The battle at the cabin of
James Copus having taken place Tuesday morning,
Sept. 15, 1812, after which the pioneers fled to the
block-houses, the military expeditions forming in the
eastern part of the State hastened the time of their
departure to aid General Harrison, who was then
at Upper Sandusky awaiting the arrival of reinforcements
and army stores. About the twenty-fifth of
September, General Rezin Beall commenced to raise
a brigade of soldiers in the vicinity of New Lisbon,
Canton and the village of Wooster, with a view off
furnishing protection to the border settlers of Wayne
and Richland counties, as well as to aid General
Harrison in repelling British invasion. The
entire brigade was composed of about two thousand men.
A portion of the brigade, in detached companies, and
parts of companies, preceded, by some weeks, the advance
of the main army, to guard the block-houses of the
border settlers. Early in October, General
Beall with two regiments, commenced to advance.
The brigade had been a short time at Canton in
organizing. The route from Canton to the village
of Wooster, led through the forest, and was very rough.
When the army reached Wooster, where the advance had put
up a block-house, it was joined by two or three new
companies. From that point the army proceeded to
the west bank of the Killbuck and encamped over night,
cutting a path wide enough to permit the baggage-wagons
to pass. From thence, by the most direct route, a
trail was cut to Jeromes place, and the army
passed over it. After remaining in the vicinity of
the block-house one or two days, General Beall
crossed the Jerome fork, and his pioneers opened a path
along the old Wyandot trail, in a northwesterly
direction, to the banks of a small stream, where they
formed a camp. This location was subsequently
known as the Griffin farm. The camp receive
the name of "Mercer," in honor of Major Musser,
who commanded one of the regiments. The distance
of this camp from the present site of Jeromeville, was
about three miles. Here the army remained about
two weeks.
While encamped at Mercer, a ludicrous scene occurred
one night, from a false alarm. One of the guards,
Jacob Ostler, saw some object cautiously
approaching in the darkness, and immediately suspecting
"injuns," cried "halt." The invader ceased not to
advance slowly upon the guard. Suspecting the
insidious enemy, Mr. Ostler leveled his musket
and blazed away, and down tumbled the enemy~ The
whole camp was aroused at the report, and the cry "to
arms, to arms!" rang through the darkness.
Agitated and frightened soldiers expected momentarily to
hear the hideous yells of the red fiends of the forest,
and to feel their scalps disappearing in the hands of
the savages. While the soldiers were uttering
brief reflections of -- "Now I lay me down to sleep" -
the sentinels rushed in and reported the enemy upon
them! The drums beat to arms, horses neighed,
bugles sounded. The ground trembled with the dull
tread of squadrons. The order was given to "fire,"
and never before or since was such a noise and din heard
in Vermillion, as there was that eventful night.
The cavalry (old wagon horses) charged in the direction
of the supposed enemy, but finding no person or thing,
returned from the charge, and reported that the foe had
retreated; but when the first gray of morning appeared,
the outposts discovered that they had been firing upon a
herd of cattle belonging to the settlers, which had been
roaming through the woods, and had slaughtered
seventeen. This was afterward known among the
settlers as "The battle of the Cowpens"* It was
while General Beall tarried at this camp, that he
ordered the removal of the wife and daughter of
Baptiste Jerome to Urbana, where they soon died from
exposure.† This act
was deemed, at the time, extremely cruel, and not
demanded by the exigencies of the occasion. The
wife of Jerome was a full Indian; but had learned
the customs of the whites. The daughter was an
interesting girl of fourteen or fifteen.
From Camp Mercer, General Beall sent forward
twenty pioneers, well guarded, to cut a road along the
old Huron or Wyandot trail, through the north part of
Vermillion, the south part of Montgomery, and across
Milton, in a northwesterly direction into Richland
county, which, afterwards, was known as "Beall's trail,"
and was used for many years as a common highway by the
settlers. In about one month, the road was
completed through the present site of Olivesburgh to
Shenandoah, in Richland county.
In the meantime, General Beall moved forward,
and erected a camp on a small stream, a short distance
from the present site of Olivesburgh, which he called
Camp Whetstone, owing to the quality of the stone found
there, which made excellent whetstones. There he
remained about one week, and then moved forward to the
present site of Shenandoah. From thence, he turned
southwest about one and a half miles, and erected a camp
on a small stream. This he called Camp Council.
Here he awaited further orders from General Wadsworth,
who had rendezvoused at Cleveland. The army had
remained at Camp Council about six weeks, when one
evening a strange officer and his guard rode into the
camp. One of the guard, a Mr. Hackathorn,
at first refused to let him pass; but, on further
examination, the---------------
* Knapp's History, page 256.
† The weight of pioneer tradition says Captain
Douglas removed Jerome's wife and daughter
with the Greentown Indians, some weeks prior to the
arrival of General Beall.
