The confusion attending the commencement
of the retreat of the Americans from their encampment in the grove, upon the
Sandusky Plains, on the evening of the 5th of June, was the cause of the
separation of Crawford from his command. Just as the army moved off, he missed his son,
John Crawford; his son-in-law, William Harrison; and William Crawford, his
nephew; and, very naturally, at once made an effort to find them. He called aloud for them, but there was no
response. His aid, too, Major Rose (he
was called "major" by all the volunteers, although his real rank in
the regular army was lieutenant, as we have already seen), was not just then by
his side; so he called out for him also.
At this moment, Dr. Knight came up and
remarked to Crawford that he thought they were all ahead of them. He then said
those he was looking for were not in front, and begged Knight not to leave him.
The doctor promised him he would not. Both waited and continued calling for the
absent men until the troops had all passed them. The colonel then told the doctor that his
horse had almost given out; that he could not keep up with the troops, and
wished some of his best friends to remain with him. He then exclaimed against the militia for
riding off in such an irregular manner, and leaving some of the wounded behind,
contrary to his orders. Presently there
came two men riding after them, — one an old man, the other a lad. These were inquired of as to whether they had
seen any of the missing men before mentioned. They answered in the negative.
By this time, there was very hot firing
before them; near where the main body of the army was, as they judged. Their course was then nearly southwest. They had arrived near the cranberry marsh in
which some of the volunteers were struggling, in vain endeavors to disengage
their horses from the oozy soil. Crawford
and his three companions now changed their course to the north, traveling in
that direction about two miles. They
were then in what is now Crane township, Wyandot county, about a mile and a
half northwest of the battle-ground.
At this point, judging themselves to be
out of the enemy's lines, they changed their route, traveling due east, taking
care to keep at a distance of fifteen or twenty yards apart, and directing
themselves by the north star. They
reached the Sandusky river, distant three miles, a little before midnight,
crossing that stream just above the mouth of Negro run, a small affluent of the
Sandusky, flowing from the eastward.
The old man who was with them often lagged
behind; and, when this happened, he never failed to call for those in front to
halt for him. When they were near the
river, he fell one hundred yards behind, and called out, as usual, for the
party to wait. While the others were
preparing to reprimand him for making a noise, an Indian was heard to halloo,
at a distance of about one hundred and fifty yards, as believed by, Knight,
from the man, and partly behind him. After
this, he was not heard to call again, and they saw him no more.
They then traveled onward, soon passing
into what is now Eden township, in the county last mentioned. By daylight, they had crossed into the present
county of Crawford, at a point about two miles northwest of the spot where the
town of Oceola, in Todd township, is now located,—only eight miles distant, in
a direct line, from the battle-field. Their
progress had necessarily been slow on account of the darkness, and the jaded
condition of their horses; those that Crawford and the young man were riding now
gave out, and they left them.
They again continued
their journey—in a direction, however, more to the southeast. At two o'clock in the afternoon [June 6], they fell in with Captain Biggs, who had
carried Lieutenant Ashley from the field of action, dangerously wounded. Traveling an hour longer, the heavy rain set
in, which has been previously described; and they concluded it was best to
encamp, as they were now incumbered [sic] with the wounded officer. It was
just as they came up with Biggs and Ashley that the battle of Olentangy
commenced—particulars of which have already been narrated. The battle-field was at a point in the Plains
six miles distant, in a southeast direction. The place where the party made
their camp was in what is now Holmes township, Crawford county, nearly two
miles north of Bucyrus. They had
traveled only about nine miles since daylight. They were in the woods and had been ever since
midnight; the open country was two miles to the south of them.1
[June 7th] As Lieutenant Ashley was still riding Biggs' horse, Knight now lent the
latter his. Crawford and the doctor,
both on foot, went about one hundred yards in front, Biggs and the wounded
officer in the center, and the two young men behind. They were now traveling along the south bank
of the Sandusky, and a mile and a half brought them to the point just east of
Leesville, where the army, when outward bound, first struck the river. Here several Indians started up within fifteen
or twenty steps of Crawford and Knight. As only three were at first discovered, the
doctor got behind a large black oak, made ready his piece, and raised it to
take sight, when Crawford called to him twice not to fire.
