USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume I > Part 19
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The scouts suggested that the Indians were considerably stronger than the party under Col. Johnson, and a pursuit was deferred until the arrival of the regiment, when a chase was continued for some ten miles; but rain beginning to fall heavily, the party was compelled to return to the fort again, without having gained sight of the Indians.
On the next day, after a council of officers, the expedition was formed to proceed in the direction of the southeast end of Lake Michi- gan. The regiment, toward evening, deposited their heavy baggage in the fort; supplied themselves with ten days' provisions, and crossed the St. Mary's, to encamp for the night in the forks opposite the garri- son, where the river had now just begun to rise, though on the even- ing of the 5th, it had been at the top of its banks at Shane's crossing, but forty miles from its mouth by land.
Early on the following day, the regiment took the Indian trail leading toward the Pottawatomie village of Five Medals, which had been de- stroyed the previous year, but which it was thought had been rebuilt. The regiment marched forty miles this day. Stopping now to rest and per- mit their horses to graze, with a view to an attack upon the Indian vil- lage at daylight the next morning, a heavy rain came up, preventing the execution of the plan; but after encountering many obstacles in crossing high waters and marshes, they arrived at the Elkhart river before it had
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risen so as to be impassable, and in half an hour afterward the village of Five Medals was gained and surrounded, but found unoccupied.
Determining now to visit a village on the other side of the St. Joseph of the lake, known as Paravash, on the morning of the 11th the regiment began its march, but upon arriving at the St. Joseph, and finding it impassable, further movement upon this village was abandoned. A rapid advance was now made eastward upon the White Pigeon town, arriving there in the afternoon of that day, meeting a few Indians on the way, who made their escape in a canoe across a stream on the route, which was also found impassable. The village of White Pigeon had long been the most extensive Indian town in that region; and the main trace of the Indians, from Chicago and the Illinois country to Detroit, passed directly through this town, but appeared to have been but little traversed that spring. Near this village the regiment encamped till the following day, when, having fulfilled his instructions to visit this trace with a view to intercepting any movements of the enemy that might be making by this route, and finding also that the provisions of the troops had been considerably damaged by the rains encountered, Col. Johnson determined to return to Fort Wayne; and as there was an Indian trail leading directly from White Pigeon to Fort Wayne, the regiment took this path for the fort, where it arrived on the 14th after a march, with heavy rains every day, of some 200 miles.
Though not encountering the Indians in his route, or finding them at either of the villages visited, yet the movements of the expedition under Col. Johnson greatly increased his knowledge of the country; and it was ascertained that all the Indians in the British service who had been en- gaged in the siege of Fort Meigs, were still mainly held and maintained in the vicinity of Malden.
After a few days' stay at Fort Wayne, the regiment under Johnson proceeded down the Maumee, with an escort of provisions, to Fort Winchester. The provisions were placed in boats, with a number of men to man them, while the troops moved along the road opened by Gen. Winchester, on the north side of the Maumee, encamping every night with the boats. Arriving at Fort Winchester, Col. Johnson re- ceived a dispatch from Gen. Harrison, recommending him to make an attack on the enemy at Raisin and Brownstown. This advice, though by no means explicit, Col. Johnson sought to carry out, feeling that any suggestion emanating from Harrison should be executed, if possible. But, owing to his horses being much exhausted by the expedition from Fort Wayne, as well as for lack of a sufficient number of men, a de- tachment of his regiment having been engaged in escorting provisions from St. Mary's, he was unable to carry out immediately the plan pro- posed by Gen. Harrison. Its execution was considered most hazardous indeed; to have attempted a march of a hundred miles, through swamps and marshes, and over difficult rivers, with guides not very well ac- quainted with the country, and with horses greatly worn down, to attack a body of Indians who could, in a few hours, raise more than double the
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force of the regiment of 700 men then -under Johnson, required some consideration as well as time and preparation.
