History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 51

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

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Jonathan Benjamin settled on Ramp creek in the spring of 1802. He had passed through the old French and Indian wars, and also through the Revolution. He died in 1841 at the advanced age of one hundred and three years.

Evan Humphry settled in Newton township about the year 1805. He served in the Revolu- tionary war, and was one of the "forlorn hope" at the storming of Stony Point in 1779, by General Wayne.

Zachariah Albaugh was a Revolutionary soldier,

and settled in Newton township. He died No- vember 9, 1859, over a hundred years of age.

Benjamin Green came from, Maryland, and settled in Madison township in 1800. He died in 1835, aged seventy-six years.

Captain Archibald Wilson received a commis- sion as a lieutenant of militia of the county of Dunmore, Virginia, issued by the committee of safety for the colony of Virginia, dated at Williams- burgh, January 20, 1776. He had previously-in 1774-served in Lord Dunmore's expedition. In 1777 he was appointed captain, and served in this rank until the close of the war. His principal ser- vice was in keeping the Tories in check in Virginia.

Benjamin Wilson served as a lieutenant on Lord Dunmore's staff in 1774, in his expedition into the Northwest Territory, and as captain, early in the Revolution, mostly on the frontier against the Indians. He received a commission as colonel in 1781.

Judge James Taylor, who was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1753, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was in the Williamson expedition against the Moravian Indians, and was one of seventeer. who voted against the murder of the captives. Judge Taylo . died in 1844, aged ninety-one years

Judge Timothy Rose served as an officer in the Revolution, and distinguished himself in the storming of a British redoubt at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Captain Samuel Elliott, who settled in Licking county as early as 1800, was a Revolutionary sol- dier. He died in 1831 at the age of eighty years.

Of the Indian war but little can be said, as the first settlement in Licking county was made after the Greenville treaty, and our pioneers were not molested by the savages of the forest within the limits of the county. During the war of 1812, however, when the British and the Indians com- bined for the subjugation of the Northwest Terri- tory, many of Licking county's hardy pioneers marched away to the north and took part in the operations of the army about Detroit early in the war.

The Indians had nearly all disappeared at the time of the settlement of the county. Occasion- ally a stray red man made his appearance, as a "tramp" would now-a-days, asking for food and

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shelter and looking sadly at the encroachments of the whites upon his wild hunting grounds-per- haps lingering near some hallowed spot where his fathers had been laid away, consecrated in his voy -. age to the happy hunting grounds.

Previous to the year 1800 there were several Indian villages within the present limits of Lick- ing county. One near Johnstown, called Raccoon- town. One on the Bowling Green, five miles east of Newark, and a temporary village on the Shaw- nee run.

The Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot tribes occupied the territory now embracing Licking county, and relinquished their claims by the treaty of Fort McIntosh, in the year 1785.

One night in April, 1800, two Indians stole the horses of Hughes and Ratliff from a little en- closure near their cabins. Missing them in the morning, they started off, well armed, in pursuit, accompanied by a man named Bland. They fol- lowed the trail in a northern direction all day, and at night camped in the woods. At the grey of morning, they came upon the Indians, who were asleep and unconscious of danger. Concealing themselves behind the trees, they waited until the Indians awakened, and were commencing prepara- tions for their journey. They drew their rifles to shoot, and just at that moment one of the Indians discovered them, and instinctively clapping his hand on his breast, as if to ward off the fated blow, exclaimed in tones of affright: "Me bad Indian, me no do so more!" The appeal was in vain; the smoke curled from the glistening barrels, the re- port rang in the morning air, and the poor Indians fell dead. They returned to their cabins with the horses and "plunder" taken from the Indians, and swore mutual secrecy for this violation of law.

Hughes had been bred in the hot-bed of Indian warfare; the Indians having murdered a young woman to whom he was attached, and subse; quently his father. The return of peace did not mitigate his hatred of the race.

One evening, some time after, Hughes was quietly sitting in his cabin, when he was startled by the entrance of two powerful and well-armed savages. His wife stepped aside and privately sent for Ratliff, whose cabin was near. Presently Ratliff, who had made a detour, entered with his

rifle in an opposite direction, as if he had been hunting. He found Hughes talking with the In- dians about the murder. Hughes had his toma- hawk and knife in his belt, but he dare not reach for his rifle that hung from the cabin wall. There all the long night sat the parties mutually fear- ing each other, but neither summoning courage to stir. When morning dawned the Indians left, shaking hands and bidding farewell, but in their retreat were cautious not to be shot in ambush by the hardy borderers.

