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 78
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The Maumee Valley After Wayne's Victory. -What the condition of the valley was for some years after Wayne's campaign may be gathered from the following extracts from one of Judge Burnet's letters, published by the Ohio Historical Society. After assigning some reasons for the downfall of the Indians, he says : " My yearly trips to Detroit, from 1796 to 1802, made it necessary to pass through some of their towns, and convenient to visit many of them. Of course I had frequent opportunities of seeing thousands of them, in their villages and at their hunting camps, and of forming a personal acquaintance with some of their distinguished chiefs. I have cat and slept in their towns, and partaken of their hospitality, which had no limit but that of their contracted means. In journeying more
recently through the State, in discharging . my judicial duties, I sometimes passed over the ground on which I had seen towns filled with happy families of that devoted race without perceiving the smallest trace of what had once been there. All their ancient set- tlements on the route to Fort Defiance, and from thence to the foot of the rapids, had been broken up and deserted.
" The battle-ground of Gen. Wayne, which I had often seen in the rude state in which it was when the decisive action of 1794 was fought, was so altered and changed that I could not recognize it, and not an indication remained of the very extensive Indian settle- ments which I had formerly seen there. It seemed almost impossible that In so short a period such an astonishing change could have taken place."
These extracts prove that even after the battle of Presque Isle, although crushed and humbled, the Indian refused to be divorced from the favorite home and numerous graves of his race. A chain of causes which followed this battle finally wrested from him the last foothold of his soil. These' may be said to have commenced with the treaty of Green- ville, made on the 3d of August, 1795, with the Wyandots, Ottawas, and other tribes located in this region. By this treaty, among various other cessions of territory, a tract of land twelve miles square at the foot of the rapids, and one of six miles square at the month of the river, were given to the United States. This treaty was followed by the es- tablishment of the boundaries of the county . of Wayne, which included a part of the States of Ohio, Indiana and the whole of Michigan.
The First White Settler .- Notwithstand- ing this actual declaration of ownership by the government, few only of the whites of the country were willing to penetrate and reside in this yet unforsaken abode of the Indian. Col. John Anderson was the first white trader of any notoriety on the Maumee. He settled at Fort Miami as early as 1800. Peter Manor, a Frenchman, was here previous to that time, and was adopted by the chief Fontogany, by the name of Sawendebans, or "the Yellow Hair." Manor, however, did not come here to reside until 1808. Indeed, I cannot learn the names of any of the settlers prior to 1810 except the two above mentioned. We may mention among those who came during the year 1810, Maj. Amos Spafford, Andrew Race, Thomas Leaming, Halsey W. Leam- ing, James Carlin, Win. Carter, George Bla-
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lock, James Slason, Samuel II. Ewing, Jesse Skinner, David Hull, Thomas Dick, Win. Peters, Ambrose Hickox, Richard Gifford. All these individuals were settled within a circumference of ten miles, embracing the amphitheatre at the foot of the rapids, as carly as 1810. Maj. Amos Spafford came here to perform the duties of collector of the port of Miami. He was also appointed dep- uty postmaster. A copy of his return to the government as collector for the first quarter of his service, ending on the 30th June, 1810, shows the aggregate amount of exports to have been $5,640.85. This was, for skins and furs, $5,610.85, and for twenty gallons of bear's oil, $30.
When War Broke out in 1812 there were sixty-seven families residing at the foot of the rapids. Manor-or Minard, the Frenchman above alluded to-states that the first intima- tion that the settlers had of Hull's surrender at Detroit manifested itself by the appearance of a party of British and Indians at the foot of the rapids a few days after it took place. The Indians plundered the settlers on both sides of the river, and departed for Detroit in canoes. Three of their number remained with the intention of going into the interior of the State. One of these was a Delaware chief by the name of Sac-a-mane. Manor won his confidence, under the pretence of friendship for the British, and was by him informed that in a few days a grand assem- blage of all the northwestern tribes was eon- templated at Fort Malden, and that in about two days after that assemblage a large num- ber of British and Indians would be at the foot of the rapids, on their march to relieve Fort Wayne, then under investment by the American army, as was supposed. He also informed him that, when they came again, they would massaere' all the Yankees found in the valley. Sae-a-mane left for the interior of the State, after remaining a day at the foot of the rapids.
