Ohio History Journal

358      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

1781, and immediately settled on what has since been known as

the Whitaker Reservation; Fort Stephenson, here in Fremont,

the place first brought into prominence in American history by

the presence of the famous Revolutionary patriot, Israel Put-

nam, who commanded the Colonial troops from Connecticut in

the Bradstreet expedition of 1764; the place to which General

Washington sent Captain Brady to ascertain the war-like inten-

tions of the Indians in 1780; where the British established a tem-

porary fort in 1782 during the Revolutionary war; where General

Wayne promised to build an American fort in 1795 to protect

the friendly Indians against the encroachments of the British

Indians; where finally the youthful Major George Croghan on

the 2d of August, 1813, defeated the combined forces of the

British under Proctor and the Indians under Tecumseh in the

famous battle of Fort Stephenson; and to Spiegel Grove, the

home of Rutherford Birchard Hayes and Lucy Webb Hayes, the

typical American home of the last half of the 1₉th century. My

desire is to show how this Sandusky country was one of the

great natural runways of the Indians in their migrations between

the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, to the Ohio and the

Mississippi Rivers; of the French, who cannily imitated the In-

dian in his method of travel and woodland life; of the English,

coming in from the east to possess the land; and of the Ameri-

cans, in expelling the English from the country.

The term Sandusky, in all military and frontier history is

broadly used, having been applied by the Indians not only to the

river but to the valley and the Indian villages situated at the

upper and lower rapids (Upper and Lower Sandusky), and the

bay, or "little lake." This ubiquitous nomenclature has not

unnaturally led many persons of the present day to suppose that

the flourishing neighboring city of Sandusky was one of the vil-

lages bearing that name; whereas the Sandusky city of today was

unknown until years after the War of 1812 and was called

Ogontz's Place, later Portland, and not until a decade after

the glorious defence of Ft. Stephenson (or "Sandusky" as the

name is inscribed on the gold medal awarded to Croghan by

the Congress of the United States), was the name "Sandusky

City" formally adopted by our neighbor on the Lake.

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.             361

inform those of the other that war parties were there; but who

they were or whence they came or anything more must not be

mentioned."

Gen. Lewis Cass, in an address in 1829 before the Historical

society of Michigan, alluding to these neutral towns, said: "During

the long and disastrous contest which preceded and followed the

arrival of the Europeans, in which the Iroquois contended for

victory, and their enemy for existence, this little band preserved

the integrity of their tribe and the sacred character of peace-

makers. All who met upon their threshold met as friends. This

neutral nation was still in existence when the French mission-

aries reached the upper lakes two centuries ago. The details of

their history and of their character are meagre and unsatisfactory,

and this is the more to be regretted as such a sanctuary among

the barbarous tribes is not only a singular institution but alto-

gether at variance with that reckless spirit of cruelty with which

their wars are usually prosecuted." Internal feuds arose, as the

tradition goes, and the villages were destroyed.

The first white explorer of all this region was La Salle who

on Aug. 7, 1679, in his bark the Griffin, sailed from Niagara out

on the surface of Lake Erie. With him came Father Hennepin

who wrote that "the lake encloses on its southern bank a tract

of land as large as the kingdom of France." A map attached to

Hennepin's work, published in 1683, shows Sandusky bay and

river drawn to an accurate angle with the southern shore of Lake

Erie, from which it is evident that La Salle entered Sandusky

bay and river.

Although Cadillac had founded Detroit in 1701 it was not

until 1739 that we begin to gain a little definite information about

events on the Sandusky. The war chief of the Wyandot or Huron

tribe before mentioned, was one Orontony or Nicolas, who

after being worsted in conflict with the French near Detroit, had

removed his followers to the mouth of Sandusky River. Nicolas

was a wily savage whose enmity was greatly to be feared, and

he commanded men who formed an alert, unscrupulous and pow-

erful body. The French having provoked his bitter hatred, which

was fomented by English agents, he conspired to destroy the

French not only at Detroit but at the upper posts. In 1745

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                 363

Nicolas had permitted the English to erect a trading post or

blockhouse known as Ft. Sandoski at his principal town on the

bay and to remain and dispose of their stock. Notwithstanding

some discrepancy as to time, the blockhouse which Nicolas per-

mitted the English traders to build was probably the first of the

English forts, known as Fort Sandusky, built on the portage

between the Sandusky river and Lake Erie. By August, 1747,

the Iroquois of the west, the Hurons, Ottawas, Miami, Sioux,

Shawnees and other tribes, to the number of seventeen, had en-

tered into the conspiracy. Through the treachery of a Huron

woman the plot was revealed to a Jesuit priest who communi-

cated the information to Longueuil, the French commandant at

Detroit, who in turn notified all the other French posts, and

although a desultory warfare broke out resulting in a number

of murders, there was no concerted action. Nicolas finding that

he had been deserted by his allies, and seeing the activity and

determination of the French not to suffer English encroachments

on what they called French territory, finally in April, 1748,

destroyed his villages and palisades at (Fort) Sandusky and

removed with 119 warriors and their families to White River

(Indiana). Not long after he withdrew to the Illinois country

on the Ohio River, where he died in the autumn of 1748. The

inflexible and determined   conduct of Longueuil toward the

most of the conspiring tribes brought the coalition to an end in

May, 1748.*

In 1739 Sieur de Noyelle wrote to the Marquis de Beauharnais

that "the Hurons had all gathered at Sandoske, although they had been

told that they have nothing to fear."- Nevertheless "they were armed

like men who go to fight-bullets in their mouths and in their guns-

and one Nicolas was their chief." This is our first mention of the re-

doubtable warrior under whose protection old Fort Sandusky was built.

These letters to and from Beauharnais dwell upon Nicolas's zeal in pass-

ing about war belts among the various tribes and his frequent treason

against the French. "As I fear lest he may hatch something wrong,"

* Summarized from Handbook of the Indians (Bureau Ethnology);

O'Callaghan's "Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New

York," Vol. X, pp. 83-271; and Winsor's "Narrative and Critical His-

tory of America." Vol. V. Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley"

and Sleeum's "History of the Maumee River Basin" contain excellent

narratives of this conspiracy.

366      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

The location of Old Fort Sandoski, the first fort built by

white men in Ohio, long a subject of earnest research, was defi-

nitely settled by Col. Webb C. Haves, of Fremont, and Mr.

Chas. W. Burrows, of Cleveland, by the discovery, in 1906, of

the de Lery journals. Mr. Burrows' work in publishing the "Jesuit

Relations" had familiarized him with the richness of the Can-

adian archives, and at Colonel Hayes' request he communicated

with the archivist of Laval University, Quebec, and some clue

being found, Colonel Hayes and Mr. Burrows at once visited

the Rev. Father A. F. Jones, S. J., of St. Mary's College, Mon-

treal, and Abbe Gosselin, archivist of Laval University at

Quebec, at which latter place the eight de Lery Journals were

discovered. One of these journals, with its numerous maps and

accompanying descriptions of the daily journeyings and solar

observations, settles definitely the exact location of old Fort San-

doski, the first fort built by white men in Ohio, the location of

which has until now been in doubt even among our foremost

historians.  The distinguished Col. Charles Whittlesey, long

president of the Western Reserve Historical Society, in a Tract

published in 1873 on the forts at Sandusky, had written:

"It is not easy to determine the precise location of the early

French and English forts or trading posts on Sandusky Bay.

