Ohio History Journal

Unveiling of Fort Recovery Monument.       427

 

whose loss was unusually great, but also to the British, who

stood as sponsors to the movements of the tribesmen, for the

British were not only redoubling their assistance to the tribes,

supplying them with arms and munitions but were in their own

behalf taking bold measures of offensive warfare. For it was

at this time, April, (1794), that under the orders of Governor

Simcoe, three British companies, commanded by Colonel Richard

England, proceeded to the foot of the Maumee Rapids and

built a fort, a veritable stronghold on the left or northern bank

of the Maumee, "an encroachment of nearly forty miles upon

the American soil." This fortification, called Fort Miami, was

thoroughly armed and garrisoned under the command of Major

William Campbell, while only a mile and a half above the fort

and near the river rapids was the British agency of Superin-

tendent Alexander McKee, under whose management provi-

sions and arms were distributed to the Indians. The British,

as noted by Slocum in "The Ohio Country," also built another

post twelve to fifteen miles within the American territory, situ-

ated on Turtle Island, just outside the Maumee Bay, twenty

miles or so northeast from the Fort Miami.

 

ADDRESS OF HON. W. E. TOUVELLE.

On this day, associated with the holiest attributes, loyalty to

our country, love for our homes and gratitude to those who gave

up comfort, aye, even life, to aid heaven in making the lonely

forests blossom into fertile fields, we have gathered around a

common altar to render our individual and united tribute to

these our country's heroes.

Today we blend with the devotion of Christian worship

the impressive service in which the Nation expresses its regard

for those, who in two great struggles between races, opened

the gateway of the great Northwest, conquered, perhaps, or

bringing home the trophy of their gain, the long years have

made of them all, victors. Even the fallen accomplished their

share in the onward march of civilization. In all our National

history there is nothing which so stirs the imagination, reaches

down and opens deeper fountains of feeling, makes the heart

throb with nobler emotions or makes men more one with each

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other, than this gathering of our countrymen to pay affectionate

tribute to our patriotic and heroic dead. Here in the village of

Ft. Recovery which has been made into a garden of beauty,

dreams in peaceful home and answers chimes of church and call

of school, or fearless, plies its honest trade in mart; where the

sun shines and the flowers grow and the children play upon the

banks of the Wabash; here, one hundred years ago and more,

a thousand of our forefathers, men who helped to found the

Republic we now enjoy, knocked upon the fast locked door of

the wilderness, breasted the ghastly storms of savage war and

laid down their lives for the advancement of Christian civiliza-

tion; that we, living in this later day, may feast upon the fruits

of the land and untroubled rest when toil is o'er, nor wake to

cry of the untamed foe nor elude the wild beast as he stalks.

On the edge of the winter they started across a stranger

land to subdue a far more forboding enemy, one whose ethics

of glory and of warfare were as foreign to that of the open

battle and the chivalry to the vanquished practiced by St. Clair

and his soldiers of the East as though they were of a planet yet

unlisted in the names of stars. Warnings of the border men

were treated lightly because the peril was unrecognized until

every tree became a menace, one minute wreathed with clamor

and smoke, the next standing out stark and silent, as if it itself

breathed out bullets and smoke and breathed in the crisp Novem-

ber air. And with every breathing the men fell, futilely firing,

praying with their dying gasp for a glimpse of the foeman which

they could not mark and answered by the crashing of some fall-

ing forest giant and the taunt of the invisible guard of the In-

dian's country. But a handful retreated beyond the reach of

the savage pursuit, the forest was filled with the fallen. With-

out covering except the fallen snow, unburied they lay, no

hand to make their graves, to lift them down or spread the

kindly sod; no courier to cry the news except the lean wolf

howling to his kind upon some far off trail, so far the forests

stretched, so distant lived their kin, so inaccessible in its winter

chains the land wherein they slept. For over two years kindly

nature clothed their bones with flowers and waving grass, with

autumn's browning leaf and the whitening frosts until General

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Unveiling of Fort Recovery Monument.     429

 

Anthony Wayne, with his conquering legions and that dash

which made the Impossible gasp with awe and yield to him her

most impregnable barriers, swept down upon the old battle

ground, wrested it from its former victors and where the faith-

ful dead had kept their silent watch, set new sentinels to guard

the site whereon he builded a double log fort which he christened

Fort Recovery. In this later battle, fought in 1794, Major Mc-

Mahon and many of his fellow officers and comrades gave to

their country the full measure of their devotion as had every

officer, gallant men and brave, of St. Clair's regiments, with

630 American soldiers, a monstrous sacrifice for an infant nation

to suffer for the welfare of her border citizens, a glorious, un-

selfish deed of the men who marched into the jaws of death by

battle or famine or the hungry denizens that haunted the winter

desolation.

