His party was composed of 50 people, including six surveyors, a physician, a chaplain, a boatman, 37 employees, a few emigrants, and two women who accompanied their husbands.

[2] At Buffalo, a delegation from the nearby Mohawk and Seneca tribes opposed the party's entrance into the Western Reserve, claiming it as their territory, but they waived their rights on the receipt of goods valued at $1,200.

The expedition then coasted along the shore of Lake Erie and landed at the mouth of Conneaut Creek on July 4, 1796, which they named Port Independence.

Nearby Native Americans were upset at the encroachment on their land, but they were appeased with gifts of beads and whiskey and allowed the surveys to proceed.

He ascended the bank and determined that the spot was a favorable site for a city, with the river on the west and Lake Erie on the north.

[5] A local legend claims that the words "Cleaveland Advertiser" would not fit on a front-page banner, so the printer removed the extra "a" to make room, and the spelling stuck.

[6] Moses Cleaveland is not only remembered through the city's name but through living monuments in the form of trees throughout the Greater Cleveland area.