Knox County, Ohio - Chapter 29: War of 1812, 1881

CONDITION OF KNOX CouNTY - SAMUEL KRATZER - ]OSEPH WALKER - MUSTER ROLL OF WALKER'S COMPANY - JOHN H. MEFFORD - R. M. BROWN - MARCH OF CAPTAIN WALKER'S COMPANY - CAPTAIN JOHN GREER - THE SCALPING OF THREE PERSONS ON OWL CREEK - CONDITION OF THE NORTHERN FRONTIER OF KNOX+-DISPOSITION OF TROOPS - ERECTION OF BLOCK-HOUSES - SKETCH OF GENERAL BEALL''S LIFE - ORGANIZATION OF His ARMY - SCARCITY OF SUPPLIES - BEALL'S MARCH - CAMP COUNCIL - MUTINY AMONG THE TROOPS - GENERAL HARRISON ARRIVES - HIS SPEECH - GENERAL BEALL'S DIFFICULTY WITH GENERAL WADSWURTH - ARRESTED, COURT-MARTIALED AND ACQUITTED - H Is BRIGADE DISBANDED - THE EXPEDITION OF GENERAL CROOKS AND COLONEL ANDERSON.

HE citizens of Knox county, or a part of them at least, have taken part in four wars - those of 1812, the Texas troubles, the Mexican war and that of the great Rebellion. In none of these has she been behind her sister counties in patriotism, and in furnishing from her great resources the muscle, nerve and sinews of war. In all, her sons freely volunteered and hundreds of them have perished upon the battle-field, in the hospital and prison pen, falling here and there by the wayside that the Republic might live and the flag float in triumph over a free people.

In the first of these wars (1812) Knox county was in a wilnerness state. It was covered with a dense forest, with only here and there a clearing and a log hut; the great wave of white emigration having but just touched its borders. Mount-Vernon was at that time a rough, hilly spot of ground with a few cabins in it, but mostly covered with hazel and other brush, while logs, trees and stumps blocked up its streets. It was upon the border, although not upon the extreme frontier and Indians, bears, wolves, rattlesnakes and other "varmints" and reptiles were in the majority, largely.

Mount Vernon was a place of rendezvous for volunteers for the war, and two or more companies were raised in this vicinity. Colonel Samuel Kratzer was a prominent man in the early days of Mount Vernon and in the militia, part of which, under his command marched to the defence of the frontier at Mansfield. As early as 1808, he appears in Mount Vernon as a tavern keeper and merchant, both branches of business being conducted at the same time in the same building. He also appears as one of the judges of the first election in Knox county, held in April, 1808; also as a justice of the peace in the same year. He figures considerably in the courts of that day, sometime on the jury, but generally as plaintiff or defendant, from which it is reasonable to conclude he was somewhat belligerent in his nature. He was prominent with Butler and Patterson, although a "Methodist" as Butler says, in their "trick" to get the county seat. It appears he came to Mount Vernon from Lancaster where he had been acting as land tax collector for Fairfield county, in 1805. He-had there reported him. self robbed of money while on the road and before making his return. "He was a fine, large, fleshy man and wore buckskin breeches. They had holes in them which he claimed had been made by bullets in an encounter, but which bore the appearance of having been cut; his saddle-bags also were exhibited with horrid gashes in them, and making a proffer of these, he petitioned the legislature for relief, and at the session of 1806, the bill for his relief was lost by a vote of ten yeas to seventeen nays. - (Finis PRuT4):

"'Certain it is Kratzer lost caste, and broken up and humiliated, he came to the new town site, bought out Patterson's interest in the town of Mount Vernon, and it is represented that one of the commissioners was counted on by the settlers as certainly in favor of making said place the countyseat; he got another of the board with him and Mount Vernon came off victorious. Subsequently - and as resulting from this judgment - Kratzer was enabled by the rise in property to pay off his debts, and did the fair and just thing by the commissioners."

