Licking County, Ohio - Chapter 37: War of 1812 and Mexican War, 1881

Chapter 37: War of 1812 and Mexican War

LicKING COUNTY AS AN ANCIENT BATTLE GROUND - MILITARY WORKS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS - SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION WHO SETTLED IN THE COUNTY - TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS - THE WAR OF 1812 AND ITS SURVIVING VETERANS - THE MEXICAN WAR AND A LIST OF THE SURVIVORS.

limits of Licking county, the fact is unknown to modern chroniclers; hence its military history will not embrace a picture of armed hosts in deadly conflict upon its soil, but must tell of her sons who went forth at the call of their country when imperiled, first, by an Indian foe; second, by the arrogance of Britain; third, by the aggressions of the Spanish race in the land of the Aztecs; and, lastly, by the power of a slave oligarchy, in an attempt to sever the union of the States.

Notwithstanding the absence of written records to sustain the belief of battles and sieges in Licking county, the silent monuments that are everywhere spread before our wondering eyes throughout the county - like the everlasting rocks that point the geologist to the past history of the globe - here present analogous marks, and a base for reasoning into the objects and designs of a great labyrinth of earthworks left by pre-historic man.

That a people more advanced in civilization, and more numerous than the Indian aborigines found here by our pioneers, once inhabited Licking county, hardly admits of a doubt. Whence they came and whither they went remains a mystery, but their monuments are left to tell us, not only of religious ceremonies and athletic sports, but of the art of war and the strategy of defence. The well preserved mounds in the Cherry valley mark plainly the fact of religious and defensive works combined - one to defend the other, and the numerous mounds found upon high hills warrant the assumption of a line of signal stations to warn the inhabitants of the valleys of an approaching foe.

Can it be that these people, becoming very numerous, living in affluence upon the golden riches of the soil, vain in their superiority of knowledge, bigoted in their religious superstitions, effeminate and weakened in long securitv, have met the same fate as declining Rome, when barbarians of athletic proportions and warlike prowess swept down from the north, laying vandal hands upon accumulations of art gathered in past centuries? The people were almost annihilated, perhaps a remnant driven off far to the south; their works, all that could be destroyed, were destroyed, and the country allowed to grow up again in its primitive wildness, furnishing hunting grounds for the American Indian, who delights in savage life and the excitement of the chase.

They in turn are now driven out, and the powerful Anglo-Saxon lays claim to the domain, giving to us Licking county of 1880, with her well-tilled farms, her cities and towns, her railroads and telegraphs, her schools and churches.

We can imagine, notwithstanding the absence of written records, that Licking county in the past has been truly a great, battle-ground, wherein a numerous people struggled for the defence of their firesides, and at last yielded to a race superior in warlike prowess.

But it is with the written record we have to deal in these pages, which will cover the Indian wars, the War of 1812, the Mexican war, and the war of the great Rebellion, wherein Licking county contributed her full share in the glory and success which followed the American arms.

manent settlement was made in Ohio, hence there were no contributions from this territory to the ranks of the patriots of those days. Many Revolutionary soldiers, however, emigrated to [icking county, and went earnestly at work to conquer the wilderness as they had conquered a_ political independence for the enjoyment of future generations. Can one imagine a grander work for the good of mankind than was accomplished by the sacrifices of these men? After a struggle of seven years with a powerful nation, impoverished and poor, excepting in the glad consciousness of having given to America independence and liberty, they turned their faces westward to build up an empire that is now a marvel in. the eyes of the whole world. A wilderness of savage Indians and wild animals were conquered to make way for grain fields, gardens, cities and towns all now connected in a labyrinth of steel rails for transportation and electric wires for the communication of intelligence. _ Would that these pages could present in letters of gold the names of the Revolutionary patriots who contributed so much to make Licking county what it is, but it has been impossible to procure a full list! Among the number may be mentioned: ' Thomas Seymour, who was born in Virginia in 1750. settled in Madison township. aged seventy-five years.

John Edwards came from Brooke county, Virginia, and settled in the South Fork valley in September, 1801. He was engaged as a spy for some vears, on the frontiers of Virginia.

Jonathan Benjamin settled on Ramp creek in the spring of 1802. He had _ passed through the old French and Indian wars, and also through the Revolution. He died in 1841 at the advanced age of one hundred and three years.

