Ohio History Journal

The Siege of Fort Meigs.              315

 

 

THE SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS.

 

BY H. W. COMPTON.

The construction of Fort Meigs by General William Henry

Harrison in the early spring of 1813, and its siege by the British

general, Proctor, and the renowned chief Tecumseh in May of

that year, was one of the important incidents in the war of 1812.

But few of those who now look at the ruins of Fort Meigs, slum-

bering upon the high, grassy plateau opposite the village of

Maumee, can realize the fearful struggle that took place amid

those peaceful surroundings from May first to May fifth, 1813.

The incessant roar of heavy artillery, the ceaseless rattle of mus-

ketry, the shock of arms in the onset of contending soldiers, British

and American, mingled with the piercing yells of Tecumseh's

infuriated savages, for five days and nights, during the frightful

siege, broke the quiet of the valley, now dotted with its peaceful

homes and prosperous villages. To understand aright the his-

toric importance of Fort Meigs' struggle in the War of 1812 it

will be necessary to review the events leading up to the construc-

tion of that important stronghold, recount the main events of its

successful resistance to armed invasion, and then point out the

beneficent result that ensued from the valorous defense by Har-

rison and his beleaguered heroes.

The War of 1812, or "Madison's War," as it was called by

unfriendly critics of the administration, was declared June eigh-

teenth, 1812. There was great opposition to the war in the sea-

board states, especially among the bankers, merchants and manu-

facturers. A war with England was greatly dreaded, as our weak

country was then just beginning to recover from its long and ex-

haustive struggle for independence and was beginning to reap

some of the fruits of peace and prosperity. Many believed that

we had nothing to gain and much to lose by a war with England,

as she had great armies in the field and practically ruled the seas.

But the provocation to war was great, and the national pride and

indignation of the Americans was roused to the highest pitch by

the insolent aggressions of England toward our commerce and

our sailors. England's "Orders in Council," in reprisal for

• 1
 

316      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

• 2
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.              317

 

Napoleon's Berlin and Milan decrees, excluded our merchant ships

from almost every port of the world, unless the permission of

England to trade was first obtained. In defiance of England's

paper blockade of the world our ships went forth to trade with

distant nations. Hundreds of them were captured, their contents

confiscated and the vessels carried as prizes into English ports.

But this was not all. The United States recognized the right of

an alien to be "naturalized" and become a citizen of this country,

but England held to the doctrine, "Once an Englishman always

an Englishman." In consequence of this our ships were inso-

lently hailed and boarded by the war sloops and frigates of Eng-

land and six thousand American sailors in all were dragged from

our decks and impressed into the British service. In addition to

these insults and aggressions it was well known to the United

States that English agents in the Northwest were secretly aiding

and encouraging the wild Indian tribes of the Wabash and Lake

Superior regions to commit savage depredations upon our frontier

settlements. About this time an Indian chieftain of the Shaw-

anese tribe, Tecumseh by name, like King Philip and Pontiac

before him, conceived the idea of rallying all the Indian tribes

together and driving the white men out of the country.

Tecumseh was of a noble and majestic presence, was pos-

sessed of a lofty and magnanimous character and was endowed

with a gift of irresistible eloquence. Tecumseh had a brother

called the Prophet, who claimed to be able to foretell future events

and secure victories and effect marvelous cures by his charms and

incantations. Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory,

was active in securing Indian lands by purchase and treaty for

supplying the oncoming tide of white men who pressed hard upon

the Indian boundary lines. Tecumseh and the Prophet sent their

emissaries abroad and organized a great confederacy which re-

fused to cede the title to the lands of the Wabash valley, as had

been agreed upon by separate tribes.  They even came down into

the valley and built a town where Tippecanoe Creek flows into

the Wabash. Harrison, alarmed at these signs of resistance,

called the plotters to account. The Prophet, all of whose machina-

tions were based upon fraud and deception, denied everything.

But Tecumseh marched proudly down to Vincennes with four

• 3
 

318      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

hundred braves behind him and in the council, in a speech of great

eloquence and power, set forth the burning wrongs of his people

and asked for justice and redress.

