OHIO
Archaeological and Historical
PUBLICATIONS.
MONUMENT ON THE SITE OF FORT WASHINGTON.
CEREMONIES AT THE UNVEILING OF MONUMENT,
1789-1808.
The monument erected in Third street,
between Broadway
and Ludlow street, in Cincinnati, to
mark the site of Fort Wash-
ington, was unveiled on June 14. It was
erected by a committee,
representing patriotic societies in
Ohio, as follows:
Mayflower Descendants-Mrs. Frank J.
Jones, Mr. Herbert
Jenney, Mr. W. H. Doane.
Colonial Dames of America-Mrs. M. Morris
White, Miss
Anna K. Lewis, Miss Fanny Bryce Lehmer.
Colonial Wars-Mr. J. W. Bullock, Mr. N.
Henchman
Davis, Mr. Howard S. Winslow.
Cincinnati Chapter Daughters of the
American Revolution-
Mrs. Brent Arnold, Mrs. Frank W. Wilson,
Mrs. Peirce J. Cad-
walader.
Cincinnati Chapter Sons of American
Revolution-Dr.
George A. Thayer.
Sons of the Revolution-Dr. William
Judkins, Dr. Andrew
Kemper, Mr. Robert Ralston Jones.
Cincinnati Chapter Children of the
American Revolution--
Mrs. Lowell F. Hobart.
War of 1812--Mrs. T. L. A. Greve.
2 Ohio Arch. and
His. Society Publications. Loyal Legion-Major W. H. Chamberlain, Col. W. A. Cochran, Col.
A. W. McCormick. There are upon the monument two tablets; upon the upper one is the following inscription, surrounded by thirteen stars. This Tablet Erected by the Patriotic Societies of Ohio Marks the Location of Fort Washington Built 1789 Demolished 1808 MDCCCC |
|
Upon the lower tablet is a plan, showing the location
of Fort Washington with reference to the neighboring
streets. drawn by Mr. Robert Ralston Jones, of the U. S.
Engineer's office of Cincinnati. Bugle Call-"Reveille," by the buglers of
2nd U. S. I. Star Spangled Banner, by the band of the 1st Reg. O.
N. G. Prayer, by Rev. George A. Thayer. |
Monument on the Site of Fort Washington. 3
Mr. Herbert Jenney, chairman of the committee, said in introducing General Cowen: To-day has no significance in the history of Fort Wash- ington, but it is our National Flag Day, the anniversary of the day-June 14, 1777-on which the American Congress in ses- sion at Philadelphia, established by its resolution, That" the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alter- nate red and white: that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." |
|
Although the independence of the states had been declared nearly a year before, this resolution is the first recorded legis- lative action relating to a national flag for the new sovereignty. The thirteen stripes were not a new feature; the flag of the thirteen united colonies raised at Washington's headquarters at Cambridge January 2, 1776, had the thirteen stripes as they are to-day, but it also had the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew on a blue ground in the corner. |
4 Ohio Arch. and
His. Society Publications.
There is said to be no satisfactory
evidence that any flag
bearing the union of the stars had been
in public use before
June, 1777.
It is a pleasant incident, that through
the courtesy of the
Cincinnati Chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolu-
tion, we have with us to-day a
fac-simile of the flag which was
displayed on January 2, 1776,
from Washington's headquarters
at Cambridge, and it is another pleasing
incident that the com-
mittee has been able to arrange for the
ceremonies of the un-
veiling of the monument before you to
take place on the first
"Flag Day" in the twentieth
century.
There are two prominent jurisdictional
periods in the his-
tory of the United States Reservation,
bounded by Broadway,
Fourth street, Ludlow street and the
river, in which Fort Wash-
ington was built, and within the lines
of the fort we are now
assembled. The first of these two
periods was the jurisdiction
of the United States. It seemed
eminently fitting to the com-
mittee that the one to speak to you
to-day should be officially
connected with our National Government,
and one has been
chosen who served in the War of 1861-5,
was brevetted Brigadier-
General U. S. Volunteers, was granted
leave of absence to be-
come Adjutant General of Ohio, and did
more than any other
individual to place the "one
hundred day men" from the State
of Ohio so promptly and well equipped in
the field as to merit
and receive the commendation of the War
Department; then
he became Assistant Secretary of the
Interior during General
Grant's administration, and was Special
agent of Indian affairs
in the West, is now a member of the
Order of the Loyal Legion,
and the very efficient Clerk of the
United States Circuit and
District Courts in the Southern District
of Ohio; the records of
proceedings had in that Circuit Court in
1829 locate the site of
Fort Washington.
