Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 435
we see emblazoned daring and unselfish
deeds of heroes who
have scaled the walls of duty and gained
the parapets of the City
beyond. And, too, what a lesson it
conveys! Its white teaches
purity of purpose, its red typifies the
blood which has been so
freely shed in its defense, and its
blue, with its constellations,
reminds us of fidelity, fidelity to our
God, fidelity to ourselves,
fidelity to
"The Star Spangled Banner,
Oh long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave."
These soldiers have not died in vain.
Our nation of one
hundred millions of free and self
governing people will always
be guided by their example of heroic
sacrifice, and, recognizing
the universal practice of justice,
benevolence and national vir-
tue, Providence will let its blessings
descend upon us and our
posterity "like unto the dews of
heaven, unseen, unfelt, save
in the richness and beauty it
contributes to produce, and we will
continue to walk in the path of the just
which is as the dawning
light, that shineth more and more unto
the perfect day."
ADDRESS OF GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER.
I thank you, the local Post of the Grand
Army of the Re-
public, and all those in authority here
for the invitation to be
present and to address those assembled
on this historic occa-
sion.
This splendid monument just unveiled was
fittingly erected
through the bounty of the United States,
the appropriation
($25,000) therefor having been secured
chiefly through the ef-
fective efforts in Congress of Hon.
William E. Touvelle, a
Representative therein.
Great nations and peoples have, in the
course of the ages,
erected monuments to individuals
distinguished in War, as
rulers, in learning, in science, the
arts, for philanthrophy, for
discoveries and for other things, but it
remained to this twen-
tieth century for two South American
Republics, Argentina and
Chili, to erect the first colossal
statue to Christ-The Prince of
Peace-to stand in a lonely spot on their
boundary line on the
436 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
summit of the Andean Mountains, as a
testimonial of perpetual
peace between the two countries.
This monument is also erected not so
much as a testimonial
to war as to the peace that has ensued
since the bloody scenes
were enacted here. They antedate the War
of 1812-1815 with
Great Britain, but mark the beginning of
an epoch which ended
that war, followed by a Century of Peace
with Great Britain.
Our country has so far done little in
erecting monuments
to individual citizens, however
distinguished, in peace or war,
save as aided and inspired thereto by
patriotic organizations
and private individuals. However, it has
done much to com-
memorate the dead heroes of all wars,
from Lexington, (1775),
to the present time, in which it has
been engaged.
The total number of memorial monuments
on battlefields
and in National and other cemeteries has
reached eighty-five,
which the general government
participated in erecting, this one
being the last.
Its erection, almost one hundred and
twenty-two years after
the first battle fought here, testifies
to the patriotic spirit of the
people of this day, and yet its earlier
erection is not a reflec-
tion on the preceding generations.
The generations of the past have been
charged with high
duties and paramount responsibilities
which they have heroically
met and discharged with glorious
results, and in the interest
of human freedom and individual liberty.
The United States, in its first century
of existence as a
nation, experienced about sixteen years
of actual war, all In-
dian Wars excluded, which is equivalent
to one year of such
actual war in every six years. Indian
Wars have been almost
constant from the earliest white
settlement of America to a
recent date. The battles here fought are
classed as taking place
in a purely Indian War, though there is
evidence that English,
(even French) influence had much to do
with promoting and
aiding in them.
The Revolutionary War, of seven years
duration; the War
of 1812, lasting three years; the
Mexican War, continuing about
two years, and the Civil War of above
four years, all in our
first century, and the Spanish-American
War (1898-9), with
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 437
the never ceasing Indian Wars, constitute the bloody annals of
our now great and prosperous Republic.
The settlement of the whole of
continental United States
was unique in more than one respect. The
settlement or oc-
cupancy of new countries or regions, in
most instances, history
teaches us, was, in general, by the
influx of wild, nomadic bands,
in a barbaric or semi-barbaric state, to
regions of the world not
inhabited in considerable numbers, if at
all previously occupied
by any human beings. Sometimes, it is
true, a barbaric horde
advanced and drove out an antecedent
like barbaric horde or a
partially civilized people. I am not now
speaking of biblical
historic movements of peoples, such as
Abraham's Emigration
from Ur of the Chaldees to Palestine,
though he took posses-
sion of an almost uninhabited country
west of the River Jordan;
nor am I forgetting the Hebrew race in
its return from four
hundred years of Egyptian bondage to the
land they formerly
inhabited and found it occupied by an
alien people somewhat
civilized.
