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 5
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
58
PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
AN AUTOMOBILE MOWER.
their heavy artillery, the fort must be abandoned and burned, provided a retreat could be effected with safety.
In the orders left with Major Croghan, it was stated, " Should the British troops approach you in force, with cannon, and you discover them in time to effect a retreat, you will do so immediately, destroying all the public stores. You must bc aware that an attempt to retreat in the face of an Indian force would be vain. Against such an enemy your garrison would be safe, however great the number."
General Harrison had been for a short time at Upper Sandusky, several miles further south, hasten- ing the assembling of a little army with which he hoped to take the aggressive, and was sorely disap- pointed by the slow rate at which his reinforcements could thread the paths of the new country. Three or four hundred dragoons were all he had when the news of Proctor's expedition reached him. A regiment from Kentucky was on its way but had not yet arrived. On the even- ing of the 29th of July General Harrison received word from General Clay, that the enemy had abandoned the siege of Fort Mcigs and, as the Indians on that day had swarmed in the woods around his camp, he entertained no doubt but that an immediate attack was intended, either on Fort Stephenson or Fort Seneca. He therefore called a council of war, consisting of Generals McArthur, Cass, Ball and others, who were unanimously of the opinion that Fort Stephenson was untenable against heavy artillery and that, as the enemy could bring with facility, any quantity of battering cannon against it, by which it must inevitably fall, and as the post contained nothing the loss of which would be felt, that the garrison should not be reinforced but withdrawn and the place destroyed. In pursuance of this decision the General immediately despatched the order to Major Croghan, directing him to abandon Fort Stephenson at once, set it on fire, and repair with his command to headquarters. This order was sent by a Mr. Conner and two Indians, who lost their
ALONG THE BANKS
Of the Sandusky River near Bucyrus, Crawford County.
SUMMER DAY SCENERY
On Sandusky River near Bucyrus, Crawford County.
59
BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
way in the dark and did not reach Fort Stephenson until 11 o'clock the next day. When Major Cro- ghan received it he was of the opinion that he could not then re- treat with safety, as the Indians were hovering around the fort in considerable force. He called a council of his officers, a majority of whom coincided with him in the opinion that a retreat would be unsafe, and that the post could be maintained against the enemy, at least until further instructions could be received from headquar- ters.
Such a command as Major Croghan had received, probably seemed to a young officer to imply a suspicion of his valor or his ca- pacity and, stung, perhaps, by this view of it, Major Croghan sent back a reply which well nigh cost him his commission. He said : "Sir, I have just received yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock p m., order- ing me to destroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received too late to be carried into execution. We have deter- mined to maintain this place, and by heavens we can." Major Croghan was at once relieved of the command, and ordered to General Harrison's headquarters in arrest, but when the General saw the man, and knew that his confidence was that of true cour- age and no mere vaporing, he easily accepted the explanation that the terms of Croghan's reply had been worded with the expecta- tion that the dispatch might fall into the enemy's hands, and that in that case he wished to impress them with the danger of an
FOURTH OF JULY CORN IN THE BLACK SWAMP
assault; and he sent the young hero back to resume his command just as the British entered the river.
A reconnoitering party, which had been sent from headquar- ters to the shore of the lake, about twenty miles from Fort Stephenson, discovered the approach of the enemy by water, on the evening of the 31st of July. They returned by the fort after 12 o'clock the next day, and had pissed it but a few hours when the enemy made their appearance. The Indians showed themselves first on the hill, across the river, where they were
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, SANDUSKY.
SCENE ON LAKE ERIE.
60
PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
A COUNTRY HOME ALONG THE PERRYSBURG PIKE, In Wood County, near Bowling Green
saluted by a six-pounder, the only piece of artillery in the fort, which soon caused them to retire. In about half an hour the British gunboats came in sight, and the Indian forces displayed themselves in every direction, with a view to intercept the garrison, should a retreat be attempted. The six- pounder was fired a few times at the gunboat, and the fire was returned by the artillery of the enemy. A landing of their troops, with a five and a half-inch howitzer, was effected about a mile below the fort, and Major Chambers, accompanied by Dickson, was dispatched towards the fort with a flag, and was met, on the part of Major Croghan, by Ensign Shipp of the Sixteenth Regiment. After the usual ceremonies, Major Chambers observed that he was instructed by General Proctor to demand the sur- render of the fort, as he was anxious to spare the effusion of human blood, which he could not do should he be under the necessity of reducing it, by the powerful force of artillery, regulars and Indians at his command. Ensign Shipp replied that the commandant of the fort and its garrison were determined to defend it to the last extremity, and that no force, however, great, could induce them to surrender, as they were resolved to maintain their post or to bury themselves in its ruins.
