Ohio History Journal

THE ANTHONY WAYNE ESSAY CONTEST

THE ANTHONY WAYNE ESSAY CONTEST

The Anthony Wayne Memorial Legislative Committee

during the winter of 1944-45, in cooperation with the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society and the Ohio State De-

partment of Education, sponsored a contest among the public,

parochial and private schools in Ohio on the subject of "Anthony

Wayne and the Indian Wars in Ohio, 1790-1795." Several thou-

sand students from all over the State entered the contest. Winning

essays in the several counties were then submitted to the final

judges in Columbus. The contestants were separated into two

divisions: the junior division consisting of the seventh, eighth and

ninth grades, and the senior division consisting of the tenth,

eleventh and twelfth grades. Three prizes were offered for each

division. The winning contestants of the junior division were

Glen Dashner, Maumee; Arthur Oldham, Mariemont; and Mar-

tin Vincent, Toledo. In the senior division Kathleen Mierka, a

senior at Roosevelt High School, Dayton, received first honors,

followed by Dherlys Mae Nicely and Patsy A. Terrell also of

Dayton. Miss Mierka's winning contribution is published below:

ANTHONY WAYNE

HIS INDIAN CAMPAIGNS

BY KATHLEEN MIERKA

Washington spoke in anger:

"It's all over--

St. Clair's defeated--routed--

The officers nearly all killed,

The men by hundreds--

The rout complete--

Too shocking to think of--

And a surprise into the bargain.

.... 'Beware of a surprise!

386

WAYNE ESSAY CONTEST 387

You know how the Indians fight us!'

He went off

With that as my last solemn warning

thrown into his ears.

And yet to suffer that army to be cut to

pieces,

Hacked,

Butchered,

Tomahawked by a surprise--

The very thing I guarded him against."

Then Washington became calm.

Calm enough to add,

"St. Clair shall have justice!"

St. Clair was given justice, was appointed civil

governor of the Northwest Territory.

But his military command was vacated.

Who would be given the office

To carry on what St. Clair was unable to accomplish,

To avenge the murder and carnage running rampant

in the wilderness?

He must be

Bold,

Valorous,

Resourceful,

A leader of men!

.... Thus, to the Ohio country was sent

Anthony Wayne,

Hero of Stony Point, whose daring never failed in an

emergency.

"Mad" Anthony, he had been dubbed

Since his unbelievable bayonet attack,

But now his tactics bore out his sanity.

Wayne would have no six-month' men.

Men, whose term always ended when they were needed

most.

388 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

For two full years he prepared,

Organizing,

Drilling,

Hardening his men.

He would not strike until he was sure.

Sure that he could deliver the "death-blow."

Before the die was cast

A final peace gesture was tendered to the Indians.

The peace offer was just

Five years too late!

The savages were elated,

Drunken with success,

Rich in spoils taken from Harmar and

St. Clair,

Little dreaming that the time and man were at hand

To seal their doom.

Peace rejected, unremitting war was the only alternative.

Late in the autumn of 1793

A winter camp was established--

Greenville,

Named for Wayne's old comrade,

General Nathaniel Greene.

From here were sent spies,

Brave,

Fearless,

Wily,

Many brought up among the Indians.

Their deeds became paragons for early Ohio romance.

They cut roads in various directions

To deceive the Indian spies.

In December was thrown up a strong stockade

On the site of St. Clair's old battleground,

Fort Recovery.

A battleground had been regained.

Wayne was progressing.

WAYNE ESSAY CONTEST 389

It was the last of June,

When Ohio is beautiful with its fresh greenery,

That Little Turtle assaulted the fort.

Here was an Indian!

Possessor of great natural ability,

Shrewdness,

Sagacity,

Energy,

Respected not only by his red brethren,

But by white opponents as well.

A supply column, under Major McMahon, arrived from

Greenville.

Before it could enter the stockade, the Indians were

upon it.

McMahon's contingent fought bravely

But not until nightfall could they enter the fort.

By then, McMahon, the stalwart frontiersman,

was dead.

After two days, the Indians were repelled.

Again in the life and death struggle for the West,

The enemy had been checked.

The attack on Fort Recovery greatly aroused Wayne.

Indifferent to personal danger,

The suffering of his men touched him deeply.

He keenly felt the loss of McMahon.

Less than a month after the attack,

Wayne was again on the march.

Through the Black Swamp country,

Laying bridges,

Cutting roads,

Building a small way-station at the junction of the

Maumee and Auglaize.

Here he planned to surprise an encampment of Indians,

But spies had discovered his movements.

The Indians had left their crops

And fled down the Maumee.

390 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Wayne was impetuous by nature,

But experience had been his teacher.

He paused,

Erected a stockade,

And named it Fort Defiance.

Cautiously, yet boldly

He sent spies to penetrate the Indian camps.

Frontier bred, they rode into camps

Passed as members of distant tribes.

Then went Christopher Miller with a flag of truce.

Christopher Miller--reared by the Indians,

Almost ignorant of the English tongue,

But drawn back to his own race in this great

struggle.

Miller returned. The answer was

Vague,

Evasive,

They were playing for time.

So Wayne gave the order to march!

A long prairie and heavy timber

Separated the two camps.

There were many fallen trees.

These made a tangle which would prove difficult for

cavalry.

The Indians noted this.

But so did Wayne.

The braves concealed themselves,

In Indian fashion,

Among the fallen timber.

Wayne placed a battalion of Mounted Volunteers

Before his "Legion,"

To act as a screen and draw the enemy fire,

Thus, revealing the Indian positions.

Advancing cavalry was met with heavy fire.

It retreated, fell back upon the "Legion."

But the advance began again.

WAYNE ESSAY CONTEST 391

The infantry moved forward.

The Indians fired.

Men dropped.

But the chargers did not waver.

They pressed on, jabbing with their bayonets.

The Indians were driven from their stand.

They fled through the heavy timber

Terror-stricken,

Forever dispersed.

In less than an hour

The pride and power of the Indian Confederation

Were broken.

One week after the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Anthony Wayne departed for Fort Defiance,

Burning Indian crops on the way.

Winter came.

Famine entered the wigwams.

Starving Indians begged for subsistence.

Yes, the power of the Indian was broken forever.

Wayne was a warrior.

He was also a diplomat.

Through the Greenville Treaty,

Perpetual peace came to the tribes of the Northwest.

Indians and whites at last were reconciled.

No chief or warrior, who gave Wayne his hand at Greenville,

Ever "lifted the hatchet" against the United States again.

A triumph as great as his battles.

Wayne's contribution cannot be minimized.

For it was Anthony Wayne,

The lion-hearted warrior,

Who opened the "glorious gates of the Ohio."