Upcoming Event: 1812 Camp at the Orange Johnson House

Once again, I'm helping to organize an 1812 militia camp at the Orange Johnson House in Worthington, Ohio. If you're a local history buff or just curious, feel free to stop on by and learn some more about Central Ohio's part in the war. If you are a reenactor or living historian and wish to participate, you can email info@worthingtonhistory.org for more details.

War of 1812

Muster and Encampment

Saturday May 30th, 10 am - 5 pm & Sunday May 31st, 11 am - 5 pm

The Orange Johnson House, 956 High Street

Step back in time as re-enactors bring the War of 1812 to life on the grounds of the Orange Johnson House and the Village Green.

Visitors to the Orange Johnson House grounds will be able to explore an 1812 camp, and also tour the home with a costumed docent as part of the admission. Come watch the militia march to the Village Green to practice musketry!

Admission: Adults $5

Children 6 -16 $3

Children under 5, Free

Organized by the Worthington Historical Society

Worthingtonhistory.org

Shipbuilding on the Ohio River 1798-1816

Most people who live in the states bordering the Ohio River think of themselves as living in a landlocked part of the country. However, this isn't true. The industrial centers along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers have a tradition of shipbuilding going back as far as European settlement. Even as Lewis and Clark stopped at Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh to have a keel boat built in the boatyards there, the town was turning out a large number of seagoing craft. Here's a list from the endnotes to Leland D. Baldwin, The Keelboat Age on Western Waters (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980) pp. 224-226 n. 11 and 18. 

As you can see, the numbers fell off sharply after 1807, when the Embargo Act was passed forbidding all exports of American goods. The Act was repealed in 1809, but the succeeding Non-Intercourse Act and the subsequent War of 1812-15 dealt harsh blows to the American merchant fleet. After 1816, shipbuilding resumed, but now the yards were busy turning out a new kind of craft, the river steamboat (the first of which plied the waters of the Ohio in 1811).

By comparison, the two war brigs built at Erie in 1813 were 300 tons each. East Indiamen, the "bulk carriers" of the time, were generally 1100-1400 tons. Most of these ships spent their careers on the high seas, since the shallow Falls of the Ohio at Louisville Kentucky made upstream traffic the domain of nimble keelboats and shallow drafted steamboats. However, the USS Senator Ross was a galley assigned to the rivers: her service history seems to have been forgotten.

Seagoing Vessels Built in Pittsburgh:

Name	Class	Tonnage	Date
President Adams	Gunboat		1798
Senator Ross	Ditto		1799
Dean	Brig		1803
Amity	Schooner	103-120	“
Pittsburgh	Ship	250-270	“
?	Schooner	120	“
?	Brig or Schooner	120	1804
Nanina	Brig	132-200	“
Louisiana	Brig or Ship	169-300	“
Conquest	Schooner	126	“
Allegheny	Schooner or Brig	150	“
General Butler	Ship or Brig	400	1805
Fayette	Brig		“
Western Trader	Ship	400	1806
Black Walnut	Brig		“
Betsy O’Hara	Brig		“
?	Brig	160	1810

Seagoing Vessels Built in Marietta, Ohio:

Name	Class	Tonnage	Year
St. Clair	Brig	110	1801
Muskingum	Ship	230	“
Eliza Green	Brig	126	“
Dominic	Brig	100-140	1802
Indiana	Schooner	75	“
Marietta	Brig	150	“
Mary Avery	Brig	150	“
Whitney	Schooner	75	1803
McGrath	Schooner	75	“
Orlando	Brig	150	“
Galett	Brig	185	“
Minerva	Brig		“
Temperance	Ship	230	1804
Ohio	Brig	150	“
Nonpareil	Schooner	70	“
Perseverance	Brig	160	1805
Rufus King	Ship	300	1806
John Atkinson	Ship	320	“
Tuscarora	Ship	320	“
Sophia Green	Brig	100-144	“
?	Gunboat		“
?	Gunboat		“
Francis	Ship	350	1807
Robert Hall	Ship	300	“
Rufus Putnam	Brig	300	“
Collatta	Brig	140	“
Belle	Schooner	100-144	1808
Adventurer	Schooner	60	1809
Maria	Schooner	75	1812
Maria	Schooner	50	1816

A Close Call for the American Fleet on Lake Erie

Map of modern Erie, PA, showing how narrow the harbor opening is behind Presque Isle. 

