Weston Township (part 3 of 15)

The disgraceful conduct of Gen. Hull came from treason or cowardice. He was a native of Connecticut, only sixty years of age, and had done gallant service in the Revolution; but strong drink had so blighted his mental and physical manhood that he was totally unfitted for the place he held. There was, too, delay and lack of energy at the War Department in Washington, in not more promptly advising Hull of events there. The war resolution passed the House June 4, the Senate June 17; the President proclaimed it publicly on the 19th, and Hull got no word until July 2, one day after the enemy had the news, by a longer route. Such news as this, where the possession of an empire, or the fate of an army, was at stake, ought to have reached Hull from Washington in seven days. With an enterprising commander in Hull's stead, early news of the war declaration would have been invaluable, but with Hull it could make but little difference.

of the sentence. Thus ingloriously ended Hull's campaign. Humiliation and defeat were the bitter fruits of the first efforts of the Americans in the war of 1812. Misfortunes did not come singly either. Mackinaw and Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) fell, through the same laggard policy at Washington, and Hull's incapacity. The whole Northwest was in the enemy's control.

But how fared the infant settlement on the Maumee? If they were electrified when they saw Hull's army arrive, and felt security to some degree, the first time for months, they were depressed, paralyzed, when, a few weeks later, word came, of the surrender of that army, and that the British had adopted their former infamous plan in warfare, of employing the savages as allies.

Here was this little, scattered settlement of whites, in the very midst of the Ottawa tribe - at their mercy, in fact. All north of the Maumee was, practically, in the hands of the enemy. No | settlement south of them to the Greenville Treaty line; west of them the turbulent followers of Tecumseh and his brother on the Wabash, and the Pottawatamies on the St. Joseph; east of them the nearest white neighbors were the weak settlements at the mouth of Huron river, now Erie county; north of them was Detroit and adjacent settlements, now headquarters for the British, who were active in their efforts to stir up the Indians, by bribery, and promises the most extravagant, to take up the tomahawk against the Americans. Tecumseh was there and had sworn allegiance to the King, and was effectively rallying the disaffected warriors to his standard. Even the lakes were under control of the enemy, who had several armed vessels patroling their shores.

Gloomy, indeed, was the outlook for the isolated settlement at the Maumee Rapids. To make matters worse, the small detail of soldiers, left for their protection, abandoned their temporary fort, told the settlers to help themselves to the stores, which had to be left, and retreated to the interior. There was no choice left these pioneers; they had to go. They left their crops ungathered; took such of their worldly effects as they could, and started, they scarcely knew whither. The Indians and British soon came, and the torch obliterated nearly all the homely habitations of the people on the Maumee. The settlement was wiped out of existence. In its stead came hostile armies, and soon the roar and din of the deadly conflict proclaimed that new issues hung in the balance, to be decided in this court of last resort; or, rather, old issues were to be fought over again.

It will be instructive, before passing to the stirring national events within the arena about the Maumee Rapids, now in order, to learn something more of the little band of settlers just passing from view, many of them never to return. Their story forms an important part of our Pioneer record. It would be interesting if we had it complete. Unfortunately, the details are very meager; but we introduce, in the chapter on Perrysburg, that (next to records) best of authority in histories of this kind, the testimony of truthful, intelligent, contemporary witnesses - those who saw and knew the things of which they speak - Mrs. Perrin, Mrs. Hester Green, Mrs. Philothe Clark and others, some of whose recollections are given in the history of Perrysburg township.

Chapter Ix

War of 1812 as far as Concerns Wood County - Gen. Harrison's Campaign - Gen. Proctor's Advance - First Siege of Fort Meigs - Dudi.ey's Defeat.

IT is designed to treat of the events of the war of 1812 only as such events are connected with the local history of Wood county, though at times the chain of connections carries the story beyond local bounds. It was just about eighteen years before Hull's arrival at the Rapids, and the disgraceful termination of his campaign

! by a victory which terminated an Indian war, began almost a half century before, when the Colonial troops fought under tl}e English flag. Wayne's campaign turned all eyes to the Maumee river, and his victory filled the Nation with joy. Hull's surrender startled the Nation, and filled the land with sorrow and humiliation. Wayne's battle gave the country an empire and peace; Hull's cowardice lost the Northwest, and turned the frontier settlers over to the mercy of the Indians and British. When the Nation rejoiced over Wayne's success in 1794, there were only five thousand people, north of the Ohio, to shout their gladness; when Hull surrendered (1812), and uncovered her whole northern frontier, Ohio alone had 250,000 people to tell him of their indignation, and come to the rescue of the Flag.

The whole country, east and west, was aroused to the gravity of the situation. Fortunately the martial spirit, the heroism of '76, had not gone to decay. England did not have a long season of rejoicing. Her pride was soon touched in a tender place. On the Atlantic, three days after the surrender of Detroit, the frigate "Constitution " ( "Old Ironsides") came up with the British man of war, "Guerriere," and engaged her in battle. The English captain, Dacres, though a boastful fellow who had been sending challenges to the Americans, fought desperately, but "Old Ironsides" knocked his ship to pieces within thirty minutes after the first broadside. As if by a singular coincidence, the commander of, the "Constitution" was Capt. Isaac Hull, nephew of the man who disgraced the Flag at Detroit. This victory of the sailors, for whose rights the war was started, created great enthusiasm. In Kentucky, Isaac Shelby, the old hero of King's Mountain, was governor. His proud spirit was stirred at the perfidious course of the English, and the humiliation of the Americans, at Detroit. Military camps were at once established, and soon Kentucky troops were marching to the northern frontier. In Tennessee, too, the volunteers, under the lead of Andrew Jackson, were marching to subdue the hostile Creeks, stirred to war by the advice and example of Tecumseh. Thence Jackson marched to the Gulf to expel the British. William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, was now appointed commander of the Northwestern forces. He was in the prime of manhood, had learned war under Wayne, been on the frontier nearly twenty years, and but recently had won a victory at Tippecanoe, in which he showed the courage and fighting qualities of a general, and gained great favor with his soldiers, especially the Kentuckians who were with him. The new commander had a great task before him. It was to keep the Indians in subjection, recover Detroit and the Northwest, and invade Upper Canada.

His soldiers were raw recruits, scantily equipped. When he took command, even cannon were being made at Pittsburg to replace those lost by Hull. The enemy had command of Lake Erie, so that the only route to Detroit lay through some portion of the wilderness and by way of the Maumee Rapids, over which troops, munitions and supplies had to go. The whole country south of the Maumee to the Greenville Treaty line belonged to the Indians, and was unsettled.

There were already two routes open: First, Hull's trace; second, Wayne's old trail, by way of the Auglaize and Maumee. Gen. Harrison established a third, by way of Upper Sandusky, thence down the banks of the Sandusky river by way of Fort Ball (Tiffin) and Lower Sandusky (Fremont) to the lake, or, from Lower Sandusky across the swamp to the Maumee Rapids, as might suit.

Though Gen. Harrison made every possible exertion, he found it impossible to get his force equipped and ready for a campaign before winter set in. Gen. Edward W. Tupper, with a light Ohio brigade of nine-months' men, from Gallia, Lawrence and Jackson counties, had advanced to Fort McArthur, from which place a detachment of his men advanced, and drove off the British and Indians who were at the Maumee, gathering the corn in the deserted fields of the late settlers.

At the opening of the year 1813, Gen. Winchester occupied the left of the army, at Defiance ; the Ohio brigade (Tupper's), the center, at Fort McArthur, and Gen. Harrison with the Virginia and Pennsylvania troops and some regulars, was with the right, at Upper Sandusky. The troops were from Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and some from Virginia; also a regiment of regulars - the total amounting to less than five thousand men. The point of concentration, for a move on Detroit, was the Maumee Rapids. Gen. Winchester, whose command consisted of Kentuckians and some regulars, under Col. Welles, advanced along the north bank of the Maumee from Defiance, and reached the Rapids January 10, 1813. Here he made some temporary camp defenses for his supplies, and remained until the 1 7th, when he imprudently acceded to a petition from the people at Frenchtown on the river Raisin, asking for protection from the Indians and British. Cols. Lewis and Allen, with about six hundred men, were dispatched thither, and, after a sharp fight, drove the enemy out, and sent word back to the Maumee for reinforcements, as they were only eighteen miles from Malden,

Winchester now committed a second grave error. Instead of immediately withdrawing his troops from their perilous position at the Raisin, he took all the forces he dare spare at the Rapids, 250 men, and marched to Frenchtown to join his victorious soldiers, where he made his third fatal blunder. He allowed his men to go into open camp, without regard to position, or any sort of defensive lines. During the night, Proctor approached with his main force, and planted his artillery within 300 paces of Winchester's camp. The dawn of light on the morning of the 22nd of January was ushered in by the loud peals of Proctor's cannon, and a shower of canister, grape and shell, accompanied by the savage war-whoop of the Indians. The raw volunteers, taken by surprise, soon became demoralized, and were cut down like grass. Col. Lewis' men, who had been posted behind a heavy picket fence, held their ground, and would have made the enemy purchase a costly victory, but for Gen. Winchester, who had fallen a prisoner, and now sent him word to surrender, under Proctor's promise of protection from the savages. The result was that many of the Americans, including the wounded, were mercilessly butchered by the Indians, and those of the wounded, who had been taken to houses, were burned. The American loss, including prisoners, was 934. Of these, 397 were killed or missing. Less than fifty men escaped from the field. The shocking deeds of murder and torture which followed on that night, and the succeeding day, were such as to cause a thrill of horror, at hearing even the partial details. [Among the sad incidents was that related of Capt. Hart, a brother of the wife of Henry Clay, who offered a Pottawatamie one hundred dollars to take him safely to Malden, but they met a Wyandot who claimed the prisoner. A quarrel followed, and was settled by an agreement to kill the prisoner and divide his clothes and money.] The massacre at the River Raisin did more to embitter Americans and create a deepseated, unforgiving spirit toward the Indians, than any other occurrence, up to that time, in the history of the young nation. Yet the butchery was committed under the English flag, and under the eyes of the British commander, in whose employ the Indians were. The savages were less blamable in this case than the infamous Proctor.

