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Source:
REMINISCENCES of
PIONEER DAYS in WOOD COUNTY
and the
MAUMEE VALLEY
Gathered from the papers and manuscripts of the late C. W. Evers
A PIONEER SCRAP BOOK
1909
[Pg. 60]
DEATH OF TECUMSEH
-----
Killed at the Battle of the River Thames and His Body Skinned.
-----
GEN.
GEORGE SANDERSON, who died in 1871, at Lancaster, Ohio,
was the Gen. Harrison in the battle of the river Thames, as a
Captain in the regular army. Regarding Tecumseh's death
Gen. Sanderson says:
My company shared in the glorious rout of Proctor and
his proud army, that result being attained by the victory at the
river Thames. It was on the memorable day, Oct. 5, 1813, that
Tecumseh fell. I remember Tecumseh. I saw
him a number of times before the war. He was a man of huge
frame, powerfully built, and was about six feet two inches in
height. I saw his body on the Thames battlefield before it was cold.
Whether Colonel Johnson killed him or not, I cannot say.
During the battle all was smoke, noise and confusion. Indeed,
I never heard any one speak of Colonel Johnson's having
killed Tecumseh until years afterwards. Johnson
was a brave man, and was badly wounded in the battle in a very
painful part - his knuckles - and also, I think, in the body.
He was carried past me on a litter. In the evening on the day
of the battle I was appointed by General Harrison to guard
the Indian prisoners with my company. The location was near a
swamp.
As to the report of the Kentuckians having skinned
Tecumseh's body, I am personally cognizant that such was the
fact. I have seem many contrary reports, but they are untrue.
I saw the Kentucky troops in the very act of cutting the skin from
the body of the chief. They would cut strips about a half a
foot in length and an inch and a half wide, which would stretch like
gum elastic. I saw a piece two inches long, which, when it was
dry, could be stretched nearly a foot in length. That it was
Tecumseh's body which was skinned I have no doubt. I knew
him. Besides the Indian prisoners under my charge continually
pointed to his body, which laid close by, and uttered the most
bewailing cries at his loss. By noon the day after the battle
the body could hardly be recognized, it had so thoroughly been
skinned. My men covered it with brush and logs, and it was
probably eaten by wolves. Although many officers did not like
the conduct of the Kentuckians, they dare not interfere. The
troops from that state were infuriated at the massacre at the river
Raisin, and their battle cry was, "Remember the River of Raisin."
It was only with difficulty that the Indian prisoners could be
guarded, so general was the disposition of the Kentuckians to
massacre them.
ERASMUS D. PECK, M. D.
-----
The Record of a Busy Life - One of the Leading physicians of
Our Early History
ERASMUS
D. PECK, so well known to the older
citizens of this county, was born at Stafford, Conn., Sept. 16,
1808, and died Dec. 25, 1876, at the age of 68. His medical
education was obtained at Yale College, graduating from the latter
in 1827. He came to the Maumee Valley and settled in
Perrysburg in 1834, and at once engaged in the arduous duties of his
profession.
Aside from his profession Dr. Peck for many
years engaged in many business en
[Pg. 61]
terprises. Among these may be enumerated drugs, warehousing
and flour-mill. He also built the hydraulic canal at
Perrysburg.
In all his money-making he turned it to some practical
account. He did not keep it for show, nor wear it for
ostentation. As soon as earned, it was invested in some useful
occupation. There was in his composition but little of the
imaginative. Dreams and visionary theories he discarded, and
with wonderful tenacity clung to the practical business of the
country, and through life kept every dollar employed in active
business.
At the election in the spring of 1869, he was elected
to Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. T. H.
Hoag, who had beaten Mr. Ashley the fall before. He
was re-elected in the fall of the next year for the full term.
At both of these elections, the citizens of Perrysburg testified to
the high esteem in which they held him, by largely ignoring party
and casting almost the entire vote for him.
His Work During the Cholera
In a paper read before the
Maumee Valley Pioneer Association on the character of Dr. Peck,
among other things Hon. Asher Cook said:
"I feel the story of the doctor's life would be
incomplete without some account of his noble work during the
cholera, which raged with unexampled fatality at Perrysburg in the
summer of 1854. Between the 20th of July and the middle of
August one hundred and twenty persons died. Many of the
citizens left, and of those who remained, all who did not die were
engaged in taking care of the sick and burying the dead.
Stores were closed and business suspended. No one came to the
suffering town. Even travelers whose route lay through the
town went round it. The reality of death stared every one in
the face. At first the terror and excitement among the
citizens were indescribable, and all who could sought safety in
flight. Some of these indiscreetly advised Dr. Peck to
go with them, telling him he could not stop the progress of the
epidemic, and he was only exposing himself unnecessarily, where his
labors would be unavailing, and in all human probability he would
lose his own life without saving others. But amid all the
consternation around him, he was cool, although he had greater cause
of alarm than any, being constantly exposed. The door of his
drug store was left open night and day, and the people helped
themselves to such medicines as he would direct them to take, as he
met them on his rounds to visit the sick and the dying. At the
commencement of the epidemic his partner, Dr. James Robertson,
was among its first victims. This left him alone to contend
with this incomprehensible destroyer single-handed. But he
never faltered, nor for a moment quailed before the death-dealing
scourge, that was blindly putting forth its unseen power, which
killed where it touched. Wearied and worn down by constant
fatigue, he nevertheless rallied his powers, and hurried with
unfaltering footsteps to each new demand for his aid.
