SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS.
[The Cleveland Herald and Gazette, of
June 3, 1840, printed an
extract from a speech delivered by the
brave Col. John O'Fallon, at the
raising of the log-cabin in St. Louis.
This was during the famous "Log
Cabin Campaign," summer and fall of
1840. The speech reflecting the
political and public sentiment of the
time, will be read with interest.-
EDITOR.]
Colonel O'Fallon-who it may be stated,
delivered his
speech from the ramparts of a miniature
Fort Meigs -was an
aid of Gen. Harrison, and bore no
inglorious part in the scenes
he describes. How the testimony of such
a gallant, honorable
gentleman puts to shame the slanders of
the Administration
papers and orators:
It was on the first day of February,
1813, that the army
of Gen. Harrison, pitched their tents
upon, and adjacent to the
ground where Fort Meigs was erected, and
commenced the con-
struction of a stockade, which was
afterwards surrounded by a
ditch and embankments, embracing several
acres of ground. The
snow was deep upon the ground, the
weather extremely cold;
and although the troops were raw and
greatly unaccustomed to
such severe exposure, their ardor never
abated. Under many
deprivations, they performed their
several duties with the zeal
and alacrity, which springs from the
soldier's deep confidence
in the tried skill and courage of his
commander, and his warm
attachment to his person. Early in
April, 1813, the garrison of
Fort Meigs numbered about 1000 effective
men-two brigades of
militia having been discharged in
consequence of the termination
of their period of service. This fact
being early ascertained by
the British general commanding at
Malden, an expedition against
Fort Meigs was immediately projected.
His army of British
and Indians was near 4000 strong, and he
gave his Indian
allies the most confident assurance that
he could carry the Fort
by storm, should his invitation to Gen.
Harrison to surrender
(280)
Siege of Fort Meigs. 281
with the honors of war, be refused. He
had a heavy park of
artillery, and this, with the imagined
weakness of our defences,
he fancied would give him a ready and
easy conquest of the
Fort. And it was even stipulated
between the British general
and the celebrated Tecumseh, that,
should the garrison be taken,
and Gen. Harrison remain alive, the
American commander was
to be delivered to the Indian, who
designed to wreak upon him
his savage vengeance for the death of
his many braves and war-
riors who fell at the battle of
Tippecanoe. Vain calculation!
Vain, this premeditated purpose of base
and barbarous malice!
The God of battles was with the
American general, and he was
reserved by a wise and far-seeing
Providence, to be in after
times, the proud, the high blessing,
the bright prospect, the noble
deliverer of his country.
Fort Meigs was invested and cannonaded
with bomb shells
and red hot balls for seven days,
during all which time Gen.
Harrison was ever at the point of
danger, planning and directing
the defence, and his manner, his voice,
his sagacious conduct,
and his undaunted courage inspiring his
officers and men with
an abiding confidence of ultimate
victory. Gen. Proctor, was,
at length driven to confess that he was
contending with a com-
mander whose courage and military
talents were equal to any
emergency; and despairing of redeeming
the pledge he had given
to his army, to make an easy conquest
of the garrison, and being
informed by intercepted communications,
that Gen. Harrison
was in daily expectation of
reinforcements, to effect that by
stratagem, which he now despaired of
accomplishing by open
warfare, he calculated by a timely and
well concerted deception
to decoy into an ambuscade, a large
detachment of our garrison
-then scarcely sufficient effectually
to man the defences. Should
he succeed in this, the ready sacrifice
of the Fort would in-
evitably follow. Suddenly, a brisk and
sharp firing was heard
in a thick woods near the Fort, through
which the road passed
to the interior. The alarm strongly
represented, as it was de-
signed to do, an Indian engagement.
Shortly afterwards, loud
wailing and groans were heard, as would
naturally proceed from
wounded and dying men. The whole
garrison at once con-
cluded, that an attack was made upon
our brothers in arms on
282 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
their way to our assistance. Not so,
however, with Gen. Har-
rison. He alone was incredulous.. Many
of his officers waited
upon him, and almost demanded permission
to fly to the rescue.
For a time the greatest excitement
prevailed in the garrison at
the idea of the sacrifice of their
gallant comrades, without any
attempt to save them. Gen. Harrison's
sagacity caught the de-
sign of the enemy in a moment, and it
required the exercise of
all his powerful influence and authority
to subdue the impetu-
osity of his officers and men, and to
convince them of this cun-
ning device of the enemy planned for
their destruction.
About two o'clock on the morning of the
5th of May, 1813,
two officers came expresses from Gen.
Green Clay, who had
passed the Indian line, under cover of
the night, at the most
imminent hazard of their lives. They
brought information that
Gen. Clay with his brigade of Kentucky
militia, was encamped
on the river, a few miles above the
Fort, to which he would
proceed early that morning. This was
most cheering intel-
ligence to Gen. Harrison; and with this
addition to his force,
he determined at once to commence
offensive operations, by
attacking the enemy at every assailable
point, dislodge them
from their position, destroy their
batteries, and thus terminate
the seige of Fort Meigs.