The earliest map which has on it the name of this bay is that of

Henry Popple, London, 1733, where it is called 'Lake Sandoski.'

Indian traders from Pennsylvania were there in 1748, but prob-

ably had not then a permanent post or fort. On Mitchell's map,

London, 1755, and on that of Evans, Philadelphia, same date, there

is a 'fort' laid down on the north side of the bay near the mouth.

It is much more probable that this fort, house or post was sit-

uated where the trail or portage path came out on the bay, across

the neck from the Portage or Carrying River, at Ottawa. The

English government had no fortifications there at that time.

Mitchell states that the fort on the north side, meaning post, was

'usurped by the French in 1751.' Fort Junundat, on Evans' map,

is placed south of the bay and east of Sandusky River, 'built in

1754.' This was a French establishment for trade, perhaps with

368        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

a stockade for defence against the English and their Indian

allies."*

*The late A. T. Goodman, for many years secretary of the Western

Reserve Historical Society, in Tract No. 4. published Jan. 1871, has

the following references to Fort Sandusky: "English traders first made

their appearance in the Ohio country in 1699-1700. From that time until

1745 we frequently hear of them at various towns and stations. In 1745

they built a small fort or blockhouse among the Hurons on the north

side of Sandusky Bay. In 1748 they were driven off by a party of

French soldiers from Detroit. Prior to 1763 the English in Ohio were

very few in comparison to the French."

In Tract No. 6, in "Papers Relating to the First White Settlers

in Ohio," also by Mr. Goodman, published in July 1871, occurs the fol-

lowing reference to Fort Sandusky. "As early as the year 1745 English

traders penetrated as far as Sandusky, or 'St. Dusky,' and established

a post on the north side of the bay near the carrying place or portage

from the Portage river across the peninsula. They were driven away

by the French probably in 1748 or 1749. During this period a celebrated

Indian trader from Pennsylvania, George Croghan, had a station at or

near the mouth of the Cuyahoga, then known as the Cayahaga, and

sometimes as Hioga."

Tract No. 25 is a 25-page description of the early maps of America,

by Judge C. C. Baldwin for many years Secretary of the Western Re-

serve Historical Society and later its president. It was published in

April, 1875, and especially commands the accuracy of the Evans' and

Mitchell's maps of 1755, and Pownall's map of 1777. "Lewis Evans was

an American geographer and surveyor, born about 1700 and died 1756.

He published a map of the Middle Colonies in 1755 with an analysis.

The map itself is an epitome of history and geography. It was engraved

by James Turner, and printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall, in Philadel-

phia. It was dedicated to Gov. Pownall, who in 1776 published a folio

with an enlarged analysis, but the same map, in which the Governor

stood stoutly by his deceased friend against other maps pirated. The

advance in local knowledge in this map is large.--A map which was

repeatedly printed, much used and of long authority was Mitchell's.

John Mitchell, M. D., F. R. S., came to Virginia early in the 18th

century as a botanist. He lived long in America and died in England

in 1768. His large and elaborate map has a certificate from John Pownall,

secretary of the Board of Trade, and brother of Governor Thomas

Pownall, that it was undertaken at his request, composed from drafts,

charts, and actual surveys, transmitted from the different Colonies by

the Governors thereof. This certificate is dated July 1st, 1755.  *  **

This map was used by the commissioners in making the treaty of peace in

1783, by which our country became a nation."

Lewis Evans in the title page to his "Geographical, Historical,

370        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

De Lery in his journal of 1754 refers to Fort Junundat

when he mentions the fact of his having discharged his rifle and

otherwise made futile attempts to attract the attention of some

of the French traders on the opposite side of the bay from the

ruins of Old Fort Sandusky; and later speaks of Sieur Gouin,

a French trader who was settled opposite in a blockhouse or

trading  post.  Numerous authorities    confirm  this, especially

Evans' map, published the next year, 1755, which locates "Fort

Junundat, built in 1754," as south of the bay and east of the

river; and this fort Junundat must have been the one near the

mouth of Pickerel Creek, now in Townsend township, Sandusky

county; although the erosions of the bank have caused it to

disappear.  It was from   this fort Junundat that many of the

later Indian trails on the east side of the Sandusky River started.

It is an interesting fact that the wife of Sieur Gouin, re-

ferred to by de Lery, is mentioned nine years later as having

early in May, 1763, seen the Ottawa Indians filing off the ends

of their gun barrels evidently preparing for the surprise and mas-

sacre of the Detroit garrison under Gladwin by Pontiac.

In August, 1754, the Chevalier Chaussegros de Lery, of

Quebec, a distinguished engineer of the French army, was ordered

to accompany an expedition from     Presq'isle (Erie) to Detroit

and Michillimacinac.   The expedition started from   Presqu'isle

(Erie) on the ₃0th of July, 1754, and skirting along the southern

shore of Lake Erie, entered Sandusky Bay, Sunday, August 4,

and made a portage across the peninsula from the ruins of old

Fort "Sandoske on Lac Sandoske," fifty-seven arpents or about

two miles across to the "great lake," (Erie), to the present site

of Port Clinton.

Political, Philosophical and Mechanical Essays, the first containing an

Analysis of a general Map of the Middle British Colonies in America"

says: "Sandusky is a considerable river abounding in level land, its

stream gentle all the way to its mouth where it will receive considerable

slope. This river is an important pass and the French have secured it

as such, the Northern Indians cross the lake here from island to island,

land at Sandoski, and go by a quick path to the lower Shawanese towns,

and thence to the gap of Onarioto in the way to the Ottawa country.

This will no doubt be the way that the French will take from Detroit

to Moville, unless the English will be advised to secure it, now that it

is in their power."

372        Ohio Arch and Hist. Society Publications.

M. de Lery was not only an engineer, he was also a soldier. The

authorities gave him frequent opportunities of proving his valor  His

expedition against the Loups and the Aquires in 1747 was the first of

the kind; it was not to be the last.

de Lery who was only a second ensign was promoted first ensign

or ensign on the establishment in 1748.

About the same time, M. De Galissonniere, wishing to obtain in-

formation regarding the route from Montreal to Detroit as well as the

necessity of building new forts or repairing the old ones, ordered M.

de Lery to perform the journey and to make a full report. To that

order we are indebted for the first of M. de Lery's journals, and it will

be seen that he performed the duty conscientiously.

Leaving Lachine on the 6th of June, 1749, he returned to Quebec

on the 25th September following. M. de la Galissonniere was no longer

there to congratulate him, but M. de la Jonquiere showed his satisfac-

tion by appointing him commandant of the artillery, a position he held

till May, 1750.

The governor did better still  On October 8th he submitted his

name to the King for a lieutenancy which was granted him in April,

1751. M. de Lery was then in Acadia as commandant of Fort Beause-

jour, which he built as well as thai of Gaspareau. The reasons neces-

sitating the construction of those forts are known to everybody.

