PROCEEDINGS OF THE
MAUMEE VALLEY INTERNATIONAL
HISTORICAL CONVENTION,
SEPTEMBER 27-29, 1940
EDITORIAL
By HARLOW LINDLEY
Because of the uniqueness of the Maumee
Valley Interna-
tional Historical Convention, organized
to commemorate the place
of the Maumee Valley in American
history, it seems eminently
proper that its records should be
permanently preserved, and since
the heart of the valley is within the
limits of the State of Ohio
it is logical that the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical So-
ciety whose function is to preserve
Ohio's history should perform
this service. We present here historical
material relative to the
Convention and all the addresses given
at the public meetings.
The success of the Convention excelled
the fondest hopes of those
who were responsible for it. Two results
of it are already notice-
able, one the new and increased interest
in local history, and the
other a desire for going forward along
lines brought into view by
the Convention. The latter has taken
form in an organization
named the Anthony Wayne Memorial
Association, devoted to the
national recognition of the final
conquest of the Old Northwest
which culminated in the withdrawal of
the British from Detroit
in 1796. The objectives of this new
association are the promotion
of historical celebrations commemorative
of this period; the en-
couragement of research in the history
of the Old Northwest and
the possibility of the publication of
the results; the developing of
a program for the selection and proper
marking of historical sites,
parkways and routes pertinent thereto;
and the promotion of a
program of education disseminating
information concerning An-
thony Wayne and the Old Northwest.
The annual historical pilgrimage of the
Society of Indiana
Pioneers and the Indiana Historical
Society was arranged to coin-
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2 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
cide with the Convention and their
representatives participated in
the programs at Fort Wayne and Defiance.
The William L. Clements Library at the
University of Michi-
gan issued for the Convention a 22-page
illustrated booklet, The
Maumee Valley through Fifty Years,
1763-1813, and the J. L.
Hudson Company of Detroit donated the
attractive programs,
while the Lucas County Plan Commission,
Toledo, furnished
the copies of the map which was enclosed
with the program and
which is reproduced in this issue of the
QUARTERLY.
THREE CENTURIES OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY
By M. M. QUAIFE
The name "Maumee" is a variant
of Miami, and comes from
the Miami Indian tribe. When the French
first came into the
Northwest they found the Miami living in
eastern Wisconsin.
Following LaSalle's advent in the
Illinois country they moved
southward around Lake Michigan and for
many years (c. 1690-
1702) one of their important towns was located in the present-
day Chicago Loop. Eventually they
journeyed eastward to the
Maumee, with villages at Fort Wayne,
Defiance, and other points,
and their name became permanently
identified with the beautiful
river and valley they had appropriated.
In the era when wilderness was king and
practically all travel
was by water, the Maumee and Wabash
rivers constituted one of
the chief highways of travel between the
Great Lakes and the
Mississippi River system. For this
reason the Maumee Valley is
associated with the earliest activities
of the French in the western
country. Over its possession red race
and white, and French,
British, and American nations for
generations contended. Before
the white man arrived the lovely valley,
"fair as a garden of the
Gods," was the highway of uncounted
war parties from the Great
Lakes journeying southward to wage
against the southern tribes
the long warfare which made of Kentucky
a vacant wilderness
and won for it a name which means
"the dark and bloody ground."
In 1749 the French army of Celoron from
distant Montreal, re-
turning from its mission of warning the
English out of the Ohio
Valley, descended the Maumee from Fort
Wayne to Lake Erie
and Detroit, and a memorial of this
expedition still remains in
the name of Celoron Island, lying in the
mouth of Detroit River.
In 1752, young Charles de Langlade led
his Ottawa warriors from
Mackinac up the Maumee on his mission of
vengeance against
Pickawillany, and the chief, Old
Britain, for the crime of showing
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
friendship to the English, was "put
in the kettle" and literally
boiled and eaten. In the Pontiac War and
for many weary years
following the opening of the American
Revolution, armies red
and white, too numerous to mention,
traversed the valley. Daniel
Boone and Simon Kenton were but two of
hundreds of Kentucky
and Virginia captives carried northward
to Detroit. Governor
Hamilton ascended the Maumee in 1778
going to ignominious sur-
render at Vincennes, and his conqueror,
George Rogers Clark, ate
out his heart in bitterness because he
could never achieve the re-
turn campaign to Detroit, the goal of
all his endeavors. The
Detroit armies of Captain Bird (1780)
and Captain Caldwell in-
flicted grievous blows upon Kentucky,
and that commonwealth
still annually solemnly mourns the
destruction of her manhood by
Caldwell at the Blue Licks in 1782. British
redcoats garrisoned
Fort Miamis, above Toledo, from 1794 to
1796, and President
Washington sent three armies in
succession (1790-95) northward
from Cincinnati with the Maumee as their
objective; General
Wayne built and named Fort Defiance and
defeated the red man
at Fallen Timbers; and when the British
yielded the northwestern
forts to the United States in 1796, it
was a detachment of soldiers
from the Maumee that first raised the
Stars and Stripes over
Detroit.
The War of 1812 opened in the
Northwest, and the Maumee
again resounded to the tramp of
contending armies. General Hull
pressed northward to disgrace and a
coward's doom at Detroit.
General Winchester led his Kentuckians
to another mournful de-
feat at the River Raisin. General
Harrison built, and British
General Procter twice besieged Fort
Meigs; and Harrison and
Perry together achieved victory and
military fame at Lake Erie
and the Battle of the Thames. American
rule in the Maumee
Valley was thenceforth permanent and
undisputed.
But peace has her achievements no less
notable than those of
arms. In 1816, the British and American
governments entered
upon that policy of border disarmament
and peaceful diplomacy
which, despite many strains, has endured
for a century and a
quarter. Michigan lost her Toledo Strip
to Ohio, but losing,
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 5
gained instead the Upper Peninsula. The
canal connecting Lake
Erie with the Ohio, whose abandoned
ruins add much of present
charm to the Maumee Valley, represents a
great peacetime achieve-
ment whose solid glory was early
obscured by the advent of the
"iron horse." In 1837, the
Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad was put
in operation between Toledo and Adrian.
It was the first railroad
in the Northwest, built when Toledo was
still Port Lawrence, and
the entire population of Michigan was
less than that of Grand
Rapids in 1940. Today, fur
trade and canal, red men and massa-
cres are but dim memories; at either end
of the Maumee are busy,
prosperous cities, whose manufactures
are distributed throughout
the earth to make possible an easier and
better way of life. Still,
as of old, winter snows and summer
sunlight refresh the beautiful
valley; still the noble forests offer
their restful shade to the way-
farer; still the dancing waters press
onward toward their goal in
the bosom of the Atlantic.
THE STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY INTERNA-
TIONAL HISTORICAL CONVENTION
By M. M. QUAIFE
Several years ago, Mr. George Macdonald
of Windsor, Ont.,
and the present writer attended the
joint historical conference of
the New York and Ontario historical
societies, held at Niagara
Falls, N. Y., and Niagara Falls, Ont.
The conference was a great
success, and we came home imbued with
the desire to bring about
a similar gathering in Detroit and
vicinity, of the historical socie-
ties and other agencies of Michigan and
Ontario. Thus was
developed the Michigan-Ontario
Historical Convention held June
9-11, 1938, with sessions at Detroit,
Windsor, Dearborn, Amherst-
burg, and Ann Arbor. Several hundred
people attended the ses-
sions, and, as earlier at Niagara, the
unanimous verdict seemed
to be that the convention had been a
highly pleasant and profitable
affair.
One of the hundreds who attended was Mr.
Harlow Lindley
of Columbus, Secretary of the Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Society. In conversation with
the writer of these lines the
desire was expressed that the
historically minded people of Ohio
might participate with their northerly
neighbors in staging an-
other historical convention on some
suitable future occasion.
From this seed was developed the Maumee
Valley Interna-
tional Historical Convention of Sept. 27-29,
1940. At a prelimi-
nary conference in Toledo, held in
December, 1939, attended by
representatives from Indiana, Ohio, and
Michigan, it was deter-
mined to undertake the holding of a
joint historical gathering in
the autumn of 1940. The Ontario
Historical Society cordially
accepted our invitation to participate
in the enterprise, which thus
assumed international dimensions.
Only actual participation in the
planning and execution of
such an undertaking would disclose to
the reader the many prob-
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MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 7
lems encountered and the numerous
difficulties mastered. Four
great commonwealths, representing two
distinct nations and in-
volving dozens of committees and
cultural or other organizations,
and the wholly volunteer cooperation of
hundreds of individuals
must be enlisted for the enterprise.
Even the relatively simple
matter of fixing upon the date for
holding the Convention necessi-
tated numerous earnest discussions. In
the midst of the planning,
in the spring of 1940, Herr Hitler,
without bothering to consult
the committee in charge, suddenly turned
the European sitzkrieg
into a blitzkrieg. This development
caused a material curtailment
of Ontario's participation in the
Convention and sadly confused
the plans of the American participants.
Blitzkriegs notwithstanding, and with
nations crashing almost
daily, preparations for the Convention
went forward. The gen-
eral plan of organization provided for
four state committees, each
of which would supervise the activities
within its own state, while
all four united would comprise the
General Committee responsible
for organizing and directing the entire
Convention. The writer
was made chairman of this committee.
From the vantage point
of this conning tower he observed the
entire enterprise from be-
ginning to end. Its successful execution
constitutes a gratifying
testimonial to the ability of hundreds
of individuals and dozens
of local communities and organizations
scattered from Toronto to
Indianapolis to combine their efforts,
wholly without thought of
individual reward, in a patriotic and
cultural enterprise designed
to promote the common good.
The Maumee Valley is rich in scenic
beauty and crowded
with historical associations. Here runs
one of nature's great high-
ways, connecting the St. Lawrence-Great
Lakes and the Missis-
sippi River systems. Here French and
British, Indian and Amer-
ican armies have contended for
supremacy. Here was constructed
one of the last great canals and one of
the earliest railroads of
interior America. Here today centers one
of the richest agricul-
tural areas on earth, while within easy
one-day automobile drive
lie several of America's greatest cities
and the homes of over
20,000,000 people. Here,
finally, stretches a rich and colorful his-
8
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
torical past which is the joint
possession of the four great com-
monwealths participating in the
Convention.
In short, everything conspired to make
the affair a "natural,"
and even the weather proved ideal. It is
not my purpose to recite
the details of the series of programs
which were prepared, but
rather to supply behind-the-scenes
comment upon the Convention
as a whole. The feature which overtopped
all others was the
willing and unpaid contribution of time
and effort by so many
and diverse individuals and
organizations. Space is lacking to
mention them all by name; to describe
their respective services is
out of the question. Illustrative is the
repeated journeys of mem-
bers to attend the sessions of the
General Committee at Toledo;
the speakers on the several programs,
who contributed gratis both
their service and their travel expenses
as well; presidents, pro-
fessors, and students of half a dozen
universities and colleges--
Wayne, Michigan, Bowling Green, and
Toledo universities, and
Defiance, Oberlin, Concordia, and
Michigan State Normal colleges
--prepared historical radio dramas or
rendered other comparable
cooperation; the state historical
societies and commissions of the
four commonwealths, the Allen
County-Fort Wayne, Detroit, and
Northwestern Ohio local historical
societies contributed money,
sponsorship, and other services; the
chambers of commerce of
Toledo, Defiance, and Fort Wayne; the
newpapers of the several
cities in the area, and Radio Station
WSPD of Toledo.
The foregoing list is not all-inclusive;
it omits the contribu-
tions of Governor John W. Bricker and
Adjutant-general Light
of Ohio, of Mr. W. J. Cameron of the
Ford Motor Company, of
the J. L. Hudson Company of Detroit
which furnished the beau-
tifully printed Convention programs, of
the William L. Clements
Library of Ann Arbor, which honored the
occasion by printing
and distributing the booklet, The
Maumee Valley through Fifty
Years, 1763-1813. It omits
also, the patient and painstaking work
of the several local committees in
planning for and ministering to
the instruction and entertainment of
those in attendance upon the
several Convention programs.
These were of an uniformly high order of
excellence. In
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 9
fact, the writer did not note a single
deviation from this charac-
terization in three days of program
listening. Dr. Lindley, who
has been attending both popular and
professional historical gath-
erings for almost forty years, observed
that in all his experience
none had been marked by a greater degree
of historical interest
or of scholarly excellence than the one
to whose description these
lines are devoted. To single out one
program or address for in-
dividual commendation, from a field
where all were excellent,
would be both ungracious and invidious;
yet it will not seem
improper to express appreciation of the
gracious and inspiring
words at the Toledo dinner of our guest
from Ontario, Mr. Louis
Blake Duff of Welland, as of the
indispensable services of Mr.
Brown Cooper, chairman of the Fort Wayne
Local Committee,
Mr. Charles E. Hatch, chairman of the
Toledo Local Committee,
and Mr. Ralph W. Peters, chairman of the
Defiance Local Com-
mittee, and director of publicity for
the entire Convention.
COMMITTEES
General Committee:
M. M. QUAIFE, General Chairman, Detroit
WILLIAM F. LAWLER, Treasurer, Detroit
Indiana Committee:
BROWN COOPER, Chairman, Treasurer Allen County-Fort
Wayne Historical Society
CHARLES N. FULTZ, President Indiana
Society of Pioneers,
Indianapolis
THOMAS J. KELLY, Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce
Louis M. SEARS, Purdue University
Louis A. WARREN, Director Lincoln
National Life Founda-
tion, Fort Wayne
Ohio Committee:
HARLOW LINDLEY, Chairman, Secretary
Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society
CHARLES E. HATCH, Secretary Maumee River
Scenic and
Historical Highway Association, Toledo
10 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
STANLEY GROVE, Executive Manager Toledo
Chamber of
Commerce
RALPH W. PETERS, Editor Defiance Crescent-News
A. J. TOWNSEND, Dean University of Toledo
CARL F.
WITTKE, Dean Oberlin College
ERWIN C. ZEPP, Curator of
State Memorials Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
Columbus
Ontario Committee:
JAMES J. TALMAN, Chairman, President
Ontario Historical
Society
J. McE. MURRAY, Secretary Ontario
Historical Society
Louis BLAKE DUFF, Welland
M. A. GARLAND, University of Western
Ontario
GEORGE F. MACDONALD, Windsor
MISS PEARL WILSON, Secretary
Kent County Historical
Society
Michigan Committee:
M. M. QUAIFE, Chairman, Detroit Historical Society
R. CLYDE
FORD, President Michigan Historical
Commission
F. C. HAMIL, Wayne University
W. F. LAWLER, President Detroit Council
on Local History
L. G. VANDER VELDE, University of
Michigan
GEORGE N. FULLER, Secretary Michigan
Historical Com-
mission
PROGRAM
Friday, September 27
Toledo
6:30 P. M. Dinner, Commodore Perry Hotel
Ballroom.
PHILIP C. NASH, Chairman, President
University of Toledo.
Announcements: M. M. QUAIFE, Detroit.
Address: "Good Will on Ancient
Battlefields," by CARL F.
WITTKE, Dean Oberlin College.
Address: "Good Will in Fields of
Peace," by LOUIS BLAKE
DUFF, Welland, Ontario.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 11
Saturday, September 28
Fort Wayne
10:30 A. M. Centennial Celebration of
City of Fort Wayne
Charter, 1840-1940, City of Fort Wayne
and Allen County-
Fort Wayne Historical Society
cooperating.
12:30 P.M. Luncheon of Historical
Societies, Women's Club
Room, Chamber of Commerce Building.
CHRISTOPHER B. COLEMAN, Chairman, Indianapolis,
Secre-
tary Indiana Historical Society.
Welcome to Guests, by MRS. MYRON R. BONE, Fort Wayne,
Member of Indiana Pioneers' Association.
Response, by GEORGE F. MACDONALD,
Windsor, Past Presi-
dent Ontario Historical Society.
Address: "Our Glamorous
History," by R. CLYDE FORD,
Ypsilanti, President Michigan Historical
Commission.
2:00 P.M. Historical Pilgrimage,
directed by BROWN COOPER,
President Allen County-Fort Wayne
Historical Society.
Pilgrimage stops:
Grave of Johnny Appleseed: Address, by
ROBERT C. HARRIS,
Fort Wayne.
Three Rivers Park: Description of
Historic Spots, by BROWN
COOPER.
Concordia College Campus: Military
pageant.
Lincoln National Life Foundation Museum
and Library.
Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical
Museum: Reception by
Board of Directors.
6:30 P.M. Harmar Sesquicentennial
Dinner, Women's Club
Room.
LOUIS A. WARREN, Chairman, Director
Lincoln National Life
Foundation, Fort Wayne.
Harmar Campaign Symposium:
Address: "Lieut. Thomas Morris, a
Forerunner of Harmar,"
by HOWARD H. PECKHAM, William
L. Clements Library.
Ann Arbor.
Address: "The Indians Who Opposed
Harmar," by OTHO
WINGER, President Manchester College,
North Manchester,
Ind.
12 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Address: "The Harmar Expedition of
1790" (Illustrated),
by RANDOLPH G. ADAMS, Director William
L. Clements
Library, Ann Arbor.
Sunday, September 29
Defiance
JOHN W. CLAXTON, Chairman, President
Defiance College.
9:00 A. M. Tour to Historic Sites in
Defiance and Vicinity.
10:40 A. M. Band Concert, Defiance High
School Stadium.
11:00 A. M. Music by
Defiance College A Capella Choir.
Invocation, by W. H. SHEPFER, President
Defiance Ministers
Union.
11:15 A.M. Address: "Historic
Defiance," by FRANCIS P.
WEISENBURGER, Ohio State University,
Columbus.
11:30 A. M. Address: "Religion and
the Westward March," by
WILLIAM W. SWEET, University of Chicago.
12:20 P. M. Picnic Lunch on High
School Grounds.
1 to 3 P. M. Tour to Fort Meigs
Following Route Taken by
General Wayne's Army in 1794.
Sunday, September 29
Fort Meigs
GROVE H. PATTERSON, Chairman, Editor
Toledo Blade.
1 to 3 P. M. Military Parade from Toledo
to Fort Meigs, Ad-
jutant-general GILSON D. LIGHT of Ohio
National Guard,
Commander. Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery,
Tank, and Music
Units of the National Guard from Toledo
and Other
Points in Northwestern Ohio Represented.
3:00 P. M. Address: WILLIAM J. CAMERON,
Ford Motor Com-
pany, Dearborn.
3:40
P. M. Address: "Ohio's History in the Place of Our Na-
tional Development," by JOHN W.
BRICKER, Governor of
Ohio, Columbus.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
By PHILIP C. NASH
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
It is my very great pleasure and honor
to declare open the
sessions of the Maumee Valley
International Historical Conven-
tion.
It was 146 years ago that the Battle of
Fallen Timbers was
fought, and all the events that we are
commemorating in this
Convention occurred more than a century
ago.
There has been an orderly and gradual
development of civili-
zation in this neighborhood and in this
country ever since those
days, until we find here in 1940 a free
people living in a peaceful
democracy, joining with their neighbors
across the Lake not as
with persons from a foreign country but
as with friends from the
next town to celebrate the reunion, and
to bind more securely
the ties of friendship.
It is unfortunately true that just as
those Indians and fron-
tiersmen of a century and a half ago
were to some extent the
pawns of a chess game played in far away
Europe, so our meet-
ing tonight is influenced by a threat to
civilization itself that has
sprung up in Europe. One immediate
effect is that our country
in its defense preparations has thought
it necessary to require a
passport for entrance from Canada, not
because we have any fear
from the Canadians themselves but
because of fifth column ac-
tivities, and so it has been hard for
some of our Canadian friends
to be with us tonight. I greatly regret
this red tape and fervently
hope that soon all persons may cross our
mutual boundaries again
with the brief and inconsequential
formalities that I have experi-
enced in my many visits to Canada.
It is the function of the historian, in
mulling over the events
of the past, to better prepare himself
and his contemporaries to
meet the problems of the present and the
future. I hope that
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14 OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
this may be our function at this
Convention. Especially may
we recall that ten short years ago many
of us thought that world
organization had developed to the point
where perhaps interna-
tional wars in the world had
disappeared. Mankind was under-
taking a wonderful experiment in
complete government of the
whole world. The League of Nations was
truly the hope of the
human race.
Alas, how disillusioned we have been.
The tragic mistakes
of our country and the other democracies
in not taking some of
the risks of peace, in giving only lip
service to the ideals of
world organization, are having terrible
consequences. The peoples
of the earth must learn, at what awful
price I do not know, that
Benjamin Franklin's advice to the early
patriots, "We must all
hang together or assuredly we will all
hang separately," applies to
nations as well as to persons.
We of this country are not in the actual
conflict for the
survival of freedom and democracy. But
as all freedom and
justice, and decent human respect is
being lost in Germany, Poland,
Austria, Czechoslovakia, and now Norway,
Denmark and Holland,
we are rapidly coming to see that we
have a vital stake in events
and we are giving more and more help to
Britain. Where the path
will lead us in the months and years to
come, no one can foretell,
but the human spirit has always longed
for the liberty and justice
of democracy and eventually, even if it
be after a hundred or
even five hundred years of conflict and
despair, eventually
democracy will be the way of life of the
human race.
