Page:Crawford's defeat a tale of the frontier in 1812 (1954).djvu/11

 There will be few old residents of Ohio, especially those who early settled in Knox, Richland, and Franklin counties and the counties north and west of them, who will not readily recall to mind the consternation that was frequently felt in neighborhoods and villages along the frontier during the eventful year of 1812. The situation of the towns and settlements in the counties above named was dangerous owing to their easy access from the Indian villages of the wild northwestern parts of the state. The inhabitants were subjected to a kind of border warfare and were exposed to much depredation and bloodshed.

Both before and after the surrender of our army at Detroit by General Hull, the Indians received encouragement and protection from the British forts in Canada. Irritated by the rapid and progressive encroachment upon their territories by the enterprising citizens of the states, they made frequent raids, sometimes firing barns and driving off cattle. In many instances they massacred or captured whole families. Bloody scenes of this kind were described daily by visiting hunters and scouts, and the horrors of the tomahawk and the scalping knife continually preyed upon the minds of our wives and children. The relation of these tales of savage cruelty, the note of preparations for war that then sounded through all our country, the daily sound of the drum and fife in our streets, the turning out of volunteers, and the enrolling of drafted men—all produced a feverish excitement in the mind of the public.

In the midst of the general feeling of patriotism that pervaded the sons of Ohio, we could frequently discover the thrill of terror as our eyes turned upon home and we thought of the defenseless situation in which we had left our families. With these excitements and with such a state of public feeling, slight appearances of danger were frequently sufficient to throw a whole neighborhood or village into a state of consternation.

On a fine afternoon in the month of May, 1812, a number of neighbors had assembled to assist at a logrolling on a farm a little south of the now flourishing town of Mount Vernon. The dangers with which they were surrounded and