USA > Ohio > Allen County > A standard history of Allen county, Ohio : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development > Part 18
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"Cut away the pickets, my brave boys, and show the d-d Yankees no quarter," Short shouted, and his words were carried across the palisades. In a few minutes the ditch was filled with men. Then it was that the masked porthole was opened and the 6-pounder, at a distance of only thirty feet, poured such destruction upon the closely packed body of "red coats" that few were fortunate enough to escape. This brief assault, which lasted about half an hour, cost the British twenty-seven lives. Colonel Short fell mortally wounded. A handkerchief raised on the end of his sword was a mute appeal for the mercy which he had a few moments before denied to the Americans.
A precipitate retreat of the enemy followed this bloody encounter. The whole of the attacking troops fled into an adjoining woods where they were beyond the reach of the guns of the fortress. The loss of the British and Indians was 150, including about twenty-six prisoners, most of them badly wounded. The casualties of the garrison were one man killed and seven slightly wounded. The one man who was killed met his death because of his recklessness, by reason of his desire to shoot a red coat. For this purpose he had climbed to the top of the blockhouse, and, while peering over to spot his victim, a cannon ball took off his head.
This long planned and carefully arranged assault by a powerful enemy lasted less than an hour. With it the storm cloud which had been hovering over this section passed northward and westward.
Before daybreak the entire British and Indian forces began a dis- orderly retreat. So great was their haste that they abandoned a sailboat filled with clothing and military stores, while some seventy stands of arms and braces of pistols were gathered about the fort. Croghan immediately sent word to Harrison of his victory and the departure of the enemy, and it was not long until Harrison himself was on the road to Fort Stephenson.
"It will not be among the least of General Proctor's mortifications that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first year," wrote General Harrison in his official report. The rank of lieutenant- colonel was immediately conferred upon Croghan by the President of the United States for his courageous defense on this occasion. His gallantry was further acknowledged by a joint resolution of Congress approved in February, 1835, and by which he was ordered to be presented with a
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gold medal and a sword was awarded to each of the officers under his command.
The third of the great victories of this year of victories in North- western Ohio occurred on the water. Its significance was fully as great as the successful land campaigns of which we have just read, and it occurred only a little more than a month after the Fort Stephenson repulse. Thus the most wonderful naval victory of the War of 1812 occurred within a short distance of our homes. While General Harri- son and his officers were winning their victories inland along the Maumee and the Sandusky, the construction of an American fleet of war vessels was in process of building at Erie, Pennsylvania, in order to co-operate with the land army in offensive operations. This important undertaking was entrusted to Oliver Hazard Perry, then a navy captain at Newport, Rhode Island, and only twenty-eight years of age. It was his judgment that Lake Erie was the place where Great Britain could be struck a severe blow. Within twenty-four hours after his order to proceed was received, in February, 1813, he had dispatched a preliminary detachment of fifty men and he himself quickly followed. There was nothing at Erie out of which vessels could be built, excepting an abundance of timber still standing in neighboring forests. Shipbuilders, naval stores, sailors, and ammunition must be transported over fearful roads from Albany or from Philadelphia. It was indeed a discouraging situation that confronted the youthful officer. Under all these embarrassments, and hampered as he was in every way, by August 1, 1813, Commodore Perry had provided a flotilla, consisting of the ships Lawrence and Niagara, of twenty guns each, and seven smaller vessels, to-wit : the Ariel of four guns, the Cala- donia of three, the Scorpion and Somers with two guns each and three of one gun each named Tigress, Porcupine and Trip. In all he had a battery of fifty-four guns.
Having gotten his fleet in readiness, Commodore Perry proceeded to the head of Lake Erie and anchored at Put-in-Bay, opposite to and dis- tant about thirty miles from Malden, where the British fleet lay under the guns of protection of the fort. He remained at anchor here several days, determined to give battle at the first favorable opportunity. On September 10th, at sunrise, the British fleet, consisting of one ship of nineteen guns, one of seventeen, one of thirteen, one of ten, one of three, and one of one-amounting to sixty-three and exceeding the Amer- icans by ten guns, appeared off Put-in-Bay and distant about ten miles. Commodore Perry immediately weighed anchor. Commodore Perry, on board the Lawrence, then hoisted his Union Jack, having for a motto the dying words of Captain Lawrence, "Don't Give Up the Ship." Before he hoisted the ensign he turned to his crew and said: "My brave lads, this flag contains the last words of Captain Lawrence. Shall I hoist it?" The answer came from all parts of the ship, "Ay! Ay! Sir!" The act of raising was met with the hearty cheers of the men.
