UNVEILING OF TABLET AT FORT GOWER
Appropriate and interesting exercises
marked the
unveiling of a tablet by the Ohio
Daughters of the
American Revolution on the site of old
Fort Gower at
Hockingport, Athens County, Ohio. The
exercises
preliminary to the dedication were held
in the city of
Athens Friday evening, November 9. The
formal
dedication and unveiling of the tablet
occurred on the
day following at Hockingport. The
granite monument
bears two tablets, one commemorating
the building of
the Fort by Lord Dunmore on his way to
the Pickaway
Plains and the resolutions adopted by
Dunmore's offi-
cers expressing sympathy with their
revolutionary
brethren in the Continental Congress;
the other in
honor of Colonel Robert Patterson and
his associates
who were here attacked by the Indians.
The program is here presented in full:
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES
UNVEILING TABLET AT HISTORIC FT. GOWER
by
OHIO DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION
ATHENS, OHIO
Friday and Saturday, November 9th and
10th, 1923
Friday afternoon from three to five
o'clock, Nabby Lee Ames
Chapter will receive all visiting
Daughters at the home of Mrs. T.
Watson Craig.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9th -- ATHENS
Ewing Hall, 7:30 P. M.
Presiding ...........................
Mrs. James T. Merwin
Regent, Nabby Lee Ames Chapter
Assembly
............................................. Vercoe Murphy
Bugler of The American Legion
(87)
88 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
Invocation ..............................Dr. Daniel
McGurk
Music.................................Ohio
University Girls' Glee Club
a. I know of two bright
eyes ............................Clutsam
b. Long Ago
................................... Marshall-Loetke
Polonaise -- MacDowell
.............................Miss Irene Witham
Presentation of
Memorial....................Mrs. O. D. Dailey, Albany
State Chairman,
Historic Spots
Acceptance of Memorial
..............Mrs. Lowell F. Hobart, Cincinnati
State Regent, Ohio D.
A. R.
Music
..................................Mrs. Helen Falloon Stevens
a. Thou art risen, my
beloved..................Coleridge Taylor
b. Ah! Love, but a day
...........................Hallet Gilberti
"Lest we
forget"..................................Dr. Garland, Dayton
Welfare Director, N. C.
R.
Address -- The Larger
Patriotism ....................Dr. Edwin Chubb
Dean of the College of
Liberal Arts, Ohio University
America
Benediction ............................ .Dr. Abbott Y. Wilcox
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10th
Hockingport, Site of
Ft. Gower
1:00 o'clock P. M.
Presiding........................Mrs.
Lowell F. Hobart, State Regent
America
Dedication...........................Mrs.
Wm. Magee Wilson, Xenia
Vice President General
from Ohio, N. S. D. A. R.
Unveiling........................Mrs.
Orson Dryer, Columbus
Assistants--Margaret
Townsend Porter
Marjorie Boyles
Charge to the Nabby Lee
Ames Chapter ....................Mrs. Hobart
State Regent, Ohio D.
A. R.
Acceptance of
Charge....................... Miss Helen Mar Townsend
Chairman of Historic
Spots, Nabby Lee Ames Chapter
Star Spangled Banner
The local papers give
liberal space to this event.
The following account
is from the Athens
Messenger
of November 11, 1923:
Most impressive were
the services at Hockingport Satur-
day afternoon when the
Ohio Daughters of the American Revo-
lution unveiled and
dedicated the tablet marking the historic
site of Fort Gower
where the first American Declaration of In-
dependence was made in
1774. Among those attending the cere-
monies were 40
representatives from other state chapters who
were very much pleased
with the services held at Hockingport.
Many of the visitors
arrived in Athens on Friday and in
Unveiling of Tablet at Fort
Gower 89
the afternoon they were entertained with
a reception at the home
of Mrs. T. W. Craig. In the evening the memorial was
pre-
sented to the Ohio D. A. R. by Mrs. O.
D. Dailey, of Albany,
who is state chairman of the committee
on historic spots. Mrs.
Dailey reviewed the historic interest of
Fort Gower and the me-
morial was accepted by Mrs. Lowell F.
Hobart, of Cincinnati,
the state regent.
