HULL'S TRACE OR TRAIL.
BY GEN. ROBT. P. KENNEDY.
In the early times the roads or passages
cut through the
heavy timber of the country were called
"traces" or "trails,"
and thus we read about "Zane's
trace," the roadway cut by
Ebenezer Zane, his brother Jonathan, and
his son-in-law, John
McIntyre, from Wheeling, on the Ohio
River in Virginia, to the
Limestone, on the Ohio River in
Kentucky, the first "trace,"
roadway or passage from the East to this
section of the great
northwest.
The trace which the Zanes and McIntyre
cut from Wheel-
ing to the Limestone followed almost
entirely the old Indian
trails which had been made by long
continued usage by the
Indians in their passage to and from the
Northeast and South-
west, and is substantially an easy and
short line from Wheeling
to Maysville. For this labor the Zanes
and McIntyre were
given sections of land at the crossings
of the rivers at Zanes-
ville, Lancaster and Chillicothe.
And again we hear of "Hull's
trace" or trail, the rough pas-
sage way cut through the timber from
Ohio to the Canada border
at Brownstown, for the passage of Gen.
Hull's army on its way
to attack the English under Gen. Brock.
And again we read about "Gen.
Harrison's trail," from
Franklinton through the present counties
of Delaware, Marion,
Wyandot, Seneca, and Sandusky, to Fort
Meigs, - all the way
being dotted with newly built forts,-and
thence to the battle-
ground of that splendid victory of the
Thames.
And again we read of Col. Clay's trail,
of Harrison's army,
on its way via Forts Piqua, St. Marys,
Jennings, Winchester and
Meigs, to the battle-ground of the
Thames.
These traces or trails were in many
respects very properly
named for they were simply rough
passages cut through the
heavy timber to enable the army to pass
with its baggage, ar-
tillery and transportation towards the
objective point of attack.
(583)
584 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The trace or trail of Gen. Hull was to
enable his army with
its artillery and baggage to pass from
Dayton to Brownstown,
the outpost of the English army on the
Canadian border.
The Ohio country was very heavily
covered with timber and
the labor of clearing a passage way or
trail was performed by
the woodmen and axmen who preceded the
army clearing a road
or trail through the woods of sufficient
width to permit the army
with its artillery and baggage to pass
through.
The axmen of that day were skillful and
equal to the task.
The army of Gen. Hull consisted of three
regiments of
Infantry commanded by Colonels McArthur,
Cass, and Findlay,
and a detachment of regulars commanded
by Lieut. Col. Miller,
- altogether numbering nearly two
thousand men, all well armed
and equipped for that day.
With these troops also went twenty-five
iron and eight
brass cannons and with such means of
transportation as was
regarded fully equal to the undertaking.
The march from Dayton, where the army
was brought to-
gether, to Springfield, was over the
roads of that early day, and
reached Urbana, an outpost of the Ohio
civilization, in May,
1812.
From this point the army was to pass
through an almost un-
broken wilderness, and the labors of the
woodmen and the
axmen were from this point to "find
a way or make it."
Upon reaching Urbana a temporary halt
was made for the
purpose of gathering up the necessary
equipment and bringing
together the forces which were to be a
part of this army of in-
vasion, and to make an attack upon the
British then holding the
defences of the Canadian frontier, and
early in June the actual
forward movement began and the route to
the Mad River passed
through the valley east of the Mad River
to the present site of
West Liberty, where it crossed this
river some six rods west of
the mill at the south of that village
where the army went into
camp.
The following day the army took up its
march and passed
to the east of the present site of the
West Liberty cemetery,
passing which it then turned westward
and keeping to the north
reached and crossed McKees Creek just
where the C. S. & C.
Hull's Trace or Trail. 585
railroad now crosses it some four miles
distant, from which
point it bore off to the northwest and
marched in course about
one mile west of the present city of
Bellefontaine.
This trail was for many years quite
easily distinguishable
and was about equi-distant between the
present city of Belle-
fontaine and the Silver Lake, passing
through the farm now
owned by Edward H. Jones and formerly
owned by Henry
Good.
Thence it passed northward through the
lands formerly
owned by Silas Roberts, and later by the
Kauffman heirs, until
it reached Tuckers Run, which stream it
crossed just east of the
present home of George Aiken.
Within my own time the trail through the
Roberts or
Kauffman woods was for many years plain
and distinct and was
well known as "Hull's trail,"
through which his army passed on
its way to Detroit.
The venerable George Aiken and his good
wife, both living
and with exceptionally good minds and
memories, are very clear
in their personal recollections of this
location of the trail as it
passed through Logan County, and I have
their cordial approval
of the statements I have made with
reference to it.
