Ohio History Journal

648       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

It is planned to visit the industrial plants of Dayton and the won-

derful flood-prevention work. If Mr. Wright accompanies the

visitors on their tour it may be a profitable day for the Society --

we may secure the first successful airship of the Wright brothers.

This plane, while not in Dayton, has not been sent to England.

If the Society secures the airplane and the mastodon skeleton

a place to exhibit them must be provided, and the Society should

make every effort possible to secure an appropriation to complete

the building.

President Johnson stated that some of the members of the

Board of Trustees of the Society contributed toward the purchase

of a very fine skeleton of a mammoth. The Museum Committee

should have this mounted and placed on exhibition as soon as

possible.

FORT LAURENS

Colonel W. L. Curry, Chairman of the Committee

on Fort Laurens, stated that Mr. D. W. Lash, a member

of the Committee, died during the past year. He was

succeeded by his son, Harry D. Lash. He then read the

following report of the Committee.

Your committee on Fort Laurens beg leave to report as

follows:

All expense for erection of the cottage has been paid by the

State. The cottage was rented for $15.00 per month until June

1, 1926, when the renters moved out, and it is now vacant.

Mr. Lash reports that he will, as authorized, put on the

spouting and paint as soon as the weather will permit, but there

has been such continued rain that he has not been able to complete

this work.

The Boy Scouts have established a camp south of Fort

Laurens, about a half mile, and made a driveway across the canal

at the extreme north end of the tract.

The Community Association are extremely anxious to have

the tract surveyed and planned by a landscape gardener, so that

trees may be planted by their association, the Society of the Sons

of the American Revolution and other societies.

The citizens of the community wish to assist in making the

grounds attractive and comfortable for tourists, by planting shade

trees, and such trees should be planted in a proper manner and

not haphazard.

The driveway is now being graveled and will be in a good

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Forty-First Annual Meeting            649

 

condition for visitors next year. It is reported that there has

not been the usual number of visitors during the present year.

The Society of the Sons of the American Revolution are

very much interested in this historic Fort, and when the grounds

are made attractive we can so announce in our Yearbook, and

many of our members will no doubt be attracted, and will be

cordially received by members of the Community Association.

As Secretary of the Ohio Society, Sons of the American

Revolution, I am now preparing the manuscript for our Year-

Book, in which will be published a history of the battles fought

on Ohio territory.

Battles are usually judged by the number of casualties in

action, and of bloodless battles little note is taken. Make inquiry

of a school-boy or college student about the decisive battles of

the world, and he will discourse intelligently about the campaigns

of Julius Caesar, Hannibal and Napoleon, but ask him about the

battles fought in Ohio and you will be met with an incredulous

smile. Nevertheless, there have been many decisive battles where

the numbers engaged were few and the casualties correspondingly

small.

Some of the battles fought within the borders of Ohio were

just as decisive as Waterloo or Gettysburg. The Battle of Point

Pleasant, fought on the borders of our State, October 10, 1774,

and within gun-shot of the Ohio shore, was a great and decisive

battle and the most important ever fought on the continent be-

tween Americans and Indians. That battle is now known to our

best historians as the "first battle of the Revolution."

It has been suggested by one of our members that the His-

torical Society could have this history bound in a small booklet

for distribution to tourists, and to our own patriotic citizens. It

could be published in eight or ten short pages at a small expense.

I will be pleased to furnish the copy without any expense to the

Historical Society. The committee is of opinion that the dis-

tribution of this important Ohio history would be appreciated by

tourists and add another chapter to Ohio's great war history.

Respectfully submitted,

(Signed) W. L. CURRY,

Chairman.

President Johnson stated that the Society should

promptly take advantage of Colonel Curry's very gener-

ous offer to furnish manuscript for the proposed pam-

phlet on Fort Laurens.

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