The Coolidge examiner., 1933-08-04


- speeds on his way. II is little cannon,
between the wheels of whose carriage is a metal
plate which tells him that this is "0ld Betsy
Cannon used by Major George Croghan against
the British and Indians In the defense of Fort
Stephenson, August / and 2, 1873" Back of that
brief inscription is the story of one of the most
brilliant feats in American history.
1t is the story OF youthful American military
leader and his seven equally youthful subalterns
who set high example Of courage and daring
for future young Americans TO emulate, and ii
is the story OF a gun, insignificant in appear
ance, which vitality affected the course Of Amer
ican history. big Bertha" OF World war fame,
the greatest piece of artillery devised by
man, failed to break the morale of the French
and lead to a German victory, as its builders had
hoped. But "0ld Betsy" a little sixpounder
which would be lost in the cavernous depths of
the World war piece, once turned the tide in a
crucial battle 120 years ago and saved a verit-
able empire for the American flag.
Before beginning that story. however, first a
brief word about the chief actor in it-Maj.
George Croghan. He was a Kentuckian, born
near Louisville, November 10, 1901 and neph-
ew of George Rogers Clark, 'the Savior of the
Old Northwest during the Revolution. Grad
uated from William and Mary college in Vr-
ginia at the age of eighteen, he served as a
tion commanded by Gen. William Henry Har-
rison which was sent to break up the c0nspir-
acy of Tecumseh, the great Shawnee chieftain.
in 1911 Croghan distinguished himself at the
Battle of Tippecanoe, received appointment
in the army and at the outbreak of the War of
1912 he a captain in the Seventeenth in
fantry, from which rank he was promoted to
major in the same regiment for gallantry in a
sortie during the siege of Fort Megs by the
British.
Soon afterwards he was sent with battalion
of his regiment composed of some 160 officers
and men, to take command of Fort Stephenson,
a ramshackle old stockade, built around for
mer Indian traders house at the head of naviga-
ton on the Sandusky river, about 20 miles from
Lake Erie, in Ohio The modern city Of Ere
mont now stands on that site but ii is known
in frontier history as Lower Sandusky, rally
ing place for the tribes of the Old Northwest
and the scene of many dark deed of torture
of white captives.
The stockade was made of posts about 16
feet high and outside them a dry ditch
s or feet wide and or feet deep. 1t en-
closed about acre of ground and was laid
out in the form of parallelogram with block
house at the northeast corner and guardhouse
at the southeast. Midway on the north wall,
Croghan built another blockhouse from which
he could enfade the ditch and he also strength
ened the weak places in the stockade.
Despite It's unimposing appearance, Fort
Stephenson important post. 1t was at the
apex of a triangle, the base line of which con.
nected Erie and Upper Sandusky. At Erie Oliver
Hazard Perry was busily engaged in building
the fleet with which he to win his famous
naval victory later and at Upper Sandusky,
some 20 miles up the river from Fort Stephen
sen, was the great depot of supplies for the
American armies in the Northwest So If Fort
Stephenson fell il would leave the way open for