It is with great pleasure that the
committee presents to you
General Benjamin Rush Cowen, who will
tell us what the monu-
ment before us means, and what it is to
us.
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 5
ADDRESS OF GENERAL COWEN.
Ladies and Gentlemen:-I congratulate you on account of
the auspicious circumstances under which
we meet here this
afternoon to assist in the performance
of a patriotic duty. Our
national condition is such as to justify
expressions of pride and
displays of patriotism. The remarkable
achievements of our
fleets and armies have excited the
wonder and admiration of
brave men the world around, and have
exalted this Nation into
a great world power with which other
nations have found it
necessary to reckon in their future
schemes of conquest. In
military and naval prowess, in diplomacy
and statecraft, in wise
and sagacious legislation, in productive
industries and in methods
for the promotion of the greatest good
to the greatest number,
we stand to-day a united Nation, at
peace with all the world,
the peer of the proudest, the champion
and exemplar of the
rights of man and the ripe product of a
true civilization.
From this standpoint, as we look
backward across a hun-
dred years of our history to the event
which calls us here to-
day, let us strive to evoke some useful
lessons from the succes-
sive steps in our evolution.
If it be true as was said by a Grecian
writer twenty-three
centuries ago, that "History is
philosophy teaching by exam-
ples," we should be able to evolve
from the scenes enacted in,
and the influences which radiated from
this place a hundred
years ago an entire system of ethical
philosophy. Looked at
from the standpoint of this day of great
things the Fort Wash-
ington of 1789 may seem a trifling and
unimportant incident in
the history of a nation now in the very
front rank of the world
powers. But that was a time of
beginnings, of experiments in
government, of doubt, even whether this
was really to become
a nation in the later and larger sense
of the word.
Fort Washington at the time of its
erection was the most
considerable military post in the
Northwestern Territory. It
marked the dividing line between the
conditions of our country;
between civilization of the East and the
barbarism of the un-
known West. Its importance is indicated
by the fact that three
of the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army
of the United States
6 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
were stationed here from time to time.
During the occupancy
of the fort it was the scene of the most
important military opera-
tions of the time. From this point was
organized and sent out
the unfortunate expedition of Josiah
Harmar in 1790, against
the hostile tribes of the Northwest.
Here, also, in the following
year the army was organized, and
equipped under Arthur St.
Clair, which met with the disastrous
defeat on the banks of the
Wabash, and it was this fort the
survivors of that ill-fated ex-
pedition sought, in their humiliation,
as a city of refuge.
From here in 1794 went out that other
army under the
hero of Stony Point, the "lion
hearted," "Mad Anthony Wayne,"
Commander-in-Chief, an army of 2000 regulars and
1500 Ken-
tucky militiamen, by which the decisive
battle with the allied
tribes of the Northwest at Maumee Rapids
was fought and won.
I say that battle was decisive, because
it gave peace to an
exposed line of frontier extending from
Fort Pitt to the southern
boundary of Tennessee, and in fact it
marked the close of the
revolutionary war; because the Indians
who took part with
Great Britian in that struggle never
laid down their arms until
the great victory of 1794.
After that victory we find in command
here a young Vir-
ginia subaltern who had been a staff
officer of Wayne, in his
campaign of 1794, and who filled a
larger place in the public
eye for the next forty years, as a
successful soldier, secretary
and governor of Indiana Territory,
member of Congress, United
States Senator and President of the
United States, William
Henry Harrison, whose descendants have
honored his illustrious
name and lineage.
Here came the gallant hero of "Old
Vincennes," George
Rogers Clarke, who did so much to make
the frontier a safe
dwelling place and who, to our shame be
it said, died in pov-
erty and obscurity.
From this point went out with the Wayne
expedition Rufus
Putnam, of noble lineage and honorable
memory as soldier and
jurist whose posterity to this day arise
to call him blessed.
But it is a task beyond my power to
perform and it would
overtax your patience were I to attempt
to name all, or many
of those who bore a part in the stirring
scenes enacted here
Monument on the Site of Fort Washington. 7
in that early time. With those who fell
in battle and those
who fell in single-handed fights with
the savage foe, many hun-
dreds in number, they are for the most
part the unknown heroes
and martyrs who with no hope of fame or
gain gave their lives
as a witness to the pervading love of
country and of kind.