Perry formed his line of battle and started for the enemy. The day was a beautiful one, without a cloud on the horizon. The lightness of the wind enabled the hostile squadrons to approach each other but slowly, and for two hours the solemn interval of suspense and anxiety which precedes a battle was prolonged. The American commander had never heard the thunder of a hostile ship, but he was versed in the theory of naval war. At fifteen minutes before twelve the enemy opened his fire but it was not returned for ten minutes by the American fleet, which was inferior in long-range guns. Then the battle began on both sides. The British fire was found to be the most destructive. It was chiefly directed against the flagship Lawrence. In a short time every brace and bowline
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of the Lawrence was shot away, and she became unmanageable. In this situation she sustained the conflict upwards of two hours until every gun was rendered useless, and the greater part of her crew were either killed or wounded. Perry himself, assisted by his chaplain and the purser, fired the last shot. Fortunately, one might almost say, providentially, at half past two the wind raised and enabled the captain of the Niagara to bring her up in gallant style. Perry then entrusted the Lawrence to the com- mand of Lieutenant Yarnell, and proceeded toward the Niagara standing erect in an open boat bearing his flag with the motto: "Don't Give Up the Ship."
Perry expressed his fears to Captain Elliot that the day was lost because the light wind prevented the other vessel from approaching nearer to the enemy. As the breeze again stiffened, Captain Elliot volun- teered to bring up the other vessels. He embarked in a small boat, exposed to the gun-fire of the enemy, and succeeded in bringing up the remotest vessels so that they could participate in the final encounter. Protected by the stouter vessels, they poured in a destructive fire of grape and canister, wreaking terrible destruction upon the enemy.
Commodore Perry now scented victory. He gave the signal to all the boats for close action. The small vessels, under the command of Captain Elliot, set all their sails. Finding that the Niagara had been only slightly injured, the commander determined upon the bold and desperate expedi- ent of breaking the enemy's lines. Accordingly he bore up and passed the head of three of the enemy vessels, giving them a raking of fire from his starboard guns. "Having gotten the whole squadron into action, he luffed and laid his ship alongside of the British commodore. The small vessels having now got up within good grape and canister distance on the other quarter, enclosed the enemy between them and the Niagara, and in this position kept up a most destructive fire on both quarters of the British until every ship struck her colors."
"Cease firing," came the order from Perry as he saw the white flag. "Call away a boat and put me on board the Lawrence. I will receive the surrender there."
The entire engagement lasted about three hours and never was a victory more decisive and complete. It was found that more prisoners had been taken than there were men on board the American squadron at the close of the action. The greatest loss in killed and wounded was on board the Lawrence. Of her crew, twenty-two had been killed and sixty wounded. At the time her flag was struck, only a score of men remained on deck fit for duty. The killed on board all the other vessels numbered only five and there were thirty-six wounded. The British loss must have been much more considerable. The commander himself was dangerously wounded.
Immediately after the action the slain of the crews of both squadrons were committed to the waters of Lake Erie. On the following day the funeral obsequies of the American and British officers, who had fallen during the engagement, took place at an opening on the margin of the bay in an appropriate and affecting manner. The crews of both fleets united in the ceremony. At the time of the engagement General Harrison was at his headquarters at Fort Seneca. A couple of days later, just as he was about to set out for Lower Sandusky, filled with anxiety for the fleet because he had received reports of a terrific cannonading on the 10th, the short and laconic message of Commodore Perry reached him. All of Northwestern Ohio was aroused by his remarkable victory and the residents began to have visions of the peace and quiet which did actually follow.
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As time passes the victory of Commodore Perry assumes greater and greater proportions in the eyes of the students of history. This is not because of the numbers of vessels or men engaged. In the light of mod- ern warfare, judged by the standard of the superdreadnaught, and its monster guns, it was a small affair. Nine small sailing vessels on the one side and six on the other, with probably a thousand men all told, the greater part of whom were not even seamen-such were the forces that met at Put-in-Bay. One gun from a modern man-of-war would throw more metal in one charge than an entire broadside from the 117 guns of the opposite fleets. It is by its results that the action must be judged. It cleared the waters of Lake Erie of hostile vessels and made possible the invasion of Canada that followed. Likewise because of the heroism displayed as a struggle between man and man, it deserves to be remembered.
After the victory of Put-in-Bay General Harrison lost no time in pre- paring to embark his army for Canada. On September 20th his army commenced to embark at the mouth of the Portage River, at Port Clinton. Perry's vessels were used as transports, including the captured British vessels. A quarter of a thousand Wyandots, Shawnees, and Senecas sailed with him as regularly enlisted troops. They had pledged them- selves to follow the methods of civilized warfare. He promised to deliver General Proctor to them if they would put petticoats on him, which greatly pleased the Indians. The little fleet sailed on the 27th and seven hours later had touched Canadian soil. The Battle of the Thames fol- lowed on October 5th, in which Tecumseh was killed. General Proctor escaped by a swift flight. The casualties were not large on either side, but several hundred British prisoners were left in Harrison's hands. A few days later Detroit was occupied by the American troops.