Most people are familiar with the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, but few know about the close call Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry had in getting his ships out of their base at Erie, Pennsylvania. This is from the recollections of Sailing Master Stephen Champlin, who was in command of the gunboat USS Scorpion during the campaign. It was printed in Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society vol. 8 (1905).

Model of a large warship fitted with camels. When pumped out these acted as gigantic "water wings", lifting the ship enough to get it over shallow sandbars, etc.

I arrived at Erie, Penn., the station of the United States fleet on Lake Erie, July 24th, 1813, with a draft of seventy men and boys of the most ordinary kind and nearly all new hands. By the almost incredible exertions of the few officers and men upon that station, the vessels composing our little fleet were nearly ready for service. Upon my arrival with recruits, Commodore Perry commenced operations for crossing the bar, upon which there were only four feet of water. The enemy's fleet, at this time, lay off the harbor, with the intention to cut off all supplies from our squadron. A small battery with two or three 12-pounders was therefore erected so as to command the entrance of the harbor as well as to give protection to the vessels that should first cross the bar.

At daylight, on the 1st of August, the Scorpion, under my command, with some of the other small vessels, by lightening and warping, were got over. The Niagara and one of the small vessels were then placed as near to the bar as possible, to protect the others while on it. A few guns were also left upon the Lawrence, to enable her to make some defense in case of an attack. With all the exertion we could make we were nearly two days in getting the Lawrence over, and had we been attacked, the issue must have been most disastrous. Indeed, while she was still on the bar, we discovered the enemy standing in with a leading breeze; but, by renewed and most unparalleled exertions, the Lawrence was got into deep water at 9 or 10 am, and at 12 pm her guns were aboard, and she was ready for action. 

To gain time in this emergency, Commodore Perry ordered the Ariel, Lieutenant Packet, and the Scorpion, commanded by myself, to get under weigh and stand out towards the enemy and annoy them at long shot. We dashed directly at them. Upon seeing the boldness with which they were approached, they changed their course and stood towards Long Point. Lake in the afternoon we were recalled. Every officer and man in the squadron was engaged all night in getting the fleet ready for action. At 3 am the signal was made to get under weigh, and at daylight the whole squadron was in motion. Although, for three days, neither officers nor men had had any sleep, except such as could be snatched upon deck, the greatest anxiety was manifested to pursue the enemy. After a cruise of twenty-four hours off Long Point, without getting sight of the enemy, the fleet returned to Erie for the purpose of taking in supplies for the army under Gen. Harrison.

And thus, the hunted became the hunters...

The Battle of Fort Stephenson-Part Three

[The third part of my series on the Battle of Fort Stephenson, which was fought at modern-day Fremont Ohio on August 3rd, 1813.]

The famous cannon today.

The old dent on the breech which allowed Thomas L. Hawkins to identify the French and Indian War-era gun after the war.

...At about 5pm the time of decision arrived. Croghans men on the walls glimpsed scarlet coats through the gunsmoke, but not until they were only 20 paces from the stockade did the Americans spot a massive, close-packed column of 350 Englishmen. The column was headed by light infantry company of the regiment. Croghan's men were ready for them. Their loopholes erupted with musketry and the sudden rain of small arms fire staggered the column for a moment. Lt. Colonel William Short, who was heading up the column, quickly rallied his men and urged them to follow him forward into the ditch. Lacking scaling ladders and faced with the bayonets on the intact wooden stockade, Short and his men tried to hack the timber down with axes, even as the defenders continued to shoot down into their crowded ditch at point-blank range.

            At this moment, the port-hole that no one had been able to see from the British lines creaked open, and a black muzzle rolled out. There must have been a flash of light and flame, and the searing streaks of hundreds of iron slugs, but most of the Englishmen in the ditch had no time to see or hear it. A six-pounder cannon could be reloaded just as fast as a musket, and within tens of seconds a second blast swept the ditch. Within minutes, every man who had entered the ravine was either wounded or dead. The survivors of the column fled to safety.         Colonel Short was dead, as was Lieutenant J. G. Gordon who was badly wounded by a large caliber ball from a wall piece, and was hacking at the pickets with his sword when the same gun blew his brains out.[1] Major Adam Muir, who had led many of the British operations over the past year, was badly wounded but dragged from the scene by Indians. On the opposite side of the fort, another infantry column led by Lt. Colonel Wharburton advanced, but raked with rapid musket fire and realizing the main attack had failed, these men too retreated back towards safety. Within 30 minutes, the battle for Fort Stephenson was over. The Americans had lost a total of seven men slightly wounded, in addition to their earlier fatality.