Dickson then said that their immense body of Indians could not be restrained from murdering the whole garrison, in case of success, and urged
them to surrender and prevent the dreadful massacre that would be eaused by their resistanee. Mr. Shipp replied that when the fort was taken there would be mone to massacre, as it would not be given up while a man was able to resist. The enemy now opened their fire from their six-pounders in the gunboats and the howitzer on shore, which they continued through the night with but little intermission and very little effeet. The forees of the enemy consisted of 500 regulars and about 800 Indians, eommanded by Diekson, the whole being eommanded by General Proctor in person. Teeumsel was stationed on the road to Fort Meigs, with a body of 2,000 Indians, ex- peeting to intercept a reinforcement on that route. Major Croghan, through the evening oeeasionally fired his six-pounder; at the same time ehanging its place often to induce the belief that he had more than one piece. As it produced very little effeet on the enemy, and he was desirous of saving his am- munition, he soon discontinued firing. The enemy had direeted their fire against the northwest angle of the fort, which induced the commander to believe that an attempt to storm the works would be made at that point. In the night Captain Hunter was directed to seeretly remove the six-pounder to a block- house, from which it would rake that angle. The embrasure was masked and the pieee loaded with a double charge of slugs and grape shot.
VIEW ON AN OIL LEASE.
Early in the morning of August 2, the enemy opened fire from their howitzer and their six-pound- ers, which they had landed in the night and planted in a point of woods about 250 yards from the fort, which convinced Major Croghan that they would endeavor to make a breach and storm the works at that point. He therefore strengthened that place as mich as possible, with bags of flour and sand, which was so effectual that the pieketings in that plaee sustained no material injury. Late in the evening, when the smoke of the firing had completely envel- oped the fort, the enemy proceeded to make the assault. Two feints were made toward the southern angle, where Captain Hunter's lines were formed, and at the same time a column of 350 men was dis- covered advancing through the smoke within twenty paees of the northwestern angle. A heavy galling fire was now opened upon the enemy from the fort, which threw them into some confusion. Colonel Short, who was at the head of the principal column, soon rallied his men and led them with great bravery to the brink of the ditch. After a momentary pause he leaped into the ditch, ealling to his men to follow him, and in a few moments it was full. The masked port hole was now opened and the six-pounder, at a
GREEN PASTURE.
BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
61
THE MODERN WAY OF MAKING HAY.
distance of thirty feet, poured sueh destruction among them that but few who had entered the diteh were fortunate enough to es- cape. Colonel Short, while ordering his men to eut down the piekets and give the Americans no quarter, fell mortally wounded, and hoisting his white handkerchief on the end of his sword, begged for that mercy which he had a moment before ordered to be denied to-his enemy.
A precipitate and confused retreat was the immediate eonse- quenee of the eneounter, although some of the officers attempted to rally their men. The other column, led by Colonel Warburton and Major Chambers, was also routed in confusion by a destruc- tive fire from the line commanded by Captain Hunter. The whole of them fled into an adjoining wood, beyond the reach of our arms. During the assault the enemy kept up an incessant fire from their howitzer and five six-pounders. They left Colonel Short and twenty-five privates dead in the diteh. The number of prisoners taken was twenty-six, most of them badly wounded. The total loss of the British and Indians was 150. The loss of the garrison was one killed and seven slightly wounded. Samuel Thurman, the one man of the garrison who was killed, met his death through his desire to shoot a red-eoat. He elimbed to the top of the blockhouse and, while peering over, a six-pound ball from the enemy's cannon took off his head.
HARVESTING CELERY NEAR SANDUSKY.