GOOD WILL ON ANCIENT BATTLEGROUNDS
By CARL WITTKE
In Dr. Quaife's announcement of plans
for the Maumee Val-
ley International Historical Convention,
I found the title and the
theme for my address this evening. The
purpose of the Conven-
tion, in the words of its general
chairman, is "to cultivate and
deepen our pride in the historical
heritage which is the common
possession of . . . four great
commonwealths . . ."; and "to
assemble in pleasant association men and
women of good will, rep-
resenting the two great North American
democracies, on the
scenes of their ancient battlegrounds,
there to strengthen the ties
of peace and concord which now for a
century and a quarter have
maintained inviolate the world's longest
unguarded frontier."
We meet on historic ground. The area to
be traversed by
the historical pilgrimage which begins
here in Toledo tonight was
one of the ancient battlegrounds in the
long struggle between
Britain and France for possession of the
interior of America.
Long-standing enmities, arising from the
rivalries of European
diplomacy, were transferred in the 18th
century to the New World,
where the interlocking and overlapping
of colonial claims furnished
new causes for conflict. More than two
centuries ago, the French
founded posts and settlements on the
Wabash and along the
northern tributaries of the Ohio, and by
the 1740's, they claimed
the whole Ohio and Great Lakes basin. In
their birch canoes,
French fur traders floated down these
lakes and forest streams
and established supply bases at such
strategic points as Detroit
and developed little farms near-by to
furnish pork and beans and
corn-meal for the French voyageurs. British
fur traders, on the
other hand, tried hard to divert the fur
trade of the Great Lakes
region from Montreal and Quebec to
British posts, and the fur
trade, with all its attendant advantages
and evils, became an im-
portant factor in the deadly rivalry
between the English and
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16
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
French for the interior of North
America. French plans in-
cluded a chain of forts from the head of
the Maumee down to the
Wabash in order to protect the vital
line of communications be-
tween Louisiana and Canada and to
counteract English influence
in the Ohio country, and throughout the
18th century, French and
English rivalry centered along this
Maumee-Wabash route.
In 1763, France, by the arbitrament of
war, lost her claims to
the area east of the Mississippi. The
rivalry between the French
and the English had always been marked
by Indian wars and
massacres, in which it would be
difficult to apportion the respon-
sibility fairly. But now, the transfer
of sovereignty over the
Indian country to the British increased
the anxiety of the Indians
to such proportions that it finally
burst forth in the famous
Pontiac's Conspiracy, in which many of
the chief events were
enacted in this section of the
Northwest.
The end of the French regime
foreshadowed the end of the
beneficent rule of the king of France
over his dusky forest chil-
dren. As the tribes' kindly father, he
had sent them priests and
presents. It was not difficult to
contrast the red flag of Britain,
as a symbol of ruthless power, with the
white lilies of France.
Control of Detroit gave the English
command of the passage from
Lake Erie to the upper Lakes; the
Indians could not fathom the
meaning of such startling changes of
policy, and the British soldier
had little talent for explaining the new
situation to the puzzled
Indians. When Major Robert Rogers
started west with 200 men
in fifteen whale boats to effect the
transfer of the northwestern
posts from the French to the British
flag, his route carried him
along the south shore of Lake Erie. On
November 29, 1760, the
white flag of France was hauled down at
Detroit and Major Henry
Gladwin was left to defend the newly
acquired British post.
The bewildered and rebellious Indians
found a leader in
Pontiac, an able chieftain who had
fought Braddock, and under
the French flag with Montcalm. Presently
the frontier was ablaze
with Pontiac's Conspiracy and within a
few weeks, every post
west of Niagara in the Great Lakes
country, with the exception
of Detroit, fell before Indian treachery
or Indian attack. The list
included Fort Sandusky, commanded by
Ensign Paully, and Fort
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 17
Miami, on the Maumee, commanded by
Ensign Holmes. But the
tribesmen were eventually pacified and
forced to accept British
sovereignty. Pontiac's Conspiracy marked
the end of another
protest of the backwoods against
intruding civilization and, inci-
dentally, provided one reason for the
British ministry's decision
to keep a standing army in America and
to impose taxes on the
colonies for its support.
In 1774, the region where we meet today,
became a part of
the French-Canadian province of Quebec,
to be administered
thereafter as part of Canada. From
Quebec, nearly a century
earlier, had gone such French explorers
as Marquette and Jolliet
and La Salle to claim this West for
France and to scatter little
French settlements throughout the Ohio
Valley. The Quebec Act
of 1774, from the British standpoint,
was a masterpiece of states-
manship, for it saved Canada for the
British during the American
Revolution. Because "sedition and treason, like tobacco and
potatoes," in the words of a
British attorney-general, were "the
peculiar growth of the American
soil," England was eager to sat-
isfy the French Canadians and retain
their loyalty to the British
connection at a time when the thirteen
seaboard colonies were
seething with discontent. The Quebec Act
was passed "with an
eye to Boston." American colonials
denounced it as one of the
worst of the "coercive" and
"intolerable" acts leading to revolu-
tion, for it deprived them of their
claims to the trans-Appalachian
region and established Roman Catholicism
and autocratic govern-
ment at their very back doors.
Nevertheless, the Quebec Act, in
the words of the late Professor Alvord,
was "one of the few states-
manlike measures of the ministry."
For all its denial of an elective
assembly, the act "embodied a new
sovereign principle of the
British Empire: the liberty of
non-English peoples to be them-
selves." Canada remained loyal to
the Empire during the Ameri-
can Revolution. The Quebec Act kept
Canada British by allowing
it to remain French. Thus, it legally
recognized and perpetuated
that French nationalism which to this
day is a vital factor in
almost every phase of the life of the
Canadian Dominion.
In 1783, as a result of the American
Revolution, the North-
west was transferred from British
sovereignty to the United States.
18
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
What influence the daring exploits of
George Rogers Clark at
Vincennes and elsewhere had on this
transfer need not concern us
here. Historians are still debating the
issue, but none deny that
Clark's exploits will remain one of the
most romantic episodes in
American history. For twelve years after
the United States was
recognized as an independent nation, the
new Federal Government
was engaged in controversy with the
British over the ownership
and control of the Northwest posts.
England refused to surrender
them and justified her failure to
observe the Treaty of 1783 by the
countercharge that the United States had
violated its provisions
concerning the loyalists and British
debts. As a matter of fact,
the international boundary fixed by the
Treaty of 1783 had no
political meaning until thirteen years
later, and little economic
significance for even longer. Michigan,
to take but one example,
was for decades merely a part of a great
commercial and economic
system to which the St. Lawrence River
was the key, and its local
history had little meaning in these
early years unless related to this
international and transcontinental
system.
The British commander at Detroit worked
hard to retain con-
trol of the fur trade of the Maumee
Valley and the upper Wabash,
and to maintain peace among the Indians
so that there might not
be a second frontier tragedy like
Pontiac's Conspiracy. The Amer-
icans regarded British policy as an attempt
to incite the Indians
against the American frontiersmen, and
for several decades, the
record of British-American relations is
one of mutual distrust.
There is little doubt about the desire
of Canadian leaders for an
Indian barrier south of the Lakes and
north of the Ohio. Lord
Dorchester, governor of Canada, held an
Indian council at the
Maumee Rapids to preserve peace among
the Indians, and Colonel
John Graves Simcoe, of Upper Canada, had
similar plans to
mediate in Indian affairs to prevent the
American advance down
the Maumee Valley, and at one time
actually proposed that the
United States cede Detroit to Canada.
Tomorrow you will travel over some of
the ground made
famous by the ill-fated expedition of St.
Clair, the first governor
of the Northwest Territory, against the
Indians, and you will visit
the scene of Anthony-Wayne's invasion of
the Maumee country
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL.
PROCEEDINGS 19
and his famous victory over the Indians
at Fallen Timbers. When
Wayne marched northward f from Fort
Recovery to build Fort
Defiance, he might easily have proceeded
to attack a new fort
recently erected by the British on the
Maumee. Wayne defeated
the Indians at Fallen Timbers and
demanded the surrender of the
British fort, but finally refrained from
attacking it and moved on
to build Fort Wayne in the Wabash Valley
instead. In August,
1795, Wayne concluded the famous Treaty
of Greenville. Re-
cently, an "Altar of Peace" to
symbolize the kindling of the
council fire at Wayne's headquarters was
dedicated at Greenville,
Ohio, in commemoration of the treaty
which closed forty years
of warfare with the tribes in the Old
Northwest and opened the
floodgates to western immigration. In
1796, the British evacuated
the Northwest posts and Wayne's army
advanced to accept the
transfer of Detroit from British to
American control. Malden, in
Canada, now became the rendezvous for
large numbers of Ameri-
can Indians who went each year from the
Wabash villages to deal
with British and Canadian fur traders.
Peaceful relations between the United
States and Canada were
again interrupted by the War of 1812,
one of the most unsatisfac-
tory episodes in the long story of
Anglo-American relations. The
war was not desired by the British; it
was unpopular with a large
element in the United States; it began
after its alleged causes no
longer existed; it ended with a peace
treaty that made no reference
to these causes; and the one respectable
American military victory
was won after peace had been concluded.
Neither British nor
American historians can point with much
pride to the events of
the war, but Canadians cherish its
memories because of their heroic
and successful defense of their long
frontiers against the invader
from the south. American imperialism, as
manifested in the
desire for territorial expansion at the
expense of Canada, comes
nearer to explaining the war than any
other cause.
Here, in this general neighborhood, the
year before war was
declared, William Henry Harrison fought
Tecumseh's Indians at
the Shawnee village of Tippecanoe on the
Wabash. At Detroit,
General Hull surrendered after a long
march from Urbana through
the Maumee country and across the border
into Canada. The next
20
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
year, General Harrison, whose army had
been assembled at Fort
Meigs on the lower Maumee and on the
Portage and Sandusky
rivers, successfully fought the British
and the Indians at the Battle
of the Thames after Commodore Perry had
won control of the
Lake, and thus brought peace to the
Ohio, Indiana and Michigan
frontiers.
The war was a terrible blunder,
unnecessary and avoidable.
But Canadian victories became the
"title deeds of Canadian
nationality" and "the blood
pledge of the birth of a nation." The
development of modern Canadian
nationalism in a real sense be-
gins with Canada's experiences in the
War of 1812. The War
gave the United States one more lesson
that British North America
was not for sale, and that Canada did
not propose to change her
allegiance at the call of a foreigner,
even when the invader was
a blood brother from the south. The war
had one laudable after-
math. Almost before the smell of powder
had disappeared along
the Canadian-American boundary, England
and the United States
concluded the famous Rush-Bagot
disarmament agreement of 1817
inaugurating an era of peace along three
thousand miles of un-
defended frontier. After more than a
century and a quarter, that
agreement stands more secure than ever,
as a glorious lesson in
the practical benefits of real
disarmament based on mutual good
will.
In 1837, Canadians experienced a brief,
abortive rebellion in
their struggle for responsible
government. The rebellion was the
result not so much of a deliberate,
tyrannical policy of England,
but rather of misgovernment and
corruption by local cliques in
Quebec and Toronto. For several years,
the border remained in
an uproar. So-called "Hunters'
Lodges" sprang up along the
frontier from Vermont to Michigan and
tried to impose repub-
licanism upon Canada from without. Rebel
sympathizers appeared
in the Middle West to incite American
Republicans against British
rule in Canada and several boats were
captured, laden with sup-
plies and muskets, taken from the
Detroit jail. Two invasions of
Windsor from Detroit ended in failure,
but as late as December,
1838, four hundred "Hunters"
marched through Detroit, and
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 21
crossed over to the Canadian side where
they set fire to some
Canadian shipping.
Almost simultaneously, Ohio and Michigan
were fighting their
famous, if ludicrous, Toledo War. We
meet on bloody ground
tonight, for near this spot, a little
more than a century ago Ohio
and Michigan mobilized their forces to
settle a boundary dispute
which was the product of a bad map drawn
in 1755, and which
involved a strip of land seven miles at
its western and eleven miles
at its eastern end, stretching across
Ohio from its present western
boundary to Lake Erie. Governor Lucas of
Ohio mobilized 10,000
militia to defend this area, and the
"boy governor" of Michigan
announced he would welcome them to
"hospitable graves." Bad
maps have produced a lot of history. The
Ohio militia encamped
at old Fort Miami, but the fighting was
mainly confined to the use
of fists in "The Toledo War"
over "The Black Swamp" of the
Maumee basin. The excitement spread to
Vistula, Port Lawrence,
Tremainsville and Monroe, and the files
of the old Toledo Gazette,
the Michigan Sentinel, and the
Detroit Free Press tell the story in
all its gory details. Ohioans were
denounced as "nullifiers" by
their Michigan opponents, while Governor
Lucas' paper thundered
that "Michigan must be taught to
understand that even the lion,
in the nobleness of his nature, can be
provoked to the assumption
of his rights."
Thanks to the politicians, the
controversy was settled by com-
promise on the eve of a national election,
when, as John Quincy
Adams said, the air was
"perfumed" with electoral votes. And
so it was that Ohio got the four hundred
square miles of disputed
territory, including the outlet of the
Maumee, and Michigan re-
ceived 9,000 square miles in the Upper
Peninsula, which Detroit-
ers at the time described as a region so
"sterile" that it was
"destined by soil and climate to
remain forever a wilderness."
Early in 1837, Detroit celebrated the
admission of Michigan
as a state, with a "grand
illumination," consisting of a tallow
candle set in every window of the
Michigan frontier town. Toledo
celebrated her victory in the
Ohio-Michigan boundary controversy
eight months earlier with a parade and a
tremendous dinner at
22 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the old Mansion House, featured by
twenty-six toasts, after the
virile and bibulous fashion of our
ancestors.
I pass over other incidents in the
history of the Maumee Val-
ley, and in the long story of
Canadian-American relations, includ-
ing several foolhardy attempts by
misguided enthusiasts in the
United States to lure Canada from her
British allegiance, in order
to consider one final incident, the
American Civil War in its effect
upon the relations of these neighbor
states.
The Civil War preserved the unity of the
American Republic.
It also helped build the Canadian
confederation, and thus it made
nations of both the United States and
Canada.
Within a few months of the outbreak of
the American Civil
War, Canada's attitude had changed from
one of friendliness and
sympathy for the North to one of
suspicion, fear, and anger. This
was partly due to the strained relations
that had developed between
the United States and Great Britain as a
result of controversies
over neutral rights, blockade, shipping,
contraband, and the rec-
ognition of southern belligerency by the
British Government.
Another reason was the bluster of
American politicians and the
jingoism of American newspapers who
advocated that the losses
due to southern secession be balanced by
the annexation of Canada.
As the war progressed, Confederate
agents and refugees
gathered on Canadian soil to plot
attacks upon the northern border.
Confederate agents operating in Canada
financed various ventures
to burn shipping on the Great Lakes, to
free the Confederate
prisoners on Johnson's Island near
Sandusky, to raid various Lake
ports, to capture steamers on Lake Erie,
to seize the U.S.S.
Michigan at Sandusky, and to sink shipping in the Detroit River.
Rumors spread in 1863-1864 that a
hundred Confederates had left
Toronto for a raid across the Detroit
River, and thousands were
ordered to man the Lake steamers for
action against Confederate
agents. A fourteen pounder was shipped
from Guelph, Upper
Canada, to a port in Michigan in a box
marked "potatoes," and
Confederate agents plotted to get the
support of the Copperheads
who were especially strong in Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois.
The Civil War was followed by a long
period of controversy
in Anglo-American relations, by the
repeal of the Canadian-
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 23
American reciprocity agreement of 1854,
by the threat to end
disarmament along the border, and by an
actual invasion of Canada
by Irish-Americans who thought they
could advance Ireland's
independence by twisting the tail of the
British lion in Canada.
The Chicago Tribune, in January,
1866, regretted that Canada
had not been taken during the last war
with England and an-
nounced that if the chance ever
presented itself again, she would
"be snatched up by this Republic as
quickly as a hawk would
gobble a quail." Radical
Republicans, such as Chandler of Michi-
gan and Stanton of Ohio, favored
annexing Canada. The former
introduced a resolution in 1869 to the
effect that "the true solu-
tion of all the controversies between
Great Britain and the United
States will be found in a surrender of
all British possessions in
North America to the people of the
United States," and represen-
tatives from Ohio and Illinois argued
that it was "fated," "under
heaven," "that the American
flag shall wave over every foot of
this American continent in course of
time."
The Civil War made Canada fear the
United States and look
to her defenses, particularly in her
undeveloped western areas,
which were already being drawn within
the economic orbit of
San Francisco, and were in danger of
being overrun by American
immigrants surging westward across the
prairies. It was fear of
the United States, as well as the
example of the United States,
which stimulated the formation of the
present day Canadian
federation, and decisively affected its
form.
After 1874, a calm unknown for a quarter
century descended
upon Canadian-American relations. The
United States was busy
with hard times and political scandals;
Canadian confederation
was accepted as an accomplished fact,
and annexation ceased to
be advocated, at least in responsible
quarters.
May I close these remarks, I hope not
altogether inappropri-
ately, by commenting briefly on present
day Canadian-American
relations now that Canada is again
involved in a great Empire
War. It was Andre Siegfried who said
that all of North American
life is the result of the struggle
against two axes--the North--South
axis of geography, and the East-West
axis of history. This is
particularly true of Canada, whose
allegiance to the mother coun-
24
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
try is deep and genuine, but many of
whose interests are with the
United States. Fear and dislike of the
United States, at least in
past years, have been the foundation of
her national feeling.
Canada's anomalous position has at times
made her hard to live
with, both for Great Britain and the
United States. Her loyalties
pull in one direction; her interests
often in another.
The Canadian Dominion has achieved a
recognized sovereign
status internationally by developing her
national sovereignty, not
in complete isolation, but within the
British Commonwealth of
Nations. To a large measure, her fear of
being absorbed or domi-
nated by her powerful neighbor to the
south has been responsible
for this choice. At the same time,
American and Canadian cul-
ture, existing side by side in these
days of rapid and complete
intercommunication, is bound to make
these two peoples more
alike.
There are many Canadians who still feel
a certain mortifica-
tion because the United States and
Canada are not equals in power
and influence, and these people
sometimes seek compensation for
their inferiority feeling by pointing
out, with considerable justifica-
tion, the superiority of Canadian
judicial procedures over Ameri-
can "corrupt" judges,
"shyster" lawyers and "sentimental" juries,
or by stressing Canadian superiority in
all the primary virtues, such
as honesty, religion, and morality.
Unfortunately, there is a Canadian
stereotype of Americans,
perhaps largely due to American
newspapers, magazines, and films,
from which it is easy to infer that the
United States is a boastful,
erratic, and irresponsible nation of
racketeers, tree- and flag-pole
sitters, dance marathoners, bridge
hounds, and seekers after pub-
licity. If Canadians frequently give
little recognition to the great-
ness and generous qualities of the
American people, Americans
contribute to the super-sensitiveness of
Canadians by their colossal
ignorance of Canadian history, and their
boastful comments upon
everything that is "bigger and
better" in the United States.
It is conceivable that Canada's
importance may so increase in
the years ahead that she may well become
the heart of the British
Empire. Nature has made Canada a liaison
nation between the
United States and Great Britain. Our
Monroe Doctrine, in times
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 25
of international crisis, is a guarantee
of Canadian nationhood.
Canada's almost inevitable participation
in Europe's wars, even
though it be by her own free choice,
makes isolation for the United
States so difficult that the Monroe
Doctrine may well become, in
this sense, an entangling alliance for
the United States. Canada
has remained and will remain British. At
the same time, she is
steadily becoming more North American.
Will she eventually
join the Pan-American Union, and thus
merge the Pax Britannica
into a Pax Americana?
For more than a century and a quarter,
we have been at peace.
It has been a "peace with
friction," but mutual good will and
common sense have always triumphed in
the end. In the routine
of every-day life, the international
boundary has been practically
non-existent, and as the flow of
population proceeded from East
to West, pioneering was far more
important than politics. Before
1837, swarms of Americans crossed the
boundary to settle down
and seek a livelihood in British North
America; since 1837, popu-
lation flowed southward from Canada into
the United States, and
Canadians joined with American pioneers
in settling the Mis-
sissippi Valley. Canada had no Middle
West of her own because
the inhospitable Laurentian shield
deflected the tide of Canadian
settlement to the south of the Lakes
into the United States, and so
Canadians shared in clearing the forests
of Michigan, in turning
the prairie sod of the Mississippi
states, and in building the rail-
roads running into Chicago. In every
period, from the days of the
Loyalists of the American Revolution to
the recent American
invasion of the Dominion's western wheat
belt, Americans have
likewise shared in the building of the
Canadian Dominion. Indeed,
there are some North American families
that have changed
political allegiance once every
generation since 1750. Not until
1933, as a result of the war and the
depression, was any systematic
effort made to curb the free interchange
of population between
Canada and the United States, and we may
assume that present
restrictions will be only temporary.
"Good fences make good neighbors,"
but better than fences
is the spirit of mutual respect and good
will which motivates the
relations of the two great
self-governing nations that have devel-
26
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
oped from common Anglo-Saxon origins on
this North American
continent. The spirit of our peoples
springs from an unshakable
devotion to the principles of human
freedom and democratic living,
and in the words of Matthew Arnold,
"What attaches people to
us is the spirit we are of, not the
machinery we employ."
