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three regiments, under Colonels Cass, McArthur and Findlay, and on the 25th, Gov- ernor Meigs surrendered the command to Gen- eral Hull, in person. at Camp Meigs, on the western bank of Mad River, three miles above Dayton. General Hull took up his quarters at the camp, hoi-ted the American standard, the troops forming a hollow square around it, and swearing to surrender it only with their lives. On the firs' of June the army took up its march for Detroit by way of Urbana, where Governor Meigs and General Hull on the following day held a council with twelve chiefs of the Shaw- nees, Mingoes and Wyandotte nations, to obtain leave to march through their territory that lay north of chat place, and erect such forts as were necessary. This was promptly granted. and the army pursued its march, reaching the banks of the Maumee on the 30th of June, wa- ding forty miles through a swamp knee deep at every step. In the meantime, the United States Government had declared war against Great Britain on the 13th of June. the first report of which reached the army on the 3d of July. On the 9th of July the army reached Detroit, and on the 12th successfully crossed into Canada about a mile above the fort, and ran up the stars and stripes on a brick building belonging to a British officer, and General Hall issued a proclamation to the Canadians, requesting them to remain quiet
as ha came only as their friend. The army of occupation held possession with only a few skirmishes with Indians until the 9th of Ang- ust, when the battle ci Brownstown was fought against the combined British and Indians, and our troops successful. On the 16th, the whole army and fort was surrendered by Gen. Hull without striking a blow. A surrender by which the whole country was shocked and dis- honored, and which viewed in the clearest light furnished by the best evidence of the surround- ing circumstances and the calmness of history looking back sixty years, is as inexplicable now as it was then, The army was brive enough, and strong enough and well enough supplied, to have stemmed the tide of any battle the enemy could have offered until reinforced, even if they could not have conquered. One who was an eye witness and of cool and careful judgment has said, . "Truly the weapons of war were vilely cast away, not by those who with brave hearts and quick hands would have wielded them to the destruction of their country's enemies, but by him who, as a national calamity and a scourge upon a brave people and a righteous cause bad in a fatal hour been appointed to the chief command."
On the 15th of August the garrison at Fort Dearborn, rear Chicago, capit- ulated
inmates massacred. And now commenced 3, long.
bitter and
wegrisome year for the pioneers. With no oppesing army, emboldened by the surren- der of Hull and Fort Mackinaw. the able but inhuman British General Proctor and Tecum- ssh now determined to make a bold advance toward the south, and simultaneously lay siege to Fort Harrison, above Vincennes, and Fort Wayne, and massacre the garrison. In the meantime the Government was moving troops from every possible point to march to Detroit, and had assembled about two thousand. who had marched from Kentucky and rendez voused at Cincinnati for the relief of General Hull be- fore anything was known of his surrender.
Ohio, also, was raising volunteers. fight hundred were then assembled at St. Marys. The whole country was thoroughly aroused. The news of the surrender arrived at Dayton on Saturday. By Sunday morning at 7 o'clock a company of seventy men was raised, organ- ized and equipped, and under the command of Captain James Steele, marched in a few hours to Piqua, to protect the public treasure there. During the day seven other companies assem- bled from the country; also, Captain Cald- well's troop of horse, and Johnson's rifle com- pany from Warren county, and on Monday a battalion of 341 men left for the frontier. All Sunday and Monday, and Tuesday, men were pouring up through the valley from Butler and
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Darko, and Greene and Clermont, to wipe out the disgrace of Hall's surrender. Five Ken- tucky regiments arrived at Cincinnati, and there chose General Harrison as their com- mander-in-chief. He led them to Dayton and there received from the Government his com- mission as commander-in-chief of all the forces. Heimmediately proceeded to Piqua, where on the 2d he issued his proclamation, calling for volunteers to follow him in his march to relieve the garrison at Fort Wayne, which was now sorely pressed by & besieging army. General Harr son on being informed of the condition of affairs by Major William Oliver who, with & band of scouts, made his way to the Fort, drow his men up in line and informed them that any one who lacked the patriotism to march to the res- cue of the fort, could by refunding the mones received from the Government, be discharged, as ha did not desire to command any such an one. Only one availed himself of this offer, and received his discharge. But his companions were nawilling to see him depart without pay- ing their respects to him, and so he was mounted on a rail. carried around the lines to the music of the rogue's march, and down to the Miami river, where he was ducked in the name of King George, Aaron Burr, and the devil, and then compelled to run the gauntlet through two lines of soldiers. each of whom pelted him with mud as he sved through as if for lite. On the morning of the 9th. General Harrison marched for St. Marys with an army of nearly 4,000 to relieve Fort Wayne, which he reached on the 12th, the enemy flying before him in all directions, without waiting for a battle. He immediately. ordered the whole underbruch around the fort and cov- ring nearly the entire site
of the eity of Fort Wayne to be cleared away, so that it is said a rabbit could have been seen from the fort as far as the eye could reach. He then returned to St. Marys, to make preparations for the campaign . against Canada. On the 29th he issued a card pre- senting his compliments to the ladies of Day- ton and its neighborhood, soliciting their as- sistance in making shirts for his soldiers, many of whom were entirely destitute. Their response was eighteen hundred shirts in less than twenty days. And this, too, before sew- ing machines were invented.