"During those days and nights of terrible anxiety and
suffering, he was almost constantly on the go, in no instance
refusing to obey a call, until threatened with inflammation of the
brain form loss of sleep. The citizens placed a guard around
his house at night, to keep away callers, and allow him a few hours'
rest to prepare him for the labors of the coming day.
"His answers to those who sought to induce him to
abandon his duty, was: I came to Perrysburg to minister to the
sic, and I shall not abandon them now when they most need my
services. The physician's place is at the bedside of the sick
and dying, not by the side of roses in gardens of pleasure."
[Pg. 62]
MAHLON MEEKER
-----
His Early Settlement in Plain Township - His Hard Struggle -
Incidents of His Pioneer Days.
-----
MAHLON MEEKER,
who came to Wood county in 1833, passed away in 1876, aged 78 years.
He came from Butler county, where he left his wife and two children,
until he should find and locate their future home. In company
with Johnston White, a resident of Miltonville, he visited,
says the Wood County Sentinel (edited by C. W. Evers), the
beautiful wild meadow north of what is now Bowling Green, and
discovered accidentally, a large stool of clover in blossom, the
only thing in the tame grass line he had seen since he left Butler
county. He called White to him and said: "I am
not afraid to trust myself on land that will grow such clover as
this." That spear or stool of clover, Mr. Meeker
thought, grew near where he afterward built his barn. That
circumstance decided him in his location. He built his cabin
there. Afterwards he went to Bucyrus and entered the land for
$1.25 per acre, and owned and lived on it to the time of his death.
Startling Incident.
Mrs. Meeker says
after she arrived and saw what a desolate life lay before them her
heart sank within her, and only for her children, she would have
prayed God to relieve her from further struggle with a life of
discouragement. One night shortly after her arrival and during
the absence of her husband, she heard the voice of a woman screaming
from a little pole shanty about a quarter of a mile distant where a
family named Decker had just moved. She did not dare
leave in the darkness, but next morning went over and found a
dejected looking woman sitting before the fire cracking walnuts,
while over against the side of her shanty on the puncheon floor, lay
her husband, Jesse Decker, dead. He had died in
convulsions from an overdose of turpentine taken for some bilious
ailment. Mr. Meeker and a man named Howard broke
their way through the ice to the Otsego mill with a yoke of oxen,
got some rough boards and a few nails with which they made a rough
box and hauled Decker's body to the ridge known as Union
cemetery, and the burial, which was perhaps the first at that place,
was conducted without ceremony.
Mr. Meeker was an excellent and exemplary
citizen, a sincere friend and kind neighbor. Before his death
he was the oldest pioneer of Plain township. By his enterprise
in early introducing improved varieties of fruit and life stock, he
contributed in no small degree to the advancement of the central
part of the county and may justly be classed first among
useful citizens.
LAND SHARKS
-----
Mahlon Meeker's Narrow Escape from Being the Victim of
One.
-----
NEARLY all the land
in Plain township at one time belonged to the government and was
subject to entry. Most of the settlers, at first "Squatted" on
a tract and began improvements, trusting to the future to get the
means to enter land. But in too many cases on account of
sickness or wet seasons it required their utmost efforts to gain
even a tolerable subsistence, let alone getting anything ahead, and
many of them lost all the fruits of their labor by those
ghols of
the western frontier, called "land sharks." Mahlon Meeker
narrow-
[Pg. 63]
PETER NAVARRE.
The Famous Scout Under General Harrison.
[Pg. 65]
BLANK PAGE
[Pg. 65]
ly escaped becoming a victim to one of these land plunderers.
He had made considerable opening before he got ready to pay for his
land.
There came into the locality a fellow who pretended to
be buying cattle. The stranger bought no cattle, however, but
in conversation at John Wilson's, where he stopped to feed
his horse, he let drop some remark by which Mrs. Wilson at
once detected his business. She went at once detected his
business. She went at once to the Meekers, and on his
return home that night she told him the business of the stranger.
Mr. Meeker went to Perrysburg that night,
borrowed the money of John Hollister and immediately took an
Indian trail for Bucyrus, which was the U. S. land office for this
part of the state.
He rode as far as his horse could carry him the first
day, then left his horse and footed it all night. He made his
entry at the register office and went from there to the receiver's
office. On returning shortly afterward to the register's
office he was told by the officer that a man had been there only a
few minutes after him to enter the same land. In his
description Meeker at once recognized the bogus cattle buyer,
who was just a little too late. - C. W. E.
GRAND RAPIDS
-----
The Original Plat Made in 1831 - Roads Petitioned For and
Located.
