Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 132

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 132

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).

876

WOOD COUNTY.

board the gun-boats, moored in the river, and every precaution having been taken to prevent a renewal of the scene, the escorting party proceeded to the interment of the victims, to whom the rites of sepulture were afforded, even before those of our own men who had fallen in the action. Col. Dudley, second in command ot Gen. Clay's division, was among the number of the slain.

On the evening of the second day after this event I accompanied Maj. Muir, of the 41st, in a ramble throughout the encampment of the Indians, distant some few hundred yards from our own. The spectacle there offered to our view was at once of the most ludicrous and revolting nature. In various directions were lying the trunks and boxes taken in the boats of the American division, and the plunderers were busily occupied in displaying their riches, carefully examining each article, and attempting to define its use. Several were decked out in the uni- forms of the officers ; and although embarrassed in the last degree in their move- ments, and dragging with difficulty the heavy military boots with which their legs were for the first time covered, strutted forth much to the admiration of their less fortunate comrades. Some were habited in plain clothes ; others had their bodies clad with clean white shirts, contrasting in no ordinary manner with the swarthiness of their skins ; all wore some articles of decoration, and their tents were ornamented with saddles, bridles, rifles, daggers, swords and pistols, many of which were handsomely mounted and of curious workmanship. Such was the ridiculous part of the picture ; but mingled with these, and in various directions, were to be seen the scalps of the slain drying in the sun, stained on the fleshy side with vermilion dyes, and dangling in air, as they hung suspended from the poles to which they were attached, together with hoops of various sizes, on which were stretched portions of human skin, taken from various parts of the human body, principally the hand and foot, and yet covered with the nails of those parts ; while scattered along the ground were visible the members from which they had been separated, and serving as nutriment to the wolf-dogs by which the savages were accompanied.

As we continued to advance into the heart of the encampment a scene of a more disgusting nature arrested our attention. Stopping at the entrance of a tent occupied by the Minoumini tribe we observed them seated around a large fire, over which was suspended a kettle containing their meal. Each warrior had a piece of string hanging over the edge of the vessel, and to this was suspended a food which, it will be presumed we heard not without loathing, consisted of a part of an American ; any expression of our feelings, as we declined the invita- tion they gave us to join in their repast, would have been resented by the Indians without much ceremony. We had, therefore, the prudence to excuse ourselves under the plea that we had already taken our food, and we hastened to remove from a sight so revolting to humanity.

Since the affair of the 5th the enemy continued to keep themselves shut up within their works, and the bombardment, although carried on with vigor, had effected no practicable breach. From the account given by the officers captured during the sortie it appears that, with a perseverance and toil peculiar to thein- selves, the Americans had constructed subterranean passages to protect them from the annoyance of our shells, which sinking into the clay, softened by the incessant rains that had fallen, instead of exploding were speedily extinguished. Impatient of longer privations, and anxious to return to their families and occupations, num- bers of the militia withdrew themselves in small bodies, and under cover of the night ; while the majority of Indians, enriched by plunder and languishing under the tedionsness of a mode of warfare so different from their own, with less cere- mony and caution, left ns to prosecute the siege as we could.

Tecumseh, at the head of his own tribe (the Shawnees), and a few others, amounting in all to about 400 warriors, continued to remain. The troops also were worn down with constant fatigue; for here, as in every other expedition against the enemy, few even of the officers had tents to shield them from the

877

WOOD COUNTY.

weather. A few pieces of bark torn from the trees and covering the skeleton of a hut was their only habitation, and they were merely separated from the damp earth on which they lay by a few scattered leaves, on which was generally spread a blanket by the men and a cloak by the officers. Hence, frequently arose dysen- tery, ague, and the various ills to which an army encamped on a wet and un- healthy ground is inevitably subject ; and fortunate was he who possessed the skin of a bear or buffalo, on which he could repose his wearied limbs, after a period of suffering and privation, which those who have never served in the wilds of America can with difficulty comprehend. Such was the position of the conteud- ing parties towards the middle of May, when Gen. Proctor, despairing to effect the reduction of the fort, caused preparations to be made for the raising the siege. Accordingly the gun-boats ascended the river, and anchored under the batteries, the guns of which were conveyed on board under a heavy fire from the enemy. The whole being secured, the expedition returned to Amherstburg ; the Americans remained tranquil within their works, and suffered us to depart unmolested.

