Ohio History Journal

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FORT McARTHUR MEMORIAL TABLET

FORT McARTHUR MEMORIAL TABLET.

 

On July 4, 1913, a memorial tablet, erected by the Daughters

of the American Revolution, was unveiled with fitting and in-

teresting ceremonies, at the site of the old fort McArthur, three

miles southwest of Kenton on the Scioto River.

We publish the addresses delivered on that occasion by

Prof. G. Frederick Wright, President of The Ohio State Arch-

aeological & Historical Society, and Mrs. John T. Mack of

Sandusky.

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WRIGHT.

It is impossible for us to overestimate the debt we owe to

the pioneers who were in this country a hundred years ago. In

the short space of a single century a vast empire has grown up

westward from the spot on which we now stand. With the ex-

ception of a few forts and blockhouses built for the protection

of the scanty settlers who had ventured upon the border, the

whole northwest was then occupied by hostile Indian tribes who

were being constantly incited to deeds of violence by the emis-

saries of Great Britain. Encouraged by the English, Indian chiefs

like Tecumseh were attempting to organize the tribes from the

Great Lakes to the Gulf in a conspiracy to drive the whites from

the whole region north of Ohio.

More than thirty years had elapsed since the surrender of

Cornwallis at Yorktown. But the recognition of our independ-

ence was scarcely more than nominal. Great Britain did not

treat us with an equality which she granted to other nations.

She attempted to drive our commerce from the seas. She im-

pressed our seamen, and without the privilege of fair trial made

them man her merchantmen and ships of war. For long she

was planning to rob us of our great inheritance in the broad acres

of the northwest. So great were these encroachments that in the

beginning of the year 1812 it was evident that war would soon

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