Butler County, Ohio - Chapter 3: Early Adventures and Reminiscences, 1905 (part 2 of 2)

Major-General Butler fought on foot until the moment before he fell, and with his own command (which was the front line), encouraging the men to duty by precept and example. He was shot from his horse about half an hour before the action was over, and, from the nature of his wound, must have expired within a few moments of the troops quitting the field.

ordered him to charge the enemy with the Second United States Regiment; some consequent and simple movements were ' obvious - field enough, perhaps, for very subaltern genius, but beyond his capacity. The true character of this gentleman is brave, without the most distant semblance of a general. In action, he is most passionately intent upon Indian-killing himself, but inadequate to performing it by battalion, or even by platoons. And in the execution of the command to the Second Regiment, which was performed with great ardor and spirit, the whole merit is due to Heart and his own officers, for the Colonel -only went along with them, after the exertion for their formation under a heavy and galling fire from the enemy was over, and in which arduous service I observed the adjutant, Mr. Warren, to be particularly active. The Major's conduct through the day was soldierly beyond my expectations.

Major Butler, of the levies, received a wound in the leg early In the action that might have excused a modest soldier from duty; but after retiring from the field to dress his wounds, he were cut up at an early period of the out rendering those important services whlch a judicious and enterprising field-officer might have made them competent to. They were consp.cuous y brave in some Instances, and the lives of Caplin Vanswearingen and Lieutenant McMath seemed to have been thrown away by themselves with a degree of hardy temerity. Adjutant Burghess fe l exerting himself to rally broken troops and reduce them to order, and a Lieutenant Stevenson was remarkably conspicuous from his tact and activity In forming detachments from the scattered so - diers of the battalion and leading them to duty with great animation. It appeared to me very unfortunate that the major was absent upon this occasion. The situation of his corps m the lin early exposed them to a galling fire, and demanded the abilities and command of a field-officer. His indisposition had compelled him to quit the army immediately after its advance from Fort Jefferson. The conduct of Major Clarke was cool and brave. Although his abilities are too moderate and his attentions too small to constitute the perfect officer, yet he had his battalion In good order upon this day and to the moment of our quitting the field, the command for which he seemed to receive with reluctance and executed with propriety.

in spirit, has too much the vls-inertiae for a soldier I can not, from my own observation or the intelligence I have been able to acquire, say that he attempted any extraordinary exertion upon this trying occasion.

soldier for peace or war, and a very scoundrelly character at all times. To rank him among the military is extremely disgraceful to the profession of arms.

Major Ferguson (whose department, though in all services the most arduous and attended with as many perils as any in the army, does not afford a very ample field for the brilliant display of military merit) was a most cool, determined, indefatigable and gallant man, and united all those requisites which are so seldom to be met with, but which are absolutely essential in the artillery officer who aspires to the head of that scientific profession.

thlS Amongst the captains and subalterns whofell in this action and those who survlved lt wou d difficult even from collective observations of the most judicious officer to make a just discriminat on anfi1 render a proper tribute to their memories They appeared, almost all of them, to put the best possible complexion upon the business object of my notice and applause. His attention in the staff department, and the coolness and spirit of his behavior as a company officer in action al in his own particular command during the whole campaign, together with a zeal for enterprise which on many occasions was observable, point him out as a man of more than ordinary merit, and would induce my commendations to the no tice of government. His situation in life is, i believe, a very dependent one. He resides upon the frontiers with a hardy set of men Per£ectly versed in Indian warfare, and could embody and command them with reputation. In case of another active campaign, an independent rifle corps of a couple of hundred men bestowed upon Captain Butler for the most daring service would,

Adjutant Crawford, of the same battalion (a man of fifty years of age, with all the vigour and activity of forty) is a brave and attentive officer, and would serve with honour in the corps above mentioned. It deserves to be remembered that very early in the action he received a "brace of 8 in his body, but that notwithstanding he continued with cheerfulness and spirit to discharge his duty during the service, and marched with the army ninety-seven miles to Fort Washington, on foot, in bad roads, without a murmur or complaint, and scarcely ever betraying the symptoms of fatigue or that he was wounded.

Captain Price, of Gaither's battalion, a soldier of the last war, fell very gallantly in attempting to lead his own company to charge. He was advanced some paces of his men when he was shot down.

Ensign Shambourgh, of the First Regiment, who was left in our camp with their baggage as quartermaster, behaved with a very becoming spirit, and is endowed with much more military knowledge than falls to the share of most of the officers in that corps. He was very useful and attentive at the artillery (after all the officers there and almost all the men were killed or wounded) by serving the pieces as a volunteer and annoying the enemy.

Captain Bradford, Lieutenant Spear and Captain Ford fought bravely with their pieces, and evinced a coolness and determination that might have insured a happier issue. The two former fell.

Captain Truman and a Mr. Gihon, of the Horse, caught my particular attention as the most enterprising officers of the corps, but the situation of the cavalry, very debilitated at the commencement of the campaign, and worn down at this time, incapacitated them from any exertion of consequence.

Captain Faulkner, of the rifle corps, discovered coolness, spirit and judgment in this action and a zeal and attention to service at all times. A Lieutenant Huston, of his company, exerted himself with very becoming gallantry through the day.

Doctor Allison, of the First United States Regiment, and who had been appointed the surgeon-general to the army, displayed a great share of military zeal in action by encouraging the broken ranks and assisting the officers to rally them to the charge. Although there might have been full employ in the line of his profession, yet circumstances would not admit that attention in the confusion of the battle.

Even the women exerted themselves upon this day, and drove out the skulking militia and fugitives of other corps from under wagons and hiding places by firebrands and the usual weapons of their sex. We lost about thirty of them, many of whom were inhumanly butchered, with every indecent and aggravated circumstance of cruelty that can be imagined, three only making their escape.

Sunday, the 20th of November. - Cloudy weather, with light southwest wind all day. The Chickasaw Indians have departed this evening to their own country with some presents from the governor, and though not quite equal perhaps to their expectations, yet they seem tolerably well contented with them. A boat has returned this day, after an unsuccessful essay to ascend' the

Miami to Fort Hamilton. The navigation of that river has been found by the troops at almost all times extremely difficult, and should never be attempted but when the Ohio has a great superiority of height.

Tuesday, November 22d. - Cloudy, calm weather all day. Major Zeigler has returned with his command from Fort Jefferson after a very fatiguing march, the flat part of the country being under water, and the whole road extremely deep and miry. The Miami river is not now fordable and 'tis probable it will not again be, until the next summer. Some wounded officers returned with Major Zeigler; and the garrison consisted of one hundred and sixteen men, and there were there forty wounded, of officers and privates, when he left. No Indians have been seen upon his march, but a great many of their tracks observed, and two men, missing from his detachment, are supposed to be taken by them. Three men of the Second United States Regiment deserted last night, with a boat, down the river.

Thursday, Novmber the 24th. - Strong wind from the west, with rain nearly all day. General Scott and about two hundred Kentucky militia have arrived at Cincinnati, upon a projected expedition to the Indian country, but there can be no doubt it must fail. It was proposed to assemble fifteen hundred men, and they were generally turning out, I am informed, with great spirit on the report that Fort Jefferson was invested, but, upon its being contradicted, they have dispersed to their homes. The present opportunity would certainly be a very favorable one for an incursion to the Indian country, and productive of very happy effects. And unless some stroke shall be made in this winter to damp the spirits of the enemy, they will probably give us much trouble in the spring.

