USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > The story of Dayton > Part 5
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THE RUBICON FACTORY, Two miles below Dayton.
THE subscribers inform theit friends and the public, that their Carding and Spinning machles are now in complete operation, having this season made considerable im. provement in their factory -- they are prepared to Card and Spin wool in the best manner.
For Carding common wool 6 1-4 cts. per lb " Spinning chain per doz. 18 3.4 cents,
do. filling per do 15 do.
" Carding, Spinning and Wearing Cloth in 500 Reed, S
31 1.4 do.
do. all above 500 inproportion,
.. do Casinett, do.
do. Satinett, 37 1-2 cts.
Every attention sball be paid to work committed to them, that it shall be done in the best manner and to the satisfaction of those employmg tbein. Produce will be received, in part pay- meut, at int market price.
K. PATTERSON, H. HYATT.
May 12 tb, 1823. 73 if
Seventeenth Century Advertising in Dayton Papers
farm wagons were driven to the old stone mill, the owners and their families spending the day picnicking under the trees while waiting for the grist to go through.
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The Story of Dayton
Other men there were, besides these we have been con- sidering, who contributed to Dayton's growth and standing. In the years between 1805 and 1815, Van Cleve and Cooper, together, were instrumental in inducing a class of men to join them who were of superior attainments, and this had its distinct value to the town. Libraries and gifts of land are well, but much finer is it that the first inhabitants be men of sterling character.
Among these the names of Henry Brown, Horatio G. Phillips, Dr. John Steele, Joseph Pierce, Joseph H. Crane, Jonathan Harshman, Robert Edgar, and Jerome Holt stand out prominently. Henry Brown married the clever Kitty Patterson, and with her became the ances- tors of the large family of Browns. The first brick dwelling built in Dayton oc- cupied the lot just north of the courthouse, the date, 1808, appearing on the south Kitty Patterson, fourth daughter of Colonel Robert Patterson, after- wards Mrs. Henry Brown. gable. To this home, the most pretentious in Dayton at that day, Henry Brown took his bride. The wedding festivities which called out all the society folk of the community, lasted several days. He became, in time, a prominent merchant, owning large stores in several towns to the north, and during the War of 1812, assisted his father-in-law in the Commissary Department.
Horatio Phillips was another merchant who did much to build up the commercial life of Dayton. The southeast
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Some of the Men who Made Dayton
corner of Main and Second was occupied with his store and dwelling, both being a result of his prosperity following the war when the demand for all commodities was great. One of his trips east to buy goods was taken entirely alone on horseback. To Mr. Phillips' business sagacity we owe the foundation of the first bank in Dayton. The Phillips House, built in 1850, was named in his honor.
It was through Colonel Patterson's influence, with whom he was connected by marriage, that Dr. John Steele, a grad- uate of Transylvania University, came to Dayton in 1812, in company with his brother, Judge James Steele. We know of the former chiefly through his prompt and efficient care of the wounded soldiers after the battle of Mississi- newa, in the first hospital Dayton ever maintained. For years he was the dean of Dayton doctors, and noted for his dry wit and deep religious feeling. James Steele was an eminent judge and identified with most of the progressive interests of the town.
Joseph Pierce and Joseph H. Crane were two of our early citizens who left their mark on the history of Dayton. Mr. Pierce was president of the first bank and a promoter of the canal, a member of the legislature during the mem- orable years of 1812-13, and responsible for the passage of several bills for the relief of the army.
Judge Crane was one of the really intellectual men among our citizens in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury. His letters give a charming impression of familiarity with the classics and love of good literature. A man of wide information, he was influential in the selection of books for the public library and in the promotion of edu- cational concerns. He served in the War of 1812, and for eight years represented his district in Congress.
Samuel Forrer came to Dayton in 1818, and it was said of him that no engineer in Ohio spent as much time in the
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The Story of Dayton
service of the state. For thirty years he was a member of the Board of Public Works for Ohio, and Canal Commis- sioner. It was through his administration in the latter ca- pacity that Dayton chiefly benefited. Without his efforts we would have waited years for that enterprise which gave such an impetus to our commerce. His report on the elevation of the Sandusky and Scioto rivers was the basis upon which was fixed the route of the Erie Canal. As Superintendent of Turnpikes, his services were invaluable. Many stories are told of Mr. Forrer's cleverness and adapt- ability. At one time the only "level" that the city outfit possessed being used elsewhere, he immediately constructed one which served its purpose admirably and is still pre- served, a curiosity among local engineers.
