EDITORIALANA. |
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ARCHAELOGICAL AGITATION. Elsewhere in this Quarterly we publish quite a snappy symposium concerning Fowke's Book, "The Archaeological History of Ohio," pub- lished by our Society in April last. Mr. Fowke's volume is well calcu- lated to "stir the bones" of the Mound Builders and their modern investigators. It is of course distinctly understood that the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society does not stand sponsor for Mr. Fowke's archaeological views much less for his personal animadversions. We perused the advance sheets of Mr. Fowke's book and insisted upon the elimination of much detraction of other authors and we advised the expurgation of much more. It is to be regretted that Mr. Fowke could not have presented his facts and fancies in a less cantankerous style. His pages are all "sickled o'er" with the lurid cast of sarcastic dogmatism. The subjects of his "remarks" however take him much too grievously: His intolerance is his own condemnation. His book is a vast store house of research, study and conjectures concerning the mys- terious people known as the Mound Builders and of their extant pre- historic works. His volume moreover is a veritable encyclopedia of the literature heretofore produced on the subject. No such book has ever appeared and no other state could furnish the material for such a production. Of the technical merits of the "history;" its opinions and statements, we do not presume to speak. The archaeological students are speaking for themselves and somewhat unrestrainedly as they are justified in doing. This disputation is rather discouraging to the "layman." The saying "in a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom" does not hold out in this case. In a crowd of critics there is an irrepressible con- flict, and when doctors disagree who shall decide? A distinguished American jurist remarked "the past at least is secure." If that be true archeology ought to be regarded as a "dead sure thing." But Fowke's emanations, and indeed the mass of archaeological bibliography (Ameri- can) forces the unsophisticated to the unalterably agnostic conclusion that the Mound Builder was a successful disciple of that classic motto "Mum's the word." Some wag has related that when Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Egypt and stood speechless in awe on the Sahara Sands before the Sphinx - he suddenly saw the lady's graven (160) |
Editorialana. 161
mouth begin to move and approaching the
immobile features, silent for
centuries, he placed his ear to the
stone lips and heard a sound like a
subdued murmur "you're
another." As Artemus Ward would say of
this controversy of the critics "it
would be funny if it were not serious."
The Mound Builders builded better than
they knew. Their works are
food for thought and subjects for study.
Certain it is that they were a
vast and enterprising and interesting
race, whence and whither and why
we evidently have not learned.
Archaeological "history" is largely archaeo-
logical speculation, and with
speculation one man's guess is as good as
another's, unless it happens to be your
own and then of course it is a
good deal better than some one's else.
"But first I would remark, that it
is not a proper plan
For any scientific gent to whale his
fellow-man,
And, if a member don't agree with his
peculiar whim,
To lay for that same member for to 'put
a head' on him."
FORT ST. CLAIR.
In the first week in July it was the
privilege of the editor to be the
guest for a day of two of the Hon. C. R.
Gilmore of Eaton, the pretty
little county seat of Preble county. Mr.
Gilmore is the son of the late
Judge W. J. Gilmore who was for many
years a trustee of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
and one of its most active and
enthusiastic advocates and workers. He
was a devoted lover of historical
lore especially that pertaining to Ohio
and the Northwest. His grave
is located in the picturesque cemetery
of Eaton and commands a view
of the nearby hill upon which was
located the memorable Fort St. Clair.
This historic site and the surrounding
fields were the property of Judge
Gilmore, and at his death passed to the
possession of his son Clement R.
Gilmore.
Fort St. Clair was erected in the
tempestuous months of the Winter
of 1791-2. It was started December 15,
1791, and completed January
26, 1792. Gen. Wilkinson sent Major John
S. Gano, belonging to the
militia of the Territory, with a party
to build the fort. William Henry
Harrison then but an ensign, commanded a
guard every other night for
about three weeks, during the erection
of the fort. They had neither fire
nor covering of any kind and suffered
much from the winter cold. It
was a stockade of the usual kind, about
three hundred feet square and had
about twenty acres cleared around it.
