Show ile bliefe ask of tori fort stephenson ste henson 0 J af 71 N 1 V OW 0 ao r TZ 1 tm gold medal awarded I 1 4 F ki R 4 f ly a fhe 0 n the fort L igo P spa N 9 U t YARD S plan of ely ELMO SCOTT WATSON N A park li 51 short distance from the center of the city of fremont ohio stands a tall monument which does not differ enough from the usual civil war memorials found in hundreds of lp towns throughout the united states to stop the passing motorist and cause him to read the inscription thereon but nearby there Is something which Is quite likely to halt him before he speeds on his way it Is a little can cannon noll between the wheels of whose carriage carre Is a metal plate which tells him that this Is old betsy cannon used by major george croghan against the british and ind ans in the defense of fort stephenson august 1 and 2 1813 back of that brief inscription Is the story of one of the most brilliant teats feats in american history it Is the story of a youthful american military leader and his seven equally youthful subalterns who ho set a high example of courage and daring for future young americans to emulate and it 1 14 the story of a gun insignificant in appear ance which vitally affected the course of amer lean ican history big bertha of world war fame the greatest piece of artillery ever devised by n nan an failed to break the morale ot of the french and lead to a german victory as its builders had hoped but old betsy a little sit which would be lost in the cavernous depths of the world war piece once turned the tide in a crucial battle years ago and saved a vent able empire for the american flag before beginning that story however first a brief word about the chief actor in it maj george croghan he was a kentuckian lan born near louisville november 15 1791 and a neph ew of george rogers clarl clark the savior of the old northwest during the revolution grad bated from william and mary college in vir ginia at the age of eighteen he served as a h volunteer aid to colonel boyd in the expedit tion commanded by gen william henry har rison which was sent to break up the conspire acy of tecumseh the great shawnee chieftain in 1811 croghan distinguished himself at the battle of tippecanoe received an appointment in the army and at the outbreak of the var NN ar of 1812 he was a captain in the seventeenth in fantry from which rank he was promoted to major in the same regiment for gallantry in a sortie during the siege ot fort meigs by the british soon afterwards he was sent with a battalion of his regiment composed of some officers and men to take command of fort stephenson a ramshackle old stockade built around a for mer indian trader traders s house at the head of tion on the sandusky river about 20 miles from lal e erie in ohio the modern city of I 1 remont now stands on that site but it Is known in frontier history as lower sandusky a rally ing place for the tribes of the old northwest and the scene of many a dark deed of torture of white captives the stockade was made of posts about 16 feet high and outside them was a dry ditch 8 or 9 feet wide and 5 or 6 feet deep it en closed about an acre of ground and was laid out in the form of a parallelogram with a block house at the northeast corner and a guardhouse at the southeast midway on the he north wall croghan built another blockhouse from which he could enfilade the d and hp also strength ened the weak places in the stockade despite Us its unimposing appearance fort stephenson was an important post it was at the apex of a triangle the base line of which con necked erie and upper sandusky at erie oliver hazard perry was busily engaged in build ng the fleet with which he was to win his famous naval victory later and at upper sandusky son e 20 miles up the river from fort stephen son was the great depot of supplies for the american armies in inthe the northwest so it if fort hemon fell it would leave the way open tor for Sf battle the british to attack either erie or upper san dusky to defend this post croghan had a force of a little over men and the following officers most of them younger than croghan himself capt james hunter licurs benjamin johnston and cyrus A baylor ensigns john meek joseph dunean duncan and edmund shipp lieutenant ander son who had no command served as a volun teer in the ranks to defend it he also had a solitary piece of artillery the little six now known to fame as old betsy the affee title bestowed upon it by croghan s men late in july 1813 general proctor with a force of COO british regulars and some indians under tecumseh crossed the lake from maiden malden and appeared before fort meigs on the maumee falling failing in his attempt to draw its gar rison out into a sortie he determined to make a dash against fort stephenson capture it and fall upon general harrison Harrl sons s small force at seneca palls falls about 10 miles up the river har ear rison had previously inspected the fort and believing it could not be held against artillery he d erected croghan in case the british appeared to abandon the fort and retreat so go when his scouts told him of the coming of the enemy memy on the night of july 29 he sent orders to croghan to destroy the place at once and retire to seneca falls the messengers bearing these orders lost their way in the woods narrowly escaped capture by the ind ans and d d not reach the fort until the morning of july 30 croghan immediately called a council of war of his young officers and find ing them as determined as he was sent this note to harrison sir I 1 have just received yours of yesterday ten 0 clock p in ordering me to destroy this place and make good my retreat which was received too late to be carried into execution we have determined to maintain this place and by heavens we can I 1 harrison could not let such a flagrant diso obedience bedi ence of orders pass by he ile immediately sent colonel wells with a squadron of cavalry to relieve croghan of his command and ordered the young major to report at headquarters at once croghan hastened to harrisons Harrl sons camp and succeeded in placating his commander so that he was allowed to return to fort stephenson and resume command with permission to try to hold the fort against the expected british attack