Fort Meigs Living History Event: First Siege

This Memorial Day weekend, Fort Meigs State Historic Site in Perrysburg Ohio (near Toledo) is hosting a reenactment of the first siege of the fort in 1813. If you're in the tri-state area and don't have any plans for the long weekend, check it out. Starting on Saturday, reenactors representing the American and British armies (as well as Native American forces fighting for both sides) occupy camps in opposite ends of the fort. A large scale battle is held on Saturday on Sunday; in between battles each camp holds demonstrations and a morning and evening parade. On Memorial Day, a smaller group of American reenactors will hold a ceremony at the 1908 obelisk to honor the soldiers who fought and died here.
 

Check it out:

Official event page at fortmeigs.org

wikipedia.org page for Fort Meigs

A youtube video from last years' event

Series of blog posts on the first siege

Next American City » Buzz » The Real Reason Why Bicycles are the Key to Better Cities

I thought I'd take a break from War of 1812 history and post a link to an article about the prospects of an urban future. Kasey Klimes' article on bicycles and urban living is really thought-provoking:

Yes, the bicycle is a stunningly efficient machine of transportation, but in the city it is so much more. The bicycle is new vision for the blind man. It is a thrilling tool of communication, an experiential device for the beauty and the ills of the urban context. One cannot turn a blind eye on a bicycle - they must acknowledge their community, all of it.

Next American City » Buzz » The Real Reason Why Bicycles are the Key to Better Cities

Anyone who's tried to cycle around Columbus (which is a typical Midwestern city) can attest to the fact that it was designed-- or grown, without premeditated design--  from the perspective of the automobile. The ring of highways that get us from place to place also hem us in. The large green spaces (Metroparks) are all marooned outside the ring roads. There are green corridors, mainly the "trunk road" bicycle/multi-use trail that runs alongside the Olantangy/Whetstone River from downtown to Worthington. However, only a fraction of the urban sprawl exists in any sort of proximity to these routes.

If we think of local history as a continuous body, or DNA, of a city, with a little imagination we can create the future of Columbus as an extension of its past. Whereas in 1812 roads were hacked out of the oppressive, endless forests of the frontier, now an urban wilderness separates Franklinton from Worthington, and Worthington from Delaware. Maybe in the future we will plant green highways of trees and arterial bicycle trails to reconnect the sprawling suburbs to the core, mirroring the process of settlement.

Miller's Charge and the Sebree Map

Upon finishing my series of posts on the first siege of Fort Meigs in April-May 1813, I decided to take a look at the William Sebree map. To my surprise, I found a lot of useful details in the map that don't come out in written accounts. The map itself is a work of folk art, combining line drawings and printed symbols and text. While the map is commonly reprinted in secondary works on the War of 1812, the resolution is nowhere near large enough to bring out its rich detail.

After coming back to Kentucky, Captain William Sebree made a large, hand colored map from his notes and sketches of the siege; "To preserve from oblivion the useful events of our history, and the occurances which are characteristic of us, as a nation..."

Terry Jones Documentary on Medieval History

In this episode Terry Jones of Monty Python fame investigates the lives of three English kings, after which he concludes that history isn't simply the story of what happened in the past. It's often what the people who wrote it want posterity to think. In the case of the medieval kings, the Baron's or the Church's version of history is often the one that endures. I would like to see someone produce a show like this on American history.

The Siege of Fort Meigs (part three)

This blog entry may be a bit rambling, but I wanted to finish off my series on the First Siege of Fort Meigs...

The monument at Fort Meigs, erected 1908 by the Grand Army of the Republic (the veterans association of the Union army).

Graffiti, c. 2007 or '8.

 
May 17, 1813. Lt. Colonel George McFeely reported in his diary that both Fort George (held by the British) and Fort Niagara fired salutes to commemorate the siege and battle of Fort Meigs. Both Americans and British felt that they had won victories at the rapids. However, since then, historians' opinion of the battle has ranged from being a tactical defeat for William Henry Harrison to a decisive victory for Henry Procter.

Intermission

I'm hoping to post a follow up to my previous posts about the 1st Siege of Fort Meigs in 1813. It's rough going: in addition to the more famous Dudley's Massacre, which occurred on the north bank of the Maumee River on 5 May 1813, some hard fighting took place on the south bank, as the other part of General Green Clay's Kentuckians made their way into the fort, aided by a charge of the dragoons under Major Ball. Harrison took advantage of the crisis on the north bank by sending his regular and volunteer infantry to take the smaller enfilading battery that had been erected on the south bank. 
This last action, known as Miller's charge after the Colonel who led it, succeeded where Dudley had failed... at a heavy cost in killed and wounded.
In the meantime, I've been watching Simon Schama's History of Britain. Originally a BBC series, the dvd set is distributed in the U.S. by the History Channel (which as history geeks know has long been incapable of producing good historical programming). Here's the episode on Edward I Longshanks and the national rebellions of the Welsh and Scots:

Siege of Fort Meigs, 198th Anniversary

Overview of the May 5th engagements by Benson Lossing. There are a few inaccuracies since he was visiting the site in the 1860s, namely the bridge.

This is the second post of a series on the First Siege of Fort Meigs, which took place 198 years ago this week.

198 years ago yesterday (May 5, 1813), a relief column of Kentucky militiamen descended the Maumee River near modern-day Perrysburg, Ohio to reach Major General William Henry Harrison's besieged garrison at Fort Meigs (see previous post. They arrived at the head of the rapids, five miles up river of the Fort, on the evening of May 4th, and tied their boats to the shoreline. Couriers with instructions from the General crept through picket lines of British and Indians to the militia commander, General Green Clay. Alexander Bourne, then in command of the fort's blockhouse six, described what took place:

Seige of Fort Meigs... 198 Years Ago

A 5.5 inch howitzer at Fort Meigs State Historic Site, Perrysburg Ohio. Three of the forts batteries overlook the lower fords of the Maumee River.

Having just returned from a week-long trip, I've decided to make a series of posts on the Battle of Fort Meigs, the anniversary of which is this week. I'm currently researching a book about the 1813 campaign of General William Henry Harrison to recapture Detroit during the War of 1812.

198 years ago today, Fort Meigs in modern-day Perrysburg Ohio has been under siege by a combined British and Native American force for five days. Beginning on April 28, 1813, forces under General Henry Procter surrounded Maj. General William Henry Harrison's Northwest Army at the fortified camp. Captain Daniel S. Cushing of the Second United States Regiment of Artillery kept a diary of the siege:

Saturday, May First-- At 2 o'clock in the morning the British opened their artillery upon our garrison from their gun-boats, which lay one and one-half miles below us, but it was without effect. At 8 o'clock they hoisted the red flag at their lower battery and commenced firing with 24, 12 and 6 pounders, and eight inch mortars. They fired at us this day 240 shot and shells; did very little damage. They continued firing shells through the night but not often, just enough to keep our camp from rest. We keep up a heavy fire on them all day from different parts of our camp, the Indians are very thick on our flank and in our rear. We have not more than two killed and four wounded today.