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Ohio Jlrcbaeologjcal 
 
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 TABLE OF CONTENTa 
 
 The Croghan Celebration. By Lucy Elliot Keeler 1 
 
 Editorialana. By E. O. Randall 106 
 
 PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE SOCIETY 
 
 OFFICE, STATE HOUSB. COLUMBUS, O. 
 
 Price, 75 Cents per Copy 
 
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 Volume! I-XV, Bound in Cloth, $3.00 per Volume 
 
 Entered at the Poitoffice, Columbua, Ohio, aa sec«nd-clasa mail matter 
 
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
 
 AND HISTORICAL 
 
 QUARTERLY 
 
 Vol. XVI. JANUARY, 1907. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 COLUMBUS, OHIO: 
 
 PRESS OF FRED. J. HEER 
 1907 
 

OHIO 
 Archaeological and Historical 
 
 PUBLICATIONS, 
 
 THE CROGHAN CELEBRATION. 
 
 LUCY ELLIOT KEELER. 
 
 It was not bad usage of the old Romans to bring down from 
 its niche the waxen image of an eminent ancestor on the anni- 
 versary of his natal day, to recall his 
 features and achievements to their 
 own minds and impress them upon 
 the younger generation. A like 
 tribute the patriotic citizens of Fre- 
 mont, Ohio, pay from time to time 
 to their local hero. .Major George 
 Croghan, on the anniversary of that 
 notable second of August. 1813, when 
 with his little band of Soldiers he 
 defeated a foe overwhelming in 
 numbers under the British General 
 Proctor and the Indian Chief Tecum- 
 seh. It w^as not only a feat of incom- 
 parable bravery, but it marked the 
 turning of the tide in the War of 1812, which up to that time 
 had been a scries of disasters to the American arms. 
 
 The first formal observance of the anniversary of Croghan 's 
 Victory occurred in 1839, ^t which time messages from Croghan 
 himself were received. Since that date every decade has wit- 
 nessed one or more celebrations, notable among which were those 
 of 1852, when "Old Betsy" was brought back to the scene of 
 Vol. XVI— ]. (1) 
 
 COL. WE 111! C. JIAVES. 
 
2 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 her great triumph; i860, presaging the Civil War, when Cassius 
 M. Clay was the orator of the day; and 1885, when the Monu- 
 ment on the fort was unveiled in the presence of the President of 
 the United States and many other distinguished soldiers and 
 civilians. 
 
 The celebration of August 2d, 1906, was, however, more 
 notable and imposing than any of its predecessors, since on that 
 date the remains of Croghan were interred at the base of the 
 monument erected to the memory of himself and the brave men 
 of his command, on the very spot they had so gallantly defended 
 ninet}-three years before. 
 
 Following the defense of Fort Stephenson Croghan figured 
 conspicuously in the closing events of the War of 1812. His sub- 
 sequent career as Colonel Inspector General United States Army, 
 during the Mexican War and until his death, will be noted in the 
 pages following. He died of cholera, in New Orleans, January 
 8, 1849, '""'s spirit taking flight just as the last gun of the national 
 salute commemorating the 34th anniversary of Jackson's victory, 
 was fired. 
 
 For many years past it was the general supposition that the 
 remains of this hero lay in one of the numerous cemeteries of 
 New Orleans. Colonel Webb C. Hayes, imbued with patriotic 
 sentiment and historic spirit, began several years ago the search 
 for the grave of Croghan. Through Colonel Hayes' efforts the 
 Quartermaster General at Washington took up the matter and 
 made diligent investigation in New Orleans, but finally was 
 compelled to abandon the search as fruitless. Colonel Hayes 
 persevered and in February, 1906, received a letter from Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Croghan Kennedy, grand daughter of George Cro- 
 ghan and wife of the late Captain Kennedy, U. S. N., which 
 gave the information leading to the coveted discovery of the re- 
 mains in the family burial plot in the beautiful old Croghan 
 estate. Locust Grove, on the Ohio river, several miles from Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky. 
 
 Col. Hayes, in company with R. C. Ballard-Thruston and 
 S. Thruston-Ballard, of the Kentucky Historical Society, pro- 
 ceeded to the old estate, now owned by J. S. Waters, and located 
 the burial plot about 300 yards from the mansion. Thickly over- 
 
Tlie Croghan Celebration. 3 
 
 i^rown witli beautiful myrtle were the moss-covered tombstones of 
 Major William Croghan and wife, the parents of George Croghan, 
 his brothers, Dr. John and N. Croghan, and one sister, Elizabeth. 
 In one corner lay an overturned headstone on which appeared the 
 mscription. Col. G. C, marking the long-sought resting place. 
 
 General George Rogers Clark, brother of Lucy Clark Cro- 
 ghan and uncle of George Croghan, died at the Croghan home- 
 stead and was buried in the Croghan family burying ground at 
 Locust Grove, Kv. In 1869 the State of Kentucky authorized the 
 removal of the remains to Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Ky., 
 where a beautiful and imposing monument was erected in his 
 honor. 
 
 Arrangements were at once made for the disinterment by 
 Messrs. Ballard and Thruston who, with their wives and Miss 
 Mary Clark, of St. Louis, were present, all being related to Col. 
 Croghan through his mother, of the great Clark family. 
 
 The mahogany casket, found at a depth of six feet, was 
 badly decomposed, but the leaden casket within was intact, being 
 six and one-half feet in length, 20 inches wide and eight inches 
 deep. It was immediately boxed and taken to Louisville and 
 thence directly to Fremont. 
 
 The remains arrived in Fremont Monday evening, June nth. 
 1906, and were conveyed to the city hall on the fort. ' The room' 
 had been beautifully decorated by the George Croghan Chap- 
 ter, D. A. R., with flowers and evergreen, and myrtle from the 
 Kentucky grave. A detail from Company K stood at the head and 
 foot of the casket as the remains lay in state. On the afternoon 
 of the 13th, the flag-draped casket was lifted to the shoulders 
 of six members of Company K, who were preceded by the com- 
 pany's trumpeter, and followed by the five local veterans of the 
 Mexican \\'ar who had served in that campaign under Croghan. 
 These veterans acted as honorary pall-bearers. The ladies oi the 
 D. A. R. and many citizens followed. The procession passed out 
 in front of the Soldiers' Monument, where it was photographed, 
 and then proceeded to Oakwood Cemetery, marching over the 
 Harrison trail through Spiegel Grove. At Oakwood the • re- 
 mains were placed in the vault, a song was sung by the D. A. R., 
 and the trumpeter, sounded taps. 
 
4 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Ptiblications. 
 
 The surviving members of the Croghan family graciously ac- 
 quiesced in Col. Hayes' action and gave all assistance in their 
 power. The following letter, from a nephew of Colonel Croghan, 
 Mr. R. C. Ballard-Thruston, tells the story of the discovery, to- 
 gether with other important facts regarding the distinguished 
 family to which our hero belonged. We give the letter entire: 
 
 Louisville, Ky., June 13, 1906. 
 Col. Webb C. Hayes. 
 
 My Dear Colonel : As per my letter of a few days ago I now take 
 pleasure in writing you of certain data regarding the Qark family, which 
 you desired and, in addition thereto, the facts regarding the location of 
 the grave of Col. George Croghan and the exhuming and forwarding of 
 his remains to you. 
 
 Major William Croghan and wife Lucy, lived about five or six 
 miles east or northeast of the court house of Louisville, Ky., and probably 
 something over a mile from the Ohio river, at a place which was called 
 Locust Grove, now owned by J. S. Waters. What was formerly the rear 
 of the house is now the front. An illustration of the house with the 
 present front is shown in Gov. English's work, vol. H, page 887. And it is 
 north of this house about 300 yards that their family burying ground 
 is located. A description of this and what we found there will follow 
 later. Quite an account of them is given by Gov. English in his work, 
 vol. II, page 1002 et seq., in which there are a few errors that should 
 be corrected as follows : Page 1003, first line, "1767" should be "1765." 
 Page 1004, line four, "seventy-first" should be "seventy-third." And* on 
 line 3, after the word "marriage" should be inserted the words "License 
 issued July 13, 1789 — no return made." In the next paragraph on that 
 page is a list of the children of Major William Croghan and wife, which 
 I notice does not include "Serina E," mentioned in the foot note on that 
 page. I think she was Serena Livingston, wife of George Croghan, and 
 therefore a daughter-in-law. 
 
 I have no list of the dates of the births of these Croghan children. 
 Their names as given in Gov. English's work, page 1004, are correct. 
 From an original letter which I have, written about the early part of last 
 century, John, George and Nicholas were among the eldest of the chil- 
 dren and I have a newspaper clipping giving the death of Nicholas 
 Croghan in 1825. 
 
 The marriage records of this county show that a marriage license 
 for George Hancock and Elizabeth Croghan, daughter of Major William 
 ■Croghan, was issued September 29, 1819, and return made by the Rev. 
 D. C. Banks on the same day. A marriage license for Gen. Thomas 
 Jessup with Ann Croghan, daughter of Maj. William Croghan, was is- 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 5 
 
 sued May 15, 1832. Return made two days later by the Rev. Daniel 
 Smith. My notes on this subject were made some years ago and I fail 
 to find among them the marriage records of any other of these Croghan 
 children. 
 
 As to the family burying ground at Locust Grove. It lies about 
 three hundred yards north of the dwelling surrounded by a stone wall 
 eighteen inches thick and from three to five feet high, the sides facing the 
 cardinal points, and the entrance six feet wide in the center of the 
 southern wall. It, however, has since been filled in with stone, making a 
 north and south walls which are each 48 feet long on the outside, the east 
 and west walls being 47 feet. There are quite a number of trees within 
 the enclosure, the most prominent of which is a five-pronged elm. We 
 also found two red elms, four hackberries, two cherries and two locusts. 
 Almost the entire space is covered with myrtle and some underbrush. 
 The walls are largely overgrown with Virginia creeper and poison ivy 
 or oak. The graveyard seems to have been designed with four parallel 
 rows of graves running from north to south, in each case the grave 
 facing the east. The eastern one of these rows apparently was not 
 used, as we saw neither headstone nor evidence of a grave on that row. 
 On the next row, five feet from the north wall, we found a headstone 
 marked "McS." I am at a loss to know whose grave this could be. 
 Fourteen feet from the north wall on this line is the center of a one- 
 foot space between two large marble slabs, each being thr^e feet wide 
 and six feet long with ornate edges. The northern one of these seems 
 to have rested on four pedestals, one at each corner. They have since 
 fallen and the slab is now resting on the ground and covers the remains 
 of Mary Carson O'Hara, wife of William Croghan, Jr. The inscription 
 on this slab is as follows: 
 
 Beneath this slab 
 
 are deposited the remains of 
 
 Mrs. Mary Carson Croghan 
 
 (late of Pittsburgh) 
 
 who departed this life 
 
 October 15th, A. D. 1827, 
 
 In the 24th year of her age. 
 
 Also 
 
 her infant daughter 
 
 Mary O'Hara, 
 
 who expired July 18, 1826, 
 
 in the ninth month of her age. 
 
6 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 Slab B rests on four slabs, each of which is ornately carved. The 
 inscription being: 
 
 Eliza, 
 
 youngest daughter of 
 
 William and Lucy Croghan, 
 
 born April 9th, 1801, 
 
 married George Hancock Sept., 1819, 
 
 died July l-2th, 1833. 
 
 The next headstone was twenty feet from the north wall and was- 
 marked "Mrs. L. C." The next headstone, twenty-three feet from the 
 north wall, was marked "Maj. W. C." These were evidently the graves 
 of Major and Mrs. William Croghan, the parents of Colonel George 
 Croghan. On this same row south of Major Croghan's grave was quite 
 a sunken space, which probably marks the spot from which the remains 
 of Gen. George Rogers Clark were removed in 1869. On the next row 
 of graves west of the last and fourteen feet from the north wall is a 
 headstone marked "E. C." This is probably Edmund Croghan's grave. 
 On this row, seventeen feet from the north wall, is a headstone marked 
 "N. C," or Nicholas Croghan, a brother of Col. George Croghan, who 
 died in 1825. At ten feet from the south wall on this same row is a 
 headstone marked "Dr. J. C," Dr. John Croghan, who lived at Locust 
 Grove after the death of his parents and at whose hom« my rrjother was 
 a frequent visitor in her younger days. As there were no other head- 
 stones found between those of Dr. John Croghan and Nicholas Croghan, 
 the probabilities are that other members of the family were buried within 
 this enclosure whose headstones have since been lost, or whose graves 
 were not properly marked. 
 
 Near the southwest corner in the most western one of these rows,- 
 we found but one headstone, four feet from the western wall and five 
 feet from the southern wall. It was lying on its face entirely covered 
 with myrtle and upon investigation bore the marks of "Col. G. C." mark- 
 ing the grave of Col. George Croghan, which you were searching for, 
 and whose remains you desired to remove to Fremont, Ohio, having ob- 
 tained permission of his daughter and other descendants. 
 
 When this grave was found, on Thursday, June 7, there were 
 present yourself, my brother, S. Thruston Ballard, Mr. J. S. Waters 
 and myself. After definitely locating and identifying the grave, my 
 brother sent to his country place for two negro hands (John Bradford 
 and Alex Howard) and after lunch we proceeded to open the grave. At 
 nearly five feet below the surface we found fragments of a mahogany 
 casket, now almost entirely decayed, and a leaden case which con- 
 tained the remains. This latter was broken in several places, and as 
 would naturally be expected, its top was resting upon the skeleton. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 
 
 This leaden case containing the remains, the headstone above mentioned, 
 a footstone marked "G. C." which we also found at the foot of the 
 grave, and some myrtle which was growing over the grave, which you 
 desired, were carefully taken to my brother's place, and the following 
 morning brought into Louisville, where I had them properly boxed (the 
 leaden case being covered with a United States flag) and the following 
 day, June 9, expressed them to you at Fremont, Ohio, and I hope, before 
 
 this, have reached you in pro- 
 - - - :«w>'^-f>>*'rt,»f««#ih;*i^«*',r-*^ per shape. 
 
 In addition to those pre- 
 sent at the finding of the grave 
 of Colonel Geoige Croghan, 
 above mentioned, there were 
 present at the exhuming of 
 his remains, my sister-in-law, 
 Mrs. S. Thurston Ballard, 
 Miss Mary Clark, of St. Louis, 
 Mrs. J. S. Waters, four of the 
 Waters' children, my little 
 nephew Rogers Clark Ballard, 
 and one or two servants of Mr. 
 Waters. 
 
 My brother carried a 
 kudak with him and made sev- 
 eral attempts to get kodaks 
 of the old Croghan residence 
 vwl family burying ground, 
 copies of which will be sent 
 you as soon as they are 
 printed. 
 
 With sincerest regards, I 
 am yours very truly, 
 R. C. Ballard Thruston, 
 Member of the Filson Club, Virginia Historical Society. 
 
 GRAN'E OF GEORGE CROGHAN 
 LOCUST GROVE, KY. 
 
 AT 
 
 George Croghan himself left three children ; a son, Col. St. 
 George Croghan, a brave soldier on the Confederate side, killed 
 in Virginia, in one of the early battles of the Civil War ; Mrs. 
 Mary Croghan Wyatt. who died in California in February, 1906 ; 
 and the yotingest and only surviving child, Mrs. Serena Livings- 
 ton Rodgers, wife of Augustus F. Rodgers, U. S. N. Mrs. 
 Rodgers lives in San Francisco, and is now 86 years of age. 
 
8 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 Col. St. George Croghan left two children, both living, a 
 son, George, and a daughter, Elizabeth Croghan, now the widow 
 of Capt. Duncan Kennedy, U. S. N., who has one son. 
 
 Mrs. Rodgers has a daughter, and Mrs. Wyatt a son. 
 Judge Wyatt, of New York. All living descendants of Croghan 
 were invited to be present at the re-interment of the remains of 
 their famous father, grandfather and great-grandfather. 
 
 On the occasion of the unveiling of a tablet to Croghan, on 
 Fort Stephenson Park, by the D. A. R., Mrs. Wyatt, to whom 
 an invitation to he present had Ijeen sent, wrote, under date of 
 July 14, 1903 : 
 
 "il/_v Dear Miss Kceler: It was indeed most gratifying to receive 
 your invitation to be witli you when the Croghan tablet will be unveiled. 
 It would indeed be a delight to me to be present when such honor was 
 paid to my dear father, but with sorrow I must decline. My journeyings 
 in this world are pretty much over. I have lately injured my knee and 
 walk with difficulty. * * * Sincerely, 
 
 "Mary Croghan Wyatt." 
 
 CROGHAN's ancestry and LIFE. 
 
 The name Croghan is an illustrious one in the early annals 
 of our country, especially in the Western annals preceding the 
 establishment of the Republic. 
 
 On the paternal side George Croghan came of fighting blood. 
 He belonged to the race of "the Kellys, the Burkes and the 
 Sheas," who always "smell the battle afar off." The first Cro- 
 ghan we hear of in this country was Major George Croghan, who 
 was born in Ireland and educated at Dublin University. Just 
 when he came to America we do not know. He established him- 
 self near Harrisburg, and was an Indian trader there as early as 
 1746. He learned the language of the aborigines and won their 
 confidence. He served as a captain in Braddock's expedition in 
 1755, and in the defense of the western frontier in the following 
 year. The famous Sir William Johnson, of New York, who was 
 so efficient in dealing with the natives and whom George II had 
 commissioned "Colonel, agent and sole superintendent of the 
 affairs of the Six Nations and other northern Indians," came to 
 recognize Croghan's worth, and made him deputy Indian agent 
 for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Indians. In 1763 Sir William 
 
Tlic Cyo:^han Celebration. 
 
 9 
 
 sent him to England to confer with the ministry in regard to 
 some Indian bonndary line. He traveled widely through the In- 
 dian country which is now the Central West. While on a mis- 
 sion in 1765 to pacify the Illinois Indians he was attacked, 
 •wounded and taken to A'incennes. But he was soon released and 
 
 MAJOR GEORGE CROGHAN. 
 
 accomplished his mission. He was deeply impressed with the 
 great possibilities of this western country and urged upon Sir 
 William Johnson the importance of securing this region to the 
 English colonies. It is a singular coincidence that this first 
 Major George Croghan was pitted against Pontiac in much the 
 
10 Oilio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 same wa}- that Major George Croghan the second was pitted 
 against Tecumseh. In May, 1766, he fixed his abode near Fort 
 Pitt, using his good offices and influence in pacifying the Indians 
 and concihating them to British interests. He died' about 1782. 
 It is altogether probable that his reports regarding the northwest- 
 ern country had something to do with impressing George Rogers 
 Clark with its importance. 
 
 The similarity of name and title makes this reference to the 
 first George Croghan pertinent, although his kinship with the 
 second George Croghan was but collateral. The father of our 
 hero of Ft. Stephenson was William Croghan, born in Ireland 
 in 1752. Just when he came to this country it has been impossible 
 to ascertain. .\t any rate the young man was well established 
 here at the time of the Declaration of Independence. He 
 promptly volunteered his services, liecoming a captain of a Vir- 
 ginia company. He served to the end of the war, being mustered 
 out the senior Major of the Virginia line. He took part in the 
 battles of Brandy wine, ^Monmouth and Germantown ; and he was 
 with the army that bitter winter at Valley Forge. In 1780 his 
 regiment was ordered South and he was made prisoner at the 
 surrender of Charleston. He was present at Yorktown, when the 
 last great battle of the war was fought, though he could not share 
 in the fighting, as he was on parole. He served for a time on the 
 staflf of Baron Steuben, and he was one of the officers present at 
 the Verplanck mansion on the Hudson in May, 1783, when the 
 Society of Cincinnati was instituted. Shortly after the war Cro- 
 ghan joined the increasing drift of Virginians over the moun- 
 tains into the new land of Kentucky and found a home near the 
 Falls of the Ohio. 
 
 There, presumably, he won and wed his wife. She, too, 
 came of valorous stock. Her name was Lucy Clark, daugh- 
 ter of John Clark, recently come to Kentucky from Virginia. 
 She had five brothers, four of whom served in the Revolu- 
 tionary War. The most distinguished of these was George 
 Rogers Clark, to whose great and heroic campaign through 
 the wilderness to Vincennes we owe the winning of the North- 
 west Territory. It was to this George Rogers Clark, uncle of 
 Croghan, that Harrison referred in his official report of the 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 11 
 
 battle when he said with evident gratification : "It will not be 
 among the least of General Proctor's mortifications to know 
 that he has been bafiied by a youth who has just passed his 
 twenty-first year. He is. however", a hero worthy of his gallant 
 uncle, Gen. G. R. Clark, and I bless my good fortune in having 
 first introduced this promising shoot of a distinguished family 
 to the notice of the government." Another brother, William, 
 who was too young to participate in the Revolution, was the 
 Clark who, with Captain Lewis, made the famous expedition of 
 exploration across the continent. He was appointed in 1813 by 
 President Madison Governor of Missouri Territory. 
 
 T(\ William Croghan and his wife, Lucy, at Locust Grove, 
 Ky., November 15, 1791, was born the boy that was destined to 
 make the family name illustrious. He was christened George, in 
 honor of the mother's brother, whose great and daring achieve- 
 ment had given his name vast renown. We know practically 
 nothing of George Croghan's boyhood. Doubtless it was like 
 that of the ordinary Mrginia boy of the period, who was the 
 son of a well-to-do planter, modified by the exigencies of frontier 
 life. 
 
 Our boy had books to read, and lessons to learn ; and there 
 were always his father's and his uncles' tales of the recent Revo- 
 lutionary War and of the untamed country through which they 
 had traveled ; as well as of the Dublin kindred and society. 
 
 George was ready for college at an early age, and went to 
 William and Mary, in A^irginia, next to Harvard the oldest col- 
 lege in the land. From it graduated four presidents of the 
 United States, Jefferson, Monroe, Tyler and Harrison, beside 
 Chief Justice Marshall and Gen. Winfield Scott. After Croghan's 
 graduation he took up the study of law. War was in the air, 
 however, as well as in his blood, and in 181 1 the youth enlisted 
 as a private in the volunteer army under Harrison. His hand- 
 some face, alight with intelligence, won him speedy notice from 
 the officers, a good im])ression which was strengthened by his 
 conduct and ability. * He was soon appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. 
 Bovd, second in command. At the battle of Tippecanoe, shortly 
 after, his zeal and courage induced Gen. Harrison to recommend 
 
12 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 the lad's appointment to the regular army, and he was made cap- 
 tain of the 17th U. S. Infantry. 
 
 In August, 1 81 2, his command accompanied the detachment 
 under Gen. Winchester, which marched from Kentucky to the 
 relief of Gen. Hull at Detroit. Hull's disgraceful surrender made 
 a change of plan necessary, and Winchester's men marched 
 through the wilderness to assist Gen. Harrison at Fort Wayne, 
 and then down the Maumee to Fort Defiance, in September, 
 1812. Here, in spite of his extreme youth, Croghan was left 
 in command by Harrison. So successful was he in this trying 
 ordeal that Winchester left him in command of Fort Defiance, 
 while he himself marched on to the River Raisin. All know the 
 frightful massacre which followed, Croghan owing his escape to 
 liis duty at Defiance. 
 
 Capt. Croghan then joined Gen. Harrison at the newly con- 
 structed Fort Meigs on the Maumee, taking gallant part in its 
 defense during the seige. Here the famous pair, Proctor and 
 Tecumseh, the one with a thousand British regulars and the 
 other with twice that number of Indians, were the besieging 
 leaders. The siege continued during thirteen days of that May, 
 and included one direful incident. Col. Dudley, with his Ken- 
 tucky troops, came to the relief of the fort, but owing to an am- 
 buscade arranged by Tecumseh, Dudley's forces were surrounded 
 and 650 of the 800 soldiers were killed, wounded or taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 In a sortie made to save these unfortunate troops, Capt. 
 Croghan so distinguished himself by the vigor and bravery of his 
 assault on a battery, that Gen. Harrison recommended him for 
 further promotion. He was soon afterward commissioned major 
 m the 17th U. S. Infantry. In July of that year he and his 
 command appeared at Fort Stephenson, the wretched little stock- 
 ade in Lower Sandusky. When they left this place three weeks 
 later, they were the heroes of the whole country. 
 
 The story of the battle of Fort Stephenson, the hurried prep- 
 aration therefor, and its results in the War of 181 2 are given on 
 a later page in the words of a contemporary. For this notable 
 victory Croghan was brevetted' lieutenant colonel by the president 
 of the United States ; Congress awarded him a medal, and the 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 
 
 13 
 
 ladies of Chillicothe, then the capital of Ohio, presented him with 
 a beautiful sword. The famous repulse of August 2, 1813, marks 
 the turning point in the war that ended in sweeping the haughty 
 British navy from our Lakes, and hurling their army from our 
 borders. 
 
 Croghan remained in tlie army after the close of the war 
 till March, 1817. when he resigned. In May, 1816, he mar- 
 ried Serena Livingston, daughter of John R. Livingston, of New 
 York, and niece of Chancellor Robert Livingston, famous as 
 jurist and diplomat, who administered the oath of office to Wash- 
 ington when he first became president of the United States, and 
 
 who as minister to France negotiated 
 with Bonaparte the Louisiana pur- 
 chase. She was also a niece of the 
 widow of Gen. Montgomery, of Que- 
 bec fame. 
 
 After resigning from the army 
 Croghan took up his residence in 
 Xew Orleans and was postmaster of 
 that city in 1824. The following year 
 he returned to the army as inspector 
 general with rank of colonel and 
 served as such with Gen. Taylor 
 during the Mexican War, 1846-47. 
 
 With such an ancestry and such 
 an early environment it is slight 
 wonder t'nat the fiame of patriotism burned intensely in the veins 
 of Croghan. 
 
 There was much of the Irish in our hero, as his impulsive 
 speeches, which sometimes got him into trouble, easily testify; 
 and like well-born Irish everywhere, he was proud of his good 
 blood, proud of his forebears, and determined not to bring dis- 
 credit on their name. It is the best heritage any man can have, 
 and Croghan, for one, knew it. 
 
 lust before the attack on Fort Stephenson Croghan wrote a 
 friend : 
 
 "The enemv are not far distant. I expect an attack. I will 
 defend this post to the last extremity. I have just sent away the 
 
 GEN. J. C. CH.AXCE 
 
14 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 womeft and children, with the sick of the garrison, that I may 
 be able to act without incumbrance. Be satisfied. I shall, I hope, 
 do my duty. The example set me by my Revolutionary kindred 
 is before me. Let me die rather than prove unworthy of their 
 name." 
 
 THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Thursday, August 2, 1906, dawned auspiciously on the his- 
 toric city of Fremont. The Toledo battery which had arrived 
 the night before and was stationed in Fort Stephenson aroused 
 the people at sunrise with a salute of twenty-one guns, announc- 
 ing that the events of the day had begun. Thousands of visitors 
 from far and near, including many prominent officials of state and 
 nation, made pilgrimage to the historic shrine of Fort Stephenson. 
 The^ city was appropriately decorated and every hospitality and 
 ■courtesy possible was extended by the citizens to their guests. 
 At eight o'clock the casket of Major Croghan, which had been 
 temporarily placed in the vault at Oakwood, was taken therefrom 
 and borne to the city, with military honors of music and soldiery 
 escort. The line of march was over the old Harrison trail, 
 through Spiegel Grove, down Buckland and Birchard avenues 
 to Park avenue and then to the high school building where, in 
 the hallway, the casket, draped with flags, was placed. Guarded 
 by a detachment of state troops the remains lay in state until the 
 big parade of the day passed the school house, when the casket, 
 borne on the shoulders of six stalwart members of the National 
 Guard, was tenderly escorted to Fort Stephenson Park. The 
 civic and military parade, which was the feature of the forenoon, 
 was an imposing spectacle. It was headed by the city police force 
 and fire department, followed by a provisional Brigade of the 
 Ohio National Guard commanded by Brigadier General W. V. 
 McMaken, O. N. G. the local and visiting posts of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic, Spanish War Veterans, Masons, Wood- 
 men of the World and secret orders, German musical socie- 
 ties, commercial organizations and school children waving the 
 American emblem and singing patriotic songs. An interesting 
 link in the procession brought the present event in close touch 
 with the historic past, for in a spac.'/,'is carryall were Fremont's 
 five Mexican War veterans, Captain /^ ndrew Kline, his brother 
 
TIic Croishan Celebration. 
 
 15 
 
 Louis Kline, Grant Inoriicrson, Martin Zeigler and Jacob Faller. 
 They had all personally known Croghan. The parade passed in 
 review before the handsomely decorated stand at Croghan street 
 and Park avenue, on which stood Vice President Fairbanks, Gov- 
 ernor Harris, Mayor Tunnington, General Chance, Congressman 
 Mouser, Hon. J. F. Laning and Hon. A. H. Jackson ; behind them 
 the g-overnor's staff, Co\. Kantzman, Col. Weybrecht, Major Hall, 
 Captain Williams, Capt. Knox, Capt. Garner, Capt. Wood and 
 
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 AlEMIiERS OF COMPANY K GUARDING CASKET. 
 
 Lieut. Moulton. Vice President Fairbanks stood up in his auto- 
 mobile almost the entire length of Front street, and with his hat 
 in hand acknowledged the cheers and applause of the crowds, 
 "while Governor Harris kept bowing to people on both sides of 
 the street in response to the cheers with which he was greeted. 
 At the high school the procession halted and the Croghan remains 
 were escorted from their resting place at the base of the monu- 
 ment bv the Genree Croghan Chanter of the D. A. R.. the mem- 
 
16 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 bers of which had charge of the final interment. The children' 
 scattered flowers in the grave, a salute was fired, taps were 
 sounded, and the honored dust of the gallant George Croghan 
 was consigned to its final resting place on the spot and in the 
 sacred soil he had so bravely and loyally defended ninety-three 
 years before. The grave was covered with a large block of 
 Quincy granite bearing this inscription : 
 
 George Croghan 
 
 Major 17th U. S. Infantry, 
 
 Defender of Fort Stephenson, 
 
 August 1st and 2d, 1813. 
 
 Born Locust Grove, Ky. , Nov. 15, 1781. 
 
 Died New Orleans, La., Jan. 8, 1849, 
 
 Colonel Inspector General 
 
 United States Army. 
 
 Remains removed from 
 
 Croghan Family Burying Ground, 
 
 Locust Grove, Ky., 
 
 August 2, 1906. 
 
 MAJOR C. C. TLN- 
 NINGTON. 
 
 The oratorical exercises were held in 
 the afternoon in the open air within the 
 precincts of the fort. \'ast crowds gathered 
 and listened intently to addresses. General 
 Jesse C. Chance, of Fremont, was president 
 of the day and introduced the speakers, 
 after the assembly had been called to order 
 by Mayor C. C. Tunnington. The speeches 
 were interspersed with patriotic songs by 
 the school children and martial strains by 
 the Light Guard Band. 
 
 THE INVOCATION. 
 REV. W. E. TRESSEL, CHAPLAIN. 
 
 God of our fathers, we praise and worship Thee ! Assembled on 
 historic ground, which has been consecrated by heroes' blood, we not only 
 hold in glad and grateful remembrance the noble deeds of valiant men^ 
 
The Croghaii Celebration. 17 
 
 but we proclaim Thy great glory, O Lord of hosts ; for Thou art the 
 God of battles, and right and truth triumph by Thy blessing. And whilst 
 we thank Thee for the brave men of that older day who fought so nobly 
 in freedom's holy cause, we give Thee laud and honor for the pa- 
 tience, the skill, the industry, through which were won those notable 
 victories of peace, no less renowned than those of war, that made the 
 wilderness to blossom as the rose and laid the foundations for the 
 splendid material prosperity which to-day is our portion. For health, 
 and peace, and plenty, for home, good government, for our great educa- 
 tional system, we give Thee thanks, O God. And richer gifts than these 
 have flowed to us from Thy bounteous hand. Thou, hast revealed to us 
 Thy dear son, Jesus Christ, and hast made Him to be our Savior from 
 the bondage of sin and from eternal death ; and in Thy precious word 
 Thou hast conveyed to us Thy saving grace and power. Eternal praise be 
 to Thee for these, Thy choicest gifts ! 
 