Civilization originated and developed
from the wild bar-
baric tribes inhabiting Europe and other
parts of the world,
especially from the Goth and Vandal
tribes that invaded and
occupied Italy, Germany and Gaul.
Here the reverse took place; barbarism
was driven out and
civilization was moved in.
Under the conditions war, long, bloody,
devastating and ex-
terminating to the Indian race, was
inevitable; and much white
blood was necessarily shed in actual
battle and in barbarous
attacks by bands of Indians on
imperfectly protected settle-
ments.
The justice and wisdom, if any, or the
righteousness, in
the light of Christian civilization,
there was in forcibly driving
back a barbaric race and in supplanting
it with a modern civiliza-
tion, it is too late now to try to
fathom with any practical re-
sults. It is, however, consoling to
entertain the belief that
it was accomplished in execution of a
divine plan to advance
the human race and to spread the
Christian religion. The
treacherous, cruel and savage character
of the Indian race in
defending its hunting grounds and its
tribal homes, hardly justi-
438 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
fies the aggressions of a Christian
people. What race or people
will not savagely defend their homes and
native land from the
usurper?
Those of our countrymen who fought here
are not, in-
dividually or collectively, chargeable
with the initiation or con-
tinuation on this continent of the
policy adopted which led
to the battles on this ground. They
responded to existing con-
ditions and superior orders, and, in a
large sense, to an ob-
solute necessity to go forth in defense
of their own homes and
firesides.
In a great measure they engaged in war
more justifiable,
so far as they individually were
concerned, than can usually be
fairly claimed for those who are called
to battle.
The implacable Indians were constantly
liable to be at their
pioneer homes, engaging in massacre of
families, tomahawk and
scalping knife in hand, women and
children not spared.
And who were the pioneers on the
frontiers exposed to the
savage dangers, and what was their
personal mission? First,
it should be remarked, they were, aside
from being of white
blood, generally of no distinctive race
of people as classified, or
as coming from any one country or
climate. Homogeneous in
character, they were heterogeneous in
race or blood. While
white they, though some were born in
foreign countries, were
commingled, for the most part, in blood
and in custom or habit
so as to make an American in type, if
not in race, and, though,
in general, they were not highly
educated in a scholastic way,
they were patriotically imbued with the
spirit of true liberty-
not license-to act as they
pleased-which, under the restraint
of law, insures happiness, prosperity,
peace and contentment,
which includes all there is worth
seeking in life. They, in a
high degree, sought to live up to the
true test of civil liberty,
under law, in obedience to the second of
the Savior's divine
Commandments: "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself," or,
in other words: Insist upon your and
your family's right to
enjoy, unmolested; protection of person
and property, and, at
the same time, and in like manner,
insist upon the same right
for your neighbor and his family. This
test of free citizen-
ship constitutes the highest ideal of
human liberty.
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 439
Those who pushed westward closely after
the Revolutionary
War, which decreed the principles of the
Declaration of Inde-
pendence to be right, and to be, we hope
and pray, immortal
and immutable as basic principles of
free government, were in-
spired by the achievements of that war
and the greatness and
glory of Washington and his generals and
patriot soldiers and
the great statesmen of the same period.
They were not mere adventurers, but
avaunt couriers of
a moving civilization under the banners
of the Prince of Peace,
into a thitherto untamed region of the
earth to there take pos-
session and develop what had so
beautifully and bountifully
been prepared for civilized man by the
Creator of all things.
They crossed, with implements of
industry, the Allegheny Moun-
tains and the great Ohio River, and
other streams, to become
cultivators of the soil, to establish
communities and to plant
churches and to spread the Gospel where
all could worship God
according to the dictates of their own
conscience, guaranteed
by the provisions of the Ordinance of
1787 and the Constitution
of the United States, which, through the
prescient wisdom of
our Revolutionary fathers, had then
become written organic
law.
Major-General Arthur St. Clair, who
commanded (Nov. 4,
1791) in the first of the battles fought
here, was President of
the Continental Congress which enacted
(July 13, 1787) that
Ordinance.
He had been a distinguished general in
the Revolutionary
War and he enjoyed the confidence of
General Washington dur-
ing that War and, later, while President
of the United States.
The Constitution of the United States
was almost simulta-
neously adopted (September 17, 1787),
with the Great Ordinance,
in convention, but it did not go into
effect until March 4, 1789.
The Ordinance was a Magna Charta,
dedicating, in advance, a
coming Christian civilization in the
fertile and beautiful terri-
tory Northwest of the River Ohio, for
all time, to freedom,
education and liberty of conscience. It
was re-enacted by Con-
gress, August 7, 1789, to adapt its
provisions to the then new
Constitution.
