Nothing of importance in military movements occurred during the dead of winter, in 1813, excepting the terrible affair at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, already described, 1 and some hostile demonstrations on the St. Lawrence frontier at Elizabethtown and Ogdensburg by the opposing parties. The campaign of that year opened almost simultaneously on the shores of Lake Ontario, in the Valley of the Maumee, and on the coasts of Virginia.

Let us first consider military events in the Northwest, where we left General Harrison, with a portion of his gallant little army, encamped amid the snows in the dark forests that skirted the Rapids of the Maumee. 2

The position chosen by Harrison for a strong advanced post, which would give him facilities for keeping open a communication with Ohio and Kentucky, allow him to afford protection to the inhabitants on the borders of Lake Erie, and to operate against Detroit and Malden, was one of the most eligible in the Northwest, and its possession gave the British much uneasiness. Harrison’s plan was to form simply a fortified camp, and to prosecute the winter campaign with vigor. For this purpose he endeavored to concentrate troops there, and prepared to push on to the vicinity of Brownstown, for the purpose of operating directly against Malden while the Detroit River was bridged with ice. Considering the destruction of the enemy’s vessels, frozen up in the vicinity of Malden, of great importance, he sent a small force, under Captain Langham, 3 to perform that service. On the 2d of March [1813.] they a set off in sleighs, with six days’ provisions, and well equipped with combustibles. The party was one hundred and seventy strong. The particular incendiaries were under the immediate command of M. Madis, a Frenchman of European military experience, then conductor of artillery. They were instructed to leave the sleighs at Middle Bass Island, and, with their feet muffled in moccasins, proceed noiselessly, under cover of night, to the work of destruction. Harrison advanced with a supporting detachment, but on his arrival at Maumee Bay [March 3.], not far below the present city of Toledo, he met Langham and his party returning. They had found the lake open, and of course the plan of the expedition was frustrated. The mildness of the winter had been remarkable; the roads were consequently almost impassable. There was no ice competent to bear troops and munitions of war.

Harrison now abandoned all hopes of moving forward until spring, and continued the work of fortifying his camp with great vigor, for the preservation of his stores, collected there in great quantity. His troops were then about eighteen hundred in number, and were employed on the works under the skillful direction of that competent officer, Captain Wood, the chief engineer of Harrison’s army, Captain Gratiot, 4 then lying prostrate with illness that long continued. "The camp," said Captain Wood, was about twenty-five hundred yards in circumference, the whole of which, with the exception of several small intervals left for batteries and block-houses, was to be picketed with timber fifteen feet long, from ten to twelve inches in diameter, and set three feet in the ground. Such were the instructions of the engineer; and so soon as the lines of the camp were designated, large portions of the labor were assigned to each corps in the army, by which means a very laudable emulation was easily excited. To complete the picketing, to put up eight block-houses of double timbers, to elevate four large batteries, to build all the store-houses and magazines required to contain the supplies of the army, together with the ordinary fatigues of the camp, was an undertaking of no small magnitude. Besides, an immense deal of labor was likewise required in excavating ditches, making abatis, and clearing away the wood about the camp; and all this was to be done, too, at a time when the weather was inclement, and the ground so hard that it could scarcely be opened with the mattock and pickaxe. But in the use of the axe, mattock, and spade consisted the chief military knowledge of our army; and even that knowledge, however trifling it may be supposed by some, is of the utmost importance in many situations, and in ours was the salvation of the army. So we fell to work, heard nothing of the enemy, and endeavored to bury ourselves as soon as possible." 5

Harrison’s greatest concern during the winter of 1813 was the possibility of not keeping soldiers enough in the field for the spring campaign, as the terms of the enlistment of different corps would soon expire. To provide for such contingency, he called for volunteers from Kentucky and Ohio, and met with cordial responses. 6 He was preparing to collect about four thousand men at the Rapids for an early movement against Malden, when he received instructions from General Armstrong, the new Secretary of War, which deranged all his plans. By these he was directed to continue his demonstrations against Malden, but only as a diversion in favor of attempts to be made upon Canada farther down. He was enjoined not to make an actual attack upon the enemy until the consummation of measures for securing the command of Lake Erie, then just inaugurated, and to be completed at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania) by the middle of the ensuing May. Much to his mortification and alarm, he was directed to dispense with militia as much as possible, and to fill up the 17th, 19th, and 24th Regiments of Regulars for service in the ensuing campaign. He was informed that two other regiments of regulars had been ordered to be raised, one in Kentucky and the other in Ohio. Should the old regiments not be filled in time, he was permitted to make up the deficiencies from the militia. With these he was to garrison the different posts, hold the position at the Rapids, and amuse the enemy by feints.

