Front
Tensions between Native Americans and Euro-American settlers remained high on the Ohio frontier during the War of 1812. Grievances mounted rapidly following the removal of the Greentown Delawares to Piqua in the late summer of 1812. On September 10, British-allied Indians attacked and killed the Frederick Zimmer family and neighbor Martin Ruffner one mile north of here. Five days later, on September 15, Reverend James Copus and three militiamen - George Shipley, John Tedrick, and Robert Warnock - were killed while defending Copus' family from a raiding party one mile south of this site.
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Although several Indians were reported killed and wounded during the Zimmer and Copus incidents, no accurate count of Native American casualties survives.
In 1882, a reported 6,000 spectators converged in this area to participate in dedicating two monuments over the graves of the fallen settlers and soldiers. Tradition holds that Johnny Appleseed raced throughout the region warning others of impending attack following these incidents. His name was included on the 1882 Copus memorial, the earliest known monument erected to his memory and legend.
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