 We pray Thee to continue to us Thy favor. To this end bless 
 with repentance and faith ; help us to renounce all sin and error, to love 
 and to follow truth and righteousness, that we may hold fast what 
 Thou hast in mercy given. Instil more and more into our hearts love 
 of country. Do Thou tise the exercises of this day to impress on our 
 mind the responsibilities of citizenship. Awaken and quicken within us 
 civic spirit. And thus let this memorable day on which we stand before 
 Thy holy throne, result in countless blessings, for time and eternity, to us 
 and to our children. 
 
 "Our God. our help in ages past. 
 Our hope for years to come,. 
 Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
 And our eternal home ! 
 
 "Under the shadow of Thy throne 
 Thy saints have dwelt secure : 
 Sufificient is Thine arm alone, 
 And our defence is sure. 
 
 "Before the hills in order stood. 
 Or earth received her frame, 
 From everlasting Thou art God, 
 For aye wilt be the same. 
 
 "A thousand ages in Thy sight 
 Are like an evening gone ; 
 Swift as the watch that ends the night 
 Before the rising sun. 
 Vol.fXVI— 2. 
 
18 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Societv Publications. 
 
 "Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
 Bears all its sons away: 
 They fly, forgotten, as a dream 
 Dies at the opening day. 
 
 "O God, our help in ages past, 
 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Be Thou our Guard while troubles last. 
 
 And our eternal home !" 
 
 Thou, who hearest prayer, for Jesus' sake give ear to these our 
 prayers and praises, which we sum up in the words of our Lord : 
 
 Our Father, Who art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy 
 kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ; Give us 
 this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive 
 those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation, but 
 deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory, forever and ever. Amen ! 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. SAMUEL D. DODGE. 
 
 When your fellow citizen. Col. Webb C. Hayes, asked me to ad- 
 dress you upon this occasion, and I accepted the invitation, I did so 
 
 with the full appreciation that I should be 
 able to add nothing to the historical in- 
 formation which yon citizens of Sandusky 
 County possessed, I should be able to say 
 no wnrd which could in any way increase 
 your admiration for the distinguished 
 youth, who, almost a century ago, stood 
 near this spot, and with one gun and a 
 few brave soldiers routed the British 
 forces and their Indian allies. 
 
 You citizens of Sandusky County have 
 studied your histories well; you have 
 shown full appreciation for the courage 
 displayed on that occasion and you have 
 honored many times the memory and 
 deeds of the distinguished Soldier. Stu- 
 dents of American history have related to 
 you the causes that led up to the War of 
 1812 ; eminent writers have described to you the campaign preceding the 
 attack on Fort Stephenson ; and distinguished orators, with brilliant 
 phrases, have pictured to you the handsome youth standing upon the ram- 
 parts of Fort Stephenson, and amid the yells of savages and the fierce at- 
 tacks of the veterans of Wellington urging his little band to deeds of hero- 
 
 SAMUEL D. DODGE. 
 
The Croghmi Celebration. . 19 
 
 ism. The life and deeds of George Croghan are familiar tales in every 
 household of this historic neighborhood. Your fellow townswoman, Miss- 
 Julia M. Haynes, in her admirable paper, "'Fremont in History," read to- 
 you a few years ago, has given us a clear, concise and eloquent statement 
 of the events which have made j^our city famous. Dr. Charles R. Williams, 
 in his public address delivered at Spiegel Grove, a few years since, has 
 added to the historical literature of Fremont a brilliant and polished essay,. 
 and other distinguished men and women have placed before you the 
 geography, history, and traditions of your town in pamphlet and speech. 
 You have listened to the thrilling eloquence of General Gibson and the 
 polished sentences of Governor Jacob D. Cox, and at that memorable 
 meeting when you dedicated this handsome monument, a meeting pre- 
 sided over by your distinguished citizen, Rutherford B. Hayes, you lis- 
 tened to the voices of Sherman, Foraker, Henry B. Payne and others. 
 That I could add anything to what has been said and written concerning 
 these historical events, I have not for a moment dared to hope, but per- 
 haps a personal allusion, if I may be allowed, will partially explain my 
 presumption and willingness to accept this invitation. 
 
 On July 9th, 1813, there was born in my grandfather's house in 
 Cleveland, a son, and for several weeks no agreement could be reached 
 as to the name he was to bear. Less than a month after the child's 
 birth, from every hill top to every valley, from settlement to settlement 
 of pioneers along shores of Lake Erie came the news that Major George 
 Croghan, a young man, had put to rout the English and Indians and 
 saved Fort Stephenson, and my grandfather's family had found a name 
 for their son, and to-day there is a grave in Lake View cemetery in 
 Cleveland and at its head a simple granite monument with the inscription 
 George Croghan Dodge, born July 9th, 1813, died June 6th, 1883; and 
 so I regard it as a privilege to pay a simple tribute to-day to a man 
 whose name my father bore, the story of whose achievement told me in 
 my boyhood was a narrative to which no tale of giants or fairies could 
 compare. 
 
 Fifty years before the defense of Ft. Stephenson or "Sandusky," as 
 the name was engraved on the gold medal presented by congress to the 
 peerless Croghan, this historic neighborhood had been the scene of the 
 capture and utter destruction at the outbreak of Pontiac's gigantic con- 
 spiracy of old Fort Sandusky, built in 1745 on the left or west side 
 of Sandusky bay and river on the Marblehead peninsula. 
 
 "The storm burst early in May of 1763. * * ^ Nine British forts 
 yielded instantly and the savages drank, scooped up in the hnllow of 
 joined hands, the blood of many a Briton. * * * Sandusky was the 
 first of the forts to fall, May 16th. Ensign Paully * * * was seized, 
 carried to Detroit, adopted, and married to a squaw, who had lost her 
 husband, the remainder of the garrison were massacreed and the fort 
 burned." 
 
20 , Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 Fort Sandusky, the first fort established in Ohio, was built in 1745 by 
 British traders from Pennsylvania and Virginia under the instruction, it 
 is said, of George Croghan, later deputy Indian Commissioner to Sir. 
 Wm. Johnston. It was located on the ^larblehead peninsula on the 
 left or west side of the Sandusky river and bay at the portage where 
 Indians and trappers coming from Detroit, in their course skirting 
 the chain of islands in Lake Erie, would land to carry their canoes 
 across to the Sandusky river on their way to the Scioto and Ohio. 
 The French, resenting this intrusion, "usurped F. Sandoski" and in 1754 
 built another fort, "Junundat," on the east or right side of the Sandusky 
 river and bay. The maps of John [Mitchell and Lewis Evans, both pub- 
 lislied in 1775, clearly show the location of these two forts. 
 
 Mitchell's map shows the fort on the west side of the river and 
 bay with the notation "Sandoski usurped by the French, 1751," while 
 Evans' map has "F Sandoski" on the west side and also "F Junundat 
 built in 1754" on the east side of the river and bay and diagonally across 
 from "Sandoski." 
 
 "Sandusky was afterward evacuated and on the 8th of September, 
 1760, the French governor. Vandreueil surrendered Canada to the Eng- 
 lish" and then ended French dominion in America. "Major Robert Rogers, 
 a native of New Hampshire, was directed to take possession of the west- 
 ern forts. He left Montreal on the 13th of September, 1760, with two 
 hundred rangers. * * * Proceeding west, he visited Sandusky * * * 
 after securing the fort at Detroit returned by land via Sandusky and 
 and Tuscarawas trail to Fort Pitt." 
 
 Soon after Major Rogers took possession of the western forts for 
 the British, Ensign Paully was placed in command of Fort Sandusky and 
 so remained until his capture, and the massacre of his garrison and the 
 utter destruction of the fort on May 16, 1763, at the outbreak of Pon- 
 tiac's conspiracy. As soon as the news of the capture of the nine British 
 forts reached the British authorities, Detroit and Fort Pitt alone escap- 
 ing capture, expeditions were sent to relieve the latter and to re-establish 
 British supremacy in the northwest. Captain Dalyell arrived at the 
 ruins of old Fort Sandusky in the fall of 1763 and then proceeded up 
 the Sandusky river to the village of the Hurons and Wyandots at the 
 lower rapids of the Sandusky river (now Fremont) and utterly destroyed 
 the Indian villages located there. 
 
 In 1764, twelve years before the declaration of Independence, Col. 
 John Bradstreet started from Albany to relieve Major Gladwyn at De- 
 troit. Pontiac, the crafty, powerful and ambitious chief of the Ottawa 
 Indians, the year before, had sent his red-stained tomahawk and his 
 war belts to the various Indian tribes between the Allegheny mountains 
 and the Mississippi river, stirring the hearts of the red men against the 
 pioneers, and was preparing to continue his attacks upon the various 
 western forts, and in his hatred toward the whites was determined 
 
 \ 
 
Tlic Croghaii Celebration. 21 
 
 to accomplish by force what Itc couhi not accomplish bj- treachery. He 
 had returned from Detr.iit in November, 1703, and it was evident thai 
 he was preparing for a more complete siege of that important military 
 post. It was then that General Thomas Gage wrote the Colonies and 
 asked for troops to suppress the growing insurrection of the Indian na- 
 tions ; and Colonel Bradstreet set forth from Albany with his army of 
 1180 men. 7G6 being provincial troops from New York, New Jersey and 
 Connecticut under Israel Putnam. Along they came to Lake Ontario 
 and with two \essels, 75 whale boats, and numberless canoes, issued 
 forth and steered westward. Remaining a while at Fort Niagara, passing 
 on and founding Fort Erie, they pushed on to Detroit after making 
 short encampments on the banks of the Cuyahoga river, on the present 
 site of Cleveland, and at the ruins, of old Fort Sandusky. All along the 
 journey Indians had been sent to treat for peace, but knowing from 
 experience the treacherous character of the Indians, Bradstreet was warned 
 against putting trust in the overtures of the savages. Yet notwithstanding 
 the protests of his followers, Bradstreet promised to refrain from march- 
 ing against the Delawares, Shawanese and other tribes, if within twenty- 
 five days the representatives of the tribes would meet him at Fort San- 
 dusky for the purpose of giving up prisoners and concluding a definite 
 treaty. Bradstreet had, however, been ordered to give to the Wyandots, 
 Ottawas and Aliamis a thorough chastisement, but on the approach of 
 the English commander these three tribes sent deputies to meet him 
 and promised to follow him to Detroit and make a treaty there, if he 
 would abandon the hostile plan against them. It was with this expecta- 
 tion that he reached Detroit, only to learn that the Indians whom he 
 had expected to meet on his return to Fort Sandusky for the purpose 
 of making a treaty, had assembled there to oppose the disembarkment 
 of the English soldiers. So Bradstreet started with sixty long boats and 
 one barge and glided down the Detroit river out upon the bosom of 
 Lake Erie. All expected to engage in a fierce combat with the savage 
 foe, but Bradstreet soon received better news. With this expedition of 
 Bradstreet was one Lieutenant ]\Iontresor, who kept a journal, and this 
 journal has been preserved among the collections of the New York 
 Historical Society. From the journal we learn that "news soon arrived 
 that the Delawares and Shawanese are assembled at Sandusky where the 
 old fort stood in order to treat with us for peace." With this information 
 Bradstreet's "troops entered Sandusky lake or bay" September 18, 1764, 
 and "encamped on a good clay bank half a mile west of the spot where 
 sixteen months before Pontiac had butchered the English garrison and 
 burned the fort." Indians soon appeared and pledged if he would not at- 
 tack the Indian village they would conclude a definite treaty and surrender 
 all prisoners they had. Bradstreet did not attack them. After waiting 
 seven days "Col. Bradstreet then proceeded up Sandusky river to the 
 village of the Hurons and Wyandots, which had been destroyed by Cap- 
 
22 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 tain Dalyell the preceding year." Montresor in liis journal says "Brad- 
 street's whole force proceeded and encamped one mile below the rapids 
 of the Sandusky River, and here at this camp near the Huron village 
 on Sandusky river, Major Israel Putnam served as Field Officer for the 
 picket and presided at a General Court Martial at his own tent to try 
 all prisoners brought before him."* So to this very spot, now Fort 
 Stephenson Park, Fremont, Ohio, fresh with the laurels won while in 
 command of Provincial troops in the siege of Havana, Cuba, with this 
 expedition came Israel Putnam, who afterwards became Senior Major 
 General in the army of the United States of America, one of the heroes 
 of Bunker Hill, an indomitable soldier, a man of generous soul and 
 sterling patriotism, and of whom his biographer. Col. David Humphreys, 
 says, "He seems to have been formed on purpose for the age in which 
 he lived. His native courage, unshaken integrity, and established repu- 
 tation as a soldier gave unbounded confidence to our troops in their first 
 conflict in the field of battle." 
 
 The colonial records of Connecticut for March, 1764, says this as- 
 sembly doth appoint Israel Putnam, Esq., to be major of the forces now 
 ordered raised in this colony for his Majesty's service against the In- 
 dian Nations who have been guilty of perfidious and cruel massacres of 
 the English. 
 
 Thus to the long list of patriots and statesmen and pioneers, who 
 in the early days wandered through the densely wooded trails, over these 
 plains which smiled to the sun in grass and flowers, and along the banks 
 of this historic river; to the names of Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, 
 William Henry Harrison, George Croghan and a host of others we can 
 add the immortal name of Israel Putnam. 
 
 The fifty odd years between the campaign of Bradstreet and the 
 "War of 1812, the years preceding and following the Revolutionary War 
 are filled with the stirring events of pioneer history. Northern Ohio was 
 the scene of border wars and Indian outrages. The massacre of the Mo- 
 ravians, Crawford's Expedition, the destruction of St. Clair's army, and 
 the victory of General Wayne at Fallen Timbers are a few of the many 
 important events that go to make up the history of the region around 
 the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. The disasters to the American arms 
 incident to the opening of the campaign of the War of 1812 in the north- 
 west — the disgraceful surrender of Hull at Detroit, the massacre of Win- 
 chester's men at the River Raisin, and Dudley's massacre, so-called, in the 
 otherwise successful defence of Fort Meigs culminated, however, on 
 August 2, 1813, in the unparalleled discomfiture of the British and In- 
 dians by a young Kentucky major. This defense, so brilliant and com- 
 plete, followed by Perry's Victory on Lake Erie and General Harrison's 
 triumph at the battle of the Thames practically closed the campaign. 
 
 Livingstone's Life of Israel Putnam, p. 139. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 23 
 
 The war of 1812 only supplemented the Revolutionary War. We 
 had become at once independent and feeble. Articles of confederation 
 bound us loosely together, and we had not yet fully won our place 
 among the nations of the earth. Other nations looked upon us as an 
 easy prey — they could seize our ships and imprison our seamen, but these 
 results were only incidents which gave rise to the conflict for which the 
 time was ripe and for which there was and could be no postponement. 
 This war must be had. We must consolidate and finish the work of 
 independence. It must be a reality and not a name, England must ac- 
 knowledge us as a distinct member of the family of nations, and this is 
 what we accomplished by the contest of 1812 and 1813. When that war 
 broke out the Indians were banded together in this Northwestern quar- 
 ter of the state under the leadership of Tecumseh, to whom the English 
 had given the rank of a general in their army. There was no city of 
 Fremont. The spot called Lower Sandusky was a military reservation two 
 miles square, established by treaty in 1785. Here was built Fort Stephen- 
 son — one of the many outposts in the midst of this hostile country. Built 
 to protect the communications of the army with the more distant posts 
 at Chicago and Detroit ; built perhaps that a crossing at this point of this 
 then important river might be made in safety. Up this Sandusky river 
 from the lake came all who wished to reach the Ohio river on their way 
 from Canada to Mississippi for, with a short portage, they could enter 
 the Scioto and then on down to the great rivers beyond. It was an im- 
 portant place then for a growing settlement, a vigorous colony might 
 be started here and Major Croghan appreciated its importance even if 
 Harrison did not. The English had made allies of the Indians. Te- 
 cumseh was .made a general. British emissaries were busy among the 
 Northwest tribes stirring them up to war upon the Americans. Gen- 
 eral Proctor, with his savage allies had failed to capture Fort Meigs, 
 and Proctor had withdrawn to his old encampment and there he re- 
 mained until on July 28th, 1813, the British embarked with their stores 
 and started for Sandusky bay and river for the purpose of attacking 
 Fort Stephenson. Again and again have you heard the story of this 
 fight. How General Harrison had sent word to Major Croghan that 
 if the British approached with force and cannon and he could discover 
 them in time to retreat, that he must do so. How Harrison in council 
 with his other Generals had decided that the fort was untenable and 
 ordered him to abandon it. How the messenger lost his way, and when 
 he did arrive Croghan sent back word to Harrison the memorable mes- 
 sage, "'We have determined to maintain this place, and by heavens we 
 can." The natural anger of General Harrison at this seeming diso- 
 bedience to his order and the summoiling of Croghan to come to Fort 
 Seneca and the placing of another in command until the gallant boy 
 had explained and appeased the wrath of his superior and was sent back to 
 his post, are familiar facts of history. On the afternoon of August 1st, 
 
24 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publicatiojis. 
 
 1813, we find the young hero back in command and with 160 men and 
 "Old Betsy," sending back to Proctor with his 700 veterans, 2,000 In- 
 dians and Barclay's gunboats in the river, a defiant refusal to his summons 
 to surrender. 
 
 General Harrison, m his report to the Secretary of War, thus de- 
 scribes the battle. "Their troops were formed into two columns, one led 
 by Lieut. -Colonel Short, headed the principal one. He conducted his men 
 to , the brink of the ditch under a galling fire from the garrison, and 
 by Lieut. -Colonel Shortt headed the principal one. He conducted his men 
 and the light infantry. At this moment a masked porthole was sud- 
 
 
 TWfW>. 
 
 A'J"TAC1<; ON FORT STEPHENSON. 
 
 denly opened and the six-pounder, with a half-load of powder and a 
 double charge of leaden slugs, at a distance of thirty feet, poured destruc- 
 tion upon them, and killed or wounded every man who entered the ditch. 
 In vain did the British officers try to lead on the balance of the column. 
 It retired under a shower of shot, and sought safety in the adjoining 
 woods." 
 
 And who was this young man who defended this place against a 
 force of British and Indians and drove them discomfited from the field 
 of battle. We seem to see him now as he stood there a model of manly 
 beauty in his youthful prime, "a man in all that makes a man ere man- 
 
The Croghmi Celebration. 25- 
 
 hood's years have been fulhlled" ; standing on tlie threshold of !iis 
 career. This young, accomplished, handsome youth was born at Locust 
 Grove, Ky., November 15, 1791. His mother was Lucy Clark. Of 
 uncles he had upon his mother's side, George Rogers Clark, whose great 
 campaign through the wilderness won for us the Northwest Territory 
 was one ; and William Clark, who with Captain Lewis made the famous 
 Lewis and Clark expedition of exploration across the continent, was 
 another. His father, William Croghan, was born in Ireland in 1752, 
 was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and fought at Brandywine, 
 Monmouth and Germantown, and when young George had finished 
 his preliminary schooling he entered at the age of 17 the College of 
 William and Mary and graduated two years later with the degree of 
 Bachelor of Arts. His purpose was to become a lawyer, but when the 
 governor of Indiana. William Henry Harrison, called for volunteers to 
 strike at Tecumseh and his stirring red men, Croghan joined the little 
 army as a private and began his life as a soldier at the battle of 
 Tippecanoe. 
 
 From that day until General Harrison sent him to this place, the 
 spirit of the soldier in him had met every test of skill and bravery, and 
 he took command of Fort Stephenson with the confidence of his su- 
 periors and with the love and admiration of his soldiers. In a report 
 of this battle by an English historian occurs this sentence: "The first 
 division were so near the enemy that they could distinctly hear the various 
 orders given in the fort and the faint voices of the wounded and dying 
 in the ditch, calling out for water, which the enemy had the humanity 
 to lower to them on the instant." 
 
 Over in that beautiful cemetery at Clyde, on its sunkissed slopes, 
 bright with the foliage of this August day, rests one who. fifty years 
 after the defense of Fort Stephenson, honored this country, his state and 
 his country by his conduct upon the field of battle — General James B. Mc- 
 Pherson, as good a soldier, as chivalrous a leader, as gallant a gentle- 
 man, as pure a man as ever fell upon the field of battle. General Sher- 
 man says of him "History tells us of but few who so blended the grace 
 and gentleness of the friend with the dignity, courage, faith and man- 
 liness of the soldier." Now Sandusky County has gathered to herself 
 all that remains of another hero, her first if not her greatest. Here under 
 the shadow of this monument among the people who love to do him honor, 
 on the very spot he so gallantly defended, will he lie 
 
 Till mouldering worlds and tumbling systems burst ; 
 When the last trump shall renovate his dust. 
 Till by the mandate of eternal truth. 
 His soul will flourish in immortal youth. 
 
 Such names as Croghan and McPherson are like the sound of a 
 
26 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 trumpet. They are the precious jewels of our nation's history, to be 
 gathered up among the treasures of the nation and kept immaculate from 
 the tarnishing breath of the cynic and the doubter. 
 
 My Friends; Wars are cruel. They crush with bloody heel all 
 justice, all happiness, all that is God-like in Man. We have but to 
 read the History of Nations to discern the hideous slaughters which 
 have marked their progress, and yet man is such a savage that until 
 the present generation he has insisted that the only way to settle things 
 is by the gage of battle. He has covered a hundred battle fields with 
 men and horses; with the groans of the wounded and the dying. He 
 has covered the pages of our history with gore, and if history, such 
 history as you have learned here on the banks of this gentle flowing 
 river that for a half a century had been the scene of strife and battle, 
 if such history I say, cannot cultivate out of man the brutal spirit of 
 war, teach him the wisdom of diplomacy and the need of arbitration, 
 then has the lesson been lost and he has failed to taste the fruit or 
 imbibe the philosophy of humanity. It is for us to substitute law for 
 war, reason for force, courts of reason for the settlement of contro- 
 versies among nations following up the maintenance of the law with the 
 vitalizing forces of civilization until all nations are molded into one 
 International Brotherhood, yielding to reason and conscience. Then can 
 we draw the sword from its sheath and fling it into the sea rejoicing 
 that it has gone forever. Let us recognize this truth and today on this 
 anniversary we will lay a new stone in the temple of Universal Peace. 
 This temple which shall rise to the very firmament and be as broad as 
 the ends of the earth. May such occasions as this lead us away from 
 an era of wars and battleships and new navies and bring us to a time 
 when Patriotism and Humanity can be compatible one with another and 
 to a time 
 
 When navies are forgotten 
 
 And fleets are useless things. 
 When the dove shall warm her bosom 
 Beneath the eagle's wings. 
 
 When memory of battles. 
 
 At last is strange and old, 
 When nations have one banner 
 
 And creeds have found one fold. 
 
 Then Hate's last note of discord 
 
 In all God's world shall cease, 
 In the conquest which is service 
 In the victory which is peace ! 
 
The Crozhan Celebration. 
 
 27 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS. 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 I am gratified, indeed, to be present and participate with you for 
 :a brief while upon this historic occasion. I have not come to make a 
 formal >peech, nor did I come to make you a speech at all. According 
 to the programme, I am to indulge only in a few "remarks." 
 
 What I shall say to you shall be born of the moment. I have 
 brought with me no well-turned phrases. I have come simply to join 
 v.ith you in paying tribute to the memory of men who did valiant service 
 
 in the cause of the Republic in the long 
 ago. 
 
 The spot whereon we stand is sacred 
 ground, for wherever men have fought in 
 the cause of American liberty, that ground 
 is sacred and ever will be held so. 
 
 George Croghan is a name that is in- 
 delibly written in the history of the Re- 
 public, and this great community honors 
 iticlf when it brings back his remains 
 from the sunny South and gives them 
 sepulcher in the soil hallowed by his 
 genius and valor. 
 
 We bring to-day beneath this beautiful 
 summer sky a tribute of our gratitude 
 for what he did for us and for our suc- 
 cessors in the centuries which stretch be- 
 fore us with so much promise. We lay the 
 remains of this brave soldier to their everlasting sleep beneath the shade 
 of yonder monument. 
 
 I wish we knew the names of the hundred and sixty men who stood 
 with him August 2, '1813, that we might call the roll of them here to- 
 day and pay to them the tribute of our gratitude and our admiration. 
 The brave commander who rendered illustrious service here in a critical 
 period of the war of 1812, is known to us and his name is upon our 
 lips and it will be sung by our children in days to come, but his brave 
 compatriots are unknown. The one hundred and sixty men who stood 
 here — as brave men as ever placed their lives upon the sacrificial altar 
 of their country — are known, for God Almighty knows men who go 
 down to the battle field to preserve American institutions for ages to 
 come. 
 
 There is one brave young m.an, who stood with Croghan, whose 
 name we cannot forget, and v.-hich we recall with pride and satisfaction, 
 nnd that is the name of Ensign Shipp. When the British General Proctor 
 
 FAIRBANKS. 
 
28 Ohio ArcJi. and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 came bearing a flag of truce, supported b\' an army trained in the art 
 of arms — five hundred British^ eight hundred savages, I believe, twelve 
 hundred in all, — against an hundred an-d sixty-one, commander and 
 soldiery, it was believed that the flag of truce would win a complete 
 surrender of the small garrison. But the British commander knew little 
 of the metal that was in George Croghan and Ensign Shipp and the 
 hundred and fifty-nine others who shared with them the fortunes of 
 war. The young commander who had barely reached his majority sent 
 to meet the officers bearing the flag of truce, this young Ensign, younger 
 still than himself. The British officer demanded the surrender of the 
 garrison. The Ensign answered — and history can never forget his an- 
 swer: "My commandant and the garrison," said he, "are determined 
 to defend the post to the last extremity and bury ourselves in its ruins 
 rather than surrender to any force whatever." 
 
 It was pointed out by the British commander that resistance would 
 probably result in massacre by the savages. To this suggestion the 
 Ensign defiantly replied : "When the fort shall be taken there will be 
 none to massacre. It will not be given up while a man is able to 
 resist." 
 
 This was the note of sublime heroism. It was essentially the 
 answer of a brave American patriot. It was a sentiment kindred to 
 one uttered by General Grant during the Civil War. The great General, 
 as I remember, in one of his campaigns, crossed a river and sought an; 
 engagement with the enemy with the river in his rear, and with only 
 one transport. When it was suggested that this was, perhaps, inade- 
 quate provision in the event of the necessity of a retreat, the great 
 captain of our armies made the laconic reply that if he was obliged to- 
 retreat, one transport would be sufficient. 
 
 As Shipp made his way back to the fort. Major Croghan awaited 
 him. The latter knew the British would demand surrender and that 
 the brave Ensign would decline to accede to his demand. As the fort 
 opened for the Ensign's return, Croghan said : "Come in Shipp and 
 we will blow them all to Hell." That was a naughty word. (A voice: 
 "But it was the right one under the circumstances.") Yes, you are- 
 right. If it was ever to be used, then was the occasion to use it. and 
 I think that a word like that, used in the cause of liberty, is a dis- 
 infected word. 
 
 (The Vice-President indicated he was about to close. Several 
 voices: "Go on! Go on!") .. 
 
 I do not want to talk longer than it took George Croghan to lick 
 the British and the savages here. He illustrated better than any man- 
 can that it is not words which win victories, but it is deeds that accom- 
 plish them. 
 
 Fellow citizens, American liberty has cost something. It is a 
 singular fact that those great blessings to the human race which it 
 n'ost longs for, which it most prays for, always come at the greatest 
 
Tlic Croorliaii Celebration. 
 
 29 
 
 cost. Humanity, in all her march, back from the early mist of history, 
 down to this present hour, has won her victories for liberty mamly 
 npon the battle field, \\',- who are here to-day are in the enjoyment 
 ol liberty which was won upon the field of battle-. We are a great, 
 happy, contented nation of eighty millions. We look out across the sea 
 to the Empire of Ru'ssia,. with her one hundred and forty millions 
 struggling with the great prolilems of human liberty. We see their wars, 
 we see their massacres, we see their bloodslied unspeakable. We each 
 and every one wish that those people could" come out of the bondage 
 of iron rule into the glad sunshine of liberty. 
 
 America has had five wars: the War of the American Revolution; 
 the W'nr of ISl'J which made us forever secure against the efforts of 
 
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 We '.'^^^^^^^1 
 
 ^ -1 1 • * jx^ 
 
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 |lik?iaL.^99i^Na 
 
 ■r^i Z^^ 
 
 tov-' ■!. , 
 
 ■ ' ••?if ^^a 
 
 
 ^ ' 
 
 1^^^: 
 
 VICE PRES. FAIRBANKS IN PARADE. 
 
 Great Britain to wrest liberty from us — the liberty fought for by our 
 continental fathers ; the war with Mexico was the third, and I am glad 
 to sec here to-day and take by th6 hand several of the survivors of the 
 war with Alexico. Their presence is an inspiration. It is a curious 
 coincidence that there is now present a man who knew Croghan in the 
 Mexican War. It seems to carry us back from the present to the very 
 presence of the hero of Fort Stephenson. Then the war of the great 
 Rebellion — the mightiest w^ar in the history of man. There are here 
 to-day scores of men bearing upon their breasts the evidence of their 
 loyalty to the Union in the hour of its supremest exigency. And later 
 came the war with Spain. 
 
 These five wars were fought by the people of the United States, 
 
30 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 not to enslave men but to make men free, to enlarge in a vast degree 
 the zone of Republican government. 
 
 All honor to George Croghan and his heroic band. All honor 
 to the soldiers of the revolution. All honor to the soldiers of the 
 Mexican war. All honor to the soldiers of the Union. All honor to 
 the soldiers of the Spanish-American war. The American people honor 
 them. They honor them each and all. They hold them forever within 
 the embrace of their fondest memory. 
 
 Fellow citizens, it would be impossible for me to close these few 
 words without expressing that appreciation to Col. Webb C. Hayes 
 which is in the hearts of all of us here to-day. It is a happy circum- 
 stance that he, a soldier himself, and a son of one of the brave defenders 
 of the Union in the Civil War, should thoughtfully and generously bring 
 back from the soil of Kentucky v.'here he was sleeping his everlasting 
 sleep the remains of this brave, fearless leader, in order that they might 
 rest here amid the theater of his immortal achievements. 
 
 All honor to Colonel Hayes for what he has so splendidly done, 
 and all honor to the comm.unity which respects and preserves the memory 
 of those who have served so well in the cause of their country. 
 
 ■■ I will leave you, my friends, and I leave you with regret. I leave 
 you, however, with the confident hope that you will go forward in the 
 enjoyment of peace and happiness which are. the legitimate fruits of 
 those Avho fought here and elsewhere for Republican government. 
 
 ADDRESS OF GENERAL ANDREW L. HARRIS. 
 
 GOVERNOR OF OHIO. 
 
 The chairman has stated that I will make a few remarks, and this 
 is truly said. When your committee came to Columbus to invite me to 
 participate on this occasion I frankly told them that it would be im- 
 possible for me to make any preparation, but that I could come provid- 
 ing no speech was expected of me, and, fellow citizens. Col. Hayes 
 gladly accepted the promise, and it was with that understanding that I 
 am here to-day. for the purpose of participating with you in my pres- 
 ence more than by words or speech on this memorable occasion. 
 
 I sometimes think that we have never given sufificient importance 
 in history to the gallant deeds that were performed here in 1813. You 
 remember that up to that time the results of the war seemed against us. 
 We had met many reverses, but it was Col. Croghan and his 160 men 
 who won one of the most important victories, according to the numbers 
 engaged on our side and the numbers of the enemy, that is recorded 
 in American history. It was from this moment that the tide of the 
 battle turned in our favor. From that time victory after victory followed 
 until in a few months' time the war was ended, and victory seemed 
 vouchsafed to us so far as the mother country was concerned, the 
 
The Croo-han Celebration. 
 
 31 
 
 liberty that we are enjoying to-day, and I wish to say that upon this 
 spot, this historic spot that the tide turned in favor of the American 
 nation, in the war of 1812-13. How unfortunate you are to have within 
 your corporate Hmits the most historic spot in the United States of 
 America. I never stood upon this ground, upon this battlefield until to- 
 day. My mind turns back to my youthful days, when I read of the 
 
 bravery of Croghan and his 160 men, and I 
 often thought it was a miracle, he being a 
 mere youth and only 160 men, and de- 
 fending the fort against so many British 
 and Indians. But it was done, and from 
 that day to this, this spot has been a his- 
 toric spot, a spot that is dear in the minds 
 of our American citizens. 
 