Fortunately for the regiment, on the next day an express arrived from Gen. Clay, commanding at Fort Meigs, with information that the British and Indians threatened to invest that place again, and requesting that Col. Johnson would march his regiment there immediately for its relief. Such was the zeal and promptitude of both officers and men, that in half an hour they were all ready to march, and commenced cross- ing the Maumee, opposite the fort. The heads of the column were then drawn up in close order, and the colonel, in a short and impressive ad- dress, instructed them in their duties. If an enemy were discovered, the order of march was to be in two lines, one parallel to the river, and the other in front, stretching across from the head of the former to the river on the right. He concluded with saying: "We must fight our way through any opposing force, let what will be the consequences, as no retreat could be justifiable. It is no time to flinch - we must reach the fort or die in the attempt." Every countenance, responsive to the sen- timents of the speaker, indicated the same desperate determination. The ground on which the enemy had gained their barbarous triumph over Dudley was again to be traversed; and his allies would doubtless hope to realize another 5th of May, in another contest with Kentucky militia. The regiment arrived at ten o'clock in the night, opposite Fort Meigs, without molestation, and encamped on the open plain between the river and the hill on which the British batteries had been erected. Information, gained from a Frenchman and an American prisoner, who arrived at Fort Meigs on the 20th of June, was to the effect that the British were determined to renew the attack on the fort, and were to start for that purpose about that period. At this time, Gen. Harri- son was at Franklinton, where he was made acquainted with the deter- mination of the British.
Before quitting Franklinton he held an important council with some chiefs of the friendly Indians of the Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandot and Seneca tribes, informing them that a crisis had arrived, which required all the tribes who remained neutral, and who were willing to engage in the war, to take a decided stand either for the Americans or against them-that the president wanted no false friends-that the proposal of Gen. Proctor to exchange the Kentucky militia for the tribes in our friendship indicated that he had received some hint of their willingness to take up the tomahawk against the Americans-and that to give the United States a proof of their disposition, they must either remove with their families into the interior, or the warriors must accompany him in the ensuing campaign and fight for the United States. To the latter condition, the chiefs and warriors unanimously agreed; and said they had long been anxious for an invitation to fight for the Americans. Tahe, the oldest Indian in the western country, who represented all the tribes, professed, in their name, the most indissoluble friendship for the United States. Gen. Harrison then told them he would let them know when
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they would be wanted in the service; "but," said he, "you must con- form to our mode of warfare. You must not kill defenseless prisoners, old men, women or children." By their conduct, he also added, he would be able to tell whether the British could restrain their Indians from such horrible cruelty. For if the Indians fighting with him would for- bear such conduct, it would prove that the British could also restrain theirs if they wished to so-humorously telling them he had been in- formed that Gen. Proctor had promised to deliver him into the hands of Tecumseh, if he succeeded against Fort Meigs, to be treated as that warrior might think proper. "Now," continued he, "if I can succeed in taking Proctor, you shall have him for your prisoner, provided you will agree to treat him as a squaw, and only put petticoats upon him; for he must be a coward who would kill a defenseless prisoner."
The government, with considerable reluctance, employed Indians against the Indians in the service of the British, as a measure of self- defense; but it was demonstrated that the North-American savage is not such a cruel and ferocious being that he cannot be restrained by civilized man within the bounds of civilized warfare. In 'several in- stances, strong corps of Indians fought under the American standard, and were uniformly distinguished for their orderly and humane conduct.
British Discomfiture .- On the Ist of July, General Harrison set out from Fort Meigs for Lower Sandusky, accompanied by seventy mounted men, under command of Capt. McAfee. Soon after his departure, the Indians began again to invest the vicinity of Fort Meigs; and late on the evening of the 20th of July, the vessels of the British army were to be seen in the Maumee, some distance below the fort. Early on the fol- lowing morning, a picket-guard, of some eleven men, having been sent to a point about 300 yards below the fort, were surprised by the Indians, and seven of them killed. At this time a large body of British and In- dians were seen encamped below old Fort Miami, on the north side of the river; and the woods in the rear of the fort were soon after possessed by the Indians, who occasionally fired into the fort, and captured some horses and oxen.
