USA > Ohio > Picturesque northwestern Ohio and battle grounds of the Maumee Valley, an art and historical work of the worthwest section of the Buckeye State > Part 3
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BOYS' INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, LUCAS COUNTY.
fell within the palisades, plowed up the earth of the grand traverse or went hissing over the fort and crashed into the woods beyond. The soldiers protected themselves by dig- ging bomb-proof caves at the base of the grand traverse on the sheltered side, where they were quite secure, unless by chance a spinning shell rolled into one of them. For several days and nights the troops ate and slept in these holes under the em- bankment, ever ready to rush to the palisades or gates in case of a breach or an assault. During the siege a
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
ALLEN COUNTY'S FIRST COURT HOUSE, Built in 1832.
cold, steady rain set in and the underground bomb-proof retreats gradually filled with water and mud. The soldiers were compel- led to take to the open air behind the embankment where, having become used to the terrible uproar they ate, slept, joked and played cards. It is related that Harrison offered a reward of a gill of whiskey for cach British cannon ball that should be returned to the magazine keeper. On a single day of the siege, it is said, a thousand balls were thus secured and hurled back by the American batteries which constantly replied to the British fire, night and day, frequently dismounting their guns. One of the American militiamen became very expert in detecting the destined course of the British projectiles and would faithfully warn the garrison. He would take his station on the embankment in
defiance of danger. When the smoke issued from the gun he would shout "shot," or "bomb" whichever it might be. At times he would say, "blockhouse No., 1" or "main battery" as the case might be. Sometimes growing facetious he would yell, "now for the meat house," or if the shot was too high he would exclaim, "now good-bye, if you will pass." One day he remained silent and puzzled, as the shot came in the direct line of his vision. He watched and peered while the ball came straight on and dashed him to fragments. One the third night of the siege a detachment of British together with a large force of Indians
BIRTHPLACE OF THOMAS A. EDISON, Milan, Erie County.
crossed the river below Fort Meigs and passing up a little ravine planted on its margin, southeast of the fort, and within two hundred and fifty yards, two new batteries.
The garrison was now subjected to a terrible cross-fire, and the Indians, climbing trees in the vicinity, poured in a galling rifle fire, killing some and wounding many of the garrison. On the morning of the fourth of May, Proctor sent to Harrison a demand for the surrender of the fort. Harrison replied to the officer who bore Proctor's demand, "Tell your General that if he obtains possesion of this fort it will be under circumstances that will do him far more honor than would my surrender." On the night of May fourth Captain Oliver crept into the fort under cover of darkness and informed Harrison that General Green Clay
HOTEL VICTORY, PUT-IN BAY.
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BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
BLANCHARD RIVER AT GILBOA, PUTNAM KOUNTY.
with twelve hundred Kentucky militia was at that moment descending the Maumee in eighteen large barges and could reach the fort in two hours, but would wait the orders of Harrison. The command was immediately sent out for Clay to come down the river, land eight hundred men on the northern bank, seize and spike the British cannon and then immediately cross the river to Fort Meigs. The other four hundred Kentuckians were ordered to land on the southern bank directly under the fort and fight their way in at the gate, the garrison in the meantime making sallies to aid in the movement. Colonel Dudley, being second in command, led the van and landed his boats about one mile above the British batteries on the northern bank of the river. He formed his eight hundred men in three lines and marched silently down upon the batteries in the darkness. The Kentuckians took the British com- pletely by surprise. They closed in upon the guns and charged with the bayonet, the artillerymeu and
Indians fleeing for their lives. They spiked the British guns and rolled some of them down the embankment, but unfortunately the spiking was done with ramrods instead of with the usual steel implements, and the British subsequently put the guns in action again. Had the Americans now obeyed the orders of Harrison and crossed the river and entered the fort all would have been well. But the Kentucky militia were eager for a fight, and elated by their success in capturing the batteries, they began a pursuit of the fleeing Indians. In vain they were called to by friends from Fort Meigs who saw their danger.
Wildly the cheering Kentuckians dashed into the forest after the flying savages who artfully led them on. Then in the deep recesses of the forest a multitude of savages rose up around them. Toma- hawks were hurled at them and shots came thick and fast from behind trees and bushes. Real- izing that they had fallen into an ambuscade they began a hasty and confused retreat toward the bat- teries. But in the meantime the British regulars
1195086
INSCRIPTION ROCK, KELLEY'S ISLAND.