Friday, November 25th. - Very strong wind from the west, with a small flight of snow last night; moderate wind from the same quarter during the day, and cold, cloudy weather. We have information of small parties of Indians in the neighborhood of Forts Hamilton and Jefferson.

Saturday, November 26th. - Moderate westerly wind, and fair, cold weather all day. General Scott 'and the militia have returned to Kentucky, upon certain information that the expedition can not now be carried forward.

and snow, till four P. M.. with moderate weather all day Two inches have fallen, po A^out forty men of the Second Regiment, under a su^ltern omcer, have been detached for the Mm, kingum this day. ^ ^

Wednesday, November 30th.-Calm all day^d fair weather. The waters of the Ohio >ave been rising for some time and are now high, with a probability of their remaining up, " at present, strong indications of rain. Major Ham truck departed this evening for Vincennes, wit Captain Beattie's company. He took along with him two Indians, who came from the Aubash last summer, to visit their wives in captivity at this garrison. * * *

Thursday, December 8th.-Weather fair, and light wind from the west. The Governor has departed from the territory for Philadelphia by t way of Louisville, Lexington and through tbe wilderness; and by his absence, my duty as adjutantgeneral ceases.

Wednesday, February the 1st (1792). - Strong northwest wind all last night, and moderate, from the same quarter, during the day; some small flights of snow in the morning and the residue fair In motion at seven o'clock, and arrived upon the field of action at half past ten; distance, eight miles. To conceive of the various conflicts and emotions of my mind, upon a view of this melancholy theatre of our recent misfortunes, 'tis essential to become an actor in a similar scene of tragedy; to view brave companions falling around you in every quarter, without a possibility of avenging themselves; and to be exposed for more than two hours and a half to a most galling and heavy fire, without a single ray of hope or consolation, but that the enemy, deriving courage and confidence from the reduced numbers and thinness of our ranks, would rush on to closer quarters and suffer us to sell our lives in the charge of the bayonet. Despair then, I know, would have steeled our nerves, and engaged, man to man, every soldier acting more than hero, would have glutted his own and country's vengeance in the blood of our infernal foe. Although the whole field was covered with twenty inches of snow, yet, at every tread of the horse's feet, dead bodies were exposed to view, mutilated, mangled and butchered with the most savage barbarity; and, indeed, there seems to have

Upon a review of this ground, I find that the sketch I have made of it is a tolerably correct one. The immediate spot of the encampment appears very strong, and is certainly so defensible against regular troops that I believe any military man who has not had the fatal experience of the late misfortune would have unhesitatingly have pitched upon it. It is, however, (I must confess) surrounded by close woods, thick bushes and old logs, which afford the best cover for an Indian attack; but these appear now to be very much increased since I observed them before the acUom In riding around our lines, I was astonished ,o see the amazing effect of the enemy's fire; particularly from the artillery of the front . line < m to and around the left flank, and beyond the artillery of the rear. Every twig and bush seems to be cut down, and the saplings and larger trees marked with the utmost profusion of their shot. Om o fire seems very loose, and, even the artllle y, have been directed with very little judgmen .

The ground of the militia encampmen s c firmed in my mind to have been the proper position for the army. It is the same high flat whict b been heretofore described, and capacious enough to have admitted of any extent of lines, been reconnoitered this day, on, forward two mi and a half, upon a course northwesterly, where the path again crosses the stream that was in front of our encampment, and where it runs o . northeast, a circumstance that serves to evince pretty .clearly that it is the Saint Mary s. n meandering of this water from the e .

battle ground on to the west, north, an so the east, two branches of nearly equal width wit the main stream, one at half a mile, and the othe at a mile's distance, empty themselves into , and at the confluence of those, as well as a place of crossing, before mentioned, are some co - siderable encampments which, beyond a 0 were occupied by the Indians on the nig P ceding our defeat; so that had Colonel Oldham sent forward the parties which he was directed to do we might have acquired such information 0 enemy as would have enabled us at least to a fought them upon our own terms, and, per a , given a very different complexion to the for u of that day. .

last solemn rites to the victims of war, searching for the artillery (but without effect), and burning the wagons and such of the gun carriages as have been materially injured, in ofder to take off the iron-work. We have collected about three tons, and buried many of our dead; but this task has been so arduous (the bodies being frozen down to the ground, quite covered with snow, and breaking to pieces in tearing them up) that it has not been fully completed. Indeed, it seemed to be the labour of days; and the provisions of the men and provender for the cavalry (ve^y much worn down by their severe marches) is too nearly exhausted to render it in any degree proper to bestow this time - more particularly, as we must almost immediately expect thawing weather, and that the country will in consequence be long rendered impassable. -

Turner, of the levies, supposed to have been killed in the action of the 4th of November, we are informed has arrived in Philadelphia. Being close pursued by some Indians in the retreat, and finding resistance vain, he submitted himself and was carried to Detroit, where a private gentleman ransomed him for an inconsiderable sum of money. He learned while a prisoner that the enemy in action amounted to fifteen hundred men under the command of Blue Jacket, and that they had nine hundred more at no great distance. They acknowledge only thirty killed.

man by the name of Rennels who deserted from Fort Jefferson last summer and has been with the Indians, arrived here this day. He reports that he had been almost starved after leaving the fort before he could fall in with any of their towns or camps; that his first discovery was of a very large war party, two or three hundred strong, who had just halted for the night; that he rushed suddenly into the midst of them and was immediately surrounded by them with guns, bows and arrows, clubs and tomahawks, but, throwing away a rifle that he had with him, they seized upon him, declaring after he had informed them who he was, whence he came, etc., that he should be burned to death when the sun went down. He, however, by assuming a cheerful countenance and endeavoring to be very useful in helping them to form their camp, make their fires, and other services, averted this fate, and, in a couple of hours, became adopted amongst them, his head shaved, painted, etc., as is their custom upon such occasions, and has since, by his own account, been much in favor with them. He relates that he has been with them to the British posts, Michilmackinac particularly. That they are there equipped with all the necessaries to come to war against the United States - march out upon these occasions under English colours, and are received when they return with scalps with military parade and every mark of approbation and encouragement. This man has brought to me from Michilmackinac a couple of small memorandum books in manuscript which I left in the field upon the 4th of November at General St. Clair's defeat. They were sewed up under a blank cover to my address, but without any information of the person sending them to me.

