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