Hughes died near Utica, in March, 1845, at an advanced age, and was buried with military honors.

His early life had been one of much adventure; he was, it is supposed, the last survivor of the bloody battle of Point Pleasant.

Henry Smith, the father of Esquire David Smith, of Madison township, was formerly a resi- dent of Virginia. He lived for several years at Kanawha, and participated in several frontier ad- ventures. He was with Major McCollough at the siege of Fort Wheeling, and there fought against the Indians. He emigrated to Licking county in 1804, and died in 1845.

John Van Buskirk, who settled in Licking county in 1800, served many years as a spy be- tween the Ohio and Tuscarawas rivers for the pro- tection of the frontier settlements.

THE WAR OF 1812 .- Licking county was rapidly filling up with settlers from the eastern States when war was declared against Great Britain in 1812, and the young men were called upon to drop their axes and go forth to protect the fron- tiers against the wily savage and his British master.

As sparsely settled as was Licking county that day, she contributed at least four companies under the leadership of Captains Rose, Davidson, Sut- ton and Spencer, marching away to the northwest. There was also a company of cavalry recruited by Captain Bradley Buckingham, but he did not go out with it. . First Lieutenant Jehu Sutton com- manded the company during its active service. The hostile position of the Indians and the grow- ing difficulties with Great Britain, led Governor Meigs, of Ohio, to enroll three regiments of volun- teers to rendezvous at Dayton, in the spring of 1812. Lewis Cass was chosen colonel of the third regiment, and he was joined by the Licking

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county volunteers at Findlay. The route was through the almost trackless wilderness and swamps of the northwest. The troops reached Detroit in July; war with Great Britain having meanwhile been declared.

On July 11th they crossed into Canada, Colonel Cass claiming the honor of being the first man, who, in the war of 1812, stepped in arms upon British soil. He also commanded, in a skirmish on the seventeenth, in which the first blood was shed; the British being driven from a bridge across Aux Canarde river.

The Licking volunteers were included in the surrender of General Hull; and Colonel Cass was so stung with mortification, it is said, that he would not deliver his sword, but broke the blade and threw it away. The Ohio troops were dis- missed on their parole not to serve again until they were exchanged. Colonel Cass was exchanged in January, 1813, and about the same time was com- missioned as a colonel in the regular army. Hull's surrender occurred on the sixteenth day of August, 1812, and, as stated before, the Ohio troops having been paroled, they returned to their homes as best they could.

Of those who were conspicuous from Licking county, in this war, may be mentioned: Major Jeremiah R. Munson, who was elected major of Colonel Lewis Cass' Third Ohio regiment. He was a man of fine soldierly bearing and attain- ments. He was surrendered with the army under Hull, at Detroit, but afterwards entered the service. While near Detroit he was accidentally shot by David Messenger, and so severely wounded that he barely survived the journey home.

There existed among the officers of the Third regiment an ill-feeling towards Colonel Cass, by reason of an imaginary or real belief in his partial- ity, or his disposition to court favors from the government authorities, to the detriment of the officers of the regiment. Major Munson shared this dislike with his brother officers, and there ex- isted a coolness between the major and the col- onel during their term of service, but it can · be said to the credit of Colonel Cass, and as evidence of the appreciated worth of Major Munson, that when Cass was solicited by Governor Meigs to recommend some worthy officers for promotion, he

wrote a letter to the governor speaking of his per- sonal dislike to Munson, but said for the good of the service, he recommended his promotion.

. It is related that one of the Munsons, at the sur- render, was asked by the British general the use made of the large drum carried by the Yankee boys, when Munson replied-"that is a bass drum, you d-d old fool."

Captain Simeon Wright settled in St. Albans township in 1816. He was the son of Simeon Wright, sr., who fought under Stark at Bennington, and Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga. Captain Wright belonged to the Thirtieth United States infantry, and took part in several engagements in the war of 1812. For a time he was in General Wade Hampton's command, and accompanied the expe- dition to Montreal. He was the ranking officer in Fort Brown during the siege of Plattsburgh, where, after two days fighting, General Macomb repulsed the British under Provost. He had command at the mouth of Otter creek, repulsing the British fleet in its attempt to burn our shipping at that point. In the spring of 1813, with eight men, he captured two hundred stand of arms that had been distributed among the Canadian militia near Mon- treal. Captain Wright, in person, took as prisoner of war, Captain McGilvery of the British army, while scouting on the Canada line, in 1814. He was under General Wilkinson at the battle of La- cole Mill, where, with sixty men, he defended an important field-piece with a loss of twenty killed and wounded. For this heroic and skillful service he was brevetted a major. Major Wright met with an accidental death in this county in 1833.