Jonathan Harshman was one of the solid business men who, although he built up the banking interests of Dayton, was not so exclusively interested in money that he forgot wider claims. Farms, mills, distilleries, and banks made a fortune for him, but his name he made for himself through service in the legislature and promoter of many local in- dustries. Not a few of Dayton's present solid families can call Jonathan Harshman great-grandfather.
Robert Edgar and Jerome Holt came with D. C. Cooper to Dayton in 1796, "charter members" indeed. The first named owned and lived on his farm which comprised much of the area that is now a thickly populated region east of Wayne Avenue. He was both a farmer and a practical me- chanic.
Jerome Holt began as town constable in 1797, was elected sheriff, became colonel of the Fifth Militia, and commanded a company on the frontier in 1812. Active among those who, after Hull's surrender, defended Govern- ment stores at Greenville, he received a resolution of thanks from the commanding major. Colonel Holt married Ben- jamin Van Cleve's sister, and when he died, in 1841, was buried with military and Masonic honors in the old grave- yard on Fifth Street.
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Some of the Men who Made Dayton
The names of those honored pioneer citizens repeat themselves in those of to-day. The J. H.'s, J. D.'s, A. B.'s, with whatever other surname, trace their ancestry to the group of men whom we have just had the honor of meeting. In addition to their signal services to Dayton, not a few of them left sons who carried on the prestige of the family name to the service of the city.
Tate's Mill-formerly stood at junction of Forest Avenue and Lehman Street.
Going to the Rescue-War of 1812-original drawing by Rudd.
CHAPTER VIII. 1812.
The War of 1812.
Sleepy Dayton wakes up. New trouble with old enemies. Preparations for war. Appeal to the women. Three regiments and half a commander. The gay departure and the sorry re- turn. Dayton breaks the Sabbath and goes to help. Icicles and blood.
In the fifteen years since the beginning of the settle- ment at the mouth of Mad River, Dayton had been jogging along in its quiet way with few distractions. The popula- tion in 1810 was put down at three hundred and eighty- three, which did not entitle us to a place on the map in the school geographies. Neither for that matter, was Cincin- nati yet so honored. In June of that year we find an im- portant ordinance printed in the "Centinel" relating to the improvement of the sidewalks. Lot owners were in- structed to lay them with gravel and dig a ditch on the out- side. It further forbade people to drive over sidewalks "except when absolutely necessary." But there was no traffic policeman, and the phrase "absolutely necessary" was left to the individual to define.
Bounties were still being paid for wolf scalps, fifty dol- lars' worth in one year proving that Montgomery County was by no means free from wild animals. Main Street presented a wide and grassy expanse in which were rarely seen three vehicles to a block. Aside from an occasional wedding or Fourth of July celebration, life went on pretty much the same from season to season, with the exception, perhaps, of worrisome hints regarding the Indians.
During the winter of 1811-12, travelers coming in from the counties north of us,-from Piqua, Urbana, and Troy,- reported men shot and scalped by savage bands, women carried off as prisoners, and people crowding into the towns
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The Story of Dayton
for protection. The Greenville treaty of 1795 was being continually broken and the British in Detroit continued to aid our enemies with both arms and encouragement. But Detroit was far distant on the map and nothing could be done.
Suddenly, one April morning in 1812, things began to happen. Word passed from lip to lip that the President had called out troops and that the governor of Ohio had ordered twelve hundred militia to be raised for a year's term of service. Moreover, Dayton was to be headquarters for re- cruiting and provisioning. This piece of news brought everybody to Mr. Brown's store to ask questions or make suggestions. If you had been a boy in that spring of 1812, you would have had your hands full seeing all that was going on. Main Street was crowded, really crowded, all day long, with soldiers drilling in squads, and mounted of- ficers galloping up and down, long pack-trains being un- loaded, carriers coming and going with orders and camp equipage, the stores full of customers, and the sidewalks lined with people.
