Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/305

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

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��private life. He was President of tlie Wliig con- vention held in Columbus February 22, 1840, and was afterward chosen one of the electors for President and Vice President, and had the honor and pleasure of casting his vote for his old friend, Gen. Harrison. No incident of his life gave him more pleasure. He died at his home in Wooster February 20, 1843.

Before the close of (ren. Beall's expedition, the Governor of Pennsylvania raised and dis- patched a force of 2,000 men to the assistance of Gen. Harrison in the West, under command of Gen. Robert Crooks. As this expedition passed through Mansfield on its way to the seat of war, a brief account of it is considered ap- propriate. Crooks marched his command by way of New Lisbon, Canton and Wooster, fol- lowing in the track of Gen. Beall, arriving at the latter place about three weeks after Beall left — probably, about the 11th or 12th of Octo- ber. The train of wagons connected Avith Gen. Crook's brigade numbered, as near as can be remembered, some twenty -five or thirty six-horse teams ; the wagons being coA'ered with canvas and filled with army stores of every description. Halting a day or two at Wooster to repair broken wagons, and allow the jaded teams to rest, the brigade was again put in motion. It reached the block-house at Jeromeville in one da}-, where the army crossed the Jerome Fork and turned southwest, leaving the trail of Gen. Beall, and passing up a small stream by what was afterward known as Goudy's mill, and began cutting the path afterward known as the " old Portage road." The pioneers cut the road along an Lidian trail as far as the Quaker springs, the first day, where the brigade halted and encamped for the night. The next day the pioneers continued along the old trail in a southwest direction, cutting a path large enough for the teams to pass. That night the brigade encamped at Greentown. Nearly all the Indian huts had been burned prior to this, and the vil- lage was deserted. The next day they crossed

��the Black Fork, and proceeding southwest a short distance, struck a new blazed road leading to the west. They continued on this road until they reached the cabin of David Hill, on the present site of Lucas, where the brigade again encamped for the night. In the afternoon of the following day, they I'eached Mansfield, going into camp on, the east side of the public square in the woods. The date of Gen. Crook's arrival here has not l)een ascertained to a certainty, but it must have been about the 18th or 20th of October. He was in camp here about six weeks, awaiting the arrival of quartermaster's stores, under Col. Anderson. During his stat- in Mansfield, his soldiers cleared off considerable land east of the square, and when his camp be- came quite muddy, he removed his army to, and encamped on, the west side of the square, where he cleared off another piece of ground. The occupation of Mansfield bj^ Gen. Crook's com- mand is referred to in the chapter on its early history. Crooks recei^^ed orders to leave Mans- field for Upper Sandusky, and was compelled to march liefore the arrival of Col. Anderson with his supplies. He probably left Mansfield some time between the 1st and 10th of Decem- ber. On this subject Dr. Hill says : " About the 15th of Deceml)er, Gen. Crooks was ordered to proceed to Upper Sandusky to assist in for- tifying that point." It will be perceiA-ed that he is in doul^t as to the date, and, in the same paper, a little further along, in speaking of Anderson's march, he says : " On the 12th (December) he reached the village of Mansfield, where they found two block-houses, a tavern and one store. Gen. Crooks had left before the arrival of Col. Anderson." As he speaks posi- tively about this date, it is evident that Crooks must have marched from here before the 12th. Comparing this date with that of other incidents occurring about this time, the evidence is A'ery conclusive that he left early in December. Mr. Henry Newman, still liAing, and whose father was Gen. Crooks' pilot from here to Upper

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