Captain Leslie Combs' Ill-fated Canoe Trip

Very few motorists crossing the Maumee River today on the Interstate 475 Bridge may realize, if they glance downriver towards Maumee and Perrysburg and the Buttonwood Recreational Area, that they are looking at the site of a terrifying adventure during the Siege of Fort Meigs. This is an extract from the Narrative of the Life of General Leslie Combs, a veteran of the battle:

When they reached St. Mary's Blockhouse, General Clay divided his brigade, sending Colonel Dudley's regiment across to the Auglaise River, and descending the St. Mary's himself, with Colonel Boswell's, intending to united them again at old Fort Defiance. Captain Combs was attached to the former... It was fifty miles from Fort Defiance, where they expected to meet General Clay, to Fort Meigs; and it was deemed extremely hazardous for any one to attempt to open a communication between the two points, especially as no one present, except Captain Combs, knew the exact position of Fort Meigs, or had any knowledge of the intervening country.... (At a council of officers Captain Combs volunteered) "Colonel Dudley," said he, "General Clay has thought proper to entrust me with an important command, attached to your regiment. When we reach Fort Defiance, 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..." 

The troops encamped at Fort Defiance (Fort Winchester) on the afternoon of the first of May. General Clay, meanwhile, had not arrived. Captain Combs immediately prepared for his perilous trip. The two Walkers, Paxton, and Johnson, were to accompany him, as well as the young Shawanee warrior Black Fish. As they pushed off from shore at the mouth of the Auglaise, the bank was covered with their anxious fellow-soldiers; and Major Shelby remarked, looking at his watch, "Remember, Captain Combs, if we never meet, it is exactly six o'clock when we part;" and he had since told Mr. Combs that he never expected to see him again alive.

 Captain Combs would have started some hours earlier, could his frail craft have been gotten ready for he knew it would require hard work, even with the aid of a strong current, to reach Fort Meigs before daylight the next morning. Placing his Shawnee in the stern, with a steering-oar, and two men at the side-oars, alternately relieving each other, the Captain took his position in the bow, to take care of their rifles and direct the course to be pursued; keeping as nearly as possible in the center of the stream, for fear of Indians on either side. By dark they had come within distinct hearing of the distant roar of heavy artillery in their front, and knew that General Harrison's apprehensions of an early assault upon his enfeebled position were verified.... 

It was late in the night when they struck the head of the rapids, and it seemed every moment as if their light canoe would be dashed in pieces. By lying flat on his face, the Captain could from some idea of the course of the deep channel, amid the war of waters which nearly deafened them, by seeming the foaming breakers glistening in the starlight. When they approached Roche debout, where they were informed there was a considerable perpendicular fall in low water, they were forced to land and haul their bark along the margin of the southern bank till they had passed the main obstruction; and daylight dawned upon them before they were again afloat. They were still some seven or eight miles above the fort, and well knew that the surrounding forests were alive with hostile savages...

(The next morning) If he should determine to remain where he was during the day, they would most probably be discovered and tomahawked before night. He therefore resolved resolved instantly to go ahead, desperate as the chances seemed against him, and risk all consequences. Not one of his brave companions demurred to his determination, although he told them they would certainly be compelled to earn their breakfasts before they would have the honor of taking coffee with General Harrison.

 (As they rounded the last bend in the river before Fort Meigs, not knowing if the fort had surrendered...) the first object that met their sight was the British batteries belching forth their iron hail across the river, and the bomb-shells flying in the air; and the next moment they saw the glorious stars and stripes gallantly floating in the breeze. "Oh, it was a grand scene," writes Captain Combs. "We could not suppress a shout; and one of my men, Paxton, has since declared to me, that he then felt as if it would take about a peck of bullets to kill him." Captain Combs had prepared every thing for action, by handing to each man his rifle freshly loaded, and in the mean time, keeping near the middle of the river, which was several hundred yards wide, not knowing from which side they would be first attacked.

He hoped that General Harrison might now and then be taking a look with his spyglass up the river, expecting General Clay, and would see them and send out an escort to bring them in... At first they saw only a solitary Indian in the edge of the woods on the American side, running down the river so as to get in hail of them; and they took him for a friendly Shawanee, of whom they knew General Harrison had several in his service as guides and spies. His steersman himself was for a moment deceived, and exclaimed, in his deep guttural voice, "Shawanee," at the same time turning the bow of the canoe towards him. A moment afterwards, however, when he raised the war-whoop, and they saw the woods full of red devils, running with all their speed to a point on the river below them, so as to cut them off from the fort, or drive them into the mouths of the British cannon, Captain Combs' young warrior exclaimed, "Pottawatomie, God damn!" and instantly turned the boat toward the opposite shore. 

The race between the little water party and the Indians was not long doubtful. The latter had the advantage in distance, and reached the point before the former. Combs still hoped to pass them with little injury, owing to the width of the river and the rapidity of the current, and therefore ordered his men to receive their fire without returning it, as he feared an attack also from the near shore, which would require all their means of resistance to repel. If successful, he should still have time and space enough to recross the river before he got within range of the British batteries, and save his little band from certain destruction. The first gun fired, however, satisfied him of his error, as the ball whistled over the canoe without injury, followed by a volley, which prostrated Johnson, mortally wounded, and also disabled Paxton; not however, before they had all fired at the crowd, and saw several tumbling to the ground. Captain Combs was thus, as a last hope, forced to run his craft ashore, and attempt to make good his way to Fort Meigs on the north side of the river. 

To some extent they succeeded. The two Walkers soon left the party, by the Captain's order, to save themselves; the Indian nobly remained with Paxton, and helped him along for six or seven miles, until he was so exhausted with the loss of blood as to be unable to travel farther. Captain Combs was less fortunate with poor Johnson, who, with all his aid, could barely drag himself half a mile from their place of landing, and both he and Paxton were very soon captured and taken to General Procter's head-quarters. They even reported, as was afterwards learned, that they had killed the Captain, and showed as evidence of the fact his cloth coat, which he had thrown off, putting on in its stead an old hunting-shirt, after he left Johnson, so as to disencumber himself of all surplus weight. 

His woodcraft, learned in the previous campaign, now did him good service as it enabled him to elude his pursuers; and after two days and nights of starvation and suffering, he again met Major Shelby and his other friends, at the mouth of the Auglaize, on the fourth of May, in the morning, after all hope of his return had been given up. The two Walkers were a day ahead of him, and his brave young Indian succeeded in making his way to his native village.

By the time Captain Combs made it to Defiance, a courier from the Fort had also arrived-- Captain William Oliver, who had already made a name for himself by slipping through the Indian lines to deliver a message during the Siege of Fort Wayne (from an anonymous account written by a veteran):

The necessary preparations were made, and at the hour of midnight (a dark & dismal night in Apr. 1813) a young soldier was seen to issue from one of the Gates of Ft. Meigs then closely besieged by a numerous Army of savages,"who environed the Ft. and through whose encampment our young friend had to pass; He moved on with slow, steady, but cautious steps, frequently in his passage through the almost numberless camp fires of his wary foe at the breaking of a stick by his horse tread or any, even the slightest noise, Indian warriors would be seen on every side, springing half up, is listening attentively, to learn from whence the noise had come, Intense indeed must have been the feelings of our friend; thus surrounded by vigilant and deadly foes; He told me, in conversing lately about this interesting moment ""that his horse seemed to feel the responsibility of the situation in which they were placed —and stopped when a twig would crack"soon the Indians would become satisfied & again lie down; when suspicion was lulled he would again proceed - & thus by slow cautious movements this miraculous passage through the Indian encampment was effected, and the dispatches, so important to our Garrison delivered to Genl. Clay, who by the same intrepid messenger, returned an answer to Genl. Harrison; He descended the river in a canoe with muffled oars, accompanied. by Col. David. Trimble of Ky. afterwards, aid to Genl. Harrison, & subsequently a distinguished Member of Congress from Ky. The writer had command of the guard, who were stationed at the center gate of the front line of the Fort and had the pleasure of receiving his friends at a late hour of the night & conducting them to the Genls. headquarters.