-----
FIRST of the
villages laid out in Weston township, was Gilead, now called Grand
Rapids. The first or original plat of Gilead was made by J.
N. Graham in 1831. In 1832, Guy Nearing built a saw
mill at Bear Rapids on the Maumee, and with Joshua Chappel,
laid out the village of Otsego, which for a time bid fair to
outstrip its competitors in growth and importance, but in the
progress of human affairs, the village died as did the village of
Benton, which David Hedges laid out, about one and a half
miles below Otsego.
All travel to and from Gilead, was along the river road
to Perrysburg, at the head of navigation on the Maumee river, from
which place all goods, provisions, etc., destined for the up-river
settlements must be hauled, over the almost impassable roads with
ox-teams, and all the peltries accumulated and produce raised must
seek a market down the river in like manner.
In 1828, Alexander Brown and his father-in-law,
Jos. North, were the first settlers to move back from the river
into the dense forests that lay thick and dark between the river and
the broad, grassy swamp known as Keeler's prairie.
Mr. Brown located a heavily timbered tract of land along Beaver
Creek, or is it was also then called, "Minard's Creek," and
built the first cabin in a beautiful beech and maple grove.
The beautiful bluff banks of Beaver Creek, covered thickly with
forests of sugar maple, beech, oak and hickory timber, rapidly
attracted the attention of settlers, and ere long Mr. Brown
had neighbors on all sides of him.
Cutting Out First Road.
The first
township road petitioned for and located, was the road from Grand
Rapids to a little above Potter; where it intersects the Wapakoneta
road. It was located in the fall of 1830, and was the first
regularly surveyed road leading from the river into the wilderness
of the interior. Its length was a little over four miles and
all the distance was through
[Pg. 66]
the most dense forest imaginable, such as the Maumee country was
justly celebrated for along in the "thirties." The Wapakoneta
road was not all cleared out yet at this time, so Alexander Brown
took a contract to chop the timber out of a portion of the road from
Gilead to the Wapakoneta road, and also for ten miles up the "Wapak"
road. This furnished employment for a number of the settlers
during the winter of 1830 and '31. The first choppers camped on
their work. The first camp was near what is known as the
John Pugh farm, in the edge of Henry county. There was at
this point a deserted Indian village, and in the bark wigwams of the
Indians, the choppers found shelter.
The next road laid out in the township was that very
accommodating road still in use, called "The Gilead road," which ran
about whenever there was dry and enough, and wherever there was a
settlement, and finally brought up at Collister Haskins'
place, where the Findlay road strikes the Portage river. On
the surveyor's map of the road made and filed with the
commissioners, the place where Ralph O. Keeler and his
herders were camped on the Hollister cattle ranch, was called
"Hollister's Prairie." This was the first name applied to the
Keeler prairie and the settlement which afterwards became "New
Westfield," Westfield, Taylortown and finally Weston. This
road gave great latitude to the engineer who surveyed it, and he
followed the "best" route frequently when not really the "nearest,"
though the old "Gilead road" is still one of the bet roads as well
as one of the most used roads and is the nearest route still, from
"Hollister's Prairie" to Gilead. It was completed in 1834. -
C. W. E.
AN ILLUSTRATION
-----
Showing a Desire for Social Friendship - John
Gingery's Disappointment.
-----
TO illustrate the neighborly instinct, and desire
to be sociable, felt by all settlers in a new country, Uncle John
Gingery tells the following story:
The choppers were at this time camped at what is known
as Wilcox's bend, in Beaver Creek. One morning in mid-winter
found the choppers' camp bedded in a foot of snow, and a stiff
blizzard blowing from the northwest. Uncle John, driven
out early by the cold, set about kindling up the smouldering camp
fire. While engaged at this, he heard away off to the
southeast, dim through the quiet of the frosty morning air, the
faint, shrill crow of a rooster. Much elated at this evidence
of growing civilization, and the proximity of Christian neighbors,
he at once set out in the direction indicated by the voice of the
rooster, to make the acquaintance of the venturesome owners of the
bird; guided by the occasional crowing, he floundered on through the
deep snow, over logs and through tangled brushwood, for more than a
mile, and at last pulled up at a miserable little settlement of
Indians on the banks of Beaver Creek. Uncle John looked
about for the rooster, and at length spied him, tied with a piece of
bark by the leg to the hut of h is red skinned captor. The
little fellow crowed as merrily as ever he did in the civilized
settlements, from which he had undoubtedly been stolen by a chicken
loving Indian.
Uncle John didn't regret the tramp of over a
mile, as the cheerful little bird had taught him a good lesson on
making the best of circumstances, and
[Pg. 67]
he returned to his camp without disturbing the
sleeping braves, but with a strong desire to pummel the red skin
that stole the chicken. On his way back to the choppers camp.
Uncle John found that his trail had been crossed by an
enormous bear's trail, but, unarmed as he was, he was glad not to
have a near interview, as at that season of the year, they
were apt to be hungry and ferocious.
As their job of chopping was nearly completed, Mr.
