Ohio History Journal

480      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

SOME ERRORS CORRECTED.

BY CHARLES E. SLOCUM, M. D., PH. D., DEFIANCE, OHIO.

The following, regarding several historic places in north

western Ohio, is submitted as a plea for greater care by writers

and speakers that errors in historical data may lessen rather than

increase:

FORT MIAMI, THE STILL-EXISTING EARTHWORKS OF WHICH ARE

WITHIN THE PRESENT LIMITS OF THE VILLAGE OF MAU-

MEE, OHIO.

The pamphlet containing the "Appeal of the Maumee Valley

Monumental Association to the Congress of the United States,"

in the winter of 1885-86, reads, regarding Fort Miami, in part as

follows: "*  * * by order of Glencoe, Governor of Canada,

it was re-occupied in 1785, as a military post * *  * in 1795

it was again abandoned * * *."

Whether these statements were copied, as they read in the

pamphlet, from a former publication or not, is not known to the

writer. Canada's Governor thus referred to bore the name Sim-

coe, not Glencoe, and the British did not build, nor re-occupy, Fort

Miami in the year 1785. Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Sim-

coe, of good repute in the British army in the Revolutionary war,

was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, under Lord Dorches-

ter, from 1791 to 1794. He it was who built Fort Miami, and in

April, 1794.

This fort was evacuated by the British garrison July 11, 1796,

not in I795 as stated in the pamphlet; and it was immediately

occupied by a detachment of United States troops that was en-

camped near by for this purpose. It was soon thereafter aban-

doned on account of there being no need of a fortification so near

(within seven miles direct line) of Fort Industry.

In the pamphlet containing "A Collection of Historical Ad-

dresses (relating to) the Battle Fields of the Maumee Valley, De-

livered Before the Sons of the American Revolution, District of

482      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

FORT DEFIANCE, ON THE HIGH POINT AT THE JUNCTION OF THE

AUGLAIZE RIVER WITH THE MAUMEE, WITHIN THE PRESENT

CITY OF DEFIANCE, OHIO.

Mr. John W. Van Cleve, of Dayton, Ohio, furnished to The

American Pioneer for September, 1843, volume II, number IX,

pages 386, 387, a sketch and description of the ground plan of

Fort Defiance, made from the memory of his father who visited

the place in October, 1794. While this sketch is, in some parts,

a valuable contribution to the history of this, the strongest and

most important fortification built by General Wayne, the writer

calls attention to the earthworks, still preserved, in justification

of the correctness of his draft of the relation of the blockhouses

and ditches to the magnetic meridian and to the rivers as the

bank lines exist today, and as they probably existed at the time

of the building of the fort, shown by dotted lines. Mr. Van

Cleve's draft has been copied into Knapp's History of the Mau-

nee Valley, and other publications. A comparison of it with the

writer's survey, as shown by the accompanying engraving, is

invited.

FORT INDUSTRY, WHICH STOOD NEAR THE MOUTH, AND NORTH

BANK, OF SWAN CREEK, WITHIN THE PRESENT CITY OF TO-

LEDO, OHIO.

H. S. Knapp, in his History of the Maumee Valley, on page

93, states that General Wayne built Fort Industry immediately

after the Battle of Fallen Timber. Lieutenant Boyer, the diarist

of General Wayne's campaign in this northwest country, did not

mention this fort; nor was it mentioned in the communication

ten days after the Battle of Fallen Timber when General Wayne's

command had returned to Fort Defiance. This communication

did state, however, that "the Indians are well and regularly sup-

plied with provisions from the British magazines, at a place called

Swan Creek." All probabilities thus far considered by the writer

point to its construction at a later date. In the Historical Col-

lections of Ohio, by Henry Howe, volume II, page 148, Ohio Cen-

tennial Edition, it is stated that Fort Industry was built 'about

Some Errors Corrected.               483

the year 1800," which, in the opinion of the writer, is too late a

date to name.

