USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 2
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What is known as the PENINSULA is a tract of land, a little less than thirty square miles in area, lying between Lake Erie and Sandusky bay, and attached to the mainland by a narrow neck near the Portage river. Its early settlers were
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from Danbury, Conn., and gave it the name of Danbury township. The western boundary of the Firelands cuts off a narrow strip of land on the west side of the township, though, as the township is now organized, the western line is that of the Firelands survey.
Catawba Island was organized as a separate township on the development of grape culture. It contains some 600 acres, situated north of the old Portage river bed, that stream now emptying into the lake some eight miles west of its original outlet, what is known as " The Harbors " being the old bed of the river. Catawba Island is connected with the mainland bya bridge over the west harbor.
Port Clinton in 1846 .- Port Clinton, the county-seat, laid out in 1827, is 120 miles north of Columbus. It is situated on a beautiful bay, on the right bank of Portage river. It has a good harbor-in which is a light-house-and about sixty dwellings. It is about the only village in the county, and may ultimately be a place of considerable trade .- Old Edition.
PORT CLINTON, county-seat of Ottawa, is on Lake Erie at the mouth of Por- tage river, and about 110 miles north of Columbus, thirteen miles west of San- dusky, and thirty miles east of Toledo, on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad. County officers, 1888 : Auditor, John H. Berleman ; Clerk, Wm. A. Eisenhour; Com- missioners, Alexander Serymager, Frederick Hillman, Henry Rofkar; Coroner, George W: Woodward ; Infirmary Directors, Robert Richardson, Henry Ryer, Wm. C. Lewis; Probate Judge, David R. McRitchie ; Prosecuting Attorney, Charles I. York; Recorder, Frederick W. Camper; Sheriff, James Bisnette ; Surveyor, Smith Motley ; Treasurer, Washington Gordon. City officers, 1888 : George R. Clark, Mayor ; Wm. Bertsch, Clerk ; John Orth, Treasurer ; Sigmund Leimgruber, Marshal ; Wm. Bodenstein, Sealer of Weights. Newspapers : Lake Shore Bulletin, Independent, A. W. Courchaine, editor and publisher ; Ottawa County News, Democratic, George R. Clark, editor and publisher ; Ottawa County Republican, Republican, J. W. Grisier, editor and publisher. Churches : one Catholic, one United Brethren, one Lutheran, one Methodist Episcopal. Bank : S. A. Magruder & Co., S. A. Magruder, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees .- A. Spies & Co., doors, sash, etc., 6 hands ; Seuy- fert & Co., carriages, etc., 5; O. J. True & Co., flour, etc., 4; A. Couche & Co., saw mill, 10; Robert Hoffinger, flour, etc., 8 .- State Report, 1887.
Population, 1880, 1,600. School census, 1888, 546 ; John McConkie, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $78,500; value of annual product, $172,900 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Large fishing depots are located here. Census, 1890, 2,049.
THE TRIAL OF BENNET G. BURLEY AT PORT CLINTON.
This was an interesting trial involving the question of recognition of the Con- federate States as a government de facto. It resulted from the arrest of Bennet G. Burley, one of the Johnson's Island raiders. (See Erie County, Vol. I., p. 572.). Burley was tried in the Common Pleas Court at Port Clinton on the charge of robbery, in forcibly taking the watch of W. O. Ashley, the clerk of the steamer " Philo Parsons."
In bar of proceedings was pleaded the fact that defendant was the authorized agent and acting under the directions of the Confederate government, in all that he did, and that he did nothing not warranted by the laws and usages of war. Judge Jolm Fitch presiding, held that the Confederate States were, at the time named, a government de facto, exercising sovereignty, and being in a state of war with the Federal government ; and hence the defendant could not be held amen- able under the civil laws for acts performed under the authority of the Confed- erate government.
The Court cited, in support of such opinion, the fact that the United States had uniformly recognized the Confederate government as belligerent, and treated
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Drawn by Henry Howe in 1886. .
LIGHTHOUSE AND METHODIST CHURCH, PORT CLINION.
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its soldiers and agents as prisoners of war. The Court, however, held that in case the jury should believe that the taking of Ashley's watch was for the personal benefit of defendant, and not in the interest of the Confederate government, he was punishable under the State laws. The result was a disagreement of the jury, which stood, eight for guilty and four for not guilty. The case was understood to be without precedent, and the result was, accordingly, of general interest. The ruling of Judge Fitch was generally accepted as correct. These facts are from Waggoner's " History of Toledo."