The assault lasted only about half an hour. The dark stormelond that had been hovering over the West passed northward, a gentle breeze from the southwest bore the smoke of battle far away over the forest, toward Lake Erie, and in the lonely twilight of that memorable Sabbath evening the brave young Croghan addressed his gallant little band with eloquent words of praise and grateful thanksgiving. As the night and the silenee deep- ened, and the groans of the wounded in the diteh fell upon his ears, his generous heart beat with sympathy. Buckets filled with water were let down by ropes from the outside of the pickets and, as the gates of the fort could not be opened with safety during the night, he made a communieation with the ditch, by means of a treneh, through which the wounded were borne into the little fort- ress and their necessities supplied.
All who were able, preferred, of course, to fol- low their defeated comrades, and many others were carried from the vieinity of the fort by the Indians, particularly their own killed and wound- ed. About 3 o'eloek in the morning the whole British and Indian force eommeneed a disorderly
A POWER HOUSE IN THE OIL FIELD.
retreat. So great was their precipitation that they left a sailboat containing some elothing and a considerable quantity of military stores, and the next day seventy stands of arms and some braces of pistols were collected around the fort. Their hurry and confusion were caused by the appre- hension of an attaek by General Harrison, of whose position and foree they had prob- ably received an exaggerated account.
It was the intention of General Harrison, should the enemy sueceed against Fort Stephenson, or should they turn his left and fall on Upper Sandusky, to leave his camp at Fort Seneea and fall back to the latter place. But by the firing on the even- ing of the 1st he discovered that the enemy had nothing but light artillery, which eould make no impression on the fort, and he knew that an attempt to storm it, without making a breach, could be successfully re- pelled by the garrison. He therefore deter- mined to wait for the arrival of 250 mount- ed volunteers, approaching by the way of Upper Sandusky, and then to march against the enemy and raise the siege if possible.
62
PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
(1)
GLACIAL_EVIDENCES ON KELLEY'S ISLAND, LAKE ERIE.
1
783
25
AN OILTANK FARM.
Ile sent scouts to ascertain the situation and force, but the woods were so infested with Indians that none of them could proceed near enough to the fort to make the necessary discoveries. About 9 o'clock in the evening Major Croghan had ascertained, from their collecting about their boats, that the enemy were preparing to embark and had immediately sent word to General Harrison, who, determined to wait no longer for the reinforcements, immediately set out with the dragoons for Fort Stephenson. The road by which he came follows an old Indian trail, meandering the river all the way until it approaches Fremont, where it passes through Spiegel Grove, and, winding around through the town, turns north- westward toward Fort Meigs and Maumee. It was known as the "Harrison trail" and, though crooked and sometimes almost impassable, was at least a guide through the Black Swamp, which travelers could follow without fear of losing their way.
General Harrison reached the fort early in the morning, having ordered Generals McArthur and Cass to follow him, with all the disposable infantry,
at that place. Finding that the enemy had fled entirely from the fort, so as not to be reached by him, and learning that Tecumseh was near Fort Meigs with 2,000 war- riors, he sent the infantry back to Fort Seneca, lest Tecumseh should make an attack on that place. In his official report of this affair Gen- eral Harrison observes that: "It will not be among the least of General Proctor's mortifications that he has been baffled by a youth who had just passed his twenty-first year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant unele, General George R. Clark."
"Too much praise, " said Major Croghan, "can not be bestowed on the officers and privates under my command for their gallantry and good conduct during the siege." The brevet rank of Lieutenant-
OIL WELLS BEING PUMPED BY RODS FROM A POWER HOUSE.
Colonel was immediately conferred on Major Croghan by the President of the United States for his valorous conduct on this occasion, and his gal- lantry was further acknowledged by a joint resolution of Congress, ap- proved in February, 1835, presenting to him a gold medal and a sword to each of the officers under his com- mand.
Of the life of Colonel Croghan very little is known except that he was a native of Kentucky, having been born rear Louisville in 1791. His father. Major Win. Croghan, was a native of Ireland, and a gallant soldier of the Revolution. He received a good edu- cation, graduated at William and Mary College in Virginia, and soon afterwards began the study of law. In 1811 he volunteered as private. was appointed aide to General Har- rison, and distinguished himself in the battle of Tippecanoe. After the declaration of war with Great Britain
750
VIEW OF AN OIL TANK FARM.
64
PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
AN OIL REFINERY.
he was appointed Captain in the Seventeenth Regiment of Infantry and was made Major in 1813. He again distinguished himself at the memorable sieges of Fort Meigs, and in July, 1813, was placed in command of Fort Stephenson. He was made Inspeetor- General of the Army in 1825, and in that eapaeity served with General Taylor in Mexico in 1846-'47. He died in New Orleans in 1849.
