FORT McARTHUR
MEMORIAL TABLET.
On July 4, 1913, a memorial tablet,
erected by the Daughters
of the American Revolution, was unveiled
with fitting and in-
teresting ceremonies, at the site of the
old fort McArthur, three
miles southwest of Kenton on the Scioto
River.
We publish the addresses delivered on
that occasion by
Prof. G. Frederick Wright, President of
The Ohio State Arch-
aeological & Historical Society, and
Mrs. John T. Mack of
Sandusky.
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WRIGHT.
It is impossible for us to overestimate
the debt we owe to
the pioneers who were in this country a
hundred years ago. In
the short space of a single century a
vast empire has grown up
westward from the spot on which we now
stand. With the ex-
ception of a few forts and blockhouses
built for the protection
of the scanty settlers who had ventured
upon the border, the
whole northwest was then occupied by
hostile Indian tribes who
were being constantly incited to deeds
of violence by the emis-
saries of Great Britain. Encouraged by
the English, Indian chiefs
like Tecumseh were attempting to
organize the tribes from the
Great Lakes to the Gulf in a conspiracy
to drive the whites from
the whole region north of Ohio.
More than thirty years had elapsed since
the surrender of
Cornwallis at Yorktown. But the
recognition of our independ-
ence was scarcely more than nominal.
Great Britain did not
treat us with an equality which she
granted to other nations.
She attempted to drive our commerce from
the seas. She im-
pressed our seamen, and without the
privilege of fair trial made
them man her merchantmen and ships of
war. For long she
was planning to rob us of our great
inheritance in the broad acres
of the northwest. So great were these
encroachments that in the
beginning of the year 1812 it was
evident that war would soon
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410 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
be declared. As actual hostilities
approached the, pioneers of
north-western Ohio were the first and
the greatest sufferers, for
they were most exposed to the
treacherous attacks of the Indians
who were armed and inspired for the
occasion by emissaries
of the English Crown.
To prepare for contingencies an army of
several thousand
hardy pioneers, gathered from Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Kentucky, was assembled at the junction
of the Mad river with
the Big Miami just above the present
site of Dayton.
Here on the 25th of May,
1812, the command of the troops
was turned over to General Hull, an
officer who had won dis-
tinction during the Revolutionary War,
but who was now well
advanced in years and physically unfit
for so responsible a com-
mand as that to which he was now called.
The campaign upon
which he entered was one of the most
disastrous in all our his-
tory, but he led a loyal and
enthusiastic army composed both of
regulars and of volunteers, and these
were commanded by able
and resourceful young officers who
executed the orders of their
superior with great success.
The failure of the campaign was brought
about by a com-
bination of causes, most of them
attributable to the incapacity
of the commander-in-chief whose orders
the younger officers
were compelled, unwillingly to obey. The
army, that after in-
calculable hardships had reached Detroit
and established itself
upon the Canadian side of the river, at
length retreated to its
fortress and with out any fair show of
resistance surrendered
to the enemy and left all this
northwestern region in possession
of the British, opening it anew to the
assaults of the merciless
savages who so readily co-operated with
the British.
But mistakes are inevitable in any war
of large dimensions.
It is only by a process of natural
selection that the capable lead-
ers can be found and put in command. Our
meed of praise to
the under officers and to the common
superiors is not dimin-
ished but rather increased by the
tragedies connected with their
failure to accomplish the immediate
objects of their endeavor.
The bold swimmer who attempts to save a
drowning companion
and loses his life in the very effort is
more of a hero than if he
had succeeded in the attempt. We are
judged not by what we
Fort McArthur Memorial Tablet. 411
accomplish, but by what we aim to
accomplish. In the sight both
of heaven and earth the will is taken
for the deed.
In the Civil War fifty years ago, I was
one of a hundred
students who formed Company C of the
Seventh Ohio Regi-
ment. Through sickness I was early
discharged so that I can
claim but small part in the history of
the company and the regi-
ment. Their history was scarcely
anything but a succession of
defeats brought about in most cases by
incompetent officers high
or low. But that does not dim the glory
of their heroism.
Thirty-one of those were killed in
battle, and eight died of dis-
ease, while an equal number more
suffered through the re-
mainder of their lives from the effects
of wounds and hardships.
I mention but one illustration. In
General Grant's memoirs, you
will find that after describing the
campaign at Chattanooga and
the battle of Missionary Ridge he simply
refers to the attack
upon Ringold which followed a few days
after, saying that it
was a mistake. But what a mistake! The
Seventh Regiment
was ordered by those in superior command
to assault an im-
pregnable position that could have been
easily taken by a flank
movement. Every commissioned officer of
the regiment except
one was killed in the vain attempt. Of
the twenty men of
Company C who entered the action, six
were killed and eight
wounded. But do we think the less of
these men who in obe-
dience to mistaken orders marched boldly
into the jaws of death?
An emphatic no comes from everyone who
reads the story. In
the words of Tennyson with reference to
the charge of the 600
the question arises when the command
came
"Forward the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the Six Hundred."
Coming now to the scene that interests
us at this point
it is recorded that to General McArthur
and his regiment was
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
committed the task of opening a road
over which Hull's army
could pass on its way to Detroit. But
this was a task of incred-
ible difficulty involving incredible
hardships.
