HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 25 inspecting it, he turned to one of his staff, General Scott, and exclaimed: "I defy the English, Indians, and all the devils in Hell to take it." "Then call it Fort Defiance," suggested General Scott. By which circumstance the fort, and the subsequent city upon its site, happened to be so named, it is believed. General Wayne proved himself to be a very efficient commander; very thorough, and ever alert. He gave the Indians no chance to surprise him. His intelligence department, or system of espionage, was very effective. He was served by a capable intrepid band of scouts and spies, men of the white race but, many of them of almost life-long Indian associations. Some of the most effective of his scouts were white men who, in boyhood, had been captured by Indians, and had grown to manhood in Indian camps, thus naturally adopting Indian ways, and becoming as proficient as Indians in the general methods of life and warfare in the wilderness. They were wont to don Indian costumes, even to the war paint, and move freely and unsuspected among the Indians. Thus, General Wayne was well served, and able to circumvent the plannings of the enemy. As he proceeded on his march, and time after time maneuvered his forces so as to give no opening for successful attack by the Indians, the latter came to speak of him as "the chief who never sleeps." Later, after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, they came to know him by another, and even more flattering, name. At Fort Defiance General Wayne intuitively felt that a conflict with the enemy could not long be averted. His scouts advised him that below him were definite indications that the impending conflict was near. However, political considerations were ever present to effect the purpose of the American commander without further bloodshed if possible, the political position being complicated, and portentous, be- cause of presence of British troops on the line of march, resistance by which troops would, it was thought, inevitably involve the United States in another war with Britain. Therefore, at Washington's request, General Wayne, before leaving Fort Defiance, despatched. a soldier, under a flag of truce, to the enemy's camp, bearing an offer of advantageous terms to the Indians, provided the latter no longer resisted the advance. A council of the confederated chiefs was held under a large elm tree, at the Grand Rapids of the Maumee, and although most of the chiefs were still hostile and belligerently disposed, one of the most powerful chiefs, Little Turtle (Mis-she-kence) of the Miamis, a farseeing but brave man, was wishful to seek a peaceful solution to the trouble if possible. He argued: "We have beaten the enemy twice under separate commanders, but we cannot expect the same good fortune always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him. During all the time he has been marching upon our villages, notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something whispers me it would be well to listen to his offers of peace." Blue Jacket, a Shawnee chieftain, is supposed to have leaped up in the council and accused Little Turtle of cowardice, whereupon the latter sought no further to plead for peace, but replied: "Follow me to battle." Colonel Howard stated, in writing of this council, that "the eloquence of the wily Pottawatomie chief, Turkey Foot (Mis-sis-sa-in-zit), and the clamor of the braves HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 27 for war, prevailed, and the council closed its deliberation at the dawn of day and declared for war." Meanwhile, General Wayne had not waited for an answer to his peace proposal. He knew the character, in war, of the Indian, and proceeded with his operations as planned while the Indians deliberated. A week after the peace messenger had been despatched, the American army left Fort Defiance, and three days later reached Roche de Boeuf, a massive frowning rock which rises from the western side of the river, about a mile above the spot where later the village of Waterville was established. It has been authenticated that General Wayne's march from Fort Defiance followed the left bank of the river, but actually how far inland from the river bank his route lay is not known. It is possible that it followed the ridge road. At Roche de Boeuf, which he reached on August 18th, he met his returning messenger, who carried an evasive reply from the Indians, who intimated that if General Wayne would tarry ten days longer, the tribes would treat with him for peace. Wayne detected the ruse, and knowing that the Indians were immediately before him, and preparing to attack, he resolved to ignore the request, and attack the Indians forthwith, before they could be reinforced by British or Indian forces. His scouts reported that there were at least two thousand Indians, of the Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Chippewa, and Iroquois tribes gathered near Fort Miami, with their right resting on Swan Creek also that the renegades McKee, Girty, and Elliott, with about seventy white rangers, disguised as Indians, from Detroit, were with them. The Indians were under the supreme joint command of Little Turtle, of the Miamis, and Blue Jacket, of the Shawnees. The former had been the chief mainly responsible for the discomfiture of HISTORY OF FUTLTON COUNTY - 29 General Hamar, and the disastrous campaign of General St. Clair. Following the council under the elm tree at Maumee, the Indians swept through the woods in long columns, and took up what they deemed to be an impregnable position on, and around, Presque Isle Hill, about two miles above Maumee. The position selected was one which had many natural advantages, and strategically it was rendered more desirable for defence by the fact that during a tornado of the previous year the trees had been torn down, and lay literally an interlaced stretch of fallen timbers, between which the Indians could lie and, as they thought, safely hurl defiance at the advancing army. It was thought that cavalry, in which arm General Wayne's army was so strong, would be useless over such ground, and that thus the American force would be reduced practically to one-half its full strength. The Indians formed in three long lines, their left resting on the river, and their right