Gen. Harrison, who was at Upper Sandusky, got word on the 1 6th that Winchester had arrived at the Rapids, and that he had in view an expedition of some kind against the enemy. This made the Commander uneasy, and he at I once set out for Lower Sandusky, where Gen. Perkins, who had come from Wooster, was in command with a regiment and a battalion, leaving word for Maj. Orr to follow with the artillery, which had just arrived from Pittsburg, by way of Wooster, as fast as possible. At Lower Sandusky the General sent forward a battalion under Maj. Cosgrove, and learning there, from a courier, what Winchester was doing, he ordered Gen. Perkins to put the rest of his troops in motion across the swamp. Harrison started out in a sled and reached the Rapids, on horseback, on the 20th, leaving his sled at the Portage river. Perkins and Cosgrove lost a day in trying to cross, and with their best efforts, floundering in ice and water, onty reached the Rapids on the night of January 21. Impatiently the Commander waited at the Rapids for these men. Early next morning, the Commander hurried forward his forces, but it was too late. -That very morning, as they were filing out of their camp, on the Maumee, their overmatched comrades were being slaughtered at Frenchtown, and they soon met the few flying fugitives from the battlefield, and learned that the day was lost - the little army destroyed. The troops turned back to the Rapids, and next morning destroyed their temporary fortifications, and Harrison retired behind the Portage, camping below the forks of the river, near where Pemberville is, in the northwest corner of Section 1 1 , Freedom township.

The unfortunate loss of the left wing of his army so disabled Gen. Harrison that he was forced to wage defensive, instead of aggressive, warfare for a time. It was through no fault of his own. He had counted on the frosts of winter to give him a solid road across the Black Swamp. A January thaw, at the critical time, prevented a rapid march from Lower Sandusky to Winchester's rescue. Had the stone pike now connecting Fremont and Perrysburg been in existence, the soldiers could have made the march in one day instead of three. Winchester's mistake could have been rectified, and doubtless Proctor would have been routed. Fort Meigs would not have been built, and more than likely the Americans would have invaded and held Upper Canada. Bad roads have more than once played an im- ! portant part in deciding the fate of armies and destinies 'of nations, and for very bad roads, the Black Swamp, in an early day, could have drawn the prize in most any contest. At his camp, on the Portage, Gen. Harrison was joined by Gen. Leftraech, of Virginia, with his brigade and most of the artillery train, which, on account of heavy rains, and the almost impassable roads, did not ar-

Plan Of Fort Meigs And Environs

EXPLANATIONS. - a, grand battery, commanded by Capt. Daniel Cushing : b, mortar battery ; e, i, o, minor batteries ; g, battery commanded at the second siege by Col. (afterward Gen.) Gaines; c, magazines. The black squares on the lines of the fort represent the position of the block-houses. The dotted lines show the traverses, or walls of earth, thrown up. The longest, the grand traverse, had a base of 20 feet, was 12 in height, and about 900 in length. The British batteries on the north side of the river were named as follows : a, queen's; b, sailor's; d, king's; c, mortar. The fort stood upon high ground, on the margin of a bank, elevated about 60 feet above the Maumee. The works originally covered about ten acres, but was reduced in area between the two sieges, to accommodate a smaller number of troops. - Howe's History of Ohio.

rive until the 30th of January. On the 1st of February he again advanced to the Maumee, and built Fort Meigs, and from this position decided to make aggressive, or defensive, warfare as best suited his purpose. Now, while the soldiers are working on the fortifications, let us take a brief survey of the old military route, known to the early settlers, who made use of portions of it later on for a road, as Harrison's trail. Take a pencil and sectional map of Wood county; put the pencil point at the county line on the east side of Section 1 3, Freedom township, a few rods south of the center; mark due west most across the section, then turn and go northwest through the corner of Section 1 1 , near the center of the south line, thence directly to Harrison's old camp ground, below the forks of the river, about half a mile. Here the troops, in trying to march to Winchester's aid, in January, 1813, spent a day in fruitless attempts to cross the river, and finally turned up the river to the northwest corner of Section 23, where they crossed and went to the north branch, in Section 10, about midway between the railroad bridge and section line, not far from the cemetery. From here push the pencil, in a northwesterly course, to a point about forty rods north of the southwest corner of Section 27, Perrysburg township. Northwest of this point, about eighty rods, the McCutchenville road is crossed; then bear to the west and cross the northeast corner of Section 29, the southwest corner of 20; the northwest corner of 19, and pass out of the northwest corner of 18, into River Tract No. 65, on which the fort was built. The trail deviated from a direct line in places, but preserved the general course, nearly on the line we have indicated. As was said of Hull's Trace, it would be hard to select a better route under the conditions that then existed.

The site chosen for the fort, on the south bank of the Maumee, has a commanding view of the surrounding country and of the river above and below, and is a point of great natural strength for defensive warfare. It was named Fort Meigs, in honor of Return J. Meigs, whose zeal and patriotic efforts were in the highest degree commendable. The military situation there at the time will be best given by an extract from a letter written, by Gen. Harrison himself, from the Rapids, to John Armstrong, Secretary of War, dated February 11, 1813:

Sir: - Having been joined by Gen. Leftraech, with his brigade, and a regiment of the Pennsylvania quota, at Portage river, on the 3oth ultimo., I marched from thence on the 1st instant, and reached this place on the morning of the 2d, with an effective force of about sixteen hundred men. I have been since joined by a Kentucky regiment, and Gen.

Tupper's Ohio brigade, which has increased our numbers to two thousand non-commissioned officers and privates. I accordingly ordered the whole of the troops of the left wing, excepting one company for each of the six forts in that quarter - the balance of the Pennsylvania brigade, and the Ohio brigade, under Gen. Tupper, and a detachment of regular troops and twelve-months' volunteers, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Campbell, to march to this place as soon as ossible, believing I should be able to advance from hence y this day or to-morrow; and if it were not in my power to take heavy artillery for the siege of Malden, I should be enabled to scout the whole country - disperse the Indians - destroy all the shipping of the enemy and the greater part of their provisions! and leave a portion at, or near, Brownstown until a further supply of cannon and stores could be brought up. Such was my plan when I marched from Portage river on the 1st instant, and my situation was such as to authorize the strongest hopes of success. Although the aggregate amount of all the effective men, in all the corps above mentioned, was only a number that will greatly surprise you to be furnished with so many nominal brigades, and the period of service of the Kentucky and Ohio troops was rapidly terminating - some of them expiring about the middle of the month, and all before the last of it - I had established with them the principle that I had a right to march them to any point before the 'day which would complete their fourteenmonths' tour; and I know them too well to believe that they would abandon me in the country of the enemy. Provisions and ammunition were also on the road from the Sanduskys and McArthur's block-house, in considerable quantities, and measures taken to supply the means of transportation for the advance from this place. These fair prospects have been entirely destroyed by circumstances which no human being could control. The present is precisely the season, in common years, when the most intense frosts prevail in this country, giving the most perfect security and facility in passing the lakes, rivers and swamps with which it abounds. For the last twelve or fifteen days, however, it has been so warm that the roads have become entirely broken up, and for a considerable distance in our rear absolutely impassable for wagons or sleds, and can with great difficulty be traversed with single horses. A number of wagons and sleds, loaded with ammunition and other munitions of war, have been eighteen days coming from Upper Sandusky, and are yet twentyfive miles off. Eight days they were stopped by an uncommon freshet in the Tymocta, and have been two more in getting twenty-five miles. The weather has even affected the ice of the lake. On the evening before last, I went with a detachment in pursuit of a body of Indians, who were driving off the cattle from a.small French settlement about fourteen miles from this place. We pursued them for about twenty-six miles upon the ice, which was so weak in many places that a 6-pounder, which was taken with us, broke through, and was nearly lost, as did several of the officers who were mounted. I have waited with an anxiety which I cannot describe for a change in the weather; and until this day I never abandoned the hope of being able to execute the plan which 1 had formed. I can no longer indulge such hopes. Indeed, I fear I shall be censured for having cherished them too long, and that I have sacrificed the public interests in a vain pursuit. 1 have no hesitation, however, in asserting that I have it in my power to satisfy the government that their wishes would have been accomplished hut for the unfortunate event of the River Raisin, and others over which I could have no control; and that, until a few days since, my calculations of succeeding were supported by the opinion of every general and field officer in the army.

