Fairfield County, Ohio - Chapter 2: The Famous Hocking Valley, 1912

Chapter 2: The Famous Hocking Valley

Great Valleys of the World - J'allcy of the Ho The Famed Logan Elm - First Attempt a Against the Miamis - St. Clair's Defeat - General Wayne's Great Victory - Siege o Defense of Fort Stephenson - End of the - Wild Game an Alluring Prize - The Ec pany - France Attempts to Take Posscssio War - The Fertility, Wealth and Snbsfa)t

In all ages and countries man has sought the river valley. In the valley man first advanced from barbarism to civilization. The first nations to gain power and to become enlightened were those whose homes were on fertile soil and beside cool water.

The great and fertile basin between the Alps and the Apennines - that garden of the ancient world - through which Hows the Po, was the abiding place of millions of inhabitants and the source of Italy's wealth. Of this valley Dr. Thomas Arnold says: "Who can wonder that this large and richly watered plain should be filled with flourishing cities or that it should have been successfully contended for so often by successful invaders."

The Greek historian Herodotus proclaims : "Egypt is the gift of the Nile." The annual overflow of that giant stream has kept the valley of Egypt a garden of richest alluvium for untold centuries. Here have uncounted millions of the human race "lived, loved and died."

eking - Its Great Fertility - Diinnwre's li'ar - t Settlement in Ohio - General Harmar Sent Fort Defiance - Battle of the Fallen Timber, f Fort Meigs - Col. George Croghan and the War of 1812 - Early Struggle for Possession onoinic Work of the Beaver - The Ohio Comn of the Ohio Valley - The French and Indian tial Citizenship of the Great Hocking Valley.

In America the Hudson flows through a valley so rich and so beautiful that it has long been the theme of the historian, and the inspiration of the bard.

But to the inhabitants of the Old Northwest, and especially of Ohio, no valley has a greater charm than that of the Hocking. The name is Indian, and it falls softly on the ear when it is pronounced. The beauty of the name introduces you to the beauty of the valley.

The Hocking River

The Hocking takes its rise in a large spring in Fairfield county, about ten miles northwest of Lancaster, the county seat. The spring is on the farm of Reuben Faler, in Section 21, Bloom township. It flows thence through the farm of A. Bowman, thence through the farm of the heirs of Joseph Leyndecker, thence through the farm of W. R. Cofman, and on toward Lancaster. It empties into the Ohio at Hockingport, in Athens county, about 87 miles from its source- The river, it is thus seen, is less than 100 miles in length. The spring of pure water which is its source is 1,200 feet above the mouth, thus giving the river an average fall of nearly 14 feet to the mile. This remarkable fall accounts for the terrific force of its current during floods and high waters. The river valley contains portions of nine counties - more than 4,000 square miles in area. Its valley is the si.xth in size of the seven river sections of Ohio. The counties drained in whole or in part are Fairfield, Hocking, Perry, Athens, Morgan, Vinton, Meigs (Gallia and Lawrence), and these nine counties constitute the " Hocking Valley" river section, lying between the western watershed of the Muskingum Valley, and the eastern watershed of the Scioto valley.

At Sugar Grove the Hocking river receives Rush Creek from the east. This creek is much larger than the Hocking, and, it is thought by many, should have been called Hocking. With one exception - Margaret's creek, one mile west of Athens - the Hocking has no western tributaries of any considerable size. But it has a goodly number from the east - Monday creek, which empties into the Hocking near Nelsonville; Sunday creek, at Chauncey, six miles above Athens; Margaret creek from the west; then numerous small streams meet the Hocking and swell its waters till they form a noble stream, falling into the Ohio at Hockingport.

In many parts of its course the valley is quite wide and the soil extremely fertile. The stream itself is not large, yet in time of heavy rains or melting snows, from the great fall it has - 1,200 feet in its entire course - it becomes a raging torrent - an avalanche, such as

This fertile valley was the original home of the Wyandotts, the Hurons, the Shawnees and the Delawares - brave and warlike tribes of Indians, who had held it for untold centuries. These Indians (The Wyandotts) had at the coming of the white man, two well known towns within the limits of Fairfield county : - one called Tarhe town, located southeast of the present city of Lancaster, on ground now occupied by the railroads - Old Chief Tarhe, a noble old master of his race, was ruler of his town and from him it took its name. The other town of the Wyandotts was known as Toby town - ruled by a less important and less worthy chief called Toby. This town was near, or possibly on. the present site of Royalton, in the northern part of Amanda township.