Flight of the Settlers. - The day after his departure Minard called upon Maj. Spafford, and warned him of the hostile intentions of the Indians, as he had received them from Sac-a-manc. The major placed no confidence in them, and expressed a determination to remain until our army from the interior should reach this frontier. A few days after this conversation a man by the name of Gordon was seen approaching the residence of Maj. Spafford in great haste. This individual had been reared among the Indians, but had, previous to this time, received some favors of a trifling character from Maj. Spafford. The major met him in his corn-field, and was informed that a party of about fifty Potta- watomies, on their way to Malden, had taken this route, and in less than two hours would be at the foot of the rapids. He also urged the major to make good his escape immedi- ately. Most of the families at the foot of the rapids had left the valley after receiving in- telligence of Hull's surrender. The major assembled those that were left on the bank of the river, where they put in tolerable sail-
ing condition an old barge, in which some officers had deseended the river from Fort Wayne the year previous. They had barely time to get such of their effects as were port- able on board, and row down into the bend below the town, before they heard the shouts of the Indians above. Finding no Americans here, the Indians passed on to Malden. The major and his companions sailed in their crazy vessel down the lake to the Quaker settlement at Milan, on Huron river, where they re- mained until the close of the war.
Sae-a-mane, on his return from the interior of the State, a few days after the event, showed Manor the scalps of three persons that he had killed during his absence, on Owl creek, near Mount Vernon. At the time mentioned by him a detachment of the Brit- ish army, under command of Col. Elliott, accompanied by about 500 Indians, came to the foot of the rapids. They were anxious to obtain guides. Manor feigned lameness and ignorance of the country above the head of the rapids, a distance of eighteen miles up the river. By this means he escaped being pressed into their service above that point. HIe accompanied them that far with his eart and pony, and was then permitted to return. On his return he met Col. Elliott, the com- mander of the detachment, at the foot of Presque Isle Hill, who stopped' him, and, after learning the services he had performned, permitted him, with a curse, to go on. A mile below him he met a party of about forty Pottawatomies, who also desired to know where he was going. Manor escaped being compelled to return by telling them he was returning to the foot of the rapids after for- age for the army. The British and Indians pursued their march up the river until they saw the American flag waving over Winches- ter's encampment at Defiance, when they returned in double quick time to Canada. On their return they burned the dwellings, stole the horses and destroyed the corn-fields of the settlers at the foot of the rapids.
Manor, soon after his arrival at the foot of the rapids, went down the river to the British fleet, then lying at the mouth of Swan creek, under command of Capt. Mills. Here he reported himself, told what he had done for the army, and desired leave to go to his family at the mouth of the river. Capt. Mills, hav- ing no evidence of his loyalty beyond his own word, put him under hatches as a prisoner of war. Through the aid of his friend, Beau- grand, Minard was released in a few days, joined his family, and was afterwards a scout for our army during the remainder of the war. IIe is now (1846) living at the head of the rapids, on a reservation of land granted him by the government, at the request of his Indian father, Ton-tog-sa-ny. [Another ac- count of Peter Manor is in Lucas County. ]
After Peace was Declared, most of the settlers that had lived here previous to the war returned to their old possessions. They were partly indemnified by government for their losses. Many of them lived in the block-houses on Fort Meigs, and one or two
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of the citizens of our town were born in one of them. The settlement of the valley was at first slow, but the foot of the rapids and vicinity was settled long before any of the rest. In 1816 government sent an agent to lay ont a town at the point best calculated for commercial purposes. That agent sounded the river from its mouth, and fixed upon Perrysburg. The town was laid out that year, and named after Com. Perry by Hon. Josiah Meigs, then Comptroller of the Treas- ury. This county was then embraced in the county limits of Logan county, Bellefontaine being the county-seat. . When the limits of Wood county were first determined, there was a great struggle between these three towns
at the foot of the rapids-Orleans, Maumee and Perrysburg-for the county-seat. The decision in favor of Perrysburg was the cause of the abandonment of the little town of Orleans, which soon after fell into decay.