GOOD WILL IN FIELDS OF PEACE
By Louis BLAKE DUFF
We hear in these September days the
clock of destiny click,
the clock of your destiny, the clock of
Canadian destiny, the
clock of world destiny. A momentous
month draws to a close.
In it your role and ours has been
changed. By one stroke there
has been made a new relationship and may
no evil fate ever dis-
turb it. There sprang up, overnight
almost, a new doctrine that
the defense of the North American
continent is one single defense,
and cannot be divided into a defense of
Canada, and a defense
of the United States. Of the immediate
practical value of fifty
destroyers to Great Britain (by the way
we Canadians peeled
off half a dozen of them as they passed
through), it is not
necessary to say anything. It is so
self-evident. It is more
profitable to assess the moral gain. It
was no mere bargaining
of bases for bottoms. It was a new, a
most powerful, a most
striking symbol of the essential unity
of the English-speaking
peoples. Proof again that though we
travel each in our own way
it is to the same goal, guided by the
same eternal stars of liberty,
of human freedom, of truth, of justice.
The greatest of all Britishers the other
day made comment
on this new relationship of ours and
yours. He did not view
the process with any misgivings. He had
no wish to stop it.
"No one," he said, "can
stop it." Like the Mississippi it "just
keeps rolling along." Let it roll. Let it roll on in full flood,
inexorable, irresistible, to broader
lands and better days. In those
words speaking for every son of Britain,
for every Canadian, for
every citizen of the wide Empire he put
the seal upon our new
relationship. We are all on the note.
Long ago when he was
a young man the prime minister wrote a
motto for his country.
It is so like him and so like his
country! "In war--resolution;
(27)
28
OHIO ARCAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in defeat--defiance; in
victory--magnanimity; in peace--good-
will."
"In defeat--defiance!"
The disaster in Belgium, the emergence
behind the German
wolf of the Italian jackal, the debacle
in France--disaster fol-
lowed fast and followed faster, but the
spirit of Britain came to
its full flowering in the citadel of
Calais and on the beaches of
Dunkerque, and lo! the spiritual glories
of the Elizabethan age
were back again. What other race on
earth, well aware of the
odds and the gravest danger, isolated to
fight, would utter a great
sigh of relief that all had abandoned
it, and say to itself, "Well,
thank goodness for that; now we know
where we are"? And the
British spirit rose from that day.
"God be thanked that He has
matched us to His hour." Drake's
drum was heard again. "We'll
drum them up the channel as we drummed
them long ago." Brit-
ish wings took the air, and Canadian
wings, yes and United States
wings--and the Teuton tide was stopped.
No man has ever wisely
doubted the British navy.
* little land of England,
* Mother of hearts too brave,
Men say this trust shall pass from thee
Who guardest Nelson's grave.
Aye, the braggarts yet shall learn
Who would hold the world in fee
That the sea is God's
And England, England shall keep it free.
Keep it free with the great help of
fifty American destroyers,
equipped to the last scuttleful of coal.
Of the airforce Churchill said,
"Never in the world's history
have so many been indebted to so
few." It is a growing force,
growing in personnel (it could never
grow in valor), growing in
machines. It is in this regard that I
make mention of my country,
your neighbor at war. I tell you we aim
to confront the beast
though it takes the last man and the
last dollar. Three hundred
and forty-two million raised last week
in a war loan; nearly as
much raised in January of this year. No
small nation, I think,
was ever before slated to play so large
a role.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL PROCEEDINGS 29
There has been established as you know,
120 air training
schools in Canada, where is being
trained an air army from
Canada, from Great Britain, New Zealand
and Australia. I have
not mentioned all the countries
represented. One day this week
a group of American publishers on tour
of Canada to see into
our war effort, met at one school a
group of 35 flight lieutenants
who are citizens of your country. I knew
from the beginning
the fighting airforce, its purpose and
aims so well known, would
make its appeal beyond the borders of
our country. Whole cities
have been built up about three training
centers. Overnight they
grew; overnight they were populated-and
with what result?
By January next, the graduates will be
double the number in the
original estimates. Canada is heartened.
Britain is heartened.
You, I know, are heartened too.
Canadians have already shown
their skill and mettle in that war that
rages above the greatest city
in the world. In two weeks the Canadian
air squadron has brought
cown in the London fight over one
hundred German planes. That
is a certainty. Probabilities bring the
score to one hundred and
seventy-five.
Free men rallied from every quarter of
the globe to aid the
brotherhood (for the Empire is a
brotherhood) in its hour of
grave peril. That is the answer to those
who see in British rule
an oppressive yoke. The British Empire
is not an Empire in the
old Asiatic or even the Roman sense. It
is a brotherhood of free
men and states united in various stages
of complete independence
by the belief in liberty under law.
Among free men the loathing
of war is the most powerful, the most
general, the most constant
of political emotions. We are fighting
not in spite of our hatred
of war but because of it. We are not
fighting in obedience to the
orders of our government; our government
is fighting in obedience
to our orders. We shall continue to
fight until the job is done or
we are. Fighting for what? To preserve a
way of life that we
value above life. The nature and quality
of that life can be
stated simply--good faith, tolerance,
loyalty to our stars, mercy
to the weak, equal justice for all, the
ordinary decencies and
humanities. There you have the essence
of it. So too is the
30
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
freedom to speak freely one's own
thoughts, to obey one's own
conscience, to do one's duty as one sees
it; to live under a gov-
ernment which one has a voice in making
or unmaking.
And finally--as to relations between
states. Free men build
them to be friendly and frank, honest
and stable, that men and
women may live, work, bring up their
families, make their con-
tribution to the common human heritage
without the risk that
some criminal or neurotic, seizing the
controls of the frightful
machine of war, may scatter in an hour
all they have spent their
lives in building. This democratic ideal
is the noblest political
vision known to man. It assumes the
worth and dignity of the
human personality as an end in itself.
Its struggle has been long,
for the battle of brute force against
the conscience of mankind
began the day that conscience was born.
But Freedom's battle, once begun,
Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won.
A great American said a few weeks ago
that no one could
conceive the blotting out of a nation
that had given the world
such prophets as Shakespeare, and
Milton, Shelley and Keats
Dickens and Thackeray, Goldsmith and
Yeates, Burns and Scott.
I caught this in a broadcast by
Duff-Cooper: Britain has made
two great gifts to the world--the spirit
of freedom; books. One
nourishes the other; both have nourished
free men the world
over.
"The battle of freedom is ever
won."
The spirit of freedom is unquenchable,
eternal. That is why
I do not believe, Herr Schickelgruber,
that a monstrous wrong,
a colossal lie, a gigantic murder, is to
have an ultimate and per-
manent success.
OUR GLAMOROUS HISTORY
By R. CLYDE FORD
A long time ago Pericles once said in a
memorial day ad-
dress outside the walls of Athens that
it was fitting to remember
the dead who had fallen on the fields of
battle, but also Athenians
must never forget by what principles of
action and deeds of valor
Athens had risen to power and become
great. When we turn to
our own history we can discover
principles of action, and deeds
of valor to defend them, that stir our
souls. It's that thrill that
constitutes the glamor of our history.
I have been reading anew the story of
our Revolution, and
I have felt as never before that our
emergence from that struggle
as a free and independent people is one
of the miracles in the
long, long narrative of human progress.
And I am afraid that
in the teaching of the history of that
period and of later times,
also, we have turned away from any real
glorification of our
achievements, as if to display such
enthusiasm was unscholarly
and unscientific. We have even leaned so
far over backwards
in that attitude that some of our
historians have displayed more
zeal in debunking trifles than in
magnifying greatness. Under a
worked-up feeling of disillusionment
following the outcome of
the Great War, plus the havoc of the
lean years of the Great
Depression, speakers, teachers,
preachers, writers have been in-
clined to lament how capitalism,
poverty, lack of opportunity
were robbing us of our birthright as a
free people. Our books
of history, civics, and political and
social economy were quick to
reflect this and were streaked with
pessimism, not to say social-
ism and radicalism. To own up quickly to
being a Son of the
American Revolution was regarded as
naive, for the causes of
that struggle were now discredited; our
War of 1812 was unneces-
sary and ill-advised, and a retired
admiral has recently said that
we lost it; and one may hear from the
pulpit that before we pour
(31)
32
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
out our wrath on Hitler for the rape of
Poland, or on Japan for
her war on China, we should go back to
our own Mexican War
which was also an offense against
civilization. We must not be
too proud, either, of our ancestors who
starved at Valley Forge,
or fought with Perry on Lake Erie, or
stormed Chepultepec, or
took their covered wagons across the
plains and mountains to the
Pacific. No! Forget the past, and turn
our faces toward the
future where all wrongs are to be
righted!
Well, in my opinion that attitude is
both foolish and fatal.
As a people, young though we are, we
have a proud heritage, and
it should not be reserved for Fourth of
July orators alone to
recall it. We, and our children and our
children's children,
should be nurtured in it. What is better
calculated to awaken a
feeling of pride in ourselves as
citizens of a great republic than
to be reminded till we everlastingly
remember how our fore-
fathers on this continent struggled and
carried on till they won
through? Softness won't get us anywhere.
Stamina, courage,
high resolve, unceasing vigilance and
toil are the qualities which
exalt and save a nation. As Walter
Lippman says, "The con-
sciousness of greatness can be preserved
only by the memory of
greatness." That is why we are
lauding the memory of General
Anthony Wayne throughout the length of
the Maumee Valley and
in this city of Fort Wayne which, let us
hope, will be a monument
to his name forever.
The setting up of the Northwest
Territory by our Federal
Government was an event of far-reaching
consequences in our
expansion westward beyond the
Alleghenies. Let me for a mo-
ment recall the salient historical facts
connected with the found-
ing of this empire, or better, maybe, of
this great province of an
empire, for the vague region called the
Northwest occupied the
valley of the Ohio and that expanse of
country northwards to
the remotest confines of the Great
Lakes. The French had owned
it to begin with, and understood its
strategic importance, and
dotted over it were posts and forts
which they had planted. When
French supremacy and sovereignty were
surrendered at the close
of the French and Indian War by the
Treaty of Paris in 1763,
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 33
the vast region became British and was
occupied, in part at least,
as early as 1760. A British fort
was located here at the forks of
the Maumee in that year, but it was
captured in 1763 by Pontiac's
Indian allies and was never
reestablished. However, British in-
fluence gradually penetrated and
dominated the country and won
over the allegiance of the Indian
tribes. From the settlement of
Miami villages on the site of the city
of Fort Wayne, Miami
Town, as the English called it, war
parties set out to harry
the western border all through the
period of the Revolution. In
that conflict the only bright spot in
the history of the Northwest
was George Rogers Clark's taking of
Kaskaskia and Cahokia,
climaxed by the spectacular capture of
Vincennes, and along with
it, of Governor Hamilton, the "Hair
Buyer." Up to date, no
one, as far as I know, has attempted to
whitewash the record of
Governor Hamilton and argue that his
hair-buying zeal was only
a scientific interest in the various
types of the American coiffure.
When the Revolution was over in 1783,
and the second
Treaty of Paris gave us the entire
Northwest extending to the
Mississippi and Lake Superior, our
difficulties commenced in
earnest. The advancing tide of
settlement was irritating to the
Indians, and the British refused to
withdraw from the country,
taking refuge behind what they claimed
were the vague pro-
visions of the treaty. Detroit, their
western capital, and their
trading posts on the Maumee, and Fort
Miami on the river near
present-day Toledo, toward the end of
their occupation, were a
spearhead of influence in the Indian
country. Their propaganda
was effective: the Ohio River ought to
be the boundary between
the Americans and the Indians of the
Northwest. This was
welcome support, for the Indians had
long made this their con-
tention.
As I have said, the Revolution ended in
1783, and the Con-
tinental Congress began at once to toy
with the troublesome ques-
tion of how to administer this vast
region. In 1780 Congress
pledged that if the various states would
renounce their territorial
claims founded on their old charters,
these lands should be dis-
34
OHIO ARCAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
posed of for the common good, and be
admitted into statehood
on an equality with the original
thirteen states.
In 1784 Jefferson proposed a fantastic
plan of government,
cutting up the Territory like a
checker-board by meridians and
parallels. The resulting areas were to
be states for which he had
devised "highfalutin' "
classical names. I wonder if you know,
ladies and gentlemen, that your city of
Fort Wayne is located
somewhere near the interlocking corners
of Assenisipia, Illinoia,
Mesopotamia and Saratoga?
But Jefferson was not alone in his
whimsy of names. Our
University of Michigan is a successor of
the Catholepistemiad, or
University of Michigan, where the
professors were called didac-
tors, and a chair of learning a didaxia.
A man who taught
literature was a didactor of
Anthropoglossica; if it was historical
science, he was professor of Diegitica.
If he was a little more
ambitious, he might hold the chair of
Ennoeica, "embracing all
epistemiim or sciences relative to the
mind of animals, to the
human mind, to spiritual existences, to
the deity, and to religion,
the didactor of which shall be
vice-president of the institution."
With all the personified learning that
has come to the Uni-
versity of Michigan, no one has yet been
found to qualify for
that position.
In 1785 Congress made a provision to
survey the lands of
the Territory and at once settlers began
to move in.
But it was the famous Ordinance of 1787
which gave a
practical constitution of government to
the Northwest Territory.
Our Declaration of Independence was a
great document; the
Constitution, as written in blood and
iron, was an immortal docu-
ment; but we must not forget that the
Ordinance of 1787 "set
forth for the first time in unified form
the essence of American
thought as to the relations of our
government to the rights of
man--the crystalized expression of what
America had fought for
--the principles under which the people
willed to live."
For temporary government the whole
Territory was to be
regarded as one district, with a
governor, a secretary, and three
judges appointed by Congress. Until a
legislature could be
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 35
elected, these officials were to set up
a body of laws adopted
from the eastern states, subject to the
approval of Congress.
When 5000 male votes were registered in the
Territory, a legis-
lature was to be called into existence.
In October of 1787 Gen-
eral Arthur St. Clair was made first
governor, and in July of
that year came on to Marietta, the seat
of the Territorial gov-
ernment.
Washington entered upon his second
term as President,
March 4, 1793. His first term had been
successful, but he had
had his troubles at home and abroad. Not
the least of his worries
centered around the turbulent conditions
which existed in the
Northwest Territory. More and more
settlers were venturing
into the valley of the Ohio; the British
still held the border
posts and were constantly irritating and
obnoxious; and the
Indians were vindictive and war-like,
encouraged by the British
and provoked by the Americans. As an
example of the way we
fell upon our knees and then upon the
aborigines, as Macaulay
says, a hundred frontiersmen in 1782
cruelly butchered a whole
village of Christian Indians in the Ohio
country west of Pitts-
burgh. The next year the Indians
retaliated by defeating Colonel
Crawford and burning him at the stake.
Things went on from
bad to worse, and Washington, not
unmindful of the rights and
grievances of the tribes, still felt in
duty bound to repress them
in the interest of the whole country.
There could be no success-
ful colonization in the new Territory
without it. And another
thing: he feared that the governor of
the Territory, General St.
Clair, lacked those qualities that a
proconsul should have on the
border marches of a republic. He had no
real genius for ad-
ministration of Indians or white men.
It is the fateful year of 1791 and
Governor St. Clair, who is
also commander-in-chief of the army of
the United States, is
leading his troops into the Indian
country toward the head of the
Maumee Valley. His mission is to subdue
the defiant Indians
once for all. Only the year before they
had defeated General
Harmar on this very spot, and then
Scott, and then Wilkinson,
and now General Arthur St. Clair is to
retrieve these disasters.
36
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
He is encamped with 1400 men on a branch
of the Wabash some
fifty miles or so from where we are
today. The Indian onslaught
began on the 4th of November, and when
the attack was over
650 of St. Clair's men were dead. Thirty
women, too, out of
two hundred, for his army "had
taken along as many women
as cared to sleep on the snow-covered
ground among a host of
border hoodlums." (Boyd.)
It was the worst defeat our armies have
ever suffered at
the hands of the Indians, not excepting
even the battle of Little
Big Horn.
When the news of the disaster reached
President Washing-
ton, he burst into a fury compounded of
anger and humiliation,
for he had expressly warned St. Clair
against surprise. Some of
what he said has been recorded, some has
been left to the imagi-
nation. But since the day he addressed
General Lee at the Battle
of Monmouth, when, as a bystander
reported, he swore like
an angel from Heaven, historians have
always believed that he
had an adequate command of language for
any occasion.
We have now reached the situation where
General Anthony
Wayne comes into the history of the
Northwest. It was high
time something was done. If the region
was ever to open to
settlement in any permanently successful
way an end must be
put to these Indian troubles, first by
force, and then by con-
ciliation.
General St. Clair resigned as
commander-in-chief of the
army, retaining, however, the
governorship of the Territory.
Washington began at once to cast around
for a successor and
immediately Wayne's name came up for
consideration. He was
about the last of the distinguished
generals of the Revolution
whose reputation yet endured. His rivals
and enemies said he
was still "Mad" Anthony Wayne,
which meant that he was im-
petuous, dashing, confident, a little
difficult for superiors, but
at the same time admired by fighting
men. After a good long
discussion of his merits and demerits,
Congress finally confirmed
his appointment as head of the army in
April, 1792. Everybody
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL PROCEEDINGS 37
knew that his job was to bring order
into the forests of the
Northwest.
He said good-bye to wife and children in
the old manor at
Waynesboro near Philadelphia, and within
two months was at
Pittsburgh beginning the building of an
army. The material
was worse than he had had to deal with
in the Revolution. The
men carroused and slouched around; and
his under officers were
quarrelsome and insubordinate. When
winter came he moved
out of Pittsburgh thirty miles away and
at a camp which he
called Legionville, he began the hard
task of licking his con-
glomerate Legion into shape. Work with
axe and cross-cut saw,
and drill, drill, drill with musket and
spontoon under his watch-
ful eye did it. His men were toughened
into soldiers at last.
Mindful of President Washington's
desires Wayne tried to
hold a friendly council with a few
neighboring chiefs, but the
only result was a firm declaration from
them that the Ohio
River must always be the boundary
between them and the Amer-
icans.
Spring came and with it more volunteers
from the seaboard
states, then in May of 1793 a flotilla
of a hundred barges and
flatboats moved his army of more than a
thousand men and
officers down the Ohio. He landed at
Fort Washington on the
site of modern Cincinnati, and waited
for a last word from fur-
ther negotiations with the northern
tribes. It came in the sum-
mer--the Ohio River must forever remain
the dividing line be-
tween the red man and the white. At once
he moved northward
into the forest, slowly, deliberately,
cautiously, but always for-
ward.
By middle of October the Legion, as his
force was called,
had reached a prairie a few miles beyond
Fort Jefferson, seventy
miles north of the Ohio, and here it was
that Wayne decided
to spend the winter. His men, handy now
with both axe and
musket quickly built a log fort and
stockade which he named
Fort Greenville after dead Nathaniel
Greene, a comrade in arms
of the Revolution whom he loved like a
brother. There was a
38
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
man for you after his own heart, a man
who could smell powder
and not get sick!
In the meantime the Indians were ever
prowling like wolves
on the trail and flanks of the Legion,
ready to pick off stragglers
or a straggling convoy. But they
perceived that the leader of
this expedition was not a Harmar or a
St. Clair. Had not their
keen-eyed scouts seen him making the
rounds of his camp at
all times of day and night? He was the
fox who never slept.
Twenty-five miles beyond Fort Greenville
was the scene of
St. Clair's Defeat, and the bones of the
slain still bleached there
in the weather. In late December Wayne
sent eight companies
forward to the spot, scraped away the
bones, pitched a camp and
proceeded to build Fort Recovery,
defended by the same six-
pounders that St. Clair had lost.
Such an outpost was a humiliating threat
to the Indians and
a deputation of chiefs and warriors went
down from the Maumee
Valley to hold a council with the
invader. Both sides were full
of fine talk. The Indians were tired of
war, they desired nothing
so much as peace; and General Wayne--he,
too, wished that
peace might settle down over the Ohio
country. If the tribes
would bring in all their American
prisoners, he would treat with
them. Like the man of the Scriptures,
the warriors went away
sorrowful and did not return. Instead,
they decided to take his
Fort Recovery. They made the attempt and
failed.
On July 26 (1794) a thousand mounted men
from Kentucky
arrived, and two days later the army was
again in motion, with
no straggling, no lack of caution. It
was not unusual for Wayne
himself to turn up at a sentry-post at
three o'clock in the morn-
ing, as the Indians had discovered. No
guard dared to go to
sleep--there were the Indians outside,
and this devilish martinet
inside!
By the 8th of August the Legion was
where the Au Glaize
pours its muddy waters into the Maumee,
and in the midst of
Indian settled country. Their clearings
stretched up and down
the valley--cornfields waved green in
the summer sun. It was
a lovely view and strategically the
place for a fort. He would
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 39
build one here in the very heart of the
Indian country, and give
it a good name, too--Fort Defiance. It
took him only a week.
