USA > Ohio > Wood County > Commemorative historical and biographical record of Wood County, Ohio : its past and present : early settlement and development biographies and portraits of early settlers and representative citizens, etc. V. 1 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101
" On the march from Miami to Monroe, when about half way, news reached us of the declara- tion of war. The British got the news before we did, through a fur company's agent, who took it by express direct to Canada. The Canadians might have taken Detroit, by surprise, before we got there. Hull stopped two days at Monroe to make a display of his troops. Thence he marched to the river Huron; there we camped on an open prairie. We could see from our camp the masts of the 20-gun brig, . Queen Charlotte,' which lay in the lake, off Malden. Some Indians were observed in the distance. During the night we were aroused by a false alarm. Hull's appre- hension of an attack by a force which might be landed from the . Queen Charlotte,' gave color to the alarm. It was afterward learned that the
Indians were Wyandots, who offered themselves as allies at Detroit. Their services were not accepted, as our government's orders were to have nothing to do with them. At that time there were no British troops on board the . Queen Charlotte.' On the occasion of this false alarm it was whispered in the camp that the old man Hull was a good deal frightened. The next day we went into camp at the River Rouge, seven miles from Detroit. We marched in great dis- order, strung along five or six miles. Hull
halted there eight or ten days to prepare his men to make a display in the streets of Detroit. Detroit was then a town of ten or twelve hundred people. Then he marched his men through Detroit and back again to camp on the River Rouge. After some days he moved up and crossed the Detroit river, in batteaux, below Belle Isle. One beautiful morning they crossed the river without opposition, and made a fine dis- play marching down opposite Detroit, with colors flying and music playing. There they made a fortified camp and remained. A two-story brick house in the center of the camp was the General's headquarters. There I first saw Gen. Cass, then a colonel.
"It was a warm July morning, and I was taking my breakfast at a boarding house, kept by a man whose name was Deputy. At the table sat Maj. Munson, of Zanesville, Ohio. A red- faced young man, with a morning gown on, came in, and as he took a seat alongside of Maj. Mun- son, he said something severe against Gen. Hull. Maj. Munson said: 'Col. Cass, what is the matter with you?' Cass replied that he had been two hours with that old fool, and could not get him to make a push toward Malden, all he could do. . He has agreed to let me go down with my regiment and two companies of the Fourth United States Infantry, and if God lets me live I'll have Malden before I get back.'
" The British had a 2-gun battery at the River Canard, four miles above Malden, so posted as to rake the causeway and bridge at that point. A day or two before, a regiment of our militia had been driven from there. Cass sent two companies of the U. S. Fourth Infantry under Snelling to ford the stream above the battery. When Snelling made his appearance, approach- ing the British on their flank, Cass moved for- ward with his main force upon this bridge. The enemy opened fire upon him, but when they dis- covered Snelling on their flank they retreated. Cass followed them to within a mile and a half of Malden, when it became so dark he thought it prudent to retreat to the battery at the bridge.
37
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
Thence he sent an express to Hull for re-inforce- ments, so as to attack Malden the next morning. Instead of doing so, Hull sent his aid, Col. Wal- lace, of Cincinnati, and ordered Cass back.
"Cass has frequently told me he has always regretted he did not disobey orders, and march on Malden. He afterward learned that the British had all their valuables ready to leave, and loaded on board the . Queen Charlotte.' If he had made his appearance in the morning the British would have blown up their fort and sailed away to Niagara. This would have prevented an Indian war, and saved Detroit. Cass returned to camp, and a few days after, Hull, on hearing of the advance of Gen. Brock, retreated across the river to Detroit, where he occupied Fort Shelby. This fort was situated right about the center of the present city of Detroit, about the fourth street from the river.
"Gen. Brock, at Niagara, had overreached Gen. Dearborn, another superannuated Revolu- tionary officer, who was in command of that fron- tier, and concluded with him an armistice of thirty days. This gave time for the 'Queen Charlotte ' to sail from Malden to the lower end of Lake Erie, and returned with himself and the force which captured Detroit. Soon after Hull crossed back, Brock moved the . Queen Char- lotte' up the river, and anchored off Sandwich, covering with her guns the crossing to Detroit. While the ship was stationed there, Capt. Snell- ing asked Gen. Hull, in my presence, for liberty to take two 12-pound guns down to Spring Wells, and sink her or start her from her position.