Captain Joseph Walker was also an important individual in Knox county, not only in connection with the war, but in civil affairs. He seems to have owned some land where Mount Vernon now stands, and his cabin was the first one erected on the town plat; he was influential in getting the county-seat, and occupied generally a prominent position among the pioneers. He emigrated to this country from Pennsylvania about 1804, and settled near Mount Vernon.

Major Jeremiah Munson, who resided near Granville, in Licking county, was the officer designated by the Government to recruit for the war in this part of the country and for this purpose he came to Mount Vernon one day when the militia was to assemble for general muster and drill. This was on the 8th day of June, 1812, and upon the call of Major Munson for volunteers the whole of Captain Joseph Walker's company, numbering forty-two men, volunteered. The following is the muster roll of Captain Joseph Walker's company, under the command of Colonel Lewis Cass, mustered into the service of the United States for one year:

Among these volunteers, it will be perceived, was John H. Mefford, subsequently an old and respected citizen of Mount Vernon. He was a native of Connelsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, who at the time of the breaking out of the war was teaching school in Hawkin's neighborhood, about five miles from Shrimplin's mill. He served under Captain Walker, and also in Captain John Spencer's company, the latter company from Licking county. In this last company he was a lieutenant. He was a justice of the peace after his return from the war, also an associate judge, and a man of con-

The lieutenant of Captain Walkers company, Richard Montgomery Brown, was born in Massachusetts, and was of Revolutionary stock. His father, Samuel Brown, was under Montgomery at Quebec, was imprisoned nine months and subsequently became a pensioner of the United States. Richard M. came to Mount Vernon in October, 1811, and engaged in chair making and as a house painter. He was mainly instrumental in recruiting Captain Walker's company.

Colonel Cass' regiment, to which this company was attached, rendezvoused at Dayton, with the regiments of Colonel McArthur and Colonel Findley, composing General Hall's brigade, and at once began, its march northward. While they were passing through the Auglaize region, war was declared on the eighteenth of June. The noted scouts

Another active man in those stirring times was Captain John Greer, who raised a company in the eastern part of the county, of which Daniel Sapp was lieutenant and George Sapp ensign. When the Indians threatened the frontier, and the Zimmers, Ruffner and James Copus were murdered, the militia was called out and marched from Mount Vernon under Major Kratzer to Mansfield, where they built forts and assisted in guarding the frontier line from that place to Wooster.

Colonel Enos insisted on taking command of the militia in this march, but Major Kratzer would not allow it, insisting that Enos was a parolled prisoner and thereby disqualified for the command.

Many of the pioneers of Knox county, with gun and bullet-pouch, went to the defence of Fort Meigs without organization, but the battle was over before their arrival and their services were not needed. Among them was John Stilley, whose adventures are detailed in another chapter. Stilley was adjutant in Colonel Kratzer's militia, and rendered important service in defence of the northern frontier of this county during the threatened Indian raid.

The following regarding a tragedy in this county during the war is given on the authority of Judge Burnet, a very reliable writer. It appears in Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, and is given for what it is worth. Judge Burnet says:

When the war broke out in 1812, there were sixty-seven families residing at the foot of tke rapids of the Maumee. Manor or Minard, a Frenchman, states that the first intimation that the settlers had of Hull's surrender at Detroit, manifested itself by the appearance or a party of British and Indians at the foot of the rapids, a few days after it took place. The Indians plundered the settlers on both sides of the river, and departed for Detroit in canoes. Three of their number remained, withthe intention of going into the interior of the State. One of these was a Delaware chief by the name of Sac-a-manc. Manor won his confidence, under pretense of friendship for the British, and was by him informed, that in a few days a grand assemblage of all the northeastern tribes was contemplated at Fort Malden, and that in about two days after that assemblage, a large number of British and Indians would be at the foot of the rapids, on their march to relieve Fort Wayne, then under investment by the American army as was supposed. He also informed him that when they came again they would massacre all the Yankees foundin the valley. Sac-a-manc left for the interior of the State, after remaining a day at the foot of the rapids.