 Now, there are others to make a few 
 remarks, and I want to give them a chance 
 to make them, and I only want to say in 
 conclusion that I congratulate the city of 
 Fremont in the respect and love that it has 
 shown for this spot, and its great defender. 
 I want to congratulate the city of Fremont 
 for having in your midst a young soldier 
 who is aiding to keep this a historic spot, 
 dearer and dearer each year in the mem- 
 ory of the American people, in the person of Col. Webb C. Hayes. 
 I thank you for your attention for you must be getting tired and I 
 will leave you, saying that I am glad it was my privilege to be with 
 you to-day, and I will ever remember this rheeting as long as I live. 
 This day will be deep in my memory. 
 
 GOVERNOR HARRIS. 
 
 ADDRESS OF E. O. RANDALL. 
 
 SECRETARY OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 The only apology I have for the honor of appearing before you on 
 this interesting occasion is that my college friend of years ago, your 
 splendid, patriotic and enterprising fellow-citizen. Colonel Webb. C. 
 Hayes, invited me to come ; his apology being that I am an official of 
 the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, whose business it 
 is to gather, preserve and disseminate the lore, historic and prehistoric 
 of our great state. The orator of the day, the Hon. Samuel D. Dodge, 
 has recited to you in graphic terms the history that led up to the 
 siege of Fort Stephenson and the incomparable bravery and patriotism 
 with which the youth George Croghan and his gallant little band defended 
 the crude stockade fort and stemmed the tide that to that moment seemed 
 against the Americans. The successful repulse of Proctor and the British 
 
-32 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 soldiers and Tecumseh, with his hundreds of braves, was the first real 
 victory on Ohio soil in the \\'ar of 1812. That we may all the more , 
 appreciate the extent and significance of that event, let us for purposes 
 of comparison look to other parts of the world, and note some of the 
 stupendous acts that were being ■ performed in the theatre of great 
 things. In this very month, indeed on this very daj' and the days fol- 
 lowing, in August, 1813, Bolivar, known as the Liberator and often called 
 the Washington of South America, as the head of several hundred vol- 
 unteer revolutionists, was entering as conqueror, Caracas, the capital of 
 Venezuela, which country was thus freed from the oppression of Spanish 
 monarchial rule and became one of the first republics of South America. 
 In Europe a greater scene was being enacted. The incomparable Napo- 
 leon was engaged in that series of military movements on the banks 
 of the Elbe, which were the crowning events of his generalship and the 
 culmination of his career. At this date (August 1813) Napoleon was 
 approaching Dresden with an army of 100,000 
 troups and upon that field he defeated 150,000 of 
 the allied forces. Two months later on the nearby 
 famous field of Leipsic with 150,000, the flower of 
 the French army, he was overwhelmed by the tre- 
 mendous host of 250,000 soldiers under the com- 
 bined powers of Europe. It was a crushing defeat 
 f(u- the sublime rogue of Corsica, the greatest mili- 
 tary genius of modern times. These stupendous 
 events shook the foundations of European dynas- 
 ties, but were contests not for humanity and liberty 
 so much as for the supremacy of one form of 
 monarchy over another. Not on the banks of the 
 Elbe, but here on this picturesque spot, on the banks 
 of the peaceful little Sandusky, in the wild woods 
 of the Ohio Valley, devoid of the "pomp and circumstance" of gigantic 
 war. was being fought the battle for^reedom and the best form of demo- 
 cratic government ever given man. Here, in this little stockade fort George 
 Croghan, a native American lad, with but 160 men, heroes of struggle and 
 sacrifice with a might almost miraculous, repelled the forces of the British 
 under Proctor, with 500 of the weathered veterans of the Peninsula War, 
 the trained troops of the victorious Wellington and two thousand or more 
 Indian braves under command of Tecumseh, the most sagacious and 
 daring leader of his race. How did George Croghan do it? He had 
 the versatility as well as the valor of the pioneer soldier. He had but 
 one mounted gun, "Old Betsy," whose venerable presence now stands 
 guard over the new grave of her old commander, — this one cannon 
 Croghan so deftly shifted behind the stockade walls, firing a shot now 
 through one port-hole and then through another, that the enemy were 
 fooled into the idea that Fort Stephenson was "chuck full" of firing 
 
 E. O. RANDALL. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 33 
 
 Betsies. The bravery of this American boy and his dauntless band ex- 
 ceeded in results for the betterment of humanity and the advance of 
 civilization all the campaigns combined of Napoleon and his antagonists. 
 Croghan and his 160 followers were victorious because they were typical 
 pioneer Americans — Americans, a new type of character in the history 
 of the world. Someone has said that God sifted four races to produce 
 the American. Each one of you within the sound of my voice can 
 vividly recollect how on that magnificent May morning, 1898, Dewey 
 sailed into the Bay of Manila and almost in the twinkling of an eye sunk 
 the Spanish fieet, without the loss of a single American sailor and 
 scarcely the scratching of the paint from any of the American ships. 
 We thought that that was the most unparalleled event in history and 
 could never be repeated, but in sixty days thereafter it was encored in 
 the Bay of Santiago when the fleet of Cervera emerged and on that 
 July Sunday morning left the bay for the sea to encounter the storm 
 of fire and shot from the ships of Sampson and Schley. The war cor- 
 respondent of the Londoji Times, one who for the last forty years had 
 been an eye-witness of the chief military and naval feats, both in the 
 old world and the new, gave in his paper a most graphic picture of this 
 battle of Santiago, which he viewed from the deck of one of the American 
 vessels. At the close of his vivid description, he made the significant 
 remark that the behavior of the American sailor was one of the most 
 marvelous exhibitions of coolness, bravery and accuracy he had ever wit- 
 nessed. Said he, 'T verily believe that had those rival seamen exchanged 
 places, namely, had the Spanish sailors possessed the modern, thoroughly 
 equipped American ships and thus emerged from the bay, and had the 
 American sailors possessed the decrepid and time-worn ships of Spain, 
 the result would have been the same, namely, that the Americans 
 would have won the victory, because that victory was won by the char- 
 acter of the American boy who manned the American ships." The 
 American boy, Croghan, who defended Fort Stephenson against such tre- 
 mendous odds was the same type as the sailors of Dewey and Sampson 
 and Schley and the followers of the generals who led in the Spanish 
 War. It is related that when the Sultan of Turkey heard of the great 
 victory of the Americans at Manila and Santiago, he sent for the Amer- 
 ican ambassador and asked him if the reports of the marvelous feats 
 of the Americans were true. The ambassador replied that they were, 
 when the sultan asked if he could buy ships and guns like those which 
 the Americans employed. The ambassador told him that he supposed 
 the sultan could get them, they were made in America for money by 
 great manufacturers. "Then," said the sultan, "I will buy some of them 
 that I may win great victories." "Oh," said the ambassador, "that you 
 can do ; but you cannot buy the American boys to man them for you." 
 Tt is of such men and boys as those who fought the American Revolution, 
 
 Vol. XVI— 3. 
 
34 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 the War of 1812, of 1848, the Rebellion of 61-5 and the Spanish War 
 that this republic is composed. Your Vice-President and your Governor 
 have told you in eloquent language of the heroism and patriotism of 
 the American soldiers in those wars for independence, unity, liberty and 
 humanity. It is a noble record of a noble people and in that record 
 Ohio has taken a most conspicuous part. Three thousand Revolutionary 
 soldiers, scarred and wearied after the battles for independence, came 
 across the AUeghanies to establish homes for their declining years in the 
 peaceful and fruitful plains and valleys of Ohio. Their lives had been 
 dedicated to independence and freedom and their buried bones made 
 sacred the soil of Ohio. The seed of that Revolutionary patriotism 
 ripened into an hundred fold in the war for the national Union, for 
 300,000 loyal recruits went forth from the "Buckeye State" to fight on 
 the battle-fields of the Sunny South for the preservation of the republic 
 whose foundation was laid by their revered sires. In the crypt of St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, London, that splendid temple erected to the faith of 
 Christianity, lie the remains of its great architect, Christopher Wren. 
 They repose beneath the floor in which is sunken a simple plate, upon 
 which is inscribed the name "Christopher Wren," and the Latin inscrip- 
 tion "si monumentum requiris, circumspice" ; if you seek his monument, 
 look about you. So I say, we may erect monuments, the graven metal 
 or carved marble, to the heroes of the past, not for them, for they 
 need them not, but for us that this reminder of their heroic deeds may 
 lead us to emulate their examples and push on to loftier heights. No, 
 I would say of George Croghan and the heroes of 1776 and 1812, if you 
 should ask for their monument, look about you and contemplate the mag- 
 nificent republic of which they laid the corner-stone, a republic whose 
 people present the highest of type character and civilization and whose 
 principles of liberty and humanity are 'being borne to all the inhabitants 
 of the earth and the islands of the sea. Jam.es A. Garfield, than whom 
 there was no more exalted example of the American citizen, soldier, 
 statesman, scholar and orator, a martyred President from Ohio, at the 
 close of one of his brilliant addresses used these words: "The history 
 of the worlds is a divine poem ; the history of every nation is a canto in 
 that poem ; and the life of every man is a word in that poem. The 
 harmony of that poem has ever been resounding through the ages and 
 though its melody has been marred by the roaring of cannon and the 
 groans of dying men, yet to the Christian philosopher, to you and me, 
 that poerrt breathes a prophecy of more happy and halcyon days to 
 come." What a word was the life of George Croghan in that poem of 
 universal history — a word that was a clarion note of bravery, heroism 
 and patriotism, a note that shall ever resound clear and distinct in the 
 harmony of American history. 
 
The Crodian CcJcbratioii. 
 
 85 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 
 
 BY BASIL :MEEK, ESQ.. FKE.MOXT, OHIO. 
 
 We have met today on this ground, famous in history, because of 
 the victorious defence of Fort Stephenson, then standing on this spot, 
 by Major George Croghan. and the band of he- 
 roes under his command, ninety-three years 
 ago, — not only to commemorate that brilliant 
 achievement, but also to further consecrate and 
 make sacred the spot by the re-interment of the 
 remains of its gallant defender. 
 
 To Col. Webb C. Hayes great praise is due, 
 for his patriotic, persistent and successful quest 
 for the grave of the hero, and in procuring evi- 
 dence conclusive of the identity of the body, 
 which, with the casket enclosing the same he 
 caused to be brought here for interment. His 
 efforts have been loyally seconded by the ladies 
 of the George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R.. of this 
 city, who recently dedicated a commemorative 
 tablet near the spot from which the British cannon bombarded the fort. 
 The tablet reads as follows : 
 
 RASIL MEEK. 
 
 Near this spot 
 
 British cannon from Commodore Barclay's fleet bombarded 
 
 Major Croghan in Fort Stephenson August 1, and 2, 1813. 
 
 General Proctor attempted to capture the fort by assault with 
 
 his Wellington veterans, assisted by Indians under Tecumseh. 
 
 Major Croghan with only 160 men and one cannon 
 
 "Old Betsy, "repulsed the assault. 
 
 The British retreated to their ships with many killed and wounded, 
 
 but leaving Lt. Col. Short, Lieut. Gordon 
 
 and 25 soldiers of the 41st regiment dead in the ditch. 
 
 Commodore Barclay was wounded and with his entire fleet including 
 
 the cannon used against Fort Stephenson was captured by 
 
 Commodore Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 10, 1813. 
 
 General Proctor, with his British regulars, was defeated and 
 
 Tecumseh with many of his Indians, was killed by 
 
 General Harrison at the battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813. 
 
 Major Croghan was awarded a gold medal and each 
 
 of his officers a sword by the congress of the United States 
 
 for gallantry in the defense of Fort Stephenson. 
 
 Erected by the George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R. 
 
 • It is not for me, in this paper, to enter into any detailed account 
 of the engagement, or any description of the fort : nor to enter into 
 details of the causes or military movements that led up to the attack. 
 
36 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Societv Publications 
 
 as these have been assigned to others. Reference, however, is made to 
 the accompanying cut of the plan of the fort and its environs. 
 
 "In long years past, on the banks of this river 
 
 Whose current so peaceful, flows silently down, 
 
 Roamed the race of the red man, with bow and with quiver, 
 Where stands fair Fremont, our beautiful town." 
 
 Here centuries ago, according to tradition, there were two fortified 
 neutral towns. One on the east and one on the west bank of the river, 
 remains of which, in the shape of earthworks were visible within the 
 remembrance of inhabitants now living. 
 
 
 •.?v^ 
 
 grenadiers 
 
 FORT SANDUSKY AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Reference to the Environs. — a — British gunboats at their place 
 of landing. b — Cannon, a six-pounder. c — Mortar. d — Batteries. 
 i' — Graves of Lieut. Col. Short and Lieut. Gordon, who fell in the 
 ditch. / — Road to Upper Sandusky, g — Advance of the enemy to the 
 fata! ditch. / — Head of navigation. 
 
 Major B. F. Stickney, for many years Indian agent in this locality 
 and familiar with its history and traditions, in a lecture in Toledo in 
 1845, speaking of these towns, said : "The Wyandots have given me 
 this account of them. At a period of two and a half centuries ago 
 all the Indians west of this point were at war with those east. Two 
 walled towns were built near each other, inhabited by those of Wyandot 
 origin. They assumed a neutral character. All of the west might enter 
 
The Cros-Jian Celebration 
 
 37 
 
 the western city and all of the east the eastern. The inhabitants of one 
 city might inform those of the other that war parties were there ; but who 
 they were or whence they came or anything more must not be mentioned." 
 Gen. Lewis Cass, in an address in 18"29 before the Historical Society 
 of Michigan, alkiding to these neutral towns, said : "During the long and 
 disastrous contest which preceded and followed the arrival of the Euro- 
 peans, in which the Iroquois contended for victory, and their enemies 
 for existence, this little band (Wyandots) preserved the integrity of 
 their tribe and the sacred character of peacemakers. All who met 
 upon their /threshold met as friends. This neutral nation was still in 
 existence when the French Missionaries reached the upper lakes two 
 centuries ago. The details of their history and of their character and 
 privileges are meager and unsatisfactory, and this is the more to be 
 regretted as such a sanctuary among the barbarous tribes is not only a 
 
 Miiiiiiiiimiiip 
 
 FORT SANDUSKY. 
 
 References to the Fort. — Line 1 — Pickets. Line "2 — Embank- 
 ment from the ditch to and against the picket. Line 3. Dry ditch, nine 
 feet wide by six deep. Line A- — -Outward embankment or glacis. A — 
 Blockhouse tirst attacked by cannon, b. B — Bastion from which the 
 ditch was raked by Croghan's artillery. C — Guard blockhouse, in the 
 lower left corner. D — Hospital during the attack. FEE — Military 
 store-houses. F — Commissary's store-house. G — Magazine. H- — 
 Fort gate. K K K — Wicker gates. L — Partition gate. 
 
 singular institution but altogether at variance with that reckless spirit 
 of cruelty with wliich their wars are usually prosecuted." Internal 
 feuds finallj' arose, as the tradition goes, and the villages were destroyed. 
 Here then the Indians for centuries had their homes and swarmed 
 along the banks and in the forests and plains of the valley of their beloved 
 rive'r. Large game abounded on every hand, the river teemed with fish. 
 
38 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 and the marshes were alive with wild fowl. To them it was an ideal 
 abode and typical of their heaven, the happy hunting ground. They were 
 mostly of the Wyandot tribe, whose ancestors' home was once on the 
 north side of the river St. Lawrence, and who, becoming involved in a 
 war with the Senecas, living on the opposite side, which threatened their 
 extermination, concluded to leave their country. They settled first in the 
 vicinity of Greenbay; the Senecas followed them and the war was 
 renewed with varying fortunes, until finally it came to an end with the 
 Wyandots victors, but so badly worsted as to be unable to take much 
 advantage of their victory, and they finally settled here. They were 
 more civilized than any of the other tribes inhabiting this region, among 
 whom were Delawares, Shawanees and Ottawas. 
 
 The origin of the name of the river has been variously explained. 
 A map, published in Amsterdam in 1720 founded on a great variety of 
 Memoirs of Louisiana, represents within the present limits of Erie 
 county a water called Lac San douske. There is also a map published by 
 Henry Popple, London in 1733, where the bay is called "Lake Sandoski." 
 A very probable account of the origin of the name is the tradition of 
 aged Wyandot warriors given to Gen. Harrison in the friendly chat of 
 the Wigwam from which it appeared that their conquering tribes in 
 their conflict with the Senecas, centuries ago, having landed at Maumee, 
 followed the lake shore toward the east, passing and giving names to 
 bays, creeks and rivers until on coming to Cold creek, where it enters 
 the bay, they were so charmed with the springs of clear, cold water in 
 the vicinity that they pitched their tents and engaged in hunting and 
 fishing, and by them the bay and river was called Sandusky. Meaning 
 in their language "At the Cold Water." Butterfield gives a conversation 
 of John M. James, with William Walker, principal chief of the Wyandots 
 at Upper Sandusky, at Columbus, 1835. He said the meaning of the 
 word was "at the cold water," and should be pronounced San-doos-tee. 
 The Lower San-doos-tee (cold water) and Upper San-doos-tee being the 
 descriptive Wyandot Indian names known as far back as our knowledge 
 of this tribe extends. 
 
 Here at Lower Sandusky was one of the most important Wyandot 
 villages, named Junque-indundeh, which in the Wyandot language, noted 
 for its descriptive character, signifies "at the place of the hanging haze 
 or mist (smoke)," a name applicable and of a poetic tinge when its site 
 with the surrounding forests, prairies and marshes, and the burning 
 leaves and grass are considered. Through this village passed one of 
 the main Indian trails from Detroit to the Ohio River country through 
 the Ohio wilderness. There was good navigation from here to Detroit 
 and the upper lakes, and a good waterway for their canoes, with but a 
 short portage, between the Sandusky river and the Scioto, to the Ohio 
 river. 
 
 For a period of nearly sixty years before the battle of Fort Stephen- 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 39 
 
 son this spot was on the route pursued by military expeditions of France, 
 Great Britain and our forefathers, and by the war parties of the savage 
 red man from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. The first mihtary ex- 
 pedition of white men to this place of which we have a record at the pres- 
 ent time, was that of the French sent out by DeLongueuil, commandant at 
 Detroit, in 1748, during the conspiracy of Nicolas, the Wyandot chief 
 who resided at Sandosket, on the north side of the bay of that name, 
 and who had permitted English traders from Pennsylvania to erect 
 a large blockhouse at his principal town on the north side of Lake 
 Sandoski, in 1745, named Fort Sandusky. After the failure of his con- 
 spiracy, Nicolas resolved to abandon his towns on Sandusky Bay, and 
 on April 7. 1748, destroyed his villages and forts and with his warriors 
 and their families moved to the Illinois country. 
 
 The French sent another expedition in 1749 under Captain de 
 Celeron who after passing up the Sanduskj^ river conducted an expe- 
 dition to the Ohio country, burying engraved leaden plates along the 
 Ohio river. The first British expedition up the Sandusky was after 
 the close of the old French War in 1760, when Robert Rogers, a native 
 of New Hampshire, was directed to take possession of the western forts. 
 He left Montreal on the 13th of September, 1760, with two hundred Ran- 
 gers — proceeding west he visited Sandusky — after securing the fort at 
 Detroit returned by land via Sandusky and Tuscarawas Trail to Fort 
 Pitt, stopping at the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky, probably on this 
 very knoll. The succeeding expedition, that of Colonel Bradstreet and 
 Israel Putnam in 1764, was outlined in the address of Hon. S. D. Dodge. 
 
 In May, 1778, the Renegades Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliott 
 and Simon Girty passed through Lower Sandusky to join the notorious 
 Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton at Detroit, and lead the savages 
 in their attack on the settlers. James Girty came from Fort -Pitt a few 
 weeks later to join them. Later in the year 1778 Daniel Boone and 
 Simon Kenton, then held captive by the Indians, at different times passed 
 through Lower Sandusky en route to Detroit. Strange to say Simon 
 Girty saved Simon Kenton's life and sent him to Detroit after he had 
 been condemned to be burned and tortured. 
 
 The next military expedition of which we have knowledge which 
 stopped at or passed through this place was the British contingent which 
 served with the Indians in repelling Crawford's expedition which cul- 
 minated in the terrible scene of Crawford's execution by burning at 
 the stake. This followed about two months after the passage of the 
 Moravians through this place on their removal to Detroit. 
 
 The pathetic story of the Moravian Indians whose villages were 
 originally planted on the banks of the Tuscarawas river, in 1772, had a sad 
 ending some ten years later in the brutal massacre which forms one 
 of the darkest pages of Revolutionary times. The Moravian missio- 
 naries and Christian Indians seemed to excite the special enmity of the 
 
40 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 savages both white and red, British and American. The renegades, Elliott, 
 Girty and McKee, finally persuaded the British Commandant at Detroit 
 to order their removal, and sent the bloody Wyandot Indians under 
 their war chiefs Kuhn of Lower Sandusky, and Snip of Upper Sandusky, 
 accompanied by the famous Delaware chief Captain Pipe of Upper San- 
 dusky, to transfer them to the Sandusky villages or to the vicinity of 
 Detroit. This was carried out in their usual ruthless manner. While 
 the Indian converts remained at Upper Sandusky, De Peyster, the Com- 
 mandant of Detroit, through the machinations of Simon Girty, ordered 
 the missionaries brought before him. Rev. John Heckewelder, one of 
 the missionaries, afterward wrote, in his "History of the Mission" : "On 
 the morning of the 13th of March, 1782, a Frenchman named Francis 
 Levallie, from Lower Sandusky, gave us notice that Girty who was to 
 have taken us to Detroit, having gone with a party of Wyandots to war 
 against the Americans on the Ohio, had appointed him to take his place 
 in taking us to Detroit, and that on the next day after tomorrow (the 
 15th) he would be here again to set out with us. A little conversation 
 with this man satisfied us that we had fallen into better hands. He 
 told us : 'Girty had ordered him to drive us before him to Detroit, the 
 same as if we were cattle, and never make a halt for the purpose of 
 the women giving suck to their children. That he should take us 
 around the head of the lake (Erie) and make us foot every step of 
 the way.' He, however would not do this, but would take us to Lower 
 Sandusky, and from that place send a runner with a letter to the Com- 
 mandant at Detroit, representing our situation and taking further orders 
 from him respecting us." 
 
 Notwithstanding Girty's hard order, the kind-hearted Frenchman 
 conducted the missionaries with every regard for their comfort and 
 safety, and boats were sent to take them from Lower Sandusky to Detroit. 
 A short time after reaching Lower Sandusky they received word that the 
 almost equally brutal white borderers on the American side, led by the 
 notorious Col. Williamson, had marched from Fort Pitt and cruelly 
 slaughtered some ninety or more Christian Indians who still remained 
 at the Moravian villages on the Tuscarawas. The missionary band at 
 Lower Sandusky consisted of the senior missionary David Zeisberger, 
 and his wife ; John Heckewelder, wife and child ; Senseman, wife and 
 babe but a few weeks old; Youngman and wife; and Edwards and 
 Michael Young, unmarried. The two latter were, while in Lower San- 
 dusky, lodged in the house of Mr. Robbins. The other four missionaries 
 with their families were guests of Mr. Arundel. Robbins and Arundel 
 were English traders at this place. 
 
 Heckewelder in his History of Indian Nations describes the ordeal 
 of running the gauntlet as follows : 
 
 'Tn the month of April, 1782, when I was myself a prisoner at 
 Lower Sandusky, waiting for an opportunity to proceed with a trader to 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 41 
 
 Detroit, — three American prisoners were brought in by fourteen war- 
 riors from the garrison of Fort Mcintosh. As soon as they had crossed 
 the Sandusky river to which the village lay adjacent, they were told 
 by the captain of the party to run as hard as they could to a painted 
 post which was shown to them. The youngest of the three without a 
 moment's hesitation immediately started for it, and reached it fortu- 
 nately without receiving a single blow; the second hesitated for a moment, 
 but recollecting himself, he also ran as fast as he could and likewise 
 reached the post unhurt. The third, frightened at seeing so many men, 
 women and children with weapons in their hands ready to strike him, 
 kept begging the captain to spare him, saying that he was a mason and 
 would build him a fine large stone house or do any work for him that 
 he would please. 
 
 "Run for your life," cried the chief to him, "and don't talk now of 
 building houses !" But the poor fellow still insisted, begging and praying 
 to the captain, who at last finding his exhortations vain and fearing the 
 consequences turned his back upon him and would not hear him any 
 longer. Our mason now began to run, but received many a hard blow, 
 ■one of which nearly brought him to the ground, which, if he had fallen 
 would have decided his fate. He, however, reached the goal, and not 
 without being sadly bruised, and he was beside bitterly reproached and 
 scoffed at all round as a vile coward, while the others were hailed as 
 brave men and received tokens of universal approbation." 
 
 ''In the year 1782," says Heckewelder, "the war chief of the Wyandot 
 tribe of Indians of Lower Sandusky sent a young white man whom he 
 had taken as prisoner as a present to another chief who was called the 
 Half King of Upper Sandusky, for the purpose of being adopted into 
 his family in the place of one of his sons who had been killed the pre- 
 ceding year. The prisoner arrived and was presented to the Half King's 
 wife, but she refused to receive him; which according to the Indian rule 
 was in fact a sentence of death. The young man was therefore taken 
 away for the purpose of being tortured and burnt on the pile. While 
 the dreadful preparations were making and the unhappy victim was 
 already tied to the stake, two English traders, moved by feelings of pity 
 and humanity, resolved to unite their exertions to endeavor to save 
 the prisoner's life by offering a ransom to the war chief; which how- 
 ever he refused, saying it was an established rule among them to sacri- 
 fice a prisoner when refused adoption ; and besides the numerous war 
 captains were on the spot to see the sentence carried into execution. 
 The two generous Englishmen, were, however, not discouraged, and 
 determined to try another effort. They appealed to the well-known high- 
 minded pride of an Indian. 'But,' said they, 'among all these chiefs 
 whom you have mentioned there is none who equals you in greatness; 
 you are considered not only as the greatest and bravest, but as the 
 best man in the nation.' 'Do vou reallv believe what vou sav?' said 
 
42 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 the Indian looking them full in the face. 'Indeed we do.' Then without 
 speaking another word, he blackened himself, and taking his knife and 
 his tomahawk in his hand, made his way through the crowd to the un- 
 happy victim, crying out with a loud voice, 'what have you to do with 
 my prisoner?' and at once cutting the cords with which he was tied, 
 took him to his house, which was near that of Mr. Arundel, whence he 
 was secured and carried oflf by safe hands to Detroit, where the Com- 
 mandant sent him by water to Niagara, where he was soon after liberated; 
 the Indians who witnessed this act, said it was truly heroic ; they were 
 so confounded by the unexpected conduct of this chief and by his 
 manly and resolute appearance, that they had not time to reflect upon 
 what they should do, and before their astonishment was well over, the 
 prisoner was out of their reach." 
 
 REDOUBT OF THE FORT. 
 
 Another description of the same ordeal is related by Jeremiah Arm- 
 strong, who with an older brother and sister, was captured by the 
 Indians in 1794 opposite Blennerhassett's Island and brought to this 
 place. He says : "On arriving at Lower Sandusky, before entering the 
 town, they halted and formed a procession for Cox (a fellow prisoner), 
 my sister and myself to run the gauntlet. They pointed to the home of 
 their chief. Old Crane, (Tarhe), about a hundred yards distant, signifying 
 that we should run into it. We did so and were received very kindly by 
 the old chief; he was a very mild man, beloved by all." Tarhe when 
 critically analyzed means "at him," "the tree," or "at the tree," the tree 
 personified. Crane was a nickname given him by the French on account 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 43 
 
 ■of his height and slender form. Tarhe's wife was a white woman, a 
 •captive named Sally Frost, who had been adopted by the Wyandots. 
 
 LOWER SANDUSKY. 
 
 The two mile square tract which still comprises the corporate limits 
 of the city of Fremont, was ceded to the government of the United States 
 by the Indians at the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, January 21, 1785, renewed 
 at Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789, and reaffirmed at the treaty of Green- 
 ville, August 3, 1795; and has constituted a distinct military or civil 
 jurisdiction now for 121 years. Gen. George Rogers Clark, the uncle 
 of our Major George Croghan, was one of the Commissioners of the 
 United States who made the treaty with the Indians at Fort Mcintosh, 
 by which the spot so gallantly defended by his nephew, twenty-eight years 
 after, was first ceded to the government. 
 
 While this region was within the jurisdiction of Delaware county 
 (1809-15) the term or name Lower Sandusky was sometimes understood 
 to apply to all that region within the Sandusky river valley north of 
 an undefined line dividing the upper from the lower Sandusky country. 
 On April 29, 1811, as recorded in journal 1, page 35, the board of county 
 commissioners of Delaware county passed the following resolution : 
 
 "Resolved by the board of commissioners of Delaware county in 
 conformity to a petition from the white inhabitants of Sandusky and by 
 the verbal request of some of the inhabitants of Radnor township, that 
 all that part of country commonly known and called by the name of 
 Upper and Lower Sanduskys shall be and now is attached to Radnor 
 township enjoying township privileges so far as is agreeable to law." 
 
 This is the first record concerning local civil government here, that 
 I have been able to find. 
 
 It is quite reasonable to conclude that more than the two-mile square 
 tract is meant by "All that part of country commonly known and called 
 by the name of Lower Sandusky." In further support of this conclusion 
 may be mentioned a criminal prosecution in the common pleas court of 
 Huron county at the May term, 1819, while this territory was within 
 that jurisdiction. — Law Record, Vol. 1, page 217. 
 
 The case referred to was the State of Ohio vs. Ne-go-sheek, Ne- 
 gon-e-ba and Ne-gossum, three Ottawa Indians, indicted for the murder 
 of John Wood and George Bishop, white men, at a hunter's and trap- 
 per's camp on the Portage river, at a point about twelve miles from its 
 mouth, near what is now Oak Harbor in Ottawa county, April 21, 1819. 
 The indictment was drawn and the prosecution conducted by Ebenezer 
 Lane, assisted by Peter Hitchcock, both very able lawyers and not likely 
 to be mistaken in the averments as to the venue or place where the 
 •crime was committed, which, though known to have been several miles 
 distant from the two-mile square tract, was nevertheless charged in the 
 indictment as committed "At the county of Huron in Lower Sandusky." 
 
44 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 A very interesting account of this case may be found in the Fire- 
 land Pioneer, June 1865, page 43. Ne-gossum was discharged without 
 trial. The other two were convicted and sentenced to be hung, which 
 sentence was executed at Norwalk, July 1, 1819. Lane and Hitchcock both 
 subsequently became Judges of the Supreme Court of the State. 
 
 On August 1, 1815, while the region known as Lower Sandusky was 
 within the civil jurisdiction of Huron County, having been transferred 
 from Delaware County to Huron, January 31, 1815, the Township of 
 Lower Sandusky was formed by the commissioners of that county, and 
 provision made for the first election of township officers for the town- 
 ship, the same to be held August 15, 1815, at the house of Israel Har- 
 rington. 
 
 The order, among other things, provided : "Said township to 
 comprise all that part of Huron County west of the 24th range of Con- 
 necticut Reserve," which meant then all that region of country between 
 the west line of Huron and the east lines of Hancock, Wood and Lucas 
 Counties, lying south of Lake Erie and extending to the south line of 
 Seneca County. 
 
 At this election Israel Harrington, Randall Jerome and Jeremiah 
 Everett (father of Homer Everett) were elected township trustees; 
 Isaac Lee, clerk ; Morris A. Newman and William Ford, overseers of 
 the poor, and Charles B. Fitch and Henry Dubrow, appraisers. 
 
 This immense township thus remained until May 18, 1819, when by 
 action of the county commissioners of Huron County another township 
 was formed by detaching from the township of Lower Sandusky all that 
 part of the same east of the Sandusky river. To the new township the 
 name of Croghan was given. 
 
 FORT STEPHENSON PARK AND BIRCHARD LIBRARY. 
 