extending some two miles into the forest, at right angles to the Maumee. Wayne halted at Roche de Boeuf on the 19th, but at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 20th moved forward. His plan of battle included the mock defeat of his advanced line, which was to fall back, apparently in disorder, upon the main body, which then would execute quick maneuvers depending upon opportunities then disclosed. Accordingly, he sent forward a battalion of mounted Kentuckians, with orders to maintain a position far enough in advance of the main body to give the latter time to form, after the first attack. An hour later, the battle began, the cavalry being fired on by the Indians who were concealed in the long grass, and among the timbers; and as prearranged, the mounted troops fell back. General 30 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Wayne immediately reorganized his. "forces; maneuvering them. into two lines, with cavalry on both flanks. He then gave the front line the order to charge with trailed arms. They were to administer the cold steel to the Indians while passing over the stretch of fallen timber, then turn, fire a well-directed volley. into the Indians, and again charge with bayonets fixed, and before the Indians had a chance to reload their muskets. "Mad Anthony's" tactics were those of his Revolutionary days, and his characteristic impetuosity occurred to his aide, just as the general had given the order to attack. "General Wayne said the aide, Lt. William H. Harrison, "I'm. afraid you'll get into the fight. yourself and forget to give me the necessary field orders." "Perhaps I may," responded Wayne, "and if I do, recollect the standing order of the day is, charge the rascals with the bayonet." It was very quickly over. Wayne's troops had not been drilled for so .long and so thoroughly without being able to maneuver with alacrity and promptitude under fire. It has been stated that such was the impetuosity of the initial charge that the Indians and their white allies. were driven from the coverts almost immediately. Prodded from their hiding places by cold steel, and subjected to a deadly fire,. the impact was like that of a hurricane, and as 'Che-no-tin, meaning hurricane, or the wind, Wayne thereafter became known to the Indians. The American troops followed up the fleeing savages with such swiftness and fury, and poured such a destructive fire into their backs, that few of the second line of Wayne's legion arrived in time to participate in the action. "Such was the impetuosity of the first line of infantry" reported Wayne "that the Indians and Canadian militia and volunteers, were driven from all their coverts in so short a time that, although every possible exertion was used by the officers of the second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, and Barbie, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their troops proper positions, but part of each could get up in season to participate in the action, the enemy being driven in the course of an hour, more than two miles, through the thick woods already mentioned, by less than one-half their numbers." Many of the Indians endeavored to escape by swimming the river, but they were intercepted and cut down in mid-stream by the cavalry. Surprising to the Indians also, no doubt, were the feats of the cavalrymen; who, it seems, "galloped boldly among the Indians, leaping their horses over the fallen logs, and dodging in and out among the trees" Swinging their long sabres with terrible effect among the dismayed Indians. The enemy was driven. to the very palisades of the British fort, Miami, the gates of which fortress,. however, did not open as had been expected, to offer refuge to the defeated and pursued Indians; It has been stated that the British looked on, with apparent unconcern, at this humiliation and defeat of their former allies, which was fortunate for both Britain and America, for had the garrison .at that moment shown any sign of intervening, General Wayne would have attempted to storm the fortress, and international relations would have been strained probably to beyond the breaking point. In fact, General Wayne rode to within a 'few hundred feet of Fort Miami, and seemed. to seriously contemplate Storming it The impulse passed, his impetuosity being at most times subordinate to his responsibility. His military experience also must HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 31 have indicated to him the inadvisability of attacking, with but one small piece of artillery a fortification which mounted ten strong pieces of artillery. A letter came to General Wayne next day from the British commandant at Fort Miami, in which he, Major Campbell, stated : "I have no hesitation, on my part, to say that I know of no war existing between Great Britian and America," but he asked in what light he was to view the American action "in making such near approaches to this garrison" ; to which letter General Wayne replied that his army moved "far within the acknowledged jurisdiction of the United States of America," but that "were you entitled to an answer the most full and satisfactory one was announced to you from the muzzles of my small guns yesterday morning."- An interesting insight to the battle, as viewed from the Indian side, is given in a manuscript written by Jonathan Adler, who at the time lived with the Indians. His account reads as follows: "We remained here (Defiance) about two weeks, until we heard of the approach of Wayne, when we packed up our goods and started for the old British fort at the Maumee Rapids. Here we prepared ourselves for battle, and sent the women and children down about three miles' below the fort; and as I did not wish to fight, they sent me to Sandusky, to inform the Wyandots there of the great battle that was about to take place. I remained at Sandusky until the battle was over. The Indians did not wait more than three or four days, before Wayne made his appearance at the head of a long prairie on the river, where he halted, and waited for an opportunity to suit himself. "Now the Indians are very curious about fighting, for when they know they are going into a battle, they will not eat just previous. They say that if a man is shot in the body when he is entirely empty, there is not half as much danger of the ball passing through the