Editing Washington County, Indiana (section)

==History==
In 1787, the fledgling United States defined the [[Northwest Territory]], which included the area of present-day Indiana. In 1800, Congress separated [[Ohio]] from the Northwest Territory, designating the rest of the land as the [[Indiana Territory]].<ref name=GAC/> President [[Thomas Jefferson]] chose [[William Henry Harrison]] as the territory's first governor, and [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]] was established as the territorial capital.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brill, Marlene Targ |title=Indiana |publisher=[[Marshall Cavendish]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7614-2020-0 |page=35}}</ref> After the [[Michigan Territory]] was separated and the [[Illinois Territory]] was formed, Indiana was reduced to its current size and geography.<ref name="GAC">{{Cite web |date=January 5, 2008 |title=Government at Crossroads: An Indiana chronology |url=http://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/local_news/government-at-crossroads-an-indiana-chronology/article_3a07aa44-1cd4-5028-82e7-96b907121b31.html?mode=jqm |access-date=July 22, 2009 |website=[[The Herald Bulletin]]}}</ref>

In 1790, [[Knox County, Indiana|Knox County]] was laid out. In 1801, [[Clark County, Indiana|Clark County]] was established, and in 1808 [[Harrison County, Indiana|Harrison County]] was laid out, including the territory of the future [[Washington County, Pennsylvania|Washington County]].

Starting in 1794, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] titles to Indiana lands were extinguished by usurpation, purchase, or war and treaty. The United States acquired land from the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in the [[Treaty of Grouseland]] (1805), by which a large portion of the southern [[Indiana Territory]] became property of the government. This included the future Washington County. As early as 1802, a man named Frederick Royce lived among the Ox Indians at a place known as the Lick, two miles east of Salem and is probably the first white man to inhabit this county. He was a hunter-trader and salt manufacturer. In 1803, Thomas Hopper settled in this county near [[Hardinsburg, Indiana|Hardinsburg]]. Washington County was created by act of the Territorial legislature dated December 21, 1813, taking territory from Harrison and Clark counties. Interim commissioners were named and directed to determine the proper choice of the seat of government. Accordingly, they began deliberating in January 1814, and by February 2 had selected an uninhabited site near the center, naming it 'Salem'.<ref>Stevens (1916). pp. 78, 81</ref> In the territorial act creating the county, it was named for [[U.S. President]] [[George Washington]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=De Witt Clinton Goodrich & Charles Richard Tuttle |url=https://archive.org/details/anillustratedhi02tuttgoog |title=An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana |publisher=R. S. Peale & Co. |year=1875 |location=Indiana |pages=[https://archive.org/details/anillustratedhi02tuttgoog/page/n587 575]}}</ref> who had died fourteen years earlier.

On September 1, 1814, the original boundary of Washington County was increased, by act of the Territorial legislature, but on December 26, 1815, much of this added territory was partitioned off to create [[Orange County, Indiana|Orange]] and [[Jackson County, Indiana|Jackson]] counties.<ref>Stevens (1916). p. 79</ref> In December 1816 the Indiana Territory was admitted to the Union as a state. On January 12, 1820, the state partitioned a further portion of Washington County to create [[Scott County, Indiana|Scott County]].<ref>Stevens (1916). p. 80</ref> In 1842, and again in 1873, the border between Scott and Washington counties was adjusted.

In 1808, the first Black settlers arrived in the area along with white [[Quakers]]. In 1815 they established the [[Blue River Friends Hicksite Meeting House and Cemetery|Blue River Meeting House]] northeast of Salem.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Historic Blue River Quaker Settlement in Salem Indiana |url=https://www.blueriverfriends.org/index.php/salem-indiana-quaker-settlement/about-blue-river-quakers-settlement |access-date=April 28, 2022}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Thornbrough |first=Emma Lou |title=The Negro in Indiana: A Study of a Minority |publisher=Indiana Historical Bureau |year=1957 |location=Indianapolis}}</ref> By 1850, 252 Black people had settled in the county, mainly living in [[Posey Township, Washington County, Indiana|Posey]] and [[Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana|Washington]] townships.<ref name=":2" /> The passing into law in 1851 of a new [[Constitution of Indiana|state constitution]], in which, [[Constitution of Indiana#Article 13 revisions|Article 13]] excluded further settlement of Black and mixed-race persons was indicative of increasing hostility towards this population and saw a decline in Black residents of the county to 187 by 1860.<ref name=":2" /> In Posey Township, the population of 90 Black people in 1850 had decreased to zero by 1860.<ref name=":2" />

[[Whitecapping]], the process by which rural citizens used threats or extralegal violence to force Black people out of the region, continued in Washington County during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. In December 1864, John Williams, a prosperous Black farmer in the county, was shot dead in the doorway of his home.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Trueblood |first=Lillie D. |date=1934 |title=The Story of John Williams, Colored |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27786657 |journal=Indiana Magazine of History |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=149–152 |issn=0019-6673 |jstor=27786657}}</ref> In 1867, Alexander White, an elderly man, was stabbed to death in Salem after repeatedly ignoring the threats of white attendees to quit coming to their church.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=September 24, 1867 |title=Cold Blooded Murder in Salem |url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=DWE18670924.1.4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |access-date=April 28, 2022 |work=Terre Haute Daily Express}}</ref><ref>Stevens (1916). p. 435</ref> These lynchings convinced people the county was not safe and contributed to a continual exodus of Black people from the county.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 1957 |title='Pigeon Roost Massacre' Historical Event Told About Family of Mrs. Lewis, DAR Regent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29073942/ |work=[[The Victoria Advocate]] |location=Victoria, Texas |page=46 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=No Negroes were allowed to live in Washington County, but Beezon Baynes brought in a family and established them in a small house on the farm. However, the people in the community forced him to get rid of the family—so he sent them on to Canada.}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Campney |first=Brent M.S. |title=Hostile Heartland: Racism, Repression, and Resistance in the Midwest |publisher=University of Illinois |year=2019 |isbn=978-0252042492 |location=Urbana}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism |publisher=New Press |year=2005 |isbn=9781565848870 |location=New York}}</ref> In 1870, 18 Black people remained in the county, and by 1880 only three remained.<ref name=":2" />

Salem, the county seat, had become a [[sundown town]] by 1898 at the latest.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 24, 1903 |title=Singular Isolation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29072301/ |work=[[Palladium-Item|The Evening Item]] |location=Richmond, Indiana |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=She had seen many Indians in the pioneer days, but until she reached this city had never seen any person of African descent, as negroes are not allowed to live in Washington county.}}</ref> By the 20th century the entire county was officially sundown.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 24, 1903 |title=Removal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29072301/the-richmond-item/ |access-date=April 28, 2022 |work=Richmond Item |pages=10}}</ref> A county history from 1916 declared that, "Washington County has for several decades boasted that no colored man or woman lived within her borders."<ref name=":2" /><ref>Stevens (1916). p. 282</ref> Sundown signs existed in the county, with one located near [[Canton, Indiana|Canton]], east of Salem.<ref name=":0" /> Law enforcement would not allow Black people to stop in Salem, and would escort them to the county line.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=History & Social Justice: Salem, Indiana |url=https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundowntown/salem-in/ |access-date=April 28, 2022}}</ref> Washington County remained sundown until 1990 at the latest, when 15 Black people were recorded living in Salem on that year's census.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" />