On the 23d, with a body of some 800 Indians, Tecumseh was seen moving up the river, with a view, as was supposed, of attacking Fort Winchester. On the 25th, the enemy removed his camp to the south side of the river, which induced the belief that an attempt would be made by the British to take the fort by storm. Gen. Harrison was kept advised of the movements of the British; but his force was not sufficient to enable him to reach the garrison as he had wished, though he con- tinued to assure Gen. Clay that all needed aid would reach him from Ohio and other points in good season. On the evening of the 26th, some hours after the arrival at the fort of the express from Gen. Harri- son, heavy firing was commenced on the Sandusky road, about the distance of a mile from Fort Meigs. The discharge of rifles and mus- „ketry, accompanied by the Indian yell, could be clearly distinguished; and by degrees the apparent contest approached toward the fort, though
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sometimes it appeared to recede. It lasted about an hour, and came in the end near the edge of the woods. The general pronounced it a sham battle, intended to draw out the garrison to relieve a supposed reinforcement. A few discharges of cannon at the fort, and a heavy shower of rain, at length put an end to the scheme, no doubt to the great mortification of its projectors. The express from Gen. Harrison had providentially arrived in time to preserve the garrison from the pos- sibility of being deluded by this artifice of the enemy. On the next day the British moved over to their old encampment, and on the 28th embarked in their vessels and abandoned the siege. The force which Proctor and Tecumseh brought against the fort in this instance was about 5,000 strong. A greater number of Indians were collected by them for this expedition than ever were assembled in one body on any other occasion during the war.
Having raised the siege of Fort Meigs, the British sailed round into Sandusky bay, while a competent number of their Indian allies moved across through the swamps of Portage river, to co-operate in a combined attack on Lower Sandusky, expecting, no doubt, that Gen. Harrison's attention would be chiefly directed to Forts Winchester and Meigs. The general, however, had calculated on their taking this course, and had been careful to keep patrols down the bay, opposite the mouth of Por- tage river, where he supposed their forces would debark. Gen. Clay now took care to acquaint Gen. Harrison with the movements of the British, and on the 29th of July, the messenger from Fort Meigs having reached him, he called a council of war, consisting of McArthur, Cass, Ball, Paul, Wood, Hukill, Holmes and Graham.
By the 3Ist of July, the enemy had approached so near Fort Stephen- son, which was held by Major Croghan, as to be able to throw their shells about; and a flag was soon seen approaching the garrison, which was met by Ensign Shipp. The bearer of the flag had been instructed by Gen. Proctor, who accompanied the fleet, to demand a surrender of the fort, which was positively refused, Shipp replying that it was the determination of the commander of the garrison to defend it to the last . extremity, and to disappear amid the conflagration that should destroy it. The Indians, as on former occasions, " were not to be restrained," and the bearer of the flag expressed his " great pity that so fine a young man should fall into the hands of the savages." An Indian at this mo- ment came out of an adjoining ravine, and advancing to the ensign, took hold of his sword and attempted to wrest it from him. The English man interfered, and having restrained the Indian, affected great anxiety to get Shipp safe into the fort. The enemy now opened a fire from their six-pounders in the gunboats and the howitzer on shore, which they con- tinued through the night with but little intermission, and with very little effect. The forces of the enemy consisted of 500 regulars, and about 800 Indians, commanded by Dickson, the whole being commanded by General Proctor in person. Tecumseh was stationed on the road to Fort Meigs with a body of 2,000 Indians, expecting to intercept a reinforcement on that route.
REUBEN J. DAWSON.
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THE LAST YEAR OF WAR.
The enemy had directed their fire against the north western angle of the fort, which induced the commander to believe that an attempt to storm his works would be made at that point. In the night Capt. Hunter was directed to remove the six-pounder to a block-house from which it would rake that angle. By great exertion Hunter accomplished this in secrecy. The embrasure was masked, and the piece loaded with a half charge of powder, and double charge of slugs and grape shot.