B. & O. ELEVATOR, SANDUSKY.
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
OLD MISSION CHURCH, UPPER SANDUSKY. BUILT IN 1827.
37
BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
INTERIOR OF PERRY'S CAVE, PUT-IN-BAY.
the southern gate and attacked the batteries on the ravine. They succeeded in spiking all the guns and captured forty two prisoners, two of them British officers. After this an armistice occurred for burying the dead and exchanging prisoners. Harrison prudently took advantage of the lull in the conflict to get the ammunition and supplies, that had come on the boats, into the fort. The batteries then again resnmed fire, but the Indians had become weary of the siege, a method of warfare so much opposed to their taste and genius. They had become glutted too with blood and scalps, and were heavily laden with the spoils of Dudley's massacred troops. So in spite of Tecumseh's protests they gradually slipped away in the forest toward their northern homes. Proctor now became disheartened by the desertion of his allies and feared the coming of more reinforcements for Harrison. The stars and stripes still waved above the garrison, and Fort Meigs was stronger and more impregnable than ever. Sickness broke out among the British troops encamped upon the damp ground and
·
CEDAR POINT RESORT, AT SANDUSKY.
had come up from old Fort Miami and thrown themselves between the river and the retreating Americans. About one hundred and fifty cut their way through and escaped across the river. At least two hundred and fifty were cut to pieces by the savages and about four hundred were captured. The prisoners were marched down to the old fort to be put on board ships. On the way the Indians began butchering the helpless prisoners.
Tecumseh, far more humane than his white allies, hearing of the massacre, dashed up on his horse, and seeing two Indians butchering an American, he brained one with his tomahawk and felled the other to the earth. Drake states that on this occasion Tecumseh seemed rent with grief and passion and cried out, "Oh, what will become of my poor Indians." See- ing Proctor standing near, Tecumseh sternly asked him why he had not stopped the inhuman massacre. "Sir, your Indians cannot be commanded," replied Proctor. "Begone, you are unfit to command ; go and put on petticoats," retorted Tecumseh. After this incident the prisoners were not further molested.
On the other side of the river events had gone quite differently. The four hundred who landed on the south bank with the help of a sallying party, after a bloody struggle, succeeded in entering the fort. At the same time the garrison made a brilliant sortie from
squads of the Canadian militia began to desert, stealing away under cover of darkness. Tecumseh, unconquerable and deter- still remained upon the ground with four hundred braves of his own tribe, the Shawanese.
Few of the present day can know or even imagine the
SCENE ON SANDUSKY RIVER, NEAR BUCYRUS, CRAWFORD COUNTY.
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
OLD MISSION HOUSE. On the Maumee River, in Wood County, two miles above Waterville. Isaac Van Tassel taught Indian school in this building
horrible scenes that took place within the precincts of Tecumseh's camp shortly after the massacre of Dudley's troops. A British officer who took part in the siege, writing in 1826, tells of a visit to the Indian camp on the day after the massacre. The camp was filled with the clothes and plunder stripped from the slaugh- tered soldiers and officers. The lodges were adorned with saddles, bridles and richly ornamented swords and pistols. Swarthy savages strutted about in cavalry boots and the fine uniforms of American officers. The Indian wolf dogs were gnaw- ing the bones of the fallen. Everywhere were scalps and the skins of hands and feet stretched on hoops, stained on the fleshy side with vermillion, and drying in the sun. At one place was found a circle of Indians seated around a huge kettle boiling frag- ments of slaughtered American soldiers, each Indian with a string attached to his particular portion. Being invited to partake of the hideous repast, the officer relates that he and his companion turned away in loathing and disgust, excusing themselves with the plea that they had already dined. On the ninth of May, dispairing of reducing Fort Meigs, Proctor anchored his gun-boats under the batteries, and although subjected to constant fire from the Ameri- cans, embarked his guns and troops and sailed away to Malden. But before dismounting the bat- teries they all fired at once a
parting salute, by which ten or twelve of the Americans were killed and about twenty-five wounded. Thus for about twelve days was the beleaguered garrison hemmed in by the invading horde. The Americans suffered them to depart without molestation, for as one of the gar- rison said, "we are glad to be rid of them on any terms." The same writer says, "The next morning found us somewhat more tranquil. We could leave the ditches and walk about with more of an air of free- dom than we had done for fourteen days; and I wish I could present to the reader a picture of the condition we found ourselves in when the withdrawal of the enemy gave us time to look at each other's outward appearance. The scarcity of water had put the washing of our hands and faces, much less our linen, out of the question. Many had scarcely any clothing left, and that which they had was so begrimed and torn by our residence in the ditch and other means, that we presented the appearance of so many scare-crows."