This interference with his plans annoyed Harrison exceedingly, and he ventured to remonstrate with the Secretary of War. He gave him his views [March 18, 1813.] very freely, and with them some valuable and much-needed information concerning the country to be defended and the Indian tribes in alliance with the British. He explained the causes of apprehended danger in attempting to carry out the new programme, and assured the Secretary of War that the regular force to be relied on could not be raised in time for needed service, and that, even if it should, it would be too small for the required duty – so evidently inadequate that enlistments would be discouraged. 7 Armstrong, who seldom bore opposition patiently, did not like to be remonstrated with, but he prudently forbore farther interference in the conduct of the campaign in the Northwest at that time. 8

The governor had ordered a draft of three thousand militia (fifteen hundred of them for Harrison’s army) as early as the middle of February, to be organized into four regiments, under Colonels Boswell, Dudley, Cox, and Caldwell, forming a brigade to be commanded by Brigadier General Green Clay. 9

VIEW OF CINCINNATI FROM NEWPORT IN 1812. 10

The regiments under the first two named officers rendezvoused at Newport, opposite to Cincinnati, at about the first of April. Those companies which had arrived there earlier had been sent forward to the Rapids on forced marches, by the way of Urbana and "Hull’s Trace," and the commander-in-chief followed soon afterward, leaving the remainder of the Kentuckians designed for his command to be forwarded as quickly as possible. He arrived at camp on the 12th of April, and was gratified by finding more than two hundred patriotic Pennsylvanians remaining, who had been persuaded to do so by their chaplain, Dr. Hersey. 11

Proctor was delighted with the response of the savages to his call, and visions of speedy victory, personal glory, and official promotion filled his mind. He became more boastful than ever, and more supercilious toward the Americans at Detroit. He ordered the Canadian militia to assemble at Sandwich on the 7th of April [1813.], when he assured them that the campaign would be short, decisive, successful, and profitable. On the 23d [April.] his army and that of his savage allies, more than two thousand in number, 12 were in readiness at Amherstburg; and on that day they embarked on a brig and several smaller vessels, accompanied by two gunboats and some artillery. On the 26th they appeared at the mouth of the Maumee, about twelve miles below Fort Meigs; and on the 28th they landed on the left bank of the river, near old Fort Miami, and established their main camp there. 13 From that point Proctor and Tecumtha, who were well mounted, rode up the river to a point opposite Fort Meigs to reconnoitre. They were discovered at the fort, when a shot from one of the batteries sent them back in haste. 14 Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, was immediately sent up with a fatigue party to construct batteries upon a commanding elevation nearly opposite the fort, in front of the present Maumee City, but incessant rains, and the wretched condition of the roads, so retarded the progress of the work that they were not ready for operations until the first day of May.

The approach of the enemy in force had been discovered by Captain Hamilton, of the Ohio troops, on the 28th, while reconnoitring down the river with a small force. Peter Navarre, one of Harrison’s most trustworthy scouts, yet (1867) living in Ohio, first saw them. Hamilton sent him in haste to Fort Meigs with the intelligence, when Harrison instantly dispatched him with three letters, one for Upper Sandusky, one for Lower Sandusky, and one for Governor Meigs, at Urbana. 15 Although Fort Meigs was quite strong, several block-houses having been erected in connection with the lines of intrenchment and pickets, and a good supply of field-pieces had been mounted, Harrison was convinced, from the character and strength of the enemy, that his post was in imminent peril. He knew that General Green Clay was on his march with Kentuckians; and as soon as Navarre was furnished with his letters, he dispatched Captain William Oliver, the commissary to the fort, an intelligent, brave, and judicious officer (who had performed similar service for him), with an oral message to Clay, urging him to press forward by forced marches. Oliver bore to Clay the following simple note of introduction: 16

Oliver was accompanied by a single white man and an Indian. He was escorted beyond the immediate danger that surrounded the camp by a company of dragoons under Captain Garrard. He found General Clay at Fort Winchester (Defiance) with twelve hundred Kentuckians, three companies of his command, as we have observed, 17 having been sent forward by Harrison at the close of March. Clay had left Cincinnati early in April, after issuing a stirring address 18 to his troops [April 7, 1813.] in General Orders, and followed Winchester’s route to the Maumee. 19 At Dayton he was overtaken by Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, a bold and ardent young man of nineteen years, whose services as scout and messenger in the late campaign, which ended so disastrously at the Raisin, were well known to General Clay. He at once commissioned Combs captain of a company of riflemen as spies or scouts, to be selected by him from Dudley’s corps.

