USA > Ohio > Fulton County > A standard history of Fulton County, Ohio, an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. I > Part 6
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32
IHISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
slaughter among them that they were entirely discouraged, and made the best of their way to their respective homes."
The American casualties in that battle were thirty-three killed, and about one hundred wounded. The fatalities occurred almost wholly from the first fire of the Indians, their aim then being deadly in pre- cision. Afterwards, in a panic-stricken state, their firing was haphazard. The casualties among the Indians cannot be accurately gauged. Un- doubtedly hundreds were killed. More than one hundred corpses lay on the battlefield, and many other bodies were carried away by the Indians as was their custom for burial.
Turkey Foot, the Indian chief, lost his life in the battle. At the foot of Presque Isle Hill he endeavored to rally his warriors, and to make himself more conspicuous leaped upon a small boulder, sinee known as Turkey Foot Rock. Presenting so conspicuous a target, it is not surprising that he was soon wounded. He fell pierced by a
THE HISTORIC TURKEY FOOT ROCK.
musket ball, and almost immediately afterwards expired by the side of the rock.
Following the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Wayne swept the country, destroying all Indian villages, and all crops. Subsequent history proved that General Wayne's campaign had been won when he stampeded the Indians at Fallen Timbers, and that thereafter the general attitude of the Indians to both the British and the Americans changed radically, although not suddenly.
General Wayne returned to Fort Defiance, and on November 2, 1794, reached Greenville. There, on August 7, 1795, the famous Treaty of Greenville was entered into between Anthony Wayne, representing the United States, and the principal chiefs of the Indian tribes of Ohio. More than one thousand chiefs and sachems gathered for the council, which lasted for fifty days, and was well worth the time spent in deliberation, for the Treaty of Greenville was very satisfactory in operation, both to the Indians within the territory and to "our Father, the Fifteen Fires," by which appellation the Indians knew "Uncle
2 AntyWayne
Jan Ké (a Granel)
Say-yayk-taw
Hara en. you a for half Kings for.
Je huevo tu rena
Or Ctw-me-year-ray
Payertah
THE FIRST SIGNATURES TO THE GREENVILLE TREATY.
24
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Sam," the name originating by the firing of fifteen guns, one for each state in the Union, as a salute, upon ceremonial occasions, during the meetings of the council at Greenville.
General Wayne died in 1796, being seized with a sudden attack of gout of the stomach while on passage down Lake Erie. He died before reaching land. It is interesting to note that one of his last acts was to receive, as representative of the United States, the Fort Miami, the British Government having resolved to formally surrender that and other posts to the rightful authority, the United States.
Thus, General Wayne was able before he died to gather the full fruits growing from his well-planned and carefully and skillfully executed campaign of 1794, which decisively and indisputably made obvious to the Indian tribes, as well as to the British Government just where the British sphere of influence and authority ended, and where those of the United States began.
MICHIGAN
LAKE
HURON
LAKE
CANADA
WAYNE
DETROIT
LAKE ERIE
CLEVELAND
INDIAN
UNTY
1796
FT WAYAH
FT RECOVERY
LINE
FT LAURENS
KNOX COUNTY
--
HAMILTON COUNTY
ROSS COUNTY
· CHILLICOTHENGTON COUNTY
IOMARIETTA
VINCE
ADAMS COUNTY
MANCHESTER
OHIO COUNTIES
LOUISVILLE
1799.
A period of comparative peace and substantial civil development followed the success of General Wayne's campaign. At the close of 1796, it was estimated that there were then about five thousand white people resident within what are now the bounds of the State of Ohio. The settlers were for the most part in the southern and eastern parts of the territory; but with the establishment of a greater respect for the authority of the United States among the Indians, settlers were en- couraged to settle in the western part. The Maumee and Sandusky region was organized in 1796, the British having evacuated the terri- tory they were holding in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the decision of the British Government to evacuate, or abandon, British posts in United States territory in the Great Lakes region having been
FT SANDUSKY
JEFFERSON COUNTY
WASHIN
35
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
definitely and finally made when John Jay, U. S. Minister to England, concluded treaty with that nation in 1795. And after General Wayne had received the surrender of the fortifications from the British, the civil representatives of the Northwest Territory proceeded to Detroit, and proclaimed the establishment of the County of Wayne, the bounds of which reached far into what is now Michigan, and into Indiana, and Illinois. (Reference to the map will give a better idea of its extent.) The proclamation, creating the County of Wayne, was issued on August 15, 1796, and within its bounds came, of course, the territory now known as Fulton County.
