USA > Ohio > Mercer County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28
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was commenced by Gen. Wayne August 8, 1794, at the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers, and finished August 30. It consisted of slight earthworks-a stockade with four block-houses, one at each angle. The earthworks of the fort can to this day be readily traced.
Fort Industry
was erected by Gen. Wayne in 1794, near the confluence of Swan Creek with the Maumee River, and placed in charge of Captain J. Rhea, who lehl the same until after the British evacuated all the posts in the North- weyl Territory.
Fort Deposit
was built by Gen. Wayne on August 19, 1794, and is located seven miles from the foot of the rapids for the reception of stores and baggage, and hence the name of the fort, and to better reconnoitre the enemy's ground, which lay behind a thick, bushy wood and British fort ( Fort Miami).
Fort Wayne.
The site of Fort Wayne was at the junction of the St. Josephs and St. Marys rivers. It was commenced Sept. 17, and finished Oct. 22, 1794. It occupied a commanding position on the south side of the Mau- mee River, where the Maumee towns were located.
Col. Hamtramck, on its completion, assumed command of the post with the following sub-legions: Capt. Kingsbury's, Ist; Capt. Greaton's, 2; Capt. Spark's and Reed's, 3; Capt. Preston's, 4, and Capt. Porter's artillery. After firing fifteen rounds of cannon, Col. Hamtramck gave it the name of Fort Wayne, after their gallant and victorious General.
This fort was dismantled in 1804, when a new and larger one was built in its place. This was also taken down in 1815, and a more substantial one crected, which consisted of a stockade, block-houses, and officers' quarters.
Fort Gower
was crected by Lord Dunmore in 1774, and named in honor of Earl Gower. It is situated in Athens County.
Fort Junandat
was built by the French in 1750, on the east bank of Sandusky River.
Fort Piqua,
erected prior to the settlement of the country, stood at Upper Piqua, on the west bank of the Miami River. It was used as a place of deposit for stores for the army of Wayne. The portage from here to Fort Lor- amie, fourteen miles, thence to St. Marys, twelve miles, was all the land carriage from the Ohio to Lake Erie. Loaded boats frequently ascended to Fort Loramie, the loading taken out and hauled to St. Marys, the boats also moved across on wheels, again loaded, and launched for Fort Wayne, Defiance, and the lake. The last commander of Fort Piqua was Captain J. N. Vischer, in 1794. During that year two freighted boats, guarded by an officer and twenty-three men, were attacked by the In- dians near the fort, and all massacred. Capt. Vischer heard the firing, but from the weakness of his command, could render no assistance. The plan of the Indians doubtless was to make the attack in hearing of the fort, and thereby induce them to sally out in aid of their countrymen, defeat all, and take the fort. The commander was a discreet officer, and aware of the subtleness of the enemy, had the firmness to save the fort. The track of the pickets, the form of the river bastion, still mark the site of Fort Piqua.
Fort St. Clair.
About a mile west of Eaton, the county seat of Preble County, is the site of Fort St. Clair, erected in the severe winter of 1791-2 by Major John S. Gano, of the Territorial militia. Gen. Harrison, then an ensign, commanded a guard every other night for about three weeks, during the building of the fort. They had neither fire nor covering of any kind, and suffered much from the intense cold.
Fort Sencca
was a military post built in the war of 1812, and is nine miles north of Tifliu, on the west bank of the Sandusky River, and was occupied by Harrison's troops at the time of the attack on Fort Stephenson, which was only a few miles below, on the river.
Fort Stephenson, or Sandusky,
was built at a very early day, and was within the present limits of San- dusky City. This fort was gallantly defended by Colonel Croghan on the 2d of August, 1813, against an overwhelming force of British and Indians.
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HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.
Fort Steuben
was situated in Steubenville, and stood on North High Street, near the site of the female seminary. It was built in 1786 by Major Hamtramck, and was garrisoned by United States troops under the command of Col. Beatty, but was dismantled at the time of Wayne's victory in 1794, and other buildings. It was occupied as a military post until 1819, when the reservation on which it stood was sold. The remains of the buildings were removed about 1818.
In connection with the second structure, we would state that it was besieged by the Indians under Tecumseh and his brother, the prophet, in August and September, 1812, and was successfully defended until relieved by the troops under Gen. Harrison.