General Waynes Campaign

The effect of St. Clair's disastrous defeat was to strengthen the resolution of the people, congress and the public authorities to crush the Indian power at all hazards. General Anthony Wayne succeeded to the command of the military forces in 1792 and proceeded to organize his army at Hobson's Choice, near Fort Washington, and after spending some time waiting the tardy action of congress, and in drilling his troops at Ludlow Station, whence General St. Clair started in 1791, left that station on October 7, 1793. and moved forward to Fort Hamilton, and thence to Fort Greenville, where they arrived on the 13th and went into encampment there, remaining at this post during the winter and spring and until the midsummer of 1794. waiting General Wayne's attempts to make peace with the Indians and preparing the forces for battle if the effort failed. On the 28th of July, 1794, General Wayne, having been joined by General Scott with sixteen hundred mounted Kentuckians, left his quarters at Fort Greenville and moved forward to. the Maumee. By the 8th of August the army had arrived near the junction of the Auglaize with that stream, and commenced the erection of Fort Defiance at that point. The Indians having learned from a deserter of the approach of Wayne's army, hastily abandoned their headquarters at Auglaize, and thus defeated the plan of Wayne to surprise them, for which object he had cut two roads, intending to march by neither. On the morning of the 20th he moved forward to attack the Indians, who were encamped on the banks of the Maumee, at Fallen Timbers, about two miles south of the site of Maumee City. From Wayne's report of the battle, we make the following extract :

The legion was on the right, its flank covered bv the Maumee. One brigade of mounted volunteers on the left, under Brigadier-General Todd, and the other in the rear, under Brigadier-General Barbee. A select battalion of mounted volunteers moved in front of the legion, commanded by Major Price, who was directed to keep sufficiently advanced so as to give timely notice for the troops to form in case of action, it being yet undetermined whether the Indians would decide for peace or war. After advancing about five miles. Major Price's corps received so severe a fire from the enemy, who were secreted in the woods and high grass, as to compel them to retreat. The legion was immediately formed into' two lines, principally in a close, thick wood, which extended for miles mi our left and for a considerable distance in front, the ground being covered with old fallen timber. The savages were formed in three lines, within supporting distance of each other, and extending for nearly two miles at right angles with the river. I soon discovered. from the weight of the fire and extent of their lines, that the enemy were in full force in front, in possession of their favorite ground, and endeavoring to turn our left flank. I therefore gave orders for the second line to advance and support the first, and directed Major-General Scott to gain and turn the right flank of the savages, with the whole force of the mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route. At the same time I ordered the front line to advance and charge with trailed arms, and rouse the Indians from their coverts at the point of the bayonet, and when up, to deliver a close and well-directed fire on their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so as not to give them time to load again. I also ordered Captain Campbell, who commanded the legionary cavalry, to turn the left flank of the enemy next the river. All these orders were obeyed with, spirit and promptitude: but such was the impetuosity of the charge by the first line of infantry that the Indians and Canadian militia and volunteers were driven from all their coverts in so short a time that, though every possible exertion was used by the officers of the second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott. Todd and Barbee of the mounted volunteers to gain their proper positions, but part of each could get up in season to participate in the action, the enemy being driven, in the course of one hour, more than two miles through the thick woods, by less than half their numbers. From every account the enemy amounted to two thousand combatants. The troops actually engaged against them were short of nine hundred. This horde of savages, with their allies, abandoned themselves to flight, leaving our victorious army in full and quiet possession of the field of battle. The loss of the Americans in this battle was thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded. The loss of the Indians was far more. The woods were strewed for a considerable distance with the dead bodies of Indians and their white auxiliaries, the latter armed with British muskets and bayonets. We remained three days and nights on the banks of the Maumee, in front of the field of battle, during which time all the houses and cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a considerable distance, both above and below. Fort Miami, as well as within pistol shot of the garrison. Indian hostilities were now at an end. and in the summer of 1795 the peace was perfected bv Wayne's treaty, made at Fort Greenville, where the army headquarters had been again established, in the fall of 1794. The most important of the provisions made at this council was that by which the last remnant of Indian title to the lands in this part of the state was removed. The Greenville treaty was the negotiation which secured and perpetuated the peace won in Wayne's battle.

General Anthony Wayne was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 1, r745- After leaving school he became a surveyor, and paid some attention to philosophy and engineering. He entered the army of the Revolution in 1775, and was made brigadier-general in 1777. He was in the army during the war. and particularly distinguished himself in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. His attack on Stony Point, in July, 1779, an almost inaccessible height, defended by six hundred men and a strong battery of artillery, was the most brilliant exploit of the war. At midnight he led his troops, with unloaded muskets, flints out, and fixed bayonets, and without firing a single gun carried the fort by storm, and took five hundred and forty-three prisoners. The crowning acts of his life were his victory over the Indians on the Maumee, and the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. His life of peril and glory was terminated in 1796, in a cabin at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania). His remains were there deposited, at his own request, under the flagstaff of the fort, on the margin of Lake Erie, and were removed in 1809. by his son, to Radnor churchyard, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. Wayne was certainly a remarkable man, and one of the most gallant officers of the Revolution.

Scalping Days Hereabouts Bv Stephen D. Conp

Few. if any. of the American settlers had a more difficult task to pacify the Indian than those who came west with the ordinance of 1787 and began to settle the vast Northwest Territory. That part of the territory including the Ohio valley at Cincinnati and the Miami valley at Hamilton was the first battle ground after the ordinance of 1787. The various accounts of the marches, expeditions, skirmishes, outbreaks and battles with the Indians of Generals St. Clair, Wayne and Harmar are graphically given in the foregoing pages.

The keynote of these accounts is "defense." It was necessary for the settlers to protect and defend themselves. But did the Indians do all the attacking and scalping? So one is led to believe by various authorities - but not so. The following is given as evidence in the case.

The twenty-seventh number of "The Centinel of the North Western Territory " the first newspaper published in the territory, contains an item of interest to Hamiltonians and residents of Butler county.

Public Notice

Whereas, many good citizens of this territory, with a design to check the incursions of the hostile Indians, now at war with the people of the United States, have voluntarily entered into, and subscribed their names to certain articles, each name having a sum annexed thereto, and have severally bound themselves, their heirs, etc., to pay the same, as in the said articles is mentioned.

We, the subscribers therefore, being nominated and appointed to superintend the business of collecting and paying the money thus subscribed, thereby give notice, that the following arrangement is made, for the reward to be given for the Indian scalps taken and produced within the period of the eighteenth of April last past, and the twenty-fifth of December next ensuing, and within the boundaries following, to-wit: beginning on the Ohio ten miles above the mouth of the Little Miami, on a direct line, thence northwardly, the same distance, from the same Miami, until it shall extend twenty-five miles above where Hamar's trace first crosses the said Miami, thence due west of the Great Miami, thence southwardly, keeping the distance of ten miles from the said Great Miami, to the Ohio, thence up the middle of the said Ohio, to the beginning; that for every scalp, having the right ear appendant , for the first ten Indians who shall be killed, within the time and limits aforesaid, by those who are subscribers to the said articles, shall, whenever collected, be paid the sum of one hundred and thirty-six dollars, and for every scalp of the like number of Indians, having the right ear appendant, who shall be killed, within the time and limits aforesaid, by those who are not subscribers, the federal troop excepted, shall, whenever collected, be paid the sum of one hundred dollars, and for every scalp, having the right ear appendant, of the said second ten Indians who shall be killed within the time and limits aforesaid, by those who are not subscribers to the said articles, except before excepted, shall whenever collected, be paid the sum of ninety-five dollars.