 Fort Stephenson Park, the site of the fort, covers a little more than 
 two acres of ground, and is a part of a 57 acre tract, numbered 9, of 
 the subdivision of the two-mile square reservation made in 1817, and 
 about that time platted into inlots and is located near the center of 
 the historic two-mile square tract. The first purchaser from the gov- 
 ernment was Cyrus Hulburd, whose deed is dated March 11, 1824. 
 From him it passed through successive grantees till the title to the three- 
 fourths part fronting Croghan street was acquired by Lewis Leppelman,, 
 the southwest one-eighth by Dr W. V. B. Ames, and the southeast 
 one-eighth by Lucinda Claghorn. The city of Fremont purchased this 
 property in .1873, the Birchard Library Association, having contributed 
 $9,000 toward the purchase of the property, and being the equitable owner 
 of one-third thereof. On March 29, 1878, the Birchard Library Associa- 
 tion became the owner of the legal title to the undivided one-third of 
 this ground by deed of conveyance from the City council of Fremont 
 pursuant to an ordinance duly passed February 18, 1878. This deed 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 45 
 
 contained the conditions prescribed in the ordinance which are as fol- 
 lows : "That said Birchard Library Association are to have the right to 
 erect, maintain and occupy a building for the Birchard Library on Lots 
 number two hundred and twenty-one (221) and two hundred and forty 
 (240), and that said City have the right to erect, maintain and occupy a 
 building on said premises for a City Hall, where the same is now be- 
 ing erected on the corner of Croghan and x-Vrch streets, and that no other 
 building, fence or structure of any kind shall hereafter be erected or 
 put upon any part of said Lots, nor shall the same ever be used for any 
 purpose other than as a Public Park or any part thereof sold or con- 
 veyed without the consent of both the said City Council and the said 
 Birchard Library Association. The control and supervision of said Park 
 shall be vested in the City Council and said Birchard Library Associa- 
 tion jointly, but said City Council shall have the exclusive use and con- 
 trol of the building now on said Lots." 
 
 The Birchard Library Association, which was largely instrumental in 
 preserving old Fort Stephenson for the public, was founded in 187.3 by 
 Sardis Birchard, who named a Board of Trustees of which his nephew 
 Rutherford B. Hayes was the president, and arranged to place with such 
 Board property and securities to the value of $50,000. Mr. Birchard died 
 January 21, 1874, before the property intended to be given was legally 
 vested in this Board of Trustees, and his last will, dated August 21, 1872, 
 contained no provision for the Library. 
 
 His nephew and residuary legatee, Rutherford B. Hayes, however, 
 on February 14, 1874, but fifteen days subsequent to the probating of Mr. 
 Birchard's will, himself made a will in his own handwriting, witnessed 
 by J. W. Wilson and A. E. Rice, which will was for the sole purpose of 
 correcting this omission and securing for the Library the endowinent in- 
 tended by Mr. Birchard. Item 2 of General Hayes's will was as follows : 
 
 "To carry out the intention of my uncle for the benefit of the people 
 of Fremont and vicinity, I give and bequeath to the Birchard Library all 
 my right, title and interest to the following property, viz." Then fol- 
 lowed the description of parcels of real estate in Toledo, out of which 
 was to be realized an aggregate of $40,000 for the Library. Subse- 
 quently this property was conveyed by deed and later it was sold. It 
 was undoubtedly the expectation and intention of Mr. Birchard to com- 
 plete his gift while living; hence the absence of any provision for it in 
 his will, although his cash bequests to educational and charitable institu- 
 tions and relatives and friends other than his residuarj-- legatees, aggre- 
 gated some $40,000. 
 
 General Hayes, in making this will at the time he did, evidently in- 
 tended that even in the case of his own death, the people of Fremont 
 and vicinity should receive the unexecuted gift of Mr. Birchard ; so that 
 the people are indebted both to the benevolence of Sardis Birchard and to 
 the generosity of Rutherford B. Hayes for Birchard Library. 
 
46 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that the existence of the above mentioned! 
 will was only learned during the present year by the finding of a photo- 
 graphic copy of it, which has since been placed in Birchard Library. 
 
 The name Fort Stephenson first appears in the military records as 
 follows : 
 
 "Fort Stephenson,* May 22, 1813. 
 May it please your Excellency : 
 
 Sir : Agreeably to your orders I have forwarded all the articles- 
 specified therein. * * * Considerable manual labor has been done on 
 the garrison since you left this place and improvements are daily making. 
 * * * One person has been buried since you left this place. He came 
 from Fort Meigs with a part of the baggage of Major Tod. * * * " 
 
 R. E. Post, Adjutant. 
 
 The Major Tod mentioned became the president judge of the com'- 
 mon pleas court of the district to which Sandusky county was attached' 
 when organized and presided at the first terni of that court held in the 
 county, May 8, 1820, at Croghansville. 
 
 At the time of the defense of Fort Stephenson there were but very 
 few white inhabitants in Lower Sandusky, as is evidenced by the follow- 
 ing petition to Governor Meigs, dated December 21, 1813 : 
 "May it please your Excellency : — 
 
 "The undersigned inhabitants and settlers on the plains of Lower 
 Sandusky on the reservation beg leave to humbly represent their present 
 situation." 
 
 "In the first instance B. F. Stickney, Indian Agent has denied us 
 the right or privilege of settling on these grounds * * * and has 
 actually instructed Gen. Gano, our present Commandant, to dispossess us 
 of our present inheritance. Many of us * * * have been severe suff- 
 erers since the commencement of the present war. * * * W"e do not, 
 neither can we attempt to claim any legal right to the ground or spot 
 of earth on which we have each individually settled; but the improve- 
 ments which we have made and the buildings which we have erected we 
 trust will not be taken from us. * * * Permission to build has been 
 granted by Gen. Gano to those who have erected cabins since his arrival." 
 
 Signed by Morris A. Newman, Israel Harrington, George Bean, 
 Geo. Ermatington, R. E. Post, Asa Stoddard, R. Loomis, Jesse Skinner, 
 William Leach, Walter Brabrook, Louis Moshelle, Wm. Hamilton, Lewis 
 Geaneau, Patrick Cress. 
 
 Whether this petition was granted or not there is no record to 
 show, but it is probable that it was. But few of the names of the four- 
 teen signers appear in the subsequent history of the county affairs. 
 Israel Harrington and Morris A. Newman, however, became Associate 
 Judges of the Common Pleas Court, and Judge Newman was also County 
 Commissioner. It was at his tavern on the northeast corner of Ohio 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 47" 
 
 Avenue and Pine Street, in Croghansville, that the first term of the 
 common pleas court in the county was held, and Judge Harrington was 
 one of the associate judges presiding at that term. 
 
 ball's battle. 
 
 On July 30, 1813, when General Harrison sent Colonel Wells to 
 relieve Major Croghan from command at Fort Stephenson, he was 
 escorted from Fort Seneca by Colonel Ball's squadron, consisting of about 
 100 horse. On the way down they fell in with a body of Indians and 
 fought what has since been called Ball's Battle. Israel Harrington,' a 
 resident of Lower Sandusky at the time of the battle and one of the 
 first associate judges of Sandusky county, said that "three days after 
 he passed the ground and counted thereon thirteen dead Indians awfully 
 cut and mangled by the horsemen. None of the squadron were killed 
 and but one slightly wounded." The scene of this battle is about one 
 and a half miles southwest of Fremont on the west bank of the river, 
 near what is now the residence of Birchard Havens. There was an 
 oak tree on the site of the action within the memory of persons still 
 living, with seventeen hacks in it to indicate the number of Indians killed ; 
 but this tree has unfortunately disappeared as have many other monu- 
 ments of those stirring times. Howe says : "The squadron were moving 
 toward the fort when they were suddenly fired upon by the Indians from 
 the west side of the road, whereupon Colonel Ball ordered a charge 
 and he and suite and the right flank being in advance first came into 
 action. The colonel struck the first blow. He dashed in between two 
 savages and cut down the one on the right; the other l)cing slightly in 
 the rear, made a blow with a tomahawk at his back, when, by a sudden 
 spring of his horse, it fell short and was buried deep in the cantel and 
 pad of his saddle. Before the savage could repeat the blow he was shot 
 by Corporal Ryan. Lieut. Hedges (now Gen. Hedges of Mansfield) fol- 
 lowing in the rear, mounted on a small horse pursued a big Indian and 
 just as he had come up to him his stirrup broke, and he fell headfirst 
 off his horse, knocking the Indian down. Both sprang to their feet, when 
 Hedges struck the Indian across his head, and as he was falling buried 
 his sword up to its hilt in his body. At this time Captain Hopkins was 
 seen on the left side in pursuit of a powerful savage, when the latter 
 turned and made a blow at the captain with a tomahawk, at which the 
 horse sprang to one side. Cornet Hayes then came up, and the Indian 
 struck at him, his horse in like manner evading the blow. Serj. Ander- 
 son now arriving, the Indian was soon dispatched. By this time the 
 skirmish was over, the Indians who were only about 20 in number being 
 nearly all cut down: and orders were given to retreat to the main 
 squadron. Col. Ball dressed his men ready for a charge, should the 
 Indians appear in force, and moved down without further molestation-, 
 to the fort, where thev arrived about 4 P. M." 
 
-48 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 Among Colonel Ball's troopers was a private, James Webb, the 
 father of Lucy Webb Hayes, whose old fluit-lock rifle and hunting horn 
 are among the treasures of Spiegel Grove. 
 
 In the plan of the environs of the Fort, it will be noted that the 
 spot where the British officers, Lieut. Colonel Shortt and Lieut. Gordon 
 were buried, is marked. The new High School building now covers this 
 spot, and in 1891, while excavating for its foundation portions of the 
 .graves were uncovered and metallic buttons with the number of the 
 regiment, 41, stamped on them were found, which have been placed in 
 Birchard Library by Mr. H. S. Dorr, their owner. Mr. Dorr, soon after 
 finding these buttons showed them to President Hayes who stated that 
 in reading an autobiography of a Scotch Bishop Gordon, he found the 
 following: "The great sorrow of my life was the loss of a son in an 
 unimportant battle in an obscure place in North America — called Fort 
 Sandusky." 
 
 From an English work, the "Dictionary of National Biography" the 
 following facts are gathered. The father of Lieut. Gordon was James 
 Bently Gordon (1750-1819) of Londonderry, Ireland, who graduated from 
 Trinity College, Dublin, in 1773 took Holy Orders and subsequently was 
 presented with the living, first of .Cannaway on Cork and finally that of 
 Killegney in Wexford, both of which he retained till his death, in April, 
 1819. He was a zealous student of history and geography and a volum- 
 inous writer of books on such subjects, among which were "Terraquea 
 •or a New System of Geography and Modern History," "A History of the 
 Rebellion in Ireland in 1798,'-' "A History of the British Islands" and 
 "An Historical and Geographical Memoir of the North American Con- 
 tinent." 
 
 He married in 1779 a daughter of Richard Bookey of Wicklow, by 
 whom he had several children. His eldest son, James George Gordon, 
 entered the army and was killed at Fort Sandusky in August, 1813. 
 
 DEFENDERS OF FORT STEPHENSON. 
 
 The public is greatly indebted to Col. Webb C. Hayes for his un- 
 tiring and partially successful efforts in procuring the names, appearing 
 below, of the officers and soldiers in the garrison at Fort Stephenson at 
 the time of its heroic defence. 
 
 The list is not complete, containing only seventy-eight names out of 
 the 160 in the fort at the time. The war records at Washington do not 
 show the names of the volunteers, who were detached and assigned to 
 this service ; hence it was impossible for him to obtain their names. 
 
 The following are the names furnished by Col. Hayes: 
 
 Major George Croghan, Seventeenth U. S. Inf., commanding. 
 
 Captain James Hunter. 
 
 First lieutenant, Benjamin Johnson; second lieutenant, Cyrus A. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 49 
 
 Baylor; ensign, Edmund Shipp; Ensign. Joseph Duncan, all of the 
 Seventeenth U. S. Infantry. 
 
 First Lieutenant, Joseph Anthony, Twenty-fourth U. S. Infantry. 
 
 Second Lieutenant, John Meek, Seventh U. S. Infantry. 
 
 Petersburg Volunteers. 
 
 Pittsburg Blues. 
 
 Greensburg Riflemen. 
 
 Captain Hunter's company, Capt. James Hunter commanding. Ser- 
 geants, Wayne Case, James Huston, Obadiah Norton. Corporals, Matthew 
 Burns, William Ewing, John Maxwell. 
 
 Privates : Pleasant Bailey, Samuel Brown, Elisha Condiff, Thomas 
 Crickman, .Ambrose Dean, Leonard George, Nathaniel Gill, John Harley, 
 Jonathan Hartley, William McDonald, Joseph McKey, Frederick Metts, 
 Rice Millender, John Mumman, Samuel Pearsall, Daniel Perry, William 
 Ralph, John Rankin, Elisha Rathbun, Aaron Ray, Robert Row, John 
 Salley, John Savage, John Smith, Thomas Striplin, William Sutherland, 
 Martin Tanner, John Zett, David Perry. 
 
 Captain Duncan's company, 17th U. S. Inf., First Lieutenant Benja- 
 min Johnson commanding. Second Lieutenant Cyrus A. Baylor. Ser- 
 geants, Henry Lawell : Thomas McCaul, John M. Stotts, Notley Williams. 
 
 Privates : Henry L. Bethers, Cornelius S. Bevins, Joseph Blamer, 
 Jonathan C. Bowling, Nicholas Bryant, Robert Campbell, Samuel Camp- 
 bell, Joseph Klinkenbeard, Joseph Childers, Ambrose Dine, Jacob Downs, 
 James Harris, James Heartley, William Johnson, Elisha Jones, Thomas 
 Linchard, William McClelland, Joseph McKee, John Martin, Ezekiel 
 Mitchell, William Rogers, David Sudderfield, Thomas Taylor, John 
 Williams. , 
 
 Detachment Twenty-fourth U. S. Infantry. First Lieutenant Joseph 
 Anthony commanding. 
 
 Privates : William Gaines, John Foster, Jones, Samuel 
 
 Riggs, Samuel Thurman. 
 
 Greensburg Riflemen. Sergeant Abraham Weaver. 
 
 Petersburg Volunteers. Private Edmund Brown. 
 
 Pittsburg Blues. 
 
 CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY. 
 
 During the war of the Revolution, Captain Samuel Brady was sent 
 here by direction of Washington to learn if possible the strength of the 
 Indians in this quarter. He approached the village under cover of night 
 and fording the river secreted himself on the Island just below the falls. 
 When morning dawned a fog rested over the valley which completely 
 cut off from view the shore from either side. About 11 o'clock a bright 
 sun quickly dispelled the mist and the celebrated borderer became the 
 witness from his conealment of a series of interesting horse races by 
 the Indians during the three days he remained on the Island, from which 
 
 Vol. XVI— 4. 
 
50 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 he concluded that they were not then preparing for any hostile move- 
 ments, and started to return, and after a perilous tramp of several days 
 reached the fort from which he had been sent out. This Island where 
 Brady secreted himself was known among the early settler's as Brady's 
 Island. Capt. Brady subsequently started on a scout towards the San- 
 dusky villages as before and had arrived in the neighborhood, when he 
 was made a prisoner and taken to one of the villages. There was great 
 rejoicing at the capture of Brady, and great preparation and parade were- 
 made for torturing him. The Indians collected in a large body, old 
 and young, on the day set for his execution. Among them was Simon 
 Girty, whom he knew, they having been boys together. Girty refused 
 to recognize or aid him in any way. The time for execution arrived, 
 the fires were lighted, the circle around him was drawing closer and he 
 began sensibly to feel the effects of the fire. The withes which confined 
 his arms and legs were getting loose and he soon found he could free 
 himself. A fine looking squaw of one of the chiefs ventured a little toa 
 near for her own safety and entirely within his reach. By one powerful 
 exertion he cleared himself from everything by which he was confined^ 
 caught the squaw by the head and shoulders, and threw her on top of the 
 burning pile, and in the confusion that followed made his escape. The 
 Indians pursued, but he outdistanced them, the crowning feat being his 
 celebrated leap across the Cuyahoga river at the present site of Kent, 
 known as Brady's Leap. , 
 
 Brady's name is perpetuated in the chief island of Sandusky river, 
 within the limits of the city of Fremont; his exploits are typical of the 
 emergencies of that early frontier life and of the spirit in which they 
 were everywhere met. 
 
 SANDUSKY COUNTY. 
 
 Gen. Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, or- 
 ganized Hamilton County, February 11, 1792, with Cincinnati as the 
 county seat, and the present Sandusky County forming a very small 
 portion of it. Subsequently Wayne County was organized, August 15, 
 1796, with Detroit as the county seat, covering a vast extent of terri- 
 tory from the Cuyahoga river on the east and extending as far west 
 as Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the present site of Chicago, with its northern 
 boundary the Canadian boundary line, extending through the Great Lakes 
 from Lake Superior to Lake Erie. This included the present county of 
 Sandusky. On the organization of the state of Ohio it was included 
 in Franklin county with Franklinton as the county seat, until February 17, 
 1809, when it became a part of Delaware county with Delaware the county 
 seat, and so remained until January 31, 1815. In April, 1811, Lower 
 Sandusky by name was attached to Radnor township of Delaware county, 
 by the county commissioners for township purposes. On January 31, 
 1815, it became a part of Huron county with Avery, now Milan, as the 
 county seat, until 1818, and after that date with Norwalk as the county 
 
The Ci'oghan Celebration. 51 
 
 seat. On February 20, 1820, the state legislature organized the terri- 
 tory ceded by the Indians under the treaty of September 29, 1817, into 
 fourteen counties, of which Sandusky was one. Sandusky county as 
 thus organized, extended from the west line of the Western Reserve 
 to the east . line of Wood county, and from the north line of Seneca 
 county to the lake ; and included all of the present counties of San- 
 dusky and Ottawa, and parts of Erie and Lucas. For the first four 
 years, Sandusky and Seneca counties were joined for judicial purposes. 
 Croghansville, on the east bank of the Sandusky river, was the first 
 county seat, uhtil 1822, when the town Sandusky on the west bank became 
 the permanent county seat and later these two towns were joined and 
 known as the town of Lower Sandusky, as mentioned below. 
 
 The name of the county is derived from that of the river, which 
 enters from the south, two miles east of the southeast corner of Ball- 
 ville township, and flows northeasterly, entirely across the county, a dis- 
 tance, following its meanderings, of about thirty miles, when it empties 
 into the bay which by early geographers was named Lake Sandusky. 
 
 Originally, as is shown by a plat of a survey made by Josiah At- 
 kins, Jr. (Plat Record 3, page 3), the term "Lower Sandusky" was ap- 
 plied to the entire tract of "two miles square on each side of the lower 
 rapids of the Sandusky River," as originally ceded by the Indians at the 
 treaty of Fort Mcintosh, January 21, 1785, and contained the village of 
 Croghansville. According to this plat, Croghansville extended across the 
 river and included several inlots and some larger tracts on the west side, 
 the 57-acre tract containing the site of the Fort being one. 
 
 After the township of Croghan was formed in 1819. this term had 
 reference to the whole tract on both sides of the Sandusky river ; but 
 thereafter the name "Sandusky" was applied to the west side exclu- 
 sively, both as to the village and township, the village being sometimes 
 called "Town of Sandusky." 
 
 When the county was organized it contained two town-^hips only, 
 namely, Sandusky, which included the village of that name on the west 
 side and all of the county west of the river; and Croghan, which in- 
 cluded the village of Croghansville and all of the county east of the 
 river. Subsequently, in 1827, that portion of Croghan township in which 
 the village on the east side was located, was attached to Sandusky town- 
 ship by the county commissioners. In 1829 the territory of 'both villages, 
 by act of the legislature, was incorporated by the name of the "Town 
 of Lower Sandusky." It was changed to Fremont at the October term, 
 1849, of the common pleas court (Journal 6, page 437). 
 
 It is a matter of regret that the name about which cluster so many 
 interesting traditions and local historical associations was ever changed 
 to one which, however highly honored, carries with it no suggestions of 
 these traditions or local history. The change was, hov.'ever, thought to 
 be called for in order to prevent confusion in the matter of the postal ser- 
 A'ice. owing to the qnadruplication of names. 
 
52 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 The name Croghansville, for the village, was probably first suggested 
 by Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office, in a letter 
 from Washington City, April 12, 1816, in which, among other words 
 are these : "If it were left to me to name the town at Lower Sandusky 
 I should name it in honor of the gallant youth. Col. Croghan— ^and should 
 say it should be Croghansville. 
 
 The name is still preserved in that of the school on the hill on the 
 East Side, known as Croghansville School, as well as in the street 
 abutting on Fort Stephenson. 
 
 J. P. MOORE. 
 
 RE^IARKS OF J. P. MOORE. 
 
 I was born in Peimsylvania in 1829 and brought to the Black 
 Swamp in 1834. All my older brothers attended the Croghan celebra- 
 tion at Lower Sandu.sky in 1839 and I have been 
 present at every celebration since that time. 
 
 My early associations in Lower Sandusky and 
 hremont were with such men as Thomas L. Haw- 
 kins, dramatist, poet and preacher; David Gal- 
 lagher, a narrator of early history: David Deal. 
 a hotel keeper, who saw service at Fort Meigs, all 
 soldiers of the war of 1812. Also Israel Harring- 
 ton, a neighbor in Sandusky county. James Kirk 
 and a man named Figley, both of whom worked 
 on the old fort before the battle of August 2, 1813, 
 have visited me here in Fremont and while visiting 
 the fort and going over the ground in its vicinity 
 have graphically described to me the location and 
 construction of the fort and many incidents connected with its building 
 and its defense against the British and Indians. 
 
 The late David Deal, who was a member of Col. James Stephen- 
 son's regiment of Ohio militia, told me that Col. Stephenson left them 
 at Fort Meigs in Januar}^ 1813, to go to Lower Sandusky to build the 
 fort which has ever since been called Fort Stephenson. 
 
 I had always supposed that the first fort constructed on this site 
 Mas built by Col. Stephenson's soldiers in January, 1813, but Col. Hayes 
 has shown me a number of official records and a copy of an order 
 issued by Brig. General William Irvine dated at Fort Pitt (now Pitts- 
 burg) November 11, 1782, during the Revolutionary War, to Major Craig 
 as follows : "Sir. I have received intelligence through various channels 
 that the British have established a post at Lower Sandusky, etc., etc., 
 also a copy of the treaty by which the reservation (present corporation 
 limits of Fremont), two miles square, of which Fort Stephenson is 
 about the center, was established by the treaty of Fort Mcintosh as 
 early as 1785 and continued in all sttbsequent treaties. Also an order 
 from Governor Meigs of Ohio to Captain John Campbell dated Zanes- 
 
TJic Croghan Celebration. 53 
 
 ville. June 11. lt<12. "\'o\\ will take with you ihe necessary tools for 
 building two blockhouses at Sandusky." * * *. "You will build two 
 Iilockhouses and piquet them so as to protect the United States trading 
 house and store at the place." * * * "I expect you will meet at San- 
 dusky Major Butler, from Delaware with a company to assist you." 
 
 Governor Meigs" letter shows that the fort was built in INIJ. but 
 the official record also shows that it was abandoned for a short time 
 after Hull's surrender. 
 
 The old soldier Figley, of Columbiana county, came here early in 
 February, 1813, and worked on the fort until mustered out at Cleveland 
 on June 1st of that year. He related to me how the pickets were drawn 
 by oxen from the vicinity of Stony Prairie to the fort and points sharp- 
 ened and the posts set in the ground close up one against the other. 
 Many of the oxen engaged in drawing them died of starvation or were 
 devoured by the wolves howling around the fort. 
 
 The company to which James Kirk belonged came to the fort June 
 1. 1813, and worked here until the arrival of the British and Indians 
 the day before the battle. James Kirk himself had been detailed to carry 
 dispatches to Fort Seneca the day before the battle so that he was not 
 present but came down early on the morning of August 3 and helped 
 bury the British dead. He distinctly heard the firing of the British can- 
 non and howitzers and noticed that some discharges were louder than 
 others. 
 
 Kirk was 25 years old at that time and after his discharge opened 
 a blacksmith shop in Lower Sandusky in 1818 and in 1828 went to Port 
 Clinton. He said that the well in the fort was not a good one, so that 
 the garrison got their water from a spring at the foot of Garrison 
 street, bringing it through a small gate on the east side of the fort, 
 for which gate Kirk made the hinges. 
 
 I sent my son Theodore to visit James Kirk in 188 — and get a 
 description of the fort. Kirk said "Mark ofiE a square plat of ground 
 containing half an acre with a block house on the northeast corner and 
 one in the northwest corner, this was the original fort. In June, 1813, 
 when we came here the fort was found to be too small. He said, "mark 
 ofT another square on the west side of the old square and this you will 
 see will place the northwest blockhouse in the center of the north line 
 of the enlarged fort. This was the blockhouse from which "Old Betsy" 
 cleared the ditch when it was filled with Col. Shorlt's men. There was 
 a sealed log house in the new part filled with biscuit for Perry's fleet. 
 This house was knocked down level with the pickets by th.e British 
 cannon balls. The northeast blockhouse was in the center of Croghan 
 ijnd .A.rch streets The center blockhouse was about opposite the monu- 
 ment. The northwest angle' of the fort extended out about 15 feet into 
 High .street. There were many extra gims in the fort, as a company 
 of Pennsylvania soldiers had deposited their guns there a few days be- 
 
54 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 fore the battle on their way here from Fort Meigs. Their time being 
 out, the}' were on their way home to be mustered out. 
 
 The walls of the fort were made of logs, some round, some smooth 
 on one side, half of the other logs averaging about 18 inches in thick- 
 ness, all set firmly in the earth, each picket crowded closely against the 
 other and all about ten feet high, sharpened at the top. The walls 
 enclosed about one acre of ground. After Major Croghan took com- 
 mand July 15, 1813, he had a ditch dug six feet deep and nine feet 
 wide around the outside, throwing about one-half of the earth against 
 the foot of the pickets and graded down to the bottom of the ditch ; 
 
 SPIEGEL GROVE. 
 
 the rest of the earth was thrown on the outer bank and the depth of 
 the ditch thus increased. 
 
 Major Croghan had large logs placed on top of the wall of the 
 fort, so adjusted that an inconsiderable weight would cause them to 
 fall from their position and crush any who might be below. 
 
 When the British landed opposite Brady's Island they sent a flag 
 of truce under Col. Elliott who was met by Ensign Shipp on the ridge 
 where the parsonage of St. John's Lutheran Church (which was for- 
 merly the court house), now stands. This was eloquently described to 
 me by Thomas L. Hawkins, the poet, preacher and orator. 
 
 A ravifie ran up from the river north of the fort through Justice 
 street across the pike in a southwestern direction near the court house, 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 55 
 
 the British brought their cannon up this ravine. They would load 
 their cannon and then run them up out of the ravine and after dis- 
 cliarging them, back them down again to reload out of range of the 
 guns of the fort. The next ravine south of this ran up Croghan street, 
 turning to the southwest at High street, thence northwest through the 
 northwest corner of the Presbyterian church lot. This ravine formed 
 the north boundary of the plateau or ridge on which Fort Stephenson 
 was located and on which ridge ran the Harrison trail to the southwest 
 up through Spiegel Grove and on to Fort Seneca. The next ravine 
 south of this extended between Birchard avenue and Garrison street, 
 one branch ran towards the Methodist church through the Dorr and 
 McCulloch property. It was from this last named ravine that the British 
 Grenadiers made a feint against Capt. Hunter's company just before Col. 
 Shortt made his assault on the northwest corner of the fort 
 
 Lieut. Col. Short and Lieut. J. G. Gordon, of the 41st Regt. were 
 buried near the south entrance of the high school building. 
 
 RECEPTION AT SPIEGEL GROVE. 
 
 Following the exercises of the afternoon at Fort Stephenson, an 
 informal reception was held at Spiegel Grove, to the out-of-town guests 
 of the city and the citizens at large. Col. Webb C. Hayes, the prime 
 mover of the whole celebration, Mr. and Mrs. Birchard A. Hayes and 
 Mrs. Fanny Hayes Smith cordially received the guests on the great 
 piazza, where the Vice-President, the Governor, the Governor's Staff 
 and the staff and line officers of the Sixth Regiment were guests of 
 honor. Great numbers of persons moved about through the beautiful 
 grounds, enjoying the music by the Light Guard Band stationed in 
 front of the house, tlie superb weather and the gay spectacle. The week 
 having been observed as Old Home Week, many former residents of 
 Fremont were at hand to renew old acquaintances and assist in doing 
 the honors of the place to the crowds of strangers. 
 
 THE VENETIAN SPECTACLE. 
 
 With the falling of dusk the immense crowds commenced to assemble 
 to witness the glories of as realistic a Venetian night as was possible 
 to produce, following the plans originated by Dr. Stamm, who has 
 several times viewed these spectacles in Venice. 
 
 The river banks between the L. E. & W. and State street bridges 
 were thronged with crowds, while the special guests and those, by whose 
 •efforts the day was a success, occupied the guests' stand, built on the 
 water just north of the bridge. 
 
 More than a hundred boats and launches, gaily decorated and illum- 
 inated, approached the reviewing stand, presenting a beautiful sight 
 with their swaying colored lights on a background of dark sky. 
 
56 
 
 Oluo Arch, and Hist. Society Pitblicatioii.';. 
 
 empliasized by the hundreds of Japanese lanterns strung along either 
 bank and in sweeping festooons across the big Lake Erie bridge. Near 
 the bridge, and extending across the river, were seven of the largest boats 
 in the river, bearing huge electric transparencies upon which appeared 
 six-foot letters spelling the name Croghan, which was also seen in a 
 set piece. The hit of the evening was the reproduction of Fort Stephen- 
 son on the southern extremity of Brady's Island. 
 Old Betsy in life-size reproduction belched forth 
 volleys of colored fireballs, accompanied with heavy 
 iletonations and clouds of smoke and the sharp re- 
 ports of musketry and small arms , cleverly imitated 
 with fireworks. At brief intervals the entire fort 
 was beautifully illuminated with red fire, which 
 brought out in striking relief the details of the 
 stockade, Old Betsy, her men, the sally posts, etc. 
 The barge on board of which were the Light 
 Guard band, the Maennerchor singers. Miss Reese, 
 the vocalist of the evening, and the orchestra were 
 moored near the Lake Erie bridge and strung with 
 electric lights. 
 
 The fireworks, in charge of Chief Reiff, of the fire department, were 
 magnificent and no accidents occurred. Especial praise is due Charles 
 Hermon, the lamplighter, who superintended the illuminations., Commo- 
 dore Coonrod's fleet as managed by Charles Grable, was a thing of 
 beauty. The display occupied three hours and general satisfaction on the 
 part of all was evident in their attention. 
 
 DR. STAMM. 
 
 HARRISON'S NORTHWESTERN CAMPAIGN. 
 
 The best description extant of General Harrison's Northwestern 
 Campaign is that contained in "A History of the Late War in the 
 Western Country," by Robert B. McAfee, Lexington, Ky., 1816, a rare 
 and valuable volume. 
 
 Major McAfee w^as himself an officer in that campaign, serving as 
 a captain in the regiment of mounted riflemen commanded by Col. Richard 
 M. Johnson. 
 
 In his Preface he acknowledges his indebtedness to Gen. Harrison, 
 Governor Shelby. Colonels Croghan and Tod and Colonel Wood of the 
 Engineers for official correspondence and assistance in procuring material 
 and formation. The chapter relating to the Tippecanoe campaign in 
 1811 contains the following references to some of the Kentucky Vol- 
 unteers : 
 
 "Colonel Keiger, who raised a small company of 79 men near 
 Louisville, including among them Messrs. Croghan, O'Fallen, Shipp, 
 Chum and Edwards, who afterward distinguished themselves as officers 
 in the armv of the U^nited States." 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 57" 
 
 Governor Shelby in his letters to the War Department speaks 
 highly of Colonel Boyd and his brigade and of Clark and Croghan who 
 were his aides. 
 
 Of the above, Croghan and Shipp fought together at the defense 
 of Fort Stephenson. Shipp was the officer sent by Croghan to meet the 
 flag of truce sent by General Proctor when the formal demand for the 
 surrender of Fort Stephenson was made. O'Fallen was a cousin of 
 Croghan and during the campaign was aide-de-camp to General Harrison. 
 We copy from McAfee his account of the defense of Fort Stephenson 
 and of Harrison's expedition to Canada and the victorious battle at the 
 Thames. Also Colonel Croghan's subsequent campaign against the British 
 at Mackinac in the joint army and naval expedition under the command, 
 of Commodore Sinclair. • 
 
 . "General Harrison had returned from Cleveland to Lower Sandusky 
 (July, 1813) several days before the arrival of the enemy, and received 
 at that place from the express the information that Camp Meigs was 
 again invested. He then immediately removed his headquarters to Seneca 
 town, about nine miles up the Sandusky river, where he constructed a 
 fortified camp, having left Major Croghan with 160 regulars in Fort 
 Stephenson and taken with him to Seneca about 140 more, under the 
 immediate command of Colonel Wells. A few days afterward he was 
 reinforced by the arrival of 300 regulars under Colonel Paul, and Colonel 
 Ball's corps of 150 dragoons, which made his whole force at that place 
 upwards of 600 strong. He was soon joined also by Generals Mc Arthur 
 and Cass; and Colonel Owings with a regiment of 500 regulars from Ken- 
 tucky, was also advancing to the frontiers; but he did not arrive at head- 
 quarters before the siege of Fort Meigs had been abandoned by the 
 enemy. * * * 
 
 The force which Proctor and Tecumseh brought against us in this 
 instance has been ascertained to have been about 5,000 strong. A greater 
 number of Indians were collected by them for this expedition than ever 
 were assembled in one body on any other occasion during the whole war. 
 