Fort Loramie
was built by Gen. Wayne in 1791, on Loramie's Creek, and is sixteen miles northwest of Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio. It received its name from a Frenchman named Loramie, who established it as a trading post and gave his name to the river which flows along its southern side.
Fort Harmar.
There were two forts by this name, both of which were built upon the same ground by Gen. Harmar, opposite and west of the Muskingum " River, on an elevated piece of ground where Marietta now stands.
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The first fort stood on what is called the "second bottom," being ele- vated above the ordinary flood of the river, while between it and the banks of the river was a lower or first bottom depressed about six feet, to which the descent was of a gradual slope. The first formed a regular hectagon, and the area embraced within its walls contained about three- fourths of an acre. To communicate with Campus Martius from Fort Harmar a path was cut and cleaned through the forest.
The second fort was erected " on the right bank of the Muskingum River opposite to Marietta, and at its junction with the Ohio, and named in honor of Col. James Harmar, and was commenced in 1785, but not finished until 1786."
Fort Amanda.
Col. Pongue, with his regiment, built the fort at the Ottawa towns, on the Auglaize, twelve miles from St. Marys, and named Fort Amanda, in honor of his wife. This regiment was at the same time employed in constructing boats and canoes, and in escorting provision trains between the posts. These were some of the exertions and movements made in our territory in preparation for the main expedition contemplated against Malden.
The fort was situated near the west bank of the Auglaize River, with about an acre of land. The pickets were from ten to twelve feet high, and sunk two or three feet in the ground. There were four block-houses, one at each corner; the second story projected over the piekets three or. four feet, and was pierced with port-holes, from which the sokliers could defend the fort in case of attack. The first story was occupied by sol- diers and company officers as sleeping rooms. The block-house in the southeast corner was the largest, and used mainly as officers' quarters.
There was also a large cabin in the centre of the fort, which was used as a storehouse for supplies for the army, as the soldiers wintered all one winter, if not two, at this point. Again, the old fort was used as one of the first post-offices in Allen County, as well as the first place of preaching.
Fort Amanda served as an intermediate storehouse and point of con- , centration between St. Marys, Urbana, and Upper Sandusky on the one side, and Forts Wayne and Defiance on the other. Here a cemetery was established for the interment of the nation's dead during the occupation of the fort. This cemetery was continued in use by the whites after the settlement, and is still a monument to that army. As conflicting reports are still entrent as to the number of soldiers here interred, an effort has been made to obtain information through all channels yielding a promise of data.
In this direction an application was made to the War Department, through Hon. J. A. Garfield, with the result portrayed in the subjoined letter :-
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'E OFFICE, WASHINGTON, April 26, 1880.
Hon. J. A. GARFIELD, M. C., House of Representatives.
SIB: I have the honor to return herewith the letter of your corre- spondent, Mr. Sutton, referred to this office by your indorsement of the 19th instant, and to inform you that there is no record in this office of "Fort Amanda, Ohio," or its garrison.
The records of the "War of 1812" do not show the place of burial in any case, and nothing relating to the subject of Mr. Sutton's inquiry can be found in the records of this office, which for 1813 and 1814 are incom- plete, having been partially destroyed by the British forces in 1814.
I have the honor to be, sir, Very respectfully Your obedient servant, E. D. TOWNSEND, Adjutaut-General.
Fort Auglaize.
The old fort east of Wapakoneta was built by the French in 1748, and was called Fort Au Glaize, the location of which is described in an Atles published at Paris, par le Rouge, Ing' Geographe du Roi, rue des Grands Augustins, 1777, and corrected by M. Hawkins, Brig .- General of the King's Army in 1776. A volume of the Atlas can be found in the library of the IIon. F. Bourquin, of Camden, New Jersey.
Fort Me Intosh
was built by Gen. L. McIntosh in October, 1778, he having succeeded Gen. Hand in the command. This fort was built for the reception and security of prisoners and slaves upon the Indian side of the Ohio River, with barracks for a regiment. Gen. Arthur Lee in 1784 thus describes it: It is built of well hewn logs, with four bastions-its figure is an irregular square-the face to the river being longer than the side to the land. It is almost equal to a square of fifty yards-it is well built and strong against musquetry. Gen. MeIntosh leaving a portion of his men to complete the fortification, set out at the head of one thousand men to build Fort Laurens at the forks of the Muskingum, which he accom- plished by December. The object of this was to strike a blow at the Indian town on the Sandusky River-but the season being too far ad- vanced he concluded to defer it until spring, and leaving Col. Joim Gibson in command, with one hundred and fifty men to garrison Fort Laurens, he returned in December to Pittsburg.