Sac-a-manc on his return from the interior of the State, é few days after, showed Manor the scalps of three persons that he had killed during his absence, on Owl creek, near Mount Vernon.

Judge Bnrnet gives no further particulars of this affair, and now the question is, who were these three persons who were scalped on Owl creek in 1812? It seems very strange, if this statement be true, that no account of it appéars in the annals of Knox county. The killing of three persons near Mount Vernon in 1812, would have created a panic, that it seems could not have been overlooked by the earlier historians of the county.

By far the most interesting part of Knox county during the war was the northern portion (now Richland county), a region of considerable excitement during the first year of the war, and replete with stirring scenes and incidents - the march of armies, erection of forts and Indian massacres.

Mansfield, a little hamlet in the wilderness, was at that time on the extreme frontier border. There were few, if any, settlers north or west of it. The line of the new settlements then extended through Canton, Stark county, and Wooster, Wayne county, to Greentown and Mansfield, the latter being the extreme out-post - located in the midst of savage tribes that had always been the friends and allies of the British, and which, it was reasonable to believe, would again join the British standard. Hence the uneasy feeling, the thrill of fear that ran through this region, when war was declared. Hitherto, for many years, the Indians had been peaceable and friendly, therefore the 'settlers had not thought it necessary to construct block-houses for defence, and, at the time war was declared, no block-houses were in existence on this extreme frontier line, where they were most needed. It was not until the surrender of Hull, August 16, 1812, that the pioneers began the erection of block-houses. Hitherto, the people had confidence in this army, feeling it would stand between them and their savage enemies, and the surrender came like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. Meanwhile, the militia of the State had been gathering in every direction; the governor, Return J. Meigs, and other officers, were working hard to get the army into fighting trim and get forward supplies. Upon the news of Hull's surrender, 'all the militia-in the State were moved forward to the frontier line. A company of men from Coshocton, under Captain Williams, had preceded Colonel Kratzer and erected a block-house on the public square in Mansfield; another blockhouse was erected at the same time on the square by Captain Shaffer, of Fairfield county. These block-houses sprang up as if by magic all along the frontier line. One was erected on the Rocky fork, three miles below Mansfield, at Beam's mill; another by Samuel Lewis on Clear fork; another by James Loudon Priest on Lake fork; also one at Belleville, and one (according to the recollection of Dr. Bushnell) east of Lucas, on the Rocky fork, near the eastern line of Monroe township; Thomas Coulter's cabin, near Perrysville, was converted into a block-house; there was a block-house at Wooster, then asmall village, and Captain Murray, of General Beall's army, was sent to Jeromeville, where he erected a block-house for the protection of the settlers along the Lake and Jerome forks. The block-houses at Fredericktown and Clinton were also erected about this time. Many families, not near enough to get into these block-houses, or preferring to remain nearer their homes, collected together and fortified the strongest of their cabins. There was a good deal of fear and confusion along the frontier, the settlers fearing that the Indian hordes of Tecumseh would soon be upon them. However, in a few days after the cowardly surrender of Hull, the frontier line was fairly protected. On the west end, at Upper Sandusky, was General

Harrison, awaiting supplies and reinforcements; at Mansfield was Colonel Kratzer with several companies of militia and two good block-houses; at Wooster, General Beall was collecting an army, and between Wooster and Mansfield the different block-houses were rapidly garrisoned by the troops of Beall or Kratzer. The line was very quickly complete, though weak in places. Roads had been cut between these points.so that any part of this line could be speedily reenforced. This was the condition of things in September, 1812.

' Early in September, General Reasin Beall began raising a brigade for the protection of the frontier and the assistance of General Harrison. As it is necessary to give pretty fully the particulars of this expedition, a sketch of General Beall's life may be appropriately inserted here.