The territory, then almost uninhabited
by white men, was,
440 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
in area, 260,000 square
miles, and included the now states of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and
Wisconsin, with, by the
census of 1910, 18,250,621
inhabitants, enjoying a prosperity ex-
celling that of any other people of any
age or country. Its
sixth Article provided:
"There shall be neither slavery nor
involuntary serv-
ice in the said territory, otherwise
than for the punishment
of crimes."
Despite many attempts to legalize human
slavery in said
territory and in states formed therefrom
no slave has ever
been rightly held therein.
This Ordinance also provided for the
descent of property;
for extending the fundamental principles
of civil and religious
freedom; prohibited legislative
interference with private con-
tracts; secured the writ of habeas
corpus and trial by jury; for-
bade infliction of cruel and unusual
punishments, and enjoined
the encouragement of schools and general
education.
Though this Ordinance and the
Constitution of the United
States were in full force when
(1791-1794) the war scenes took
place here, Ohio was not, until May 7,
1800, organized as a
separate territory and did not become a
state until March 1,
1803.
Ohio in 1800 had 45,365, and in 1910, 4,767,121
inhab-
itants, about 1,500,000 more than
there were in the Thirteen
States at the beginning (1776) of the
War for Independence.
There were then but fifteen states of
this Union. Kentucky
(not of said territory) was organized as
a territory in 1790,
with a population of 73,677, and
became a state, February 4,
1791. She furnished a principal part of
the gallant officers
and men constituting the armies who
fought here in the several
battles. In 1910 Kentucky had a
population of 2,289,905.
Vermont, admitted into the Union
February 18, 1791, be-
came the fifteenth State in the Union.
St. Clair's Defeat.
The combined Indian tribes of the
Northwest were more
defiant, and numerically stronger and
better united and organ-
ized, with greater and more celebrated
and influential chiefs, and
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 441
better armed and equipped for war in the
years covering the
times of the battles here than at any
other period in their his-
tory. There is convincing evidence that,
while the treaty of peace
at the close of the War of the
Revolution (1783) brought that
war to a close, there remained much
animosity on the part of
the English towards the new Republic,
and the boundary be-
tween the United States and the British
possessions in the North-
west was far from settled; nor was the
Indian and English al-
liance existing in the Revolutionary War
wholly broken up.
English military, and other, officials
still exercised influence
with the Indian tribes against the
American-"long knife"-ad-
vancement. They lived in touch with the
tribes and their great
chiefs. Some of the French who once
claimed much territory
inhabited by the Indians, remained
therein late in the eighteenth
century as traders and in other
occupations, and they also ex-
ercised considerable influence over
them.
Throughout the period of the Revolution,
and earlier, the
Indian had been made acquainted with
fire arms, and had been
taught their use in hunting, and in war,
and in many ways they
had been instructed in warfare, unknown
to them in earlier
times. Besides these contributing
influences there was earlier,
and at the time of the battles here,
some wily renegade white
men residing with them, such as the
three Girtys, McKee,
Elliott, and others, who not only made
the willing Indian chiefs
familiar with the modes of conducting
war by our officers, but
they participated in more or less
commanding positions in bat-
tles, not being inferior to the Indian
in savage cruelty, even to
defenseless women and children.
The Indian wars had also been almost
perennial from the
earliest encroachments on the Indian
possessions, thus adding
great experience to natural disposition
of the Indian to engage
in war. The Indian tribes seem always to
have been at war
with each other, and only ceased it to
combine against their
common enemy, the white man.
Just prior to the these battles the
Indians had some, to
them, significant successes against
forces under General Har-
mar and others which greatly encouraged
them and gave them
confidence of success.
442 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Our forces operating against the English
and Indians dur-
ing the Revolution had always been
comparatively small in
number notwithstanding the marvelous
successes (1778-9) of
General George Rogers Clark, at
Vincennes, Cahokia, etc.,
against Governor Hamilton and his Indian
allies.
The Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, the most
sagacious of
Indian chiefs by education, and in
influence in uniting the tribes,
was in the full vigor of his career. He
participated-so states
his biographer Stone-in the first battle
here, but not in chief
command. Tecumseh, later the most noted
Shawnee chief, per-
haps ranking as the greatest of all
Indian chiefs, participated in
St. Clair's defeat, though then but
young.