Young Combs, eager for patriotic duty and distinction, volunteered to go. "When we reach Fort Defiance," he said, "if you will furnish me a good canoe, I will carry your dispatches to General Harrison, and return with his orders. I shall only require four or five volunteers from my own company, and one of my Indian guides to accompany me." A murmur of approbation ran through the company, and his offer was joyfully accepted by Dudley with words of compliment and gratitude. 20 They reached Defiance the following morning. It was the first of May. As soon as a canoe could be procured Combs embarked on his perilous mission, accompanied by two brothers named Walker, and two others named respectively Paxton and Johnson; also by young Black Fish, a Shawnoese warrior. 21 With the latter at the helm, the other four engaged with the rowing, and himself at the bow in charge of the rifles and ammunition of the party, Combs pushed off from Defiance, amid cheers and sad adieus (for few expected to see them again), determined to reach Fort Meigs before daylight the next morning. The voyage was full of danger. Rain was falling heavily, and the night was intensely black. They passed the Rapids in safety, but not until quite late in the morning, when heavy cannonading was heard in the direction of the fort. It was evident that the expected siege had commenced, and that the perils of the mission were increased manifold. For a moment Combs was perplexed. To return would be prudent, but would expose his courage to doubts; to remain until the next night, or proceed at once, seemed equally hazardous. A decision was soon made by the brave youth. "We must go on, boys," he said; "and if you expect the honor of taking coffee with General Harrison this morning, you must work hard for it." He went forward with many misgivings, for he knew the weakness of the garrison, and doubted its ability to hold out long. Great was his satisfaction, therefore, when, on sweeping around Turkey Point, 22 at the last bend in the river by which the fort was hidden from his view, he saw the stripes and stars waving over the beleaguered camp.

Their joy was evinced by a suppressed shout. Suddenly a solitary Indian appeared in the edge of the woods, and a moment afterward a large body of them were observed in the gray shadows of the forest, running eagerly to a point below to cut off Combs and his party from the fort. The gallant captain attempted to dart by them on the swift current, when a volley of bullets from the savages severely wounded Johnson and Paxton – the former mortally. The fire was returned with effect, when the Shawnoese at the helm turned the prow toward the opposite shore. 23 There the voyagers abandoned the canoe, and, with their faces toward Defiance, sought safety in flight. After vainly attempting to take Johnson and Paxton with, them, Combs and Black Fish left them to become captives, and at the end of two days and two nights the captain reached Defiance, whereat General Clay had just arrived. The Walkers were also there, having fled more swiftly, because unencumbered. Combs and his dusky companion had suffered terribly. 24 The former was unable to assume the command of his company, but he went down the river with the re-enforcements, and took an active part in the conflict in the vicinity of Fort Meigs. There we shall meet him again presently. 25

SITE OF THE BRITISH BATTERIES FROM FORT MEIGS. 26

The British had completed two batteries nearly opposite to Fort Meigs on the morning of the 30th [April, 1813.], and had mounted their ordnance. One of them bore two twenty-four-pounders, and the other three howitzers – one eight inches, and the other two five and a half inches calibre. In this labor they had lost some men by well-directed round shot from the fort, but neither these missiles nor the drenching rain drove them away. Harrison had not been idle in the mean time. His force was much inferior to that of the enemy in numbers, but was animated by the best spirit. On the morning after the British made their appearance near, he addressed his soldiers eloquently in a General Order; 27 and when he discovered the foe busy in erecting batteries on the opposite shore that would command his works, he began the construction of a traverse, or wall of earth, on the most elevated ground through the middle of his camp, twelve feet in height, on a base of twenty feet, and three hundred yards in length. During its construction it was concealed by the tents. When these were suddenly removed to the rear of the traverse, the British engineer, to his great mortification, perceived that his labor had been almost in vain. Instead of an exposed camp, from which Proctor had boasted he would soon "smoke out the Yankees" – in other words, speedily destroy it with shot and shell, he saw nothing but an immense shield of earth, behind which the Americans were invisible and thoroughly sheltered. Proctor accordingly modified his plans, and sent a considerable force of white men under Captain Muir, and Indians under Tecumtha, to the eastern side of the river, under cover of the gun-boats, with the evident intention of preparing for an attack on the fort in the rear. When night fell the British batteries were yet silent, and remained so; but a gun-boat, towed up the river near the fort under cover of the darkness, fired thirty shots without making any other impression than increasing the vigilance of the Americans, who reposed on their arms. Early in the morning the gun-boat went down the river barren of all honor.

Late in the morning on the 1st of May [1813.], notwithstanding heavy rain-clouds were driving down the Maumee Valley, and drenching every thing with fitful discharges, the British opened a severe cannonade and bombardment upon Fort Meigs, and continued the assault, with slight intermissions, for about five days, 28 but without much injury to the fort and garrison. The fire was returned occasionally by eighteen-pounders. The supply of shot for these and the twelve-pounders was very small, there not being more than three hundred and sixty of each. They were used with judicious parsimony, for it was not known how long the siege might last. The British, on the contrary, appeared to have powder, balls, and shells in great abundance, and they poured a perfect storm of missiles – not less than five hundred – upon the fort all of the first day, and until eleven o’clock at night. 29 One or two of the garrison were killed, and Major Stoddard, of the First Regiment, a soldier of the Revolution, who commanded the fort when Leftwitch retired, was so badly wounded by a fragment of a shell that he died ten days afterward. 30