The Fort Stephenson fight was typical of its period, It was. at onee, part of the struggle for independenee and a type of the desperate conflict of the frontiersman with savage hordes, with wild beasts and with the unsubdued wilderness itself.
Immediately associated with Colonel Croghan's victory are the frontier names of the pioneer history of the West-General Har- rison, Commodore Perry, General Cass, General MeArthur, Governor Meigs and a long list of other men, whose names were household words in the homes of the first settlers of this region, were all closely identi- fied with the military events which hinged upon the brilliant vietory which was gained here, and which decided the struggle for the vast and noble territory which is tribu- tary to the Great Lakes of the North- west.
After the War of 1812, Croghan's old cannon Betsy was sent to the Government Arsenal at Pittsburg, and remained there until about 1851, when Mr. Briee J. Bartlett, then Mayor of Fremont, conceived the design of proeuring the old gun as a relie, to be kept at the place it so greatly aided to defend. He sent a soldier who had helped use the gun in Fort Stephenson to Pittsburg, to identify it by some peeuliar mark
- on the breeeh, and by persistent ef- fort, finally sueeeeded in loeating it and ordered it sent to Lower San- dusky. But there were then several Sanduskys and, by some mistake, the old eannon was sent to Sandusky City, where there never was a battle. But the Sandusky people wanted to keep the gun and a sharp eontro- versy arose in regard to it. They, however, it is said, to seeure the gun against seizure, buried it. But Mr. Bartlett, not to be foiled, employed a deteetive, who, finally learning where the gun was buried, and aided by others, went to Sandusky, uneov- ered the eannon and brought it baek to its old resting plaee. The gar- rison, it is said, named the gun "Good Bess." In 1852, on August 2, at a celebration of Croghan's splendid victory here, Mr. Thomas L. Hawkins, a Methodist loeal preacher, who was also a poet, read a poem which was a salutation to the old six-pounder, in which he ad- dressed her as "Betsey Croghan," a name by which the gun has ever since been known. In another poem on Colonel Croghan's vietory at Fort Stephenson this poet ealls the gun "Our Bess."
Historically the heart of the city of Fremont is Fort Stephen- son Park, with its City Hall, its monument and its publie library, while the historic Betsey Croghan and other disused cannons add a sterner touch to the seene.
THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE .- It was a fair morning in September, a gentle breeze was blowing down the lake, rippling the water. A little Ameriean fleet lay peacefully at anehor in the beautiful island-loeked bay of South Bass Island, its brave young commander and sturdy men anxiously waiting for the
STANDARD OIL CO.'S BUILDING, LIMA.
BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
4
M.
OLD
144
1
MANHATTAN
M. O. Co.
OIL, Co.
GALLONS
68
TTAN
65
OIL LOADING STATION AT OIL REFINERY, WELKER.
66
PICTURESQUE NORTHWESTERN OHIO
IN THE CLOVER FIELD.
sign of a coming hostile sail. A few days before, with the Union Jack vauntingly flying, they had passed the British forts at Malden, up at the head of the lake, behind which, under cover, lay the British fleet. The challenge to come out and fight in open water had been unheeded, and Perry and his men were waiting for something to turn up.
The sun was just coming up in a cloudless sky behind the slopes of the islands, when a messenger knocked at the command- er's cabin door. The British fleet was in sight, coming down the Jake. "The day has come at last!" exclaimed Lieutenant Elliott, as he climbed up the side of the flagship Lawrence to get his com- mander's order. "The one we have long been wishing for," re- sponded Perry. Quickly the plan of action was decided. Hur- ried orders were given. On the ship Lawrence, up from the hal- yards, rose the great blue flag, bearing to the breeze the dying words of the brave James Lawrence: "Don't give up the ship" -words that so soon were to be the sign by which a great battle was to be won and the fame of an American boy made inmortal.
