USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 26
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CR.W.Ellion LHA
FORT HARMER In 1990 By JasGilman.
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little son, Joseph, taken prisoner in April, 1791. The single men recollected were Major Anselm Tupper, E. W. Tupper, Benjamin Tupper, Rev. Daniel Story, Thomas Hutchinson, William Smith, Gilbert Devol, jr., Oliver Dodge, Alpheus Russell, Thomas Corey and Azariah Pratt. There were a few other families whose names are not retained.
The descendants of nearly all these families are now living in Ohio, the most of them in Washington county. They were nearly all of them from the New England states, and were descendants of the Puritans.
Fort Harmer.
This fort was erected on the right bank of the Muskin- gum river, at its junction with the Ohio, by a detachment of United States troops, under the command of Major John Doughty, in the autumn of the year 1785, but was not com- pleted until the following year. The position was judi- ciously chosen, as it commanded not only the mouth of the Muskingum, but swept the waters of the Ohio, from a curve in the river for a considerable distance both above and below the fort. It was the first military post built within the limits of the present state of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, which was built in 1778. The fort stood on what is called the " second bottom," being elevated above the or- dinary floods of the Ohio, while between it and the banks of the river was a lower or first bottom, depressed about six feet, on to which the descent was by a gradual slope. This regular natural glacis was continued for a quarter of a mile up the Muskingum, and for a considerable distance below on the Ohio, adding greatly to the unrivaled beauty of the spot. The outlines of the fort formed a regular pen- tagon, and the area embraced within its walls contained about three-fourths of an acre. The curtains or main walls of the fort were constructed of large timbers, placed hori- zontally to the hight of twelve or fourteen feet, and were one hundred and twenty feet in length, as was recently
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ascertained by measurement, as the outlines of two of the bastions can be still readily traced in the earth. The bas- tions were constructed of large timbers set upright in the ground, fourteen feet in hight, fastened together by strips of timber treenailed into each picket. The outlines of these were also pentagonal; the fifth side or that opening into the area of the fort being occupied by block houses, used as quarters for the officers.
The barracks or dwellings for the private soldiers were built along the sides of the curtains, with their roofs sloping inward. They were divided into four rooms, of thirty feet each, with convenient fire places; and afforded ample space for a regiment of men. The officers' houses were made of hewed logs, two stories high, two rooms on a floor, with chimneys at each end. The large house in the south-east bastion was used for a store house. From the roof of the barrack which stood in the curtain, facing the Ohio, there arose a square tower like a cupola, surmounted by a flag- staff, in which was stationed the sentinel. The room beneath was the guard house. An arsenal, built of timber and covered with earth, stood in the area of the fort near the guard-house, and answered as a magazine, or bomb-proof, for their powder. The main gate was next the river ; with a sally port on the side toward the hills, which rise ab- ruptly from the level grounds, at the distance of a quarter of a mile.
Near the center of the fort was a well for the supply of the garrison in case of a siege, although for ordinary pur- poses water was brought from the river. In the rear and to the left of the fort, on the ground which had supplied the materials for building, Major Doughty had laid out fine gardens. These were cultivated by the soldiers, and in the virgin soil of the rich alluvions, produced an abundant crop of culinary vegetables, for the use of the garrison.
To the bravery and pride of a soldier, the major also pos- sessed a refined taste for horticulture. Peaches were
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planted as soon as the ground was cleared, and in the second or third year produced fruit. A variety of his origi- nating is still cultivated in Marietta, and known as the " Doughty peach."
Fort Harmer was named in honor of General Josiah Harmer, to whose command Major Doughty was attached. It continued to be occupied by the troops of the United States until September, 1790, when they were ordered down the river to Fort Washington, now Cincinnati.
During the war the barracks and officers' houses were chiefly occupied by the Ohio company settlers, only a small detachment being stationed at the fort. The house in the south-west bastion was occupied by Paul Fearing, and for several years after the war, the fort was a great conve- nience to the inhabitants, affording them comfortable dwellings, as well as a protection against the Indians. There were no regular batteries built within the fort, for the mounting of cannon, as it was in no danger of attack from enemies who had the use of artillery. One or two six pound field pieces were mounted on carriages, and kept on the bank of the river near the walls. With these they could command the boats on the river. The hill from which the drawing of the fort was taken looked directly into it, and cannon on its brow could sweep every part of it. As an early post, to awe and keep the savages in check, the loca- tion was a judicious one.
