Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-01-06

However he may have been speak
| ing only of himself. We are aware
that there are those who are indif..
ferent to such thjngs,-"Bunk. !"
.Old Stuff" and all that to them.
that has come to pass, the majority
of our American people want 10
| know where it happened. The
Shenandoah fell! Where? Not
'somer's near" but the exact spot.
This exact spot intensifies the inter
est, and if it be something buried in
the debris of centuries, we dig until
and monuments everywhere attest
that fact. There are people living
among us today whose ancestors
were born, served time, or died
within the rough walls of Fort
Frye. They, with many others,
would like to know where it stood.
Many think the site lost. Even the
side of river on which the fort stood
is disputed Up until the last year
west side of the river, somewhere
above the town of Waterford. We
are now convinced that it was just
where one historian in Howe's His
torical Collection, Vol. 2, says it
| was, half mile below the present
| town of Beverly. We are giving
those first settlers from New Eng
| credit for exercising their highest
| discretionary powers for the safety
| of their lives at this critical time.
| That their enemy, the Indians, would
most likely come from somewhere
on the west side of the river, as
they did up at Big Bottom, and that
the river would offer protection on
one side of the fort, while wide
level cleared plain in the back
| We have been contending that at
this early period, the name, Water
| ford, applied to either side of the
| river. A little later this east side,
above and below the fort, was
"Plainfield," the name of Beverly
had not yet been given. Further
proof that Fort Frye was below Bev...
waters have exposed two walled up
wells at spot where no dwelling
house ever stood, which, of a neces-
| sity would be inside of the forts en-
closure. This is the fort that is
described in Howes Collection. An
other proof of this place being
where the fort stood is that up 10
the time of the 1918, flood some OF
| the stones that marked the graves
of Revolutionary soldiers who died
| in the fort, were still standing. The
| dead were buried outside the pail
sade that surrounded the fort, and
the graves were mute evidence Of
the close proximity of the fort.
! But was this fort the only FORTH.
| cation on this side of the river? We
| think not Conditions at the fort
whose lands donated lands) We're
perhaps farther up the river, to erect
| another stockade on a much smaller
| scale, near the mouth of Olive Green
| creek, which another chronicler in
Howe's Collection, has, as we think,
| mistakenly taken for Fort Frye.
Walter Sylvus in his article, some
| Fort Frye, but We believe that he
| was wrongly informed as to the
name. Mrs. Elizabeth THORNLEY,
| Owens of Beverly has given this
| matter careful study, aided by old
| manuscripts, besides she has writ.
| ten a book, Fort Frye on the Mus
kingum,' and she says, there was a
stockade built near the mouth of
| Olive Green, but it was known as
"Sherman's Station. 1t is not like
ly the two historians in Howe's Col
| lection ever saw these forts. Sure.
! ly Dr. Samuel Hildreth, the noted
| historian, never did, for when these
| first settlers built, and took refuge
in these forts, 1925, Samuel
| Hildreth was only child back in his
native state, Massachusetts. Col
niscences," given in Howe's was one
among these first settlers, when
| these events took place, but his in
| terest seemed to be down the Ohio
river about Belpre, where three or
| four stockades were built. His
knowledge of the doings up at the
Waterford settlement may have been
| Sherman garrison confused with
Fort Frye. 1t is doubtful if these
forts up at Waterford were in exist
| ence more than five or six years. 1t
was only about five days after Abel
| Sherman (WhO was connected with
| this Olive Green garrison) was shot,
that Anthony Wayne fought that
decisive battle at Fallen Timbers, ;"
| which put an end to the Indian hos
tilities along this part of the Mus
| kingum and Ohio rivers. Then soon
followed the "Greenfield Treaty, !"
and these Waterford settlers who
had been cooped up for four long
wearisome years, filled with sus-
pense and anxiety, their lives de-
| pending on their guns, would now
! take on new life and go to making
l
stockades would be torn down and
the logs used for various other
purposes.
The circumstances which sur
rounded the death of Abel Sherman
go far to prove that there was fort
up near the mouth of Olive Green,
as recorded in Howe's history. To
substantiate what has already been
said, we obtained much informa-
tion from Misses Louise and Mollie
Wilson, of Caldwell. The veracity
of these highly educated ladies is
never questioned. They formerly
lived in the vicinity where this his
tory was made. Their great grand
father was one of the early settlers
at Marietta. Through the tradition
of their father, they learned that
their grandfather, Jeremiah Wilson,
was born in Fort Frye, and that it
stood short distance below the
present town of Beverly. We now
turn to the portion of our story that
pertains to Abel Sherman, who lost
his life in an encounter with Silver
heels, the half breed Shawnee. w.
L. Beach, we'll lto~do citizen living
at Lancaster, o., visited the Wilson's
at Caldwell last summer, and he