No authentic record relating to its establishment has thus

far been obtainable from the War Office, or elsewhere, by the

writer, who, from a study of the conditons likely to make a forti-

fication necessary at that place, infers that it was built by, or un-

der the orders of, General Wayne, immediately following the

treaty at Greenville, in August, 1795. In this treaty important

reservations of land were made for the United States, among them

being one of twelve miles square which included the British Fort

Miami and the lower part of the Rapids, and another reservation

six miles square adjoining the other and embracing the banks of

the Maumee river at its mouth. Title was thus secured from

the former allies of the British to the land on which their fort

stood, and to the prominent site, at Fort Industry, commanding

the principal (river) approach to it. The inference is that Fort

Industry was built immediately after securing title to these lands

from the Aborigines, and before the proclamation of the Jay

treaty, to neutralize the effects on the Aborigines of the British

garrison at Fort Miami. Fort Miami was the best built fort of

its time in the Northwest country. It was the last British strong-

hold influencing the Aborigines against American settlers in the

Maumee Valley. Its location was the favorite one at that time,

and, evidently, there would have been no need of building Fort

Industry if Fort Miami had been vacant at the time, or then

known soon to be vacated, for the United States troops to occupy.

An important treaty with the Aborigines was held at Fort Indus-

try in the year 1805, and probably the fort was soon thereafter

abandoned by the United States.

FORT WINCHESTER, AT DEFIANCE, OHIO.

The greatest error of all is the omission, by nearly all writers,

of Fort Winchester from the list of historic places in the Maumee

Valley. This large and strong military post was built by General

James Winchester a few rods south of the ruins of Fort Defiance

early in the War of 1812, and was of great importance through-

out that war. For the history of this important post, see volume

IX of this publication.

484      Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

THE SITE OF GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT IN 1791.

The Western Christian Advocate of Cincinnati, issue of June

19, 1901, page 774, contains an account of the unveiling of the

monument, June 14, 1901, to mark the site of Fort Washington.

B. R. Cowen delivered the address, and the Advocate makes him

say that General St. Clair "met with disastrous defeat at the Bat-

tle of Fallen Timbers," declaring that he was correctly reported.

General St. Clair did not get nearer Fallen Timber than about 100

miles in direct line. His disastrous battlefield was in the south-

western part of the present Mercer county, Ohio, where General

Anthony Wayne recovered the ground and built Fort Recovery

in 1793, and where the village of that name now stands.

The Advocate further quotes Mr. Cowen as saying that Gen-

eral Wayne left Fort Washington with his army in 1794, which

event should be written 1793.

The little book entitled "the Growth and History of Ohio,"

published in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1897, and put forth as one of the

"Ohio Government Series, Prepared for Use in Schools, and for

the General Reader," while a most concise and useful summary

of Ohio history, contains mistakes that should not be permitted

in an authoritative work. A few minutes given to an examina-

tion of this book reveals the following errors regarding places

and dates in northwestern Ohio:

Maps on pages 5, 21 and 66 show the Blanchard River as the

Auglaize.

The Fort Miami captured by Pontiac's sympathizers is placed

on the lower Maumee River, instead of in its proper place at the

head of the Maumee, site of the present city of Fort Wayne, In-

diana (page 13).

The site of the battlefield of Fallen Timber is given below

that of Fort Meigs. It is above.

The date of the building of Fort Jefferson is given as 1793,

two years too late.

The date of the building of Fort St. Marys is given as 1794,

one year too early.

The date of the building of Fort Industry is given as 1794,

which is too early.

Some Errors Corrected.              485

The date of the building of Fort Meigs is given as 1812,

one year too early.

On page 47 the first name of the notorious McKee is given

as Andrew, whereas it is generally recorded as Alexander.

Fort Deposit is located "just south of the site of the present

village of Waterville," which is correct; but when the writer adds

"and near where Maumee and Perrysburg are now situated"

(page 48), he goes several miles in the wrong direction.

There are many other variations, but enough are here noted

to illustrate the looseness too often carried into historical vent-

ures. These may be considered as minor matters by such writers

and professed teachers, but history-authentic history-is founded

on correct details; and it is understood that the function and

mission of the OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

QUARTERLY is to gather, and to conserve, the details of authentic

history.

In closing these notes the writer desires to again, and even

more urgently, declare against the parrot-like habit of using the

misnomer "Indians" to designate the Aborigines of this country.

The term Aborigines is correct, self-explanatory, and altogether

preferable.