 Having raised the siege of Camp Meigs, the British sailed round 
 into Sandusky bay, whilst a competent number of their savage allies 
 marched across through the swamps of Portage River, to co-operate in 
 a combined attack at Lower Sandusky, expecting no doubt that General 
 Harrison's attention would be chiefly directed to forts Winchester and 
 Meigs. The General however had calculated on their taking this course, 
 and had been careful to keep patrols down the bay, opposite the mouth 
 of Portage River, where he supposed their forces would debark. 
 
 Several days before the British had invested Fort Meigs, General 
 Harrison, with Major Croghan and some other officers, had examined the 
 heights which surround Fort Stephenson ; and as the hill on the opposite 
 or southeast side of the river, was found to be the most commanding 
 eminence, the General had some thoughts of removing the fort to that 
 place, and Major Croghan declared his readiness to undertake the work. 
 
58 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 But the General did not authorize him to do it, as he believed that if 
 the enemy intended to invade our territory again, they would do it be- 
 fore the removal could be completed. It was then finally concluded, that 
 the fort which was calculated for a garrison of only two hundred men, 
 could not be defended against the heavy artillery of the enemy; and that 
 if the British should approach it by water, which would cause a pre- 
 sumption that they had brought their heavy artillery, the fort must be 
 abandoned and burned, provided a retreat could be effected with safety. 
 In the orders left with Major Croghan it was stated, — "Should the 
 British troops approach you in force with cannon, and you can dis- 
 cover them m time to effect a retreat, you will do so immediately, destroy- 
 ing all the public stores. * * * You must be aware that the attempt 
 to retreat in the face of an Indian force would be vain. Against such 
 an enemy your garrison would be safe, however great the number." 
 
 On the evening of the :^9th, Gen. Harrison received intelligence by 
 express from Gen. Clay, that the enemy had abandoned the siege of Fort 
 Meigs ; and as the Indians on that day had swarmed in the woods round 
 his camp, he entertained no doubt but an immediate attack was intended 
 •either on Sandusky or Seneca. He therefore immediately called a council 
 of war, consisting of McArthur, Cass, Ball, Paul, Wood, Hukill, Holmes 
 and Graham, who were unanimously of the opinion that Fort Stephen- 
 son was untenable against heavy artillery, and that as the enemy could 
 bring with facility any quantity of battering cannon against it, by which 
 it must inevitably fall, and as it was an unimportant post, containing 
 nothing the loss of which would be felt by us, that the garrison should 
 therefore not be reinforced but withdrawn and the place destroyed. In 
 pursuance of this decision the General immediately despatched the fol- 
 lowing order to Major Croghan: 
 
 "Sir, immediately on receiving this letter, you will abandon Fort 
 Stephenson, set fire to it and repair with your command this night to 
 headquarters. Cross the river and come up on the opposite side. If 
 you should deem and find it impracticable to make good your march 
 to this place, take the road to Huron and pursue it with the utmost 
 circumspection and despatch." 
 
 This order was sent by Mr. Conner and two Indians, who lost 
 their way in the dark and did not arrive at Fort Stephenson before 11 
 o'clock the next day. When Major Croghan received it, he could not 
 then retreat with safety, as the Indians were hovering round the fort 
 in considerable force. He called a council of his officers, a majority 
 of whom coincided with him in opinion that a retreat would be unsafe, 
 and that the post could be maintained against the enemy at least until 
 further instructions could be received from headquarters. The major 
 -therefore immediately returned the following answer : 
 
 "Sir, I have received yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock P. M., ordering 
 me to destroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 59 
 
 ■.loo late to be carried into execution. We have determined to maintain 
 •this place and by heavens we can." 
 
 In writing this note Major Croghan had a view to the probability 
 •of its falling into the hands of the enemy, and on that account made 
 use of a stronger language than would otherwise have been consistent 
 with propriety. It reached the General on the same day, who did not 
 fully understand the circumstances and motives under which it had been 
 •dictated. The following order was therefore immediately prepared, and 
 sent with Colonel Wells in the morning, escorted by Colonel Ball with 
 his corps of dragoons. 
 
 "July 30, 1813. 
 
 "Sir. The General has received your letter of this date, informing 
 him that you had thought proper to disobey the order issued from this 
 office, and delivered to you this morning. It appears that the informa- 
 tion which dictated the order was incorrect ; and as you did not receive 
 it in the night as was expected, it might have been proper that you should 
 have reported the circumstance and your situation, before you proceeded 
 to its execution. This might have been passed over, but I am directed 
 to say to you, that an officer who presumes to aver that he has made 
 his resolution and that he will act in direct opposition to the orders 
 of his General can no longer be entrusted with a separate command. 
 Oolonel Wells is sent to relieve you. You will deliver the command to 
 him and repair with Col. Ball's squadron to this place. By command 
 •etc.; A. H. Holmes, Asst. Adj. General." 
 
 The squadron of dragoons on this trip met with a party of Indians 
 near Lower Sandusky and killed 11 out of 12. The Indians had formed 
 an ambush and fired on the advance guard consisting of a sergeant and 
 five privates. Upon seeing the squadron approach they fled, but were 
 pursued and soon overtaken by the front squad of Captain Hopkins's 
 troop. The greater part of them were cut down by Colonel Ball and 
 Captain Hopkins with his subalterns, whose horses being the fleetest over- 
 took them first. The loss on our part was two privates wounded and 
 two horses killed. 
 
 Colonel Wells being left in the command of Fort Stephenson, Major 
 Croghan returned with the squadron to headquarters. He there explained 
 his motives for writing such a note, which were deemed satisfactory and 
 having remained all night with the General who treated him politely, 
 he was permitted to return to his command in the morning with written 
 orders similar to those he had received before. 
 
 A reconnoitering party which had been sent from headquarters to 
 the shore of the lake, about 20 miles distant from Fort Stephenson, dis- 
 covered the approach of the enemy by water on the evening of the 31st 
 of July. They returned by the fort, after 12 o'clock the next day, and 
 had passed it but a few hours when the enemy made their appearance 
 ■before it. The Indians showed themselves first on the hill over the river, 
 
60 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 and were saluted by a 6-pounder, the only piece of artillery in the fort^ 
 which soon caused them to retire. In half an hour the British gun- 
 boats came in sight; and the Indian forces displayed themselves in every 
 direction, with a view to intercept the garrison should a retreat be 
 attempted. The 6-pounder was fired a few times at the gun-boats, 
 which was returned by the artillery of the enemy. A landing of their 
 troops with a 5^ -inch howitzer w-as effected about a mile below the 
 fort; and Major Chambers accompanied by Dickson was despatched 
 towards the fort with a flag, and was met on the part of Major Cro- 
 ghan by Ensign Shipp of the 17th Regiment. After the usual cere- 
 monies Major Chambers observed to Ensign Shipp, that he was in- 
 structed by Gen. Proctor to demand the surrender of the fort, as he 
 was anxious to spare the effusion of human blood, which he could not 
 do, should he be under the necessity of reducing it by the powerful force 
 of artillery, regulars and Indians under his command. Shipp replied 
 that the commandant of the fort and its garrison were determined to 
 defend it to the last extremity, that no force however great could induce 
 them to surrender, as they were resolved to maintain their post or tO' 
 bury themselves in its ruins. Dickson then said that their immense 
 body of Indians could not be restrained from massacring the whole 
 garrison in case of success — of whicli we have no doubt, rejoined 
 Chambers, as we are amph^ prepared. Dickson then proceeded to re- 
 mark that it was a pity so fine a j'oung man should fall into the hands 
 of the savages — sir, for God's sake surrender, and prevent the dreadful 
 massacre that will be caused by your resistance. Mr. Shipp replied that 
 when the fort was taken there would be none to massacre. It will not 
 be given up while a man is able to resist. An Indian at this moment 
 came out of an adjoining ravine and advancing to the Ensign took hold 
 of his sword and attempted to wrest it from him. Dickson interfered, 
 and having restrained the Indian, affected great anxiety to get him safe 
 into the fort. 
 
 The enemy now opened their fire from their 6-pounders in the gun 
 boats and the howitzer on shore, which they continued through the- 
 night with but little intermission and with ver}' little effect. The forces 
 of the enemy consisted of about 500 regulars, and about 800 Indians 
 commanded by Dickson, the whole being commanded by Gen. Proctor 
 in person. Tecumseh was stationed on the road to fort Meigs with a 
 body of 2,000 Indians, expecting to intercept a reinforcement on that 
 route. 
 
 Major Croghan through the evening occasionally fired his 6-pounder,. 
 at the same time changing its place occasionally to induce a belief that 
 he had more than one piece. As it produced very little execution on 
 the enemy, and he was desirous of saving his ammunition, he soon dis- 
 continued his fire. The enemy had directed their fire against the north- 
 western angle of the fort which induced the commandant to believe that 
 an attempt to storm his works would be made at that point. In the 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 61 
 
 night Captain Hunter was directed to remove the (j-pounder to a block- 
 house from which it would rake that angle. Bj- great industry and per- 
 sonal exertion. Captain Hunter soon accomplished this object in secrecy. 
 The embrasure was masked, and the piece loaded with a half charge of 
 powder and double charge of slugs and grape shot. 
 
 Early in the morning of the second, the enemy opened their tire 
 from their howitzer, and three 6-pounders which they had landed in 
 the night, and planted in a point of woods about 250 yards from the 
 fort. Jn the evening, about 4 o'clock, they concentrated the fire of all 
 their guns on the northwest angle, which convinced Major Croghan that 
 they would endeavor to make a breach and storm the works at that 
 point : he therefore immediately had that place strengthened as much 
 as possible with bags of flour and .sand, which were so effectual that 
 the picketing in that place sustained no material injury. Sergeant Weaver 
 with five or six gentlemen of the Petersburg Volunteers and Pittsburgh 
 Blues, who happened to be in the fort, was entrusted with the manage- 
 ment of the 6-pounder. 
 
 Late in the evening when the smoke of the firing had c;)mpletely 
 enveloped the fort, the enemy proceeded to make the assault. Two 
 feints were made towards the southern angle, where Captain Hunter's 
 lines were formed; and at tlio same time a column of 350 men were dis- 
 covered advancing through the smoke, within 20 paces of the north- 
 western angle. A heavy galling fire of musketry was now opened upon 
 them from the fort which threw them into some confusion. Colonel 
 Shortt who headed the principal column soon rallied his men and led 
 them with great bravery to the brink of the ditch. After a momentary 
 pause he leaped into the ditch, calling to his men to follow him. and in 
 a few minutes it was full. The masked porthole was now opened, and 
 the 6-pounder, at a distance of 30 feet, poured such destruction upon 
 them that but few who had entered the ditch were fortunate enough to 
 escape, A precipitate and confused retreat was the immediate conse- 
 quence, although some of the officers attempted to rally their men. The 
 other column which was led by Colonel Warburton and Major Chambers, 
 was also routed in confusion by a destructive fire from the line com- 
 manded by Captain Hunter. The whole of them fled into the adjoining 
 wood, beyond the reach of our small arms. During the assault, which 
 lasted half an hour, the enemy kept up an incessant fire from their 
 howitzer and five 6-pounders. They left Colonel Shortt, a lieutenant 
 and 25 privates dead in the ditch ; and the total number of prisoners 
 taken was 26, most of them badly wounded. Major Muir was knocked 
 down in the ditch, and lay among the dead, till the darkness of the 
 night enabled him to escape in safety. The loss of the garrison was 
 one killed and 7 slightly wounded. The total loss of the enemy could 
 not be less than 150 killed and wounded. 
 
 When night came on, which was soon after the assault, the wounded 
 in the clitcli were in a desperate situation. Complete relief could not be 
 
62 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 brought to them by either side with any degree of safety. Major Cro- 
 ghan however reheved them as much as possible — he contrived to convey- 
 them water over the picketting in buckets, and a ditch was opened under 
 the pickets through which those who were able and willing were en- 
 couraged to crawl into the fort. All who were able preferred of course 
 to follow their defeated comrades, and many others were carried from 
 the vicinity of the fort by the Indians, particularly their own killed and 
 wounded; and in the night about 3 o'clock the whole British and Indian 
 force commenced a disorderly retreat. So great was their precipitation,, 
 that they left a sail boat containing some clothing and a considerable 
 quantity of military stores; and on the next day 70 stand of arms and 
 some braces of pistols were picked up round the fort. Their hurry and 
 confusion was caused by the apprehension of an attack from Gen. Har- 
 rison, of whose position and force they had probably received an exag- 
 gerated account. 
 
 It was the intention of Gen. Harrison, should the enemy succeed 
 against Fort Stephenson, or should they endeavor to turn his left and 
 fall back on Upper Sandusky, to leave his camp at Seneca and fall back 
 for the protection of that place. But he discovered by the firing on the 
 evening of the 1st inst that the enemy had nothing but light artillery, 
 which could make no impression on the fort ; and he knew that an 
 attempt to storm it without making a breach could be successfully re- 
 pelled by the garrison; he therefore determined to wait for the arrival 
 of 250 mounted volunteers under Rennick, being the advance of 700 who 
 were approaching by the way of Upper Sandusky, and then to march 
 against the enemy and raise the siege, if their force was not still too 
 great for his. On the 2d inst. he sent several scouts to ascertain their 
 situation and force ; but the woods were so infested with Indians that 
 none of them could proceed sufificiently near the fort to make the neces- 
 sary discoveries. In the night a messenger arrived at headquarters with, 
 intelligence that the enemy were preparing to retreat. About 9 o'clock 
 Major Croghan had ascertained from their collecting about their boats- 
 that they were preparing to embark, and immediately sent an express 
 to the commander-in-chief with this information. The general now de- 
 termined to wait no longer for reinforcements, and immediately set out 
 with the dragoons, with which he reached the fort early in the morning, 
 having ordered Generals McArthur and Cass, who had arrived at Seneca 
 several days before, to follow him with all disposable infantry at thatr 
 place, and which at this time was about 700 men, after the numerous- 
 sick, and the force necessary to maintain the position were left behind. 
 Finding that the enemy had fled entii;ely from the fort so as not to be 
 reached by him, and learning that Tecumseh was somewhere in the 
 direction of Fort Meigs with 2,000 warriors, he immediately ordered the 
 infantry to fall back to Seneca, lest Tecumseh should make an attack 
 on that place, or intercept the small reinforcements advancing from the 
 Ohio. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. ' 63- 
 
 In his official report of this affair, General Harrison observes that, 
 "It will not be among the least of Gen. Proctor's mortifications to find 
 that he has been baffled by a j'outh who has just passed his twenty-first 
 year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle. Gen. George 
 R. Clarke." 
 
 "Captain Hunter, of the 17th Regiment, the second in command, 
 conducted himself with great propriety; and never was there a set of 
 finer young fellows than the subalterns, viz.. Lieutenants Johnson and 
 Baylor, of the 17th; Anthony, of the 24th; Meeks, of the 7th, and 
 Ensigns Shipp and Duncan of the 17th." 
 
 Lieutenant Anderson, of the 24th, was also mentioned for his good 
 conduct. Being without a command, he solicited Major Croghan for a 
 musket, and a post to fight at, which he did with the greatest bravery. 
 
 "Too much praise," says Major Croghan, "cannot be bestowed on 
 the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates under my command 
 for their gallantry and good conduct during the siege." 
 
 The brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel was immediately conferred 
 on Major Croghan. by the president of the United States for his gal- 
 lant conduct on this occasion. The ladies of Chillicothe also presented 
 him an elegant sword accompanied by a suitable address. 
 
 On the 9th of August, at Lower Sandusky, a British boat was- 
 discovered coming up the river with a flag. When it landed below 
 the fort. Captain Hunter was sent to meet the commander, who proved 
 to be Lieut. LeBreton, accompanied by Doctor Banner, with a letter 
 from Gen. Proctor to the commandant at Lower Sandusky, their object 
 being to ascertain the situation of the British wounded and afford them 
 surgical aid. Captain Hunter invited them to the fort. Le Breton 
 seemed to hesitate, as if he expected first to be blind-folded, as usual 
 in such cases ; but Captain Hunter told him to come on, that there was 
 nothing in the fort which there was any reason to conceal ; and when 
 he introduced him to Major Croghan as the commandant of the fort, 
 he appeared to be astonished at the youthful appearance of the hero,, 
 who had defeated the combined forces of his master. 
 
 As the letter of General Proctor also contained a proposition for 
 the paroling of those prisoners who might be in a condition to be re- 
 moved, the flag was sent by Major Croghan to headquarters at Seneca. 
 Gen. Harrison replied to the letter of Proctor, that "Major Croghan, 
 conformably to those principles which are held sacred in the American 
 army, had caused all possible care to be taken of the wounded prisoners 
 that his situation would admit — that every aid which surgical skill could 
 give was afforded," and that he had already referred the disposal of 
 the prisoners to his government and must wait for their determination. 
 Dr. Banner in the meantime had examined the situation of the wounded, 
 and was highly gratified with the humane treatment they had received. 
 He informed Major Croghan that the Indians were highly incensed at the 
 
-64 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 failure of the late expedition and were kept togetlier with the utmost 
 difficulty. 
 
 [Governor Shelby.] 
 
 Headquarters, Seneca. 12 Sept., 1813. 
 
 "You will find arms at Upper Sandusky; also a considerable quan- 
 tity at Lower Sandusky. I set out 'from this place in an hour. Our fleet 
 has beyond all doubt met that of tlie enemy. The day before yesterday 
 an incessant and tremendous cannonading was heard in the direction 
 of Maiden by a detachment of troops coming from Fort Meigs. It 
 lasted two hours. I am all anxiety for the result. There will be no oc- 
 casion for your halting here. Lower Sandusky affords fine grazing. With 
 respect to a station for your horses, there is the best in the world im- 
 mediately at the place of embarkation. The Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie, 
 and Portage river form between them a peninsula, the isthmus of which 
 is only a mile and a half across. A fence of that length, and a sufificient 
 guard left there, would make all the horses of the army safe. It would 
 enclose fifty or sixty thousand acres, in which are many cultivated fields, 
 which have been abandoned are now grown up with the finest grass. Your 
 sick had better be left at Upper Sandusky or here. 
 
 Harrison." 
 
 Within half an hour after the above letter was written, the gen- 
 eral received the following laconic note from the commodore, by express 
 from Lower Sandusky : 
 
 "U. S. Brig Niagara, off the Wester Sister, Etc., 
 
 September 10, 1813. 
 "Dear General — We have met the enemy and they are ours — 
 two ships, two brigs, one schooner and a sloop. 
 
 "Yours with great respect and esteem, 
 
 Oliver Hazard Perry." 
 
 The exhilirating news set Lower Sandusky and camp Seneca in 
 an uproar of tumultous joy. The general immediately proceeded to the 
 former place, and issued his orders for the movement of the troops, 
 and transportation of the provisions, military stores, etc., to the margin 
 of the lake, preparatory to their embarkation. 
 
 In bringing down the military stores and provisions from the posts 
 on the Sandusky river, to the vessels in the lake, a short land carriage 
 became necessary to expedite -the embarkation. The peninsula formed by 
 the Sandusky Bay on the right and by the Portage river and Lake Erie 
 on the left, extending between fifteen and twenty miles from the anchor- 
 age of the shipping in the mouth of the Portage ; at which place the 
 isthmus on which the army was encamped was less than two miles 
 
The Croghan Celebration, 66 
 
 across from one river to the other. The boats in going round the 
 peninsula to the shipping, would have to travel upward of forty miles, 
 and to be exposed to the dangers of the lake navigation. It was there- 
 fore deemed the most safe and expeditious to transport the stores and 
 drag the boats across the isthmus, which was accomplished between the 
 15th and 20th of the month, whilst the army was detained in making 
 other necessary arrangements. 
 
 The Kentucky troops were encamped across the narrowest part 
 of the isthmus, above the place of embarkation ; and each regiment was 
 ordered to construct a strong fence of brush and fallen timber in front 
 of its encampment, which extended when finished, from Portage River 
 to Sandusky River. Within this enclosure their horses were turned 
 loose to graze on ample pastures of excellent grass. The preparations 
 for the expedition being nearly completed, it became necessary to detail 
 a guard to be left for the protection of the horses. The commandants 
 of regiments were ordered by the governor to detach one-twentieth part 
 of their commands for this service; and Colonel Christopher Rife was 
 designated as their commander. In furnishing the men, many of the 
 colonels had to resort to a draft, as volunteers to stay on this side the 
 lake could not be obtained. 
 
 On the 20th, Gen. Harrison embarked with the regular troops 
 under Generals McArthur and Cass, and arrived the same day at Put- 
 in-Bay in Bass Island, and about 10 miles distant from the point of 
 embarkation. Next morning the governor (Shelby) sailed with a part 
 of his troops, having ordered Major General Desha to remain at Portage 
 and bring up the rear, which he performed with great alacrity and vig- 
 ilance. On that and the succeeding day all the militia arrived at Bas- 
 Island. Colonel Rife was left in command at Portage, Avith Doctor I\Ta- 
 guffin as his surgeon. Tlie whole army remained on Bass Island on the 
 24th. waiting for the arrival of all necessary stores and provisions at 
 that place. 
 
 On the 25th, the whole army moved to the Middle Sister, a small 
 island containing about five or six acres of ground, which was now 
 crowded with men, having about 4,500 upon it. Whilst the transport 
 vessels were bringing up the military stores and provisions on the 26th, 
 Gen. Harrison sailed with Commodore Perry in the Ariel to recon- 
 noitre off Maiden, and ascertain a suitable point on the- lake shore for 
 the debarkation of his troops. 
 
 On Monday the 27th. the whole army was embarked early in the 
 day, and set sail from the Middle Sister for the Canada shore, Gen. 
 Harrison having previously circulated a general order among the troops 
 in which he exhorted them to remember the fame of their ancestors and 
 the justice of the cause in which they were engaged. 
 
 Soon after the British force had surrendered and it was dis- 
 covered that the Indians were yielding on the left. Gen. Harrison ordered 
 Vol. XVI— 5. 
 
66 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 Major Payne to pursue Gen. Proctor with a part of his battalion. * * * 
 But Proctor was not to be taken. His guilty conscience had told him 
 that his only chance for safety from the vengeance of those whose 
 countrymen he had murdered lay in the celerity of his flight. The 
 pursuers, however, at last pressed him so closely that he was obliged 
 to abandon the road, and his carriage and sword were captured by the 
 gallant Alajor Wood. — Six pieces of brass artillery were taken, three of 
 which had been captured in the Revolution at Saratoga and York, and 
 surrendered again by Hull in Detroit." 
 
 Lieut. -Colonel Eleazer Wood was one of the first graduates of the 
 military academy at West Point, 18(Hj, and was a distinguished engineer. 
 In 1812 he built the fort at Lower Sandusky, which was later named 
 after Col. Stephenson, and was so gallantly defended by Major George 
 Croghan on the 2d of August, 1813. He was also the engineer who 
 planned Fort Meigs in 1813, and participated most gallantly in its siege 
 and also in the Battle of the Thames. He was killed September 17, 1814. 
 
 Proctor's carriage, captured by Major Wood, was brought to Lower 
 Sandusky, and for many years was shown upon all public occasions as one 
 of the trophies of the war, second in interest only to "Old Betsy." 
 
 One of the "six pieces of brass artillery" referred to above, is 
 now one of the most cherished relics in the museum on Fort Stephenson. 
 It is a handsome brass piece, evidently a French gun originally, as it 
 has near its muzzle the royal cipher of King Louis of France. It was 
 presented to King George of England, or was captured by him, and has 
 the monogram G. R., with the crown, near its base. It was captured 
 from the British under Burgoyne at Saratoga, and in common with other 
 trophies was elaborately inscribed : 
 
 » 
 
 TAKEN AT THE STORM OF 
 
 THE BRITISH LINE NEAR SARATOGA. 
 
 BY 
 
 October 7, 1777. 
 
 After Benedict Arnold turned traitor at West Point, his name was 
 carefully erased from all trophies. This gun was one of the number so 
 ignominously surrendered at Detroit by Gen. , Hull, August 16, 1812, to 
 the British Major General Brock. After being captured for the second 
 time from the British under Proctor, by the Americans under Gen. Har- 
 rison at the Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, it was retired from 
 active service and has now for more than twenty-five years been an 
 object of the greatest interest in the museum on the site of old Fort 
 Stephenson. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 67 
 
 McAfee's History continues : In April, 1814, Colonel Butler obtained 
 ]eave to return to Kentucky, and the command of Detroit devolved on 
 Lieut. -Col. Croghan, Commodore Sinclair, who succeeded Commodore 
 Perry as the naval commander on the lakes, had received orders to 
 •conduct a military and naval expedition against the British on Lake 
 Huron. 
 
 About the time these instructions were communicated to the Com- 
 modore, the secretary of war thought proper to send a corresponding order 
 directly to Major Holmes, entirely passing by Col. Croghan, the com- 
 mandant at Detroit, and merely notifying Gen. Harrison, the commander 
 of the district, through whom the arrangements for the expedition should 
 have been made. This course of the secretary was a violation not only 
 of military etiquette, but also of the most important military principles, 
 which require that the commander of a district, or of a separate post, 
 especially when situated on a distant frontier, should have the supreme 
 direction of minor matters within the sphere of his command. TIic 
 interference of the government in such matters must inevitably deran^' ■ 
 his plans, and produce confusion and disaster in the service. The gen- 
 eral should be furnished with the object and outlines of the campaign or 
 expedition and with the necessary supplies of men, money and munitions 
 for accomplishing that object; and then be made responsible for their 
 proper management. But the secretary in this instance issued his or- 
 ders to Major Holmes under the nose of his colonel, whereby the rank 
 and authority of the latter were superseded, and the resources of his post 
 were to be clandestinely withdrawn frorti his power. This was highly 
 resented by Colonel Croghan, who communicated his sentiments on this 
 subject without reserve to Commodore Sinclair and Gen. Harrison. He 
 assured the Commodore that he had already taken every means to recon- 
 noitre the upper lakes and the country with a view to obtaining such in- 
 formation as he requested, and that he would be happy to co-operate 
 and assist him in the enterprise, but could not pledge himself in the 
 present state of liis resources to furnish any important assistance. To 
 the general he wrote : "Major Holmes has been notified by the war de- 
 partment that he is chosen to command the land troops, which are in- 
 tended to co-operate with the fleet, against the enemy's forces on the 
 upper lakes. So soon as I may be directed by you to order Major Holmes 
 on that command, and to furnish him with the necessary troops, I shall 
 do so, but not till then shall he or any other part of my force leave 
 the sod." — Croghan. 
 
 In answer to a second letter from the commodore, written in the 
 latter part of May, he proceeds : 'T much fear, sir, that in your ex- 
 pectation of being joined at this place by a battalion or corps of regu- 
 lars under Major Holmes, you will be disappointed. Major Holmes, it is 
 true, has been notified by .the war department that he is selected to 
 command the land troops on the expedition up the lakes. But this no- 
 
68 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 tification, even did it amount to a positive order to the major, could not 
 be considered as an order to me; nor can I deem it in itself sufficient 
 to justify me in weakening the present reduced strength of my command. 
 My objection to co-operate with you at this time is not, I assure you, 
 moved by anything like chagrin at this departure from military etiquette, 
 but is bottomed on a thorough conviction that nothing less than a pos- 
 itive order could justify or excuse my detaching a part of the small force 
 rnder my command from the immediate defence of this frontier. I 
 ; gree with you that the promised force under Major Holmes appears. 
 lOO weak to effect the desired end. I cannot speak positively on the 
 subject, as my knowledge even of the geographical situation of the coun- 
 try is but limited ; yet my belief is, that if resistance be made at all. 
 
 SCENE IN PARADE. 
 
 it will prove too stout for 1,000 men. The position of Mackinaw is a 
 strong one, and should the enemy have determined on holding it, he has 
 had time enough to throw in reinforcements. The Engages in the em- 
 ploy of the N. W. Co., generally get down to Mackinaw from their win- 
 tering grounds, about the last of May in every year. Will these hardy 
 fellows, whose force exceeds 1,000, be permitted to be idle? Will it not 
 be the interest of the N. W. Co. to exert all its means in the defence 
 of those posts in which it is so immediately concerned? I send j^ou a 
 few queries on the subject, with the answers as given by an intelligent 
 gentleman, formerly an agent to the N. W. Co., and well acquainted 
 with the geographical situation of that country. Every arrangement is 
 made for securing the entrance into Lake Huron. I am under no solici- 
 tude about the passage up the strait." — Croghan. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 69 
 
 Although the colonel appears to consider the order to Holmes as 
 a mere notification of his appointment, yet it was certainly intended by the 
 secretary to be sufficiently positive and ample to put the expedition in 
 motion, without anj' other communication from the war department, ex- 
 cept the instructions to the Commodore. Soon after the above was writ- 
 ten, the Colonel addressed another letter to Gen. Harrison, from which 
 the following is an extract : "I know not how to account for the 
 Secretary of War assuming to himself the right of designating Major 
 Holmes for this command to Mackinaw. My ideas on the subject may 
 not be correct, yet for the sake of the principle were I a general com- 
 manding a district, I would be very far from suffering the Secretary of 
 War, or any other authority, to interfere with my internal police. 
 
 "I have not yet been able, even by three attempts, to ascertain 
 whether the enemy is building boats at Mackedash (Gloucester Bay). 
 None of my spies would venture far enough, being either frightened 
 at the view of Lake Huron, or alarmed at the probability of meeting 
 hostile Indians.'' — Croghan. 
 
 . This letter was written in the 'latter part of May. Gen. Harrison, 
 actuated by similar sentiments, had already resigned his commission of 
 Major General in the army, which he had received about the time his 
 appointment in the Kentucky militia had expired. He believed that the 
 Secretary of War disliked him, and had intentionally encroached on 
 the prerogatives of his rank to insult him, by corresponding with the of-' 
 ficers under his command, and giving them orders direct which ought at 
 least to have been 'communicated indirectly through the commander-in- 
 chief of the district. He had remonstrated in a spirited manner against 
 this interference, and finding it again renewed in the present case, he 
 resigned his commission by the following letters to the Secretary and 
 President. 
 
 "Headquarters, Cincixnati, 11th May, 1814 
 
 ''Sir, I have the honor through you to request the President to 
 accept my resignation of the appointment of major general in the army 
 with which he has honored me. 
 
 "Lest the public service should suffer, before a successor can be 
 nominated, I shall continue to act until the 31st inst., by which time I 
 hope to be relieved. 
 
 "Having some reasons to believe that the most malicious insinua- 
 tions have been made against me in Washington, it was my intention to 
 have requested an inquiry into my conduct, from the commencement of 
 my command. Further reflection has however determined me to de- 
 cline the application — because from the proud consciousness of having 
 palpably done my duty, I cannot believe that it is necessary either for 
 the satisfaction of the government or the people, that I should pay so 
 much respect to the suggestions of malice and envy. 
 
 "It is necessary, however, that I should assure you, sir, that I sub- 
 
70 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 scribe implicitly to the opinion that military officers are responsible for 
 their conduct, and amenable to the decisions of a court martial after 
 they have left the service, for any improper act committed in it. 
 
 "The principle was established in England, in the case of Lord 
 George Sackville after the battle of Minden ; it was known and recog- 
 nized by all the ancient republics; and is particularly applicable I think 
 \3 a government like ours. I therefore pledge myself to answer before a 
 ', ourt martial at any future period, to any charge which may be brought 
 against mc. "I have the honor, etc., 
 
 "The Hon. J. Armstrong, etc." 
 
 "Harrison. 
 
 OLD BETSY. 
 
 Fort Stephenson is unique in retaining its original area, 
 armament and the body of its Defender. Armament is an im- 
 posing name for the one six- 
 jDoiuid cannon, afifectionately 
 called "Old Betsy" which 
 was Croghan's single piece of 
 artillery. Betsy was old even 
 ninety-three years ago, being 
 a naval cannon captured from 
 the French in the French and 
 Indian wars of 1756-63. 
 