The last remnant of the powerful Ottawa tribe of Indians removed from this valley west of the Mississippi in 1838. They numbered some interesting men among them. There was Nawash, Ockquenoxy, Charloe, Ottoca, Petonquet, men of eloquence, remembered by many of our citizens. Their burying-grounds and village-sites are scattered along both banks of the river, from its mouth to Fort. Defiance.
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This part of the Maumee valley has been noted for military operations. Wayne's victory over the Indians (see Lucas County), Aug. 20, 1794, was gained within its borders. It was also the theatre of important operations in the war of 1812.
March of Gen. Hull .- About the middle of June, 1812, the army of Hull left Urbana, and passed through the present counties of Logan, Hardin, Hancock and Wood, into Michigan. They cut a road through the for- est, and erected Forts M' Arthur and Findlay on the route, and arrived at the Maumee on the 30th of June, which they crossed at or near the foot of the rapids. Hull surrendered at Detroit on the 16th of the August fol- lowing.
Tupper's Expedition. - In the same sum- mer, Gen. Edward W. Tupper, of Gallia county, raised about 1,000 men for six months' duty, mainly from Gallia, Lawrence and Jack- son counties, who, under the orders of Gen. Winchester, marched from Urbana north by the route of Hull, and reached the foot of the Maumee rapids. The Indians appearing in force on the opposite bank, Tupper en- deavored to cross the river with his troops in the night ; but the rapidity of the current, and the feeble, half-starved condition of his men and horses were such, that the attempt failed. The enemy soon after collected a su- perior force, and attacked Tupper in his camp, but were driven off with considerable loss. They returned to Detroit, and the Americans marched back to Fort M' Arthur.
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Winchester's Defeat .- On the 10th of Jan-
uary, 1813, Gen. Winchester, whose troops. had been stationed at Forts Wayne and Defi- ance, arrived at the rapids, having marched from the latter along the north bank of the Maumee. There they encamped until the 17th, when Winchester resumed his march north, and was defeated with great loss on the 22d, on the river Raisin, near the site of Monroe, Michigan.
On receiving information of Winchester's defeat, Gen. Harrison sent Dr. McKeehan from Portage river with medicines and money to Malden, for the relief of the wounded and the prisoners. He was accompanied by a Frenchman and a militia-man, and was fur- nished with a letter from Harrison, addressed to any British officer whom he might meet, describing his errand. The night after they left they halted at the Maumee rapids to take a few hours' sleep, in a vacant cabin upon the north bank of the river, about fifty rods north of the present bridge. The cariole in which they travelled was left at the door, with a flag of trnce set up in it. They were discovered in the night by a party of Indians, accompanied, it is said, by a British officer ; one of the men was killed, and the others taken to Malden, where the doctor was thrown into prison by Proctor and loaded with - irons.
THE BUILDING OF FORT MEIGS.
After the defeat of Winchester, Gen. Harrison, about the first of February, estab -. lished his advanced posts at the foot of the rapids. He ordered Capt. Wood, of the engineer corps, to fortify the position, as it was his intention to make this point his grand depot. The fort erected was afterwards named Meigs, in honor of Governor Meigs.
Harrison ordered all the troops in the rear to join him immediately. He was. in hopes, by the middle of February, to advance upon Malden, and strike a blow that should in some measure retrieve the misfortunes that had befallen the Ameri- can arms in this quarter.
