Ohio History Journal

24        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

their loss was far heavier than that suffered by Wayne's soldiers.

Following the Battle of Fallen Timbers many Indians fled to De-

troit, the British headquarters, and General Wayne departed for

Fort Defiance. He did not live long to enjoy the honor of his

victory, dying two years later.

"One of General Wayne's last acts was to receive from the

British, Fort Miami, which they formally surrendered in 1796

in pursuance to a treaty negotiated by Chief Justice Jay. General

Wayne lived long enough after the Battle of Fallen Timbers for

the Indians to learn to respect him and love him. So pleased were

they, by their treatment at the hands of General Wayne, that each

of the prominent chiefs, following the surrender of Fort Miami,

wanted to see and talk with him.

"General Wayne was a great soldier and a great citizen of

America, and it is most fitting that a monument to his memory

be erected at the scene of the Battle of Fallen Timbers."

The City of Toledo is honored indeed by the presence of

distinguished guests on this occasion and before this meeting is

over I am sure it is going to become quite informal and I am

going to have the pleasure of introducing these distinguished

guests to everyone present.

At this juncture I want to present to you the first speaker on

the regular program.

I think that a sense of security in a community is consciously

or unconsciously created when provided by the truthful fabric

in the character of those citizens who always feel their responsi-

bility to the rest of the community. Nowhere is that fabric of

character worn more becomingly, nowhere is it worn more tri-

umphantly than in our courts, and I am very happy to say that

the Toledo Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution is

fortunate in having as its president a distinguished jurist.  I

count it indeed a pleasure and a privilege to present to you at this

time the Hon. Roy H. Williams, Judge of the Circuit Court of

Appeals, and the President of the Anthony Wayne Chapter of

the Sons of the American Revolution, who will now speak to us.

(Applause.)

 

ADDRESS OF JUDGE ROY H. WILLIAMS

Mr. Chairman, Honored Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I was asked to come down and stand in front of this instru-

ment called, I believe, a microphone. It is hard to imagine, I may

say, that there may be an invisible audience listening to what

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Ohio's Monument to General Anthony Wayne       25

your distinguished chairman has said, and what everyone may

say here this evening.

We are living in a mechanized age, an electricized age, and it

is a wonderful age; and it is not out of keeping with our times

that there should be placed on the field where was fought the Battle

of Fallen Timbers, a monument to Anthony Wayne that expresses

the appreciation of the people of Ohio for the efforts of one who

has done well in helping to make and preserve American civiliza-

tion in the Buckeye State.

I suppose I am on this program because I hold an official

position in Anthony Wayne Chapter of Toledo. That is a pa-

triotic organization. I think its purpose is often misunderstood,

but it stands for those principles and those movements and those

objectives which gave expression to what was accomplished in the

Revolution and in the making of the Constitution of the United

States afterwards, and which would preserve America as it is

under that Constitution. There is a need, I believe, for patriotism

of that kind in America, an increasing need. This organization

which I represent stands for the highest ideals of American pa-

triotism.

Now when we think of Anthony Wayne, we think first very

naturally of the American Revolution. What was the American

Revolution? Of course we all know, but I think sometimes, per-

haps, we forget our landmarks. I think that sometimes we are

not mindful of the fact that the American Revolution was the

real beginning of constitutional government in the history of the

world. An important landmark was set when the Battle of Fallen

Timbers was fought near the City of Toledo.

When we think of the Revolution, we ought to have in mind

three characters often forgotten. Of course, we think of George

Washington always, because he was the Revolution, in a sense.

He was the great mind and the great soul around which that

movement for independence and for liberty was built, but he had

many who aided him. There are three names that are often neg-

lected: Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, who sub-

sequently spent some time in jail for non-payment of his debts;

Thomas Paine, the pamphleteer of the Revolution, without whom,

Washington said, the Revolution could not have been successfully

fought; and Anthony Wayne, the bull dog and fighting spirit of

the Revolution, the man who was always ready to fight and always

ready to fight with fists, with powder and ball or with cold steel.

And, when he went up Stony Point that night at midnight, at the

head of his column, firing there was, but not in his detachment.