Fort Laurens was attacked in January by about eight hundred In- dians. After frequent parleys and a promise of a barrel of flour, they agreed to send in proposals for peace, but instead of this they retreated. Col. Gibson relying on their word, and supposing they had left, permitted Capt. Clarke, of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, with fifteen men, to set out on his return to Fort McIntosh, whenee they had gone to escort some provisions.
About three miles from Fort Laurens he was attacked by the notori- ous and infamous Simon Girty at the head of a band of Mingos. Two of his men were killed, four wounded, and one taken, the remainder escaped to the fort. The garrison, after a long, distressing siege of four wecks, was relieved by Gen. MeIntosh at the head of nearly eight hun- dred men, who advanced rapidly to raise the siege by the route of Fort MeIntosh. As the army came in sight of Fort Laurens the garrison fired a salute, which so alarmed the pack horses that they broke loose, by which means much of the provisions was lost and the horses never recovered. Many of the almost famished soldiers were injured by the surfeit occasioned by over eating. They returned to Fort McIntosh, where they were met by their friends from the settlements and abund. antly supplied.
A new body of troops supplied those worn down by the fatigues of the siege, and the fort was left in command of Major Vernon. Gen. MeIntosh endeavored to get up an expedition against the Sandusky
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HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.
towns, but overcome by the great exertions necessary, and his health much impaired, and his spirits broken down, he was forced to resign.
Col. Daniel Broadhead succeeded Gen. Melutosh in the command, but his position was judiciously chosen, as it commanded not only the mouth of the Muskingum, but swept the waters of the Ohio from a curve in the river both above and below the fort. It was placed under the com- mand of Major John Doughty, and occupied by a detachment of United States troops from 1785 to September, 1790, and was the second fort erected within the present limits of Ohio.
Gen. Broadhead, in his letter to Gen. Armstrong, says: It was owing to the General's determination to take Detroit that the very romantic building called Fort Me Intosh was built by the hands of hundreds who would rather have fought than wrought.
Fort Laurens
was erected in November, 1778, at the forks of the Muskingum, on the right bank of the Tusearawas River, half a mile below the site of Boli- var, Tuscarawas County, by General L. McIntosh, of the Revolution. In December following it was occupied by one thousand soldiers. Be- fore the troops left he placed Col. John Gibson in command, with one hundred and fifty men to garrison it, and on July 31, 1779, it was evac- uated by order of General Broadhead. (Sce Fort McIntosh for further history.)
Henry Laurens was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in the year 1724. He took an carly part in opposing the arbitrary claims of Great Britain at the commencement of the American Revolution. When the Provincial Congress of Carolina met in June, 1775, he was appointed its President, in which capacity he drew up a form of association, to be signed by all the friends of liberty, which indicated a most determined spirit. Being a member of the General Congress, after the resignation of Hancock, he was appointed President of that illustrious body in No- vember, 1777.
In 1780 he was deputed to solicit a loan from Holland, and to nego- tiate a treaty with the United Netherlands; but on his passage he was captured by a British vessel on the Banks of Newfoundland. He threw his papers overboard, but they were recovered by a sailor. Being sent to England, he was committed to the Tower on the 6th of October as a state prisoner, upon a charge of high treason. Here he was confined more than a year, and was treated with great severity, being denied for the most part all intercourse with his friends, and forbidden the use of pen, ink, and paper. His capture occasioned no small embarrassment to the ministry. They dared not condemn him as a rebel, through fear of retaliation, and they were unwilling to release him, lest he should accomplish the object of his mission. The discoveries found in his pa- pers led to a war with Great Britain and Holland, and Mr. Adams was appointed in his place to carry on the negotiation with the United Pro- vinces. He was eventually discharged, after fourteen months' confine- mentin the Tower. He received a commission from Congress, appointing him one of their ministers for negotiating a peace with Great Britain, and arriving at Paris, in conjunction with Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay, he signed the preliminaries of peace on the 30th of No- vember, 1782. He then returned to Carolina. He died December 3, 1792, in the 69th year of his age.