A census taken in 1798 confirmed the impression that more than five thousand white people lived in the Northwest Territory, and that they could consequently take the privileges of representative govern- ment, in accordance with the Ordinance of 1787. Elections were held in December, 1798, and the first Territorial Legislature of Ohio con- vened at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799. The legislative body was
1131959
LAKE
HURONS
MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN
CANADA
DETROIT
LAKE ERIE
CHICAGO
VY. JANDUSHIJ CLEVELAND
COUNT
FT WAYNE
INDIANA
KNOX
COUNTY
. LAURENS
HAMILTON COUNTY
WASHINGTON COUNTY
MAP OF WAYNE COUNTY ORGANIZED 1796.
composed of twenty-two representatives of the seven counties of the Northwest Territory, which extended from the Ohio to the Mississippi, with an area as large as that of modern Texas. The Wayne County representatives in the first legislature were: Solomon Sibley, Charles F. Chaubert de Joncaire, and Jacob Visger. Wayne County consisted of four townships, of vast extent, and that in which was the Northwestern Ohio basin was named Hamtramck. The three Wayne County repre- sentatives were all of Detroit and vicinity, and it may be imagined that attendance at legislative sessions entailed not an inconsiderable degree of hardship. The members of the Legislature were compelled to carry their provisions and blankets, camp in the open at night, swim their horses across streams, and follow the blazed trails through the dense forest; and when they had at last arrived at Cincinnati they were destined to find not a well-established town, but only a small settlement founded ten years earlier by settlers from New Jersey.
LAKE
Y ONAVA
36
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
By a vote of both Territorial houses, William Henry Harrison was selected to be the first delegate, or representative, of the Northwest Territory, in the United States Congress. The five development maps which are part of this chapter will give details of the important terri- torial arrangements and re-arrangements over the period between the Revolution and the War of 1812. Ohio was admitted to statehood on February 19, 1803, Edward Tiffin being elected its first governor. He was elected without opposition. At that time, the Maumee Valley had
EDWARD TIFFIN, FIRST GOVERNOR OF OHIO.
practically no white settlers. A few traders and pioneers had established themselves near the watercourses, but in reality northwest Ohio had no representation in the State Government until April, 1820, when the Indian Northwest region was reorganized. Following the deci- sive defeat of the Indians at Fallen Timbers, and the resultant Green-
37
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
ville Treaty, the natives seemed contented with the annuities paid them by the United States Government, and although for some years garrisons were maintained in the forts established by General Wayne, the improvement in relations between the Indians and the Govern- ment gradually brought about a reduction in garrisons, and in some cases evacuation altogether of forts. Fort Miami was one of the first to be evacuated. In reality it was not necessary, for another stock- ade fort was built in its vicinity. The stockade fort, named Fort In- dustry, appears to have been built early in the nineteenth century, probably in 1804, although one historian states that it was in exist- ence at, about, the time of the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It was built at the confluence of Swan Creek and the Maumee River, its exact site being, as nearly as it is possible now to determine, Summit street
CLEVELAND
FIRE LANDS
TRUMBULL COUNTY 1800/ WESTERN RESERVE
WAYNE 1796
INDIAN
RESERVATION
TREATY LINE
ST. CLAIRS VILLES
FAIRFIELD 11800.
BELMONT 1801.
HAMILTON
1790.
LANCASTER
-
1788.
MARIETTA
ROSS
AMILLICOTN
1796.
CLERMONT
· BATAVIA
ADAMS 1799
MANCHESTER
OHIO COUNTIES 1802.
in the City of Toledo. Clark Waggoner's "History of Lucas County" cites an official War Department letter which refers to the erection of the fort in "about the year 1800." It was at Fort Industry that a treaty was negotiated with the Indians, on July 4, 1805, by the provi- sions of which agreement the Indian title to the Fire Lands (Huron and Erie counties) was cancelled. Present at the conference were chiefs of the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Delaware, Shawnee, Potta- watomie, and Seneca tribes. Another treaty, effected at Detroit in 1807, resulted in the transfer of title from the Indians to the United States of all the country north of the middle of the Maumee River, from its mouth to the mouth of the Auglaize, and thence extending north, as far as Lake Huron. Certain tracts were marked out as In- dian reservations, for their exclusive use. These reservations, within what is now Northwest Ohio, were: a tract six miles square on the north bank of the Maumee, above Roche de Boeuf, "to include the village where Tondagame, or the Dog, now lives;" a tract three miles
JEFFERSON
STEUBENVILLE
1797.