Evan Humphry settled in Newton township about the year 1805. He served in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the "forlorn hope" at the storming of Stony Point in 1779, by General Wayne. ;

Captain Archibald Wilson received a commission as a lieutenant of militia of the county of Dunmore, Virginia, issued by the committee of safety for the colony of Virginia, dated at Williamsburgh, January 20, 1776. in 1774 - served in Lord Dunmore's expedition. In

1777 he was appointed captain, and served in this rank until the close of the war. His principal service was in keeping the Tories in check in Virginia.

Benjamin Wilson served as a lieutenant on Lord Dunmore's staff in 1774, in his expedition into the Northwest Territory, and as captain, early in the the frontier against the

Judge James Taylor, who was born in Pennsylyania in 1753, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was in the Williamson expedition against the Moravian Indians, and was one of seventeer who voted against the murder of the captives. Tudge Taylo- died in 1844, aged ninety-one years

Judge Timothy Rose served as an officer in the Revolution, and distinguished himself in the storming of a British redoubt at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Captain Samuel Elliott, who settled in Licking county as early as 1800, was a Revolutionary soldier. He died in 1831 at the age of eighty years.

Of the Indian war but little can be said, as the first settlement in Licking county was made after the Greenville treaty, and our pioneers were not molested by the savages of the forest within the limits of the county. During the war of 1812, however, when the British and the Indians combined for the subjugation of the Northwest Territory, many of Licking county's hardy pioneers marched away to the north and took part in the operations of the army about Detroit early in the war.

The Indians had nearly all disappeared at the time of the settlement of the county. Occasionaly a stray red man made his appearance, as a "tramp" would now-a-days, asking for food and shelter and looking sadly at the encroachments of the whites upon his wild hunting grounds - perhaps lingering near some hallowed spot where his fathers had been laid away, consecrated in his voyage to the happy hunting grounds.

Previous to the year 1800 there were several Indian villages within the present limits of Licking county. One near Johnstown, called Raccoontown. One on the Bowling Green, five miles east of Newark, and a temporary village on the Shawnee run.

The Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot tribes occupied the territory now embracing Licking county, and relinquished their claims by the treaty of Fort McIntosh, in the year 1785.

One night in April, 1800, two Indians stole the horses of Hughes and Ratliff from a little enclosure near their cabins. Missing them in the morning, they started off, well armed, in pursuit, accompanied by a man named Bland. They followed the trail in a northern direction all day, and at night camped in the woods. At the grey of morning, they came upon the Indians, who were asleep and unconscious of danger. Concealing themselves behind the trees, they waited until the Indians awakened, and were commencing preparations for their journey. They drew their rifles to shoot, and just at that moment one of the Indians discovered them, and instinctively clapping his hand on his breast, as if to ward off the fated blow, exclaimed in tones of affright: 'Me bad Indian, me no do so more!" 'The appeal was in vain; the smoke curled from the glistening barrels, the report rang in the morning air, and the poor Indians fell dead. They returned to their cabins with the horses and "plunder" taken from the Indians, and swore mutual secrecy for this violation of law.

Hughes had been bred in the hot-bed of Indian warfare; the Indians having murdered a young woman to whom he was attached, and subsequently his father. The return of peace did not mitigate his hatred of the race.

One evening, some time after, Hughes was quietly sitting in his cabin, when he was startled by the entrance of two powerful and well-armed savages. His wife stepped aside and privately sent for Ratliff, whose cabin was near. Presently rifle in an opposite direction, as if he had been He found Hughes talking with the Indians about the murder. Hughes had his tomahawk and knife in his belt, but he dare not reach for his rifle that hung from the cabin wall. There all the long night sat the parties mutually fearing each other, but neither summoning courage to stir. When morning dawned the Indians left, shaking hands and bidding farewell, but in their retreat were cautious not to be shot in ambush by the hardy borderers.

Henry Smith, the father of Esquire David Smith, of Madison township, was formerly a resident of Virginia. He lived for several years at Kanawha, and participated in several frontier adventures. He was with Major McCollough at the siege of Fort Wheeling, and there fought against the Indians. He emigrated to Licking county in 1804, and died in 1845.

John Van Buskirk, who settled in Licking county in 1800, served many years as a spy between the Ohio and Tuscarawas rivers for the protection of the frontier settlements.