That noted event in the late war in the Northwest-Perry's victory-took place on Lake Erie, only a few miles distant from the line of Ottawa. A description of this action we annex, from Perkins' " Late War :"
Building a Navy in the Wilderness .-- At Erie Commodore Perry was directed to pre- pare and superintend a naval establishment, the object of which was to create a superior force on the lake. The difficulties of building a navy in the wilderness can only be con- ceived by those who have experienced them. There was nothing at this spot out of which it could be built but the timber of the forest. Ship-builders, sailors, naval stores, guns and ammunition were to be transported by land, over bad roads, a distance of 400 miles, either from Albany by the way of Buffalo, or from Philadelphia by the way of Pitts- burg. Under all these embarrassments, by the Ist of August, 1813, Commodore Perry had provided a flotilla, consisting of the ships Lawrence and Niagara, of twenty guns each, and seven smaller vessels, to wit, one of four guns, one of three, two of two and three of one-in the whole fifty-four guns. While the ships were building the enemy frequently appeared off the harbor and threatened their destruction ; but the shallowness of waters on the bar-there being but five feet-pre- vented their approach. The same canse which insured the safety of the ships while building, seemed to prevent their being of any service. The two largest drew several feet more water than there was on the bar. The inventive genius of Commodore Perry, however, soon surmounted this difficulty. Hle placed large seows on each side of the two largest ships, filled them so as to sink to the water edge, then attached them to the ships by strong pieces of timber, and pumped out the water. The scows then buoyed up the ships so as to pass the bar in safety. This operation was performed on both the large ships in the presence of a superior enemy.
The Fleet Ready for Battle .- Having got- ten his fleet in readiness, Commodore Perry proceeded to the head of the lake and an- chored in Put-in-Bay, opposite to and distant thirty miles from Malden, where the British fleet lay under the guns of the fort. He lay at anchor here several days, watching the motions of the enemy, determined to give him battle the first favorable opportunity. On the 10th of September, at sunrise, the British fleet, consisting of one ship of nine- teen guns, one of seventeen, one of thirteen, one of ten, one of three and one of one- amounting to sixty-four, and exceeding the Americans by ten guns, under the command
of Commodore Barclay, appeared off Put-in- Bay, distant about ten miles. Commodore Perry immediately got under way, with a light breeze at southwest. At 10 o'clock the wind hauled to the southeast, which brought the American squadron to the windward, and gave them the weather-gauge. Commodore Perry, on board the Lawrence, then hoisted his Union Jack, having for a motto the dying words of Capt. Lawrence, "Don't Give Up the Ship," which was received with repeated cheers by the crew.
Awful Silence .- He then formed the line of battle, and bore up for the enemy, who at the same time hauled his courses and pre- pared for action. The lightness of the wind occasioned the hostile squadrons to approach each other but slowly, and prolonged for two hours the solemn interval of suspense and anxiety which precedes a battle. The order and regularity of naval discipline heightened the dreadful quiet of the moment. No noise, no bustle prevailed to distract the mind, ex- cept at intervals the shrill pipings of the boatswain's whistle, or a murmuring whisper among the men who stood around their guns with lighted matches, narrowly watching the movements of the foe, and sometimes steal- ing a glance at the countenances of their commanders. In this manner the hostile fleets gradually neared each other in awful silence. At fifteen minutes after 11 a bugle was sounded on board the enemy's headmost ship, Detroit; loud cheers burst from all their crews, and a tremendous fire opened upon the Lawrence from the British long guns, which, from the shortness of the Lawrence's, she was obliged to sustain for forty minutes without being able to return a shot.
