USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio, containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its general and local history : with descriptions of its counties, principal towns, and villages > Part 48
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The rest of the party escaped without injury and rode full speed to where their prisoners were confined, and mounting them upon horses continued their route. Wells and M'Clel- lan being severely wounded, and their march slow and painful to Defiance, a distance of about 30 miles, ere they could receive surgical aid, a messenger was dispatched to hasten to that post for a surgeon and a guard. As soon as he arrived with the tidings of the wounds and perilous situation of these heroic and faithful spies, very great sympathy was manifested. Wayne's feeling for the suffering soldier was at all times quick and sensitive. We can, then, imagine the intensity of his solicitude when informed of the sufferings and perils of his confidential and chosen band. He instantly dispatched a surgeon and a company of the swiftest dragoons to meet, assist and guard these brave fellows to head-quarters, where they arrived safe, and the wounded in due time recovered.
May, who was taken prisoner, having formerly lived and ran away from the Indians, was recognized. They told him, the second day before the battle, " We know you-you speak Indian language-you not content to live with us: to-morrow we take you to that tree- pointing to a very large burr oak at the edge of the clearing near the British fort-we will tie you up and make a mark on your breast, and we will try what Indian can shoot nearest it." Accordingly, the next day he was tied to that tree, a mark made on his breast, and his body riddled with at least fifty bullets. Thus ended poor May !
This little band of spies, during the campaign, performed more real service than any other corps of equal number belonging to the army. They brought in, at different times, not less than 20 prisoners, and killed more than an equal number. As they had no rivals in the army, they aimed in each excursion to outdo their former exploits. What confidence ! what self-possession was displayed by these men in their terrific encounters! To ride
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boldly into the enemy's camp, in full view of their blazing camp-fires, and enter into con- versation with them without betraying the least appearance of trepidation or confusion, and openly commence the work of death, proves how well the'r souls were steeled against fear. They had come off unscathed in so many desperate conflicts, that they became callous to danger.
In the battle, Wayne's army took a white man prisoner, by the name of Lasselle. Col. John Johnston says respecting him :
ANTOINE LASSELLE I well knew : this man, a Canadian, was taken prisoner at Wayne's battle, painted, dressed and disguised as an Indian. He was tried by court-martial, at Roche de Bœuf, and sentenced to be hung. A gallows was erected and the execution ordered, when Col. John F. Hamtranck-a native of Canada, who joined the American standard under Montgomery, in the revolutionary war, and was, in 1794, colonel of the Ist regiment of infantry, under Wayne-interposed and begged the life of the prisoner. Gen. Wayne afterwards granted to Lasselle license to trade at Fort Wayne, and he was there as such many years during my agency at the post. He was a man of wit and drollery. and would often clasp his neck with both hands, to show how near he had been to hanging by order of mad Anthony.
Col. Johnston also says, respecting Col. M'Kee and Capt. Elliott, who were both alledged to have been in the action, and were noto- rious enemies of the Americans in the wars in the northwest :
M'KEE and ELLIOTT were Pennsylvanians, and the latter, I think, of Irish birth. They resided at the commencement of the revolutionary war in Path valley, Pa. A brother and a brother-in-law of mine lived in the same neighborhood ; I therefore have undoubted au- thority for the facts. A number of tories resided in the township, M'Kee and Elliot being leaders. A large proportion of the inhabitants being whigs, the place became too warm to hold them. They fled to the enemy, and leagued with the Shawanese Indians in com- mitting depredations on the frontier settlers. Both of these incendiaries had Indian wives and children, and finally their influence became so great among the savages, that they were appointed agents for Indian affairs by the British government, and continued as such until their death. Matthew Elliott was an uncle, by his father's side, to the late Commodore Elliott, and had a son killed in the late war, by the Indians under Logan. [See p. 302.] On the death of M'Kee, his son, a half-breed, was a deputy agent in Upper Canada. He was a splendid looking man, and married an accomplished white lady. He had too much of the Indian nature, and the marriage turned out somewhat unhappily.
In August, 1814, several letters were published in the National Intelligencer, from Col. M'Kee to Col. England, the British com- mandant at Detroit during the campaign of Wayne, the originals of which, the editor stated, were then in his possession. M'Kee was at this time superintendent of the Indians under his majesty. Some brief extracts below pile up the evidence already adduced of his hos- tility, and that of the English to the Americans.