Of the signers to this notice, two of them, Darius C. Orcutt and John Reily, afterwards became residents of Hamilton. Mr. Orcutt was agent for Israel Ludlow to lay out lots and contract with persons wishing to purchase. He was one of the early pioneers of the country. He was a pack-horse master with St. Clair's army, and was on the ground on the day of the disastrous defeat. He was one of the second couple married in the Miami country. He was united at Cincinnati to Miss Sally McHenry, in 1790. (The first couple married were Daniel Shoemaker to Miss Elsie Ross, a few days before). Mr. Orcutt owned lot No. 145 in Hamilton, on which he built a hewed log house, which was afterward weatherboarded. It is the same house where William Murray lived, but was removed fifty years after, in consequence of the works of the Hydraulic Company encroaching on the site. Mr. Orcutt afterwards lived a long time in Rossville, was constable of St. Clair township many years, and finally died in Rossville in indigent circumstances.

John Reily was a pioneer of Butler county. At various times he was postmaster, sheriff and clerk of the county, besides holding other minor positions. The Hamilton chapter of the Daughters of the Amer-

The present boundaries of the advertisement would be as follows : Southern boundary. Ohio river ; eastern boundary, territory comprised of the northeast corner of Clermont county, about three-fourths of Warren county, small strip of Greene county, about two miles wide extending northward almost full length of county ; northern boundary, Montgomery county, of which about onehalf of it was in the territory including the present city of Dayton ; western boundary, part of Montgomery county, very small part of Preble county, southeast corner Butler county and Hamilton county.

Thus it is seen that all of Butler county east of the Miami was included and most all of the western part including the following towns and villages: Oxford, Somerville, Darrtown, Collinsville, Bunker Hill, Reily and Philanthropy. The western line was thus drawn in Butler county between Oxford and College Corner and parallel to the Miami.

The chief difficulty in ascertaining the above boundaries was fixing the direction given in the advertisement of "above where Hamar's trace first crosses the said Miami." From the history of Warren county, however, "Hamar's trace" was fixed as lying between Lebanon and Caesar's creek. The road or "trace" was the route pursued by General Josiah Hamar in 1790 in going from Fort Washington to Old Chillicothe.

Pretty good scalping territory - was it not! What wouldn't Simon Kenton and Uncle Jason, of "Alice of Old Vincennes," have given to have known of the above advertisement ?

Dangers Of Early Travel

Illustrative of the danger and difficulties which attended travel in this part of the country in the closing days of the revolutionary period and when the pioneers of the wilderness were opening the way for civilization over the vast plains, through the unbroken forests and* along the majestic rivers, the following is of much interest. It is reproduced as it appeared in volume I of "The Centinel of the Northwest Territory," of date November 16, 1793, the Centinel, as it was called in the somewhat primitive orthography of that day, being the first paper published in the Northwestern Territory :

Ohio Packet Boats

First boat will leave Cincinnati this morning, Saturday, November 16. 1793, at eight o'clock, and return to Cincinnati so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks from this date.

Two boats, in addition to the above, will shortly be completed and regulated in such a manner that one boat of the four will set out weekly from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, and return in like manner.

The proprietor of these boats having maturely considered the many inconveniences and dangers incident to the common method hitherto adopted of navigating the Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philanthropy, and desire of being serviceable to the public, has taken great pains to ren-

No danger need be apprehended from the enemy as every person on board will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musket balls, and convenient port holes for firing out of. Each of the boats are armed with fixed pieces carrying a pound ball; also a number of good muskets and amply supplied with plenty of ammunition, strongly manned with choice hands and masters of approved knowledge.

A separate cabin from that designed for the men is partitioned off in each boat for accommodating ladies on their passage. Conveniences are constructed on board each boat, so as to render landing unnecessary, as it might, at times, be attended with danger.

Rules and regulations for maintaining order on board and for the good management of the boats and tables, accurately calculated for the rates of freightage, for passengers and carriage of letters to and from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, also a table of the exact time of the arrival and departure to and from the different places on the Ohio, between Cincinnati and Pittsburg, may be seen on board each boat, and at the printing office in Cincinnati. Passengers will be supplied with provisions and liquors of all kinds, of the first quality, at the most reasonable rates possible. Persons desirous of working their passage, will be admitted on finding themselves, subject, however, to the same order and directions from the master of the boats, as the rest of the working hands of the boat's crew.

An office of insurance will be kept at Cincinnati, Limestone and Pittsburg where persons desirous of having their property insured may apply. The rates of insurance will be moderate.

Fort Dunlap Its Attack By Indians In

Scarcely ten miles below Hamilton on the banks of the Miami river, a little more than one hundred and thirteen years ago. there occurred an incident of our pioneer annals that on account of its local character may be of interest to recount here. We speak of the Indian attack upon Dunlap's Station, later called Fort Dunlap, afterwards Colerain, located upon the east bank of the Miami, just below the iron bridge crossing that river on the Colerain turnpike at Venice. It was a stirring event in the history of the Miami valley. It occurred on the 9th. Toth and nth of January, 1791.

Dunlap's Station was a military block house, erected' for the protection of the settlement of pioneers who went out from the garrison at Fort Washington to clear and settle the lands along the Big Miami. It was the custom for those whose lands were in the same neighborhood to unite, as one party or family.

Judge Burnet says : ''Each party erected a strong block house, near to which their cabins were put up, and the whole was enclosed by strong log pickets. This being done they commenced clearing their lands and preparing for planting their crops. During the day, while diet were at work, one person was placed as sentinel to warn them of their approaching danger. At sunset they retired to the block house and their cabins, taking everything of value within the pickets. In this manner they proceeded from day to day and from week to week, till their improvements were sufficiently extensive to support their families. During this time they depended for subsistence on wild game obtained at some hazard, more than on the scant supplies which they were able to procure frorq the settlements on the river." tute families. After they were established the Indians became less annoying to the settlements on the Ohio, as part of their time was employed in watching the stations. They viewed these stations with great jealousy, as they had the appearance of permanent military establishments intended to retain possession of the country. In that they were correct, and it was fortunate for the country that the Indians wanted either the skill or the means to demolish them."

Just such an establishment was Dunlap's Station. The fort was on the east side of the Big Miami, and was picketed on the three sides, while the fourth was protected by the deep water of the stream. A small detachment of United States troops, under the command of Lieutenant Kingsbury, occupied the fort. It consisted of a corporal and eleven men, beside the commandant. Their names were Taylor, Neef, O'Neal, O'Leary. Lincoln, Grant, Strong. Sowers, Murphy, Abel. McVicar and Wiseman. There were on the north side of the fort Horn, McDonald, Barrott and Barket, with their families, and on the south side. White with his family, and McDonald, whose family was not at the station ; all of whom were busy at their clearings during the day, but sought shelter in the fort in the evening.

The Indians numbered about three hundred and fifty 'and their leader was a renegade white man, infamously notorious as Simon Girty. There was present also a Shawnee chief of portly form, who was called Blue Jacket, who after the treaty of Greenville talked with our informant of the incidents of the event, and wTho settled at, and it is believed died at Fort Wavne.