Now that a century has elapsed and our
country has be-
come great beyond the wildest dreams of
those who built Fort
Washington and defended this frontier
will not the memory
of their daring and suffering revive in
our hearts the love of
country and of all who live within our
boundaries?
To find the lessons which this event has
for men of to-day
we must look beyond the mere incident
which this monument
is designed to commemorate to find if
possible the causes which
made the labors of those men productive
of such grand results.
Fort Washington was a way-station, so to
speak, in the
rapid triumphal march of our
civilization athwart the continent,
which, beginning at tide water on the
Atlantic early in the
seventeenth century, is now, at the dawn
of the twentieth cen-
tury, pluming itself for further and
bolder flights westward from
the vantage ground of the Pacific slope.
So rapid was that
movement that whereas at the time of
building Fort Washing-
ton the center of population was at tide
water at Baltimore,
only sixty years later it was within a
mile of this spot.
The men who built and those who
garrisoned the fort
and those who went from here to drive a
savage foe from our
borders were no mere carpet knights.
They realized the needs
of the times and went direct to their
object. They did not stop
to discuss any theories as to the
"consent of the governed,"
but, recognizing the fact that this fair
land was destined to be
the home of a civilized people, they
proceeded direct to their
purpose, which was to remove every
obstacle that lay in the
way of that consummation.
They were pioneers of that civilization
which, in all lands
and under all conditions is most
masterful. Wherever they
plant the foot the latest progress in
science and art springs up,
wherever they plant their home all that
is best in our latter
day civilization takes root and grows
and flourishes.
8 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Most of those men had passed through the
hardships of
the colonial wars or of the revolution
and had profited by that
experience. They were at once yeomen,
soldiers and statesmen;
living epistles of a new faith and fit
founders of a new system
of government "of the people, by
the people and for the peo-
ple." In this faith they lived and
in it many of them died. The
honor of their achievement is this
country and its institutions
which we enjoy. The fruit of their
efforts is our glorious herit-
age.
Did time permit I might tell in fuller
detail how those men
braved the dangers of the forest and
subdued it to the uses
of an advanced civilization; how civil
order prevailed even be-
fore there was any semblance of
organized power by which the
various functions of government could be
exercised. Such was
in fact their self-governing capacity
that, with none of the ordi-
nary appliances for the maintenance of
private and public rights
they held them secure and gave of their
scanty means for their
support. Jealousy of power and envy of
the superiority were
subordinated to considerations of public
and private good, in-
suring submission to laws intended only
for their own happiness.
Not only did these men do battle with
the forces of nature
and establish a stable government, they
fought and destroyed
the savage tribes, their predecessors in
the ownership and occu-
pancy of the soil, without a thought of
any effort at "benevo-
lent assimilation." This latter was
by no means the least of
their achievements. From Massasoit, King
Philip and Pow-
hatan down to Ouray, Sitting Bull and
Geronimo every gen-
eration and every nation of Indians has
produced men of mark.
The Narragansets, the Pequods and the
Iroquois are extinct,
King Philip, Powhatan, Red Jacket,
Pontiac, Tecumseh, Logan,
Black Hawk, Cochise, Captain Jack,
Sitting Bull, a grim pro-
cession of fearless and indomitable
heroes, many of them men
of striking statesmanship and diplomacy,
have stalked across
the pages of our history proving their
humanity by leaving
behind them one more trail of blood.
They were forest bred;
reared in the shadow of our mountains,
their familiar music the
thunder of our cataracts, their daily
haunts our forests, our
lakes and our rivers.
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 9
It is this American climate, this
teeming soil and this life
giving sunshine of ours which we must
rely on to make and
continue us a great, free, liberty
loving and God fearing people
that produced the race we have
supplanted, whose deeds of
valor should place them beside the Saxon
and the Greek in
history.
What was the secret of this success
against such fearful
odds? Who were the men who wrought the
mighty change?
What was their origin, their equipment,
their inspiration?
We shall see that they and those who
came after them were
allied in blood with all the older
states and with all the civilized
nations of the world. Drawn here by that
mysterious affinity
of our better nature for truth and
freedom, no word is spoken
n any civilized language but we may
claim in it a family in-
erest, see in it a family tie.