On the morning of the 2d the British opened a third battery of three twelve-pounders upon the fort from the opposite side of the river, which they had completed during the night, and all that day the cannonade was kept up briskly. Within the next twenty-four hours a fourth battery was opened. 31 That night a detachment of artillerists and engineers crossed the river, and mounted guns and mortars upon two mounds for batteries already constructed in the thickets by the party that crossed on the 30th, within two hundred and fifty yards of the rear angles of the fort. One of these, nearest the ravine already mentioned, was a mortar battery; the other, a few rods farther southward, was a three-gun battery. Expecting an operation of this kind, the Americans had constructed traverses in time to foil the enemy; and when, toward noon of the 3d, the three cannon and the howitzer opened suddenly upon the rear angles of the fort, their fire was almost harmless. A few shots from eighteen-pounders directed by Gratiot who was convalescing, soon silenced the gun-battery, and the pieces were hastily drawn off and placed in position near the ravine.

PLAN OF FORT MEIGS. 32

Shot and shell were hurled upon the fort more thickly and steadily on the 3d than at any other time, but with very little effect. This seemed to discourage the besiegers, and on the 4th the fire was materially slackened. Then Proctor sent Major Chambers with a demand for the surrender of the post. "Tell General Proctor," responded Harrison, promptly, "that if he shall take the fort it will be under circumstances that will do him more honor than a thousand surrenders." Meanwhile the cannonading from the fort was feeble, because of the scarcity of ammunition. "With plenty of it," wrote Captain Wood, "we should have blown John Bull from the Miami." The guns were admirably managed, and did good execution at every discharge. The Americans were well supplied with food and water 33 for a long siege, and could well afford to spend time and weary the assailants by merely defensive warfare sufficient to keep the foe at bay. They exhibited their confidence and spirit by frequently mounting the ramparts, swinging their hats, and shouting defiance to their besiegers. Nevertheless, Harrison was anxious. Hull and Winchester had failed and suffered. The foe was strong, wily, and confident. So he looked hourly and anxiously up the Maumee for the hoped-for re-enforcements. Since Navarre and Oliver went out, he had heard nothing from abroad. His suspense was ended at near midnight on the 4th, when Captain Oliver, with Major David Trimble and fifteen men who had come down the river in a boat, made their way into the fort as bearers of the glad tidings that General Clay and eleven hundred Kentuckians were only eighteen miles distant, and would probably reach the post before morning.

Colonel Dudley executed his prescribed task most gallantly and successfully. The current was swift, and the shores were rough, but his detachment effected a landing in fair order. They ascended to the plain on which Maumee City stands unobserved by the enemy, and were there formed for marching in three parallel columns, the right led by Dudley, the left by Major Shelby, and the centre, as a reserve, by Acting Major Morrison. Captain Combs, with thirty riflemen, including seven friendly Indians, flanked in front full a hundred yards distant. 34 In this order they moved through the woods a mile and a half toward the British batteries, which were playing briskly upon Fort Meigs, when the columns were so disposed as to inclose the enemy in a crescent, with every prospect of capturing the whole force. Dudley had failed to inform his subalterns of his exact plans, and that remissness was a fatal mistake. Shelby’s column, by his order, penetrated to a point between the batteries and the British camp below, when the right column, led by Dudley in person, raised the horrid Indian yell, rushed forward, charged upon the enemy with wild vehemence, captured the heavy guns and spiked eleven of them without losing a man. The riflemen, meanwhile, had been attacked by the Indians, and, not aware of Dudley’s designs, thought it their duty to fight instead of falling back upon the main body. This was the fatal mistake. The main object of the expedition was fully accomplished, although the batteries were not destroyed. The British flag was pulled down, and as it trailed to earth loud huzzas went up from the beleaguered fort.