What a little fleet it was to win so great a victory! Measured by modern standards of engineering warfare but a mere handful of small sailing vessels, rudely constructed; comprising, all told,
but nine boats, some carrying but one or two guns, and all only fifty-four. The most effective of these were as short in range as a pistol. One warship of Dewey's fleet could have torn them all to shreds. The crews, numbering, all told, only about 400, were made up almost entirely of untried sailors and landsmen. But they were brave men, stirred with the spirit of patriots, and fired by love of country. Their commanders were all young officers, few of whom had seen actual service, but they felt that their na- tion's honor was in their keeping. How true it is that a righteous cause is half the victory already won.
The British fleet, on the other hand, was commanded by offi- cers of experience in naval warfare. Commodore Barelay had seen service with the great Nelson in ocean warfare, and lost an arm in one of his battles on the Nile. His fleet comprised six ves- sels, three less than Perry's in number, but carrying sixty-four guns of longer range and large calibre. Seamen trained to the service stood behind them and before the masts. Out from the little bay sailed Perry and his fleet, into the open water to the westward. The British fleet was slowly, but defiantly, coming down the lake upon them. The breeze dying away delayed the encounter. Close action was what young Perry wanted, and so it proved also wished his opponent, the brave Captain Barclay.
Not long had they to wait. Swinging hither and thither, their sail hanging lifeless, the little fleet of American vessels was indeed at the merey of the wind-too far away to get into aetion,
JUDGE BURKET'S RESIDENCE, FINDLAY
they could not come up to help the Lawrence, on which Perry had led, and was soon to be under the British fire. At a quarter before twelve the Brit- ish commander opened fire by his flagship, the De- troit. A gun from the Lawrence replied, but the shot fell into the water. It had carried scareely two-thirds the way of its mark. Another shot from the British tore through the Lawrenee and the brave Lieutenant Yarnell staggered bleeding, but rose to take his place again defiantly at the guns. Under such a fire, now joined in by the other Brit- ish ships, stood the dauntless Perry and his deter- mined crew, until the Lawrenee was torn and rid- dled, and stripped of sail and mast, and the dead and wounded covered the decks and crowded the hatchways.
It was a terrible suspense! With the rest of the American fleet to far away to help, waiting a favor- able breeze to bring them up to the ill-fated Law- rence fighting solitary and alone. There was no thought, however, of surrender. All Perry was seeking was a position where he could fight back.
OIL DERRICKS IN SUBURBS OF LIMA.
67
BATTLE GROUNDS OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
The Lawrence had ceased firing. "It is wasting pow- der and shot," exclaimed its commander. But God did not desert him-dark though it looked. Soon the Lawrence drifted in among the British boats-every brace and bow line shot away, and not a sail left to work. But her carronades were within range of the enemy's boats, and their shot began to tell. Down came the topmast of one of the English brigs. With seven guns that Perry found he could use, her motto flag still flying, the Lawrence stood her ground with thirty-two English guns concentrated upon her. It was a terrible ordeal but the men on the Lawrence kept at it, as if to fight was the only thing to do, no matter what their fate.
Perry realized that to surrender the Lawrence would be a death blow to all chance of victory, and held on. His men realized it as well as he. English shot went clear through the Lawrence; man after man at the guns was torn to pieces. Soon the brave Lientenant Brooks fell. Again and again was the re- sistless Yarnell wounded, only to leave his post for the surgeon below, after the repeated order of his commander, only to return again. Four times he was wounded. How fortunate it was that in this
TANK FARM NEAR LIMA Each Tank Has a Capacity of 35,000 Barrels.
A NITRO-GLYCERINE FACTORY
terrible encounter of the Lawrence, Perry's life was spared. The dying words of Brooks were prophetic : "If Perry's life is saved he'll win us out of this." In that swift, single-handed engage- ment of the Lawrence with the entire British Heet. every American officer save Perry was wounded or killed, and three-fourths of the crew.
In the two hours of awful suspense and ter- rible conflict, a slight breeze had sprung up and the other vessels of Perry's fleet began to move slowly toward the line of battle. Unable to shift his own ship, now completely disabled and rid- dled, Perry seized upon a new plan. It came like an inspiration as he looked out towards his now slowly moving boats, still too far away. He or- dered the little yawl boat manned. Two men who were helping the surgeon care for the wound- ed and dying below had to be called, so shattered was his force on deck, and leaving the brave Yar- nell in command he ordered down the motto flag, wrapped it about his arm, and was a moment later being rowed away to the Niagara, the shot flying about his little craft and eutting the water all
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.