Rapids, July 5th, 1794. SIR,-I send this by a party of Saginas, who returned yester- day from Fort Recovery, where the whole body of the Indians, except the Delawares, who had gone another route, imprudently attacked the fort on Monday, the 30th of last month. .Every thing had been settled prior to their leaving the fallen timber, and it had been agreed upon to confine themselves to taking convoys and attacking at a distance from the forts, if they should have the address to entice the enemy out.
Rapids, Aug. 13th, 1794. SIR, -- I was honored last night with your letter of the 11th, and am extremely glad to find you making such exertions to supply the Indians with provisions ...... Scouts are sent up to view the situation of the army, [Wayne's,] and WE now muster 1000 Indians. All the lake Indians, from Sagina downwards, should not lose one moment in joining their brethren, as every accession of strength is an addition to their spirits.
Maumee city, the county seat, is 124 miles Nw. of Columbus, and S s. of Toledo. It was laid out under the name of Maumee in 1817, by Maj. Wm. Oliver and others, within what had been the reservation
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of 12 miles square, at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, granted to the Indians at the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. The town is situated at the head of navigation on the Maumee, and on the Wa- bash and Erie canal, opposite Perrysburg and Fort Meigs.
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Maumee City, from Fort Meigs.
The river banks upon which Maumee city and its neighbor, Perrysburg stand, are elevated near 100 feet above the water level. Both banks, at this point, curve gracefully inward, while the river above and below is somewhat contracted, thus forming a vast amphi- theatre of about two miles in length and nearly one in breadth, while a beautiful cultivated island of 200 acres, and several small islets embosomed in its centre, enhance a scene rich in picturesque effect.
From a very early day, this was a favorite point with the Indians. As early as 1680, the French had a trading station just below the town, where, later in the spring of 1794, was built the British fort Miami, the ruins of which are still conspicuous. Part of Wayne's battle was within the limits of the town-the action commenced two or three miles south. At that point, by the road side, is a noted rock, of several tons weight, near the foot of Presque Isle hill, where it is said an Indian chief, named Turkey Foot, rallied a few of his men and stood upon it fighting until his strength becoming exhausted from loss of blood, he fell and breathed his last. Upon it have been carved by the Indians, representations of turkey's feet, now plainly to be seen, and it is said " the early settlers of and travellers through the Maumee valley, usually found many small pieces of tobacco de- posited on this rock, which had been placed there by the Indians as devotional acts, by way of sacrifice, to appease the indignant spirit of the departed hero." During the siege of Fort Meigs, in the late war, the British encamped below the town, and erected several batteries within it, which played upon the American fort. These
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having been stormed and taken by Col. Dudley, on the 5th of May, 1813, that officer pushed his victory too far, and was, in turn, attacked by the enemy, who had been reinforced from below, and defeated with great slaughter on the site of the town. (See Wood county.)
The view of Maumee city, taken from the site of Fort Meigs, shows, in front, Maumee river and the bridge ; beyond, on the left, the canal, and on the summit of the hill, a small portion of the town, which is much scattered. On the right is seen the Presbyterian church, on the left, the Methodist, and between, the Catholic ; the Episcopal church does not appear in this view. Maumee city is a thriving town, and has an extensive water power, which, if fully improved, would be sufficient for 250 runs of stone : it now contains 16 dry goods, 8 grocery and 3 drug stores ; 1 or 2 newspaper print- ing offices, 4 flouring, 1 oil and 2 saw mills; 1 pail factory, 1 tannery, a wool-carding and cloth-dressing establishment, and had in 1840, 840 inhabitants, since which it has much increased. A number of vessels, steamboats, propellers and canal boats have been built here. A spirit of rivalry exists between the towns at the foot of the rapids, Maumee city and Perrysburg, with Toledo. While the latter has outstripped them in prosperity, there is, perhaps, but little question that if the navigation of the river was improved, Maumee city and Perrysburg would draw to themselves a vast accession of business, and be important points for the shipment and transhipment of freight. The Maumee is navigable, in its present condition, for steamboats and schooners drawing seven feet of water; but, since the construc- tion of boats of a heavier draught, it is necessary that an improve- ment, by excavating the channel along what is called " the rock bar," should be made. This bar, which is of blue limestone, commences about a mile and a half below Perrysburg. At a common stage, the water upon it is about six and half feet deep. To open a clear and unobstructed channel upon it for the largest lake boats, it has been estimated, would cost about $30,000. Government has fre- quently, but ineffectually, been petitioned to make this improvement.