As the ascent was made he gave the order to charge with fixed

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26        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

bayonets, and before the top was reached he was wounded. He

immediately cried out: "Carry me on. If the wound is mortal,

I want to die at the head of my column." That was the spirit

of Anthony Wayne. His work at Brandywine and Germantown

was outstanding, and at Monmouth when Lee gave way, he aided

Washington in rallying the American troops, and his strategy at

Yorktown before the surrender of Cornwallis showed his clever-

ness and ability as a soldier. His achievements in these battles

lead to the conclusion that it is very doubtful whether the Revo-

lution could have been successfully fought without the help of

Anthony Wayne.

After the Revolutionary War was over and the Northwest

Territory was created, we received by treaty the territory west of

the thirteen states and east of the Mississippi, and it was neces-

sary to open what was commonly called the Ohio country.  That

was one of Washington's important duties when he took the office

of President. Finally he selected whom? Anthony Wayne--and

the climax of the campaign that followed was the Battle of Fallen

Timbers. What Andrew Jackson was to Florida; what Sam

Houston was to Texas; what George Rogers Clark was to the

Northwest, Anthony Wayne was to the Ohio country. He opened

it up to civilization, and it is well that we honor his memory and

his name with a monument and a piece of sculpture that will stand

through the endless years of time, and should it crumble to dust

the patriotism of the American people and the people of the

Buckeye State will replace it, and see that it stands there con-

tinually honoring his memory.

A people, to a great extent, writes the history of its civiliza-

tion in its art and in its sculpture. This monument is a worthy

piece--a work of genius,--as you recognize. I wonder often if

whether or not, with all our effort to secure co-operation and har-

mony, there may not be a lurking danger. Of course, these

United States were built up through the medium of those two

things. Don't misunderstand me. But I just wonder if we can't

co-operate and harmonize at the expense of principle. There is

hardly any good thing that cannot be overdone, and it seems we

may get from this event and occasion the spirit of Anthony

Wayne. This country will endure so long as we maintain the

spirit of our fathers, and when I say that you know I think, es-

sentially, we ought to believe in America for Americans.

As with most everything that a public speaker may say, one

might be misunderstood. I mean simply this. None of us are

aborigines. The Indians were the aborigines. We all came to

America from across the water. We are still coming. It does

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Ohio's Monument to General Anthony Wayne       27

 

not make any difference how lately a man came to America and

took out his citizenship papers and became a citizen of the United

States, provided he has become a typical and worthy American

ancestor and a typical and worthy American.

Our ancestors may have come over in the Mayflower and they

and we may not be patriotic in a true sense. It matters not

where a man is born, or when he came to America to become a

citizen of this country. The test is when he gets here, does he

truly carry on what the fathers began. Does he believe in Amer-

ica for Americans, and if he does, and helps maintain and uphold

and carry on our institutions, and is true to the constitution and

the flag, then he is a good American citizen. In that sense we all

ought to believe, I take it, in America for Americans. We should

not, however, have any sympathy for this propaganda that would

tear down the ideals of the past; uproot the monuments to the

heroes of this nation and tear the pages out of the school books

that record the deeds of valor and heroism. Our past is with us

and it ought to be sacred.

I am glad that these people here have taken occasion to erect

this beautiful, expressive, magnificent and appropriate testimonial

to the deeds of one of America's great warriors. Anthony

Wayne's ancestors came here because they were not afraid to

brave the perils of the wilderness. They were willing to fight

Indians and wild beasts, carry the frontier across from the At-

lantic to the Pacific, and build a strong, a great and a worthy

nation. He was merely carrying the torch which his ancestors

threw to him when he fought in the battles of the Revolution, and

out here at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. That was all. He did

his duty and he was strong in doing it, and more power to him.

May we get inspiration from the life and works of Anthony

Wayne. (Applause.)

Here followed the address of Secretary Good which

appears on previous pages of this issue. After express-

ing the gratitude of Ohio and all the guests assembled

to the distinguished member of the cabinet of President

Hoover for his excellent address and declaring that,

"no man in America by reason of his position, attain-

ments or careful study, could have spoken in quite such

a scholarly, understanding and appreciative way of the

exploits and character of General Wayne," the Toast-

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