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

Leslie Combs War of 1812 Service-- Part 1: At River Raisin and Relief of Fort Meigs

Same Source as previous post.

During the War of 1812, Leslie Combs, age 19 "distinguished himself by his courage and gallantry.

In the campaign that ended  at the Raisin, he was sent by General Winchester with a dispatch to General Harrison and went through the wilderness through snow and water for 100 miles under conditions that almost cost him his life.

In 1813 he was commissioned as a Captain of Scouts and was attached to the force of General Green Clay, which had been ordered to the  relief of Fort Meigs.  Captain Combs "volunteered with the aid of an Indian guide and four men to carry news  of Clay's approach to General Harrison."

"He succeeded in threading his perilous way through the swamps of hostile savages and had arrived in sight  of the closely invested Fort, where he was attacked by Indians, one of his men killed , another wounded, he and the rest escaped back to Fort Defiance."

--Brock-Perry

Leslie Combs of Kentucky-- Part 3: Wounded Again and Captured

After two days, he returned to Fort Defiance to tell Green Clay that Fort Meigs needed his help.  But, he found General Clay already beginning preparations for Fort Meigs' relief.

Leslie Combs had been badly wounded in the ambush, though, and was ordered to bed by medical personnel.  However, he found there were two  small companies of spies  ready to operate under his command.

He left his sick bed and took command and joined Clay's march.

He was wounded and taken prisoner on May 5, 1813.

After his release and parole, he discontinued his military career and became a lawyer and politician.  He was a strong Unionist during the Civil War.

--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

Fort Jennings in Ohio-- Part 3: "Unpleassant, Uninteresting" Life at the Fort

The men of the 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Militia camped in tents during the fort's construction.

On October 1, U.S. General William Henry Harrison and several regiments numbering 3,000 men spent a night at the new fort, still under construction,  while advancing to assist General Winchester at Fort Defiance.  In mid-October, William Jennings and his regiment, now under Winchester's command, completed the fort.

It was named in honor of Colonel William Jennings.  A major role of the fort was to serve as a supply center.  Life at the fort on garrison duty was routine and monotonous.

One member of the regiment wrote:  "We had the same unpleasant, uninteresting round of escorting convoys and provisions etc. in advance of us."

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Oct. 7th-- Winchester Arrives

OCTOBER 7, 1812

General James Winchester's army arrives at Fort Defiance, located in present-day Defiance, Ohio, in the northwest corner of the state.

Fort Defiance was built in 1794 at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers by Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne and for many years was the forward American base against the Indians and their British allies.

Fort Winchester construction began in early October 1812 and was completed on Oct. 15th by troops under Gen. William Henry Winchester and named after Brigadier General James Winchester who had also been an officer during the Revolutionary War.

Some More Forts.  --Brock-Perry