TOLEDO is on the left bank of the Maumee river, and on the Wabash and Erie canal, 134 miles Nw. of Columbus, 246 by canal N. of Cincinnati, about 50 s. of Detroit, about 100 w. of Cleveland, and 33 miles from Adrian, Michigan, where a railroad from Toledo intersects with the southern Michigan railroad. Toledo stretches along the river bank for more than a mile, and has two points at which business concentrates, called respectively the upper and lower landing. It was originally two distinct settlements-the upper, Port Lawrence, the lower, Vistula. Between these two points Toledo is thinly settled ; but at them, and particularly at the upper, the stores, warehouses and dwellings are densely packed together. The view of the harbor from the upper landing is very fine : the eye takes in a distance of several miles of the river, bounded by well-defined pro- jecting headlands, and often showing a large number of sails, pre- senting not only a scene of beauty, but evidence of the extensive commerce, of which this place is the center.
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Toledo covers the site of a stockade fort, called Fort Industry erected about the year 1800, near what is now Summit street. A treaty was held in this fort with the Indians July 4th, 1805, by which the Indian title to the "fire-lands" was extinguished. Chas. Jouett was United States commissioner, and the Ottawa, Chippewa, Pot- tawatimie, Wyandot, Shawanee, Munsee and Delaware tribes, re- presented by their respective chiefs. The insignificant settlements of Port Lawrence and Vistula were later formed, and have now lost their identity in Toledo, the history, present condition and prospects of which we annex, in a communication from a gentleman of the place.
In the summer of 1832, Vistula, under the impetus given it by Captain Samuel Allen, from Lockport, N. Y., and Major Stickney, made quite a noise as a promising place for a town. People from various quarters were met by the writer, in June of that year, at the residence of Major Stickney. All seemed sanguine of a sudden and large growth for the new town, and many made purchases in and about it. At the same time, arrangements were being made by Major Oliver and Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, with Daniel O. Comstock and Stephen B. Comstock, brothers, from Lockport, for the resuscitation of Port Lawrence, at the mouth of Swan creek. The Comstocks took an interest, and be- came the agents for the Port Lawrence property, now known as Upper Toledo. No sales of any importance were made before 1833. In Vistula, the first store was started by Mr. E. Briggs ; W. J. Daniels, now a leading man, was his clerk. Soon after, Flagg & Bissell opened a more extensive store of goods --- probably the first good assortment for the use of white people. In 1833, not much progress was made towards building a town in Vistula or Port Lawrence. In the latter, the first Toledo steamer was built, and called the Detroit. She was of 120 tons, and commanded by Captain Baldwin, son of a sea captain of that name, who was one of the earliest settlers of Port Lawrence. The best lots in Port Law- rence, 60 feet front by 120 deep, were offered by Stephen B. Comstock, for $50, coupled with a condition to make some little improvements. Four of these lots, if they were now not built upon, would sell for $5,000 each. Three of them are nearly covered by 3 story brick buildings, and form the center of business of Toledo. They are corners, on Monroe and Summit streets.
In 1834, speculation in lots began, and with slight intermission continued until the spring of 1837. Mr. Edward Bissell, from Lockport, a man of enterprise and activity, became a part owner, and gave a great impetus to the growth of Vistula. Through him and the Port Lawrence owners, many men of influence became interested in the new towns. Among these, Judge Mason, from Livingston county, N. Y., deserves mention, as he be- came agent of Bissell and the other chief owners, and mnade Vistula his residence.