Harrison had watched the moment with intense interest from his chief battery, and when he saw the British flag lowered, he signaled Dudley to fall back to his boats and cross the river, according to explicit orders. Yet the victors lingered, and sharp firing was heard in the woods in the rear of the captured batteries. Harrison was indignant because of the disobedience. Lieutenant Campbell volunteered to carry a peremptory order across to Dudley to retreat, but when he arrived the victory so gloriously won was changed into a sad defeat. Humanity had caused disobedience, and terrible was the penalty. At the moment when the batteries were taken, as we have just observed, Indians in ambush attacked Combs and his riflemen. With quick and generous impulse, Dudley ordered them to be re-enforced. A greater part of the right and centre columns instantly rushed into the woods in considerable disorder, accompanied by their colonel. Thirty days in camp had given them very little discipline. It was of little account at the outset, for, disorderly as they were, they soon put the Indians to flight, and relieved Combs and his little party. That work accomplished, discipline should have ruled. It did not. Impelled by the enthusiasm and confidence which is born of victory, and forgetful of all the maxims of prudence, they pursued the flying savages almost to the British Camp. Shelby’s column still held possession of the batteries when this pursuit commenced, but the British artillerists, largely re-enforced, and led by the gallant Captain Dixon, soon returned and recaptured them, taking some of the Kentuckians prisoners, and driving the others toward their boats. 35 Meanwhile the Indians had been re-enforced, and had turned fiercely upon Dudley. His men were in utter confusion, and all attempts at command were futile. Shelby had rallied the remnant of his column and marched to the aid of Dudley, but he only participated in the confusion and flight. The Kentuckians were scattered in every direction through the woods back of where Maumee City now stands, making but feeble resistance, and exposed to the deadly fire of the skulking savages. The flight became a rout, precipitate and disorderly, and a greater part of Dudley’s command were killed or captured, after a contest of about three hours. Dudley, who was a heavy, fleshy man, was overtaken, tomahawked, and scalped, and his captive companions, including Captain Combs and his spies, were marched to old Fort Miami as prisoners of war. Of the eight hundred 36 who followed him from the boats, only one hundred and seventy escaped to Fort Meigs. 37

Colonel Boswell’s command in the other boats, consisting of a part of the battalions of Kentucky militia under Major William Johnson, and two other companies of Kentucky levies, landed near Turkey Point. He was immediately ordered by Captain Hamilton, General Harrison’s representative, to fight his way into the fort. The same Indians who assailed Clay disputed his passage. Boswell arranged his men in open order, marched boldly over the low plain, 38 engaged the savages on the slopes and brow of the high plateau most gallantly, and reached the fort without suffering very serious loss. There he was greeted by thanks and shouts of applause, and met by a sallying-party 39 coming out to join him in an immediate attack upon that portion of the enemy with whom he had just been engaged, pursuant to Harrison’s original plan of assailing the foe on both sides of the river at the same time. There was but a moment’s delay. Boswell on the right, Major Alexander and his volunteers on the left, and Major Johnson in the centre, was the order in which the party advanced against their dusky foe. They fell upon the savages furiously, drove them half a mile into the woods at the point of the bayonet, and utterly routed them. In their zeal the victors were pursuing with a recklessness that, if continued, would have resulted in disaster like that which overwhelmed Dudley. Fortunately, General Harrison, always on the alert, had taken a stand, with a spyglass, on one of his batteries, from which he could survey the whole field of operations. He discovered a body of British and Indians gliding swiftly along the borders of the woods to cut off the retreat of the pursuers, when he dispatched a volunteer aid (John T. Johnson, Esq.) to recall his troops. It was a perilous undertaking. The gallant aid-de-camp had a horse shot under him, but he succeeded in communicating the general’s orders in time to allow the imperiled detachment to return without much loss.

General Harrison now ordered a sortie from the fort against the enemy’s works on the right, near the deep ravine. For this purpose three hundred and fifty men were detailed, and placed under the command of Colonel John Miller, 40 of the regular service, They consisted of the companies of United States troops under Captains Langham, Croghan, Bradford, Nearing, 41 Elliott, 42 and Gwynne, 43 and Lieutenant Campbell; Major Alexander’s 44 volunteers, and a company of Kentucky militia under Captain Sebree. 45 Miller was accompanied by Major George Todd, of the Nineteenth Infantry, and led his command with the greatest bravery. They charged with the fiercest impetuosity upon the motley foe, eight hundred and fifty strong, drove them from their batteries at the point of the bayonet, spiked their guns, and scattered them in confusion in the woods beyond the ravine toward the site of the present village of Perrysburg. The enemy fought desperately, and Miller lost several of his brave men. At one moment the utter destruction of Sebree’s company seemed inevitable. They were surrounded by four times their number of Indians, when Gwynne, of the Nineteenth, perceiving their peril, rushed to their rescue with a part of Elliott’s company. They were saved. The object of the sortie was accomplished, and the victors returned to the fort with forty-three prisoners, followed by the enemy, who had rallied in Considerable force. 46

After these sorties on the 5th the siege of Fort Meigs was virtually abandoned by Proctor. The result of that day’s fighting, combined with the ill success of all preceding efforts to reduce the fort, were so disheartening that his Indian allies deserted him, and the Canadian militia turned their faces homeward. 47 The splendid Territory of Michigan had been promised to the Prophet as a reward for his services in the capture of Fort Meigs, and Tecumtha was to have the person of General Harrison, whom he had hated intensely since the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, as his peculiar trophy. These promises were all unfulfilled. The Indians left in disgust, and probably nothing but Tecumtha’s commission and pay as brigadier in the British army secured his farther services in the cause.

