Migrants from [[Virginia]] and [[Kentucky]] moved west along the Ohio River in search of land. The community Chillicothe was founded in 1796 by a party led by General [[Nathaniel Massie]] on his land grant. The town's name comes from the [[Shawnee language|Shawnee]] ''[[Chalahgawtha|Chala·ka·tha]]'' (Chillicothe in English), meaning "principal town", because it was the chief settlement of that division (one of five major divisions) of the [[Shawnee people]].

In 1798, [[Ross County, Ohio|Ross County]] became incorporated with Chillicothe as the county seat.  Chillicothe was named the capital of the remnant [[Northwest Territory]] in 1800, when [[Indiana Territory]] was split off, and the Northwest Territory was reduced to Ohio, eastern [[Michigan]] and a sliver of southeastern [[Indiana]]. In 1802 as Ohio moved toward statehood, the city hosted the Ohio Constitutional Convention.  It served as the capital of Ohio from statehood in 1803 until 1810 then again from 1812 to 1816.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://encyclopedia2.tfd.com/Zanesville|title=Zanesville definition of Zanesville in the Free Online Encyclopedia|access-date=November 24, 2007|author=tfd}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://encyclopedia2.tfd.com/Chillicothe|title=Chillicothe definition of Chillicothe in the Free Online Encyclopedia|access-date=November 24, 2007|author=tfd}}</ref>

Ohio was a [[Slave states and free states|free state]], and early migrants to Chillicothe included [[Free people of color|free blacks]], who came to a place with fewer restrictions than in the [[slave]] states.  They created a vibrant community{{who|date=July 2018}} and aided runaway slaves coming north.  As tensions increased prior to the breakout of the [[American Civil War]], the free black community at Chillicothe maintained stations and aid to support refugees on the [[Underground Railroad]].  The Ohio River was a border with the slave states of [[Southern United States|the South]], with slaves crossing the river to freedom, and then up the Scioto River to get more distance from their former homes and slave hunters.  White [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]]s aided the [[Underground Railroad]] as well.

On May 12, 1948, a C. & O. engine suffered a boiler explosion due to a low water level near Chillicothe, Ohio. The train's engineer, fireman and front brakeman were killed. <ref>(https://www.newspapers.com/article/chillicothe-gazette-chillicothe-train-bl/141095304/)</ref>