CHAPTER VIII.

IN THE WARS OF THE NATION

WAR OF 1812 - COL. RICHARD HAYES REGIMENT - CAPT. JOSHUA fOBES - EXPERIENCES - PARTICIPATION IN THE CIVIL WAR - WAR WITH SPAIN - ASHTABULA COUNTY HEROES OF THE WORLD WAR - COUNTY RED CROSS.
Pp. 124-129.

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     A detailed history of the participation of Ashtabula County residents, men, women, boys and girls, in the activities incident to the disturbed periods occasioned by wars, would suffice to fill a volume by itself, consequently it can only be touched upon briefly in this history.
     Scarcely had the pioneer families become settled down to an organized system of existence on the Western Reserve, when the War of 1812 was precipitated upon this country and the proximity of the “New Connecticut” to the border gave the greatest element of danger to this immediate vicinity.  Riders were sent out to warn the settlers and to notify them of the likelihood of their being called upon at any time to rush to the lake districts to help ward off invasion of the enemy.  This had the result of placing all men in readiness with such arms as were available, and when the word came of Hull’s surrender at Detroit, on Aug. 16, 1812, every man was prepared for whatever might arise.   The effect was very soon felt, for a few days later an order was issued to Col. Richard Hayes, of Hartford, to assemble his regiment at Kinsman, and prepare for immediate military service.
     The regiment embraced eight companies and as soon as they were marshaled an order was issued for their advancement and they started northward, passing through Ashtabula County and spending the first night in camp in Williamsfield Township and the second night out in Jefferson.  Next morning they marched to Austinburg, where they found teams with supplies awaiting them.
     The next day, at Harpersfield, the brigade commander, General Simon Perkins, joined the regiment, and orders were received to send back a

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half of the volunteers, to protect the settlements they had left in Ashtabula and Trumbull counties.
     The drafted men were assigned to the company under command of Capt. Joshua Fobes, of Wayne, and following the reorganization at Harpersfield, the regiment proceeded to Cleveland.  There they were provisioned and otherwise equipped and sent on to Avery, where a large blockhouse was constructed and preparations were made to meet any disturbance that might be started by the Indians in the western part of the Reserve.
     In September, 1812, the Ashtabula County soldiers were participants in skirmishes with the Indians upon the peninsula at Sandusky which is now the popular Cedar Point resort.  The period of enlistment having expired, in February, 1813, the Ashtabula men were discharged and returned to their homes.
     Owing to the disturbed conditions there was much interference with the mails between Forts Stephenson and Maigs Meigs, and a call went out for volunteer dispatchmen, who would brave the dangers of the “Black Swamp” that lay between the two important military posts named.  Among those who offered their services were Titus Hayes of Wayne and Dr. Coleman of Ashtabula.  They, in company with Capt. Burnham of Kinsman, another volunteer, started on horseback on their perilous journey.
     They spent the first night out in camp beside the Portage River.  They were aroused next morning by the sound of distant artillery play and an occasional Indian war hoop.  As they neared their journey’s end the sounds of disturbance became more pronounced, and Hayes was sent on  ahead to reconnoiter and report in an hour.  While Coleman and Burnham were awaiting Hayes’ return, there was a rifle crack and the latter’s hat was punctured by a bullet.  They looked up to see an Indian dodge behind a tree and disappear.
     This evidence that they were being followed decided them upon immediate action to get under cover.  They cut open the mail bag, took therefrom the important military mail and destroyed the remainder, then set foot toward Fort Stephenson, where they eventually arrived safe and well, after having gone four days without food.  Hayes had found it impossible to return to his companions, so proceeded as best he could and arrived at the same point after several days and nights of hardship.
     The above gives a slight idea of the spirit of the time and shows 

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that Ashtabula County’s men were not lacking in their patriotism or bravery.  Following down the years through succeeding wars, the situation was found the same.  The few hundreds of men that were available from this county to meet the fortunes of the War of 1812 was proportionately as great as the thousands who responded to the call a half-century later to put down slavery and preserve the Union.
     In the War of the Rebellion, Ashtabula County men were to be found in many regiments throughout the country, but the regiment that was practically made up locally was the Twenty-Ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  The whereabouts of the Ashtabula County men - the parts they played in the struggle for freedom, are summed up very aptly in the Williams Brothers’ History as follows:
     “In the war for the Union, during the great rebellion, Ashtabula was prompt, patriotic and decisive. Her citizens were in the first fire upon the Confederates at Phillippi, and at the surrender at Appomattox.  They were with Fremont in Missouri, with Banks in the Shenandoah Valley, and with Rosecrans in Western Virginia.   They fought with Hooker at Lookout Mountain, with Grant at Vicksburg, and marched with Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas.  Their blood stained the way from the Potomac to the James, from the Ohio to the Tennessee and from the Missouri to the Arkansas.  At Kernstown, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Antietam; at Resaca, Kenesaw and Chickamauga; before Atlanta; Stone River, Shiloh, Perryville, Pea Ridge, Murphresborough and Malvern Hill; Cloud Mountain, Cedar Creek and Five Forks; Spottsylvania, North Anna and Petersburg - wherever a glorious record was made, there Ashtabula had brave men who bore aloft her colors through the gloom of defeat as well as in the flush of victory.  Ashtabula’s dead lie in almost every battlefield; they suffered in the trench and in the hospital; they starved in the prison pens at Andersonville, Libbey, Belle Isle and Salisbury; whatever sacrifice was demanded by the bloody moloch of war, Ashtabula had a victim who was offered to the insatiable monster.”
     Came the war with Spain, in 1898.  Ashtabula County had one full company of 111 men, also 5 men in the Hospital Corps of Ohio troops, 28 men in the First Ohio Cavalry, 8 in the First Ohio Light Artillery and 53 scattered in other organizations or branches, making a total of 205 of record besides numerous others who were with the navy.  