"Hull said, 'No, sir; you can't do it.' Brock had built a battery on the Canada side, opposite Fort Shelby; as soon as it was finished, when the sun was about an hour high, he opened fire on us. During the night, shells were thrown at in- tervals. At the dawn of day a heavy fire of bombs and solid shot was opened. I was taking a drink of water at the door of one of the officers' quarters, in company with a boy of my age, who afterward became Maj. Washington Whistler, U. S. A. At the next door to us, and about twelve feet away, four of our officers were stand- ing together. They were Capt. Hanks, Lieut. Sibley, Dr. Blood and Dr. Reynolds, of Colum- bus. A 32-pound shot came from the enemy's battery, killing Hanks, Sibley and Reynolds, and wounding Dr. Blood. They were knocked into a heap in a little narrow entryway-a narrow, con- fined space. Their mangled remains were a ter- rible sight. Capt. Hanks was lying on top, his eyes rolling in his head. Directly came along Gen. Hull, who looked in upon them and turned
very pale, the tobacco-juice running from the corners of his mouth to the frills of his shirt. In a short time after, the white flag was hoisted; that ball seeming to unman him.
" After these men were killed, I left the fort to reconnoitre. On the street in front of Maj. Whipple's house, one-fourth of a mile in front of Fort Shelby, I found two 32-pound guns in posi- tion. Capt. Bryson, of the artillery, had placed them there to rake the British column of 1.500 men who had made a landing and were approach- ing the city by way of Judge May's long lane to reach a ravine which crossed it, and through which they could file and be protected from any battery we had. They were marching in close column, in full dress uniform, of bright scarlet, in perfect order, at a steady regular pace, with- out inusic. As they came on, followed by their Indian allies and some twenty whites dressed as Indians, my boyish fancy was struck with their appearance, as I expected every moment to see them torn to pieces by those 32-pounders, double charged with canister and grape. My brother Thomas stood ready at the guns. In his hand a lighted match was held up in the air. He was in the very act of firing when Col. Wallace, the aide of Gen. Hull, came up and said: . Don't fire, the white flag is up.' At that instant Capt. Hull, who had been across the river with a flag of truce. fell in with us on his return. Col. Wallace said to him: 'It's all up, your father has surrendered.' Capt. Hull exclaimed: . My God ! Is it possible ?'"
The disgraceful conduct of Gen. Hull came from treason or cowardice. He was a native of Connecticut, only sixty years of age, and had done gallant service in the Revolution; but strong drink had so blighted liis mental and physical manhood that he was totally unfitted for the place he held. There was, too, delay and lack of energy at the War Department in Washington, in not more promptly advising Hull of events there. The war resolution passed the House June 4, the Senate June 17; the President pro- claimed it publicly on the 19th, and Hull got no word until July 2, one day after the enemy had the news, by a longer route. Such news as this, where the possession of an empire, or the fate of an army, was at stake, ought to have reached Hull from Washington in seven days. With an enterprising commander in Hull's stead, early news of the war declaration would have been in- valuable, but with Hull it could make but little difference.
Under the findings of a court-martial he was sentenced to be shot, but because of his former services the President commuted the death part
38
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
of the sentence. Thus ingloriously ended Hull's campaign. Humiliation and defeat were the bit- ter fruits of the first efforts of the Americans in the war of 1812. £ Misfortunes did not come singly either. Mackinaw and Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) fell, through the same laggard policy at Washington, and Hull's incapacity. The whole Northwest was in the enemy's control.
But how fared the infant settlement on the Maumee? If they were electrified when they saw Hull's army arrive, and felt security to some degree, the first time for months, they were de- pressed, paralyzed, when, a few weeks later, word came of the surrender of that army, and that the British had adopted their former infamous plan in warfare, of employing the savages as allies.
Here was this little, scattered settlement of whites, in the very midst of the Ottawa tribe-at their mercy, in fact. All north of the Maumee was, practically, in the hands of the enemy. No settlement south of them to the Greenville Treaty line; west of them the turbulent followers of Tecumseh and his brother on the Wabash, and the Pottawatamies on the St. Joseph; east of them the nearest white neighbors were the weak settlements at the mouth of Huron river, now Erie county; north of them was Detroit and adjacent settlements, now headquarters for the British, who were active in their efforts to stir up the Indians, by bribery, and promises the most extravagant, to take up the tomahawk against the Americans. Tecumseh was there and had sworn allegiance to the King, and was effectively rallying the disaffected warriors to his standard. Even the lakes were under control of the enemy, who had several armed vessels patroling their shores.
