Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/304

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��men. your sweethearts would scorn you ; all would call you cowards. No class of people are so innnediately interested in defending their countr}' as those in Ohio. The Indians have already commenced their incursions in jour State, and already have barbarously murdered several families. Should we all abandon the defense of the State, the British Army could safely march to the Ohio River, and take pos- session of the State. You are defending your wives and children, your fathers and mothers and your property. It is true you have met with some privations, but, as soon as we can obtain the necessaries required, all crooked things shall be made straight. Your sufferings are light, compared with those of your sires in the war of the Revolution. They were content with such fare as the limited means of the colonies at that time could furnish. They could ofttimes l)e traced, when marching to meet the enemy in Ijloody conflicts, by the blood that issued from their l)are feet upon the frozen earth. Fellow-soldiers, cultivate a spirit of subordination, patriotism and courage, and ere long the recent victory gained at Detroit by the enemy shall be refunded with double interest, and ultimately the haughty British Lion shall be subdued by the talons of the American Eagle.'' During the delivery of this speech, those troops who had their knapsacks and blankets on, began to unbuckle and drop them | to the ground one by one, and at its conclusion not one appeai'ed in his marching rig, and, from that time forward, until lionoral)ly discharged, no better soldiers were found in the army. Soon after the delivery of the address, Gen. Harrison departed from camp to attend to duties elsewhere.

Up to this time, the troops of Gen. Beall had not been mustered into the llnited States serv- ice, l)ut were serving the State, and the Major General of the division to which they belonged, Wadsworth, claimed the right to control their movements, under the State law. In the exer-

��cise of this authority, he ordered Gen. Beall to march his Ijrigade to his headquarters at Cleve- land. This Gen. Beall declined to do, believ- ing it to be his duty to defend the frontiers from Indian raids, and to deter the British Ai'my from marching into the State, left in an exposed condition by the surrender of Hull. No part of the State was more exposed than Richland County, as the murders in the county l\y the Indians clearly established. Moreover, Wadsworth was an old, superannuated man, who had been brave and efflcient in the Revolution- aiy war. but had outlived his physical and in- tellectual powers, and was then incompetent to render service to his country.

As (Jen. Beall remained at Camp Council several weeks after Wadsworth ordered him to Cleveland, that General dispatched Gen. Perkins with an order to arrest Gen. Beall. and march the brigade to Camp Avery, near the mouth of the Hui'on River. This order was promptly obeyed, and Gen. Beall, in accordance with the rules of the arm}", delivered his sword to Per- kins, and, two daj^s subsequently, the brigade arrived at Camp Avery. Here a court-martial was ordered for the trial of Gen. Beall, for dis- obedience of orders. Upon a full hearing of the charges, he was acquitted, and ordered to take his command and re-enforce Gen. Winches- ter, who was then in the neighborhood of the river Raisin. Marching as far as Lower San- dusk}- (Fremont), he there received orders to return to Camp Avery and disband his army, which he did. his soldiers returning along the route by which they had advanced, to their homes, the term of their enlistment having ex- pired.

The General himself returned to his home in New Lisbon, and was elected to Congress, send- ing two terms. In 1814, he was appointed Register of the land office in Wooster, and re- signed his seat in Congress to accept that posi- tion, removing his family to Wooster in 1815. In 1824, he resigned this office and retired to

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