A VISIT TO FORT ANCIENT.
FELIX J. KOCH, CINCINNATI.
[For some two weeks in the Summer of
1910, a portion of the
Ohio National Guard encamped at Fort
Ancient, and during their
evolutions enacted a sham siege of the
Fort. This interesting incident
led to many comments in the newspapers
concerning the modern
military movements in the fortress that
doubtless witnessed scenes of
barbarian warfare centuries ago. In an
article brought out by the
incident above mentioned Mr. Felix J.
Koch, the distinguished maga-
zine and newspaper writer, speaks as
follows concerning Fort An-
cient.-E. O. R.]
A little matter of two thousand years,
more or less, is of
no concern when history takes it into
her head to repeat her-
self; and so, while it was at perhaps
the time that the Egyptians
were setting up the Pyramids, that here
in the Western Hemis-
phere, the Mound-builders were waging
bloody warfare at Ft.
Ancient, where they had their largest
fortress; today the Ohio
National Guard have selected the same
place as seat of their en-
campment and maneuvers. So history is repeating herself at
Ft. Ancient; though the manner of the
war of today and of that
other day is a trifle different.
A little jaunt to Ft. Ancient is one of
the most delightful
outings in the world, - notably in the
autumn or the early spring-
time. The quickest way is by rail to Ft.
Ancient Station, from
Cincinnati; or else, if one have an eye
to scenery, via Morrow,
and then drive over-land.
En route, you look up data about the
fortress, -or you
may procure a little guide on the
grounds. Modern Ft. Ancient
is just a sleepy river hamlet, a town of
a tavern, before
which gather village-wise acres, to
concern themselves rather
with the corn-crop and the pumpkin
harvest and the sums made
from summer campers on the Miami, than
with the discussion
of matters aboriginal. Still, there is a
surfeit of literature on
Ft. Ancient. Away back in 1809, the
reports go,-mention
was made of the Fort.
(248)
A Visit to Fort Ancient. 249
Since then, as explorations were made,
there has been much
else. All in all, some 628,000 cubic
yards of excavation have
been accomplished on the fortress, - and
as a result, it stands
now almost as in primitive times.
The earth-works follow the edge of a
plateau, approaching
within a quarter mile of the Little
Miami at its eastern ex-
tremity, where it is nineteen feet
higher than on the western
edge. The hills come within two hundred
and ninety and three
hundred feet of each other,--above the
pocket in which the
fort reposes, just allowing sufficient
space for river and rail
to pass, and, not alone that, but the
plateau stands almost three
hundred feet above low water. It is,
therefore, evident that the
fort was well nigh impregnable.
The embankments making up Ft. Ancient
seem to have
been made to form several distinct
divisions. There is, first,
the new fort,-lying north of a narrow
isthmus; the great
gate-way, dividing the mounds at the
south end of that pas-
sage; and the crescent gate, formed by
the wing-walls, and the
middle fort--and area enclosed by a
sickle-shaped gateway.
The total distance around these
earth-works is not less than
18,712 feet, although a bee-line, from
the east end to the west
measures just 993.
Statistics, however, are both tiring and
non-communicative.
You ride from the village up a steep
hill, -through the
forest, -to the knoll on which stands
the fort. An osage-
hedge has been set around the place,-
bearing the simple
words, "Ft. Ancient". You
take a path leading down through
a well-defined system of mounds, -dotted over with
ancient
beech trees. Beyond, the meadow gives
place to denser forest,
and in this all attempt at tracing the
plan of the mounds seems
futile. They wind and turn and writhe
and twist beyond fol-
lowing by any save the antiquarian.
Sight-seers, for the most
part, here, are picnickers,-and for
their benefit, the Ohio His-
torical and Archaeological Society has
erected a frame shelter-
house among the mounds, "For
use; not abuse!". This very
forest seems hedged in with primitive
walls, following the line
of ravines and separating it from
pasture-lands beyond.
One wonders the purpose of all these earth-works.
None
250 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
is better fitted to speak on this
subject than he who explored
them best, -Prof. Moorehead, of Saranac
Lake.