Gloomy, indeed, was the outlook for the iso- lated settlement at the Maumee Rapids. To make matters worse, the small detail of soldiers, left for their protection, abandoned their tempo- rary fort, told the settlers to help themselves to the stores, which had to be left, and retreated to the interior. There was no choice left these pioneers; they had to go. They left their crops ungathered; took such of their worldly effects as they could, and started, they scarcely knew whither. The Indians and British soon came, and the torch obliterated nearly all the homely habitations of the people on the Maumee. The settlement was wiped out of existence. In its stead came hostile armies, and soon the roar and din of the deadly conflict proclaimed that new issues hung in the balance, to be decided in this court of last resort; or, rather, old issues were to be fought over again.
It will be instructive, before passing to the stirring national events within the arena about the Maumee Rapids, now in order, to learn something more of the little band of settlers just passing from view, many of them never to return. Their story forms an important part of our Pio- neer record. It would be interesting if we had it complete. Unfortunately, the details are very meager; but we introduce, in the chapter on Perrysburg, that (next to records) best of author- ity in histories of this kind, the testimony of truthful, intelligent, contemporary witnesses- those who saw and knew the things of which they speak --- Mrs. Perrin, Mrs. Hester Green. Mrs. Philothe Clark and others, some of whose recollections are given in the history of Perrys- burg township.
CHAPTER IX.
WAR OF 1812 AS FAR AS CONCERNS WOOD COUNTY-GEN. HARRISON'S CAMPAIGN-GEN. PROCTOR'S ADVANCE-FIRST SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS-DUDLEY'S DEFEAT.
T is designed to treat of the events of the war of 1812 only as such events are connected with the local history of Wood county, though at times the chain of connections carries the story beyond local bounds. It was just about eighteen years before Hull's arrival at the Rapids, and the disgraceful termination of his campaign
at Detroit, that Gen. Wayne, and his gallant lit- tle army, won martial renown on the Maumee, by a victory which terminated an Indian war. began almost a half century before, when the Colonial troops fought under the English flag. Wayne's campaign turned all eyes to the Mau- mee river, and his victory filled the Nation with
1
39
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO ..
joy. Hull's surrender startled the Nation, and filled the land with sorrow and humiliation. Wayne's battle gave the country an empire and peace; Hull's cowardice lost the Northwest, and turned the frontier settlers over to the mercy of the Indians and British. When the Nation rejoiced over Wayne's success in 1794, there were only five thousand people, north of the Ohio, to shout their gladness; when Hull surren- dered (1812), and uncovered her whole northern frontier, Ohio alone had 250,000 people to tell him of their indignation, and come to the rescue of the Flag.
The whole country, east and west, was aroused to the gravity of the situation. Fortunately the martial spirit, the heroism of '76, had not gone to decay. England did not have a long season of rejoicing. Her pride was soon touched in a tender place. On the Atlantic, three days after the surrender of Detroit, the frigate " Constitu- tion " ( "Old Ironsides" ) came up with the Brit- ish man of war, "Guerriere," and engaged her in battle. The English captain, Dacres, though a boastful fellow who had been sending chal- lenges to the Americans, fought desperately, but "Old Ironsides" knocked his ship to pieces within thirty minutes after the first broadside. As if by a singular coincidence, the commander of the "Constitution " was Capt. Isaac Hull, nephew of the man who disgraced the Flag at Detroit. This victory of the sailors, for whose rights the war was started, created great enthu- siasm. In Kentucky, Isaac Shelby, the old hero of King's Mountain, was governor. His proud spirit was stirred at the perfidious course of the English, and the humiliation of the Americans, at Detroit. Military camps were at once estab- lished, and soon Kentucky troops were marching to the northern frontier. In Tennessee, too, the volunteers, under the lead of Andrew Jackson, were marching to subdue the hostile Creeks, stirred to war by the advice and example of Tecumseh. Thence Jackson marched to the Gulf to expel the British. William Henry Har- rison, governor of Indiana Territory, was now appointed commander of the Northwestern forces. He was in the prime of manhood, had learned war under Wayne, been on the frontier nearly twenty years, and but recently had won a victory at Tippecanoe, in which he showed the courage and fighting qualities of a general, and gained great favor with his soldiers, especially the Ken- tuckians who were with him. The new com- mander had a great task before him. It was to keep the Indians in subjection, recover Detroit and the Northwest, and invade Upper Canada.