Combs was barely recovered from his ordeal when General Clay, having by now arrived with Colonel Boswell's Regiment from the St Mary's River, ordered his troops into 18 flat bottomed boats, to descend through the rapids and land around Fort Meigs. He lay sick in the boat, but when Dudley's Regiment landed on the opposite side of the river, he again took command of the scouts and provided a light infantry screen for the regiment as it captured the British batteries. Subsequently his company was drawn into a fire fight in the woods behind the British batteries by Indians there. Colonel Dudley, unwilling to leave them behind, ordered his disorganized regiment to support them, and was trapped by British and Indian reinforcements in what became known as "Dudley's Massacre". Captain Combs survived the battle, and capture by the British, to return home to Kentucky, where he died in 1881.

Scenes from the Siege of Fort Meigs, April 30 1813

Captain William Sebree's Map of Fort Meigs. Though crude, this is the best contemporary drawing of the fort, showing the traverses, magazines and "bombproof" dugouts made by the men during the siege. "Gratiots Battery" was built between the first and second sieges. Note the box with the dot in the middle situated on the Rear Traverse. This represents a man calling out "shot" or "bomb" to warn the garrison during the bombardment.

On April 28, 1813, a force of British and Canadian soldiers and Native Americans led by General Henry Procter and Tecumseh, respectively, landed on the banks of the Maumee near Fort Meigs and prepared to lay siege to the American camp. According to the history of the war written by Robert B McAfee:

The British had established their main camp about two miles down the river at teh place of their landing; and in the night they had commenced three batteries opposite the fort, on a high bank about 300 yards from the river, the intervening low ground being open and partly covered with water. Two of them were gun batteries with 4 embrasures, and were situated higher up the river than the fort; the other was a bomb battery situated rather below the fort. They had progressed so far in the night that they were now able to work at them in the daylight. A fire however was opened upon them from the fort, which considerably impeded their progress. It was under the directions of Captain Wood, the senior officer of the engineers, Captain Gratiot, being unwell, but able occasionally to take charge of a battery.

The enemy's mode of attack being now thoroughly understood, a plan previously arranged and suggested to the general, to counteract such an attack...was adopted. The whole army was turned out subject to the orders of the engineer...

The main British batteries on top of the river bluff in what is now downtown Maumee, Ohio. 24-pounder, 12-pounder and 5- and 8-inch mortars were emplaced to sweep the American camp.

Over the next two days and nights, the American army raced to build a large traverse, or earthen berm, 12 feet high, 20 feet wide, and 300 yards long to protect the exposed portions of their camp. This was hidden from the British observers by the tents in front of it, so they continued to work on emplacing their heavy cannons and mortars to sweep what they thought was an unprotected camp.


From the Diary of Captain Daniel Cushing, 2nd US Regiment of Artillery:

Thursday, 29th (April 1813)-- This day we are employed in finishing the traverse and making ready for battle, for we have been surrounded by British and Indians for two days. We let loose our cannonade on them yesterday and have kept it up by spells all this day, and shall let loose upon them this evening with an eighteen pounder that is already elevated.

Friday, 30th-- We have been all day employed in traversing through the camp, playing upon their batteries with our eighteen pounders and throwing grape and canister shot at the Indians which are in our rear and on our flanks. We have had one man killed and 6 or 7 wounded by the Indians this day. 

Details from Captain William Sebree's Map of Fort Meigs:

"Procter, Wharburton, and Tecumseh viewing the ground on which to erect their batteries. 3pm 26 April 1813. In two seconds they rode off."

"Col. Wood and Maj. Todd returning from viewing the British fleet under a heavy fire from the Indians."

1813: Harrison and Perry's amphibious landing in Canada

A painting of the Battle of Lake Erie done in consultation with Perry shortly after the war--supposedly the vessels are as close as we can get to the appearance of the actual fleet.

One of the most overlooked aspects of "the forgotten" War of 1812 is the experience the American forces gained in landing troops on hostile shores. Few people today realize that the Lake Erie shoreline was, over 200 years ago, the scene of a massive effort to transport men and cannons and conduct a "D-Day" style landing against what the Americans thought would be a defended beachhead. Moreover, throughout the summer of 1813 they had been preparing for these operations by building boats in a yard far, far up the Cuyahoga Valley--in a spot where few people would expect to find a naval installation today; Peninsula, Ohio near Akron. Large, flat bottomed open boats termed Schenectady boats were built, sent down the Cuyahoga River to Cleveland, where the commandant of the area, Major Thomas Jessup, sank them in the river to prevent them from being destroyed or captured by British forces. After the Battle of Lake Erie they were used to transport troops from Cleveland, the Sandusky River, and other points to Marblehead, where the army was ferried in parts to the Lake Erie Islands. Samuel R Brown's account provides a valuable picture of the amphibious operations of General William Henry Harrison's campaign:

...At the same time (as Perry's victory on Lake Erie) the general began to concentrate his forces at the mouth of the Portage River (modern day Port Clinton, Ohio). The greatest activity was visible in camp; in preparing for the descent on Canada--boats were collected--beef jerked--the superfluous baggage secured in block houses and a substantial log fence two miles long, extending from Portage River to Sandusky Bay, was built to secure the horses during the operations of the army.

On the 17th (Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky) with 4000 volunteers, arrived at headquarters. This formidable corps were all mounted; but it was deemed best for them to act as infantry, and leave their horses on the peninsula.  On the 20th (Brigadier General Duncan McArthur)'s brigade, from Fort Meigs, joined the main body, after a very fatiguing march of three days down the lake coast.

Colonel (Richard Johnson)'s mounted regiment remained at Fort Meigs, but had orders to approach Detroit by land and to advance pari passu (side by side) with the commander in chief, who was to move in boats through the islands, to Malden, and of whose progress, the colonel was to be daily informed by a special express.

Everything being now ready, the embarkation of the troops commenced at the dawn of day, on the 21st (of September). For the want of a sufficient number of boats, not more than one third of the army could embark at once.

There is a range of islands extending from the head of the Peninsula, to Malden. These islands render the navigation safe, and afford the army convenient depots for baggage and stores, as well as halting places. (The number of horses left on the Marblehead Peninsula, during the absence of the army in Canada, was upwards of five thousand! For the most part, of the first size and condition.)

Put-in-Bay Island, sixteen miles from Portage, was selected by the general as the first point of rendezvous--the first stage in his passage across the lake. The weather was favorable. As soon as the first division of boats reached the island, men were immediately detached to take back the boats for a fresh load. Such was the eagerness of the men to accelerate the embarkation of the whole army, that they, in most cases, anticipated this regulation by volunteering their services to return with the boats. Every one courted fatigue.

