Michigan's Shore Indian Trail and Hull's Trace & the War of 1812

From the October 25, 2022, Thumbwind by Michael Hardy.

The Shore Indian Trail was one of five major routes of land travel leading to Detroit and was well-known by early settlers.  The trail begins at the rapids of the Maumee River to Toledo, then closely follows along the shore of Lake Erie through Monroe and Brownstown to Detroit.

This trail became a crucial tactical element in the War of 1812.  The U.S. was concerned with supplying Fort Detroit early in tnhe war (it was still in American hands).  Since the British Navy controlled the Lake Erie, overland supply was the only option.

Starting in June 1812, troops under the command of General William Hull constructed what became known as "Hull's Trace," a 200-mile military road running from Urbana, Ohio, to Fort Detroit.  One hundred and fifty men under the command of  Hubert Lacroix completed "Corduroy Road" on July 4, 1812, with a bridge over  the River Huron.

--Brock-Perry

How the Horrors of the River Raisin Became a Rallying Cry-- Part 7: The Rout of the U.S. Infantry

An attempt was made  to send a few companies of Kentucky militiamen to the aid of the 17th Infantry, but the effort proved disastrous.

General Winchester, arriving from his headquarters, ordered the infantrymen to fall back to the north bank of the river where they they could rendezvous with the Kentuckians.  Together they made a brief stand, but were soon overwhelmed by the pursuing Canadian, Wyandot and Shawnee fighters.

After a frantic retreat to the south side of the river and another futile stand, the American position disintegrated entirely.  Within 20 minutes, about 220 U.S. soldiers were killed and another 147 captured.  Only 33 American Regulars managed to escape to the Maumee River.

Bit the actions east and south of Frenchtown barely registered for the British Regulars and Kentuckians still entrenched behind that puncheon fence line.

Instead, they remained locked in what seemed to be the main battle area.

--Brock-Perry

How the Horrors of the River Raisin Became a Rallying Call-- Part 3: Efforts to Recapture Detroit

The British and their Native allies were able to secure firm control over much of the Old Northwest as they pushed the frontier back to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Upon liberating Fort Wayne, Major General William Henry Harrison soon turned his sights on coordinating efforts to recapture Detroit.  He established a base at the Maumee Rapids, south of present-day Toledo, Ohio.

In January 1813, these American forces were assembling for a winter campaign to retake Detroit.  American Revolution war veteran Brigadier General James Winchester, an early arrival, received a request from River Raisin settlers to lift British control of their community.

Winchester dispatched more than 550 men from the 1st and 5th Kentucky Volunteer Regiments, under the command of Colonels William Lewis and John Allen to the River Raisin.

Once there, American efforts to outflank allied Canadian militiamen and Confederacy warriors proved unsuccessful, and the fighting dissolved into a series of fierce skirmishes through the dense woods to the north.

--Brock-Perry

Harrison Takes Charge in Ohio-- Part 4: Heading for the Sanduskey

Once the British had left, William Henry Harrison sentn his forces east to the Sanduskey River to construct a series of forts along it.   Like the Maumee River, British ships could go up it from Lake Erie until they reached a distance where they could go no further.

It was here that Harrrison built another fort for defense.  In addition, several forts were constructed further upriver as fall-back positions  However, these additional forts were not as heavily protected and not expected to withstand a major assault like Fort Meigs

They were there for supplies and a point of safety for soldiers as they moved from one position to another.

The Touring Ohio site has a picture of Gen. Harrison's headquarters at Franklinton which appears to be nothing more than a very rustic log cabin.  The Harrison House, which I have written about, is a much more luxurious structure and I imagine this is where the general lived.

There is also a picture of a weather vane from the top of the Franklinton  courthouse which is pockmarked by bullet holes from Harrison's recruits who were using it for target practice during training.

--Brock-Perry

Harrison Takes Charge in Ohio (1812)-- Part 3: Siege of Fort Meigs

A good defensive spot, Harrison believed, would be at the point where the first set of rapids on the Maumee River would force ships to stop and unload.  Here, near present day Perrysburg, he determined to build Fort Meigs.

Construction on the fort began in the late winter of 1813 and weather conditions were horrible, but the fort was completed in just three months.  And that was just in time.

The fort was designed for defense and as a major supply area for the proposed invasion of Canada.  Because of its large size, the interior of the fort was constructed to protect men and supplies from bombardment.  As it turned out, this was a good thing.

The fort was attacked by British forces almost immediately.  On May 1, 1813,  British forces under General Proctor came down the Maumee River and took up position across the river from the fort.  Despite a few successes, they were never able to dislodge the Americans from the fort before additional American forces arrived.

The siege of Fort Meigs lasted four days.

Tecumseh and his Indians could not understand why the British withdrew so quickly   Even more puzzling was why they were to remain opposite Fort Meigs while the British left to flank the Americans there by coming down the Sanduskey River.

--Brock-Perry

Harrison Takes Charge In Ohio-- Part 2: Building Roads and Forts

Fresh recruits soon began pouring into Franklinton and William Henry Harrison set out to train them.  As the new troops were being trained, he sent the first 700 he had received out to what is today Muncie, Indiana, where they caught a group of Miami Indians by surprise  and soundly defeated them on December 17, 1812.

At this time, most of Ohio was still a wilderness.  There were a few roads built along existing Indian trails, but for the most part, land north and west of Columbus was flat marshy land which made travel extremely difficult.