On the 9th of February intelligence was brought of the encampment of about 600 Indians, twenty miles down, near the Bay shore. Harrison had with him
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at this time about 2,000 men at the post. The same night, or that following, 600 men left the fort under Harrison, and marched down the river on the ice twenty miles, when they discovered some fires on the north side of the river, which proved to have been that of the Indians who had fled the day before. Here the detachment, which had been joined by 500 men more from the post, waited a few minutes, without having time to warm themselves, it being intensely cold, when the object of the expedition was made known. This was to march after the In- dians ; and all those unable by fatigue to continue were ordered to follow the next day. On resuming the line of march the army had proceeded only about two miles when their only cannon, with the horses attached, broke through the ice. This was about two hours before morning, and the moon unfortunately was nearly down. In endeavoring to extricate the horses, Lieut. Joseph H. Larwill, who had charge of the piece, with two of his men, broke through the ice and narrowly escaped drowning. The army thereupon halted, and a company ordered to assist in recovering the cannon, which was not accomplished until daybreak. Some of the men gave out from being wet, cold and fatigued ; but the lieuten-, ant, with the remainder, proceeded with the cannon after the main army, which they overtook shortly after sunrise, on an island near the mouth of the bay. The spies were then arriving with the intelligence that the Indians had left the river Raisin for Malden. Upon this the troops, having exhausted their provisions, returned, arriving at Fort Meigs just as the evening gun had been fired, having performed a march of forty-five miles on the ice in less than twenty-four hours.
LANGHAM'S DESPERATE ENTERPRISE.
A few hours after this, about 250 men volunteered to go on an enterprise of the most desperate nature. On Friday, the 26th, the volunteer corps destined for this duty were addressed on parade by Gen. Harrison, who informed them that when they had got a sufficient distance from the fort they were to be informed of the errand they were upon, and that all who then wished could return, but not after- wards. He represented the undertaking as in a high degree one of peril and pri- vation ; but he promised that those who deported themselves in a gallant and soldierlike manner should be rewarded, and their names forwarded to the general government.
The corps took up their line of march and concentrated at what is now Lower Sandusky, where was then a block-house, on the site of Fort Stephenson, at that time garrisoned by two companies of militia.
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The force, which was under the command of Capt. Langham, consisted of 68 regulars, 120 Virginia and Pennsylvania militia, 32 men under Lieut. Madiss, and 22 Indians, making, with their officers, 242 men; besides these were 24 drivers of sleds and several pilots.
On the morning of the 2d of March they left the block-house with six days' provisions, and had proceeded about half a mile when Capt. Langham ordered a halt. He addressed the soldiers and informed them of the object of the expedition, which was to move down to Lake Erie and cross over the ice to Malden, and, in the darkness of night, to destroy with combustibles the British fleet and the pub- lic stores on the bank of the river. This being done, the men were to retreat in their sleighs to the point of the Maumee bay, when their retreat was to be covered by a large force under Harrison. At this time, independent of the garrison at Malden, in that vicinity was a large body of Indians, and it required a combina- tion of circumstances to render the enterprise successful. Capt. Langham gave liberty for all who judged it too hazardous to withdraw. Twenty of the militia and six or seven of the Indians availed themselves of the liberty. The rest moved down the river in sleighs, and took the land on the west side of the bay, passing through and across the peninsula, and crossed at the bay of Portage river, and soon came in view of the lake and its embosoming islands. Some of the men
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walking out on the ice of the lake were alarmed by what was judged to be a body of men moving towards them. It was subsequently discovered to be the rays of the sun, reflecting on ice thrown up in ridges.
The party eneamped near the lake, and being without any tents, were thoroughly wet by the snow and rain. . After the guards were sta- tioned, and all had retired to rest, the report of a musket was heard, and every man sprang to his post, ready for action. It proved to have been a false alarm-an aeeidental dis- charge through the carelessness of one of the men. Capt. Langham was almost determined to have the soldier shot for his carelessness, - as it now had become partienlarly necessary for the utmost precaution ; but motives of humanity prevailed, and he was suffered to go unpunished.
On the next morning, March 3d, they pro- ceeded on the ice to Middle Bass island, seven- teen miles from their encampment. Just be- fort they left the lake shore an ensign and thirteen militia, one of the Indian chief's and several of the Indians deserted them. During their progress to the island the weather was stormy, wind blowing and snowing, and in places it was quite shippery. They arrived at the northwest side of the island early in the afternoon, when the weather moderated.
In the course of the afternoon sled tracks were discovered on the ice, going in the direc- tion of Malden. These were presumed to have been made by two Frenchmen, who left Sandusky the day before the corps of Lang- ham. They had then stated they were going to the river HIuron, which was in an opposite direction : the officers now felt assured they were inimical to their designs, and were on their way to give the British notice of their intentions. Moreover, to the north of the island on which they were the ice was weak, and the lake appeared to be broken up to the north.