Proctor appeared again in the river ten days later, with his bouts, and Tecumseh with his Indians, and remained in the vicinity of the fort from July twentieth to the twenty-eighth. This visitation constitutes what has been called the second siege of Fort Meigs. Their force this time is said to have consisted of about five thousand whites and Indians, but they attempted no bombardment and no assault. The In- dians contented themselves with capturing and murdering a party of ten Americans whom they caught outside the fort. It was
SHALEROCK NEAR MARBLEHEAD, ALONG LAKE ERIE.
39
BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
during this siege that the Indians and British secreted themselves in the woods southeast of the fort and got up a sham battle among themselves, with great noise and firing, in order to draw out the garrison. But this ruse did not deceive General Clay, then in command, although many of the soldiers angrily demanded to be led out to the assistance of comrades who, they imagined, had been at- tacked while coming to relieve the besieged garrison. On the twenty-eighth Proctor and his In- dian allies again departed, going to attack Fort Stephenson, whose glorious victory under young Cro- gan was one of the great achieve- ments of the War of 1812.
During the siege of Fort Meigs, from May first to the fifth, besides the massacred troops of Colonel Dudley, the garrison, in sorties and within the fort, had eighty-one killed and one hundred and eighty-nine wounded. The sunken and grass-grown graves of the heroes who lost their lives at Fort Meigs are still to be seen upon the spot.
The events that followed the heroic resistance of Fort Meigs are no doubt too well known to require narration.
The famous victory of Perry in the following September cleared Lake Erie of the British fleet. Proctor and Tecumseh fled from Malden and Harrison's army pursued, overtaking them at the Thames. There the British were completely routed and
A FARMING SCENE IN WOOD COUNTY. Ready for the Afternoon's Work.
the brave Tecumseh was slain. This put an end to the war in the West and Michigan and Detroit again became American possessions.
The important part which Fort Meigs played in the war can now be seen. It was the rallying point for troops, and the great storehouse of supples for the Western army. It was the Gibral- ter of the Maumee Valley and rolled back the tide of British invasion while Perry was cutting his green ship timbers from the forest around Erie, and it was to Harrison at Fort Meigs that Perry's world-famed dispatch came when the British fleet had struck their colors off Put in-Bay: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop " All honor to old Fort Meigs! The rain and the frost and the farmer's plow are fast obliterating the ruins of the grand old stronghold that once pre- served the great North- west for the United States. Little remains there now, where the roar of battle broke the air, and the de- voted band of patriots stood their ground under the shower of iron hail and shrieking shells that for days were hurled upon
A BLACK SWAMP CORN FIELD.
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
INDIAN ROCK, KELLEY'S ISLAND. (See Descriptive Note.)
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BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
them. The long green line of the grand tra- verse, with its four gateways, still stretches across the plain and the peaceful kine are browsing along its sides. And near by, sunken, unmarked, weed-grown and neglected, are the graves of the heroic dead who fell in the fearful strife .- From. Sketch by H. W. Compton.
BATTLE OF FALLEN TIMBERS .-- In June, of 1794, while Wayne was getting up supplies for the march against the Indian towns, and waiting for the ground to dry, Fort Recovery, garrisoned by two hundred men under Captain Gibson, was suddenly at- tacked one morning at dawn by two thousand Indians under command of Little Turtle. The garrison was taken by surprise, but made a valorous defense, mowing down the Indians, who attempted to take the place by storm. After the first assault the Indians retired and
HORSE SHOE BEND. Near Upper Sandusky, Wyandot County.