One of the Indian's ran up to Crawford
and took him by the hand. The colonel
again told Knight not to fire, but to put down his gun, which he did. At that instant one of the Indians came up to
him, whom he had formerly seen very often, calling him "doctor," and
taking him by the hand. The party had
fallen into an ambuscade of Delaware Indians, whose chief was Wingenund, and
whose camp was only half a mile away, in a northeast direction—Wingenund's
camp, previously mentioned, distant twenty-eight miles in a straight line east
of the battle-field. As soon as the
Indians were discovered by Biggs he fired among them, but did no execution. "They then told us to call these
people," says Knight, "and make them come there, else they would go
and kill them, which the colonel did; but the four got off and escaped for that
time. The colonel and I were then taken
to the Indian camp." Captives to
the Delaware Indians, we will leave Crawford and Knight at this point, to
follow the fortunes of other stragglers from the army on the night of the 5th
of June.
It will be remembered, that when the
army left the grove on the evening the retreat began, three divisions, in
marching around the camp of the Shawanese, struck the marsh that lay to the
southwest of the battle-field, and that some of the men there lost their
horses, which had stuck fast in the mire. Among those who were unfortunate in this
respect were John Slover, the pilot, and James Paull. These men, with five others, all now on foot,
being pressed by the savages, struck off together in a northerly direction,
hoping thereby, as had Crawford and Knight, to avoid the enemy by taking a
different direction from that followed by the army. Two of the party, who had been in the same
company with Slover, had lost their guns in the swamp.2
During the night [June 6] they got out of the Plains, having crossed
the paths made by the army in its advance, at a point about five miles east of
the present site of Bucyrus. They had
traversed nearly the entire length of the open country—about forty miles from
the Tymochtee creek by the route traveled; not very rapid walking, it is true;
"but we would have made much greater progress," is the conjecture of
Slover, "had it not been for two of our companions who were lame: the one
having his foot burnt; the other being troubled with a swelling in his knee of
a rheumatic nature."
The party struck the woodland near the
northeast corner of what is now Whetstone township, Crawford county, designing,
very wisely, to keep north of the trail of the army, and to come in to Fort
Pitt by way of Fort Mclntosh—the mouth of Beaver. After traveling a few miles further into the
woods, in a northerly direction, they changed their course due east, leaving
the present sites of Crestline and Mansfield some distance to the south of
them.
During the day—the 7th of June, and the
second after the retreat began—one of the company, the person affected with a
rheumatic swelling, was left behind some distance in a swamp. "Waiting for him some time," is the
language of Slover," I saw him coming within one hundred yards, as I sat
on the body of an old tree mending my moccasins; but, taking my eye from him, I
saw him no more. He had not observed our
tracks, but had gone a different way. We whistled on our chargers, and
afterward hallooed for him, but in vain." He was fortunate, however, in missing his
party, as he afterward arrived safe at Wheeling.3
The six men started at daybreak the next
morning [June 8], and at nine o'clock
were within about twenty miles of the Tuscarawas, in what is now Wayne county. Here they were ambuscaded by a party of
Shawanese who had followed their path all the way from the Sandusky Plains. The Indians killed two of the men at the first
fire. Paull was untouched, and,
notwithstanding his burnt foot, ran for life and escaped. Slover and the other two men were made
prisoners. Strange to say, one of the
Indians was of the party which captured Slover when a boy, in Virginia. He was recognized by him; came up and spoke
to him, calling him by his Indian name—Mannucothe. He
upbraided him, however, for coming to war against them.
The three prisoners were taken back to
the Plains, where the Indians had some horses they had taken which had belonged
to the Americans. These were found; and
after the whole party had mounted, they started for the Shawanese towns upon
the Mad river, in what is now Logan county. On the third day after their capture, they
came in sight of a small Indian village. Hitherto, the savages had treated their
prisoners kindly, giving them a little meat and flour to eat, which they had
found or taken from other captives. Now,
however, the Indians began to look sour. The town they were approaching was not far
from Wapatomica, their principal village—situated just below what is now
Zanesfield, in Logan county—to which the savages intended to take their
prisoners. We will here leave the three
unfortunate borderers, for the present, to narrate other incidents which transpired
upon the Sandusky, after the enemy relinquished their pursuit of the retreating
army.4
The story of the captives is not over
yet. The details of their sufferings,
Lord willing, we’ll look at in my next post.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
2) Ibid., p. 316-8.
3) Ibid., p. 319-21.
4) Ibid., p. 322-3.
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