THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS.
PERRYSBURG, JULY 27, 1913.
BY LUCY ELLIOT KEELER. "Hadst thou my three kingdoms to range in," said James the First to a fly; "and yet must thou needs get into my eye?" |
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dusky rivers, in northwestern Ohio,-details of the centennial celebration rather than of the historical events themselves-with which these sketches have to do; followed by the tale from an other's hand of the centenary of the third in the series of notable and decisive events within the territorial limits of Ohio, Perry's Victory on Lake Erie. 34 |
The Siege of Fort Meigs 35
The members of the Ohio Archaeological
and Historical
Society and of the Maumee Valley Pioneer
and Historical Asso-
ciation were early interested in the
plan for a proper historical
celebration on the centennial
anniversary of the two important
land battles on Ohio soil, as well as of
Perry's gallant victory in
the Battle of Lake Erie. They were
greatly encouraged on
hearing the remarks of Governor Harris,
delivered on the site
of Fort Stephenson, August 2d, 1906, during the
ceremonies
incident to the reburial of Major
Croghan on the fort he had so
heroically defended; and by the
Governor's subsequent request
for information as to suitable members
for the commission to
have charge of the celebration of the
events connected with the
centenary of Perry's Victory and
Harrison's Northwestern Cam-
paign. It was therefore with
considerable regret that the mem-
bers of these societies learned that he
had failed to follow the
example of his predecessor, Governor
Allen, in appointing as
the Ohio commissioners to the Centennial
Exposition of 1876
five of the then leading citizens of
Ohio, men of national repu-
tation and representative of every
section of the State, and had
apparently considered this as of local
interest only. The cen-
tennial celebration of Perry's Victory,
however, was of such
national interest, that the remaining
seven States bordering on
the Great Lakes, together with Kentucky
and Rhode Island, and
the President of the United States,
under authority of Congress,
appointed commissions fitly
representative of the nation and of
the several States. Following the action
of Congress in appro-
priating $250,000, each of the States
interested made liberal
appropriations, thus insuring the
success of the Centennial. The
President of the United States
interested himself to the extent
of calling the attention of his National
commissioners to a recent
act of Congress which had authorized the
appointment of a
National Fine Arts Commission, composed
of the leading artists
of the country, and directed that the
plans for the contemplated
Perry Memorial should be approved by the
National Fine Arts
Commission; with the result that after
public competition of
fifty-eight architects, the beautiful
design prepared by Freedlander
and Seymour, associate architects, of
New York was selected,
the Memorial to be constructed of New
England granite. Com-
36 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
mittees were appointed by the Maumee
Valley Pioneer and His-
torical Association and the Mayor of
Toledo for the centennial
of the siege of Fort Meigs; and by the
Mayor and citizens of
Fremont for the centennial celebration
of Croghan's defense of
Fort Stephenson; in addition to the
celebration of the naval bat-
tle at Put-in-Bay and the lake cities.
The centennial commissions
of Toledo and Fremont prepared a rather
elaborate scheme for
the celebration of the military events
in Harrison's Northwestern
Campaign at Fort Meigs and Fort
Stephenson, which was favor-
ably considered by Brig. Gen. A. L.
Mills, U. S. A, chief of the
militia division of the War Department,
and by the Adjutant Gen-
eral of Ohio. The military and naval
program submitted, repro-
duced here as a unique resume of the
stirring events of a century
ago, was as follows:
"The Scheme for the Centennial
Celebration of the First
and Second Sieges of Fort Meigs, Ball's
Battle with the Indians,
and the Defense of Fort Stephenson, with
the aid of infantry,
artillery and cavalry of the Regular
Army, and light draught
gunboats, with sailors and marines of
the U. S. Navy, and the
entire National Guard of Ohio and
Michigan, to cover the period
from the arrival of General Proctor's
British army, on Captain
Barclay's British fleet from Detroit,
and their entrance into the
Maumee river on July 22, preparatory to
the second siege of
Fort Meigs, which the British abandoned
on July 27th, and
sailed around to Sandusky Bay and up the
Sandusky River,
arriving off Fort Stephenson on July 31,
where they conducted
a siege of Fort Stephenson, ending in
their final assault on the
evening of August 2d, after which the
British retreated, aban-
doning some of their boats and returned
to Detroit.