On the night of January 7, 1791, a surveying party consisting of Sloan, Hunt, Cunningham and Wallace, who were on an exploring tour, encamped on the west bank of the Big Miami. On the 8th (Saturday), after roasting and eating some venison, they set out to explore and survey the Miami bottoms opposite to, but in the neighborhood of, the fort. After having gone about seventy yards from camp, the Indian scouts fired a volley of eight or ten guns from their rear. Cunningham fell dead; Hunt's horse threw7 him, and he was made prisoner before he could recover ; Sloan was shot through the body, but sat on his horse and made off as fast as his horse could carry him, the loose horse (Hunt's) following him. Two Indians pursued him about a mile and a half, during which they shot at the pursued (Wallace) twice, but without effect. At the moment they fired the first shot, he tripped and fell; they exulted over him by hallowing wou-ouh; supposing they had gained their object - they would have got a first-rate rifle and scalp. He, however, overtook Sloan holding Hunt's horse, mounted him, and they made their way up the river and crossed over. Sloan now complained of faintness from his wound; he was told to thrust his shirt in the bullet holes. They left the river and directed their course for Fort Washington. On traveling about six miles, they fell into the trace from Dunlap's Station to Fort Washington. Here they held a council ; the result was to go to the station and inform the inhabitants to be on their guard. They reached the station about sunset. This night it rained, froze, and snow^ fell from four to five inches deep. It was not apprehended that the Indians wrere infesting the station in such numbers; it was supposed that the party had been fallen upon by a few stragglers only upon a pred- atory excursion, and on the 9th (Sunday) Wallace, with five or six of the garrison, crossed over to the bottoms and buried the dead body of Cunningham, without molestation, or seeing any evidence that there was a large hostile body in their neighborhood.

It was owing only to a lucky chance of vigilance, on the part of Lieutenant Kingsbury himself that the fort was not taken by complete surprise. With soldier-like generosity he had yielded his quarters to the wounded Sloan, and on Sunday night he occupied himself by entertaining with lively stories and jocose anecdotes his small command, who were willing to forego their wonted repose and share in the forced vigilance of their commander. They had, however, retired to bed. The sentinels, to be sure, were duly posted, but it was apprehended that they had fallen into the arms of the dreamy god, since the alarm which it was theirs to give was first given by the commandant himself. He. towards the dawn of Monday morning, indicated his resolution to the company, which had kept awake during the night in the block house, his purpose of seeking somewhere a place of repose. Leaving the block house for this purpose, in the space of less than five minutes, he gave the alarm by clapping his hands and crying, "Indians! Indians!''

It indicates the security in which the garrison was, and how little they expected an attack, that all but the sentinels and the commandant were in bed. The alarm was received with incredulity, yet each man sprang to arms. It was found now, in the grey dawn of morning, that the small stockade was infested by a large body of savages, supposed at the time to number over five hundred. That number at least they claimed in the parley which succeeded. The prisoner (Abner Hunt, of New Jersey), who had been taken on Saturday was put forth as an interpreter, Girty, probably with some remnant of shame, not choosing to show himself. The surrender of the garrison was demanded - the terms promised were so equivocal that Lieutenant Kingsbury, like General Taylor on a subsequent similar occasion, was compelled to decline, as respectfully as he could, compliance with the imperious demand. The parley between Kingsbury, leaning over the pickets, and the prisoner Hunt, pinioned without and held by Girty, who was lying concealed behind a tree, lasted about an hour. This passed on the east side of the fort. Meanwhile the soldiers on the west side, as often as a savage would peep from the shelter of a dead log or tree, would crack at him with their muskets, and some undoubtedly were killed, for the remains of two were afterward discovered, while others were removed and buried by their savage associates. Girty, through his interpreter, complained, "What sort of a treaty is this, where you keep up a constant fire pending the parley?" The commandant turned around, and, with a soldierly oath, threatened instant death to the next one that fired a musket, but took care to add, sotto voce, "Kill the rascals, if you can!" The end of the parley was succeeded by incessant volleys of musketry from the assailants, which lasted over two hours, when they retired to recruit, threatening to return in the evening to carry all by storm. The garrison was illy provided with ammunition, having only twenty-four rounds of cartridges per man, and no ordnance ; none was therefore to be wasted; though the women, to remedy the scarcity of ammunition, cast their pewter plates and spoons into bullets. The enemy renewed the attack in the afternoon with musketry, and also by bows and arrows, firing brands within the stockade with the hope of firing the fort. The volleys were continued during the evening, interrupted by moments of parley through the prisoner Hunt, who earnestly begged on his own behalf the surrender of the garrison, because he was threatened with a death of horribly lingering torture. About midnight they retired to execute the threat. The prisoner was nearly stripped naked, laid upon his back upon the ground, and pinioned by his wrists and ankles, his arms and legs outstretched in a most painful manner. They then built a fire upon his naked abdomen. His groans were distinctly heard by the garrison during the remainder of that sad night, becoming fainter and fainter, till about daybreak, they finally ceased.

When morning dawned the Indians returned to the attack, and continued their firing for a half hour or more. It was a crisis which tried the souls of the little garrison, as well as their valiant commander. The fort was completely infested by the Indians, and the attack most violent. They began the fight like they were certain of victory, and the garrison, while bravely repelling the attacks, considered itself in extreme danger. The Indians, however, finally despairing of success, and apprehensive of reinforcements arriving, abandoned the enterprise and withdrew.

The fort was entirely of wood, consisting of a few block houses and cabins, with a line of pickets, and was particularly exposed to the assaults, as the cabins, contrary to the usual and proper plan, presented the low edges of their roofs outside, some of them being so low that it is stated a dog which had been shut out of the station leaped from a stump outside onto the roof of one of the cabins. During the siege the most active efforts of the assailants were directed to setting the roofs of the buildings on fire, both by fire-arrows and by carrying brands of fire. One Indian ran with a burning brand to a building which he had nearly reached when a volley stretched him lifeless. When the Indians retreated, as their tracks showed, they filed off, right and left from the fort.

The little garrison, though but a handful compared with their assailants, displayed great bravery, in some instances amounting to rashness. During the firing they frequently exposed their persons above the tops of the pickets, mocking the savages and daring them to come on. Women, as well as men, used every expedient in their power to provoke and irritate the enemy. They exhibited the caps of the soldiers above the pickets, as a mark to be shot at. Their apparent confidence in their security, when subjected to the gravest danger, may have had the tendency to induce the Indians to abandon the siege as soon as they did.

Accounts differ as to how word was received at Fort Washington of the attack. One account, that given by Judge Burnett, states that John S. Wallace, who had made his escape from the Indians on the 8th, was still in the fort. It is said that at ten o'clock at night during the attack of the Indians he made an effort to pass through the Indian lines and go to Cincinnati for the purpose of obtaining reinforcements from General Harmar, at Fort Washington, but finding the Indians encompassing him on every side, he was obliged to return. Fortunately the night happened to be very dark, and at three in the morning Wallace, accompanied by a soldier named William Wiseman, got into a canoe on the side of the fort next to the water's edge, and silently paddled across and landed on the opposite bank, from whence they took to the bushes, and made their way down the river and took the woods for Cincinnati. When about five or six miles out from that place they met a party of soldiers, under Gen. John S. Gano, from Columbia, and returned with them to the station.