The outline can yet be traced
in the contour of the field surface. It
was designed to be the midway
fortification between Fort Hamilton on
the south and Fort Jefferson on
Vol. XI.-11
162 Ohio Arch. and His. Society
Publications.
the north-forts some forty-four miles
apart. It was another advantageous
link in the chain of secure stations to
extend from the Ohio to the mouth
of the Maumee. This line of forts,
Washington, Hamilton, St. Clair,
Jefferson, Recovery, St. Marys, Defiance
Deposit, Miami and Industry,
with some others near or along the line
was for the purpose not only
of enabling transit across the state,
but to form a continuous impediment
to the inroads of the hostile Indians of
the old Northwest country. The
four southern posts, Washington,
Hamilton, St. Clair and Jefferson were
about twenty-five miles apart, and
connected by a road or trace cut
through the dense timber and undergrowth
by the soldiers of St. Clair's
army. It required about six days to go
on horse from Fort Washington
to Fort Jefferson and return. After St.
Clair's defeat garrisons were
left at the posts and it was necessary
to furnish these with provisions.
In the autumn of 1792, Little Turtle,
the celebrated chief, at the head of
about 250 Mingo and Wyandot warriors,
started out to attack a new
settlement of the whites then forming at
the mouth of the Little Miami
river (Columbia, Ohio). When passing
near Fort Hamilton, the Indians
attacked some of the garrison working in
the timber and captured two of
them. From these they learned that a
company of from fifty to one
hundred mounted Kentucky riflemen,
escorting a brigade of pack-horses
and under command of Captain John Adair,
were on the way to Ft. Jef-
ferson, and would pass on the return
trip at a certain time. Ac-
cordingly they lay in ambush along the
trail. The escort how-
ever rested at Fort Jefferson over Sunday,
and did not appear as soon
as expected. Hearing when the
Kentuckians had advanced as far as
Fort St. Clair, the Indians planned a
surprise and attacked them before
daylight, November 6, 1792 under the
walls of the fort. A hot fight
ensued which developed into a running
scrimmage to near the present
site of Eaton, Ohio, where the Indians
were lost sight of just after day
light. Twenty or thirty horses were
killed, six left to the soldiers and
the balance taken by the Indians who
seem to have made the attack
principally for this result. The bodies
of two Indians were found among
the dead horses and several others had
probably been carried away by
their friends. Several Americans were
wounded and the following six
were killed: Lieutenant Job Hale;
Sergeant Matthew English; Privates
Robert Bowling, Joseph Clinton; Isaac
Jett and John Williams. These
six heroes lie buried in the grove just
south of the south line of the fort.
Mr. C. R. Gilmore is about to have their
board markers replaced by neat
stone slabs bearing the names as now
designated, thus rescuing these
sacred spots from decay and oblivion.
It was on a bright Sabbath morning that
Mr. Gilmore and the writer
footed the way from the town to the
location of the Fort. Dodging
between showers, we trod the
water-soaked fields, climbed the interven-
ing fences, walked the slippery logs
across Garrison Branch, the swollen
stream near the battle ground, picked
our path through the thick forest
Editorialana. 163
to the row of graves in which repose the remains of the six heroes who laid down their lives for the advancing civilization there on the con- fines of the western frontier. For over one hundred years those sol- diers of the infant Republic have mouldered in that secluded, forest-shaded "god's acre"-far from the thoroughfare of the busy, noisy twentieth century. It would seem that they ought always to so remain close to the bounds of the old fort and on the scene of the conflict where they fell; the stately trees of the woods sheltering their sepulture; in summer singing low lullabies with their rustling foliage and in the Winter winds sighing dirges to their memory. They were American patriots no less than those who fell at Bunker Hill, Lundy's Lane, Monterey, Gettysburg and San Juan; yea, more, for they fell in the depths of an almost trackless forest, without the incentive of the pomp and circumstance of war. When they were placed beneath the sod doubtless not a "drum was heard, not a funeral note." They have no tablet of brass or shaft of marble to record their deeds in the days that tried men's souls, but they were the advance guards of the white civilization that was invading the vast Northwest; they were the fearless and sacrificing sculptors who carved from its primeval elements the modern proud Buckeye state. May the bivouac of these braves never be disturbed. |
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164 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
HENRY BISHOP PERKINS.