When Tecumseh had finished, an officer of the governor

pointed to a vacant chair and said, "Your father asks you to take

a seat by his side." Tecumseh drew his mantle around him and

proudly exclaimed, "My father! The sun is my father, and the

earth my mother, in her bosom I will repose." He then calmly

seated himself upon the bare ground.

But the plotting and the intriguing among the hostile Indians

continued, Tecumseh traveling everywhere and inciting a spirit

of war and defiance. Harrison became alarmed at the formidable

preparation of the savages and marched from Vincennes with

nine hundred soldiers to disperse the hostile camp at Prophet's

town on the Wabash at Tippecanoe. The chiefs came out to meet

him and with professions of friendship promised on the next day

to grant all that he desired. Harrison was deceived by this recep-

tion and encamped upon the spot which the chiefs pointed out.

In the dark hours of the early morning the treacherous Prophet

and his inflamed followers crept silently upon the sleeping soldiers

of Harrison, shot the sentinels with arrows and with frightful

yells burst into the circle of the camp. At the first fire the well-

trained soldiers rolled from their blankets and tents and with

fixed bayonets rushed upon their red foes. For two hours a

bloody struggle ensued, but the valor and discipline of the whites

prevailed. The Indians were scattered and their town was burned.

Tecumseh was not present at the battle of Tippecanoe, but the

Prophet, at a safe distance upon a wooded height, inspired his

braves by wild hallooings and weird incantations. His pretenses

were so discredited by the result of the battle that he was driven

out of the country and sank into obscurity.  But not so with

Tecumseh. His heart was filled with rage and hatred against

Harrison and the American soldiers. He knew that war was just

trembling in the balance between England and the United States.

He immediately repaired to Malden at the mouth of the Detroit

river and proffered the aid of himself and his confederacy against

the United States. This famous battle of Tippecanoe, fought in

the dark, November seventh, 1811, was really the first blow

• 4
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.              319

 

struck in the war which was openly declared in the following June.

The Indians now fondly hoped that the English would deliver

their country from the grasp of the Americans. And the English

on their part were profuse in their promises of speedy deliver-

ance and in their gifts of arms and supplies of all kinds. The war

in the west was indeed but another struggle for the possession

of the lands between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi. And

had England won in the contest, not Tecumseh and his confed-

eracy would have had the hunting grounds of their forefathers

restored, but Canada would have been enlarged by the addition

of the Old Northwest to her own domain. It was far easier

for the United States to declare war than to prosecute it to a suc-

cessful issue. Our country was without an army and without a

navy and had but scanty means for creating either. England had

armies of experienced veterans and a vast navy. Ohio had less

than 250,000 inhabitants and her line of civilized settlements did

not extend more than fifty miles north of the Ohio River. What-

ever part Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky should play in the contest

must be done by conveying troops and munitions of war over a

road two hundred miles long through the wilderness.

As the campaign was planned against Canada these supplies

for the raw recruits of the west had to be transported northward

over roads cut toward Lake Erie and Detroit through the swamps

and tangled morasses of the unbroken forest. The line of contest

between the two nations was over five hundred miles long, extend-

ing from Lake Champlain to Detroit. The Americans held three

important points of vantage, Plattsburg, Niagara and Detroit.

The British held three on the Canada side of the line, Kingston,

Toronto and Maiden. At the latter place (now Amherstberg)

the British had a fort, a dockyard and a fleet of war vessels, thus

controlling Lake Erie. The Americans soon had three armies

in the field eager to invade and capture Canada. One under Hull,

then governor of Michigan Territory, with two thousand men,

was to cross the river at Detroit, take Malden and march east-

ward through Canada. Another army under Van Rensselaer was

to cross the Niagara River, capture Queenstown, effect a junction

with Hull and then capture Toronto and march eastward on Mon-

treal. The third army under Dearborn at Plattsburg was to cross

• 5
 

320     Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

the St. Lawrence, join Hull and Van Rensselaer before Montreal

and capture that city. The combined forces were then to march

on Quebec, take that city and thus complete the invasion and con-

quest of Canada. This fine program was not carried out. It

would have taken the combined genius of a Napoleon and a Caesar

to have executed such a plan of battle over such immense dis-

tances.