His soldiers were raw recruits, scantily equipped. When he took command, even cannon were being made at Pittsburg to replace those lost by Hull. The enemy had command of Lake Erie, so that the only route to Detroit lay through some portion of the wilderness and by way of the Maumee Rapids, over which troops, munitions and supplies had to go. The whole country south of the Maumee to the Greenville Treaty line belonged to the Indians, and was unsettled.
There were already two routes open: First, Hull's trace; second, Wayne's old trail, by way of the Auglaize and Maumee. Gen. Harrison established a third, by way of Upper Sandusky, thence down the banks of the Sandusky river by way of Fort Ball (Tiffin) and Lower San- dusky (Fremont) to the lake, or, from Lower Sandusky across the swamp to the Maumee Rapids, as might suit.
Though Gen. Harrison made every possi- ble exertion, he found it impossible to get his force equipped and ready for a campaign be- fore winter set in. Gen. Edward W. Tupper. with a light Ohio brigade of nine-months' men, from Gallia, Lawrence and Jackson counties, had advanced to Fort McArthur, from which place a detachment of his men advanced, and drove off the British and Indians who were at the Maumee, gathering the corn in the deserted fields of the late settlers.
At the opening of the year 1813, Gen. Win- chester occupied the left of the army, at Defiance; the Ohio brigade (Tupper's), the center, at Fort McArthur, and Gen. Harrison with the Virginia and Pennsylvania troops and some regulars, was with the right, at Upper Sandusky. The troops were from Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and some from Virginia; also a regiment of regulars -the total amounting to less than five thousand men. The point of concentration, for a move on Detroit, was the Maumee Rapids. Gen. Win- chester, whose command consisted of Kentuck- ians and some regulars, under Col. Welles, ad- vanced along the north bank of the Maumee from Defiance, and reached the Rapids January 10, 1813. Here he made some temporary canip defenses for his supplies, and remained until the 17th, when he imprudently acceded to a petition from the people at Frenchtown on the river Raisin, asking for protection from the Indians and British. Cols. Lewis and Allen, with about six hundred men, were dispatched thither, and. after a sharp fight, drove the enemy out, and sent word back to the Maumee for reinforcements, as they were only eighteen miles from Malden. where Proctor lay with his whole force.
40
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
Winchester now committed a second grave error. Instead of immediately withdrawing his troops from their perilous position at the Raisin, he took all the forces he dare spare at the Rapids, 250 men, and marched to Frenchtown to join his victorious soldiers, where he made his third fatal blunder. He allowed his men to go into open camp, without regard to position, or any sort of defensive lines. During the night, Proctor approached with his main force, and planted his artillery within 300 paces of Winchester's camp. The dawn of light on the morning of the 22nd of January was ushered in by the loud peals of Proctor's cannon, and a shower of canister, grape and shell, accompanied by the savage war-whoop of the Indians. The raw volunteers, taken by surprise, soon became demoralized, and were cut down like grass. Col. Lewis' men, who had been posted behind a heavy picket fence, held their ground, and would have made the enemy purchase a costly victory, but for Gen. Winches- ter, who had fallen a prisoner, and now sent him word to surrender, under Proctor's promise of protection from the savages. The result was that many of the Americans, including the wounded, were mercilessly butchered by the Indians, and those of the wounded, who had been taken to houses, were burned. The American loss, including prisoners, was 934. Of these, 397 were killed or missing. Less than fifty men escaped from the field. The shocking deeds of murder and torture which followed on that night, and the succeeding day, were such as to cause a thrill of horror, at hearing even the partial details. [Among the sad incidents was that related of Capt. Hart, a brother of the wife of Henry Clay, who offered a Pottawatamie one hundred dollars to take him safely to Malden, but they met a Wyandot who claimed the prisoner. A quarrel followed, and was settled by an agreement to kill the prisoner and divide his clothes and money. ] The massacre at the River Raisin did more to embitter Americans and create a deep- seated, unforgiving spirit toward the Indians, than any other occurrence, up to that time, in the history of the young nation. Yet the butch- ery was committed under the English flag, and under the eyes of the British commander, in whose employ the Indians were. The savages were less blamable in this case than the infamous Proctor.