In 1836, the Wabash and Erie canal was located, having three terminations, one at Maumee, one at Toledo, and one at Manhattan. Great exertions were made to induce the commissioners to terminate it at the foot of the Rapids; and also to have it continued be- low, on the high bank. All the points were accommodated, and the state has had a heavy bill to foot as the consequence. In 1837, the canal was let, and the contractors entered vigorously on its construction. The commissioners held out the opinion, that it would be completed in two years. Under the expectation of its early completion, many of the in- habitants of Toledo, who had been brought there by the speculations of 1835 and 1836, and the business it gave, held on in order to participate in the business it was expected to furnish. The seasons of 1838 and 1839 were uncommonly sickly, not only at Toledo, but along the entire line of the canal. This kept back the work on the canal, and it was not com- pleted, so as to make its business sensiby felt, before the season of 1845. The Miami and Erie canal was opened through, from river to lake, the same season, and for a time had a great rush of business through it. But it was so imperfect, that great prejudice was excited against it as a channel of commerce. During the season of 1846, it was kept in good order, and recovered a portion of its lost popularity.
The productions of the south and southwest, that reached Toledo by these two canals, during the season of 1846, exceeded three millions of dollars in value, and more than doubled the receipts of the preceding year. The value sent up from Toledo can scarcely have been less than five million dollars. The aggregate of breadstuffs exported, exceeded three millions of bushels, being greater than any other port around the lakes, except Cleve- land, that shipped by lake. It is expected that the business of these canals this year, will
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nearly double that of the season of 1846. The Wabash and Erie canal will then be ex- tended 49 miles further down the Wabash ; and the country on the lines of both canals being new, is being opened to cultivation, and having the roads that bring trade to the canals every year extended farther from their borders, and made better. By position and the aid of these canals, Toledo is evidently destined to be one of the greatest of the gath- ering points of agricultural productions in the country. Its situation is equally favorable for the distribution, over the lakes, of southern productions-sugar, tobacco, &c. The Miami and Erie canal is the best channel for the goods destined from the eastern cities to the great river valley below Cincinnati.
The Wabash and Erie canal, when completed to Evansville, on the Ohio, will be 460 miles in length, and control most of the external trade of Indiana and eastern Illinois. The Miami and Erie canal, connecting Toledo and Cincinnati, is 247 miles long. This, it is believed, will one day become one of the most important canals in the world.
Within the last two years, Toledo has expended near one hundred thousand dollars in grading and other permanent improvements that tend to give facility to commercial opera- tions. Like all the other towns on Lake Erie, it has suffered, during the early years of its life, from sickness ; and perhaps it has suffered still more, in its growth and prospects, from the exaggerations which public rumor has spread over the country, respecting its insalubrity. And yet it would be difficult to find a healthier looking or a more vigorous set of men, than are the first settlers of Toledo and other places on the harbor. Toledo has had sickness, but not more than Cleveland and Sandusky and Monroe, at the same period of their growth. The excavations for the canal and the grades, have undoubtedly contributed to the preva- lence of intermittents, which is the chief cause of complaint. Every year will witness an improvement in this respect, until, like Cleveland, it will be forgotten as a place especially fruitful of malaria, and be spoken of chiefly for the activity and extent of its commerce, and the rapidity of its progress towards the high destiny which reflecting men have long antici- pated for it. .
Toledo was incorporated as a city in 1836, and has 1 Presbyte- rian, 1 Catholic, 1 Methodist, 1 Episcopal and 1 Lutheran church, 37 mercantile establishments-including 3 drug and 2 book stores. -9 forwarding and commission houses, 2 banks, and its population is estimated at 2400; in 1840, it had 1322 inhabitants. A daily steamboat line connects Toledo with Buffalo, and another with De- troit. A railroad has been chartered and surveyed between Toledo and the west line of Indiana, in the direction of the falls of Illinois, or towards Chicago.
Toledo was the center of the military operations in "the Ohio and Michigan war," so called, which at the time threatened serious results, but was accompanied with so much of the ludicrous, as to be usually adverted to with emotions of merriment. In the language of " an actor in the scenes which he depicts," the narration below is given.
The dispute of Ohio and Michigan, about the line of division between them, originated in this wise. The ordinance of 1787, provided for the division of the North Western territory into not less than three nor more than five states ; and if into five, then the three southern were to be divided from the two northern, by a line drawn east and west through the southern point of Lake Michigan, extending eastward to the territorial line in Lake Erie. The constitution of Ohio contained a provision, that if the said line should not go so far north as the north cape of the Maumee bay, then the northern boundary of Ohio should be a line drawn from the southerly part of Lake Michigan to the north cape of the Maumee bay. With this constitution, Ohio was admitted into the union. The line of the ordinance was an impossible line, inasmuch as it would never touch the territorial line by extending it eastward, but would, on the contrary, leave north of it a considerable portion of that part of Olio known as the Western Reserve.