The fleet of commodore Perry, was busily engaged in transporting the baggage of the army. In the course of the 22nd the whole army had gained the island, and encamped on the margin of the bay, which forms nearly a semi circle... 

 ...The army was detained at Put-in-Bay during the 23rd and 24th (of September) by unfavorable winds. On the 24th, a soldier of the regular forces was shot for desertion. He had deserted three times--had been twice before condemned to suffer death, and as often pardoned; he met his fate with stoical indifference, but it made a very sensible impression on the troops. Two platoons fired on him, at a distance of five paces, and perforated his body like a sieve. 

(It is worthy of remark that but two soldiers were shot in the northwestern army; and so unfrequent was desertion, that from the time I joined it, till its departure from Fort George, not a solitary instance occurred; at least none came to my knowledge, although I made frequent inquiries as to the fact. I am not willing to attribute this extraordinary fidelity to the public service, to the superior patriotism of the people of the west, or a nice sense of the force of moral obligations. The cause is evident--the officers are generally, more attentive to their men, than those of the northern army.)

A typical bateau used as a transport on the upper great lakes. The bateaux, Schenectady boat, or Mackinac boat all seem to have been similar designs that were used extensively on the lake for travel and trade.

On the 25th the army again embarked partly in boats and partly on board the fleet, to take a nearer position to the Canadian shore. The flotilla arrived a little before sunset, at a small island called the Eastern Sister, eighteen miles from Malden and seven from the coast. This island does not contain more than three acres, and the men had scarcely room to sit down.

On the 26th the wind blew fresh, it became necessary to haul up the boats, to prevent their staving. The general and commodore in the (US Schooner) Ariel, made a reconnaissance  of the enemy's coast and approached within a short distance of Malden. Captain Johnny was dispatched to apprize Col. Johnson of our progress. (Brigadier General Lewis Cass, Colonel James V. Ball, and Captain John McClelland) were busy in arranging and numbering the boats. At sun set the lake had risen several feet; indeed, such was the violence of the surf that many entertained the serious fears that the greater part of the island would be inundated before morning. However, the wind subsided at twelve and relieved our apprehensions.

On the 27th at nine in the morning the army made its final embarkation. The day was fine, and a propitiious breeze made our passage a most pleasing pastime. It was a sublime and delightful spectacle to behold 16 ships of war and 100 boats filled with men, borne rapidly and majestically to the long sought shores of the enemy. The recollection of this day can never be effaced from my memory. There was something truly grand and animating in the looks of the men. There was an air of confidence in every countenance. The troops panted for an oppertunity to rival their naval brethren in feats of courage and skill; they seemed to envy the good fortune of our brave tars. They were ignorant of the flight of the enemy, and confidently expected a fight; indeed the belief was current among the troops that the enemy were in great force; for it was believed that Dixon's (Robert Dickson, an Indian Department agent who had brought 1400 western Indians to the second siege of Fort Meigs earlier in the year)  Indians as well as Tecumseh's were at Malden.

An early survey of the mouth of the Detroit River, showing the site of the landing and nearby Amherstburg and Fort Malden. 

We landed in perfect order of battle at 4 PM three miles below Malden. The Kentucky volunteers formed the right wing. Ball's legion and the friendly Indians the centre--the regulars on the left. The troops were almost instantly in line and shortly commenced their march, en echelons, for Malden. The troops had been drilled to marching in and out of boats and to forming on the beach. Every man knew his place; and so well were they masters of this very necessary piece of service, that a company would march into a boat, debark and form on the beach in less than one minute, and that too without the least confusion. (This proficiency is applicable only to the regulars and twelve-months volunteers. The militia officers did not attend to it.)

[Read the plan for the amphibious landing in General Harrison's orders here.] 

As we approached Malden, instead of the red coats and the war whoop of the Indians, a group of well dressed ladies advanced to meet us, and to implore mercy and protection. They were met by governor Shelby, who soon quieted their fears by assuring them that we came not to make war on women and children but to protect them.

The army entered Malden by several parallel streets and we marched through the town to the thunder of "Yankee Doodle."

Next: The re-occupation of Detroit and the pursuit of Tecumseh and General Henry Procter to the village of Moraviantown.

Samuel R Brown's Eyewitness Account of the Lake Erie- Thames Campaign 1813

Here are some eyewitness accounts of the aftermath of the Battle of Lake Erie by Samuel R Brown, who at the time was a private in Captain James McClelland's Company of Volunteer Light Dragoons, attached to Major James V Ball's Squadron. When the army of General William Henry Harrison embarked on boats and the fleet of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, they had to leave their mounts behind on the Marblehead Peninsula of Sandusky Bay, and serve as a light infantry corps for the remainder of the campaign. These excerpts are taken from two of Brown's published works: Views of the Campaigns of the Northwest Army, and Views on Lake Erie, both printed in 1814.

The writer of this account, in company with five others, arrived at the head of Put in Bay island on the evening of the 9th, and had a view of the action at the distance of only ten miles. The spectacle was truly grand and awful. The firing was incessant for the space of three hours, and continued at short intervals forty-five minutes longer. In less than one hour after the battle began, most of the vessels of both fleets were enveloped in a cloud of smoke, which rendered the issue of the action uncertain, till the next morning when we visited the fleet in the harbor on the opposite side of the island. The reader will easily judge of our solicitude to learn the result. There is no sentiment more painful than suspense, when it is excited by the uncertain issue of an event like this. 

 ...In the course of the 22nd the whole army had gained the island, and encamped on the margin of the bay, which forms nearly a semi circle. The Lawrence, and the six prize ships, captured from the enemy, were at anchor in the centre of the bay, and in full view. With what ineffable delight did we contemplate this interesting spectacle! The curiosity of the troops was amply indulged; every one was permitted to go on board the prizes to view the effects of the battle. The men were highly pleased with this indulgence of the general and the commodore. The scene was calculated to inflame their military ardor, which was visible in every countenance...

The carnage on board the prizes was prodigious--they must have had 200 killed besides wounded. The sides of the Detroit and Queen Charlotte were shattered from bow to stern; there was scarcely room to place one's hand on their larboard sides without touching the impression of a shot--a great many balls, canister and grape, were found lodged in their bulwarks, which were too thick to be penetrated by our carronades. Their masts were so much shattered that they fell overboard soon after they got into the bay...

(As for the Lawrence) her sides were completely riddled by the shot from the long guns of the British ships. Her deck, the morning after the conflict, when I first went on board, exhibited a scene that defies description--for it was literally covered with blood, which still adhered to the plank in clots--brains, hair and fragments of bones were still sticking to the rigging and sides. The surgeons were still busy with the wounded--enough! horror appalled my senses.

On board of the Detroit, twenty-four hours after her surrender, were found snugly stowed away in the hold, two Indian Chiefs, who had the courage to go on board at Malden, for the purpose of acting as sharp shooters to kill our officers. One had the courage to ascend into the round top and discharged his piece, but the whizzing of shot, splinters, and bits of rigging, soon made the place too warm for him--he descended faster than he went up; at the moment he reached the deck, the fragments of a seaman's head stuck his comrade's face, and covered it with blood and brains. He vociferated the savage interjection "quoh!" and both sought safety below.