It remains for me to inform you of the disposition I shall make of the troops for the remaining part of the winter. A battalion of the militia, lately called out from this State, with the company of regular troops now at Fort Winchester, will garrison the posts upon the waters of the Auglaize and St. Mary's. The small block-houses upon Hull's trace, will have a subaltern's command in each. A company will be placed at Upper Sandusky, and another at Lower Sandusky. All the rest of the troops will be brought to this place, amounting to from fifteen to eighteen hundred men. I am erecting here a pretty strong fort - capable of resisting field artillery at least. The troops will be placed in a fortified camp, covered on one flank by the fort. This position is the best that can be taken to cover the frontiers, and the small posts in the rear of it, and those above it on the Miami and its waters. The force placed here ought, however, to be strong enough to encounter any that the enemy may detach against the forts above. Twenty-five hundred would not be too many. But, anxious to reduce the expenses during the winter within as narrow bounds as possible, I have desired the governor of Kentucky not to call out, but to hold in readiness to iViarch, the fifteen hundred men lately required of him. All the teams which have been hired for the public service will be immediately discharged, and those' belonging to the public, which are principally" oxen, disposed of in the settlements, where forage is cheaper, and every other arrangement made which can lessen the expenses during the winter. Attention will still, however, be paid to the deposit of supplies for the ensuing campaign. Little remains to complete these. Immense supplies of provisions have been accumulating upon the Auglaize river, and boats and pirogues prepared to bring them down as soon as the river opens. I shall have the honor to give you a more particular account of these in a few days.

It was Gen. Harrison's design to make this advance post not only a central depot of army supplies, but to concentrate force enough here to hold the enemy at bay until a fleet might be constructed on the lakes to operate with the land forces for the recapture of Detroit and the invasion of Canada. They had scarcely got to work on the fort when the spies brought word of a large encampment of Indians down the bay about twenty miles. Harrison at once took 600 men, and made a night march down the river on the ice. Lieut. Joseph H. Larwill, who had charge of the only cannon with the command, had the misfortune to break through the ice with both horses and gun, which, in the darkness and cold weather, were saved with much difficulty. The troops arrived at their destination only to find deserted camp fires, the Indians having left for Malden the day before. The command returned to the fort, which they reached about sunset, making a march of over forty miles on the ice in less than twenty-four hours.

On the 26th of February, Capt. Langham, of the regulars, led a force of 250 men, who volunteered for the occasion, on a desperate expedition, the purpose of which was to be disclosed when they got a sufficient distance from the fort. It was nothing less than to march to the lake, by way of Lower Sandusky and Sandusky river, from the mouth of which they were to cross on the ice to Malden, where undercover of darkness they were, with combustibles, to destroy the British fleet and public stores at the river bank. This done, they were to make a rapid retreat on twenty-four sleds sent along for the purpose, to the point of Maumee Bay, where Harrison was to meet them with a strong force, and cover their retreat. It was a hazardous enterprise, for besides the British garrison, there was a large body of the Indians camped at Malden.

Capt. Langham's force, after leaving the lake shore, marched to Middle Bass island on the ice in a storm of wind and snow. Here the weather began to moderate, and the ice north of them seemed to be broken up. The weather was softening all the time, and the guides believed it unsafe to venture across, lest the ice should break up and imprison them on the Canada shore, or on one of the islands. So, after a council of officers and guides, the expedition was abandoned, and the corps returned by way of the Bay point, where they met Gen. Harrison with a body of troops, and all returned to Fort Meigs.

One of those singular illusions which arise from natural causes, but which, unexplained, sometimes create consternation among soldiers and sailors, as well as other people, is related as an incident of that expedition. When the soldiers struck the lake at Sandusky, some of them soon came into camp, in great alarm, at what appeared to be a considerable body of men in the distance, advancing on the ice. More careful investigation proved it to be the sun's rays reflecting on the ridges of ice thrown up in places.

These bold, enterprising dashes of the Americans, while acccomplishing no direct results, were a useful school to the raw volunteers, and put a restraint upon the marauding expeditions of the enemy. The work of constructing the fort went on. steadily meantime. Early in March Gen. Harrison left for the interior of the State to arouse the authorities to the needs of his army, and to hurry forward reinforcements. He especially appealed to the governors of Ohio and Kentucky. Both States responded. Kentucky more than generously. Under the lead of the old veteran Shelby, she voted three thousand men, though only fifteen hundred were asked for by Harrison. This latter quota, organized into four light regiments under Cols. Dudley, Caldwell, Cox and Boswell, which formed a brigade under Gen. Green Clay, was on the march, early in April, fully equipped for war. Harrison already had information that Proctor was planning an expedition against the fort at Maumee Rapids, and, gathering up what few troops could be spared at the outposts and: on detached duty, hurried to Defiance where, with about four hundred men, he embarked in boats and descended the Maumee to Fort Meigs, April 12th. All energies were now bent to putting the fortifications in a good state of defence.

On the morning of April 28, sure enough, one of Harrison's spies, Peter Navarre, brought word that Proctor, with an army of two thousand men.

was sailing up Maumee Bay, convoyed by two gun-boats. Soon this mongrel crowd of British and savages landed at old Fort Miami, about a mile below and across the river from Fort Meigs, went into camp and began to plant batteries. Their heavier guns consisted of 24-pounders. In the night a battery of twelve guns also was planted across the river nearly opposite Fort Meigs; Rain fell incessantly, but for all this Proctor pushed on his preparations for the siege. Meantime, Harrison had not been idle; his men were busy throwing up a traverse, or earthen wall, twelve feet high, across the fort, for their better protection. This performance had been screened from the British by the tents of the Americans. Couriers had previously been dispatched to the posts in the rear to apprise them of what was going on. Harrison knew, however, that his little force was insufficient, and that his antagonist was daily augmenting his numbers by recruits arriving, especially of savages. He knew that Gen. Clay, with his Kentuckians, ' was on the march, and he was anxious to get word to him of the peril the fort was in. To dispatch a courier to him now was difficult, for the woods about the fort was swarming with Indians. At this critical time, however, a gallant young Virginian, connected with the commissary department, Capt. William Oliver, volunteered to carry a message to Gen. Clay. Oliver, who was of slender form and but little over twenty-one years of age, was one of the most courageous men in the army, and few have equalled him in successfully carrying out dare-devil enterprises in war. He had, the year before, saved the little garrison at Fort Wayne by breaking through a cordon of 600 savages, who, under the old chief, Winnemac, were besieging the post, and delivering a dispatch to the commandant. Speaking of this incident at Fort Meigs, Gen. John E. Hunt says:

Oliver asked the commander to let two men go with him, and the three left the Fort about two o'clock at night. While they were crossing a ravine near the fort, the Indians heard them and gave the alarm. Soon swarms of red skins were on the move. Oliver's party reined up their horses; their safety now depended on keeping perfectly still. The dumb animals, as if realizing the danger, stood as mute as stones until the savages had passed, when the horsemen dashed on, but soon after found out they were pursued by half a score of mounted warriors. The pursuit was kept up until Oliver was within one mile of the stockade at Portage, eighteen miles from the fort, where the weary riders rested, after which they resumed their journey, and reached Gen. Clay at Defiance. Just before Oliver arrived at Defiance, a gallant young Kentuckian, Capt. Leslie Combs, had volunteered to carry a dispatch to Harrison telling him that help was coming.

prises, was a good counterpart of Capt. Oliver, and his adventure down the Maumee is best told in his own story delivered before the Wood County Pioneers at Bowling Green, July 4, 1877:

It was decided that some one should be sent at once to Gen. Harrison that we were on the road to relieve him. I was captain of the spies, and I thought it my duty to go. I asked for a good canoe, and took four of my men, two brothers named Walker, Paxton and Johnson and a young Shawnee, named Blackfish. After getting down the river about fifty miles all right, our progress over the rapids was more difficult. It was like catching a man by the heels and pulling him down stairs. Blackfish was in the stern with a steering oar, while I was at the bow, looking out our course and watching for surprises, and the other four men took turns at the oars. When we got to Rush-de-boo Joe Paxton said, "Captain, let us land and take it afoot. I would rather be went on, however, in the boat, but it was morning before we reached the last bend in the river and, as we turned the point and saw the old flag at the fort, we gave a great cheer. At first we saw only a solitary Indian, and our Shawnee thought it was one of his own tribe or, possibly, at least, a friendly Indian, but a moment later the woods swarmed with them,

They opened fire on us at once, and we fired back. Johnson was soon shot through the body and mortally wounded, and Paxton was wounded. At last when we saw all hope of our getting to the fort cut off, we landed on the British side and took to our heels, those who could, each for himself. When . 1 got back to Gen. Clay, I was pretty badly used up; I started May 1, and got back May 3. Capt. Oliver was there, and ready to start out on the same errand from which I had just returned.