And then he made another offer of peace
to the tribes, but
refused to delay for long drawn-out
negotiations, and advanced
on the alert along the north side of the
Maumee to the head
of the rapids. A few miles below, the
Indians under Blue Jacket
had taken their position behind the
barricade of windrowed tim-
ber which a cyclone had levelled. Here
they would await the
enemy whom they had lured to sure
destruction.
On the night of the 19th of August a
council was held in
Wayne's tent and a young aide by the
name of William Henry
Harrison presented a plan for the ensuing
battle that was imme-
diately adopted. This was the same
William Henry Harrison
who defeated the Indians at Tippecanoe
in 1811, and the British
and Indians on the Thames in 1813. Being
along with General
Wayne was a good way to learn how to
fight.
The Indians too, went into council that
night. Chief Little
Turtle, a clever general himself, who
was largely responsible for
the defeat of General Harmar and later
of General St. Clair,
advised prudence and submission. He
said:
We cannot expect good fortune to be with
us always. The Americans
are now led by a chief who never sleeps.
Day and night are the same to
him. During all the time he has been
marching on our villages, notwith-
standing the watchfulness of our young
men we have not been able to sur-
prise him. Think well of it. Something
whispers to me that it would be
well to listen to his offers of peace.
But his advice was not heeded.
The morning of August 20 dawned bright,
with a little pall
of haze overhanging the valley. General
Wayne was freshly
barbered and powdered, wearing his best
uniform and his pistols.
His leg which had been wounded by a
bewildered sentry in the
campaign around Yorktown hurt him
terribly, and it was steadily
getting worse. The army was ready and in
motion; the baggage
and camp equipment was stacked in a
hastily prepared camp
under the guard of Captain Zebulon Pike.
It is interesting to note the men, young
and old, whom
Wayne had with him who were in the line
of coming fame:
40
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Zebulon Pike, soldier and father of the
explorer; William Henry
Harrison, soldier, statesman and
President of the United States;
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis,
empire-builders and ex-
plorers beyond the Rockies; and George
Washington Whistler,
army engineer and grandfather of
Whistler, the artist.
But to go back to the 20th of August and
the Battle of
Fallen Timbers, a most important and
conclusive action in the
history of the Northwest Territory. It
is not necessary to go
into detail. Wayne's legionnaires did
their duty with musket and
pike; and the fierce Kentucky militia
did well, too, on that bloody
day and rode down the enemy wherever
they could get at them.
It was a new kind of fighting for the
Indians, for the initiative
was no longer with skulking warriors
behind trees. And the
leader of the Long Knives was as crafty
as themselves--he was
not like Harmar or St. Clair. "If I
fall," he said, "remember the
standing order is, 'Charge the damned
rascals with the bayonet'."
The Indians were routed, and they fled
down the valley
behind them toward Fort Miami where
floated the flag of their
allies, the British. But they found the
gates barred against them
--their old friends had let them down.
They never gave the
English their entire confidence again.
The real campaign was about over. Wayne
and his Legion
turned back to Fort Defiance which he
put into shape to stand
any sort of siege, even that of winter.
Then he moved on west-
ward to the little prairie of
Ke-ki-on-ga between the forks of
the Maumee where the streams, St. Joseph
and St. Mary, meet.
Here was the famous Miami Town, the
Indian capital, the cross-
roads of the wilderness, and here he
proceeded to build another
fort to show the Indian world, and the
British, and all the French
and half-breed traders that the
Americans had come to stay.
At the suggestion of Colonel Hamtramck
the fortress was
named Fort Wayne. The drums beat, the
troops defiled in
parade, the chaplain preached from the
text, "If the Lord be
for us, who can be against us?"
Then Hamtramck took over
command with six companies of infantry
and two batteries, and
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 41
a week later the Legion departed with
creaking baggage train
on its way back to Fort Greenville to go
into winter quarters.
The closing events of Wayne's campaign
in the Northwest
were climaxed by the famous Treaty of
Greenville which was
signed, August 3, 1795, by ninety-odd
chiefs of the Ohio and
Michigan Indians. It is safe to say that
no more able and dis-
tinguished assemblage of savage leaders
ever engaged in treaty
making with the United States, and no
more important treaty
was ever signed.
The council fire had been lighted the
middle of June, and
there was much ceremonial and parade as
the preliminary dis-
cussions got under way. Some of the
Indian chiefs were slow
to appear. Blue Jacket, the unyielding,
who had suffered defeat
at Fallen Timbers, held off sullenly,
but came in on the 18th
of August. However, Little Turtle who
had been the undoing of
Harmar and St. Clair appeared early and
that was a good augury
--perhaps.
As in all such councils there was much
talk, much wise talk
even, though the Indians knew that the
end of such palaver was
usually submission, cession of lands,
solemn promises that the
white man was the first to break. After
much debate in which
Little Turtle more than held his own, he
finally signed on the
last day of the council, saying, "I
am the last to sign the treaty,
and I shall be the last to break
it."
He kept his word to the day of his
death.
When the council was over the 1100
Indians dispersed,
sad and disappointed in spite of the
double allowance of rum
as parting gesture of good will. They
had lost all but a third
of their lands above the Ohio, and even
this remainder was
patched over with cessions of little
tracts here and there. Twenty-
thousand dollars' worth of trade goods,
and annuities promised
them forever, were not sufficient
"appeasement," to use a very
common word now.
Perhaps it is appropriate to pause here
and say a kindly word
for the Indian who had figured so
largely in our history. The
42
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
white man's scheme of government and
politics confused him,
and those to whom he gave his confidence
often betrayed him.
The frontiersmen and the pioneers
regarded him as a cruel sav-
age, fit only to be exterminated. Still
he had many noble and
heroic qualities. Chief Little Turtle whose body rests within
the confines of Fort Wayne was called by
those who knew him
a brave warrior, a man of ability and
character. One reads with
much sympathy his answer to Count Volney
who asked him why
he did not accept the invitation of the
Quakers and settle per-
manently in Philadelphia:
Yes, I am pretty well accustomed to what
I find here. I think this
dress [he was wearing white man's dress]
is warm and comfortable. These
houses are good to keep out wind and
rain, and they have everything con-
venient. This market [he was looking
down on Market Street] gives us
everything we want without the trouble
of hunting in the woods. All things
considered, you are better off than we
are. But here I am deaf and dumb;
I do not speak your language; when I
walk the streets I see everybody
busy at something; one makes shoes,
another hats, a third sells cloth, and
all live by their work. I can make a bow,
catch fish, kill a deer, and go to
war, but none of these things is done
here. To learn to do what you do
would take much time, be very difficult,
and be uncertain of success. And
meanwhile, old age hurries on. Were I to
stay with the whites, I should
be an idle piece of furniture, useless
to myself, useless to you and to my
people. What must be done with useless
lumber? No, I must go back.
Listen to Francis Parkman's appraisal of
the Indian:
Some races of men seem moulded in wax,
soft and melting, at once
plastic and feeble. Some races seem like
metals, and combine the greatest
flexibility with the greatest strength.
But the Indian is hewn out of rock.
You can rarely change the form without
destruction of the substance.
Races of inferior energy have possessed
a power of expansion and assimi-
lation to which he is a stranger; and it
is this fixed and rigid quality which
has proved his ruin. He will not learn
the arts of civilization, and he and
the forest must perish together. The
stern unyielding features of his mind
excite our admiration from their very
immutability; and we look with deep
interest upon the fate of this
irreclaimable son of the wilderness, the child
who will not be weaned from the breast
of his rugged mother. And our
interest increases when we discern in
the unhappy wanderer, mingled among
his vices, the germs of heroic
virtues--a hand bountiful to bestow as it is
rapacious to seize and even in extremest
famine imparting its last morsel
to a fellow sufferer; a heart which,
strong in friendship as in hate, thinks
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 43
it not too much to lay down life for its
chosen comrade; a soul true to its
own ideas of honor and burning with
unquenchable thirst for greatness
and renown.
General Anthony Wayne left for the East
soon after the
great council at Greenville. Back in the ancestral home at
Waynesboro a partial feeling of
contentment came over him.
Congress had bestowed upon him and his
army the thanks of
the Nation, and his vindication as a
leader in the field and before
the council fire was complete. And his
friends and neighbors
were glad to see him back after four
long years in the wilderness.
Only one sorrow weighed upon him--his
wife was dead, she had
died while he was away on campaign.
On the 30th of April, 1796, Congress
approved Jay's Treaty
which he had negotiated with England to
settle all questions of
border occupation, and some other
difficulties as well. Wayne
was now ordered to return at once to the
regions beyond the
Ohio and take over the disputed posts,
which command, of course,
was to be regarded as a mark of the
country's confidence and
admiration. And so he journeyed westward
again.
He floated down the Ohio in the same
barge that had taken
him with his army three years before. He
landed as before
at Fort Washington and immediately
headed northward to the
Maumee, past Fort Recovery and Fort
Defiance. Things out-
wardly had not changed much; the same
unbroken forests
stretched across the land, and Indian
cornfields were ripening in
the sun. But the American flag now
floated over Ft. Miami
below the rapids where the Union Jack
had greeted him after
the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He visited
the battlefield and felt
a glow of pride as he reviewed the
happenings of that historic
day. Three days later he was in Detroit
and saw the American
flag flying at last over that stronghold
on the Lakes, thirteen
years after a solemn treaty had ceded it
to the United States.
Through the rest of the summer and
autumn of 1796 he
remained at Detroit, hard at work
adjusting military matters con-
cerned with the American occupation of
the country. And then,
late in the season, he heard rumors that
General Wilkinson who
44
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
had been in command of Fort Greenville
was preferring charges
against him to the secretary of war--he
did not know for what.
He had only one desire now, namely, to
get back home and meet
his accuser face to face. By God, he had
faced one court-martial
in the Revolution with honor, and he'd
be only too glad to meet
Wilkinson before another!
He left Detroit on the sloop Detroit and
had a tempestuous
voyage across Lake Erie to Presque Isle.
His leg was causing
him intense agony--something malignant
was the matter with it.
He was carried ashore and put to bed in
the fort. A few weeks
of suffering went by and it grew to be
mid-December. And
then came the end. He died on the
morning of December 15,
1796, at the age of fifty-one. His last
words were, "Bury me at
the foot of the flagstaff, boys,"
which spot, as his sympathetic
biographer, Thomas Boyd, says, was as
close home to him as if
he had died in the old stone house of
his fathers.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
and the temples of his gods?
Such is the glamorous chapter in our
history that we are
calling to mind on this occasion, a
chapter full of courage and
adventure, of pioneer endeavor and
struggles with the wilder-
ness; full of great deeds, great hopes,
great adversities; full
of ideals and belief in ourselves as a
people destined to found a
new nation under God on this western
continent. May we not
forget those principles of action and
deeds of valor by which we
have risen to power and become great.
ADDRESS AT THE GRAVE OF JOHNNY APPLESEED
By ROBERT
C. HARRIS
Here in the Archer graveyard at the
north edge of Fort
Wayne, Indiana, is the grave of Johnny
Appleseed whose real
name was John Chapman, born September
26, 1774, died March
18, 1845.
Johnny Appleseed won renown by a few
simple and helpful
acts:
1. He was a peacemaker between the Indians and white
settlers.
2. He was a missionary for the church of
New Jerusalem,
founded by Emanuel Swedenborg.
3. Perhaps the most important of all,
was his distribution of
apple trees to the early settlers. He
came to this locality
about the year of 1830 and spent the
most of the last 15
years of his life in and around Fort
Wayne.
He would secure permission to use a
small patch of ground
where he would plant apple seed. Later
he would return, give
some of the trees to the owner of the
ground and then distribute
the rest to other settlers.
Johnny Appleseed owned property of his
own. His estate
papers which are on file in the county
clerk's office in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, show that he owned four pieces
of real estate: forty
acres of land about 10 miles northwest
of Fort Wayne, forty-two
acres on the Maumee ten miles down the
river from Fort Wayne,
eighteen and one-half acres at Ox-Bow
Bend near the Ohio-
Indiana line, forty acres one-half mile
from the Indiana-Ohio line
on the Maumee. There was another 74
acres of land in Jay
County on the Wabash River one-half mile
west of the Indiana-
Ohio line. These properties were along
rivers, canals or main
highways.
The oldest account of Johnny Appleseed
is an article pub-
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46
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
lished in Manchester, England, by the
Swedenborg Church Janu-
ary 14, 1817:
There is in the western country a very
extraordinary missionary of
the New Jerusalem. A man has appeared
who seems to be almost inde-
pendent of corporal wants and
sufferings. He goes barefooted, can sleep
anywhere, in house or out of house, and
lives upon the coarsest and most
scanty fare. He has actually thawed the
ice with his bare feet.
He procures what books he can of the New
Church; travels into the
remote settlements, and lends them
wherever he can find readers, and some-
times divides a book into two or three
parts for more extensive distribution
and usefulness. This man for years past
has been in the employment of
bringing into cultivation, in numberless
places in the wilderness, small
patches (two or three acres) of ground,
and then sowing apple seeds and
rearing nurseries.
These become valuable as the settlements
approximate, and the profits
of the whole are intended for the
purpose of enabling him to print all the
writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and
distribute them through the western
settlements of the United States.
This article gives a very definite and
logical reason for the
service of Johnny Appleseed.
Markers and memorials to the memory of
Johnny Appleseed
are located at: (1) Copus
Monument, Ashland Co., near Mifflin,
Ohio; (2) Mansfield, Ohio; (3) Ashland,
Ohio; (4) Swinney
Park, Fort Wayne, Indiana; (5) Apple
Trees, Thatcher Woods,
Chicago; (6) Springfield, Mass.; (7)
Leominster, Mass.; (8)
Jr. High School, Mansfield, Ohio; (9)
Apple tree planted by
Johnny Appleseed at Defiance, Ohio.
The iron fence which surrounds his grave
here was a gift of
Stephen Fleming of Fort Wayne. The
granite boulder at the head
of his grave was placed there by the
Optimist Club and James
Menefee of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Johnny Appleseed played a very important
role in the settle-
ment of the Maumee Valley. What could be
more fitting to his
memory than to plant apple trees in our
roadside parks, and se-
lected places along our highways? These
trees would add to the
beauty and usefulness of our highways.
In the spring they would
supply beauty and fragrance, later shade
and finally apples in
season. This would be a living memorial
which I feel sure Johnny
Appleseed would approve.
A HARMAR SESQUICENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM
By Louis A. WARREN
The program this evening has been
arranged in the form
of a symposium in memory of the 150th
anniversary of General
Joseph Harmar's expedition against the
Miami Indians here at
Fort Wayne in 1790.
We are pleased indeed to have three able
speakers who can
speak with authority on the various
phases of the expedition.
You will observe on your program that
the subjects to be dis-
cussed will approach the general subject
from different points
of view: "Captain Thomas Morris, a
Forerunner of Harmar"
by Dr. Howard H. Peckham, William L.
Clements Library, Ann
Arbor; "The Indians Who Opposed
Harmar" by President Otho
Winger, Manchester College; "The
Harmar Expedition of 1790"
(Illustrated), by Dr. Randolph G. Adams,
director, William L.
Clements Library, Ann Arbor.
The symposium is not just as we had
planned it, and we
are disappointed that one phase of the
Harmar story will have
to be omitted, although the Program
Committee made an earnest
attempt to complete the symposium as
originally outlined.
We do not have with us a prominent
Kentucky historian
whom we had hoped would speak on behalf
of the Kentucky
settlers who were primarily responsible
for the Harmar expedi-
tion. Rather than allow this phase of
the story to be entirely
overlooked, it seems obligatory for me
to make some very brief
references to the Indian massacres in
Kentucky and the reaction
toward these massacres which found
expression in the expedition
against the Indians by General Joseph
Harmar.
The Miami Indians, or the Indians of the
upper Wabash
as they were often called, were the most
aggressive tribe which
confronted the pioneers moving into
Kentucky, and they were
continually sending out marauding bands
which kept the Ken-
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48
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
tuckians in continual terror. The
grandfather of President Lin-
coln was one of the victims of these
surprise attacks.
It is not strange that the Kentuckians,
with whole families
massacred and kinsmen forever lost,
began to seek revenge for
these casualties. All red men looked
alike to them and they did
not stop to learn whether or not one
belonged to a friendly or a
hostile tribe before sending him to the
"happy hunting ground."
It did not take them long to learn where
most of these scalping
parties originated and they pointed in
the direction of the Miami
village.
CAPTAIN THOMAS MORRIS ON THE MAUMEE
By HOWARD H. PECKHAM
In any historical celebration of the
Maumee Valley, Captain
Thomas Morris may justly claim a brief
mention. He was the
first British officer to ascend the
Maumee River. I say "officer,"
because it is possible that one or two
Pennsylvania traders may
have penetrated that far into Ohio in
the 1740's or 1750's. But
Morris did something else, too. He has
left us two accounts of
his Maumee adventures--one a day-by-day
diary, the other a nar-
rative based on his diary and written in
later years.
Not a great deal is known about Morris
although he achieved
enough subsequent fame to be found in
the Dictionary of National
Biography. He was born in 1732 in Carlisle, England, the son of
a retired army officer and song writer.
He attended Winchester
College and then, early in 1749, joined
the British army as ensign
in the 17th Regiment. In December, 1755,
he was promoted a
lieutenant. His regiment was sent to
America in 1758 at the
height of the French and Indian War and
was employed at the
siege of Havana in 1762. It then
returned to continental America
and remained here under General Thomas
Gage, the new com-
mander-in-chief.
You will recall that 1763 was a
momentous year in this region.
The British had won the West by conquest
and had garrisoned all
of the former French posts in 1760 and
1761 except Fort Chartres
on the Mississippi. Hostile Indians
barred the way to British
soldiers seeking to reach the Illinois
post, and Pontiac's uprising
set back the day of English occupation
another year. In the sum-
mer of 1764, General Gage sent out two
expeditions to quell the
rebellion of the western tribes. One under Colonel Bouquet
marched into southern Ohio. The other,
under Colonel John
Bradstreet, was sent to relieve Detroit
and to chastize Pontiac's
immediate allies. Thomas Morris, now a
captain, was one of the
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50
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
officers accompanying Bradstreet. This
expedition sailed from
Niagara and coasted along the south
shore of Lake Erie. At
Sandusky a stop was made for an Indian
conference, by which
Bradstreet was lulled into the belief
that the Indians regretted
their uprising and were reconciled to
having the English in their
midst. He therefore resolved to send an
officer across country to
Fort Chartres as advance agent for a
garrison which would be sent
later.
Three other factors also prompted
Bradstreet to take this
premature step. First, he was at the
head of an all-water route to
the Mississippi by way of the Maumee and
Wabash rivers. Sec-
ondly, he had found a Canadian able and
willing to act as guide
and Indian interpreter to the
destination. Lastly, he had in Captain
Morris an officer who could speak French
and was daring enough
to undertake the mission.
Accordingly, on the afternoon of August
26, 1764, Captain
Morris, two Canadians, two servants and
19 Indian escorts started
in canoes from Cedar Point and crossed
Maumee Bay. At the
same time Bradstreet's force moved
northward to Detroit. Owing
to its late start, Morris' party
encamped that night near the mouth
of the Maumee River. Next day the canoes
made good progress
up the river to the rapids (in the
vicinity of Fort Meigs), where
he stopped at an Ottawa village. The
great chief Pontiac, whose
village was on a near-by island, came
out to meet him and greeted
him with an unfriendly speech, saying
briefly that all English men
were liars and that the French king was
not yet defeated.
Morris was unharmed, however, and was
allowed to occupy
a cabin in the village. Here he met a
French trader and former
soldier named St. Vincent, who
befriended him and accompanied
him on his journey. The next day Morris
addressed a council
of chiefs and told them that the French
king had ceded this terri-
tory to the British king. This news the
chiefs received with con-
tempt and disbelief. That night one of
Morris' Indian escorts, a
Mohawk, ran away after stealing most of
the captain's effects and
selling his two barrels of rum to the
Ottawas. Consequently, the
village blades got roaring drunk and
decided to kill Morris, who
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL PROCEEDINGS 51
was obliged to slip out of his cabin in
disguise and take refuge in
a cornfield across the river.
The next day, August 30, Morris received
a surprise. The
local chief brought him some melons--and
a volume of Shakes-
peare, which Morris bought for a little
powder. Now I am aware
of the proud literary tradition of
Indiana, and I am reluctant to
point out that this incident occurred in
Ohio. If the savages of
Ohio were reading Shakespeare in 1764,
I'm afraid Indiana must
bow to its neighbor, although you
Indianans may argue that the
Ohio Indian probably got the volume from
some Miami Indians
of Fort Wayne who had read it so often
they were tired of it.
Of course, if Ohioans admit this
possibility, they may then counter
with the assertion that anyway here was
the beginning of the
rental library business. However, I
shall leave that controversy to
be settled in my absence and go on to
quote from an essay which
Morris wrote in after years lauding the
dramatic ability of a
French actress, one Mademoiselle Du
Menil. In one place he re-
marks: "If the world ever afforded
me a pleasure equal to that
of reading Shakespeare at the foot of a
water-fall in an American
desert; it was Du Menil's performance in
tragedy."
On August 31, Morris again set out up
the river, assured by
some Miami warriors that he would be
welcomed at their village.