The plain truth is the Americans had in the field at this time

only raw, ill-disciplined troops and absolutely no generals with

abilities which fitted them to command such expeditions. Hull,

according to orders, crossed the Detroit River to Sandwich and

there in vacillating indecision dawdled away the time for several

weeks without advancing upon Malden only a few miles away.

When he heard that Mackinac Island had fallen into British

hands he began to quake in his boots, and thought of retreating.

Soon he received news that an Ohio convoy destined for Detroit

had been attacked and was in danger of capture. This settled it.

Hull quickly retreated across the river to Detroit with all his

forces with no thought but for protecting his own line of com-

munication, for he had reached Detroit originally from Urbana

by a road which he had cut through the wilderness by way of

Kenton and Findlay. Brock, the brave and skillful British gen-

eral commanding at Malden, immediately followed Hull across

the river and demanded the surrender of Detroit with threats of

a massacre by his Indian allies if Hull did not comply. To his

credit be it said, Hull refused, and the Americans prepared for

battle. Brock marched up to within five hundred yards. The

Americans were ready and eager for the fray and the artillerymen

stood at their guns with lighted matches, when to the dismay

and shame of all, the Stars and Stripes was lowered from the

flag staff of the fort and the white flag of surrender was run up.

Hull had weakened at the last moment and had given up the whole

of Michigan Territory, and also Detroit with all its troops, guns

and stores, and even surrendered detachments of troops twenty-

five miles distant. The officers and soldiers of Hull were over-

whelmed with rage and humiliation at this cowardly surrender.

The officers broke their swords across their knees and tore the

epaulets from their uniforms. Poor old Hull, it is said, had done

• 6
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.             321

 

good service in the Revolutionary War, but he had reached his

dotage and his nerve had departed, and moreover he had a daugh-

ter in Detroit whom he dearly loved and on whose account he

dreaded an Indian massacre.

Hull's troops had also been greatly diminished in numbers,

the government had been negligent in reinforcing him and he was

confronted by about one thousand British soldiers and fifteen hun-

dred bloodthirsty Indians. These facts may have helped to lead

him into this shameful and cowardly capitulation. Hull was after-

wards courtmartialed and tried on three charges of treason, cow-

ardice and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was convicted on

the two latter charges and was sentenced to be shot, but was sub-

sequently pardoned on account of former services.

Another disaster in the West accompanied Hull's surrender.

When he heard Mackinac had fallen he at once sent Winnimac,

a friendly chief, to Chicago, and advised Captain Heald, com-

manding at Fort Dearborn, to evacuate the fort with his garrison

and go to Fort Wayne.

Heald heeded this bad advice. He abandoned the fort with

his garrison of about sixty soldiers, together with a number of

women and children. He had no sooner left the precincts of the

fort than his little company was attacked by a vast horde of treach-

erous Pottawatomies who had pretended to be friends but who

had been inflamed by the speeches and warlike messages of

Tecumseh. The little band of whites resolved to sell their lives

as dearly as possible and defended themselves with the utmost

bravery, even the women fighting valiantly beside their husbands.

During the fray one savage fiend climbed into a baggage wagon

and tomahawked twelve little children who had been placed there

for safety. In this unequal contest William Wells, the famous

spy who had served Wayne so well, lost his life. Nearly all of the

little Chicago garrison were thus massacred in the most atrocious

manner. In the meantime Van Renssellaer's army at Niagara had

failed to take Queenstown and a part of it under Winfield Scott,

after a brave resistance, had been captured. Dearborn's army on

Lake Champlain passed the summer in idleness and indecision

and accomplished nothing.

Vol. X - 21

• 7
 

322      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

Thus closed with failure and disaster the campaign of the

year 1812.

January, 1813, opened with still another tragedy of the divest

character. General Winchester had been appointed to the chief

command of the army of the west after the surrender of Hull;

but this appointment raised a storm of opposition among the

troops, who desired General Harrison to be in supreme command.