ANNIVERSARY DATES.
First Siege of Fort Meigs, April 27 to
May 9.
Second Siege of Fort Meigs, July 20 to
July 28.
Battle of Ballville, July 30.
Defence of Fort Stephenson, August 1st
and 2d.
"Owing to the close proximity of
the battle field of Wayne's suc-
cessful battle of Fallen Timbers, on the
5th of August, 1794, to the site
of the Dudley massacre in the first
siege of Fort Meigs on the 4th of
The Siege of Fort Meigs 37
May, 1813, it has been thought proper to
include in the celebration a
reproduction of the battle of Fallen
Timbers:
"First: Infantry, artillery and
cavalry of the regular army to be
detrained at the crossing of the Wabash
with the Clover Leaf Railway
on the morning of the 22d day of July,
to be prepared to attack the
Indians. Little Turtle to be represented
in this case by Brig. Gen. W.
V. McMaken and his First Brigade of the
Ohio National Guard, on the
battlefield of Fallen Timbers near
Waterford, Lucas County, some two
miles from the railway crossing.
McMaken's brigade to represent the
Indians in the four battles to be
depicted.
"Second: The American gunboats
which represent the British fleet
shall leave Detroit in time to ascend
the Maumee River on July 22, pro-
ceeding as far as the ruins of old Fort
Miami, from which point the
war ships will bombard Fort Meigs. In
the meantime, troops of the
regular army, after defeating Little
Turtle and his Indians (McMaken's
First Brigade) at the battle of Fallen
Timbers, will thenceforth imper-
sonate Proctor's British Army which was
landed from the British ships
at Fort Miami. Field batteries will be
placed as in the siege of Fort
Meigs and the siege regularly conducted
as it was in May, 1813.
"At the close of the second day's
bombardment by the British bat-
teries, the Second Brigade, Ohio
National Guard, commanded by Brig.
Gen. J. T. Speaks, will come down the
Maumee River on flat boats, im-
personating General Clay's Kentucky
brigade of May, 1813. One regi-
ment of this brigade will disembark and
capture one of the British bat-
teries, and then continue their attack
on Tecumseh's Indians, and be
drawn into ambush and massacred on the
scene of Dudley's massacre,
so-called.
"After continuing the siege for
another day with firing between the
Americans in Fort Meigs and the British
and Indians, the British will
draw off and depart on board their ships
to Sandusky Bay and proceed
up the river to Fort Stephenson at
Fremont, arriving on July 31st. Mc-
Maken and his brigade, as Indians, will
march overland toward Fort
Stephenson along the lake shore and up
the Sandusky river. The suc-
cessful American troops in Fort Meigs
will march overland direct from
Fort Meigs to General Harrison's
headquarters at Fort Seneca, on the
Sandusky river, some 30 miles. Fort
Stephenson will be garrisoned by
160 men of the 17th U. S. Infantry,
under a Major, the exact garrison
during the siege.
"The First Squadron Cavalry, Ohio
National Guard, representing
Major Ball's Squadron will be sent on
July 30th from Fort Seneca to
Fort Stephenson to place Major Croghan
in arrest for disobedience of
orders in refusing to evacuate the fort,
and while on their march from
Fort Seneca to Fort Stephenson, they
will be ambushed by Indians on
the site of Ball's battlefield, where
Major Ball's command killed 17
Indians with a saber charge.
38 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"On August 1st and 2d, the British,
(Regulars of the Army and
Navy) will bombard Fort Stephenson from
the war ships and from field
batteries which have been landed,
charging down on the northwest block-
house, from the direction of the
Sandusky county jail; while another
column will attack the southwest
blockhouse from the direction of the
Presbyterian church, and the Indians
will continue their fire during the
two days of the siege. The larger
portion of the Ohio National Guard
which will not be engaged will be
encamped in the Sandusky County
Fair Grounds and the entire division of
the Ohio National Guard and
the troops of the regular army will on
August 3d start on their march
northwest on the old Harrison Trail to
old Fort Sandoski at Port Clinton,
and thence to the Camp Perry Rifle Range
on the bank of Lake Erie,
where they will come into camp for
target practice.
