The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-07-15

ed to return home, as their supplies had
likewise become exhausted. Soon after
the raising Of the seige, Mcintosh arrived
with provisions q relief of seven hun
dred men. Colonel Gibson was succeed
ed by Major Frederick Vernon. Mcln-
tosh having again returned to Fort Pitt
was afterward relieved by Colonel David
Broadhead, who now took the command
of the Western Department.
Fort Laurens, the first military post
erected hv the American government on
any portion of the territory now consti-
tuting the State of Ohio, was finally
evacuated in August; not, however, until
the garrison had been reduced to terrible
straits, With the abandonment; of this
Fort, ended the first campaign underta-
cen against Sandusky from the borders
of Pennsylvania and Virginia, Its fail
ure was due not SO much to the want of
men as to the lack of means-the sinews
of war were wanting. Fort Mcintosh
was also soon after abandoned, together
with several smaller works of defense
near the Ohio.
During the occupation Of Fort Laurens,
it was visited by Colonel William Craw-
ford, on official business. The usual
route lay by way of Fort Mcintosh, Yell
low creek, and Sandy creek; thence down
the Muskingun, as the Tuscarawas was
then called. There was also another
route, by an Indian trail from Fort Nc
Intosh by way of the Moravian mission
ary establishments upon that river. 1t
was always a perilous undertaking to
reach that post; for as long as it was
garrisoned the vicinity was infested by
Indians who seldom spared a captive,
On one of his journeys from the Fort,
homeward, Crawford and a solitary COM
panion had narrow escape from capture
and perhaps death by the most cruel tor
ture, at the hands of large party Of
sayages, about eight miles from the
Fort. ns.N
The evacuation of Fort Lamens, in
August, 1879, and soon after Of Fort Nc
Intosh, brought the Indians, without any
interruption, to the very door Of the set
tiers, greatly increasing the dismay of
the borderers in Pennsylvania and Vir-
ginia.
Colonel John Gibson, who, i'm l77S-9,at
Fort Laurens, commanded the only mill
tary fort erected within the limits of the
present State of0hio during the Revolu-
tionary war, was one ofthe first settlers
of Pittsburgh, an Indian trader, and for
some years prisoner among the Shaw
nees.
In Dunmore's campaign against the
Sciota Indians, in IVA; he received from
Logan the Mingo Chief, the celebrated
speech respecting which there had been
so much controversy, References made
to him in JeffersOn's Note of Virginia.
General Gibson was Secretary and Acting
Governor of the Territory Of Indiana in
1900, lSll-13;afterwards Associate Judge
of Allegheny county, Penn,
He has resided in Pittsburgh, on the
East side of Second avenue, below
Redoutt alley, and died near the city in
1922.
The remains of Fort Laurens, which,
as we have seen, was erected in the war
of the revolution, and named after the
President ofthe Revolutionary Congress,
are situated about half a mile below Boil
ivar, in Tuscarawas county. The old
Fort through whose earthen walls the
Ohio canal now passes was the scene of
border warfare and bloodshed 1t is
probable that its parapet walls are still
a few feet in height. rhey |
we're once crowned with pickets made of
,he split trunks of trees, and enclosed
about an acre of land on the west bank
)fthe Tuscarawas.