THE SECOND SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS.

Gen. Harrison having repaired the fort from the damage occasioned by the siege, left for the interior of the State to organize new levies, and entrusted the command to Gen. Green Clay. The enemy returned to Malden, where the Cana- dian militia were disbanded. Shortly after commenced the second siege of Fort Meigs.

On the 20th of July the boats of the enemy were discovered ascending the Miami to Fort Meigs, and the following morning a party of ten men were surprised by the Indians, and only three escaped death or capture. The force which the enemy had now before the post was 5,000 men under Proctor and Tecumseh, and the number of Indians was greater than any ever before as- sembled on any occasion during the war, while the defenders of the fort amounted to but a few hundred.

The night of their arrival Gen. Green Clay despatched Capt. MeCune, of the Ohio militia, to Gen. Harrison, at Lower San- dusky, to notify him of the presence of the enemy. Capt. M'Cune was ordered to re- turn and inform Gen. Clay to be particularly cautious against surprise, and that every effort would be made to relieve the fort.

It was Gen. Harrison's intention, should the enemy lay regular siege to the fort, to select 400 men, and by an unfrequented route reach there in the night, and at any hazard break through the lines of the enemy.

Capt. M'Cune was sent out a second time with the intelligence to Harrison that about 800 Indians had been seen from the fort, passing up the Miami, designing, it was sup- posed, to attack Fort Winchester at Defiance. The general, however, believed it was a ruse of the enemy to cover their design upon Up- per or Lower Sandusky, or Cleveland, and. kept out a reconnoitring party to watch.

On the afternoon of the 25th Capt. M'Cune was ordered by Harrison to return to the fort, and inform Gen. Clay of his situa- tion and intentions. He arrived near the fort about daybreak on the following morn- ing, having lost his way in the night, accom- panied by James Doolan, a French Canadian.

They were just upon the point of leaving the forest and entering upon the cleared ground around the fort when they were intercepted by a party of Indians. They immediately took to the high bank with their horses, and retreated at full gallop up the river for several miles, pursued by the Indians, also mounted, until they came to a deep ravine, putting up from the river in a southerly direction, when they turned upon the river bottom and con- tinued a short distance, until they found their further progress in that direction stopped by an impassable swamp. The Indians foresee- ing their dilemma, from their knowledge of the country, and expecting they would nat- urally follow up the ravine, galloped thither to head them off. M'Cune guessed their in- tentions, and he and his companion turned back upon their own track for the fort, gain- ing, by this manœuvre, several hundred yards upon their pursuers. The Indians gave a yell of chagrin, and followed at their utmost speed. Just as they neared the fort M'Cune dashed into a thicket across his course, on the opposite side of which other Indians were huddled, awaiting their prey. When this body of Indians had thought them all but in their possession, again was the presence of mind of M'Cune signally displayed. He wheeled his horse, followed by Doolan, made his way out of the thicket by the passage he had entered, and galloped round into the open space between them and the river, where the pursuers were checked by the fire from the block-house at the west- ern angle of the fort. In a few minutes after their arrival their horses dropped from fatigue. The Indians probably had orders to take them alive, as they had not fired until just as they entered the fort ; but in the chase M'Cune had great difficulty in persuading

878

WOOD COUNTY.

Doolan to reserve his fire until the last ex- tremity, and they therefore brought in their pieces loaded.

The opportune arrival of M'Cune no doubt saved the fort, as the intelligence he brought was the means of preserving them from an ingeniously devised stratagem of Tecumseh, which was put into execution that day, and which we here relate.

Towards evening the British infantry were secreted in the ravine below the fort, and the cavalry in the woods above, while the Indians were stationed in the forest, on the Sandusky road, not far from the fort. About an hour before dark they commenced a sham battle among themselves, to deceive the Americans into the belief that a battle was going on between them and a reinforcement for the fort, in the hopes of enticing the gar- rison to the aid of their comrades. It was managed with so much skill that the garrison instantly flew to arms, impressed by the Indian yells, intermingled with the roar of musketry, that a severe battle was being fought. The officers even of the highest grades were of that opinion, and some of them insisted upon being suffered to march out to the rescue. Gen. Clay, although un- able to account for the firing, could not be- lieve that the general had so soon altered

his intention, as expressed to Capt. M'Cune, not to send or come with any troops to Fort Meigs, until there should appear further necessity for it. This intelligence in a great measure satisfied the officers, but not the men, who were extremely indignant at being pre- vented from going to share the dangers of their commander-in-chief and brother sol- diers, and perhaps had it not been for the in- terposition of a shower of rain, which soon put an end to the battle, the general might have been persnaded to march out, when a terrible massacre of the troops would have ensued.

