526
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
and accoutrements. Wayne could not safely go di-
rectly down and thereupon he dug an
oblique shelf-road
in the breast of the declivity downward
-- eastward a
distance of about one hundred feet, and
thereby the
army descended to the floor of the
valley and crossed
the stream.
The shelf-road is not the
"pitch." It is the ex-
pedient made in breast of the pitch or
declivity. It is
a very interesting, well-preserved
remnant of Wayne's
Preble Trail. It is historically and sentimentally
worthy a permanent designation by an
attractive
monumental stone with a bronze tablet
insert inscribed
"WAYNE'S FORTY-FOOT PITCH"
THE BATTLE OF FORTY FOOT PITCH*
BY ESTHER E. NICHOLS
Today we are met to honor some of the
brave heroes
of our own state. Though inconspicuous
in the history
of our country, still they played a
most important part
in gaining for us a great Nation and
homes of safety.
Many of them were the close friends and
relatives of
our ancestors and they justly deserve
the gratitude and
respect which we, each one, can give.
Among those
who are most intimately connected with
the history of
our own country, are the brave heroes
who fell in the
Battle of Forty Foot Pitch, or Ludlow
Springs, a few
miles north of Eaton.
A month previous to this battle a great
confedera-
tion of Indians had been threatening
attacks, putting
* Read at the St. Clair celebration,
November 6, 1922, Eaton, Preble
County, Ohio.