Because the river was so shallow here,
he bought three horses and
used the canoes only to carry the
baggage. His party of 17 Indians
had been reduced to 12, and he had
sent back one of his servants
with a letter to Bradstreet. They
followed the shore of the river
up to a second Indian village and
encamped. The next few days
were spent in easy marches, the canoes
being dragged along in
shallow water. Morris was finding game
very plentiful. He was
eating fish, venison, turkey, duck and
raccoon, besides Indian corn.
One day his party managed to get away
with two deer, ten turkeys,
some ducks, raccoons, corn, etc. Morris
restrains himself to ob-
serving only, "I never saw such
hearty eating before."
On September 7, the party reached
"Miamis fort," on the
site of the present city of Fort Wayne.
Morris relates that he
was "met at the bottom of the
meadow by almost the whole village,
who had brought spears, bows and arrows,
and tomahawks to
52
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
dispatch me." And how did Captain
Morris receive this Hoosier
welcome? He mentions in his diary that
he took to a canoe and
paddled out into the middle of the
river, which I can well believe.
In his narrative he embroiders the story
a bit and asserts that he
remained in his canoe, "reading the
tragedy of Anthony and
Cleopatra, in the volume of
Shakespeare." Morris had attended
college, and college men sometimes read
at unexpected moments,
but I submit to you whether any person
in Morris' circumstances
would use a book other than as a shield.
The chief of the Miami village was
Pacanne, who was cer-
tainly not the village idiot, although
he can hardly avoid being
called the village nut. He had just
received a visit from a dele-
gation of Shawnees and Delawares, and
these visiting firemen had
declared that they would never make
peace with the English and
urged the Miamis to kill Captain Morris
when he arrived or make
him return. Morris was surprised to
learn of this attitude on the
part of the Shawnees and Delawares,
because it indicated his
superior, Colonel Bradstreet, had been
deceived in believing the
friendly protestations of the Indians.
Morris was taken to the fort, where the
few French families
lived, but after a short time two
warriors seized him and took him
across the river to their village. They
stripped him of his clothes,
bound his arms and put him in a cabin.
His Canadian guide and
Pontiac's nephew spoke to the village
elders for Morris' release,
and the local chief untied him. He was
then chased out of the
village and returned to the fort. For
the next two days Morris
had to hide in the garret of one
Monsieur L'Esperance.
Meanwhile the Miamis held a council and
decided that the
Englishman should not go farther
westward. Morris was deter-
mined to push on down the Wabash to
Ouiatenon (Lafayette,
Indiana), but two Frenchmen came in from
St. Joseph (Niles,
Michigan) and reported that the
before-mentioned delegation of
Shawnees and Delawares were waiting at
Ouiatenon to kill Morris
on his arrival. Morris decided that Fort
Wayne's welcome should
not be outdone by Lafayette's and
prepared to turn back.
On September 10, at noon, Morris
and his party set out down
the Maumee, leaving his baggage behind
with Monsieur Capucin.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 53
(By the way, has anyone ever located
that baggage and found the
Shakespeare volume?) The third day out
they met a squaw from
the Ottawa village at the rapids who
said there were 700 Shawnees
and Delawares at her town preparing to
burn Detroit. Morris
was sure the news was false, but it
scared his Indian bodyguard.
They wished to avoid the village and
hurry on to Detroit by them-
selves, confident they would make better
time without the white
men. So Morris and his Canadian, and two
Indians, were left
to go by themselves through the woods,
circle northward around
the Ottawa village and reach Detroit.
Morris' route cannot be traced exactly.
It was northeast, of
course, through woods and meadows, and
Morris said the direct
distance was 150 miles. On the 16th he
crossed the trail running
from the Maumee rapids to Detroit. He
avoided it and kept to a
by-path until he reached the Potawatomi
village in lower Michi-
gan. The next day, September 17, Morris
walked into the fort
at Detroit, and it gave him great
satisfaction that he had reached
it ahead of the Indians who had deserted
him.
Morris returned to the East that fall,
and in 1767 went back
to England. He resigned from the army,
married and settled
down to a life of writing. He published
four volumes of poetry,
essays, biography and a novel. He also
composed a few songs,
popular in his day. He was still living
in 1806, and the date of his
death is not known.
I have spoken of the two accounts of his
Maumee Valley
adventure. Until recently only one was
known--the published
version. It was supposed that this was
written from memory, or
from a diary in Morris' possession. But
in going through the
General Gage papers in the Clerents
Library, a considerable
correspondence between Colonel
Bradstreet and Gage was uncov-
ered. In one of his letters Bradstreet
enclosed a report of Morris'
mission up the Maumee. The report turned
out to be Morris'
original diary, which he sent on to
Bradstreet without taking time
to copy. For the same reason Bradstreet
forwarded it to Gage.
On the cover is a note to Bradstreet's
aide-de-camp, asking him to
make a copy and return it to Morris.
Undoubtedly he did so, and
that is all that Morris ever retained.
About 1791 he wrote up his
54
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
adventure and published it in a volume
called Miscellanies in Prose
and Verse (London, 1791). That in itself has become a rare book,
but I am glad to say that the Clements
Library owns a copy, along
with the original manuscript diary in
Morris' handwriting, on
which the narrative is based. There is
not a great deal of differ-
ence between the diary and the
narrative, although the latter is
longer. He added one interesting
paragraph at the end of his
published narrative: observing that the
Miami Indians which had
held him prisoner were still making
trouble for white men in that
region and that they had just defeated
an American expedition
sent against them. With this reference
to General Harmar, having
brought matters up to date, I step aside
to let the following
speakers continue the story. Thank you.
THE INDIANS WHO OPPOSED HARMAR
By OTHO WINGER
We have a few original sources of
information about the
Indians of the Northwest in and about
Kekionga, now Fort
Wayne, at the time of Harmar's
expedition in the fall of 1790.
George Croghan in 1765 traveled the
length of the Wabash to
Kekionga and gave an excellent report to
his superiors in the East.
In the winter of 1789-90 Henry Hay,
representing British mer-
chants in Detroit, visited Kekionga and
kept a diary of his stay
in the Miami village, and of his visits
roundabout. In the spring
of 1790 Colonel Hamtramck, commander at
Vincennes, sent
Antoine Gamelin, a Frenchman, with a
message of good will to
the Indians along the Wabash and to
Kekionga. One of the finest
of recent histories reviewing all this
and adding much information
is the book, The Land of the Miamis, by
Judge Elmore Barce.
The leading tribe was that of the
Miamis, with several divi-
sions. Their chief town and capital, if
it may be so called, was at
Kekionga. There were strong divisions of
this tribe along Eel
River and the Mississinewa, called Eel
Rivers and Mississinewas,
the Weas at Ouiatenon near the present
Lafayette, and the Pianka-
shaws near Vincennes. The Miamis, who
once claimed all of
Indiana and western Ohio as their
ancient domain, still held the
Wabash and the strategic center here at
the junction of the St.
Mary's and the St. Joseph. To the north
in the Michigan penin-
sulas were the tribes composing
"The Three Fires," the ancient
Chippewa with their kindred, the Ottawa
and the Potawatomi.
The Potawatomi had spread over northern
and western Indiana,
where they were closely connected with
the Kickapoo from Illinois.
The Ottawa had spread over northwestern
Ohio, north of the
Maumee. The Hurons, or Wyandots, were
masters of the land
east of the Auglaize and south of Lake
Erie. South of them were
the ancient Delawares. The Shawnees,
having been driven from
their former homes in the South, had
settled chiefly in southern
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56
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Ohio, where their great chief, Tecumseh,
was born on Mad River
about 1770. There were general, but not
absolute, boundary lines
between the tribes. At one time or
another various tribes had
villages around Kekionga.
Antoine Gamelin, on his visit in the
spring of 1790, found
much opposition to the Americans and
much sympathy for the
British in all the villages. Here at
Kekionga, besides the Miamis,
he found both Shawnees and Delawares.
The Shawnee chief,
Blue Jacket, and the renegade Girty
brothers among the Delawares
prevented any friendly response. The
number of warriors in these
villages was not given. The secretary of
war, General Knox,
estimated that the number of warriors on
the Wabash would be
more than fifteen hundred, but some
think that number was too
large. One writer, James Smith, said
there were not more than
three thousand Indian warriors in all,
west of Pennsylvania.
Gamelin's report of conditions here in
Kekionga was about
the same as George Croghan reported
twenty-five years earlier,
and similar to the conditions reported
by Hay the year previous.
There were a few French and British
traders here, among whom
was John Kinzie, noted for his
connection twenty years later with
Fort Dearborn and the massacre there.
Trade was at a low
level. Whiskey was already beginning to
have its terrible effect
upon the Indians.
H. S. Knapp, in his history of the
Maumee Valley, tells of
seven villages here at the time of
Harmar's expedition. First of
all, there was the main Miami village at
Lakeside at the junction
of the St. Joseph and Maumee. There was
another Miami village
across the river between St. Mary's and
the St. Joseph with thirty
houses. Two miles down the Maumee was
the Shawnee village,
Chillicothe, with fifty-eight houses.
Across the river was another
Shawnee village with eighteen houses.
There were two Delaware
villages two miles up the St. Mary's
with forty-five houses and
another Delaware village three miles up
the St. Joseph. The total
number of houses, or cabins, in all
these villages was given at one
hundred eighty-five, although the
original number was not known,
for the Indians had burned many of their
houses before Harmar's
army arrived.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 57
From all these accounts, it would seem
that the number of
Indians here varied from time to time
and was never very large.
Those who fought Harmar were largely the
Miamis in and about
Kekionga and from Eel River.
Little Turtle, the Miami, was by far the
most important op-
ponent of Harmar. The Little Turtle
village was on Eel River
about sixteen miles northwest of
Kekionga. Here his father, the
great Chief Aquenacque, had made this an
important Indian
center. Here Little Turtle was born. Two
miles up the river
from this village was the famous Eel
River trading post, where
furs were collected by the traders to be
transported to Fort Wayne
by portage.
The first battle with Harmar's forces
occurred on Eel River
eleven miles northwest of Fort Wayne on
the old Indian trail that
led to Fort Dearborn. It is now known as
the Goshen Road, or
U. S. Route 33. While some of Harmar's
men thought the forces
were very large, others had put the
number of Little Turtle's army
at only about a hundred. But whereas
Hardin's division of
Harmar's army was poorly made up and
poorly equipped, they
were opposed by some of the finest of
all Indian warriors, com-
manded by the greatest Indian general
who ever opposed the
white man. Although outnumbered two to
one, Little Turtle
annihilated Hardin's forces by strategy
unequaled for cleverness
of conception and efficient execution.
Thomas Irvin, one of the
soldiers in that expedition, wrote that
Little Turtle had prepared
the ambuscade "as neatly as one
sets a trap for a rat."
Three days later Little Turtle and these
same Indians set a
similar trap at the Maumee and
annihilated the regulars under
Captain Willys and so crippled the
entire force of Harmar's army
that he returned at once to Fort
Washington. Although Harmar
reported victory over the Indians, most
historians believe he was
defeated by the superior generalship of
the Miami chief, Little
Turtle. Theodore Roosevelt, in Winning
of the West, Vol. I,
page 91, wrote, "The net
result was a mortifying failure." It is
true that the troops were poor specimens
of soldiers and poorly
equipped and that the brave but rash
Hardin was at odds with the
inefficient Colonel Trotter, but
Roosevelt criticizes Harmar for
58
OHIO ARCH EOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
allowing divisions among his men and
subordinate generals and for
keeping his main army inactive only
seven miles away while the
brave Willys and other brave men were
being cut to pieces in
small, uncoordinated divisions.
These conflicts with Harmar gave
excellent training for Little
Turtle and his Indians to meet the
combined forces of St. Clair
one year later on the Wabash at what is
now Fort Recovery, Ohio.
Harmar's expedition plainly showed
Little Turtle that a large
army would soon be sent against
Kekionga, "the glorious gateway
of the West." Warriors came from all the chief tribes of
the
Northwest to be trained by Little Turtle
for the coming conflict.
With a thousand warriors, well trained,
this "Napoleon of the
Red Men" met a much larger force
under St. Clair on November
4, 1791. Little Turtle outgeneraled and
outfought St. Clair, who
had the largest and best equipped army
ever sent against the In-
dians, and inflicted upon them the
greatest defeat the white men
ever suffered at the hands of the
Indians.
After all, Little Turtle, with his
genius and greatness, was
worth a whole army of either whites or
Indians and was the
chief explanation of the defeat of
Harmar and St. Clair. He de-
feated more white armies than any other
Indian, but his greatness
is not shown by that alone. After he had
done all he could to
protect the land of his fathers, he made
peace with Wayne at
Greenville and spent the remaining
seventeen years of his life as
the friend of the Americans and tried to
get his people to adopt
the best ways of the white man's
civilization.
At Wayne's suggestion, he visited
President George Washing-
ton, who received him as a great warrior
and patriot and conferred
upon him the highest honors possible.
Little Turtle later visited
Presidents John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson in the interests of
the Indians. He endeavored to introduce
among his people tem-
perance, agriculture, vaccination for
smallpox, and the arts of
peace. That fine monument on the battle
field of Fallen Timbers
has a worthwhile suggestion for us all.
While it gives due credit
to General Wayne for his great ability
and his service to the
Northwest and similar praise to the
hardy pioneers who supported
General Wayne in his conquest, there is
also generous praise for
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 59
Little Turtle, who bravely defended the
land of his fathers against
the conquering white men. We shall all
be glad to see a fine
monument erected here in Fort Wayne to
that great general after
whom the city is named. But some day we
shall also recognize the
greatness of Little Turtle and either
here or somewhere along his
native Eel River, the Ke-na-po-co-mo-co,
we shall erect a suitable
monument for him also.
THE HARMAR EXPEDITION OF 1790*
By RANDOLPH G. ADAMS
At the last meeting of the American
Historical Association
(December, 1939) the chief of the
General Staff of the United
States Army made some very critical
remarks about the teaching
of military history in the United
States. He expressed the wish
that teachers would tell and that
text-books would relate the un-
complimentary and unvarnished truth
about the ineptitude with
which the United States has conducted
its wars.
The Maumee Valley, as we all know, was
for centuries a
highway for traffic between the Great
Lakes and the Mississippi
River. As such, France, Britain and the
United States struggled
for it, among themselves, and with the
Indians. When the valley
came under the jurisdiction of the
United States, through the
Treaty of Peace of 1782-3, the
Indians still held most of the
lands in the old Northwest Territory. By
continued, and illegal
occupation of certain western posts,
such as Detroit, the British
agents encouraged the Indians to resist
the extension of the
power of the United States into the
Maumee Valley. Three suc-
cessive efforts had to be made before
the Indian power was
broken.
The first of these was the expedition of
an army under
General Josiah Harmar, in the year 1790.
At the Clements Li-
brary, University of Michigan, there are
several thousand manu-
scripts which constitute the personal
and military papers of Gen-
eral Harmar. They were acquired some
years ago from a de-
scendant of General Hamar. In these we
may trace, step by
step, the career of that officer, during
his service in the American
Revolution, his trip abroad to carry
back to Paris the final rati-
fication of the Treaty of Peace which
ended that war, his ap-
pointment to service on the western
frontier, first at Fort McIn-
tosh (Pennsylvania), then at Fort Harmar
(Marietta, Ohio) and
* Summary.
(60)
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 61
finally at Fort Washington (Cincinnati,
Ohio). It was from this
last named post that, in the year 1790, he led his
expedition of
about 1400 soldiers into the Maumee
country. Among his papers
we find the various instructions from
the then seat of govern-
ment of the United States, in
Philadelphia, mostly by Secretary
of War Henry Knox, in which Harmar is
directed to conduct
the campaign. We also find his own
records and reports of the
campaign, and the documents which were
produced at and in
connection with the military court which
enquired into the con-
duct of the campaign of 1790. When a
general is not wholly
successful, or when he is defeated, he
is apt to leave behind
much more complete documentary records
than if he had been
completely victorious. He needs to work
up, and to preserve, such
documents in his own defense.
The expedition which Harmar gathered at
Cincinnati in
September of 1790 consisted of
only 300 regular United States
army troops and about 1100 militia from
Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Kentucky. The troops were ill-equipped,
ill-disciplined and with-
out a proper equipment of staff
officers. Harmar had trouble
with the militia from the outset, as
there were quarrels between
the state militia leaders as to
precedence. He got his expedition
started rather too late in the season,
but managed to attain his
objective, which was the series of
Indian villages at the con-
fluence of the St. Mary's and the St.
Joseph's where they meet
to make the Maumee. This is the site of
the modern city of
Fort Wayne. He found the Indian
settlements deserted. By this
time, all kinds of ills had developed in
the army, mostly the result
of the inadequate military preparations
indicated above. This
group of Indian villages were for a few
days, the headquarters
of Harmar's force. From this point he
sent out one detachment
of several hundred troops, who promptly
walked into an Indian
ambush and were cut to pieces. However,
since he had attained
his objective, he decided to withdraw to
Fort Washington. But
hardly a day's march south of the Miami
villages he sent back
another detachment to defeat any Indians
which might have
returned to reoccupy the ruined villages
on the Maumee. This
detachment was also badly defeated. He
then resumed his march
and got back to Cincinnati.
62
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Besides ruining the Indian supplies, and
burning their flimsy
huts, the expedition accomplished
practically nothing. The con-
duct of the army was so severely
criticized that a military court
was held and the whole matter
investigated. What was divulged
may be seen in the Harmar papers. It was
a typical American
military effort, ill-conceived,
ill-conducted, with troops which
were ill-disciplined, and with supply
services utterly inadequate.
In theory, I suppose, we are supposed to
be celebrating the
150th anniversary of General Harmar's
expedition which "cap-
tured" "Fort Wayne" for
the Americans. As a matter of fact it
is one of the best possible
illustrations of General Marshall's
point that American military history
from the popular standpoint,
has not been well written or well
taught.
We have a notion that the United States
has been engaged
in a number of wars, all of which it has
won. While this seems
to be the net result, the cost at which
we have won them, and
the mistakes we have made are well worth
study, and the Harmar
papers provide really excellent clinical
material on which one
story at least can be worked out. For a
hundred years after
our independence, most of our popular
military history was a
glorification of our victories. With the
coming of the "economic
historians" in the twentieth
century, less and less emphasis was
laid on military history. More recently,
we have moved into
a period of so-called "social
history."
A collection such as General Harmar's
papers provides an
opportunity for the study of a military
episode. There are his-
torians who believe that the reaction to
the old martial and heroic
history has gone too far. At this time
we are, as a nation, con-
fronted by a great international crisis,
the nature of which we are
utterly unprepared for, and which we
don't even seem to under-
stand. Two immense oceans still give us
a brief respite in which
we may learn. But if we continue to
prattle about "economic his-
tory" without realizing that war
makes and unmakes economic
forces, if we continue to prate about
"social history" without
knowing that war is the most appalling
social phenomenon which
society has produced, then all our
collecting of historical data will
not do much good.
INVOCATION
BY REV. W. H. SHEPFER
GRACIOUS GOD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER,
acknowledging our
weakness and our sinfulness, we invoke
thy divine blessing upon
us as we have come together to recall
the heroic lives and sac-
rifices of our forefathers in this
section of our great country.
Through the Spirit of Truth give us, O
God, wisdom and
understanding.
We acknowledge Thee, Dear Father, as the
Giver of every
good and perfect gift. Thou art the
Source from whom all our
blessings flow.
We acknowledge Thee as the God of
Nations. We trace Thy
hand in our history. When we recall the
successful struggles
against great odds of our pioneers for
civil and religious freedom
we are constrained to exclaim,
"This is the finger of God."
We thank Thee, O God, that in Thy good
Providence this
new land became a refuge for the
oppressed peoples of the earth.
Help us to remember with grateful hearts
the great sacrifices even
unto death made by our God-fearing
forefathers in their battles
for the principles of civil and
religious freedom upon which our
great Nation has been founded.
May we learn again as a nation Thy
admonition that
"righteousness exalteth a nation
but sin is a reproach to any
people."
Strengthen us and guide us, O God, in
these terrible, troublous
times when our liberties and way of life
are being threatened by
irresponsible tyrants of the earth.
Oh, Righteous Father, direct us and help
us to prepare our-
selves both materially and spiritually
to defend the civil and
religious freedom for which our
forefathers fought so that govern-
ments "of the people, by the
people, for the people shall not perish
from the earth."
(63)
64
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Hear us, O God, and answer the song
prayer of our people
as they sing throughout the land,
"God bless America."
"Lord God of hosts be with us yet
lest we forget, lest we
forget."
We ask it all in His Name,
AMEN.
DEFIANCE IN HISTORY
By FRANCIS
PHELPS WEISENBURGER
Today we stand in the heart of
the historic Maumee Valley.
Long before any written records
chronicled the story of the region,
French traders moved up and down the
river in the long journey
between the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi Basin. To the
French, the site of Defiance was known
as Au Glaize or Grand
Glaize. Among the Indians it was the
site of the Tu-en-da-wie
village of the Wyandots and the
En-sa-woc-sa of the Shawnees.1
Here, too, according to the tradition
handed down by the great
chief, Richardville,2 was the birthplace
of Pontiac, the masterful
leader of the Ottawas.3
During the eighteenth century, when
France and Great Britain
were struggling for control of the
region west of the Allegheny
Mountains, Celeron de Blainville was
sent to claim the Ohio coun-
try for the King of France. In 1749 he
buried leaden plates in the
Ohio Valley as a means of asserting the
rights of the French king.