bowels as when they are full. So they started the first morning without eating anything, and moving to the end of the prairie, ranged themselves in order of battle at the edge of the timber. There they waited all day without any food, and at night returned and partook of their suppers. The second morning they again placed themselves in the same position, and again returned at night and supped. By this time, they had begun to get weak from eating only once a day, and concluded they would eat breakfast. Some were eating, and others, who had finished, had moved forward to their stations, when Wayne's army was seen approaching. Soon as they were within gunshot, the Indians began firing upon them, and finding Wayne too strong for them attempted to retreat. Those who were .on the way heard the noise and sprang to their assistance. So some were running from and others to the battle, which created great confusion. In the meantime, the light horse had gone entirely around, and came in upon their rear, blowing their horns and closing in upon them. The Indians now found that they were completely surrounded, and all that could made their escape, and the balance were all killed, which was no small number. Among these last, with one or two exceptions, were all the Wyandots that lived at Sandusky at the time I went to inform them of the expected battle. The main body of the Indians were back nearly two miles from the battlefield, and Wayne had taken them by surprise, and made such a 32 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY slaughter among them that they were entirely discouraged, and made the best of their way to their respective homes." The American casualties in that battle were thirty-three killed, and about one hundred wounded. The fatalities occurred almost wholly from the first fire of the Indians, their aim then being deadly in precision. Afterwards, in a panic-stricken state, their firing was haphazard. The casualties among the Indians cannot be accurately gauged. Undoubtedly hundreds were killed. More than one hundred corpses lay on the battlefield, and many other bodies were carried away by the Indians as was their custom for burial. Turkey Foot,   Indian chief, lost his life in the battle. At the foot of Presque 'Isle Hill he endeavored to rally his warriors, and to make himself more conspicuous leaped upon a small boulder, since known as Turkey Foot Rock. Presenting so conspicuous a target, it is not surprising that he was soon wounded. He fell pierced by a musket ball, and almost immediately afterwards expired by the side of the rock. Following the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Wayne swept the country, destroying all Indian villages, and all crops. Subsequent history proved that General Wayne's campaign had been won when he stampeded the Indians at Fallen Timbers, and that thereafter the general attitude of the Indians to both the British and the Americans changed radically, although not suddenly. General Wayne returned to Fort Defiance, and on November 2, 1794, reached Greenville. There, on August 7, 1795; the famous Treaty of Greenville was entered into between Anthony Wayne, representing the United States, and the principal chiefs of the Indian tribes of Ohio. More than- one thousand chiefs and .sachems gathered for the council, which lasted for fifty days, and was well worth the time spent in deliberation, for the Treaty of Greenville was very satisfactory in operation, both to the Indians within the territory and to "our Father, the Fifteen Fires," by which appellation the Indians knew "Uncle 34 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY Sam," the name originating by the firing of fifteen guns, one for each state in the Union, as a salute, upon ceremonial occasions, during the meetings of the council at Greenville. General Wayne died in 1796, being seized with a sudden attack of gout of the stomach while on passage down Lake Erie. He died before reaching land. It is interesting to note that one of his last. acts was to receive, as representative of the United States, the Fort Miami, the British Government having resolved to formally surrender that and other posts to the rightful authority, the United States. Thus, General Wayne was able before he died to gather the full fruits growing from his well-planned and carefully and skillfully executed campaign of 1794, which decisively and indisputably made obvious to the Indian tribes, as well as to the British Government just where the British sphere of influence and authority ended, and where those of the United States began. A period of comparative peace and substantial civil development followed the success of General Wayne's campaign. At the close of 1796, it was estimated that there were then about five thousand white people resident within what are now the bounds of the State of Ohio. The settlers were for the most part in the southern and eastern parts of the territory ; but with the establishment of a greater respect for the authority of the United States among the Indians, settlers were encouraged to settle in the western part. The Maumee and Sandusky region was organized in 1796, the British having evacuated the territory they were holding in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the decision of the British Government to evacuate, or abandon, British posts in United States territory in the Great Lakes region having been  HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 35 definitely and finally made when John Jay, U. S. Minister to England, concluded treaty with that nation in 1795. And after General Wayne had received the surrender of the fortifications from the British, the civil representatives of the Northwest Territory proceeded to Detroit, and proclaimed the establishment of the County of Wayne, the bounds of which reached far into what is now Michigan, and into Indiana, and Illinois. (Reference to the map will give a better idea of its extent.) The proclamation, creating the County of Wayne, was issued on August 15, 1796, and within its bounds tame, of course, the territory now known as Fulton County. A census taken in 1798 confirmed the impression that more than five thousand white people lived in the Northwest Territory, and that they could consequently take the privileges of representative government, in accordance with the Ordinance