WHAT WE OWE TO THE PAST
BY NEVIN 0. WINTER.
The student of history is generally
attracted by
events which occurred at some remote
place. It is
another illustration of distance
lending enchantment.
In Europe I have seen Americans
tramping over the
scenes of battles which had no
significance in the world's
history. They were simply scenes of
conflicts between
rival factions in local disturbances.
Some of these same
Americans have passed by battlefields
near their own
homes, without pausing for a moment to
visualize
what these conflicts meant in American
history. For
the same reason the American traveler
is lured to for-
eign lands in search of scenic beauty,
when more beau-
tiful panoramas can be found within a
short journey of
his own habitation.
It is not necessary for a resident of
Northwest Ohio
to journey to distant fields in search
of places of absorb-
ing historical interest. Within the
twenty counties of
this section of our great commonwealth
occurred battles
between red man and white, and between
rival white
races, which have left their permanent
impress upon
American history in the western march
of the empire.
There is scarcely a foot of the bank of
the Sandusky or
the Maumee river which is not pregnant
with virile his-
tory. At Fort Stephenson there was
displayed a spirit
which savors of that heroism shown by
the Greeks at
Thermopylae. The Girty brothers
contributed the vil-
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Publications
lains, the ingrates, whose presence
seems as necessary
to make the drama complete as the
heroes, who, in this
instance, include General Anthony
Wayne, General
William Henry Harrison, Captain
Croghan, Commo-
dore Perry and many others.
The Northwestern Territory was the
first experi-
ment by the new United States in
expansion. Hereto-
fore the Americans had made little
effort to subdue the
wilderness beyond the Alleghenies. The
Northwestern
Territory offered a new and inviting
problem, but be-
fore this vast and fertile tract could
be utilized it was
necessary to conquer the original
occupants of the soil.
The collision naturally came in Ohio,
which was then
the frontier region, and the fiercest
contacts between
the reds and whites took place in
Northwest Ohio.
Here it was that the French and English
contended for
the mastery of this region. Here it was
that the on-
coming Americans waged their battles
for supremacy
with the British, and here it was that
they were com-
pelled to subdue the red men.
Northwest Ohio has produced many great
men. It
has furnished a Justice of the Supreme
Court and two
Presidents, including the present chief
executive, of
whom we are proud, and many other men
who contrib-
uted to our country's welfare. But the
red men also
produced some outstanding leaders in
this same region,
who ranked high in savage history. It
was in Sandusky
County that Chief Nicholas of the
Wyandotte tribe
lived, and he was the brains of the
movement which had
for its purpose to drive the French
from the western
country. The greatest Indian chief of
which we have
knowledge was Pontiac, who engineered
that remark-
able. movement known as Pontiac's
conspiracy, which
Colonel James Kilbourne 33
aimed to break the British power.
Pontiac was born
and lived the greater part of his life
near Defiance.
Although Tecumseh was not born within
Northwestern
Ohio, yet the larger part of his
activities in opposing
the march of the whites into the
hunting-grounds of his
ancestors occurred in this same region.
History becomes vivid to the
imaginative mind when
one considers the truly remarkable
events that have
occurred in Northwestern Ohio. Here at
Bucyrus we
are on or near the ground over which
Colonel Crawford
and his Pennsylvania Volunteers
traveled on their way
to meet the Wyandottes. They were full
of hope as
they journeyed westward, but it was a
sadder, a wiser
and a less numerous force that
retreated over this same
ground a few days later.
Ohio had long been the stronghold of
the savages,
since the woods and streams abounded in
game which
furnished sustenance. Their numbers
were augmented
by the broken tribes which were
compelled to move
westward. President Washington realized that this
power of the savages must be broken,
and he decided to
take decisive measures leading to this
end. He en-
trusted the first expedition to General
Harmar. This
officer started from Cincinnati and
proceeded toward
what is now Fort Wayne. It was there
that he met a
disastrous defeat. In his forward march
and his re-
turn also he passed through portions of
Northwest Ohio.
The second expedition was placed in the
hands of Gen-
eral St. Clair, a personal friend of
the President, with
the specific instructions to avoid
every possibility of
ambuscade. The result of this
expedition was the
bloody encounter in Mercer county,
which was followed
by the horrible butchery of hundreds of
his troops.
Vol. XXXI-3.
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
They had been outwitted by the savages,
even after the
definite warning of his superior. This
encounter at
Fort Recovery is one of the most
horrible savage re-
prisals that American history records.
