This work makes this translation of The First Description of Cincinnati and Other Ohio Settlements available for the first time. Johann Heckewelder recorded this description in 1792-93 as he traveled down the Ohio River, and then published this report in 1797 in Germany. H. A. Rattermann discovered the work a century ago, translated the work, but never published it. Almost a century after Rattermann's work with the manuscript, Tolzmann "rediscovered" the work in the Rattermann Collection of German-American Manuscripts in the Illinois Historical Survey, University of Illinois-Urbana. This work is the edited version of Rattermann's translation and introduction. It provides a vivid description of the early settlement of Cincinnati and the mode of life, manners, and characteristics of the early pioneers.