And the celebrated Shawnee chief, Blue
Jacket, led the war-
riors of his tribe in the battle.
Buckongahelas, the greatest of
the Delawares, led his tribal warriors.
So Black Eagle of the
Wyandots.
There was a close alliance of the
Miamis, Delawares, Wyan-
dots, Ottawas, Pottowatomies, Sacs and
Foxes and Shawnees
with other associated tribes. They
constituted the most for-
midable and most successful combination
of Indians for war
ever formed on this continent.
Tecumseh's later (1811) attempt
to form a general Indian Confederacy to
oppose the white was
largely a failure in comparison. Still other celebrated great
chiefs participated in the campaign and
battle, leading war-
riors of their respective tribes.
To the shame and disgrace, as already
noted, the renegades,
Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and Matthew
Elliott aided and
participated in the equipping,
organizing and in conducting the
campaign and battle resulting in St.
Clair's defeat. Still other
such renegades, less conspicuous,
participated therein.
The actual number of Indians engaged in
the battle is un-
known. Girty estimated them at above 1200 Indians; and
with
them there were some Canadian and half
breeds, variously
organized; some were engaged in the
important business of
spies. Tecumseh is said to have been so
engaged and to have
noted and reported the hourly movement
of St. Clair's army
to this fatal field.
The general command, however, of all the
Indian forces
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 443
in the campaign and battle was under the
celebrated Miami chief,
Little Turtle, then about thirty-nine
years of age, (born on Eel
River, 1752), who possessed extraordinary
ability and by long
warlike experience, much Indian sagacity
and capacity to com-
mand. So seldom have Indians been known
to openly attack,
especially by night, an organized army
of white soldiers that,
notwithstanding Little Turtle's admitted
experience and ability
in war, it has always been claimed that
the attack was planned
by a white man.
The long dangerous state of the
Northwestern frontier,
even including the then (1791) state of
Kentucky south of the
Ohio River, together with frequent
massacres by Indians and
some disasters of our war parties,
caused complaints to be made
to the authorities, including Washington
then President of the
United States, and to which he gave an
attentive ear. The Re-
public was poor and still struggling
with Revolutionary War
and other debt; there was then but a
skeleton of a regular
army, and the times generally were hard
and the people also
poor. Washington, always interested in
the West, and fully
alive to the necessity, as well as to
the duty, to protect the ad-
vance pioneer settlers, having
confidence in St. Clair, designated
and ordered him to collect a sufficient
force to chastise the then
defiant combined Indian tribes.
St. Clair had ample war experience,
save, perhaps in In-
dian warfare, such as was necessary to
cope successfully with
Indian methods. He was born in Scotland
(1734) and was
fifty-seven years of age when he fought
here, and he was
possessed of some physical infirmities
besides that of age, though
then of a vigorous intellect; and he was
full of zeal and pa-
triotism. He was hastily, perhaps
intemperately, censured and
unjustly by Washington for a time, for a
supposed want of vigil-
ance and watchfulness through scouts and
spies, to avoid sur-
prise and consequent disaster.
In reaching the conclusion that St.
Clair's army was, through
negligence and incompetency, allowed to
be surprised, there is
danger of doing him and Major-General
Richard Butler of
Kentucky, the second in command, Colonel
Oldham and other
of his distinguished officers and
soldiers great injustice. That
444 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
there was a surprise attack is not even
well established as dis-
tinguished from what appears always from
an energetic army
making a general attack upon an opposite
army, especially
when made in the night time. Such
attacks have taken place,
in some sense, in all great wars, and
they are absolutely un-
avoidable, even in a generally open
country, when proper se-
crecy of movement and purpose has been
kept. The advantage
of cover in the dense forest, where
there were no roads or
known lines of march to traverse, was
with the enemy. The
Indians were not impeded in movement by
artillery and supply
wagons and horses and the like
impediments to secrecy in move-
ment and camping. They, on the contrary,
were not embar-
rassed by anything. They were not
required to camp, feed in
a body or provide for man and beast as
is necessary in an
organized civilized army. Little
Turtle's Indian forces, in this
situation, being thus free to act, made
it almost impossible to
guard against a seeming or real
surprise, especially by a night
attack.
Preparedness for battle in the event of
sudden attack is of
the first importance, by day or night,
but there is no satisfactory
evidence conclusively showing St.
Clair's army was not as ad-
vantageously placed and instructed as
the lateness of the sea-
son, its numbers, separate organizations
and the character of
the troops would permit, and with the
necessary advance guards
and sentinels in proper place to prevent
surprise.