Nevertheless the English were displeased and accused the French

of having invaded a portion of Nova Scotia, burned Beaubassin, fur-

nished arms to the inhabitants, etc., and would be satisfied with nothing

less than compelling M. de la Jonquiere to disavow his conduct. There-

upon the Governor deemed it his duty to send some one to France to

give information to the court and he chose for the purpose M. de Lery

who had just arrived from Acadia. The latter had no difficulty in justi-

fying M. de la Jonquiere.

After spending some time at La Rochelle to acquire further knowl-

edge of military manoeuvres, M. de Lery sailed for Quebec, where he

arrived on the 23d October, 1752.

On the 24th September, 1754, he was married in Quebec to Louise

Martel de Brouague.

The years 1754 and 1755 were especially busy ones for M. de Lery.

Ordered to Niagara, he spent the winter there and went to Fort Du-

Quesne, where he had same repairs executed. He was about to begin

work on Fort Mochault when he was recalled to Fort Niagara by M.

de Villiers who was in command there.

The narrative of that campaign or rather of those campaigns, con-

stitutes the second and probably the most important of M. de Lery's

journals. In it will be found interesting details which exist nowhere else.

From that date, M. de Lery's journals enable us to follow him more

easily and we refer the reader to them, merely calling attention to the

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                   373

expedition of 1756 against Fort Bull, that against Choueguen in the same

year and the work on the Quebec fortifications in 1757.

Promoted Captain on the 1st of May, 1757, M. de Lery had not yet

been honored with the Cross of St. Louis; it was granted him on the

20th January, 1759.

Finally on the 13th September of the same year, he took part in

the battle of the Plains of Abraham and was wounded.

After the capitulation of Montreal, M. de Lery obtained permission

from M. de Vaudreuil, to remain in Canada. In the following year he

went to France with his family. He visited Paris and proceeded to

London where he was presented to the King. It was on that occasion

that George III, addressing himself to M. de Lery's young wife, said

to her: "Madame if all the Canadian ladies are like you, I have truly

made a conquest."

M. de Lery returned to Canada in 1764. In the following year the

Duc de Choiseul authorized him to live there. He thought, however,

of returning to France, but the Court, which had not looked with a fa-

vorable eye on his stay in England, ignored his application.

In 1774, England granted Canada The Quebec Act; a legislative

Council was formed and M. de Lery was one of its first members. With

his colleagues, he took the oath on the 17th August, 1775. Seven years

afterward, September 7, 1782, the French Court confirmed the pension

that had been granted him in 1762.

M. de Lery lived many years longer. He died in Quebec, Dec. 11,

1797, at the age of 76, and was buried three days afterward in the Ca-

thedral.

Madame de Lery had died in 1793. Of their marriage 18 children

were born; 10 sons and 8 daughters. The most celebrated of all was

Francois Joseph, who afterward became Lieutenant-General, Chief En-

gineer and Baron of the French Empire.

This notice does not do justice to M. de Lery's qualities.

By reading his journals one will know him better and appreciate

the zeal, activity and intelligence of that brave officer whom the

French governors honored with their confidence while giving

him  unsparing proofs of their satisfaction.

Throughout his whole military career, de Lery kept careful

journals. These have been translated from the original French

by Col. Crawford Lindsey, the official translator of the province

of Quebec, who had translated the "Jesuit Relations" into Eng-

lish for the publishers, the Burrows Bros., of Cleveland.

There are 8 of these journals of M. de Lery's campaigns

whereof the following is a summary description:

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.               375

8. Journal of 1758. Voyage in September and October from Que-

bec to Carillon. A book of 12 pages.

The journals 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, are evidently a first draft, roughly

written; this can be seen by the writing and spelling. The writing

without being bad is not always easy to make out. With regard

to the spelling it may perhaps be considered by some as queer.

But the reader must remember that M. de Lery wrote currente

calamo, probably even during the course of his journeys, and that,

apart from numbers 4 and 5, all the other manuscripts are merely

a rough draft.

It is only fair to add this defect was not peculiar to him.

Many men of his day, who had been educated to some extent

were as deficient in their spelling. The proof that M. de Lery

could do better will be found in the journals of 1756, numbers

4 and 5, which are very well written with correct spelling. The

latter two manuscripts, with their well executed maps and plans,

may be classed among the finest of the period.

M. de Lery's journals now belong to    Laval University,

Quebec. They were bequeathed to it by the late Abbe Verreau,

who had obtained them from the estate of the late Jacques Viger,

well known throughout Canada for his historical researches and

labors. We cannot tell how they came into his possession.

The reader will judge for himself of the history of the

country in general and of certain sections of the United States in

particular. This induced Laval University to allow their pub-

lication by the Burrows Bros. Co., Cleveland, Ohio, who will

follow the general style and arrangement of their great work,

"The Jesuit Relations."  Patriotic societies and all students of

history are greatly indebted to Chas. W. Burrows, president of

the Burrows Bros. company, for his historical researches and

publications.

The daily entries in de Lery's journal from the time of leav-

ing Presqu'isle (Erie), July 30, 1754, until the arrival at the

ruins of the old Fort Sandusky, August 4, give with great detail

the courses, distances and the character of the country on the shore

of the lake. There are no less than nineteen quite elaborate little

sketches of the entrances to the rivers, etc., including five detailed

376        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

sketches of the ruins of the old fort (Sandoski) and of San-

dusky bay. We give this part of the journal:

Extract from Journal of Joseph Gaspard Chaussegros de Lery,

Lieut. des Trouppes En route from Quebec to Fort Duquesne

but Destination changed at Presque isle (Erie) to Fort Detroit in

1754.

(Presque Isle (Erie) 30 July, 1754)

30th, Tuesday. Started from the presqu isle at half past

4 in the morning. Monsieur Pean, captain, regimental adjutant

of  Quebec,  commanding .................................  1

Monsieur St Martin, acting major............................

Monsieur  Lery  ................................... Lieutenants  3

Monsieur St Ours............................................

M onsieur        Rigauville     ..........................................

M onsieur        Desmeloises ........................................

[127]  ................................................. Ensigns  4

M onsieur        Porneuf   ............................................

M onsieur        Cournoyer     ..........................................

Father Bonnecamp jesuit .......................................                                                                                         1

Monsieur forget duverger, Priest of the missions Etrangeres...                                                           1

M onsieur        M auviles  ...........................................

M onsieur        Vig e        ..................................... Surgeons  3

M onsieur        G aron     .............................................

M onsieur        Laforce,   store-keeper ................................  1

Monsieur Constant, an old interpreter among the outaouais,

Sauteux,               etc.           ............................................                                                                     1

27  Canoes,  each             carrying  10  men..............................                                                                    270

285 men

Each canoe was loaded with 25 Packages consisting chiefly of pro-

visions. * * * * * *

(128 to 138 omitted).

4th Sunday. (Aug. 4, 1754).     We started at 5 h. 22 m. N. W.