WASHINGTON
WARREN
38
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
square in the vicinity of, and ineluding, Presque Isle; and a traet "four miles square on the Miami (Maumee) Bay, including the vil- lages where Meskemau and Waugau now live."
Fulton county territory had in the meantime passed under the jurisdiction of other Ohio counties, although, as a matter of fact, it was unorganized territory, for the simple reason that there were no settlers within it to make organization necessary. The First State Legislature organized eight new counties, including Montgomery, Green, and Franklin; and in consequence Fulton county, by that aet, which was passed March 24, 1803, became unorganized parts of Mont- gomery and Green counties. On January 16, 1807, the county of Miami was formed, and the Montgomery county portion of Fulton county territory passed to Miami. In 1819 the County of Shelby as- sumed jurisdiction over the Fulton county area.
GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, AFTERWARDS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
With the outbreak of war in 1812, three points in the west, Fort Wayne, the Wabash, and the Maumee, needed defenee. The troops at the first point were under the command of General Winchester; the Wabash district was under William Henry Harrison, who had gained a notable victory over the intractable Indian chief, Tecumseh, at Tip- pecanoe, in 1810; while Governor Edwards of the Illinois Territory was in command on the Illinois River. In September, 1812, how- ever, General Harrison was appointed commander-in-chief of the west and northwest. He purposed to recapture the Michigan territory lost to the British by the incredibly poor taetics of General Hull. General Harrison, then subordinate to General Winchester, proceeded without authority to the relief of Fort Wayne, which was likely to fall to the Indians, and by his prompt action averted what might
39
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
have been a bloody massacre. Immediately afterwards, he, without a murmur, relinquished his command to General Winchester, a Ten- nesseean of worthy Revolutionary record, but of little experience of Indian warfare. General Winchester advanced cautiously down the Maumee, and at one or two places along the river, not far from De- fiance, saw indications of recent and apparently hasty retreat of Brit- ish troops. In September, General Harrison was placed in supreme command, and immediately proceeded down the Auglaize with a strong force of cavalry. When he reached the camp of General Winchester, he discovered a deplorable state of affairs. A state verging almost on mutiny was present in the ranks of the army. However, after an animated address by the new and popular commander, the discon- tent passed, and all troops rallied enthusiastically to General Harrison. When the troops under General Winchester reached the confluence
REAR OF FORT MIAMI.
(Fort Miami, at Maumee Rapids, was originally built by the French in 1680; was later rebuilt by the British; and was surrendered by the British, to General Anthony Wayne, in 1796.)
of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers, they found Fort Defiance in ruins. In any event, however, it would have been totally inadequate for the requirements of the much larger army that now needed fortifications in that strategically strong position. General Wayne's fort of 1794 could not have sheltered one-fourth of the troops which reached its site in 1812; and soon after General Harrison reached Defiance to take over the supreme command he drew a plan for a new fort a dozen times as extensive as was Fort Defiance. When erected, General Har- rison named it Fort Winchester, in deference to the general who was formerly his superior officer, and whom he now superseded. Fort Win- chester enclosed about three acres of land, and stood about eighty rods south of the old fort. It was erected on the precipitous left bank of the Auglaize River, and for a considerable time was the only obstruc- tion against the incursions of the British and Indians in northwestern Ohio.
40
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
The troops suffered much during the winter campaign of 1812-13. They were clad in summer clothing, and were at times very short of food. The failure of contractors to properly provision the army pre- vented the undertaking of a fall campaign. Indeed, General Harri- son, reporting to the Secretary of War stated: "I did not make suffi- cient allowance for the imbecility and inexperience of the public agents and the villainy of the contractors." General Tupper, brigadier-gen- eral of the Ohio quota of the American forces, made a raid on Brit- ish and Indians in November at Maumee Raipids, at which point, ac- cording to General Winchester's original plan of campaign, the Ohio quota was to join his command; and when news came that General Tupper was at Maumee Rapids, a detachment of 400 men was sent from Fort Winchester to support him. When advance scouts reached the camp of Tupper, however, they found it deserted, and the only
FORT MIAMI, AS IT APPEARS TODAY.
