Editorialana. 97
pany. Subsequently John Chapman seeks in
adventurous wanderings
through the western country, the home of
his plighted love. There is,
of course, a rival, fascinating and
chivalrous, but unworthy. Mr. Hillis
has with rare gifts of pen portrayal
pictured the simple but perilous life
of the New England pioneers who sought
their fortunes and amid the
Indian inhabited fastnesses beyond the
Alleghanies. It is a beautiful
story, pure, idyllic, poetic and through
the entire volume runs a delicate
vein of moral and elevating sentiment
such as renders the story at once
a prose poem and an eloquent sermon.
Amidst the flood of trashy and
demoralizing novels of the day Mr.
Hillis' "Quest of John Chapman" is
like a draft of sparkling and refreshing
water from some mountain spring.
It should be read by every lover of a
thrilling story told in the choicest
language. It is published by Macmillan
& Company, New York.
FIRST OHIO BATTLE IN 1812 WAR.
The Van Wert Bulletin of October
1, 1904, is responsible for the
following:
The first trial of arms in Ohio, in the
war of 1812, was a skirmish
on Marblehead peninsula between Indians
in the employ of the British
and early white settlers in the Ottawa
County firelands. The whites
were principally from Trumbull and Ashtabula counties. Among them
was Joshua R. Giddings, then aged
sixteen years, and who later stirred
the halls of Congress as one of Ohio's
senators.
The skirmish resulted in the flight of
the whites across Sandusky
Bay. After going but a short distance,
however, they met a relief party
from their former homes bound for their
own new settlement. The entire
party returned, and succeeded in
dispersing the erstwhile successful in-
vaders. But it was only after a terrible
conflict, and after many whites.
lost their lives, that the redskins were
forced to retreat.
A number of years after this memorable
conflict the survivors of
the battle met on the spot where the
conflict took place. It was agreed
that they should meet at stated periods,
but the few who assembled in
later years dwindled until finally in
1864, but one was left. That person
was Joshua R. Giddings, and, visiting
the scene of the conflict for the
last time, as fate destined it to be the
last, he erected a monument to the
memory of the hundred brave men who
fought the skirmish and resisted
the siege which was Ohio's debut in the
war of 1812.
A short time after the placing of this
little stone, and in the same
year, 1864, Giddings died. The monument
was placed by Giddings at
Meadowbrook, a beautiful spot near
Sandusky Bay, and but a short dis-
tance from Johnson's Island, another
place which became a location of
history as the federal prison for
southern prisoners captured in the War
of the Rebellion.
Vol. XIV-7.