USA > Ohio > The Ohio country between the years 1783 and 1815 : including military operations that twice saved to the United States the country west of the Alleghany Mountains after the revolutionary war > Part 16
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He was given in reply a letter dated "Headquarters, Fort George, November 3, 1813," addressed, not to Proctor but to Major-General Vincent the ranking officer. This reply cited three instances, of the many in addition to Winchester's and Dudley's troops, of atrocious Savage murders and mutilations committed on inoffensive American men, women, and children by Savage members of the British army whose officers were at least privy to the deeds and did not subject their perpetrators to discipline. Eloquent protest was again made against such atrocious warfare, and demand for its cessation, adding that, "The effect of these barbarities will not be confined to the present generation. Ages to come will feel the deep rooted hatred and enmity which they must produce between the nations."
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The Ohio Country
However, food and money again became scarce, and some successes of the British over the Army of the Centre again brought anxiety to this region. The difficulties of properly meeting the require- ments for success in this, the then "distant western country," in all questions in which eastern authorities had the dictation, are shown (as a repetition of the old, old story) in the follow- ing extracts from a letter to Governor Meigs written by General John S. Gano dated “ Head- quarters Ohio Militia, Lower Sandusky, January 16, 1814," viz .:
"I have the pleasure to inform you that after re- peated solicitations and much delay, the paymaster has succeeded in obtaining two months' pay for the troops under my command. I have sent him on to Detroit, as the men there are in great want of money to purchase necessaries, etc.
"Yesterday the Lieutenant and Surgeon of the Navy, Champlain and Eastman, left this post for Put-in-Bay. They arrived the evening before, and report they have everything arranged to give the enemy a warm reception should they visit them. About forty pieces of cannon can be brought to play upon them at any point. I find, however, that they want men. I shall send in the regulars from Seneca as soon as possible, to reinforce them which is abso- lutely necessary from the Lieutenant's representa- tions to me. We have not had the detailed account from Buffalo, etc.
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From 1813-1814
"Majors Vance and Meek have just arrived from Detroit, and give a favorable account from that quarter as to the exertions of Colonel Butler, to whom I sent Major Vance as an express. There is a detach- ment under Major Smiley up the River Thames who will, I hope, fare better than Larwell. The militia are very tired of the service there, and all are beginning to count days. They have had an immense deal of fatigue and severe duty to perform.
"The fort at Portage [by the Portage River, north- western Ohio] is progressing and is the best piece of work in the Western country as to strength. The men draw the timber to admiration-eighty or ninety logs a day without a murmur. The teams have been, and are, useless for want of forage. The greatest part have actually died. I wrote in November to Quartermaster Gardiner for funds to be sent to the Quartermaster's assistant here to purchase forage, which could have been obtained two or three hundred miles from here. If three hundred dollars could have been sent on, I think it would have saved the United States three thousand; and I assure you I have used every exertion to preserve and protect the public property.
"As I before observed, nothing will induce the militia to remain after their term of service expires, which will be the last of next month. . . . I am only anxious on account of the public property that may be left exposed.
"I have this post in a tolerable state of defence, as well as all the posts I command, which, you know, are scattered from Dan to Beersheba; and each must rely on its own strength for its defence. I have had an immense detail business in communication, etc.
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The Ohio Country
"Flour is very scarce at all the frontier posts. I have been between 'hawk and buzzard'-the com- missary and contractor; and between the two, as is usual, must fail. What a wretched system of warfare! . .
"P. S. An express by a naval officer has just arrived from Erie. Lieutenant Packet has given me a full account of the loss of the posts below, at Niagara. The enemy possessed themselves of the artillery, military stores, etc., etc., to a large amount; and there is no doubt but an attempt to take or destroy the vessels at Put-in-Bay will be attempted, and Captain Elliott has requested a reinforcement of two hundred men to send to the Island, which I have not the power to furnish. I have ordered a few regulars from Seneca, and will send a few militia. My troops are so scattered, I have no disposable force without evacuating some of the posts that contain considerable military stores. I wrote to General Harrison, some time since, recommending him to send on the recruits. They certainly will be wanted as soon as the British can move on the ice or by water to Detroit or the Islands. I fear we shall lose all that has been gained, unless great exertions are used to reinforce; and supply of provisions is much wanted."
The garrison of Fort Meigs had suffered much from short rations, and, about the middle of January, some of the soldiers of the garrison were sent up the river to Fort Winchester where they obtained as much food as they could carry; and
297
From 1813-1814
they transported it to Fort Meigs as best they could. Eighty soldiers, a large part of this gar- rison, were reported sick January 27, 1814.