of 1787. Elections were held. in December, 1798, and the first Territorial Legislature of Ohio convened at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799. The legislative body was composed of twenty-two representatives of the seven counties of the Northwest Territory, which extended from the Ohio to the Mississippi, with an area as large as that of modern Texas. The Wayne County representatives in the first legislature were: Solomon Sibley, Charles F. Chaubert de Joncaire, and Jacob Visger. Wayne County consisted of four townships, of vast extent, and that in which was the Northwestern Ohio basin was named Hamtramck. The three Wayne County representatives were all of Detroit and vicinity, and it may be imagined that attendance at legislative sessions entailed not an inconsiderable degree of hardship. The members of the Legislature were compelled to carry their provisions and blankets, camp in the open at night, swim their horses across streams, and follow the blazed trails through the dense forest; and when they had at last arrived at Cincinnati they were destined to find not a. well-established town, but only a small settlement founded ten years earlier by settlers from New Jersey. 36 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY By a vote of both Territorial houses, William Henry Harrison was selected to be the first delegate, or representative, of the Northwest Territory, in the United States Congress. The five development maps which are part of this chapter will give details of the important territorial arrangements and re-arrangements over the period between the Revolution and the War of 1812. Ohio was admitted to statehood on February 19, 1803, Edward Tiffin being elected its first governor. He was elected without opposition. At that time, the Maumee Valley had practically no white settlers. A few traders and pioneers had established themselves near the watercourses, but in reality northwest Ohio had no representation in the State Government until April, 1820, when the Indian Northwest region was reorganized. Following the decisive defeat of the Indians at Fallen Timbers, and the resultant Green- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 37 ville Treaty, the natives seemed contented with the annuities paid them by the United States Government, and although for some years garrisons were maintained in the forts established by General Wayne, the improvement in relations between the Indians and the Government gradually brought about a reduction in garrisons, and in some cases evacuation altogether of forts. Fort Miami was one of the first to be evacuated. In reality it was not necessary, for another stockade fort was built in its vicinity. The stockade fort, named Fort Industry, appears to have been built early in the nineteenth century, probably in 1804, although one historian states that it was in existence at, about, the time of the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It was built at the confluence of Swan Creek and the Maumee River, its exact site being, as nearly as it is possible now to determine, Summit street in the City of Toledo. Clark Waggoner's "History of Lucas County" cites an official War Department letter which refers to the erection of the fort in "about the year 1800." It was at Fort Industry that a treaty was negotiated with the Indians, on July 4, 1805, by the provisions of which agreement the Indian title to the Fire Lands (Huron and Erie counties) was cancelled. Present at the conference were chiefs of the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Delaware, Shawnee, Potta- watomie, and Seneca tribes. Another treaty, effected at Detroit in 1807, resulted in the transfer of title from the Indians to the United States of all the country north of the middle of the Maumee River, from its mouth to the mouth of the Auglaize, and thence extending north, as far as Lake Huron. Certain tracts were marked out as Indian reservations, for their exclusive use. These reservations, within what is now Northwest Ohio, were: a tract six miles square on the north bank of the Maumee, above Roche de Boeuf, "to include the village where Tondagame, or the Dog, now lives," a tract three miles 38 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY square in the vicinity of, and including, Presque Isle; and a tract "four miles square on the Miami (Maumee) Bay, including the loges where Meskemau and Waugau now live." Fulton county territory had in the meantime passed under the jurisdiction of other Ohio counties, although, as a matter of fact, it was unorganized territory, for the simple reason that there were no settlers within it to make organization necessary. The First State Legislature organized eight new counties, including 'Montgomery, Green, and Franklin; and in consequence Fulton county, by that act, which was passed March 24, 1803, became unorganized parts of Montgomery and Green counties. On January 16, 1807, the county of Miami was formed, and the Montgomery county portion of Fulton county territory passed to Miami. In 1819 the County of Shelby assumed jurisdiction over the Fulton county area. With the outbreak of war in 1812, three points in the west, Fort Wayne, the Wabash, and the Maumee, needed defence. The troops at the first point were under the command of General Winchester; the Wabash district was under William Henry Harrison, who had gained a notable victory over the intractable Indian chief, Tecumseh, at Tippecanoe, in 1810; while Governor Edwards of the Illinois Territory was in command on the Illinois River. In September, 1812, however, General Harrison was appointed commander-in-chief of the west and northwest. He purposed to recapture the Michigan territory' lost to the British by the incredibly poor tactics of General Hull. General Harrison, then subordinate to General Winchester, proceeded without authority to the relief of Fort Wayne, which was likely to fall to the Indians, and by his prompt action averted what might HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 39 have been a bloody massacre. Immediately afterwards, he, without a murmur, relinquished his command to General Winchester, a Tennesseean of worthy Revolutionary record, but of little experience of Indian warfare. General Winchester advanced cautiously down the Maumee, and at one or two places along the river, not