Gregory and Mr. Brown arranged to visit that locality and
have a grand hunt, which they did in February, camping in their old
chopping camp, and securing a fine lot of bear pelts, and other
game, without injury to themselves, but losing several of their dogs
from the too ardent embraces of old bruin. Bear hides were
worth from six to seven dollars each at Perrysburg at that time.
FISH AND AGUE
-----
Two Distinguished Characteristics in the Early
Period of Maumee Valley History
-----
SOLDIERS who
came with Mad Anthony to the Maumee country, never afterward
tired of extolling its beauties, its fertility, its fine forests of
oak, walnut, poplar and other valuable timber - its rivers swarming
with the lovely muscalunge and sturgeon, its myriads of "red horse"
(suckers), the gamey black bass and the fat, lubberly cat fish of
such enormous proportions that a single fish made a meal for one of
Wayne's cavalry companies at Defiance.
If the few old settlers now left on the Maumee were to
explain to the present generation the numbers and size of the fish
of the early times they would be suspected of having bad memories or
of telling professional fisherman's "yarns."
But there were other things about these rivers not so
enticing as its fish - its fever and ague. It was not usually
fatal, but it was dreadfully uncomfortable. Few escaped it.
Wayne's soldiers had it. He dosed them with whisky as
his surgeon' s reports show, but Mononghahela whisky was no match
for Maumee ague in those days - in fact the fish and ague seemed to
have held, for size and number, nearly relative proportions; they
were hard to beat.
The soldiers and early pioneers had two theories about
how they got the ague. Some thought it was carried by a
malarious poison in the air, arising from decaying vegetation.
Others thought it got into their systems through the fish they ate.
Both sides of the question had plenty of advocates and both proved
the truth or fallacy of their theory as might be, by having the
ague. All had it. It was no respector of persons.
It was a singular complication or combination of
attacks on the human system. The victim begun the ordeal with
a feeling of extreme chilliness; lips and finger nails turned blue
as if the blood were stagnant. Then greater chilliness
followed by shivering and chattering of teeth. By this time
the victim, feeling as if every bone in his body would break, had
crawled into bed if he was fortunate enough to have one, and call
for more cover, shaking meanwhile as if just out of an icy river in
a bleak day.
This chilly period lasted from three quarters of an
hour to one hour or more, and was followed by a raging fever in
which the patient constantly called for more water which he gulped
down by the quart, and still the thirst was unquenched and
unquenchable.
The fever in turn would be followed
[Pg. 68]
by a relaxation of the system and the most profuse and exhausting
perspiration until the sheets and clothing would be wringing wet,
leaving in the clothes a disagreeable odor hard to describe, but
always the same. There was no mistaking an "ague sweat" by its
odor.
From this "siege" of three or four hours the patient
would rise weak and dizzy and go about his or her duties and, as the
ague fit only came on in most cases every day, the patient had some
respite in which to recruit a little. Unusually in the "off"
day the patient would be tormented with almost an uncontrollable
hunger. Quinine, when it could be had was the chief antidote.
The ague and chill fever as it used to be known, is seldom heard of
now. With the cleaning up and drainage of the land it has
passed away or taken some new form of development in the system.
The last general epidemic of ague was in the west season of 1852 -
C. W. E.
PETER NAVARRE
-----
The Famous Indian Interpreter and Gen. Harrison's Scout
-----
THE stirring events of the early life of one of
Maumee's most active and loyal citizens, in his day, Pierre
Navarre (Peter Navarre), should have been preserved, if it had
been possible; but being an uneducated man, he was little known
after the war closed except by a few of his old and intimate
friends.
This energetic young Frenchman, was a favorite scout
and runner of General Harrison's and other officers during
the war, and was much employed, both before and after the close of
the war, in carrying important dispatches for the Government, from
Detroit to the settlements at the foot of the Maumee, and also to
Fort Wayne, and down the Wabash and as far west as Vincennes and St.
Louis. He was employed as Indian interpreter at the councils
held on this and the Wabash rivers, as trusty scout sent with notice
to the different tribes, when a council was to be held by the
agents, or officers of the Government or army; knew all intricacies
of the winding Indian trails, that led along the rivers, and across
wide prairies from one point to another, and always knew where to
find the different hunting parties on their remote hunting grounds.
I met, and afterwards became well acquainted with the
old Pottawatomie chief, Captain Billy Colwell, on the upper
Missouri, in 1840, who was well acquainted with Navarre.
Capt. Colwell was in the immediate command of the Pottawatomies,
at the battle of the Thames, and described Peter as one of the most
active and dangerous of the scouts of Harrison on that bloody field.
The chief attempted several times during the day to get a shot at
the wily scout (as he was easily recognized in his highly ornamented
suit of buckskin), but at each time was eluded, when the sights of
his rifle were almost drawn upon him. Capt. Colwell
gave Navarre credit for being the most active on foot and in
general movements on a field of battle, that he ever knew.
These men met frequently after the war, and became fast friends,
being about the same age, both having passed through many of the
same stirring scenes of that day.