It is not oblivion to those who have given us safety, per-

haps a little touch in the blood of "the Land of Tomorrow,"

or, perchance, the struggle of life that demands that we pro-

vide for our own living ones ere we fitly bury our dead, that

causes our nation sometimes to appear ungrateful and slow to

acknowledge the debt by appropriate ceremony and, too, doubt-

less sixty years is not a vast length of time for a people who

must build its hearthstones in an inhospitable land of rigorous

seasons. It may be that our fathers deserve commendation for

grasping an early opportunity not condemnation for laxity, for, in

1851, they provided thirteen coffins for the reception of the re-

mains of those who had marched to a higher reward. Thirteen

coffins, a remarkable number. These men came from each of

the thirteen old colonies, many of them were heroes who had

fought for the independence of these colonies and were citizens

of the original thirteen states. As ragged continental soldiers

they had upheld the doctrine of American freedom   against

British aggression and had emerged from that struggle as vic-

torious soldiers of a splendid new-born Nation.

They had seen service with Washington and Marion and

Green and were led, at the time of their death, by the distin-

guished Revolutionary Generals, St. Clair, Butler and Wayne.

Their bones in the aggregate, represented the continental sol-

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diery of every colony, from Massachusetts to Georgia and in

their totality spoke the glories of Bunker Hill, of Saratoga and

Trenton, of Kings Mountain and Camden and Yorktown;. they

were the last remains of an illustrious phalanx of Revolutionary

heroes, and it was singularly appropriate that thirteen coffins,

representing the magnificent thirteen colonies for which they

fought in their younger days and the thirteen States, constitut-

ing the latest born nation of the earth for whose progression they

laid down their lives, should be selected to hold their remains.

On hundred years after St. Clair's defeat it was the "Grand

Army of the Republic," that noblest of all patriotic orders

which preserves and strengthens "those kind of fraternal feel-

ings which have bound together the soldiers, sailor and marine

who united to suppress the late rebellion,." who, through re-

membrance of long marches in sun or storm and night watches

under the stars or wrapped in the marsh mists, fitly cherishing

the memory of our heroic dead who made their breasts a barri-

cade between our country and its foes, again interred the ashes

of these heroes with salute of gun and sound of taps and

requiem for the slain, lest we forget and forgetting lose a vast

heritage. For the world is advanced by every incident of worthy

action and lofty purpose. Glorious traditions beget glorious

deeds; precedents and examples of heroism lead to higher en-

deavor. If we mold the future to noble fashion we should hold

the fame of our valorous ones bright as the splendor of the

summer sun upon their shields, their memory fragrant as the

open flowers upspringing from the turf that wraps their clay.

In every age the soldier's deeds have been remembered.

God's ancient people offered prayer and songs of thanksgiving

in commemoration of great deliverance and in remembrance of

men who had been instruments of blessings to them, and other

nations of antiquity had their ceremonies for the slain in battle

and for the return of the victors, their weaving of garlands and

mourning for the dead, their gala parade and flaunting banner

for the returned, keeping the festal day of triumph even for

centuries, believing that by thus recognizing their patriots the

future generations would more fully estimate the value of and

their obligations to, the nation, for the people's gratitude is a

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Unveiling of Fort Recovery Monument.     431

 

government's salvation, it perpetuates in the hearts of men the

worth of national integrity and glory.

Equipments of armies become obsolete, fortifications value-

less, the weapons of today the toys of tomorrow but the graves

of soldiers are stronger intrenchments against a foe than are

moats or bayonets or artilleries. Through all time, in every na-

tion, savage or refined, their memory has been fondly cherished.

Armed peasants have claimed a following, have seized thrones

and founded dynasties and pyramids and mausoleums have been

erected in their honor, triumphal arches have proclaimed the

fame of warrior chiefs and pillars pierced the heavens to point

to victorious nations. The statues of Themistocles long fired

the Grecian heart and the Romans were wont to place sculptures

of their dead heroes in the porches and passage ways of their

dwellings so that, day by day, when they went out and when

they came in, when they sat down or when they arose, marble

forms might speak to them in mute but impressive language of

those deserving of perpetual remembrance and emulation.