Another account states that Lieutenant Kingsbury ehdeavored to induce several old veterans, by the promise of a reward, to go to Fort Washington to give the alarm and bring relief, but in vain. This was overheard by a young stripling of eighteen years, who had been relieved just then from duty outside all night, but who was allowed t^ie relief of watching through a' port-hole af crafty warrior who, behind a tree, was endeavoring by several tricks to draw his fire and allow him an opportunity to escape. The commandant's declaration that he could ' induce no one to go, surprised him, and he volunteered to go provided the officer would parade the garrison in front of the block house and let them see him across the river. It is related that this was done, and in broad daylight (ten o'clock A. M.) amid the volleys of musketry of the Indian assailants, the young man, alone in the canoe, succeeded in setting himself across the river, and, regaining the opposite bank, he took his course with all speed down the stream, and after stripping off and making two attempts to wade, in vain, concluded he must make the best way to North Bend - but in the course of two or three hundred yards further he fortunately discovered the fording place.

which he was enabled to pass without finding it more than knee-deep. About three o'clock P. M. he reported himself to General Harmer, the commandant at Fort Washington, with the news of the critical state of things at Dunlap's Station.

It is related that General Harmer dispatched a message to Columbia, for re-enforcements, which arrived at Fort Washington that evening, or the next morning. A force of about fifty regulars and militia were dispatched on Wednesday morning, under the commahd of Colonel Strong, which, guided by William Wiseman (for that was the name of the young hero), reached the infested post soon after noon. The Indians, aware of the force advancing against them, speedily raised the siege and retreated up the river, the last raft crossing the stream as Colonel Strong came in sight. Finding it impossible to pursue them without the means of crossing the river, he returned to Cincinnati.

These accounts are probably both colored in the interest of the two men, Wallace and Wiseman. One seeks to make Wallace the hero, hut mentions Wiseman as accompanying him on, the journey. The other gives Wiseman all the credit, and makes no mention of Wallace. Perhaps the most accurate account is that related by Thomas Irwin, who was one of the early pioneers of Butler county, having settled near Blue Ball, and for fourteen years represented Butler county in the Ohio legislature. At the time of the attack on Fort Dunlap Mr. Irwin, who then lived in Cincinnati, states that a hunter by the name of Cox, afterward one of the first to take up lands in Union township. Butler county, happened to be out hunting in the neighborhood of Dunlap's Station, and hearing the firing of the guns suspected the cause and went to Cincinnati and informed the commandant at Columbia and Fort Washington. A volunteer force of thirty-eight men, of whom Irwin was one, turned out immediately. The same number of men were taken from the regulars, the whole being placed under the command of Captain Truman; and about twenty volunteers from Columbia, under command of Captain Gano, started before daylight the next morning for Dunlap's Station, all on horseback, for the relief of the place.

John Reily, afterwards clerk of the court of Butler colmty, and Patrick Moore, who also settled in Butler county, were in the party, and both rode white horses, and proceeded a short distance in advance, as a picket guard, or spies, to give notice if the enemy should appear. Samuel Davis, afterward a resident of Wayne township, Butler county, was also one of the volunteers from Cincinnati on that occasion. When the party bad proceeded about six miles, they met Wallace and Wiseman on their way to Fort Washington, to tell the news of the attack. Finding that the news had preceded them, they turned alxnit and accompanied the relief party to the station. About ten o clock the party arrived at the top of the hill, which overlooks the plain on which Dunlap s Station was situated, when it was discovered the Indians had abandoned the siege and gone. On arriving at the fort, it was found that the garrison, though in imminent danger, had - sustained but little injury. On the first fire, the Indians fired into a building where the hand mill was kept, between the logs which had not been chunked, by which they killed one man and wounded another. The body of Abner Hunt was found near the station shockingly mangled,

Dunlap's Station was soon after abandoned on account of its exposed danger to the excursions of the savage foe. Both the settlers and military left it, inasmuch as in the attack which we have been describing the Indians had destroyed the accumulations of the preceding season, and a scene of wild ruin and desolation was spread around. The houses of many, besides those whose names we have given, who had provided dwellings which they purposed to occupy in the spring, shared in the common conflagration and ruin, and the panic for a while retarded the settlement of a locality now among the most flourishing and peaceful in the state of Ohio.

Founding Of Fort Hamilton

W hen the white man first cast his eye on this locality, it was covered with dense forests and inhabited by the Shawnee and Miami tribes of the red men. La Salle, in 1660, first explored this region. In 1750 Christopher Gist and George Croghan. explorers, left Fort Duquesne. now Pittsburg, crossed the country to the Maumee, to the village of the Ottawas, held a council with the chiefs and secured their friendship and proceeded south to the village of the Piquas, and secured their friendship. They then separated, Croghan going to the Scioto, and Gist passed down the Miami and then up the Ohio to Pittsburg. In 1780, during the Revolutionary war, Colonel Bird, with a detachment of six hundred Indians and Canadians, with four pieces of artillery, left Canada, passed up the Maumee, over to Laramie creek, thence to the Miami, down the same, passed over the site of what eleven years later was Fort Hamilton, all the way a wilderness, to the Ohio, up the Ohio to the Licking, reduced several American frontier stations, and returned by the same route with prisoners and plunder.

Peace with England being declared in 1783, and congress having provided land bounties to every soldier or his family, if slain by the enemy. General Putnam at once sent in a memorial to General Washington for a number of such claims. He approved them, but owing to conflicting claims of the various original states to Ohio territory, nothing was done until 1780, when congress acquired the title to all lands northwest of the Ohio river. Thomas Hutchinson, a noted geographer, was appointed surveyor general, to proceed at once.

The Indians, although ceding the territory, were bitterly oppsed to its survey and settlement, and became so hostile that nothing could be done until the spring of 1786, when rnilitary aid was secured from General Harmar, and hostilities on the part of the savages were somewhat abated, and work again begun in 1787. John Cleves Symmes in the meantime contracted with the government for one million acres of land lying between the two Miamis. On the 15th of May, 1788, the contract was closed, and Tudge Symmes at once appointed Israel Ludlow to survey it. Harassed by the Indians, the occupation was all but pleasant.

From this time on a continuous flow of adventurous immigrants, coming down the Ohio in flat-bottomed boats, settled in these wilds, feut so hazardous did this become, owing to the continued hostility of the Indians, often successful and inflicting terrible barbarities against the early settlers, that on April 18. 1790, General Harmar, with three hundred and ten Kentucky volunteers, marched to the Ohio, and again for the time secured safe navigation. Fort Washington in the meantime being established, an army of fourteen hundred men was organized in the fall and marched against the Indians.

They, however, were defeated in two successive encounters and lost over three hundred men. The frontiers became alarmed and panic-stricken. In 1791 congress ordered an army of three thousand men. General St. Clair commander, for the protection of the pioneers. On September 8th he left Fort Washington with twenty-three hundred men, with Gen. Richard Butler second in command. Colonel Darke leading the advance. On the 17th they reached a point twenty-five miles from Fort Washington, latitude thirty-nine degrees twenty-six minutes, and longitude seven degrees twentynine minutes. Here they halted and erected the first chain of forts and named it Fort Hamilton. The circuit of the fort was about one thousand feet, through the whole extent of which a trench was dug three feet deep to set the pickets in, of which it required about two thousand to inclose it. The trees were tall and straight, and from nine to twelve inches in diameter. To secure this particular size they were compelled to go over considerable space of woodland. When found, they were felled, cleared of their branches and cut into lengths of about twenty feet. They were then carried or dragged by oxen to the ground, but the woods being so thick and incumbered by underbrush, they found the former to be the most expeditious method. Thus the labor of building the fort was entirely done by the men. These logs were then butted, that they might be placed firm and upright in the trench, with ax or saw. Some hewing was necessary for some trees not perfectly straight, and when stood upright their sides had to be made to come together. A thin piece of timber called a ribbon was run around it all, near the top of the pickets, to which every one was pinned with a strong pin. The earth was returned to the trenches and well packed, to keep the pickets firm. On the outside, about three feet distant, a trench was dug to carry off the water and prevent the removal of pickets by rain.