The Hocking river is sometimes called the "Hock-hock-ing," which in the language of the Delaware Indians, signifies a bottle. The Shawnees have it, "Wea-tha-kagh-qua sepe," i. e., bottle river. John White, in the "American Pioneer," says : "About six or seven miles northwest of Lancaster there is a fall in the Hockhocking, of about twenty feet : above the fall for a short distance, the creek is very narrow and straight, forming a neck, while at the falls it suddenly widens on each side and swells into the appearance of the body of a bottle. The whole, when seen from above, appears exactly in the shape of a bottle, and from this fact the Indians called the creek Hockhocking."

But Nature had stored away in the hills and valleys of this region a richness of coal and gas, and oil, and clay, and iron and salt never dreamed of by the first inhabitants. "Hocking coal" is in demand all through the middle west, for it is high grade. It is shipped to all the ports of the Great Lakes and the cities of the Northwest. The long coal trains of the Hocking Valley are so common that they form a permanent part of the scenery of the valley.

the Valley of the Hockhocking. In fact, this valley was the cradle for noted orators, statesmen, soldiers, mathematicians, jurists, scientists, journalists and ministers. Their name is legion; space forbids the mention of more than a few here - General Thomas Ewing, Sr., Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., John Shemian, Gen. William Tecumseh Shennan,

Governor of Ohio William Medill (1852-56), William J. Reese, Judge William W. Irvin, Charles R. Sherman, Hocking H. Hunter, Philomon Beecher, John Chaney, Thomas O. Edwards, Charles D. Martin, Philadelphus Van Trump, Capt. Joseph Hunter, Mrs. Joseph Hunter (first white woman to settle in the Hocking valley), Ebenezer Zane, Enoch Sites, the noted mathematician, Charles H. Grosvenor, Valentine B. Horton, Samuel Dana Horton, Jeremiah McLain Rusk ("Uncle Jerry," secretary of agriculture), James W. Dawes, Governor of Nebraska, James Ball Naylor, the novelist, Samuel F. Vinton, Philip Henry Sheridan, John A. Macgahan, John L. Vance, Ann Bailey, John Campbell, Caleb Briggs.

The population of this entire valley today is more than 260,000 people, and the number is constantly growing. This is a wonderful increase since 1800, the year of the organization of Fairfield county. The German nationality predominates in Fairfield county, as it does throughout the valley. The first immigrants were largely from Pennsylvania, but Virginia and Kentucky contributed many people to the early settlement of the valley. Swiss and Hollanders came in large quantities, but at the present day every country of Europe, parts of Africa and Asia and the Islands of the Sea are represented in this famous valley.

The soil along the course of the Hocking is a black loam, capable of producing the most extensive crops year after year without the use of fertilizers. The richness of this valley attracted the Indian long years before the coming of the white man. Here he roamed unmolested, and here he "wooed his dusky mate." The fauna and flora were most abundant, and life for both the white and the red man was made easy and happy, for game was

Into this valley immigrants came in large numbers. They felled the forest and bridged the stream and they made the wilderness blossom like the rose. Prosperous villages appeared at every turn of the road, or bend of the stream, and some of them soon became cities.

Along the banks of this stream, and to the north, betimes, was heard the dreadful warwhoop of the Wyandotts, Shawnees or the Hurons, the shrill whistle of the rifle ball and the roar of the cannon At Fort Wayne, Defiance and Toledo once stood massive forts where was heard the din of battle and there was seen the death grapple between "Mad Anthony" Wayne and his foes, or the longdrawn combat between General Harrison and the English general Proctor, aided by his devoted Indian ally, Tecumseh.

The story of these old struggles is ever new and this chapter would be sadly wanting in interest should the recital of them be omitted here.

It is very interesting to know that, as early as 1774 a fort was established in the Hocking valley, and an army of 1,200 men, led by an English earl, marched through the valley, engaging in bloody warfare with the Indians. This fort was erected at the mouth of the Hocking river and was called Fort Gower, in honor of Earl Gower, in what is now Troy township, Athens county. This was Lord Dunmore's army. It was sent against the Delawares, Iroquois, Wyandotts and other tribes that had fallen into bitter conflict with the frontier population of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and then carried over into the Hocking valley. These conflicts will ever be made notable by the fact that one of the bloodiest massacres was that of the family of the celebrated Chief Logan, the elo(iuent leader of the Mingos. The quick and terrible vengeance of Logan upon the whites in the valley of the Monongahela, he has described in his justly famed speech, which is given in another part of this chapter.