The British officers had domesticated a bear at Malden. Bruin accompanied his comrades to battle--was on the deck of the Detroit during the engagement, and escaped unhurt. 

Next up: Brown's account of the  amphibious operations which landed Harrison's Army on the Canadian shores near Fort Malden.

 

Samuel R Brown, Forgotten Veteran of the War of 1812

The confused records of the War of 1812 often lead to some intriguing mysteries. One such are the several books produced by Auburn, New York newspaper editor Samuel R Brown. Auburn is in upper state New York, far from the scene of fighting during the War of 1812 in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Upper Canada. As early as 1814 and 1815, publishers in the United States were churning out histories of the recent events of the war, especially such events as the Battle of Tippecanoe, the surrender of Detroit, the Siege of Fort Meigs and the American victory at the Battle of the River Thames.

During this time there was a major newspaper boom in America-- every county seat and town, no matter how far into the frontier, seems to have had its local print shop and daily or weekly newspaper. The Miami Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), the Trump of Fortune (Warren, Ohio), Freeman's Chronicle (Franklinton Ohio), and Intelligencer (Worthington, Ohio) are a few of Ohio's frontier newspapers of this era. They seemed to be beneficiaries of the postal system of the era, which allowed newspapers to be easily disseminated. News from Europe, the globe, and the eastern United States was mingled with local news, letters from people attached to the armies during the War of 1812, and even poems and amusing stories. They also served a vital community role-- they were paid for mostly by classified ads usually taking up the last page, which grant us a window into the early shops, tradesmen, and legal actions going on in frontier towns. There was also usually a list of people for whom mail had arrived-- the postal system did not use stamps, but rather the recipient of a letter had to pay the postmaster for it. Therefore letters tended to pile up for people who needed to pay for them!

Samuel R Brown set himself up in Auburn sometime in 1813 or 1814, and remained there until his death at age 42 in 1817. He published the Cayuga Patriot, which outlived him being printed until 1819. We have a glimpse at the man and his business and family life because his apprentice printer, Thurlow Weed, later became a prominent Albany publisher and newspaper editor. Weed recalled:

Nor shall we ever forget the upper story of a wagon-maker's shop, where the "Cayuga Patriot" was first printed; for there we worked, and laughed, and played away most of the winter of 1814.  Samuel R. Brown, who published the "Patriot", was an honest, amiable, easy, slip-shod sort of man, whose patient, good-natured wife was 'cut from the same piece.'  Mr. Brown, the year before, had been established at Albany, with a paper called the "Republican, " under the auspices of Governor Tompkins, Chief-Justice Spencer, and other distinguished Republicans, with whom Mr. Southwick, of the "Register", and then State printer, had quarreled.  The enterprise, like everything in our old friend Brown's hands, failed. and he next found himself at Auburn, then a small village, without a sidewalk or a pavement, and, save for Sackett's Harbor, the muddiest place we ever saw.  Mr. and Mrs. Brown were originals.  Neither of them, so far as we remember,ever lost their temper or ever fretted.  the work in the office was always behind-hand, and the house always in confusion.  The paper was never out in season, and neither breakfast nor dinner were ever ready.  But it was all the same.  Subscribers waited for the paper till it was printed, and we waited for our meals till they were cooked.  The office was always full of loungers communicating or receiving news; and but for an amateur type-setter, Richard Oliphant, late editor of the "Oswego County Whig" and brother of the editor of the "Auburn Journal", to whom we became much attached, and who, though a mere boy, used to do a full share of the work, the business would have fallen still further behind-hand.

 For small town newspaper publishers, the newspaper was only one aspect of business. They handled all sorts of printing jobs for locals, including blank forms, journals and stationary. It's not surprising that such a man would branch out into writing books about current events and geography. There was a huge demand for books about the recent events of the war, but also for guides for settlers immigrating into the vast lands that had been opened up in large part due to the settlements between the US Government and the Indian nations of the Northwest and Southeast frontiers. Between 1814 and 1817 Samuel R Brown wrote and published Views of the Campaigns of the Northwestern Army (1814), Views on Lake Erie (1814), two volumes of An Authentic History of the Second War for Independence (1815), and the Western Gazetteer, or, Emigrant's Directory (1817). Many of these books relied on Brown's own travels throughout the western frontier, or on first hand accounts he had examined from correspondents. There are a number of stories or descriptions in his books on General William Henry Harrison's campaigns in 1813 which contain odd details, and lead me to believe they are based on his own direct experience, even though his books are usually listed under the category of secondary works in most historiography of the War of 1812. Another veteran of the war, writing in the 1870s, accused Brown of printing "camp rumor" rather than a objective history.

As a War of 1812 historian, the question for me remained-- was Samuel R Brown present during the Siege of Fort Meigs, the aftermath of the Battle of Lake Erie, or the Battle of the Thames? How could he have been involved in all these events and yet, seemingly without missing a beat be peacefully back in his print shop above the wheel wright's in Auburn, with his wife and six kids and working on his newspaper and book manuscripts?

As to the nature of his service, there is only a small hint in his obituary:
"Mr. Brown was a rational lover of our free, Republican Institutions; warmly attached to the
best interests of his country, and ever vigilant and prompt to promote it's prosperity, and
defend and enhance it's glory.  On the tented field he was a patriotic soldier.  In the heat of
battle, he stood a hero, undismayed by the crash of arms, unappalled by the sight of blood,
and, proud and fearless in the front of danger, he did breast himself against..."

"In the late War, Mr. Brown evinced the spirit of a freeman, under the immediate command of Col.
Johnson of Kentucky.  Not until Proctor was vanquished and Tecumseh slain upon the battlefield
did the unfortunate Brown quit the frontiers of his country and return to the bosom of his
family, his kindred and his friends."

But there is nothing to suggest that Samuel R Brown was attached as a volunteer to the famous Regiment of Mounted Riflemen led by Colonel Richard Johnson. The answer, seems instead to come from the modern brute-force technology of Googling, because a my search for his name and the term "War of 1812" pulled up a hit on a muster roll of Captain James A McClelland's company of Volunteer Light Dragoons, which in turn served under Major James V. Ball throughout the 1813 campaign. This supports his own account, because almost as an aside Brown mentioned that he was attached to McClelland's company throughout the campaign.

He was definitely present with Ball's dragoons during the siege of Fort Meigs:

Notwithstanding the incessant fire of the enemy, the men were obliged to go to the river for water every night--the well not being finished... Their 24 pound shot passed through the pickets without cutting them down. Our gunners silenced one of their pieces several times. They did not fire so rapidly as the enemy, but with a better aim...

One reason why our troops did not sustain a greater loss in the fort, was because the men had contrived a kind of bomb proof retreat all along the ditch immediately behind the pickets. They would watch the enemy's fire and knew when to squat into their hiding places. By this means many valuable lives were saved.

Vast quantities of rain fell during the siege--the soil within the pickets is clay, and the constant treading of the men and horses caused the whole area of the fort to become a perfect bed of mortar, half leg deep--the frequent bursting of shells caused it to fly in every direction, covering officers and men with mud. 

Brown's pamphlets and histories are a valuable primary account of the campaign, especially the events which he was present to witness, including the siege of Fort Meigs, and as we shall see, the aftermath of the Battle of Lake Erie, the amphibious landings near Fort Malden, recapture of Detroit and the Battle of the Thames.