kept up a desultory firing at a distance for two days, and then disappeared, carrying with them a large number of their dead and wounded. They had antici- pated an easy victory, but met with a discouraging and humiliating repulse, which they long deplored as one of their worst defeats. About three weeks after the repulse of the Indians at Fort Recovery, Wayne's le- gion was joined by a thousand mounted riflemen from Kentucky under command of General Scott, and he then began his march against the hostile villages on the Maumee, but he kept the destination of the expe- dition a secret, so that not even his own troops knew where he would strike the first blow. He further mystified the Indians by sending out squads of axmen in advance to cut roads in different directions. The result was that until Wayne suddenly appeared at the confluence of the Auglaize and the Maumee, the In- dians were in uncertainty as to where he meant to strike, and were unable to concentrate their warriors for attack or defense. Unlike St. Clair, Wayne kept in his employ during the whole of northward march, a body of about forty trained spies and scouts, whom he
RESIDENCE OF JUDGE BEERS AT BUCYRUS
This House is Located upon the Dividing Line of the Watershed from Which on One Side the Water That Runs from the Roof Flows into Lake Erie and the Other into the Gulf of Mexico.
had selected from the wild white Indian fighters. These men had been cradled in frontier cabins and had grown to manhood on the very hunting grounds of the Indians. Some of them had been captives from child- hood among the savages, and knew well the speech, custom and habits of the Indians. These men were the athletes of the woods, tall, strong, long limbed, fleet footed, keen eyed, skilled marksman and absolutely without fear. To them the yell of a savage, that was meant to be so terrifying, was empty bluster and vain bravado Prominent among them were such men as Simon Kenton, the Poes, the Wetzels, the Miller Brothers, Ephraim Kibbie, Robert McClelland and William Wells. The latter was the chief of the scouts, and was a man of great intelligence and unfaltering courage. He had been captured when twelve years old, and had grown up among the Miamis, and had married a sister of the great chief, Little Turtle. He fought with the Indians against Harmar and St. Clair, but when Wayne organized his Legion, Wells suddenly left the Indians, presented himself before Wayne and enlisted as a scout for the Americans, and rendered invalu- able service during the whole of the campaign.
VIEW ON THE SANDUSKY RIVER Near Mexico, Wyandot County.
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
WINNOW'S POINT DUCKING CLUB, SANDUSKY BAY.
BLACKBERRY PATCH.
The historical account that is always given of Wells leaving the Indians is, that after the battles with Harmar and St. Clair, dim memories of his childhood began to come back to him, and he was haunted by fear that in some of the bloody battles against the whites in which he had taken part he might have killed some of his white kindred; so one day he went to Little Turtle and said : "We have long been friends ; we are friends yet; until the sun stands so high (indicating the place) in the heavens; from that time we are ene- mies and may kill one another." And history re- lates that after this speech he went and joined Wayne's army. Some of Wells' descendants, through his Indian wife, still compose some of the best families in the Maumee Valley, and these de- scendants now relate a secret family tradition which has been guarded for over a hundred years, setting forth the true reasons why Wells suddenly left his
RASPBERRY PATCH
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BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
COUNTRY HOME OF J. L. PRAY,
Waterville.
Indian kindred and joined Wayne's forces as spy and scout. This account is that the astute and far-seeing mind of Little Turtle realized that at last the strong arm of the United States was raised to strike a crushing blow against the confederated tribes; he wished to have a friend at court when the final and certain defeat came, so he called Wells to him and said: "You are a white man. You have been fighting against your own flesh and blood. Go to Wayne and serve him loyally. If he conquers us in the great battle coming on, you can do your Indian friends much good. If we conquer him, I will take care of you."
This is, no doubt the true story as to why Wells' allied himself to the American cause and rendered such signal service, for it is well known that after the battle he was joined by his Indian wife and children, and he and Little Turtle received special favors at the hands of the United States goverment. Wells finally lost his life at the Chicago Massacre in the War of 1812.
Upper Sandusky. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL,
SOLDIERS' HOME, SANDUSKY.
פנוב׳ זירו!
11
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
CASTALIA CLUB TROUT GROUNDS NEAR SANDUSKY, ONE OF THE GREATEST TROUT STREAMS IN AMERICA.
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BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY.
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FIRST STONE HOUSE BUILT IN NORTHERN OHIO. The Old Stone House at Bogart, Built in 1816, the First One Erected in Northern Ohio.
On his northward march from Fort Green- ville, Wayne kept his daring scouts and spies threading the forest wilds far in advance and on either side. They harried the hostile bands of savages in the woods, and lurked along the streams and rivers watching every movement of the foe, reporting full information to Wayne. They even penetrated to the distant encampments of the savages, and siezed, bound and carried off Indian men and women that Wayne might inter- view the captives as to the plans and movements of the enemy. Wayne himself was determined to avoid the fates of Braddock and St. Clair. He marched through the forest with his ranks in open order, his advance and rear guards ont, and flankers scouring the woods on either side. He was at all times ready for instant battle. He halted at the middle of each afternoon and en- camped his troops in the form of a hollow square, with the cavalry in the center. He then had the
divisions on each side of the square cut down trees and throw up earthworks as a protection during the night. How this caution of the hero of Stony Point contrasts with the folly of Braddock and St. Clair, whose troops had been helplessly huddled in un- protected masses, to be mowed down by the pitiless hail of Indian bullets.