Lord Dunmore was governor of Virginia, and in August of 1770 he decided to raise a large army and "carry the war into Africa." Three regiments were raised, one to be commanded by General Arthur Lewis and the other two by Lord Dunmore himself. General Lewis marched out with 1,100 men, and on the 6th of October, 1774, reached Point Pleasant, twenty-eight miles in a direct line from the mouth of the Hocking. Here Lewis received orders from Dunmore to cross the Ohio at once and to join him at the Shawnee towns on the Scioto, against which Dunmore was marching. But before General Lewis could get started, two of his men were fired upon while out hunting. One was killed and the other came running into camp to give the alarm. In a very short time General Lewis was in the midst of one of the most sanguinary Indian wars of all frontier history. The Indians, led by the two famous chiefs, Cornstalk and Logan, maddened by past wrongs, and enthused with the hope of crushing the enemy, fought all day long with the energy of demons. But an attempted flanking movement by Lewis caused the Indians to withdraw at the close of day. Their loss was about 233 ; the whites lost half their officers and 52 men were killed. This was the noted battle of Point Pleasant, fought October loth,

Gap, stopped at Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, to review his army, and then descended the Ohio to the mouth of the Hocking, where he constructed Fort Gower, as already related. Leaving a force to guard the supplies at Fort Gower, Lord Dunmore then marched up the Hocking as far as where we now find the flourishing town of Logan. From this point he marched westward to within seven miles of Circle\ille, where, near the famous "Logan Elm" a grand parley or "pow-wow" was held, and a treaty executed. It was at this parley, and under the elm noted, that the Mingo chief Logan, made his justly famous speech, the first sentence of which runs: "I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat." See Chapter III.

After the treaty was made Lord Dunmore marched back to Fort Gower, where the army was disbanded. Some of these soldiers settled along the Hocking, and in the Mingo bottoms. The.se soldiers sent for their families and friends, attracted by the fertility of the soil, and thus formed the settlements in Ohio, in 1774 and 1775. They were not permanent, however.

The Far Famed Logan Elm

We would not be just to our readers of today were to omit the description of the great elm beneath whose spreading branches the famous speech of Logan was delivered. This tree stands today on the farm of James Boggs, about six miles south of Circleville, on Congo creek. The tree when in the full vigt)r of its long life was 20 feet in girth, 79 feet high and the circle of its branches was 120 feet in diameter. The Boggs family settled on this farm as early as 1798 and until recently it was in their possession. The ground on which the

The tree is still vigorous; but is badly in need of treatment, if it is to be preserved. There is a movement on foot now to buy a roadway in to the tree. A society known as the Pickaway County Historical Association is pushing the movement. But the first object of the Society is to have a tree surgeon examine the tree, and do what can be done towards preserving it. Already a collection has been taken in the schools of the county looking to this end, the balance then to be used in helping to buy the roadway. Miss Clara Littleton is secretary of this Historical Association. This is one of America's most noted trees, for the speech here delivered, "a brief effusion of mingled pride, courage and sorrow," gave to the Red Man, in the primeval forests of America, an elevated character and power of eloquence hitherto almost unknown. The very f)lace where it was delivered will yet become a Mecca, and thousands will go to see the Elm and stand upon the very spot made memorable by the touching eloquence of this child of the forest.

That the reader may get a more comprehensive view of these early struggles in Ohio, a brief account of "St. Clair's Defeat," "Mad Anthony Wayne and Fort Defiance." "Battle of Fallen Timber," "Siege of Fort Meigs," "Col. George Croghan and the Defense of Ft. Stephenson," and "The Old Northwest," is here added. From fhese sketches the student of history will soon see that the early contests in the Hocking valley, from Fort Gower to the "Logan Elm," were very much like those in other parts of our now beautiful state. It was everywhere a question of power - as it is in the world today

First Settlement In Ohio

The Governor of Canada, Count de Frontenac, anxious for France to gain possession of the rich country to the south of the chain of Great Lakes, sent out trading parties with authority from the King of France to erect stores and military posts, and to take possession of the country in the name of the government of France. One of these trading parties erected a post on the Maumee, near the present site of Maumee City in Lucas County, in 1680. This was an important trading post for a number of years. This post was removed to a more advantageous position at the head waters of the Maumee, where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. On the site of the old post at Maumee City, the British erected, in 1794, Fort Miami. The abovenamed post or stockade, at Maumee City, is believed to have been the first attempt at settlement or occupation by white men, within the present limits of Ohio. These statements are made, says the historian Knapp. on the authority of records at Montreal and Quebec, and papers at Albany and Harrisburg.

The chief village of the Miami Indians was at the junction of the St. Mary's and St Joseph's rivers, where Fort Wayne now stands. In 1 79 1 General Harmar was sent against them, to punish them for their continued attacks upon the white settlers. But he was led into an ambuscade and routed.

west of the Ohio, was then sent to attack the Miamis in the same year ; but he was surprised and signally beaten. Every schoolboy knows the story of his defeat. It was the most disastrous of all the early conflicts with the Indians. The battle was fought along a branch of the Wabash, a little south of the St. Mary's, at Fort Recovery, Mercer county, Ohio, November 4, 1791.

