Ashland County, Ohio - The V,'ar of 1812, 1880

Ox the eighteenth of June, iS 12, the United States j declared war against Creat Britain and her dependencies. The national pride of England had been deeply wounded by the treaty of 1 783, that gave independence to the colonies. The events of the Revolutionary war forcibly : constrained Great Britain, reluctant as she was, to sur- i render all control over the thirteen colonies; yet, she refused to execute the treaty in good faith, and availed herself of every equivocation to justify her perfidy. She j agreed to vacate all the western ports from Oswego to ! Michilimacinac; but, contrary to the express terms of the treaty, retained forcible possession of them. 'Phis breach 1 of faith subjected the United States to the expense of a long and bloody Indian war. In that war, the Indians were supplied., with the means of death from those very j ports. The 'governor-general of Canada, Lord Dorchester, was industrious in instigating Indian hostilities all along our frontiers. His agents were distributing j arms, ammunition, food and blankets among the Indians j during the campaigns of Harmer, St. Clair and Wayne. McKee, Girty and Henry, were busy in their efforts to excite the whole Indian race against the pioneers, and i offered liberal rewards for every scalp brought by the In- \ dians to Malden. To aggravate the matter, a systematic rule of impressment was adopted in the British navy.! during the French war. and large numbers of our sailors ! and seamen were torn from American vessels on the high seas, and torced into the British service. The adminis tratioiyof Jefferson and Madison had protested in vain 1 against these outrages, and war became inevitable. The British agent, Mr. Henry, was dispatched through the 1 New England States with power to corrupt and detach them from the Union, and re-annex them to the British empire.

While these things were transpiring, war was declared. Mr. Madison made haste to meet the storm. The waters of lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, as well as the territory of Michigan, northwestern Ohio and northern Indiana, were in a defenceless condition. The Executive of the United States determined to display a respectable military force on the borders of the straits separating the lakes. In April, 1812, a requisition was made by the President for one thousand two hundred of the militia of j the State of Ohio, who were to be found b> the Fourth , regiment of United States regular troops, then on their way from Vincennes, Indiana. In obedience to the call, Governor Meigs, with his usual promptitude, issued orders to the major-generals of the western and middle divisions, to furnish their respective quotas of men, who were to rendezvous at Dayton on the twenty-ninth of the same month. In a few days the requisition was more than complied with. Citizens of the first distinction were among the foremost to enroll their names. With a celerity never'equaled in a new country, volunteers collected from every part of the State. They rendezvoused at Dayton, as required. An election for officers took place, and Duncan McArthur was elected colonel of the First regiment; James Finley, of the Second, and Lewis Cass, of the Third. By the middle of May the troops were provided with blankets, tents, and. other necessary camp equipage, and had become expert in military evolutions and the manual of arms. Brigadier General William Hull, of the United States army, was appointed by the government to conduct the expedition. Governor Meigs having assembled the troops in obedience to the orders of the Secretary of War, now surrendered their command to General Hull.

FI very tlrih'g being in readiness for the departure of the troops, they took their line of march on the first of June. On the nineteenth the army passed through the Auglaize region. . .On the fourth of July the army reached the Huron river, twenty miles from Detroit. 'The British and Indians gave no trouble up to this period. On tire fifth of July the army encamped at Spring wells, three miles below Detroit. Detroit contained about two hundred houses and twelve hundred inhabitants at that period. General Hull and his army .took possession of the fort, which stood upon a handsome eminence of moderate height, about two hundred yards in the rear of the town. The fort had well constructed ramparts of earth, surrounded by a ditch, defended by a double lme of pickets ; between this and the town was a stockade enclosing about two acres of ground. Tire area of also extensive commons in the rear of the fort, skirted by boundless and almost impenetrable forests, which offered an easy and safe retreat for the Indians. General Hull remained in the fort at Detroit, making an occasional feint as if he intended to invade Canada, at one time sending forward a few soldiers, and in a few days recalling them, until the sixteenth of August, 1S12, when he surrendered his. army to the British commander, Major General Isaac Brock! The circumstances attending. the surrender were of the most suspicious character. It was alleged that Hull was under the influence of liquor, that his conduct was cowardly in the extreme, and that he had been acting under a bribe from the British! ? The number of the troops surrendered amounted to about two thousand and five hundred men. The same number of arms was stacked on the esplanade and in the arsenal. There was also an abundance of fixed ammunition. In the magazine was sixtv barrels of powder and one hundred and fifty tons of lead. There were twenty-five pieces of iron ordnance, and eight brass field pieces. Hull had also an abundance of flour, and

* The day Before the surrender, the fifteenth of August tici.c'-ri Hull pitched a rnarkee in the centre of the encampment, of a most singul ir appearance, with red and Blue stripes painted on tin; top and sides, which gate it a strong resemblance to the British Hag ! As the general had not erected a lent in ear))) since the fourth of Juh. tin, became an object of surprise, and was evidently portentous of the issue. S -o Brown's History of lie second w.u ' i Indepeuiieiice. ;>.e

A fcourt matrial convened at Albany, New York, in the 1814. sentenced tamer. tl Hull to be slur* ; bin upy - , ,nv to V- n > Utionarv record anil services, against tie- charge of treason, Mr. Madison remitted the sentence of the military court.

tli ret: hundred head of cattle. The army was composed of brave and patriotic men, officered by such men as McArthur, Cass, Finley and Miller : yet the fort was surrendered without resistance! The news of the surrender of Detroit was so unexpected, that it came like a clap of thunder to the ears of the American people. The disastrous event blasted the prospects of the campaign, and opened the northern and western frontiers of Ohio to savage incursions. The news of the disaster soon reached the pioneers of Richland and Ashland counties, and they were deeply alarmed at the appalling prospect of soon hearing the ytells of the Indians of the northwest in their midst.- Governor Meigs and the authorities of Washington, made haste to furnish protection for the border states, and to renew the struggle with the now triumphant British and Indians.