The old land marks are fast
disappearing, but history has
been careful to make some record which
after generations can
be fully assured are correct and
historical.
From this point it bore northwest until
it reached the line
of the present road from Bellefontaine
to Cherokee, which
course it followed to the farm of Gen.
McPherson, where it
went into camp for some three or four
days, while the axmen
went forward to clear the trail for the
forward movement of the
army, following substantially the
present road from McPhersons
to Cherokee, and from thence almost due
north to the Indian
village of Solomonstown, formerly the
village of Chief Tarhe,
or the Crane, where the army went into
camp at the Twin
Springs on the farm now owned and
occupied by A. C. Mc-
Clure, Esq., a part of the army being
encamped on the farm now
owned by Mr. Andrew Wallace, just north
of Mr. McClure's.
From this point it moved forward almost
directly north,
passing the points where the towns of
Richland and Bellecenter
586 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
are now located. This forward movement
was constantly pre-
ceded by the pioneers and axmen, for the
country was an un-
broken forest, very heavily timbered,
with a rich black soil, and
a good passage way could only be
obtained by cutting away the
brush and timber, as the only means of
getting from place to
place theretofore had been by the Indian
trails which ran from
Indian village to village, and had been
made by cutting away
the brush and overhead branches, thus
permitting them to ride
single file from village to village.
Some of these old Indian
trails are yet quite easily
distinguishable. The Indians always
rode single file, and far enough apart
to keep the branches
pushed aside by those in front from
striking those following in
the face, and these trails were in many
places so worn and cut
out by travel that they were from one to
two feet in depth and
from two to three feet wide.
There was an old Indian trail from the
site of McKeestown,
south of Bellefontaine, to Zanestown,
five miles east, in the Mad
River valley, that was for many years
quite easily dis-
tinguishable.
The Hull trace or trail ran through the
counties of Cham-
paign and Logan, Hardin, Hancock, Wood
and Lucas, and al-
most through the central portion of
these counties beginning at
Urbana and thence through Logan just
west of the present city
of Bellefontaine, - for Logan, Hardin,
Hancock and Wood were
not then organized into counties,-and
touching Ft. Arthur,
in what is now Hardin County, thence to
Ft. Findlay, and thence
to the present site of Bowling Green, in
Wood County, and on
to the present site of Toledo, and
thence to Detroit, or Browns-
town.
The purpose of this article is not to
follow the fortunes of
Gen. Hull, and his unfortunate
expedition, but simply to point
out the route followed by his army in
its advance upon the British
under Gen. Brock at Brownstown, which
has by historians been
called "Hull's trace" or
trail.
These trails were not intended as great
highways but simply
as expedient passages for the
accomplishment of a definite pur-
pose, and the trail which Gen. Hull's
woodmen cut through the
Ohio country was some fifteen or twenty
feet in width, owing
Hull's Trace or Trail. 587
to the condition of the timber and the
necessities of the case.
Through this trail his army of two
thousand men with thirty-
three pieces of artillery and the
necessary transportation was to
pass on its way to the battle ground on
the Canada border.
As an historical memory it has been
marked and so pre-
served in some of the counties through
which Hull's army
passed; this is especially true as to
Hardin county, where the
Society of the Daughters of the American
Revolution have
taken some of the stone columns of their
old court house, just
torn down to make way for the splendid
new one, and have
placed them as markers along the trail
of Gen. Hull's army to
designate for all time the line over which
his army passed on
its march to the disaster at Detroit.
The D. A. R. of Logan county are making
arrangements to
mark the trail through Logan county and
thus preserve to future
generations the line of march which Gen.
Hull followed in his
passage through Logan county.
While Hull's expedition was a miserable
failure,- for
which he was tried and condemned to be
shot for cowardice
and was only saved by the clemency of
President Madison who
disapproved of the sentence only because
of Geo. Hull's distin-
guished service in the Revolutionary
War,--it is one of the
incidents of the War of '12 which is
interesting from an his-
torical standpoint and is worthy of
being preserved as a part
of our military history.
History would be sadly incomplete and
deficient if it only
related the victories and conquests of
our armies, without at the
same time making record of their
defeats, for it is equally true
that quite frequently more military
experience has been gained
from defeat rather than from victory,
-by enabling us to see
wherein we have erred, thus preparing us
for other and greater
victories.
Gen. Hull's defeat and disaster only
enabled Gen. Wm.
Henry Harrison to avoid the mistakes of
his predecessor and to
win a magnificent and overwhelming victory
at the battle of the
Thames and thus end forever the conflict
between the New
Republic and the Mother Country.
Bellefontaine, Ohio.