Ashland County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 23 of those read), 1880

Victory Brings Joy

Adventures of the Pioneers, and Life in the Block-houses. - The Colli er Affair. - Cultivating the soil under a Guard. - The Heroic Defence of Fort Meigs. --The Gallantry of Major Croghan at Fort Stevenson. - The Naval Victory of Perry.

Thk commands of Generals Crooks and Beall, that passed through this region in the fall of 1S12, as re lated in a former chapter, were left in the vicinity of Upper Sandusky about the first of January, 1813. The time of service of Genera! Beall's troops having expired, most of them returned and dispersed. General Winchester having advanced with his forces to the river Raisin, and the position at Upper Sandusky being regarded as critical, the brigade of General Crooks was induced to volunteer one more month to defend the borders of the northwest. His brigade, alter finishing the intrenchments at Upper Sandusky, was ordered to Port Meigs, with an artillery train and store's, which were dragged through the mud and snow bv the soldiers. In doing so, they had to endure the most incredible hardships port of the lime wailing through mud and watei two e>r three feet deep, ami being compelled te> cut brush and logs to lift them above the water when they encamped at night. General Winchester had advanced with his army, about one thousand strong, to within eighteen l miles of Malden, where he was surprised by General j 1 'root or, with, hi: British and Indians, and- a battle ensu- I ing on the twenty-second of January, 1813, W inchester 1 was defeated with great slaughter. The loss of the Americans was about four hundred in wounded, killed and missing, being fully one-third of all the force engaged in the battle! General Winchester was taken prisoner in the commencement of the engagement; and many of his soldiers, after having surrendered, were butchered }jy the savages in the most wanton manner, without the interference of the British . commander to prevent it! This misfortune disconcerted all the plans of General Harrison for the spring campaign; and compelled him to fall back to Fort Meigs, until the troops j ordered into the field by Governor Meigs, should arrive. While these bloody scenes were transpiring, the people of Richland, 'Wayne and Knox counties were again compelled to seek safety in the block-houses, not knowing what moment the infuriated savages, led on by ; Tecumseh, might appear in their midst. Along" the i Black fork and Clear fork the fugitives that found safety at Clinton, the fall before, had returned to their homes in the vicinity of- Coulter's block-house, and that of Samuel Lewis, on the Clear fork; though they had spent most of the winter at their own cabins. Their corn crops, though small, had been secured and safely stored; their cattle and swine were under their control. The mills in Knox county, and below Wooster, had been visited and a stock of corn meal laid in for the winter, j So that they had an abundance of corn-bread and meat; and by the aid of hominy-blocks, there was no imminent danger of starvation, though the situation was rather exciting.

Along the Jerome fork, the majority of the fugitives remained in the block-house during the winter. In the fall of iSi2, when Captain Nicholas Murray, with a company of sixty men, was ordered by General Beall tc advance to Jerome's place, to build a block-house, just after he had crossed the Killbuck, he met the fugitive families of John Carr, Christopher Trickle, Matthew Williams, Robert Newell, Ezra Warner, Daniel Carter, Jacob Fry, and , Benjamin Cuppy. Captain Murray offered all these families protection, and they all returned with him to Jerome's place, except Mr. Carter and family, who continued their flight to New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county. These families remained in and around the block-house during the winter. About the middle of February, 1813, Daniel Carter and family returned from New Philadelphia, and again occupied his old cabin, one mile northeast of the present site of Ashland, where he found everything as he hao left it the fall before. His corn was yet standing in the field undistuibed, except what hail been devoured by deer, wild turkeys, and small animals.

Indians appeared at the cabin of James Collyer, then residing about two miles above the junction of the Jerome and Muddy forks of Mohican, a short distance from Finley's bridge, and asked for something to eat. They appeared to he well armed, and his suspicions were excited. There had not been an Indian seen in. that neighborhood for several months, the last of die Mohican j'cii n Indians having been sent away by order of General Beall, when he cut his trail the fall before. 'Putting on an air of confidence and calmness, he invited them into his cabin, entering which, they leaned their guns against the wall near the door, and were seated. Mr. Collyer lufd his wife, who was milch alarmed,

J to set some cold victuals on the table for them to eat. She did so, putting on a lot of meat, corn-bread and such other articles as she had I at hand. Mr. Collyer motioned for them to sit down and eat. They j went to the table and were seated, and began to eat heartily of the i food. While they were eating Collyer moved cautiously to the point I where he kept his gun, which was always loaded, and securing it j placed himselt, unobserved, between the Indians and the door, and ! carefully raising his guii so as to get a range on two of them, prepared I to fire, seeing which. Mrs. Collyer shrieked out, and fainting, fell to the floor. This alarmed the Indians, and they sprang to their feet , but seeing the threatening attitude of Collyer, raised their hands and begged him to spare their lives, saying, "me Goshen Injin, me no harm you." Thereupon Collyer witheld his fire, still keeping his gun pointed at them - his intention having been after killing or wounding two of them at the table, to club it over the other two, and thus secure them all - he being a. powerful man and having had a good deal of experience as a hunter, and in Indian warfare. They continued 10 protest their innocence of any intended harm to him and his family, when he told them he would spare them on conditon of reining from the cabin and leaving their guns within, when he would remove the flints and priming, and hand them the balance of the food on the table, out at the window, when they should immediately leave the | neighborhood and not return again. They accepted these conditions, i and retired at once from the cabin. Aftev securing the door, Mr.