President Washington realized that the
savage
power must be broken or the
Northwestern Territory,
rich as it might be in natural
resources, would be useless
to the new republic. He decided upon
General Anthony
Wayne to head the third expedition. In
this instance
he had selected the proper man. General
Wayne left
nothing to chance. He carefully
surveyed the situation
and prepared himself for every
possibility. In easy
marches he proceeded from near
Cincinnati northward
to the Auglaize River. He then followed
this stream to
Defiance and, after complete
preparations, followed the
Maumee toward its mouth. Between Maumee
and
Waterville he encountered the savages
in a hollow where
the timber had been destroyed by a
hurricane. Here
the savages had prepared to meet the
white soldiers, and
the Battle of Fallen Timbers followed.
The result was
an overwhelming defeat for the Indians.
It forever
broke their power and made them willing
to enter into
the Greenville Treaty in the following
year. It was prob-
ably the most decisive defeat that the
Indians ever expe-
rienced. It made possible the oncoming
of thousands
of white pioneers into the western
country, many of
whom settled in Northwest Ohio along
the Sandusky
and Maumee Rivers within the next few
years.
During the War of 1812 Northwest Ohio
was the
scene of the most significant events
that occurred in the
western country. It was here that the Americans
clashed with the British and their
savage allies in a
series of conflicts. General Harrison, Commodore
What We Owe to the Past 35
Perry and George Croghan are the
outstanding figures
in these impacts. The heroism of these
commanders
and their followers equals that
exhibited in any inci-
dents in American history. Warned by
the disastrous
experiences of General Hull, who basely
surrendered at
Detroit, and General Winchester, who
was caught un-
prepared at Monroe, General Harrison
carefully planned
his campaign. As a result the year 1813
retrieved the
failures of 1812. British and savages
alike learned at
Fort Meigs that the American commander
who opposed
them was a man of skill, foresight and
courage. Their
bitter experiences at Fort Stephenson
only deepened the
impression that the Americans could not
be driven from
this country by force and they could
not be intimidated
by threats of butchery by the savages
in the event of
defeat or capture. Their numbers were
terribly deci-
mated. They gained nothing excepting
the scalps of
Colonel Dudley's brave Kentuckians and
a few strag-
glers. Fear of the savages no longer
existed. The vic-
tory at the Thames River was only the
finishing touch,
the death stroke, upon the body which
had received its
fatal wound in Northwest Ohio. With the
capture of
the British fleet by Commodore Perry,
the power of
both the British and Indians was
forever broken in this
fair region. Those Indians who remained
for from
twenty to thirty years longer buried
the tomahawk and
resigned themselves to the supremacy of
the white man.
What lessons may we learn from the
history of
Northwest Ohio? It seems to me that
there are very
significant lessons. When a boy I
regretted that I had
not been born earlier, for all history
seemed to have
been made. The year 1914 dispelled that
illusion per-
manently. The making of history has not
ended, and
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the demand for courage, both physical
and moral, is
probably greater today than ever in the
world's history.
Great as was the courage of the early
pioneers, who
threaded the forests and faced death
from lurking sav-
ages, I doubt whether the heroism
demanded of them
was as great as that required today in
facing some of
the problems that have been developed
by civilization.
They were lured partly by the spirit of
adventure. The
trackless forests, the abundance of
game, the novelty of
the experiences, the hope of bettering
their fortunes, the
element of the wild that exists in
man's nature -all
contributed their share of the
compelling forces that
led to their voluntary exile from
friends and civilization.
Today we face the dangers of luxury
resulting from
wealth, and the lure of following the
line of least resist-
ance. Money can buy everything that
satisfies the phys-
ical cravings. We are tempted to rest
satisfied when
these demands are appeased. But there
are ever great
moral and political problems that need
pioneering, and
for these the highest possible degree
of physical and
moral courage is needed. There are
tempters on every
hand who assail the pioneer more
insidiously and more
treacherously than did the waiting
savage waylay the
pioneer in the wilderness.
When General Wayne was asked by one of
his sub-
ordinates, just before the attack was
ordered at Fallen
Timbers, what his field orders would
be, his answer
was: "The standing order for the
day is to charge the
enemy." When Captain Croghan was
asked by the
emissary of the British general to
surrender Fort Ste-
phenson, because his savages could not
be restrained if
victory fell to them, as it certainly
must, the reply was:
"When the fort is taken, there
will be no survivors left
What We Owe to the Past 37 to massacre. It will not be given up so long as there is a man able to resist." These words might be taken as the watchwords of those who are fighting for the right. Always face the enemy and charge him with the bay- onet, and never yield so long as there is anyone left who is able to fight. We will then be able to repeat the mem- orable words of Commodore Perry to those who anxiously await the result of the struggle: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." |
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