England has placed her mark of triumph over France upon

the blood stained field of Waterloo; in Trafalgar Square, Lon-

don; near Niagara Falls to General Brock and his men who fell

contesting American arms; they arise wherever British heroism

and daring and loyalty have been displayed. In every civilized

country we find them, signatures of tribute from  the living

to the immortal dead.

In memory of the brave who dedicated their lives at these

places we have built monuments at Saratoga and at Kings

Mountain, two great turning points in our struggle for liberty.

Art has adorned the erections with which we have honored our

heroes of the War of 1812, Florida and Indian Wars, the

Mexican war, and the great titanic struggle between sections

and orators have anointed with sentiments of profound grati-

tude and veneration those whose dust they commemorate.

One by one they have been builded here and there, often to

lesser heroes, and our fathers, many of whom sleep in God's

acre on yonder hill, for over half a century petitioned our gov-

ernment to recognize the services of the men who from 1776

to 1783 fought to create the Government and, at its after call,

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432       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

gave their lives in 1791 and 1794. They dared the death call

of the haughty British- foe in our war for independence and

defying the savage of the wilderness for the winning of the

West, perished upon its threshold.

Too far from friend to claim a sheet or shroud, or mother's

prayer or widow's anguished cry, or e'en the funeral note when

battling was done, fearlessly their departing spirits went alone,

down into the dark shadows of the "Valley of death," eyes

darkening to the horrors of the awful carnage, ears deafening to

the savage warrior's cry. Knowing this and believing that his-

tory asserts the unchallenged truth that when a nation turns

with cold indifference from the graves of those who, in fiery

ordeal of battle, protected its flag and builded its power, the

elements of dissolution and decay are at work; our fathers

taught their children that the worm gnaws through the oak

which the tempest could not bend, and the canker eats to the

core where the lightning could never reach.

Urged by these sentiments which were forever kept fresh

by the sight of these neglected graves and with the inestimable

assistance of The Grand Army of the Republic, success at last

crowned their efforts and by this act of tardy justice our Nation

has redeemed the debt it owes, not only to its defenders, but to

itself. The hope of the Nation is the youth of the land and if

upon them can be impressed the thought that love of country is

paramount to all other emotions of the soul, except devotion to

their God, the salvation of the Republic is secure. This doctrine,

instilled into the American hearts has proven stronger than

drills and marching and counter marching. For not being a

military nation, we have depended upon our citizen soldier, and

when yet has he ever failed us? While it cannot be said of

our country, as has been proclaimed of Great Britain, "that it

is a power which has dotted over the face of the globe with her

possessions and military posts whose morning drum beats fol-

lowing the sun and keeping company with the hours, circle the

earth with one continuous strain of the martial airs of England,"

we Americans thank God that from the time the sun's first rays

salute the shores of the Atlantic until the twilight voicelessly

bugles forth "lights out" unto Pacific's golden strand, as it

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Unveiling of Fort Recovery Monument.       433

 

crosses three thousand miles of the fairest and freest land in

the world, a Government with imperial dimensions and pledging

to every man security in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,

from hill and from dale it is greeted with the harmony of bells

calling men to worship or luring the children's vagrant feet to

paths of knowledge, a continuous peal of sweeter and better

music than any calls to arms, the token of victories long won

and heaven's blessing of peace and christianity and enlighten-

ment. And, this, too, we owe to these who first trod the wilder-

ness; its preservation depends upon the generations that follow.

The glory of the past is secure, no time can dim the splen-

dor of the great deed of the dead who nobly fell in the per-

formance of a noble duty. Forever it is ours and even the foe-

man loves a gallant antagonist. But what of the future? That

lies with our children and our children's children and upon their

strength and intelligence and morality the perpetuity of the Re-

public must ever depend. The lives of other Republics have

been brief; Greece and Rome maintained themselves for only

a few hundred years, while despotism has stood for ages and

monarchies count their years by centuries. We, a world power

now, must valiantly dispute imperialism for the future of civil-

ization, must make ourself a living precept for our younger sis-

ter Republics.