THE War oF 1812. - Licking county was rapidly filling up with settlers from the eastern States when war was declared against Great Britain in 1812, and the young men were called upon to drop their axes and go forth to protect the frontiers against the wily savage and his British master.

| the leadership of Captains Rose, Davidson, Sutton and Spencer, marching away to the northwest. There was also a company of cavalry recruited by Captain Bradley Buckingham, but he did not go out with it. First Lieutenant Jehu Sutton commanded the company during its active service. The hostile position of the Indians and the growing difficulties with Great Britain, led Governor Meigs, of Ohio, to enroll three regiments of volunteers to rendezvous at Dayton, in the spring of 1812. Lewis Cass was chosen colonel of the third regiment, and he was joined by the Licking county volunteers at Findlay. The route was through the almost trackless wilderness and swamps of the northwest. The troops reached Detroit in July; war with Great Britain having meanwhile been declared.

On July rith they crossed into Canada, Colonel Cass claiming the honor of being the first man, who, in the war of 1812, stepped in arms upon British soil. He also commanded, in a skirmish onthe seventeenth, in which the first blood was shed; the British being driven from a bridge across Aux Canarde river.

The Licking volunteers were included in the surrender of General Hull; and Colonel Cass was so stung with mortification, it is said, that he would not deliver his sword, but broke the blade and threw it away. The Ohio troops were dismissed on their parole not to serve again until they were exchanged. Colonel Cass was exchanged in January, 1813, and about the same time was commissioned as a colonel in the regular army. Hull's surrender occurred on the sixteenth day of August, 1812, and, as stated before, the Ohio troops having been paroled, they returned to their homes as best they could.

Of those who were conspicuous from Licking county, in this war, may be mentioned: Major Jeremiah R. Munson, who was elected major of Colonel Lewis Cass' Third Ohio regiment. He was a man of fine soldierly bearing and attainments. He was surrendered with the army under Hull, at Detroit, but afterwards entered the service. While near Detroit he was accidentally shot by David: Messenger, and so severely wounded that he barely survived the journey home.

There existed among the officers of the Third regiment an ill-feeling towards Colonel Cass, by reason of an imaginary or real belief in his partiality, or his disposition to court favors from the government authorities, to the detriment of the officers of the regiment. Major Munson shared this dislike with his brother officers, and there existed a coolness between the major and the col onel during their term of service, but it can be said to the credit of Colonel Cass, and as evidence of the appreciated worth of Major Munson, that when Cass was solicited by Governor Meigs to wrote a letter to the governor speaking of his personal dislike to Munson, but said for the good of the service, he recommended his promotion.

It is related that one of the Munsons, at the surrender, was asked by the British general the use made of the large drum carried by the Yankee boys, when Munson replied - 'that is a bass drum, you d - - d old fool."

Captain Simeon Wright settled in St. Albans township in 1816. He was the son of Simeon Wright, sr., who fought under Stark at Bennington, and Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga. Captain Wright belonged to the Thirtieth United States infantry, and took part in several engagements in the war of 1812. For a time he was in General Wade Hampton's command, and accompanied the expedition to Montreal. He was the ranking officer in Fort Brown during the siege of Plattsburgh, where, after two days fighting, General Macomb repulsed the British under Provost. He had command at the mouth of Otter creek, repulsing the British fleet in its attempt to burn our shipping at that point. In the spring of 1813, with eight men, he captured two hundred stand of arms that had been distributed among the Canadian militia near Montreal. Captain Wright, in person, took as prisoner of war, Captain McGilvery of the British army, while scouting on the Canada line, in 1814. He was under General Wilkinson at the battle of Lacole Mill, where, with sixty men, he defended an important field-piece with a loss of twenty killed and wounded. For this heroic and skillful service he was brevetted a major. Major Wright met with an accidental death in this county in 1833.

Captain John Spencer raised a company in Lick- Ing county for the war of 1812. He was surrendered by Hull at Detroit, and thus became a paroled prisoner of war. This would have been a sufficient excuse for Captain Spencer to have remained at home, but when the northwest frontier was menaced in 1813, his patriotism led him to recruit another company, which he led north to join the forces of General Harrison. He developed a high order of patriotism, bravery, and soldier-like qualities during the war, and in civil life commanded the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, in evidence of which, he was placed in some military or civil position during most of the period of his hfe in Licking county.

Of the survivors of that war who now reside in Licking county the writer has been unable to_procure a full list. Among the number, however, may be mentioned -

Peter L. Dean, who resides in Newark, and is the father of Major A. J. Dean. He enlisted in Captain Joel Harrison's rifle company of New Jersey militia, September 1, 1814, and was discharged November gth of the same year.