At Fort Meigs there was anxiety and suspense; many a searching glance swept up the river to catch some signal, or sound, of the expected aid. Not only were men needed, but the fort was short of ammunition, of which Gen. Clay was bringing a supply. On the first of May the English batteries opened, in a dismal rainstorm. The cannonade was severe and almost continuous for five days, but not nearly so destructive and deadly as the English had hoped; though, at the start, it was trying to the nerves of the raw volunteers. On the second night, under cover of darkness, the British artillerists crossed to the south side of the river, with cannon and mortars, and planted two batteries on a knoll in the thicket less than three hundred steps east of the fort. Harrison's engineers had anticipated this danger by throwing up short cross traverses, which prevented the iron hail from doing the deadly work its projectors had planned. This move by Proctor indicated that he knew the weak condition of the fort, or else it showed poor generalship on his part, in exposing a detachment so that the main force could not protect them in case of assault from the garrison.

On the fourth day, Gen. Proctor sent Maj. Chambers with a pompous demand for the immediate surrender of the fort. "Tell your general, " said Harrison, "that when he gets this fort, it

Gen. Harrison had learned that day, from two deserters, that Proctor was discussing the feasibility of a night assault on the fort, and that very night, about midnight, the sentries fired on some approaching men, and the camp was aroused. It was a happy surprise, and nobody hurt. The disturber was the gallant Oliver, accompanied by Maj. Trimble and fifteen men, in a boat, with the glad tidings that Gen. Clay, with his 1,200 Kentuckians, was a few miles above, and desired orders. This was inspiring news to the anxious, mud- bespattered garrison, and none realized the importance of the arrival more than Gen. Harrison. Clay had heard the roar of the cannon at Defiance, and had been harrying forward as fast as possible, with eighteen large scows, carrying supplies and ammunition. Harrison lost no time, but sent Capt. Hamilton and a guide, in a canoe, to meet Gen. Clay, with orders that he should land 800 men at a designated point on the north bank of the river, march down, capture the batteries opposite the fort, spike the guns and throw them down the river bank; after which they were directed to immediately return to their boats and cross to Fort Meigs. The remainder of the force was to land on the south bank and fight their way into the fort with such help as the garrison could give them. For this purpose Gen. Harrison planned two sorties: one on the upper side of the fort to cover the entrance of Clay's forces; the other on the British battery on the east, near the present Hayes dwelling. These operations were intended to be simultaneous, or so nearly so as to prevent the British from concentrating their fire on any one point. It was a well-conceived plan for the destruction of the two batteries nearest the fort, and the safe landing of the boats with the supplies and ammunition; but it is difficult with inexperienced troops to carry out, under fire, all the details necessary to complete success, and this case was not an exception.

We may, however, picture in our minds one of the most exciting and thrilling scenes of war, in the arenk at the Maumee Rapids, that May morning in 1813. The present beautiful panorama - with its time-worn scars, the smooth, grassy slopes, the ruins of the old garrison well, the sunken graves, the well-rounded ridges marking the old line of intrenchments, and the quiet, pretty cities on the opposite sides of the river - is a very striking contrast to the fearful scene of battle on that spring morning.

ugliest features of the war, and the river and both shores were the scene of combat. The lines of blue and scarlet, scarcely discernible in the canopy of smoke and the rattle of musketry, told where the battle raged, and the startling shouts of the savages were heard, blended with the almost continuous and deafening roar of cannon. The Kentuckians were exasperated and desperate because of the butchery ofjffieir brethren the previous year, at the River Raisin. The Indians were crazed and blood-thirsty with the promise of Proctor, that the garrison should be turned over to them, including Harrison, who was especially hated by Tecumseh, for a carnival of blood and feast of vengeance.

Col. Dudley, who had command of the detachment on the north bank of the river, charged and captured the batteries as directed, spiked eleven of the guns, and dispersed the enemy. Here a fatal error was committed. Capt. Combs with his scouts pursued the fleeing Indians into the woods, and was soon drawn into a serious fight in which the savages, behind logs and trees, had all the advantage. Col. Dudley naturally felt it his duty to hurry to the relief of his scouts. It was in vain that Gen. Harrison signaled him from the fort, to return. When the victorious Kentuckians followed in hot pursuit, Harrison exclaimed in anguish, "They are lost! They are lost!" Proctor, seeing his opportunity, rallied his forces and placed himself between the Americans and the river, and when Dudley's men turned from a fruitless pursuit of the Indians, the plain, where Maumee now stands, became the scene of a bloody contest, in which the Kentuckians were soon overwhelmed, and all killed or captured. The prisoners were forced to run the gauntlet, aud many were butchered after the battle was over. Harrison, at Fort Meigs, was powerless to aid Dudley. He had two separate battles raging on the south side, and the safety of the boats and supplies depended on his success there. Even his artillery was useless to protect Dudley's men, so intermingled were the combatants. This unfortunate affair is known in the war records as the "Capture of Clay's detachment." The gallant Dudley was killed and scalped, and five of his captains and one lieutenant met a similar fate.

On the south side the Americans met with better success. Gen. Clay kept down the south shore, but not finding an officer there, as arranged, to show him where to land, he attempted to cross over and join Dudley, but was prevented by the swift current, and finally made a landing on the south bank, and got into the fort, under a pretty hot fire, with only fifty men. Col. Boswell, with the remainder of the force, drifted down and attempted to join Dudley; but before he became involved in the fight he was ordered to return to the south side and go into the fort, which he did after a hard contest, in which he was aided by the garrison. The Kentuckians were zealous, and brave to fatal rashness, in their anxiety to visit punishment on the Indians and British. But the severe lesson in discipline here taught was not lost on them in later service.

In the meantime the garrison troops were busy in another direction. Col. John Miller, of the 19th Regulars, with about 400 men, of which two companies were volunteers, led an assault, under a galling fire from the Indians secreted in the woods, on the battery east of the fort, and captured it. This battery was protected by two companies of British grenadiers and infantry, and as many Canadian militia, and a swarm of Indians. As a part of the British were in retreat toward the river, Maj. Todd, with a company of men, sallied out of the fort and captured about fifty prisoners.

There yet remained a very important part of the programme to be completed; that of getting the boat supplies into the fort. This was accomplished, according to a British account of the siege, afterward published, by a bit of strategy, or shrewd diplomacy, on the part of Gen. Harrison. From the English account, it seems that while hostilities had ceased temporarily, under a flag of truce, sent out by Gen. Harrison, to effect an exchange of some prisoners, the Americans were busy in the peaceful occupation of unloading the boats.

This day of exciting war, stirring episodes, deeds of heroism, bloodshed and savage cruelty, practically closed the siege. There was desultory cannonading until the 9th, when Proctor having been deserted by many of his savage allies, who had tired of the siege, embarked that day on his boats and went down the bay. Before they left they gave Fort Meigs a parting volley, which killed and wounded about thirty Americans. "However," says one of the garrison, "we were glad to see them off on any terms. The next morning we could leave the ditches, and walk about with something more of an air of freedom than we had done for the last fourteen days; and here I wish I could present to the reader a picture of the condition we found ourselves in when the withdrawal of the enemy gave 11s time to look at each other's outward appearance. The scarcity of water had put the washing of hands and faces, much less our clothing, out of the question. Many had scarcely any clothing left, and that which they wore was so begrimed and torn by our residence in the ditches, and other means, that we presented the appearance of scarecrows. "

Many incidents, during the siege, of personal bravery, tragic sadness, and some of grotesque mishaps, that, under less serious circumstances, would have been laughable, took place. Such is,s a part of the history of all sieges and of all wars. Lieut. Walker, while out hunting waterfowl some time before the siege began, was killed and scalped, and his is the only grave there now marked by a headstone. The grave of Lieut. McCullough, who was killed during the siege, while talking to Gen. Harrison, was for a time enclosed by a wooden picket, long since fallen into decay.

Being short of cannon balls, Harrison offered a gill of whisky for every ball delivered to the magazine keeper. Over eight thousand were thus gathered in. These, of course, represented only a small per cent, of the number fired into the fort, and exclusive of the shells, which usually exploded, but were buried so deep in the mud that they did little harm. For safety against these, the men had holes dug under ground behind the traverse and covered with plank. When the warning signal of the coming of these dangerous visitors was given, each fellow scud into his hole like a prairie dog. When, finally they were driven out of these by rains, and had to stay in their tents, a man was usually kept on guard, and when he would give the alarm, each soldier would rush out and watch the fiery-tailed messenger of death (they were fuse shell), and if it came dangerously near, leave or throw themselves flat on the earth. In this trying experience, the men sometimes got so weary that they fell asleep and could not be aroused by the deathwarning signal. Another serious danger menaced them constantly. The savages climbed up and hid themselves in trees, and elevating their range sent leaden messengers into the fort, occasionally disabling or killing a man.