Harrison was extremely popular among the soldiers. His great

energy and his remarkable military abilities were well known,

and, moreover, he was the hero of Tippecanoe. Accordingly,

in obedience to the popular demand, Harrison, in September of

1812, was appointed to the chief command of the army of the

west. But Winchester still continued to retain an important

command, and in January of 1813 he marched his troops from

Fort Wayne and Defiance down the north bank of the Maumee,

over Wayne's old route, to the foot of the Rapids, in the hope

that he might be able to do something to repair the disaster of

Hull's surrender. On his arriving at the Rapids, messengers

from Frenchtown (now Monroe) informed him that a force of

British and Indians were encamped at Frenchtown and were

causing the inhabitants great loss and annoyance. Winchester

at once set out for Frenchtown and on January nineteenth attacked

and completely routed the enemy at that place. Had he then

returned to the Rapids he would have escaped the terrible disaster

which followed.  The full British force was at Malden only

eighteen miles away. A force of fifteen hundred British and

Indians immediately marched against Winchester and attacked

him early on the morning of the twenty-second. The battle was

fierce and stubborn. The Americans had no entrenchments or

protection of any kind and were overwhelmed by superior num-

bers. Those who were still alive, after a bloody resistance, were

compelled to surrender. Then followed such a scene of carnage

as has seldom been witnessed. Proctor, the British commander,

stood calmly by while his Indian allies mutilated the dead and

inflicted the most awful tortures upon the wounded. Even those

who had surrendered upon condition that their lives should be

spared were attacked by these savage butchers with knife and

tomahawk. The awful deeds that followed the surrender have

• 8
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.              323

 

covered the name of Proctor with infamy and have made "The

Massacre of the Raisin" a direful event in history. When the

appalling news of the massacre reached the settlements the people

of Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio girded themselves for

revenge. Ten thousand troops were raised for Harrison and it

was determined to wipe out the disgrace of Hull's surrender and

avenge the awful death of comrades and friends so pitilessly and

treacherously butchered on the Raisin. "Remember the Raisin,"

was heard in every camp and issued from between the set teeth

of soldiers who in long lines began converging toward the Rapids

of the Maumee.

It was under such circumstances as these, with two armies

swept away and the country plunged in gloom, that General Har-

rison began with redoubled energy to get together a third army.

He at first thought of withdrawing all troops from northwestern

Ohio and retreating toward the interior of the state. But upon

second thought he resolved to build a strong fortress upon the

southern bank of the Maumee at the foot of the rapids which

should be a grand depot of supplies and a base of operations

against Detroit and Canada. Early in February of 1813, Harri-

son, with Captains Wood and Gratiot of the engineer corps,

selected the high plateau of the Maumee's southern bank lying

just opposite the present village of Maumee. As the British com-

manded Lake Erie this was a strategic point of great value and

lay directly on the road to Canada. Below it armies and heavy

guns could not well be conveyed across the impassable marshes

and estuaries of the bay. It was a most favorable position for

either attack or defense, for advance or retreat, for concentrating

the troops and supplies of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio and In-

diana, or for effectively repelling the invasion of the British and

their horde of savage allies from the north. The construction of

the fort was begun in February and originally covered a space

of about ten acres. It was completed the last of April, and was

named Fort Meigs in honor of Return Jonathan Meigs, then gov-

ernor of Ohio. The fort was in the form of an irregular ellipse

and was enclosed by sharpened palisades fifteen feet long and

about twelve inches in diameter, cut from the adjoining forest.

In bastions at convenient angles of the fort were erected nine

• 9
 

324      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

strong blockhouses equipped with cannon, besides the regular gun

and mortar batteries. In the western end of the fort were located

the magazine, forges, repair shops, storehouses and the officers'

quarters. Harrison knew that Proctor was preparing at Malden

for an attack on the fort and that he would appear as soon as the

ice was out of Lake Erie. On April twenty-sixth Proctor arrived

in the river off the present site of Toledo with four hundred regu-

lars of the Forty-first regiment and eight hundred Canadians, and

with a train of heavy battering artillery on board his ships. A

force of eighteen hundred Indians under Tecumseh swept across

in straggling columns by land from Malden. The British landed

at old Fort Miami, a mile below Fort Meigs, on the opposite side

of the river. Fort Miami was then in a somewhat ruined con-

dition, as the British had abandoned it shortly after Wayne's

victory eighteen years before. It was hastily repaired and occu-

pied by the British, Tecumseh with his Indians encamping close

by. The British landed their heavy guns at the watergate of the

old fort and laboriously dragged them up the long slope to the

high bank above. All night long they toiled in erecting their siege

batteries. With teams of oxen and squads of two hundred men

to each gun they hauled the heavy ordnance through mud two feet

deep from old Fort Miami to the high embankment just opposite

Fort Meigs. There, early on the morning of May first, the British

had four strong batteries in position, despite the incessant fire

which the Americans from Fort Meigs had directed upon them.