For war had been declared !- the event that turns a world upside down, and Dayton was seeing her small share of it. News now became more definite. The two thou- sand Indians remaining in Ohio were gathering, it was said, under the chief "Prophet" and marching on the counties north of us. The official call for troops as printed in the "Centinel" reads :
"The commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the First Division of Ohio Militia are ordered to meet at Day- ton "on the usual parade ground, armed and equipped as the law requires."
A wide common extending from First Street to Third, east of St. Clair-Cooper Park, in fact-was the "usual parade ground," but "equipped as the law requires," was a sad mockery, these poor, hurried soldier-boys being pos- sessed of nothing more than the clothes they ordinarily wore. Twelve companies arrived in Dayton before any
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The War of 1812
preparation had been made, and slept on the bare common with few tents and no blankets. Eight more companies fol- lowed, and, there being no more room in town, camp was made on Colonel Patterson's farm, south of town.
The First Ohio spent those five or six weeks of prepara- tion on the ground now occupied by the National Cash Register factory and the fair grounds. It was a cold, back- ward spring, rain poured steadily and the river rose. Governor Meigs must have been impressed with the woeful situation, for when he came to Dayton on May sixth, in order to review the troops, a call for blankets was immedi- ately issued. All the bold-faced type that the fonts of the "Centinel" possessed were used to implore
"MOTHERS, SISTERS, WIVES,"
to come to the help of the country and bring to head- quarters at McCullom's Tavern, any blankets they might be able to spare.
Colonel Patterson, too advanced in years for active serv- ice, had volunteered his services as quartermaster, and, acting with his son-in-law, Henry Brown, immediately be- gan to collect supplies. A displayed advertisement for three thousand pounds of flour, six hundred head of cattle, four hundred horses ; for whisky, vinegar, salt, and bacon; also for fifty ox-carts, to be paid for at the rate of three dollars a day, appears in the columns of the "Centinel" over his name.
Reinforcements were constantly arriving from various points in the country,-Major Adams' Battalion, Perry's Rangers, the Pittsburgh Blues marching in through a gap in Hills and Dales and down on Brown Street. Dayton contributed two companies, one commanded by William Van Cleve and the other by General Munger. The whole force which was mobilized at Dayton amounted to fourteen hundred men. Its official designation was the "Northwest- ern Army," and was commanded by General Hull, of whom, as a military leader, the less said the better.
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The Story of Dayton
While the common was filled with recruits with time hanging heavy on their hands, Daniel Cooper conceived the idea of keeping them busy on public improvements. A levee was needed to protect the town from floods, therefore a corps of men was put to work with picks and shovels, raising an embankment, following the bend of the river and surrounding the town. A race was necessary to serve his mills and another squad was occupied digging a water- way which passed through the center of the town. The ex- pense for all this enterprise was borne entirely by Cooper himself.
On May 2, Governor Meigs came to Dayton and, in the presence of the entire army, which was drawn up to receive him, transferred his command to General Hull. A few days later the First Regiment broke camp, and, joining the other two at Cooper Park, marched with flags flying and band playing, up Monument Avenue, fording Mad River (where now is Webster Street), and three miles up the bank to a new camp named in honor of the governor. Here the troops formed into a hollow square, and, saluting the flag, voiced a solemn promise (a promise they were never allowed to perform) to protect with their own lives the beloved emblem.
On June fifth the start was made for the north. Crowds went out from Dayton to see the departure. Tents were struck early in the morning, and to the martial strains of bugles and the throb of drums, the Northwestern Army went out to conquer the British and the Indians.
For four or five miles up the Troy pike they were fol- lowed by an escort of small boys filled with patriotism and longing to be grown up. It was a fine looking body of men, if we may believe some who watched them go. Mounted officers were encased in bright blue uniforms with scarlet collars and cuffs, wore cocked hats with plumes, and carried a sabre at the side and huge horse pistols in holsters. The private soldiers were dressed in tan linen hunting shirts and breeches, low-crowned hats with a cock-
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The War of 1812
ade, and carried flintlock muskets with bayonets and pistols fully twenty inches in length. A tomahawk stuck in the belt and a butcher knife in its sheath completed the soldier's equipment. Each man's rations consisted of flour or meal. bacon, parched corn, salt, and whisky.
During the week following this exodus, except for the constant receiving and guarding of supplies, Dayton re- mained quiet. News traveled slowly, and in those days no telegrams kept the public informed of the progress of the war. People were forced to wait in what patience they could command.