The orders given to General Harrison by the War Department were: "Exercise your own discretion and act in all cases according to your own judgment." Never was so broad & commission more wisely exercised. Throu.h the autumnal rains, the camp and road literal- ly swimming; with men prostrated with the malaria of the swamp ; through the cold, drea- ry winter which followed, the notes of prepa-
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tion gave token that an active brain, a brave heart and a wise judgment was controlling af. fairs. Forts were built, supplied, furnished : positions fortified, tror ps.watched' over and cared for, and more rallied 80 , that the spring and summer campaign might be one of undoubted success. It was a stirring and active . season. General Taylor repulsed the Indians at Fort Harrison : Gen. Hopkins attacked them on the Wabash. Gen. Elwards on the Illinois, Col. Campbell on the Mississinniway, and Gen. Winchester marched . to the rapids of the Maumee. Troops were sent to Frenchtown, nov Monroe Ridge, and the British there defeated on the 15th of January: then on the 22d the Americans defeated at the river Rasin with great loss, and all the wounded massacred. Gen. Harrison was now compelled to fall back to the Portare river. but on the Ist of February he advanced to the rapids of the Maumee with 1,700 men, where he took up a strong position. at which he ordered all the troops to gather as rapid y as possible, in hopes that before the end of the month be could advance on Malden. But the long and continued warm and wet weather kept the roads in such a condition that his troops could not join him, and he was compelled to aban - don the project of advancing on the ice to Can- ada. The military situation was now most dis- couragine. The defeats had been overwhelm- ing. Nothing, it seemed, had been gained, and of what had been lost nothing had been retaken; the spirits of the Americans were de- pressel ; new life and hope given to their ene- mies, and the alliance between them became stronger. At every point along the lake the Americans were confronted by the united arms of the British and Indians. Their vessel rode the waters of the lake defiantly, and guarded every point, and with Canada as a storehouse and a place of retreat, the situa- tion seemed almost hopeless by the govern- mentand military commanders. unless Gen- eral Harrison could maintain his position on the southern border of the lake until a fleet could be raised to sweep it of the enemy and transport his troops victorious t) Canada. And so the whole power of the Government was devoted to these two points, to maintain Gen. Harrison where he was and to sweep the enemy from the lake. It was a herculean task ! Harrison erected Fort Meigs and pre- pared to stay. But the route from Dayton to the Fort and back was so difficult that the line of road through the forest and prairies could only be tracked by the wreck of wagons, while the difficulties of transportation by land along the lake were almost insurmountable. In the meantime Oliver Hazzard Perry, a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, who had had much experience, tendered his services for a com-
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and on Lake Erie. They were accepted by Commodore Chauncey on the let of February, 1813, and he assigned to command on Lake Erie, the Commodore writing that ho was the very person he wanted for that particular service, and that he might gain s reputation for himself and honor for his coun- try.