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Fort Campus Martius
was erected by the Ohio Company under the direction of General Rufus Putnain, at Marietta, April 7, 1788, but not finally completed with pali- sadles and outworks or bastions, until the winter of 1790. The walls, which formed a regular parallelogram, were one hundred and eighty feet cach. At each corner was a strong block-house surmounted by a tower or sentry box, being twenty-six feet square at the base, and on the top twenty feet, with projection of six feet beyond the main walls of the fort. The buildings within the inclosure were constructed of whip-sawed tim- ber about four inches thick, dovetailed at the corners and covered with shingle roofs, each room of which had fire-places and brick chimneys. The towers and bastions were bright with whitewash.
The first court ever held in the Northwest Territory was opened in the northwest block-house of Campus Martius ( Marietta), August 2, 1788, and was held during the Indian war. At the close of the war and until the old court-house of Washington County was built, the courts were held in the upper story of a block-house at the junction of the Muskingum River with the Ohio. Washington County court-house was built in 1798.
Fort Barbee
was erected by Col. Barbee near the west bank of the St. Marys River, and in the southeast corner of the Lutheran Cemetery, in the town of St. Marys.
Fort Jennings
was erected by Col. Jennings' regiment Sept. 1812, by order of General Ilarrison. It was intermediate between St. Mary's and Defiance, and was situated in what is now the southwest part of Putnam County.
Fort Dillies
was erected on the west side of the Ohio, opposite Grave Creek, in 1792, in Belmont County.
Fort Mc Arthur
was built in January, 1813, in Hardin County, at the head of the Scioto and on Gen. Hull's road, three miles southwest of the present city of Kenton, and named after Gen. Duncan MeArthur. He built two block- houses on the south side of the Scioto, each twenty by twenty-four feet, connected by a strong blockade, covering an area of near half an acre. From Fort McArthur to Rapids of the Miami is one hundred and fifty miles.
Fort Meigs
was erected by Gen. Harrison February 1, 1813, at the Maumee Rapids, in Wood County, and named by him in honor of Governor Meigs, of Ohio. General Proctor with the British forces, and Tecumseh with the Indians, were defeated at the siege of Fort Meigs. The fort was of an oblong shape, with bastions and block-houses, with two transverses run- ning from one end to the other. It originally covered about ten aeres of ground, but through the action of the elements it rapidly disappeared. It was the scene of two of the most important battles of the war of 1812, viz., the British and their allies, the Indians, under Proctor.
Fort Miami
was at the foot of the Rapids, seven miles from Fort Deposit, and stood on the northwestern bank of the Maumee, near where Maumee City now stands.
Fort Necessity
was built June 22, 1812, by Col. Findlay, on the road from Fort Mc.fr- thur to Blanchard's Fork, and is situated near what is now the town of Dunkirk, in Hardin County.
Fort Findlay.
A block-house called Fort Findlay was built at Blanchard's Fork June 25, 1812.
Fort Ball
was erected opposite Tiffin, on the west bank of the Sandusky River. It was a small stockade with a ditch, occupying about one-third of an acre, and was used principally as a military depot.
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HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.
MORAVIAN MISSIONS. PIONEER MISSIONARY.
Rev. Charles Frederick Post was the pioneer Moravian missionary to the Ohio Indians. He it was who made the preliminary movement among them which had in view their civilization and conversion from savagism to Christianity. With that high purpose he left his home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1761, and visited the Delawares, then occu- pying the valley of the Upper Muskingum (now called the Tuscarawas), and then and there took the incipient steps in promotion of his object, by making their acquaintance, and by cultivating fraternal relations with them, and securing their confidence and friendship. He also built a cabin among them, which was situated within about a mile of one of their chief villages on the Tascarawas River, named Tuscararatown, a short distance south of the present northern boundary of Tusearawas County. The building he erected stood in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of Sandy Creck, near the present village of Bolivar, and only a little way north of the live which divides Tuscarawas and Stark Coun- ties, on section twenty-five, in the township of Bethlehem, Stark County. A pile of stones, which probably formed the chimney of this early-time missionary's habitation, still indicated its site as late as the year 1843, when " Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio" first appeared. Some have held the opinion that this was the first house erected within the present limits of Ohio by a white man, but that is doubtless an error. The French, English, and American traders, years before, had built many huts, cabins, and trading stations; and so also had the French Jesuits erected buildings, at a prior date, along the Auglaize River, also on the banks of the Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes, as well as at or near Fort Loramie, on the portage between the Great Miami River and the south- ern tributaries of the Maumee.