With this view, two officers were
immediately despatched
to General Clay with orders to land
about a mile above the Fort,
on the opposite side of the river, a
detachment of 800 men under
one of his most trustworthy officers. To
move upon the British
batteries, to carry them, spike the
cannon, destroy the ammuni-
tion and carriages, and immediately upon
the accomplishment of
this, to cross the river to the Fort,
under cover of our artillery.
The brave Col. Dudley did, in a most
gallant manner, take
the British batteries and spiked some
pieces of their cannon;
but, too confident of his own strength,
and ignorant of the
enemy, to be soon made available, he was
induced in violation
of his instructions to occupy the ground
taken until the enemy
had time to collect their forces in an
adjacent woods, into which
he was cunningly enticed by a partial
firing of a few Indians,
where after a bloody conflict, the
largest part of his command
was taken.
Siege of Fort Meigs. 283
Gen. Harrison displayed, in the judgment
of all his officers,
the highest order of military talent
during the seige- for his
efficient plan of defence, by traverses through and
across the
encampment, as a cover for his men -the
manner of protecting
his magazine, the object of constant
attack-as well as for
the plan, direction, and most opportune
execution of the grand
object of the two sorties, made by
detachments from the gar-
rison of Fort Meigs on the 5th of May,
1812.
The first sortie was directed against
that portion of the
Indians, and Canadian militia, investing
the south and west end
of the Fort, for the purpose of drawing
them from the river,
whilst Gen. Clay's detachment was effecting
their entrance into
the Fort.
The second sortie commenced its movement
just at the
moment of the appearance on the opposite
side, of Dudley's
detachment, advancing upon the British
batteries, having the
double effect of engaging the Indians
and preventing them from
crossing the river to co-operate against
Dudley, and accom-
plishing the destruction of the enemy's
batteries on the south-
east side of the river.
On no occasion during the last war, were
greater honors
acquired than by Gen. Harrison, who
conceived and directed,
and the gentlemen who executed his
orders in these two bril-
liant sorties.
In both engagements our troops, whilst
utterly exposed,
advanced upon and repulsed the enemy
sheltered as he was by
his position, and outnumbering our men 4
to I.
In the last sortie our men marched as
firmly as veterans,
to the very mouths of the British
cannon, receiving unmoved,
their constant fire of grape shot,
accompanied by a most galling
and destructive fire from the thousands
of Indians and militia
on our front and flanks. Altho, a large
number of our men
fell and perished upon the bed of honor,
their surviving com-
rades never paused in their forward
march, until the batteries,
with a large portion of the British
regulars in charge of them,
were captured, and the whole Indian and
Militia force was dis-
persed and routed. Thus ended the
memorable seige of Fort
Meigs. * * * * * *
284 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Opportunities have been afforded me of
knowing Gen. Har-
rison in all the relations of life, as
an officer and as a man, and
of being enabled to form a pretty
correct estimate of his civil
and military office. I know him to be
open and brave in his
disposition, of active and industrious
habits, uncompromising in
his principles, above all guile and
intrigue, and a pure, honest,
noble minded man, with a heart
overflowing with warm and
generous sympathies for his fellow men.
As a military man,
his daring, chivalrous courage inspired
his men with confidence,
and spread dismay and terror to his
enemies. In all his plans
he was successful. In all his
engagements he was victorious.
He has filled all the various civil and
military offices committed
to him by his country, with sound
judgment and spotless fidelity.
In every situation, he was cautious and
prudent, firm and ener
getic, and his decisions always
judicious. His acquirements
as a scholar are varied and extensive;
his principles as a states-
man, sound, pure and republican.
In addition to the above article, the
same paper, of the
same date, prints the following:
A CURIOUS DOCUMENT.
A gentleman of the highest
respectability, says the editor
of the Louisville Journal, has
sent us the annexed document,
which he vouches for as genuine. It was
handed to him by
one of the signers of it, a half breed
Indian and a relative of
Tecumseh:
COUNCIL BLUFF, 23d March, 1840.
To GENERAL HARRISON'S FRIENDS.-The other
day, several news-
papers were brought to us, and peeping
over them, to our astonishment
we find the Hero of the late war called
coward.-This would have sur-
prised the tall braves, Tecumseh of the
Shawnees and Round Head and
Walk in the Water of the Wyandots. If
the departed could rise again,
they-would say to the white man, that
General Harrison was the terror
of the late tomahawkers. The first time
we got acquainted with General
Harrison, it was at the council fire of
the late old Tempest (General
Wayne) at Greenville on the head waters
of the Wabash, 1796. From
that period until 1811, we had many
friendly smokes with him, but from
Siege of Fort Meigs. 285 1812 we changed our tobacco smoke into powder smoke- then we found Gen. Harrison was a brave warrior and humane to his prisoners-as reported to us by two of Tecumseh's young men who was taken in the fleet with Captain Barclay on the 10th September, 1813-and on the Thames, where, he routed both the British and red men, and where he showed his courage and his humanity to his prisoners both White and Red - report of Adam Brown and family taken the morning of the battle, 5th October, 1813: We are the only two surviving of that day in this country. We hope the good White men will protect the name of General Harrison. We remain your friends forever, CHAMBLEE, Aid to Tecumseh, B. CLADWELL, Captain. |
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