Much has been said and written about the
great advantage
of purity of race in the organization of
society and government,
ut it is the unquestioned lesson of
history that those nations
which have become most powerful are
composed of mixed races.
cross-breeding produces the best
results. It fortifies, rein-
forces, improves the stock, and mental
development is most
robust and practical in the sound body.
Given a proper climate,
and a kindly soil as we have here and the conditions are pro-
uctive of the best results. In fact, the
descendants of emi-
rants, under favorable physical, moral
and intellectual condi-
tions are always physically, mentally
and morally stronger than
lose from whom they sprung. Every native
of this soil was
the descendant of some man more
enterprising, more energetic,
ore venturesome than his neighbor who
thought it best to
ay at home.
In Ohio we had some five centers of
original settlement by
people of different origin. At this
point known as the "Symmes
purchase," lying between the Great
and the Little Miami Rivers,
e pioneers were chiefly from New Jersey,
with a dash of
uguenot, Swedish, Holland and English
blood. East of us
the Virginia Military District, with its
center at Chillicothe,
first settlers came principally from
Virginia and were of
English lineage, with a tincture of
Norman and Cavalier. At
10 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Marietta, the first settlement in Ohio,
the pioneers were from
Massachusetts and other New England
states. Their fathers
were English Protestants who emigrated
thither in search of
religious freedom. In the century and a
half since their migra-
tion from Europe they had drawn widely
apart from the Vir-
ginians and the other colonies and
acquired an individualism all
their own. On the "Seven
Ranges," so called, extending from
the Ohio River north to the fortieth
parallel, being the first
of the surveys and sales of public lands
in Ohio, the first set-
tlers were of Pennsylvania, some of the
Quaker stock introduced
by William Penn, others of Dutch, Irish,
Scotch and Scotch-
Irish. On the Western Reserve they were
of Puritan stock,
from Connecticut, with center at
Cleveland. West of the "Seven
Ranges" to the Scioto River and
south of the Greenville Treaty
line was the United States Military
Reservation, where the first
settlers were holders of bounty land
warrants for military service
and they came from all the states and
from beyond the sea.
Longfellow says of the Puritan colony:
"God sifted three
kingdoms to find the seed for this
planting."
He seems to have sifted every civilized
nation to find seed
for the planting of Ohio and the
contiguous territory.
These centers were necessarily isolated,
self-centered, and
had all they could do in their struggle
for subsistence and their
battle for life. They occupied those
positions with all the pecu-
liar prejudices and predilections of men
of different races and
conditions, though without animosity,
because engaged in a
common cause. A majority of them had
taken part in the revo-
lutionary war. This gave them courage to
meet the difficulties
of pioneer life, in which they were
almost constantly in a state
of war until the peace of 1815. Many of
them took part in the
campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and
Wayne. More than a
thousand had lost their lives in those
campaigns and in isolated
attacks from Indians. Every man had his
rifle and knew how
to use it. Neither idleness nor luxury
sapped their energies.
Their food was coarse but plentiful and
healthful. The self-
reliance and energy, so necessary to the
equipment of the pio-
neer, and which these men possessed in
an eminent degree, were
intensified and developed by the sense
of the responsibility which
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 11
political democracy compels and the
sense of hopefulness which
social democracy imparts to the humblest
and the most obscure.
The wars in which they had engaged, like
all wars, were
wasting horrors, but they were not
without their compensations.
Few men go to war for a great principle,
or in defense of their
homes, whose character is not
strengthened. They become more
sturdy, more self-reliant, more
self-respecting, more courageous,
and these qualities affected those
communities to a noticeable
degree.
In the war of 1812-15 the soldiers came
together from all
those communities in a common cause and
the barriers of preju-
dice were broken down. They rapidly
coalesced socially, be-
came better acquainted, more homogeneous
and the result was
more frequent intermarriages.
Of course none of the leading men of the
time of Fort
Washington were natives of the soil of
Ohio. Governor Tiffin
was English; Governor Worthington was of
Virginia; Governor
Meigs was from Connecticut; Governor
Morrow was from
Pennsylvania; General Harrison was from
Virginia; Governor
McArthur was from New York; General Cass
was from New
Hampshire.
The different elements which we have
seen constituting the
population at that time, elsewhere in
the older communities
widely separated by racial and religious
prejudices, social rank
or otherwise, here were mingled, acting
and reacting upon each
other, so that each community presented
in itself an accurate
epitome of the national life. So that
men of that time illustrate
the operation of the peculiar forces
that wrought their trans-
formation.