Harrison's campaign freed Northwestern Ohio from danger. Actual peace did not come at once, for the peace treaty was not signed until December, 1814. But the death of Tecumseh, their fiery leader, broke the spirit of the hostile red men. With Detroit, Mackinac and Fort Wayne in American hands, there were no British to disturb the quiet of this region. The principal troubles along the Maumee were economic. "I think I would hang half of the quartermasters and all the contractors," wrote one general. Eighty soldiers were reported sick at Fort Meigs in January, 1814. Two months later the supplies there were reported as follows: "9,461 rations of meat, 29,390 of flour, 25,688 of whisky, 1,271 quarts of salt, 1,0183/4 pounds of soap; 948 pounds candles and 1,584 pounds tallow and grease."
The discharge of volunteers and drafted militiamen quickly followed the official news of peace with Great Britain. The forts in this region were rapidly dismantled and abandoned. Fort Winchester (Defiance) was abandoned in the spring of 1815, the equipment being taken down the Maumee to Detroit. The garrison at Fort Meigs had already been reduced to forty men and four small cannon. In May the garrison and all the military stores were loaded on a schooner and taken to Detroit. Fort Wayne was thus left as the only military post in the Maumee region.
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CHAPTER XI
OHIO-MICHIGAN BOUNDARY DISPUTE
Northwestern Ohio was the theater of one of the most unique clashes between governmental jurisdictions that the United States has wit- nessed. As we look backward and review the events that transpired, many are inclined to smile at the controversy and dismiss the incident. Although it possessed both serious and comic phases, the tragic far out- weighed the lighter features. On several occasions the shedding of blood was narrowly averted. It only needed the throwing of the firebrand, for the tinder had already been prepared. Passions were aroused and a hot-headed leader might have started a bloody affray in which American would have been fighting American in a civil war.
"A disputed jurisdiction," wrote Lewis Cass to Edward Tiffin, in 1817, "is one of the greatest evils that can happen to a country. There is nothing that will so arouse the combativeness of an individual as the belief that someone is infringing on the boundaries of his individual and exclusive domain. This has been proved many times by the bloody scrimmages which have taken place between adjoining owners over the location of a seemingly unimportant line fence. In the prolonged litiga- tion that has followed in the courts, even the victor has been the loser. The same bellicose spirit was aroused in the State of Ohio and the terri- tory of Michigan by an imbroglio over the sovereignty of a strip of ground extending from the Maumee River to the western boundary of Ohio. This disputed land was eight miles in width at Toledo, and five miles broad at the western boundary. The problem was recognized as early as 1802, when the first constitution of Ohio was formed. Congress should have settled the question at that time, as it was well within the power of that body, but, like many others, it was neglected. As Ohio and Michigan increased in wealth and political importance, how- ever, the factious boundary question began to protrude itself upon the horizon in a threatening manner. Toledo was the chief cause and Lucas County was the chief result of this dissension.
The Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute was not a struggle between two bellicose governors, Mason of Michigan and Lucas of Ohio. The real disputants were not the Territory of Michigan and the State of Ohio. They were the sovereign State of Ohio and the Government of the United States. Governor Lucas said: "As I have before stated to you, we have no controversy with the Territory of Michigan. A territory can have no sovereign rights, and no arrangement that could be made with territorial authorities on the subject of boundary would be obligatory." It was the most serious boundary question that has occurred in the Northwest. The question arose through a previous grant in which one of the lines of demarkation began at "a line drawn East and West, through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan." The old maps were not very accurate, for the latitude and longitude had not been well estab- lished and the uncertainty was caused by inaccurate knowledge as to where the exact southern boundary of Lake Michigan lay. In the act of Congress granting to Ohio the right to form a constitution, the north- ern boundary was described as follows: "On the north by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, run- ning east after intersecting the due north line from the mouth of the Great Miami, until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line and
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thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line." When Michigan was organized as a territory from the northern part of Indiana territory, in 1805, the description of its southern boundary was very similar. "An East and West line, drawn through the Southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running East until it shall intersect Lake Erie, or the Territorial line; provided. That if the Southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan should extend so far South, that a line drawn due East from it would not intersect Lake Erie, or if it should intersect Lake Erie East of the mouth of the Miami of the Lake, then, and in that case, with the assent of Congress, the Northern boundary of this State shall be established by, and extending to, a direct line running from the Southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most Northerly Cape of Miami Bay, after intersecting the due North line from the mouth of the Great Miami River."
The Ohio Constitution-was approved by Congress as prepared by the convention. The great issue of a foreign war, threatening a common danger, united all the people of the frontier in the support of the gen- eral interests. The number of persons whose interests were involved were also extremely few. The attention of Congress was attracted, how- ever, for two surveys were made under congressional authority. It was not many years before official notice is recorded of the disputed claims which gave all of the site of the present City of Toledo, with its won- derful harbor, to Michigan. This is shown by the following letter to Governor Meigs :
Miami Rapids, January 23, 1812.