John Wolever, of Granville township, enlisted September 5, 1814, in Captain F. Donleavy's company of Colonel Freelingheysen's New Jersey militia, and was discharged in December the same year.

George W. Loar now lives in the southeastern part of the county, and is eighty-seven years of age. He went out from Muskingum county in the war of 1812, and enlisted April 15, 1813, in Captain Joseph Karns' company A, Colonel James Paul's Twenty-seventh regiment. The regiment marched to Seneca and there built a fort; thence they marched to Lower Sandusky. He was eight days with Perry on the lakes, and was in the battle of the Thames. After wintering at Detroit he was discharged April 15, 1814.

Jacob Bush, who resides in Newark, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, enlisted 'at Lancaster, Ohio, in Lieutenant Collins' detachment, and was assigned to Captain C. A. Trimble's company, of the Nineteenth United States infantry. He marched wa Franklinton, Newark and Upper Sandusky to Lower Sandusky, and afterwards to Buffalo, where he joined General Scott's army. He was engaged in the battles of Lundy's Lane and Chippewa Lake, and was wounded in the former battle. He took part in the siege of Erie for thirty-seven days, and was discharged at that place February 18, 1815. Mr. Bush came to Newark about the year 1825, and drove coach for Willard Warner for many years.

marched to the Maumee rapids, and thence to Detroit, where he was included in Hull's surrender. He was in no general engagement, but in several skirmishes with the enemy,

John Wagy, who now resides near Kirkersville, at the advanced age of ninety-one years, went out in the war of 1812 in Captain Peter Lamb's company, and served under General Harrison. He acted as teamster upon one occasion and hauled cannon balls two days. The Wyandot Indians were friendly toward the United States at that time, and acted in conjunction with the Government forces. They were called the "pet" Indians by the soldiers. Mr.Wagy has a vivid recollection of the early days in Licking county. He settled on Licking creek, in Harrison township, in 1815, and visited Newark when it contained but five or six houses, one of which, used as a hotel, stood near the present court house square, and had flung to the breeze on the corner of the building an old muslin sign, inscribed thereon the brief but pointed word, "Inn." He first saw the 'old fort" in 1815, and says that it has changed but little in its appearance since that year. The old settlers in those days rode on horseback to Zanesville to mill; but they deny emphatically the charge of carrying a large stone in one end of the bag to balance the grist. Mr. Wagy reared a family of fifteen children, eight boys and seven girls, and is now living in that ripe old age, fruitful in its past with events covering sixty-five years of the county's history.

Abram P. Westbrook, the oldest veteran of the War of 1812, died in Newark, October 10, 1880. One of the city papers gives this obituary notice:

The decease of probably the most aged man in Licking county occurred at his residence on Granville street, in Newark, on Sunday, tenth inst., after a protracted illness of several months. Mr. Abram P. Westbrook, the subject of this brief sketch, was a native of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and was born September 2, 1778, making him, at the time of his death, one hundred and two years one month and eight days old. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, being at the time a resident of Virginia. Mr. Westbrook lived many years in Zanesville, and lived forty-one years in Newark, has lived a quiet, upright life, sustaining a good reputation for industry and integrity. Mr. Westbrook was a member of the Methodist church most of his life. tentious in his intercourse with his fellow men, and had acquired funeral services were conducted by Rev. E. I. Jones, of the Congregational chureh, on Tuesday, twelfth instant, and many friends followed the remains to Cedar Hill cemetery.

Stephen C. Smith, a native of New Jersey, served as adjutant in Colonel Cass' regiment in the war of 1812. He represented Licking county in the State legislature in 1826-27.

Of those whose ashes repose in our cemeteries may be mentioned James Smith, Jacob Little, Alexander Cochran, Moses Moore, Fred Salliday, David Moore, William Horne, James Taylor, John Henry, Amos Halliday, Jacob Overturf, S. G. Hamilton, sr., William Francis, James McCadden, Meredith Darlington, Isaac Conrad, and Jesse Smith.

