Fort Meigs | |
Location | Perrysburg, Ohio |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°33′10″N83°39′6″W / 41.55278°N 83.65167°W |
Area | 62.25 acres (25.19 ha) |
Built | 1813 |
NRHP reference No. | 69000151 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | August 4, 1969 |
Designated NHL | August 4, 1969 |
Fort Meigs was a United States fortification along the Maumee River in what is now Perrysburg, Ohio during the War of 1812. The British Army, supported by Tecumseh's Confederacy, failed to capture the fort during the siege of Fort Meigs. It is named in honor of Ohio governor Return J. Meigs Jr., for his support in providing General William Henry Harrison with militia and supplies for the line of forts along the Old Northwest frontier.
Construction of the fort started in February 1813 by soldiers under the command of General William Henry Harrison (future president) at a site where present-day Perrysburg, Ohio developed. It was to provide a supply depot and staging point for US military operations in Canada that would also command the rapids of the Maumee River. The remnants of the British Fort Miami were across the river downstream, to the northeast. The winter climate was harsh, and the landscape unforgiving. A U.S. sentry froze to death during his two hours of guard duty. [2] The walls were constructed using logs cut to a 15-foot length, partially buried in the ground, then protected by a steep earthen slope thrown against the logs to strengthen them against bombardment. An embankment against the interior side provided a parapet. When completed, the fort was the largest wooden walled fortification in North America. [2]
The first siege: On May 1, 1813, British allied forces, under General Henry Proctor and Chief Tecumseh, opened a bombardment of the fort, which had mustered 1,200 regulars and militia, and laid siege. Reinforcements reached the fort on May 4, increasing its garrison to 2,800. Early on the morning of May 5, a detachment from Clay's brigade under Colonel William Dudley landed from boats on the north bank of the river, stormed the British batteries on the north bank and spiked the guns. Coming under fire from Indians in the woods, part of the Kentuckian force pursued Tecumseh's men, who led them deeper into the forest. In the woods, the disorganized Kentuckians suffered heavy casualties in confused fighting. Nearly 550 were captured, and of Dudley's 866 officers and men, only 150 returned to the fort. This became known as "Dudley's Massacre" or "Dudley's Defeat".
The Shawnee, Delaware (Lenape) and other Native American warriors attacked any wood-gathering parties sent out from the fort. Harrison held out against the British by using a pair of 14-foot high embankments ("traverses") thrown up inside the walls along the length of the interior to absorb the incoming British shells. Proctor abandoned the siege on May 9, 1813 and retreated to Detroit.
The second siege: Having mobilized the garrison into an army, Harrison left General Green Clay in command of the fort, much reduced in size from its original layout. In July 1813, the British attempted to appease their allies by again besieging Fort Meigs. The Indians staged a mock battle to lure the garrison out. The Americans, however, saw through the ploy. After the failed siege attempt, the British moved on to Fort Stephenson, where Fremont, Ohio stands today. That attack also failed, causing heavy British losses and forcing their retreat to Canada. Once the British had retreated from the area for good, General Harrison ordered Fort Meigs dismantled. In its place, a small, square stockade was constructed to serve as a supply base and to protect the Maumee rapids. The Treaty of Fort Meigs was signed there in 1817, and the post was abandoned that same year.
In 1864, brothers Timothy and Thomas Hayes became the owners of the land on which the fort had stood and were instrumental in preserving it in memory and honor of the men who fought the battles. The heirs of the Hayes brothers sold the property to the state in 1907. [3] On September 1, 1908, the large obelisk monument that can be seen from outside the fort was dedicated by a local veteran of the Civil War to the fallen soldiers of Fort Meigs. [4] The Ohio Historical Society reconstructed the fort in the late 1960s, and its museum, featuring numerous artifacts uncovered during excavation in connection with the rebuilding, opened in 1974. It is a National Historic Landmark.
As of 2024, Fort Meigs is the site of an Ohio State Memorial in Perrysburg, Ohio. The 65-acre (263,000 m2) park includes the full-size 10-acre replica of the 1813 fort. Between 2000 and 2003 its wooden palisades were rebuilt with fresh timbers, the seven blockhouses were repaired, and exhibits or facilities built inside four of them. The $6.2 million renovation project also saw the museum replaced by a Museum and Education Center of 14,000 square feet that features 3,000 square feet of exhibits on Ohio's role in the War of 1812, classrooms for student and adult workshops, and office and maintenance areas. The museum exhibit "Legacy of Freedom: Fort Meigs and the War of 1812" focuses on the themes of era, conflict, understanding and remembrance. These sections place the War of 1812 into the context of the times and explain Fort Meigs' role in the conflict.
The original grand traverse is preserved within the interior of the fort, although erosion has reduced it from its original 14-foot height, and a reverse traverse was constructed to the original specifications by the OHS. Located at the corner of a nearby cemetery are the remains of an original mortar position laid by the British for use during the siege.
Several re-enactments take place at Fort Meigs each year. They include:
1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1813th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 813th year of the 2nd millennium, the 13th year of the 19th century, and the 4th year of the 1810s decade. As of the start of 1813, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Perrysburg is a city located in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the south side of the Maumee River. The population was 25,041 at the 2020 census. Part of the Toledo metropolitan area, the city is 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Toledo. Perrysburg served as the county seat from 1822 to 1868.
Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and promoting intertribal unity. Even though his efforts to unite Native Americans ended with his death in the War of 1812, he became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian popular history.
The Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was an American victory in the War of 1812 against Tecumseh's Confederacy and their British allies. It took place on October 5, 1813, in Upper Canada, near Chatham. The British lost control of Southwestern Ontario as a result of the battle; Tecumseh was killed, and his confederacy largely fell apart.
The siege of Fort Meigs took place in late April to early May 1813 during the War of 1812 in northwestern Ohio, present-day Perrysburg. A small British Army unit with support from Indians attempted to capture the recently constructed fort to forestall an American offensive against Detroit, and its Fort Detroit in the Great Lakes region which the British from the north in Canada had captured the previous year. An American sortie and relief attempt failed with heavy casualties, but the British failed to capture the fort and were forced to raise the siege.
Green Clay was an American businessman, planter, military officer and politician in Virginia and Kentucky. Clay served in the American Revolutionary War and helped form the new state of Kentucky after representing its Madison County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 and in the Virginia House of Delegates which ultimately authorized creation of the new state of Kentucky. He also served in Kentucky's constitutional convention and in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly, which would name a county for him in 1807. During the War of 1812 Clay was commissioned as a general and led the Kentucky militia in the relief of Fort Meigs in Ohio. He was believed to be one of the wealthiest men of the state, owning tens of thousands of acres of land, many slaves, several distilleries, a tavern, and ferries, although one of his sons, Cassius Marcellus Clay would become a prominent abolitionist.
The siege of Fort Wayne took place from September 5 – September 12, 1812, during the War of 1812. The stand-off occurred in the modern city of Fort Wayne, Indiana between the U.S. military garrison at Fort Wayne and a combined force of Potawatomi and Miami forces. The conflict began when warriors under the Potawatomi chiefs, Winamac and Five Medals killed two members of the U.S. garrison. Over the next several days, the Potawatomi burned the buildings and crops of the fort's adjacent village, and launched assaults from outside the fort. Winamac withdrew on 12 September, ahead of reinforcements led by Major General William Henry Harrison.
The Battles of Frenchtown, also known as the Battle of the River Raisin and the River Raisin Massacre, were a series of conflicts in Michigan Territory that took place from January 18–23, 1813, during the War of 1812. It was fought between the United States of America and a joint force of British and Native Americans near the River Raisin in Frenchtown.
The Battle of Fort Stephenson in August 1813 was an American victory during the War of 1812. American forces successfully defended the fort in August 1813; it guarded an important supply depot. It was located on the west bank of the Sandusky River more than 10 miles upstream from Sandusky Bay in what is now Ohio. The town of Fremont, Ohio developed around the site.
Major-General Henry Patrick Procter was a British Army officer who served in the Canadas during the War of 1812. He is best known for being decisively defeated in 1813 by American forces, which left the western portion of Upper Canada under U.S. control. Procter is regarded by numerous commentators as an inept leader who relied heavily on textbook procedure. His "going by the book" is attributed to his lack of any combat experience before coming to Canada.
Fort Stephenson was built in the early 1800s on the west side of the lower Sandusky River. It was the site in 1813 of an American victory in the Battle of Fort Stephenson during the War of 1812.
Amos Stoddard was a career United States Army officer who served in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, in which he was mortally wounded.
During the War of 1812, the Indiana Territory was the scene of numerous engagements which occurred as part of the conflict's western theater. Prior to the war's outbreak in 1812, settlers from the United States had been gradually colonizing the region, which led to increased tensions with local Native Americans and the outbreak of Tecumseh's War. In 1811, Tecumseh's confederacy, formed in response to encroachment by white American settlers, was defeated by U.S. forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe. After the conflict broke out, most Native Americans in the region joined forces with the British Empire and attacked American forces and settlers in concert with their British allies.
During the War of 1812, Kentucky supplied numerous troops and supplies to the war effort. Because Kentucky did not have to commit manpower to defending fortifications, most Kentucky troops campaigned actively against the enemy. This led to Kentucky seeing more battle casualties than all other states combined.
William Dudley was a colonel in the 13th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia during the War of 1812.
Events from the year 1813 in the United States.
Roundhead, also known as Bark Carrier, Round Head, Stayeghtha, and Stiahta, was an American Indian chief of the Wyandot tribe. He was a strong member of Tecumseh's confederacy against the United States during the War of 1812. He died of unknown natural causes about a month or two before Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames.
During the War of 1812, Ohio was on the front lines in the conflict between the United States, Great Britain, Canadians, and the Native American allies of each side. Fighting raged in the northeastern section of the state and on the adjacent Lake Erie.
Leslie Combs was a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served under William Henry Harrison and Green Clay during the War of 1812 and was captured in 1813. After his release, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1818. In 1827, he was elected as a Whig to the first of several non-consecutive terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 1833, 1845, and 1857, and served as Speaker of the House in 1846. He lost a bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to Democrat John C. Breckinridge in 1851. His last political office was clerk of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which he held from 1860 to 1866, when he retired from public life. He died in 1881 and was buried in Lexington Cemetery.
The Western theater of the War of 1812 was a theater of war during the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. Far from the Atlantic Coast and large cities, logistics and communication were more challenging in the western territories and the United States frontier. For many Native American nations involved, this war was a continuation of the defense of their lands against encroaching settlers.
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