Reasin Beall was born in Maryland, December 3, 1769; removed with his parents, while yet youngto Washington county, Pennsylvania, where they made a permanent settlement. In 1790, Beall served in General Harmar's campaign against the Indians, as an officer in the quartermaster's department, and was in the action under Colonel Hardin, when that officer was defeated near Fort Wayne, by the Indians under Little-Turtle. Beall then returned to his friends in Pennsylvania, and was not in the disastrous campaign of General St. Clair; but, when Wayne took command of the army, and led it to victory over the Miami Indians, he accompanied him in the capacity of ensign. In this campaign he became intimately acquainted with Captain, afterward General, Harrison, who was on General Wayne's staff. In 1793, he resigned his position in the army and returned to his friends in Pennsylvania, where he was married to Miss Re- In 1801, he removed with his family, and settled, for a short time, in Steubenville; removing, in the fall of 1803 to New Lisbon, in Columbiana county. He was here when the War of 1812 began, holding the position of clerk of the court. He had served long enough in the army to give his mind a military turn, and to render his services desirable by the Government.

Soon after his removal to New Lisbon he was made colonel of militia, and a few years afterward was promoted to brigadier general, which office he held at the breaking out of the war. When the news of the surrender of Hull reached him, General Beall put himself at the head of his command and marched to the relief of Richland (then Knox) and Wayne counties. His command was made up of a regiment from Jefferson and Harrison counties, a regiment from Columbiana, and a small draft from Stark, all of which rendezvoused at Canton, in Stark county, where General Beall, being the senior officer, took command. While collecting and drilling his troops at Canton, General Beall sent forward a few squadrons in detachments, to reconnoitre the country west, afford protection to the trembling settlers, and garrison the newly constructed block-houses, beginning his march with the main army (about two thousand men) the latter part of August.* from which supplies could be drawn, nor was it possible to obtain a sufficient quantity of cloth, or a reasonable number of blankets, to supply the army then in the service with even one-half which the health and comfort of the troops required; nor had the State the means of meeting the necessities of the troops on short notice. The consequence was that those who were unable to purchase their own necessaries (and most of them were) suffered greatly. To supply the army with rations in a sparsely settled frontier region, where the inhabitants were few in number and had not enough for themselves, and the commissary department destitute of funds to purchase or transport from a distance, was a matter of the utmost difficulty ; indeed, it presented a barrier almost insurmountable. With all these difficulties, General Beall felt the necessity of pushing forward, his first day's march taking him to the Tuscarawas river, near where Massillon is now located. After halting here a few days, he continued his march into the present county of Wayne, and camped about three weeks

*One authority says General Beall began organizing his troops about the twenty-fifth of September; another, that he had arrived at Wooster with the main body of his army when the Zimmer and Copus tragedies occurred. As these tragedies occurred early in September, the above date is believed to be correct on the west side of the town of Wooster. Here he erected a block-house, and was joined by two or three new companies. His camp here was called "Camp Christmas." Here he learned of the Zimmer murder, and dispatched a company of men to that neighborhood. This company returned in a few days, and reported that they were unable to find the Indians who committed the murder.

From Camp Christmas the army continued its march west, so' as to cover the border settlements, encamping the first night on the west bank of the Killbuck, cutting a road wide enough to permit the baggage wagons to pass. From there, by the most direct route, a road was cut to Jeromeville. At the latter place, General Beall detached Captain Murray to occupy the block-house, and at the same time sent forward a party of pioneers, under guard, to cut a road through to the State road, which had been opened from Zanesville to the mouth of the Huron river. This party started west, about twelve degrees north. About three miles from Jeromeville the army camped on a small stream, on what was subsequently known as the Griffin farm. This camp was called "Musser," in honor of Major Musser, who commanded one of the regiments. They remained in this camp, in the northern part of Vermillion township, about two weeks.