"The British fleet will return down
the Sandusky river during the
night of August 2d, and return to
Detroit."
The immediate vicinity of Toledo, Fort
Meigs and Fort
Miami, is the scene of the final defeat
of the federated Indian
tribes, by Gen. Anthony Wayne on the 5th
of August, 1794, and
the repulse of the combined British and
Indians in their two
sieges of Fort Meigs in May and July,
1813, and the final defeat
of the British at Fort Stephenson on
August 1st and 2d, 1813,
by Major George Croghan-"the
necessary precursor," as Gen-
eral Sherman wrote, "of Perry's
Victory on Lake Erie and
Harrison's triumphant victory in the
Battle on the Thames."
The Ohio floods of the spring of 1913,
with the appalling
loss of life and property, put an end to
the elaborate and ex-
pensive scheme of pageant detailed
above.
The Toledo Perry Centennial Committee
arranged for a
week of festivities, beginning Sunday,
July 27th, with the arrival
of Perry's old flagship the Niagara. Thursday,
the 30th, was
set apart for the crowning historical
event of the region, the
celebration of the centennial of the
Defense of Fort Meigs, at
Perrysburg, with its allied points of
historic interest in and
about Fort Miami, near the present
village of Maumee. A
committee of Perrysburg and Maumee
citizens appointed by the
Maumee Valley Historical Association
conjointly arranged the
celebration at Fort Meigs, and
independently carried out the
individual celebration of the two
villages. This committee of
arrangements was as follows: D. K.
Hollenbeck, D. R. Can-
field, George J. Munger, Wm. H.
Rheinfrank of Perrysburg;
The Siege of Fort Meigs 39
and M. J. Dowling, A. W. Cone, and J. C. McCutcheon of Maumee. To assist in the celebration of the two villages on the Maumee, a party of Attorney-General Timothy Hogan, repre- senting the Governor of Ohio, and the members of the Toledo Perry Centennial Committee made the trip from Toledo up the river by motor boat, and were received at ten o'clock at the Perrysburg landing. This landing, by the way, was the terminus eighty years ago, for most of the lake shipping from Buffalo |
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to northwestern Ohio. While passing Fort Miami and approach- ing Perrysburg, the visitors were greeted with salutes from bat- teries from both positions. At the landing, the party was met by a delegation headed by Mayor E. L. Clay, R. C. Pew, George Munger, Sidney Spitzer, and D. K. Hollenbeck, and accompanied by the Newsboys' Band of Toledo, numbering sixty pieces, was escorted to the rostrum at the top of the hill at the entrance to the Monument Park. The exercises were brief: an address of welcome by E. L. Blue, on behalf of the Mayor of Perrysburg. a response by the Attorney-General, who complimented Perrys- |
40 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
burg on her splendid appearance and
evidence of local pride as
manifested by the interest in the
centennial of the great defence
of the Northwest Territory by the heroes
of Fort Meigs. After
a chorus of school children had sung
"America," the visiting
party was conducted through the gateway
erected in honor of
the occasion and taken in automobiles
over the principal streets
of the beautiful village and across the
river to Maumee where
brief exercises were held on the lawn of
the St. Joseph parson-
age. After an address by the Rev. Father
Thomas Redding of
Maumee and a response by Mr. Hogan, the
party reviewed the
site of the old British Fort Miami, in
the enclosure of which a
part of Dudley's massacre took place,
and returned for brief
exercises under the old Indian elm at
Maumee. A procession
was then formed under the escort of
Mayor John Smith of
Maumee, which proceeded to Fort Meigs,
where the noon hour
was devoted to a basket lunch. In this
line of march were the
Newsboys' Band and Cadets; Drill Camp
Veteran Ladies of
America of Toledo; Battery B, Ohio
National Guard; the chorus
of school children; and the visiting and
reception committees.