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. After completing his building, this lone missionary of the West con- cluded that the next step in the preliminary measures looking to the civilization of the Indians on the Tuscarawas, and bringing them into the Christian faith, was to establish a mission school among them, and teach them to read the Scriptures in their own tongue. With this view this pioneer missionary returned to his home in Pennsylvania, to secure the services of an assistant who should devote his attention to the busi- ness of teaching the Indians and giving them suitable instruction ; and in this he succeeded. John Heckewelder, then a youth of nineteen years, volunteered his services as a teacher, and was accepted; and on the 8th of March. 1762, the veteran missionary and his youthful com- panion started on their long horseback journey of thirty-three days, which they completed April 11th, by entering on that day the cabin built on the banks of the Tuscarawas River the previous year. But little, however, was accomplished by these missionaries during the sum- mer, except to clear a plat of ground fifty yards square around their cabin (the Indians being unwilling to allow more), and raising corn and vegetables for their subsistence. The necessary absence of the senior missionary for a number of months, he having accepted the invitation of the Governor of Pennsylvania to meet in council at Lancaster, on the 27th of August, to hold a conference with some Indian tribes; the seanty supply of food, and difficulty of procuring it; the sickness of Heckewel- der; the. jealousy and hostility of the Indians, and other untoward cir- cumstances, led to the abandonment of this missionary enterprise in October, 1762, when John Heckewekler returned to Bethlehem.
As the Rev. Christian Frederick Post made the first, although unsuc- cessful, attempt to establish a Protestant mission among the Ohio Indians, and as he never afterwards identified himself, in any manner, with our subsequent history, we deem this the proper place for a brief biographical sketch of this pioneer missionary. It was quite otherwise with his as- sistant, John Heckewelder. He intimately connected his name with our history by his personal presence for almost half a century (though not " continuously ) after his first arrival at the Tusearawas River, 1762, re- maining in Ohio until 1810, and rendering himself pre-eminently useful in various prominent official positions; so much so, indeed, that his name continues to be a " household word" among us to the present day.
Rev. Christian Frederick Post was a native of Conitz, in Polish P'rus- sin. Hle came to America in 1742, and first exercised the functions of a Moravian missionary in 1713, having acquired some knowledge of the
language of the Indians. A few years later he became an adept in the language of the Mohawks. While among them, in 1745, he was arrested as a spy, or rather for supposed sympathy with the French, and was im- prisoned in Albany at first, and afterwards in New York. After enduring many weeks of confinement in prisons, he and his companion and fellow. missionary, Rev. David Zeisberger, were discharged, as not guilty. after an examination by the Governor and his Council, and were permitted to return to Bethlehem, their home. He soon after joined a mission in Connecticut, and remained there until 1749, when he returned to Europe, where, however, he made but a short stay. After his return to America he labored as a missionary at Wyoming, until 1754, when he again went to Bethlehem, the Moravian "head-quarters."
In the summer of 1758, Rev. Mr. Post was appointed by the Governor of the Colony of Pennsylvania, as bearer of a message to the Delawares, Shawanese, and Mingoes, of the upper Ohio Valley. The object of the Governor was to persuade them to withdraw from the French interest. which they were promoting, and induce them to return to their allegiance to the English. The results were so satisfactory as to secure Mr. Post's services for a second time, on a similar mission to other tribes of Indians in the upper Ohio Valley, and on the tributaries of the Ohio River. He started on this second mission, October 25, 1758, and returned in January, 1759, having made a part at least of his homeward journey with the re- turning army of General Forbes, after the capture of Fort Duquesne. We have before us the journals, as written by himself, of these several visits made by Mr. Post, and they show that he possessed considerable knowt- edge of the Indian character, and displayed a fair degree of ability as a diplomatist; his "talks" to the Indians being given, and the answers they made. These journals are important and valuable also for the in- telligence they furnish of the condition and feeling of the Indians as between the French and English, and, incidentally, their relations to- wards the Americans also; and for the amount of geographical informa- ion they give, as well as the facts they state, touching the location of the various tribes of Indians; the names given by them to the various Indian villages, also to the streams and points of historic interest in the country claimed by them around the " Forks of the Ohio," now Pitts- burglı.
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