The pioneers, who had been sent forward, cut the road through the north part of Vermillion and south part of Montgomery, passing two or three miles east of the present town of Ashland, and through Milton Township, in a northwesterly direction. This was known many years as '"Beall's trail," and was used as a common highway by the settlers. General Beall then moved forward, aiming to keep between the enemy and the settlements, and encamped on a smalll stream near the present site of the village of Olivesburg, within the present limits of Richland county. This was _ called "Camp Whetstone," owing to the quality of stone found there, which made excellent whetstones. Remaining there about a week, he moved forward to the present site of Shenandoah; thence he turned southwest about one and a half miles, and again went into camp on the bank of a small stream, and on the north and south road, to better enable him to get forward supplies. __ a into service by the governor of the State for the purpose of protecting the frontier settlements. Impressed with the importance of his movements, his obligations to the settlers and to his country, General Beall halted here for the purpose of holding a council with the judicious men of the State, and, in the mean time, sent out in various directions detached parties of troops to reconnoitre the surrounding country and report occasionally at headquarters. - For this reason he named _ it "Camp Council." It was exceedingly difficult now to procure rations, as the army had advanced into the unsettled part of the country. The troops were compelled to live on half rations, and for a day or two they received only enough to keep soul and body together. This caused a spirit of mutiny to appear among a few of the troops, who quietly began to make preparations to march to their homes. About a week from the time the troops went into camp here, and the evening previous to the morning on which the mutineers above mentioned intended to depart, a stranger suddenly made his appearance from the south on the Huron trail. The sentinel, named Hackethorn, who was stationed on this post, says the stranger was on horseback, and was followed by seven mounted Indians, in Indian file.

After some further parley, Hackethorn called to the next sentry, and in this way conveyed: the intelligence to the officer of the guard, who came out and at once addressed the stranger as General Harrison, and allowed him to pass.

The next morning the troops were ordered to parade in close column at precisely six o'clock, which order was promptly obeyed. As they thus stood at ''parade rest," some fifty of them appeared with their knapsacks and blankets buckled on, ready to commence their homeward march. At this moment, when a breathless silence pervaded the whole encampment, the commander-in-chief of the Northwestern army (whose presence was unknown to the troops) stepped from the headquarters tent, and, mounting the trunk of a large tree, which lay within two feet of the front line, addressed the troops as follows: 'Fellow-soldiers, we are called upon to vindicate our rights, to re pel the insults, and chastise the arrogance of a supercilious nation, which has invaded our rights, insulted our flag, impressed our citizens, and totally disregarded our remonstrances. It is thus demonstrated, that we must either teach that nation that the progeny of the Revolutionary fathers have not degenerated and become dastards, or tamely submit to the dictation of that haughty people, and be reduced to vassalage. Can a man be found in this brigade who is willing to surrender to the British Government the liberties achieved by the Revolutionary patriots? I trust-no such individual can be found in the State or Nation.

"'T have been informed that rebellion against the authority of your general has been threatened, and that the mutiny is to be consummated this morning by the mutineers departing for home. Soldiers, if you go home, what will your neighbors say? Will not they frown upon you? How will your wives look upon you? They will shut the door against you. Young men, your sweethearts would scorn you; all would call you cowards. No class of people are so immediately interested in defending their country as those in Ohio. The Indians have already commenced their incursions in your State, and already have barbarously murdered several families. Should we abandon the defence of the State, the British army could safely march to the Ohio river, and take possession of the State. You are defending your wives and children, your fathers and mothers and your property. It is true you have met with some privations, but, as soon as we can obtain the necessaries required, all crooked things shall be made straight. Your sufferings are light, compared with those of your sires in the war of the Revolution. fare as the limited means of the colonies at that time could furnish. They could ofttimes be traced, when marching to meet the enemy in bloody conflicts, by the blood that issued from their bare feet upon the frozen earth. Fellow-soldiers, cultivate a spirit of subordination, patriotism and courage, and ere long the recent victory gained at Detroit by the enemy shall be refunded with double interest, and ultimately the haughty British Lion shall be subdued by the talons of the American Eagle." During the delivery of this speech, those troops who had their knapsacks and blankets on, began to unbuckle and drop them to the ground one by one, marching rig, and, from that time forward, until honorably discharged, no better soldiers were found in the army. Soon after the delivery of the address General Harrison departed from camp to attend to duties elsewhere.