After a careful examination of the records and ability of various officers, Washington assigned to General Anthony Wayne the difficult task, and in June, 1792, he was sent into the Indian country in the Northwest. He was called by the Indians, "The Chief Who Never Sleeps.'' He si)ent about two years in building forts, enlisting troops and in gaining the confidence of some of the Indians. They left Fort Washingtan (now Cincinnati), October 7, 1793, and established Fort Greenville, on the present site of the county seat of Darke county. On Christmas Day, 1793, Wayne reoccupied the ground where St. Clair had been so badly beaten three years before and erected a stockade, which was very appropriately named "Fort Recovery." As the fort was in process of recovery 600 human skulls were found and buried under one of the blockhouses - relics of the awful carnage of St. Clair's defeat.

General Wayne now put forth every effort to gain the favorable consideration of terms of peace, but the Indians, flushed with success, refused to accept any terms, however favorable, and even murdered Trueman, Freeman and Colonel Hardin, the three ambassadors sent to treat with them. Back of this action was the influence of the British, who urged the Indians on to further deeds of violence.

his victorious march against his foes. They fled at his advance, and he soon found himself in the fertile country about the junction of the Auglaize with the Maumee. There were extensive gardens and highly cultivated fields extending for many miles abo\'e and below the junction of the two rivers. All this indicated the work of many people - an evidence of the number of the enemy.

\\'ayne was eight days in building Fort Defiance ; began on the 9th of August and finished on the i7tli. .\fter surveying its blockhouses, pickets, ditches and fascines, Wayne exclaimed: "I defy the English, Indians and all the devils in hell to take it." Colonel Scott, who happened at that instant to be standing at his side, remarked : "Then call it Fort Defiance." And so \\''ayne, in a letter to the Secretary of \\'ar, written at this time, said : "Thus, sir, we have gained possession of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the West without loss of blood. The very extensi\e and highly cultivated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margin of those beautiful rivers, the Miamis of the Lake (or Maumee) and Auglaize, appear like one continued village for a number of miles both above and below this place ; nor have r ever before beheld such fields of corn in any part of America from Canada to Florida. We are now employed in completing a strong stockade fort, with four good blockhouses, by way of bastions, at the confluence of the .Auglaize and the Maumee, which I have called Defiance."

vated plain above the rapids of the Maumee, on the left bank of the river. This place they thought greatly favored their plan of battle, for it was covered by fallen timber which had been recently hurled to the ground by a tornado, thus preventing the action of cavalry. Undaunted by this plan, Wayne moved on to the place of conflict, and on August 20th, about 8 o'clock in the morning, he began the attack upon the combined forces of Indians and British. The battle began at "Presque ground. As was anticipated, this advance soon met the enemy, and being fired on fell back and was warmly pursued toward the main body. The morning was rainy, and the drums could not communicate the concerted signals with sufficient distinctness. A plan of turning the right flank of the Indians was not, therefore, fulfilled. But the victory was complete, the whole Indian line, after a severe contest, giving way and flying in disorder. About one hundred savages were killed."

Plan Illustrating The Battles Of The Maumee

The above map .shows about eight miles of the country along each side of the Maumee, including the towns of Perrysburg, Maumee City and Waterville.

Fort Meigs, memorable from having sustained two sieges in the year 1813, is shown on the east side of the Maumee, with the British batteries on both sides of the river, and above the British fort, the position of Proctor's encampment.

"General Wayne had about three thousand men under his command, and the Indians are computed to have been equally numerous. This is not improbable, as the hostile league embraced the whole Northwestern frontier. As he approached the position of the enemy he sent forward a battalion of mounted riflemen, which was ordered, in case of an attack, to make a retreat in feigned confusion, in order to draw the Indians on more disadvantageous

Before leaving this valley, so gloriously gained. General Wayne erected a fort where Swan Creek joins the Maumee, which was held until Jay's treaty, 1793, when Great Britain surrendered its Northern posts.

"On the 27th the troops took up their march, devastating every village and field on the line to Fort Defiance, which they proceeded to render more substantial. September 14th the legion moved on to the Miami villages, where the long contemplated fort was constructed, and October 22, 1794, placed under command of Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck, who, after firing fifteen rounds of cannon, gave the name, which the city now bears, of Fort Wayne."