1 Collyer placed his wife on a bed, and proceeded to remove the priming j and flints from the guns of the Indians, and having done which, he ' passed them out at a small window ; after doing <0, he handed them the balance of the food, and they disappeared in the forest. After waiting until he was satisfied they had gone, and were not intending tc attack him, he took his wife and such valuables as he posses a-J, and hastened to the "Eagle" block-house, a strong cabin piepared by Thomas Eagle for himself and neighbors.

The news of this exploit soon reached the blockhouse at Jerome's place, and word of it being sent to Daniel Carter, he again took leave of his cabin, never to return to 'it, for he was compelled to remain at the block-house until the spring of 1814. A few days after this, a number of Indians appeared in view of Eagle I fort, and made some hostile demonstrations, but owing to the strength of Eagle's force, they retired in the direction of Jerome's place, killing a number of nog- on their way, and finally disappeared from the neighLori hood without doing furtrter mischief. This added to 1 the excitement produced b\ Winchester's defeat, the I particulars of which were now understood at the blockhouse.

On the approach of the season for planting corn, a j few fields were put out by the pioneers of the block | house. John Carr had about twenty acres cleared; Ezra Warner had about the same number of acres ready : and Jerome had some thirty acres, on the bottom beyond the block-house. Mr. Carter had four or live acres near the old Indian village, across the Jerome fork. These fields were plowed, and the planting was done, by the residents of the block-house, as a community. W hile part of them planted and cultivated the corn, during the summer, the ol'nets patrolled tiie forests m the \i< in it v of the fort, to prevent surprise and « iptim. In the Indians. When the corn had become Mitt.eientlv m..

mud for use, the same vigilance prevailed in and about {lie neighborhood, to prevent surprise. When the crop was gathered, it proved to be quite large.

The summer months, in this way, seemed to pass slowly. The inmates could rarely get news from the frontiers. The defence of Fort Meigs by General Harrison, and his victory of the fifth of May, 1813, sent joy to the block-houses along both forks of Mohican. Harrison and his army had endured, in the most heroic manner, the fierce assaults and cannonading of the British army, and finally compelled them to march down the Maumee, river. In August, the monotony of the block-house was again removed by the reception of the intelligence of the splendid defence of Fort Stevenson (Lower Sandusky) by the heroic Major Croghan and his men. 'The signal repulse of the British, under Proctor, and their hasty retreat from that locality, gave renewed hope and confidence. On the tenth .of September, Commodore Perry captured the whole British fleet on Lake Erie, and by that great achievement the territory of Michigan parsed into the possession of the American forces. So great was the joy of the people of this region over the victory on Lake Erie, that a pioneer (Mr. John Greenlee) now seventy-five years of age, who was then a boy, assures us he thinks he could hear the echo of Berry's guns during the conflict, amid the forests of what is now Lake township, in this county!

In the month of June, Mrs. Anna Carter, wife of Daniel Carter, and his son James, a lad of six years of age, died in the block-house at Jerome place, and were buried in the Carr cemetery near the fort, in September, Christopher Trickle also died in the block-house, and was buried in the same cemetery. These deaths were occasioned from malaria and want of proper medical attendance, there being no physicians within the present limits of the county, at that time.

Upon the recurrence of autumn, the pioneers along the Black fork, the Clear fork, the Lake fork and the Jerome fork, busied themselves in storing their meagre crops for winter. Stibbs' mill, and one or two other mills on the Vernon river, each running one set of bohrs, some of which were "nigger-head," were visited by pioneers with pack-horses and small canoes, loaded with shelled corn, to be converted into meal Their food consisted of corn-bread, journey-cake, mush and milk, potatoes, 'vegetables, and principally wild meat, cattle and swine being very scarce. "St ore tea" and coffee, were exceedingly tare and very costly. "Store goods" were a thing of note; and cite calicoes of that dav were a luxury few could afford. Home-spun and woven linsey-woolsey, and flax or linen garments were the best to be seen; and many a daring, whole-souled pioneer felt proud, clothed in such garments. Salt and Hour were luxuries that few could use profusely. Salt was purchased at Zanesville and Pittsburgh, and from its 'price had to he used sparingly. Ammunition, such ns lead and pow der, was obtained from the supplies furnished the soldiers left to guard the block-houses. So far, then, as food was concerned, the inmates of the block-houses "fared sumptuously" - to use an expression of art old