A Missed Opportunity?

            The remaining British forces embarked and sailed from Lower Sandusky after dusk. A couple of British deserters made it into the stockade at 3am to inform Major Croghan of their retreat. General Procter's small western forces lost, according to his account, a total of 26 dead, 41 wounded, and 29 captured soldiers in the attack.[2] He blamed the Indians and the officers of the Indian Department for forcing him to attack. “Impossibilities being attempted, failed,” he later reported, and added that Croghans men had put up “the severest fire I ever saw” on the attacking columns. The Indians, who had been expected to support the assault, faded away as they saw it fail.[3]

            Many of the attackers were trapped in the ditch, either too wounded to escape or pinned down by the American fire. While the battle was still ongoing, the garrison cut gaps in the picketing to aid the mass of wounded men lying only a few feet from the walls. As August 3 dawned, the Americans collected 70 muskets and several sets of pistols from around the fort, as well as a boat laden with clothing and military stores, left behind by the British in their hasty retreat. Croghan set his surgeon to assisting the wounded as best he could.

            General Procter had left the neighborhood of Fort Stephenson so fast that some of his men, who had lost their way after the failed assault were picked up later near Lake Erie by General Harrison’s Indian scouts.[4] Procter had good reason to move quickly. Many Americans in Harrison's army saw an opportunity to counterattack and trap the British force even as they were attacking Fort Stephenson. The phlegmatic Virginian ordered his men to stand fast, to their chagrin. He awaited the arrival of 250 mounted volunteers from the Ohio settlements. Moreover, there was every evidence that his nemesis Tecumseh remained perched in the Black Swamp, waiting for Harrison and his untrained recruits to bungle through.

            As soon as he had word on August 3 that the British were gone, Harrison now changed his mind and rode out at the head of Colonel Ball's dragoons, anxious to catch them before they escaped to the lake. Generals McArthur and Cass followed with their infantry regiments. It soon became apparent that the main force had already returned to Malden, and ever fearful of an Indian ambush, the general ordered most of his forces back into camp at Fort Seneca.

            There remained for the Americans the problem of the wounded. On visiting Fort Stephenson the day after the attack, General Harrison set his hospital surgeon to treating them, including many British soldiers whose condition was quite serious. General Procter sent Lt. John Le Breton of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment with a surgeon to the fort under a flag of truce.[5] When they arrived on August 10, Major Croghan forwarded Procter's letter appealing to General Harrison to allow his men medical attention to Fort Seneca. Procter also asked that his non-wounded prisoners be released on parole.

            Harrison, who may have been piqued that Procter was implying the Americans would not treat wounded British prisoners with humanity, replied curtly that the British soldiers were being treated by his own surgeon “according to those principles which are held sacred in the American army.”[6] The Americans had seen their wounded abandoned and massacred by their opponents. One of Harrison's own surgeons had been imprisoned by Procter himself in a similar situation, after his guide had been murdered by one of Procter's allies. The unwritten rebuke in Harrison's cordial note, sent back with Lt. Le Breton and the surgeon, must have been unmistakable.

            As the drama on the Sandusky concluded, word arrived for the Americans in camp at “Sink-a-Town” (Seneca Town) that Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry's squadron had  sortied from its shipyards and refuge behind Presque Isle at Erie, Pennsylvania. Perry's two 18-gun brigs had tipped the balance of power on Lake Erie solidly towards the Americans, and the British fleet had fled for safety in its own refuge on the Detroit River. The stage was set for the battle that would decide the campaign. It would be fought not in swamp or forest, but on the inland seas.

---

[1]Letter of W. B. T Webb, reprinted in Sandusky County Historical Society, History Leaflet No. 4 (September 1963) (http://www.sandusky-county-scrapbook.net/FtSteph/SoldLtr.htm accessed 6/2/14.)

[2]Alec R. Gilpin, The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest (East Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan State University Press, 1958), 207.

[3]MPHC 15, 347-48.

[4]Esarey, 523.

[5]Ibid., 518.

[6]Esarey, 521.