The fears of attack by the enemy, expressed by General Gano, were not realized; but fears were often excited during the summer and fall.
Lieutenant-Colonel Butler, in temporary com- mand at Detroit, being informed during the last of January or early in February, that a body of British, Canadians, and Savages, were by the River Thames near Chatham, sent Captain Lee, with a squad of cavalry, to investigate. They went around the enemy, attacked them fiercely, scattered them, taking several prisoners, in- cluding Colonel Babie (Bahbie) who led a col- lection of western Savages to the New York frontier the summer or fall of 1813.
A little later in February, 1814, Lieutenant- Colonel Butler sent one hundred and sixty sol- diers, with two six-pounder cannon, under Captain Jeremiah Holmes, against the British Fort Talbot, one hundred miles or more from Detroit, on the north shore of Lake Erie. Deeming it unwise to attack the fort with his small force, Captain Holmes passed across the country to Delaware on the Thames, where the enemy, superior in numbers, led him on to the Longwoods where they
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The Ohio Country
gave battle for an hour about dark on March 3d. Both parties withdrew during the night. The American loss was seven killed and wounded. These incursions, while showing great activity of the Americans in keeping the enemy busy in his own domain, lost much of their design from the necessarily small forces employed.
Early in July, 1814, a small squadron of vessels was sent out from Detroit for the capture of Fort Mackinac and other points in that region important to the British fur trade. Some time had been given to preparation for this expedition. Arthur St. Clair was in command of the vessels Niagara, Caledonia, Scorpion, St. Lawrence, and Tigress; and George Croghan, now a Lieutenant- Colonel, was in command of the five hundred United States troops, and two hundred and fifty militia, which had quarters on the vessels. When the squadron arrived at Fort Gratiot, recently built by order of General McArthur at the head of St. Clair River (Strait), Croghan's force was augmented by Colonel William Colgreave's regi- ment of Ohio volunteers, and Captain Gratiot. A desired attack on a new British post by Matcha- dach Bay was abandoned, after a several days' trial to get through the narrow channels between the islands, in foggy weather and without a proper
299
From 1813-1814
pilot. Sailing to Fort St. Joseph, toward Lake Superior, they found it abandoned. The build- ings here were destroyed by part of the ex- pedition, while others pressed forward to the Sault Ste. Marie, where they arrived July 2Ist, to find that John Johnson, "a renegade magistrate from Michigan," agent of the British Northwest Company, had just departed with his assistants, carrying away all the property possible, and setting fire to the company's sloop. This fire was extinguished by the Americans, but the vessel proving unseaworthy, she was again fired. After destroying the buildings, the Americans returned to St. Joseph, and the reunited forces arrived at Mackinac July 26th.
Deciding that it was unwise for the vessels to attack the fort, Croghan's men were landed, and proceeded to a rear attack. They were met by such severe fire by the British and concealed Savages, that they retreated to the boats with a loss of thirteen killed, including Major Holmes, and fifty-five wounded, including Captains Van Horn and Desha, and Lieutenant Jackson. Two were missing.
Passing to the Nautawassaga River, they captured the blockhouse three miles from its mouth, but the valuable furs of the Northwest
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The Ohio Country
Company had been taken away, and their vessel burned.
The expedition now sailed for Detroit, leaving the Tigress, with Captain Champlain, and the Scorpion, with Captain Turner, and crews of nearly thirty men each, as blockaders to cut off supplies intended for the garrison at Mackinac. They served this purpose effectually until the night of September 3d, when the Tigress, being alone, was captured by a stealthy and over- whelming force of the enemy; which force also deceived the Scorpion's officers and crew to a close contact when she was boarded and over- whelmed.
These disasters, with the loss of the post at Prairie du Chien, west of Lake Michigan, on July 17th, again increased the apprehensions of the Americans throughout the Northwest.