At the time of the surrender, two thousand militia under Major General Payne, a battalion of mounted riflemen under Colonel R. M. Johnson, from Kentucky, a brigade of militia under the orders of Brigadier General Tapper, and nearly one thousand regulars under the command of General Winchester, were advancing to support General 'Hull, and had reached the St. Mary's,- when the news of the capture was received. But for the timely arrival of the above force, a wide scene of flight, misery, bloodshed and desolation must have ensued in the border settlements. Nearly half the territory in Ohio must have been depopulated, or its inhabitants fallen, victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife. This force was sufficient to arrest the tide of savage invasion ; but it became necessary not only to repel invasion, but to subdue the foe. The governor of Kentucky hrevetted William II. Harrison a major general and he took command of the army of the northwest and marched to .'the relief of Fort Wayne, which was invested by Indians and British from Malden, on their way to the frontiers of Ohio. The Indians and British fled at his approach, 'l'h'is was early in September, 1812. Suon after the surrender of Hull, two block-houses were built on what is now the public square of Mansfield. The first was built by the company of Captain Shaeffer, from Fairfield county, and the other by the company of Captain Williams of Coshocton. About three and a half miles below Mansfield, on the Rocky fork, another block-house was built, and the company of Captain Martin, of Tuscarawas county,, was stationed there. The block-house was named after Mr. Jacob Beam, who had located on the Rocky fork in the spring of 18 1 r, and put up a log cabin and cleared a small piece of ground. In the fall of 1 8 1 x he put up a small log mill which had one run of stones. It was probably the first mill in Richland county. Mr. Beam was born in the State of Pennsylvania.

During the summer of 1S12 Andrew Newman put up a small saw-mill on the same stream two and one-half miles below Mr. Beam, and was engaged on the race when the Zimmer- Ruffner tragedy occurred, and sought protection at the Mansfield block-house.

About this time, Captain Douglas was dispatched i with his company, by Colonel Samuel Kratzer, who had arrived in Mansfield with his command, from Knox j county, to remove the Indians from Jerotnetown and 1 Greentown, as a measure of safety to the settlers, to some orher part of the State. Captain Douglas pro- ! cceded quiety to their villages, but when he arrived at j Greentown, Captain Thomas Armstrong, the chief, hesi- | tated about obeying the order of removal. He had j about eighty warriors under Iris command, and could ! have made a vigorous resistance. Fearing trouble-, Cap- | tain Douglas, before attempting to use force, proceeded to the residence of James Copus, some two and a half ! miles further up the Black fork, and requested him to ; accompany him and his guard to Greentown, to use his | influence to induce the Indians to depart without further ! trouble. Mr. Copus had the confidence of Armstrong, i and felt that he would be doing injustice to his Indian j neighbors to interpose in the matter, without the most 1 positive assurance from Douglas that their property

| When they arrived, Armstrong and his people were ! greatly excited, and fears of a fight were entertained, j Armstrong was an old man, and much esteemed by his j people. He trembled with excitement when the consul- ! tation took place. On appealing to Mr. Copus, as to whether their property would 'be safe, he responded that | Douglas had pledged him that it would be, and, though i he was sorry they had to leave, he thought all would be I safe. Prior to this, the Indians had assured Peter Kinney, a neighbor, that, if permitted to remain, they would | surrender all their guns and war-like weapons, and answer to a roll call every day; but Douglas insisted that his orders were to remove them, and he intended to obey them. Accordingly, after the assurances of Mr. Copus, Captain Armstrong held a consultation with his leading advisers, and consen ed to go. A schedule of I their property was taken by James Cunningham and i Peter Kinney, and they took up their line of march I across the Black fork, to the new State road, and pro needed thence to Lucas, and from there to Mansfield, and encamped in the ravine southwest of the public i squaie. A few of Douglas' soldiers, perhaps eight or I ten, remained in the village until Armstrong and his i people had disappeared in the forest, and then, to the ! surprise and horror of Mr. Copus and lus three sons, deliberately set lire to the village, and nearly everything in it was consumed in their presence.* This is the statement of Wesley Copus (died in 1876, at the age of

'Mrs. lames I rain. lauyhh i of | udge l'eier Kinney. who was near the village and conversant uiili the history of l lie removal. stales that only part of the huts wore burned hy the soMicn of Douglas, and that the remaining huts were hunted In the army of (ieneral X'rm>k, who vnea(ii|ad some days on the site of the village. The army devoured the balance ot the Indian corn, hogs, and cattle.

seventy-four years), who was present am! saw it. He attributes the untimely death of his father to this piece , of perfidy on the part of Douglas and his men. After i being joined by a few Indians from Jerometown, including the wife and daughter of Baptiste Jerome, a French- i man, Colonel Kratze; and his command conducted the . Indians through Berkshire, and across Elm creek, in Delaware county, to Urbana, where the settlers were ; more numerous, and where many peaceable Indians j resided; and left Captain Armstrong and his people, as j well as the Jerometown Indians - and the wife and ; daughter of Baptiste Jerome, who soon died from exposure, and were never again permitted to see husband j and father! Jerome lamented the fate of his wife and , daughter for many years, and often shed tears over their j sad separation.