These worthy men have both gone to
[Pg. 69]
their long rest. Peter Navarre, lies in the little
French burying ground near the mouth of the Maumee, and the old
Pottawatomie chief, Capt. Cowell, is taking his last sleep,
on the east bank of the Missouri, near Council Bluffs. What an
interesting history could have been written of the stirring
incidents of the early settlements of this country, in which these
men were among the active; but they are gone, and many of the
incidents of historic interest are buried with them. - D. W. H.
Howard.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840
-----
The Great Tide Which Carried Harrison into the Presidential
Chair - The Monster Gathering at Fort Meigs - Who Placed That Log in
the Well at the Fort.
-----
THE following
account of the campaign of 1840, and the monster meeting at Fort
Meigs in that year, was written by Mr. C. W. Evers, and
published in the Sentinel some years ago:
Perhaps the most remarkable event in the political
history of this country, was the campaign of 1849. General
Harrison was the Whig candidate for the Presidency in
1836, but suffered defeat. The Whigs were not discouraged by
their repulse in that year, nor did they lose confidence in their
leader, whose war record gave him popularity with the masses of the
people in all sections of the country.
The campaign commenced in 1836 was not permitted to die
out. The Whigs kept up their organizations, did not lay down
their arms, but fortified their position and made every preparation
for a renewal of the conflict in 1840, never for a moment losing
confidence in their leader or abating their zeal in his support.
The conflict on the part of the great leaders of the two parties was
transferred from the stump to the halls of Congress, and there the
battle was carried on with a zeal, eloquence and ability unequalled
in any partisan struggle since the organization of the Government.
The Whigs held their National Convention at
Philadelphia on the 4th of December, 1839, nearly a year before the
election. This showed how earnestly they were enlisted in the
fight, and the confidence which inspired their action. They
felt that a long campaign would result to their advantage.
They had no fear of discussion, no dread of investigation.
Log Cabins and Hard Cider.
A Democratic
correspondent of a Baltimore paper, before the campaign of 1840 had
fairly opened, made the sneering remark that General Harrison's
habits and attainments were well calculated to secure him the
highest measure of happiness in a log cabin with an abundant supply
of hard cider with an abundant supply of hard cider. The Whigs
caught this up and from that time forward logs cabin and hard cider
played conspicuous parts in the campaign. Van Buren,
the candidate of the Democrats, was held up as a dapper little
band-box fop, using gold spoons and having not the least sympathy
with the great working and producing masses of the people.
This was a strong card for the Whigs and they made the most of it.
At every convention log cabins were handed in processions and hard
cider was free and plentiful as water. Harrison hailing
from the Buckeye State, buckeye bushes were used as the Whig emblem,
and buckeyes were strung and worn as
[Pg. 70]
beads by the ladies attending Whig gatherings. The tide set
strongly in favor of the Whigs, and even the correspondent of the
Baltimore paper who spoke so sneeringly of the capacities and social
character of General Harrison, was carried into the current
and swept into the Whig party.
Opening of the Campaign in Ohio
The campaign was
opened in Ohio by a monster ratification meeting in Columbus on
Washington's birthday, Feb. 22. On the evening of the 21st all
Whig residences and business houses in the city were illuminated.
The streets were thronged with people from all parts of the State,
and it was necessary to open nearly every house in the then city of
six thousand inhabitants to accommodate those who had arrived from a
distance. The means of traveling were at that time very
limited. Canals were closed, there were no railroads, stage
coaches could carry but few persons, and the roads were so bad that
they could make but slow progress, passengers often being compelled
to get out and walk up hills or where the roads were particularly
bad. But these things did not discourage the zealous Whigs.
They hitched up their own teams, hired teams, and sought conveyance
to the capital of the state in every conceivable manner, determined
to be on hand and participate in the inauguration of that eventful
campaign. Not only this, but log cabins of huge dimensions
were mounted upon wheels and hauled long distances to the capital.
But the most striking feature of that great gathering was the
representation of Fort Meigs - being a miniature copy of the Fort in
every particular, hauled by six fine horses. It was 28 feet in
length, the embankments were six inches high, surmounted by pickets
ten inches high. It was garrisoned by 40 men, contained seven
block houses, twelve cannon, and was in every respect a complete and
perfect representation of the Fort at the foot of the rapids of the
Maumee river. There were three flag-staffs on the Fort 30 feet
high On one was the inscription, "Fort Meigs, besieged May,
1813"; on another was Harrison's celebrated response to the
demand of the British officer for the surrender of the Fort, "Tell
General Proctor when he gets possession of the Fort he will gain
more honor, in the estimation of his King and country, than he would
acquire by a thousand capitulations," and on the other was the dying
words of the brave Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship."
This miniature fort was made at Perrysburg and hauled
from that place to Columbus. John C. Spink was Captain
and went through with the Fort and the men. One of the guns on
the Fort - a small brass piece - was cast at Toledo. The other
guns were of iron and one of them was carried on the Commodore
Perry the next season, and while being fired as the boat was
coming up the lake on the fourth of July, exploded, severely
wounding E. Graham, then the boat's carpenter, but
subsequently treasurer of this county and Internal Revenue Assessor.