You hear of the decay of the Republic, you know of the

bribery of legislatures, of extravagance in the administration of

government; inequality of taxation; accumulation of enormous

wealth through special privilege, giving private individuals power

over the fruits of toil and the destiny of the artificer and pro-

ducer, leaving him but a small recompense; of a lawless foreign

element coming each year by the thousands, not to enjoy our

free institutions, not to make this their country, but to return

to their native land with their hoarded wealth after a huddling

life in unsanitary surroundings, leaving behind the germs of

noxious diseases and unwholesome and menacing conditions;

they accuse some of our statesmen of ignoring these maladies

because they hold more dear the brand upon the dollar than

the eagle upon the shield and the conditions of our nation have

been compared to that of France prior to her revolution.

Vol. XXII- 28.

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434       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" and whether or

not these evils exist it is incumbent that we make all attempts

at such menaces futile by demanding public and private integrity;

that official position be unstained and incorruptible and by

stamping out the negligent and dishonest by public reprobation.

The good, the true, even the beautiful, all are necessary to our

higher aspirations and ambitions for long life and perfect gov-

ernment. All virtues, divine and human, are embraced in this

grand trinity and patriotism is the first of human virtues. It

is a sentiment as pure and tender as a lily. It must be nurtured,

not merely by gentle precept of eloquent speech, but by deeds

done with noble purpose; it must weld the interests of all the

nation and upon the heights upon which it thrives we must plant

the banner of justice and equality. Beneath, and far below it

in the lower ground of passion and arrogance, men may dwarf

if they will, but each, must not only be permitted, but encour-

aged, to climb the steep that leads to knowledge, self respect and

competency.

Let us continue to build monuments to our soldier dead as

milestones of educative progress to our youths, pointing them

to the deeds of their fathers, instilling into their souls the obli-

gations that can but honorably be cancelled by achievements

worthy of the sacrifice; let them meet arches and memorial

shafts everywhere, in order that the fires of patriotism may not

grow dimmed in their hearts, nor the American's great love of

country be quenched forever. Let us twine around our hearts

each thread of our country's flag until the sundering of a single

strand is as the wrenching of the heart from out our breast,

vibrant, palpitating, quivering with life. Could lesser love be

adequate? Did not our ancestors design it of glorious fashion

and consecrate it with the sacrifice not only of their best, but

of their all? Was ever emblem   so beautiful as our Star

Spangled Banner? Did ever ensign so fill the souls of men, the

love of women, the sense of duty, the thirst for glory start such

heart throbs as impels the humblest American to stand by its

colors, fearless in the defense of his native soil and for its

preservation hold it sweet to die? What legends hover around

this symbol of protection, authority and power! On its folds

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Unveiling of Fort Recovery Monument.         435

 

we see emblazoned daring and unselfish deeds of heroes who

have scaled the walls of duty and gained the parapets of the City

beyond. And, too, what a lesson it conveys! Its white teaches

purity of purpose, its red typifies the blood which has been so

freely shed in its defense, and its blue, with its constellations,

reminds us of fidelity, fidelity to our God, fidelity to ourselves,

fidelity to

"The Star Spangled Banner,

Oh long may it wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

These soldiers have not died in vain. Our nation of one

hundred millions of free and self governing people will always

be guided by their example of heroic sacrifice, and, recognizing

the universal practice of justice, benevolence and national vir-

tue, Providence will let its blessings descend upon us and our

posterity "like unto the dews of heaven, unseen, unfelt, save

in the richness and beauty it contributes to produce, and we will

continue to walk in the path of the just which is as the dawning

light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

 

ADDRESS OF GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER.

I thank you, the local Post of the Grand Army of the Re-

public, and all those in authority here for the invitation to be

present and to address those assembled on this historic occa-

sion.

This splendid monument just unveiled was fittingly erected

through the bounty of the United States, the appropriation

($25,000) therefor having been secured chiefly through the ef-

fective efforts in Congress of Hon. William E. Touvelle, a

Representative therein.

Great nations and peoples have, in the course of the ages,

erected monuments to individuals distinguished in War, as

rulers, in learning, in science, the arts, for philanthrophy, for

discoveries and for other things, but it remained to this twen-

tieth century for two South American Republics, Argentina and

Chili, to erect the first colossal statue to Christ-The Prince of

Peace-to stand in a lonely spot on their boundary line on the

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