Sir :- It appears to be the general wish of the people in this settle- ment (which consists of about fifty families), to have the laws of the State of Ohio extended over them, as we consider ourselves clearly within the limits of said State. The few who object are those who hold offices under the Governor of Michigan and are determined to enforce their laws. This is considered by a great majority of the inhabitants as usurp- ation of power which they are under no obligation to adhere to. If no adjustment should take place, I fear the contention will ere long become serious. Sir, will you have the goodness to inform the people here whether there has been any understanding between the State of Ohio and the Governor of Michigan on the subject of jurisdiction, together with your advice?
I am, sir, with high esteem, Your obedient servant,
Amos Spafford, Collector of Fort Miami.
To His Excellency, Return Jonathan Meigs, Esq.
N. B. The foregoing letter is written at the request of the inhabitants.
The question undoubtedly became dormant for a while because of the war which followed between England and the United States, in which many important actions and events occurred in this vicinity. For sev- eral years Ohio's representatives in Congress endeavored to induce that body to settle the boundary question, but it could not be brought to con- sider a question so unimportant as the boundary of so distant a state. While the Michigan authorities were also worrying themselves about this question. Indiana was formed with a boundary ten miles north of this Lake Michigan-Erie line, thus depriving her of a thousand square miles of territory. But it was a sparsely settled region and little known to the territorial inhabitants. The Ohio territory was different. It was near the center of the territory's population. One of these which laid off the northern boundary of the state practically as it is today, was known as the Harris Line; the other, which more nearly conformed to the claims of Michigan, was called the Fulton Line. William Harris made
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his survey in 1817, under appointment of Governor Cass of Michigan. As he had heen provided with a copy of the Ohio Constitution, and had followed its provision, his report caused much ill feeling in that territory. In 1819 President Monroe commissioned John Fulton to make the sur- vey and his line, following the Ordinance of 1787, was just as displeasing to Ohio. In 1821 the matter became somewhat acute when the assessor of Waynesfield Township (now Maumee), Wood County, undertook to list for taxation the property in the disputed region. It began to be recognized that the line designated by Congress was an impossible one, for it would have placed parts of the lake counties east of Cleveland in Michigan. This made the issue more than a local one. In December, 1823, Dr. Horatio Conant wrote from Fort Meigs to Senator Ethan A. Brown: "The jurisdiction of the Territory of Michigan is extended to the territory between the two lines with the decided approbation of the inhabitants of the disputed ground, which makes it impossible for the State officers of Ohio to interfere with the exciting disturbance. We are anxious to have some measure adopted to ascertain the limits of our jurisdiction. * * Almost any line that could be run would be pre- * ferred to the present, cutting off, as it does, the bay and mouth of the river."
The mooted problem was brought to a head by the prospect of secur- ing the location of the terminus of the Miami and Erie Canal. Toledo naturally offered the most desirable terminus for the canal, but the thought of Ohio constructing so expensive an undertaking and turning its traffic into a Michigan port was not to be entertained. Maumee City and Perrysburg were not worried. They both declared that the proper finality was there. But year-old Toledo was wide awake. The advantage of a canal in those days was of inestimable advantage in building up a town. This in a measure explains the excessive zeal manifested by these early Toledoans. Unless under the jurisdiction of Ohio, they felt there was no canal for them. A public meeting was held in Toledo in 1834 and the majority of those present expressed themselves in favor of the jurisdiction of Ohio. A petition to that effect was signed and forwarded to the executive of the state.
Sentiment was not unanimous, however, for the following letter was sent to Governor Mason :
Monroe, March 12, 1835.
To Hon. Stevens T. Mason,
Acting Governor of Michigan Territory :
We, the citizens of the Township of Port Lawrence, County of Mon- roe, Territory of Michigan, conceive ourselves in duty bound to apply for a special act of the place appointed for holding our Township meetings. By a vote of the last Town meeting (1834) our meeting of this year must be held at Toledo, on the Maumee River. We apprehend trouble, and perhaps a riot may be the consequence of thus holding the meeting in the heart of the very hot-bed of dissatisfaction.
We therefore pray your Excellency and the Legislative Council to aid us in our endeavors to keep the peace and sustain our claims to the soil as part of the Territory of Michigan, by an act removing the place for the Town meeting from Toledo to the Schoolhouse on Ten-Mile Creek Prairie, to be held on the - day of April, in preference to the usual day and place appointed.
J. V. D. Sutphen, Coleman I. Keeler, Cyrus Fisher, Samuel Hemmenway.
Delegates from Port Lawrence to the County Convention at Monroe.
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