Ohio History Journal

HULL'S TRACE OR TRAIL.

 

BY GEN. ROBT. P. KENNEDY.

In the early times the roads or passages cut through the

heavy timber of the country were called "traces" or "trails,"

and thus we read about "Zane's trace," the roadway cut by

Ebenezer Zane, his brother Jonathan, and his son-in-law, John

McIntyre, from Wheeling, on the Ohio River in Virginia, to the

Limestone, on the Ohio River in Kentucky, the first "trace,"

roadway or passage from the East to this section of the great

northwest.

The trace which the Zanes and McIntyre cut from Wheel-

ing to the Limestone followed almost entirely the old Indian

trails which had been made by long continued usage by the

Indians in their passage to and from the Northeast and South-

west, and is substantially an easy and short line from Wheeling

to Maysville. For this labor the Zanes and McIntyre were

given sections of land at the crossings of the rivers at Zanes-

ville, Lancaster and Chillicothe.

And again we hear of "Hull's trace" or trail, the rough pas-

sage way cut through the timber from Ohio to the Canada border

at Brownstown, for the passage of Gen. Hull's army on its way

to attack the English under Gen. Brock.

And again we read about "Gen. Harrison's trail," from

Franklinton through the present counties of Delaware, Marion,

Wyandot, Seneca, and Sandusky, to Fort Meigs, - all the way

being dotted with newly built forts,-and thence to the battle-

ground of that splendid victory of the Thames.

And again we read of Col. Clay's trail, of Harrison's army,

on its way via Forts Piqua, St. Marys, Jennings, Winchester and

Meigs, to the battle-ground of the Thames.

These traces or trails were in many respects very properly

named for they were simply rough passages cut through the

heavy timber to enable the army to pass with its baggage, ar-

tillery and transportation towards the objective point of attack.

(583)

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584       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The trace or trail of Gen. Hull was to enable his army with

its artillery and baggage to pass from Dayton to Brownstown,

the outpost of the English army on the Canadian border.

The Ohio country was very heavily covered with timber and

the labor of clearing a passage way or trail was performed by

the woodmen and axmen who preceded the army clearing a road

or trail through the woods of sufficient width to permit the army

with its artillery and baggage to pass through.

The axmen of that day were skillful and equal to the task.

The army of Gen. Hull consisted of three regiments of

Infantry commanded by Colonels McArthur, Cass, and Findlay,

and a detachment of regulars commanded by Lieut. Col. Miller,

- altogether numbering nearly two thousand men, all well armed

and equipped for that day.

With these troops also went twenty-five iron and eight

brass cannons and with such means of transportation as was

regarded fully equal to the undertaking.

The march from Dayton, where the army was brought to-

gether, to Springfield, was over the roads of that early day, and

reached Urbana, an outpost of the Ohio civilization, in May,

1812.

From this point the army was to pass through an almost un-

broken wilderness, and the labors of the woodmen and the

axmen were from this point to "find a way or make it."

Upon reaching Urbana a temporary halt was made for the

purpose of gathering up the necessary equipment and bringing

together the forces which were to be a part of this army of in-

vasion, and to make an attack upon the British then holding the

defences of the Canadian frontier, and early in June the actual

forward movement began and the route to the Mad River passed

through the valley east of the Mad River to the present site of

West Liberty, where it crossed this river some six rods west of

the mill at the south of that village where the army went into

camp.

The following day the army took up its march and passed

to the east of the present site of the West Liberty cemetery,

passing which it then turned westward and keeping to the north

reached and crossed McKees Creek just where the C. S. & C.

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Hull's Trace or Trail.              585

 

railroad now crosses it some four miles distant, from which

point it bore off to the northwest and marched in course about

one mile west of the present city of Bellefontaine.

This trail was for many years quite easily distinguishable

and was about equi-distant between the present city of Belle-

fontaine and the Silver Lake, passing through the farm now

owned by Edward H. Jones and formerly owned by Henry

Good.

Thence it passed northward through the lands formerly

owned by Silas Roberts, and later by the Kauffman heirs, until

it reached Tuckers Run, which stream it crossed just east of the

present home of George Aiken.

Within my own time the trail through the Roberts or

Kauffman woods was for many years plain and distinct and was

well known as "Hull's trail," through which his army passed on

its way to Detroit.

The venerable George Aiken and his good wife, both living

and with exceptionally good minds and memories, are very clear

in their personal recollections of this location of the trail as it

passed through Logan County, and I have their cordial approval

of the statements I have made with reference to it.