There formerly stood a fine elm tree * not far from the river bank, in the upper part of Maumee, from the top of which, as told by the soldiers, many a bullet came across the river to the fort. Finally, as the story goes, a particularly audacious Indian "buck" got up into the tree, and after firing into the fort, made the most tantalizing banters, by vulgar gestures and otherwise, for the j Charles Croft, prior to erecting a building there, which was used for | brewery purposes. The block in the present great elm was placed there by Win. Russell, of Perrysburg, in which to place a flagstaff on fete days,

Americans to shoot him if they could. About this time a marksman in the fort, resting his gun across the parapet, fired, and the Indian fell out of the elm, head first, after which there was no more firing from that tree. The gun with which this feat was said to have been performed, was afterward owned by Peter Manor, and in later years by Jared Cotherell, of the " Mad Anthony Restaurant," Fort Wayne, and is now reported to be in possession of the Indiana State Historical Society, at Indianapolis. The writer once had an opportunity of inspecting the piece. It is an unusual gun of its kind, of the flint-lock pattern, of extraordinary length, weight and caliber, and after seeing it, one cannot doubt that, well charged, it would kill an Indian at a mile range, and, possibly too, the man who had the nerve to fire it. It is a monster of a gun, and was said to have belonged to Harrison's headquarters during the siege, and tradition says that the Commander presented it to Manor, who was one of his trusted scouts.

The visitor now at the old ruins of the fort, will notice the place where there was once a well. That well, sixty feet deep, was dug in great haste and walled with stone. It was about the only resource the garrison had for water, and so sudden was the coming of the besiegers that the well was uncompleted when they came, and the distance to the river, covered by the enemy's guns, made the water supply from that source very uncertain.

The fort, as originally laid out and constructed, was oblong shaped and embraced nearly eleven acres of land, but was found too large to be properly manned with a small force, and, soon after the besiegers left, was cut down to about half its original dimensions. The walls consisted of palisades, fourteen feet, sunk four feet into the ground, with embankments of earth on each side; a deep outside ditch and a broad, shallow one inside, with bastions, at regular intervals, mounted with cannon. It is thus seen that with a full complement of men and supplies, and ably commanded, Fort Meigs was, for those days, a formidable earth fortification, and could only have been successfully assailed with a large force and at great sacrifice of life.

The estimated force under Proctor was 3,200 men, of which about half were Indians. The Americans had, including that part of Gen. Clay's force which reached the fort, about 1,200 men. The loss of the Americans in the siege, aside from Dudley's losses, were 80 killed and 180 wounded. Of Proctor's losses there have never appeared any official data from which to make an estimate.

War ok 1812 Continued - Second Siege of Fort Meigs - Capt. Oliver's Perilous Mission - Gen. Clav in Command - Thrilling Incidents - Tecumseh and Proctor - Battle of the Thames - Memoir of Tecumseh.

AS soon as Gen. Harrison was sure the enemy had given up his attempt to possess the Maumee Country, and had left, he repaired the damages to his works, left Gen. Clay in command, and started for the interior of the State to organize a more effective force, not only to protect American soil, but to invade Canada, as soon as the naval equipment on Lake Erie could get ready to co-operate with the land forces. In this effort he was quite successful, and by midsummer his prospects for a well-organized, well-equipped army, of respectable size, for the work contemplated, were good. Col. R. M. Johnson had arrived, in May, at Ft. Meigs, with 700 mounted Kentuckians, and did good service in scouting and outpost duty, and restraining the savages

| from raids on the interior settlements. Mean- 1 while the British about Detroit were not idle. While Harrison was getting ready to invade Canada, they were getting ready to come back to the Maumee. Proctor had sent agents among the tribes as far as the Mississippi river and Green Bay, and by great promises had lured them into his services. A thousand or more warriors arrived from the West early in June, and by the middle of July about 2,500 savages were assembled at Detroit to take the warpath against the Americans. With this formidable auxiliary force, Proctor joined his 1,500 British and Canadians, and true to his former threat to make Fort Meigs another visit, he sailed into Maumee bay July 20, and landed his forces for a second attempt to take the fort. [Harrison, in his report to the

Malden with the determination of storming Fort Meigs. His immense body of troops was divided into three commands (and must have amounted to at least 5,000); Dixon commanded the Mackinaw and other Northern tribes; Tecumseh, those of the Wabash, Illinois and St. Joseph; and Round Head, a Wyandot chief, the warriors of his own nation, and those of the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatamies of the Michigan Territory. Upon seeing the formidable preparations to receive them at Fort Meigs, the idea of storming was abandoned, and the plan adopted of decoying the garrison out, or inducing men to come to its relief with a force inadequate to repel the attack of his immense hordes of savages. Having waited several days for the latter, and practicing, ineffectually, several stratagems to accomplish the former, provisions began to be scarce, and the Indians to be dissatisfied. The attack upon Sandusky was the dernier resort. The greater part of the Indians refused to accompany him, and returned to the River Raisin. Tecumseh, with his command, remained in the neighborhood of Fort Meigs, sending parties to all the posts upon Hull's road, and those upon the Auglaize, to search for cattle. Five hundred of the Northern Indians, under Dixon, attended Proctor. "] There was at that time only a few hundred men in the garrison; but the fort had been reduced in size, and Proctor knew that it would be defended as long as there was a man in it alive. [It afterward became known that if, by any means, the fort had been captured, the survivors of the garrison were to fire the magazine, and let friend and foe perish together, and thus cheat the savages out of the fiendish pastime of a massacre.] He knew that Gen. Harrison was somewhere outside the fort, with probably a pretty fair sized command, and was liable at any time ten make his sudden appearance. Gen. Clay, who had been warned, by his spies, that he would receive a hostile visit from Proctor, had sent word to Harrison at Upper Sandusky. On the night of the arrival of the British force, he sent another courier. By this time, and for some days previous, swarms of Indians had appeared in the vicinity, and on the morning of the 21st ten men were surprised by them, and only three escaped.

In this state of affairs, it was no sure thing that a courier could get safely from the fort to Gen. Harrison. Again the reckless rider and fearless soldier, Capt. William Oliver, was called upon, and, with his patriotic sense of duty, did not hesitate to undertake the perilous mission.

He was accompanied by Capt. McCune, of the Ohio volunteers, and a Virginia corporal. As the three emerged from the fort about nine o'clock at night, the British band on the opposite side of the Maumee struck up the tattoo, which in some degree helped to cover the noise of their movements until they got about a quarter of a mile from the fort, when they rode almost into an Indian camp. For a little time their suspense was very great, but the startled Indians luckily passed round them in their search in the darkness, when Oliver's party dashed off in an opposite direction into the forest, pursued by the savages. McCune got separated from the others, and not being used tQ the woods was a day late in reaching Harrison. At nine o'clock the following night, Oliver reached Upper Sandusky, but found that the General had gone to Lower Sandusky, to which place he at once followed him, making a continuous ride of over one hundred miles through forests and swamps, much of his time without a trail, and two entire nights and a day and a half without sleep. Gen. Harrison, having need of Oliver's services in another direction, sent Capt. McCune back to Gen. Clay, with word that no effort would be spared to relieve the fort, but that, meantime, he must be on his guard against surprises by the enemy. It appears to have been the determination of Gen. Harrison, in case the enemy had laid siege to the fort, to have taken a picked body of men, and, by an unfrequented route, reach the fort in the night, and cut his way in. Gen. Clay was mystified by the enemy's action; they had not begun a siege as if intending to prosecute it to the end. In this dilemma, he again dispatched the faithful McCune to Harrison with word that a force of about 800 Indians had been seen, from the fort, passing up the north bank of the Maumee, for the purpose, as was supposed by Clay, of attacking Fort Winchester, at Defiance. This move puzzled Harrison, but still he thought it was a ruse to cover some other design; the fact of their marching by, in plain sight of the fort, was, to a soldier, suggestive that the move was a blind of some sort. The Commander's judgment was, that Proctor contemplated an attack on Lower Sandusky, Upper Sandusky, or Cleveland, and he kept a force on the lookout for that contingency. On the afternoon of July 25th, Mc- Cune was sent back to Fort Meigs, with the views of the Commander on the situation, and saying, that in case Proctor laid siege to the fort, he would come to its help. Again Gen. Clay was enjoined to beware of surprises. This came well nigh being McCune's last ride. He lost his way in the night, and did not reach the fort until about daylight. When entering the open ground he was discovered by the savages, and only after a most exciting race, and very narrow escape, did he get inside the gates.

arrived near the fort about daybreak on the following morning, having lost his way in the night, accompanied by James Doolan, a French Canadian. They were just upon the point of leaving the forest and entering upon the cleared ground around the fort, when they were intercepted by a party of Indians. They immediately took to the high bank with their horses, and retreated at full gallop up the river for several miles, pursued by the Indians, also mounted, until they came to a deep ravine, putting up from the river in a southerly direction, when they turned upon the river bottom and continued a short distance, until they found their further progress in that direction stopped by an impassable swamp. The Indians foreseeing their dilemna, from their knowledge of the country, and expecting they would naturally follow up the ravine, galloped thither to head them off. McCune guessed their intention, and he and his companion turned back upon their own track for the fort, gaining, by this maneuvre, several hundred yards upon their pursuers. The Indians gave a yell of chagrin, and followed at their utmost speed. Just as they neared the fort, McCune dashed into a thicket across his course, on the opposite side of which other Indians had huddled, awaiting their prey. When this body of Indians had thought them almost in their possession, again was the presence of mind of McCune signally displayed. He wheeled his horse, followed by Doolan, made his way out of the thicket by the passage he had entered, and galloped around into the open space between them and the river, where the pursuers were checked by the fire from the block-house at the western angle of the fort. In a few minutes after their arrival, their horses dropped from fatigue. The Indians probably had orders to take them alive, as they had not fired until just as they entered the fort; but, in the chase, Mc- Cune had great difficulty in persuading Doolan to reserve his fire until the last extremity, and they therefore brought in their pieces loaded. "

That episode, one of the most thrilling of the many exciting incidents of that war, would form a lively theme for the pencil of an artist. The artists of Tam O'Shanter's ride drew wholly on their imaginations, while in this case the scene is laid on real facts.