On Blockhouses

War of 1812 block houses in Mansfield (top) and Fort Meigs (bottom).

From Practical Instructions for Military Officers: Comprehending a Concise System of Military Geometry, Field Fortification and Tactics of Riflemen and Light Infantry . Also the Scheme for Forming a Corps of a Partisan, and Carrying on the Petite Guerre ... to which is Annexed, a New Military Dictionary ... published 1811 by Epaphras Hoyt.

NEXT to an acquaintance with the field exercises and duties of the camp, no part of military- science is of more importance to An officer than for fortification: for without some knowledge of this, how will he be capable of throwing up a work for the defense of a post, or detachment, entrusted to his command when he has not with him an engineer? A thousand instances of this kind will occur in the course of service 4 and an -officer would be extremely mortified, should he be compelled to surrender to an enemy, when a little acquaintance with fortification would have enabled him to construct a temporary redoubt, or other small work sufficient for his defense, till he could be relieved by his general.

Another work with which a post may be fortified* and which affords a formidable defense against musketry, is a block-house. In new countries, where timber is plenty, these are constructed expeditiously.

These houses are usually built two stories high; with hewed logs of sufficient thickness to resist musket shot ; the ends are locked together in the manner of the common log houses in new settlements,- and the upper story is made to project about three feet beyond the walls of the lower story. Loop-holes are made in the projection, to fire on the enemy without, and also in the floor of the upper story, to fire on him should he gain the lower apartment. Loop-holes are also made in the walls of both stories* to annoy the enemy in his approach these should be made 3 or 4 inches wide on the exterior, and 6 or 7 on the interior side ; the length up and down 15 inches, and four and an half feet from the floors, and sufficiently numerous for one half of the men to fire at once. These holes are sometimes made wide on the outside and narrow within, like an embrasure but it is evident, that the shot from the enemy will be much more likely to enter, by glancing on the tides of the aperture, than when the narrow side is outward. 

If the house is furnished with cannon, port-holes must be pierced in the walls,at the angles, sufficient to admit the muzzles of the guns. These, as well as the loop holes, may be stopped with billets of wood fitted to them, but in such a manner that they may be cleared for action without the least delay. The communication between the two apartments may be simply a ladder, pasting through a trap-door in the upper floor. The outer door should be musket proof, and so constructed that it may be firmly fastened on the inside. The building may be furnished with a chimney, and each room with a fire-place for cooking. When other materials cannot be procured, the chimney may be built with small sticks well covered with clay mortar. The roof may be composed of boards and mingles, or when these cannot be procured, bark from the trees in the vicinity may be substituted. A block-house, built in this manner, and well calked, to keep out the air, affords a comfortable- residence in cold weather. It surrounded with palisades, it will make a better defense. Fig. 55, plate 7, is a view of a block-house, the lower room furnished with cannon and port-holes at the angles. The background exhibits a view of a mountainous country, and a river passing near the house ; over the river is a bridge of boats, the house serving as a tete de pont.

 The blockhouse in Hoyt's manual.

Brigadier General Charles Gratiot, US Corps of Engineers

Charles Gratiot, 1786-1855.

Born the son of a French fur trader at St. Louis, Charles Gratiot Sr. (d.1817), the younger Charles was appointed by President Jefferson to the United States Military Academy in 1804, the same year his home became a United States Territory. He graduated in 1806 and was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant of Engineers. By 1808 he was a Captain in the Corps of Engineers.

During the Autumn of 1812 Captain Gratiot was ordered to the Northwest to become the chief engineer on the staff of the Northwest Army. One of his first duties was to escort the massive ordnance train of siege cannon sent overland from Pittsburgh to Upper Sandusky. Later he assisted Captain Eleazar Wood with the construction of Fort Meigs but suffered from illness. 

He spent the latter part of the war at Detroit and various points in the Michigan Territory, building Fort Gratiot at the inlet of the St. Clair River and participating in the failed attack on Fort Mackinac. Territorial Governor General Lewis Cass appointed him a Colonel in the Michigan Militia in order to have command over militia troops in the Michigan garrisons. 

Shortly following the war he was promoted to Major in the Engineers (February 1815),  Lt. Colonel in 1819, and finally Colonel in 1828, when he was made chief of the Corps of Engineers (and brevetted a Brigadier General). Robert E. Lee was one of his subordinates. He was dismissed in 1838 however as a result of a disagreement over funds. In his later years he worked as a clerk in the St. Louis government land office, and pursued suits against the Federal government before dying in 1855.

July 1813: Harrison's Secret Report to the Secretary of War

A 5.5 inch howitzer.

One of many interesting items from Logan Esarey, ed. Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison, volume 2. William Henry Harrison goes into a lot of detail about the defenses of Fort Meigs. Counter to what some histories claim, he had only a weak force (mostly the 27th US Infantry, newly recruited in Ohio) with him before several regiments of regulars and militia arrived at his fall-back position at Seneca Town. Note the use of 24-pounder cannonballs recovered from the earlier British bombardment as makeshift ammunition for the two 5.5-inch howitzers present at the Fort.

Wounded at Fort Meigs

An excerpt from my book project regarding treatment of wounded in the aftermath of the siege of Fort Meigs:

The Camp

In the days after the siege was lifted at Fort Meigs, soldiers spent most of their time putting up tents, erecting shelter for the wounded and burying the dead. There were at least 189 wounded men. For days during the bombardment these men had lay in the open, lacking shelter from both the rain and enemy shells. Now the guns were removed from the blockhouses, and the wounded were carried in. When floor space ran out, canvas tents were placed around the buildings for makeshift hospitals. A muster roll of the garrison that month listed only two surgeons and four surgeons mates present for duty. Even this small medical staff was unskilled and inexperienced. Captain Wood wrote that the Northwest Army medicos were “a young, inexperienced set of men, with nothing but the title of surgeon to recommend them, or to give them a claim to employment, and the principal part of them had been picked up here and there among the militia, wherever a person could be found with a lancet in his pocket.”

In the Petersburg Volunteers, Private Alfred Lorraine's company, 31 men had been wounded during the siege--of whom six would die of their injuries in the coming days. As he and his messmates visited their comrades in the hospitals, Lorraine noticed what may have been a case of shell shock in one of the experienced officers of the army: “in consequence of the irritation of his nerves by the roar of artillery, the bursting of bombs, the pain of his wounds, and his feverish condition, he had become as timid and as peevish as a child, and was constantly apprehensive of being torn to pieces by a cannon-ball.”

Private Jack Shore, a merchant captain and cousin of General Harrison, had been wounded by a small splinter when the cannon he was serving on was dismounted. “The wound was considered unimportant, and was slightly bandaged. However, in a few hours it became distressingly painful, and he retired to the hospital.” The man was stricken with the bacteria  Clostridium tetani—tetanus, colloquially known as lockjaw. 

A contagion that naturally occurs in soil, tetanus is usually contracted through deep wounds—such as those received from shell fragments or  debris during the artillery bombardment of the fort.1 As the infection develops, the bacteria produce a toxin called tetanospasmin which blocks signals from the central nervous system to the muscles. The patient is stricken with severe muscle spasms, powerful enough to tear muscles or even fracture the spine. The spasms can also block air passages, causing brain damage or asphyxiation. According to modern statistics, one in four untreated cases of tetanus result in death. 