On the morning of the 22d, the large numbers of people
who had collected from a distance from Columbus during the previous
day and night, formed processions on the various roads leading into
the capital, and, notwithstanding the rain and mud, the wildest
enthusiasm prevailed, and by ten o'clock the streets of Columbus
were literally filled with the drenched delegations. Numerous
military companies and bands were there, and all marched through the
streets in rain and mud, their enthusiasm seemingly heightened by
the difficulties under which they were assembled. At that
convention, after full consultation, the following resolution was
adopted:
"Resolved, That it be recommended to the young
men of the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
[Pg. 71]
Western New York. Pennsylvania and Virginia, to celebrate the
next anniversary of the raising of the siege of Fort Meigs, in June,
1813, on the ground occupied by that Fort."
Preparing for Fort Meigs Gathering
The tide had
set in so strongly in favor of the Whigs that the Democrats were
thrown into confusion. They lost their temper, became
demoralized, and those who did not enlist under the Whig banner
conducted a guerrilla warfare, merely seeking to annoy the Whigs
without securing any decided advantage. The greatest
enthusiasm, amounting to almost a degree of wild excitement,
pervaded the ranks of the Whigs, and from all parts of the country
notes of preparation to attend the Fort Meigs demonstration were
heard. Very naturally these indications of the coming
gathering of the greatest partisan demonstration over witnessed in
the country excited and cheered the Whigs of Perrysburg and Maumee,
encouraging them to the greatest efforts in arranging for the
complete success of the important enterprise. The two
villages, which were then about the only important places in the
Maumee Valley, acted in concert, and no one was ever heard to
complain of the manner in which they performed their part of the
work.
The Log Cabin
It
was decided that a huge log cabin should be erected upon the Fort,
to be used as a sort of headquarters by General Harrison for
reception purposes. One log for this cabin was to be furnished
by each township in Wood and Lucas counties. The first log to
arrive was brought from the neighborhood of the present village of
Swanton. It was a fine stick of timber, about fifty feet in
length. Its arrival was the signal for a jollification.
The cannon was brought and taken to the Fort, followed by three
barrels of hard cider. The Whigs of Maumee and Perrysburg
united in this demonstration, and of course they had a jolly time,
which lasted until in the evening, when many of the men and a host
of boys gave evidence of familiarity with these barrels of cider.
The Fate of the First Log
After
the Whigs had got over their jubilee, the next day some of them went
up to the Fort to take another look at that log which had met with
such a warm reception. Judge their surprise when they
discovered that the guerrilla Democrats had gone to the Fort in the
night and stuck said log into the Fort well. The well was
about 50 or 60 feet deep. It was perhaps 15 feet from the top
of the well to the water, then there was about fifteen feet of water
and the balance was mud. Not only this, but the said
guerrillas had bored a hole in the end of the log which projected
out of the well about five feet, then they had got a hickory bush,
shaved the end to fit the hole in the log and then planted said bush
in the log. The bush was removed but the log could not be
lifted out of the well, and it remains there to this day and is seen
by all who visit the fort. It fitly illustrates the style of
warfare adopted by the Democrats in 1840.
Who Placed the Log in the Well
Until
very recently only those engaged in the act knew who placed that log
in the well. Time has served to cool the Whig blood which was
made to boil on account of that outrage, and recently one of the
actors in that drama gave as the history of how it was done and the
names of those who did it. The parties who did it were
Chas. F. Wilson, brother of the late Hon. Eber Wilson;
Henry Ewing, Samuel Bucher, who lived in a cabin near the fort;
S. D. Westcott, a well known citizen of Perrysburg, and
[Pg. 72]
John Westcott, of Vanlue, Hancock county. Just how so
few men could plant so large a log in a well the reader will be
curious to know. A man by the name of Radway
lived on a farm about half a mile above the Fort. He had a
pair of breachy oxen and was in the habit of turning them upon the
commons in their yoke. These cattle were at the Fort and the
guerrillas drafted them into the service. Bucher got a
log chain, the oxen were hitched to the log and it was drawn into
position, the but at the well and the other end resting upon the
embankment. Thus situated the men managed to raise the small
end and slide the log into the well.
The Whigs were not discouraged by this little episode,
but the logs kept coming in until every township had its
representative for the cabin. An eye witness informs us that
he never saw so fine a collection of logs. They ranged from 40
to 60 feet in length, were straight as an arrow and smooth as a
ramrod. The Whigs were proud of their logs and contemplated
the beautiful cabin to be made of them with great satisfaction.
Another Guerrilla Raid.
It is
singular that the fate of the first log did not operate to warn the
Whigs against further raids from the Democratic guerrillas, but they
evidently thought the success of the first venture would satisfy
their enemies. In this they were deceived, for one dark night
some rascals, armed with cross-cut saws, entered the Fort and cut
those beautiful logs into old fashioned buck logs. to this day
it is not known who handled those saws. Like the man who
locked his stable door after the horse was stolen, the Whigs now
built a bark guard house and hired a man, armed with a shot-gun, to
keep watch. Other logs were procured and a huge double cabin
was erected, Geo. W. Newton of Perrysburg, acting in the
capacity of master builder, and we believe, John C. Spink, Julius
Blinn, Judge Hollister, J. W. Smith and other Whigs of
Perrysburg were the leading spirits in this preparatory work for the
great convention.