The enemy remained around the fort but one day after this, and on the 28th embarked with their stores and proceeded down the lake, and a few days after met with a severe repulse in their attempt to storm Fort Stephenson.

We are informed by a volunteer aid of Gen. Clay, who was in the fort at the second siege, that preparations were made to fire the magazine in case the enemy succeeded in an attempt to storm the fort, and thus involve all, friend and foe, in one common fate. This terrible alternative was deemed better than to perish under the tomahawks and scalping knives of the savages.

The soldiers of the northwestern army, while at Fort Meigs and elsewhere on duty, frequently beguiled their time by singing patriotic songs. A verse from one of them sufficiently indicates their general character :

Freemen, no longer bear such slaughter, Avenge your country's cruel woe, Arouse and save your wives and daughters, Arouse, and expel the faithless foe. CHORUS-Scalps are bought at stated prices, Malden pays the price in gold.

Perrysburg in 1816 .- Perrysburg, the [former] county-seat, named from Com. Perry, is 123 miles northwest of Columbus, on the Maumee river, just below Fort Meigs. It was laid out in 1816, at the head of navigation on the river. It con- tains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist and 1 Universalist church, 2 newspaper print- ing offices, 8 mercantile stores, and had, by the census of 1840, 1,041 inhabitants. The building of steamers and sail vessels has been carried on here to a considerable extent. A canal for hydraulic purposes has been constructed here. It commences in the rapids of the Maumee, five miles above, and has eighteen feet fall, affording power sufficient to carry forty runs of stone .- Old Edition.

A correspondent, residing in Perrysburg, has communicated to us a sketch of the speculations which attracted so much attention to the Maumee valley at an early date.

The notable era of speculation, embracing 1834-6, and part of 1837, first attracted public attention to the Maumee valley as a commercial mait From the mouth of the viver to the foot of the rapids the country swarmed with adventurers. Those that did aot regard any of the settlements (for neither if the beautiful villages of Toledo, Manmee ør Perrysburg were more than settlements at hat time) as the points designated by nature

and legislation for the great emporium, pur- chased tracts of land lying between and below these towns, and laid out cities. It would amuse one to take the recorded maps of some of these embryo cities, with the designated squares, parks and public buildings, and walk over the desolate sites of the cities them- selves. Manhattan, at the mouth of the river ; Oregon, five miles above; Austerlitz, six miles, and Marengo, nine miles, were

WOOD COUNTY.

879

joint contenders, with the villages that have grown up, for the great prize. They all had their particular advantages. Manhattan based her claim upon the location at the ex- act debouchure of the river. Oregon, in ad- dition to all the advantages claimed by the other towns, added the facilities of the loca- tion for engaging in the pork business, and her leading proprietor, in a placard posted up publicly in 1836, professed his belief that these particular advantages were greater even than those enjoyed by the city of Cineinnati. Marengo based her claims upon the fact that her location was at the foot of the rock bar, and therefore at the virtual head of naviga- tion. The result of all this was that hun- dreds of young men, from the east and south,

flocked to this valley during the years above named with the hope of speedily amassing a fortune; and of this number it is not too much to say that full three-quarters, having no means at the commencement, and depend- ing upon some bold stroke for success, left the valley before the close of the year 1837 hopelessly involved. All these towns, some eleven, if I recollect rightly, in number, still form a part of the primeval forests of the Maumee, most of them, after ruining their proprietors, have been vacated, and the sounding names by which they were known are a by-wor, a reproach, or the butt end of the coarse jokes of the more recent and for- tunate adventurers in the valley .- Old Edi- tion.

PERRYSBURG is thirteen miles north of Bowling Green, nine miles southwest of Toledo, at the head of navigation, on the Maumee river and D. & M. R. R. It has 8 churches : 2 Presbyterian, 2 Lutheran, 2 Methodist, 1 Catholic, 1 Evangelical. City Officers, 1888 : J. H. Pierce, mayor ; T. B. Oblinger, clerk ; J. H. Rheinfrank, treasurer ; L. L. Fink, Marshal. Newspaper : Journal, In- dependent, James Timmons, editor and publisher. Bank : Citizens' (N. L. Han- son & Co.), N. L. Hanson, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- Perrysburg Mill and Elevator, 3 hands ; S. P. Tolman, baskets, etc., 6 ; H. M. Hoover, hoops, 7 .- State Report, 1888.

