Choosing a Homestead

To the pioneer looking out over the Ohio River Valley and its tributaries, it was a land of incredible riches.  Before them stood endless stretches of wooded hills and grassy plains, majestic forests, rivers and lakes.  Most of all it held the hope of liberty and the opportunity for social equality and advancement.

The new country was thought of as "the wilderness" but in fact there were great areas of uplands like the prairies in northern Indiana and Illinois, and the treeless hilly regions within 100 miles of the Ohio River.  The grasses grew in profusion with unobstructed stretches of great herds of buffalo, deer and elk that fed on those grasses, drank at the rivers.  Waterfowl like ducks, geese, cranes, and herons in abundance, along with grey squirrels, prairie chickens and partridges provided food for every pioneer for the taking.

The forests were thick with deer paths, buffalo roads and Indian trails in all directions, wide enough to allow two or three wagons to pass.  Giant poplars, beeches, sycamores and sugar maples grew to great heights, providing lumber and protection.

Adventurous pioneers often went off with their families to isolated places to claim their homestead.  The average pioneer, however, favored a location, near or reasonably near, a settlement.  The choice of site was a matter of primary importance and not one taken lightly.  There must be adequate drinking water nearby, preferably a free flowing spring, pasture land for immediate use and fertile soil for planting.

The choice of lowlands along a stream (called bottom lands) offered perfect soil except for the annual attacks of malaria.  The bottom lands were extremely fertile and the "ague" became an accepted trade-off for the fertile lands. The alternative was the poorer and drier soil of the uplands.  Although healthier, they proved to be far less fertile farm land.

The pioneer first had to clear a few acres by hand where his cabin was to stand.  A belt of open land around those acres served as a protective barrier against Indians and wild beasts.  When the land chosen and prepared, it was time to build the family's cabin.

Next time...Building the Log Cabin
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On April 8, 1842, Elizabeth Bacon Custer is born in Monroe, Michigan.  She was the wife of George Custer.  After her husband's death, she dedicated herself to celebrating his life and exonerating him from the public opinion after his defeat at Little Big Horn.  Her writings are a rare look at military life from a woman's perspective."

Battle of Fallen Timbers

On the 27th of July in 1794, Wayne's army moved forward in the direction of the Maumee River.  News of Wayne's army traveled ahead of him and many of the tribes deserted their villages before Wayne got in the vicinity.  When Anthony reached the junction of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers, they found only deserted huts and huge fields of corn which replenished their supplies.  They built Fort Defiance and from there sent out a final offer of peace to the hostile tribes. 

Wayne knew the British were still furnishing the Indians all the necessary aid, and wasn't surprised when the chiefs returned evasive answers in response to his peace offer.  He therefore moved his troops to the left bank of the Maumee, preceding downstream to Fort Maumee.  A few days later at Fallen Timbers, they found a tornado had ripped trees and ground up everywhere making a natural barrier.  Just five miles from the British post,  nature had given the Indians the perfect place to make their stand.

On the morning of August 20th, Wayne (who was so crippled by gout that he had to be lifted to his horse) led the assault on Fallen Timbers.  At first the Kentuckians were forced back, but the infantry was able to dislodge the Indians while the cavalry charged the left flank.  The whole battle lasted 45 minutes with only a third of Wayne's men even taking part.  The remaining Indians fled back to the British fort where the Redcoats failed to come to their aid or even open the gates to allow them protection.  Many Indians died right there outside the gates.

The Americans lost 33 men and 100 wounded.  The battle of Fallen Timbers, however, was the most decisive victory yet in the Northwest.  Warfare that had been building for 40 years ended in just 45 minutes. 

Next time...Destination Fort Wayne
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Today in Pioneer History: "On March 21, 1882, "Bronco Billy" Anderson is born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gilbert M. Anderson, the first western movie star, starred in over 300 short films in the early days of the silent movies.

The Gloomiest Battle in the American West's History

On October 4, 1781, Governor St. Clair led an army of untrained forces from Cincinnati northward.  St. Clair made no secret of his plans nor did he protect his men from ambushes.  They made their way slowly through the deep forests, chopping down their own path, making only five or six miles a day.  The weather was good, game was plentiful, but the men were not content and desertions were a daily occurrence.  The men only made $2 a month and most men had no taste for Indian warfare, so their commander's threats did little to maintain order.

In November,  the remaining 1400 men camped on the eastern banks of the Wabash River, 100 miles north of Cincinnati near the Indian border.  In the early hours of November 4th, masses of Indians surrounded the troops giving them little chance of victory.  St. Clair called for his men to save themselves as best as they could.  Half of St. Clair's men were killed, less than 500 survived without injury and the remainder retreated starving and disheartened. 

The battle was one of the gloomiest defeats in the history of the West.  St. Clair's character and courage allowed him to be exonerated, but he resigned his military command but retained the governorship.

The situation went from serious to desperate.  The British along with aiding the Indians, invaded the disputed country and built a stockade at Fort Miami near the present site of the city of Toledo.  The Americans were once again told that "the Ohio will remain the boundary line between us." 
The new western campaign needed a new commander.  Washington's first choice was "Light Horse Harry" Lee, but the final assignment went to one "Mad" Anthony Wayne.

Next time...Mad Anthony Wayne
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 14, 1814, Albert Einstein is born as the son of a Jewish electrical engineer in Ulm, Germany. Einstein's theories of relativity greatly altered man' view of the universe, and his work in energy helped modernize our lives.

Pontiac's Reign

While Pontiac was brokering peace in Detroit, a reign of terror was spreading over the entire frontier.  Settlements south of Lake Erie, and west of Lake Michigan were attacked.  Pioneer families were killed and scalped, traders ambushed along trails, and border towns burned and devastated.  In the Ohio Valley alone, only Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) remained.  Detroit was all that remained in the Northwest.

Military troops under Colonel Henry Bouquet won an important victory at Bushy Run, basically putting the major fire out in the confederacy.  Bouquet and his men built Fort Pitt's blockhouse following the battle, which now stands as a historical landmark.  Beginning to collapse now, the confederacy made treaties with Bouquet in 1764.   Bouquet was honored by the King for his role by the governorship of the new territory of Florida.

Indians of the Northwest were pacified by the treaties in the great councils at Niagara,  Erie and Detroit.  Pontiac fled to Maumee Country west of Lake Erie where he continued to taunt the British "dogs in red." The most he could do by this time was gather 400 warriors on the Maumee and Illinois Rivers and then present himself at Fort Chartres, demanding weapons and ammo.  He was refused and his power was essentially broken.

In 1765 Pontiac gave pledges of friendship and made a formal submission to Sir William Johnson at Oswego where Pontiac renounced his ambition forever to be lord of the West, free from British rule.  There is no record of Pontiac's whereabouts for the next several years until he appears in St. Louis in 1769.  While visiting friends, he is murdered by another Indian who was bribed by a Englishman out for revenge.  The reward for Pontiac's life was a barrel of whiskey.  Pontiac was buried with military honors in St. Louis.  His grave site is lost to history, but is believed to be somewhere under the streets of the present day St. Louis.

Next time...A Liar of Wild Beasts
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On January 17, 1820, Anne Bronte, the youngest of the Bronte sisters is born in Yorkshire England.  Their mother died when Anne was still an infant, and the children were left largely to their own devices in the bleak parsonage in Haworth, a remote village in Yorkshire.