The afternoon exercises were held in the
deep ravine on
the Pioneer Association property
immediately to the east of the
old breastworks. From the large platform
in the hollow the
grass-grown, tree-shaded banks slope
back, forming a beautiful
and impressive natural auditorium where
the great assembly, a
notable outpouring of the people of the
whole region, listened
in comfort and with profound interest to
the following pro-
gram:
1. Invocation-Rev. Fr. Michaelis of
Cleveland, formerly of Maumee.
2. Introduction of Judge John H. Doyle
of Toledo as Chairman of the
meeting, by Hon. D. K. Hollenbeck,
president of the Maumee
Valley Pioneer and Historical
Association.
3. Address by Hon. Timothy Hogan,
Attorney General of Ohio.
4. Address by Judge Doyle of Toledo, who
took the place of Gen. I.
R. Sherwood who was detained by illness.
5. Recitation-Poem, "Fort
Meigs" by Mrs. J. C. Gentry of Maumee.
6. Address by Judge Frank W. Baldwin of
Bowling Green.
7. Music-Male Quartette.
The Siege of Fort Meigs 41
In introducing Mrs. Gentry, the chairman
referred to her
distinguished ancestry. She is a great
grand-daughter of Judge
James Wolcott of Maumee and Mary Wells.
The latter was the
daughter of Capt. William Wells, a scout
on the staff of Wayne,
and of a full-blooded Miami Indian
woman, daughter of Chief
Little Turtle. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20th,
1794, Mrs.
Gentry's ancestry fought on both sides: her great
great great grandfather, Little Turtle,
leading the Miamis; and
her great great grandfather, Captain
Wells, in Wayne's army.
Wells was killed in the Fort Dearborn
(Chicago) massacre in
1813. Judge Wolcott built the first
house in the Maumee Valley
in 1825, of black walnut logs, long ago
sided over, in which house
Mrs. Gentry still lives. The poem which
Mrs. Gentry read is as
follows:
FORT MEIGS.
As we sit on the emerald carpet, under
the whispering trees,
And gaze down the beautiful river,
kissed by the lightsome breeze,
Over the grassy meadows, the wheat
fields yellow and ripe,
Mellowing in the distance to a green and
golden stripe,
The scene is a summer picture, and I
open my history book
And the friend beside me answers, as
adown the page I look:
"Yes, this is the place where
Harrison, with his little band of men,
Stood firm from belching British guns
and hurled it back again.
And Proctor had his redcoats there,
drawn up in fierce array,
And bold Tecumseh's savages were allies
in the fray;
Red-handed from the vine-hung banks of
Raisin's bloody tide,
They thirsted for more massacre, and
watched on every side
From thicket bush, from tops of trees,
to turn the murderous shot;
But still the stubborn fortress stood,
the Patriots faltered not.
"'Surrender!' came the haughty
word; swift flew the answer back,
'If you capture us, Sir Briton, the
victory shall not lack
The honor of a meeting, face to face and
hilt to hilt,
With your men upon the ramparts and many
a heart's blood spilt.'
"Three days without cessation the
sweet May air was rife
With thunder of the cannon and moans of
parting life.
Then floating down the river came the
staunch Kentucky men,
Twelve hundred strong, on flat boats,
and hope revived again.
And where the bees were humming in
clover white and sweet,
There gallant Clay made landing with his
welcome southern fleet.
42 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
But oh! what fire raked them from the
mad Miami guns!
But oh! with what defiance marched up
those fearless ones.
And there swept Colonel Dudley with his
dauntless fighting band,
Keen eyed and lion hearted to answer the
command,
'Charge Bayonets!' O river, murmuring to
the flowery shore,
Can you tell us just how many smote the
earth to rise no more?
But the foemen fled in terror, and the
patriots on their track
Thus were led into an ambush, whence
there was no turning back.
"Fatal error! quick surrounded,
there they yielded up their lives,
Cleft by savage battle-axes and the
whetted scalping knives.