The Lawrence Opens Fire .- Commodore Perry, without waiting for the other ships, kept on his course in such gallant and deter- mined style that the enemy supposed he meant immediately to board. At five min- utes before 12, having gained a nearer posi- tion, the Lawrence opened her fire, but the long guns of the British still gave them greatly the advantage, and the Lawrence was exceedingly cut up without being able to do but very little damage in return. Their shot pierced her sides in all directions, killing the men in the berth-deck and steerage, where the wounded had been carried to be dressed. One shot had nearly produced a fatal explo- sion. Passing through the light room it
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knocked the snuff of the candle into the mag- azine. Fortunately, the gunner saw it, and had the presence of mind immediately to ex- tinguish it. It appeared to be the enemy's plan at all events to destroy the commodore's ship. Their heaviest fire was directed against the Lawrence, and blazed incessantly from all their largest vessels. Commodore Perry, finding the hazard of his situation, made all sail, and directed the other vessels to follow, for the purpose of closing with the enemy. The tremendous fire, however, to which he was exposed soon cut away every brace and bowline of the Lawrence, and she became unmanageable. The other vessels were unable to get up, and in this disastrous situation she sustained the main force of the enemy's fire for upwards of two hours, within canister distance, though a considerable part of the time not more than two or three of her guns could be brought to bear on her antagonist. The utmost order and regularity prevailed during this seene of horror. As fast as the men at the guns were wounded they were carried below, and others stepped into their places. The dead remained where they fell until after the action. At this juncture the enemy believed the battle to be won.
The Lawrence a Mere Wreck .- The Law- renee was reduced to a mere wreek; her deek was streaming with blood and covered with the mangled limbs and bodies of the slain. Nearly the whole of her erew were either killed or wounded ; her guns were dismounted and the commodore and his officers helped to work the last that was capable of service. At two Capt. Elliott was enabled, by the aid of a fresh breeze to bring his ship into close action in gallant style, and the commodore immediately determined to shift his flag on board that ship ; and giving his own in charge to Lieut. Yarnell, he hauled down his Union Jack and, taking it under his arın, ordered a boat to put him on board the Niagara. Broad- sides were levelled at his boat and a shower . judgment, and since the elose of it has given of musketry from three of the enemy's ships. Ile arrived safe and hoisted his Union Jack, with its animating motto, on board the Niagara. Capt. Elliott, by direction of the commodore, immediately put off in a boat to bring up the schooners which had been kept back by the lightness of the wind. At this moment the flag of the Lawrenee was hauled down. She had sustained the principal foree of the enemy's fire for two hours and was rendered incapable of defence. Any further show of resistance would have been a useless sacrifice of the relies of her brave and mangled crew. The enemy were at the same time so crippled that they were unable to take possession of her, and circumstances soon enabled her crew again to hoist her flag.
Closing in on the Enemy .- Commodore Perry now gave the signal to all the vessels for close action. The small vessels, under the command of Capt. Elliott, got out their sweeps and made all sail. Finding the Niagara but little injured the commander determined upon the bold and desperate expedient of breaking the enemy's line ; he accordingly
bore up and passed the head of the two ships and brig, giving them a raking fire from his starboard guns, and also a raking fire upon a large schooner and sloop from his larboard quarter at half pistol shot. Having gotten the whole squadron into action he luffed and and laid his ship alongside of the British commodore. The small vessels having now got up within good grape and canister dis- tanee on the other quarter, enelosed the enemy between them and the Niagara, and in this position kept up a most destruetive fire on both quarters of the British until every ship struck her er'ors.
We have Met the Enemy and They are Ours."-The engagement lasted about three hours and never was vietory more deeisive and complete. More prisoners were taken than there were men on board the American squadron at the close of the action. The principal loss in killed and wounded was on board the Lawrenee, before the other vessels were brought into action. Of her crew, twenty-two were killed and sixty wounded. When her flag was struck but twenty men remained on deek fit for duty. The loss on board of all the other vessels was only five killed and thirty-six wounded. The British loss must have been much more consider- able. Commodore Barclay was dangerously wounded. He had lost one arm in the battle of Trafalgar. The other was now rendered useless by the loss of a part of his shoulder- blade ; he received also a severe wound in the hip.
Commodore Perry, in his official despatch, speaks in the highest terms of respect and commiseration for his wounded antagonist and asks leave to grant him an immediate parole. Of Captain Elliott, his second in command, he says : "That he is already so well-known to the goverment that it would be almost superflous to speak. In this aetion he evinced his characteristic bravery and me the most able and essential assistance." The bold and desperate measure of pressing forward into action with the Lawrenee alone and exposing her to the whole fire of the enemy's fleet for two hours, before the other ships could be got up, has been eensured as rash and not warranted by the rules of naval war; but there are many seasons when the commander must rely more on the daring promptness of his measures than on nice calculations of comparative strength. Neither Bonaparte nor Nelson ever stopped to measure accurately the strength of the respective combatants. The result is the acknowledged and generally the best criterion of merit ; and it should not detract from the eclat of the successful commander that his measures were bold and decisive.