In the harbor of Eris had been commenced the building of two vessels of the lake service and thither Perry, after sending a portion of his crew forward, started for Newport, Rhode Island, on the 22d of February, across the country, taking with him his brothey Alexan- der, then a boy twelve years old. At Albany be met Commodore Chauncey and pursuing their way through the wilderness, they arrived at Sackett's Harbor on the 3d of March. Here he was detained by a threatened attack of that point until the 16th. On the 2ith he reached Buffalo, and on the 25t's set ont in a sleigh over the frozen lake, and reached Erie Harbor the following afternoon. Here he found the keels of two b-ig . had been laid and three gunboats nearly Enisbad, but no precaution taken to de- fend them. He immediately took charge of them, and prepared to defend bis position. It was an immense labor. The mechanics, ail the material except lumber, all the ammuni- tion and implements of war, had to be trans- ported through a wilderness from New York. Philadelphia or Pittsburg, a journey of at least four hundred miles. To
these point3
Perry hurried, and quickened up
their movements. On the 3d of May the gunb ats were launched, and on the 23d, two brigs, each of 141 feet in length and twenty guns were ready for launching. Just then, news came that the British Fort George at the outlet of the Niagara, was to be attacked by the Americans. Perry took a four-oared boat and in the night repaired to the aid of Com- modore Chauncey, and assisted in taking that fort, by which the vessels which had then been held by the Canadian batteries were relieved, Triking the Caledonia and three small schoon- ers and a sloup, trading vessels, fitted up as gunboats, he loaded them with naval stores at Black Rock, on the Niagara River. a few miles below Buffalo, and by the aid of oxen, seamen and two hundred soldiers, commenced the toil- some task of dragging them against the cur- rent to Bufalo, a terribly fatiguing labor of two weeks. under the continual surveillance of the British troops. By the lith of June, ho had these in the harbor of Erie, just as the British squadron hove in sight, under the com- mand of Captain Barclay, a brave and able geaman, who had fought under Nelson, and lost an arm at Trafalgar. By the 10th of July. the vessels were equipped, but lacked crews, there being only men enough to man one brig.
On the 20th. the British Heet lay off the bar in triumph, thinking they were masters of the situation. Perry wrote to Commodore Chann- cey, "Give me men and I will acquire honor and glory both for you and me or perish in the attempt " On the 23d Champton arrived with a reinforcement of seventy persons, but they were a motley set of negroes, soldiers and boys. Commodore Chauncey replied, "I bare yet to learn that the color of the skin can affect a man's qualifications for usefulness. I bare nearly fifty blacks in this ship, and many of them are my best men." Perry said he was "glad to see anything in the shape of a man; my vessels are ready, our sails bent. Barclay has been bearding me for several days, and I long to have at him." About the same time Proctor, the British commander of land forces. again approached Fort Meiss for the double purpose of keeping in employment the im- merse bands of Indians which they had gatb- ered at Malden, and to divert General Harri- son's attention from Erie. They then marched toward Sandusky where his supplies were, and then attacked Fort Stephens (at what is now Fremont), which was in command of Major Croghen, then scarcely twenty-one years ofage, who had only 150 men and & single piece of cannon.
The investing force, including Tecumseh's Indians was, it is said. 3,300 strong, with six pieces of artillery. During the night of August Ist and till late on the evening of the 21. they poured an incessant firing into the fort. and then, under cover of the smoke and gather- ing darkness, 350 men approached within twenty paces of the walls, gained the ditch. when the masked cannon only thirty feet dis- tant swept their columns. killing at once 2" of the assailarts. The column recoiled. and the little fort was saved with the loss of only one man. On the next morning the enemy fearing the approach of Harrison. were gone, leaving behind them in their haste. guas. stores and clothing. To aid this attack of Proctor, the British fleet, on the 1st of August. temporarily left Erie, and on the 4th Perry had got over the bar. except the Niagara, which was taken over on the 5th in full view of the enemy's squadron, then returned to Erie, and to gain time in getting it over, Perry sent two of his fastest vessels to stand out towards the enemy and annoy him with their heavy guas at long range. Barclay. after a short cannon- ada with the two schooners, sailed off towards Long Point. Had he pressed the attack then. in all probability he would have crushed our squadron then in its unprepared condition. And now having gotten his fleet in deep water, Perry sailed from Erie in battle order expect- ing to encounter Barclay; but on the 15th. without having met him, he anchored in Put- In-Ray; and now all was busy in preparing for
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the long anticipated crossing to Canada. Porry was ordered to co-operate with Gen. Harrison. and so he sailed back to Sandusky, when on the 19th Gen. Ha.rison with his aids, Gen. MeArthur, Cass and other officers came on board. held a council of war. and arranged the plan of campaign. Put-in-Bay was recon- noitred for the purpose of deciding on a spot for the army to rendezvous preparatory to transportation to the Canada shore.