On the return journey, Celeron's French
army traveled down the
Maumee on its way to Detroit. The chaplain of the expedition
tells us in his journal that as the
troops came through the Defiance
region (about October 1, 1749) "at
almost every instant we were
stopped by beds of flat stones, over
which it was necessary to drag
our pirogues by main force. I will say,
however, that at intervals
were found beautiful reaches of smooth
water, but they were few
and short."4 Three years
later (1752) Charles de Langlade, rep-
1 Henry Howe, Historical Collections
of Ohio (Norwalk, 1896), I, 542.
2 Jean Baptist Richardville or Peshewah,
was the son of a French trader and
Tecumwah, sister of Little Turtle. Born
in the vicinity of Fort Wayne about 1761,
he died there in August, 1841. From 1812
until his death he was head chief of the
Miamis and apparently one of the richest
Indians in North America. Bert J. Gris-
wold, ed., Fort Wayne, Gateway of the
West, in Indiana Historical Collections. XV
(Indianapolis, 1927), 29-30.
3 Horace S. Knapp, History of the
Maumee Valley (Toledo, 1876), 585.
4 Reuben G. Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit
Relations and Allied Documents, 1610-1791
(Cleveland, 1896-1901), LXIX. 191.
(65)
66
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
resenting unofficially the French
interests, led an army from
Mackinac to the vicinity of Piqua
(Pickawillany), where they
killed the Miami chief, La Demoiselle or
Old Britain.5 The journal
of the expedition has disappeared,6
but undoubtedly they passed
through the Defiance vicinity on the
journey.
George Croghan, commonly called the
"King of the Traders"
because of his numerous trading posts
among the Indians,7 visited
the site of Defiance (which he referred
to as "the Forks") in
August, 1765.8 During the period of
Pontiac's Conspiracy (1763)
and the period of the American
Revolution, armies of both the
Indian and the white man traversed the
Maumee Valley. One of
these armies, under the British
commander at Detroit, Henry
Hamilton, passed by the site of Defiance
in October, 1778, on its
way to Vincennes, which Hamilton later
surrendered ignomini-
ously to George Rogers Clark.9 Likewise,
a force of British and
Indian warriors under Captain Henry Bird
came from Detroit and
up the river to the present Defiance
during the summer of 1780.
Bird's expedition continued up the
Auglaize and terrorized Ameri-
can frontier settlements in Kentucky.10
The famous Moravian
missionary, John Heckewelder, recorded
that after the massacre
of the Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten
in 1782, some of the
surviving native converts took refuge in
the Maumee Valley,11
probably at Defiance.
Perhaps the first account of a meal
served at what is now
Defiance was recorded by Henry Hay, a
traveler who stopped here
on December 13, 1789. He wrote:
Left this place [what is now Damascus,
Henry County] this morning
about 8 o'clock and proceeded to Glaize
[Defiance], w[h]ere we arrived
about 1/2 past 3 o'clock--we were
received very graciously by Mr. McDon-
5 Louise Phelps Kellogg, The French
Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest
(Madison, 1925), 413, 420-3, 438.
6 Wisconsin State Historical Society, Collections, ed. by Reuben G.
Thwaites
(Madison), XVIII (1908), 128.
7 Albert T. Volwiler, George Croghan
and the Western Movement, 1741-1782
(Cleveland, 1926) 32ff.
8 Reuben G. Thwaites, ed., Early
Western Travels, 1748-1846 (Cleveland, 1904-
1907), I, 151.
9 Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Society, Historical Collections (Lansing),
IX (1886), 489ff.
10 Louise Phelps Kellogg, ed., Frontier
Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 1779-1781, in
Wisconsin State Historical Society, Collections, XXIV
(1917), 19-20, 185, 269-70.
11 John Heckewelder, A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren, ed.
by
William E. Connelley (Cleveland, 1907),
449-50.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 67
nell who lives there; he gave us good
venison stakes & cyder-grogg &c for
Dinner;--Roasted venison for supper.
&c.12
During the next few years a number of
white prisoners were
brought to the Indian villages here.
Among them were John
Brickell of Pittsburgh captured in 1791,
and Oliver M. Spencer,
a Cincinnati boy captured in 1792. Spencer
recorded that in 1792
near the present fort grounds were
"five or six cabins, inhabited
principally by Indian traders, one of
whom was George Ironside,
"the most wealthy and influential
of the traders on the point," and
that from the point one viewed "a very pleasant landscape" and
Blue Jacket's Town.13
During the period the Indians of the
Maumee Valley were
very restless. A white soldier, William
May, who was taken pris-
oner and was brought to Defiance in 1792, later reported
that
during the summer there was a great
Indian council at the place,
attended by 3,600 warriors, among whom
were Wyandots, Dela-
wares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Miamis, and
other tribesmen. There
Simon Girty and Shawnee chieftains spoke
for the Indians hostile
to the whites, and Red Jacket, a Seneca
chief, for those friendly
to the Americans.14
About this time, after the disheartening
defeats of St. Clair
and Harmar, Anthony Wayne was appointed
by President Wash-
ington to lead the American forces
against the Indians. In August,
1794, he erected his strongest fort at
the junction of the Auglaize
with the Maumee.15 After its completion
Wayne is reported to
have exclaimed, "I defy the
English, Indians, and all the devils in
hell to take it," and General
Charles Scott replied, "Then call it
Fort Defiance."16
Wayne next moved down the Maumee to his
famous victory
at Fallen Timbers and the following
summer the tribesmen signed
the Peace Treaty of Greenville (1795).
By that treaty the Indians
12 Henry Hay, "A Narrative of Life
on the Old Frontier: . . . Journal from
Detroit to the Mississippi (Miami)
River," ed. by Milo M. Quaife, in Wisconsin State
Historical Society, Proceedings for
1914 (Madison, 1914), 215. Published separately,
1915.
13
O. M. Spencer, Indian Captivity, ed.
by M. M. Quaife (Chicago, 1917), 95-7.
14 American
State Papers (Washington, 1832), V, Indian
Affairs, I, 244-322.
15 For the plan of Fort Defiance,
see Justin Winsor, ed., Narrative and Critical
History of America (Boston, 1884-1889), VII, 452; Howe, Historical
Collections, I, 540.
16 Charles E. Slocum, History of the
Maumee River Basin (Indianapolis, 1905),
207.
68
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
surrendered to the whites all of Ohio,
except the northern part
from the Cuyahoga River westward. But,
even in the remaining
Indian country, the whites were to have
reservations including one
six miles square at Fort Defiance.17
This place was one of three
(Ft. Defiance, Ft. Wayne and Greenville)
at which all white
prisoners were to be surrendered within
ninety days.18 The Amer-
icans were also to have free passage
down the Maumee from Ft.
Wayne to Lake Erie and on the Auglaize
to Ft. Defiance.19
Thereafter, peace reigned along the
Maumee for sixteen
years. Then the coming of the War of 1812
brought a renewal
of hostilities. Troops again were
concentrated here to contend
against the British and Indians along
the frontier, and Fort Win-
chester was erected south of the site of
Fort Defiance. It was
named after James Winchester, a
Tennessee planter, who was in
charge of the army at Defiance. During
1812 the troops here
became restless, and mutiny was
threatened. Supplies ran short,
and by December the army was subsisting
on hickory roots and
poor beef.20 Scores died of
typhus (some of them being buried
near Jefferson Avenue, Defiance).21 Harrison ordered
Winchester
to move down the river to the Grand
Rapids of the Maumee. This
was done, but some troops were
incautiously sent, without Harri-
son's authorization, to Frenchtown (now
Monroe, Michigan).
There they were disastrously defeated in
the Battle of the Raisin
River. In the meantime, the youthful
George Croghan (whose
father was a nephew of the famous trader
of the same name) was
in command at Defiance, and he wrote:
"I am determined to
defend this place till the last
extremity. Be not alarmed for my
safety. I have force enough to make a
desperate stand."22 But
Defiance was not attacked, and Croghan
gained his renown as the
rash but successful defender of Fort
Stephenson (Fremont).
17 The Territorial Papers of the U.
S., ed. by Clarence E. Carter (Washington,
1934- ), II, The Territory Northwest of the River
Ohio, 1787-1803, article 3 of the
Treaty of Greenville, p. 527.
18 Ibid., article 2, p. 526.
19 Ibid., article
3, p. 528.
20 Henry Adams, History of the United
States of America during the Administra-
tion of James Madison (New York, 1930), VII, 80.
21 Elbert E. Carter, father-in-law of
the present author, who was born at
the northwest corner of Second and
Jefferson avenues, December 9, 1860, recalled that
as a youth he had witnessed the discovery of skeletons
when the street was graded.
22 Louise Phelps Kellogg, The British
Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest
(Madison, 1935), 302.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL PROCEEDINGS 69
After the war, some soldiers remained in
the vicinity, and
other settlers gradually found their way
to the locality, but for
years the region remained essentially a
wilderness. As late as 1830
a pioneer judge traveling from Findlay
to Defiance observed:
The voyage was a dismal one to Defiance through an unbroken
wilderness of some sixty miles. Its
loneliness was only broken by
the intervening Indian settlement at
Ottawa village, where we
were hailed and cheered lustily by the
Tahwa Indians as would be
a foreign war ship in the port of New
York."23 But the town had
been laid out by Benjamin Leavell of
Piqua and Horatio G.
Phillips of Dayton, in November, 1822,
and new settlers arrived in
some numbers after 1830. One who settled
in the community in
August, 1834, described the charm of the
locality:
The view of the town was wonderfully
beautiful. There was no dam
to check the current of the river; no
bridge to mar the view, nor anything
unpleasant in sight.
The town seemed to set down among groves
of trees, for all south of
Second street was a dense forest of
hickory and oaks, about 12 to 15 feet
in height. The larger trees in the lower
part of town were the Indian apple
trees which lined the banks of both
rivers.24
During that spring, however, a great
flood had swept through
the valley, and the community was almost
paralyzed with dis-
appointment at the loss of crops.
In June, 1837, the principal newspaper
of Cincinnati carried
an advertisement for the sale of four
hundred village lots in
Defiance, the promoters proclaiming:
"Indeed few, if any, places
in the western, or even the eastern
states have so high a reputa-
tion for beauty, pleasantness and
healthfulness; and, when viewed
in reference to its commercial
advantage, its future importance
becomes obvious."25
As early as 1825-26, Methodist services
had been held in
Defiance, and in December, 1837, the
Presbyterian Church was
formally organized.26 The
panic of 1837 retarded the interest of
land speculators, but settlers continued
to pour into the valley.
23 D. Higgins, "Memories of the Maumee Valley." in Knapp,
Maumee Valley, 279.
24 Edwin
Phelps, "Reminiscences," in Defiance Express, July 1, Sept.
1, 1886. Mr.
Phelps was the maternal grandfather of
the present writer.
25 Cincinnati Gazette, June
22, 1837.
26 [Helen D. Phelps] Centenary
History of the First Presbyterian Church of
Defiance (Defiance, 1937), 5-6.
70 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
One wrote in July 27,
1837: "Defiance is one of the pleasantest
situated towns in the
country. They complain of hard times, but
cash is now as pleanty
[sic] here as it ever was in the best of
times. I get $1.50 per Day for my work."27
The chief guide-book
for Ohio a hundred years ago described
Defiance as a town of
"7 stores, 2 groceries, 3 taverns, a court
house and jail, a
large steam saw mill, and about 8 or 9 hundred
inhabitants."28
By that time the plans
for the building of a canal through
Defiance were being
carried out, and Irish and German settlers
soon came to
contribute their part to the development of the place.
But the splendid
history of the last one hundred years is so well
known to many of you
that we need not recall the onward march
during that period of
the "Central Market of the Maumee Valley."
27 The remainder of
the letter is: "Well . . . by this time you think Father has
forgotten to write but
the reason of my Delaying was to give you my views of the
country and the
prospects of removing to this place. We had a fine passage. We
arrived at Tolledo [sic]
in four Days and was hindered there one Day and the next
day arrived at
Defiance. Found the people all well. Sophronia [a sister]'s health is
better than when at
home. I am much pleased with the country. I think I can say of
a truth that Land far
exceeds my expectation, better crops of Corn, Wheat, and pota-
toes and oats I never
saw in my life. . . . I have put up one frame [building] since
I came here at
Independence for Mr. Stoddard [Sophronia's husband]. 30 by 20 for a
shop. Mr. Stoddard has
gone to Buffalo. Independence is a thriving [village] beyond
Defiance. It is new but
must be a place of Business. I Shall buy me a lot there.
I see nothing why this
is not as healthy a country as St. Lawrence [County, N. Y.],
people here [of] as
ruddy a character as in any place I ever saw. I shall start for
home if nothing
prevents in 4 weeks and you may expect to start as soon [as] con-
venient then for this
place. [T]here is a fine chance for you girls. I shall bring with
me your uncle Wm.['s]
children. I shall write again on Monday next and send you
some cash. Today is
Wednesday 27. I want to see you all. Rollin [a son] be a good
boy and you shall see
Defiance. Harriet and Esther [daughters] likewise. Write to me
the same day you
receive this all of you. My health is good my expense up was just
7 Dollars. From your
father G[ardner] Daggett to Miss Betsey Ann
Daggett [Rich-
ville, St. Lawrence
Co., N. Y.,] Defiance, Ohio, July 27, 1837." MS. letter in the
possession of Miss
Maude Carter of Defiance. The family came to Defiance later in
1837. Rollin was
destined not only to "see Defiance" but to become congressman from
Nevada and United
States Minister to Hawaii. Betsey Ann married William Carter
and became the mother
of the late Elbert E. Carter, president of the State Bank of
Defiance.
28 Warren Jenkins, The
Ohio Gazetteer (Columbus, 1841), 161.
RELIGION AND THE WESTWARD MARCH
By WILLIAM W. SWEET
When the Treaty of Peace was signed with
Great Britain in
the year 1783, which gave independence
to the United States of
America, the Congregational Church was
the largest and most
influential religious body in the land.
Though confined almost
exclusively to New England the
Congregationalists were, at the
same time, nationally important because
of their cultural and edu-
cational leadership. They had come
through the War of Inde-
pendence with increased prestige, since
their clergy and members
had been overwhelmingly patriotic, and
had furnished during the
period a group of leaders who were
recognized as of national im-
portance. There were, all told, 656
Congregational churches in
the country at the time the Nation
entered upon its independent
existence. The Congregational Church was
still established by
law in Massachusetts, Connecticut and
New Hampshire, and it
continued to occupy this privileged
position for more than a gene-
ration following independence.
Ranking next in point of numbers and
influence at the be-
ginning of our national life were the
Presbyterians. Made up
largely of the Scotch-Irish immigrants
and their descendants
who had come to the colonies in such
vast numbers during the
eighteenth century, the Presbyterian
Church had grown with
amazing rapidity from almost nothing at
the beginning of the
century to 543 congregations at the time
of independence. Both
the Congregational and Presbyterian
clergy were to a large degree
American born and American trained. The
Presbyterians also
had come through the Revolution with
increased prestige because
of their almost unanimous support of the
cause of independence.
The only minister to sign the
Declaration of Independence was
President John Witherspoon of the
College of New Jersey, the
outstanding Presbyterian leader in the
Nation.
(71)
72
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The Baptists ranked third among American
religious bodies
at the beginning of the national period
of our history with 498
congregations. While most numerous in
Virginia and North
Carolina, where they had grown rapidly
as a result of the great
revivals in those colonies after the
middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury, they were found also in
considerable numbers in Rhode
Island and Pennsylvania and throughout
New England. Generally
speaking, from the standpoint of social
and economic standing,
they represented the more humble class
of people. Fourth in
number of congregations were the
Episcopalians. They had come
through the Revolution with a much
decreased prestige due to the
fact that they were the church nearest to the royal
authority, and
had contained perhaps the largest number
of loyalists. Having
been established by law in six of the
colonies these establishments
in every case were overthrown
immediately with the winning of
independence, while many of their
parishes were vacant, due to the
fact that their great missionary
society, the S.P.G., had suspended
operations in America and the
missionaries had gone back to
England.
These were the major American churches
at the beginning of
American independence. Besides these
there were the Quakers
with 295 Monthly meetings or
congregations; the German and
Dutch Reformed with 251 congregations;
the German Lutherans
with 151; and the Catholics with 50.
There were also congrega-
tions of the German sectaries--the
Mennonites, the Dunkers, the
Schwenkfelders, and the Moravians,
located particularly in Penn-
sylvania, New York and Maryland. The
Methodists were just
beginning to emerge as an independent
religious body and at the
time of independence had barely begun
their organized life in
America.
Such were the organized forces for
religion at the beginning
of our national life.
The greatest accomplishment of America
has been the con-
quest of the continent. At the end of
the colonial era there were
less than three millions of people
scattered along the Eastern
Seaboard, none living a great distance
from salt water, with many
islands of unoccupied territory between.
Within a hundred and
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 73
fifty years from the signing of the
Declaration of Independence
the vast continent had been filled in
with a teeming population of
more than a hundred millions. Great
cities had sprung up along
the interior water-ways and around the
Great Lakes; railroads
and factories and mercantile houses had
come into existence almost
like magic; virgin forests and prairies
had given place to farms
and homesteads, while in every village,
and town and country
crossroads were churches and schools,
and in the cities and larger
towns were to be found colleges and
universities, and great edifices
housing the religious activities of
numerous denominations of
Christian people.
Population began to move west with the
signing of the Peace
of Paris in 1783 which closed the
Revolution. So rapid was this
population movement that within a few
years new states began to
apply for admission to the Union, under
the provisions laid down
in the famous Ordinance of 1778. First
came Vermont in 1791 to
make the fourteenth state; in 1792 Kentucky
was admitted, bring-
ing the number of states to fifteen; in
1796 came Tennessee; by
1803 Ohio had gained sufficient
population to be admitted. The
years preceding the War of 1812
population movement slowed
down, but the very year the war began
Louisiana became the
eighteenth state. Then in rapid
succession, as a result of a vast
surge of population movement, came the
admission of Indiana in
1816; Alabama in 1817; Illinois
in 1818; Mississippi in 1819;
Maine in 1820 and Missouri in 1821. Thus within a
period of
just thirty years eleven new states had
been added to the Union,
bringing the constellation of stars in
the flag to twenty-four.
The greatest task which the American
churches faced during
the latter years of the eighteenth and
the early years of the nine-
teenth centuries, was that of following
this restless and moving
population with the softening influence
of the Christian Gospel.
And those churches which succeeded in
devising the most adequate
means of following population as it
pushed over the Alleghenies
and on into the Ohio and Mississippi
valleys were the religious
bodies destined to become the largest,
and to that extent, the most
influential forces in extending religion
and morality throughout the
new Nation. In the year 1847 Horace
Bushnell preached a sermon
74
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
before the American Home Missionary
Society on the subject,
"Barbarism the First Danger."
There is not space here to set
forth the main points in that able
discourse on the needs of the
West, but the very title itself
summarizes what the author thought
to be the chief dangers arising from the
rapid movement of people
into the vast unoccupied areas of the
continent.
I propose here to sketch briefly the
methods of the major
religious bodies at work in the Nation
as they attempted to meet
the responsibility of trying to make and
keep the restless and raw
American frontier decently Christian.
The Presbyterians
The Presbyterians had, seemingly, the
best opportunity of any
of the American religious bodies of
becoming the largest and most
influential American church. The reason
for this statement is that
the Presbyterians were already living
farther west than any other
religious body in America, at the
opening of the national period.
They were largely Scotch-Irish people,
and as the Scotch-Irish
constituted the last great immigration
movement to America pre-
vious to the American Revolution, they
were compelled to find
their homes on the frontiers of the
colonies. At the opening of the
War for Independence they were to be
found in every one of the
thirteen colonies in sufficient numbers
to make their influence felt.
There were at least five hundred
Scotch-Irish communities in
America at the opening of the
Revolution, located mostly in the
back country. Thus as Theodore Roosevelt
says in his Winning
of the West, "they constituted America's first frontiersmen,
pos-
sessing those qualities--energy,
courage, boldness and intelligence
--which made them ideal pioneers."
If they had any religion at
all they were almost sure to be
Presbyterians.
By 1760 Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
churches were scattered
along the back country from the
"frontiers of New England to the
frontiers of South Carolina" and
Georgia. Ten years before the
Declaration of Independence Presbyterian
preachers began to
itinerate among the settlements of
Western Pennsylvania, and year
by year thereafter we find traces of
these pioneer missionaries
visiting the frontier communities.
Scotch-Irish people probably
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 75
constituted the largest element in the
movement of population
across the Alleghenies at the close of
the Revolution which soon
raised Kentucky and Tennessee to
statehood.
But for reasons that, at this distance
can be easily discerned,
the Presbyterians failed to take full
advantage of the opportunity
which the frontier presented. It is my
purpose here to point out
briefly, first the Presbyterian
technique of frontier procedure and
then to state, what seems to me to have
been their principal
handicaps.