At 2/3 of a league, Monsieur de Rigauville landed with Father Bonne-

camp, Jesuit, and another canoe. There he took the altitude which was

41 Degrees, 24 Minutes, 54 Seconds. The wind was stormy and a cloud

covered the whole sky to the North East. From the point where the

altitude was taken to the Point seen in the East, the bearing is E.N.W.;

from the same Point to the Point in the West, the bearing is S.E. by

S. and N.W. by N. From the Riviere aux hurons, or Riviere au

Pere, or Riviere au Vermilion, the shore runs S.E. and N.W. for a

distance of About 134 Legue in which space is the Entrance to lake

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                   377

otsandoske. At 10 o'clock I found myself opposite two entrances of a

Bay. As my canoe was the nearest to land as well as the most in

advance and as I had no guide, I thought this was the entrance of

lake otsandoske. The wind was astern and as I steered for the entrance

the Rollers were very heavy while I was in the pass on the left as one

enters (for the entrance of the lake is divided by a small island) my

canoe shipped [139] a great deal of Water. I discovered a great sheet

of Water which I took for lake otsandoske. I displayed my flag as a

signal to all the canoes which steered for me with the wind astern.

Many shipped a good Deal of Water and suffered exceedingly from the

heavy wind. I saw them all enter the lake and land at the other end

of the island to empty the water out of the canoes.  Monsieur Pean

had to change his clothes which were wet through. I did not know

where the portage was. I imagined that some vestiges still remained

of the fort the French had built in 1751 and which was afterwards

evacuated. To find it I followed the shore on the north side of the

said lake which runs East and West. After proceeding about 3 Leagues,

I found a clearing where I landed at noon and discovered the Ruins of

the Old fort. I at once had the packages in my canoe carried across

the portage.  At two o'clock the whole [140] had been taken over.

Monsieur Pean arrived at 3 o'clock. The Remainder of the day was

spent in portaging the effects and the canoes; three of the latter, how-

ever, remained at the Little lake. The portage is 57 arpents in length;

starting from the Little lake, it runs N. by N.W. There are three small

prairies to be crossed which are at about equal distance from one another;

after that is a small grove of trees and then the bank of the River of

the Portage on the shore of the great lake where our camp was.

I calculate that, from  the River we call Riviere aux Hurons

to the Entrance of lake otsandoske, the distance is two Leagues; for

the space of one league the shore is bordered merely by a strip of woods,

after which is a great prairie which ends at lake otsandoske.

To enable one to understand the Route of this day and that of

Father Bonnecamp, jesuit, in passing out of the little lake to [141] Pointe

aux cedres, I will indicate in the figure below the route he took outside

and that which I followed inside. * * * * * *

6th, Tuesday. At 1 h. 40 m. in the afternoon the greater portion

of the detachment ordered to go to Michilimaquinak arrived at detroit.

Monsieur Pean was in the van, and De Lery formed the rear-guard,

Monsieur de St martin, the major, was in the position suited to his

rank; Messieurs de St Ours, Neuvillette, Desmeloises and de Cournoyer

commanded the divisions. The said detachment saluted the flag of the

fort with three discharges of musketry. We landed at the gardens, that

is to say above the fort which fired nine Rockets, while the troops were

under arms and the drums beat the general.     Monsieur dumuy, the

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                   379

get a pirogue on the other side of the River and it was 5 o'clock

when I got across. I left him to await the other savage who had re-

mained behind and I went on to lake Sandoske to see whether we could

cross it either in a canoe or on the ice. I arrived there at half past

six o'clock after walking continually in the Water of which that portage

is full at that season. I found the lake clear of ice and fired three

gun-shots, the signal I had arranged with The iroquois who rejoined

me at half past seven o'clock. He had not seen his comrade who did

not come to sleep with us. We fired several gun-shots to make our-

selves heard by the French traders on the South East shore of lake

dot Sandoske, but they did not answer. We had nothing for supper

but a teal as The savage who had remained behind carried the pro-

visions.

[266] I examined the River of the portage and found its figure

different at this season from what it was in the month of August last

year when I passed there; the grass was then high and the Water lower.

[268] 17th, Monday. Very early in the morning The iroquois from

the lake Started to go and meet the one from the Belle Riviere who

had not joined us The previous evening. I placed a flag on the Water's

edge and fired several gun-shots to make the traders on the opposite

shore see and hear me, but they did not hear any more than on the

previous day. At noon the two savages arrived. We placed in the

water a large canoe of eight paddles that we found and crossed 3/4 of a

league above the Riviere du Poisson doree. [Pickerel Creek.]

I reached the house of Sieur gouin, a trader, at 4 o'clock in the

afternoon. We were a long time crossing because our canoe leaked a

good deal and I was kept busy bailing while the two savages paddled.

* * * * *

[269] 18th, Tuesday. The wind was from the south and cold;

the Sun came out. The savages prepared and made a saddle for the

horse that was to carry our provisions. I sent one of them with The

huron interpreter to the Little village to get me a guide and I par-

ticularly charged the latter with that mission; also to buy a horse for me.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon The interpreter and the savage Returned

without either guide or horse. Our two savages decided to take the

route via the presqu isle by canoe. This, added to what the hurons

told me about the Rivers having overflowed their banks and the woods

being full of Water, led me to decide to go in a Canoe.

[270] I had one of six paddles prepared with all its fittings to be

ready to start very early the following morning. I wrote to Monsieur

the Commandant of detroit and sent him the Statement of the few

supplies advanced me by Sieur gouin for those who owned the canoe

which I might Perhaps Leave at the Riviere a seguin called gayahague.

19th. Wednesday. I was unable to start before noon because the

canoe had to be gummed as it leaked a great deal. I went to sleep at

384       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Major Robert Rogers * of New Hampshire, an old commander

of Putnam and Stark.

On Sept. 12, 1760, Rogers, at the height of his reputation

received orders from General Amherst, the British commander-

in-chief in America, to ascend the St. Lawrence and take posses-

sion of the western forts; and he left Montreal the next day,

with 200 Rangers, "half hunters, half woodsmen, armed like

Indians with hatchet, gun and knife;" artillery commanded by

Lieut. Davis; and Lieut. Brehm, assistant engineer, who delivered

dispatches and summons to surrender to Captain Beletre, the com-

mandant at Detroit. Beletre at first refused to believe that Can-

ada had capitulated, but on receipt of the letter from Vaudreuil,

the governor of Canada, he was forced to yield and accom-

panied Rogers on his eastward trip to Philadelphia+

Rogers' return was by land, via the Sandusky and Tuscara-

was trail to Ft. Pitt. Jan. 2, 1761, says his Journal: "We ar-

rived at Lake Sandusky." The following month, namely Feb.

3, 1761, Bouquet wrote to Amherst: "Lieutenant Meyer has left

Ensign Pauli and fifteen men at Sandusky." This is the first

mention of H. C. Pauli, who was in command of the garrison of

Ft. Sandusky. Several letters and reports from him are among

the Bouquet collection, now in the Canadian Archives, and he

uniformly used this spelling of his name, although Parkman and

some other historians write it Paully. Feb. 19, 1762, Pauli wrote

to Bouquet that the Indians were discontented about the block-

house; and inquired how he should behave if they became insolent.