 Otlr first knowledge of the 
 gun is upon the occasion of 
 the first 4th of July celebra- 
 tion ever held in this place, ■ 
 which occured in 1813. On the 3d, a mounted regiment tmder 
 Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, "the man who killed 
 Tecumseh" and the future vice president, marched from Fort 
 Meigs to Lower Sandusky to recruit their horses here. "The 
 Fourth was celebrated," says McAfee's History of the Late JVar, 
 "by the garrison and mounted men together, in great harmony 
 and enthusiasm. Colonel Johnson delivered an appropriate ad- 
 dress ; and a number of toasts, breathing sentiments of the 
 republican soldier were drunk, cheered by the shouts of the men 
 and the firing of small arms and the discharge of a six-pounder 
 from the fort." 
 
 Major McAfee, in his History of the Late War, says : "A 
 
 OLD BETSY. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 71 
 
 reconnoitering- party which had heen sent from headquarters to 
 the shore of the lake, about twenty miles distant from Fort Steph- 
 enson, discovered the approach of the enemy by water on the 
 evening of the 31st of July. They returned by the fort, after 
 twelve o'clock the next day, and had passed it but a few hours, 
 when the enemy made their appearance before it. The Indians 
 showed themselves first on the hill over the river, and were 
 saluted by a six-pounder, the only piece of artillery in the fort, 
 wdiich soon caused them to retire. In half an hour the British 
 gun-boats came in sight ; and the Indian forces displayed them- 
 selves in every direction with a view to intercept the garrison 
 should a retreat be attempted. The six-pounder was fired a few 
 times at the gun-boats, which was returned by the artillery of 
 the enemy." 
 
 McAfee further says : "Sergeant Weaver with five or six 
 gentlemen of the Petersburg A'olunteers and Pittsburg Blues, 
 who happened to be in the fort, was entrusted with the manage- 
 ment of the six-pounder." 
 
 On the first and second days of the following month "Old 
 Betsy" lifted her voice in deadly earnest. How she was shifted 
 from place to place in the fort to convey the impression that the 
 defenders had several guns ; how she was finally hoisted into the 
 blockhouse and stationed behind a masked port hole and at the 
 psychological moment "raked the ditch" with a double charge of 
 leaden slugs ; and the appalling fatal effect — these facts have 
 been related in preceding pages. 
 
 General Harrison w' inds up his official report to the Secretary 
 of War, August 4, 1813, as follows: 
 
 "A young gentleman, a private in the Petersburg Volun- 
 teers, of the name of Brown, assisted by five or six of that com- 
 pany and the Pittsburg Blues who were accidentally in the fort, 
 managed the six-pounder, which produced such destruction in 
 the ranks of the enemy." The private Brown referred to was 
 so severely burned by the frequent explosions of powder in the 
 priming of Old Betsy, that his condition was graphically de- 
 scribed by the last survivor of the Petersburg Volunteers, Reuben • 
 Clements, in 1879. who also said that he was quite positive that 
 
72 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 Brown was the only member of the Petersburg Volunteers pres- 
 ent during the engagement. 
 
 A roster of the Greensburg Riflemen has been furnished 
 by Richard Coulter, jr., a grandnephew of Major John B. Alex- 
 ander, who commanded an independent battalion of U. S. twelve- 
 month Volunteers, consisting of the Pittsburg Blues, Capt. James 
 R. Butler ; the Petersburg Volunteers, Capt. Robert McRae ; the 
 Greensburg Riflemen, Lieut. Peter Drum, vice Alexander, pro- 
 moted Major. The roster of the Greensburg Riflenien contains 
 the name of x^braham Weaver as a private in 1812, who was 
 the Sergeant Weaver in charge of the firing squad of Old Betsy, 
 and who returned to Greensburg, where he died in 1846. 
 
 After the war in which the gun did such valiant service it 
 was removed to the Pittsburg arsenal. Later Congress ordered 
 its return to Lower Sandusky. The ingenious Thomas L. Haw- 
 kins, commissary officer at Fort Stephenson during the campaign, 
 identified the gun in Pittsburg, recognizing it by the scar on its 
 breach which he believed was made by a cannon ball while in 
 action, during the old French and Indian war. Owing to the 
 duplication of the name Sandusky the cannon was sent to San- 
 dusky City, which for many years after the battle was called 
 Ogontz's Place, and later Portland, and of course had no claim 
 to the gun. The authorities there tried to keep it, and for better 
 concealment buried it under a barn. Mayor B. J. Bartlett, of 
 Lower Sandusky, traced the gun and sent men and a wagon to 
 bring it home. This home-coming of Old Betsy was just prior 
 to the 2d of August celebration of 1852, when the Tiffin fire 
 department came down to join in the festivities. William H. 
 Gibson, clad in the red shirt and white trousers of the fire 
 brigade uniform, delivered the stirring address of the day, in the 
 woods back of the Rawson house on State street. 
 
 "Old Betsy" is frequently mentioned in press notices of 
 former years. The Fremont Journal of September 12, 1856, says : 
 
 "On the loth. about one hundred and fifty Republicans of 
 Fremont took passage on the Island Queen for Sandusky to 
 join in the mass gatherings of Freemen. We v/ere accompanied 
 by "Old Betsy." It talked some, and had many admirers, and 
 with the Fremont delegation was received bv the thousands with 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 73 
 
 three tremendous cheers. The day was a glorious one for the 
 cause of freedom." This of course foreshadows the civil war. 
 
 "Who used Old Betsy last?" asks the Journal of January 
 23, 1857. "It has been standing in the street for several weeks 
 now. Captain Parrish should see to this old servant." 
 
 In a long article on the celebration of August 2, i860, the 
 Journal says : "At 6 o'clock Captain Parrish brought out 'Old 
 Betsy' and fired a salute of thirteen rounds. Soon after the peo- 
 ple of the county began to pour in. Cassius M. Clay was the 
 orator of the day." At the celebration of 1852 Thomas L Haw- 
 kins, a well-known Methodist preacher and the town poet, who 
 had been appointed commissary of the fort after the battle of 
 Fort Stephenson, read a poem addressed to the old six-pounder, 
 apostrophizing her as Betsy Croghan, a name by which she is 
 frequently called. This poem is printed below. In another 
 poem on Croghan's victory, Mr. Hawkins calls her "Our Bess," 
 while tradition has it that the garrison called her "Good Bess." 
 But "Old Betsy" she is now and ever will be in local and na- 
 tional parlance. Little children play about her, the birds often 
 build their nests in her mouth, visitors pass curious hands over 
 her breech, and young reporters take her photograph and write 
 "story" about her. After all she is the only one left who saw 
 our hero in battle, who heard the quick orders of those two days' 
 fight, who faced the oncoming veterans of Wellington's troops 
 and settled it that they should rest thereafter in Lower Sandusky 
 soil. 
 
 "Old Betsy's" voice will probably never be heard again, but 
 as she stands her silent guard over the remains of George Cro- 
 ghan, on file scene of their great victory, she "yet speaketh." 
 
 "OLD BETSY." 
 
 THOMAS L. HAWKINS. 
 
 Hail ! thou old friend, of Fort MeGee 
 Little did I expect again to see, 
 And hear thy voice of victory, 
 Thou defender of Ohio ! 
 
74 Ohio Arcli. and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 I wonder who it was that sought thee, 
 To victory's ground again hath lirought thee. 
 From strangers' hands at length hath caught thee 
 He is a friend to great Ohio ! 
 
 He is surely worthy of applause, 
 To undertake so good a cause, 
 Although a pleader of her laws, 
 And statutes of Ohio. 
 
 What shaoie thy blockhouse is not standing, 
 Thy pickets as at first commanding, 
 Protecting Sandusky's noble landing, 
 The frontier of Ohio ! 
 
 Thy pickets, alas ! are all unreared. 
 No faithful sentinel on guard. 
 Nor band of soldiers well prepared. 
 Defending great Ohio. 
 
 Where have the upthrown ditches gone, 
 By British cannon rudely torn? 
 Alas ! with grass they are o'ergrown. 
 Neglected by Ohio. 
 
 O tell me where thy chieftains all — 
 Croghan, Dudley, Miller, Ball, 
 Some of whom I know did fall 
 In defending of Ohio. 
 
 Canst thou not tell how Proctor swore. 
 When up yon matted turf he tore. 
 Which shielded us from guns a score, 
 He poured upon Ohio? 
 
 And how Tecumseh lay behind you ; 
 With vain attempts he tried to blind you. 
 And unprepared, he'd find you. 
 And lead you from Ohio. 
 
 Perhaps like Hamlet's ghost, you've come. 
 This day to celebrate the fame 
 Of Croghan's honored, worthy name. 
 The hero of Ohio. 
 
The CroiiJian Celebration. 
 
 lb- 
 
 I greet thee I Thou art just in time 
 To tell of victory most sublime, 
 Though told in unconnected rhyme ; 
 Thou art welcome in Ohio. 
 
 But since thou canst thyself speak well, 
 Now let thy thundering voice tell 
 What bloody carnage then befell 
 The foes of great Ohio. 
 
 (And then she thundered loud.) 
 
 rROCTOR's REPORT OF THE BATTLE OF FORT STEPHENSON. 
 
 The following letter, recently unearthed by Col. Webb C. 
 Hayes in the Canadian Archives at Ottawa, is most interesting 
 as giving General Proctor's own account of the battle in which 
 he was so badly worsted. It is addressed to Sir George Provist, 
 Lieut. General, at Kingston, and reads : 
 
 "Sir : It being absolutely requisite for several urgent reasons that 
 my Indian force should not remain unemployed, and being well aware 
 tlKit it would not be movable except accompanied by 
 a regular force, I resolved, notwithstanding the 
 >niallness of that force to move and where we might 
 be fed at the expense of the enemy. I had, however, 
 tlie mortification to find that instead of the Indian 
 force being a disposable one, or under my direction, 
 our movements would be subject to the caprices and 
 prejudices of the Indian body to a degree in which 
 my regular force was disproportionate to their num- 
 bers. For several weeks after the arrival of Mr. R. 
 Dickson, his Indians were restrainable and tractable 
 1(1 a degree that I could not have conceived possible. 
 I am sorry to add that they have been contaminated 
 by the other Indians. 
 I was, very contrary to my judgment, necessitated to go to the 
 Miami, in the vicinity of the enemy's fort, where I remained a few days 
 in the hope that General Harrison might come to the relief of the fort 
 which was invested in the Indian mode, when finding that the Indians 
 were returning to Detroit and Amherstberg I moved to Lower Sandusky 
 where, however, we could not muster more hundreds of Indians than 
 I might reasonably have expected thousands. The neighborhood of 
 Sandusky, and the settlement on the Huron river, eight miles below it, 
 could have afforded cattle sufficient to have fed my whole Indian force 
 for some time, had they been induced to accompany us. Sandusky is 
 
 M.VJO'R CROGH.VX. 
 
"76 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 nearly fifty miles by water from Lake Erie and nearly forty miles from 
 several points whence strong reinforcements might be expected ; I could 
 not therefore with my very small force remain more than two days, 
 from the probability of being cut off and of being deserted by the few 
 Indians who had not already done so. 
 
 The fort at Sandusky is composed of blockhouses connected by 
 picketing which they fiank, and is calculated for a garrison of five or six 
 hundred men. On viewing the fort I formed an opinion entirely different 
 irom any person under my command. The general idea being that that 
 garrison did not exceed fifty men, and that the fort could be easily 
 carried by assault. On the morning of the 2d inst. the gentlemen of 
 the Indian Department, who have the direction of it, declared formally 
 their decided opinion that unless the fort was stormed we should never 
 be able to bring an Indian warrior into the field with us, and that they 
 proposed and were ready to storm one fan of the fort, if we would 
 attempt another. I have also to observe that in this instance my judg- 
 ment had not that weight with the troops I hope I might reasonably 
 have expected. If I had withdrawn without having permitted the assault, 
 as my judgment certainly dictated, much satisfaction would have followed 
 me and I could scarcely have reconciled to myself to have continued to 
 direct their movements. I thus with all the responsibility resting on me 
 was obliged to yield to circumstances I could not possibly have pre- 
 vented. The troops, after the artillery had been used for some hours, 
 attacked two fans, and impossibilities being attempted, failed. The fort, 
 from which the severest fire I ever saw was maintained during the 
 attack, was well defended. The troops displayed the greatest bravery, 
 the much greater part of whom reached the fort and made every effort 
 to enter ; but the Indians who had proposed the assault and had it 
 not been assented to would have ever stigmatized the British character, 
 scarcely came into fire, before they ran off out of its reach. A more 
 than adequate sacrifice having been made to Indian opinion, I drew off 
 the brave assailants who had been carried away by a high sense of honor 
 to urge too strongly the attack. I enclose a disembarcation return to 
 show how small my disposable force was. The enemy had a six-pounder 
 and a smaller one in the fort. I also enclose a return of the killed, 
 wounded and missing. Our loss though severe and much to be regretted, 
 is less, everything considered, than could have been expected. You will 
 perceive that the Indian force is seldom a disposable one, never to be 
 relied on in hour of need, and only to be found useful in 'proportion as 
 we are independent of it. Ten Indians were surprised on a plain near 
 Sandusky and were cut to pieces. The Indians have always had a dread 
 of cavalry of which the enemy have a considerable number. A troop of 
 the 19th would be of the greatest service here in the confidence they would 
 give to our mounted Indians. I have experienced much deficience in my 
 artillery, another officer at least is absolutely requisite, and one of 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 77' 
 
 science and experience. The enemy's defences are composed of wood; 
 if we knew how to burn them as they did ours at Fort George, Mr. 
 Harrison's army must have been destroyed long since. The enemy's ves- 
 sels are out of Presqueisle Harbor, and so decidedly stronger than ours 
 that Captain Barclay has been necessitated to return to Amherstburg, 
 and with all haste to get the new vessel ready for sea, where she will 
 be in eight or ten days at furthest, and then only wants hands. 
 
 Whatever may happen to be regretted may be fairly attributed 
 to the delays in sending here the force your Excellency directed should 
 be sent. Had it been sent at once, it could have been used to the greatest 
 advantage, but it arrived in such small portions and with such delays 
 that the opportunities have been lost. The enemy are in great numbers 
 at Presqueisle and have been already reinforced at Fort Meigs. Gen. 
 Harrison's headquarters are near Lower Sandusky where he arrived on 
 the 3d inst. I must now look for the enemy from two quarters and 
 will have to meet them with my small force divided, for the Indians will 
 make no stand without us. You will probably hear of the enemy's landing 
 shortly at Long Point, where they may gain the rear of the Center Divi- 
 sion and also affect my supplies. An hundred and fifty sailors would have 
 eflfectually obviated this evil. I apprehend the enemy's rapid advance 
 to the River Raisin in force, and establishing himself there, which he 
 can do surprisingly soon. If I had the means I would establish a post 
 at that river, but not having two or three hundred men to send there 
 it is not in my power. I must entreat your Excellency to send me 
 more troops, even the 2d Battalion of the 41st Regt., though weak, 
 would be extremely acceptable. If the enem}' should be able to establish 
 themselves in the Territory it will operate strongly against us with our 
 Indian allies. Your Excellency may rely on my best endeavors, but I 
 rely on the troops alone, and they are but few and I am necessitated to 
 man the vessels with them. I have never desponded, nor do I now, 
 but I conceive it my duty to state to your Excellency the inadequateness 
 of my force. 
 
 I have the honor to be with much respect, etc., 
 
 Henry Proctor, 
 Brigadier General Commanding. 
 
 The British War Office contains the following brief records of the 
 attack on Fort Stephenson, as mentioned in the colonial correspondence 
 of that time. 
 
 "Headquarters, Kingston, Upper Canada, Aug. 1, 1813. 
 
 "My Lord — The arrival of Mr. Dickson from the mission with 2,000 
 Indian warriors, has enabled me to resume offensive operations with the 
 left division of the Upper Canada army under the command of Brig. 
 Gen. Proctor. Maj. Gen. Harrison having shown some of his cavalry 
 
78 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 and riflemen in the Michigan territory, a forward movement has been 
 made by the Indian warriors, upon Sandusky, from whence they will 
 unite with Tecumseh's band of warriors, employed in investing Fort 
 Meigs. — George Provost." Also : 
 
 "St. Davids, Niagara Frontier, Aug. 25, 1813. Maj. Gen. Proctor 
 having given way to the clamor of our Indian Allies to act offensively 
 moved forward on the 20th ult. with about 350 of the 41st regiment and 
 between 3,000 and 4,000 Indians and on the 2nd inst. attempted to carry 
 by assault the block houses and works at Sandusky where the enemy had 
 concentrated a considerable force. 
 
 He however soon experienced the timidity of the Indians when ex- 
 posed to the fire of musketry and cannon in an open countrj' and how 
 little dependence could be placed on their numbers. Previous to the 
 assault they could scarcel}- muster as many hundreds as they had before 
 thousands, and as soon as it had commenced they withdrew themselves 
 out of the reach of the enemy's tire. They are never a disposable force. 
 
 The handful of his Majesty's troops employed on this occasion dis- 
 played the greatest bravery j nearly the whole of them having reached 
 the fort and made every effort to enter it; but a galling and destructive 
 fire being kept up by the enemy from within the block houses and from 
 behind the picketing which completely protected them and which we 
 had not the means to force, the Major General thought it most prudent 
 not to continue longer so unavailing a combat ; he accordingly drew off 
 the assailants and returned to Sandwich with the loss of 25 killed, as 
 many missing and about 40 wounded. Amongst the killed are Brevet 
 Lieut. Col. Shortt and Lieut. J. G. Gordon of the 41st Regt." 
 
 "The Military Occurrences of the War of 1812." by William James, 
 an English publication of the time, contains the following story of Gen- 
 eral Proctor's campaign against Fort Stephenson on the Sandusky, which 
 is a typical British account, showing the writers patriotic bias : 
 
 "The American headquarters were at Seneca-town, near to San- 
 dusky Bay on Lake Erie. Fort Meigs, already so strong, had its works 
 placed in a still more vigorous state of defence : and a fort had since 
 been constructed on the west side of Sandusky river, about 40 miles 
 from its mouth, and 10 from the general's headquarters. It stood on a 
 rising ground, commanding the river to the east; having a plain to the 
 north and south, and a wood to the west. The body of the fort was 
 about 100 yards in length and 50 in breadth, surrounded outside of all 
 by a row of strong pickets, 12 feet over ground ; each picket armed at 
 top with a bayonet. Next to and against this formidable picket was an 
 embankment, forming the side of a dry ditch, 12 feet wide, by seven 
 feet deep; then a second embankment or glacis. A strong bastion and 
 two blockhouses completely enfiladed the ditch. Within the fort were the 
 hospital, military and commissary store-houses, magazines, etc. As far 
 as we can collect from the American accounts, the fort mounted but one 
 6-pounder; and that in a masked battery at the northwestern angle. The 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 79 
 
 number of troops composing the garrison cannot exactly be ascertained. 
 •One American account states that the eifectivc force did not amount to 
 160 men, or rank and file. 
 
 "Major General Proctor when he landed near the mouth of San- 
 dusky river, on the 1st of August, had it is admitted no other white 
 troops with him than the 41st regiment. An American editor says that 
 the major general, previous to his appearance on the Sandusky, had 
 detached "Tecumseh with 2,000 warriors, and a few regulars, to make a 
 diversion favorable to the attack upon Fort Stephenson ; and yet the 
 same editor states Major General Proctor's force before the fort, on 
 the evening of the 1st, at 500 regulars and 700 Indians.' Of the latter 
 there were but 200 and they, as was generally their custom when the 
 object of assault was a fortified place, withdrew to a ravine, out of 
 gun-shot, almost immediately that the action commenced. Of regulars 
 there were two lientenant-colonels, four captains, seven subalterns, (one 
 a lieutenant of artillery) eight staff, 22 sergeants, seven drummers, and 
 241 rank and file, including 23 artillerymen; making a total of 391 
 officers, non-commis§ioned officers and privates. 
 
 "On the morning of the 2nd the British opened their artillery 
 consisting of two light 6-pounders, and two oi- howitzers upon the fort; 
 but without producing the slightest impression ; and the different Am- 
 erican accounts, as we arc glad to see, concur in stating, that the fort 
 'was not at all injured' by the fire directed against it. Under an. im- 
 pression that the garrison did not exceed 50 or 60 men, the fort was 
 ordered to be stormed. Lieut. Col. Shortt at the head of 180 rank and 
 file, immediately advanced toward the northwest angle; while about 160 
 rank and file, under Lieut.-Col. Warburton, passed around through the 
 woods skirting the western side of the fort, to its south side. After 
 sustaining a heavy fire of musketry from the American troops, Lieut.-Col. 
 Shortt approached to the stockade; and with some difficulty, succeeded 
 in getting over the pickets. The instant this gallant officer reached the 
 ditch he ordered his men to follow and assault the works with the 
 utmost vigor. The masked 6-pounder, which had been previously pointed 
 to rake the ditch, and loaded 'with a double charge of leaden slugs,' was 
 now fired at the British column, 'the front of which was only 30 feet 
 distant from the piece.' A volley of musketry was fired at the same 
 instant and repeated in quick succession. This dreadful and, as to the 
 battery, unexpected discharge killed Lieut.-Col. Shortt, and several of his 
 brave followers; and wounded a great many more. Still undaunted, the 
 men of the 41st, headed by another officer, advanced again to carry the 
 masked 6-pounder, from which another discharge of 'leaden slugs' aided 
 by other volleys of musketry, was directed against them, and cleared 
 the 'fatal ditch' a second time. It was in vain to contend further; and 
 the British retired, with as many of their wounded as they could carry 
 away. 
 
 "Lieut. Col. Warliurton's party, having a circuit to make, did not 
 
80 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 arrive at its position till the first assault was nearly over. After a 
 volley or two, in which the British sustained some slight loss, the troops 
 at this point also were ordered to retire. The loss amounted to 26- 
 killed, 29 wounded and missing, and 41 wounded (most of them slightly) 
 and brought away; total 96. The Americans state their loss at one 
 killed and seven wounded. Considering the way in which they were 
 sheltered, and the circumstances of the attack altogether, no greater 
 loss could have been expected. 
 
 "The American editors seem determined to drag the Indians, in 
 spite of their confirmed and to an American well-known habits, within 
 the limits of the 'fatal ditch.' 'The Indians,' says Mr. Thomson, 'were 
 enraged and mortified at this unparalleled defeat; and carrying their 
 dead and wounded from the field, they indignantly followed the British 
 regulars to the shipping.' 'It is a fact worthy of observation' says Mr. 
 O'Connor, 'that not one Indian was found among the dead, although it 
 is known that from three to four hundred were present.' A brave 
 enemy would have found something to praise in the efforts of Colonel 
 Shortt and his men, in this their 'unparalleled defeat;' but all is forgotten 
 in the lavish encomiums bestowed upon Major Croghan and the band 
 of 'heroes,' who 'compelled an army,' says an American editor, 'much 
 more than 10" times superior,' to relinquish the attack." 
 
 LAST SURVIVOR (^F FORT STEPHENSON. 
 
 A group of distinguished visitors entering unannounced the 
 Blue Room at the White House, during the administration of 
 President Hayes, were surprised to find the beautiful mistress 
 of the house sitting on the floor, needle and thread in hand, 
 while before her half reclining on the central divan, sat an old 
 soldier in the uniform of an ordnance sergeant of the United 
 States Army. 
 
 The callers, who were Sir Edward Thornton, the British 
 Minister, with some English friends, were about to retire, when 
 Mrs. Hayes looked up from her work, saw them, and laughingly 
 called them to stay. She rose from the floor, shook hands warmly 
 with the old man, and parrying his thanks and assuring him that 
 his uniform was now perfect, handed him over to the care of 
 her son. 
 
 The story is one of her many kindly, self-unconscious acts. 
 One of her sons, visitijng the Barnes Hospital at the Soldiers' 
 home near Washington, had examined the list of soldiers living 
 there and discovered that one was a veteran Oif Fort Stephenson,. 
 
The Croa-Jian Celebration, 
 
 81 
 
 at Fremont, Ohio, the home of the Hayes family, named WilHam 
 Gaines, late ordnance sergeant United States Army. 
 
 Subsequently Sergeant Gaines was granted a pension for his 
 service in the War of 1812 and also for the Mexican War, and 
 a complete full dress uniform was ordered sent to^ the White 
 House for him. Sergeant Gaines was brought in from the Sol- 
 diers' Home to don his uniform and have his photograph taken 
 in it. After putting on his uniform, the old soldier trembling 
 with excitement and weakness discovered that the sergeant's 
 stripes for the seam of his trousers had been sent 
 loose to be used at the wearer's discretion, and 
 he was greatly distressed at the thought of hav- 
 ing his photograph taken without this insignia 
 of rank. Mrs. Hayes, who had come down to 
 greet him in the Blue Room, learning the cause 
 of his distress, at once sent for needle and thread, 
 saying that she would herself stitch them on. She 
 was just finishing the task, sitting on the floor 
 with the old soldier standing before her, when 
 the British Minister and his guests entered, and 
 caught the charming picture to carry away to 
 their English home. 
 
 It was a notable battle when, under Major 
 George Croghan, a youth of twent\'-one years, 
 one hundred and sixty men, having but a single 
 small cannon, defeated five hundred British sol- 
 diers and two thousand or more Indian allies : 
 this battle being the prelude tO' Perry's victorv on 
 Lake Erie and the decisive Battle of the Thames. 
 
 At the request of the members of the Hayes family, Repre- 
 sentative William McKinley introduced a bill to place William 
 Gaines, late ordnance sergeant, U. S. Army, on the retired list 
 of the army with seventy-five per cent, of the full pay and 
 allowance of an ordnance sergeant ; he having served faithfully 
 and honorably in the army of the United States for more than 
 fifty-one years, having been an ordnance sergeant for over thirtv- 
 three consecutive years of said service, and having participated 
 Vol. XVI— 6. 
 
 SERGE.\NT 
 GAINES. 
 
82 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 in the siege of Fort INIeigs, the defense of Fort Stephenson, and 
 the Battle of the Thames in the War of 1812. 
 
 Gen. Anson G. ^icCook secured the passage of the bill 
 through the House of Representatives and Gen. A. E. Burnside 
 secured concurrent action by the Senate, and the Act was ap- 
 proved by President Hayes. 
 
 Sergeant Gaines' story as told by himself in an interview 
 with Air. Webb C Hayes at Washington in 1879, is as follows : 
 
 . "Aly name is William Gaines. I was born in Frederick City, Md., 
 Christmas Day, 1799. My father and mother were both born in Virginia. 
 yiy father -and General Gaines were cousins. My father had died and my 
 mother was not in very good circnmstances. We started from Frederick 
 City, and when we reached Washington stopped for five or six hours 
 and called on President Madison, Our folks came from Montpelier, Va., 
 President Madison's home, and my uncle and President Madison were 
 well acquainted. I had another uncle in Kentucky named Daveiss. They 
 both lived in Lexington. During the Indian war in 1811, my uncle, 
 Colonel Daveiss. raised a volunteer regiment and joined General Harrison. 
 He took me along with him to take care of his horses and that is the 
 way that I came to be in the battle of Tippecanoe, November 5, 1811. 
 
 "I occupied a tent with the Orderly Sergeant of the company. His 
 tent was next to that of my imcle, Colonel Daveiss, and then came the 
 company tent. We were surprised by the Indians, who got in the camp 
 before we were aware of it. Some rushed into our tent, but we crawled 
 nut on the opposite side. Before getting out, however, the thumb of my 
 left hand was cut by an Indian tomahawk or knife and laid wide open. 
 It was sewed up by Dr. Woodward. The Indians were defeated, but my 
 uncle, Colonel Daveiss, was killed. 
 
 "I enlisted on July 18, 1812, as a drummer boy in Captain Arm- 
 strong's company of the Twenty-fourth Infantry. I was then in my 
 thirteenth year. We marched from Knoxville to Nashville, and then 
 against the Creek nation. W'e marched from Nashville down the Cumber- 
 land river to the Ohio, which, was full of ice and impassable, and were 
 obliged to stop at a small French fort called Fort Massack, which was 
 occupied by one company, about forty men of the Second Artillery under 
 Lieutenant Tanner. We remained there until next spring and then started 
 for Fort Meigs. We marched first to Newport, Ky., , which took us, I 
 think, twenty days, but we made a stop at Harrisonburg, where we were 
 invited to the farm of Col. George Harrison and had everything we 
 wanted. We stopped at Newport three days washing and cleaning our- 
 selves and then crossed to Cincinnati. From Cincinnati we marched 
 due north through the state of Ohio until we came to .Franklinton, which 
 was the extreme frontier. At Franklinton two deserters were tried and 
 
Tlic Crogliaii Celebration. 83 
 
 shot. They came from camp r^Ieigs, where they had mutinied and came 
 near kilHng the captain. They were taken by some citizens between 
 Upper Sandusky and Franklinton. General Harrison ordered a general 
 court martial and charges were sent from Fort Meigs. Both were sen- 
 tenced to be shot and both were shot the next day. They were buried 
 on the banks of the Little Sciota. 
 
 "\\& then marched due north to Upper Sandusky. At Upper San- 
 dusky wc drew two days' rations to carrj^ us through the Maumee Black 
 Swamp. We then marched due north until we reached a point about five 
 or six m.iles from Fort Stephenson, and then turning west the road ran 
 through the Maumee Vallej' Black Swamp on to Fort Aleigs, which we 
 reached the next day. Gen. Green Clay was in command. While we were 
 at Fort Meigs, Gen. Harrison esitablished his headquarters at Fort Seneca, 
 so that he might be handy for the different departments. We were at 
 Fort Aleigs something like a month, and during a portion of the time 
 were besieged by Indians and British, and kept up a constant fire on 
 them for about eight days. 
 
 "Our company was then ordered to Camp Seneca, in July I think, 
 ^md while there a rumor came that Fort Stephenson was to be attacked. 
 A detail was made from the different companies to relieve Fort Stephen- 
 son, and that was done that each company should have equal chance in 
 the glory. All this time I was a private in Captain Armstrong's com- 
 pany. Twenty-fourth Infantry, having exchanged my drum for a musket, 
 and was acting as cook for Lieutenant Joseph Anthony of my company. 
 Lieutenant Anthony, Samuel Thurman, John Foster, James Riggs, a man 
 named Jones and myself composed the detail from my company. We 
 started at the break of day, and got to Fort Stephenson between nine 
 and ten o'clock. We had not been there more than an hour and a half 
 or two hours before the British hove in sight and began landing their 
 troops, cannon, etc. Between 11 and 12 o'clock there came a flag of 
 truce and an officer and six men ; they were blindfolded and taken in at 
 the west gate. It was rumored that the officer was sent to demand the 
 surrender of the fort or to show no quarter. When they were gone 
 Major Croghan told us to prepare ourselves, as no quarter was to be 
 shown. They came around on the northw^est side which was covered 
 with woods, about 150 yards distant, and between the woods and fort 
 was a ravine down which they would haul the cannon to load and then 
 push up on the brow of the hill and fire. They could not approach from 
 the east side because that was an open field, and we could have brought 
 them down. To the north and south it was also quite open. The 
 weather was good but warm, and a storm which had threatened finally 
 disappeared. They fired on us for a time, but Major Croghan would 
 not let us return it. Samuel Thurman was in the block house and de- 
 termined to shoot a red coat. He climbed up on top of the block house 
 and peered over, when a six-pound ball from the enemy's cannon took his 
 head off. Finally toward evening they made a charge, and when they got 
 
84 Olno Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 on level ground we got orders to fire. We shot through loop holes in 
 the pickets and port holes in the blockhouses. I recollect very well 
 when Colonel Shortt fell. I see it all now as distinctly as I see you two 
 gentlemen. Our cannon was loaded with six-pound ball and grape. I 
 was in the blockhouse and after Col. Short fell he held up a white 
 handkerchief for quarter. Somebody in the blockhouse said, 'That man 
 is hollering for quarter. He said he would show none. Now give him 
 quarter.' It passed all through the fort. Then the bugle sounded the 
 retreat. They had old Tecumseh and about 1,500 Indians, and I think 
 about 700 or 800 regulars. I only estimated them by seeing them march- 
 ing away. 
 