it came about noon of august 1 when ind ans in large numbers surrounded the fort one of the red men climbed a tree to reconnoiter recon but he was brought tumbling down by a shot from the long rifle of one of the kentuckians Kentuck iana in the fort then the indians gathered in a body at the edge of the clearing but one shot from old betsy quickly dispersed them about 4 0 clock in the afternoon the british boats appeared around a bend in the river and opened fire on the fort proctors regulars were disembarked about a mile below the fort a howitzer was landed and opened fire Crog broghan hans s men dragged old betsy from porthole to port hole to send an occasional shot in reply and to give an impression of a greater artillery force so the unequal contest began croghan and his men and one gun against proctors force of 1200 supplied with plenty of artillery after a brief exchange of shots three british officers colonel elliott major chambers and captain dixon came forward with a white flag to demand the surrender of the fort so croghan sent out ensign shipp the youngest officer in the fort to meet hem them to the British officers a demands that the fort be surrendered shipp re blied that the amarls americans ans were prepared to defend it to the death of the last man and when one of them pleaded with him to prevent the slaughter which must follow resistance should you fall into the hands of the savages flipp nade n ade the spirited reply of when ile ft e fort dball be taken there will be none to then colonel elliott pretending to be fear ful for shipp a safety urged him to return to the fort at once As he started an indian sprang from the bushes and tried to wrest his sword from him dixon pretended to drag the savage a ay with great diffin difficulty alty a bit of play acting which did not frighten the young ensign in the least croghan standing on the walls of the fort and seeing the insult to his envoy immelt abely shouted come in shipp and well blow em all to h 1 I I 1 convinced that the garrison could not be bluffed out the british began their bombardment which continued at intervals all night during which time they landed five six park ing three of them in a battery on a hill covered by trees about yards from the stockade from this position they opened a furious fire the next morning to which the americans made mad e little reply during the night also captain hunt er Crog croghan hans s second in command anticipating an assault on the northwest corner of the stock ade had dragged old betsy to the blockhouse on the north wall placing it so it would rake the d the little cannon was filled with a halt half charge of powder because of the short range and a double charge of slugs and bullets the porthole was masked so the british would not suspect the presence of the gun there late in the afternoon of august 2 a storming party of british rushed for the northwest corner while a party of grenadiers greni diers made a detour through the woods and advanced to at tack the south wall under cover of a fierce fire from the batteries the storming party dashed forward and because of the smoke their prea pres ence was not discovered until they were lesa less than 20 yards from the fort immediately Crog croghan hans s men poured a deadly rifle fire upon the attackers who were thrown into contusion confusion for a moment then lieutenant colonel short sprang to the head of the column waving his sword in the air he rallied his men who rushed forward with fixed bayonets at the edge of the ditch the bri ton shouted come on men I 1 we well 11 give the dd d d yankees no quarter I 1 and led the way down into the ditch and up the other side for a moment they were safe there for the amer leans could not depress their rifles enough to shoot the enemy in the ditch without exposing themselves above the palisades to the fire of the indians but just at this moment the masked porthole was thrown open and the black snout of old betsy appeared the next instant she poured out a blast of lead at short range which killed or wounded no less than 50 men colonel short received a mortal wound and with his last effort he raised his handkerchief on the point of his sword pleading for the mercy which but a moment before he had said he would not give I 1 reeling back from the slaughter pen in the ditch the surviving attackers beat a hasty retreat many of then them being dropped by the long rifles of the Kentuck lans as they ran the at tack on the south wall had also been beaten off with heavy loss to the british but it was that one terrible blast from old betsy which had turned the tide of battle the british artillery resumed its bombardment but it was only halt half hearted and croghan knew that he had little more to fear from them during the night Crog croghan hans s men mercifully lowered buckets of water to the wounded red coats in the ditch and a small trench was dug under the stockade which allowed those who were able to crawl ineide the fort some of those not so badly wounded managed to creep away across the clearing and rejoin their corn com mand unmolested during the night also the british force retreated going so precipitously that they left behind a boatload of stores and munitions which tell fell into the hands of the americans the next morning Crog croghan hans s faith in his abilay aall ty to hold the fort was vias more than justified he had won a decisive victory over a greatly superior force inflicting a loss of more than out of the BOO enemy engaged not counton countin the casualties among the indians which are unknown his own loss was exactly one killed and seven wound wounded edl 1 but more important than this defeat of an enemy force at such a cost to them was the tact fact that in hold ing fort stephenson he had saved the american supply depots and freed the state of ohio from the fears of a hostile invasion with its attend ant horrors at the hands of the red allies of the british more than that the outcome of the war might have been different if proctors in caslon had been successful just as his dig dis uncle george rogers clark had done a third of a before so had young george croghan done doue again he had saved the old northwest to the american flag D by western newspaper Un union |