Following the peace of 1815, the
influence of the West,
twenty years later to become so
masterful in the national life,
began to be felt in the national
councils, through the native
element.
It is noticeable how the men of the
East, accustomed to
rule in public affairs, stood aghast at
the intrusion; how the staid
and formal conservatism of the older
states was startled at the
impending change which they saw setting
in from the West,
and which they looked upon as the
decadence, the beginning of
12
Ohio Arch. and His. Society
Publications.
a permanent demoralization of our
politics. However much
men may now deprecate some of the
methods of that rude pe-
riod; however much they may regret that
the stately dignity
and method of the Adamses, the Madisons
and the Jeffersons
could not have been projected into the
aggressive virility of the
West, we now know that the change was
not a decadence, but
a renaissance, great and perilous as may
have been some of its
crudities and errors. These men showed
themselves possessed
of that wonderful assimilative faculty
peculiar to the English
stock.
A recent writer endeavors to show that
the pioneer work
for every race has been done, not by the
ablest and most cul-
tured, but by the strongest and the most
enterprising, and this
may explain the masterful influence of
those stalwart and vigor-
ous pioneers.
The old order was done away with. A new
Nation had
made its entrance on the world's stage
and it must be freed
from every trammel of Old World glamour
and superstition.
The men thus produced were best equipped
for the task and
though they may have entered upon the
work with much of
the daring and recklessness of youth,
they were determined to
work out for the Nation a destiny of its
own. In short our
institutions were born of our
necessities, which should inspire
faith in their endurance.
It was a day of experiments, of risks,
yet there was nothing
but good at the basis of the new plan in
the hearts of those
whose duty it became to exploit it. As
in Verona long ago,
"the weakest went to the
wall," but the stalwart survivors waxed
strong and took courage under the
invigorating tonic of danger
on a virgin soil and in the broad light
of a new day. Out of
the apparent confusion they builded a
structure founded on the
natural rights of the people without a
pretext of mystery or
miracle.
Recovering from the war of 1812-15 the native
element
began to assert itself in public
affairs, the legislature reflecting
the character of the people, at once
took advanced ground in
favor of free schools, canals, roads and
official honesty. The
progress of two generations thereafter
showed enormous ad-
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 13
vances in all directions; in wealth, in
numbers, in intelligence,
but the tremendous uprising of 1861,
when 320,000 of Ohio's stal-
wart sons rallied to the support of our
imperiled nation, showed
that our people had taken to heart the
lessons of their fathers
and had not become effeminate.
And to-day, when our trade interests are
reaping the benefit
of that perfect freedom, political and
conventional; that freedom
of the individual to work out his own
destiny unhampered by
government control, or by considerations
of caste, the results
of the efforts of the fathers which have
given us hope, ambition,
purpose and practical energy, in
contradistinction to our com-
mercial rivals who are still under the
dwarfing influence of
caste, resulting in slow progress in the
adoption of improved
methods, we see additional evidence that
we are not deterior-
ating, but still profiting by the
lessons of that early time.
It is the conclusion of many careful
students that a democ-
racy is the ultimate evolution of
government, and it has been
well said that there is nothing beyond
it but anarchy. It there-
fore follows that it is here that
restless and desperate men will
make their stand in their great struggle
to live without govern-
ment.
We should therefore bear in mind that
this evolution is of
God, and that in the future as in the
past He will continue to
so order that those institutions alone
which are founded and
administered in justice and equity will
be favored in the final
consummation. Our only safety lies in
the maintenance of that
spirit and influence without which no
spot of earth has yet been
found fit for decent human occupancy.
In studying the different steps in our
progress it is inter-
esting, even startling, to observe that
no great human want
sprang up without the means being at
hand to supply it. No
sooner had we acquired the Louisiana
Territory than Fulton was
ready with his steamboat to explore its
ten thousand miles of
navigable rivers and transport to their
banks and teeming savan-
nahs a busy and enterprising people, and
we became the greatest
steamboat nation of the world.
No sooner had the restless and wandering
spirit of the old
Saxon and Teuton seized upon the modern
German and Celt
14 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
than the mighty arms of this great
valley were open to receive
them and we became the greatest
agricultural nation of the
world.
