DECEMBER 14

On this date in 1836, the Toledo War (sometimes called the Michigan-Ohio War) officially ended.  Never heard of it?  Me neither!  It had nothing to do with football.

It seems that there was a strip of land where Michigan borders Ohio extending from Indiana to Lake Erie  that both states claimed as theirs.  The total area was less than 500 square miles.  Ohio was already a state at this time but Michigan was not.  It had applied for statehood but it was not yet granted because of the dispute with Ohio.  Both states sent their militia to the strip.  Guns were fired up into the air.  Insults were cast from one side to the other.  Neither side would budge.

Finally, a compromise was reached by the US Congress and President Andrew Jackson.  Michigan would cede the land to Ohio and in return Michigan could become a state and was given the land that is now called the Upper Peninsula.  At that time, it was thought that the U.P. was useless territory.

So, Ohio won...or did it?  An interesting piece of history.
*o*