The Demonstration.
The Fort
Meigs demonstration was worthy of the campaign of 1840. In
fact, everything considered, it was the most remarkable political
gathering ever witnessed in this country. It must be
remembered that facilities for travel were very limited at that
time, and that Fort Meigs was then a point on the frontier.
Notwithstanding these facts, the crowd assembled was estimated at
from 40,000 to 60,000 persons. It is safe to say that there
were 50,000 people at the Fort on the 11th day of June, 1840.
They came from all parts of the country, in all manner of
conveyances. Capt. Wilkinson, with his Commodore
Perry, escorted sixteen steamboats up the river, all loaded to
their utmost capacity. Men are said to have sold their last
cow to get the means to take them to that convention. Military
companies from various cities were present, and a large number of
the bands furnished music. The processions on the roads
leading to Perrysburg were simply immense, while thousands upon
thousands were streaming in for two or three days before the grand
demonstration, from all parts of the country. A mock siege
occurred on the night of the tenth, and cannonading by the several
batteries in attendance is described as having been sublimely grand.
Every house and out-house in Perrysburg and Maumee was crowded with
weary men who had rode in buggies and wagons hundreds of miles.
Thousands slept up on the ground in the woods adjoining the Fort.
The wells in the upper portion of Perrysburg were soon pumped dry in
relieving the thirst of the multitude. General
Harrison was present and while in
[Pg. 73]
Perrysburg was the guest of Judge Hollister, who then owned
and occupied the residence recently owned by H. E. Peck.
In the evening, in response to the calls of a great crowd of people,
he appeared upon the grounds in front of the residence and briefly
addressed the multitude. The General, Tom Ewing and a
large number of other distinguished Whigs were present and addressed
the people at the Fort. General Harrison spent a
portion of his time in Maumee, the guest of Judge Forsythe.
Thus was inaugurated and successfully concluded the
greatest political demonstration, all things considered, ever
witnessed on this continent.
THE WINTER OF 1842-43
-----
Referred To by Old Settlers as a Record Breaker Wholly
Unsurpassed.
THE late Mr. C. W. Evers
some years since wrote up the following account of the severe winter
of 1842-43 in Wood County:
J. R. Tracy of Toledo, who was an early pioneer
of Bowling Green, tells some of the incidents of the memorable hard
winter of 1842-3 which is referred to by all the old people as a
record breaker unsurpassed since white men planted their cabins in
this part of the country.
The autumn of 1842 had been a mild summer had hung over
the landscape like a protecting curtain from the chill blasts of
boreas. On the 25th day of November in the after part of the
day, came a change, sudden and severe. First dark, dense
clouds overcast the sky; towards night rain fell. This soon
changed to sleet, driven by a strong wind and so cold that men
caught out with teams on the road had to leave their wagons and walk
to keep from freezing. This, later turned to snow which
covered the ground heavily in the morning.
That snow, increased in depth from time to time, lay
until some time in April, 1843. The ice in the Maumee at
Waterville, was frozen solid down to the rocks on the day of spring
election in April that year.
The weather at times, in fact much of the time, was
extremely cold, though there were no thermometers here then by which
to gauge the temperature, as now. The mild autumn had lulled
the scattering settlers into neglect and their scanty supplies of
vegetables, fruit and corn fodder had been frozen solid in the
unheralded storm, no more to be released till the following May.
By March the scanty supply of prairie hay began to fail. the
poor cattle starved, shivered and froze. Their pitiful
bellowing and moans were borrowing to hear. The owners would
drive them into the forest where elm and basswood trees were felled
and the starving brutes ate buds and tender twigs. Other
owners later, when the ground thawed, dug prairie dock (root of the
rosin weed) and fed it to their horses and cattle. Despite all
the efforts hundreds of cattle perished and those that survived were
mere skeletons. Hogs could get no acorns from under the icy
crust and there was no corn to feed them. They crawled into
bunches where they were found in the sprig frozen solid as rocks.
Poultry and small animals, wild and domestic, perished.
Squirrels, coon and birds were found frozen in hollow trees and
logs, even the muskrat in his icy home.
That was 61 years ago, but none who lived at that time
will ever forget the harrowing vicissitudes of that winter
[Pg. 74]
and the destitution and sickness of the following spring and summer.
The present winter though unusually severe, would not,
though equally as cold as that of 42-3 bear upon us of today as it
did upon those scantily prepared pioneers of that time. We
have warm houses, clothing and stores of supplies both for man and
beast. There can be no comparison. We can never know nor
even imagine the terrors of that gloomy period, to those who lived
here and shared its hardships. The unprecedented conditions
that exist now in the Maumee river are only a sample of what
dangerous surprises nature's working forces may bring when a certain
combination of circumstances exist. Then it is that man's best
efforts are set at night. He is as puny as the fretful ant.