No sooner had the remote trading posts
of our western
rivers grown into towns than the vast
spaces of intervening
prairie and forest were spanned with
railroads, and when steam
became too slow for the oncoming tide of
progress Morse was
ready with his invention and the
lightning of Heaven became
their swift messengers. Thus were our
distant Mexican ces-
sions bound together with bands and
nerves of steel and we
became the greatest railroad and
telegraph Nation.
And if I may be permitted to invade the
domain of prophecy
I will venture the prediction that our
recent insular acquisitions
will as certainly make us the greatest
naval Nation of the world.
So that what at the outset of our recent
involuntary expansion,
appeared a difficult and dangerous
problem will as surely
strengthen us where alone we are weak.
The lessons we have been considering,
however, relate to
the tests of adversity, of sacrifice, of
hardship, but the tests of
success being more subtle, and more
insidious, and more search-
ing, and this is a day of phenomenal
prosperity. The financial
center of the world is shifting to this
country. We have a new
earth, new forces in operation and a new
type of man, who is
rapidly reorganizing the world.
Nations decay and the path of history is
strewn with their
ruins, but where a nation is built on
such broad and deep
foundations and is administered by the
worthy sons of the ad-
mixture of all the Anglo-Saxon stocks I
predict that its deca-
dence will be in the far distant future.
There is no limit to our
prosperity and welfare if we are true to
these lessons and these
institutions. In short, we have nothing
to fear except from our-
selves.
Seeing the efficiency of the women of
the Society of the
Mayflower, of the Colonial Dames, of the
Daughters of the Revo-
lution, of the Children of the
Revolution and of the War of
1812 in the erection of this monument,
and in other enterprises
of similar character the question has
been asked: "What have
women to do with such functions?"
"Their office is of peace,
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 15
of home, of family and can have nothing
to do with wars and
the stirring events which attend the
life and work of the soldier
and the pioneer. That war and its
attendant horrors are 'the
white man's burden,' of which women know
nothing and with
which they can have nothing to do."
Nay! Nay! War has been the white woman's
burden since
long before Persian and Greek fought at
Salamis and Marathon.
Every forward movement of the race where
sacrifice and hard-
ship were to be incurred has been
sanctified by woman's tears.
Every footprint along the bloody trail
of civilization has mixed
with it the blood that has oozed from
the hearts of sad eyed
women whose burdens, though quietly and
patiently borne,
were none the less hard than those of
the men behind the guns.
So that any recognition of the heroism,
the sacrifices and the
suffering of those times would be
incomplete if it failed to men-
tion, with deepest respect and highest
honor that glorious rear
guard which, through days of toil and
nights of horror and
anxiety kept the home swept and
garnished against the coming
of the highpriest; kept the little flock
safe folded against the
coming of the shepherd; kept the gaunt
wolf from the door.
The mother, the wife, the sister, the
daughter, the sweet-
heart of that time, who
"With no one but her secret God
To know the pain that weighed upon her,
Shed holy blood as e'er the sod
Received upon the field of honor."
Let the memory of that grand army of
noble women ever
be held in veneration wherever men
assemble to commemorate
heroic deeds.
Monuments not only contribute to our
civilization, they
mark its progress and degree. No nation
can afford to lose
its monuments, and works of art. They
keep green the memory
of patriotic services and of personal
virtues. They have always
been potent factors in the darkest ages
to prevent society from
lapsing into barbarism or falling into
decay.
Were the monuments of Greece and Rome
destroyed even
now the world would feel the loss, not
only to learning and the
16
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
arts, but to virtue and patriotism. It
nearly concerns the honor
and the welfare of our people that this
spot be marked by some
fitting structure which should recall
the history and inspire all
who look upon it.
History informs us of no people who ever
attained and con-
served permanent power, or achieved
greatness who neglected
to reverence their ancestors and who did
not demonstrate such
reverence by fitting testimonials.
Thus we have erected and this day
dedicated this monument
that it may tell to those who come after
us of our gratitude
to those who through hardship and
sacrifice wrought out our
independence.
Those who have contributed to this work
represent every
war in which our people have engaged,
from King Philip to
the recent war with Spain, and every
race from which this Nation
sprang. They are proud of their
ancestry; of their deeds of
daring and of suffering; of their
success at government build-
ing; of their virtues and their talents,
and they have builded
that pride into this humble monument.
Its construction has
been a labor of love, and it will stand
as an evidence of the
lasting influence of those forces which
wrought our mighty
success.
