Ohio History Journal
FORT GREEVILLE
TRADITIONS.
JAMES OLIVER ARNOLD.
Four walls of wood growth of hickory,
walnut, oak, ash and
elm, mingled with maples and
undergrowth, so dense that a horse-
man could not pass; so tall that its
shade cast a gloom about;
and between these walls a clearing and
military fort. Beyond,
another clearing and a cabin built of
logs, lighted by a little win-
dow. The heavy oaken door swung on
wooden hinges; the curl-
ing smoke from the chimney, made of
lath, grass and clay; and
"the latch string out," bid
welcome to the guest without; an in-
vitation to enjoy the open fire and the
hospitalities of the host. A
veritable, typical home of the pioneer
in the County of Darke, in
the Village of Greenville, O. "A U.
S. military fort," in the lat-
ter days of the 17th century, where
General Wayne bid the In-
dians all adieu.
The military engineers then laid their
roads on the "high
ways" above the lowlands, swamps
and fallen timber, and so nar-
row that the wheels of the conestoga
wagons would touch the
undergrowth and trees in passing to the
fort. Through lands so
wet and ruts and mud so deep that to
ride the saddle horse of the
team, and the family on horseback, in
the trail was a lullaby in
comparison to the rocking, jolting
wagons that sheltered the
mother and her babes on their journey to
the clearing in the for-
est wild. Grandfather Hardman (Herdman)
of Pennsylvania,
his heroic wife and two sons, one son
and his wife Mary, and her
babe, were the pioneers in such a home.
True to family tradi-
tion, often told in later years, that
made the small boy tremble
with fear as he heard it before the
great open fire in the home yet
standing in Dayton View, there were
related the stories of the
hostile Indians, who were jealous of
their rights, and would have
scalped the family long before but for
the mother, Mary Hard-
man, who knew their habits from a child
and her mother's way
of pleasing them by "putting the
kettle on" to make them soups
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