He reconnoitred the enemy's vessels in De- troit River, but unfavorable winds compelled him to return. Perry in the meantime was prostrate with fever. He got better by the 1st of September, went out in the lake and challenged Barclay to battle, but he declined, and Perry returned to Put-in Bay. There his squadron lay till the 10th, In the meantime the army of each contesting party lying on opposite sides of the lake waiting for the conflict which was to call them into action. Day after day did Perry watch from the summit of which is now called Gibraltar Rock. for the first appearance of the British fleet from Malden, thirty miles away.
Atlength, on the morning of the 10th of Sep- tember, about sunrise, a cry of "Sail, Ho!" was heard, and the British vessels, six in num- ber, were seen approaching about ten miles distant. Prostrated with fever, as he was. Perry was set eager for the fray. Of his 490 men nearly one hundred were down sick, and their places were only partially filled by 36 re- cruits sent by Gen. Harrison. some of whom had been Ohio river boatmen, but most of them had never been on any vessel. The squadron were signalled "Enemy in sight." "Get Under Way ;" and soon the hoarse sound of the trumpet and the shrill pipe of the boat- swain sounded through the fleet "All Hands Up Anchor, Ahoy !" About 10 o'clock the bos- tile vessels approached each other The Amer- ican squadron consisted of nine vessels. carry- ing 54 guns and 490 men on the muster rolls, of which 116 were sick and many others weak from fever. Quite a number of these were ne- groes. The enemy had six vessels, carrying 63 guns and 5il men. The flagship of Perry was the Lawrence, and floating at her mast-head were the inspiring words of the dying Captain Lawrence "Don't give
up the ship." The flagship of the British was the Detroit, and the line of battle was 80 arranged that the Lawrence should fight her flag ship to flag ship; commodore to commo- dore. Every preparation was made for the coming battle. Refreshment+ passed to the men, as probably during the dinner hour they would be engaged in the conflict; decks wet and sprinkled with send, so their feet would not slip when blood would Bow.
Here for an hour all was calm ; and dread si- lence reigned like that which precedos a tor- nado. At a quarter before twelve & bugle sounded on the Detroit, tho signal for action -- then a shout from the whole British squadron. and a shot from the twenty-four pout.der of the Detroit, which went booming over the waters to the Lawrence, nearly a mile and a half dis- tant. Perry's guns were meant for close fght- ing, and he pressed up to close quarters before opening. Crash weat the balls through the Lawrence, but still she pressed up.
The other vessels closed aroundand the ac- tion soon became general but the main force was directed against the Lawrence, For two bouts sho bore the brunt of the battle, until a com- plete wreck was made of her. Her rigzing nearly all shot away, her sails torn in shre is, her spars battered into splinters. her guns dis- mantled, and she lay on the lake & helpless wreck. Of the 103 men who composed her officers anteraw when she went into ac- tion, 22 were killed and 61 wounded-six shot went through the shallow surgeon's room where he was dressing the wounds, and two were killed after their wounds had been dressed -only 14 unhurt persons were on board, and finding he could fight with her no longer. Perry left her in charge of Lieutenant Yarnal. directing him to keep the stars and stripes fs- ing as long as possible. He pushed of with his flags and four seamen and his young brother of twelve through the fiery storm of death to the Niagara, which he made his flag ship. Scarce- ly had he touched her deck when a ball went crashing through her sides, when tearing of his coat he crammed it into the orifice. He had stood erect in the boat during the passage. blackened and begrimmed with powder and smoke of the battle, and now, to the astonished Commander Elliott, of the Niagara, he ap- peared like an avenging spirit from the very fiery furnace of war. At once his perant was ran up, displaying to the squadron the blue burgee with the glorious words, "Don't give up the ship." and the sigeal given for close ac- tion. Every vessel responded, and as be bora down on the British line he struck and broke it, and passing between he poured a tremendous broadside right and left from double shotted cannon. The battle raged fiercely, and soon the Detroit struck her colors, and was followed by the other vessels. except two, which attempt- ed to escape to Malden, but were overtaken and brought back, and the victory was ours &t 4 o'clock. Assoon as the flags were struck. Perry, on the back of an old letter resting in his cap, wrote with a pencil his famous dis- patch to Gen. Harrison: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours; two ships, two brigs. one schooner and one sloop."
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The great victory was achieved. Tho strat- rgic point for which the army had toiled amid deteat and disaster for more than a year, was accomplished. The lake was open. We were masters of it. Thegreat heart of the nation beat with new life.
