General Harmar's CampaignPublic Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County
History
General Harmar's Campaign
Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County
Harmar's Expedition, 1790; Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1790-1794
Mrs. Shroyer saw him pass two miles south of Dayton. A short time
later she was shocked and trembled with fear as she saw three Indians
in hot pursuit with rifles and tomahawks. Fortunately, night came on,
and they lost his trail. The next day my father took his rifle and
went alone to the camp. By signs he made them understand that he had
retrieved the mare and colt that they had stolen from him. He demanded
the other two-year-old colt. By signs, they indicated that it was
dead. The Indians never disturbed him again.
My father was engaged in forwarding supplies for General William Henry
Harrison’s forces at the time of the fight with the Indians at the
Battle of Tippecanoe. I was with my father at Germantown, Montgomery
County, Ohio, in the summer of 1840, when he met General Harrison
(afterward President Harrison) for the first time after the Tippecanoe
campaign. Had I time, I could tell you other exploits of my father
with the Indians, but I forbear wearing out your patience. I doubt if
there is another man living whose father was in that fight with the
Indians on October 22 at the ford of the Maumee.
Most of this information is traditional, handed down from father to
son. I have been greatly helped in calling to mind many of these
incidents and occurrences by my brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel H. Binkley,
of Alexanderville, Montgomery County, Ohio. He is a geologist of high
standing and is one of the noted archaeologists in the country. Dr.
Binkley has one of the finest geological and archaeological cabinets
to be seen in the West. This collection is closely related to
historical and monumental matters.
I will mention that I, too, have some early recollections of Fort
Wayne. In the fall of 1838 I passed through here, driving a
three-horse team moving a relative to Whitley County, Indiana, near
where Columbia City now stands. As I now recollect, Fort Wayne was
then a town of log houses, principally. I think the courthouse was a
square building with a roof run up to a point from all four sides. If
I am not right in this, some of you old settlers can correct me. I
passed through this city in 1846 or 1847 on a canalboat with Mr.
Tabour, an early settler at Logansport. About the same time, I passed
through with Mr. Elsworth, of Lafayette, who was at that time
commissioner of patents at Washington. In 1856 Olif Johnson and
Colonel Sweet of Galva, Illinois, General Thomas Henderson, now in
Congress from the seventh Illinois district, and I went bathing (we
called it swimming) in the Maumee River a short distance below your
then small city.
Sincerely yours,
JAMES McGREW
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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