Siege Of Fort Meigs, 1813

Of all the military operations along the Great Lakes during the War of 1812, none is more interesting than the siege of Fort Meigs, near the present site of Toledo. The fort stood upon high ground, about 60 feet above the Maumee, on the margin of the bank. The surface is quite level. The site is well preserved, and a station called "Fort Meigs" is now seen along the line of the electric railway. One may yet see the well-defined outline of the old fort - the grand traverse yet arises six or eight feet above the ground. The place is famous, and many people visit it each year.

"In an excursion of the veterans of the War of 1812, made to Fort Meigs in June, 1870, Mayor Tyler, in his address of welcome to the soldiers, remarked, with regard to the present condition of this consecrated ground :

" 'On to-morrow you will be escorted to the old fortifications of Fort Meigs. There you will find its earthworks faithfully preserved, safe, only as far as the hand of time has marred its former war-frowning front. No instrument of agriculture has torn flown or plowed up any part of the old fort. Two of the original pickets, placed there in 181 2, are there yet. There you will find, marked by stones long since placed over them, the graves of vour fallen comrades, there the trenches.

there the magazine, there all the outlines of the ancient warfare. Mr. Michael Hayes and his brothers, who own the soil of the old fort, have faithfully performed their duty in guarding this landmark of history from destruction or desolation. They have preserved many of the relics of the battle-field - grape shot, canister, bayonets, and many other evidences of the conflict.'

"So far the military operations of the Northwest had certainly been sufinciently discouraging; the capture of Mackinac, the surrender of Hull, the massacre at Chicago, and the overwhelming defeat at Frenchtown, are the leading events. Nothing had been gained, and of what had been lost, nothing had been retaken. The slight successes over the Indians by Hopkins, Edwards and Campbell had not shaken the power or confidence of Tecumseh and his allies; while the fruitless efforts of Harrison through five months, to gather troops enough at the mouth of the Maumee to attempt the reconquest of Michigan, which had been taken in a week, depressed the spirits of the Americans, and gave new life and hopes to their foes.

"About the time that Harrison's unsuccessful campaign drew to a close, a change took place in the War Department, and General Armstrong succeeded his incapable friend. Dr. Eustis. Armstrong's views were those of an able soldier. In October, 181 2, he had again addressed the government, through Mr. Gallatin, on the necessity of obtaining command of the Lakes, and when raised to power determined to make naval operations the basis of tiie military movements in the Northwest. His views in relation to the coming campaign in the West were based on two points, viz : The use of regular troops alone, and the command of the Lakes, which he was led to think could be obtained bv the 20th of June.

"Although the views of the Secretary in regard to the non-employment of militia were not, and could not be, adhered to, the general plan of merely standing on the defensive until the command of the Lakes was secured, was persisted in, although it was the 2nd of August, instead of the ist of June, before the vessels on Lake Erie could lea\e the harbor in which they had been built. Among these defensive operations in the spring and summer of 1813, that of Fort Meigs, the new post taken by Harrison at the foot of the rapids, and that at Lower Sandusky, deserve to be especially noticed, as they form historical wealth which the whole country, and especially the inhabitants of the Maumee Valley, will ever regard with feelings of pride and interest. It had been anticipated that, with the opening of spring, the British would attempt the con(juest of the position upon the Maumee, and measures had been taken by the General to forward reinforcements, which were detained, however, as usual, by the spring freshets and the bottomless roads. It was no surprise, therefore, to General Harrison, that on the breaking up of the ice in Lake Erie, General Proctor, with all his disposable force, consisting of regulars and Canadian militia from Maiden, and a large body of Indians under Tecumseh, amounting in the whole to 2,000 men, made him a hostile visit, and laid siege to Fort Meigs. To encourage the Indians, he had promised them an easy conquest, and assured them that General Harrison should be delivered up to Tecumseh. On the 26th of April the British columns appeared on the other bank of the river and established their principal batteries on a commanding eminence opposite Fort Meigs. On the 27th the Indians crossed the river and established themselves in the rear of the American lines. The garrison, not having completed their wells, had no water except what they obtained from the river, under a constant firing from the enemy."