Cowardly Indians .- Two days after the battle two Indian chiefs who had been seleeted for their skill as marksmen, and stationed in the tops of the Detroit for the purpose of picking off the American officers, were found snugly stowed away in the hold of the Detroit. These savages, who had been
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accustomed to ships of no greater magnitude than what they could sling on their backs, when the action became warm were so panic- struck at the terrors of the scene and the strange perils that surrounded them, that, looking at each other with amazement, they vociferated their significant "quonh" and precipitately descended to the hold. In their British uniforms hanging in bags upon their famished bodies, they were brought before Commodore Perry, fed and discharged, no further parole being necessary to prevent their afterwards engaging in the contest.
Burial of Fallen Heroes .- The slain of the crews of both squadrons were committed to to the lake immediately after the action. The next day the funeral obsequies of the American and British officers who had fallen were performed at an opening on the margin of the bay in an appropriate and affecting manner. The crews of both fleets united in the ceremony. The stillness of the weather, the procession of boats, the music-the slow and regular motion of the oars striking in exact time with the notes of the solemn dirge-the mournful waving of the flags, the
sound of the minute-guns from all the ships, the wild and solitary aspect of the place, gave to these funeral rites a most impressive in- fluence and formed an affecting contrast with the terrible conflict of the preceding day. Then the people of the two squadrons were engaged in the deadly strife of arms ; now they were associated as brothers to pay the last tribute of respeet to the slain of both nations. Two American officers, Lieutenant Brooks and Midshipman Laub, of the Law- rence, and three British, Captain Finnis and Lieutenant Stoke, of the Charlotte, and Lieutenant Garland, of the Detroit, lie in- terred by the side of each other in this lonely place on the ina gin of the lake, a few paces from the beach.
This interesting battle was fought midway of the lake between the two hostile armies, who lay on the opposite shore waiting in anxious expectation its result. The allied British and Indian forces, to the amount of four thousand five hundred, under Proctor and Tecumseh, were at Malden ready, in case of a successful issue, to renew their ravages on the American borders.
TRAVELLING NOTES. A VISIT TO GIBRALTAR.
Gibraltar is a very interesting islet. An indentation in Put-in-Bay Island forms Put-in-Bay harbor. Gibraltar lies within the mouth of the indentation and only about a furlong from either shore. It contains eight acres and rises, a forest-clad rock, forty-five feet above the lake. It bears forty-eight different kinds of trees. When the autumnal frosts cover the leaves it rounds up from the water as a huge bower of beauty, and sometimes when the air is calm the lake repeats the bower.
In the war of 1812 the island was fortified. Perry's fleet sailed out from here six miles to a point three miles north of Rattlesnake Island and there met the enemy.
An Island Castle .- The island is owned by Jay Cooke, and every year since the war era it has been his summer home. In 1864 and 1865 he built upon it his spacious castellated residence. Part of the materials for it were for a time in possession of the Southern Confederacy, the doors and window-casings. These were on board the " Island Queen " when she was captured by Beall, " The Pirate of Lake Erie." Mr. Cooke was not on board and so escaped molestation. But could they have secured and held him and used his great financial talents in their cause, it might not have been among the great variety of things "in the deep bosom of the ocean buried."
Upon the island Mr. Cooke has erected a monument to the memory of Com- modore Perry with a suitable inscription, and near it stands mounted cannon, trophies of the victory. A lookout tower one hundred and thirty feet above the water gives a magnificent outlook. Some twenty beautiful islands and islets come under the eye from its summit, and these are largely productive in grapes, peaches, pears, quinces, apples and other fruits.
Tempering Effect of Water .- It was on the 20th of October that by invitation I arrived at Gibraltar to pass a day with Mr. Cooke, and at even that late season the temperature of the lake air was so kindly that lima beans were still plucked for the table on Put-in-Bay
Island, also cantaloupes and water melons ; a few eatable peaches were lingering upon the trees, which Mr. Cooke gathered for my use when he took mne over there on the succeed- ing morning. Flowers were also growing in the open air, as roses, heliotropes, pansies,
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mignonettes, etc., and might be for a month to come, while thirty miles south on the mainland they had long been overtaken by frost ; such was the tempering effect of sur- rounding water on the atmosphere of the island.