July passed and a part of August : the wives and mothers left at home longed to know how Hull and his brave soldiers were whipping the British.
On the twenty-second of August, twelve weeks after the proud departure of the army, a tired and dusty horseman rode down Main Street from the north and dismounted at Mccullough's Tavern. The story which came from his lips brought every soul in Dayton out to hear it.
The army had marched, he said, to Urbana and then to Fort Findlay, where a terrific storm broke upon them and the men toiled in deep mud and icy water. Thirteen wagons of supplies were abandoned, sunk to their hubs in the mire. At the shoals of the Maumee they came up with the enemy, consisting of some British and many Indians, all under the command of General Brock. Then and there, for no explainable reason, and without firing a single gun, General Hull had ordered the white flag to be displayed, and surrendered everything-his forces, amount- ing to twenty-five hundred men, thirty-eight guns, ammuni- tion, provisions, cattle, horses-all to an enemy of less than half their number !
The news was cruel, astounding, unbelievable! Anger was uppermost in every man's mind, and not only anger, but alarm. This disgraceful act of a cowardly commander left the whole Ohio country open to further attack. The Indians, emboldened by such evidence of weakness, might
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The Story of Dayton
at any minute swarm down upon Dayton and not a life would be safe. People were aroused as never before. It was on a Saturday at noon when the news arrived, and immedi- ately hand-bills were gotten out at the "Centinel" office and dispatched by mounted men to the country districts-north, south, east, and west. They voiced a call to every able bodied man to report instantly for service with any kind of a weapon. The whole night was occupied by prepara- tions, and early Sunday morning seventy men under Cap- tain James Steele set out for Piqua to protect Government stores and prevent further advance of the enemy. An ed- itorial headed "Prompt Patriotism" challenged the annals of the world to produce a greater example.
Five companies of men from Montgomery and Warren counties came in on Sunday and followed the Dayton troops to the north. Forty thousand dollars' worth of stores were conveyed by these united forces from Piqua to the safer pre- cincts of Dayton. Captain Steele's company then marched immediately to the front and others followed. General Harrison was placed in command of the entire army, prompting the remark from one citizen that our men were "no longer, thank God, commanded by an old woman." Hull, by the way, was afterwards court-martialed and sen- tenced to be shot. He was eventually pardoned and lived in obscurity the rest of his days. Perhaps before the end came, he wished the sentence had been carried out. Life is a poor benefit to a man who meets only hatred and scorn from his associates.
General Harrison, looked upon as the savior of the for- tunes of Ohio, was greeted upon his arrival in Dayton with wild rejoicing. Three regiments from Kentucky answered his call to arms, and with other divisions came marching up Main Street past the courthouse, where he stood to review them. In the current number of the "Centinel" you will find this appeal :
"General Harrison presents his compliments to the la- dies of Dayton, and solicits their assistance in making shirts
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The War of 1812
for the brave defenders who compose his army, many of whom are quite destitute of this article. The material will be furnished by the quartermaster, and the general confi- dently expects that this opportunity for the display of fe- male patriotism will be largely embraced by his fair coun- trywomen."
Embrace it they certainly did. Mrs. Robert Patterson issued a prompt call for workers to meet at Mrs. Henry Brown's home, next north of the court house. The "female patriotism" in question resulted after some weeks in a total of eighteen hundred shirts, all made by hand, and turned over to General Harrison for the use of his soldiers. When it is remembered that there were no sewing machines at that time, and less than one hundred families in all Dayton, the appreciation of the magnitude of this achievement will grow. Nothing that women in Dayton have done collec- tively since that day can ever take away the glory of those eighteen hundred shirts.
Compared to Harrison's war appeal and the preparation following it, all that had gone before seemed child's play. Not many bugles and cockades in this second army, but much grim determination to get at the Indians as soon as possible and make the homes of Ohio safe. It was on Sep- tember twelfth that the hurriedly equipped troops marched grimly from Dayton. At Fort Wayne, the foe approached and vanished in a panic, leaving an empty village. The month of October was spent in maturing plans for the at- tack on Detroit, but even at that early date, the streams were half frozen and the mud was axle deep. In December, seven hundred more men from Dayton left to join the army, and, meeting a band of Indians, cut them to pieces. The next day more Indians reinforced the defeated tribe and attempted a surprise. This was the battle of Missin- newa, an engagement resulting in a deadly victory for our forces. Of the Dayton troops, eight were killed and forty- eight wounded. Couriers passed the word that the wounded were being brought home. They also told of the surrender
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The Story of Dayton
of Detroit, of the lack of provisions and forage, the bitter cold, and the sufferings of the able as well as the disabled men.