Below is an extract from an article on the siege of Fort Meigs, by Rev. A. M. Lorraine, originally published in the "Ladies' Repository" for March, 1845 :

"One afternoon, as numbers were gathered together on the 'parade,' two strangers, finely mounted, appeared on the western bank of the ri\er. and seemed to be taking a very calm and deliberate survey of our works. It was a strange thing to see travelers in that wild country, and we commonly held such to be enemies, until they proved themselves to be friends. So one of our batteries was cleared forthwith, and the gentlemen were saluted with a shot that tore up the earth about them and put them to a hasty flight. If that ball had struck its mark, much bloodshed might have been prexented, for we learned subsequently tliat our illustrious visitors were Proctor and Tecumseh. The garrison was immediately employed in cutting deep traverses through the fort, taking down the tents and preparing for a siege. The work accomplished in a few hours, under the excitement of the occasion, was prodigious. The grand traverse being completed, each man was ordered to exca\ate. under the embankment, suitable lodgings, as substitutes for our tents. Those rooms were shot-proof and bomb-proof, except in the event of a shell falling in the tra^-- erse and at the mouth of a cave. The above works were scarcely completed before it was discovered that the enemy, under cover of night, had constructed batteries on a commanding hill north of the river. There their artiller3-men were posted ; but the principal part of their army occupied the old English fort below. Their Indian allies appeared to. have a roving commission, for they beset us on every side. The cannonading commenced in good earnest on both sides. It was, however, more constant on the British side, because they had a more extensive mark to batter. We had nothing to fire at but their batteries, but they were coolly and deliberately attended to; and it was believed that more than one of their guns were dismounted during the siege. One of our militiamen took his station on the embankment, and gratuitously forewarned of us of every shot. In this he became so skillful that he could, in almost every case, predict the destination of the ball. As soon as the smoke issued from the muzzle of the gun, he would cry out 'shot' or 'bomb," as the case might be. Sometimes he would exclaim 'Block-house No. i,' or 'Look out, main battery;' 'Now for the meat house;' 'Good-bye, if you will pass.' In spite of all the expostulations of his friends, he maintained his post. One day there came a shot that seemed to defy all his calculations. He stood silent, motionless, perplexed. In the same instant he was swept into eternity. Poor man ! he should have considered, that when there is no obliquity in the issue of the smoke, either to the right or left, above or below, the fatal messenger would travel in the direct line of his vision. He reminded me of the peasant in the siege of Jerusalem who cried out, 'Woe to the city! Woe to myself!' On the most active day of the investment, there were as many as 500 cannon balls and bombs thrown at our fort. Meantime the Indians, climbing up into the trees, fired incessantly upon us. Such was their distance, that many of the balls barely reached us, and fell iiarmless to the ground. Occasionally they inflicted dangerous and even fatal wounds. The number killed in the fort was small, considering the profusion of powder and ball expended on us. About 80 were slain, many wounded, and several had to suffer the amputation of limbs. The most dangerous duty which we performed within the precincts of the fort, was in covering the magazine. Previous to this, the powder had been deposited in wagons, and these stationed in the traverse. Here there was no security against bombs ; it was therefore thought to be prudent to remove the powder into a small block-house and cover it with earth. The enemy, judging our designs from our movements, now directed all their shot to this point. Many of their balls were red-hot. Wherever they struck they raised a cloud of smoke, and made a frightful hissing. An officer, passing our quarters, said: 'Boys, who will volunteer to cover the magazine?' Fool-like, away several of us went. As soon as we reached the spot, there came a ball and took off one man's head. The spades and dirt flew faster than any of us had before witnessed. In the midst of our job, a bombshell fell on the roof, and lodging on one of the braces it spun around for a moment. Every soldier fell flat on his face, and with breathless horror awaited the vast explosion, which we expected would crown all our earthly sufferings. Only one of the gang presumed to reason on the case. He silently argued that, as the shell had not burst as quickly as usual, there might be something wrong in its arrangement. If it burst where it was, and the magazine exploded, there could be no escape; it was death anyhow; so he sprang to his feet, seized a boat hook, and pulling the hissing missile to the ground, and jerking the smoking match from its socket, discovered that the shell was filled with inflammable matter, which if once ignited would have wrapped the whole building in a sheet of flame. This circumstance added wings to our shovels and we were right glad when the officer said : 'That will do; go to your lines.' "

Defeated in his attempts to capture Fort Meigs, Proctor next moved to Lower Sandusky, into the neighborhood of General Harrison's stores and his headquarters, and besieged Fort Stephenson.

Col. George Croghan And The Defense Of Fort Stephenson

George Croghan was born near Louisville, Kentucky, November 15, 1791. He was a boy of manly appearance, and at a very early age developed a strong desire for military life. He was graduated at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, July 4, 1810. In 181 1 he served in the battle of Tippecanoe, exhibiting great courage, activity and military skill. He was made captain the following year, and major, March, 1813. On May 5, 1813, he distinguished himself as aide-de-camp of General Harrison in the defense of Fort Meigs.