About two thousand pickets were set upon the inside, one between every two of the others. The work was then enclosed. The fort was built on the first bank east of the Miami river.

But there was another bank where the courthouse now stands, and used by the garrison for a graveyard; that was much higher, within point blank shot, which rendered it necessary to make the pickets on the landside higher, sufficient to prevent the enemy from seeing into the area of the fort. There were four bastions or block houses erected, one on the river front and three on the landside. In the one at the southeast corner, and the one at the southwest corner a platform was set, made of trunks of trees, and a cannon placed in each. They were thus enabled to cover the land on the east and command the fort on the west. Blanks were sawed for the platforms and the gate which opened to the fort. The fort was at what is now the foot of Ross and Court streets.

all this was done in two weeks. It was named Fort Hamilton, in honor of Alexander Hamilton, who was then secretary of the treasury in Washington's cabinet.

General St. Clair's army being defeated on November 4th, near Greenville, Darke county, they retreated to Fort Hamilton, with a loss of over six hundred men, including General Butler and Colonel Darke and a number of women, wives of officers, who accompanied the army and dared to suffer the hardships of this perilous campaign. Captain Armstrong had been left in command at Fort Hamilton, and most of the fortifications and interior buildings were erected under his superintendency, and the wounded were here provided for until thev could reach their homes. A portion of the garrison was sent out at once to hunt and assist the wounded who were unable to reach the fort. General St. Clair, feeling the odium resting upon him, resigned January' 8, 1792, although congress, upon investigation, had relieved him of any blame. General Wilkison was appointed to succeed him.

On the 28th of January, General Wilkinson, with two hundred regulars and two companies of militia, left Fort Washington for the battlefield to bury the dead and recover what he could of artillery, tenting and supplies. John Reilv was one of these, so also William Henry Harrison, then an en sign in the regular army and later President of the United States.

They arrived at Fort Hamilton next day, crossed the river at this point, and followed the trace road cut through the forest by General St. Clair's army, evidences of which can vet be seen.

of artillery. General Wilkinson ordered Captain Armstrong to have another flatboat built with utmost despatch, to facilitate transportation of men and horses across the river. On the 15th of March he was here again, but left next day to establish an intermediate fort between Fort Hamilton and Jefferson. This became a matter of extreme necessity in order to shorten the distance for the men, who, upon swift horses, carried dispatches from one fort to another, and known as the "express." The express was always considered a matter of great peril and many a gallant soldier lost his life serving in that way.

Fort Hamilton at this time was in a perfect state of defense. On the 17th of March they began the digging of a well, which is still in existence, situated on Water street, about fifty feet south of High, and for years known as Sohn's well.

At this well often appeared General St. Clair, General Wayne, General Wilkinson, and Lieutenant William H. Harrison, later General Harrison. On the 19th of March General Wilkinson sent word to Captain Armstrong that he had succeeded in establishing a fort twenty-five miles north of Fort Hamilton and named it Fort St. Clair. He furthermore ordered Captain Armstrong that when Captain Elliott came up the river with supplies of provisions for Fort St. Clair, to detail a sergeant and twelve men to meet him at Dunlap Station and act as an escort. He was also instructed to build houses for one thousand barrels of provisions for the fort.

On the 26th of April Captain Armstrong informed General Wilkinson that the enemy was lurking in the neighborhood and again, on May ist. that James McDonald, whom he had sent to Fort Washington with despatches a week ago, had not returned and he feared that he had been captured or killed by the Indians. On the 6th an escort from Fort Washington, with provisions consisting of a drove of bullocks, arrived at the fort destined for Fort St. Clair. Indians were again seen on the west side of the river for several days. Captain Armstrong detached Lieutenant Gaines with twenty men five miles on the road to Fort St. Clair with direction to re-cross Four-Mile, then Joseph creek, and form an ambuscade until the party with provisions had passed.

Express ( Sergeant Brooks) arrived on the 9th from Fort St. Clair. He reported seeing an Indian a half mile north and upon the Indian discovering him he gave a yell and four others appeared. A raft, on which three or four might have crossed the river, floated by the fort in the afternoon, and the horse on which McDonald was sent on the 23d of April, returned without its rider to this post: the rider, therefore, must have been slain by the Indians. On May nth two experienced woodmen. Reason Bailey and Joseph Shepherd, were added to this post and two to each of the other for the purpose of reconnoitering and scouting. An order was also issued by General Wilkinson, awarding twenty dollars for the apprehension of a deserter and if found making for the enemy, he is to be shot and his head brought in and set on a post on parade day.

June 28th Genera] Wilkinson visited the fort again. The garrison were fearing an attack any day by the Indians. On the 27th of July Captain Peters, with his company and six wagons, arrived as reinforcements. The savages were becoming bolder and bolder as the days passed, and the hardy frontiersmen fled in terror to the fort. On the 15th of November a soldier was -fired upon at this post and an attempt made to steal the cattle by removing some pickets. In December Captain Armstrong resigned his command of Fort Hamilton and Major Michael Rudolph succeeded him. He arrived on the 10th, with three companies of light dragoons, one of riflemen and one of infantry reinforcements to the post.

Hie depredations of the Indians were becoming more and more frequent. A general alarm seized the pioneers, whose exposed situation was inviting conflagration, massacre and untold cruelties at the hand of the revengeful savages. Scarcely a week passed but what the incendiary blazing faggot, the deadly rifle, the murderous tomahawk, had been wielded by the stealthy, unpitying, vindictive savage.

Ihe government, however, took prompt action and proceeded to inaugurate vigorous and effective measures, looking to the early, adequate and permanent support and security of the frontier. President Washington appointed General Wayne as commander-inchief, and ordered him to raise an army of five thousand men to the end that everlasting tranquility might be established in the Miami country.

General Wayne began recruiting at once, December, 1792. April 20, 1793, he moved his legion from winter quarters to Fort Washington and in a few days visited Fort Hamilton, having heard of the cruel treatment of seven deserters of Rudolph's command, and, although General Wavne was considered a most stern and arbitrary officer, he was so displeased with Major Rudolph's cruelty that he gave him the choice of resigning or being cashiered. He resigned and left for his home in Virginia.

The circumstances connected with the desertion of seven of Rudolph's soldiers was most distressing. Smarting under Rudolph's cruelty, they deserted early in March of this year. They were captured near the falls of the Ohio, whence they had gone in a canoe, and returned to Fort Hamilton. Major Rudolph sentenced two to be put in irons, .two to run a gauntlet and three to be hanged, namely Bliss, Brown and Gallagher. They lie buried in the southwest end of the fort where the gallows stood and near where the United Presbyterian church now stands. The depredation of the Indians continued unabated. In June of this year A. W. Prior, business partner of John Reily, in company with two others, set out on a trip to convey provisions from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton. They encamped for the night at Pleasant run, six miles below the fort. The Indians fired on them, killed Prior, the other two making their escape to Fort Hamilton.