Early on the morning of the 2d, the enemy opened fire with their howitzer and three six-pounders, which they landed in the night and planted in a point of woods about 250 yards from the fort. About 4 o'clock p. m., they concentrated the fire of all their guns on the north- west angle, which convinced Major Croghan that they would endeavor to make a breach and storm the works at that point. Late in the even- ing, when the smoke of the firing had completely enveloped the fort, the enemy made the assault. Two feints were made toward the south- ern angle, where Capt. Hunter's lines were formed; and at the same time a column of 350 men were discovered advancing through the smoke within twenty paces of the northwestern angle. A heavy fire of mus- ketry was opened upon them from the fort, which threw them into some confusion. Col. Short, who headed the principal column, soon rallied his men, and led them with great bravery up to the brink of the ditch. After a momentary pause, he leaped into the ditch, calling to his men to follow him, and in a few minutes it was full. The masked port-hole was now opened, and the six-pounder, at the distance of thirty feet, poured such destruction among them, that but few who had entered the ditch were fortunate enough to escape. A precipitate and confused retreat was the immediate result, although some of the officers attempted to rally their men. The other column, which was led by Col. Warburton and Major Chambers, was also routed in confusion by a destructive fire from the line commanded by Capt. Hunter. The whole of them fled into the adjoining wood, beyond the reach of the small arms of the fort. During the assault, which lasted half an hour, the enemy had kept up an incessant fire from their cannon. They left Col. Short, a lieutenant, and twenty-five privates dead in the ditch; and the total number of prisoners taken was twenty-six, most of them badly wounded. Major Muir was knocked down in the ditch, and lay among the dead till dark- ness of the night enabled him to escape in safety. The loss of the gar- rison was one killed and one slightly wounded. The total loss of the enemy was calculated at about 150 killed and wounded.
When night came on, which was soon after the assault, the wounded in the ditch were found to be in a desperate situation. Complete relief could not be brought to them by either side with any degree of safety. Major Croghan, however, relieved them as much as possible -conveying them water over the picketing in buckets, and a ditch was also opened under the picketing, by means of which those who were able and will- ing, were encouraged to crawl into the fort.
About 3 o'clock, on the morning of the 3d, the British and Indian
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force commenced a disorderly retreat. So great was their precipitation that they left a sail boat behind, containing some clothing and a consid- erable quantity of military stores; and on the next day seventy stands of arms and some braces of pistols were picked up around the fort. Their hurry and confusion was caused by the apprehension of an attack from Gen. Harrison, of whose position and force they had probably received an exaggerated account.
At the council held with McArthur, Cass and others, about the Ist of August, it had been determined that Major Croghan should abandon Fort Stephenson as " untenable against heavy artillery;" and as this fort was considered of little value as a military post, it was also concluded to de- stroy it at the moment of evacuation. Gen. Harrison immediately dis- patched an order to that effect to Major Croghan, which, the messenger and his Indian guides having lost their way, failed to reach him in time. Then deeming it unsafe, in view of the near approach of the enemy, to attempt an evacuation and retreat, after a council with his officers, the most of whom readily coincided with him, Major Croghan at once started the messenger on his return to Gen. Harrison with the following note:
"Sir, I have just received yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock p. m., or- dering me to destroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received too late to be carried into execution. We have determined to maintain this place, and by heavens we can."
His main reason for writing thus positively was, that he feared that the messenger might be captured, and the note fall into the hands of the British. But Gen. Harrison, without knowing fully the motive of Croghan in thus replying to his order, presumed it to indicate diso- bedience of orders, and on the following morning, Colonel Wells, with an escort, was sent to relieve him, and Croghan was ordered to report at headquarters. His explanation of his course and the meaning of his note, received the ready approval of Harrison, and Croghan was at once ordered to return to his post and resume its command, with written or- ders similar to those he had received before.
In an official report of this siege, Gen. Harrison said: "It will not be . among the least of Gen. Proctor's mortifications, to find that he has been baffled by a youth, who has just passed his twenty-first year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle, George R. Clark." "Never was there," said General Harrison, " a set of finer young fel- lows, viz: Lieutenants Johnson and Baylor of the Seventeenth, Anthony of the Twenty-fourth, Meeks of the Seventh, and Ensigns Shipp and Duncan of the Seventeenth." Lieutenant Anderson of the Twenty- fourth was also commended for marked good conduct; and soon after , the siege of Fort Stephenson, Major Croghan was brevetted a lieutenant- colonel by President Madison; while the ladies of Chillicothe, Ohio, pre- sented him with a splendid sword, accompanied by an appropriate address.