far from Defiance, saw indications of recent and apparently hasty retreat of British troops. In September, General Harrison was placed in supreme command, and immediately proceeded down the Auglaize with a strong force. of cavalry. When he reached the camp of General Winchester, he discovered a deplorable state of affairs. A state verging almost on mutiny was present in the ranks of the army. However, after an animated address by the new and popular commander, the discontent passed, and all troops rallied enthusiastically to General Harrison. When the troops under General Winchester reached the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers, they found Fort Defiance in ruins. In any event, however, it would have been totally inadequate for the requirements of the much larger army that now needed fortifications in that strategically strong position. General Wayne's fort of 1794 could not have sheltered one-fourth of the troops which reached its site in 1812; and soon after General Harrison reached Defiance to take over the supreme command he drew a plan for a new fort a dozen times as extensive as was Fort, Defiance. When erected, General Harrison named it Fort Winchester, in deference to the general who was formerly his superior officer, and whom he now superseded. Fort Winchester enclosed about three acres of land, and stood about eighty rods south of the old fort. It was erected on the precipitous left bank of the Auglaize River, and for a considerable time was the only obstruction against the incursions of the 'British and Indians in northwestern Ohio. 40 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY The troops suffered much during the winter campaign of 1812-13. They were clad in summer clothing, and were at times very short of food. The failure of contractors to properly provision the army prevented the undertaking of a fall campaign. Indeed, General Harrison, reporting to the Secretary of War stated: "I did not make sufficient allowance for the imbecility and inexperience of the public agents and the villainy of the contractors." General Tupper, brigadier-general of the Ohio quota of the American forces, made a raid on British and Indians in November at Maumee Raipids, at which point, according to General Winchester's original plan of campaign, the Ohio quota was to join his command; and when news came that General Tupper was at Maumee Rapids, a detachment of 400 men was sent from Fort Winchester to support him. When advance scouts reached the camp of Tupper, however, they found it deserted, and the only evidence of conflict was the scalped body of an American, although there were many evidences of hasty retreat. Colonel Lewis, thereupon, decided to return to Camp No. 3, near Fort Winchester. Early in January, General Winchester finally started down the Maumee with 1,300 men, His subsequent action was contrary to the instructions of General Harrison, who had ordered him southward to Fort Jennings, to protect supplies. On the 10th of January, 1813, General Winchester reached a point opposite the site of the battle of Fallen Timbers. There he camped, and improvised some temporary fortifications. The enemy was encamped, in considerable numbers, in the vicinity of the site of Fort Miami, when the American forces appeared, but they retreated, and a force despatched to rout a body of Indians said to be "in an old fortification at Swan Creek" (presumably Fort Industry) found it to be unoccupied. Soon afterwards, a delegation from Frenchtown (now Monroe) arrived in General Winchester's camp, imploring protection for their settlement; and the main HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 41 object of the expedition was forgotten in the circumstances and urgency of the local predicament. On January 17th General Winchester despatched 660 men under Colonels William Lewis and John Allen to the relief of Frenchtown. On the 19th, news that the Indians were gathering in force, alarmed General Winchester, who started for Frenchtown, taking with him all the troops he could detach from Maumee Rapids, in all only about 250 men. His force reached Frenchtown next day. General Winchester seems to have then rested in the belief that no immediate danger was possible, and, notwithstanding that spies reported that a large body of British and Indians were approaching, and would probably attack him that night, he seems to have been caught unawares in the attack which was made upon his forces in the early morning of the 22nd. Winchester himself was separated from his forces, and taken prisoner by an Indian. He was led to Colonel Proctor, the British commander, and presumably convinced that a massacre would result unless his force surrendered. He, therefore, ordered his troops to surrender. They however continued to fight until many had been slain, and the third request was received. Then followed the treacherous massacre. Several hundred American soldiers perished in this great disaster at the River Raisin, and the slogan "Remember the Raisin" later stirred many compatriots toto enlistho would not otherwise have joined the military forces of the nation. General Harrison was at Upper Sandusky when news reached him of the unauthorized advance to the Raisin River. He recognized the possibilities, and hastened to the Maumee River in advance of his troops. He arrived there on the day following that of the disaster, and immediately sent a strong detachment to support General Winchester. The troops had not proceeded far before they encountered several fugitives, who reported the total defeat of General Winchester's 42 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY command. Returning to the Maumee, a council was held, and it was decided to retire temporarily to a safer position in the direction of the Portage River. Accordingly, the blockhouse at Camp Deposit, Maumee Rapids, was razed, and a fortified camp was established about equi-distant from that and Lower Sandusky. There the command rested, pending the arrival of advancing reinforcements. Soon afterwards, the American Army again advanced to the Maumee River, and erected a strong fort on the high right bank of the Maumee River, a short distance from the lowest fording place, and below the foot of the lowest rapids. They called the fortifications Fort Meigs, in honor of the Governor of Ohio, and it became