Proctor’s eyes saw his savage allies leaving him and his Canadian militia discontented, and his ears heard the startling intelligence that Fort George, on the Niagara frontier, was in the hands of the Americans, and that re-enforcements were coming from Ohio for the little army at Fort Meigs. 48 He saw nothing before him, if he remained, but the capture or dispersion of his troops, and he resolved to flee. With the design of concealing this fact that he might move off with safety, he again sent Captain Chambers to demand the surrender of the fort. Harrison regarded the absurd message as an intended insult, and requested that it should not be repeated. It was the last friendly communication between the belligerents. 49

Proctor attempted to bear away from his batteries his unharmed cannon, but a few shots from Fort Meigs made him withdraw speedily. A parting response in kind from one of his gun-boats, in return, slew several, among them Lieutenant Robert Walker, of the Pittsburg Blues, whose grave may yet be identified within the remains of the fort by a plain, rough stone, with a simple inscription, that stands at its head. 50

This was the last life lost in the siege. In the same vessels that brought him to the Maumee, Proctor returned to Amherstburg with the remains of his little army, leaving behind him a record of infamy on the shores of that stream in the wilderness equal in blackness to that upon the banks of the Raisin. 51 Here, in few words, is the record attested by Captain Wood, of the Engineers, and others. 52 On the surrender of Dudley’s command the prisoners were marched down to Fort Miami with an escort, and there, under the eye of Proctor and his officers, the Indians, who had already plundered them and murdered many on the way, 53 were allowed to shoot, tomahawk, and scalp more than twenty of them. This butchery was stopped by Tecumtha, who proved himself to be more humane than his British ally and brother officer, Henry Proctor. 54

I visited the theatre of events just described, on the 24th of September, 1860, and had the singular good fortune to be accompanied by L. H. Hosmer, Esq., of Toledo, author of The Early History of the Maumee Valley, and the venerable Peter Navarre (a Canadian Frenchman), General Harrison’s trusty scout, already mentioned. 55 Navarre resided about twenty miles from Toledo, and had come into the city on business two or three days before. Mr. Hosmer, aware of my intended visit at that time, had kindly detained him until my arrival. Only two days before, I had enjoyed a long conversation at the "West House," in Sandusky City, with General Leslie Combs, who had just visited Fort Meigs for the first time since he was there as a soldier and prisoner in 1813. That visit had recalled the incidents of the campaign most vividly to his mind, and he related them to me with his usual enthusiasm and perspicuity. With the soldier’s description in my memory, and the historian and scout at my side, I visited Fort Meigs and its historical surroundings under the most favorable circumstances.

Across a small ravine, a few rods farther southward, were the remains of old Fort Miami, famous, as we have seen, in Wayne’s time, as one of the outposts of the British, impudently erected in the Indian country within the acknowledged territory of the United States. 56 It was upon the land of Benjamin Starbird, whose dwelling was just beyond the southern side of the fort. It was a regular work, and covered about two acres of land. The embankments were from fifteen to twenty feet in height. They were covered with heavy sward, and fine honey-locust and hickory trees were growing upon them. These were in full leaf and the grass was very green, when we were there. From the northwest angle of the fort I made the accompanying sketch, which includes the general appearance of the mounds. On the right is seen a barn, which stands within the triangular outwork, at the sally-port mentioned by Captain Combs in his narrative, substantially given in Note 7, page 489, where he was compelled to run the gauntlet for his life; and on the left a glimpse of the Maumee. All about the old fort is now quiet. For more than fifty years peace has smiled upon the Maumee Valley; and Proctor and Tecumtha, Elliott and The Prophet, and the other savages of the war, white and red, are almost forgotten, except by those families who suffered from their cruelty.

From Fort Miami we rode up to Maumee City, opposite Fort Meigs, a pleasant little village of about two thousand inhabitants, situated at the head of river navigation, eight miles from Toledo. It is the capital of Lucas County, Ohio, and was laid out in 1817 by Major William Oliver and others, within a reservation of twelve miles square. The bank of the river, curving gracefully inward here, is almost one hundred feet in height. Nearly opposite lies the little village of Perrysburg, and between them is a fertile, cultivated island of two hundred acres, with smaller islands around it. Directly in front are seen the mounds of Fort Meigs and a forest back of them; and up the Maumee are the considerable islands known respectively as Hollister’s and Buttonwood, or Peninsula. The latter view is delineated in the sketch on the next page, taken from the main road along the brow of the river bank in front of the village. In it is seen the magnificent elm-tree that stood near the old "Jefferson Tavern;" and in the middle, in the distance, over Hollister’s Island, is seen Turkey Point, memorable in connection with the adventures of Combs and the landing of Boswell. That elm is famous. We have observed that, at the beginning of the siege, the water used by the garrison was taken from the river at great risk. From the thick foliage of this elm several bullets from rifles in the hands of Indians went on death-errands across the river to the water-carriers. These were returned by Kentucky riflemen, and tradition says that not less than six savages were brought to the ground out of that tree by those sharp-shooters.