Long may our Nation stand the champion
of human rights
the exemplar of human freedom, and the
advocate and repre-
sentative of the brotherhood of man, the
federation of the na-
tions and the peace of the world.
Hail Columbia -by the band of the 1st
Reg. O. N. G.
Mr. Jenney said, prefatory to the
unveiling:
In 1791 the Second Regiment, U. S. I.,
was stationed in
Fort Washington. It was with General St.
Clair in his cam-
paign, and was a part of General Wayne's
army in his expedition
against the Miamis. It participated in
the War of 1812, in the
Mexican War, in the War of 1861-5, was
in Cuba during the
war just closed, and then in the Philippines, where two of its
battalions are now; its other battalion
recently returned from
he Philippines and is now stationed at
Fort Thomas under the
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 17
command of Maj. J. R. Clagett. We have
with us to-day
troops from that regiment, and after 110
years have intervened,
representatives of that regiment are
again standing within the
lines of Fort Washington. The Second has
always done, and
always will do, its duty wherever it may
be placed, and we most
heartily welcome those from that
regiment, and from Fort
Thomas with us here to-day.
Those who have not attempted to locate
historical places
cannot appreciate how difficult it is to
accurately fix their sites
after the lapse of a few years. A number
of persons have, at
different times, attempted to definitely
fix the site of Fort Wash-
ington within the reservation. Mrs.
Peirce J. Cadwalader, a
member of the committee from the
Cincinnati Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution,
found a clue which,
investigated by Mr. Robert Ralston
Jones, a member of the
committee from the Sons of the
Revolution, with much original
investigation on his part, resulted in
definitely settling the bound-
ary lines of the fort. In recognition of
her discovering this
clue, Mrs. Cadwalader has been chosen to
unveil the monument,
and she will be assisted by Maj. J. R.
Clagett, of the Second
U. S. I., the regiment stationed in the
fort in 1791.
Unveiling of the monument by Mrs. Pierce
J. Cadwalader, assisted by
Maj. J. R. Claggett, 2nd U. S. I.
Tenting on the Old Camp Ground, by the
band of 1st Reg. 0. N. G.
Mr. Jenney said, in presenting the
monument to the City
of Cincinnati.
There are a few points in the
neighborhood to which your
attention is especially called.
The angle in the house line on the other
side of the street
s practically the center of the fort
where stood the flag-staff.
After the fort was abandoned, the United
States divided
and sold the land in the reservation to
different persons, and
he jurisdiction over that land then
passed to the City of Cin-
cinnati, and that is the second
prominent jurisdictional period in
he history of the land upon which the
fort was located. The
Vol. X--2
18
Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
house No. 429 was built and occupied by
Dr. Daniel Drake,
the pioneer in medicine here, and the
most prominent and dis-
tinguished man in his profession west of
the Alleghenies during
his life. In the north wall of the
parlor of this house, between
the windows and close to the ceiling, is
a medallion portrait of
General Washington, embedded in the
wall, modeled, it is said,
by a resident artist.
No. 423 was built and occupied by
General Jared Mansfield,
the First Surveyor General of the
Northwest Territory, and
afterwards owned and occupied by the
Hon. Rufus King, who
died a few years ago.
The Lorraine building covers the site of
Mrs. Trollope's Ba-
zaar, spoken of in Anthony Trollope's North
America, and it
covers the southwest angle of the fort.
When Maj. John Doughty, in 1789,
selected the site of
Fort Washington the surrounding
territory was really a wilder-
ness. A few persons had settled in the
neighborhood upon the
"Symmes Purchase," and the
principal object in establishing
the fort was to protect them. The number
of settlers rapidly
increased in this and other eastern
parts of the territory, and
thirteen years after the establishing of
the fort the State of Ohio
was carved out of the Northwest
Territory and admitted into
the Union. When Fort Washington was
established it was a
frontier post, but since its
establishment the western boundary
of the United States has been extended
to the Pacific Ocean
and the jurisdiction of this government
has been extended across
the Pacific and over Hawaii, Guam and
the Philippines.
The monument before you the patriotic
societies of Ohio
now present to the City of Cincinnati as
locating the site of Fort
Washington, which was built when this
section of the country
was a wilderness, to protect those who
had crossed the moun-
tains and floated down the Ohio River to
settle here. May it
be a reminder to us, and to those who
come after us, of our
indebtedness to the brave pioneers who
opened this section of
the country to civilization; and may it
increase our love for this,
our country, which extends its
protection over its citizens where-
ever they may be.
