TUSCARAWAS COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: County History part 7 (published 1898) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Submitted by: MRS GINA M REASONER Email: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com Date: August 13, 1999 *********************************************************************** HISTORICAL COLLECTION OF OHIO By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898 TUSCARAWAS COUNTY PART 7 THE FORT BESIEGED. -The published statements of this affair say that the Indians enticed the men out in search of horses, by taking off their bells and tinkling them; but it is certain that no horses were left at the fort, as they must either starve or be stolen by the Indians; so that Mr. Jolly's version of the incident must be correct. During the siege, which continued until the last of February, the garrison were very short of provisions. The Indians suspected this to be the fact, but were also nearly starving themselves. In this predicament they proposed to the garrison that if they would give them a barrel of flour and some meat they would raise the siege, concluding if they had not this quantity they must surrender at discretion soon, and if they had they would not part with it. In this, however, they missed their object. The brave Col. Gibson turned out the flour and meat promptly, and told them he could spare it very well, as he had plenty more. The Indians soon after raised the siege. a runner was sent to Fort McIntosh with a statement of their distress, and requesting reinforcements and provisions immediately. The inhabitants south of the Ohio volunteered their aid, and Gen. McIntosh headed the escort of provisions, which reached the fort in safety, but was near being all lost from the dispersion of the pack-horses in the woods near the fort, from a fright occasioned by feu de joie fired by the garrison, at the relief. The fort was finally evacuated in August, 1779, it being found untenable at such a distance from the frontiers; and Henry Jolly was one of the last men who left it, holding at that time in the continental service the commission of ensign. Recent investigations by Consul Willshire Butterfield, embodied in his "History of Ohio" from information derived from the Haldiman collection of manuscripts in the British Museum, give a somewhat different version from the foregoing accounts of both the attack on Capt. Clark's detachment and the siege of Fort Laurens. The attack on Capt. Clark's men was made by seventeen Indians, mostly Mingoes, led by Simon Girty. Butterfied says: "The particulars were these: -On the twenty-first of the month Capt. John Clark, of 8th Pennsylvania regiment, commanding an escort having supplies for Gibson, reached Fort Laurens. On his return, the captain, with a sergeant and fourteen men, when only about three miles distant from the fort, was attacked by the force just mentioned. The Americans suffered a loss of two killed, four wounded and one taken prisoner. The remainder, including Capt. Clark, fought their way back to the fort. Letters written by the commander of the post and others, containing valuable information, were captured by "Girty." (These letters now form a part of the Haldimand Collection.) "From the vicinity of Fort Laurens, after his successful ambuscading, the detachment of Capt. Clark, the renegade Girty hastened with his prisoner and captured correspondence with his prisoner and captured correspondence to Detroit, which place he reached early in February. He reported to Capt. Lernoult that the Wyandots upon the Sandusky (and other Indians) were ready and willing to attack, the fort commanded by Col. Gibson, and that he had come for ammunition. He earnestly insisted on an English captain being sent with the savages 'to see how they would behave.'" "By the middle of February provisions began to grow scarce with Gibson. He sent word to McIntosh, informing him of the state of affairs, concluding with these brave words: 'You may depend on my defending the fort to the last extremity.' On the 23d he sent out a wagoner from the fort for the horses belonging to the post, to draw wood. With the wagoner went a guard of eighteen men. The party was fired upon by lurking savages and all killed and scalped in sight of the fort, except two, who were made prisoners. The post was immediately invested after this ambuscade by nearly two hundred Indians, mostly Wyandots and Mingoes. "This movement against Fort Laurens, although purely a scheme of the Indians in its inception, was urged on, as we have seen, by Simon Girty; and Capt. Henry Bird was sent forward from Detroit to Upper Sandusky with a few volunteers to promote the undertaking. Capt. Lernoult, in order to encourage the enterprise, furnished the savages with a 'large