The battle over. the the two squadrons now in unison lowered the bodies of the suilors, amidst solemn burial services, into the lake, and consigned the dead officers of both sides to a. common grave on the margin of the lake.
The British Commander Barclay. his shoul- ders and hips fractured by balls, was escorted from the vessel to a hotel by Commodore Perry on the one side and General Harrison
on the other. Perry
asked
leave
of
the Department to grant bim an imme- diate farol, and the army of nearly four thousand prepared to cross the lake. There was Harrison, Perry, Cass. Gano, sheloy. Adair, Dr. Teliaferro, Carpenter, Mansfield, MacFarland. Crittenden, Comabs, Marshal. Clay, Richard M. Johnson and a host of gallant Dames which the army revered, and around whom they gladly rallied. On a beau- tiful autumnal moroing. about the 21st of Sep- tember, a gentle breeze rippling the waters of the lake and filling the sails, the invading army moved northward in sixteen armed ves- seis and almost one hundred boats. About four o'clock they landed at Hartley's point, three or four miles below Fort Maden, without opposition, and immediately march forward to attack Fort Maden; but there was no fort there. They were met by a number of women, who begzed their protection. The enemy, Dumbering about 4,500, under Proctor and Tecumseh, had fled after burning the fort, navy buildings and public storehouses, and our army marched over the ashes to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." Harrison marched to De- troit and took possession of that, the British
having just left. fying up the borders of Leks St. Clair towards the River Thames, with the intention if pressed too sorely. of making their way to Burlington heights, at the head of Lake Ontario, where they had a strong fort.
Tecumseh cursed Proctor for his cowardice. aud by threats of deser: ion compelled him to make a stand on the left bank of the Thames. Here the forces met, and that celebrated battle was fought on the 5th of October, 1813. Time will not allow me to recapitulate the events ci the battle. It was a glorious victory for our army. The British defeated, Tecumseh alain. and the alliance of British and Indians in the Northwest crushed. never again to rise. The country received the news everywhere with the grandest demonstrations of delight. The name of Harrison and Perry were everywhere joined in joyous cheers. The Indians forcook their British allies and sued for pardon, and azain at Greenville, in Darko county, on the 22d of July, 1915, a final treaty was made with the Wyandottes, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas, and Miamies, which forever put an end to In- dian aggressions in this State.
Fellow citizens, to-day let us remember with gratitude and honor the memories of the pio- neers, living and dead, of this great valley. This beautiful valley is the home of peace, I trust forever. Lake Erie is ours, and long as its crystal waves reflect the glorious blue of the heavens, it will tell of Perry and bis brava men. Let us cheer the hearts and lighten the journey of the few remaining pioneers still living among us-
. # "As from day to day
They're walking on with halting step, And fainting by the way,
Another land more bright than this To their dim sight appears,
And on their way to it they'll soon Again be Pioneers !"
No. 3. APRIL. 1874.
PRICE-TWENTY-FIVE CENTS EACH NUMRER.
THE
CINCINNATI PIONEER.
Edited by
JOHN D. CALDWELL,
SECRETARY OF THE CINCINNATI PIONEER ASSOCIATION.
Contente:
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CINCINNATI PIONEER ASSOCIATION, 7TH OF APRIL, 1874- EIGHTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF SETTLEMENT OF THE TERRITORY NORTH- WEST OF THE OHIO RIVER.
HISTORICAL SKETCH, ADDRESSES, AND REMINISCENCES.
CINCINNATI, O .: PUBLISHED BY JOHN D. CALDWELL. No. 233 West Fourth Street.
The Cincinnati Pioneer Association
Was Organized November 23, 1856.
THOSE who were in Ohio previous to the 4th of July, 1812, may become mem- bers on payment of one dollar to the Secretary.
Those who were in Ohio previous to the 4th of July, 1815 (by an amendment made in 1872), may become members on payment of two dollars to the Secretary.
OFFICERS FOR 1874.
S. S. L'HOMMEDIEU,
WILLIAM P. STRATTON,
ADOLPHUS CARNES, JEREMIAH M. CLARK, JOHN D. CALDWELL,
WILLIAM MOODY,
PRESIDENT. VICE-PRESIDENT AND CHAPLAIN.
TREASURER. CORRESPOND'G SEC'Y.
.
RECORDING SEC'Y. SERGEANT-AT-ARMS.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
W. B. DENNIS, HIRAM DECAMP,
J. M. CLARK,
J. K. COOLIDGE,
HENRY M. BATES.
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