evidence of conflict was the scalped body of an American, although there were many evidences of hasty retreat. Colonel Lewis, thereupon, decided to return to Camp No. 3, near Fort Winchester. Early in January, General Winchester finally started down the Maumee with 1,300 men. His subsequent action was contrary to the instructions of General Harrison, who had ordered him southward to Fort Jen- nings. to protect supplies. On the 10th of January, 1813, General Winchester reached a point opposite the site of the battle of Fallen Timbers. There he camped, and improvised some temporary fortifica- tions. The enemy was encamped, in considerable numbers, in the vicinity of the site of Fort Miami, when the American forces ap- peared, but they retreated, and a force despatched to rout a body of Indians said to be "in an old fortification at Swan Creek" (presumably Fort Industry) found it to be unoccupied. Soon afterwards a dele- gation from Frenchtown (now Monroe) arrived in General Win- chester's camp, imploring protection for their settlement; and the main
41
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
object of the expedition was forgotten in the circumstances and ur- gency of the local predicament. On January 17th General Winchester despatched 660 men under Colonels William Lewis and John Allen to the relief of Frenchtown. On the 19th, news that the Indians were gathering in force, alarmed General Winchester, who started for Frenchtown, taking with him all the troops he could detach from Maumee Rapids. in all only about 250 men. His force reached Frenchtown next day. General Winchester seems to have then rested in the belief that no immediate danger was possible, and, notwith- standing that spies reported that a large body of British and Indians were approaching, and would probably attack him that night, hc seems to have been caught unawares in the attack which was made upon his forces in the early morning of the 22nd. Winehester him- self was separated from his forces, and taken prisoner by an Indian.
FORT MEIGS, 1812. (From painting on wall of Wood County Court House.)
He was led to Colonel Proctor, the British commander, and presum- ably convinced that a massacre would result unless his force surren- dered. Hc, therefore, ordered his troops to surrender. They however continued to fight until many had been slain, and the third request was received. Then followed the treacherous massacre. Several hun- dred American soldiers perished in this great disaster at the River Raisin, and the slogan "Remember the Raisin" later stirred many compatriots to enlist who would not otherwise have joined the military forces of the nation.
General Harrison was at Upper Sandusky when news reached him of the unauthorized advance to the Raisin River. He recognized the possibilities, and hastencd to the Maumee River in advance of his troops. He arrived there on the day following that of the disaster, and immediately sent a strong detachment to support General Win- chester. The troops had not proceeded far before they encountered several fugitives, who reported the total defeat of General Winchester's
42
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
command. Returning to the Maumee, a council was held, and it was decided to retire temporarily to a safer position in the direction of the Portage River. Aeeordingly, the blockhouse at Camp Deposit, Maumee Rapids, was razed, and a fortified camp was established about equi-distant from that and Lower Sandusky. There the command rested, pending the arrival of advancing reinforcements. Soon after- wards, the Ameriean Army again advanced to the Maumee River, and ereeted a strong fort on the high right bank of the Maumee River, a short distance from the lowest fording place, and below the foot of the lowest rapids. They ealled the fortifieations Fort Meigs, in honor of the Governor of Ohio, and it became the centre of operations for the next few months. The Canadians, and their Indian allies, were con- centrating, during March and April, for a determined attack upon it, hoping thereby to annihilate General Harrison's army. It was even promised that General Harrison himself would be delivered up to his inveterate enemy, Tecumseh. Meanwhile, the outlook for the Ameri- can nation was serious. The garrison of Fort Mcigs was deplorably weak, being only about five hundred men during the month of Mareh, General Harrison's command having been sadly depleted through siek- ness and other eauses. Men were leaving constantly, and could not be foreibly retained, the period for which they had enlisted having ex- pired. Matters had come to such a pass that the Legislature passed an act adding $7 a month to the pay of any of the Kentuekians then in service who would remain until others had been sent to relieve them. By the time Fort Meigs was invested, General Harrison's eommand had been increased to 1100 effeetives, with whieh small body he had to oppose the combined Canadian and Indian foree of about 3000 men. The Canadians had embarked at Malden, while the Indians proceeded on foot. The white troops arrived at Maumee Bay on April 26th, and two days later landed near the ruins of Fort Miami, about two miles below Fort Meigs, on the opposite side of the river. The Indians, who had already gathered at the rendezvous, immediately crossed the river, and invested Fort Meigs. During the next couple of days the Canadians were mainly occupied in placing their artillery, but eventually the cannonading began. It has been stated that as many as 500 shells were daily fired at, or into, the fortress from the 1st to the 4th of May, without appreciable effect, and on the 4th, when the Canadian general, General Proctor, sent an offieer, under a white flag, to demand the surrender of the fort, General Harrison replied that he would never surrender the post upon any terms. That night, news came to him that General Green Clay's eommand, in eighteen large flatboats had reached the left bank of the Maumee, at the head of the Grand Rapids. General Harrison sent them orders to divide. Part were to land about a mile above Fort Meigs for the purpose of eharg- ing the British batteries, and spiking the guns, after which they were to return to their boats, and eross over to the fort. The remainder of the men were to land in the vieinity of the fort and fight their way through the investing Indians.