Two splendid addresses of a patriotic
nature were delivered
by Dr. Garland, of Dayton, and by Dean
Edwin Chubb, of the
Ohio University. Dr. Garland represented John Patterson,
president of the National Cash Register
Co., of Dayton, who
donated one of the tablets on the
memorial and the address of
Dr. Garland stressed the importance of
remembering the scenes
of historical importance, together with
pioneers who made the
development of the country
possible. Dean Chubb's address
was a fine one on "The Larger
Patriotism."
Music was furnished for the occasion by
the Ohio Uni-
versity Girls' Glee Club, Mrs. Helen
Falloon Stevens and Miss
Irene Witham. Mrs. James T. Merwin,
regent of the Nabby
Lee Ames Chapter, presided, the
invocation being asked by Dr.
Daniel McGurk and the benediction being
pronounced by Dr.
A. Y. Wilcox.
The trip to Hockingport, which was gaily
decorated with
flags in honor of the occasion, was made
by automobile. Mrs.
Lowell F. Hobart, the state regent,
presided during the cere-
monies which were opened with the
singing of "America," by
the audience. The dedication address was
made by Mrs. Wil-
liam Magee Wilson, of Xenia,
vice-president general of the
National D. A. R. The unveiling of the memorial was done
by Mrs. Orson Dryer, of Columbus,
assisted by the Misses
Margaret Porter and Marjorie Boyles, of
Athens.
The memorial is a granite block cut from
the quarries near
Stony Creek battlefield in Connecticut.
It is six feet high, four
feet wide, and two feet thick, and two
of its sides are bronze
tablets telling the history of the site
it marks and its dedication
by the Ohio D. A. R. Its charge was
given to the Nabby Lee
Ames Chapter of Athens by State Regent
Mrs. Hobart, and the
charge was accepted by Miss Helen M.
Townsend, chairman of
the historic spots of the local chapter.
We have received a full report of two
of the ad-
dresses. In presenting the memorial
Mrs. O. D. Dailey
spoke as follows:
90 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Students of history have long been aware
that no state of
the Northwest Territory can boast of so
many forts and stock-
ades as Ohio. Yet, up to the present
year, no fort was so little
known or so little heralded as Fort
Gower. However, recent
historians have brought it out of its
obscurity, and are placing
it among the most significant of western
forts, because at this
place occurred an event which gives to
Ohio, which gives to
Athens County, so to speak, the claim
upon a Revolutionary site.
It is not for me to enter upon any
detailed history of this
event, but, that we may understand the
motive which prompted
7,000 of Ohio's Daughters to select this
site as deserving some
mark of recognition, it becomes
necessary to state a few facts.
In 1774 the English Parliament affirmed
the detested Quebec
Act, passed eleven years before, which
gave Quebec jurisdiction
over the territory West and North of the
Ohio river, known as
the Northwest Territory. The American colonists were for-
bidden to settle in this region. Pennsylvania did not object so
seriously to this act, for their trade
with the Indians would be
even more secure if fewer settlements
were made.
But the Virginians did not give up so
easily. They claimed
that their charter extended into the
Ohio country, and that
they had a right to settle there. Consequently, Lord Dunmore,
last royal Governor of Virginia, planned
an expedition into Ohio,
ostensibly to punish the Indians for
frequent excursions across
the Ohio river. General Andrew Lewis,
who was put in com-
mand of another division of 1500 men,
which was eventually
to join Lord Dunmore's division, went
down the Kanawha as
far as Point Pleasant. Here on October
10, occurred the bloody
battle which drove Cornstalk and his
1000 brave Indians back
across the Ohio river.
In the meantime Lord Dunmore with his
men followed his
guides down the Ohio river until they
arrived at the mouth of
the Hock-hocking river, where they built
a stockade and named
it Fort Gower. Leaving a garrison of 100 men to guard the
Fort, Lord Dunmore and his army marched
up the Hock-hocking
valley, past the present site of Athens,
camped on Sunday at
Sunday Creek, on Monday at Monday Creek,
thence by the
present site of Logan, southwest to
within seven miles of Circle-
ville, where Camp Charlotte was
established. Here a few days
later the famous treaty with the Indians
was made which closed
Lord Dunmore's War.
Returning to Fort Gower they there
learned that couriers had
arrived in their absence, announcing the
action of the first Con-
tinental Congress, assembled at
Philadelphia, September 5, 1774.