Early in 1813, Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), was constructed by and named after Colonel Stephenson, then in command of United States troops. During the month of July, 1813, Major Croghan was placed in command of this fort, upon which an attack by the British was anticipated. Previous to the battle. General Harrison had dispatched messengers to Croghan, advising him that if the enemy appeared in force he should retreat. But the young major wrote back that he had determined to hold the fort at all hazards. General Harrison treated his reply as disobedience of orders, and relieved him of his command. Croghan at once explained to the General's satisfaction, and was returned to his post.

fort. General Proctor, the British commander, at once sent a messenger to the fort with a flag, and a summons for an immediate surrender. To this went back the reply: "The fort ivill be defended to the last extremity; no force, however great, can induce us to surrender, as zve are resolved to maintain this post or bury ourselves in its ruins." Again was the ilag of truce sent to Croghan, advising him to submit, and thereby avoid the terrible massacre that would surely follow. But to this, the cool and defiant answer went out : "irhcn this fort is taken, there shall be none to massacre; it zvill not he given up while a man is able to resist." Firing immediately commenced by the British gunboats and a howitzer on shore. Croghan had but one piece of artillery, but by shifting its position from place to place, induced the belief that he had several. The British, having made no satisfactory progress, determined to storm the fort, and on the 2nd of August advanced with about 500 regulars, 800 Indians, a howitzer and three six-pounders. They were under command to "give the Yankees no quarter." Croghan, with only 169 men, reserved fire until the "red coats" had approached within easy reach, when he fired with such fatal precision that the British faltered ; he then turned his battery, a single gun, a six-pounder loaded with grape and canister, upon them, and the ravine through which they were approaching was shortly filled with the dead and dying enemy. This British loss of dead and wounded was about 120, while Croghan's was only eight.

Thus, on the 2nd day of August, 1813, at the age of 21 years, the heroic Croghan, against a vastly superior force, had won this brilliant victory. For this exploit he was brevetted lieutenant colonel by the President of the United States ; Congress awarded him a

"The enemy are not far distant. I expect an attack. I will defend this post till the last extremity. I have just sent away women and children, wih the sick of the garrison, that I may be able to act without incumbrance. Be satisfied. I shall, I hope, do my duty. The example set me by my Revolutionary kindred is before me' Let me die rather than prove unworthy of their name."

Col. George Croghan died in New Orleans, January S, i8.^g. And to keep his memory, Fremont, through these passing years, has continued to celebrate the second of .\ugust.

Fort Stephenson, a spot precious to the citizens of Fremont, is now owned and cared for by the city. The old cannon, familiarly known as "Old Betsy," which did such fearful execution in the fight, to-day stands silently upon the fort, a fitting companion of that noble shaft, erected in memory of Colonel Croghan, and of the brave soldiers in the late Rebellion.

Tecumseh's death at the battle of the Thames in Canada, and Perry's victory on Lake Erie, with Jackson's at New Orleans, following the successes of Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson, closed the War of 181 2, or the "Second War of Independence."

The Old Northwest Early Struggle For Possession

thus : "Save New England alone, there is no section of the United State embracing several States, that is so distinct an historical unit, and that so readily yields to historical treatment as the 'Old Northwest.' It was the occasion of the final struggle for dominion between France and England in North America. It was the theatre of one of the most brilliant and far-reaching military exploits of the Revolution. The disposition to be made of it at the close of the Revolution is the most important territorial question treated in the history of .American diplomacy. After the war the Northwest began to assume increasing importance in the national history It is the original public domain and the part of the West first colonized under the authority of the national government. It was the first and most important territory ever organized by Congress. It is the only part of the United States ever under a secondary constitution like the Ordinance of 1787. No other equal part of the Union has made, in one hundred years, such progress along the characteristic lines of American development."

From the Old Northwest were formed the States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and part of Minnesota, and it forms one of the richest and most enterprising regions of America.

Long before the English appeared upon this scene, the French had explored and threaded the great wilderness. They pushed their way into the great regions beyond the source of the Mississippi to the "Land of the Dakotas," and in the opposite direction to the mouth of the Mississippi and to the foot of the .-Xlleghenies. They spread themselves out over half a continent, visiting lakes, forests and rivers, bent on discovery, trade or the reclaiming of souls- The tale of the heroic expeditions of the French voyagcurs. priests and soldiers amid the sublimity and grandeur of the virgin scenes which unfolded to their forms a brilliant and enchanting chapter in American history.