Hon. Henry B. Perkins, a life member, from its organization, of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, died at his home in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, on March 2, 1902. He was a worthy |
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General Perkins died in 1844; Henry Bishop Perkins was his youngest son. He inherited large wealth from his successful father and by his integrity, industry and ability, greatly increased the same. Bu he lived for more than the material. He was unselfishly devoted to family and friends. He was in sympathy with all practical influences for the betterment of his fellow men-betterment mentally and morally. He was generous to religious, charitable and educational institutions. He was a constant worker for the uplifting of the masses, and besides serv- ing on the Warren board of education for years, with his brothers en- dowed a professorship in Western Reserve college. He twice served on the state board of agriculture, was a trustee of Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical college, now the Ohio State University. Mr. Perkins al- ways took a deep interest in the promulgation of the best literature and was one of the most active agents in the establishment and growth of the Warren Public Library. In 1878 the governor of Ohio appointed him a member of a com- mission of three to serve with a similar commission from Pennsylvania, in re-establishing the Ohio-Pennsylvania line. From 1879-1883 he represented Trumbull and Mahoning counties in the state senate, and for many years he was one of the trustees of the State Hospital for Insane in Cleveland. In 1888 he was a presidential elector for Harrison, all the honors conferred upon him being unsolicited. October 10, 1855, he married Eliza G. Baldwin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Norman C. Baldwin of Cleveland, who survives him. The children living are Olive, wife of Judge Samuel Smith of Cleveland; Miss Mary, and Jacob, who live at home. His benevolence, always unostentatiously bestowed, can be remem- bered in hundreds of Warren homes, and no public charity ever appealed to him without recognition. |
Editorialana. 165
Mr. Perkins was a courteous, affable
gentleman, beloved by all
who knew him and honored and respected
by all who had dealings with
him. A touching instance of his
relationship in life to his employes was
the fact that at the private burial at
Oak Wood Cemetery the pall bearers
were the faithful and sorrowing workmen
who had been in his service
for the years respectively noted after
their names: Wm. Gott, twelve
years; Wm. Nesbit, ten years; Thos.
Nesbit, thirty-five years; Jos.
Latimer, fifty years; John Waters,
twenty-five years Howard Craig,
twenty years.
In the funeral address delivered by Rev.
W. L. Swan, a friend and
pastor of Mr. Perkins for many years,
occurs this fitting allusion:
"On one of the many public
occasions when Mr. Perkins was called
upon to preside, was the occasion when
the soldiers' monument was dedi-
cated. Ex-President Hayes then said 'It is a partially truthful saying
that men who need monuments do not
deserve them, and men who deserve
them do not need them.' Equally true is
it of eulogy. And in this community
where he whom we mourn to-day, was born,
and lived his useful life, and
died, where he stood so generously in the
material and moral interests
of the place, to us, who lived with him
and knew him, no eulogy is more
than a vain repetition.
His life was not an ordinary one. Much
might be said of that broad,
strong grasp on practical affairs, of
the judgment quick and clear, of the
tastes as simple as they were refined,
of the kindly sympathy and help-
fulness he was ever so ready to
manifest, of the beautiful, even ideal
home life among those he loved, and who
loved him so well."
SALT LICKS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
We are indebted to Mr. D. W. Williams
for a copy of his History
of Jackson County. This is the first of
other volumes, if the publication
of other volumes is encouraged by the
public. This volume is devoted
mainly to the history of the famous Salt
Licks in the Scioto Salt Reserve,
set aside by Congress May 18, 1796.
"These springs or licks" says Mr.
Williams "are as old as the hills,
for that erosion which carved out the
valleys between, exposed the strata from
which they flow: They were
discovered by the wild animals of the
forest, and became one of their
most favored resorts long before man
appeared upon the earth. No better
evidence of this is needed than the
great quantity of fossil remains of
extinct animals, which have been
discovered from time to time in the
neighborhood of the licks."
Mr. Williams then relates how these Salt
Licks became the popular
resort, so to speak, from way back, even
before the Glacial period, for the
Mammoth, Mastodon, Megatherium, Buffalo,
Elk, Deer and other game.