His bridge spans are not high enough. His dykes and dams are
not strong enough. His granite and steel walls are not proof
against the devouring breath of flame and heat. Man's efforts
only help to make the destruction greater. The Maumee is
hedged and obstructed with piers, docks and earth fillings.
The raging torrents armed with blocks of floating ice only mock at
these artificial contrivances of man and sweep them away as if but
tinsel or cobwebs. How like the ant hill or the cobweb of the
spider are the works of man, in the each alike are only subject to
power of destruction.
Had not man planted his cabin here nor disturbed the
Maumee we would not be comparing the present winter with that of
42-43 in points of severity and destructiveness.
So long as man asserts himself along side of and
against nature's modes, which will be as long as he exists, so long
must he cope with hard winters, hot summers, drouth, floods and
other pleasant and unpleasant manifestations of nature's caprices
and whims.
SAGE CHILD TRAGEDY
-----
Most Horrible Child Murder by a Father Whose Mind Was Wrecked
by Religious Fervor
-----
VALENTINE
SAGE married a full-blooded Indian girl, adopted by and
raised in the family of Rev. Isaac Van Tassel, one of
the early missionaries to the Indians, on the Maumee. Sometime
in 1852-3 their oldest boy named George, aged about thirteen
years, took sick and died, which threw him into a despondent state
of mind, and he gradually turned his thoughts to religious matters,
and would shout, sing and pray alternately in the wildest manner.
Some six months afterward Sage attended a
religious revival held by Rev. P. C. Baldwin, at the old
Plain Church and became so wrought up by religious excitement that
he would shout and pray at the top of his voice all the way home
from the church at night.
One stormy, snowy morning in March, during the progress
of the meeting he arose quite early and made a fire in the stove,
singing loudly all the time. Presently he went to the bed
where his wife and child lay and took the child, as his wife who was
awake supposed, to the stove to keep it war while she dressed
herself, but she saw him hurry out of doors. She sprang up and
ran to the door just in time to see the head of her darling child
dashed against a log on the wood pile. She gave an agonizing
scream, when he seized the ax and compelled her to go to bed, after
which he
[Pg. 75]
brought the dead child to her. He sung and shouted and seemed
to be entirely happy, while his wife expected every moment that
either her own or some of the other children's lives would be next
sacrificed. He forbid any of them leaving the house, holding
the ax all the time.
Finally the oldest girl escaped from the chamber window
and ran to a neighbor's, Mr. John Whitehead, about a half a
mile distant. Whitehead hurried down but was threatened
his life if he came even in the yard. He saw that he was
powerless to relieve the prisoners in the house and that his
presence only increased the rage of the madman every moment and
rendered the fact of Sage's family more perilous. He
hurried away for help and returned shortly after, with, we believe,
Henry Huff, S. W. St. John and John Evers, all active
and determined men. They came up unobserved by Sage.
Two of them made an attempt to hold a parley with him, but he stood
in the door brandishing his ax threatening any with death who should
attempt to approach. While two of the men attracted his
attention from the front, Evers climbed in at the chamber
window and down the ladder, and unnoticed by him tightly around the
waist under the arms. Even with this advantage it was hard to
avoid the blows of his ax. His strength seemed superhuman.
Some one finally seized him by the throat, and once out of wind they
succeeded in tying him and he was sent to the jail at Perrysburg,
where he afterward died a raving madman. -
C. W. E.
HOLLISTER'S PRAIRIE
-----
A Wild Region, Picturesque and Attractive for
the Hunter of Wild Game.
-----
ABOUT
eight miles southeast of Gilead lay that stretch of low grassy
prairie or swamp, as it was most of the year; only in the very diet
of seasons, in mid-summer did it become terra firma, its tall grass,
growing from 6 to 10 feet high, and with skirting thickets and
forests, furnished a paradise of security for deer and bear.
The reports of this prairie, carried by hunters to the settlement at
Perrysburg, attracted teh attention of the Hollisters, then
living there, and they located a cattle ranch with Ralph O.
Keeler as partner and manager of the business. The
headquarters of the ranch was on the high ridge just north of
Weston, where the old Keeler homestead house formerly stood.
the ridge is now a portion of the Weston cemetery. Soon the
Hollisters and Keeler had large droves of cattle, roaming
at will over the prairies and through the forests on what was yet
all government land. The tall prairie grass furnished ample
pasturage, and the sink holes in the prairie, such as the "Stone
Pond" in Plain township, furnished drinking places in the driest of
seasons.
Such a scene as the herds on the broad acres of
pasturage, viewed from the overlooking ridges, at its best and most
picturesque, might well have tempted the coolest brain to visionary
drams of Arcadian bliss, such dreams as caused the educated and
wealthy German, Carl Nibelung to sink his fortune in the
swampy pasture at the northeast side of the prairie, in later years.
- Sentinel, 1881.
Wood county was organized
Apr. 1, 1820, with 13 other counties, and Maumee was the county seat
until 1823.
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