Of the galaxy of States formed from this western region, the territory occupied by Ohio was the last to be discovered and claimed by the French. It lay in the path of the nearest route from Canada to the Mississippi Valley, but the explorers were long barred out by the hostile Iroquois, and not until the year 1680 do we find any important settlements. In that year one of the parties sent out by Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, built a small stockade just below the site of Maumee City, which was an important trading post for many years. In 1694 it was abandoned for a more favorable location at the head of the Maumee, where Fort Wayne now stands. The next year witnessed the establishment of a trading post at the western end of Lake Erie, which was destroyed by the Miamis two years later. The Wabash Valley was occupied about the year 1700, the first settlers entering it from the Kankakee. Later the Canadians found a nearer route to the Wabash Valley by way of the Maumee river and the short portage between the head waters of the two rivers. About this time, also, the English first established themselves in Ohio for permanent operations. As early as 1686-87 'Attempts were made by the Dutch and English traders from New York to penetrate this western region. The country between Lake Erie and Upper Michigan was one of the great beaver trapping grounds and was therefore a temptation to the traders. "The Hurons, the Chippewas, the Ottawas and even the Iroquois, from beyond Ontario, by turns sought this region in large parties for the capture of this game, -from the earliest historic times. It is a region peculiarly adapted to the wants of this animal. To a great extent level, it is intersected by numerous water courses, which have but moderate flow. At the headquarters and small inlets of these streams the beaver established his colonies. Here he dammed the streams, setting back the water over the flat lands, and creating ponds, in which were his habitations. Not one or two, but a series of such dams were constructed along each stream, so that very extensive surfaces became thus covered permanently with the flood. The trees were killed and the land was converted into a chain of ponds and marshes, with intervening dry ridges. In time, by Nature's recuperative process, the annual growth and decay of grasses and aquatic plants, these filled with muck or pe^t, with occasional deposits of bog lime, and the ponds and swales became dry again.

"Illustrations of this beaver-made country are numerous enough in our immediate vicinity. In a semi-circle of 12 miles around Detroit, having the river for base, and embracing about 100,000 acres, fully one-fifth consists of marshy tracts or prairies, which had their origin in the work of the beaver. A little farther west nearly one whole township in Wayne county is of this country." (Hubbard, "Memorials of a Half Century.")

Ohio was also invaded by settlers from Virginia, but it is not known who the Englishmen were who first crossed the Alleghenies to the valleys beyond. We have no authentic records of explorations in the region until the year 1714, when Governor Alexander Spottswood of Virginia led an exploring party beyond the Alleghenies. In 1744 the Indians deeded all this western region to Virginia, and this gave the English their first real treaty right to the West.

The Ohio Company

In 1784 the "Ohio Company," which was composed ot thirteen prominent Virginians and Marylanders and a London merchant, was formed for the purpose of speculating in lands and trading w ith the Indians in Ohio. Christopher Gist was sent out by the company to explore southern Ohio, and from this time there is a growing interest in these western lands.

The "Ohio Company" was an incorporated bod)'. They secured large tracts of land by purchase but more directly from Congress as a gift, under a patent from George Washington. This estate included parts of Athens, Hocking and Vinton counties. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, organizers of this justly famous "Ohio Company," were the leaders in securing settlers to come to this newcountry, and thus they have the honor of founding the first permanent settlement within the present borders of Ohio, at Marietta, April 7, 1788.

The French, however, were not inactive. Marquis de la Gallisoniere, w ho was governor of Canada, sent Celoron de Bienville, with 300 men into the Ohio valley with the purpose of taking possession of the country. of propitiating the Indians, and of warning the English traders out of the country. Bienville crossed the portage between Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua, which was the easternmost crossing from the Great Lakes to the southern ri\'ers used by the French, and made his way down the .Mlegheny and Ohio rivers to the Miami, returning to Montreal by way of the Maumee and LaKe Erie. At important ponus lie mined leaden plates upon which were engraved the arms of France, and bearing the inscription that they had taken the land and buried the plates. Bienville found the valley swarming with English traders and the Indians generally well disposed toward them.

The Marquis Duchesne, in 1853, ^^'^b a strong force seized and held the northeastern branches of tlu (.Amu. This threw down the gauntlet to the English, and in 1756 war was formally declared l)etween the two countries, which culininaled <m the Heights of Abraham in 1759. In the treaty of 1763 France surrendered her possessions to the English, and for several years Ohio was controlled by military commandants on the frontiers.

The great valley of the Hocking was, it is seen, a part of this ancient battle-ground between the Indian tribes, the French and the English. It is now the home of thousands of people whose contest is for advancement. Schools, churches and factories take the place of the camp, the fort and the wigw'am. Where once the beaver, unmolested, built his dam in marsh and swamp, the farmer grows his crops, and herds his flocks in peace and contentment. The same skies hang above and the same sun warms the land, but how- different the product ! Her great men and noble women have made history - have carried the burden and scattered the mists - and today no more fitting home for man can be found on old Earth than the valley of the Hocking.