There was more at stake than McCune's life hanging on that terrible race to keep from the clutches of the howling savages. The fate of the garrison was in the balance. The message he carried, no doubt, saved the fort, as will be seen from what followed that afternoon.

About an hour before dark a rapid, heavy musketry fire was heard on the Lower Sandusky road; there were loud Indian yells, and a terrific battle seemed in progress. The savages could be seen attacking a body of troops with great fury; the troops gave way, but rallied again and drove the savages. The belief at once prevailed in the fort that Harrison had sent reinforcements, and that they were in a severe battle with the enemy. With one accord the men demanded to be led to the assistance of their comrades. Gen. Clay was greatly perplexed. He could not account for the fighting, yet he felt sure that it was not Harrison's men, for the message of that morning disproved that theory; "that he would not come with, or send any more troops to Fort Meigs until there seemed further necessity for it," were the words of McCune; still the men were clamorous and almost mutinous in their conduct, because their General refused to send out help. Even the higher officers shared quite generally in the same feeling. That was a critical moment; it required a self-poised, cool, decided mind at the helm to prevent a fatal mistake. Gen. Clay proved equal to the emergency, though a heavy rain storm, just at that time, caused the din of battle to subside, and helped to quiet the frenzied clamor within the fort. The garrison had escaped. A deadly trap had been laid for them ; an ingenious, bloody snare, the offspring of a greater brain than Proctor's, had been set for the impulsive, overbrave Kentuckians in the fort. It well nigh succeeded.

Tecumseh and Proctor naturally calculated that, with the large demonstration of forces they were making, Clay would send for help, which, l as a matter of fact, he did. They supposed, too, that he was expecting it (here they miscalculated), and by way of the Sandusky road. Now it was easy for Tecumseh to put his scouts on that road, to make sure that troops did not come upon them unawares; then a strong British force, with a swarm of savages, was secreted in the wooded ravine near, and just below the fort, and a cavalry force in the woods just above. To complete the programme, a force of Indians and Canadians were placed on the Sandusky trail. A little before night, these, under the direction of careful lead- 1 ers, got up a sham battle, planned so as to appear like a body of Americans trying to cut their way through to the fort. They expected the garrison, or the major portion of it, to sally out to the aid of their comrades. Few, if any, would have ever returned; or even if they did, when the gates were opened to receive them, the British cavalry would have ridden in along with them. Happily the scheme failed. But it was a deep-laid plot, worthy the brain of Pontiac himself. This practically ended the second siege of Fort Meigs. The enemy went aboard their boats the next day, July 28, and dropped down the bay. That was the last time the feet of armed foreign foes desecrated Maumee soil.

A few days after, Proctor's forces, as Gen. Harrison foretold, drew up in line of battle and made an assault on Fort Stephenson, but were successfully repulsed by the garrison, then under the gallant Maj. Croghan. The same night they got on their boats and left for Malden. In a naval battle, on Lake Erie, September 10, Commodore Perry annihilated the British naval power on the lake, and a little later shipped Harrison's army over to Canada, where soon after, at the battle of the Thames, the British were utterly routed. The Indian chief Tecumseh was killed, and Proctor only made his escape by leaving his carriage, taking one of the horses from the team and fleeing on a side trail. He did not care to fall into the hands of the Kentuckians, who were hot on his track. These victories virtually ended the war in the Northwest. Proctor was in disgrace, and, with Tecumseh dead, the Indians no longer had a leader to rally around. At that time there were not so many great war chiefs as at an earlier day, and the tribes were broken into smaller bands than formerly, and their numbers greatly diminished, consequently the chiefs had a smaller following and less prestige and authority than their predecessors.

Of Tecumseh's character and ability, it is difficult to form a correct estimate, at least, from a white man's standpoint. He was a central figure, in the Northwest, in the war of 1812. He was associated in that war with a perfidious, cowardly Englishman, without courage to fight, or the honor and manhood to protect disarmed prisoners from his savage allies. By the side of Proctor, Tecumseh was great and honorable. He had courage and humanity; Proctor had neither. Tecumseh's career, as a war chief, began where Pontiac's left off - at Detroit and on the Maumee. He was in St. Clair's defeat, and Wayne's battle, but not as a chief. He did not become a chief until 1795.; neither did he command at Tippecanoe, nor %vas he present there, He had taken great offense at Harrison, as Governor of Indiana Territory, because of a treaty the latter made for land; which treaty, Tecumseh claimed, was signed by chiefs who had no authority to sign away lands, and when the war of 1812 began, he went to Canada and Proctor made him a brigadier, and gave him epaulets and a sword, which the Indian had too good sense to wear in service. Gen. Brock gave him a red sash, but Tecumseh politely replied that it did not become him to wear it when there was an older, and greater warrior, like Brock, about. It is, therefore, from that time, and in the skirmishes and battles about Detroit, Frenchtown and at the Maumee Rapids, and later at the Thames, where he was killed, that we see Tecumseh as a-chief and commander of his dusky associates. It should be said, in his behalf, that he did not command the Indians at Frenchtown.

As a war chief, schooled in deeds of prowess, and as a commander in battle, Tecumseh's record does not rank with that of Pontiac, Blue Jacket, or Little Turtle, whose war careers ended on the Maumee where his began. Had Tecumseh's lines been cast among civilized, instead of savage, people, he would have excelled as a statesman, possibly, more than as a warrior. He had attributes that made him a natural leader, and was free of many of the vices of his people. Gen. John E. Hunt, who saw him often, gives this personal description of the great chief: "Tecumseh was not a large man, but strong and well made. He usually dressed very plainly, in buckskin Indian costume. He wore three feathers, one given to him by Mrs. Proctor, the other two by wives of other English officers. These were fine ostrich plumes, one white, one red, one black. He wore them tied to his cue behind, hanging down his back. He was generally armed with his pipe-tomahawk and scalping knife in his belt, and his rifle in his hand. He resembled very much Otusso, an" Ottawa war chief, who died at the mouth of the Maumee river before the Indians were moved."

Tecumseh was a Shawnee by birth, born not far from Springfield, on Mad river, and at the time of his death was about forty years of age. No doubt, he derived some of his early influence among the Indians, from the wizard performances of his brother, the "Prophet.'' Both preached and practiced undying opposition to the aggressions of the white man. Lossing says of Tecumseh: "He was crafty, intrepid, unscrupulous and cruel, and possessed the qualities of a great leader, almost equal to those of Pontiac. "

Chapter Xi

From the Close of the War of 1812-15 to the Organization of Wood County - For whom the County was Named - First Election, First Meeting of Commissioners, and First Courts - A General Retrospect of the Conditions Existing at that time - Population, etc.

GEN. JACKSON'S great victory over the British at New Orleans, January, 1815, closed the war in a blaze of triumph, quite in contrast with the dismal beginning at Detroit, less than three years before. By the spring of 1815, people had gained confidence in the permanence of peace made the previous winter, and the scattered fragments of the Rapids' settlement on the Maumee, began slowly to return. Three years had made a great change. Peace and quiet reigned again, but the scars of desolating war were painfully visible on every side. The waste fields were grown up and choked with weeds and wild sunflowers. Ashes and charred cinders marked the places where their cabins once stood, and by the same signs the sites of the savages' wigwams were noted. The fresh earth mounds told where the dead, who strove and fell there, slept, and the dreary moan of the rippling waters seemed to breathe, in mournful cadence, for the departed heroes. With measured tread the sentry at the fort paced his beat. The grim cannon frowned from the great bastions, suggestive, perhaps, of further strife; but that had ended; the scalp dance was over; the cannibalistic orgies had ceased; Dudley and his intrepid band, who perished beyond the river, were the last martyrs on the altars of a barbarism that had begun its hideous sacrifices beyond the Alleghanies, threequarters of a century before. The sword and tomahawk were now to be succeeded by the peaceful implements of husbandry. Civilization had laid firm hold on the Maumee Country.