Victory had its price. Three miles a day was the utmost progress made by that gallant remnant toward food and shelter. On Sunday, the twenty-seventh, the sorrowful cavalcade arrived in Dayton, crossing the ford at Mad River and coming in on Water Street, now Monument Avenue. The "Centinel" says,
"Their solemn procession into town excited emotions which the philanthropic bosom may easily conceive, but is not our power to describe."
Under the wagons filled with wounded hung icicles of blood six inches long. No church services were held that morning, the worshipers preferring to unite in giving im- mediate care to the sufferers. Out of the seven hundred soldiers who had marched forth, only two hundred returned fit for duty. Hands, feet, and ears of nearly every man on the force were frost-bitten ; Dayton was turned into a hos- pital camp. Every home that had a spare bed was opened, and many were cared for by Doctor Steele in the camp hos- pital on the courthouse lot.
Thus ended Dayton's share in the War of 1812. Other engagements were taking place elsewhere in Ohio, always to the success of the American arms. Troops still passed through Dayton on their way to the front and the warehouse on Main Street was still the base of supplies. You who have read your United States history, know how the War of 1812 ended-the various battles on sea and on land, and the British occupation of Washington.
The three events which actually decided the issue of the war were the battle of the Thames on September 5, 1813, when Tecumseh, the great chief, was killed; the subsequent death of General Howe, the British commander, and Perry's glorious victory on Lake Erie. At the last-named event the whole country rang with enthusiasm and Perry was the hero of the day. Dayton's share in adding to his lustre was
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The War of 1812
to name for him a new thoroughfare just opened west of Wilkinson Street. It was to be sure, rather an empty . honor, for Perry Street then possessed only one cabin, amid thickets of hazel bushes, but we hoped for more in the future.
In December, 1814, the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain was signed at Ghent. For one hundred years they have honorably respected our boun- daries, and we theirs. Not a fort stands on the three thou- sand-mile boundary line between the United States and Canada, and for many more hundreds of years to come, may there be,-please God,-peace between us and our Canadian cousins.
Going to Cincinnati, in 1820.
CHAPTER IX. 1818-1832
Early Transportation.
A stage route to Cincinnati. Good roads and their benefits. How Dayton celebrated the Fourth of July. Rapid transit at last-the canal. A fugitive slave on Main Street.
Until 1818, no one made the long journey to Cincinnati except in his own vehicle or on his own feet. Many sturdy Daytonians of that day took the latter means of convey- ance and thought it no particular hardship. When Dayton families visited their friends in Chillicothe, Springfield, or Cleveland, it was done by private carriage.
A weekly mail stage service was first established during the summer of 1818, connecting Dayton with Franklin, Mid- dletown, Hamilton, and Cincinnati. Those who introduced this improvement were assured by the "croakers" (ancestors of the same family in our day), that the effort was worse than foolish. Not a large enough number of people would ever, they were sure, be traveling from Dayton to Cincinnati in one week to pay the up-keep of a stage coach. But in spite of these warnings, the experiment proved a success, and in a year the weekly trip was doubled, and soon there was a coach leaving for and arriving from the south every day. Stage lines eventually connected us with Columbus, Sandusky, and Cleveland, and in 1828 twenty coaches made daily trips in both directions.
The Cincinnati trip required the whole of the first day to reach Hamilton, where the night was passed, the arrival in the Queen City was made late the next afternoon. Eight cents a mile was the fare charged, and fourteen pounds of baggage were allowed each passenger. Twelve persons could be accommodated in a coach, three on the back seat, three on the front, three on the smaller seats between, and two
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The Story of Dayton
beside the driver. The coach was drawn by four horses, which were changed at intervals of fifteen miles. What with muddy roads, springless seats, the cramped position and long hours, the trip to Cincinnati was, according to the testimony of personal letters of that day, an exhausting experience. One traveler owns up to having fainted away on arriving at her journey's end. Yet the relief from the
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