Population, in 1890, 1,747. School census, 1888, 710; S. M. Dick, superin- tendent schools. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $20,535. Value of annual product, $23,700 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

This is a pleasant, well-shaded village. The Maumee at this point is greatly expanded, embosoming an island in its centre. The site is well shown by the -old view taken in 1846. It has a good public library, founded by a bequest of

THE SPAFFORD EXCHANGE HOTEL.

$15,000 from Willard D. Way, Esq., who died in 1875, and by various bene- factions will long be remembered pleas- antly by the citizens. One of the curiosities of the place is the old hotel built in 1825 by Samuel Spafford, and later called the Norton Exchange. Many amusing scenes occurred in the early days of its history, when in court times the bench and bar for a large area of country were accustomed to make it their social headquarters.

There is an interesting story told of a bell which once did good service for the proprietor. The history of it is thus given in a late publication :

THE STORY OF A BELL.

At the top of the little hotel at Elmore, in the adjoining county of Ottawa, is a bell with a peculiar history. It is now the property of Mr. D. B. Day, the proprietor of the house, who takes a pride in reciting its origin and subsequent tribulations. In 1825 Mr. Spafford built a tavern in Perrysburg, once the site of old Fort Meigs, of the war of 1812 fame.

In those days a hotel was not complete without a bell to call the guests to their meals, swung on the top of the building. Bell foundries were not so plentiful then as now, but after considerable inquiry Mr. Spafford heard of a man in De- troit who cast bells. Detroit, then in the Territory of Michigan, was quite a

880

WOOD COUNTY.

remote point, as distance was then calculated ; but Spafford had to have a bell, and he finally made his way thither to have it cast. The bellman was found and the job undertaken, but when the foundry endeavored to make the cast, it was discovered that there was not metal enough. Here was a dilemma, but Spafford was equal to the emergency. He took thirty-six Spanish dollars and threw them into the molten mass, and the bell was his.

With his treasure, worth almost its weight in gold, Spafford returned to Perrys- burg and hung the bell up in a tree in his yard, so that it might be investigated by the curious. The Indians, who were then quite plentiful in and about Perrys- burg, were caught by the novel attraction. They climbed the tree where the bell was hung, and kept it ringing day and night until the thing became an iutolerable nuisance, aud Spafford had about concluded to take it down when the Indians relieved him by stealing the bell and carrying it away.

This act made Spafford furious, and he determined to recover it if it cost him his life. Securing the services of Sam Brady, an old scout who had killed a score or more of Indians, and Frank McCallister, the first white man who had settled at Perrysburg, they started toward Upper Sandusky. They travelled three days and nights, and on the morning of the fourth day, while they were eating break- fast, they heard the bell in the distance.

Hastily finishing their meal they hurried in the direction from whence the sound came, and soon beheld a sight that was laughable in the extreme. The Indians had tied the bell around the neck of a pony, and the whole tribe, bucks, squaws and youngsters, armed with hickory switches, were running the poor animal around an open space at the top of its speed, meanwhile yelling like de- mons as an accompaniment to the furious ringing of the bell.

Spafford and his companions made a charge on the crowd, and soon succeeded in driving the pony away from the village, where they could secure the bell with- out trouble, which they did, and got safely home without being pursued or having any fight with the Indians. The bell was taken back to Perrysburg, where it remained for many years, performing the mission for which it was cast. When Mr. Spafford died it became the property of his daughter, Mrs. Day, whose hus- band is the hotel man at Elmore, and it still rings out as clearly, each meal time, as it did when it first came to Ohio.