At first settled pastors were urged by
their presbyteries to
preach as often as possible in
communities where there was no
settled ministry. This, at first was
done only on the request of
such communities. Soon, however, the
"duty of sending the gospel
without solicitation to destitute
regions" was felt, and presbyteries,
synods and finally the General Assembly
adopted a more or less
definite missionary policy. Preachers
were sent out on extensive
tours through the new settlements to
learn the needs and to locate
the places where Presbyterian people, or
where people of Presby-
terian background were located. Numerous
accounts of such tours
have come down to us, which give a vivid
impression of the life
and labors of the early frontier
Presbyterian preachers.
The Presbyterians, however, were slow in
forming churches
in the new settlements. Perhaps one of
the chief reasons for this
was the Presbyterian method of the
congregation extending a call
to the minister. To carry out this
system there must be congrega-
tions. But of course, in the early West
there were no congrega-
tions, hence no calls. For instance it
was more than ten years from
the first visit of Presbyterian
ministers to southwestern Pennsyl-
vania to the forming of the first
congregations and the calling of
the first settled minister in the
region.
Another handicap experienced by the
Presbyterians in their
impact on the frontier was their
insistence that the ministry be
kept at a high educational level.
Practically all of the first
pioneer preachers west of the
Alleglenies were college graduates,
and as the need for ministers on the
frontier became increasingly
large, it was impossible to supply these
needs with college-trained
men. When the Cumberland Presbytery in
southern Kentucky
76
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
attempted to meet this situation by
licensing men who could not
meet the high educational requirements
of the church, the Synod
took action, suspended the Presbytery
and finally disbanded it.
Out of the controversy which arose
because of this action finally
emerged the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church.
A third handicap which frontier
Presbyterianism met in at-
tempting to deal with the peculiar needs
of the time was the
rigidity of its creed and polity. Thus
it was soon found that when
such a rigid system as that of
Presbyterianism tried to accom-
modate itself to new needs and to meet
new problems, instead of
bending, it broke, just as non-elastic
things generally do. The
Presbyterians also labored under a
superiority complex and their
ministers instead of searching out
destitute communities of any
sort, tended to concentrate on those
communities where Presby-
terian people were to be found. In other
words they went out
hunting Presbyterians, and were not so
greatly concerned about
making Presbyterians out of the raw
human materials which the
frontier furnished in such abundance.
In this connection mention should be
made of the operations
of the Plan of Union, an agreement with
the Congregationalists,
made in 1801, by which Presbyterians and
Congregationalists were
to work together on the frontier. During
the first thirty years of
the last century the Congregationalists
were little concerned about
perpetuating Congregationalism in the
West and were seemingly
willing to be absorbed by the
Presbyterians outside New England.
Such organizations as the American Home
Missionary Society and
even the Connecticut Missionary Society,
though supported by
New England Congregationalists, were
working in the West to
form Presbyterian churches. The result
was that during these
years thousands of Congregational people
moving west became
Presbyterians, leaving Congregationalism
permanently weak in the
Middle West.
Perhaps another reason why the
Presbyterians were not as
successful in winning members on the
frontier as were the Baptists
and Methodists was because most of the
early Presbyterian
ministers in the West were also
school-teachers. Being college
graduates quite naturally they would be
asked to conduct schools.
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL PROCEEDINGS 77
This, of course, occupied much of their
time. And it is a signifi-
cant fact that most of the first
colleges founded in the West as
well as several of the early state
institutions were established by
Presbyterian ministers.
The Baptists and the Frontier
The methods developed by the Baptists in
meeting frontier
needs differ greatly from the
Presbyterians, and from the stand-
point of winning members, were far more
effective.
During the period of the Great Colonial
Revivals the Baptists
had developed an uneducated and
unsalaried ministry, which was
found to be particularly adapted to
frontier needs. The Anglican
clergy in Virginia and Maryland were
both well trained and well
paid, but had the reputation of having
little concern for the
spiritual welfare of the people under
their care. Baptist antipathy
towards the Established Church was
undoubtedly one of the rea-
sons for the development of this type of
ministry. To pay or to
educate a minister came to be considered
among them as more or
less sure to destroy vital religion.
The average Baptist preacher, therefore,
of the latter eighteenth
century was just an ordinary American
farmer who, like St. Paul,
made his own living and gave what time
he could to the preaching
of the Gospel. They might be well
characterized as farmer-
preachers. It was this type of ministry
that took the Baptist
gospel into the back-woods communities
of Virginia and the
Carolinas during the latter part of the
colonial period, and this
same type of ministry furnished the
pioneers in spreading the
Baptist gospel as population began to
push cross the Alleghenies
into the great new West.
The Baptists had much, especially in
their type of church
government, which would tend to make a
large appeal to the people
of the frontier. Their church government
was a pure democracy,
in which every member had an equal
chance to express his views.
To such a degree was democracy carried
in some of the frontier
churches that even slave members were
given the privilege of
voting in church matters, as were also
the female members. Their
preachers came from among the people
themselves and since they
78
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
were largely self-supporting they would
be as much attracted to
the better land and the freer air of the
West as were the people
to whom they preached. As Theodore
Roosevelt states in his
Winning of the West (Vol. III, p. 101), "The Baptist preachers
lived and worked exactly as did their
flock; their dwellings were
little cabins with dirt floors, and
instead of bedsteads, skin-covered
pole bunks; they cleared the ground,
split rails, planted corn, and
raised hogs on equal terms with their
parishioners." Thus the
Baptists were particularly well suited
in their ideas of govern-
ment, in their economic status, and in
their form of church
government to become the ideal western
immigrant church.
The very looseness of Baptist
organization made it easy for
them to follow population westward. In
any large body of settlers
moving over the mountains during the
latter years of the eighteenth
and the early years of the nineteenth
centuries from Virginia and
the Carolinas, there was sure to be
among them not only Baptist
people, but Baptist farmer-preachers as
well. Let us look at one
of the companies of Virginia immigrants
as they make their way
over the mountains in the years
immediately following the winning
of Independence.
They left their Virginia home the very
year the Revolution
closed and took the long painful way
over the mountains. They
finally settled in Woodford County in
Kentucky, on Clear Creek,
and soon a relatively large number of
cabin homes sprang up about
them. Among the settlers moving in were
several farmer-preachers'
families, and it was not long until
religious meetings were being
held in the cabins. Out of this came a
religious awakening in the
neighborhood and finally a church
organization.
The process of forming a Baptist church
on the frontier was
a relatively simple matter. There were
no high church officials to
consult; no bishops or presbyteries,
synods, or conferences to
be called in for advice. If a Baptist church was wanted,
there were in every community, all the
elements present to form
it. Nor was there expense involved. The
minister was unsalaried;
ground for a church building would be
donated and the neighbors,
whether Baptist or non-Baptist would be
more than glad to donate
their services in the erection of a log
meeting-house. Thus the
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL PROCEEDINGS 79
Baptist churches in the early West
sprang out of the soil of the
frontier.
In the formation of the Clear Creek
Church in Woodford
County, Kentucky, in the year 1785, the
people gathered together,
drew up a covenant and articles of
faith; elected the deacons and
then proceeded to choose a minister by
popular vote. The vote
favored John Taylor, although he was
among the youngest of the
five farmer-preachers who were members
of the church. And this
process was followed in hundreds of
communities throughout the
West, the Baptists most often being the
first religious organization
to appear in a new community.
Of course the Baptist farmer-preacher
had little time to give
to the preparation of his sermons, for
he had his farm to tend,
and he prepared for his Sunday
ministrations as he followed
the plow, or split rails in the forest.
John Taylor in his History of
Ten Churches tells of one day's work in which he set up, single-
handed, a hundred panels of rail fence
six rails high, the rails being
eleven feet long, and they had to be
carried from where they had
been split. During the course of his
long career in Kentucky he
and his sons and slaves cleared more
than four hundred acres of
heavily timbered land. I have found very
few Baptist sermons in
manuscript in my search for materials
dealing with frontier
religion. The simple fact is that the
farmer-preacher did not pre-
pare his sermons by writing. Rather he
went on the theory that
all that was needed was that he should
open his mouth and the
Lord would fill it.
A good example of the Baptist
farmer-preacher is James
Lemen, the founder of the first Baptist
church in Illinois. Like
most frontier farmers he made his own
harness. The horse collars
were of straw or corn husks, plaited
together. Once being engaged
in breaking a piece of stubble ground
and having stopped for
dinner, he left the harness on the beam
of the plough. His son,
who was employed with a pitch fork to
clear the plough of the
accumulating stubble, stayed behind and
hid one of the horse col-
lars in order that there might be a
longer period of rest while
his father braided another. But Lemen
returning and missing the
collar mused a few moments, and then,
much to the disappoint-
80
OHIO ARCHA EOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ment of his son, pulled off his leather
breeches, stuffed the legs
with straw, threw the legs over the
horse's neck, placed the
hames over the stuffed breeches' legs
and went on plowing for
the remainder of the day. Such ingenuity
was characteristic of
the frontiersmen generally, and the
frontier preachers were no
exception.
Both the Disciples, or the Christians,
and the Universalists
were protest movements in the West. They
arose as a reaction
against the over-emotionalized
revivalism found particularly among
the Baptists and Methodists and to a
limited degree among the
Presbyterians. Both emphasized the
simple acceptance of the Gos-
pel and repudiated the necessity for a
miraculous conversion. Both
used the farmer-preacher technique and
both possessed the con-
gregational form of church polity, which
was particularly accept-
able in the democratic atmosphere of the
West.
The Methodists
At the opening of the national period
the Methodists were
the smallest of the religious bodies in
America having less than
I5,000 members when the Methodist
Episcopal Church became
an independent ecclesiastical body in
1784. But the Methodists
had the advantage of having as their
spiritual father a born or-
ganizer--John Wesley--and was the first
American religious body
to achieve a national organization. Thus
from the very beginning
they looked upon the new Nation as a
whole, and conceived of
their task in national terms.
Another advantage, from the standpoint
of equipping Meth-
odists for their national task, was the
circuit system. Devised by
John Wesley in England, it was brought
to America by Francis
Asbury and his fellow laborers, and was found
admirably suited
to meet the conditions and needs of a
new country, where people
were living in scattered communities and
where distances were
great. Thus one circuit-rider was able
to bring the softening in-
fluences of the Christian Gospel into
many communities, for the
average circuit in the early West
covered a region often as large
as a present day Methodist conference.
The circuit-rider preached
every day in the week, except on
Monday--that day he rested
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 81
from his extra labors over the Sabbath.
His preaching places
often numbered from twenty-five to
thirty. The nucleus of Meth-
odist organization was the class-meeting
presided over by the class-
leader whose duty it was to inquire into
the spiritual welfare of
each member of his class, at least once
a week. And out of these
classes sprang Methodist church
organizations as the frontier com-
munities increased in population and
frontier life became settled
and orderly.
In addition to the circuit-rider, who
gave his full time to the
ministry, the Methodists also had their
farmer-preachers, like the
Baptists and the Disciples, termed local
preachers in Methodist
parlance. In fact the Methodist gospel in
many instances was
first brought to numerous communities,
not by the regular circuit-
riders, but rather through the zeal of
some farmer-preacher. But
the circuit-rider was almost
omnipresent. So closely did he keep
pace with the westward march of
population that often he arrived
on the scene before the mud in the stick
chimney of a settler's
cabin was dry or the roof poles were in
place.
Unlike the Presbyterians, the Methodists
had the advantage
of an elastic system of church polity.
Both Presbyterians and
Baptists believed that their systems of
polity were prescribed in
Scriptures. The Methodists accepted
Wesley's position that the
Scriptures prescribed no form of church
government, but that the
episcopal was the best form and was not
contrary to Scripture.
Thus as needs arose the Methodists were
able to modify their
church government to meet frontier
needs. Among Presbyterians,
when such attempts were made,
controversy and division resulted.
It is an interesting fact that the
Presbyterians have furnished the
most numerous as well as the most famous
heresy trials.
It has been suggested that the
Presbyterians, Congregational-
ists, and Baptists had an aristocratic
theology, but democratic
forms of church government. The
Methodists, on the other hand,
possessed an autocratic form of church
government, but preached
a democratic gospel. And it may seem
rather strange that the
Methodists, with their highly
centralized and autocratic system
of church government, should have
succeeded so well in the highly
individualistic and democratic society
of the West. In a sense it
82
OHIO ARCH EOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
succeeded because Bishop Asbury was an
autocrat. He had the
authority to send men where he pleased.
But he was no autocrat
who exercised his authority from a
comfortable seat east of the
Alleghenies. He traveled more
continuously than any of his cir-
cuit-preachers. He never had a home; and his salary was no
more than that of the humblest
circuit-rider. In fact he was a
strange combination of democracy and
autocracy--democratic in
his life, autocratic in his rule.
Methodist theology was ideally suited to
make an effective
appeal to the democratic society of the
frontier. It was the gospel
of free grace, free-will and individual
responsibility to God. To
the average frontiersman the Calvinistic
gospel of limited grace
and election seemed entirely out of
harmony with what he saw
all about him. As he looked about he saw
no indication of a
favored group--the Elect. Everyone was
living in log houses, and
all were engaged in working out their
temporal salvation through
their own efforts. Why should their
souls' salvation be on any
different basis? It is not strange that
frontier conditions were
responsible for modifications of strict
Calvinism, and that the
Presbyterians suffered the most numerous
and severe schisms. The
Episcopalians, handicapped by the
weakened condition in which
they were left by the Revolution, did
not inaugurate a frontier
missionary policy until 1835, when
Bishop Jackson Kemfer be-
came the first missionary bishop for the
West.
The Catholics established their first
diocese west of the Alle-
ghenies in 1808 at Bardstown, Kentucky,
but they did not con-
stitute a numerous body in the West
until the new German and
Irish immigration brought a greatly
increased Catholic constitu-
ency into the country.
There is much that is amusing, if not
particularly enlighten-
ing, in the frontier religious
controversies which were common
enough in the early West. Methodists and
Presbyterians had many
a debate over the doctrine of election
and predestination. Once
Peter Cartwright was dining with some
Presbyterian ministers
and the argument for and against
predestination began. Turning
to the Presbyterian minister next to him
Cartwright asked, "Do
you think it predestined that you should
eat that particular piece
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 83
of meat on the end of your
fork?" The Presbyterian solemnly
declared in the affirmative. At that
Cartwright suddenly grabbed
the piece of meat and ate it himself,
thus defeating the divine
decree.
Presbyterians and Methodists often
locked horns with Baptists
on the question of baptism. But whenever
a Universalist ap-
peared, Presbyterians, Baptists and
Methodists presented a united
front. Hell-fire and endless punishment
were too essential a part
of their revivalistic gospel for them to
allow its disparagement on
the part of the upstart Universalists.
While each of the great
frontier religious bodies had its own
peculiar major emphasis, and
each developed its own techniques in
meeting frontier needs, yet
in their total impact there was far more
unanimity than has been
generally realized. The early
camp-meetings were interdenomina-
tional affairs, where Presbyterians,
Baptists and Methodists co-
operated. The different churches in
their days of frontier poverty
often shared the same meeting-house;
frequently they gladly
loaned their churches to other bodies.
It is easy to criticize these frontier
religious bodies and their
leadership. Doubtless both left much to
be desired; but they per-
formed a type of service which could not
have been rendered by
any other human agencies in that time of
dire need.
ADDRESS AT FORT MEIGS
By W. J. CAMERON
The best proof a nation can give that it
is growing
up is a
lively interest in its history. From the
records of what they have
done, a people can form an estimate of
what they are, and from
that they may draw an augury of their
future. Not only does his-
tory recall the past, it also explains
the present. This pilgrimage, to
scenes immortalized in early
northwestern history, arranged by the
historical societies in Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan and Ontario, is more
than a pilgrimage of interest. Of
course, there is the element of
interest--these scenes are replete with
glamorous and thrilling
romance. We are standing on the site of
a famous fort named
for a gallant governor of Ohio. Great
men have passed this way
--Tecumseh, most masterful of Indian
statesmen; William Henry
Harrison, hero of what was then the
"Gateway to the West."
General Hull passed this way hopefully
north, and came this way
south again to he court-martialed after
his woeful disaster. One
hundred and twenty-seven years ago the
region hereabouts was
rich in names which still are borne by
men in the higher ranks of
the United States Army. Here passed the
Kentuckians to their
massacre at Monroe. Around this place
were enacted all degrees
of heroism and incompetence, loyalty and
treason, privation and
suffering and triumph--for the place
where we stand was once the
key to the northwest frontier. If it
were only the color and ex-
citement and interest of history we
seek, we should find plenty of
it here.
But there is something far more valuable
and rewarding
than that. There is here also the lesson
our Country is always
being taught and never quite learns,
that it is one thing to win
a national or social blessing, and
another thing to have and hold
it. Our fathers wrote the Declaration of
their Independence, but
it did not make them independent; they
had to fight for seven
(84)
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 85
years to win a bare acknowledgment of
independence from their
former rulers. Yet even then our fathers
found they were not
really free of Europe--just as we
discover today that we are not
independent of Europe and probably never
shall be until Europe
declares her own independence of age-old
errors. So, while the
War of the American Revolution was called
the War of Inde-
pendence, it really was not that, for if
it had been, the War of
1812,
which this pilgrimage is celebrating, need never have been
fought. It is one thing to declare one's
independence, and an-
other things to win it, and still
another thing to have and hold it.
The young American Republic found that
out. Europe was
then as now, in flames. Europe was
dominated by a dictator--
Napoleon the Great. He had thrown the
nations into war and
had subjugated them one after anothler.
To embarrass his enemy,
Britain (all the dictators honor Britain
by making her their
enemy), Napoleon truckled with our young
inexperienced Repub-
lic, made her many promises, broke them
all and deceived her.
On the other hand, British seamen were
deserting from British
ships for the more humane working
conditions aboard American
merchantmen, and Britain was seizing
those deserters even though
she found them on American ships;
sometimes seizing even Ameri-
can sailors too, by intention or
mistake, and impressing them into
British service. That was a flagrant
violation of sovereignty, and
any nation that submitted to it was not
independent. President
Thomas Jefferson submitted to it for a
long time. Britain and
Napoleon were at war and America claimed
the right as a neutral
to ship goods by sea and sell them to
Napoleon or anyone else.
Both France and Britain claimed the
right to seize any ship of
ours bearing goods to the enemy of
either. And because Britain
had a navy and could enforce this on the
sea, and Napoleon could
not, we declared war on Britain. It
might just as well have been
a war on France. Jefferson had seen it
coming and avoided it.
Madison, his successor, went in for war
to impress the world that
we were not only independent on paper,
but that we meant to be
independent in fact. And Madison's
secretary of state, James
Monroe, when he became President,
announced the Monroe Doc-
trine which proclaimed that ALL the
Americas were in fact in-
86
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
dependent of European domination. So
that is one thing we think
about today: we wrote our Declaration of
Independence; we
fought a Revolutionary War of seven
years to win international
acknowledgment of our independence; but 29
years later we had
to fight for three years more in the War
of 1812 to make our
Independence actual. We only have what
we can hold.
It is no exaggeration to say that with
no army, no officers,
no sufficient money from taxes,
practically no navy at the begin-
ning of the war, and with the more
important half of the popu-
lation opposed to the war, this little
country gave a pretty good
account of herself. Some terribly hard
times were seen around
here. American trade fell off 85%.
Prices rose to incredible
levels. There was wide-spread grumbling
and threats of seces-
sion--it was the North that talked of
secession then--but our
people stuck it through and it was
Britain that made the first
proposal to quit. Every schoolboy knows
that Andrew Jackson,
unaware that peace was signed, won a
famous battle at New
Orleans. And every schoolboy knows that
Commodore Perry
made naval history on Lake Erie yonder,
as Commodore Mc-
Donough did on Lake Champlain.
It is interesting to count what we have now
as a result of
that struggle. How much of it remains
today? Well, for one
thing, we have our independence which no
one has tried to
tamper with since. And we have a song,
"The Star Spangled
Banner"--that was given us
by the War of 1812. During that
war Dr. William Beanes was captured by
the British, and Francis
Scott Key, a friend of his, secured
permission from President
Madison to go to the British fleet under
a flag of truce to see if
he could secure the doctor's release. He
was well received aboard
a British man-of-war and Dr. Beanes'
release was arranged for,
but they were not permitted to leave at
once because the British
fleet was about to attack the American
Ft. McHenry. All that night
Key and the doctor stood on the deck of
a British man-of-war
watching the shells fired from the fleet
and exploding in the fort.
Imagine their feelings--standing as
spectators on an enemy ship
that was bombarding their own city.
Francis Scott Key saw "the
rocket's red glare," he saw "the
bombs bursting in air"--and then
MAUMEE VALLEY HISTORICAL
PROCEEDINGS 87
came a period of awful suspense. The
firing ceased. For aught Key
knew, the fort had surrendered, which
meant the British would
take Baltimore. After anxious hours
"by the dawn's early light"
he saw "that our Flag was
still there," and on the deck of that
British man-of-war he took paper from
his pocket and
jotted down clauses and phrases and
lines of the song. During
the day, he and the doctor were put
ashore. That night in a hotel
Key wrote our national anthem as we have
it today. That is one
thing the War of 1812 yielded.