The fact that a general and simultaneous
attack was made
by the Indians under their respective
tribal chiefs, and executed
as it was by the best of Indian stealth
and energy, necessarily
gave it the appearance, and it had the
effect, of a surprise. No
vigilance or advantageous posting of
troops, pickets or guards
could have averted the attack made, or,
under the circumstances,
averted the disastrous results; and the
conduct of the officers
and soldiers of St. Clair's army proves
this to be true.
The defeat must be attributed, not to
the character of the
attack alone, but to the active skill
and bravery by which the
Indians were led and fought, and in part
to the want of trained
soldiers for such warfare, if, indeed,
they for the most part,
were trained in any proper sense for
battle at all, for want
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 445
of time and opportunity. Without placing
censure anywhere,
St. Clair's army was far from efficient
by reason of its too
hasty organization to be relied on to
meet successfully such a
formidable Indian attack, whether there
was a surprise or not,
as was made upon it.
The soldiers of Gettysburg (July, 1863,)
of either army,
well led as they were, would have been
unequal to the shock
of battle in the Wilderness, (May,
1864). The enemy must
often be taken into account in
determining the responsibility for
the result in any contest, in peace or
war.
We are too often prone to attribute
defeat in any cause
to the misconduct or neglect of our
friends, and rarely to the
superior skill and energy of the
opposition.
President Lincoln (1863), in passing on
a report made in-
volving the conduct of a distinguished
general (Milroy), used
this wise language:
"Serious blame is not necessarily
due to any serious
disaster."
The men and officers were brave and met
death as patriot-
ically and heroically as though they had
been the most sea-
soned soldiers that ever went to battle,
or had fought, fell and
died on a field of their own victory.
St. Clair, as directed by Washington
early in 1791, made
strenuous efforts to organize a
sufficient force for a formidable
expedition to the Miami towns on the
upper Maumee, to punish
and overawe the Indians of the region to
be traversed from
Fort Washington (Cincinnati), the place
of rendezvous.
Special levies, militia, and some
so-called regulars, were to con-
stitute his army for this purpose. In
general, both the few
regulars and the militia were not of the
more substantial yeo-
manry of the country. The number
intended for the invasion
was fixed at 3000, but by May 17, 1791,
but 2300 had assembled
at Fort Washington, and they were then
moved forward to the
but recently erected Fort Hamilton on
the Miami River where
a small advance detachment had been
sent.
I do not believe Washington Irving's exculpatory
descrip-
tive denunciation of the soldiers
assembled there further than
446 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
that they were, through no fault of
theirs or of their officers,
untrained for campaigning or for war,
and that they were not
well clothed or fed, and were unused to
the severe exposures
and trying hardships of the campaign
before them. The con-
ditions caused many to desert, and it
may be naturally explained
that only about 1400 effectives
reached the battle field the night
before the disaster, and they were much
enfeebled and more
or less disqualified to meet an
irregular battle in the timber
with Indians whose whole life had been a
constant training in
exactly that kind of endurance, hardship
and warfare. The
patriotism and personal bravery of St.
Clair, and his officers
remain unquestioned; and their
unfortunate condition and posi-
tion demands charity and commiseration
rather than severe judg-
ment.
President Washington on first hearing of
St. Clair's defeat
momentarily was inclined to condemn him
for negligently suf-
fering a surprise, then recovering his
usual equanimity he largely
exonerated him and his officers from
serious blame, and later
honored St. Clair by reappointing him
Governor of the North-
west Territory.
Coincident with this situation and
condition of this hastily
assembled small untrained body of
soldiers, General St. Clair,
their commander, became much broken in
health, hardly able
to mount or sit upon his horse, and
Major-General Richard
Butler, the second in command, also
unfortunately fell into ill
health, almost disqualifying him from
any active duty.
Both generals, afflicted and ill as each
was, boldly faced and
discharged their duty in the midst of
danger, St. Clair having
three horses in succession shot from
under him, and General
Butler was first wounded severely then
tomahawked to death,
and scalped.
The encampment the night before the
battle seems to have
been as well chosen as the situation
permitted, though, possibly,
in the light of events and subsequent
discoveries, it might have
been better chosen to resist the actual
attack made, but the ne-
cessity of placing artillery and the
supply trains and the dis-
position of horses, etc., necessarily
required massing; and who
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 447
can now say, all things considered, that
there was any negligence
or lack of judgment.