The Savages becoming more aggressive around Lake Michigan, General McArthur was directed to gather mounted men to proceed against them. He arrived at Detroit, from Ohio, on October 9th, with about seven hundred men, gathered from Ohio and Kentucky. At this time, the American army, under General Jacob Brown, was being sorely pressed on the Niagara frontier, and Mc- Arthur decided to divert some of the British
301
From 1813-1814
forces from that point; and he executed the most daring expedition of the war through Canada. Starting northward from Detroit, after the middle of October, with seven hundred and fifty men and five small field cannon, he circled around Lake St. Clair, crossed the River St. Clair on the 26th, moved rapidly through the Scotch settlement of Baldoon, the Moravian towns by the Thames, and London, arriving at Oxford, November 4th. Here he found a considerable force of militia, which he disarmed and paroled; and he punished those who violently opposed him by burning their houses. He moved eastward, and passed through Burford to Brantford, by the Grand River. Here, being opposed by the Iroquois Aborigines resident there, also by the British and militia, he turned southward, attacked the militia at Malcolm Hill, by the Grand River, killing and wounding seven and taking one hundred and thirty-one prisoners. The only American loss on this expedition was one killed and six wounded in the last engagement. The flouring mill and its belongings here were destroyed; also several mills on his way to Dover by Lake Erie. These mills had been the chief source of supply to the British in their operations against the Army of the Centre. At Dover, McArthur turned westward,
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The Ohio Country
passed through Simcoe, St. Thomas, and near the Thames, being pursued some distance by eleven hundred British regulars. On the 17th of No- vember this brilliant and successful expedition ended at Sandwich. Meantime the western Aborigines went into winter quarters, and all of the volunteers in McArthur's command, who so desired, were discharged.
General McArthur returned to Ohio, and, with his superiors, discussed ways and means for a yet more active work against the enemy.
Overtures for peace having been made, how- ever, and peace commissioners appointed by Great Britain and the United States, a treaty closing the war was signed at Ghent, Belgium, December 24, 1814; and then came the time when the United States first entered into the full, peaceable, continued possession and jurisdiction of the territory west of the Allegheny Mountains, and of all its people, of which and whom they had been mainly deprived for thirty years after the Revolutionary War, notwithstanding the Treaty of Paris.
CHAPTER XXVII
SUCCESS OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE ASSURED
The Treaty of Ghent Closing the War of 1812-14-Further Confirmation of American Claim of Notorious Methods.
T HE Treaty of Ghent was not completed with- out difficulty. What were considered by Americans as unjust and extortionate claims by Great Britain, were urged by her Commissioners for recognition, and are here presented as further confirmation of the truth of the direct assertions and characterizations on preceding pages of her wicked policy with the American Aborigines, and toward Americans, before, during, and between the wars of these countries with each other.
President Madison's Messages to Congress during the last war, from May 25, 1813; the discussions of Congress; other American State Papers during the war; and the contentions of the Commissioners
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The Ohio Country
of both parties, were considered by Americans as quite sufficient answer to Great Britain's Declaration relative to the War of 1812, issued from Westminster January 9, 1813.
The Peace Commissioners for the War of 1812- 14-Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams on the part of Great Britain, and John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin on the part of the United States-met in Ghent, Belgium, August 6, 1814, and did not agree upon the form of the treaty until December 24th.
For a long time the wide differences of claims portended permanent disagreement; but gradually, after conferences with the respective home gov- ernmental authorities, recession from one objec- tionable point after another was made by each party, the British yielding their most obnoxious claims, until the treaty, as signed, was not fully satisfactory to either country.
The principal complaints of the United States against Great Britain, causing the War of 1812, were the search of her vessels, the impressment of her seamen, the blockade of her ports, and the domination of the Western Aborigines. The first named points were not gained in the treaty, which caused great regret in the East particularly,
From 1814-1815 305
though their modification was promised. The British felt no need later for the blockade. Some indefinite boundaries in the East, and between Lake Superior and the Mississippi River, were adjusted.
Early in the treaty negotiations, the British Commissioners quibbled against the American claims regarding their conduct with the Abo- rigines. They boldly, and persistently, claimed them as "their allies," and wanted recognition of them as such! They held that the United States should set apart much of the Ohio Country for their especial use; that the United States' treaties with them were like treaties between individual nations; that "the American Govern- ment now for the first time, in effect, declared that all Indian nations within its Line of De- markation are its Subjects, living there upon sufferance, on Lands which it also claims the exclusive right of acquiring [sic], thereby men- acing the final extinction of these Nations," to which they formally protested, and stated that their instructions on this subject were peremptory.
The American Commissioners replied pointedly, and asked what meant all of the old English char- ters, from that of Virginia by Queen Elizabeth,
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The Ohio Country
to that of Georgia by the immediate predecessor of King George III., if the Aborigines were the sovereigns and proprietors of the lands bestowed by those charters?