*Rogers is described as "tall and strong of person and rough of

feature; versed in all the arts of woodcraft, sagacious, prompt and reso-

lute; his mind by no means uncultivated. But his vain, restless and

grasping spirit and more than doubtful honesty proved the ruin of an en-

viable reputation. Six years after his western expedition he was tried

by court martial for a meditated act of treason, the surrender of Ft.

Michillimackinac to the Spaniards at that time masters of Upper Louis-

iana. Not long after he went to Africa and fought two battles under

the Dey of Algiers. Returning to take part in the American Revolution

he was suspected by Washington of playing the part of a spy; openly

espoused the British cause; and in 1778 was banished from New Hamp-

shire. The time and place of his death is unknown.-Condensed from

Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac."

+Mante's History of the Late War, 1772.

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.            385

In May he reported that the chiefs had given leave to Philip

Boyle to plant corn; that the Iroquois were very quiet and the

department healthy. The batteaux left for the winter thirty

miles off were found, when sent for, to be nearly ruined by the

Indians probably for the nails; and the men on their return lost in

the storm the only canoe he had. In July he reported his men

had fever from the bad water and asked for medicine. Provisions

were scarce. In August, provisions had been delivered by Captain

Robertson, commanding a vessel on Lake Erie, which could not

get into Lake Sandusky from shallowness of the water. Men

of his old party were ill.

Rogers and his Rangers had been met somewhere near the

mouth of Grand River, east of Cleveland, by Pontiac, who

haughtily demanded their business. Later he gave them his lofty

permission "to pass through the country unmolested." The great

Ottawa leader here stands prominently forward in history for the

first time. He believed that if all the tribes could be made to

unite in a grand assault upon the English, there might be a chance

of overthrowing them; and he had succeeded in arousing to

bloodshed most of the tribes between the Alleghenies and the

Mississippi. A detail of his plan of procedure was to attack all

the English forts upon the same day; and having destroyed the

garrisons to devastate the defenseless frontier and concentrate

upon the more populous centers. Early in May, 1763, the storm

burst. "Nine British forts yielded instantly, Detroit and Ft. Pitt

alone escaping capture; and the savages drank, scooped up in

hollow of joined hands the blood of many a Briton;-Sandusky

was the first to fall." On the 16th of May, Pauli, the command-

ing officer, was informed that some Indians were waiting at the

gate to speak to him. As several of the number were well known

to him he ordered them without hesitation to be admitted. Arriv-

ing at his headquarters, two of the treacherous visitors seated

themselves on either side of the commandant, while the rest were

disposed in various parts of the room. The pipes were lighted

and the conversation begun, when an Indian who stood in the

doorway suddenly made a signal by raising his head. Upon

this the astonished officer was instantly pounced upon and dis-

armed; while at the same moment a confused noise of shrieks

Vol. XVII - 25.

386      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

and yells, the firing of guns and the hurried tramp of feet sounded

from the area of the fort without. It soon ceased, however, and

Pauli, led by his captors from the room saw the parade ground

strewn with the corpses of his murdered garrison. At nightfall

he was conducted to the margin of the lake, where several birch

canoes lay in readiness, and as amid the thick darkness the party

pushed out from shore the captive saw the fort lately under his

command bursting into sheets of flame.*

Pauli was carried to Detroit, bound hand and foot and

solaced on the way with the expectation of being burned alive.

However on landing at the camp of Pontiac he was surrounded

by a crowd of Indians who pelted him with stones, sticks and

gravel forcing him to sing and dance. An old woman whose

husband had lately died chose to adopt him in place of the de-

ceased warrior. He was plunged into the river that the white

blood might be washed from his veins; conducted to the lodge

of the widow and treated henceforth with all the consideration

due to an Ottawa warrior. This forced match took place about

the 20th of May, and in July following a divorce occurred. One

evening a man was seen running toward the fort at Detroit,

closely pursued by Indians. On his arriving within gunshot they

gave over the chase and the fugitive came panting beneath the

walls, where a wicket was flung open to receive him. He proved

to be the commandant at Fort Sandusky who had seized the first

opportunity to escape from the embraces of the Ottawa widow.+

Meanwhile Pontiac himself was besieging Detroit, which

garrison heard through one La Brosse, a Canadian who came to

the gate, that Ft. Sandusky had been taken and all its garrison

slain or captured. Pauli had sent through one of the Canadian

inhabitants a report to Major Gladwin, commandant at Detroit,

giving a full account of the capture; and on July 6, proceedings

of a court of inquiry were held by Major Gladwin to ascertain

the manner of the taking of Fort Sandusky.

*"Conspiracy of Pontiac;" and MS official Documert Report of the

Loss of the Posts in the Indian country, inclosed in a letter from Major

Gladwin to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, July 8, 1763.

+ Taylor's Ohio.

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                   391

near Quebec. In 1763 he assisted in the relief of Major

Gladwin at Detroit when besieged by Pontiac's army, and in

1764 was engineer of Bradstreet's expedition.       Later he was

principal engineer during the occupation of Boston and New

York by the British troops, and in Dec., 1775, was made by

George III. "chief engineer in America."      He was present as

one of the managers of the celebrated ball "Mischianza" given

in Philadelphia by the British officers to Sir William   Howe on

the eve of his departure for England.      After the close of the

American Revolution Montresor returned to England where he

obtained the rank of Colonel, traveled extensively and died June

26, 1799. His portrait by Copley shows what a fine specimen of

manhood he was. His valuable journals contain many illuminat-

ing references to the period and the locality with which we are

concerned. I insert a considerable portion of this interesting

journal:

Sept. 7, 1764. Proposed by Col. Bradstreet that the army set out

for Sandusky in three days. Up that river (at the Lower Falls-Fre-

mont), was the rendezvous proposed where Col. B. should entrench till

the arrival there of the troops under command of Col. Bouquet.

Sept. 12. Received orders from Col. Bradstreet to make out a

small proportion for building a fort at Sandusky if the Indians on our

arrival there don't comply with the articles agreed to on Aug. 12.

13th. Arrived advice from Sandusky that the Indians to the num-

ber of 800 warriors had assembled there to oppose our troops from dis-

embarkation instead of ratifying the treaty.

14th. The whole embarked. Our present number of boats, 60 of

the Long Boats and one Barge. Put on board a proportion of intrench-

ing tools necessary for establishing a post at Sandusky if necessary.

15th. This morning we were met in a birch canoe by officers sent

to Sandusky who brought us account that they were not well treated

by some of that village, that the reason of their being so tardy in their

determination was owing to their having been promised by the Upper

Nations to make some stroke, that by what could be learned they pro-

pose assembling about 1,000 warriors to surprise us when in council

at Sandusky and to murder the whole, but they hoped forgiveness for

the ill advice of their sachems. -Two Indians seen on horseback. The

savages in these parts possess, including the Shawanese, about 6,000

horses.

17th. Accounts arrived that the Delawares and Shawanese are as-

sembled at Sandusky where the old Fort stood that the Indians burnt

392        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

last year, a bad place for the boats. The whole set sail and arrived at

Thistle Creek about one mile and three-quarters to the eastward of it,

but the water failing returned and encamped a half mile to the west-

ward of the old Fort. A good clay beach. Found at the old Fort the

officer of the 80th sent with provisions from Detroit.