I cannot attempt to describe the battle
further than to
say St. Clair's army, exposed as it was
to the practiced, un-
erring rifle-fire, almost always from
behind trees, of the In-
dians who encircled our army for the
most part, maintained a
stubborn, though hopeless, battle for
above three hours. The
resistance was great, notwithstanding
the losses by death and
wounds in the early part of the
engagement. The Indians
were so far held at bay and driven back
as to enable a retreat
to be made, carrying away many of the
wounded, after first
breaking through the cordon of warriors
that surrounded
them. The enemy, too suffered
irreparable losses in killed and
wounded on this field. Some of their
bravest warriors here
fell. Long after this battle, as history
tells us, Indians of all
the tribes who were represented here
mourned the death of
chiefs and warriors who died on this now
peaceful field.
This was the last signal triumph of the
long Indian wars
for the Indian tribes alone or in
alliance with British forces for
the retention of the Northwest territory
though the war there-
for did not wholly cease until
twenty-two years later-not until
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, of
immortal fame (Sept. 10,
1813), defeated and captured the British
fleet (under Barclay
of Trafalgar fame), on Lake Erie, and
Major-General Wm.
Henry Harrison on Canadian soil (Oct. 5,
1813), defeated the
combined British and Indian forces at
the decisive battle of the
Thames, which led to the treaty of peace
at Ghent, December
24, 1814, succeeded by now almost a
century of peace with
Great Britain, and whereby the northern
boundary of the
Northwest territory was definitely
established.
The succeeding battles here, June 30th
and July 1st, 1794,
incident to General Anthony Wayne's
campaign, were gallant
defenses by a detachment of his better
prepared and organized
army, each testifying to the valor of
those who fought here
and mingled their blood in the same soil
where St. Clair's officers
and soldiers, in final sacrifice, paid
their last penalty of devotion
to duty and country.
448 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
There is no room for unfavorable
comparison of the
heroism of the officers and soldiers who
fought here under
St. Clair and those of Wayne's army who
fought here later.
Nor do we take a laurel from General
Anthony Wayne or his
gallant and skillful officers and
soldiers who made the cam-
paign of 1794 and defeated the Indians
so completely here and
at Fallen Timbers, Aug. 20, 1794, which led to the treaty of
Greenville (1795) where it was
proclaimed that the participants
of both armies were entitled to equal
honor.
Wayne was justly given great credit for
his precipitancy of
movement, skill and bravery as a
commanding officer. He too
was a trusted officer of the Revolution.
We recall his success-
ful night attack on the British at Stony
Point on the Hudson.
His army in his 1794 Indian campaign was
deliberately organ-
ized: Wm. Henry Harrison was his
Chief-of-Staff, and other
experienced officers and Indian fighters
were with him, and the
summer season was more favorable to
movements with less ex-
posure, and other favoring causes. On
Christmas day, 1793, a
detachment of Wayne's army tinder
Captain Alexander Gibson
took possession of this ground and here
constructed a stockade
for defense, and called it Fort
Recovery. While this fort was
held by a small garrison under Major Wm.
McMahon of
Wayne's army, it was assailed, June 30,
1794, with great fury
by about two thousand Indian warriors
aided materially by
the British in supplying arms and
ammunition, and otherwise.
After two days' fighting they withdrew
having suffered a most
disastrous defeat, and much loss of
life. Here, then, it is said,
Simon Girty last took an active part in
battle with the Indians.
A few words more as to General Arthur
St. Clair. He
was born in Scotland (1734); educated at
the University of
Edinburgh; studied medicine; became an
ensign (1751) in the
British Navy and came to America and was
engaged in active
service in Canadian waters, and under
General Wolfe at Quebec
(1758), but later (1762) resigned to
become a citizen of Penn-
sylvania. He there became a judge of the
Court of Quarter
Sessions and Common Pleas, and soon held
other responsible
civil offices; and was made a Colonel of
Militia in 1775, and of
the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment in January
1776; was made
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 449
Brigadier-General in August 1776 and
Major-General in Feb-
ruary 1777 in the Continental army,
under General Washing-
ton, and served throughout the
Revolution with distinction, fight-
ing in many battles, particularly at
Brandywine and Yorktown.
He was a member of the Court Martial
that tried Major Andre
(1780); was a member of the Continental
Congress from No-
vember 2nd, 1785, to November
28th, 1787, and its President in
1787; and he was appointed by it (1787)
Governor of the North-
west territory, a position he held by
subsequent reappointments
by Presidents Washington (1789) and John
Adams (1800) until
in 1802, just prior to Ohio being formed
into a state-"the
first born of the Ordinance of
1787." Meantime he became
(1791)
Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of the United
States Army. He negotiated important
Indian treaties with the
Six-nations, etc., and faithfully
discharged many other impor-
tant public, civil and military duties.