Page 62 -
stronger turning out to be General Harrison,
let him and his guard pass in. His arrival was timely,
for the
soldiers of General Beall were in open
revolt. Their rations were about exhausted, and
the means of obtaining more, precarious; besides, the
time of heir enlistment was about to expire. Many
of them were making arrangements to return home.
Some of them had already packed their knapsacks with
clothing and a few rations, and were ready to march
away! General Harrison, the next
morning, ordered a parade of the army. A hollow
square was formed, around a huge stump, upon which the
general mounted, and addressed the disaffected troops.
He told them the dangers that environed the border
settlers and their helpless families, painted in vivid
colors the horrors of invasion by the savages, and
deprecated the conduct of the soldiers who would abandon
the settlements to the tomahawks of the ruthless foe.
One by one, the knapsacks disappeared from the backs of
the discontented soldiers; and, by the time he had
concluded his address, the army of General
Beall was ready to move forward, and endure all
manner of hardships, to shield the border settlements
from impending ruin.
From Camp Council General Beall proceeded
with his army to Camp Avery, which was located about six
miles above the mouth of the Huron river. Here he
was tried by court-martial for disobeying the orders of
General Wadsworth. This was about the
first of January, 1813. It seems that
General Wadsworth
outranked General
Beall, and had ordered him to rendezvous at
Cleveland instead of going the route he did.
General Beall believed he could render the
settlements on the branches of the Mohican more secure
by cutting his trail. Hence he refused to obey the
order of General
Wadsworth, and for
this he was court-martialed. Upon a full hearing
of the charges, General Beall was
acquitted. He was then ordered to reinforce
General Winchester who was then in the neighborhood
of the river Raisin, but only succeeded in reaching
Lower Sandusky, .where he was ordered to return to Camp
Avery and disband his army. The soldiers made
their way along the route of his advance to their homes
about Wooster, Canton, New Lisbon, and along the Sandy
and Tuscarawas rivers.*
EXPEDITION OF GENERAL
ROBERT CROOKS.
While Governor Meigs was exerting himself to obtain
troops to reinforce General Harrison m the
northwest, the war department at Washington city ordered
the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia, each to
dispatch two thousand men to aid General
Harrison. The order was promptly obeyed, and
the Pennsylvanians were placed under the command of
Brigadier General Robert
Crooks, and ordered to rendezvous at Pittsburgh,
and, as soon as equipped, to hasten to the relief of
General Harrison. The artillery and
army stores not being ready, General Crooks
was ordered to move as rapidly as possible by way of New
Lisbon, Canton, and Wooster, to Mansfield, and there
remain until the artillery and army stores should
arrive, under the direction of the quarter-master.
The brigade under the command of General Crooks
numbered about two thousand men - western
Pennsylvanians. The brigade moved slowly down the
west bank of the Ohio,from Allegheny City, some forty
miles, thence, turning wetward, moved on through New
Lisbon, Canton, and Wooster. In the meantime its
movements were much impeded by the rough roads, then
mere paths cut through the forest. The army was
put in motion about the middle of October, 1812, and
arrived in Wooster about three weeks after the departure
of General Beall to Jerome's place.
The train of wagons connected with General Crooks'
brigade numbered, as near as can be remembered, some
twenty-five or thirty six-horse teams, the wagons being
covered by canvas, and filled with army stores of all
kinds.
After halting a day or two at Wooster to repair broken
wagons and allow the jaded teams to rest, the brigade
was again put in motion. It reached the
block-house and log cabin, afterwards known as
Jerometown, in one day. Here the army of
General Crooks passed the Jerome fork and
turned to the southwest. The brigade passed up a small
stream, by what was afterwards known as the site of
Goudy’s mill, and commenced to cut a path, now known
as the “old Portage road.” The pioneers
cut the road along an old Indian trail, as far as the
Quaker springs, the first day, where General
Crooks and his brigade encamped for the night.
The next day the pioneers continued along the old trail,
in a southwest direction, cutting a path huge enough for
the teams to pass, reaching the deserted village of
Greentown in the evening, and the brigade coming up,
encamped there for the night. Nearly all the
Indian huts had been burned prior to this time, by order
of another command. At Greentown the brigade
crossed the Black fork, and proceeding southwest a short
distance, struck a new blazed road leading to the west.
The pioneers againkept in advance of the brigade,
cutting the road, filling up gulches, and preparing the
crossings over small streams until they reached the
cabin of David Hill, on the present site
of Lucas, where the brigade again encamped for the
night. The next morning the pioneers continued to
penetrate the forest, and in the afternoon reached the
present site of Mansfield, where they found two
block-houses, and a few cabins and dwelling houses.
In the evening General Crooks and his men
encamped on what is now the public square of Mansfield,
where he remained some weeks awaiting the arrival of the
quartermaster’s train. About the fifteenth of
December General Crooks was ordered to
proceed to Upper Sandusky to assist in fortifying that
point. The quartermaster had as yet failed to
reach Mansfield. General Crooks
moved forward under the guidance of Jacob
Newman, an old hunter and a citizen of the village,
to
Upper Sandusky.