the centre of operations for the next few months. The Canadians, and their Indian allies, were concentrating, during March and April, for a determined attack upon it, hoping thereby to annihilate General Harrison's army. It was even promised that General Harrison himself would be delivered up to his inveterate enemy, Tecumseh. Meanwhile, the outlook for the American nation was serious. The garrison of Fort Meigs was deplorably weak, being only about five hundred men during the month of March, General Harrison's command having been sadly depleted through sickness and other causes. Men were leaving constantly, and could not be forcibly retained, the period for which they had enlisted having expired. Matters had come to such a pass that the Legislature passed an act adding $7 a month to the pay of any of the Kentuckians then in service who would remain until others had been sent to relieve them. By the time Fort Meigs was invested, General Harrison's command had been increased to 1100 effectives, with which small body he had to oppose the combined Canadian and Indian force of about 3000 men. The Canadians had embarked at Malden, while the Indians proceeded on foot. The white troops arrived at Maumee Bay on April 26th, and two days later landed near the ruins of Fort Miami, about two miles below Fort Meigs, on the opposite side of the river. The Indians, who had already gathered at the rendezvous, immediately crossed the river, and invested Fort Meigs. During the next couple of days the Canadians were mainly occupied in placing their artillery, but eventually the cannonading began. It has been stated that as many as 500 shells were daily fired at, or into, the fortress from the 1st to the 4th of May, without appreciable effect, and on the 4th, when the Canadian general, General Proctor, sent an officer, under a white flag, to demand the surrender of the fort, General Harrison replied that he would never surrender the post upon any terms. That night, news came to him that General Green Clay's command, in eighteen large flatboats had reached the left bank of the Maumee, at the head of the Grand Rapids. General Harrison sent them orders to divide. Part were to land about a mile above Fort Meigs for the purpose of charging the British batteries, and spiking the guns, after which they were to return to their boats, and cross over to the fort. The remainder of the men were to land in the vicinity of the fort and fight their way through the investing Indians. The forces that were to land on the Fort Meigs side accomplished that manoever successfully, and eventually reached the fortress, although only after they had been aided by sorties from the fort. The other detachment, under Colonel Dudley, reached and spiked the Brit- HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 43 ish guns without much difficulty, but then, having been sniped at by some Indians, they became uncontrollable, and instead of returning to their boats they charged into the thickets from which the firing came. They were unused to Indian warfare, and in reality charged into an ambuscade; and of a force of 866 men, only 170 escaped to Fort Meigs. Colonel Dudley himself was killed in the conflict which lasted for three hours, during which the Indians tomahawked all they could detach from their companies, and practically all who fell wounded. It seems that the British either were indifferent to such murderous conduct, or were unable to control their savage allies; but the Indian chief, Tecumseh, on that day showed himself to be inherently honorable and merciful, notwithstanding his insatiable hatred of American authority. When he heard of the bloodthirsty work then proceeding, he leaped upon his horse and galloped to the spot, "rage showing in every feature." Beholding two Indians butchering an American, he brained one with his tomahawk, and felled the other. Seeing General Proctor standing near while the massacre was proceeding, Tecumseh rode up to him. "Why don't you stop this?" inquired Tecumseh, sternly. "Sir," replied Proctor. "Your Indians cannot be commanded." 44 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY "Begone" yelled Tecumseh. "You are unfit to command. Go ! and put on petticoats." Tecumseh then dashed into the melee, and, throwing himself between the American prisoners and Indians, dared an Indian to murder another prisoner. So ended the massacre, and so did Tecumseh pass into American history as an honorable Indian chieftain, of noble traits. The American disaster had a somewhat unusual result, for instead of its resulting to the advantage of the Canadians, the contrary was the case. The Indians withdrew, tired of the siege, and perhaps satiated by the butchery of the 5th ; and, General Proctor. on May 9th found it advisable to withdraw his white forces, and return to Amherstburg, Canada, where he disbanded the militia. Thus, it happened that an American force of not much more than one thousand men successfully withstood a siege by three times its strength. During the siege, eighty-one men of the garrison of Fort Meigs were killed, and 189 wounded. This of course does not include the casualties of the relieving force under Colonel Dudley. It was felt that the withdrawal of the Canadian forces would only be temporary; and therefore the days were well occupied in strengthening the fortifications. General Harrison left General Clay in command, and proceeded himself to Lower Sandusky, making that centre his administrative headquarters. In July, General Proctor again headed an expedition into the mouth of the Maumee; and on the 20th of that month the boats of the enemy were detected ascending the river. He was reported to be in considerable force, his army being estimated to be more than five thousand men, while the garrison of Fort Meigs at that time was insignificant, numbering only a few hundred. Soon after the news had been reported to General Harrison, he sent word to General Clay to take every precaution against surprise and ambuscade, telling him that the sending of reinforcements was not then immediately possible. Thus General Clay was saved from what might have brought disaster, for Tecumseh, who commanded the Indian allies of the Canadians, sought to overcome the fortress by strategy. He staged a sham battle in the vicinity of the fort, and in the direction from which reinforcements