Guarding his army with ceaseless vigilance, Wayne marched without opposition and suddenly appeared at the forks of the Auglaize and the Maumec, the Indians fleeing for their lives down the river. The Indians of the Maumee Valley had long associated with the French and from them had acquired consider- able agricultural skill and many of the arts of civilization. Along the Maumce for about fifty miles there were numerous Indian villages containing well built log homes; there were deep fruited orchards of apple and peach and vast fields of corn and vegeta- bles. The corn was just in the stage of the roasting ear and Wayne's soldiers reveled in the abundance of fresh food. The army rested here for a week and constructed a strong post which Wayne called Fort Defiance. It was built in the point where the rivers meet in the form of a square, with strong p.lis- ades, bastions and a block house at each corner. It was further protected by a deep moat and high embankment outside of the palisades. Wayne garrisoned this strong fort with two hundred men and then sent out his cavalry, who for miles up and down the river burned the villages and laid utterly waste the orchards
FIRST STONE BUILDING ERECTED IN 1821 AT SANDUSKY.
OLD BLOOMINGVILLE BANK BUILDING, ERIE COUNTY.
and cornfields. What had been but a little before a scene of peace and plenty, the ravening hand of war left an area of smoking ruin and desolation. Wayne now deemed it fitting to send one last formal offer of peace to the two thousand Indian warriors that were assembled with their British allies around the British Fort Miami, about forty miles below, at the foot of the rapids. This fort had just been built the preceding spring, April, 1794, by Governor Simcoe of Canada, and it stood far within American territory granted by the treaty of 1783 at Paris. If there had been any doubt about the attitude of the British toward
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PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
PUBLIC SQUARE, SANDUSKY, ERIE COUNTY
the Americans and their encouragement of the Indians, all such doubt vanished when Simcoe sent fonr companies of British reg- ulars and built this strong fortress far within the acknowledged limits of the United States. Fort Miami was garrisoned with four hundred and fifty British regulars, was strongly built and mounted ten heavy guns, besides mortars and swivels. It was, as it was meant to be, a strong rallying place and depot of arms and provisions for the hostile Indian confederacy of the Northwest. The ruins of the old fort are still plainly visible on the west bank of the river about a mile below the village of Manmee. In a time of peace between the two nations, the par- liament of England permitted its agents in the Northwest to dis- pense from Fort Miami the
weapons, ammunition and
provisions which enabled the savage tribes to harry the struggling settlers of Ohio and wage their battle against the Legion of Wayne. While this perfidy and bad faith on the part of the British must ever tend to excite the contempt and an- imosity of Americans, we should also remember that the generation of English- men defeated in the War of the Revolution were still alive at that time, and all the jealonsies and hatreds enkindled by that great struggle were still fresh and vigorous and continued so until after the War of 1812. Indeed, almost a century of peace, with the added force of kindred ties and interests, has scarcely extinguished all traces of the hostile feeling between England and the
United States en- gendered by their carly struggles for the control of the Western continent.
Not waiting for answer to his offer of peace, Wayne marched from Fort Defiance on August 15, and reached Roche de Boeuf on the 18th. Roche de Boenf was a cele- brated landmark among the savage tribes. This mas- sive, frowning rock still rises from the western edge of the river about a mile above the village of Waterville and about it still clus- ters a sanguinary Indian legend. On the way to the rock Wayne met his returning peace messenger with a shuffling, evasive answer from the Indians to the effect that if Wayne would wait ten days longer the tribes would treat with him for peace. Wayne knew this was only a device to se- cure delay for the assembling of all the confederated warriors, so he resolved to press on. He now had under his command a force of about three thousand men. Two thousand of these composed the Legion of regulars, infantry and cavalry, and the other thousand were the mounted Kentucky riflemen under Scott. Through his spies and Indian captives Wayne learned that two thousand braves from the tribes of the Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, Miamis, Pottawatomies, Chippewas and
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