Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-08-14

Desperate Battle That eok l'iace
EIghty-Nine Yea Axp.
Los 1ageies Tim<s
XKTHEN the var oI So hegan,
w sanguine people believed that
tho Canadian provinces Nonld be
glad TO be liberated freln Brstish
rule, and with the aI1'roach OF q
victorious army az insssion would
seize the opportunity = freeing
themselves. But Il uss lhe other
way. Instead q sublsz4ing 10 in
vasion. Canada became fke invader.
The indian. tribes. dnisased 1t Tip
pecanoe, saw their opportunity for
revenge, and under the lead Of Te-
cumseh, gathered 10 the British
standard. The army under Gen.
Hull, which was to invade upper
Canada, was driven back almost al
the outset, and instead OF the It'd
ings of victory which the nation ex-
| pecied, there arrived the dreadful
news that Hull aud his whole army
had surrendered at Detroit. At
tempts TO regain the lost ground re-
suited in q series of disasters filled
with the horrors OF Indian massa
ere.
How CRoGHAs Cor THE CHANCE.
1t was then that George Croghan,
seventeen years of age at the time,
got his chance. He had hurried
home two years before from William
and Mary College in Virginia, where
he was taking postgraduate course
lin law, TO take part in the defense OF.
his western home against the Indi-
ans. Croghan was the son of Mai.
William Croghan, of the Revolution.
AIRY army, and his mother was 0
sister OF Gen. George Rogers Clarke.
one of the famous founders OF civil
ization in the Northwest.
Young Croghan had been appoint
ed volunteer aide to Col. John f.
Boyd, in the battle of Tippecanot
on November Z. 1871, and in 1912,
when war with England began, he
was appointed captain of infantry.
Ii was merely as q precaution
against remote possibilities that. in
the summer Of 1872, Fort Stephen.
son had been built ON the lower San
dusky river. A frontier fort in
those days was "a simple affair. con-
sisting mainly of stockade and o
blockhouse. A blockhouse was con
structed on the northwest corner
and another i'm the middle of the
north side of the fort. The spac,
inclosed by the stockade was aboui
one hundred yards in one direction
and about fifty in the other. And
this shanty of q fort was soon TO be
come rock Of defense which rolled
back wave of invasion that was
filling the western country with
alarm.
In the summer of 1913 the north
west was lost to the Americans, and
a British force under Mai. Gen.
Proctor was advancing npon Ohio,
coasting the lake shore lin boats,
while the Indian allies under Te-
cumseh made their way by land
Gen. Harrison, the victor of Tippe
canoe, was in command of the Amer
lean army. All his supplies were
at Upper Sandusky, and he had a
force of about 500 regulars and mil
itia with which to maintain his po
sition against 500 British regulars
and militia accompanied by Tecum-
sch and his Indians, making the
British force several thousand
strong. II was reported that Te-
cmnseh with 200 Indians was mov-
ing straight upon Harrison's s base
of supplies by the direct road from
the West. Tocheck this fiank move
ment upon his communications, Har-
rison established himself AT Seneca
ten miles in the rear Of Fort Steph-
enson. Against the advance of the
British up the Sandusky River the
only obstacle was Fort Stephenson.
| The stockade dignified by that IL
tie was garrisoned by le0 soldiers
Yonng Croghan was the officer in
command. He had become major Of
the Seventeenth Regiment, United
States Infantry. He had strength
eued the fort as much as possible
| by building two additional block
houses and by constructing ditch
about eight feetdeep and One
iron six. poundereannon wasall that
he had in the way of artillery. Gen.
Harrison did not consider the place
Itenable against regular seige, and
in orders left with Mai. Crogfan.she
said: Should the British troops
Iapproach you in force with cannon,
and you discover them in time TO ef-
feet retreat, you viii do so imme-
diately, destroying all the public
stores. You must be aware 10 1T
tempt 10 retreat in the face Of an