19th. The channel of Sandusky was sounded and found sufficient

water for the vessels now on Lake Erie to enter. Arrived the sachem

Manitou and the great war chief of the Ottawas with twelve more young

warriors to attend the general council to be held there. Remark that

the water rises and falls upward of two feet perpendicular, the difference

between the winds blowing in and out of this lake.

20th. As the nations expected to ratify the treaty propose taking

the route of the upper village of the Hurons 60 miles from the first

rapids on the river of Sandusky, the whole embarked and proceeded and

encamped one mile below the rapids in order to meet them one day

sooner and also to be so much nearer to attack their villages on the

Ohio should they not comply with every article alluded to in the treaty

of peace. The country covered with Game. The land extremely rich,

interspersed near the borders of the Rivers and lake with large tracts

of meadow.   This camp very advantageously situated on the rising

ground and open woods as per draught. The most of this river from

the entrance to the rapids being about 18 miles is 5 fathoms water the

first six miles up meadow, the rest woods, are part with another 80

yards Broad. The evening and morning gun ordered to be fired, with

the camp duties as before. A considerable difference observed in the

climate becoming more moderate.

21. The quarter guards of the several battalions and detachments

defended by Fleches and Redoubts with 6 light field 6 pounders in the

intervals. The Indians from the neighboring village at the Rapids (Lower

Sandusky), which for the most part is abandoned this spring, brought

in the produce of their settlement chiefly consisting of melons, squashes

and Indian corn to traffic with the troops for salt, rum, etc. Arrived

an express from Miamis fort not being permitted to proceed any further

by the Miamis. The warriors in that river assembled 700 strong. When

he was at the fort, 15 Shawanese and Delawares arrived there with 14

belts to the several nations to carry on the war against the English as

well as themselves having vowed enmity to us as long as the sun would

shine, as per journal from Capt. Morris wherein is set forth the sev-

eral escapes he made of being scalped-A Council was held this night

between Col. Bradstreet and the chiefs of several nations now encamped

with us acquainting them with the above accounts. Desiring to hear their

sentiments with regard to them  tomorrow in Council. The Indians

counciled together the chief of the night. The schooner with materials,

etc., discovered at anchor near the entrance of Lake Sandusky. -Ar-

rived from the Upper Huron village of Sandusky, 60 miles from hence,

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                   393

accounts that the chiefs of that nation were preparing to come down

and ratify the peace made with us.

22d. A Council held this afternoon between Col. Bradstreet and

several friendly Indian chiefs. The result that 3 Indians should be dis-

patched to see if the Delawares and Shawanese were on their Rout, if

they were to hasten them. On examining the provisions found sufficient

but for 20 days for the Troops. I went to the Huron village (Lower

Sandusky), and took sketch and bearings of that advantageous and

beautiful situation and the meanderings of the river. Remarked that

the left of our encampment is contiguous to the remains of an old Fort

where the Delawares and some of the Western Indians took post to

shelter themselves against the Iroquois near 100 years ago-this con-

structed in the form of a circle 300 yards in circumference, one-half

defended by the river and a remarkable hollow or gully which covers

the left and part of the front of our present encampment. The works

thrown up for the defence of the camp completed by the respective corps

that were to occupy them.

23d. No accounts arrived as yet from the chiefs of the Nations

expected. Orders for the Troops to receive 2 days provisions and to

cook it. The Gun to fire at four o'clock in the morning at which time

the tents are to be struck and the whole to embark and proceed at the

Beating of the General, a very necessary movement as affairs do not

wear the best appearance from the delay of our enemies who were to

assemble to fulfill and ratify the articles of the peace agreed on and for

near 12 miles of this river is one entire Defile. Arrived accounts that

the Schooner was drove back to la Petite Isle.

24th. The whole returned down the river. Entered the lake, or

rather the Bay of Sandusky and continued on it till we arrived three-

quarters of a mile above where the French Fort stood on the carrying

place between the Lakes Sandusky and Erie, where we encamped. A

working party set to work immediately in clearing the ground to con-

struct a fort on. Made the Design, marked out the work and began

on cutting the trenches and felling timber for Stockades, etc. - Rowed

this day to the present encampment Seven Leagues.

25th. This morning at daybreak a long boat was dispatched to

the Schooner with letters for Detroit where she is immediately to pro-

ceed after delivering into the boat the materials, etc., belonging to the

Engineers for carrying on the Fort. Arrived a canoe from    up the

River of Sandusky with advices that some of the Hurons of the Upper

Villages had arrived at the lower one and that some of the Delawares

and Shawanese had been there on their way to us, but that the courier

dispatched by the officer of the 80th had sent them back for their pris-

oners. Two Ottawa chiefs arrived in our camp on horseback from Les

Pariries des Mascoutins up the river Miamis, confirming the accounts

transmitted by the officer of the 17th to Col. Bradstreet, also that the

Miamis, Quicapous, Mascoutins, and Powtowwattomies of St. Joseph

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                   395

27th. Four long boats sent off for the Hurons and prisoners to

the opposite side of the lake. Two long boats one of which a Gun Boat

detached to the Point of the Lake with a Captain of the 80th, two subal-

terns and 20 men to fire a gun in case any vessel arrives either from

Detroit or Fort Erie and to be answered from our encampment. The

two long boats sent up the Sandusky river to hasten the return of the

Indians arrived this morning and brought several in them. A Grand

Council held with the Indians at Headquarters. Returned the four boats

and brought 102 Wiandots and one prisoner (boy) who came all on

horses.

7th. By the behavior of the 6 Nations in general now with us I

sincerely apprehend them to be the greatest enemies to his Britain Ma-

jesty in North America.

Oct. 12. An armed long boat despatched for to receive the party

where the Old Fort stood expected in this day. Strength of our troops

present 1,400, beside 200 Indians.

14th. An Indian confirmed this day that what I before remarked

in this Journal with regard to the designs of the enemy who was present

when the plot was laid which was as follows: That on our arrival at

Sandusky, that 300 picked men should promiscuously join us in order

to treat with us at Sandusky, each armed with either tomahawk or

scalping knife, that they should encamp on our right and left according

to our usual custom of encamping Indians when with us--that they

were to dance every night, that 400 others armed with spears were to

be near at hand and when they should find us least on our guard they

were to tomahawk us, seconded by those without. Completed my plans

of the south side of Lake Erie as far as the mouth of the Lake of San-

dusky.

Oct. 18. Whole decamped and embarked for Niagara.