 There were no buildings near the fort, nor any women in the fort, 
 as there was not settlement nearer than Franklinton. They landed below 
 us, near the race track, opposite the Island.. The British wounded who 
 were not taken away lay in the ditch. I do not know anything about the 
 passing of water over to the wounded. It might have been done unbe- 
 known to me. The British soldiers were buried the next day. I do not 
 know how many were killed. You see they took them away at night and 
 we did not know anything about it. 
 
 "At the siege of Fort Meigs there was a large tree into which an In- 
 dian climbed and thus obtained a view of the interior of the fort. A 
 man named Bronson brought him down with a rifle. I do not think it 
 can be true that we loaded our cannon with nails and scraps on ac- 
 count of lack of ammunition. I have often thought that if General Har- 
 rison had marched his troops from Fort Seneca down the east side of 
 the Sandusky' river and crossed, it would have brought him between the 
 enemy and their boats, and thus we could have captured them all. I 
 have often thought of it and talked it over with men of our company. 
 When the firing commenced, Lieut. Anthony was panicstruck and secreted 
 himself, and did not come out until the battle was over. He was put 
 under arrest by Major Croghan and sent to Fort Seneca and court- 
 martialed for cowardice and cashiered the service. Gen. Harrison was 
 a small and very slim man, a little on the dark complected order, and 
 advanced in years. Major Croghan was a very thin man and stood about 
 five feet eight or nine inches. He was tall and slim. He became very 
 corpulent and fleshy some years after. I remember well when Colonel 
 Croghan was placed in arrest. He had an order from Gen. Harrison to 
 destroy all public property that he could not bring away and retreat. 
 When he got the order it was too late to retreat. He was tried and ac- 
 quitted. He was a very courageous man, afraid of nothing under the 
 sun. After the battle of Fort Stephenson we were returned to our com- 
 panies again. Every company got their own men but ours, which had 
 one killed, Samttel Thurman, who was the only man killed on our side. 
 We lay at Camp Seneca until the news came from Commodore Perry 
 that "we have met the enemy and they are ours." We then marched 
 past Fort Stephenson to the lake, where we were furnished with boats 
 
TJic Crui^-Jian Celebration. 
 
 85 
 
 and crossed over into Canada. We landed about one mile below Colonel 
 Elliott's quarters. I must tell you a little story about this. I took six 
 beautiful silver spoons from that man's house. Everybody had left and 
 I was hard up. The house was furnished in the English fashion. I sold 
 them at Detroit. We did not get paid in those days like we do now. We 
 often went eighteen months without pay. From Elliott's we went to 
 Fort Maiden. They had evacuated and taken all they could get from there, 
 and then we went up to Sand Beach. Colonel Johnson followed with more 
 men. and we all followed the British troops until they got to Moravian 
 Town. On the 2d of October we fought the battle of the Thames. I recol- 
 lect that day just as well as I do sitting in this chair. It was their last 
 battle. We made short work of the British. They knew we were com- 
 
 SCEXE IN CROGHAN I'ARADE. 
 
 ing and General Proctor and an aide fled before we were within a mile 
 of them. We captured all of them but these two. We had more fighting 
 with the Indians than with the British Regulars. The Indians retreated 
 across the river in canoes, but many of them were shot and tumbled over 
 in the water. We marched to Detroit, where we embarked in Com- 
 modore Perry's fleet. General Harrison and my company were on the same 
 boat with Commodore Perry, and also a British Commodore and other 
 British officers who were prisoners. We sailed to Buffalo, and then 
 marched to Sackett's Harbor, where we joined General Wilkinson's com- 
 mand that was to attack Montreal. We took open boats and started across, 
 but owing to the ice we had to abandon the expedition and return to the 
 shore, from where we marched to a place called Chateaugay Four Cor- 
 ners, on a little lake, and wintered there. The next spring the captain. 
 
86 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Pablicatioiis. 
 
 one ofificer and myself went to New York on recruiting service. That 
 was in 1814. I remained in New York about two years. When we left 
 New York we marched with recruits to fill up the companies stationed 
 on the northern frontier. I had re-enlisted on the 23d of November, 
 1816, for five years. We marched to Sackett's Harbor, and I was there 
 assigned to Company D, Second Infantrj'. The other recruits were dis- 
 tributed at the different stations. I was stationed at Sackett's Harbor 
 something like seventeen years. W'e remained quietlj' at barracks all 
 this time, until the Black Hawk War broke out beyond Chicago. We 
 started in the month of July, 1832, and got back October 6, of the same 
 year. We had no battles in that campaign. There was nothing but hard 
 marching, etc. I was appointed an ordinance sergeant of the U. S. army 
 October 18, 1833, and was ordered to Boston, but finally exchanged with 
 the ordnance sergeant at Madison barracks. Colonel Kirby, paymaster, 
 and others arranged the matter for me. During the Florida War I was 
 in Sackett's Harbor in charge of all the propert}' at that post. I was 
 there too during the Mexican War and got an order from General 
 Augur to enlist all the men that I cpuld and send them to Syracuse. I 
 got from four to six every day, and sent them to Syracuse for Mexico. 
 I was a recruiting officer for General Augur. During the war of the Re- 
 bellion I was left alone in charge of the quartermaster's stores, medical 
 and other propertj^ at Madison Barracks, New York. I was discharged 
 December 31, 1866. by Secretary Stanton and came to this home. I have 
 had charge of a great many improvements in the home and was lodge 
 keeper at the Whitney Avenue gate for a number of years." 
 
 Sergeant Gaines was at the tinie of tliis interview an active 
 old man about five feet seven inches in height, of dark com])lex- 
 ion. He had bright grev eyes, white hair and strong!}' marked 
 features. He stood perfectly erect, and had a very soldierly bear- 
 ing. His mind was clear and his memory quite remarkable. He 
 described with great detail the incident of his early service. He 
 was the last survivor of the gallant defenders of Fort Ste])henson. 
 He enlisted wlien in his thirtieth year and proba])ly no man served 
 longer in the United States Armv than he. 
 
 REUBEN CLErviEXT. 
 
 In i88o there still lived in Petersburg. \'a.. a survivor of the 
 War of i8i2, one of the Petersburg \"olunteers. one member of 
 which, Brown, fought at Fort Stephenson. A letter from this 
 'aged man, ]\Ir. Reuben Clements, reads: 
 
The Cyoglian Celebration. 87 
 
 "Petersburg, Va., 4th March, 1880. 
 Colonel: 
 
 According to promise 1 will now atternpt to tell j'ou what little I 
 know about Croghan and Sandusky. The opening of the spring cam- 
 paign in 1813 found the garrison of Fort Meigs exceedingly weak. 
 General Harrison having gone in the states to hasten forward rein- 
 forcements, leaving General Clay in command. The British and In- 
 dians in considerable numbers, knowing perhaps of the absence of the 
 General-in-Chief, and our weakness, as also our expecting succor from 
 Kentucky, surrounded the fort and engaged in a sham battle, hoping 
 by this ruse to draw us out. Failing in this they left us, taking the 
 Military Road in the direction of Fort Stephenson, which was said to 
 have been forty miles in length, and fell upon Major Croghan and 
 his little band at Sandusky. The fort at this place was quite small, 
 covering I should say not more than one English acre of ground. In 
 form it w^as quadrilateral, without traverses, but having in front of 
 curtain on its four sides a broad and deep fosse. At the north-east 
 angle of the fort was a blockhouse, and just here was mounted the 
 only cannon (a six pounder) which made such havoc with the red coats 
 occupying the ditch. My impression is that my old comrade Brown 
 was the only member of my company present on that occasion ; and 
 that he did not (as has been asserted) command the piece but only 
 assisted in working it. The captain of the gun was a sergeant either 
 of the Pittsburg Blues, or Greensburg Blues. However Brown was ter- 
 ribly burned about the face which disfigured him for life. I forgot to 
 state that the Fort was short of ammunition of all sorts, having only three 
 rounds in all for the cannon. You a.sk if I knew Major Croghan. I an- 
 swer. Yes, I have seen him oftentimes before and after the glorious fight 
 at Sandusky. He was a beardless stripling; I should say rather below 
 the medium size, and did not look more than eighteen years of age. 
 This is about all I know of Croghan and Sandusky. I might add, though 
 not exactly pertinent, that our Company was quite largely represented 
 on the decks of Commodore Perry's ships, when he so gloriously fought _ 
 and overcame the British Fleet on Lake Erie. 
 
 With great respect. 
 
 Your obedient servant. 
 
 Reube.x Cle.mexts. 
 
 THE FIRST l'l".K.\I.\.\KXT W IllTl'". .SKTTLKKS IX OHIO, J.\.Mi:S WIIIT- 
 AKRR .\XI) I-:LI.7.\l!F/riI FOrr.KK. 
 
 The first ])eniianent white settlers in Ohio were James 
 Whitaker and Elizabeth Foulks. who were captured in western 
 Pennsylvania in 1774 and 1776 respectively, by the Wyandot 
 Indians, 1)\ whom they were adopted and taken to Lower San- 
 
88 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 dusky, now Fremeat, Ohio, where they were brought together 
 as adopted members of the Wyandot tribe. They were married 
 in Detroit, in 1781, and returned to a tract of land which liad 
 been given to them by the Wyandots on the Sandusky River, 
 three miles below the lower rapids known as Lower Sandusky. 
 Here they lived and raised a family of eight children. Two 
 of their grandchildren and several great grandchildren are resi- 
 dents of Fremont and vicinity. 
 
 James Whitaker, who became an Indian trader, died of 
 poison, it is said, in 1804, at Upper Sandusky, where he had a 
 store ; but his remains were brought to his home established in 
 1 78 1, where he was buried on the tract originally given him as 
 a wedding gift by the Indians, which tract, containing 1280 
 acres, was set aside to his widow by the treaty made at Fort 
 Industry September 29, 1817. His tombstone was brought from 
 the old Whitaker farm and placed in Birchard Library, just one 
 hundred years after its erection over his grave. It bears the 
 following inscription : 
 
 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 
 
 J- 
 
 VMES 
 
 Whiteacre 
 
 
 
 
 WHO DIED 
 
 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 17, 1804 
 
 
 In 
 
 the 
 
 48th 
 
 year of his 
 
 age. 
 
 The tombstone of his daughter, Mary Whitaker Shannon, 
 was also brought from the Whitaker family burying-ground to 
 Birchard Library. Its inscription records her death as occur- 
 ring August 15, 1827, in the 36th year of her age, which places 
 her birth in 1791 •" She was the fourth child of James Whitaker. 
 
 The Hon. Homer Everett, who came to Fremont in 181 5, 
 and was the recognized authority and historian of Sandusky 
 county, relates in his History of Sandusky County an interview 
 with Mrs. Rachel Scranton, the seventh child of James Whitaker, 
 as follows : 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 89 
 
 "About the year 1780 two brothers, Quill and James Whitaker, in 
 company with another young man, left Fort Pitt one morning on a 
 hunting expedition. They wanderecf a considerable distance from the 
 fort, intent upon securing game with which to gratify their friends, but 
 at an unexpected moment a volley of rifle balls rattled among the trees. 
 One took mortal effect in the body of the young man, another passed 
 through the hat of Quill Whitaker, who saved himself by flight ; a third 
 ball shattered the arm of James, the younger brother, and in a few minutes 
 he was the prisoner of a band of painted Wyandot warriors. After several 
 days' hard traveling, the Indians with their captive reached a. village 
 within the present boundaries of Ricliland County, Ohio. Here the lines 
 were formed and Whitaker's bravery and activity tested on the gauntlet 
 ■course. The boy. wounded as he was, deported himself with true heroism. 
 The first half of the course was passed without a single scratch, but as he 
 was speeding on toward the painted goal an old squaw who cherished a 
 feeling of deep revenge, mortified by the captive's successful progress, 
 sprang forward and caught his arm near the shoulder, hoping to detain 
 him long enough for the weapon of the next savage to take eff^ect. The 
 prisoner instantly halted and with a violent kick sent the vicious squaw 
 and the next Indian tumbling from tlie lines. His bold gallantry received 
 wild shouts of applause along the line. Attention being thus diverted, he 
 sprang forward with quickened speed and reached the post without ma- 
 terial injury. Not satisfied that this favorite amusement should be so 
 quickly ended, it was decided that the prisoner should run again. The 
 lines for the second trial were already formed, when an elderly and dig- 
 nified squaw walked forward and took from her own shoulders a blanket 
 which she cast over the panting young prisoner, saying, 'This is my son. 
 He is one of us. You must not kill him.' Thus adopted, he was treated 
 with all that kindness and afifection which the savage heart is capable 
 of cherishing.'' 
 
 Miss Helen Scranton, daughter of Mr. Everett's informant 
 above, relates that her grandfather, James Whitaker, was born 
 in London, England, in 1756, and brought to New York when 
 twelve years of age by his uncle, John Whitaker, who was a 
 trader and the captain of his own ship. The boy wandered 
 away from his uncle's ship while in New York and was later 
 reported as having been captured by the Indians. 
 
 The tirst documentary evidence we have of James Whitaker 
 is found in his signature to a proclamation issued by Henry 
 Hamilton, the British Lieutenant Governor at Detroit. This 
 notorious scalp-hunter three months later welcomed the rene- 
 gades Girty, Elliott and McKee, and sent them forth to lead the 
 
90 Oliio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 savages against American settlers on the borders of Pennsyl- 
 vania and \'irginia. The proclamation reads : 
 
 ''Detroit, January 5th, 1778. 
 
 "Notwithstanding all endeavors to apprize his majesty's faithful and 
 loyal subjects, dispersed over the colonies of his gracious intentions to- 
 wards them, signified to them at different times, it is to be feared the 
 mistaken zeal of the deluded multitude, acted upon by the artful and 
 wicked designs of rebellious counsellors has prevented many from profit- 
 ing of his majesty's clemency. This is to accjuaint all whom it may con- 
 cern, that nothing can give greater satisfaction to those persons who com- 
 mand for his majesty at the different posts, than to save from ruin those 
 innocent people who are unhappily involved in distresses they have in no 
 ways merited. The moderation shown by the Indians who have gone to 
 war from this place, is 'a speaking proof of the truth ; and the injunc- 
 tions constantly laid upon them on their setting out,^ having been to 
 spare the defenceless and aged of both sexes, show that compassion for 
 the unhappy is blended with the severity necessary to be exercised in the 
 obstinate a^nd perverse enemies of his majesty's crown and dignity. 
 
 "The' persons undernamed are living witnesses of the moderation and 
 even gentleness of savages shown to them, their wives and children ; 
 which may. it is hoped, induce others to exchange the hardships experi- 
 enced under their present masters, for security and freedom under their 
 lawful sovereign. 
 
 "The bearer hereof, Edward TTazle, has my orders to make known 
 to all persons whom it may concern, that the Indians are encouraged to 
 show the same mildness to all who shall embrace the offer of safety and 
 protection, hereby held out to them ; and he is further to make known, 
 as far as lies in his power, that if a ntimber of people can agree upon 
 a place of rendezvous, and a proper time for coming to this post, the 
 Miamis, Sandusky or post Vincennes, the properest methods will be taken 
 for their security, and a safe guard of white people, with an officer and' 
 interpreter sent to conduct them. 
 
 "Given under my hand and seal in Detroit. 
 
 "Signed, Henry Hamilton [Seal], Lieutenant Governor and Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 "God save the King." 
 
 "We who have undersigned our names, do voluntarily declare that 
 we have been conducted from the several places mentioned opposite our 
 names to Detroit by Indians accompanied with white people ; that we 
 have neither been cruelly treated nor in any way ill used by them ; and 
 further that on our arrival we have been treated w-ith the greatest hu- 
 manity and our wants supplied in the best manner possible. 
 
 "George Baker, for himself, wife and five children — now here from 
 five miles below Logstown. 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 91 
 
 "James Butterworth from Big Kenawha. 
 
 "Thomas X Shoers. from Harrodstown, Kentucky. 
 
 liis mark. 
 
 "Jacob Pugli, from six miles below the fort at Wheeling. 
 "Jonathan Muchmore, from Ft. Pitt. 
 "James Whitaker, from Detroit, taken at Fish Creek. 
 "John X Bridges, from Detroit, taken at Fish Creek. 
 
 his mark. 
 
 After Wliitakcr's marriage and return to Lower Sandusky, 
 he became an influential Wyandot chief and follower of Tarhe, 
 the Crane, tlie famous Indian chieftain whose home was at 
 Lower Sandusky. Charles Johnson, states in his Narrative that 
 Whitaker fou^e^ht with the Wyandots under Crane in the defeat 
 of St. Clair in 17^1, and a<:;ain in the Battle of Fallen Timbers 
 in 1794. when \\'ayne defeated the Indians so decisively and 
 brou^q'ht permanent peace to the frontier. 
 
 James Whitaker died in 1804, Intt the Wyandots of Lower 
 Sandusky, under Tarhe, foui;ht on tl.e .Vmerican side in the War 
 of 1812. Although compelled through self-interest and the cir- 
 cumstances of his location to fight the battles of his adopted Indian 
 brothers, there are many notable instances of his kindness to 
 white prisoners, and his constant elTorts to alleviate their suffer- 
 ings whenever ])0ssible. A number of instances are cited later. 
 
 Mr. Everett's narrative, cited above, continues: 
 
 "Ahdui t\v(i years after tlie capture of Whitaker, another party of 
 warriors made an incursion intn Pennsylvania and captured at Cross 
 Roads, Elizal)eth Foulks. a girl eleven years old, whom they carried into 
 captivity and adojited intd a family of the tribe. Both captives lived con- 
 tentedly and happilx', having adopted the manners and cvistoms of their 
 hosts. 
 
 "A few years after — probably here on the Sandusky river, at a 
 general council of their tribe, these two adopted children of the forest 
 made each other's acquaintance. A marriage according to the customs 
 of civilized life was at once arranged and the couple, ardent in their love 
 and happy in their expectations, set off for Detroit, where the Christian 
 ritual was pronounced which made them man and wife. 
 
 "The Indians seemed well pleased by this conduct of their pale- 
 faced children. They gave them a choice tract of farming land in the 
 river bottom. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker reared a large family for whose 
 education they expended considerable sums of money. 
 
 "Mr. Whitaker entered into mercantile business, for which he was 
 
"92 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 well fitted. He established a store at his residence, one at Tymochtee 
 and one at Upper Sandusky. He accumulated wealth rapidly, having at 
 the time of his death his goods all paid for and 2,000 pounds on deposit 
 with the Canada house where he made his purchases. At Upper San- 
 dusky he had a partner, Hugh Patterson, with whom in the year 1804 
 he drank a glass of wine and died a short time afterwards, his death 
 being attributed to poison in the wine. Mrs. Whitaker, to whom a reser- 
 vation was granted in the treaty of 1817, survived her husband many 
 j'ears." 
 
 Miss Helen Scranton states that her grandmother, Elizabeth 
 Foulks, was taken prisoner by the Wyandots during the first 
 year of the War of the Revolution, 1776, when eleven years old, 
 at Beaver Creek, Pa. The children of the neighborhood were 
 making sugar when they were attacked by the Indians, her 
 brother John Foulks was tomahawked and killed, and her brother 
 George, who was several years older than Elizabeth, was taken 
 prisoner with her. Both were carried through to the vicinity 
 of Detroit. She remained with the Indians at Detroit, being 
 very kindly treated by them, until she was married to James 
 Whitaker, also a prisoner at Detroit, some five years and three 
 months after her capture, namely in 1781 or 1782. She was 
 adopted by the W\yandots, but in common with the white pris- 
 oners, including her brother George, she was freed a short time 
 before her marriage. George Foulks returned at once to Beaver 
 Creek, Pa., where he married, leaving at least ten children. 
 Elizabeth was married to James Whitaker according to rites of 
 civilized life, but whether by a civil or a religious ceremony is 
 not known. In 1782, very soon after their marriage, Whitaker 
 and his wife left Detroit and returned to the banks of the San- 
 dusky River, where they built a log cabin three miles below 
 Lower Sandusky, now Fremont. A few years after settling on 
 the Sandusky, Whitaker traded his furs and Indian supplies 
 for lumber from Canada, and, after rafting it up the Sandusky 
 River built a large frame, two-story house, also a warehouse 
 and store building. When her first child, Nancy, was nine or 
 ten months old, Mrs. Whitaker started on her first trip home 
 to Beaver Creek, carrying her baby on her horse in front of 
 her and being accompanied by two Wyandot squaws. She was 
 the mother of eight children, from her marriage in 1782 until 
 
TJic Crodian Celebration. 
 
 93 
 
 the death of her husband in 1804, at Upper Sandusky, She 
 made several trips to her old home in Beaver Creek, going for 
 the last time in 1823 to attend a family reunion at the home of her 
 sister. An incident of that occasion is that her sister sat at the 
 table with twenty-two of her own children, two others having 
 died. Of the twenty-two, a quartet of boys, born at one birth, 
 were dressed in suits of handsome green cloth presented to them 
 by President Monroe. Mrs Whitaker died suddenly in 1833, 
 
 CASKET CONTAINING REMAINS OF MAJOR CROGHAN IN STATE IN 
 
 CITY HALL. 
 
 while on a visit to Upper Sandusky, where her husband also had 
 died nearly thirty years before. She was buried at Upper San- 
 dusky, although her husband's body had been taken back to Lower 
 Sandusky. Her will, dated February 13, 1833, was admitted to 
 probate in this county September 13, 1833, in which are mentioned 
 the names of several of her children, including Isaac and James, 
 the latter bcinir her executor. Tn her will amono- other things 
 
94 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 mentioned as her property was "a chest containing" valuable arti- 
 cles." From the inventory of her estate as recorded in the office 
 of the probate judge the following articles of silver were found 
 in a chest: Silver castor, cruets, tablespoons, sugar tongs, Indian 
 armband and shoe buckles. 
 
 The children of James \Vhitaker and Elizabeth Foulks 
 Whitaker were all born on what was afterward called the 
 Whitaker Reservation, a tract of 1280 acres set aside for her 
 by the treaty of 1817, ^vhich reads: 
 
 "To Elizabeth Whitaker, who was taken prisoner by the Wyandots 
 and has ever since lived among them, 1280 acres of land, on the west 
 side of the Sandusky river, near Croghansville, to be laid off in a square 
 form, as nearly as the meanders of the said river will admit, and to run 
 an equal distance above and below the house in wliich tlie said Elizabeth 
 Whitaker now lives." 
 
 A deed was made to her by the Government in 1822 for 
 these lands, containing the restriction that she should not con- 
 vey them to others without perniission from the President of 
 the United States. This permission she obtained from President 
 Monroe and in 1823, for the consideration named in the deed 
 of $1200, conveyed the whole tract to her son George Whitaker. 
 
 The names of the children of James and Elizabeth Whitaker 
 were : 
 
 Nancy, born in 1782, married WMlliam Wilson in 1803. 
 
 Isaac moved to Indiana. 
 
 James moved to Michigan. 
 
 Mary, born in 1791. married George Shannon, died in 1827. 
 
 Elizabeth who died during the War of 181 2. 
 
 Charlotte who died in 1824. 
 
 Rachel, born in 1801. who married James A. Scranton in 
 1823. 
 
 George, born in 1803. moved to Missouri in February, 1884. 
 
 James Whitaker had a number of trading posts or stores, 
 one at his home, one on the Tymochtee and one at Upper San- 
 dusky. While visiting the latter he died suddenly, in 1804, sup- 
 posedly being poisoned by his partner. Hugh Patterson, a Cana- 
 dian from Sandwich, Upper Canada, who owed Mrs. Whitaker 
 
1 he Crogluiii Celebration. !'o 
 
 "$1300 on a judgment on which Richard Patterson was surety," 
 as stated in Ehzabetli Whitaker's will. 
 
 James Whitaker did a great deal of his trading at Montreal, 
 making one or two trips thither a year. On one of these trips 
 he took his eldest daughter, Xanc\", a young girl, to Montreal, 
 where she visited an hjiglish famih- named Wilson. The Wil- 
 sons proposed sending one of their daughters to Scotland to be 
 educated, and \anc\' Whitaker accompanied her and remained 
 at (jlasgow, Scotland, at school for nearly three years. Shortly 
 after Nancy's return to her father's home near Lower Sandusky, 
 William Wilson, an luigiish officer and son of the ]\Iontreal 
 Wilsons, came to visit the Whitakers. and on a second visit some 
 months later he was married to Xancy at the Whitaker home, 
 when she was between seventeen and eighteen years of age. 
 
 William Wilson, the IJritish officer, and his wife Nancy lived 
 with the Whitakers, \Ahere they had many English officers as 
 visitors. Two girls and a boy were, born to them before the 
 death of Nancy Whitaker Wilson, which occurred shortly before 
 the death of her father. James Whitaker. in 1804. The British 
 officer. Wilson, was recalled to England in 1810 or 181 1 to 
 assume the position of Captain in his regiment, and left his 
 three children w ith their grandmother, Elizabeth Whitaker, who 
 had charge of them until after the close of the war between 
 Great Britain and America, as well as of her own seven children. 
 
 One of her children. A'lary, married George Shannon. She 
 died in 1827, leaving five sons and one daughter; two sons, 
 James and John, lived and died here, leaving large families who 
 are prosperous people. Rachel Whitaker Scranton died Octo- 
 ber 7. 1862. eleven years after the death of her husband, James 
 A. Scranton. who died while Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ohio State 
 Senate, in 1851. The\- had ten children, of whom two survive: 
 James A. Scranton. a farmer near h'remont. and Mrs. Hannah 
 Scranton-Stoner. a widow. 
 
 Charles Johnston of Botetourt Cniinty. Virginia, while engaged in 
 securing depositions of witnesses in litigations in relation to lands in 
 Kentucky, left his home in 1789 and repaired to what is now Point 
 Pleasant on tiic Oiii') river. While passing down the river with Mr. 
 May, ]\Tr. Skxles, \\'illiani Flinn and Peggy and Dolly Fleming, one of 
 
96 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 whom was a particular friend of Flinii who with the young women 
 were residents of Pittsburg, the party was hailed by two white men who 
 implored to be taken on board and rescued from the Indians by whom 
 they had been captured. These white men were simply used as a decoy, 
 and when the boat containing Johnston and his companions approached 
 the shore they were fired on by a body of 54 Indians, kiUing Dolly 
 Fleming and Mr. May, and capturing Skyles, Flinn, Peggy Fleming and 
 Charles Johnston. The date was March 20, 1789. The prisoners were 
 separated and later Flinn was burned at the stake on the Sandusky 
 river, Skyles was condemned to a similar fate on the Miami of the 
 Lakes, but providentially escaped to Detroit. In 1827, Johnston, then a 
 prominent citizen of his native state, printed a ''Narrative of the Inci- 
 dents attending the Capture, Detention and Ransom of Charles Johnston." 
 The following extracts relate to his fellow captive, Peggy Fleming, and 
 to his experiences at Lower Sandusky. When he reached Upper San- 
 dusky, he met a Canadian trader, named Francis Duchouquet, who suc- 
 ceeded after many efiforts in purchasing Johnston from the Indians for 
 600 silver broaches. "This event" says Johnston, "to me the most im- 
 portant of my Hfe, by a singular coincidence occurred on the 28th of 
 April, in the year 1790, the day on which I attained the age of 21 years." 
 
 "The small band of Cherokees, three in number, to whom Peggy 
 Fleming had been allotted in the distribution made of the prisoners on 
 the Ohio, brought her to Upper Sandusky while I was there. She was 
 no longer that cheerful, lively creature such as when separated from 
 us. Her spirits were sunk, her gayety had fled; and instead of that 
 vivacity and sprightliness which formerly danced upon her countenance 
 she now wore the undissembled aspect of melancholy and wretchedness. 
 I endeavored to ascertain the cause of this extraordinary change, but 
 she answered my inquiries only with her tears ; leaving my mind to its 
 own inferences. Her stay with us was only for a few hours, during 
 which time I could not extract a word from her, except occasionally 
 the monosyllables yes and no. Gloom and despondency had taken entire 
 possession of her breast; and nothing could be more touching than her 
 appearance. Her emaciated frame and dejected countenance, presented 
 a picture of sorrow and of sadness which would have melted the stoutest 
 heart, and such was its effect upon me that I could not abstain from 
 mingling my tears with hers. With these feelings we parted. When we 
 met again it was under far different and more auspicious circumstances, 
 as will hereafter be seen. 
 
 "Mr. Duchouquet sold his goods and collected his peltry at L^pper 
 Sandusky. The season had arrived for transporting his purchases to De- 
 troit ; and with a light heart I began the journey to that post in his 
 party. The Sandusky river is not navigable from the upper town ; and 
 Mr. Duchouquet's peltry was carried on pack horses to- Lower Sandusky; 
 whence there is a good navigation to Detroit. When we reached Lower 
 Sandusky, a great degree of cons1:emation prevailed there, produced by 
 
The Croghan Celchration. 9T 
 
 the incidents of the preceding day, and of the morning then recently 
 past. The three Cherokees, who had possession of Peggy Fleming, had 
 conducted her to a place where they encamped, within a quarter of a 
 mile's distance from the town. It was immediately rumored that they 
 were there, with a white female captive. The traders residing in the 
 town instantly determined to visit the camp of the Cherokees and to 
 see her. Among them was a man whose name was Whitaker, and who 
 like the one that I had met at Upper Sandusky had been carried into 
 captivity from the white settlements by the Wyandots in his early life. 
 He was not so entirely savage as the first ; could speak our language 
 better; and though naturalized by his captors retained some predilection 
 for the whites. The influence which he had acquired with his tribe was 
 such that they had promoted him to the rank of chief; and his standing 
 with them was high. His business had led him frequently to Pittsburg 
 wljere the father of Peggy Fleming then kept a tavern in which Whit- 
 aker had been accustomed to lodge and board. As soon as he appeared 
 with the other traders at the camp of the Cherokees, he was recognized 
 by the daughter of his old landlord, and she addressed him by his name, 
 earnestly supplicating his efforts to emancipate her from tht* grasp of 
 her savage proprietors. Without hesitation he acceded to her request. 
 He did not make an application to the Cherokees but returned to the 
 town and informed the principal chief, distinguished by the appellation 
 of King Crane, that the white female captive was his sister; a misrepre- 
 sentation greatly palliated by the benevolent motive which dictated it. 
 
 "He had no difficulty in obtaining from the King a promise to pro- 
 cure her release. Crane went immediately to the camp of the Cherokees; 
 informed them that their prisoner was the sister of a friend of his, and 
 desired as a favor that they would make a present to him of Peggy? 
 Fleming, whom he wished to restore to her brother. They rejected his- 
 request. He then proposed to purchase her; this they also refused with, 
 bitterness telling him that he was no better than the white people and' 
 that he was as mean as the dirt; terms of the grossest reproach in their 
 use of them. At this insult Crane became exasperated. He went back 
 to the town; told Whitaker what had been his reception and declared' 
 his intention to take Peggy Fleming from the Cherokees by force. But 
 fearing such an act might be productive of war between his nation and' 
 theirs, he urged Whitaker to raise the necessary sum in value for her 
 redemption. Whitaker, with the assistance of the other traders at the 
 town, immediately made up the requisite amount in silver broaches. 
 This was not accomplished until it was too late to effect their object- 
 on that evening. Early next morning. King Crane, attended by eight' 
 or ten young warriors, marched out to the camp of the Cherokees, where- 
 he found them asleep, while their forlorn captive was securely fastened,. 
 in a state of utter nakedness, to a stake, and her body painted black; 
 an indication always decisive that death is the doom of the prisoner. 
 Vol. XVI— 7. 
 
98 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 •Crane, with his scalping knife, cut the cords by which she was bound; 
 delivered her the clothes of which she had been divested by the rude 
 hands of the unfeeling Cherokees; and after she was dressed, awakened 
 them. He told them in peremptory language that the captive was his, 
 and that he had brought with him the value of her ransom. Then 
 throwing down the silver broaches on the ground, he bore off the terri- 
 fied girl to the town, and delivered her to Whitaker ; who after a few 
 days sent her, disguised by her dress and paint as a squaw, to Pitts- 
 burg, under the care of two trusty Wyandots. I never learnt whether 
 she reached her home or not; but as the Indians are remarkable for 
 their fidelity to their undertakings, I presume she was faithfully con- 
 ducted to her place of destination. 
 
 "The Cherokees were so incensed by the loss of their captive, that 
 
 FREMONT (lower SANDUSKY) 1846. 
 