These four batteries were known as the King's Battery, the

Queens Battery, the Sailor's Battery and the Mortar Battery, the

latter throwing destructive bombs of various sizes. Harrison was

characterized by great foresight and penetration as a general.

On the night the British were planting their batteries, realizing

that he had an available force of less than eight hundred men, he

dispatched a brave scout, Captain William Oliver, to General

Green Clay, who he knew was on the way with a large force of

Kentuckians, to bid him hurry forward with his reinforcements.

On the same night he set his men to work with spades and threw

up the "grand traverse," an embankment of earth extending longi-

tudinally through the middle of the fort, nine hundred feet long,

twelve feet high and with a base width of twenty feet. The tents

• 10
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.              325

were taken down and the little army retired behind the great

embankment and awaited the coming storm, which broke in fury

at dawn, on May first. The British batteries all opened at once

with a perfect storm of red-hot solid shot and screaming shells,

which fell within the palisades, plowed up the earth of the grand

traverse or went hissing over the fort and crashed into the woods

beyond. The soldiers protected themselves by digging bomb-

proof caves at the base of the grand traverse on the sheltered side,

where they were quite secure, unless by chance a spinning shell

rolled into one of them. For several days and nights the troops

ate and slept in these holes under the embankment, ever ready to

rush to the palisades or gates in case of a breach or an assault.

During the siege a cold, steady rain set in and the underground

bomb-proof retreats gradually filled with water and mud. The

soldiers were compelled to take to the open air behind the embank-

ment, where, having become used to the terrible uproar, they ate,

slept, joked and played cards. It is related that Harrison offered

a reward of a gill of whisky for each British cannon ball that

should be returned to the magazine keeper. On a single day of

the siege, it is said, a thousand balls were thus secured and hurled

back by the American batteries, which constantly replied to the

British fire, night and day, frequently dismounting their guns.

One of the American militiamen became very expert in detecting

the destined course of the British projectiles and would faithfully

warn the garrison. He would take his station on the embankment

in defiance of danger. When the smoke issued from the gun he

would shout, "Shot," or "Bomb," whichever it might be. At times

he would say, "Blockhouse No. 1," or "Main battery," as the case

might be. Sometimes growing facetious he would yell, "Now for

the meat-house," or if the shot was high he would exclaim, "Now,

good-bye, if you will pass." In spite of danger and protests he

kept his post. One day he remained silent and puzzled, as the

shot came in the direct line of his vision. He watched and peered

while the ball came straight on and dashed him to fragments.

On the third night of the siege a detachment of British, together

with a large force of Indians, crossed the river below Fort Meigs

and, passing up a little ravine, planted on its margin, southeast

• 11
 

326      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

of the fort, and within two hundred and fifty yards, two new

batteries.