It being the intended route to go by the western Sister island, to elude the spies of the enemy, the guides gave it as their opinion that it was totally impossible to go to Mal- den ; that the river Detroit and the lake from the middle Sister were doubtless broken up, and that there was a possibility of getting as far north as the middle Sister; but as the distance from that to the Detroit river, eighteen miles, had to be performed after night, they could not attempt.going, being fully satisfied that they could not arrive at the point of destination, and as the weather was and had been soft, that, should a sonth- erly wind blow up, the lake'would inevitably break up, and they might be caught on it or one of the islands. They then affirmed they had gone as far as they thought it either safe or prudent, and would not take the responsi- bility on them any farther. Capt. Langham called the guides and officers together. Ile stated that he had been instructed to go no farther than the guides thought safe, asked the opinion of the officers, who unanimously decided that it was improper to proceed, and that they should return.
The weather having slightly improved, al- though still unfavorable, a second council was called of the officers and guides, but with the same result. The captain then called the men and gave the opinion of their superiors, and presented the importance of the expedition to the government should they succeed ; on the other hand, he represented that they might be lost on the lake by the breaking up of the ice, without rendering any service to their country, who would thus be deprived of the choice troops of the army. The soldiers, on thus being called for their opinion, expressed themselves as ready to go wherever their officers would lead ; at the same time said they should abide by the de- cision of their superiors, whose judgment was better than their own.
The party returned by the way of Presque Isle, at which point they met Gen. Harrison with a body of troops. From thence they proceeded to Fort Meigs in safety. In the course of their journey back they found the lake open near the western Sister island.
On the 9th of March, the day being very fine, several of the men went down as far as the old British fort. Some of them discovered a party of Indians, and gave the alarm. The latter fired at them, and one man, while run- ning, was shot through the left skirt of his coat. Luckily a hymn-book which he car ried there received the ball, which was buried in its leaves. The men eseaped safely into the fort, but Lieut. Walker, who was out hunting for wild fowl, was killed. His body was found the next day and brought into the fort, where his grave is to be seen at the present day.
Harrison had determined, if possible, to regain Detroit, and in a measure atone for the disasters of the war in this quarter ; but the weather had proved unfavorable for the transportation to Fort Meigs of a sufficient body of troops for such an object. His force there was diminished, soon after his arrival, by the expiration of the term of service of a part of those at the rapids, and nothing more was left for him but to remain on the defen- sive. Satisfied that, in his weakened condi- tion, the enemy would make a descent from Malden npon the fort as soon as the ice broke up in the lake, he left in March for the interior, to hasten on all the troops he could : raise to its defence. On the 12th of April he returned at the head of a detachment of troops, and applied himself with great as- sidnity to completing the defences.
About this time a Canadian Frenchman, with about a dozen of his own countrymen, all volunteers, had a desperate boat-fight with an egnal member of Indians in the river, near the north side of the large island below the fort, and defeated them. The whites were all either killed or wounded, except the captain and two of his men. As they were
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returning to the fort they saw a solitary Indian, the sole survivor of his party, rise up in one of their two canoes and paddle to the shore.
All the foregoing is from the Journal of Lieut. Larwill, who was one of Capt. Lang- ham's party.
PLAN OF FORT MEIGS.
The annexed plan of Fort Meigs with its environs is from the survey of Lieut. Joseph H. Larwill, made between the two sieges. It was obtained directly from him for our first edition. He was one of the original proprietors of Mans- field and also of Wooster. He showed me some of his field books with entries of surveys of wild lands, with remarks upon soil timber. If the woods were beech and sugar maple, it was certain it was first-class soil for wheat. He was an old- style Jackson Democrat of positive convictions and declarations, and hated the British and Indians. In the history of Wooster (see page 531) is told what a narrow escape my old friend Larwill had from being blown up. Luckily he lived to fight and help whip the British and their red-skinned allies and then made notes to show how they did it.
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