Up to this time, the troops of General Beall had not been mustered into the United States service, but were serving the State, and the major general of the division to which they belonged, Wadsworth, claimed the right to control their movements, under the State law. In the exercise of his authority, he ordered General Beall to march his brigade to Cleveland. This General Beall declined to do, believing it to be his duty to defend the frontiers from Indian raids, and to deter the British army from marching into the State, left in an exposed condition by the surrender of Hull. No part of the State was more exposed than Knox county, as the murders in the county by the Indians clearly established. Moreover, Wadsworth was an old, superannuated man, who had been brave and efficient in the Revolutionary war, but had outlived his physical and intellectual powers, and was thus incompetent to render service to his country.

As General Beall remained at Camp Council several weeks after Wadsworth ordered him to Cleveland, that general dispatched General Perkins with an order to arrest General Beall and march the brigade to Camp Avery, near the mouth of the Huron river. This order was promdtly obeyed, and General Beall, in accordance with the rules of the army, delivered his sword to Perkins, and, two days subsequently, the brigade arrived at Camp Avery. Here a court-martial was ordered for the trial of General Beall for disobdience of orders. Upon a full hearing of the charges he was acquitted, and ordered to take his command and re-enforce General Winchester, who was then in the neighborhood of the river Raisin. Marching as far as Lower Sandusky (Fremont), he there received orders to return to Camp Avery and disband his army, which he did, his soldiers returniug along the route by which they had advanced, to their homes, the term of their enlistment having expired.

The general himself returned to his home in New Lisbon, and was elected to Congress, serving two terms. In 1814, he was appointed register of the land office in Wooster, and resigned his seat in Congress to accept that position, removing his family to Wooster in 1815. In 1824 he resigned this office and retired to private life. He was president of the Whig convention held in Columbus February 22, 1840, and was afterwards chosen one of the electors for President and Vice-President, and had the honor and pleasure of casting his vote for his old friend, General Harrison. No incident of his life gave him more pleasure. He died at his home in Wooster February 20, 1843.

Before the close of General Beall's expedition, the governor of Pennsylvania raised and dispatched a force of two thousand men to the assistance of General Harrison in the west, under command of General Robert Crooks. As this expedition passed through Mansfield on its way to the seat of war, a brief account of it is considered appropriate. Crooks marched his command by way of New Lisbon, Canton and Wooster, following in the track of General Beall, arriving at the latter place about three weeks after Beall left - probably about the eleventh or twelfth of October.

The train connected with General Crook's brigade numbered, as near as can be remembered, some twenty-five or thirty six-horse teams; the wagons being covered with canvas and filled with army stores of every description. Halting a day or two at Wooster to repair broken wagons, and allow the jaded teams to rest, the brigade was again put in motion. It reached the block-house at Jeromeville in one day, where the army crossed the Jerome fork and turned southwest, leaving the trail of General Beall, and passing up a small stream by what was afterward known as Goudy's mill, and began cutting the path afterward known as the "old portage road." The pioneers cut the road along an Indian trail as far as the Quaker springs, the first day, where the brigade halted and encamped for the night. The next day the pioneers continued along the old trail ina southwest ditection, cutting a path large enough for the teams to pass. That night the brigade encamped at Greentown. Nearly all the Indian huts had been burned prior to this, and the village was deserted. The next day they crossed the Black fork, and proceeding southwest a short distance struck a new blazed road leading to the west. They continued on this road until they reached the cabin of David Hill, on the present site of Lucas, where the brigade again encamped for the night. In the afternoon of the following day, they reached Mansfield, going into camp on the east side of the public square, in the woods. 'The date of General Crooks arrival here has not been ascertained to a certainty, but it must have been about the eighteenth or twentieth of October. He was in camp here about six weeks, awaiting the arrival of quartermasters' stores, under Colonel Anderson. During his stay in Mansfield, his soldiers cleared off considerable land east of the square, and when his camp became quite muddy, he removed his army to, and encamped on, the west side of the square, where he cleared off another piece of ground. Crooks received orders to leave Mansfield for Upper Sandusky, and was compelled to march before the arrival of Colonel Anderson with his supplies. He probably left Mansfield sometime between the first and tenth of December. On this subject Dr. Hill says: "About the fifteenth of December, General Crooks was ordered to proceed to Upper Sandusky to assist in fortifying that point." It will be perceived that he is in doubt as to the date, and, in the same paper, a little further along, in speaking of Anderson's march, he says: 'On the twelfth (December) he reached the village of Mansfield, where they found two block-houses, a tavern and one store.