"Ft. Ancient", he says,
"is considered to have been erected
for purely defensive purposes and not as
having been used for
residence for any great length of time.
Its connection with the
Scioto Valley earth-works is to be
doubted, and it seems to occupy
a rather isolated position. I have
always therefore thought that
the village-folk of ancient
Madisonville, and those of other sites
along the Little Miami, used the fort as
a common rendezvous.
Possibly they came from as far as
Aurora, Indiana. Alexanders-
ville, Foster's, Milford, southern Brown
county, and the mouth
of the Great Miami, at all of which
places there were earth-
works. The fort is believed to have been
erected by the Short-
head or southern people."
Who were these people? Whence did they
come? Whither
have they gone? It is the interesting
riddle of Ohio.
Centuries, - aeons, - ago, we know, the
ice-lake occupied
what is now this fertile vale. Still, no
gravel pits or other glacial
evidence has been produced on the other
side of the Miami,
and it is strange, indeed, that the
glaciers should have stopped
just here. The lime-stone all about is
exceptionally rich in fossil
crinoids and trilobites.
How long after the ice melted, and the
rivers flowed was
it before the Red Man put in his
appearance? Came he from
the north-ward, as so many think; having
crossed over Behring
Strait, -out of Asia; where mounds such
as that one near
Peebles are found? Or, was he of
indigenous or even southern
origin ?
There are those who hold man to have
originated in North
America. Simple is this theory, - that
he crossed to Asia, and
then Africa and Europe. Much simpler
than that from Asia
he should have gone both east and west,
and still left no record
of his passage.
At any rate, -this earlyman was a
worker. Possibly that
is why he settled in Ohio, a State noted
for industry. Let some
of the early registrars tell of these
labors at Ft. Ancient.
It took two skilled surveyors and a gang
of laborers, six
weeks to complete surveys made here for
the State. What did
A Visit to Fort Ancient. 251
they find, - or
rather not find? There was a moat, - extending
south-west from the two mounds to the
left of the fort walls, -
which remains of pottery and bones make
it probable, was lined
with wig-wams, from which refuse was
thrown into the moat.
Then there are bastions, - some with a
breadth of base of
seventy feet and a height of just
ninety, and there are but
tresses of lime stone, the boulders in
these of fifteen or sixteen
pounds weight. Three parallel walls
within the fort, we are
told, have a length of over 2,700 feet,
and there is a three-
walled platform close beside, that
measures 85 by 110 by 150
feet.
Think of the labor involved in making
such a bastion, even
today. And these artisans had nothing
but their hands, and the
primitive tools found in the mounds.
One admires them the more one inspects
it. Five and three
quarter miles of terraces, ten and 17-52
miles of earth-works in
all. - Could they be set in line! All
built to last through ages,-
built to survive, as none of our
structures of the present will!
A single protective gate-way here is
constructed of forty pound
rocks, and affords a three-mile
perspective.
The finds inside the fort are scarcely
less interesting. Graves,
there, were lined with lime-stone and
set at a distance of about
two feet and a half from the surface.
Skeletons had an average
length of five feet six, -and these were
seldom buried alone.
Implements of pottery and flint
accompanied the bodies very
largely. There were mica-disks and
fish-scales, pottery and
celts, and while there were some flint
knives, the nature of the
tools was such as to lead archaeologists
to believe that but little
cereal food was consumed, and that these
mound-builders were
practically cannibals. The bones of
seventeen different animals
have been discovered so far. Some of
these lie so near the
surface as to seem to indicate burials,
after a sudden and de-
cisive battle.
Then for perhaps five feet, there are no
remains. After
that, the ruins of a second, more
ancient village are evident.
Every visitor to Ft. Ancient has his
theory. Some find
in the outline of the fort a tracing of
the American continent.
Others, founding their theories on Esdrac,
put this people down
252 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
as the tribe expelled from Assyria. Still others would have them to be maroons from the ships of King Solomon, when on the three year cruises. And still others would make of them Japan- ese sent by adverse currents to this land. As to their fate, some would believe them simply the ancestors of our Indians. Whether this be so or not, -who knows ? Only the mounds, - and they keep the secrets locked within their leafy bosoms. |
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