Fortunately the anti-expansionists, while mordant and powerful, could not
prevail, and the war measures became law. Anthony Wayne, whose daring
during the Revolution had won for him the admiring sobriquet of "Mad," then
took command and hastened to Cincinnati but none too soon. The Six Nations
with Little Turtle as their spokesman had followed up their victories by
demands that Cincinnati, the capital of the Northwest, should be abandoned
and that the Ohio should mark the perpetual boundary between the white man
and the red. British arms bristled behind this native ultimatum, and at the
rapids of the Maumee, as if to stay Wayne's advance, British forces built a
fort and garrisoned it with three companies. The fears of Washington seemed
about to be realized.
[Illustration RACE STREET, CINCINNATI.]
But at the battle of Fallen Timbers "Mad Anthony" scattered the allied
tribes like forest leaves. Nearly half a hundred mighty chiefs fell in that
historic engagement, and in their defeat the Indians christened their
conquerer "Big Thunder" and for years trembled when they heard his name.
Cincinnati and Ohio were saved to the Republic.
Wayne in his campaign and in his no less notable treaties was brilliantly
seconded by a young man who, unannounced and unwelcomed, landed at
Cincinnati on the day the broken columns of St. Clair fell back upon the
fort. The generals there looked upon his smooth cheeks and his boyish frame
with soldierly disdain, one remarking that he would as readily send his
sister to the front as entrust this beardless neophyte with the
responsibilities of border warfare. This youth, in whose veins flowed the
blood of one of Cromwell's generals, was to shame his flippant critics, for
he was to win a lieutenancy at the battle of Fallen Timbers, and rising
steadily in the service of his country was to become a western Napoleon,
avenging the disasters of the River Basin and Detroit, defeating the
powerful Tecumseh at Tippecanoe, laying firm and broad the foundations of
northwestern statehood, serving in the Senate of the United States, and
finally going in triumph to the White House. Cincinnati has fostered many
famous sons, but none greater than William Henry Harrison.
To many new communities the first settlers have gone with the hope of
returning with fortunes to their former homes. Cincinnati was founded and
developed by men and women who came to stay. Harrison identified himself
with the West at the start by marrying the daughter of John Cleves Symmes,
the Miami pioneer, and to the Harrison homestead near Cincinnati, which for
a quarter of a century had been an American mecca, the body of the famous
General was borne for burial.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account