Montresor mentions the orders received from Col. Brad-

street to take the necessary supplies to build a fort at the ruins

where old fort Sandoski stood and mentions the good clay beach

a half mile to the westward of the old fort where the Bradstreet

expedition encamped. On Sept. 20 he relates "that as the na-

tions expected to ratify the treaty, proposed taking the route of

the upper village of the Hurons, 60 miles from the first rapids

on the river of Sandusky, the whole (expedition in order to meet

them one day sooner at the Lower Falls of the Sandusky and also

to be so much nearer to attack their villages on the Ohio should

they fail to comply with every article alluded to in the treaty of

peace. This day's route 30 miles. * * * This camp very

advantageously situated on a rising ground and open woods as

396      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

per draft. The evening and morning gun ordered to be fired,

with the camp duties, etc., as before. Sept. 21. The Quarter

guards of the several battalions and detachments defended by

fleches and redoubts with six light field 6-pounders in the inter-

vals. On the 22d, Montresor writes: "I went to the Huron vil-

lage (destroyed by Captain Dalyell the previous year) and took

sketches and bearings of that advantageous and beautiful situa-

tion and the meanderings of the river. Remarked that the left of

our encampment is contiguous to the remains of an old fort

where the Delawares and some of the western Indians took shel-

ter themselves against the Iroquois near 100 years ago. This con-

struction in the form of a circle 300 yards in circumference,

one-half defended by the river, is a remarkable hollow way or

gully which covers the left and part of the front of our present

encampment."

The above description by Montresor, of Bradstreet's camp

in the northern portion of the two mile square reservation form-

ing Fremont, is readily recognized. Bradstreet's army of 1,100

men with cannon was encamped on the high ground extending

from the present site of Fort Stephenson in a semi-circle around

the bluff to the present Sandusky County Fair Grounds, at

which latter point and as a protection to the left of his line

Israel Putnam constructed fleches and redoubts. Montresor's

description of the Indian ruins in the form of a circle refers

to the traditional story of the free or neutral city of the Indians

located at this point. One of their villages or forts is supposed

to have been on the east bank of the Sandusky above the falls

in the vicinity of what is known as the Blue Banks. Diagonally

opposite to it on the northwestern portion of the two-mile reser-

vation was the other free city, located as described by Montresor,

near the present fair grounds.  On the low land between

the encampment and the river was the course over which 20

years later the unfortunate white captives from the Ohio river

country were forced to run the gauntlet, so graphically described

by the Moravian missionary Heckewelder while he himself with

Zeisberger and the other missionaries was a prisoner here en

route to Detroit.

On the 2₄th of September, Colonel Bradstreet's command

398       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Indians to sue for peace and agree to restore to the whites the

captives demanded by them as the necessary precursor of peace.

Thus it came to pass that Colonel Bouquet with his expedition

which scarcely reached the southern confines of the warlike

Wyandots at the head of the Muskingum river received the

surrender of the whites and all the glory in connection there-

with; while Colonel Bradstreet had the humiliation of having

all his treaties disapproved by the British commander-in-chief,

and actually returned in disgrace. Bradstreet was undoubtedly

so chagrined at the treatment by General Gage that he left

the Sandusky country hurriedly in a rage, even leaving some of

his men who were engaged in hunting. Three days later he

met with a serious disaster off the mouth of Rocky River from

which place his command returned to Albany after suffering

untold hardships.

Our next knowledge of Lower Sandusky comes from Cap-

tain Samuel Brady, the scout, whom Washington sent out for

information upon the movements of the Indians of this region.

He approached the village under cover of night, forded the river

and hid himself on the island, since known as Brady's Island,

just below the present State Street bridge. The next morning

he was an unsuspected witness at a horse race. A war party

had just arrived from Kentucky with some fine horses. They

were lined up along the west bank of the river. A    white

mare won race after race. Wearying of the monotony the In-

dians put two riders upon her. Still she came in victorious. A

third man was added, which load sufficed to defeat her, and

seemed to delight the spectators. Brady escaped that night and

reported to Washington that the Indians were engrossed with

other matters than war.

In 1778 Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were each led

captive through this village. Both fortunately escaped their In-

dian captors. Preceding and following the Revolutionary War

more Indian captives were brought to Lower Sandusky than to

any other place. The Moravian missionaries Heckewelder and

Zeisberger as prisoners were lodged in the houses of Arundel

and Robbins in the spring of 1781. The two English traders

Arundel and Robbins were settled at the Wyandot village at the

404       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"To Tarhe and all the other Sachems and War Chiefs at Sandusky:

"Brothers:-You express some apprehension of injury from some

of the hostile tribes on account of the part you have lately taken. Your

father General Washington, the President of the fifteen Fires of America,

will take you under his protection and has ordered me to defend his

dutiful children from any injury that may be attempted against them on

account of their peaceable disposition towards the United States, and for

which purpose he will order a fort or fortification to be built at the foot

of the rapids of Sandusky on the reserved lands as soon as the season

and circumstances will permit.

"ANTY. WAYNE.

"Major General and Commander in Chief of the Legion of the U. S.

Commissioner Plenipotentiary of the said United States for settling

a permanent peace with all the Indian Tribes and Nations northwest

of the Ohio.

"Greenville, 1st January, 1795.

"RD. ENGLAND.

Colonel Commanding.

"Endorsed In Lt. Governor Simcoe's No. 21 to the Duke of Port-

land."

On the 25th November, 1808, the Indian tribes in a treaty

concluded at Brownstown, in the Territory of Michigan, ceded

to the United States a tract of land for a road of 120 feet in

width, from the foot of the rapids of the river Miami of Lake

Erie (now Ft. Meigs on the Maumee), through Lower Sandusky,

to the western line of the Connecticut Reserve (Bellevue), and

all the land within one mile of the said road on each side thereof;

and also a tract of land, for a road only, 120 feet in width, to run

southwardly from Lower Sandusky to the boundary line estab-

lished by the treaty of Greenville.

The former road known as the Western Reserve and Maumee

Pike was in course of time constructed and became especially

famous from having no ascertainable bottom when used by the

Ohio militia in the Michigan war. The road from Lower San-

dusky south was not constructed under the authority granted by

this treaty; but after the declaration of war with Great Britain,

June 18, 1812, Maj.-Gen. Wm. H. Harrison, commanding the

northwestern army, directed the laying out of a military road fol-

lowing the old French and Indian trail, known to historians

as the Sandusky-Scioto trail from Lake Erie, near old Fort San-

406       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

dusky, the county seat of Wyandot county; to Ft. Ball, 1813, now

Tiffin, the county seat of Seneca county; to Ft. Seneca, 1813, on

the Sandusky river, where General Harrison made his permanent

headquarters during the northwestern campaign. The military

road continued thence northwardly to Fort Stephenson, built in

1812, at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, the county seat of San-

dusky county; and thence to the mouth of the Portage river on

Lake Erie, now Port Clinton, the county seat of Ottawa county,

near which are the ruins of old Fort Sandusky of 1745. From

Ft. Seneca a shorter military trail was cut directly through to

Fort Meigs, built in 1813.*  From Fort Stephenson at Lower

Sandusky, there was a trail much used by the military, extend-

ing from Fort Meigs to Fort Stephenson and on to the mouth

of the Huron river and to Cleveland; and also a trail, one

of the earliest in Ohio, from the old French fort, Junundat, built

in 1754, up the easterly bank of the Sandusky river, to the

Wyandot village of Junquindundeh, later Lower Sandusky and

now Fremont.