From Maumee City we rode three miles up to Presque Isle Hill 57 (the scene of Wayne’s operations), wandered over the battle-ground of The Fallen Timber, 58 and sketched Turkey-Foot’s Rock, given on page 55. We then returned to the bridges (common carriage and railway bridge), and crossed to Fort Meigs, the form of which we found distinctly marked by the mounds of earth. That of the Grand Traverse 59 was from four to six feet in height, and all were covered with green sward. The fort originally included about ten acres, but was somewhat reduced in size before the second siege, which we shall notice presently. The places of the blockhouses were visible, and the situation of the well, near the most easterly angle of the fort, was marked by a shallow pit, and a log in an upright position, seven or eight feet in height. 60

When we arrived at the ferry station opposite Toledo, the boat had ceased running because of low water. The wind had been blowing stiffly toward the lake all day, and expelled so much water from the river that the boat grounded in attempting to cross, so we left our team to be sent for, were borne over in a skiff at the moderate price of three cents apiece, and were at the "Oliver House" in time for a late dinner, and a stroll about the really fine little city of Toledo 61 before sunset. At that hour I parted company with Mr. Navarre, with heartfelt thanks for his services, for he had been an authentic and intelligent guide to every place of interest at and around Fort Meigs. I spent a portion of the evening with General John E. Hunt (a brother-in-law of General Cass), who was born in Fort Wayne in 1798. His father was an officer under General Wayne at the capture of Stony Point, on the Hudson, in 1779, and composed one of the "forlorn hope" on that occasion. Although General Hunt was only a boy at the time, he was attached to General Hull’s military family during the entire campaign which ended so disastrously at Detroit at midsummer.

At ten o’clock in the evening I bade good-by to kind Mr. Hosmer, and went up the Maumee Valley by railway to Defiance, where I landed at midnight, as already mentioned, 62 in a chilling fog.

1 See Chapter XVII {original text has XX.}.

2 See page 364.

10 This view of Cincinnati in 1812 is from an old print. It then contained about two thousand inhabitants.

13 See the map on the preceding page, which covers the entire historic ground at and around the Maumee Rapids from Roche de Bout – perpendicular rock – where the river has a considerable fall, and where Wayne was encamped in 1794 (see page 54), to Proctor’s encampment near Fort Miami at the time we are considering. It shows the place of Hull’s encampment in 1812 (see page 257), and Wayne’s battle-ground in 1794 (see page 55), with the site of Fort Meigs, and of incidents connected with the siege about to be described in the text; also the present Maumee City on one side of the river, Perryville on the other, and the rail and wagon bridges across. Between Fort Meigs and Perryville is seen a stream. It courses through the ravine mentioned in Note 2, page 474.

17 See page 476.

20 Captain Combs is yet (1867) living in his native state of Kentucky, vigorous in mind and body, and bearing the title of general by virtue of his commission as such in the militia of his state. He is descended, on his mother’s side, from a Quaker family of Maryland. His father, a Virginian, was a "Revolutionary Officer and a Hunter of Kentucky." So says a simple inscription on his tomb-stone. Leslie was the youngest of twelve children. He joined the army in 1812, when just past eighteen years of age, and was at once distinguished for his energy and bravery. He was employed, as we have seen (page 350), on perilous duty, and never disappointed those who relied upon him. He was made a captain and wounded near Fort Meigs, and narrowly escaped death. He was paroled, and late in May, 1813, returned home. He commenced the study of law, and was not again in the field until 1830, when he raised a regiment for the southwestern frontier at the time of the revolution in Texas. He became very active in political life. His home was Lexington, and he was a neighbor and warm personal friend of Henry Clay throughout the long public career of that great man. The friendship was mutual, and Clay always felt and acknowledged the power of General Combs. He was always a fluent, eloquent, and most effective speaker, and now, when he has passed the goal of "threescore and ten years," he never fails to charm any audience by his words of power, his apt illustrations, and genial humor.

22 In the above picture, a view of a portion of the Maumee valley, as seen from the northwest angle of Fort Meigs, looking up the river, Turkey Point is seen near the centre, behind the head of Hollister’s Island, that divides the river. A clump of trees, a little to the right of the three small trees in a row near the bank of the river, marks the place. The Maumee is seen flowing to the right, and to the left the plain, when I made the sketch in the autumn of 1860, was covered with Indian corn, some standing and some in the shocks. A canal for hydraulic purposes is seen in the foreground. It flows immediately below the ruins of Fort Meigs.