Between the fort and the bank of the river there was sufficient space to muster a battallion of men. A part of the ground was occupied by three stout log buildings, for the use of the artificers attached to the garrison. The rivers have made sad inroads on the site of the old fort. At this day not only the whole space between it and the river is washed away, but more than half of the ground occupied by the walls ; so that the stone wall of the well, which was near the center, is now tumbling down the bank of the river. This continual wasting of the banks has widened the mouth
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NAMES OF FAMILIES AT FORT HARMER
of the Muskingum so much, that during the summer months a sand bar or island occupies the spot that used to afford ten or twelve feet of water. Before any clearings were made, the huge sycamore trees, as they inclined over the water on the opposite shores, narrowed the mouth of the river so much, that a person passing hastily by in the mid- dle of the Ohio, would hardly notice its outlet, so darkly was it shadowed by these giants of the forest. The hand of cultivation has greatly injured the permanency and les- sened the beauty of the river banks of the streams, by. cutting away the trees. The roots acted as so many liga- tures and fillets of net-work in protecting the earth from the wash of the waters, while their graceful trunks and drooping branches, served to beautify the banks of "La Belle riviere."
Names of the heads of families, who lived in and near to Fort Harmer, during the war.
Hon. Joseph Gilman and wife. B. J. Gilman, his son and wife, with one @ two children. They kept a store of goods or merchandise, in a small frame building, where the stone store now stands, and the two families lived in a block house, built where L. Barber now lives. Paul Fearing, Esq., unmarried, lived in the south-west block house of the fort, given him by Major Doughty. Colonel Thomas Gibson, single man, from Pennsylvania, was the licensed Indian trader for Washington county, and lived and kept his merchandise in a block house, near where David Putnam, Esq., now lives. He was afterwards the first auditor of the state of Ohio. Hezekiah Flint, one of the first forty-eight pioneers; a carpenter by trade; moved to Cincinnati. Gould Davenport, single man. Mrs. Welch and three or four children. Her husband died of small pox in 1790. She married Thomas Hutchinson. Preserved Seaman, wife and four sons-Samuel, Gilbert, Preserved, and Benajah. Samuel had a wife and two or three children
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NAMES OF FAMILIES AT FORT HARMER.
and occupied the guard house of the fort. They emi- grated from Nova Scotia, drew donation lots, and settled on the Muskingum. Benjamin Baker, wife and one child ; lived in small stone house, a few rods south of the fort. George Warth, wife and five sons, young men, and two daughters, brought up in the back woods: John, George, Robert, Martin and Alexander, all of them fine hunters. John and George were employed as rangers for Fort Har- mer. The family lived in a log house, on the first bottom, between the garrison and the river, built by the United States troops for the artificers to work in. George married Ruth Fleehart, sister of Joshua, and John married Sally Fleehart, and lived in one of the barracks of the fort. Paul Fearing, who lived in the adjoining block house, took a deep interest in the welfare of John, who possessed a kind, pleasant disposition, and a sprightly mind. Not one of the family could read or write their names. After some persuasion, he concluded to let Mr. Fearing teach him to read in the intervals of his ranging tours, and when this was accomplished he soon learned to write, in a satisfactory manner. After the peace, he settled in what is now Jack- son county, Virginia, a little below Buffington's island, and served as a magistrate for several years. He became quite a wealthy planter, and the owner of a number of slaves. His success in after life may all be attributed to his lear- ning to read and write after he was married. His wife had been brought up on the frontiers, and possessed all the intrepidity and courage, so common to females of that class, in an eminent degree. She could fire a rifle with great accuracy, bring down a hawk on the wing, or a squirrel from the tree top, as readily as her husband.
Joseph Fletcher was a young man from New England, and married Catharine, one of old Mr. Warth's daughters, and settled in Gallia county. He was surveyor of the county, and one of the judges of common pleas. He bored 21
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NAMES OF FAMILIES AT FORT HARMER.
the first salt well in that part of the county, on Chickemanga creek. Died in 1844.