Archibald Wilson, jr., was an officer in the war of 1812, and served on General Gaine's staff. He was a brother of Enoch Wilson of Newark.

Captain John Spencer raised a company in Lick- ing county for the war of 1812. He was surren- dered by Hull at Detroit, and thus became a pa- roled prisoner of war. This would have been a sufficient excuse for Captain Spencer to have remained at home, but when the northwest frontier was menaced in 1813, his patriotism led him to recruit another company, which he led north to join the forces of General Harrison. He devel- oped a high order of patriotism, bravery, and soldier-like qualities during the war, and in civil

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life commanded the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, in evidence of which, he was placed in some military or civil position during most of the period of his life in Licking county. .

Of the survivors of that war who now reside in Licking county the writer has been unable to pro- cure a full list. Among the number, however, may be mentioned-

Peter L. Dean, who resides in Newark, and is the father of Major A. J. Dean. He enlisted in Captain Joel Harrison's rifle company of New Jersey militia, September 1, 1814, and was dis- charged November 9th of the same year.

John Wolever, of Granville township, enlisted September 5, 1814, in Captain F. Donleavy's com- pany of Colonel Freelingheysen's New Jersey militia, and was discharged in December the same year.

George W. Loar now lives in the southeastern part of the county, and is eighty-seven years of age. He went out from Muskingum county in the war of 1812, and enlisted April 15, 1813, in Cap- tain Joseph Karns' company A, Colonel James Paul's Twenty-seventh regiment. The regiment marched to Seneca and there built a fort; thence they marched to Lower Sandusky. He was eight days with Perry on the lakes, and was in the battle of the Thames. After wintering at Detroit he was discharged April 15, 1814.

Jacob Bush, who resides in Newark, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, enlisted at Lancaster, Ohio, in Lieutenant Collins' de- tachment, and was assigned to Captain C. A. Trimble's company, of the Nineteenth United States infantry. He marched via Franklinton, Newark and Upper Sandusky to Lower Sandusky, and afterwards to Buffalo, where he joined General Scott's army. He was engaged in the battles of Lundy's Lane and Chippewa Lake, and was wounded in the former battle. He took part in the siege of Erie for thirty-seven days, and was discharged at that place February 18, 1815. Mr. Bush came to Newark about the year 1825, and drove coach for Willard Warner for many years.

David Messenger, who now resides at Utica, at an advanced age, volunteered in 1812 with Cap- tain John Spencer, and went out from Licking county to join Colonel Cass' regiment. They

marched to the Maumee rapids, and thence to Detroit, where he was included in Hull's surren- der. He was in no general engagement, but in several skirmishes with the enemy.

John Wagy, who now resides near Kirkersville, at the advanced age of ninety-one years, went out in the war of 1812 in Captain Peter Lamb's com- pany, and served under General Harrison. He acted as teamster upon one occasion and hauled cannon balls two days. The Wyandot Indians were friendly toward the United States at that time, and acted in conjunction with the Govern- ment forces. They were called the "pet" Indians by the soldiers. Mr. Wagy has a vivid recollection of the early days in Licking county. He settled on Licking creek, in Harrison township, in 1815, and visited Newark when it contained but five or six houses, one of which, used as a hotel, stood near the present court house square, and had flung to the breeze on the corner of the building an old muslin sign, inscribed thereon the brief but pointed word, "Inn." He first saw the "old fort" in 1815, and says that it has changed but little in its appearance since that year. The old settlers in those days rode on horseback to Zanesville to mill; but they deny emphatically the charge of carrying a large stone in one end of the bag to balance the grist. Mr. Wagy reared a family of fifteen children, eight boys and seven girls, and is now living in that ripe old age, fruitful in its past with events covering sixty-five years of the coun- ty's history.