The suggestion has recently been made to preserve the old

French and Indian trail, later known as the Harrison military

trail of the War of 1812, from the State Capitol at Columbus,

to Lake Erie at Port Clinton and the Camp Perry rifle range of

the present day, as an automobile highway. Such a road would

not only be of great utility and pleasure to the automobilists of

the State, but would also preserve this historic military road made

so famous by General Harrison, and over which his soldiers of

the regular army, reinforced by the Ohio militia under Governor

Meigs and the Kentucky militia under Governor Shelby, marched

to victory, driving the British and their Indian allies forever

from Ohio soil. A section of the original Indian trail, over a

* On this route an enormous flat boulder was passed which was

named the Harrison rock because of the story that General Harrison

with the officers of his Staff used it as a mess table on his frequent trips

between Fort Seneca and Fort Meigs. Prof. G. F. Wright, president of

the Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society, visited the rock recently, and found it

to be 34 feet in circumference and approximately 10x13 feet face, weigh-

ing some 80 tons. It is of magnesian rock, syenite rather than granite, the

syenite of Egypt. It belongs to the Laurentian age, the oldest of the

world and came down from north of Lake Huron.

410        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

western shore of Lake Erie around to the mouth of the Portage

river; whence as heretofore shown, the Indians, the numerous

French expeditions under de Lery and others, and the Americans

as late as 1813, under General Harrison, used the land portage and

hauled their boats across to the mouth of the Sandusky. They

did this rather than risk their frail crafts in the stormy passage

of forty-five miles around the Marblehead peninsula and up the

Sandusky bay.

The best description extant of Major Croghan's defense of

Fort Stephenson and of General Harrison's expedition into Can-

ada is that contained in "A     History of the Late War in the

Western Country," by Robert B. McAfee, Lexington, Ky., a

rare and valuable volume.

"General Harrison had returned from Cleveland to Lower Sandusky

(July, 1813) several days before the arrival of the enemy, and received

at that place from the express the information that Camp Meigs was

again invested. He then immediately removed his headquarters to Seneca

town, about nine miles up the Sandusky river, where he constructed a

fortified camp, having left Major Croghan with 160 regulars in Fort

Stephenson and taken with him to Seneca about 140 more, under the

immediate command of Colonel Wells. A few days afterward he was

reinforced by the arrival of 300 regulars under Colonel Paul, and Colonel

Ball's corps of 150 dragoons, which made his whole force at that place

upwards of 600 strong. He was soon joined also by Generals McArthur

and Cass; and Colonel Owings with a regiment of 500 regulars from

Kentucky, was also advancing to the frontiers; but he did not arrive at

headquarters before the siege of Fort Meigs had been abandoned by the

enemy.   *   *    *

"The force which Proctor and Tecumseh brought against us in this

instance has been ascertained to have been about 5,000 strong. A greater

number of Indians were collected by them for this expedition than ever

were assembled in one body on any other occasion during the whole war.

"Having raised the siege of Camp Meigs, the British sailed round

into Sandusky bay, whilst a competent number of their savage allies

marched across through the swamps of Portage River, to co-operate in

a combined attack at Lower Sandusky, expecting no doubt that General

Harrison's attention would be chiefly directed to forts Winchester and

Meigs. The General however had calculated on their taking this course,

and had been careful to keep patrols down the bay, opposite the mouth

of Portage River, where he supposed their forces would debark.

"Several days before the British had invested Fort Meigs General

Harrison, with Major Croghan and some other officers, had examined the

4l2     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

heights which surround Fort Stephenson; and as the hill on the opposite

or southeast side of the river, was found to be the most commanding

eminence, the General had some thoughts of removing the fort to that

place, and Major Croghan declared his readiness to undertake the work.

But the General did not authorize him to do it, as he believed that if

the enemy intended to invade our territory again, they would do it be-

fore the removal could be completed. It was then finally concluded, that

the fort which was calculated for a garrison of only two hundred men,

could not be defended against the heavy artillery of the enemy; and that

if the British should approach it by water, which would cause a pre-

sumption that they had brought their heavy artillery, the fort must be

abandoned and burned, provided a retreat could be effected with safety.

In the orders left with Major Croghan it was stated,-'Should the

British troops approach you in force with cannon, and you can discover

them in time to effect a retreat, you will do so immediately, destroy-

ing all the public stores. * * * You must be aware that the attempt

to retreat in the face of an Indian force would be vain. Against such

an enemy your garrison would be safe, however great the 'number.'"

On the evening of the 29th, Gen. Harrison received intelli-

gence by express from Gen. Clay, that the enemy had abandoned

the seige of Fort Meigs, and as the Indians on that day had

swarmed in the woods round his camp, he entertained no doubt

but an immediate attack was intended either on Sandusky or

Seneca. He therefore immediately called a council of war, con-

sisting of McArthur, Cass, Ball, Paul, Wood, Hukill, Holmes and

Graham, who were unanimously of the opinion that Fort Stephen-

son was untenable against heavy artillery, and that as the enemy

could bring with facility any quantity of battering cannon against

it, by which it must inevitably fall, and as it was an unimportant

post, containing nothing the loss of which would be felt by us,

that the garrison should therefore not be reinforced but with-

drawn and the place destroyed. In pursuance of this decision

the General immediately despatched the following order to Major

Croghan:

MAJOR GEORGE CROGHAN.

"Sir, immediately on receiving this letter, you will abandon Fort

Stephenson, set fire to it and repair with your command this night to

headquarters. Cross the river and come up on the opposite side. If

you should deem and find it impracticable to make good your march

to this place, take the road to Huron and pursue it with the utmost

circumspection and despatch."

Old Fort Sandoski of 1745.                 413

This order was sent by Mr. Conner and two Indians, who

lost their way in the dark and did not arrive at Fort Stephenson

before 11 o'clock the next day. When Major Croghan received

it, he could not then retreat with safety, as the Indians were hov-

ering round the fort in considerable force. He called a council

of his officers, a majority of whom coincided with him in opinion

that a retreat would be unsafe, and that the post could be main-

tained against the enemy at least until further instructions could

be received from headquarters. The major therefore immediately

returned the following answer:

"Sir, I have received yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock P. M., ordering

me to destroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received

too late to be carried into execution. We have determined to maintain

this place and by heavens we can."

In writing this note Major Croghan had a view to the prob-

ability of its falling into the hands of the enemy, and on that

account made use of a stronger language than would otherwise

have been consistent with propriety. It reached the General on

the same day, who did not fully understand the circumstances

and motives under which it had been dictated. The following

order was therefore immediately prepared, and sent with Colonel

Wells in the morning, escorted by Colonel Ball with his corps of

dragoons:

"JULY 30, 1813.

"SIR. - The General has received your letter of this date, informing

him that you had thought proper to disobey the order issued from this

office, and delivered to you this morning. It appears that the informa-

tion which dictated the order was incorrect; and as you did not receive

it in the night as was expected, it might have been proper that you should

have reported the circumstance and your situation, before you proceeded

to its execution. This might have been passed over, but I am directed

to say to you, that an officer who presumes to aver that he has made

his resolution and that he will act in direct opposition to the orders

of his General can no longer be entrusted with a separate command.

Colonel Wells is sent to relieve you. You will deliver the command to

him and repair with Col. Ball's squadron to this place. By command

etc.; A. H. Holmes, Asst. Adj. General."

The squadron of dragoons on this trip met with a party of

Indians near Lower Sandusky and killed 11 out of 12. The In-