For the early 19th century soldiers at Fort Meigs, survival was even less likely: “He was now suffering in the last stage of lock-jaw. In his spasmodic agony, the smoke of his torment literally rose in a mist from his blanket.” Major Amos Stoddard, who had been lightly wounded by a shell fragment on the first day of the bombardment, contracted tetanus and finally died on May 11. Like most officers and enlisted men who died on campaign, Stoddard's effects were sold off to raise money for his next-of-kin. The Major himself was buried near the Grand Battery where he had been wounded, although the exact location is still unclear.

Shortly after the British departure, the garrison sent out a scouting party to search the enemy campsite and the neighborhood of Dudley's defeat. They found fresh graves as well as unburied corpses near the “slaughter pen” at Fort Miami. Although the British had reported making a clean and unchallenged getaway, the campsite was littered with “a huge quantity of shot and shells” as well as an entire sling carriage—a wheeled carrier for large artillery barrels. Forty-five of Dudley's men were found dead, missing their scalps. The colonel's mutilated body was found nearby.

More than dead men had lingered in the wake of the British retreat: on May 14 three British soldiers came into the fort. “They state that the British left them behind, but I expect that they have deserted, but don't like to own it.” Other parties scoured the woods to recover cannon balls thrown by the fort's guns. Cushing and a dozen of his soldiers on one such errand encountered a surviving Kentuckian-- “...a man came to us who was taken by the Indians on the day of the battle; he was taken to Brownstown and he and one other made their escape from that place, but the other got shot at the River Raisin by an Indian.” The garrison's patrols continued to find bodies from the fight for several weeks afterward.

Damage Report at Fort Meigs

Another letter describing the aftermath of the Siege of Fort Meigs, 24 May 1813: the British claimed that the lack of damage to the stockades and other wooden structures was due to their being built out of green wood which the hot shot wouldn't burn. This one was written to Governor Return Jonathan Meigs Jr.

Vermillion May 24th 1813
Sir
There being no mail from Fort Meigs to Delaware since the siege was raised, I omitted writing from thence - I was at the Fort three days the damage done to the fort by the enemies shot and shell was scarcely preceptable - fatigue parties were daily employed in cutting up stumps filling of holes trenching the [illeg.] &c; cleaning the camp. General Clay was very sick the the Pleurisy -- the Command devolved of Colonel Miller who appears to be a very active officer. No enemy to be heard of in that quarter Numbers of the wounded had died & it was thought that several more would die - Officers & men appeared in good Spirits & ready for another attack if the British & Indians wish to return.
I hope another stroke at Malden will finish British influence over the Indian tribes in the Northwest.
Accept Dear Sir the affectionate regards Of your old friend &c; humble Servant,
Joseph Badgry

The Aftermath of Fort Meigs

A letter from General Duncan McArthur to Senator Thomas Worthington, 22 May 1813:

Fruit hill May 22nd 1813
Dear Sir,
On last evening I returned from my tour to the West. I set out before you left home with the view of attending to the recruiting service, in the lower end of the state, agreeable to my instructions from the secy of war. On my arrival at Urbana I recd. intelligence that the Cannonading was kept up at Camp Meigs on the 4th, and that no person could pass out or into the Fort. I immediately consulted the militia officers and principal persons in Champaign and Green, on the subject of attempting to raise a volunteer mounted corps, for the purpose of relieving Genl. Harrison, this place was agreed upon and in two days collected and prepared for tile field 331 men about 260 of whom were mounted. Our object was to unite with the forces under Governor Meigs from the Scioto and upper end of the state; at, or near Fort Findlay, and then force our way into Camp Meigs. I dispatched expresses, both to the governor and Genl. Harrison, &etc, at the place where I expected to meet the troops from the Scioto, I recd orders from Genl. Harrison to return with the troops which had put themselves under my command and dismiss them at Urbana
when the frontier inhabitants who went with me were about leaving home, many of them expressed an anxiety to have some of those Indians, who reside on our borders and who profess friendship, along with us, by way of security for the good behavior of those who were left at home. consequently I invited a few of those Indians to accompany us. they at first professed a willingness to do so, and promised to meet us at Solomon's Town, as we passed on our way. When we arrived at the place appointed no Indians met with us.
I directed the men to march on, and turned out to inquire as to the cause why the Indians did not come on agreeably to promise  They apologized and said they were not ready but would overtake us in two days. I then followed the detachment and overtook them at McArthur Camp then proceeded with the men to the neighbourhood of. Findlay and (after receiving Genl Harrison's orders) returned in five days but not an Indian had followed us agreeably to promise. We understand however, that several of their young men disappeared about the time our troops marched, and had not returned, the last account we heard from their camp.
From the disposition that many of those pet Indians evinced during the siege of Camp Meigs, we have good reason to believe that they are only waiting to join the strongest party.
Many of the inhabitants have already fled, and the breaking up of the Northwestern frontier has only been prevented by the military movements of last week. The inhabitants are not only alarmed at the conduct of the Indians, but are extremely jealous of the agents who have the management of Indian affairs and reside on the frontiers. they cannot bear to hear of removing the friendly Indians, within the settlements, as they must either change their residence, or lose their appointments. It is the unanimous wish of all, that you should see the president and secretary of war on this subject and do all in your power to save the lives of the people and the frontier from breaking.
respectfully yours
Duncan McArthur
The frequent calls on the militia of Ohio operates much against the recruit- ing service, whilst from one to two hundred dollars is given for a substitute for a few months we cannot expect to enlist men to advantage., I am confident that we could raise volunteers to any number, if they could chose their officers and be immediately employed in active service
D McA
PS The Kentucky troops who were taken at the Rapids are passing this every day. Nothing can equal the barbarous treatment which they received after they were made prisoners. More were killed after they surrendered than there were before and all striped naked and those who survived sent off naked and without provisions.

D McArthur

Letter of General Lewis Cass to Senator Worthington, 24 May 1813:

Near Zanesville May 24th 1813.
Dear Sir,
The particulars of our late alarm and its result you have doubtless learned ere this. I advanced with the troops as far as Lower Sandusky, where meeting Gen. Harrison, we found our farther progress unnecessary.
Mr Dillon of Belmont is anxious to have the appointment of Asst Depy Quarter Master General. I intended to have written to the Secy of war upon the subject, but the multiplicity of his avocations deterred me. I did not wish unnecessarily to trouble him and was confident your personal influence were you disposed to exert it, would have more effect than anything I could say. Unless I am much deceived Dillon would make a zealous active and effi- cient officer. I should be much pleased to see him appointed.
With respect to the Marshal's office I only wait to see my appointment confirmed, if it is to be done, and to see the probable result of the present attempt for peace, before I resign it. I do not wish to thrown myself out of it unnecessarily. My office of Major General I shall also resign.
Although I never intended nor do now intend to make arms my profession, yet I refer it wholly to you whether it is better for me to resign the office of Marshal. I shall be guided wholly by your judgment. Should it be necessary you can say I will resign it, and I will do it immediately. But if it be not necessary I do not wish to do it at present. The recruiting business advances rapidly. We have nearly 600 men enlisted east of the Scioto.
I shall be glad to learn our prospects as it respect peace With sincere esteem I am Dr sir Ever yours
Lew Cass
P.S. On looking back, perhaps I have not been sufficiently explicit upon the subject of the Marshals office. The fact is I do not at present wish to resign it. But if it be judged improper to hold a military appointment con- joined with it, I will do it. L.C.