 •tTiey entered the Wyandot town of Lower Sandusky, declaring they would 
 be revenged by taking the life of some white person. This was the 
 cause of the alarm, which was spread among the traders at the time 
 of our arrival, and in which our party necessarily participated ; as it was 
 indispensable that we should remain there several days, for the purpose 
 of unpacking Mr. Duchouquet's peltry from the horses, and placing it 
 on board the batteaux in which it was to be conveyed to Detroit. The 
 Cherokees painted themselves, as they and other savages are accustomed 
 to do when they are preparing for war or battle. All their ingenuity 
 is directed to the object of rendering their aspect as horrible as pos- 
 sible, that they may strike their enemies with terror, and indicate by 
 external signs the fury which rages within. They walked about the town 
 in great anger, and we deemed it necessary to keep a watchful eye upon 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 99 
 
 them and to guard against their approach. All the whites, except Whit- 
 aker, who was considered as one of the Wyandots, assembled at night 
 in the same house, provided with weapons of defence, and continued 
 together until the next morning ; when to our high gratification they 
 disappeared and I never heard of them afterwards." 
 
 Mr. Johnston's Narrative continues : 
 
 "At Lower Sandusky we found Mr. Angus Mcintosh, who was 
 extensively engaged in the fur trade. This gentleman was at the head 
 of the connection to which Mr. Duchouquet belonged, who was his factor 
 or partner at Upper Sandusky, as a Mr. Isaac Williams was here. 
 Williams was a stout, bony, muscular and fearless man. On one of those 
 days which I spent in waiting until we were ready to embark for Detroit, 
 a Wyandot Indian, in his owxi language, which I did not understand, 
 uttered some expression offensive to Williams. This produced great 
 irritation on both sides and a bitter quarrel ensued. Williams took down 
 from a shelf of the store in which the incident occurred two scalping 
 knives; laid them on the counter; gave the Wyandot choice of them; 
 and challenged him to combat with these weapons. But the character 
 of Williams for strength and courage was so well known, that he would 
 not venture on the contest and soon afterward retired. 
 
 "Lower Sandusky was to me distinguished by another circumstance. 
 It was the residence of the Indian widow, whose former husband I had 
 been destined to succeed, if the Mingo had been permitted to retain and 
 dispose of me according to his intentions. I felt an irresistible curiosity 
 to have a view of this female, and it was my determination to find her 
 dwelling, and see her there, if no other opportunity should occur. She 
 was at last pointed out to me as she walked about the village, and I 
 could not help chuckling at my escape from the fate which had been 
 intended for me. She was old, ugly and disgusting. 
 
 "After the expiration of four or five days from that on which we 
 reached Lower Sandusky, our preparations were completed; the boats 
 were laden with the peltry of the traders ; and the whole trading party 
 embarked for Detroit. On the afternoon of the second day, having de- 
 scended the river into Sandusky Bay, we landed on a small island near 
 the strait by which it enters into Lake Erie. Here we pitched a tent 
 which belonged to our party. The island was inhabited by a small body 
 of Indians, and we were soon informed that they were preparing for a 
 festival and dance. If I then understood the motive or occasion which 
 induced this dance, it is not now within my recollection. Several canoes 
 were employed in bringing guests from the main, which is at a short 
 distance, separated from the island by a narrow arm of the bay. We 
 were all invited to the dance by short sticks, painted red, which were 
 delivered to us, and seemed to be intended as tickets of admission. A 
 large circular piece of ground was made smooth, and surrounded by 
 something like a pallisade, within which the entertainment was held. 
 We had expected that it would commence early in the evening, but the 
 
100 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Fiiblications. 
 
 delay was so long that we laid down to sleep in the tent, which stood 
 near the spot of ground prepared for the dance. 
 
 "About eleven o'clock we were awakened by the noise of Indian 
 mirth. One hundred, perhaps, of both sexes had assembled. Both men 
 and women were dressed in calico shirts. Those of the women were 
 adorned with a profusion of silver broaches, stuck in the sleeves and 
 bosoms; they wore, besides, what is called a match-coat, formed of 
 cloth, confined around the middle of their bodies by a string, with the 
 edges lapping toward the side, and the length of the garment extended 
 a little below the knees. They wore leggings and moccasins. Their 
 cheeks were painted red, but no other part of their face. Their long 
 black hair was parted in front, drawn together behind, and formed into 
 a club. The liberal use of bear's oil gave it a high gloss. Such are 
 the ornaments and dress of an Indian belle, by which she endeavors to 
 attract the notice of admiring beaux. The men had a covering around 
 their waists, to which their leggings were suspended by a string, extend- 
 ing from their top to the cord which held on the covering of the waist; 
 and a blanket or robe thrown over the shoulders and confined by a belt 
 around the body, of various colors and adorned with beads. The women 
 were arranged together and led the dance, the men following after them 
 and all describing' a circle. The character of this dance differed essen- 
 tially from that of the war dance, which I had witnessed on a former 
 occasion. The one was accompanied by horrid j^ells and shrieks and 
 extravagant gestures, expressive of fury and ferocity, with nothing like 
 a mirthful cheerfulness. The other which I saw in this last instance 
 was mere festivity and lively mirth. The women were excluded from 
 the first, but had an active share in the second ; and both sexes were 
 highly animated by the music of the tamborine. An abundant supper 
 had been provided, consisting altogether of the fresh meat of bears and 
 deer, without bread or salt and dressed in no other manner than by 
 boiling. It was served up in a number of wooden trenchers, placed on 
 the ground and the guests seated themselves around it. We were in- 
 vited to partake but neither the food nor the cookery were much to our 
 taste: yet we were unwilling to refuse their hospitality, and joined in 
 their repast. We were not gainers by it ; for when we were faring 
 not very sumptuously on their boiled meat, without bread or salt, they 
 entered our tent and stole from our basket which contained provisions 
 enough for our voyage, a very fine ham on which we had intended to 
 regale ourselves the next day." 
 
 It is a curious fact that of the first settlers of the Ohio 
 Company at Marietta, the first ors^anized settlement in the 
 Northwestern Territory, who were captured by the Indians to 
 be taken for ransom to Detroit, two of their number, Major 
 Nathan Goodale, the Revolutionary hero, and Daniel Convers, 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 101 
 
 then a young lad, should have been treated with great kindness 
 by the Indian trader James Whitaker and his family, the first 
 permanent white settlers in Ohio, at their home near Lower 
 Sandusky. In fact ]\Iajor Goodale died at the home of the 
 Whitakers and was buried by them ; while young Convers makes 
 personal mention of their kindness to him, in his Reminiscences. 
 
 The lad Daniel Convers was captured by nine Indians on 
 the 29th of April, 1791, just outside of Fort Frye, while engaged 
 with three armed soldiers in cutting, a tree for the purpose of 
 making a hoop for the body of a drum. They were fired on, 
 when the three soldiers ran, leaving Daniel, who was unarmed, 
 to be captured by the Indians. He was hurried into a canoe 
 on the river which crossed over to the mouth of Wolf Creek. 
 On arriving at Lower Sandusky, on the 9th of May, he found 
 oxen and other cattle tliat had been taken from the settlement 
 at Marietta. 
 
 Some young Indian boys ran with him up the river bank 
 to keep him out of sight of the other Indians who lived in the 
 large Indian village, and he thus received only kind treatment, 
 except in the case of a drunken Indian, who knocked him down 
 several times. Hildreth's Pioneer History says that they moved 
 the next day down the Sandusky, "and stopped a short time at 
 Mr. Whitaker's, an Indian trader. He had a white wife who 
 like himself had been taken prisoner in childhood and adopted 
 into the tribe. The trader made them a present of a loaf of 
 maple sugar, giving Daniel a share. Whitaker said but little 
 to the prisoner, lest he should excite the jealousy of the war- 
 riors." 
 
 On arriving at the mouth of the Portage River, near the 
 ruins of old Fort Sandusky, Convers was delivered to his new 
 master, a Chippewa. The price paid for him was a horse and 
 several strings of wampum. 
 
 He was then taken to Detroit, where on the 14th of July 
 he escaped and after secreting himself for several weeks was 
 finally taken to the hospital by the son of the British Command- 
 ant, who treated him kindly and sent him on down to Montreal 
 and then on to his relations in Killingly, Connecticut. He re- 
 turned to Marietta in February, 1794, and became an influential 
 
102 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 citizen. He drew the sketch of Fort Frye found in Hildreth's 
 Pioneer History, which he assisted, as a boy, in building. 
 
 Of the many acts of kindness extended by James Whitaker 
 and his wife during their residence among the Indians at Lower 
 Sandusky, the most noted person whom they were able to assist 
 was Major Nathan Goodale. Gen. Rufus Putnam, the intimate 
 friend of Washington and his chief engineer and the "Father 
 of Ohio" in its first organized settlement, was warmly attached 
 to Major Goodale, who had served as an officer in his regiment 
 through the entire war. General Putnam, in a remarkable letter 
 to General Washington written at Massachusetts Huts, June 9, 
 1783, calls Washington's attention to the numerous conspicuous 
 acts of personal bravery and of the gallant duty performed by 
 Major Goodale during the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Major Goodale was a native of Brookfield, Mass., but 
 joined the Ohio Company in 1788. He removed to Belpre, near 
 Marietta, in 1789, where he was captured March i, 1793, while 
 working on his farm within fifty rods of the garrison, by eight 
 Wyandot Indians, who hurried him ofif toward Detroit in order 
 to secure a large ransom. While en route, near Lower San- 
 dusky, he fell sick and could not travel. The Whitakers learn- 
 ing of his condition took him to their home, where Mrs. Whitaker 
 carefully nursed him until he finally died and was probably 
 buried in what afterward became the Whitaker family grave- 
 yard. Mrs. Whitaker said "the Indians left him at her house, 
 where he died of a disease like pleurisy without having received 
 any very ill usage from his captors other than the means neces- 
 sary to prevent his escape.'- 
 
 James Whitaker may be regarded as the first educator of 
 this region. About 1800, at large expense, he hired a teacher 
 from the east to instruct the older children. His oldest daugh- 
 ter, Nancy, had been taken to Montreal, and then sent to Scot- 
 land, where she remained three years at school, returning well 
 qualified to teach her younger brothers and sisters. 
 
 The Sandusky and Maumee Valleys, as well as Detroit and 
 the Michigan peninsula, practically remained under British do- 
 minion until after the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the subsequent 
 treaty of Greenville. Detroit was evacuated by the British in 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 103 
 
 1796, nevertheless the British through their Indian allies kept 
 an envious eye on this region and almost immediately after the 
 declaration of war in June, 1812, again took possession of much 
 of this territory through the ignominious surrender of Detroit. 
 Under these circumstances and on account of James Whitaker's 
 almost semi-annual business trips to Montreal it was but natural 
 that he and his family, including his son-in-law, Captain Wilson 
 of the British Army, should be counted on as having warm British 
 sympathies, many British officers, including Proctor himself it is 
 said, visited at the Whitaker home at Lower Sandusky prior to 
 the War of 1812. After James Whitaker's death in 1804, and for 
 nearly thirty years thereafter, Mrs. Whitaker resided in the old 
 home and transacted the business of a frontier trader, but her 
 connections were more with the Americans on the Ohio River 
 and at Pittsburg than with the British at Montreal. Many acts of 
 kindness on her part to the foreign missionaries are recorded. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Badger, born in Springfield, Mass., and a 
 Revolutionary soldier who fought at Bunker Hill, was appointed 
 a missionary in the Connecticut Western Reserve in October, 
 1800, and in 1801 began his work which also extended into the 
 Sandusky Valley. In 1805, in the records left by him, we read 
 of his swimming his horse across the Sandusky River by the 
 side of his canoe. Associated with him was Quintus F. Atkins, 
 whose diary is in the W. R. Historical Society. There we read 
 that in 1806 these two men sailed up the Sandusky River to 
 Mrs. Whitaker's, where they unloaded and had family prayers. 
 A little later they heard Crane, the Wyandot chief, "expressing 
 his pleasure in granting permission to work their land and to 
 get food and hoping they would dwell together in peace." In 
 the fall of 1809, when war rumors were afloat, Mr. Badger 
 made an appointment for the Indians to meet him at Mrs. 
 Whitaker's, at Lower Sandusky. His address to them was so 
 convincing and his influence over them for four or five years 
 had been so powerful for good, that they resolved to take no 
 part against the Americans. This was doubtless one of the rea- 
 sons together with the influence of Mrs. Wliitaker, why the 
 Wyandots under Tarhe at Lower Sandusky, kept their faith with 
 
104 
 
 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publication^. 
 
 the Americans and did not join the other Indians in behalf of the 
 British. 
 
 General Harrison often stopped at her house and she nursed 
 him there through an illness of over six weeks. When the British 
 •expedition set out from Detroit under Proctor late in July, 1813, 
 against Fort Meigs and then against Fort Stephenson at Lower 
 Sandusky, it is only fair to presume that they counted on Mrs. 
 Whitaker being friendly or at least neutral, as it was known that 
 she had in her house the three children of a Captain in the British 
 Army in the persons of the children of her daughter Nancy. The 
 British gun-boats stopped at Whitaker's wharf three miles below 
 the fort, where the large fine dwellinsf-house, store-house, factory 
 
 tJOLD MEDAL AWARDED MAJOR CROGIIAX 13V CONGRESS. 
 
 •and wharves of the Whitakers were located, but Mrs. Whitaker 
 with her children and grandchildren on the approach of Tecum- 
 seh's horde of Indians had fled to the protection of Fort Stephen- 
 son and had been sent but a day or so before the battle, with other 
 refugees, women and children, on toward Upper Sandusky and 
 Delaware. She, herself, was fired on by the Indians, whose bullets 
 riddled her cape. Her descendants, and in fact many old residents, 
 ascribe much of Major Croghan's success to the information 
 and advice given him by Mrs. Whitaker. She certainly had 
 every opportunity of learning of the intention of the Indian 
 allies of the British and this information she undoubtedly im- 
 parted to General Harrison and Major Croghan. although it 
 
The Croghan Celebration. 105 
 
 is hard to estimate the actual vahie of the assistance given to 
 Croghan in the battle. Nevertheless the British were so in- 
 censed at her conduct that they stopped at the Whitaker home 
 on their retreat down the river from Fort Stephenson and re- 
 mained long enough to utterly destroy the old home, the ware- 
 house, the factory and the wharves. Before Mrs. Whitaker fled 
 from her riverside home, she buried a handsome silver service 
 which had been presented to her and her husband, years before, 
 by British officers. It was unearthed and carried off by the Brit- 
 ish. Among the evidences of the landing of British soldiers at 
 the Whitaker homestead and also of the character of the troops 
 engaged against Fort Stephenson is a Wellington half-penny 
 token, coined in 1813, and presented to British troops participating 
 in Wellington's Peninsular Campaign in Spain and Portugal, 
 which was found within the last ten years near the Whitaker 
 homestead and was placed in the Birchard Library Museum. After 
 the close of General Harrison's Northwestern Compaign he ap- 
 pointed a commission to appraise the damage and loss sustained 
 by American citizens by the British invasion of Ohio during the 
 War of 1812. This commission awarded Mrs. Whitaker $8000 
 as the damage and loss sustained in the destruction of her prop- 
 erty by the British forces under General Proctor. 'T have claims 
 on the United States," says her will, probated in 1833, "to $8000 
 for spoliation during the last war." Voluminous papers were pre- 
 pared many years ago containing original affidavits of settlers 
 of that period, and placed in the hands of Congressman Frank 
 H. Hurd, who represented this Congressional District some 
 twentv-five vears asro. 
 
EDITORIALANA. 
 
 VOL. XVI. No. 1. l^CrA^dcUL JANUARY, .907. 
 
 THE OHIO RIVER. 
 
 It was one of Pascal's thoughts that "rivers are highways that 
 move on, and bear us whither we wish to go." Surely it is, that primeval 
 and pioneer man has followed the courses of great streams because 
 along those channels have been found the lines of least resistance. On 
 the rivers and their banks therefore has history found its favorite 
 haunts. Dry up the currents of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Danube^ 
 the Tiber, the Rhine, the Seine, and the Thames, and you will have 
 changed if not have wiped out the courses of civilization. 
 
 In the stored records of our country the rivers have played their 
 part, picturesque and potent. The St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the Con- 
 necticut, the Colorado, the Illinois, the Wabash, the Wisconsin and the 
 Father of Waters have had their historians. Nor has the Ohio escaped 
 the pen of the chronicler. Mr. Reuben Gold Thwaites, the scholarly secre- 
 tary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin was perhaps the first 
 to produce a volume devoted to the waters of the La Belle Riviere, as 
 the early French navigators styled the Ohio. His brochure issued first 
 as "Afloat on the Ohio," and reissued as "The Storied Ohio," is a de- 
 lightful account of a canoe voyage on this historic waterway from Red- 
 stone creek to Cairo, with landings at and observation upon the points 
 of interest along the route. 
 
 Mr. Archer Butler Hulbert, secretary of the Ohio Valley Histori- 
 cal Society and a Life Member of the Ohio State Archaeological and 
 Historical Society, is the author of an extensive and elaborate work 
 entitled "The Ohio River, a Course of Empire," recently put forth by 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons. Mr. Hulbert had already made himself known 
 to the reading public as the author of the unique and \aluable contri- 
 bution to American History, "The Historic Highways of America." Mr. 
 Hulbert made his initial bow as the author on this subject, in which 
 he has become the highest authority, in the pages of this Quarterly 
 for January, 1900. 
 
 "The Ohio River" is a masterly and entertaining presentation of the 
 subject comprising some 350 octavo pages, with maps and copious illus- 
 trations. Mr. Hulbert has the historic instinct and discrimination with 
 rare powers of description. He carries the reader along thrnugh the 
 
 106 
 
Editonalana. 107 
 
 scenes and events touched by his theme as dehghtfuUy as the most 
 accomplished Cicerone guides the traveler through the bew^ildering 
 wealth of a museum or picture gallery. iNIr. Hulbert is an enthusiast 
 in historic lore and his fervor is contagious. History to the average 
 person suggests little more than a series of dry dates of a funeral pro- 
 cession of lifeless figures and embalmed incidents. Mr. Hulbert galvanizes 
 the past into a living present. His Ohio River is a continuous panorama 
 and the reader moves from picture to picture without wearying, indeed 
 with accelerating interest. The best test of the book is that you close 
 it with the regret that the finis has been reached. It is doubtful if any 
 other American waterway touches in its course so much of historic 
 value and variety. It was first discovered and navigated in 1670, so far 
 as records go,, by the famous La Salle, foremost in chivalry, romance 
 and adventure among the French explorers. It was the logical and 
 natural highway and connecting link between the French settlements on 
 the St. Lawrence and those on the Mississippi. Its source at the Forks 
 of the Allegheny and Monongahela was the great gateway to the bound- 
 less west and that stategic gateway was the point of contest bitter and 
 bloody between the Gaul and the Saxon. Its banks were the scene of 
 the initial struggles between the two great white races. Later it was 
 decreed by the Redmen, the aborigine, as the boundary line between 
 the advancing pale face and the indigenous children of the forest. Again 
 and again did the savage strive to drive back the English and the Ameri- 
 can across its majestic current. Its meandering course through the 
 magnificent wilderness of the untrodden west suggested its name : 
 
 "The first brave English adventurers who looked with 
 eager eyes upon the great river of the Middle West learned 
 that its Indian name was represented by the letters Oyo, and 
 it has since been known as the Ohio River. The French, who 
 came in advance of the English, translated the Indian name, 
 we are told, and called the Ohio La Belle Riviere, 'the beauti- 
 ful river.' We have, however, other testimony concerning 
 the name that cannot well be overlooked. It is that of the 
 two experienced and well-educated Moravian missionaries, 
 Heckewelder and Zeisberger, who came into the trans-Alle- 
 gheny country long before the end of the eighteenth century. 
 Upon such a subject as the meaning of Ohio, one might easily 
 hold these men to be final authorities. John Heckewelder af- 
 firms that Oyo never could have been correctly translated 
 'beautiful' : Zeisberger adds that in the Onondago dialect of 
 the Iroquois tongue there was a word oyoneri which meant 
 'beautiful' but only in the adverbial sense — something that 
 was done 'beautifully', or, as we say, done 'well'. Mr. Hecke- 
 welder. knowing that it was commonly understood that the 
 
108 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 French had translated Oyo when they gave the name of La 
 Belle Riviere to the Ohio, took occasion to study the matter 
 carefully. He found that in the Miami language O'hui or 
 .Ohi, as prehxes, meant 'very'; for instance, Ohiopeek meant 
 'very white' ; OhiopcckhaiDic meant "the white foaming 
 river.' The Ohio River [he writes], being in many places 
 wide and deep and so gentle that for many miles, in some 
 places, no current is perceivable, the least wind blowing up 
 the river covers the surface with what the people of that coun- 
 try call 'white caps' ; and I have myself witnessed that for 
 days together, this has been the case, caused by southwesterly 
 winds (which, by the way, are the prevailing winds in that 
 country), so that we, navigating the canoes, durst not venture 
 to proceed, as these white caps would have filled and sunk our 
 canoes in an instant. Now, in sucli cases, when the river 
 could not be navigated with canoes, nor even crossed with 
 this kind of craft — when the whole surface of the water 
 presented white foaming swells, the Indians would, as the 
 case was at times, say, 'juh Ohiopiechan, Ohio peek, Ohio 
 peekhanne' ; and when they supposed the water very deep they 
 would say 'Kitschi, Ohiopeekhanne,' which means, 'verily this 
 is a deep white river.' 
 
 "For one, I like the interpretation of 'Ohio' as given by 
 those old missionaries • — the 'River of Many "White Caps.' 
 True, there is a splendid, sweeping beauty in the Ohio, but 
 throughout a large portion of its course the land lies low on 
 either bank, and those who have feasted their eyes on the 
 picturesque Hudson, or on the dashing beauty of the Sagueny, 
 have been heard to call in question the judgment of the French 
 who named the Ohio Belle Riviere. But it must be remem- 
 bered that the French first saw the upper waters of the Ohio, 
 which we now know as the glittering Allegheny. La Belle 
 Riviere included the Ohio and the Allegheny ; its was not 
 until the English had reached the Ohio, about the middle of 
 the eighteenth century, that it came to be said that the Alle- 
 gheny and Monongahela formed the Ohio, at Pittsburgh. To 
 one acquainted with the roaring Allegheny, dancing down 
 through the New York and Pennsylvania hills, and who can 
 see how clear the waters ran in the dense green of the an- 
 cient forest — to such a one it is not difficult to see why the 
 French called it La Belle Rivier." 
 
 Mr. Hulbert then unfolds the history of the river from its earliest 
 discovery to the present time ; the more memorable voyages on its 
 ■waters; the spectacular expedition of Celoron de Bienville (1749') in 
 
Editorialana. 109 
 
 which that romantic chevalier with his detachment of two hundred 
 French officers and Canadian soldiers, sixty Iroquois and Abenake In- 
 dians in a flotilla of twenty birchbark canoes embarked from Montreal 
 and pushing up the St. Lawrence to the waters of Lake Erie, ascended 
 the Chautaiiqua creek, crossed the lake and swung into the Allegheny 
 and finally into the Ohio. It reads like a fairy tale, this voyage down 
 the Ohio, the ceremonious burying at the mouth of debouching rivers 
 of leaden plates, claiming the territory for France ; the ascent of the 
 Great Miami and the return by the Maumee and the Great Lakes to 
 Montreal. 
 
 In 1770 came the journey down the Ohio of George Washington 
 prospecting for land pre-emptions and who "has left the clearest picture 
 of the Ohio of pre-Revolutionary day, as the result of his trip." It 
 was on this trip that Washington at least twice stood upon the terri- 
 tory now included in the boundaries of the Buckeye State. 
 
 The Fall of 1774 was memorable on the Ohio because of Dunmore's 
 War. The Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia took up arms 
 against the Indians of the trans-Ohio countrj'. His army numbered 
 three thousand, divided into two divisions of fifteen hundred each ; one 
 division under General Andrew Lewis proceeded down the Great Ka- 
 nawha to its mouth (Point Pleasant) where it encountered the crafty 
 and brilliant Shawnee leader Cornstalk at the head of fifteen hundred 
 chosen Ohio braves. The Virginia backwoodsmen were victorious and 
 following their defeated foe crossed the Ohio and proceeded to the site 
 of Chillicothe where they met the division under Dunmore, which in 
 a hundred canoes, rafts and pirogues had embarked on the upper Ohio 
 and "landed in what is now the state of Ohio at the mouth of the Hock- 
 hocking, where a stockade was erected." Even the worthy Homer 
 sometimes nods and at this point Mr. Hulbert, omits to our mind, one 
 of the most interesting and noteworthy events that ever transpired on 
 the Ohio. As the army of Dunmore returned from the interior it en- 
 camped at Fort Gower, mouth of the Hockhocking. There on November 
 5. 1774, was held an historic meeting of the Virginia officers. The wel- 
 come message was brought them of the patriotic action taken by the 
 Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia and these Vir- 
 ginia officers resolved "That we will bear the most faithful allegiance 
 to his Majesty, King George, the Third, whilst His Majesty delights to 
 reign over a brave and free people; that we will at the expense of life, 
 and everything dear and valuable, exert ourselves in support of his 
 cfown and the dignity of the British Empire. But as the love of liberty 
 and attachment of the real interests and just rights of America out- 
 weigh every other consideration, we resolve that we will exert every 
 power within us for the defense of American liberty, and for the sup- 
 port of her just rights and privileges; not in any precipitate, riotous 
 j-nd tumultuous manner, but when regularly called for by the unanimous 
 
110 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 voice of our countrymen." That was a public, formal, spontaneous 
 declaration of American freedom announced by Virginia colonists on 
 the banks of the Hockhocking and the Ohio in the future Buckeye State, 
 six months before the shot was tired at Lexington that echoed around 
 the world and more than a year and a half before the Liberty Bell, 
 in the Quaker City, rang forth the glad tidings of national independence. 
 Surely The Ohio River deserves all credit accruing from that historic 
 fact. The Ohio bore its patriotic part in the Revolution and to that 
 Mr. Hulbert does justice. In the summer of 1778, the period of the 
 deepest decline of the American cause, occurred the beginning of the 
 brilliant successful campaign of the Revolution in the West, the con- 
 quest of Illinois by that daring "Washington of the West" the intrepid 
 Virginian youth, George Rogers Clark. He raised a motley contingent 
 of some two hundred Virginia and Pennsylvania volunteer backwoods- 
 men and at Fort Pitt embarked for the lower Ohio, the Falls at Louis- 
 ville, whence he invaded the Illinois country and performed that perilous 
 and almost unparalleled feat of capturing the same and holding the 
 Northwest to the American cause. The Revolution was followed by that 
 most potent of all Ohio river expeditions — that is potent to Ohio State 
 — the trip of the Adventure Galley or the MayUozver. 
 
 "The New Englanders at once began preparations to emi- 
 • grate to the shore of the 'River of Many White Caps.' The 
 vanguard of about fifty officers and workmen left for the West 
 in the winter of 1787-88, and after a tedious journey over 
 Forbe's Road through Pennsylvania reached the Youghioheny 
 in the early spring. Here at what is now West Newton, Pa., 
 boats were constructed for the river trip, the flagship of the 
 tiny squadron being the Adventure Galley, afterwards called 
 the Mayflower in memory of the historic ship of the Pilgrim 
 fathers. Descending the Youghioheny, Monongahela, and the 
 Ohio t^ veteran hero General Putnam, landed at Fort Harmar 
 at the mouth of the Muskingum, April 7, 1788. On the oppo- 
 site shore of the ^Muskingum the pioneer town in the North- 
 west Territory was founded by these forty-eight founders of 
 Ohio. Fort Harmar, erected partly to prevent the Virginian 
 and Pennsylvanian squatters from crossing the Ohio, received 
 with equanimity the legal purchasers of the Ohio company's 
 domain. At once a blockhouse was erected by the New Eng- 
 landers and named the 'Campus Martius' ; about it the little 
 town began to grow up. In the fall preceding, Congress had 
 elected General Arthur St. Clair governor of the territory 
 northwest of the river Ohio. In July, 1788, he arrived, and 
 on the fifteenth of that month the inauguration ceremony was 
 duly celebrated. The veterans of the Revolution on the Ohio 
 
Editonalana. Ill 
 
 gave the name of Marietta to the new town in honor of Mary 
 Antoinette and France. Generals St. Clair of Pennsylvania, 
 and Putnam of Massachusetts, Samuel Holden Parsons of 
 Connecticut, and James M. Varnum of Rhode Island were the 
 leaders in the work of establishing the settlement, aided by 
 Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the Territory, and by the 
 noble Manasseh Cutler, who was a frequent visitor and a power- 
 ful advocate in the East. Parsons, Varnum, and John Cleve 
 Symmes, Chief Justice of New Jersey, were elected Judges 
 of the Territory." 
 
 Over against the safe and sane settlement at Marietta, followed 
 in 1796 the erratic and almost, ridiculous settlement of the deluded 
 Parisians at Gallipolis. That incident is the vaudeville act in the his- 
 tory of Ohio, it is the comedy amid many tragic surroundings. Another 
 theatrical scene on the Ohio was the journey of the conspirator Aaron 
 Burr from Pittsburgh to Blennerhassett Island and his inveiglement of 
 the stupid but doubtless well-meaning Herman Blennerhassett. That 
 was another tragico-comedy on the Ohio which Mr. Hulbert gracefully 
 depicts. But we must refer the reader to The Ohio River for a proper 
 appreciation of its extent and value. It will be read with equal in- 
 terest by teacher and pupil, young and old. Mr. Hulbert has a clear, 
 vigorous, easy-moving style. If anyone thinks history is stupid, let 
 him read this book and learn otherwise; if one imagines the Ohio river 
 is a commonplace "shallow babbling run" let him read this book and 
 learn of its mighty influence in the western advance of civilization and 
 its fascinating career through the history of American progress. 
 
 Mr. Hulbert's Ohio River is not only the most complete and satis- 
 factory contribution to the literature of the subject which it treats but we 
 know of no American waterway having so accomplished and accurate a 
 chronicler. 
 
 ARCH.^.OLOGICAL EXHIBIT. 
 
 In the early autumn of 1906 the New York Academy of Science 
 through Dr. Wissler, Chairman of the Committee on Archaeology and 
 Ethnology, invited the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society 
 to make an exhibit of the progress accomplished by the Society in archae- 
 ological science in Ohio during the past year. The Executive Committee 
 of the Society authorized Prof. W. C. Mills, Curator, to make such ex- 
 hibit. Prof. Mills prepared a miniature model, on the scale of one foot 
 to forty feet, in plaster and wood of the Harness Mound, which was 
 exhumed by the professor in the summer of 1906. The model represented 
 three fourths of the mound completed with the exact position of the 
 burials and fire places. The burials represented were two kinds, cre- 
 mated and uncremated. Of the latter but few were found in the mound. 
 
112 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 
 
 there being but live uncremated in a total of 133 burials. The evidence 
 from the explorations revealed that the process of cremation generally 
 took place at some spot more or less distant from the grave, the 
 charred bones and ashes being gathered up a'fter the burning and placed 
 in the grave. All the graves showed careful preparation and in each 
 instance a platform of clay was arranged surrounded with logs. The 
 platform was usually oval in shape, the center being raised above the 
 level of the sides. 
 
 In several cases the center of the grave had been hollowed out, 
 thus forming a basin shaped receptacle. In many instances the graves 
 were constructed in the form of a parallelogram, being more than a 
 foot in depth, the cremated remains having been placed in the bottom 
 of the grave. All these various forms were developed in the model. 
 In addition to the model of the mound two other models were prepared 
 exhibiting typical graves and made the exact size of the original, show- 
 ing the oval basin shape and the parallelogram form. Casts of the 
 various pieces of copper, stone and bone implements were placed in 
 the model graves duplicating the originals as found in the exhumation. 
 
 The exhibition of these models and other constructions illustrative 
 of the advance of science was held in the American Museum of Natural 
 History, New York City, during the holiday week and some two weeks 
 following. The occasion was the annual meeting of the American As- 
 sociation for the Advancement of Science. During the exercises of the 
 Association, Professor Mills read two papers relating his experience in 
 the exploration of Ohio mounds and describing the results of his obser- 
 vations. The models exhibited by the professor were examined with 
 great interest by the distinguished members of the Scientific Association. 
 Professor Mills is now engaged in the construction of an exact miniature 
 reproduction of the Serpent Mound. These models will be exhibited at 
 the forthcoming Jamestown Exposition. 
 
 In 
 
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