BOWLING GREEN, county-seat of Wood, about 100 miles northwest of Colum- bus, twenty-one miles south of Toledo, is at the eastern terminus of the Bow- ling Green R. R., and on the T. C. & S. R .. R. Natural gas wells here have a flow of more than 25,000,000 cubic feet per day. County officers, 1888 : Audi- tor, John B. Wilson ; Clerk, Alanson L. Muir ; Commissioners, Frank M. Thompson, Jacob Stahl, Edward B. Beverstock; Coroner, Andrew J. Orme ; Infirmary Directors, Michael Amos, Jr., Wilson Patterson, John Isch, Jr. ; Probate Judge, Frank M. Young ; Prosecuting Attorney, Robert S. Parker ; Recorder, Christopher Finkbeiner ; Sheriff, Milton F. Miles; Surveyor, Ferdi- nand Wenz; Treasurer, William R. Noyes. City officers, 1888 : B. L. Abbott, Mayor ; Ira C. Taber, Clerk ; W. H. Smith, Treasurer; Richard Biggs, Mar- shal. Newspapers : Wood County Democrat, Democratic, W. B. & R. T. Dob- son, editors ; Wood County Gazette, Republican, A. W. Rudolph, editor ; Wood County Sentinel, Republican, M. P. Brewer, editor. Churches : 1 Presbyterian, 1 United Brethren, 1 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Catholic, and 1 Christian. Banks : Commercial (Royce, Smith & Coon), W. H. Smith, cashier ; Exchange (Reed & Merry), M. L. Case, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- Crystal City Glass Co., bottles, etc., 95 hands ; Buckeye Novelty Glass Co., flint glass goods, 74; J. R. Hankey, sash, doors, etc., 20; J. H. Bigelow, planing mill, 5; The Lythgoe Glass Co., glass hollow-ware, 109 ; Bowling Green Window Glass Co., window glass, 104; Cramer & Reider, flour, etc., 4; Bowling Green Machine Co., general machine work, 3; Royce & Coon, grain elevator, etc., 5; Royce & Coon, feed mill, 3 .- State Report, 1888

881

WOOD COUNTY.

Population, 1880, 1,539. School census, 1888, 774; D. E. Niver, school superintendent. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $100,000. Value of annual product, $100,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888. Census, 1890, 3,521.

GAS, OIL, LIME, ETC.

The city of Bowling Green is situated upon a slightly elevated plateau, in the centre of one of the best of agricultural regious. Wood county, of which it is the county-seat, ranks as one of the most fertile in the State. At the Centennial Exposition, held in Columbus in 1888, this county was awarded a prize of $500 for the finest exhibition of agricultural products. As a result of the development of the oil and gas interests in Bowling Green and its vicinity, and the consequent location of manufacturing and other enterprises, the city had a phenomenal in- crease in population in a very short period of time. Within two years more than 300 residences and business houses were built, and so rapidly filled with mer- chants, professional men and artisans, that the demand for homes and business locations remained larger than the supply. Hotels, banks and schools were in- creased in capacity and number, and then were taxed to their utmost limits. Within a few weeks, from having been a trading centre for an outlying farming district, the city became a commercial and manufacturing centre of great im- portance.

The principal Ohio gas measures begin at Bowling Green, and extend south for thirty miles or more, Findlay and Bowling Green being the two principal centres. A straight line between these two points would intersect the oil and gas fields ; to the west of this line the drilling of a well would be quite certain to produce oil, while east of this line gas is almost sure to be struck.

Tributary to Bowling Green, and within Wood county, is the great North Bal- timore oil field. The first great flowing well in this field was struck in Deceni- ber, 1886, two miles north of North Baltimore. It was known as the "Fulton well." Oil shot a hundred feet into the air, and flooded the land round about be- fore provision could be made for storing it. The output was a hundred barrels an hour. The " Royce Gusher" was the next great well, and its first production was two hundred and forty barrels in fifty minutes. Great excitement followed these discoveries, and all available lands were soon taken up by oil leases of pros- pectors and speculators. Other wells of large capacity were rapidly developed, and a large part of the territory passed into the control of the Standard Oil Com- pany, whose policy it is to limit supply.

The natural gas development in the central and southern townships of Wood county was as remarkable as those in oil. Its abundance and cheapness brought to Bowling Green and also to North Baltimore a large number of manufacturing and other enterprises, notably glass factories, which were enabled to produce their goods from what was almost free raw material and free fuel. Mines of valuable sand for glass manufacturing are located in Lucas county, near at hand. The sand is of a superior quality and can be procured at a lower price than is paid in other localities. The glass manufactories constitute the most important interest in Bowling Green. They are five in number, employing.more than five hundred workmen. The most extensive of these establishments is a branch of the Canistota Glass Works of New York.

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.

Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 132

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916