Among those who came back that summer to begin life anew, and to resume his official functions for the government, was Amos Spafford. John Carter and John Race, who had preceded him a little, had a cabin on the north side of the river, near Turkey Foot Rock, and Spafford moved in with them for a short time. He did not. however, like the threatening behavior of the Indians at the village above, and moved down between the river and fort, and lived with his family in a tent until he could finish his building.* A number of abandoned scows, or arks, used in shipping army supplies down from Defiance, lay along the bank, and the plank from these the settlers used in their buildings. Spafford's house, constructed of these plank, stood in the flat, not far from the old orchard, northwestwardly from the fort. During the summer the settlers engaged Carter and Race to go up the river, in a pirogue, after some supplies. Some time after they left, their empty pirogue was noticed floating down the river. Surmising that some accident had happened, Spafford took some help and went up to their cabin, where he found their bodies and the evidences of a desperate fight with the Indians. The men had been shot and tomahawked. Later in the season Levi Hull went to drive in the cattle from the woods, on the present plat of Perrysburg. Some time after he left several guns were heard in that direction, and as he did not return at the usual time, search was made. His body was found on the ground where the Methodist church of Perrysburg stands. He had been shot and scalped. These tragic occurrences were calculated to cause much anxiety among the residents as to their safety. No matter whether they were the result of quarrels between whites and Indians, or an intent of the latter to drive the whites away, it served the purpose of keeping back the settlement. Fortunately for all concerned, there were few of such tragedies to record.

Two vessels came up. in the summer of 1815, and took a greater part of the ordnance and government property from the fort to Detroit. The schooner " Black Snake," Capt. Jacob Wilkinson, took off a cargo of guns and stores the same seasorftnnd the fort, which had been in

* The incidents and history of the settlement covering the period from 1815 to IH'^0, here given, are largely derived from the manuscript notes of W. V. Way, of Perrysburg, in possession of the writer. Way got his data from the Spatlords, Hollisters, Wilkinsons. Joshua Chappel, Gen. Hunt and others.

charge of Lieut. Almon Gibbs and about forty men, was abandoned. For the convenience of the fort, and any stray settlers, Gibbs had, the previous year, May 9, 1814, been appointed postmaster, and the office was named Fort Meigs. When Major Spafford left, in 1813, Miami post office was discontinued. After the fort- was abandoned, in 1815-16, Gibbs quit the army, crossed to the other side of the river and went into trade, taking the post office with him. All the lower Maumee Country, for some time after, went under the general name of Fort Meigs. The incoming settlers, many of whom located about the fort, sometimes found the old block-houses very convenient places to live in until they could build, and the palisade and other timber served for many useful purposes as long as they lasted. At length, however, there arose some strife about who had a right to live in the block-houses, and someone set fire to them and burned them up.

It will help the reader to get a better idea of the Maumee settlement prior to the war, if we give the names of those who, afterward, presented claims to the government for loss of property. The list is taken from Knapp's History of the Maumee Valley. A meeting of these claimants was called at the house of Amos Spafford, November 24, 1815, and he was empowered to act as their agent, and authorized to go to Washington and make proper application for indemnification for their losses. Their names were: Daniel Purdy, Oliver Armstrong, James Carlin, William Carter, George Blalock, James Slawson, Amos Spafford, Samuel Ewing, Jesse Skinner, William Skinner, Stacey Stoddard, Jacob Wilkinson, Thomas Dick, Samuel H. Ewing, William Peters, Amos Hicox, Richard Gifford, Samuel Carter, Baptiste Momeny, Thomas Mcllrath, Chloe Hicox, David Hull, John Redoad, and others. The property lost consisted of various articles; for instance, James Carlin had his cabin burned, estimated value, $110; one blacksmith shop, $55; two-year old colt, taken by Wyandot Indians, valued at $30. Oliver Armstrong lost a horse, valued at $60; another man six acres of wheat in barn, burned; four tons of hay; clothing and bedding, burned or stolen, and various other articles are enumerated, including standing corn used by the U. S. troops, aggregating over four thousand dollars, which, with some other sums, the government, after some delay, allowed.

Most of the arrivals now were by way of the lake, from Cleveland and the ports below. The soldiers from the southern part of Ohio, who had made the march across the swamp, or caught the Maumee ague, did not advertise the country very favorably, nor did many immigrants arrive from that section. Still, all who had seen it were charmed with the Maumee and its scenery, and the glowing accounts they gave of the fish and game are refreshing to read. Wayne's men, especially, who were here in the month of August, while the surface was dry, and the corn and truck patches of the Indians were at their best, grew enthusiastic over the beautiful islands, fish, game, timber, rich soil, etc. But when later in the season they were building Forts Wayne and Defiance, and half of them sick with fever and ague, they were glad to get away; many of them, however, returned in after years.

Seneca Allen, who a little later became the first resident justice of the peace, in what is now Wood county, came with his family, in 1816, from Detroit. On the same vessel came the families of Jacob Wilkinson, Elijah, Charles and Christopher Gunn. The Gunns and Allen located on the north side of the river. The latter opened a trading place with the Indians at Roche de Boeuf, where a man named Isaac Richardson had located a mill site. The Gunns settled between there and Maumee, and became permanent and useful citizens. Many of their descendants are still living there. [On February 20, 1 8 1 7, Charles Gunn, as justice of the peace, under jurisdiction of Champaign county, solemnized the first marriage in the present limits of Wood county, under the laws of the State. Aurora Spafford, son of Major Amos Spafford, and Mrs. Mary Jones were the pioneer couple who first stepped under the hymeneal yoke. They had been waiting for some weeks for Gunn's commission. If they had a license, which they doubtless had, they sent to Urbana, the county seat, to get it. The nearest road there was by Hull's Trace.]

Two years later Allen moved down to Fort Meigs, and held the office of justice for several years. Jacob Wilkinson's family, who came with Allen, in 1816, but who had been there before the war, settled on the flat, below the fort, and kept tavern. An incident occurred there, which reminded them that their new home was not above high-water mark. One night the water rose in their cabin, and they had to scramble up the ladder to the loft, from which they were rescued by boatmen. In the confusion the baby, in the cradle, had been forgotten. It was found, fast asleep, floating about on the water. Its "crib," as they are called nowadays, was, luckily, the half of a hollow log, with boards nailed on each end, and nearly water-tight.

Wilson and Samuel, and in the spring of 1817 opened up a trader's store, for their brother, Joseph Vance, afterward Governor of Ohio. This was the pioneer store in what is now Wood county. The Hollisters opened a store soon after. All the traders, previous to this, had been on the other side of the river. Down on the flats, below the fort, David Hull, in 1816, kept the pioneer tavern of the county. Almira Hull, his daughter, had, according to Judge Way's memoirs, the proud distinction of being the first white child born in Wood county, so far as known. The date was 1817.

Thomas Mcllrath settled on the flats in 1815, and Ephraim Learning and his brother Thomas, carpenters and mill-wrights, settled near the river, in what is now the east part of Perrysburg; but in the spring of 1818 moved over to Monclova, and rebuilt the sawmill begun there, before the war, by Samuel Ewing, on Swan creek. Much of the lumber used by some of the early settlers was sawed there. Samuel H. Ewing, father of the late Judge Ewing, of Wood, lived then on the tract next east of the fort. H. P. Barlow, who afterward married a daughter of Victor Jennison, further down the river, taught school, in the fort settlement, in the winter of 1816-17, and the following summer located on the north side of the river.

In 1816. the United States Government sent out an agent, Alexander Bourne, to locate and lay out a town-site at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. After considerable investigation, the agent chose the present site of Perrysburg, and Deputy U. S. Surveyors Joseph Wampler and William Brookfield laid out a town there. Major Amos Spafford gave the town its name, upon a suggestion from Hon. Josiah Meigs, United States Land Commissioner, at that time. It was named, of course, in memory of Commodore Perry. That selection of a town site by the government's agent was one of vast importance in fixing the destiny of later towns on the lower Maumee.

Below Perrysburg. about two miles, is a ridge or rock across the river channel, called " Rock bar," where vessels, drawing over six feet of water, cannot pass safely in a summer stage of water. The light craft on the lake, in 1816, were not obstructed 'by the "bar,'' but the heavy vessels of a later date found it dangerous. "Rock bar" destroyed the hope of any town above it from becoming the commercial emporium of the Maumee Country, and forced the selection of a new site below it. Had the government agent located Perrysburg below the "bar," there w as a possibility that it might, with its early start and prestige of government paternity, have been the great city of the valley, instead of Toledo. [In the summer of 1836, J. D. Cummings, David Ladd, D. W. Deshler, Norman C. Baldwin, John C. Spink, William Neil, Elnathan Cory, Joseph H. Larwill, N. M. Stewart and others bought, of Jesse Stone, River Tracts 17 and 18, about 450 acres, just below "Rock bar," on the north side of the river, for $40,000, and employed Hiram Davis, surveyor of Wood county, to plat the front part of the tract into lots, and named it Marengo. With the strong backing it had, Marengo gave promise of becoming a city; but the money panic of 1837 struck it as with the deadly blight of an October frost, and in 1838 the sheriff closed out all that was tangible of the town of Marengo, and it is but a memory.]