General Crooks had left before the arrival of Colonel Anderson." As he speaks positively about this date, it is evident that Crooks must have marched from here before the twelfth. Comparing this date with that of other incidents occurring about this time, the evidence is very conclusive teat he left early in December. In piloting General Crooks through to Upper Sandusky, Jacob Newman (the first settler in what is now Richland county) lost his life; contracting a severe cold on the trip, from the effects of which he died the following June.

Crooks' quartermaster, Colonel James Anderson, could not have been far from Mansfield when General Crooks left. His command was composed of Captain Gratiot, engineer of equipments; Captain Paul Anderson, foragemaster; Captain Wheaton, paymaster; Captain Johnston and ninety men, and Lieutenant Walker, with forty men, as a guard. Walker was afterwards killed, while out hunting, by an Indian, while the command was encamped at Upper Sandusky.

Anderson's convoy consisted of twenty-five iron cannons, mostly four and six pounders. These, and the balls fitting them, were placed in covered road wagons, drawn by six horses each. The cannon carriages, twenty-five in number, empty, were each drawn by four horses. The cartridges, canister, and other munitions, were in large covered wagons. There were fifty covered road wagons, drawn by six horses each; they were loaded with general army stores, and one or two of them with specie for paying the troops, this specie being put up in small, iron-hooped kegs. Thus equipped, Colonel Anderson left Allegheny City about the first of November, 1812, and followed, as rapidly as possible, the trail of General Crooks' army. About the eleventh of November, he reached Canton, where he remained ten days, repairing the wagons, shoeing the horses, and gathering provisions. On the twenty-first, he reached Hahn's Swamp, and was three or four days passing over the same to Wooster, owing to the fact that Beall's and Crooks' wagons had cut up the road badly. He left Wooster December roth, arriving in Mansfield on the twelfth.

to return home. Colonel Anderson, being ordered to follow General Crooks to Upper Sandusky, offered to pay the teamsters one dollar per day to continue with him. These terms were accepted, and each teamster furnished with a gun, to be kept in the feed trough for use in case of an attack. The command was hardly out of sight of Mansfield when it began to snow, and continued until it was two feet deep. The ground being unfrozen, the heavy wagons cut into the soft earth, and the horses were unable to draw them. A council was held, and the fifteen gun carriages were sent ahead to break the path. By this and various other means, they made a few miles each day. When a team gave out, it was turned aside and another put in itsplace. At night, the soldiers were compelled to work three or four hours shovelling off a suitable place to pitch their tents, build fires to cook their food, and keep them from freezing. After two weeks of hardship and exposure, the command reached Upper Sandusky on New Year's day, 1813.

The troubles between the Indians and the early settlers, during this war, will be found in another chapter. But few of the heroes of that time are yet living. One by one they drop, like ripened fruit, and are gathered home. Here and there they are yet found, tottering on the verge of the grave, looking always back through the mist of years, and living over again, in memory, the thrilling scenes through which they passed. Thus history repeats itself; fifty years from to-day the survivors of the great Rebellion will be looked upon in the same light, and will rehearse to their grandchildren, as these veterans are rehearsing to-day, the story of their exploits.