'Stay the slaughter!' cried Tecumseh,
rushing on the dreadful scene;
(For that order lay one laurel on his
dust and keep it green.)
Down the southern bank Clay's soldiers
charged the worsted foe again,
Spiked their guns and took their
batteries, and made captives of their
men.
Nine long days e'er stubborn Proctor
owned the whipping he had got
Moved his soldier camp and marched his
soldiers to a safe and shel-
tered spot."
"What was gained?"
"Forever after that decisive victory,
Fear of the revengeful savage faded from
the old Maumee.
They had turned the name to terror all along
the wooded shore;
Day and night the vigil ceased not,
loaded rifle guarded door;
Day and night the wild cry sounded,
homes fell to a mouldering heap,
Wives were widowed, men were tortured,
children murdered in their
sleep.
Now the heavy cloud was lifted, and the
wary savage foe,
Shrank away from English friendship that
but added to their woe.
Then there dawned for fair Miami first
rays of the coming morn,
And the poor man's stumpy acres
blossomed into fields of corn."
Thus my history lesson ended, and my
every pulse was stirred,
By the lovely scene before me and what I
had read and heard,
And on the grassy blood-rich soil, by
the storied river's flow,
You have reared a memory token for that
time of long ago,
A monument of meaning from base to
crowning dome,
That shall bring to the minds of the
future
The days that are past and gone.
A distinctive note of the several
speakers of the afternoon,
standing so near to the old
battleground, was the expression of
approval of the use of arbitration
rather than arms in settling
disputes between the United States and
England during the past
The Siege of Fort Meigs 43
one hundred years, and the hope that this country had engaged in its last war. Attorney General Hogan, representing the Gov- ernor of Ohio, urged the people to show their patriotism by giving intelligent support to the government which was made possible by the deeds of the men who engaged in the War of 1812. He said: "This monument tells what those heroes under- went. The service that we can render is to inspire others with a greater respect for the government under which we live." Judge Doyle, the chairman of the day, gave a concise survey |
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of the history of the Maumee Valley from I640, when it was marked as unknown on the first French map of North America. He concluded his address with a tribute to Perry who made possible by his victory the later terms of peace. Judge Baldwin of Bowling Green said that the best part of the centenary celebration was that it began with a peace meeting, and that it was his hope that the hundred years of peace between the English speaking nations were only the beginning of perpetual peace in the world. |
44 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
The two villages vied with each other in
their decorations.
Perrysburg never looked prettier, Mr. N.
L. Henson in charge
of the street decoration showing
commendable judgment. In
addition to the columns erected on the
hill at the head of Main
Street, the entire lengths of Front,
Second and Main Streets
were decorated with streamers of one
design. Public buildings,
business houses and private residences
were elaborately dec-
orated, scarcely a building on the whole
line of march that did
not have at least the American flag in
evidence. Another indi-
cation of the general enthusiasm
throughout the village was the
fact that double the amount of funds
needed to carry out the
plans of the committee was easily
raised. Maumee everywhere
showed the deep interest and pride its
people took in decorating
its streets and homes in honor of the
occasion. The American
flag waved over both Forts Meigs and
Miami. Around the
stage of the speakers' stand tricolored
streamers and flags were
lavishly draped.
A word as to the ownership of the
historic land about Fort
Meigs. Some nine acres of the site is
owned by the Maumee
Valley Pioneer and Historical
Association and thirty-five acres
by the State of Ohio. The State's
property is in the hands of a
commission composed of five members one
of whom is appointed
each year for a term of five years. The
Association was the
pioneer in the purchase of the Fort
property, its members were
instrumental in inducing the State to
purchase its land and to
erect the granite shaft that marks the
spot, and its members
have thus far been the appointees on the
State commission. The
Association is incorporated.
Old Fort Miami, on the northerly side of
the Maumee river,
near the village of Maumee was
elaborately decorated and par-
tially restored so that the section of
Battery B, Ohio National
Guard, was enabled to present a very
fair reproduction of the
fort as it was when occupied by the
British army under Proctor
during the first siege of Fort Meigs,
April 27-May 1O, 1813.
