General McArthur in Cleveland, 1814

Brigadier General Duncan McArthur, future Ohio governor.

Cleveland July 28th 1814 

Sir, 

Two companies of the 19th Regt. arrived here from Zanesville on yesterday, and there being no water transportation they will (travel) tomorrow by land towards Erie. 

Col. Miller of the 17th* is at (Lower?) Sandusky with about 350 men and the British prisoners who were at Chillicothe. I have directed him to leave the prisoners at Sandusky, and to march his troops down the lake shore until he is met by vessels to take him on board. 

I rec’d a letter from Capt. Kennedy commanding the Erie fleet dated at the Town of Erie 14th Inst. from which I had reason to expect vessels ere this to take off the troops. I shall leave this in the morning for Erie, and shall continue to march the troops down the lake until they meet with vessels to take them on board. 

The latest accounts from Detroit state that Com. St. Clair (Captain Arthur Sinclair) passed into Lake Huron on 13th Inst.  

That on the Thames 40 of our militia had a skirmish with near 200 of the enemy supposed to be militia. The enemy fled immediately thinking they were attacked by a large force. Our party took a few prisoners and a stand of colors. It is also stated that the British have now a force at Long Point and are building boats at that place, or on some of the creeks, or inlets between there and Detroit.  

The communication by mail between the state of Ohio and Detroit is very tardy. Letters are frequently two weeks on the way between Detroit and Chillicothe. I am informed by the postmaster that the mail paper from this place to Washington City is four days. Would it not be well to establish a packet boat from this to Detroit? The earliest information relative to the movement in that quarter may be of the first importance. 

I have the honor to be Sir,  

Very respectfully, your Ob. St. 

Duncan McArthur 

Honorable John Armstrong 

Secretary of War 

* Colonel John Miller of Stuebenville Ohio had been commissioned Lt. Colonel of the 17th Infantry in March 1812, and promoted to Colonel of the 19th Infantry in July of that year. Since both regiments had companies serving in various places, he is best known for leading the combined companies of the 17th and 19th infantry, along with volunteers and Kentucky militia, in a successful charge against British batteries near Fort Meigs, May 5, 1813. When the 1813 one-year regiments of infantry from Ohio were consolidated into a new 19th Regiment, Colonel Miller was transferred back to the 17th Infantry in May 1814-- thus he is referred to here as the Colonel of the 17th again. Not to be confused with Colonel James Miller of New Hampshire, who as Lt. Colonel of the 5th Regiment led the 4th Infantry into action at Detroit, and later led the 6th Infantry at Fort George in 1813, and the 21st Infantry during the 1814 Niagara campaign where he coined the famous slogan "I'll Try, Sir." Colonel John Miller served as Governor of the Missouri Territory from 1837-1843. Brigadier General James Miller served as Governor of the Arkansas Territory from 1819-1825). The newspaper John Miller founded in Steubenville,in 1806, the Herald, still exists!