Abram P. Westbrook, the oldest veteran of the War of 1812, died in Newark, October 10, 1880. One of the city papers gives this obituary notice:

The decease of probably the most aged man in Licking county occurred at his residence on Granville street, in Newark, on Sunday, tenth inst., after a protracted illness of several months. Mr. Abram P. Westbrook, the subject of this brief sketch, was a native of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and was born Sep- tember 2, 1778, making him, at the time of his death, one hun- dred and two years one month and eight days old. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, being at the time a resident of Vir- ginia. Mr. Westbrook lived many years in Zanesville, and lived forty-one years in Newark. He came here in 1839, and has lived a quiet, upright life, sustaining a good reputation for industry and integrity. Mr. Westbrook was a member of the Methodist church most of his life. He was unobtrusive, unpre- tentious in his intercourse with his fellow men, and had acquired a good degree of intelligence and information. His wife died many years ago, but a number of his children survive him. The

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funeral services were conducted by Rev. E. I. Jones, of the Congregational church, on Tuesday, twelfth instant, and many friends followed the remains to Cedar Hill cemetery.

Stephen C. Smith, a native of New Jersey, served as adjutant in Colonel Cass' regiment in the war of 1812. He represented Licking county in the State legislature in 1826-27.

Samuel Bancroft, who was born in Massachusetts, in 1778, and died in 1870, was also a soldier in the war of 1812.

Of those whose ashes repose in our cemeteries may be mentioned James Smith, Jacob Little, Alexander Cochran, Moses Moore, Fred Salliday, David Moore, William Horne, James Taylor, John Henry, Amos Halliday, Jacob Overturf, S. G. Hamilton, sr., William Francis, James McCadden, Meredith Darlington, Isaac Conrad, and Jesse Smith.

The descendants of these patriots now residing in Licking county point with pride to the achieve- ments of their fathers, who took such a creditable part in the establishment of the "second indepen- dence of America," and, in the language of "Loss- ing:"

"The events of that war did secure the far more important advantage of the positive and permanent independence of the United States, for which our people, with arms and diplomacy, had contended for many years in vain. It secured to posterity a guarantee for the perpetuation and growth of free institutions; and Great Britain was taught the useful lesson, more puissant in its effects upon the topic of search and impressment than any treaty obligation, that the young Republic of the West, the offspring of her oppressions, growing more lusty every hour, would not tolerate an insult, nor suffer its sovereignty to be questioned without resenting the offencc. Great Britain was compelled to sign a bond, as it were, to keep the peace, in the form of an acknowledgement that she had, in this Republic, a formidable rival for the supremacy of the seas, which she was bound to respect."

LICKING COUNTY IN THE WAR WITH MEXICO .- Two infantry companies and one of cavalry were almost wholly recruited in this county for that war. The first was enlisted in May, 1846, by Captain Richard Stadden with Mervin E. Culley, as first lieutenant, and Andrew J. Spencer, and James H. Smith, as second lieutenants. This company was ordered to Camp Washington, the State rendezvous near Cincinnati, and in the organization of the three regiments of Ohio's quota, was made company H, of the Second Ohio regiment of volunteers, under Colonel George W.

Morgan, and took part in the campaign on the Rio Grande route, under Generals Taylor and Wool.

The company was stationed at Camargo for some five months, then ordered to garrison Marin, where, in connection with Captain Mickum's com- pany, of Columbus, and Captain Julian's, of Lan- caster stood the siege of General Urea, February 23d to the 25th, 1847, with eighteen hundred lancers, also with the regiment in the fight at San Francisco, February 26, 1847, then took up the line of forced march and reported to General Tay- lor, at Ague Nueva, beyond the defile of Augos- tena, then back to Beuna Vista, and joined the command of General Wool and encamped on the battle ground of Beuna Vista until the seventeenth of May, 1847, when the regiment was ordered to report at New Orleans for muster out-which dated June 23, 1847.

In the campaign, two died of disease, Robert Wilkins and Harvey Courson-two wounded at San Francisco-John Colvin and Jackson King, and one taken prisoner-Patrick McLaughlin.

The second company was enlisted by Captain John R. Duncan, as cavalry, in May, 1847, with David A. B. Moore, as first lieutenant, Will- iam P. Morrison as second lieutenant and Ben- jamin Wilson as third lieutenant. They were known as "Duncan's Mounted Rangers," one of sev- eral independent companies organized at that time in the State. They numbered one hundred men besides the officers, and nearly every member fur- nished his own horse. The company left Newark with considerable enthusiasm, on the twenty- seventh of May, 1847, riding all the way to Cin- cinnati. Here they went aboard the steamer "Star Spangled Banner," and in the latter part of June arrived in New Orleans. They spent about a week in this city, and celebrated the Fourth of July, and then boarded the steamer "Mary Kings- land" and proceeded by the gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Rio Grande, thence to Carmargo, and were stationed the whole of their term of service at Seralvo, on the Rio Grande route, doing escort and guard duty, and, on several occasions, while bearing the mail and dispatches, under escort, in detachments, had sharp passes with rov- ing bands of guerillas. This company was

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mustered out of service at Cincinnati, August 2, 1848. The company lost by disease three men, Jacob Grear-buried at New Orleans, Louisiana, John Smith, buried at Seralvo, and Harvey Stew- art, buried at Monterey.