It was at this time that the event
occurred which concerns us
and our interests.
Unveiling of Tablet at Fort
Gower 91
Immediately the officers of Lord
Dunmore held a meeting,
and in order to assure their countrymen
on the frontier, in the
great crisis that had arisen, that they
were ready at all times to
defend their country, drew up a set of resolutions saying that
they would be loyal to King
George the Third so long as he
delighted to reign justly over a
brave and free people, but
"as
the love of liberty and attachment
to the real interests of America
outweigh every other consideration,
we resolve that we will exert
every power within us for the defense
of American liberty, and
for the support of her just rights and privileges, not in
any
riotous manner, but when regularly
called forth by the unani-
mous voice of our countrymen."
Thus an independence was
virtually declared upon Ohio soil,
upon the banks of the Hock-hocking, in
what is now Athens
County, by these sturdy Virginians, more than one and a half
years before old Liberty Bell pealed
forth her message of
freedom.
Theodore Roosevelt in his "Winning
of the West" makes
this statement: "Lord Dunmore's War with the Indians
was
the opening act of the drama whereof the
closing scene was
played at Yorktown." The declaration at Fort Gower was a
part of this War.
At Point Pleasant, West Va., stands a
marble shaft erected
by the Daughters of the American
Revolution of that State,
in memory of the patriots who shed their
blood in the first battle
of that war.
The far-famed Logan Elm is a natural
memorial for the
events which center around the treaty
with the Indians, which
closed that War. Fort Gower has remained in its obscurity,
unmarked.
But, as State Chairman of Historic
Sites, it has been my
pleasant duty to carry out one of the
purposes of the organiza-
tion of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, which is
"to perpetuate the memory and
spirit of the men and women
who achieved Independence by the acquisition
and protection of
historic sites," therefore, I beg to report to the State Regent of
that organization, in behalf of the Ohio
Daughters, that Fort
Gower is no longer unmarked, for
there, too, now stands a
huge granite boulder whose bronze tablet
bears a message com-
memorating the men who at that spot, on
November 5, 1774,
were among the first of our country to
express the spirit of
American independence.
At Hockingport in directing the
unveiling of the
tablet Mrs. Orson D. Dryer spoke as
follows:
92 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Madam Vice-president General, Madam
State Regent,
Daughters of Ohio and Friends: Would that I had the words
of a poet and the gift of an artist that
I might paint a word
picture that would, in a measure bring
to your minds the scene
enacted here one hundred and forty-nine
years ago.
When John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Royal
Governor of
Virginia, arrived here with twelve
hundred Virginians whom he
had led through the mountains to Fort
Pitt and from there by
boat to the mouth of Hock-hocking, he
built and garrisoned a
small stockade and named it Fort Gower,
in honor of the English
Earl. The site upon which the Virginian
army encamped was
one of awe-inspiring grandeur. Here were hills and valleys,
all covered with gigantic forests, the
growth of centuries, stand-
ing in their majesty and arrayed in the
colors of early October.
On October 11th, Dunmore and his army
left here on their
way to the Indian Villages. The army
camped the first night at
Federal, and the second at Sunday Creek,
both in Athens County.
At the third camp, near Nelsonville,
news was brought from
General Andrew Lewis of his victory, at
Point Pleasant, which
occasioned great joy among the troops.
Two days later a mes-
senger from Cornstalk, the Indian chief,
appeared, suing for
peace; but next day the army continued
its journey to the
Pickaway Plains, where it camped on the
bank of Scippo Creek,
at a place named Camp Charlotte. Here
the famous treaty with
the Indian chiefs occurred. What the
exact terms of that treaty
were is not now fully known. No copy of
the treaty can be found.
Whatever the terms, the results of the
Dunmore War were
most important. "It kept the
northwestern tribes quiet for the
first two years of the Revolutionary
struggle." Cornstalk
haughtily acceded to the terms of the
whites, but one distin-
guished chief who refused to be present
at that council, was
Logan. He said, "I am a warrior, not
a councilor" and would
not come.
The campaign had ended. The camp was
struck and the
soldiers took up their march from
Pickaway Plains back to the
Ohio. When Dunmore's army arrived at
Fort Gower the sol-
diers learned for the first time of the
action taken by the first
Continental Congress, which had
assembled at Philadelphia
September 5, 1774. The officers of the
army thereupon held a
meeting proclaiming their sympathy with
colonial independence.