First Siege: Memorial Day Weekend at Fort Meigs

This year's First Siege weekend was at its customary three-day Memorial weekend dates. Here's a reenactor's view of the action:

 Experienced reenactors know to take shade where they can find it. Our regular infantry company grabbed a nice spot to wait out the initial probe of the light infantry towards some suspected enemy positions.

 The regular Rifles and Volunteers with the battalion colors, eager for action, stayed out in the sun a bit longer than we.
Eventually most of them came and joined us. "Hurry up and wait" is usually the order of the day while skirmish lines and artillery exchange pot shots.

 Price's Co, Light Artillery, wait to get into action.

 The scene inside the fort as civilians stroll over to see the ruckus unfolding along the south wall.

We had enough time to sit for a portrait. That's me at left, with a volunteer in the blue frock and regular rifleman to the right.

The survivors of Dudley's Defeat straggle into line. We were complimented on how thoroughly we bungled the operation.

As a rule, flintlock weapons tend to be temperamental and have good and bad days, depending on the humidity, fouling on the lock, and the sharpness and size of the flint. My musket, for once, was going off every time I loaded and pulled the trigger. I had chosen the magic flint! Even though we were supposed to lose, and most of my platoon went down with imaginary wounds, I kept at it until the barrel and lock became too hot to handle (when you see a leather sling on a musket, it's best use is as a potholder-- the barrel isn't red hot but it will scorch like a simmering tea kettle!).

We were surrounded and the gig was up, so at last I took a hit and staggered to my knees with a non-fatal wound. Another private from the 17th Infantry spotted me and helped me off to safety. We were the only survivors of the regular company... We made it back to the motley ranks of the volunteers, who promptly surrendered. It was that or run off into the parking lot.

Our formidable foes, a Centre company (I think) of the hard bitten 1st Battalion, 41st Regiment of Foot. We overran some grasshopper guns representing the Indian battery, but had to relinquish the gunners you see at right in exchange for our parole.

Back Rank! You don't get as good a view of the action being stuck in the back rank of an infantry company, but the problem soon solves itself as enemy musketballs find their mark. In the dense woods we happened to form a 2x3 column that could fire in three ranks by the flank (forwards) or by two ranks to the front (right face). It's hard to explain to non-infantrymen, but great for close action so long as the front two guys remember to kneel when firing. Otherwise, as period tactician William Duane noted, you stand a fair chance of the third rank man blowing off the head of his front rank file mate.

 On Saturday evening, we call off the war for the night and have a hoe-down on the most convenient dance floor to be found: the Grand Battery.

 My musket exacted a bitter price for working flawlessly for three days straight: I burned my hands in the first fight, split my thumb open on the flint in the second, and bled profusely. The situation called for a decidedly non-period remedy.

 Memorial Day itself is considerably more laid-back. Most First Siege participants go home (Canada has a different Memorial Day weekend) and we have a ceremony midday to honor the dead.

A stack of arms. Muskets have the amazing capacity for self-storage as long as you have the other two musket owners present again when you need to retrieve your portion of the tripod.

Big bugs and Understrappers in the Garrison

Fort Meigs, looking towards the gate between blockhouses 6 and 7.

From the Orderly Book of Colonel James Mills' 1st Regiment, 3rd Division Ohio Militia, stationed at Fort Meigs in 1813:

Camp Meigs June 21st 1813. 

Charges and Specifications exhibited by Col. James Mills... against Lieut. Jacob Vance... in Capt. Patrick Shaw's Company... 

Charge--Disobidience of orders
1st Specification: Opening a gate of this garrison between block house No. 6 and No. 7 at or about 7 o'clock on or about the 3rd day of May in a time of extreme danger when the garrison was besieged by the enemy, and at the same time going out himself with the gate open, and letting others likewise go out. 

2nd Charge-- Ungentlemanly and unofficerlike conduct
1st Specification: Using insolent and unbecoming language on or about the third day of May last after having been called back into the garrison, and reprimanded by the Commander in Chief, viz. in saying that he would open the gates when he pleased and go out in spite of General Harrison or the Devil or words tantamount...

(Court martial of Ensign William Dill, June 21st)

Charge-- Ungentlemanly and unofficerlike conduct being exhibited by Ensign William Dill to Sergt. Major John McCloskey-- in saying to the sergt. Majr. when he was in the discharge of his official duties that there were so many big bugs and under-strappers in the Garrison that the men don't know what they should do, or words tantamount, implying that the Sergt. Majr. was an under-strapper who ought not to be obeyed or respected.

(note from Colonel Mills to Ensign Dill)

It appears that you have been guilty of un-gentleman and un-officerlike conduct in your treatment to the Sergt. Majr. John McCloskey this morning you will therefore consider yourself suspended from any command in the company until you be reported fit for duty and will do well henceforward to be prudently reserved in your Language.

The Critical Moment at the Bombardment of Fort Meigs

On the 3d, at 10 o'clock A.M, our apprehensions respecting the enemy's crossing the river were completely realized, for it was now discovered by the fire of three or four pieces that he was already on our left, with his cannon stuck in the edge of a small ravine.
From a few of the first shots some damage was sustained but the best position had not yet been taken, and by setting two or three 18-pounders in the "bush" (this was called the Indian Battery) we were soon able to silence them for a time... In the course of the third day we had two or three dragoons killed, several slightly touched, and a number of horses killed. In fact, it seemed to be particularly an unfortunate day for the cavalry.

--Eleazar Darby Wood, Captain, U.S. Corps of Engineers

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The Siege of Fort Meigs, 201 Years Ago

On May 1, 1813 British siege guns, heavy-calibre 24- and 12-pounders as well as 8-inch and 5.5-inch howitzers and mortars opened fire on the wooden stockades at Fort Meigs. For a week, the American fortified camp resisted the bombardment in a siege that presaged the muddy trenches and bunkers of Petersburgh, Virginia and the Western Front. 

Letter from General Harrison to Governor Meigs:

Head Quarters Camp Meigs 28 April 1813:
Dr Sir:The enemy are determined to put their threats in execution, their columns are now in sight and their Gun Boats with their artillery &c. about two miles from us and the woods on both sides of the river are full of Indians. I send this by a confidential person, Mr. William Oliver, who will take it on as far as he thinks proper.Be pleased to write immediately to the Governor of Kentucky--my men are in fine spirits, do not my dear sir doubt the results--the enemy little dream of the bitter pill I have prepared for them. In a little time I hope to be able to inform you of their complete discomfiture. The additional men whom you have ordered out were very acceptable.Yours truly,William Henry Harrison

His Excellency Govr. Meigs

Letter from General Vincent's HQ to General Proctor:

28 April 1813

 We look with confident hope for the report of your success--and brigadier-general Vincent, (who is here, and by whose directions I am writing to you,) has desired me to impress upon you, what essential aid could be rendered to us by the timely arrival here of five hundred Indians; should you have secured Harrison's army, it is the brigadier-general's desire, and in which I most earnestly join, that you forward to us in the king's vessels to Point Abino, that number with as great expedition as possible. In the event of you having captured Harrison's army, you will see the impossiblity under existing circumstances of our taking charge of them here, and therefore brigadier-general Vincent requests you will make the best arrangements in your power to dispose of them, either by securing them at one or the other of your own posts, or passing them on parole into the United States by way of Cleveland or other routes, as you may find expedient; the latter line of conduct is perhaps the most preferable, on account of the state of your supplies of provisions.Sincerely wishing every success, and hoping to send you, and receive from you, good accounts, I have the honor to be, etc.