This Fort Miami is often confused with
the earlier Fort Miami
erected and fought over at the
headwaters of the Maumee
River at what is now Fort Wayne,
Indiana, the name of the
older fort having been changed to Fort
Wayne. Maumee is
The Siege of Fort Meigs 45
doubtless but a phonetic spelling of the
Indian pronunciation of
Mi-a-mi. Our Fort Miami was an old
French trading place
and like all such in the earlier days
was strongly built for the
protection of its occupants, but was
never utilized as a military
post until 1786, three years after the
close of the Revolutionary
War, evidence that notwithstanding the
treaty of peace the
British did not consider the
Revolutionary War closed, nor that
a new nation had been born. For Miami
continued to be occu-
pied as a British post, its officers
encouraging the Indians to
war on the new nation, until nearly two
years after Wayne's
great victory over the Indians at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers
on the 20th of August, 1794. An
interesting and peppery ex-
change of notes occurred immediately
after the battle between
General Wayne and the British commandant
in command at Fort
Miami, in which it must be acknowledged
that the young British
officer made answer in a soldierly way.
The British excuse for
retaining possession of Detroit and its
contiguous subposts on
the Maumee and on the Sandusky was that
the Americans had
not lived up to that section of the
treaty guaranteeing protection
to persons and property of the Tory
Americans whom they
termed loyalists. As a result of Wayne's
victory and of further
negotiations, the British evacuated
Detroit and Fort Miami in
1796,* and Fort Miami was not reoccupied
by them until during
the first siege of Fort Meigs when
General Proctor sailed up the
Maumee to attack General Harrison at
Fort Meigs, accompanied
by an immense hoard of Indians under
Tecumseh, probably the
largest body of Indians ever engaged
against the Americans.
General Proctor reoccupied and
reconstructed Fort Miami and
used it as the British headquarters
during the entire siege.
Colonel Dudley's Kentucky militiamen,
carried away by the
prospects of an easy victory and by
their desire to avenge the
loss of so many gallant Kentuckians in
Winchester's expedition
and the massacre of the River Raisin,
made a gallant charge
* It was Wayne's happy privilege to take
peaceful possession, by
authority of President Washington, of
this fort, early in 1796, when the
British government surrendered the
northern posts. Wayne's reception
of Ft. Miami was one of his last
official acts, occurring only a few
months before his death.
46 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
but were drawn into an ambuscade; and of
some eight hundred
men nearly six hundred and fifty were
killed or captured. Many
of the prisoners were brought within the
pickets enclosing Fort
Miami and then ensued the merciless
slaughter of defenseless
prisoners by their Indian captors, under
the very eye of Proctor,
the commanding general, whose
indifference to the scene brought
down on his head the savage denunciation
of the great Tecumseh:
"Begone, you are unfit to command,
go and put on petticoats."
On the withdrawal of General Proctor's
forces after his repulse
in the first siege of Fort Meigs, the
British flag over it was
drawn down for probably the last time,
as the British did not
land any considerable force during the
second siege of Fort
Meigs, July 20-28, 1813.
After the disgraceful surrender of
Detroit by General Hull,
August 16, 1812, General
Harrison, in order to protect Ohio
from an invasion of British and Indians
made a careful inspec-
tion of the territory contiguous to the
mouth of the Maumee
and selected the site for a large
garrison force, near the fording
place at the foot of the rapids, on the
opposite side of the river
from the old British Fort Miami and
slightly further up stream.
The fort he christened Fort Meigs in
honor of the Governor
of Ohio, Return Jonathan Meigs. He wrote
in February, 1813:
"I am erecting here a pretty strong
fort, capable of resisting
field artillery at least. The troops
will be placed in a fortified
camp, covered on one flank by the fort.
This is the best position
that can be taken to cover the frontier
and the small posts in
the rear of it, and those above it on
the Maumee and its tribu-
taries." The fort was planned by
Major Gratiot, whose illness,
however, prevented his presence, and by
Major Eleazer D.