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     In the World War, it was the same spirit of loyalty and love of country that sent several thousand of the youth of the county to arms, some never to return, some to come back maimed or marked for lives of misery because of shock, poison gas or impairment from other causes resulting from modern warring methods.  As in the Civil War, so in the World War, Ashtabula County heroes were to be found in every branch and participating in the vital activities. 

     County Red Cross. - Ashtabula county was one of the first to organize for the work of the American Red Cross, after the United States got into the World War.  A meeting was held in the chamber of commerce rooms in Ashtabula on Apr. 4, 1917, at which thre was an attendance of eighty enthusiastic promotors and a county organization was formed with the following officers:
     H. W. Luethi, Ashtabula, chairman; B. F. Perry, Jefferson, vice-chairman; Dr. Mary Miller Battles, Ashtabula, secretary; B. B. Seymour, Ashtabula, treasurer; Directors, Capt. Whitney Carr, Dr. H. Milton Brown, P. C. Remick, W. S. King, Ashtabula; Frank Martin, A. W. Chamberlin, Geneva; E. G. Donnelly, E. L. Lampson, Jusge J. W. Roberts, Jefferson; R. R. Richardson, Allen H. Curtis, Dr. F. W. Upson, Charles Marcey, Conneaut.
     The work of organizing was pushed with vigor, with the result that before the first Christmas “roll-call’’, twenty-six of the twenty-eight townships of the county had a working organization.w
     The county headquarters was established in the Federal building in Ashtabula, the entire upper story of which was given over by the Treasury Department of the United States to needs of the war activities.
     During the first years of the war the Woman’s Auxiliary, which included hundreds of patriotic and faithful workers, was the most active branch of the work, if any could be so called.  Every day, from morning till night, many women gave their time and effort to the making of needed garments, bandages, and other comforts and needs of the soldier boys “Over there”.  The women’s work was supervised by Miss Elizabeth MacKay, Mrs. C. C. Crosby, Mrs. Jacob Strader, Mrs. R. R. Richardson, Mrs. Sarah Heyward and Mrs. Charles Marcey.   H. A. Truesdale of Conneaut was director of the Home Service Work, while Miss Ella M. Pierce supervised the activities of the Junior Red Cross, which did a mighty work for the cause.

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     After the first year, Mr. Luethi resigned as chairman and C. A. Corbin was appointed in his place and has occupied that position up to the present time.   Throughout the entire period of greatest activities and needs Dr. Battles served faithfully as secretary.
     The work of the Red Cross since the War has changed from supplying the material needs of the soldiers to after-care of the returned and disabled veterans, aiding them to secure the assistance offered by the Government in the way of hospital, medical and dental care, claims for compensation for injuries and illness received on account of the War, and the countless other problems arising as aftermath of the War to the service-men and their families.  The Government from time to time amended the laws so as to more adequately care for the veterans, thus making it necessary to continue the work of the County Chapter, as the connecting link between the service-men and the Government.  This work has been carried on steadily and intensely, since Nov. 11, 1918, resulting in service having been rendered to thousands of veterans, both local and transient, since that date, and many more thousands of dollars being paid to the servicemen of Ashtabula County by the Government, through the efforts of the county chapter.
     Mrs. Kate I. Laughlin, who has been the executive secretary of the organization in Ashtabula at the County Headquarters practically since the close of the war, has been tireless in her labors in the interests of the veterans, as a result of which many of the boys and their families have had cause to be grateful to her, and they have endeavored to show their gratitude in many ways. ‘Mother’ Laughlin has been enshrined in the hearts of hundreds who feel that her dauntless efforts in their behalf have resulted in their getting a new hold on life when hope had fled.
     The present officers of the Ashtabula County Chapter are as follows: C. A. Corbin, chairman; C. A. Hitchcock, vice-chairman; Mrs. Kate I. Laughlin, secretary; Judge J. W. Roberts, J. H. Craig, Mrs. J. F. Munsell, Dr. W. S. King, P. C. Remick, A. W. Chamberlin, Frank Martin, Charles A. Hitchcock, Mrs. H. B. Kurtz, Charles A. Marcey, Mrs. C. C. Webster, Allen Curtiss, directors; Hitchcock, Martin, Curtiss, Craig and Remick, executive committee; Mrs. Viola Marcey, supervisor of Health Department; Miss Ella Pierce, of the Junior Red Cross, and Mrs. Olive Webster, of Woman’s Work.

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     The Junior Red Cross, under the direction of Miss Pierce, has become strong force in Ashtabula county.  More and more the influence of the children is realized in the cementing of a world-wide friendship, through their annual exchange of gifts and correspondence with the young people of other countries.

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