The garrison was now subjected to a terrible crossfire, and

the Indians, climbing trees in the vicinity, poured in a galling rifle

fire, killing some and wounding many of the garrison. On the

morning of the fourth of May, Proctor sent to Harrison a demand

for the surrender of the fort. Harrison replied to the officer who

bore Proctor's demand, "Tell your general that if he obtains pos-

session of this fort it will be under circumstances that will do him

far more honor than would my surrender." And again the cease-

less bombardment on both sides began. On the night of May

fourth Captain Oliver crept into the fort under cover of darkness

and informed Harrison that General Green Clay with twelve hun-

dred Kentucky militia was at that moment descending the

Maumee in eighteen large barges and could reach the fort in two

hours, but would await the orders of Harrison. The command

was immediately sent out for Clay to come down the river, land

eight hundred men on the northern bank, seize and spike the

British cannon and then immediately cross the river to Fort

Meigs. The other four hundred Kentuckians were ordered to

land on the southern bank directly under the fort and fight their

way in at the gates, the garrison in the meantime making sallies

to aid in the movement. Colonel Dudley, being second in com-

mand, led the van and landed his boats about one mile above the

British batteries on the northern bank of the river. He formed

his eight hundred men in three lines and marched silently down

upon the batteries in the darkness. The Kentuckians took the

British completely by surprise. They closed in upon the guns and

charged with the bayonet, the artillery men and Indians fleeing

for their lives. They spiked the British guns and rolled some of

them down the embankment, but unfortunately the spiking was

done with ramrods instead of with the usual steel implements,

and the British subsequently put the guns in action again. Had

the Americans now obeyed the orders of Harrison and crossed

the river and entered the fort all would have been well. But the

Kentucky militia were eager for a fight, and elated by their success

in capturing the batteries, they began a pursuit of the fleeing

• 12
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.             327

Indians. In vain they were called to by friends from Fort Meigs,

who saw their danger.

Wildly the cheering Kentucklians dashed into the forest after

the flying savages, who artfully led them on. Then deep in the

recesses of the forest a multitude of savages rose up around them.

Tomahawks were hurled at them and shots came thick and fast

from behind trees and bushes. Realizing that they had fallen

into an ambuscade, they began a hasty and confused retreat toward

the batteries. But in the meantime the British regulars had come

up from old Fort Miami and thrown themselves between the river

and the retreating Americans. About one hundred and fifty cut

their way through and escaped across the river. At least two

hundred and fifty were cut to pieces by the savages and about

four hundred were captured. The prisoners were marched down

to the old fort to be put on board ships. On the way the Indians

began butchering the helpless prisoners.

Tecumseh, far more humane than his white allies, hearing

of the massacre, dashed up on his horse, and seeing two Indians

butchering an American, he brained one with his tomahawk and

felled the other to the earth. Drake states that on this occasion

Tecumseh seemed rent with grief and passion and cried out, "Oh,

what will become of my poor Indians !" Seeing Proctor standing

near, Tecumseh sternly asked him why he had not stopped the

inhuman massacre. "Sir, your Indians cannot be commanded,"

replied Proctor. "Begone, you are unfit to command; go and put

on petticoats," retorted Tecumseh. After this incident the pris-

oners were not further molested.

On the other side of the river events had gone quite differ-

ently. The four hundred who landed on the south bank, with

the help of a sallying party, after a bloody struggle, succeed d in

entering the fort. At the same time the garrison made a brilliant

sortie from the southern gate and attacked the batteries on the

ravine. They succeeded in spiking all the guns and captured

forty-two prisoners, two of them British officers. After this an

armistice occurred for burying the dead and exchanging pris-

oners. Harrison prudently took advantage of the lull in the con-

flict to get the ammunition and supplies, that had come on the

boats, into the fort. The batteries then again resumed fire, but

• 13
 

328      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

the Indians had become weary of the siege, a method of warfare

so much opposed to their taste and genius. They had become

glutted, too, with blood and scalps, and were heavily laden with

the spoils of Dudley's massacred troops. So in spite of Tecum-

seh's protests, they gradually slipped away in the forest toward

their northern homes. Proctor now became disheartened by the

desertion of his allies and feared the coming of more reinforce-

ments for Harrison. The Stars and Stripes still waved above the

garrison, and Fort Meigs was stronger and more impregnable

than ever. Sickness broke out among the British troops encamped

upon the damp ground and squads of the Canadian militia began

to desert, stealing away under cover of darkness. Tecumseh,

unconquerable and determined, still remained upon the ground

with four hundred braves of his own tribe, the Shawanese.

Few of the present day can know or even imagine the horrible

scenes that took place within the precincts of Tecumseh's camp

shortly after the massacre of Dudley's troops. A British officer

who took part in the siege, writing in 1826, tells of a visit to the

Indian camp on the day after the massacre. The camp was filled

with the clothes and plunder stripped from the slaughtered sol-

diers and officers. The lodges were adorned with saddles, bridles

and richly ornamented swords and pistols.  Swarthy savages

strutted about in cavalry boots and the fine uniforms of American

officers. The Indian wolf dogs were gnawing the bones of the

fallen. Everywhere were scalps and the skins of hands and feet

stretched on hoops, stained on the fleshy side with vermillion, and

drying in the sun. At one place was found a circle of Indians

seated around a huge kettle boiling fragments of slaughtered

American soldiers, each Indian with a string attached to his par-

ticular portion. Being invited to partake of the hideous repast,

the officer relates that he and his companion turned away in

loathing and disgust, excusing themselves with the plea that they

had already dined. On the ninth of May, despairing of reducing

Fort Meigs, Proctor anchored his gunboats under the batteries,

and although subjected to constant fire from the Americans, em-

barked his guns and troops and sailed away to Malden. But

before dismounting the batteries, they all fired at once a parting

salute, by which ten or twelve of the Americans were killed and

• 14
 

The Siege of Fort Meigs.             329

 

