Captain Barclay's British Fleet transporting General Proctor's British army sailed up the Sandusky River to make their assault on Fort Stephenson August 1st and 2nd 1813 of which General Sherman wrote:
"The defense of Fort Stephenson by Croghan and his gallant little band was the necessary precursor to Perry's victory on the lake and of General Harrison's triumphant victory at the Battle of the Thames. These assured to our immediate ancestors the mastery of the Great West and from that day to this the west has been the bulwark of this nation."
General Harrison sent expert riflemen from his army to help serve the guns on Commodore Perry's ships in the naval battle with the British Fleet off this landing from which on September 10, 1813 Perry sent the following laconic note, "we have met the enemy and they are ours, two ships, two brigs, one schooner,and a sloop."
General Harrison immediately marched his troops over the Old Sandusky-Scioto Trail to this landing, but transported the stores down the Sandusky River and dragged the boats across the De Lery Portage. From Sandusky Bay to Lake Erie the troops constructed a strong fence of brush and fallen timber across from Portage River to Sandusky River. Within this enclosure their horses were turned loose. General Harrison's army embarked on Commodore Perry's ships Sept. 20, stopping on Put-In-Bay and Middle Sisters Islands and landing in Canada Sept.27 where Proctor with his British regulars was defeated and Tecumseh with many of his British regulars was defeated and Tecumseh with many of his Indians killed in the Battle of the Thames, 5th October, 1813. The returning Ohio and Kentucky volunteers, with their British prisoners, collecting their horses here, marched to their homes over the old Sandusky-Scioto Trail, which has since been known as the Harrison Trail of the War of 1812.
Comments 0 comments