He fairly earned renown
and in a large sense enjoyed the
confidence of Washington and
others in high authority, though
subjected to some criticism in
consequence of his defeat here.
In 1802, on being
relieved as Governor of the Northwest
Territory (then consisting of Ohio
alone), he retired to the Ligo-
nier Valley, Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania, old, broken in
health and strength in his country's
service, neglected and poor,
where he lived and toiled as proprietor
of a wayside tavern for
sixteen years and until his death
(August 31st, 1818), which was
occasioned by injuries received by the
accidental over-turning of
a small wagon on which he was riding,
engaged in gathering hay
and grain in the rough mountain region
of his home for sale to
western movers. He was then eighty-four
years of age; he had
been, with little pay, about thirty
years in his country's service.
Though possessed of a small private
fortune he loyally vol-
untarily gave it to maintain the war of
the Revolution. It was
never fully repaid to him.
Our proud, prosperous nation has been
ungrateful, and still
is remiss in duty and obligation to St.
Clair and to his memory.
There is no public memorial at his
grave. Let this monument,
on the field of his valor and
humiliation, testify, through time, to
Vol. XXII- 29.
450 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
those who will enjoy the priceless boon
of liberty he fought to
obtain for them, in a substantial sense
to his greatness, suffering,
heroism, sacrifice and accomplished
results for his country and
the human race.
Turning again to the scene of the
battles here, it may be
observed that they were characteristic
of barbarism, in that the
number of killed largely outnumbered the
wounded, more than
modern battles, notwithstanding the
general use of artillery and
repeating fire arms, including rifles,
carbines and pistols, also
swords, etc., is rarely more than one
killed to six wounded. The
number of St. Clair's army left dead on
this field, as near as
could be ascertained, was 62 officers,
including Major-General
Butler, Colonel Oldham, Majors Ferguson,
Hart and Clark,
twelve captains, ten lieutenants, and
other officers; also 630
private soldiers. The wounded numbered
280; the total killed
and wounded being 972, out of a total of
about 1400 officers and
men. The bodies of the dead laid on the
field, a prey to wild
beasts and birds, and the brutal savage,
until January following
(1792) when a detachment of about 150 mounted men under
Colonel James Wilkinson marched to the
battlefield and buried
them as best they could.
Again in December 1793 a detachment of
General Wayne's
army was sent from Greenville to this
place and they reburied
the remains of the officers and soldiers
in their present resting
place, on the field of their heroic
death. The same detachment
made a permanent occupancy here, and
called the place Fort
Recovery, in commemoration of its
recovery from the Indians.
In the severe and bloody battle of June 30th,
and July 1st,
1794, already referred to, Major Wm.
McMahon, the command-
ing officer, Captain Hartshorn,
Lieutenant Craig and nineteen
other officers and one hundred and
twenty soldiers, in all, one
hundred and forty-two, were then killed,
and, presumably, buried
here to commingle their mortal dust with
that of the six hundred
and ninety-two officers and soldiers of
St. Clair's army. A total
of eight hundred and thirty-four bodies
lie buried here to await
the resurrection morning.
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 451
They fell when:
"The soul of battle was abroad
And blazed upon the air."
The virgin earth here became their
fitting sarcophagus. On
September 10, 1851, their bones were
reinterred in thirteen gigan-
tic caskets still on the field made
famous by their death.
This splendid granite shaft, handsome in
its proportions;
durable in its material; permanent in
its foundation and pedestal,
and simple in its purity and design, we
now dedicate to com-
memorate the last resting place of those
of our heroic country-
men who fell here and are here interred;
also to commemorate
the like heroism of those who fought and
many of whom shed
their heart's blood here, and who have
all long since found honor-
able graves in widely different parts of
our country.
The immediate residents here; the
visitors to this memorable
spot; the succeeding generations of our
countrymen; the stu-
dents of the early history of pioneer
and soldier life and all
comers will also see, in this enduring
silent memorial, something
to cause them to honor and revere the
devoted pioneers who
blazed westward the highway of Christian
civilization, amid
dangers; using to that end implements of
peace and husbandry
as well as those of war.
This memorial must now, with our
advanced and advancing
Christian civilization and progress, be
regarded, not so much a
testimonial to war, or human valor and
glory, as to a succeeding
era of, "on earth peace, good
will toward men."