A little party of Wyandot Indians, after the retreat of the British from Fort Stephenson, were sent down the bay, with other scouts, for
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the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the enemy. Succeeding in capturing a few British soldiers, who had been left in the general retreat, the Indians brought them to the camp, without doing them any injury; and, conscious that they had done their duty, they were frequently seen telling the story to their brother warriors, and laughing at the terror which had been manifested by the soldiers, who, no doubt, expected to be massacred or carried off and destroyed by torture.
THE DAWN OF PEACE.
Soon after the events just described, occurred Perry's victory on Lake Erie, which caused the British army, so lately filled with elation over the hope it entertained of an easy victory over the frontier militia, the untrained men of the west, to put an end to all further attempts in that direction, and the theater of war was now transferred to Canada. At the great victory at the Thames, the powerful Tecumseh was killed, and the Indians who had followed him in the belief, as he had taught them, that he was invulnerable, became totally disheartened, and lack- ing leaders with as warlike instincts as he, they were ready, and more than willing, to sue for peace. Indeed, before Gen. Harrison marched his army in pursuit of the British, the Ottawas and Chippewas had asked for peace, which he had promised them on condition that they would bring in their families, and raise the tomahawk against the British. To these terms they readily acceded, and before his return the Miamis and Pottawatomies had solicited a cessation of hostilities from Gen. McAr- thur on the same conditions. Even the ferocious Mai-pock, of the Pot- tawatomies, now tendered his submission, and an armistice was concluded with seven of the hostile tribes, which was to continue till the pleasure of the president was known. They agreed to deliver up all their pris- oners at Fort Wayne, and to leave hostages in security for their good behavior. Separated from their allies and deprived of their leader, they were now glad to accept the American friendship on any terms, that would save them from extermination by famine and the sword.
Gen. Harrison, feeling that the secretary of war entertained a dis- like for him, resigned his position as commander-in-chief of the western forces on the IIth of May, 1814. Prior to his resignation, however, he had arranged for a treaty at Greenville, where, on the 22d of July, with Gen. Cass, on behalf of the United States, they had met the friendly Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas, and concluded a peace with the Miamis, Weas and Eel river Indians, and certain of the Pottawat- omies, Ottawas and Kickapoos; all of whom had engaged to join the Americans, should the war continue; but all need of their services was ended by the treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814.
The conference of July, 1814, at Greenville, was one of the largest that had ever been held with the tribes, and Pecon, as the representative of the Miamis, with 113 others, were signers of the treaty.
Twenty years had now elapsed since the fort was built at the head
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of the Maumee by Gen. Wayne, and it had withstood the ravages of time and the efforts of the Indians to destroy it remarkably well. From the period of Col. Hamtramck's occupation, after the departure of Gen. Wayne, it was in charge of various officers. After the resigna- tion of Capt. Rhea, in 1812, Capt. Hugh Moore assumed command, who in 1813 was superseded by Joseph Jenkinson. In the spring of 1814, Major Whistler became its commander, who was succeeded in 1815, by Major Josiah H. Vose, who continued in command until its abandonment, April 19, 1819. Soon after the arrival of Major Whistler to assume command here, it was feared that the Indians might again make an effort to capture the post, and it being much out of repair, and most uncomfortable for the garrison in many respects, Major Whistler applied to the war department for permission to rebuild it, which was granted by Gen. Armstrong, and the main structure was replaced by new pickets and the officers' and other quarters within the enclosure were rebuilt. Though many Indians continued, for several years after the war of 1812, to congregate here for purposes of trade, to receive their annuity ; and also from a feeling of sympathy and attraction for the scene of their old home and gathering-place, aside from some petty quarrels among themselves, in which killings often occurred, nothing war-like was ever again manifest in the relations of the Indians and the whites.
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