They charged upon the Indians and made them retreat, but lost eight men. October 15th. Lieutenant Lowry, with ninety men, was attacked by a party of Indians and defeated, with a loss of fifteen men and seventy horses, carried away. Late in December an express on his way to Fort Hamilton from Fort Washington was waylaid near Symmes Comer. The Indian was concealed behind a forked oak, near the ministerial corner!

In the spring of 1794 Colonel Robert Elliott, contractor for supplies to the United States army, on his way to Fort Hamilton was waylaid and killed near the county tine at the Big Hill. The servant made his escape, riding at full speed, Elliott's horse following, arriving at Fort Hamilton safe.

in his haste to scalp him, tore it off, t utter astonishment. The next day a party left Fort Hamilton with a coffin and the servant with him to the scene, and secured E 1- ott's bodv. After traveling a mile or so they were again attacked, the servant killed.

2 ", ethers »eh. The Indian, broke open the coffin, thereupon the soldiers rallied, retook the body and proceeded on their iournev. Early in July, 1794, a soldier was despatched to Fort Jefferson as an express from this post. He was tomahawked and scalped near Two-Mile, not far from Delorac's house, where Blum s shop is now located. Although in sight of the fort, 'thev knew nothing of it until informed by Col. Matthew Huston, who the previous night lodged in the camp nine miles above and came to the fort next morning. He said' "The Indians were concealed on the side of the road in a bush and sprang upon their victim as he passed." Early in November following an escort of dragoons, who were guarding a party taking provisions from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, were attacked at the Big Hill at Pleasant run, eight men were killed, and a number wounded. The Indians burned the corn and carried away the horses.

Several days later the Indians killed and scalped two pack horsemen near Bloody Run on their way to Fort Hamilton, two of the wagoners escaping. On December 8th pack horsemen on their way from Fort Hamilton to Fort St. Clair encamped for the night near Seven-Mile on the west side of the creek. Early next morning they were fired upon by the Indians. Seven were killed and one escaped to Fort Hamilton. A party of soldiers went next day to bury the dead.

Fort Hamilton and had an addition built to the fort on the north side. Artificers shops and stalls for horses of the dragoons were erected on the west side of the addition and

Wavne. with his army, left Fort Washington and marched to Fort Hamilton. October 7th General Wayne took up his line of march to the north, leaving Major John Cass in charge of Fort Hamilton, He took a fferent route from what General St Uair did in order to take the Indians off their guard, and crossed the Miami at what is

The river having changed its course during the flood of 1805. he arrived at the St Clair battlefield December 25th. erected a fort and named it Fort Recovery. General Wavne, during the winter, tried to treat or peace with the Indians, but they, having been promised British aid, were defiant. e ia sent Christian Miller, who had been naturalized bv the Shawnees, as a messenger o peace, but the olive branch was rejected. He therefore made arrangements for ti final blow. O11 the 20th of August. 1794- the decisive blow was struck, known as Battle of Fallen Timbers." The Indians were commanded by Blue Jacket, the Shawnee chief. The charge of Mad Anthony s troop, with their glistening bayonets, was

General Wayne's loss was thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded. General conflagration and devastation of the n ian village marked the track of the return of the victorious army. They arrived at o

Hamilton October 18th, the Kentucky volunteers preceding them several days. The major part entered winter quarters at Fort Greenville. The year 1795 came with fair prospects that the white- winged messenger of peace would hereafter hover over the Miami valley.

Major Jonathan Cass was still commander of Fort Hamilton. Judge Symmes and his associate. Jonathan Dayton, had received his patent for 248.540 acres of land, and Israel Ludlow had surveyed it. Darious F. Orcutt, a soldier of St. Clair's and Wayne's army, who shortly before married Sal lie McHenry, the second marriage at this post, erected the first log cabin beyond the confines of the fort at the north end. It stood there and was inhabited as late as 1865.

Jonathan Dayton sold to Israel Ludlow the site and surroundings of Fort Hamilton, who thereupon appointed D. C. Orcutt to lay out a contract with purchasers. Among these were John Greer, Isaac Wiles, Benjamin Randolph and John Torrence. In' June W ayne's volunteer army was disbanded and * mite a number of officers and men came to Fort Hamilton for their permanent abode. Numbers purchased lots and began to build. John Torrence built a house near the northwest corner of the fort, which still stands, and opened a tavern, the hotel of that day.

August 3d the treaty of peace was signed between the United States, represented bv General Wayne, and the twelve tribes of Indians. represented by their respective chiefs. John Sutherland, who had been a pack horseman in St. Clair and Wayne's campaign, settled here in the spring and opened a store just beyond the north end of the fort in the house where Mrs. Belle McNeely now lives.

General Wayne ordered Fort Hamilton to be vacated in the fall of this year. The public property and stores were sold at auction and the fort abandoned.

Archibald Tolbert built the first log cabin on the west side of the Miami near the corner of Park avenue and B street and established a ferry, and a few years later Isaac Falconer, father of the late Dr. Cyrus Falconer, erected a building and opened the first public house.

The two-story house built by General Wilkison for the accommodation of the officers, together with the stables just north, were sold to William McClellan, who opened a tavern in it, and at the organization of the county it was used as a clerk's office, office of the common pleas and supreme judges, treasurer, coroner, surveyor and postoffice. The clerk's desk used in this building was later purchased by Jesse Corwin and is now in possession of Dr. Miller. John Reily was the first postmaster. It was the rendezvous of the picked men of the town, the headquarters where the best society spent their evenings and leisure hours.

The court was held in one of the buildings of the fort, formerly used as a mess room and occupied as such until 1810. The following year the Rev. W. G. Wallace opened a school in the building, and also organized a Presbyterian church.

All the buildings of the fort were constructed of sound hickory logs, with the bark peeled off, except the magazine, a building about fifteen feet square, constructed of heavy logs, hewed square and laid close together, having a hipped roof and a blue ball on top. In 1803 the magazine was converted into a jail. The door was of heavy two-inch oak plank and driven f/ill of spikes and nails; with a hole in the center in the shape of a half moon for the admission of light, air and food for the occupants. It was fastened with an iron hasp and padlock on the outside.

The old soldiers of St. Clair and Wayne, residents of Hamilton and vicinity, formed themselves into military companies. Whenever there were any prisoners in the jail a detachment of ten or twelve of one of these companies would be employed by the county commissioners to guard the prison. John Wingate was captain of one of these companies, James Blackburn another, and John Gray another. April 8th Captain Gray was paid fourteen dollars for himself and ten privates of his company for guarding the jail in January. On June ioth Captain Wingate received twenty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents for himself and company, and

Captain Blackburn received six dollars and eightv-five cents for the same for his company. In later years this building was used as a school house.

One of the pupils of this school, Mrs. Jane Skinner, is still with us. The building stood near where the United Presbyterian church now stands, but was later moved farther south on a line with Water street, upon ground sold by Israel Ludlow to John Greer in 1796, and has passed down to us in the following succession : In 1823, John Greer to C. K. Smith; in 1836, C. K. Smith to Peter Jacobs, Sr. ; in 1883, Fred Jacobs, administrator of Peter Jacobs, Sr., to Thomas Millikin; 1901, administrator of Thomas Millikin to O. M. Bake, whose patriotic nature prompted him to present the building to the John Reily Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.