"Heavy timber had to be felled,
causeways to be laid across
morasses, and bridges to be constructed
over considerable
streams. They also erected blockhouses
for the protection of
the sick and of provision trains moving
forward with supplies
for the army." But the order given
at Dayton the 25th of May
was executed with so much vigor that on
the 16th of June the
road was opened to the place near where
we now stand.
"Two block houses were built on the
south bank of that
stream (the Scioto), stockaded, and the whole
work named Fort
McArthur. The fortifications did not
inclose more than half an
acre. There were log huts for the
garrison, and log corn cribs
for the food. It was a post of great
danger. Hostile Indians,
and especially the warlike Wyandots,
filled the forest, and were
watching every movement with vigilant
eyes and malignant
hearts.
"The army halted at Fort McArthur
on the 19th, and Col-
onel Findlay was detached with his
regiment to continue the road
to Blanchard's Fork of the Auglaize, a
tributary of the Maumee.
Three days afterward the whole army
followed, excepting a
small garrison for Fort McArthur, under
Captain Dill, left to
keep the post and take care of the sick.
Heavy rains now fell,
and the little army was placed in a
perilous position. They had
reached the broad morasses of the
summit, and had marched
only sixteen miles, when deep mud
impelled them to halt. They
could go no farther. The black flies and
mosquitoes were be-
coming a terrible scourge. The cattle
were placed on short
allowance, and preparations were made to
transport the baggage
and stores on pack-horses. They built a
fort, which, in allusion
to the circumstances, they called 'Fort
Necessity.' " (Lossing's
"Pictorial Field Book of The War of
1812," pp. 256, 257.)
But we need not on this occasion follow
the army farther
on its slow and painful march through
the wilderness to its dis-
graceful surrender at Detroit. It is
more fitting on this occasion
that we turn our thoughts for a few
moments to the little bands
of brave men who were left to guard the
frontier at Fort Mc-
Fort McArthur Memorial Tablet. 413
Arthur. As in so many other campaigns,
the greatest danger
to be faced was that of the unsanitary
conditions of camp life.
So foul were these conditions at Fort
McArthur that the graves
of sixteen soldiers continue here to
tell us of the great price of
suffering and death by which our country
was wrested from
implacable foes a hundred years ago.
Who are these sixteen soldiers that on
this spot died in
defence of their country. Their names
have been forgotten and
find no place in the country's long roll
of honor; but they were
each human like ourselves. Far behind
them they had left fath-
ers and mothers, brothers and sisters
and wives and children who
waited long for their return, but in vain.
One by one in this
far off wilderness their eyes were
closed in death by their com-
panions in arms, who were thus left to
bear double burdens and
wonder if their turn would come next.
With muffled drum and
plaintive music their bodies were
consigned to the earth, where,
in the exigencies of war, they were soon
abandoned to the slow
decay of time, to be forgotten only by
the thoughtless herd who
come in to reap where others have sown
and oblivious to every-
thing that does not concern their
immediate material prosperity.
God forbid that any of us should belong
to this thoughtless
throng. It behooves us ever to keep
their memory green, and
year by year, as this anniversary
occurs, to plant fresh flowers
over the spot where their bodies long
since moldered into dust.
And it shall come to pass that when your
children shall ask
their fathers in times to come what mean
these mounds of earth?
that they shall answer: Here is a part
of that great price of
blood by which our country was redeemed
from the oppression of
a foreign power and a vast empire opened
for the entrance of
peace loving citizens and all the arts
and comforts of Christian
civilization.
As others in great numbers a day or two
ago assembled upon
the field of Gettysburg to respond to
the immortal words of
Lincoln, so do we that "in a larger
sense we cannot dedicate, we
cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this
ground. The brave
men who struggled here have consecrated
it far above our power
to add or detract. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us, that
from these honored dead
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
we take increased devotion to that cause
for which they gave
the last full measure of their
devotion." It remains for us to
take up the full burden of citizenship
and to consecrate our lives
to the task of making our country worthy
of the sacrifices that
have been made by those who in countless
numbers have given
their lives for its establishment and
its preservation. With a great
price have our privileges of citizenship
been purchased. Woe
be to him who is recreant to this trust,
and who in the presence
of those who have laid down their lives
for their country shall
use the privileges thus secured for them
for selfish gains regard-
less of the public good.
ADDRESS OF MRS. JOHN T. MACK.
Madam Regent, Daughters of the American
Revolution
and Friends:
I bring greeting to you today from the
National Society, Uni-
ted States Daughters of the War of 1812, and
congratulations
to the members of Fort McArthur Chapter,
that the long de-
sired marking of this historic site has
been accomplished. Over
one hundred years have past since this
nation, then young, was
plunged into war the second time with
the mother country.
That war grew out of a long series of
aggressions. Our ships
were searched on the high seas and our
men impressed into
the English service, and in violation of
former treaties, Great
Britain maintained forts and posts on
American soil, inciting
the Indians to bloody outbreaks, even
paying the savages for
American scalps.
England had so long and so wantonly
vexed our commerce
by restrictions and confiscations, that
the patience of the young
nation was completely exhausted, and on
June 18th, 1812, war
was declared. That war was to completely
sever this country for
all time from Great Britain. In this
second struggle for inde-
pendence, this nation was not well
equipped when war was de-
clared. General Hull was Governor of the
Michigan territory,
having been appointed by President
Jackson in 1805. He was
a Revolutionary soldier, having fought
in the battles of White
Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Stillwater,
Saratoga, Fort Stanwix,
Monmouth and Stony Point, and commanded
the expedition