Picket Meroin, also a young man from the eastern states, married Polly Warth, the sister of Catharine. He settled in Gallia, and served several years as a magistrate.
Francis Thiery and wife, with two children, Pierre and Catharine La Lance, of his wife by a former husband. He was one of the French emigrants and had been bred as a baker and confectioner in Paris. His bake-house stood be- tween the fort and the river, and had been built for the use of the troops, where he found an oven ready to his hand. He made sweet cakes and loaves of fine bread. When the late king of France was in exile, in the United States, he passed through Marietta; he visited Mons. Thiery's bake-house and bought several loaves of his nice bread. He also pursued the gentle art of angling, with wonderful skill and success, catching more fish than any other three men in the garrison; being in that respect a second Isaac Walton. His wife was a faithful help-mate, not only as- sisting him in the baking operations, but also accompanied him to his garden and little cornfield, dressed in a suit of her husband's clothes, cheering him at his work with her lively French tongue. This was probably done to deceive the Indians. Mons. Thiery lived for many years after the war, and retained his love for angling to old age. He died a few years since, leaving an estate worth several thousand dollars. Catharine La Lance married Robert Warth, who was killed by the Indians soon after. Her son, Robert, is now a merchant in Gallipolis.
Monsieur Cookie, a single man, was another of the French emigrants who remained at Fort Harmer, and was a well educated gentleman, bred to no particular calling. He was a small, short man, and noted for wearing a very tall, steeple crowned hat, similar in fashion to those worn by the cavaliers in the days of Charles II. He had a great taste for trapping, fowling,
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ANECDOTES OF FRENCH EMIGRANTS.
and hunting, and used to set his traps in a little run about a hundred rods from the garrison. The Indians, who often watched the movements of the inhabitants from the hill which overlooked the fort, had discovered his trail to the traps, and one day, in the summer of 1792, lay in wait for his approach, by the side of the little path that wound through the papaw bushes and fallen timber to the scene of his labors. Seeing the top of his high crowned hat ap- proaching above the bushes, they fired at it thinking the balls would hit the head within it. But in this they were deceived, for both bullets passed through the crown an inch or two above his head, doing no other harm than giving him a terrible fright. Being an active little man, he ran with all speed to the fort, escaping their pursuit, and glad to compound for his life by the marring of his favorite hat. He had been often told by the rangers that the Indians would some day kill him if he continued his trips to the traps so far from the fort. This alarm cured him, and he gave up the occupation of trapper, but continued to wear his cavalier hat a long time after, displaying the bullet holes in the crown as trophies of his lucky escape.
- Mons. Le Blond, another emigrant, who carried on for a living a distillery of cordials, made from the wild native grapes, papaws, sassafras, mint, &c .; he also manufac- tured very nice wooden shoes, made from the soft wood of the buckeye. They were much worn by the French people at all times ; and in wet, muddy states of the streets, by the other inhabitants.
Mons. Shouman, wife and son. He followed gardening, being bred to that occupation in France. Having lost his wife, after the war he married the widow of Sherman Wa- terman, who was killed by the Indians in 1795 and lived at Waterford.
Monsieur Gubbeau, another emigrant, a young man of great activity and a fine waterman. In company with Pierre La Lance, Mrs. Thiery's son, they transported
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MAIL BOATS.
the mail, in the year 1795, from Marietta to Gallipolis, in a large canoe. It was made by Captain Jonathan Devol, from the trunk of a wild cherry tree, and finished as nicely as any piece of cabinet furniture. The length was forty feet and would carry twenty men ; but was so nicely mod- eled for passing through the water, that two men could move her with poles or paddles as easily as any other canoe of half the size. The trip up and down was performed in a week, being a little over one hundred miles.
The head quarters of a company of fifty men was es- tablished at the fort, after the year 1791. The soldiers were distributed in small detachments at the different garrisons, and changed every few months, by a fresh squad. Their presence gave confidence to the inhabitants, and enabled them to devote more time to the cultivation of their fields, as they kept the guard of the garrison, while they were out at their work. Captain Haskell commanded a part of the time, and Lieutenant Morgan at another.