The descendants of these patriots now residing in Licking county point with pride to the achievements of their fathers, who took such a creditable part in the establishment of the ''second independence of America," and, in the language of '" Lossing:"

"The events of that war did secure the far more important advantage of the positive and permanent independence of the United States, for which our people, with arms and diplomacy, had contended for many years in vain. It secured to posterity a guarantee for the perpetuation and growth of free institutions; and Great Britain was taught the useful lesson, more puissant in its effects upon the topic of search and impressment than any treaty obligation, that the young Republic of the West, the offspring of her oppressions, growing more lusty every hour, would not tolerate an insult, nor suffer its sovereignty to be questioned without resenting the offence. Great Britain Was compelled to sign a bond, as it were, to keep the peace, in the form of an acknowledgement that she had, in this Republic, a formidable rival for the supremacy of the seas, which she was bound to respect."

LicK1nG County IN THE WaR WITH Mexico. Ywo infantry companies and one of. cavalry were almost wholly recruited in this county for that war. 'he first was enlisted in May, 1846, by Captain Richard Stadden with Mervin E. Culley, as first lieutenant, and Andrew J. Spencer, and James H. Smith, as second lieutenants. This company was ordered to Camp Washington, the State rendezyous near Cincinnati, and in the organization of the three regiments of Ohio's quota, was made company H, of the Second Qhio regiment of volunteers, under Colonel George W.

The company was stationed at Camargo for some five months, then ordered to garrison Marin, where, in connection with Captain Mickum's company, of Columbus, and Captain Julian's, of Lancaster stood the siege of General Urea, February 23d to the 25th, 1847, with eighteen hundred lancers, also with the regiment in the fight at San Francisco, February 26, 1847, then took up the line of forced march and reported to General Taylor, at Ague Nueva, beyond the defile of Augostena, then back to Beuna Vista, and joined the command of General Wool and encamped on the battle ground of Beuna Vista until the seventeenth of May, 1847, when the regiment was ordered to report at New Orleans for muster out - which dated June 23, 1847.

In the campaign, two died of disease, Robert Wilkins and Harvey Courson - two wounded at San Francisco - John Colvin and Jackson King, and one taken prisoner - Patrick McLaughlin.

The second company was enlisted by Captain John R. Duncan, as cavalry, in May, 1847, with David A. B. Moore, as first lieutenant, William P. Morrison as second lieutenant and Benjamin Wilson as third lieutenant. They were known as "'Duncan's Mounted Rangers," one of several independent companies organized at that time in the State. They numbered one hundred men besides the officers, and nearly every member furnished his own horse. The company left Newark with considerable enthusiasm, on the twentyseventh of May, 1847, riding all the way to Cincinnati. Here they went aboard the steamer "Star Spangled Banner," and in the latter part of June arrived in New Orleans. They spent about a week in this city, and celebrated the Fourth of July, and then boarded the steamer '""Mary Kingsland" and proceeded by the gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Rio Grande, thence to Carmargo, and were stationed the whole of their term of service at Seralvo, on the Rio Grande route, doing mustered out of service at Cincinnati, August 2, 1848. The company lost by disease three men, Jacob Grear - buried at New Orleans, Louisiana, John Smith, buried at Seralvo, and Harvey Stewart, buried at Monterey.

Isaac Vanatta, now well known in Newark, was accidentally wounded at Walnut Springs, Monterey, in December, 1847. While Vanatta 'and "Gus" Stewart were watering their horses in the spring Stewart's carbine was accidentally discharged, and the ball and buck-shot entered Vanatta's shoulder, causing a very dangerous wound, which confined him in the hospital for six weeks and reduced his weight from two hundred to one hundred and twenty-five pounds. a pension from the general government on account of his disability.

The third company was recruited in August, 1847, by Captain Richard Stadden, with Andrew J. Spencer as first lieutenant, Hugh W. Morehead as second lieutenant, and Andrew J. Bartley as third lieutenant. It was mustered in at Camp Wool, near Cincinnati, and made company B, of the Fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, aud operated on the Vera Cruz route.

Private Palmer, of Jacksontown, died on the Gulf, and John Stasel and Jacob Veach were delegated by the officers to encase him in a United States blanket, and with proper ceremony he was deposited in the Gulf of Mexico.

Non-Commissioned Officers

The survivors point with satisfaction to the splendid acquisition of territory which was among the results of the termination of that war. The immense mineral resources of the Rocky mountains and Pacific States, which since then have been discovered and developed, have added untold wealth to the Republic; and although during that war fears were entertained that the acquisition of territory would largely increase the slave power in the country, we now behold the whole vast expanse consigned forever to the labor of the freeman.