Making roads to the north of the town caused many deaths from disease in Harrison's army.  To make travel easier, Harrison ordered that an old Indian trail along the Scioto River be expanded.  That road today is State Route 23.

After that he began concentrating on building forts.  He first rebuilt Fort Defiance which had had major use during the Indian Wars of 1793-1794.  It was located at the confluence of  the Auglaiz and Maumee rivers.  During the War of 1812, the major threat to Ohio came from Canadian and British troops and their Indian allies massed along the northwest end of Lake Erie.

Fort Defiance gave Harrison a good point for a staging area, but wasn't as much help as a defensive post.  Another fort was needed.

--Brock-Perry

Col. William Dudley-- Part 2: Initial Success

General William Henry Harrison, at Fort Meigs, sent a courier to Gen. Green Clay ordering him to take the offensive against the British battery on the other side of the of the Maumee River to drive them away and spike their cannons.  General Clay ordered Col. Dudley to take 800 men and accomplish this task.

On the morning of May 5, Dudley made his assault on the battery and succeeded in capturing it.  After this initial success, things quickly fell apart.  The soldiers with the tools to spike the guns accidentally landed on the other side of the river..  Dudley's men, however, did have some success spiking them with bayonets and ramrods.

Then, the Kentuckians came under fire by Indians in the woods.  Determined to avenge their fellow soldiers who had been slaughtered at the River Raisin Massacre the previous year, they charged into the woods against their officers' orders.

--Brick-Perry

Col. William Dudley-- Part 1: Commanded the 13th Kentucky Militia

Col. Dudley was under the command of Gen. Green Clay of Kentucky in the relief of Fort Meigs in Ohio in 1813.  Leslie Combs accompanied Dudley and was captured.

From Wikipedia.

Born 1766  Died May 5, 1813.

Colonel of the 13th Kentucky Militia during the War of 1812.  Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  As a young man, he sought his fortune west of the Appalachians, eventually settling in Fayette County, Kentucky.  He served as the local magistrate for several years.

In the spring of 1813, Dudley was under the command of General Green Clay of Kentucky, whose force numbered around 1200.  The force moved from Maumee River, Ohio, to Fort Meigs.  They arrived May 4 in the midst of the Siege of Fort Meigs.

--Brock-Perry

Leslie Combs of Kentucky-- Part 2: Fort Meigs Besieged

He was born in Clark County, Kentucky in 1793, the youngest of 12 children of Benjamin Combs and officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Combs enlisted in the First Regiment Kentucky Volunteers under general William Henry Harrison, but was soon transferred to the command of Green Clay.  By April 1813, he was the captain of a scouting group.

On the evening of May 1, 1813,  Combs and a six-man detachment was  dispatched by Colonel William Dudley from Fort Defiance (present-day Defiance, Ohio)  to the besieged Fort Meigs.  As they canoed down the Maumee River, they were ambushed by Potawatomi, and two of Combs' men were killed.

The remaining men of Combs' force returned to Fort Defiance to say that Fort Meigs  was under siege and in need of aid.

--Brock-Perry

A Frontier In Flames-- Part 15: Harrison in a Bind, But Still Destroying Indian Villages

Wintering at Fort Meigs on the Maumee River (today's Perrysburg, Ohio), William Henry Harrison held a precarious front and knew spring would bring a renewed British offensive.

Harrison had attacked and burned American Indian villages along his line of march north and continued sending out raiding parties to destroy other Indian villages.

--Brock-Perry

A Frontier in Flames-- Part 12: Events Leading to the Raisin River Massacre

The fall of Detroit and Dearborn Massacre outraged America.  Seeking revenge, in late 1812, William Henry Harrison led a 9,000-man army through Indiana to recapture Fort Detroit.  A smaller, second American force was led by James Winchester was supposed to meet Harrison at the Maumee River near the border of Indiana and Michigan.

Colonel Henry Proctor had replaced General Brock, who had been killed at the Battle of Queenstown Heights, as commander of the British forces.  Rather than to allow Harrison to reach Detroit, Procter took an army of about 1,100 regulars, militia and American Indians south.

They captured Frenchtown (now Monroe, Michigan), on the Raisin River and dug in to await the Americans.

--Brock-Perry

Ohio's Fort Meigs-- Part 1

From the February 12, 2013, U.S. Army Home Page "War of 1812 bicentennial: Fort Meigs" by Egon Hatfield.

I have to wonder if Fort Meigs had anything to do with the former Chicago's Meigs Field?

The current Fort Meigs is a reconstruction located at Perrysburg, Ohio. The orginal was built to protect the western Ohio frontier and ordered by Major General William Henry Harrison, commanding the United States Northwestern Army, on a bluff overlooking the Maumee River rapids. It was not only for protection, but also a staging area for future Canadian invasions.

 Construction began February 2, 1813, and was named in honor of Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs.

 --Brock-Perry

Marching Through Ohio in the War of 1812

From the Jan. 8, 2013, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch "Troops visit Worthington road to War of 1812."

On Jan. 1, 1813, Captain Daniel Cushing led 34 soldiers and 6 officers north of what is now High Street, then a buffalo trail, heading for Upper Sanduskey by way of Worthington.

It had been raining and wagons got stuck in the mud.  Making it worse, that rain turned into snow.

They made it to Worthington nonetheless where they got into a barroom brawl.  They reached Upper Sanduskey Jan. 14.

In May 1813, they went to Fort Meigs on the Maumee River where they were besieged by British troops and their Indian allies under Tecumseh.

Ohio's Involved.  --Brock-Perry