A strange way for Virginia frontiersmen to celebrate
their
triumph over western Indians, and this
was six months before
the shot was fired at Lexington that was
"heard round the
world."
The resolutions passed November 5, 1774,
asserted loyalty to
Unveiling of Tablet at Fort
Gower 93
the king while "he delights to
reign over a brave and free
people," but declared that
"love of liberty outweighs all other
considerations," and they would
"exert every power" for its de-
fense when called forth by the voice of
their countrymen. They
also expressed the respect entertained
for Lord Dunmore, and
believed that the campaign was
undertaken from no other motive
than the true interest of this country.
These resolutions were
signed by Benjamin Ashby, Clerk, but it
is unfortunate that we
have no way of ascertaining who all the
other officers were, nor
whether Lord Dunmore had left the army
for Fort Pitt prior
to, or after the passage of these
resolutions.
General Adam Stephen was one of the
officers reported to
have made a speech at this time favoring
the colonial cause and
several of my ancestors took part in
this celebrated meeting. My
great-grandfather, Colonel Benjamin
Wilson, was aid-de-camp
on Lord Dunmore's staff, ranking as a lieutenant
at this time
and vested with the authority that goes
with that office, which
was then a much more important office
than now. Two of
Colonel Benjamin Wilson's brothers were
with him, namely John
and Archibald and two cousins, John and
William White.
Dunmore's army broke up into small
squads, which found
their way back to Fort Pitt as best they
might. The men suf-
fered for lack of provision and were
chiefly dependent upon
what game could be killed. Archibald
Wilson and William and
John White at their own request left the
army at Fort Gower
going home by the Shenandoah Valley,
making some "toma-
hawk improvements" by blazing the
trees and cutting initials
and date on them, which gave them a
valid title to land in
Virginia.
But the two White brothers were never
able to take up their
claims, as both of them were killed the
following year by
Indians.
There were a number of the officers in
this expedition
against the Indians, who became famous a
little later in the
Revolution.
Benjamin Wilson became a Colonel in the
Revolution. He
and his brother John were delegates to
the Virginia convention
which ratified the Constitution of the
United States.
It is a great honor you have conferred
upon me today in
permitting me to have the privilege of
unveiling this memorial
which has been erected by the Daughters
of the State of Ohio,
to commemorate the greatest event that
ever occurred on Ohio
soil.
I want to congratulate our chairman,
Mrs. O. D. Dailey on
having so successfully carried her plans through to
completion
94 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications and the Nabby Lee Ames chapter on being so fortunate as to live in this historic vicinity and to be the custodian of this wonderful boulder. As our young friends unveil this marker, will you with me, resolve on this historic spot, as our ancestors did a hundred and forty-nine years ago, "that we will exert every power within us for the defense of American liberty, and for the support of her just rights and privileges." |
|
UNVEILING OF TABLET AT FORT GOWER
Appropriate and interesting exercises
marked the
unveiling of a tablet by the Ohio
Daughters of the
American Revolution on the site of old
Fort Gower at
Hockingport, Athens County, Ohio. The
exercises
preliminary to the dedication were held
in the city of
Athens Friday evening, November 9. The
formal
dedication and unveiling of the tablet
occurred on the
day following at Hockingport. The
granite monument
bears two tablets, one commemorating
the building of
the Fort by Lord Dunmore on his way to
the Pickaway
Plains and the resolutions adopted by
Dunmore's offi-
cers expressing sympathy with their
revolutionary
brethren in the Continental Congress;
the other in
honor of Colonel Robert Patterson and
his associates
who were here attacked by the Indians.
The program is here presented in full:
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES
UNVEILING TABLET AT HISTORIC FT. GOWER
by
OHIO DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION
ATHENS, OHIO
Friday and Saturday, November 9th and
10th, 1923
Friday afternoon from three to five
o'clock, Nabby Lee Ames
Chapter will receive all visiting
Daughters at the home of Mrs. T.
Watson Craig.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9th -- ATHENS
Ewing Hall, 7:30 P. M.
Presiding ...........................
Mrs. James T. Merwin
Regent, Nabby Lee Ames Chapter
Assembly
............................................. Vercoe Murphy
Bugler of The American Legion
(87)