About three weeks after the departure of General
Crooks and his brigade from Allegheny City,
Colonel James Anderson, acting quartermaster, was
ready to
---------------
*We are indebted for these details to
Patrick Murray, John Clay, Henry Gamble, Thomas Hewey
and Samuel White (all deceased), who were
soldiers under General Beall, and an interesting
History of Richland county now being published by
General R. Brinkerhoff.
Page 63 -
march en route to Mansfield and Upper Sandusky.
His command was composed of the following officers:
Captain Gratiot, engineer of equipments;
Captain Paul Anderson, forage-master; Captain
Wheaton, pay-master; Captain Johnston and
ninety men, and Lieutenant Walker,* with forty
men, as a guard.
Colonel Anderson had, for conveyance to Upper
Sandusky, twenty-five iron cannon, mostly four and six
pounders. They, and the balls fitting them, were
placed in covered road wagons, and drawn by six horses
to each. The cannon carriage, twenty-five in
number, empty, were each drawn by four horses. The
cartridges, canister, and other necessary ammunition,
were put in large covered wagons. There were fifty
covered road wagons, drawn by six horses each.
They were loaded with such army stores as would be
serviceable in the expedition.
Equipped in this manner, Colonel Anderson left
Allegheny City about the first day of November, 1812,
and camped nine miles down the west side of the Ohio,
the first night. The second night, he reached
General Wayne's Legionville. The third night,
encamped thirty miles down the river from Allegheny.
The fourth night at Greersburgh, forty-two miles from
Pittsburgh. The fifth night fifteen miles further
on their journey. The sixth night, at New Lisbon,
seventy-five miles from Pittsburgh, where he stayed
three days to repair broken wheels and wagons. The
tenth night, the command had advanced fifteen miles
further. The eleventh night, Colonel Anderson
reached the village of Canton. Here he tarried ten
days, repairing wagons, shoeing horses, and obtaining
provisions. On the twenty-first night he reached
Hahn's swamps, and was three or four days in
passing over the same, to Wooster, owing to the fact
that Beall and Crooks' road was badly cut
up with their wagons. Part of the route from the
swamps to Wooster, Colonel Anderson has a
new road cut. At Wooster, Colonel Anderson's
men beheld an object of curiosity in the new
block-house, the first they had seen. About the
tenth of December, Colonel Anderson left the
village of Wooter, pursuing the route of Beall and
Crooks, and the first evening reached a block-house and
cabin on the east side of the Jerome fork of the mOhican,
where he encamped for the night. On the eleventh
he crossed the Jerome fork, taking the trail of
General Crooks, which he followed through the
forest, crossed the Black fork, and encamped for the
night on the present site of Lucas. On the twelfth
he reached the village of Mansfield, where they found
two block-houses, a tavern, and one store.
General Crooks and his brigade had left before
the arrival of Colonel Anderson. The
teamsters being volunteers, at twenty dollars per month,
and their time having expired, desired to return home.
Colonel Anderson being ordered to follow
General Crooks to Upper Sandusky, offered
to pay the teamsters one dollar per day, if they would
continue in the expedition until he arrived at Upper
Sandusky. These terms were accepted, and each
teamster was furnished a gun to be kept in the feed
trough, to defend himself against an apprehended attack
of the Indians. The command had scarcely got out
of sight of the village of Mansfield when it commenced
to snow, and continued to do so until it was two feet
deep. The ground being unfrozen, the situation
became very embarrassing. The heavy wagons cut
into the soft earth, and the horses were unable to draw
them. A council was held, and fifteen gun
carriages were sent ahead to, break the path, and let it
freeze, so that the heavy teams could pass without
crushing through. By this means they made a few
miles a day; and when one team gave out, it turned aside
and another took its place. At night the soldiers
were compelled to work two or three hours shoveling off
a suitable place to pitch their tents, build fires to
cook their food and keep them from freezing. The
soldiers cut brush and threw their blankets over it, and
by that means, while sleeping, were raised above the
mud, water and snow. After some two weeks of such
travel and hardships, the command reached Upper Sandusky
(New' Year’s Day), Jan. 1, 1813. After a brief
rest the teamsters, under a guard, took the horses of
the expedition to Franklinton, one mile west of the
present city of Columbus, to be fed and kept until
spring.**
---------------
* Lieutenant Walker was
unfortunately killed, when out hunting, by an Indian,
while General Crooks was quartered at Upper
Sandusky.
** We are indebted for the items of this sketch to the
excellent memory of Captain Robert Beer,
now eighty-three years of age (1876), a resident of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who accompanied Colonel
James Anderson as teamster, and took charge
of one of the cannon carriages. This sketch never
having appeared before in print, is very valuable as a
personal and historic reminiscence, and we know the
reader will thank Captain Beer for it,
although it is somewhat foreign to an exact home history
of Ashland county. Mr. Beer died in
Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1880, aged about
eight-seven years.
- END OF CHAPTER - |