When Michigan became a territory, the people living between the two lines-that claimed by Michigan, known as the Fulton line, and that claimed by Ohio, as the Harris line -- found it more convenient to be attached to Michigan, and agreeably to their wish, the territorial laws were extended over the disputed territory. In 1833, it appeared im-
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portant that the boundary should be settled, and at the suggestion of J. W. Scott, Esq., of Toledo, Senator Tilden, of Norwalk, Ohio, brought the matter before the legislature, which passed a resolution asking congress to act upon the subject, for the purpose of quieting the claim of Ohio.
In 1835, the matter came before congress, and J. Q. Adams made an elaborate report against the claim of Ohio. Through the exertions of A. Palmer, S. B. Comstock, W. P. Daniels and others, the former was immediately dispatched to Columbus, with a petition from most of the inhabitants, to the legislature of Ohio, then in session, asking the exten- sion of the laws of Ohio over the disputed territory. An act was soon after passed for that purpose, and the disputed territory was attached to the counties of Wood, Henry and Williams. This occasioned a counteraction on the part of Michigan. A double set of officers were created at the spring election, and war became inevitable. The inhabitants were mostly for the Ohio claim, but enough sided with Michigan to fill all the offices. These soon needed the aid of their neighbors of Monroe county, who were organized, and made some inroads under the sheriff's posse, and carried off to Monroe, some of the would- be citizens of Ohio.
Thereupon, Ohio levied troops, and Governor Lucas came on at their head, early in the spring of 1835. In the mean time, Governor Mason mustered troops from Michigan ; and while Governor Lucas was encamped at old Fort Miaini, 8 miles above Toledo and 4 miles above the disputed territory, Mason marched into Toledo, overrun all the water-melon patches, made fowls very scarce, and demolished utterly the ice house of Major Stickney, burst in the front door of his residence, and triumphantly carried him off a prisoner of war to Monroe .*
About this time appeared from the court of Washington, two ambassadors, with full powers to negotiate with the belligerants, for an amicable settlement of difficulties. These were Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, and Colonel Howard, of Maryland. They were successful in their mission, chiefly because Michigan was satisfied with the laurels won, and Ohio was willing to stand on her dignity-8 miles from the ground in dispute. At the court next holden in Wood county, the prosecuting attorney presented bills of indict- ment against Governor Mason and divers others, in like manner offending ; but the bills were thrown out by the grand jury. Thus was Ohio defeated in her resort to law, as she had before been in her passage at arms. At the next session of congress, the matter was taken up, and able arguments in favor of Ohio were made in the house, by Samuel F. Vinton, and in the senate, by Thomas Ewing. Here Ohio carried the day. Michigan, instead of the narrow strip, averaging about 8 miles wide, on her southern border, received as an equivalent the large peninsula between Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior, now so well known for its rich deposit of copper and other minerals. The chief value to Ohio, of the territory in dispute, was the harbor at Toledo, formed by the mouth of the Maumee, essential, as her public men believed, to enable her to reap the benefit of the commerce made by her canals to Cincinnati and Indiana. The result has shown that they judged correctly. Toledo has proved to be the true point for the meeting of lake and canal com- merce.
Manhattan, 3 miles below Toledo, was laid out a few years since, and much enterprise exhibited on the part of its founders : it is, how- ever, a small place, containing in 1840, 282 inhabitants. Waterville, about 5 miles above Maumee City, is a neat village, containing about 300 inhabitants. Providence, near the line of Henry county, on the river, had in 1840, 130 inhabitants ; in 1846, it was seriously in- jured by fire. There are other small towns in the county, but none of note.
* Many amusing incidents are related of the actors in this war. Dr. Russ, of New York, was with the forces of Mason, on their march from Monroe to Toledo, and gave to the writer a vivid description of the mixture of frolic and fear among the new soldiers. Reports were constantly being circulated of the great number of sharp-shooting Buck- eyes who were ready, with poised rifles, to greet their arrival at Toledo; and so terror- stricken were the warriors by these stories of the wags, that nearly half of those who marched boldly from Monroe, availed themselves of the bushes, by the road-side, to with draw from the dangerous enterprise.
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