Then came the Primeval man the Mound
Builder who must have regarded
166 Ohio Arch. and
His. Society Publications.
the Salt Licks as his fashionable
Saratoga, where he could imbibe health-
ful saline water, and then the Indian,
perhaps the Shawanese were the
first, who recognized the value of these
springs. "There is no record of
the coming of the Indians, but it is
known that the Shawanese owned and
occupied Jackson county when it was
discovered by the whites. It ap-
pears, however, that all the Ohio tribes
were allowed to visit the salt
springs and to make salt. Situated as
they were on the great Indian
trail from the mouth of the Kanawha to
the head of the Maumee, they
were visited by hundreds, and sometimes,
thousands of Indians, during
the summer months. These gatherings
resembled the Russian markets
of the last century. Many of these
visiting Indians bought their salt,
giving in exchange flint implements,
tobacco, beads, pipestone and other
articles of aboriginal commerce. It is
told that tribes at war with each
other would observe a truce during these
visits. The squaws performed
all work, chopping the saplings for
fuel, drawing the water and watching
the fires day and night, while the men
spent their time huntnig, fishing,
playing ball, gaming and telling yarns.
In later years, they tortured
white captives in the presence of the
assembled tribes. Even after the
whites had taken possession of the licks
the Indians used to revisit them
every summer until about 1815."
Mr. Williams' book of 188 pages has a
great deal of interesting and
valuable data of the early history and
traditions of the county. It is all
arranged under headings and indexed so
as to be easily accessible. It is
to be hoped Mr. Williams will bring
forth successive volumes.
FORT WASHINGTON.
Mr. Robert Ralston Jones is responsible
for an attractive little volume
on Fort Washington, erected in 1789 and
demolished in 1808 to make
way for the encroaching city of
Cincinnati. Fort Washington was one
of the most famous and important of the
frontier forts, and played a
potent and prominent part in the affairs
of the Northwestern territory.
It was the rendezvous and starting point
of the Harmer, St. Clair, Wil-
kinson, Wayne and lesser expeditions.
About Fort Washington cluster
a crowd of interesting events and
traditions. Mr. Jones makes succinct
and reliable statements of the chief
historical incidents connected with
the fort. His book is illustrated with
portraits and plats. It is not a
pretentious book in size or matter, but
is a valuable compendium of much
early Ohio history. It is dedicated to
Mr. Herbert Jenney, governor of
the Society of Colonial Wars in the
state of Ohio, "through whose per-
sonal efforts the plan for marking the
site of Fort Washington, at Cin-
cinnati was successfully carried
out." A full account of this
marking
of the site of Fort Washington was
published in Volume X Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society
publications.
EDITORIALANA. |
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ARCHAELOGICAL AGITATION. Elsewhere in this Quarterly we publish quite a snappy symposium concerning Fowke's Book, "The Archaeological History of Ohio," pub- lished by our Society in April last. Mr. Fowke's volume is well calcu- lated to "stir the bones" of the Mound Builders and their modern investigators. It is of course distinctly understood that the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society does not stand sponsor for Mr. Fowke's archaeological views much less for his personal animadversions. We perused the advance sheets of Mr. Fowke's book and insisted upon the elimination of much detraction of other authors and we advised the expurgation of much more. It is to be regretted that Mr. Fowke could not have presented his facts and fancies in a less cantankerous style. His pages are all "sickled o'er" with the lurid cast of sarcastic dogmatism. The subjects of his "remarks" however take him much too grievously: His intolerance is his own condemnation. His book is a vast store house of research, study and conjectures concerning the mys- terious people known as the Mound Builders and of their extant pre- historic works. His volume moreover is a veritable encyclopedia of the literature heretofore produced on the subject. No such book has ever appeared and no other state could furnish the material for such a production. Of the technical merits of the "history;" its opinions and statements, we do not presume to speak. The archaeological students are speaking for themselves and somewhat unrestrainedly as they are justified in doing. This disputation is rather discouraging to the "layman." The saying "in a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom" does not hold out in this case. In a crowd of critics there is an irrepressible con- flict, and when doctors disagree who shall decide? A distinguished American jurist remarked "the past at least is secure." If that be true archeology ought to be regarded as a "dead sure thing." But Fowke's emanations, and indeed the mass of archaeological bibliography (Ameri- can) forces the unsophisticated to the unalterably agnostic conclusion that the Mound Builder was a successful disciple of that classic motto "Mum's the word." Some wag has related that when Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Egypt and stood speechless in awe on the Sahara Sands before the Sphinx - he suddenly saw the lady's graven (160) |