The Indian has largely disappeared in
his savagery; his
place is taken by a people
educated in the ways of peace; science
and art have tamed the hitherto unused
natural elements and har-
nessed them into control for man's uses
and comfort; discover-
ies in medicine, surgery and sanitation
have increased in the last
half century the average of human life
in our land from thirty
to almost forty years.
We are about to celebrate an hundred
years of peace with
Great Britain, and the world at large
has grown better and wiser.
Christianity is abroad with its banners
of good will to all man-
kind, proclaiming a belief in
immortality, the Redeemer and one
God; and we, the successors of those who
fought and died here,
452 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
are charged with the incident high
duties that present conditions
and paramount blessings have endowed us
with, to, with the
mantle of peace and progress enveloping
us, avert war and its
consequent destruction, devastation,
bloodshed and dire suffering.
Your orator, in a comparatively
surbordinate relation has
spent above five years of his life as a
volunteer officer in the
army of the United States in times of
war. He has fought on
more than one battlefield where more men
were killed and
wounded and more blood was shed in a
single day than in the
seven years' war of the Revolution in
the American and British
armies. His voice and efforts shall be,
to the end of his days,
for peace, believing, that through peace
national honor can be
better preserved than through the dire
effects of war. The too
common expression-"In time of peace
prepare for war," if ever
a wise utterance or a true maxim to be
followed by a Christian
nation, is now barbaric in the light of
a civilization purified and
glorified by the merciful teaching of
the Prince of Peace. The
maxim should be: In time of peace
prepare to maintain it.
Let us close the unveiling and
dedicatory service today by
standing, head uncovered, eyes turned
heavenward, and by sol-
emnly pledging ourselves to so live and
to so discharge our duty
as citizens of our proud and glorious
country to the end that the
life and blood sacrificed here shall not
have been in vain; and with
a devout prayer for universal peace on
earth;
" * * * * until the eternal morning
Pales in its glories all the lights of
time;"
and that "liberty of law" as
guaranteed by our Constitution and
laws shall perpetually endure and secure
manifold blessings to all
entitled to their protecting power; and
that the flag we unfurl,
which has cost so much in treasure and
precious blood, may be
perpetuated as an emblem of a free
people, testifying to all the
world the glory and valor of those who,
in peace and war, tri-
umphantly bore it to victory in the
cause of the human race.
The far-reaching fruits of triumph in
our Republic in the
interest of individual and National
liberty are only now be-
ing revealed. The success of our
Constitutional liberty has been
an example for other nations and
peoples. There are few of the
Unveiling of Fort Recovery
Monument. 453
old autocratic empires and kingdoms of
the earth now without a
representative parliament chosen by the
people. The once
mighty and absolute rulers of Russia,
Persia, Japan, China and
other countries have been obliged to
surrender a large share of
imperial power. Some all power. But
recently the Sultan of
Mohanmmedan Turkey has yielded to a
demand of his subjects
for a share in the government.
Let us devote our lives anew, today, to
the duties of citizens
of our republic; always paramount to the
duties of citizens
or subjects of a kingly power, and
dedicate ourselves to those
duties that may devolve on us, that we
may transmit, unsullied,
to posterity the blessings and liberty
it has been vouchsafed to us
to enjoy.
*
* * *
DESCRIPTION OF MONUMENT.
The new Soldiers' Monument is one of the
most beautiful
and impressive shafts in the country.
Towering majestically
over a hundred feet in the air its
grandeur is only understood
and felt by those who have seen it.
Its exact height is 1011/2 feet, the
shaft itself rising about 90
feet from the base. The base is 35 feet
square and varying from
five to ten feet in height. A heroic
figure typifying the early
scout and settler stands on the western
side of the shaft. This
figure, nine feet in height, is one of
the most impressive features
of the monument. With face stern and
unyielding, foot and leg
striding forward, flintlock and powder
horn in hand, it seems to
be ever advancing toward that great
west, of which this region
was once typical. It represents the
conquest of the west, the
progress of the nation and the
advancement of civilization, but
above all it commemorates the lives
which were sacrificed that
all this might be achieved, and seems to
cast over all surround-
ings the calm and quiet of a
benediction. Certainly there was no
type which the sculptor might have
chosen, which would more
happily illustrate the thought to be
expressed.
On each side of the base is a bronze
entablature. The four
bear inscriptions explanatory of the
battle here, giving the roll
of officers killed and other information
of interest.
The monument was designed by VanAmringe
& Son, of