26 The above little picture, sketched in the autumn of 1860 from the ruins of Croghan Battery (so named in honor of the gallant defender of Fort Stephenson), Fort Meigs, looking northwest, shows the scattered village of Maumee city in the distance, with the site of the British batteries in front of it. This is indicated in the picture by the distant bluff with two houses upon it, immediately beyond the two little figures at the end of the railway-bridge in the middle-ground. When I visited the spot in 1860, the ridge on which the cannon were planted, lower than the plain on which the village stands, was very prominent. Behind it was a deep hollow, in which the British artillerymen were securely posted. On the brow of the plain, just back of the British batteries, indicated by the second bluff with one house upon it, was afterward the place of encampment of Colonel Johnson. The railway-bridge, seen in the middle-ground of this picture, has a common passenger-bridge by the side of it. Between the extreme foreground and the railway embankment is the ravine mentioned in a description of Fort Meigs on page 474, and indicated in the map on page 488 by a stream of water.

27 "Can the citizens of a free country," he said, "who have taken arms to defend its rights, think of submitting to an army composed of mercenary soldiers, reluctant Canadians, goaded to the field by the bayonet, and of wretched, naked savages? Can the breast of an American soldier, when he casts his eyes to the opposite shore, the scene of his country’s triumphs over the same foe, be influenced by any other feelings than the hope of glory? Is not this army composed of the same materials with that which fought and conquered under the immortal Wayne? Yes, fellow-soldiers, your general sees your countenances beam with the same fire that he witnessed on that glorious occasion; and, although it would be the height of presumption to compare himself with that hero, he boasts of being that hero’s pupil. * To your posts, then, fellow-citizens, and remember that the eyes of your country are upon you!"

* Wayne’s battle-ground in 1794, and the theatre of his victory, were in sight of the soldiers thus addressed. Harrison was Wayne’s aid-de-camp on that occasion, and as we have observed on page 53, was one of his most useful officers.

38 See picture on page 481, and note 2 on the same page.

39 Composed of Pennsylvania and Virginia volunteers (the former, except a small company, known as the Pittsburg Blues, and the latter the Petersburg Volunteers), a company of the Nineteenth United States Regiment under Captain Waring, and Captain Dudley’s company, who had followed Clay into the fort. The Pittsburg Blues were commanded by Captain James Butler, son of the General Butler who fell at St. Clair’s defeat in 1791. See pages 47 and 48. The Virginians were under Captain M‘Crea.

43 David Gwynne, as first lieutenant and regimental paymaster, had accompanied Colonel J. B. Campbell against the Mississinawa Towns (see page 346). He was made captain in March, 1813. In August he was made brigade major to General M‘Arthur, and in 1814 was raised to major of riflemen. He left the army in 1816, and died near St. Louis in 1849.

48 We have observed (page 478) that Peter Navarre was sent from Fort Meigs with a letter to the Governor of Ohio. That energetic man immediately sent messengers in all directions for volunteers, and he was very soon on his way to the relief of the beleaguered garrison. His march was arrested by the flight of the besiegers.

51 See the close of Chapter XVII.

52 In Howe’s Historical Collections of Ohio, page 533, may be found a very interesting narrative of the horrid events at Fort Miami, by Joseph R. Underwood, who was present. It is more circumstantial than the letter of Captain Combs to General Clay, mentioned below.

55 Peter Navarre was a grandson of Robert Navarre, a French officer who came to America in 1745. He settled at Detroit, and there Peter was born about the year 1790, and, with his father and family, settled at the mouth of the Maumee in 1807. At that time Kan-tuck-ee-gun, the widow of Pontiac, was living there with her son, Otussa. She was very old, and was held in great reverence. Navarre was at the Prophet’s Town, on the Wabash, with a French trader, when Harrison arrived there just before the battle of Tippecanoe, but escaped. He joined Hull’s army at the Rapids, was with him at Detroit, and, after the surrender, returned to the Raisin and enlisted in Colonel Anderson’s regiment. He was there when Hull {original text has "Brock".} was ordered to surrender (see page 291), but was afterward compelled to accompany the British as a guide up the Maumee, where, as we have seen, he deserted and fled to Winchester’s camp. He was an eyewitness of the massacre at the River Raisin. After that, Navarre and his brothers were employed as scouts, and performed excellent service. He is a stout-built man, of dark complexion, and is now [1867] about eighty years of age. He speaks English imperfectly, as the Canadian French usually do. The above portrait is from a daguerreotype taken in Toledo when he was about seventy years of age, and kindly presented to me by Mr. Hosmer.

56 See page 54.

57 See page 55.

58 See Map on page 55.

59 See Plan of Fort Meigs on page 484.

One of the logs was placed in an upright position in the nearly-filled old well, a large hole was bored in the end, a small pole was inserted, and upon it was raised a banner before the eyes of the assembled multitude, * having on it a rude picture of a man sawing a log, and the words "LOCO FOCO ZEAL." In those days the Democratic party were called Loco Focos, the origin of which name was as follows: A faction of the Democratic party met to organize in the city of New York, when some opponents suddenly turned off the gas. This trick had been played before, and they were prepared. In an instant loco foco matches were produced from their pockets, and the gas-lamps relighted. From that time they were called the Loco Foco Party, and it became the general name, in derision, of the whole Democratic party.

62 See page 332.

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