Maumee Treaty. - It will now be in chronological order to note the concluding chapter in the series of important events, by which the United States acquired title deed to the land now within bounds of Wood county, except the part of the United States Reserve w'hich had been previously acquired by Wayne's treaty. In September, 1817, Duncan McArthur and Lewis Cass, as the authorized agents of the United States, met the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottaw'atamie, Seneca, Delaware and Shawnee tribes, to the number of about 7,000 Indians, at a treaty council, at the Maumee Rapids, and purchased from them all their remaining lands in Ohio, except some scattered reservations retained as homes by the Indians. Only one of these reserves touched the present limits of Wood county; that of thirty-four square miles on the south side of the Maumee, below where Toledo is, granted to the chiefs of the Ottawa tribe, and the corner of which projected into Sections 1, 2, 3 and 10 of Lake, and Fr. Sections 25, 26, 27, 28, with Sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 of Ross townships, as will be noticed on some of the Wood county maps. This place was known as Tushquegon, or McCarty's, village. A section of land, by request of the Ottawas, was also given Peter Minor, out of a former reservation to that tribe, lying about where Providence, Lucas county, is now. Minor'£ Indian name was Sawendebans, or the "yellow hair," and he had been adopted as the son of the Chief Tondaganie, or, as it is now written, Tontogany, the Ottawa name for dog. Of all the great treaties, from that made with the Iroquois, at Rome, N. Y., (Fort Stanwix), in 1784, down to 1817, this, at the Maumee Rapids, was, to northwestern Ohio, the most important. Campaigns had been made and battles fought, sometimes ending in defeat, sometimes in victory. Treaty had followed treaty, but all had left this land under savage sway. Twenty-nine years, almost three decades, had passed since the Marietta colony was planted on the Ohio river, in 1788, until the Federal Government, by this last act, swept away the cloud that shadowed the civilization of the j Maumee Country. Now, for the first time, the j land stood on an equality with the rest of Ohio, free of ownership and domain by a race, whose instincts, habits, customs and mode of life were entirely opposed to the improvement of the country. It is possible that this land was, in the early time, thought unfit for white occupation; or rather, that it was better suited to the uses of Indians than whites. It was doubtless true that, in some respects this was not the most desirable part of Ohio. This, and the fact that it was held as Indian territory for thirty years after settlements had commenced in other portions of the state, explains why some of the counties, in northwestern Ohio, were so far behind the rest of the State in improvements.

A line drawn from Sandusky Bay, south, along the west end of the Connecticut Reserve, to the Greenville Treaty line, near Mount Gilead, thence westerly, along said line, to the Indiana line, thence north to Michigan, and including all the west part of Ohio, east as far as Defiance, and down the Maumee to its mouth, would about embrace the Ohio land bought at the treaty of 1817, and since cut up into about eighteen counties. Wood county, as she is bounded to-day, lay entirely within this purchase, except half of the twelve-mile-square reserve on the south side of the Maumee, bought at Wayne's treaty, in 1795. The land on the north side of the Maumee, west to Defiance, the reader will remember, was bought at the treaty of Detroit, 1807. This treaty of 1817 was regarded by the people of the State with great interest. The part of Ohio, north of the Greenville line, was a blank space on the map. It was simply the Indian territory, and the "black swamp." Its name caused a shrug of terror to many people; while others believed that, though it was not an earthly paradise, it was a good place to go to and "grow up with the country. "

The Indians did not all agree as to the advisability' of selling it. There was a division, and some stout opposition was developed at the treaty. Gen. Hunt, before quoted, in his reminiscences says: "There was an Indian present, whose name was Mesh-ke-mau, who was a great warrior, and prided himself on being a British subject. He had been bribed to oppose the treaty. When he found the Indians giving way to Cass and McArthur, our commissioners, it made him very angry. He said in his speech that the palefaces had cheated the red men, from their first landing on this continent'. The first who came said they wanted land enough to put a foot on. They gave the Indians a beef, and were to have so much land as the hide would cover. The palefaces cut that hide into strings, and got land enough for a fort.

"The next time they wanted more land they brought a great pile of goods, which they offered for land. The red men took the goods, and the palefaces were to have for them so much land as a horse would travel round in a day. They cheated the red man again by having a relay of horses to travel at their utmost speed. In that way they succeeded. 'Now, you Cass,' pointing his finger and shaking his tomahawk over Cass' head, 'Now, you Cass, come here to cheat us again;' thus closing, he sat down. Cass replied; 'My friends, I am much pleased to find among you so great a man as Mesh-ke-mau. I am glad to see you have an orator, a man who understands how much you have been cheated by the white people, and who is fully able to cope with them - those scoundrels who have cheated you so outrageously. 'Tis true what he has said, every word true. And the first white man was your French father. The second white man was your English father, you seem to think so much of. Now you have a father, the President, who does not want to cheat you, but wants to give you more land west of the Mississippi than you have here, and to build mills for you, and help you till the soil.'

* ' At which Mesh-ke-mau raved and frothed at the mouth. He came up to Gen. Cass, struck him on the breast with the back of his hand, raising his tomahawk with the other hand, saying, 'Cass, you lie; you lie.'

"Two or three Indians and interpreters took him off out of the council. The treaty resulted in buying from the Indians the northwestern part of Ohio and the southern part of Michigan."

Kan-tuck-e-gun [ Hosmer says Kan-tuck-e-gun was the widow of Pontiac], the most eloquent %varrior of the tribe, was a very intelligent Indian; quite the equal of Tecumseh in mental qualities, though lacking the moral force and vigor which made the latter a leader of his race. Ottuso was a descendant of Pontiac [ Parkman says Ottuso was the son of Pontiac], and, at the time of his death, the last of his family, and the last war chief of his nation remaining on the Maumee river. His mother was a sort of Indian queen, and grandniece to Pontiac. She was held in great reverence by the Indians. So much so, that at the treaty of Maumee, in 1817, she then being very old and wrinkled, and bent over with age, her hair perfectly white, no chief would sign the treaty until she had first consented, and made her mark, by touching her fingers to the pen. At that treaty there were 7,000 Indians gathered together. When the treaty was agreed upon, the head chiefs and warriors sat round the inner circle, she had a place among them; the remaining Indians with the women and children forming a crowd outside. The chiefs sat on seats built under the roof of the council house, which was open on all sides. The whole assembly kept silence. The chiefs bowed their heads and cast their eyes to the ground, and waited patiently for the old woman until she rose, went forward, and touched the pen to the treaty, after it had been read to them in her presence.

Following close after this treaty another helpful thing to the settlement occurred. The government in the previous year (1816) had not only platted the town of Perrysburg, but had re-surveyed the Twelve-mile Reserve. It was in this survey that a change was made, and the land along the river subdivided into River Tracts instead of following the usual form of survey by sections. The land office was at Wooster, Ohio, and the Maumee lands were thrown on the market, at auction, in February. This sale proved of great advantage to the settlement. It gave a permanence to the improvements started. Hitherto, when all were squatters without fixed tenure, there was but little incentive to go into extensive improvements. Now the settler could own his lands. The sale w'as on the installment plan. Some paid the price, and took a patent from the government at once. Others did not get their patents until final payments. When purchasers failed to meet the payments the land was resold. Some assigned their claims to second parties; in such cases the name on the sale book and in the patent does not correspond. These changes and the neglect of purchasers to record their patents, when they received them, or perhaps not at all. have been fruitful of trouble in tracing titles.

N. Y. , and J. J. Lovett bought River Tracts 65 and 66, including the old fortifications and the settlement that had sprung up around the fort. A town site was surveyed, below the fort, next the river, and called Orleans, or sometimes, to better distinguish it, "Orleans of the North."

Dr. Stewart was also one of the builders and owners of the pioneer steamboat on the lakes, the "Walk-in-the- water," built at Black Rock, in 1818, and doubtless it was the design of Stewart to make Orleans one of the chief points in the lake trips of his new boat. The prospects of the town, as the leading port at the head of Lake Erie, were bright, and would have been materially aided by steamboat connection with the lower lake ports, but unfortunately "Rock bar" prevented the boat from ever reaching Orleans. She came up as far as Swan creek, and turned back. She drew too much water for Orleans. As a rapid traveler, the " Walk-in-thewater" was not a success. Noah Reed, who came with Uncle Guy Nearing's family to Detroit in 1819, says in his memoirs, that he was a passenger on the new steamboat from Black Rock; she left that port on the 1 8th day of August, and did not reach Detroit until the 1 5th day of September. The boat was carried back until within sight of Buffalo, five or six times, after getting to Dunkirk and beyond. After a career of three years, she was beached, in a storm, near Dunkirk, and went to pieces. Thus both of these ventures of the enterprising Albany men, the pioneer steamboat, and the town of Orleans, proved unfortunate.

Not to be outdone, the ambitious dwellers on the north side of the river had staked out a town in 1818, and christened it after the historic river, Maumee. Here were three embryo claimants for city honors. Most that was needed to make them flourish was a thrifty population. Each had ready advocates to proclaim its advantages over the other, but there was little room for argument, as whatever might be said, in praise or derision, applied to all, for the reason that they were so near together. One thing in their favor was that they had no competitors, either above or below, to decry their merits, or to entice away business. The combined efforts of the three claimants, did not cause a great rush of immigrants to either place. There was a vast expanse of country opening in the West then; besides the Maumee did not have a good reputation as a health resort. The increase of population was very gradual. The chief business at that time was the fishing and fur trade, and the rich islands and bottoms were very productive in