Gen. Harrison, who was at Upper Sandusky, got word on the 16th that Winchester had arrived at the Rapids, and that he had in view an expedition of some kind against the enemy. This made the Commander uneasy, and he at
once set out for Lower Sandusky, where Gen. Perkins, who had come from Wooster, was in command with a regiment and a battalion, leav- ing word for Maj. Orr to follow with the artillery, which had just arrived from Pittsburg, by way of Wooster, as fast as possible. At Lower San- dusky the General sent forward a battalion under Maj. Cosgrove, and learning there, from a courier, what Winchester was doing, he ordered Gen. Perkins to put the rest of his troops in motion across the swamp. Harrison started out in a sled and reached the Rapids, on horseback, on the 20th, leaving his sled at the Portage river. Perkins and Cosgrove lost a day in trying to cross, and with their best efforts, floundering in ice and water, only reached the Rapids on the night of January 21. Impatiently the Comman- der waited at the Rapids for these men. Early next morning, the Commander hurried forward his forces, but it was too late. That very morn- ing, as they were filing out of their camp, on the Maumee, their overmatched comrades were being slaughtered at Frenchtown, and they soon met the few flying fugitives from the battlefield, and learned that the day was lost-the little army destroyed. The troops turned back to the Rapids, and next morning destroyed their tem- porary fortifications, and Harrison retired behind the Portage, camping below the forks of the river, near where Pemberville is, in the northwest corner of Section 11, Freedom township.
The unfortunate loss of the left wing of his army so disabled Gen. Harrison that he was forced to wage defensive, instead of aggressive, warfare for a time. It was through no fault of his own. He had counted on the frosts of winter to give him a solid road across the Black Swamp. A January thaw, at the critical time, prevented a rapid march from Lower Sandusky to Winches- ter's rescue. Had the stone pike now connecting Fremont and Perrysburg been in existence, the soldiers could have made the march in one day instead of three. Winchester's mistake could have been rectified, and doubtless Proctor would have been routed. Fort Meigs would not have been built, and more than likely the Americans would have invaded and held Upper Canada. Bad roads have more than once played an im- portant part in deciding the fate of armies and destinies of nations, and for very bad roads, the Black Swamp, in an early day, could have drawn the prize in most any contest. At his camp, on the Portage, Gen. Harrison was joined by Gen. Leftraech, of Virginia, with his brigade and most of the artillery train, which, on account of heavy rains, and the almost impassable roads, did not ar-
-
Col. Dudleys,s Battle
British Batteries
RIVER
MAUMEE
AMP MEIGS
co)
ise
dian H
Upper Sandusky Rood
Lower Sandusky
British Batterie
PLAN OF FORT MEIGS AND ENVIRONS.
EXPLANATIONS .- a, grand battery, commanded by Capt. Daniel Cush- ing : b, mortar battery ; e, i, o, minor batteries; g, battery commanded at the second siege by Col. (afterward Gen.) Gaines; c, magazines. The black squares on the lines of the fort represent the position of the block-houses. The dotted lines show the traverses, or walls of earth. thrown up. The longest, the grand traverse, had a base of 20 feet, was 12 in height, and about 900 in length. The British batteries on the north side of the river were named as follows : a, queen's ; b, sailor's; d, king's: c, mortar. The fort stood upon high ground. on the margin of a bank, elevated about 60 feet above the Maumee. The works originally covered about ten acres, but was reduced in area between the two sieges, to accommodate a smaller number of troops .- Howe's History of Ohio.
41
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
rive until the 30th of January. On the Ist of February he again advanced to the Maumee, and built Fort Meigs, and from this position decided to make aggressive, or defensive, warfare as best suited his purpose. Now, while the soldiers are working on the fortifications, let us take a brief survey of the old military route, known to the carly settlers, who made use of portions of it later on for a road, as Harrison's trail. Take a pencil and sectional map of Wood county; put the pencil point at the county line on the east side of Section 13, Freedom township, a few rods south of the center; mark due west most across the section, then turn and go northwest through the corner of Section II, near the center of the south line, thence directly to Harrison's old camp ground, below the forks of the river, about half a mile. Here the troops, in trying to march to Winchester's aid, in January, 1813. spent a day in fruitless attempts to cross the river, and finally turned up the river to the northwest corner of Section 23, where they crossed and went to the north branch, in Section 10, about midway between the railroad bridge and section line, not far from the cemetery. From here push the pencil, in a northwesterly course, to a point about forty rods north of the southwest corner of Sec- tion 27, Perrysburg township. Northwest of this point, about eighty rods, the Mccutchenville road is crossed; then bear to the west and cross the northeast corner of Section 29, the southwest corner of 20; the northwest corner of 19, and pass out of the northwest corner of 18, into River Tract No. 65, on which the fort was built. The trail deviated from a direct line in places, but preserved the general course, nearly on the line we have indicated. As was said of Hull's Trace, it would be hard to select a better route under the conditions that then existed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.