supply of ammunition and clothing, also presents to the chief warriors'" "The plan of the Indians was to strike the fort and drive off or destroy the cattle, and if any of the main army under McIntosh attempted to go to the assistance, of the garrison, to attack them in the night and distress them as much as possible. By stratagem the Indians made their force so appear that 847 savages were counted from one of the bastions of the fort. The siege was continued until the garrisons was reduced to the verge of starvation, a quarter of a pound of sour flour and an equal weight of spoiled meat constituting a daily ration. The assailants, however, were finally compelled to return home, as their supplies had also become exhausted. Before the enemy left, a soldier managed to steal through the lines, reaching Gen. McIntosh on the 3d of March, with a message from Gibson informing him of his critical situation." NEW PHILADELPHIA IN 1846. -New Philadelphia, the county-seat, is 100 miles northeasterly from Columbus. It is on the east bank of the Tuscarawas, on a large, level, and beautiful plain. It was laid out in 1804 by John Knisely, and additions subsequently made. The town has improved much within the last few years, and is now flourishing. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist and 1 Disciples church, 5 mercantile stores, 2 printing offices, 1 oil and 1 grist mill, 1 woollen factory, and a population estimated at over 1,000. -Old Edition. In the late war, some Indians under confinement in jail in this town, were saved from being murdered by the intrepidity of two or three individuals. The circumstances are derived from two communications, one of which is from a gentleman then present. A DARING LEADER. -About the time of Hull's surrender, several persons were murdered on the Mohiccan, near Mansfield, which created great alarm and excitement. Shortly after this event, three Indians, said to be unfriendly, had arrived at Goshen. The knowledge of this circumstance created much alarm, and an independent company of cavalry, of whom Alexander M'Connel was captain, was solicited by the citizens to pursue and take them. Some half a dozen with their captain, turned out for that purpose. Where daring courage was required to achieve any hostile movement, no man was more suitable than Alexander M'Connel. The Indians were traced to a small island near Goshen. M'Connel plunged his horse into the river and crossed at the same time ordering his men to follow, but none chose to obey him. He dismounted, hitched his horse, and with a pistol in each hand commenced searching for them. He had gone but a few steps into the interior of the island when he discovered one of them, with his rifle, lying at full length behind a log. He presented his pistol -the Indian jumped to his feet, but M'Connel disarmed him. He also took the others, seized their arms and drove them before him. On reaching his company, one of his men hinted that they should be put to death. "Not until they have had a trial according to law," said the captain; then ordering his company to wheel, they conducted the prisoners to the county jail. A BRAVE JUDGE. -The murder which had been perpetrated on the Mohiccan had aroused the feelings of the white settlers in that neighborhood almost to frenzy. No sooner did the report reach them that some strange Indians had been arrested and confined in the New Philadelphia jail, than a company of about forty men was organized at or near Wooster, armed with rifles, under the command of a Captain Mullen, and marched for New Philadelphia to despatch these Indians. When within about a mile of the town, coming from the west, John C. Wright, then a practicing lawyer at Steubenville (later Judge), rode into the place from the east on business. He has hailed by Henry Laffer, Esq., a that time sheriff of the county, told that the Indian prisoners were in his custody; the advancing company of men was pointed out to him, their object stated, and the inquiry made. "What is to be done?" "The prisoners must be saved, sir," replied Wright; "why don't you beat an alarm and call out the citizens?" To this he replied, "Our people are much exasperated, and the fear is that if they are called out they will side with the company, whose object is to take their lives." "Is there no one who will stand by you to prevent so dastardly a murder?" rejoined Wright, "None but M'Connel, who captured them." "Have you any arms?" "None, but an old broadsword and a pistol." "Well," replied W., "go call M'Connel, get your weapons, and come up to the tavern; I'll put away my horse and make a third man to defend the prisoners; we must not have so disgraceful a murder committed here." -continued in part 8 *************OH-FOOTSEPS Mailing List***************************