The old land marks are fast disappearing, but history has

been careful to make some record which after generations can

be fully assured are correct and historical.

From this point it bore northwest until it reached the line

of the present road from Bellefontaine to Cherokee, which

course it followed to the farm of Gen. McPherson, where it

went into camp for some three or four days, while the axmen

went forward to clear the trail for the forward movement of the

army, following substantially the present road from McPhersons

to Cherokee, and from thence almost due north to the Indian

village of Solomonstown, formerly the village of Chief Tarhe,

or the Crane, where the army went into camp at the Twin

Springs on the farm now owned and occupied by A. C. Mc-

Clure, Esq., a part of the army being encamped on the farm now

owned by Mr. Andrew Wallace, just north of Mr. McClure's.

From this point it moved forward almost directly north,

passing the points where the towns of Richland and Bellecenter

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586       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

are now located. This forward movement was constantly pre-

ceded by the pioneers and axmen, for the country was an un-

broken forest, very heavily timbered, with a rich black soil, and

a good passage way could only be obtained by cutting away the

brush and timber, as the only means of getting from place to

place theretofore had been by the Indian trails which ran from

Indian village to village, and had been made by cutting away

the brush and overhead branches, thus permitting them to ride

single file from village to village. Some of these old Indian

trails are yet quite easily distinguishable. The Indians always

rode single file, and far enough apart to keep the branches

pushed aside by those in front from striking those following in

the face, and these trails were in many places so worn and cut

out by travel that they were from one to two feet in depth and

from two to three feet wide.

There was an old Indian trail from the site of McKeestown,

south of Bellefontaine, to Zanestown, five miles east, in the Mad

River valley, that was for many years quite easily dis-

tinguishable.

The Hull trace or trail ran through the counties of Cham-

paign and Logan, Hardin, Hancock, Wood and Lucas, and al-

most through the central portion of these counties beginning at

Urbana and thence through Logan just west of the present city

of Bellefontaine, - for Logan, Hardin, Hancock and Wood were

not then organized into counties,-and touching Ft. Arthur,

in what is now Hardin County, thence to Ft. Findlay, and thence

to the present site of Bowling Green, in Wood County, and on

to the present site of Toledo, and thence to Detroit, or Browns-

town.

The purpose of this article is not to follow the fortunes of

Gen. Hull, and his unfortunate expedition, but simply to point

out the route followed by his army in its advance upon the British

under Gen. Brock at Brownstown, which has by historians been

called "Hull's trace" or trail.

These trails were not intended as great highways but simply

as expedient passages for the accomplishment of a definite pur-

pose, and the trail which Gen. Hull's woodmen cut through the

Ohio country was some fifteen or twenty feet in width, owing

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Hull's Trace or Trail.              587

to the condition of the timber and the necessities of the case.

Through this trail his army of two thousand men with thirty-

three pieces of artillery and the necessary transportation was to

pass on its way to the battle ground on the Canada border.

As an historical memory it has been marked and so pre-

served in some of the counties through which Hull's army

passed; this is especially true as to Hardin county, where the

Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution have

taken some of the stone columns of their old court house, just

torn down to make way for the splendid new one, and have

placed them as markers along the trail of Gen. Hull's army to

designate for all time the line over which his army passed on

its march to the disaster at Detroit.

The D. A. R. of Logan county are making arrangements to

mark the trail through Logan county and thus preserve to future

generations the line of march which Gen. Hull followed in his

passage through Logan county.

While Hull's expedition was a miserable failure,- for

which he was tried and condemned to be shot for cowardice

and was only saved by the clemency of President Madison who

disapproved of the sentence only because of Geo. Hull's distin-

guished service in the Revolutionary War,--it is one of the

incidents of the War of '12 which is interesting from an his-

torical standpoint and is worthy of being preserved as a part

of our military history.

History would be sadly incomplete and deficient if it only

related the victories and conquests of our armies, without at the

same time making record of their defeats, for it is equally true

that quite frequently more military experience has been gained

from defeat rather than from victory, -by enabling us to see

wherein we have erred, thus preparing us for other and greater

victories.

Gen. Hull's defeat and disaster only enabled Gen. Wm.

Henry Harrison to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor and to

win a magnificent and overwhelming victory at the battle of the

Thames and thus end forever the conflict between the New

Republic and the Mother Country.

Bellefontaine, Ohio.

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