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MARIETTA
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GARRISON AT " THE POINT."
CHAPTER XV.
Plate and description of Marietta garrison, at "the point."- Night adven- ture .- Names of families and persons, with the houses in which they lived. - Anecdotes. - Schools .- Ohio company in 1793. - Donation lands. - Scar- let fever .- Small pox. - Indian adventure. - Bird Lockhart .- Crops of corn, 1794 .- R. Worth killed. - Packet mail boats established. - Adventure with Indians .- 1795 .- Ohio company acts .- College lands surveyed. - Fund for preaching .- Colonists go on to their farms .- Rapid improvements. -First legislature .- Difficulties of traveling .- Delegate to Congress, 1802. - Constitution adopted, and the state of Ohio formed.
Description of the garrison at " the point."
The first dwelling houses in Marietta were erected at " the point," in a short time after the landing of the pio- neers; and at the breaking out of the war in 1791, there were about twenty houses occupied by families. These houses were generally made of round logs, and did not pos- sess the neatness and finish of the dwellings in Campus Martius. When the war began, several families from the country moved in and erected additional houses. No block houses, or defenses of any kind, had been built. The ground was cleared of nearly all the trees from the Ohio bank up the Muskingum to Tyber creek, and east, to a little beyond the east side of First street. The center of this area was lower than on the banks of the rivers, and occupied by a small run that passed obliquely across the village, discharg- ing its water into the Muskingum a few rods below where Cram's mill now stands. The mouth of the run was without the palisades, and crossed by a bridge close to the gate, which was placed near the Muskingum block house, and was
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GARRISON AT "THE POINT."
the outlet to the road which communicated with Campus Martius. The town plat was encumbered with stumps and some fallen timber. When the war commenced, Colonel William Stacey was employed by the Ohio company to superintend the erection of defenses, under the direction of Colonel Sproat. A line of palisades was set from the Muskingum river, easterly to the east side of First street, ter- minating in this direction near to where lawyer Hart now lives. From thence on the east side of First street to the Ohio river ; inclosing about four acres. A piece of ground, of nearly the same size, remained uninclosed, between the northern line of palisades and Tyber creek, for corn and garden grounds. Three or four houses stood on the outside of the defenses, near the block house on the Muskingum bank, occupied by Colonel Nyghswonger, Jacob Wiser and Isaac Mixer, as seen in the sketch of the garrison. Two or three other buildings stood in Ohio street, near the upper gate, outside the palisades.
Three block houses were immediately built: one on the Muskingum bank, at the western termination of the pickets ; one in the northeast corner of the inclosure; and one on the Ohio bank. Near to the latter, and by that on the Muskingum, were strong gates, of a size to admit teams, the approaches to which were commanded by the block houses. These block houses were surmounted by sentry boxes, or turrets, the sides of which were secured with thick planks for the defense of the men when on guard. The upper room in the block house number one was occupied as a school house a large portion of the time, while the lower story contained one or two families. In block house num- ber two, in the northeast corner of the garrison, families lived in the upper story, and the lower one was used for a guard house. A sergeant's guard of Ohio company troops, commanded by Joseph Barker, since a colonel and judge of the court of common pleas, had charge of this building for two or more years. Block house number three stood on
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ITS DISCIPLINE. :
the bank of the Ohio. A sentry was posted on it every night. It was occupied by the family of Colonel William Stacey, a very excellent and useful man. Block house num- ber four stood near the spot where Mr. Dunn's hatter's shop now stands. It was built in the spring of the year 1792, by a detachment of United States troops under Lieutenant Til- linghast, from Rhode Island. It was the largest block house in the garrison, the lower story being twenty-six feet square, and upper one nearly thirty. The timbers were eight inches thick, hewed smooth. The joints snug and tight, with good floors, and bullet proof doors and window shutters. During the war, the upper story was occupied for a ma- gazine; and after its close it was used for holding the county courts, while the lower room served for a jail. The building stood in the line of the pickets partly in and on the east side of First street. During the war it was occupied by the United States troops, who kept a sentry, and assisted in guarding the garrison until sent down the Ohio to join Gen- eral Wayne.