Wood, the actual constructor. Both these
distinguished engi-
neers were among the earliest graduates
of the U. S. Military
Academy, established at West Point in
1802. General Clay
arriving with reinforcements, divided
his forces, as directed
by Harrison, sending out the greater
part under Dudley to
silence the batteries on the west bank;
his remaining force
fighting its way through the Indians
into Fort Meigs. A
sallying party from the fort then
captured the British batteries
on the east side of the river and the
great siege was over. Pres-
The Siege of Fort Meigs 47
ident Madison, through the Secretary of
War and General Har-
rison, sent his "thanks to the
troops composing the garrison of
Fort Meigs for their valor and
patriotism." *
"The value of this defense of Fort
Meigs," says Mr. Saliers,
"cannot be easily overestimated.
Had Harrison been defeated
and his army captured, the road to Upper
Sandusky would have
been open to Proctor and his Indian
allies. Here large stores
of provisions would have fallen into his
hands. The final in-
vasion and recapture of Michigan would
have been materially
delayed, if not entirely prevented, and
the frontier would have
been ravaged again by the savages. So
little notice has been
taken of this event, that it was an
extremely welcome act of the
General Assembly of Ohio that authorized
the purchase of the
site of Fort Meigs and converted it into
a public park where a
splendid monument has been erected to
the memory of the Gen-
eral and the men who defended it."
The above writer should
have added that the gallant check to the
British at Fort Meigs, on
the Maumee, was consummated on land by
the victorious battle
at Fort Stephenson, on the sister river
of the Maumee, the
Sandusky, at Lower Sandusky, now
Fremont, Ohio, which en-
gagement is detailed in earlier pages.
In the interest of historic accuracy we
wish to insert here
a note to the effect that Peter Navarre,
the famous and suc-
cessful scout for General Harrison, did
not, as is often stated,
carry any message from General Harrison
at Fort Meigs to
Major Croghan at Fort Stephenson on the
evening of August
1st; for the simple reason that Harrison
was not at Fort Meigs
on that date, but was in command of his
army, with headquarters
at Fort Seneca on the Sandusky river,
nine miles south of Fort
* For details of the whole siege, rather
of the two sieges of Fort
Meigs and of the events leading up to
them we refer to an excellent
article in Vol. XVIII of this Quarterly,
by E. A. Saliers, of the Ohio
State University. A much fuller account
is in Knapp's "History of the
Maumee Valley." Knapp is most
praiseworthy for his historical methods
in giving in full general orders, dispatches,
reports and letters, rather
than the too-frequent plan of many
writers in making excerpts of mere
items bearing on the subject, often
twisting them unconsciously out of
their literal bearing.-L. E. K.
48 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Stephenson, where he was urging forward Governor Meigs with the Ohio Militia, to join him for the relief of Croghan. The incident that probably gave rise to this erroneous state- ment is that during the first siege of Fort Meigs, in May, Na- varre discovered the Indians crossing the Maumee at the foot of the island and reported it to General Harrison who sent him out with three letters, one to Lower Sandusky-weeks before the arrival there of Croghan; one to Upper Sandusky; and a third to Governor Meigs at Urbana. Navarre departed and at the close of the fifth day handed the final despatch to the Gov- ernor. One of the most notable and attractive features of the whole Centennial Celebration along the lake cities and villages, was the exhibit at the Toledo Art Museum of battle paintings, portraits and relics. A rare and costly collection had been loaned by institutions at Washington, New York, Columbus and the West Point and Annapolis Academies. Two rooms fitted up as a kitchen and a bedroom of 1812 were furnished entirely with original antiques of the period. The portraits of the heroes of the War of 1812, many of them spirited likenesses by Jarvis, and the splendid collection of pictures of the engaging ships, the veritable "Don't Give up the Ship" flag and numberless personal relics of Perry and Harrison and other war heroes, were viewed with enthusiasm by many thousands of visitors to this classically beautiful and admirably conducted Art Museum. |
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