And it gave us the "White
House." When the British cap-
tured Washington and burned the public
buildings, the President's
House or Executive Mansion as it was
variously called, was so
blackened by flames, that afterward it
was painted white--and
now we call it the White House. That war
also gave fame to the
frigate Constitution-"Old Ironsides." Probably you have seen
her in Boston harbor, a ship that for
her time did naval exploits
that never were surpassed. That war gave
us Andrew Jackson--
"Old Hickory." It gave us
Commodore Perry--"we have met
the enemy and they are ours." It
gave us the Monroe Doctrine,
a boundary that European despotic ideas
have never even tried
to cross until recently. It began the
establishment of the rights
of neutral nations. It gave the world a
healthy respect for the
determination of the American character.
And, more than any-
thing else, it united the American
people themselves in their first
true confidence in the worth and
survivability of the American
System. These we may claim as results of
the American Revolu-
tion consolidated by the War of 1812. We
think of them as we
stand here today.
They tell us that when Ft. Meigs had
served its purpose and
peace had settled on this region, the
people who lived here took
the timbers of the fort and built their
houses. The tools of
turmoil were used for the service of
tranquility. They could
do that because their war had not
scattered seeds for another war.
Their war had only peace as its fruitage. If you look over
our
history you will see that the wars of
this country were of that
character. We have not robbed other
peoples of their territory,
their wealth, or their way of life.
Instead of breeding enmity,
88
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
we have tried to assuage it. That cannot
be said of any European
war in the last 70 years--every one of
them left fuel for later
wars. Our Revolution left no embers that
could kindle another
fire; the War of 1812 left no seeds of
strife; the Civil War
sowed no dragon's teeth of future
bloodshed; nor did the Spanish-
American War. And so today, even in
celebrating the martial
events that occurred here a century and
a quarter ago, the only
aftermath the history records is that of
peace. We are at peace
with ourselves, we are peaceable in our
intention toward the
world. We won that condition; it will be
ours as long as we
keep it. And, in order to keep it,
strength is not enough--we
must be just as well as strong. We must
be prouder of our
fairness than of our power, and be ashamed
of power that is
unfair. No American that uses the brains
God gave him will
ever try to fasten upon his country
the errors that brought
Europe to ruin.
It is a very great thing to be able to
say in this age of the
world, "I am an American
citizen." It means so many things
that we wish all the people in the world
could have. We have a
land, rich beyond compare in all the
requisites of economic inde-
pendence. We have a flag. Look at that
flag--it is one banner
that never protected robbery and rapine,
it is one banner before
which women and children never have fled
in terror. We have a
Constitution, by which we rule
when we will, a Constitution that
forbids any to rule over us. This is one
country where liberty is
not a grant wrested from the
government--it is the original and
indefeasible possession of a people. Our
Constitution is not a
law written by a government for a people
to obey, but a law
written by a people for their government
to obey. No form of
political liberty in the world has a
history like that.
These are the treasures of our
citizenship. These are the
crown jewels of our Nation. We will not
part with them. We
will not be tricked out of them. We will
not sell or exchange
them for rainbow promises. We will
preserve them for our-
selves and for our children; and our
children will preserve them
for their children to remote
generations, until all oppressed peo-
ples. we trust, will light their torches
from this torch, and so
enlighten the world.
OHIO'S HISTORY IN THE PLACE OF OUR
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Abstract of an Address by HON. JOHN
W. BRICKER
Governor John W. Bricker, in an
excellent address, which
unfortunately had not been reduced to a
manuscript, closed the
program of the Convention. It brought
out the great historical
significance of the Maumee Valley in
relation to the United
States. He said that few events in our
American history had more
effect upon the country's welfare than
the defense of Fort Meigs,
and that out of events today may come a
greater determination to
make a better world.
"Ohio," he said, "is
noted in human events. Here traversed
the Indians, the French, and the
English. Ohio has been the key
to the development of America. Here, two
hundred years before
Fort Meigs was built, came the Algonquin
tribes who rose up in
defense of the territory. Champlain and
LaSalle saw that those
who controlled the Maumee controlled the
Northwest; and this
battlefield was the key to that control
and to the expansion on the
Pacific Coast. During the Civil War this
territory was a tower
of strength to the Union. Fort Meigs,
Fort Stephenson with
'Old Betsy' should be inspirations to
us."
Governor Bricker referred to the
celebrations of peace which
he had attended. One celebrated the
settlement of the "war"
between Michigan and Ohio, which gave
the Toledo district to
Ohio and the Upper Peninsula with its
iron to Michigan. Another
was in Canada where the "Old Boys
Day" was celebrated, with
the Stars and Stripes displayed beside
the Union Jack in com-
memoration of peace between the two
countries.
"I have wondered why Canada and the
United States can live
together in such peace that on our
borders are no protecting forts,"
said the Governor. "Is it not our
respect for constitutional rights?
Is it not the spirit of friendship and
of liberty? Such are the
(89)
90
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
forces that bind together our one
hundred and thirty million people
and the people of Canada.
"These are things worth living for,
worth paying for in
taxes, worth fighting for and, if God
wills, worth dying for."
The Governor described vividly a meeting
which he attended
in Cleveland celebrating the American
citizenship of 3,000 aliens
who sought this for their home and who,
unlike those in their
native lands, have no thought of wiping
out one another.
The Governor also said that some time
ago he was on the bat-
tlefield of Yorktown, Virginia,
attending the one hundred fiftieth
anniversary celebration of the surrender
of Charles Cornwallis.
He depicted the pageant which told the
story. First came a man
on a white horse, representing George
Washington. With him
were the old Colonials. Then came his
French allies. Then with
muffled drums came plodding the
surrendering British. And,
finally, he depicted the passing of
Cornwallis' sword to Wash-
ington.
As he watched the pageant, a horse broke
loose and ran from
the field. At first, the Governor
wondered whether it was a
runaway or a part of the pageant.
"Don't you know?" asked a
lady near-by. "That is Mad Anthony
Wayne carrying the news
of Yorktown's surrender to Williamsburg
and hence to the whole
world." And Governor Bricker's
audience thought of Fallen
Timbers across the Maumee River where
Wayne in 1794 had
wrested this Northwest from the Indians
and the British.
"The old Greeks," said
Governor Bricker, "used to declare
that no democracy could exist beyond the
human voice. And
with them democracy was limited to about
the twenty thousand
people who could be reached by such
orators as Demosthenes.
But that day at Yorktown the President
of the United States
spoke not merely to the 150,000 people
gathered there to witness
the pageant, but to the whole United
States. The boundary of
twenty thousand which held the old Greek
democracies did not
exist for ours."
MAUMEE VALLEY TRAVEL
TOUR
By MAUMEE VALLEY
INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL CONVENTION
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
0.00 Commodore Perry Hotel, Toledo, 106.9
Superior Street
entrance. South 1/2 block to
Monroe Street. Turn
right (W) 2 blocks to
Erie Street. Turn left
(S. on Erie Street)
5 blocks across Swan
Creek to Anthony
Wayne Memorial Trail.
0.9 Anthony Wayne Memorial Trail. 106.0
Turn right on Anthony
Wayne Memorial
Trail which is a new
super-highway con-
structed upon the bed
of the old historic
Miami & Erie
Canal. This canal was con-
structed around 1845,
operated until about 1909.
The same was purchased
by the city of To-
ledo from the State of
Ohio in 1923, drained
of its water in 1929
and for the last 11 years,
the super-highway over
which you will travel
has been in the course
of construction. Ap-
proximately 16 miles
is in this program. Drive
over this
super-highway to Detroit Avenue.
6.6 Detroit Avenue. 100.3
Turn left on Detroit
Avenue (S. E.) to
River road.
7.3 River Road 99.6
Turn right on River
Road to Fort Miami.
7.6 Fort Miami 99.3
At this point, drive
700 feet southeast. You
will then be upon the
original enclosure of
Fort Miami. There is a
question as to the
veracity of the
following information regard-
ing the fort. It was
supposedly erected in
1680, the oldest
fortified trading post in the
mid-West. Here flew
the flags of France in
1680, Great Britain in
1760 and the United
States in 1796. It is
known that Commodore
(91)
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
Grant reported that
he built a temporary
stockade here and
left ten men to hold it
against one hundred.
It was reoccupied and
rebuilt by the
British in 1793 and held until
1796 at which time
(July 11) it was turned
over to the
Americans. After Wayne's victory
at the Battle of
Fallen Timbers, August 20,
1794, he drove the
enemy to within 80 yards
of the gates of this
fort. It was here that
the survivors of
Colonel Dudley's forces who
had been ambushed by
the Indians during the
first siege of Fort
Meigs in May, 1813, were
compelled to run
the gauntlet and were
brutally tomahawked
in sight of General
Proctor, until
Tecumseh, the great Indian
chief, compelled the
Indians to stop their
slaughter. Now follow
the River Road south-
erly to
8.8 Dudley's Massacre 98.1
On the right, now
used as the library grounds,
is the location where
on May 5, 1813, Colonel
Dudley's troops
spiked the British artillery
besieging Fort Meigs,
but in the enthusiasm
of victory, they were
led into an ambush where
over 600 were lost.
9.4 Fort Meigs 97.5
If you continue
southerly to the main inter-
section in Maumee at
Conant Street, you can
temporarily turn left
across the river if you
so desire and see
Fort Meigs. It can be seen
from this point, or
from
9.6 Intersection of Allen Street 97.3
Fort Meigs is the
location of the last meeting
of the Convention
held Sunday afternoon, Sep-
tember 29th.
In the early part of
1813, General Harrison
reported to Governor
Meigs that he was erect-
ing a very strong
fort capable of resisting
field artillery at
the foot of the Miami Rapids.
On this site a fort
was constructed and called
"Fort
Meigs." This fort was besieged on two
MAUMEE VALLEY TRAVEL
TOUR 93
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
different occasions
for long periods by the
British. During
1813, General Clay sent
Colonel Dudley with
866 men to relieve this
fort. Colonel Dudley's
men spiked the guns
of the British which
were placed on the north-
erly bank of the
Maumee, south of the pres-
ent Fort Miami, and
then, as mentioned above,
a large portion of
Colonel Dudley's men were
destroyed. A large
number of Pennsylvania
and Kentucky troops
were buried on this site.
10.4 Side Cut Park 96.5
At the right, you see
a park developed by the
Toledo Metropolitan
Park Board and the
original Miami and
Erie Canal Lock No. 3.
The locks at this point
are the only existing
locks of the old Miami
and Erie Canal in
Lucas County. Walking
back up through the
park for 300 feet, you
will have a beautiful
view of the valley and
the other locks which
are above No. 3. From
the top of the hill
looking southwesterly
on your right across
the valley, is the
area on which the Battle of
Fallen Timbers was
fought.
11.6 Battle of Fallen Timbers 95.3
Low lands to the right
were originally forested
but most of the trees
were blown down by
storms before 1790. It
is the area where on
August 20, 1794,
General Anthony Wayne
fought the Battle of
Fallen Timbers success-
fully.
12.2 Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument 94.7
The road to the right
will take you to the top
of a hill where a
monument has been con-
structed in
commemoration of the Battle of
Fallen Timbers.
12.5 Hull's Crossing 94.4
On your left is a
point where Hull crossed the
Maumee River in his
historic march.
12.5 Turkey Foot Rock 94.4
The rock enclosed by a
chain on your right, is
supposedly the rock on
which Chief Turkey
94 OHIO ARCH
EOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
Foot stood and
exhorted his men to oppose
General
Anthony Wayne during the Battle of
Fallen
Timbers. The rock is not in its original
location but
has been placed at this spot by
the State of
Ohio.
14.7 Entrance to Waterville 92.2
On your right
at the top of the hill, is the old
Miami and Erie
Canal.
15.5 Village of Waterville, Ohio 91.4
16.6 Fort Deposit 90.3
On your right
near the top of the hill, is con-
sidered the
place where Anthony Wayne on
August 18,
1794, left his supplies and built
temporary Fort
Deposit. Some, however,
claim the
location is just south of the low
ground in that
area now used by the stone
quarry.
16.7 Roche de Boeuf 90.2
The rock on
your left in the river, a portion
of which has
been used to construct the rail-
road bridge
across the Maumee River, was
named
"Roche de Boeuf" by the French. It
is a spot that
was used considerably by Indians
and other
groups for meeting places and coun-
cils as it was
easily protected and any ap-
proach by an
enemy could be watched. It is
claimed that
one tribe of Indians during an
argument among
themselves, pushed dozens of
their members
from said rock into the rapids
below where
they were drowned or killed by
the impact.
17.1-18.1 On
your left through this area, the old Miami and
89.8-88.8
Erie Canal has
been filled in and shelter
houses and
parks have been constructed for
the use of the
public by the Toledo Metropoli-
tan Park
Board.
19.6 Bend View Park 87.3
The tow path
of the old canal can be seen
at your left
below. This point gives a fine
view of the
Maumee Valley.
MAUMEE VALLEY
TRAVEL TOUR 95
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
25.1 Grand Rapids 81.8
At this point
you can cross the river to enter
the village of
Grand Rapids.
25.4 This field has never been plowed and
across the 81.5
very small
gully on your right, the path at
this point is
claimed to be a portion of the
original trail
of Anthony Wayne; said path
being made by
the footsteps of his army.
26.0 Providence Park 80.9
At this point,
a retaining dam was built during
the
construction of the original canal. It was
rebuilt in
1908. The old canal can be seen at
this point
together with a mill which is one
of the oldest
in this part of the country and
operated by
water from the canal. The old
canal entrance
into the river appears at this
point. Another
canal is constructed on the
opposite side
of the river to carry down water
through Grand
Rapids for mills located below
the town.
26.2 On your left originally was old historic
"Provi- 80.7
dence
Town" which was wiped out by an
epidemic. When
in existence, it was used as
a stopping
point both by the early settlers and
those using the
canal.
26.7 On your left is a slack water pool or
lake created 80.2
in the Maumee
River by the canal dam.
27.7-28.2 On
your left the locks show where the canal en-
79.2-78.7
tered into the
slackwater pool. You are now
driving along
the old canal. The road is
partly built
upon the canal in this area.
28.2-29.9 You are now driving entirely upon the old
Miami 78.7-77.0
and Erie Canal.
29.2 You are driving on the old
turning basin. 77.7
30.2 Small monument on your
left indicates Section 76.7
No. 53,
Wheeling & Lake Erie Canal, com-
pleted in 1842
by James Durbin.
30.4 Texas. This is an old canal town used
for stop- 76.5
overs.
30.8-32.3 The
old canal can be seen on your left, partially
76.1-74.6
filled in.
96 OHIO ARCH
EOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
32.3-33.7 You
are now driving on the old canal.
33.7 Damascus Bridge. 73.2
Damascus
Bridge is on your left. At its en-
trance was
the original old "Damascus Town."
40.6 Napoleon, Ohio 66.3
Follow
through on U. S. 24.
43.1 Wayne's Park Camp 64.8
At this
point, Anthony Wayne camped on
August 16,
1794.
41.5-54.2 The
canal is on your left the entire distance to
65.4-52.7
Independence
Dam. The water has been re-
tained in the
original canal for posterity by
the Defiance
County Park Board and the State
of Ohio.
43.3 On your left, an old canal turning basin
was con- 63.6
structed.
45.5 Girty's Island 61.4
On the left
you will see an island named after
the Girty
Brothers: Simon, James and George.
It is said
that the Girtys lived on this island
and that
James Girty conducted a trading post
at this
point. All three men were traitors to
their race,
were called renegades and deserted
civilization
to dwell among the savages. Simon
was the worst
of the three and a man of ac-
tion. He met
with the Indians in their coun-
cils and was
listened to. He was present at
the burning
of Colonel William Crawford
near Carey in
1792.
47.5 On your left is a dam built in 1933 to
hold the 59.4
water for the
next 6.7 miles of the canal,
which is
standing in its original condition.
48.8 Florida. Old stop-over
canal town. 58.1
51.4 Wa-pa-maw-qua Defiance
State Park 55.5
This name
means White Loon. He was the
son of a
Mohawk chief and an Iroquois
medicine
woman near here. He was a kindly
captor of a
white boy named Oliver H. Spen-
cer (1792).
Later, Oliver Spencer was a
leading
citizen of Cincinnati.
MAUMEE VALLEY
TRAVEL TOUR 97
From
From Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
52.3 Was-o-hah-con-die Defiance State Park 54.6
This is the
original Wyandot name for
Maumee River.
52.8 Buck-hon-ge-las Defiance State Park 54.1
Buck-hon-ge-las,
after which this park was
named, was
the head chief of the Delawares.
He was a very
active leader in Maumee war-
fare but
acquiesced in the result of Wayne's
victory and
counseled friendship with the
Americans.
54.2 Independence Dam 52.7
This dam was
used to back the waters of the
Maumee in the
development of the Miami and
Erie Canal.
This feeder dam was constructed
in 1843 of
stone-filled cribs, 763 feet long and
9 feet high and
was rebuilt and raised to 10
feet in
height in 1924. Independence Lock
No. 21 at
this point was built in 1842 and is
the only lock
now in existence in the State
of Ohio that
is in operating condition.
55.2 Independence, Ohio 51.7
57.9 Monument to Chief Coohcooche 49.0
Here was
located a mineral spring in 1790.
It was also
the birthplace of the Ottawa chief,
Shabonee
(1775) and the lodge of the Shaw-
nee chief,
Blue Jacket (1792). It was the
Winchester
Camp No. 1 in 1812.
58.2 Monument to Johnny Appleseed 48.7
On your left,
100 yards past the Defiance city
limits, was
an apple tree which is claimed to
have been a
sprout from an original apple tree
planted by
John Chapman, known as "Johnny
Appleseed."
58.2 Left, across the river on the point is
old Fort 48.7
Defiance;
later enlarged and named "Fort
Winchester."
58.4 On the left and 200 yards inside the
city, is a 48.5
monument
locating Pontiac's birthplace. Here
in 1712 was
born the great Indian chief who
incited
"Pontiac's Conspiracy." He federated
the tribes
and with the aid of the French,
98 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
From
From
Toledo Fort
Wayne
Miles Miles
threatened
British supremacy. Pontiac was
killed
in Illinois in 1769.
58.4 Junction of the Auglaize
and Maumee rivers 48.5
58.6 Turn left to cross the
Maumee River 48.3
58.9 Turn left to Fort Defiance 48.0
Fort
Defiance was erected by General Anthony
Wayne
August 9-17, 1794, and thus "The
Grand
Emporium of the hostile Indians of the
West
was gained without loss of blood."
58.9. Defiance, Ohio 48.0
Defiance,
Ohio, historical spots were shown
by
guides. The highway from Defiance,
Ohio,
to Fort Wayne, Indiana, a distance of
48
miles, is a beautiful drive on a new pave-
ment
on the south side of the Maumee River.
Anthony
Wayne's trail, or march, itself, from
Defiance,
Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, was
made
on the north side of the river, where
no
road now exists. It took three days for
General
Wayne to march this distance and
the
camps were at points known as "Eleven
and a
half mile tree" near the mouth of Plat-
ter
Creek; "Twenty-three mile tree" almost
opposite
the present city of Antwerp, and
"Thirty-three
mile tree" near the east line of
Milan
township in Allen County, Indiana.
Leave
Defiance on the south side of the river
on
Route 24.
72.9 On your right is a monument to the
village of 34.0
New
Rochester, originally the county-seat of
Paulding
County (1835). The village is now
entirely
obliterated.
82.2 Antwerp, Ohio 24.7
99.6 New Haven, Indiana 7.8
106.9 Fort Wayne, Indiana 0.0
The
committee in Fort Wayne, Indiana, fur-
nished
guides for a tour under the supervision
of
the local committee.
This
historical route program was mimeographed through the courtesy
of
the Toledo Automobile Club for the benefit of those who attended the
Convention.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
MAUMEE VALLEY INTERNATIONAL
HISTORICAL CONVENTION,
SEPTEMBER 27-29, 1940
EDITORIAL
By HARLOW LINDLEY
Because of the uniqueness of the Maumee
Valley Interna-
tional Historical Convention, organized
to commemorate the place
of the Maumee Valley in American
history, it seems eminently
proper that its records should be
permanently preserved, and since
the heart of the valley is within the
limits of the State of Ohio
it is logical that the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical So-
ciety whose function is to preserve
Ohio's history should perform
this service. We present here historical
material relative to the
Convention and all the addresses given
at the public meetings.
The success of the Convention excelled
the fondest hopes of those
who were responsible for it. Two results
of it are already notice-
able, one the new and increased interest
in local history, and the
other a desire for going forward along
lines brought into view by
the Convention. The latter has taken
form in an organization
named the Anthony Wayne Memorial
Association, devoted to the
national recognition of the final
conquest of the Old Northwest
which culminated in the withdrawal of
the British from Detroit
in 1796. The objectives of this new
association are the promotion
of historical celebrations commemorative
of this period; the en-
couragement of research in the history
of the Old Northwest and
the possibility of the publication of
the results; the developing of
a program for the selection and proper
marking of historical sites,
parkways and routes pertinent thereto;
and the promotion of a
program of education disseminating
information concerning An-
thony Wayne and the Old Northwest.
The annual historical pilgrimage of the
Society of Indiana
Pioneers and the Indiana Historical
Society was arranged to coin-
(I)