about twenty-five wounded. Thus for about twelve days was the

beleaguered garrison hemmed in by the invading horde. The

Americans suffered them to depart without molestation, for, as

one of the garrison said, "We were glad to be rid of them on any

terms." The same writer says: "The next morning found us

somewhat more tranquil. We could leave the ditches and walk

about with more of an air of freedom than we had done for four-

teen days; and I wish I could present to the reader a picture of the

condition we found ourselves in when the withdrawal of the

enemy gave us time to look at each other's outward appearance.

The scarcity of water had put the washing of our hands and

faces, much less our linen, out of the question. Many had scarcely

any clothing left, and that which they had was so begrimed and

torn by our residence in the ditch and other means, that we pre-

sented the appearance of so many scarecrows." Proctor appeared

again in the river ten days later, with his boats, and Tecumseh

with his Indians, and remained in the vicinity of the fort from

July twentieth to the twenty-eighth. This visitation constitutes

what has been called the second siege of Fort Meigs. Their force

this time is said to have consisted of about five thousand whites

and Indians, but they attempted no bombardment and no assault.

The Indians contented themselves with capturing and murdering

a party of ten Americans whom they caught outside the fort.

It was during this siege that the Indians and British secreted

themselves in the woods southeast of the fort and got up a sham

battle among themselves, with great noise and firing, in order

to draw out the garrison. But this ruse did not deceive General

Clay, then in command, although many of the soldiers angrily

demanded to be led out to the assistance of comrades who, they

imagined, had been attacked while coming to relieve the besieged

garrison. On the twenty-eighth Proctor and his Indian allies

again departed, going to attack Fort Stephenson, whose glorious

victory under young Crogan was one of the great achievements

of the War of 1812.

During the siege of Fort Meigs from May first to the fifth,

beside the massacred troops of Colonel Dudley, the garrison, in

sorties and within the fort, had eighty-one killed and one hundred

and eighty-nine wounded. The sunken and grass-grown graves

• 15
 

330       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

of the heroes who lost their lives at Fort Meigs are still to be

seen upon the spot.

The events that followed the heroic resistance of Fort Meigs

are no doubt too well known to require narration.

The famous victory of Perry in the following September

cleared Lake Erie of the British fleet. Proctor and Tecumseh fled

from Maiden and Harrison's army pursued, overtaking them at

the Thames. There the British were completely routed and the

brave Tecumseh was slain. This put an end to the war in the

West and Michigan and Detroit again became American pos-

sessions.

The important part which Fort Meigs played in the war can

now be seen. It was the rallying point for troops, and the great

storehouse of supplies for the western army. It was the Gibraltar

of the Maumee valley and rolled back the tide of British invasion

while Perry was cutting his green ship timbers from the forest

around Erie, and it was to Harrison at Fort Meigs that Perry's

world-famed dispatch came when the British fleet had struck

their colors off Put-in-Bay: "We have met the enemy and they

are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." All

honor to old Fort Meigs! The rain and the frost and the farmer's

plow are fast obliterating the ruins of the grand old stronghold

that once preserved the great Northwest for the United States.

Little remains there now, where the roar of battle broke the air,

and the devoted band of patriots stood their ground under the

shower of iron hail and shrieking shells that for days were hurled

upon them. The long green line of the grand traverse, with its

four gateways, still stretches across the plain and the peaceful

kine are browsing along its sides. And nearby, sunken, un-

marked, weed-grown and neglected, are the graves of the heroic

dead who fell in the fearful strife.

[The foregoing paper was read by Mr. Compton at the annual meet-

ing of the Maumee Valley Pioneer Association, at Bowling Green, Ohio.

August 16, 1900.-E. O. R.-Editor.]

• 16