On the island are about eight hundred aeres in grapes alone, the rest of the island mainly in other fruit. The yearly value from fruit and fishing for the people amounts to about a quarter of a million dollars. The population is about eight hundred. Peaches do remarkably well and also on the Peninsula. The making of fruit baskets is an important industry of this region. Peck baskets, wholesale, at about thirty cents, and half- bushel baskets at forty-two cents a dozen. When winter shuts down here it sometimes does it with so much vim that one can walk upon the ice from the Sandusky shore to that of Canada.
An Enterprising Polar Bear .- The winter of 1813 was especially severe ; not a square yard of open water that anybody knew of between the islands and the North Pole. Whereupon, as the story goes, a white polar bear of enterprising spirit started South on an exploring tour until he reached the Penin- sula, opposite Sandusky, when he was dis- covered by our kind, who treated him in- hospitably, set upon him and carried off his fur coat. Poor bear !
Owning an Island .- There is something romantic in that idea of having an island all to one's self, as Mr. Cooke has in Gibraltar. Ex-President Hayes felt it years ago when his children were young, for he bought, a mile or so off the Peninsula, a small island as a recreation ground for them, where they could camp out and go a-sailing and a-fishing. It is a very small affair, so small one might some day take a fancy to pick it up, slip it in his vest pocket as he would his watch and walk off with it. It has a tiny name-Mouse Island-and it contains three acres.
When the war closed Mr. Cooke had his house finished. Being a Christian man he felt it was the Lord's work, thinking all the time of the text, "Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it." So every summer for a term of ten years he was wont in gratitude to invite the Lord's ministers to enjoy it with him, generally picking out poor men with but lean salaries.
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A Christian Plan .- His plan was to invite ten at a time, and two of a kind-two Meth- odists, two Presbyterians, two Episcopalians, two Lutherans, etc., whom he would keep two weeks and then they would depart for a second ten. When each departed he passed over cheeks to make good their travelling expenses to and fro. During their stay with him there was perfect concord, notwithstand- ing diverse theological beliefs. Of course, he took his guests sailing and fishing and their mutual enjoyment was huge. And sometimes when they sat down to the social ineal there would lie on the platter for their regaling a magnificent white fish or bass that only an hour or two before had been sporting
in the water not one hundred yards away from the dining-table.
The Lover's Cave .- This rock of Gibraltar has its curiosities. The formation being lime- stone and one side a perpendicular bluff, it has under it a cave into which a boat can go ; it is called "Lover's Cave." Another is the "Needle's Eye," an arched passage-way formed by an overhanging rock and another coming up from the bottom of the lake. One spot on the overhanging bluff is called "Perry's Lookout," where Perry was wont to station a sentinel to watch for the British fleet, and carly one morning he discovered it near the Canada shore, whereupon he hoisted his anchors, sared out of the bay and met them, much to their sorrow.
Painful Suspense .- While the battle was in progress the sound of the guns was heard at Cleveland, about sixty miles away in a direct line over the water. The few settlers there were expecting the battle and listened with intense interest. Finally the sounds ceased. They waited for a renewal. None came ; the lull was painful. Then they knew the battle was over ; but the result, ah ! that was the point. One old fellow who had been lying flat with his ear to the ground soon settled that point. Springing up he clapped his hands and shouted. " Thank God ! they are whipped ! they are whipped."
"How do you know?" the others ex- claimed.
" Heard the big guns last !"
Perry's guns were the heaviest.
Power of Impressibility .- I had not met Mr. Cooke until this visit, and then I felt as though I had always known him ; that, in- deed, he was a very old friend. There are some characters that have that power of friendly impressibility and don't know it, and ought not to be blamed for having it. My philosophy of the matter is that it is the spirit of humanity and geniality that has got them in its full possession, and such would be miserable if they couldn't do good to every- body and everything around them, and this shows in every act, every word that falls from their lips and every expression of countenance. How those old divines must have enjoyed his princely hospitality and winning, heartful ways.
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