The forees that were to land on the Fort Meigs side accomplished that manoever sueeessfully, and eventually reached the fortress, al- though only after they had been aided by sorties from the fort. The other detachment, under Colonel Dudley, reached and spiked the Brit-
43
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
ish guns without much difficulty, but then, having been sniped at by some Indians, they became uncontrollable, and instead of returning to their boats they charged into the thickets from which the firing came. They were unused to Indian warfare, and in reality charged into an ambuscade; and of a foree of 866 men, only 170 escaped to Fort Meigs. Colonel Dudley himself was killed in the conflict which lasted for three hours, during which the Indians tomahawked all they could detach from their companies, and praetieally all who fell wounded. It seems that the British either were indifferent to sueh murderous conduct, or were unable to control their savage allies; but the Indian chief, Tecumseh, on that day showed himself to be inher-
TECUMSEH.
ently honorable and merciful, notwithstanding his insatiable hatred of Ameriean authority. When he heard of the bloodthirsty work then proceeding, he leaped upon his horse and galloped to the spot, "rage showing in every feature." Beholding two Indians butchering an American, he brained one with his tomahawk, and felled the other. Seeing General Proctor standing near while the massacre was proceed- ing, Tecumseh rode up to him.
"Why don't you stop this?" inquired Teeumseh, sternly.
"Sir," replied Proctor. "Your Indians cannot be commanded."
44
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
"Begone" yelled Tecumseh. "You are unfit to command. Go! and put on petticoats."
Tecumseh then dashed into the melee, and, throwing himself be- tween the American prisoners and Indians, dared an Indian to mur- der another prisoner. So ended the massacre, and so did Tecumseh pass into American history as an honorable Indian chieftain, of noble traits.
The American disaster had a somewhat unusual result, for instead of its resulting to the advantage of the Canadians, the contrary was the case. The Indians withdrew, tired of the siege, and perhaps sati- ated by the butchery of the 5th; and, General Proctor on May 9th found it advisable to withdraw his white forees, and return to An- herstburg, Canada, where he disbanded the militia. Thus, it happened that an American force of not much more than one thousand men suc- cessfully withstood a siege by three times its strength. During the siege, eighty-one men of the garrison of Fort Meigs were killed, and 189 wounded. This of course does not include the casualties of the relieving foree under Colonel Dudley.
It was felt that the withdrawal of the Canadian forces would only be temporary ; and therefore the days were well occupied in strengthen- ing the fortifications. General Harrison left General Clay in com- mand, and proceeded himself to Lower Sandusky, making that centre his administrative headquarters. In July, General Proetor again headed an expedition into the mouth of the Maumee; and on the 20th of that month the boats of the enemy were detected ascending the river. He was reported to be in considerable foree, his army being estimated to be more than five thousand men, while the garrison of Fort Meigs at that time was insignificant, numbering only a few hun- dred. Soon after the news had been reported to General Harrison, he sent word to General Clay to take every precaution against surprise and ambuscade, telling him that the sending of reinforcements was not then immediately possible. Thus General Clay was saved from what might have brought disaster, for Tecumseh, who commanded the Indian allies of the Canadians, sought to overeome the fortress by strategy. He staged a sham battle in the vicinity of the fort, and in the direction from which reinforcements would come. But General Clay reasoned that the organization and despateh of a relieving force in such a short time would hardly have been possible, and therefore he held his eommand closely to the confines of the fort. On July 27th the investment was lifted, and the enemy departed again from Fort Meigs. So passed the last element of military conflict from the Maumee River.
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