The British continued their endeavors, however, to make all negotiations hinge on their question regarding the Aborigines, "their allies whom they must protect." The Americans positively ob- jected to including the Aborigines in the treaty as "Allies of Great Britain," which would indi- cate that they were British subjects; and this objection prevailed after long diplomatic struggle.
The continued inebriation of successive genera- tions of American Aborigines, and their education and confirmation in savagery, for thirty years after the Treaty of Paris, as before, forced upon the United States not only an untold amount of savagery, suffering, and loss of life among her citizens, but later left an evil heritage, of enor- mous proportions, of evil and degenerate habits of the Aborigines, from which the American nation has not yet fully recovered, notwithstand- ing the expenditure of money and efforts for their control, and civilization, many times in excess of such expenditures by any other nation for barbarous and savage people.
However, it may well be written that the for-
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From 1814-1815
bearance of offence, the magnanimity toward the conquered, the efforts, money, and lives expended by Americans to secure their freedom, and some of their rights, have borne much whole- some fruit, and thought, for the tempering of the savage barbarity of nations; and thereby this great forbearance, suffering, and magnanimity have already been a blessing to humanity at large, that will be more fully recognized and appre- ciated in the future than it has been in the past.
Throughout the long months of diplomatic struggle at Ghent, the American Commissioners maintained a commendable patience, composure with alertness, and wisdom, which won their contention regarding the Aborigines, the honor of the western country, and of the nation, on this most important question.
The questions of search and impressment of seamen could not long remain without honorable settlement, after proper diplomatic relations be- tween the two countries were established.
The signing of the Treaty of Ghent obscured the last hope of designing nations for the posses- sion of the Ohio Country. All of this vast and invaluable region was again, and fully, saved to the American Union.
This War of 1812-1814 also produced a con-
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The Ohio Country
dition of wholesome national unity, and a for- bearing regard for the Union throughout the East and the West, that was unknown before.
It appears befitting that a few words be added regarding the later history of the Aborigines who chose to remain in the United States.
The British continued to trade with those along the borders, and kept alive their thirst for spirituous liquors, as did many United States traders, clandestinely. As late as July, 1832, the British traders attracted to Fort Malden, Amherstburg, Canada, one of the largest gather- ings of Aborigines of record. They were gathered from most parts of the United States, embracing even the Flatheads of the extreme West. This meeting, and the great flow of intoxicants, spoiled the work of the American religious missionaries at the nearby station. There was, however, little, if any, successful effort of the British agents after the Treaty of Ghent to federate the Abo- rigines for war against the United States.
This government continued the policy of enforcing temperance among these wards of the nation; also the policy of treating with them and purchasing their claims to lands not needed by them for agricultural purposes, but needed by citizen settlers; in consonance with the truism
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From 1814-1815
that no barbarous people, and much less savage ones, have right to lands for hunting purposes, that are needed for civilized people and for the advance of civilization.
Nearly all of these Aborigines were removed west of the Mississippi River in the 1830's and early 1840's.
Schools founded by the United States, as well as denominational religious schools, have multi- plied for their education by means of book and industrial methods. Many have become citizens, and own land in severalty. Through the paternal methods of the general government, many are now wealthy and prospering.
INDEX
A