Isaac Vanatta, now well known in Newark, was accidentally wounded at Walnut Springs, near Monterey, in December, 1847. While Vanatta and "Gus" Stewart were watering their horses in the spring Stewart's carbine was accidentally dis- charged, and the ball and buck-shot entered Va- natta's shoulder, causing a very dangerous wound, which confined him in the hospital for six weeks and reduced his weight from two hundred to one hundred and twenty-five pounds. He now draws a pension from the general government on account of his disability.

The third company was recruited in August, 1847, by Captain Richard Stadden, with Andrew J. Spencer as first lieutenant, Hugh W. Morehead as second lieutenant, and Andrew J. Bartley as third lieutenant. It was mustered in at Camp Wool, near Cincinnati, and made company B, of the Fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, aud operated on the Vera Cruz route.

The company was stationed at Puebla the most of its term of service, and was mustered out at Cincinnati in October, 1848.

Private Palmer, of Jacksontown, died on the Gulf, and John Stasel and Jacob Veach were delegated by the officers to encase him in a United States blanket, and with proper ceremony he was deposited in the Gulf of Mexico.

Those known to be living at this date, October 7, 1880, of the first company are as follows:

COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Lieutenant James H. Smith, Newark, Ohio. NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Sergeant Edwin Williams, Homer, Ohio. Sergeant Richard Parr, Danville, lowa. Corporal Jacob H. Scott, Newark, Ohio. PRIVATES.

George Downs, Newark, Ohio. Manly McMullin, Utica, Ohio. Henderson Bronson, Iowa City, Iowa. Jackson Peters, Bishop P. O., Kansas. William Hall, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Samuel Denman, Circleville, Ohio. James Wilson, Findlay, Ohio.

The survivors of the second company : NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER.

Sergeant Byron H. Stanberry, Newark, Ohio. PRIVATES.

Samuel G. Hamilton, Newark, Ohio. Augustus M. Stewart, Newark, Ohio. Isaac Vanatta, Newark, Ohio. John O. Jones, Kirkersville, Ohio. Silas Austin, Kirkersville, Ohio. Ira E. Kelsey, Hebron, Ohio. Allen Burket, Millersport, Ohio. Alex C. Elliott, Westerville, Ohio. Edwin S. Ferguson, Uhrichsville, Ohio.

Charles Smith, Campaign City, Illinois. Edwin Gohoegan, Sandusky, Ohio.

Battaile M. Meithron, Thornville, Ohio. Hugh Ronan, Newark, Ohio. Philip M. Slife, Sunbury, Ohio. James Fairley, Jacktown, Ohio. - Green, Johnstown, Ohio.

Thomas Turner, Mt. Gilead, Ohio.

The survivors of the third company:

PRIVATES.

John Stasel, Newark, Ohio. Henry Flemming, Newark, Ohio. James B. Mathews, Oak Harbor, Ohio. John Myers, Wheeling, West Virginia.

Of those who have died since that war may be mentioned :

Lieutenant Mervin E. Culley. Burr N. McMullen. Major David A. B. Moore. Lieutenant William R. Morrison.

John L. Smith. John A. Vance. Thomas Wiley.

The survivors point with satisfaction to the splendid acquisition of territory which was among the results of the termination of that war. The immense mineral resources of the Rocky mount- ains and Pacific States, which since then have been discovered and developed, have added untold wealth to the Republic; and although during that war fears were entertained that the acquisition of territory would largely increase the slave power in the country, we now behold the whole vast ex- panse consigned forever to the labor of the free- man.

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CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

THE CAUSES OF THE WAR- THE PATRIOTISM AND ZEAL OF LICKING COUNTY-THE "WIDE AWAKES"-COMPANY "H." THIRD OHIO INFANTRRY-COMPANY "E," TWELFTH OHIO INFANTRY-COMPANY "D," TWENTY-SECOND OHIO IN- FANTRY-COMPANY "C," TWENTY-SEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY-COMPANY "H," THIRTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY- COMPANY "G," FORTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 51

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826