Fort Seneca and the War of 1812

From History of Seneca County from the Close of the Revolutionary War to July 1880 by William Lang (Springfield, Ohio: Transcript Printing Co., 1880) accessed on Ohio Memory (ohiomemory.org):

About the first of July, 1813, a detachment of men, under the command of Gen. Harrison, erected a stockade upon the west bank of the Sandusky river. within the present limits of Pleasant township, in this county to which was given the name of Camp Seneca.

It was situated upon a bank, about forty feet above the bed of the river, close to the old army road, and contained within its enclosure about one and one-half acres of ground. It was built nearly in the form of a square, surrounded by pickets of oak timber a foot in thick- ness and twelve feet high. Between this spot and the river are several springs of water, one of which was inside of the pickets.

On the east side were two rows of pickets, six feet apart, the space filled with earth. On the south was a single row of pickets. A little beyond this was a deep ravine. between which and the camp an embankment was thrown up, traces of which are still remaining. On the west was a single row of pickets, with a ditch about six feet deep and twelve feet wide. On the north there was also a deep ditch, with an embankment, upon the top of which were placed the pickets.

A blockhouse was erected at the southwest corner, sixteen feet high, and about twenty-five feet square, which has long since passed away . It consisted of large logs, with port-holes for cannon and small arms, and was located in such a manner as to completely command the ditch. There was a projection at the northeast corner, strongly picketed, used, perhaps, as a magazine; and two small blockhouses at each of the other corners, with port holes. The spot is one mile south of the northern boundary of Pleasant township, the section line between sections 8 and 9 running through it. There is a deep ravine on the south of the spot.

The town of Old Fort, Ohio is indeed one mile south of the Pleasant Township line.

(South of the site of Fort Seneca, in what is now downtown Tiffin, Ohio, stood another stockade called Fort Ball).

Nearly opposite, and west of the mouth of this stream, on the left bank of the river, where Lafayette street now strikes the same, is a large spring of excellent, cold water. This spring attracted the attention of Col. James V. Ball, when in 1813 he was about to build a stockade near the army road on the bank of the river, under instructions from General Harrison. A detachment of men, under the command of the Colonel, built the stockade and called it "Fort Ball."

...This camp was built as a temporary place of security in case of necessity, and as a magazine for supplies. It consisted of stakes a foot in thickness fixed in the ground, with old bayonets driven through them horizontally, near the tops. Against these logs were piled upon the outside, and over the logs dirt was thrown from a ditch, which surrounded the whole. There was room in the interior for five hundred men.

...While General Harrison was at Fort Seneca, he sent a detachment of men up the river to strengthen this camp. The soldiers were quartered here several days, during which time they were very short of provisions, and, being compelled to subsist on fish, a part stood guard while the rest were fishing, to protect them if necessary... Before the Battle of Fort Stephenson this detachment left for the Maumee, but the post was occupied occasionally until General Harrison left the country.

...The remains of several soldiers that had been buried near the fort were afterwards found in digging in the vicinity. One was exhumed last summer (1879?) when laying pipes for the water works in the street, about half way between the river and the stove works.