Aborigines, condition of, 3- 15; after Revolutionary War, 19; after Treaty of Greenville, 162 ; aggressors, 52-53; American captives with, 38; forbidden to buy land from, 22; efforts for best interest of, 202, 306- 309 ; inquiriesregarding, 46, 48-50, 82 ; lesson to, against British savagery, 279; short rations to, at Detroit, 291; treaties with, see under Treaties; British allow- ances to, 20, 184-185, 189; Dorchester's speech to, 100; keep them hostile to Ameri- cans, 45, 50, 104, 107, 183- 190; incite them to sav- agery, 6, 11, 60, 80, 83-85; inebriate them, 11, 14, 177, 308; fight with them against Americans, 12, 103, 107, 114-116, 225-228,239-242, 254-255, 257, 282, 288; alliance with them the most inhuman in history, 26; dread of, 8; desire to federate them against Am- ericans, 6, 8, 84, 90, 98, Io0; forsaken by them, 242, 285, 287; gain from fur trade with, 4, 80, 182; govern and guard them, 50, 100, 261; short rations to, 20-22, 118; supply them with weapons, 11, 85, 178, 185, 189; cannibalism of, 50, 77, 193, 202, 227, 240;
celebrate victories with British, 12-15, 60; chiefs of, 78-79, 142-143, 226, 287; cloyed by warrings of British and French, 7; councils, great, by Maumee, 83, 90; drawn to peace by Gen. Wayne, 133-136; friendship of few aged, to Americans, 244, 250, 260, 278-279 ; lesson in American Patriotism, 139; new gen- eration of, 175; payments by U. S. to, 47, 164, 169, 178-179; peace with U. S. they did not want, 78; begged for, 285; efforts of U. S. for, 80, 82-83, 86, III; Prophet, the, 174; reservations for, 170-171; tribes at great councils, 84, 90; at the greatest treaty with, 141; savagery of the, 47, 52-53, 77, 82, 2 50
Adair, Major John, 85
Adams, John, 25, 27, 155 Adams, Colonel, 209
Allen, Col. John, 207, 224 American grievances, and claims, against Great Brit- ain, 91, 92 ; military posts in 1809-12, 175-189; Pioneer magazine quoted, 77 Amherstburg, Canada, 147 Anderson, Colonel, 248
Armed vessels on Lake Erie: American, 272 ; British, 273 Armies, American : Harmar's,
54-58; Harrison's, 190, 206-212, 228-293; Hull's,
3II
312
Index
Armies-Continued
196, 199 ; surrender of, 202; St. Clair's, 66-77; Wayne's, 86, 95, 108-124; Win- chester's, 212-227; against France and Spain, 155 Armstrong, John, Judge, 44 Arnold, Benedict, at Detroit, 44 Ashton, Captain, 66
Atherton, William, book on N. W. Army, 219
Atwater, Caleb, History of Ohio, 76
B
Ball, Colonel, 252 Banner, British surgeon, 260 Barbee, Colonel Joshua, 213 Battles: of Fallen Timber, II3, 126; of Harmar's army at head of Maumee River, 56-58; of St. Clair's army at head of Wabash, 68; Winchester's at the Raisin, 227; sham, for discipline, 276; of the Thames, Canada, 288; of Tippecanoe, 190; naval, on Lake Erie, 268-269; siege of Ft. Meigs, 235-239 Black Rock, N. Y., 262-263 Bond, Phineas, Am. Consul, 28
Bondie, Antoine, 210 Boyd, Ensign, 96 Brant, Capt. Joseph (Br.), 42, 63, 87 Brickell, John, captive, 137- 138
British, advance and re- treat of, 213-214; advan- tages of, 93, 128-129; all of naval force of, on Lake Erie captured, 269; Am. efforts to learn methods of, with Savages, 83 ; animus of, 23- 26; 27-32, 41-44, 50, 60, 63,
90, 94, 99, 100-IOI, etc .; army captured at the Thames, 288; build Ft. Malden, 147, and abandon it to Americans, 283; cap- ture Hull's baggage, 200; conspire against American Union, 41, 173-193; efforts for alliance with Savages, 6, 8, 11-15, 20, 42, 90, 100, 168, 244, etc .; embarrass- ment of, with Aborigines, 21; fight with Savages against Americans, II-15, 103, 114, 116, 235, 239, 288; flee before Americans, 283; governed by com- mercial and ulterior in- terests, 23, 32, 41, 78 80, 182; hold Am. forts, 23; strengthen them, 43, 102, 118, 128; build Forts Miami and Turtle Island in U. S., IOI; invade U. S., 101, 159; last claim of the Savages as their allies, 305-306; martial law of, superseded by Am. civil law, 285; obstruct Am. development and peace, 32, 36, 63, 82, 87-91; promote savagery, II-15, 104-107, 145, 173- 177, 183-186, 188-189;
scouts of, 234; supply Savages with weapons against Americans, 85, 178, 189; surrender forts in U. S., 148
Brown, John, of Kentucky, 62 Brownstown, Michigan, treaty at, 171, 261
Brush, Capt. Henry, saves his command, 203
Buntin, Capt. Robert, 154 Burbeck, Major Henry, 97 Burke, Reverend, 136 Burr, Aaron, 165
Butler, Col. John (Br.), 87 Butler, Lieut .- Col., 295, 297 Butler, Richard, Treaty-
Com., 35; Gen., slain, 74
313
Index
C
Campbell, Lieutenant, 24I Campbell, Maj. William (Br.), II5
Canada, preparations for in- vasion of, 277-278; ad- vance of Am. army into, 280-282; expeditions through, 280-282, 295, 297- 302
Cannibalism of the Savages, 50, 77, 193, 202, 227, 240 Carleton, Sir Guy, II; see Dorchester, Lord
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