would come. But General Clay reasoned that the organization and despatch of a relieving force in such a short time would hardly have been possible, and therefore he held his command closely to the confines of the fort. On July 27th the investment was lifted, and the enemy departed again from Fort Meigs. So passed the last element of military conflict from the Maumee River. White settlement of the Maumee Valley was slow before the War of 1812 definitely cleared the territory of Indian resistance. Col. John Anderson was the only .American trader of any note on the river in 1800, in which year he settled at Fort Miami. On the right bank of the river, on a site now within the City of Toledo, there was a very small French settlement in the first decade of the nineteenth century; and when war came in 1812 there were sixty-seven families residing at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. These were thrown into consternation when news came, in a somewhat dramatic way, of the surrender of General Hull's army at Detroit. A band of British and HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 45 Indians suddenly appeared at the foot of the Rapids and plundered the settlers on both sides of the river, returning to Detroit with the plunder. The settlers then took early opportunity to seek safer quarters to the southward, but after the close of hostilities returned in increasing numbers. Settlement had advanced so far in 1816 that the Government then sent an agent to lay out a town at the point on the Miami of the Lake best calculated for commercial purposes. Perrysburg was the result. In the next year a treaty of much importance was negotiated by Generals Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, and the Indian chiefs, at a council held "at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie." The exact location is stated to have been on the left bank of the river near the site of the present village of Maumee. There, in September, 1817, the Wyandots, Senecas, Delawares Shawnees, Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas were represented, and agreed to cede right to considerable land in Northwest Ohio. There were seven thousand aborigines present when this treaty was negotiated, and "of all the great treaties ever entered into with the Indians this one held at the Maumee Rapids was of the greatest interest to Northwest Ohio." It cleared the field for safe settlement. In 1819, Fulton county terirtory passed under the jurisdiction of Shelby county, and in the next year, 1820, on the 12th day of February, it was declared "That all that part of the lands lately ceded by the Indians to the United States, which lies within this state, shall be, and the same is hereby erected into fourteen separate and distinct counties," to be bounded and named, as in the act provided. These counties so formed were: Allen, Crawford, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Marion, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, and Wood. Of the newly created counties, Hancock, Henry, Putnam, Paulding, and Williams, were temporarily attached to Wood county, the temporary seat of justice of which was fixed at Maumee. What is now Fulton county was then partly in Williams and Henry counties, but settlement had not then begun. It was not until 1823 that Henry county had sufficient settlers within its borders to organize the area into one township, which was named Damascus. In the area now known as Fulton county there was, in 1824, probably only one white settler. He, John Grey, who built a log cabin in 1824, in what eventually became Pike Township, and on what ultimately was known as the Herman Tappan farm, can perhaps hardly be termed a legitimate settler. In reality, his log cabin was a trading outpost, and he left the country nine years later, seeking safety in flight from hostile Indians, whom he seems to have displeased in trading transactions. Perrysburg became the county seat of Wood county on March 19, 1823, but eleven months later Williams county became fully organized, and for judicial purposes Henry County was then attached to it. In 1834, Henry county entered into full and separate existence, being then fully organized for all purposes, under the authority of an act passed by the State Legislature during the scion of 1834. Lucas county, which was organized in 1835, by authority of an act passed on June 20th of that year, owes its existence probably to the controversy then pending between the State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan, the latter authority claiming right to administer the territory north of what is known as the Fulton line. 46 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY The full circumstances will be explained in another chapter of this work. Lucas county took territory from Henry county, and by an amendment of March 14, 1836, the boundaries of Lucas county were defined as follows: "Beginning at a point on Lake Erie, where the line commonly called 'Fulton's Line' intersects the same; thence due west with said Fulton's Line, to the Maumee River; thence in a southwesterly direction with the said river, to the east line of the county of Henry ; thence north an said line to the northeast corner of township 6, in range 8; thence, west, on said township line, to the east line of the county of Williams; thence north, to the. northern boundary of the state, walled the 'Harris Line' ; thence in an easterly direction with said line to Lake Erie; thence due east, until a line drawn due north, from the place of 'beginning, shall intersect the same." With the exception of two tiers of sections on the south. and the territory on the west, which Williams county had eventually to cede to Fulton, the whole of the present county of Fulton was embraced in Lucas. Thus, until the organization of Fulton county in 1850, the territory then included in it was under the jurisdiction of the counties of Henry, Lucas, and Williams. CHAPTER III THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE Interstate war, between the State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan, was only narrowly averted in the '30s, during the controversy which raged, heatedly, for some years, in the attempt to decide the ownership of a small strip of border land. The territory in dispute was only twelve miles wide