After the defeat of General St. Clair, Captain Jonathan Haskell was ordered to Marietta, and took command of the garrison, and put it under military law. The gates were closed at the setting of the sun, and sentries posted on the adjacent block houses, preventing any one from passing in or out until sunrise next morning. This order produced some difficulty between the military and the citizens. Several families had houses, stacks of grain and forage outside the palisades, and resided there by day, but came in at night. This made it difficult to conform to the strict police of the garrison, as the citizen had to provide his own rations, while the soldiers were fed by the public. Many incidents might arise to prevent the citizen from being within the gates at sunset. For this reason several families moved out into houses near the garrison, and remained out at the hazard of being killed by the Indians.
Considerable fields were cultivated where the court house
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NIGHT ADVENTURE.
now stands, and so round in the neighborhood of the col- lege, and up the Ohio bank. One or two of the block houses were provided with small cannon, to which suitable cartridges were made, and filled with cut pieces of iron and ounce lead bullets.
Three sentries were on duty every night- one on each of the river block houses, and one on the north-east corner of the garrison, or No. 2, by day as well as night. The enlisted men kept one sentry day and night, the other was taken in routine by the citizens. Alarm posts were as- signed within, where they were to repair in an attack or alarm. These were, first, the block houses, and next, such of the dwelling houses as were best fortified against any attempt of the Indians. The firing of the cannon was the signal for each one to repair immediately to his alarm post, with his arms ready for defense. The cannon was fired also in the day time, when news of Indians in the neigh- borhood was brought in by the rangers, to put the people on their guard who might be abroad in the fields. There were several alarms, but no serious attack, with now and then a false one, which served to keep up the activity of the inhabitants." (Col. Barker's Notes.)
One dark, rainy night in June, while John Wiser, then a youth of eighteen years, and well known to the inhabitants of Marietta at this day, was standing watch in the tower of the middle block house, he saw by the aid of a flash of lightning, a dark looking body climbing over a log, which lay about fifty yards from the garrison. A report had been circulated the day before of Indians being seen in the neigh- borhood. This object appeared about the hight of a man, and at the next flash John hailed and fired in the same in- stant. All remained quiet on the outside; but the report of the gun awakened those within the garrison, who came running from all quarters in great alarm, thinking the Indians were upon them, as no one ever fired without good cause. The women came hurrying along with their screaming
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NAMES OF FAMILIES AT " THE POINT."
children, and the men with their guns ready for defense, so that great tumult prevailed for a time. Colonel Sproat was soon on the ground, and questioned the sentry very closely as to what he had seen or heard. John was rather confused at the disturbance he had raised, without being able to state a.more definite cause. He however described the dark looking object he saw standing on the log and its resemblance to a man, and how he had fired at a white spot he saw about the head, by a flash of lightning. Many surmises were made as to what it could be. Some said it must surely be an Indian, while others laughed and said John had fired at nothing to see the fun of a night alarm, as he was known to be fond of a little harmless sport. No further signs of an enemy were discovered, and no one ven- tured out in the dark to reconnoitre for the savages. In the morning, after the gates were opened, a party went out, and behind the log pointed out by John, was found a large, black dog, with a rifle shot through the centre of a white spot he had on his forehead. It belonged to one of the men in the garrison. John was a little cross-eyed, and always fired with both eyes open, and was a first rate shot by day or night.
Names of the heads of families in the garrison, at " the point," with the houses in which they lived in the year 1792, as num- bered on the sketch of the garrison, which accompanies this catalogue.
No. 1. William Moulton, wife, two daughters and one son, Edmond. The father and son were among the forty- eight pioneers who first landed at Marietta, in April, 1788. Anna married Dr. Josiah Hart, one of the early physicians of Marietta, in 1796, and Lydia married Dr. Leonard, an English surgeon of great eccentricity of character, a few years later. Mr. Moulton was a goldsmith by trade, from Newburyport, Massachusetts. He died about 1793. Edmond was noted for his oddities and simplicity. Dr. Jabez True,
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NAMES OF FAMILIES AT "THE POINT."
boarded in this family and kept a little office or shop, near to dwelling house, No. 2, not figured in the plate.
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