 Christo Myers, Col. Act. Q.M.G.

 Brig. Gen Proctor

The Mail Horses Reached Us By Swimming-- Captain Joseph Wheatons Letter to the President

Last month, trolling through the Madison Papers digitized at loc.gov, I found an interesting and lengthy series of letters from Captain Joseph Wheaton, quartermaster to General William Henry Harrison's Northwest Army in 1812 and 1813, to President James Madison. Wheaton apparently had some ties to the administration, or else wanted, Frank Underwood -like, to increase his political clout. Wheaton sought to establish himself as nothing less than a back channel conduit for detailed information about the leadership of Harrison, an ambitious and politically connected operator who had all but maneuvered himself into command of the northwest frontier. Or... Was Wheaton a spy planted by Madison, to keep an eye on the most expensive land campaign in the history of the young United States? The truth remains unclear, but these letters and Wheaton's later appeal to Congress are a valuable, if not exactly unbiased, account of the American war effort in Ohio. Wheaton would later be singled out by Harrison for blame when his operations went tens of thousands of dollars over budget.

This particular letter is valuable because it offers an eyewitness account of the building of Fort Meigs and the tough climate and geography that the soldiers had to contend with.

Camp Miami Rapids

March 12. 1813

Excellent Sir. Wheaton, Jos.

It being a severe snowstorm after a remarkable rain which continued all night no fatigue party being ordered out my calls and duties are lessened by the inclimency of the weather and having a more leisure (illg.) I am disposed to devote that hour to you with such observations on as (illg.) in a hasty moment.

Our garrison is situated at the foot of the rapids on this river 13 miles from the entrance at the lake, about two and a half miles above the fort built by the British in 1794 or 5 when Governor Simcoe had the administration of Upper Canada, on an elevated bank of the river with a natural ravine by a creek at the N by last angle of the work and a considerable deep hollow on its East by S point. The W.S.W end is a continuance of the natural bank of the river. The ground is well chosen and easy of defense, when the works are completed. The opposite bank is of an equal height and at the distance of about ¾ of a mile. South East of us and distinct from the works is a vast large flat country not a hill or valley to Carrying [Portage] River not less than 15 miles and the ground though heavily timbered is at this season of the year a continuous swamp to that river, and with little difference to the Sandusky Rapids which is I believe to be thirty two miles. Lower Sandusky fort is four miles down that river after we reach its banks. The Sandusky is a rocky rapid stream, boats may go down it about 40 miles when the waters are high but cannot return. The road to upper Sandusky is of much the same description of land to Portage or Carrying river. Continued and with little hilly or rolling land to the Tomarta river (?), and to Sandusky prairies, which are very large plains and excellent for early pastorage (grazing land?). The deer are plenty. All this land which I here mention between the road which led to Lower and upper Sandusky and to Carrying River is denominated the Black Swamp and is now about or quite impassible. Yet the mail horses reached us twice, on Monday last and yesterday, by swimming.

The ice in this river is now breaking up, and will soon unfold all its beauties, which are considerable, and will be very interesting when it permits us to partake of the excellent fish which are said to be in great abundance. The weakened situation of the ice and the probability of our not being (encountered?) induced Genl. Harrison to permit his Indian and white guides and spies to return home.

The idle curiosity of our young troops, the state of insubordination and the impossibility to induce them to profit by advice. Some of these men trooped over the river notwithstanding the difficulty on rotten ice scattered shooting along the bank and in the skirt of the woods when the Indians sprung on a Lieut of the Pen. Militia, Robert Walker, shot scalped, and put him under the ice. A party went out the next morning (trailed?), by the blood raised him and brought his body into the camp and buried him. Several Indians fresh tracks have been seen about 300 yards of our picquets, followed to the ice about one mile below our works, where they were tracked crossing the river. We may expect when the snow is gone to have enough of them hovering around us between this and both the Sanduskies unless were are enabled to advance upon the enemy—which I ardently hope we may be enabled to do. Genl. Harrison left us as I mentioned in my last, to hasten on I presume reinforcements or reliefs for the Virginia and Pa Brigades, and to have forage sent down the river by water from the country above us when the ice is gone.

Although as I stated there is abundance at Upper Sandusky of forage yet as there is a young man at that fort Wm. Eubank, of no military experience and little foresight & deputy quarter master too. I could not prevail on him to send forward the forage after the 13 day of February when I left him. Although I presented to him in the sharpest colors the immediate necessity to secure a sufficiency, and to send on the remainder of the 12 prs and sixes with the carriage guns, and the ammunition while the teams were coming on from Franklinton daily and while Carrying River was fast bound in ice, and the roads firm. Yet this young man has not sent forward any except a few bushels, and we are now out. I have just signed the last of the forage returns, which ends all our forage. Nor any of the guns, except one eighteen pounder and a howitzer and that not until a positive order was sent from Genl. Harrison.

Our garrison is not yet fully picketed, not a gate made, and none of our block or store houses finished I know not how I shall manage for want of teams. General Harrison is a very active man, a good deal of mind and the best experienced soldier I know of, and wants for nothing but an opportunity of regular service in a well organized body of troops to make him one of our best Generals. His indefatigable industry, his labors and zeal instill him to every (performance?), and sure I am that he will not disapoint the government or people if he can have troops that will obey, and as sure I am had it not been for the unfortunate haste of Genl. Winchester to pluck the laurels from the brow which is yet I hope destined to wear them, the government and people would have this (illg.) realized all they wish for in Upper Canada.

When ever I write you Sir it gives me much pain because I know I am not the proper officer from whom you should receive all communications, yet in hopes I may sometimes, throw a ray of light which might escape others I cannot restrain my pen.

With the homage of my heart,

I am faithfully

Excellent Sir

Your Obedient Servant

Joseph Wheaton

Life in Early Ohio-- This Weekend

This coming weekend Fort Meigs is hosting an event called "Life in Early Ohio." It showcases the lost arts and trades that were commonplace in the early Republic, such as blacksmithing, tinsmithing, leather work, laundry, cooking, farming, woodcraft, and more. These trades were not only essential for life in the settled, agrarian areas in the young United States (even urban areas like New York City were close to the country-- Greenwich Village was still actually a outlying farm village) and the frontiers of the West (meaning everything "over the mountains" from the eastern seaboard); at Fort Meigs itself, for a time the largest population center in Ohio, skilled trades and crafts were essential for preserving the army. 

You can find more information, including a schedule of events here. As usual, the Fort's garrison will give demonstrations of musketry, rifles, and artillery as well as camp life.

I'll be there too, probably keeping an eye on the stores in the Quartermaster's storehouse and handing out receipts for things like boxes of musket cartridges, a delivery of tomahawks and "scalping knives" for the army, and the paid services of volunteer express riders.