at Toledo, and five miles in width at its western boundary ; yet it seemed at one time that bloody war would result between the states before ownership of the strip could be established. And, as it was probable that one side would have the assistance of the United States Government in any resulting military operations, the dispute was a .portentous one. The trouble might have ended in its very inception had the United States Government clearly defined the boundaries when the first constitution of Ohio was formed, in 1802. It would then have been merely a detail of surveying unorganized territory of little consequence; but thirty years later, when State and Territory had grown in wealth and landed possessions and in political importance, the disputed territory was a matter of keen interest to both. Until it was decided, the townships of Gorham, Chesterfield, Royalton, and Amboy, and the northern parts of Franklin, Dover, Pike, and Fulton, of the present Fulton county, which territory was then in the early but appreciable process of settlement, seemed to recognize the authority of Michigan, in legal processes. The origin dates back. to the "Ordinance of 1787," which divided the Northwest Territory, then only recently ceded to the United States, into three parts : the western, to include all of the present states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and a portion of the Upper Peninsula. of Michigan; the middle, to include the present state of Indiana, and north of the British line ; the eastern, to include the territory bounded by Indiana, Canada, Pennsylvania, and the Ohio River; "Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three. (prospective) states shall be subject so far to be altered, that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient they shall have authority to form one or two states in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." In an act of Congress, granting to Ohio constitutional state rights, the northern boundary was described as follows: "On the north, by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due north line, from the mouth of the Great Miami, until it shall intersect Lake Erie, or the territorial line, and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line." - 47 - 48 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY The state constitution was framed accordingly, and approved by Congress as prepared; and the State of Ohio exercised jurisdiction accordingly, as it supposed was its right. But that the Territory of Michigan also claimed the right of jurisdiction within what Congress had agreed was the boundaries of Ohio is shown by the following letter to Governor Meigs: Miami Rapids, January 23, 1812. Sir: It appears to be the general wish of the people of this settlement (which consists of about fifty families) to have the laws of the State of Ohio extended over them, as we consider ourselves clearly within the limits of said state. The few who object are those who hold offices under the Governor of Michigan, and are determined to enforce their laws. This is considered by a great majority of the inhabitants as usurpation of power which they are under no obligation to adhere to. If no adjustment should take place, I fear the contention will ere long become serious. Sir, will you have the goodness to inform the people here, whether there has been any understanding between the State of Ohio and the Governor of Michigan on the subject of jurisdiction, together with your advice. I am, sir, with high esteem, Your obedient servant, Amos SPAFFORD, Collector of Port Miami. The war, with Britain, and the consequent evacuation of the Maumee country by the settlers, but the matter into a state of dormancy for some years, although in response to an appeal by the Ohio Legislature, the United States Congress, on May 20, 1812, passed an act authorizing and instructing the Surveyor General of the United States, as soon as the consent of the Indians could be obtained "to cause to be surveyed, marked, and designated, so much of the western and northern boundaries of the State of Ohio, which have not already been ascertained, as divides said states from the territories of Indiana and Michigan, agreeably to the boundaries as established by the act" of 1802. They instructed the Surveyor General "to cause to be made a plat, or plan, of so much of the boundary line as runs from the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, particularly noting the place where said line intersects the margin of said lake, and tb return the same when made to Congress." The War of 1812 prevented the immediate undertaking of the survey, and nothing was done in the matter until 1817, following the negotiations of the Cass-McArthur treaty with the Indians. Then Edward Tiffin, surveyor-general, employed William Harris to survey a portion of the western, and all of the northern boundary line. Harris found that a due east line from the head of Lake Michigan would intersect Lake Erie seven miles south of of the most northerly cape of Maume€ Bay, Fulton subsequently verifying the survey. Harris, however, in conformity to the constitution of Ohio, ran another line from the lower extremity of Lake Michigan to the northerly cape of Maumee Bay, which line established the northwest corner of Ohio five miles, 25 chains, and 64 links north of where the due east and west line ran. Governor Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan at that time, and much HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 49 interested in the Maumee country since the negotiation by him of the Indian treaty, claimed the line of the Ordinance of 1787 to be the southern one. He succeeded eventually in obtaining an order, through William H. Crawford, then Secretary of the Treasury, to run the due east and west line. John A. Fulton made the survey, and established what is known as the Fulton Line, which confirmed the original survey made by Harris, not the subsequent survey by Harris, who in that Second survey laid the state boundary on the line known as the Harris Line, to which line the State of Ohio adhered, establishing townships within the disputed territory as soon as an area became sufficiently settled. The dispute remained unsettled, and without prospect of determined attempt to dispose of it, until 1834. when Governor Lucas of Ohio