Monument on the Site of Fort
Washington. 19
We had expected that our Mayor, Mr.
Fleischmann, would
be with us to-day, but he is unavoidably absent, and is repre-
sented by the Hon. Charles J. Hunt, the
Solicitor of this city.
Will you now, Mr. Hunt, as the
representative of the City of
Cincinnati and on its behalf, accept
this monument from the
patriotic societies of Ohio which have
erected it?
Hon. Charles J. Hunt, in accepting the
monument on be-
half of the City of Cincinnati, said:
Mr. Chairman:-The efforts of your committee deserve not
only appreciation and grateful
acceptance, but also emulation
by the authorities and citizens of the
City of Cincinnati. This
monument, marking a place of central
interest in our local his-
tory, will teach us to look upon our
city not only as a structure
of brick, stone and iron, as a
convenient place of abode and
of business, but also a city with a
local history, full of event-
ful and even romantic interest.
As we love our friends, not only for
what they are, but for
what they have been and have done, so we
will love our city,
not only for what it is, but for its
past. Its present ministers
to our physical and intellectual
necessities, but its past appeals
to our sentiments, without which, in
their various forms, home
is but a habitation, family but kinship,
and country but a locality.
In the older states and countries,
places of historical interest
are to the student of history replete
with the life and action
of long ago. So this spot, marked by
this miniature block
house in stone, suggestive in its very
form of the perils of the
frontiersman, will present to our mental
visions scenes of the
life which centered here more than one
hundred years ago.
Protected from the savage foe by a few
widely separated forts
such as Fort Washington, the
frontiersmen, in less than a life-
time, dotted a continent with thriving
settlements, now mighty
cities.
It is natural that this monument should
be erected by the
societies represented by your committee.
Your societies repre-
sent every important epoch and crisis in
American history.
They are representative of the men and
women who stamped
their characteristics upon the age in
which they lived, and to
whom we owe the origin of almost all
distinctive American
20 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
thought, as well as that fostering
influence and patriotism which
molded and preserved our institutions
through the stress of
partisan and sectional strife. No
sacrifice of time, labor, even of
life itself, was too great for them to
make in behalf of their faith,
their principles and their country. To
such men and women
we owe to-day all that makes glorious
the name "America."
Of such men and women were the leading
pioneers who wrested
this locality from the Red men's
dominion, and as from a society
such as those your committee represents,
Cincinnati received
its very name, it is eminently proper
that from you to-day Cin-
cinnati should receive this monument,
which, as often as we
pass this way, will compel us to pay
tribute to the American pio-
neer.
In the absence of Mayor Fleischmann, and
on behalf of
the City of Cincinnati, I accept this
monument, and I can assure
you that the gratitude of our citizens
will be expressed in its
future care and preservation, and in the
increased love for our
city which will result from this
constant reminder of our city's
interesting past.
America, by the band of the 1st Reg. 0.
N. G.
Bugle Call, "Retreat,"
by the buglers of 2nd U. S. L
OHIO
Archaeological and Historical
PUBLICATIONS.
MONUMENT ON THE SITE OF FORT WASHINGTON.
CEREMONIES AT THE UNVEILING OF MONUMENT,
1789-1808.
The monument erected in Third street,
between Broadway
and Ludlow street, in Cincinnati, to
mark the site of Fort Wash-
ington, was unveiled on June 14. It was
erected by a committee,
representing patriotic societies in
Ohio, as follows:
Mayflower Descendants-Mrs. Frank J.
Jones, Mr. Herbert
Jenney, Mr. W. H. Doane.
Colonial Dames of America-Mrs. M. Morris
White, Miss
Anna K. Lewis, Miss Fanny Bryce Lehmer.
Colonial Wars-Mr. J. W. Bullock, Mr. N.
Henchman
Davis, Mr. Howard S. Winslow.
Cincinnati Chapter Daughters of the
American Revolution-
Mrs. Brent Arnold, Mrs. Frank W. Wilson,
Mrs. Peirce J. Cad-
walader.
Cincinnati Chapter Sons of American
Revolution-Dr.
George A. Thayer.
Sons of the Revolution-Dr. William
Judkins, Dr. Andrew
Kemper, Mr. Robert Ralston Jones.
Cincinnati Chapter Children of the
American Revolution--
Mrs. Lowell F. Hobart.
War of 1812--Mrs. T. L. A. Greve.